The High School Reunion From Hell - Saranna DeWylde Page 0,11

wanted to keep an eye on me, too. That was the only answer that made sense. I’d rather have imagined he wanted to dance with me at Prom Redux, but the honest truth would do a better job of keeping my head in the game.

Vlad bumped his head into my hand, as if he sensed my distress. He probably did. Dogs were good like that.

“Thanks, Buddy. You want to go meet some mortal dogs?”

He looked up at me and licked his chops. I wasn’t sure if that boded well or not.

We made our way down the endless corridor to the elevators, and from there to the daycare. The girl who opened the door was young, maybe a college freshman. She was bright-eyed, and pink-cheeked, obviously happy to be there.

“Is this Vlad?”

She actually seemed excited to meet him. She immediately dropped to her haunches and gave my sweet boy a big smile. She didn’t seem afraid of him or intimidated at all.

“How are you, sugar?” she asked him. “My name’s Emily.”

Vlad turned his head to the side, as if considering. He looked up at me, and I nodded my approval. He nosed at her shoulder. Then gave a giant swipe of his tongue across her cheek. She was unmindful of the drool, or of anything else but giving my dog the attention he wanted. His tail wagged so hard it formed a complete circle.

I almost cried.

It was such a relief to meet someone else who wasn’t afraid of him.

“He’s so sweet! I love him already,” she said. “Has he ever met another dog like him?”

I blinked at her in shock. “I… I didn’t think there were other dogs like him.”

“Oh, we only get them a couple times a year. But we might be in luck. There’s a vampire poodle at the daycare this week for the Leavenworth High Reunion.”

“You’re shitting me?” I now had a fourth objective, because I had to get in good with this person. We were going to be the best of friends. Vlad wouldn’t be alone at the park anymore.

“Yeah, no. Lemme just squeeze by ya,” she said, as she disengaged from Vlad and went to the desk to pull out an iPad. Images flashed and she gave a little cheer. “Here, she’s in the run.”

I liked that they had cameras on all the dogs all the time. I could see in various screens where they were feeding, bathing, and playing with the dogs. The particular dog she wanted me to look at was a standard poodle. She was almost as big as Vlad. She was all black, and had bright red bows in her ears that matched the glowing red of her eyes.

Emily cooed at the iPad. “Mina is such a sweet girl, too.”

Mina? Was this whole weekend vampire-themed? The dog was cute as hell, literally, and my buddy needed a fanged friend. But if that poodle tried to get up in my dress, things were going to take a sharp turn.

Suddenly, Mina perked and looked directly at the camera, almost like she knew she was being watched. That was slightly creepy.

“Mina wants to meet him!”

“Wait.” I frowned at Emily. “How do you know that?”

“You know how some vampires are telepathic? Mina is, too. Does Vlad had any special powers?” She asked as if this were the most normal thing in the world. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that. Being a chosen one and all.”

I cringed. I didn’t realize she knew who I was.

“Well, what do you think? Should we introduce them?”

“I… Vlad doesn’t have any special powers, but he does have some… extra needs.” God, I didn’t want to tell this girl that my dog would hump everything in sight.

She nodded with understanding. “Anything besides the hump-a-thon? Mina does that too. It’s no trouble. We have some love pillows, and various items they can engage with. It doesn’t hurt anything.”

“That’s amazing,” I whispered, barely holding back dog-parent tears of joy. “There shouldn’t be anything—”

Shit.

What if he pooped out the pinky ring?

I’d spent the past day tracking his movements, so to speak, and no ring or fingers had emerged. Hopefully, the bones would dissolve in his vampire tummy. Who knew, maybe the ring would, too. But the best thing for it was to get ahead of it. “Oh, and he ate something yesterday that he shouldn’t have. My grandfather’s pinky ring. If he drops it, would you mind collecting it?”

“Sure. No problem.” She turned her attention to Vlad and rubbed his sides. “Are you ready to