Uhler couldn’t meet us until the next morning. He tracked down a coffee shop that would be convenient for both him and Darius, and they agreed to meet there at nine. Since Darius and I were already in the car, driving home, the vampire asked me to look up the coffee shop on my phone and send the information to him so he wouldn’t forget it.

After I pressed send, I said, “Can I come?”

All the anger I had borrowed on behalf of Miranda was used up, so my question came out a lot more quiet and pleading than I wanted it to.

Darius didn’t answer. I turned to watch his face.

Most of the time, the count was careful to control his more modest reactions. Surprise? Evident. Anger? Always in view. But when nothing was called for except an everyday expression, he always adopted a stoic air. I had to guess how thoughtful he was by what he was doing with his hands. If they were up by his mouth, that was level five, semi-serious thought. If he was rubbing his jaw, red alert! Level ten, deliberate contemplation.

But since he was driving, his hands were busy. Without his typical cover, I could see the thoughts swaying through his expression.

Something was troubling him.

“Emerra,” he said, “how are you doing?”

“I’m fine!”

He smiled ruefully and shook his head.

I faced forward and pushed my back into the seat. “Why don’t you let me worry about me?” I grumbled. “I’m almost twenty.”

“You are twenty.”

I blinked and turned to look at him.

“Today’s the twenty-sixth,” he said.

“Is it?”

“You forgot?”

“It feels like a few days went missing somewhere. You can’t blame me for losing track. Hey! Is that why Igor asked me what my favorite cake was?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Iset mentioned it to him.”

“Huh.” I smiled. “Maybe he is a sweetheart.”

The cake was on the counter when we got home. I honed in on it. As I approached, a large wooden spoon, from out of nowhere, slammed down on the table between me and the dessert with an ear-rending crack. My eyes followed the spoon up to the arm, to the shoulder, to the one glaring eye of Igor.

“Real food first,” he declared.

Like I was going to argue with that. “No problem. Point me to the real food.”

“I’ll bring it into the dining room. Like always. You should wash up.”

“Hey, Igor, how come you always serve dinner in the formal dining room? I mean, most nights it’s only me, Conrad, and Olivia. Sometimes Darius. It seems like a lot of work for four people.”

The sweetheart said, “Dining rooms are meant to be used. Savage.”

“Then how come you don’t eat with us?”

“Oh, I go through all that trouble just to get you out of the kitchen, and now you want me to join you? Pfffffft.”

But that night Igor joined us for dessert. He cut the cake himself and handed me the first slice.

I took it with both hands, like the hungry beggar I was, and laughed when the smell of it reached my nose.

Darius, who was beside me at the head of the table, leaned over and said quietly, “Happy Birthday, Emerra.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Should we have gotten candles?”

“No.” I held up a forkful of frosting. “I got what I wished for.”

Vasil nodded his thanks when Igor passed him his share of the cake. After the count placed it on the table, he picked up his dessert fork. The silver twirled in his fingers, glinting under the light of the chandelier.

“Emerra, if you want to come with me tomorrow, you’d be welcome.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I swallowed my excitement and the cake so I could reply with all the dignity a former teenager should have. “Thank you, Darius.”

“You’ll have to be ready to go early.”

“I will be.”

It was a great evening. Even Olivia didn’t seem to be as caustic as normal. Behold! The power of chocolate! Conrad was on my other side, enjoying his slice of cake. I thought about asking him if it was okay for him to eat chocolate, but then I remembered two things: one, he wasn’t a dog, and two, he was a grown man. He probably knew what he was doing. Igor sat at the end of the table and gave his expert opinion as we discussed the merits of every style of cake and cake frosting ever made.

When we were done, I offered to help Igor take the dishes back to the kitchen, but he threatened me with a fork. Instead, I went to the library to thank Iset for telling Igor it was my birthday. She accepted my thanks with all the grace I’d expect from a queen.

Then I went to hunt down the wolfman. After a fruitless half-hour of searching the mansion, I requisitioned a blanket to use as a giant, tartan poncho and went outside. As I made my way into the yard, the light from the porch grew fainter. It cast a dim layer of light on the shapes in the darkness. I passed the stone wall, with it’s block of black shadows, and found Conrad a few feet further on, sitting on a bench by the edge of an open space. By the time I saw him, he’d already turned his head to watch my approach.

I came up level with the bench but stopped a foot away. “How do you always know I’m behind you?”

“I can smell you.”

“Really?”

He brushed a finger over his nose. “You thought it was decoration?”

When I laughed, he looked down and shuffled the dirt under his boots.

“Do you need something?” he asked.

I finished crossing over to the bench and sat next to him. “I’ve come to reserve you for some anime tonight. What do you think? Are you up for it?”

His muzzle dipped after a second. “Yeah. I’m up for it. Are you?”

“Please. Sir.” I put my hand on my chest. “I’m a professional. I can watch it for hours.”

“You’re not tired?”

It was like a hand reached into my chest and squeezed. I took a deep breath and blinked back the tears that had rushed to my eyes. I was exhausted, and I was far too tired to lie about it.

I looked up. Nestled in the night sky were a zillion points of light.

“It’s really pretty out here,” I muttered.

“That’s why I come here,” Conrad said.

“I’ve never seen so many stars.”

One of his ears twitched toward me. “Where are you from?”

“Everywhere, nowhere—but I mostly stayed in cities and suburbs. Out here, we’re so remote.”

“Nah. If you want remote, you go out about twenty miles from any light source. Then you look up. It’s a whole different sky. It looks like white dust spilling out of the Milky Way.”

“Where are you from, Conrad?”

“Alaska.”

I let out a low whistle. “Dang. Now, that’s remote.”

“My town sure was. It’s a lot like this though. Most of the trees are different, but we were up by the mountains, surrounded by forest.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Do you like the outdoors?”

“I never thought about it. I go wherever I land, you know? But this”—I opened my arms. My blanket spread to take in the sky—“I like this.”

I yawned. It was so wide, it looked like my skull was hinged. I rubbed my eyes.

“Ugh. What were we saying?” I asked.

“You were about to tell me you weren’t tired.”

“I see. Would you believe me?”

He chuff-laughed. “No.”

“I am tired, but I don’t want to go to bed.”

“You mean early?”

I tapped the toes of my boots together. “You can sleep in, right? Want to grab some energy drinks and see how many episodes we can binge? First one to fall asleep loses.”

I thought he would laugh. Or maybe I’d see the edge of his lips lift up in a smile. But when he spoke, his voice was soft and serious, and his eyes never left my face.

“Are you afraid to go to sleep?”

My stomach seized up. Through the blanket, I grabbed the front of the bench with both hands to steady myself.

“Mera?” Conrad was leaning over me, all concerned.

I shook my head. “Sorry. I’m fine.” He backed off. “Ha. Wow. Um. Afraid?” My lips quivered as I tried to force a smile. I had to smile. What a great joke, right? Who’d be afraid to go to sleep?

But he was still watching me, his furry brows pulled together and his ears drooping to the sides.

I knew that face. That was the “am I a bad dog?” face that a certain human-sized puppy wore whenever the nurses were chewing us out—part worried, part sad.

I chuckled. “You do kind of look like Charlie. Is that rude to say?”

Conrad looked away. “No. I suspect it’s true. I bet I look more like him that anyone else you know.”

It felt good to laugh. I gulped the moment of happiness and borrowed its smile. Then I looked back up at the stars.

“Do you promise not to tell Darius?” I asked.

“That depends. Why don’t you want him to know?”

“I don’t want him to feel bad. And I really don’t want him to take me off the case.”

There was a short silence.

“I promise,” Conrad said.

“Ever since Darius showed me that body, I’ve been having nightmares—well, a nightmare, anyway. Over and over again. Sometimes the beginning is different, but most of the dream is the same.”

“You’re talking about Wayde’s body?”

I nodded.

“What’s the dream?”

“I watch him die.” A shudder crept through my body. “I watch him get shot.”

“And you dream that whenever you fall asleep?”

“Every time. Seeing the body freaked me out more than I thought it would.” I rushed to add, “But I’ll get over it. I mean, they’re only nightmares.”

Even to me, the words sounded hollow. For a long time, it was quiet.

Conrad put his arms over the back of the bench. “So what happens to the loser of this anime challenge?”

I grinned. “I vote the winner gets to draw a mustache on them while they’re asleep.”

“The only markers around here are permanent.”

“And?”

“No.”

“You have to give me your croissants next time Igor makes them.”

“I’m entertained that you think I’m going to lose. You’re the one that crashed out on the couch last night. Are you willing to give up your croissants?”

“Huh. How about we play for honor and glory?”

“How about the winner picks the next show?”

“Oh! I like that! Let’s do that.”

“Deal.”

I flipped the blanket edge out of the way and put out my hand. It disappeared when Conrad’s gigantic paw closed over it. I could feel the leathery pad where his palm was, the long, thinner pads leading up each finger, and the fur that was everywhere the pads weren’t. We shook.

“You want to start now or later?” I asked.

Conrad stood up. “We can start now.”

I bounced to my feet. “Cool. You set up the show, I’ll hunt down some caffeine.”