Finding Midnight (15 page)

She received some funny looks from the
doctor, Tori and a few of the waiting patients when she walked in
with Sully carrying a fire extinguisher in one hand and a cup of
coffee in the other, though she was getting used to odd looks,
considering not many people were quite sure what to make of the
hellhound walking with her. Some stared in curious fear, and some
gathered up their children and ran for the hills, but still others
ran up to them to find out what he was and asked to touch him.

Summer found the children to have the best
responses to Sully. They’d watch him for a while determining if he
acting scary, but when they decided he acted more or less like a
normal dog, they wanted to touch him. One little girl hugged him
until her mother noticed what she was doing and yanked her away
from Sully in a panic. Another little boy asked if he could take
him home to scare his little brother, to which Summer responded
‘no’ and slightly scolded him for trying to find things to scare
his brother with.

Dr. Stuart confirmed Sully had contracted a
bacteria or virus and though he prescribed antibiotics for him
(just to make sure) he wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t be giving him
something more hellhound-ish—maybe some sulphur or hell fire.
Summer knew this herself, but without knowledge of a hellhound’s
proper nutrition, Dr. Stuart and she would just have to wing it.
The only person who had seemed to have any knowledge of hellhounds
was Hunter the demon, and she hadn’t seen him since she had been
mostly at the house for the past couple of weeks.

Though it felt good to do something she
considered ‘normal,’ she also couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty
for going back to work without really having made any progress in
finding poor Ms. Midnight’s rat. Was she giving up? She didn’t want
to give up, but she really didn’t even know which direction to
pursue. Would she ever figure out what Ms. Midnight’s rat was or
where it had gotten off to? She didn’t know and felt as if she was
letting the old woman down.

They certainly weren’t what anyone would
consider to be close, by any measure of the term, but seeing the
lucid side of Ms. Midnight that day she had seen Sully had given
Summer a glimpse of what she felt sure was what the woman once was.
She knew age and isolation could be the cause of how Ms. Midnight
was now, but it seemed after that glimpse that something much more
severe and horrible had been the cause. That thought made Summer
sad and feel even worse for letting her down. Whoever or whatever
this rat was—was apparently very important to Ms. Midnight.

Dr. Stuart and Tori tried to make Summer
feel better about her guilt by assuring her that without more
credible information from Ms. Midnight, it was practically
impossible for her to move forward. Anything she did would be just
grasping at straws.

While she pondered all this, a thought
occurred to her. Ms. Midnight had responded so kindly to Sully’s
presence that maybe another visit from Sully would prove fruitful.
So it was decided—first chance she got, she’d get the two of them
together and see if anything came of it.

She also hoped that while she was at work
that maybe they’d be due a delivery. According to Tori, Hunter had
asked after Summer during the last couple of deliveries, but they
weren’t expecting any until later in the week. She hoped to catch
up with him and see if he had any info on supplements or nutrition
for a hellhound. It was a long shot that he’d know any such thing,
but after all, who better to ask (other than another hellhound)
than another creature from hell—seemed somehow logical in a crazy
and diluted way.

Chapter 14

One of the best things about being back at
work was lunch with Tori. Aside from feeling starving, since Summer
had just the bagel for breakfast, it was the ultimate sign of
normalcy for her. She and Tori had been having at least one meal
together every day for just about all their lives, so these last
couple of weeks without the normal banter from her BFF—well, let’s
just say it had been sorely missed.

“You know, Tori, I have to tell you…I had my
doubts about your graveyard movie night, but it was really fun. You
did a fabulous job,” Summer said then took a bite of her sandwich.
Sully lay beside her, singeing the grass with his stuffy nose.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Well, I guess I thought sitting on some
ancient guy’s grave would be more disturbing than it actually was,”
Summer admitted.

Tori shook her head, smirking as she
finished chewing, and then said, “You crack me up. The way I look
at it is those poor old souls haven’t had any entertainment in God
knows how long. They deserve a movie once in a while and in doing
so, they’re willing to share their plot with the one providing that
entertainment.”

“I love how you think, Tori.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip of soda.
“So Sully really set your table on fire?”

“Yeah! Poor thing. Then outside he caught
grass on fire.”

“I wish I could throw flames with my mouth,”
Tori said with a mischievous smile.

“Really? Wouldn’t that be like having the
ultimate bad breath?” Summer joked.

Tori laughed, “Yeah, but that nasty Sister
Eunice from 10
^th
grade certainly would have thought
twice before scolding me for dying my eyebrows purple, if I could
throw a few flames her way.”

Summer laughed and nearly blew soda through
her nose.

“I wouldn’t hurt her, but it sure would have
been nice to scare her a bit,” Tori admitted.

“You’re terrible,” Summer said.

“That’s why you love me so much,” Tori said
proudly.

“You’re probably right,” Summer
admitted.

“So what was up with the voices and the owl
last night?” Tori asked.

“Funny you should ask—it seems I hear
animals speaking.”

“No way. Really?”

“Yeah. In fact Sully and I talked about it
last night. Once I got over the initial shock and disbelief of
having a conversation with my dog, it was pretty cool.”

“No kidding.”

“I know…how bizarre, right?”

“Definitely. So did slobber-puss have
anything important to say?”

“Not really, unless you consider his plea
for playing ball important. But then again, he wasn’t really
feeling very well.”

“So just out of the blue, all of sudden
you’re talking to animals,” Tori said, trying to wrap her head
around the thought.

“Yeah. I mean, I had been hearing things for
a day or so, but I was just brushing them off as my mind playing
tricks.”

“You sure that’s still not the case?” Tori
jabbed.

“Ha! Ha! Yes, I’m sure.” Summer gave her a
faux punch in the shoulder. “Hey, I was wondering if you might come
with me to the neighbor’s tonight?”

“You finally met your neighbor? The one that
tortures cats?” Tori said with a little too much excitement.

“I don’t know that he tortures cats,” Summer
corrected.

“This is the neighbor that had that cat in
the window that you said looked like the boogie-man was after him,”
Tori stated.

“I don’t think I said that, but yes, that
neighbor and no, I haven’t met him or her yet.”

“Then why are you going over there?”

“Sully found this,” Summer said as she took
the collar off her wrist and handed it to Tori.

“Morti?”

“Yeah.”

“So you think…what? That the cat you saw
might be Morti? And he might have gotten out of the house?” Tori
surmised, handing the collar back.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know, but without a
number or an address, I felt I should check to see if the only cat
I’ve seen so far in the neighborhood has been lost.”

“You live backed up to the woods; there
could be a billion cats around and in that neighborhood. For all
you know, Old Lady Midnight might have a cat—maybe named Morti
Rat,” Tori concluded.

“That would kill two birds with one stone,
wouldn’t it? I think if Ms. Midnight had a cat, I would certainly
have seen it by now and Sully most definitely would have sniffed it
out. He certainly liked barking at the one in the house next
door.”

“The chances of this Morti being the cat you
saw in the window are one in a billion. You know that, right?”

“I do, but it also gives me an excuse to
check out the neighbor to see if the cat I saw is okay,” Summer
said.

“So what you’re really saying is that you
want to snoop around. See what’s up with this neighbor.”

“Kind of.”

“You know me, I’m all for snooping,” Tori
said.

“So you’ll come with me?”

“Sure, but why me? Why not take a sexy blond
vampire with you?” Tori suggested with a wink.

“What do I need a vampire for when I’ve got
my ninja friend to protect me? Isn’t that why you’ve been taking
Tae kwon-do for all these years? To protect me?” she said, making
karate chop movements in the air in front of her. “Besides, I’m a
little confused about Jackson,” she admitted.

“No, I did not take twelve years of martial
arts to protect you, but to make myself nimble and strong LIKE a
vampire,” Tori giggled. “What are you confused about? I thought it
all went rather well…even ended with a kiss if I’m not
mistaken.”

“Yeah…it did, and the kiss was amazing,
but…” Summer paused.

“But what?”

“I don’t know, I can’t help but think he’s
keeping something from me.”

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure. It’s just that certain
subjects seem to send him into ‘duck and cover’ mode. We’ll be
having a perfectly innocent and interesting conversation and the
next thing I know, he won’t say a word,” Summer explained.

“He’s just shy, girlfriend. You’re making
too much of it,” Tori said.

“Maybe…but it’s weird. He seems to know an
awful lot about dragons and puzzle boxes,” Summer told her.

“Puzzle boxes? How did you get on that
topic?”

“He saw the box that Sister Mary Louise gave
me the day of graduation—the envelope from whomever dropped me off
at the orphanage? You know the one.”

“Oh, right. The crazy box that has no way
inside,” Tori recalled.

“Right. According to Jackson, it’s a
Japanese puzzle box.”

“Cool. So it does open?”

“Supposedly.”

“I take it by that comment that he didn’t
open it for you,” Tori said, tossing a chip into her mouth.

“No. He said something very Confucius-like…I
think it was something like, ‘solving the puzzle is part of the
path to the secret within.’”

“I can only point the way, Grasshopper. You
must walk the path yourself,” Tori said in her best ‘Kung Fu’ blind
Master Po imitation.

“I know, right?!” Summer said, laughing.
“But he did show me the first move.”

“So he knew a lot about puzzle boxes,
there’s nothing creepy about that.”

“No, but when I pointed it out, he clammed
up. Same with the dragon scale—you were there. Didn’t it seem a
little strange how he reacted to my asking him how he knew all this
stuff about dragons?”

“He said he read about them.”

“Yeah! But he seemed really uncomfortable
when I asked him.”

“Maybe. It could be nothing too. Or maybe he
had some bad experience with revealing too much about himself too
soon. I don’t know, but I certainly wouldn’t worry about it,” Tori
said.

“You’re probably right. It was a great
kiss,” Summer said and flushed.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. Oh, and I spoke to Daniel last
night.”

“Oooohhhh! The dreamy fallen angel? What did
he want?”

“He wanted me to stop seeing Jackson,”
Summer said.

“Really? Why?” Tori licked her spoon of its
last remnants of chocolate pudding.

“Not sure. He just said I shouldn’t be
consorting with vampires,”

“Wait a minute. Wasn’t he the one who said
he couldn’t interfere with which direction your life took?”

“Yes, but apparently dating a vampire is
‘endangering’ my life,” Summer retorted.

“Sounds pretty bogus to me,” Tori said.
“Seems like he gets to pick what he deems to be important, and you
don’t get any say in the matter. It almost sounds like something a
jealous boyfriend might say.”

“Exactly,” Summer said, stamping out a flame
that had ignited near Sully’s nose.

“Did you tell him that?”

“Not in those exact words, but I pretty much
told him I thought it seemed to go against what he told me last
time we spoke.”

“How did he react?” Tori said, gathering up
her litter from lunch.

“He was tripping over his words and then
just up and disappeared.”

“Yup. Sounds like he’s got a crush on our
new town vet,” Tori said.

Summer followed her to the trash can with
Sully right behind her. “I’m not a vet yet. I’m an intern.”

“Whatever,” Tori said as they walked back to
the office.

*****

Armed with antibiotics, a fresh fire
extinguisher and a very tired Sully, Summer headed home with Tori.
She didn’t really have a plan per se, aside from knocking on the
door and seeing what happened.

It wasn’t exactly what you might consider a
creepy house, but it was certainly in worse shape than the mansion.
At least the mansion was sound with its damage mostly
cosmetic—nothing a good power wash, a coat of paint, taming of some
overgrown shrubs and vines and some minor repairs to the porch
couldn’t fix. This house, on the other hand, needed real work. The
porch seemed to lean to one side and there was no hint noticeable
as to what color the house might have been at one time, only that
it had white trim once.

Maybe it was the sight of the large-bellied
cat in the window that day not so long ago that burned in her mind,
but Summer didn’t like it here. She couldn’t explain what it was
that disturbed her—it was just a feeling.

It was apparent, though, that Tori wasn’t
liking the feel of the place either as the two of them crept slowly
up the walk to the disintegrating porch. Tori looked at Summer;
Summer looked at Tori, and both seemed to be asking the other the
same unspoken question—
should we be doing this?