Wood is everywhere. Clothes litter the yard and hang from the trees. The porch is gone, and pieces of the roof are like breadcrumbs on the driveway.
“This house held a lot of memories, but it’s time to leave the past in the past. The Dust Bunnies have a permanent hub now at Dead Man’s Ranch. That’s where we will be for the foreseeable future. If you find any stray animals from the storm, please bring them to Dead Man’s as we have plenty of room!”
The comments are pouring in. There are too many questions to keep track of.
Until I catch a comment asking about Evan and the Twisted Trackers.
I clear my throat, the sadness overwhelming; the vivid picture of his truck crashing down in front of us will be a moment I’ll never forget.
Oklahoma steps forward and tugs me to his side. “It’s true. Evan and his team did not survive the storm. Twisted Trackers were brave and fearless. They chased until the very end.”
I finally find my voice. “While Evan was my rival, I had so much respect for him as a chaser.” I didn’t, because most of the time he was a thieving asshole, but towards the end, he wasn’t so bad. “I never wished him death. I never wanted him to die by how we live—chasing. Storms are unpredictable. Even as chasers, we don’t know what to expect.”
“He and his team live on in our Dust Bunnies Radar app. If you search their names, you’ll see their initials where the storm traveled, forever remembered.”
Ruka grips the stick the phone is mounted to and lifts it into the air, getting all of us on screen.
“Remember, when you chase, you’re nothing but dust to a tornado. Stay safe, Oklahoma.” I blow them a kiss.
“Let’s Chase, But Stay Safe!” Ruka shouts, ending the livestream to our millions of followers.
Storm season isn’t even over yet.
It’s only just begun.
One year later
Next tornado season
We’re in the next town over, watching an EF2 stovepipe rip through a field. It’s not a danger to any town, and because of that, Nariko and Ruka are in the Dust Bunny, the hydraulic system digging massive equipment into the ground, locking into the earth to keep them safe from the powerful winds, and they stay there until they are in the core.
Nariko is taking her world-famous funnel photos. The one she took of The Route 99 Tornado made news all over the world. She even wrote a book on storm chasing, and it became an instant bestseller. Her storm photos are in the book as well, all images gaining attention to shine light on the seriousness of storm systems and chasing.
It makes me think back to the woman who turned to ashes in my arms. I still haven’t heard anything about her. Lorcan says he is monitoring her. What he doesn’t know is that we are too. We never want to be blindsided by a storm that powerful again. She’s been quiet this past year, and that’s all I care about.
There has been an unusual set of supercells heading east that Nariko is keeping an eye on, but they aren’t as severe as the ones here were.
The pink truck vanishes in the tornado, and I hold my breath. I know she’s okay. I can feel her happiness strumming the bond, an additional beat added to my chest, but it doesn’t make me any less afraid. Seeing her in the middle of what I fear most will always make my slow heartbeat come to a full stop.
That won’t ever change.
“Is that your Okaasan? Wave at Mommy.” I grab my son’s chubby arm and wave it in the air, knowing she probably can’t see him, but he giggles every time I do it.
Arkansas is a unique name for him, but it’s fitting, given Nariko and Ruka died and came back to life while that song was playing. We thought it was perfect for our son.
“Ow. Damn. Warn me, next time.”
He sinks his little fangs into my arm and feeds. Baby strength is another type of strength. It goes beyond paranormal. He is ripping the hairs out of my arm with his tiny tight fists.
I have bald spots all over my arms. All because of him.
He’s worth it.
Millie, Jess, and Reina know about us. Reina is actually mated to Westin. They decided two thousand years together was better than nothing. And at that point, there was no way to keep Millie and Jess in the dark. They took it in stride and have asked a lot of questions that have me wondering if they also want to be turned.
That’s a tough decision for any vampire to agree to. The sire will need to kill them for the process to work, and that’s never easy. I wake up in cold sweats sometimes when the memory of Nariko’s lifeless body infiltrates my dreams.
“Look!” I point to where a pink truck is coming out of the tornado. “Mommy is coming back!”
