Page 37 of Scout’s Honor

They both stalked off, going their separate ways.

20—Disbelief, Unbelief

Dallas drove quickly to Bonhi’s office, his mind on her, feeling lit up from the inside because he would see her soon.

He arrived, pulling into the parking lot, spotting Aven and Dakota right away. They were working on fitting plywood into the open spaces of the front door.

“Hey,” Dallas said, jumping right in to help.

“Hey,” Dakota said. “We swept up the glass and cleaned up all the fingerprint powder the cops left.”

Aven pointed at a closed door. “Bonhi's in there with a client.”

They finished securing the door, then cleaned up. Aven and Dakota cozied up on the couch in the waiting area and Dallas sat in a chair near them.

He spoke quietly. “There's another one.”

“Another what?” Aven asked.

“Blurry person.”

Dakota and Aven looked at each other like they’d been talking about it, then they both leaned forward.

“The woman who fell from the sky at Cove Springs—her doctor at the mental hospital is blurry and—” Dallas held up a hand, locking eyes with Aven. “He twitched too. I think it's related because one of the women at the caves twitched and Bonhi said the kidnapper twitched.”

Aven kissed Dakota on the forehead then stood and paced stroking his chin. “You know what? Hank out at Cove Springs was charmed by vampires, and you’re right, he twitched.” Aven drew his shoulders, elbows, and knees forward in a fast, full-body replication of the twitch that made Dakota laugh.

Dallas’ gears ground to a halt. He stood up and faced his friend. “How’d you know he was charmed?”

“Because he got violent for no reason, and there was a vampire there.” He nodded at Dakota. “She fought him.”

Dakota’s lip curled. She hopped off the couch and paced.

“Ol’ Hank wasn’t blurry, though,” Aven said. “So again I say, why can only you see it?”

“I'm just glad you believe me, bird.”

Aven laughed. “If the blur and twitch means charmed by vampires, the big question is, why is this doctor charmed by vampires?” He spread his hands. “Maybe I should do a flyover. Sit outside his window for a bit.”

“Yeah.” Dallas got excited. “That's perfect. If vampires show up we could prove to Jameson that something’s going on.”

“Okay, see you guys in a bit.” Aven kissed Dakota goodbye with a loud smooch. “See you later,” he said, then he went outside, walked in front of the row of office buildings, stepped off the sidewalk into the grass, and then disappeared into the forest.

Dallas grinned at his sister.

She grinned back, pointing to the spot where Aven had disappeared. “I love him,” she said, hugging herself.

Dallas shrugged. “He’s cool.”

The door opened and Bonhi came out looking fresh and sweet. A man and woman were with her. She smiled at Dallas while she ushered them outside, then she said her goodbyes and came back in.

“Hi,” she said to Dallas, smiling sweetly.

“Hi.” He caught her eye and held it, grinning.

“Thanks for fixing my door,” she told Dakota, while mostly keeping eye contact with Dallas, with blatant desire in her expression. Interesting.

“You cleaned everything up,” Bonhi was saying, her eyes still meeting Dallas’. “I can't thank you enough.”