“Vampires?” he asked.

Chase nodded.

“How much do you know? Did your father explain?”

“No,” Chase said. “My sister, she read a file. But it can’t be—”

“It is. I know it’s hard.” He looked at Chase with empathy. “I remember when someone explained it to me the first time. It … felt crazy.” He sighed. “It will take a while to get used to.” He patted Chase’s shoulder. “But you will be okay. And I’ll be here to help you.”

Chase’s mind ran like a fan, over and over, trying to figure out if he could really trust this guy.

There was a sound at the door. “Oh, someone’s wanting to see you.” He got up and opened it.

Baxter stormed in, his tail thumping, his whole body wiggling with joy. He let out a low moan, then jumped up on the bed and immediately started licking Chase’s face. Chase’s eyes filled with tears and the dog licked them away, too.

He finally looked at the man still standing there. He cleared his face of the weakness. “You found him?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Is he okay?” Chase asked, running his hand over the dog’s black fur.

“Yeah. I think he is. I was worried about him at first. All he did was bark. I had a friend look after him when I went to find the plane. I was told he barked the whole time. Never stopped. Not even for one minute. As soon as I came in with you, he went silent.”

Chase remembered hearing Baxter when he’d been in that strange tunnel of light. It had been because he’d wanted to find the dog that he’d turned away. He’d heard Baxter’s barks. Or he’d thought he’d heard him.

The dog whined and dropped his head on Chase’s lap, licking his hand.

“I’ll leave you two alone. You’ll be weak for a few more days and then … then I’ll show you a thing or two about what you can do now.”

Chase didn’t understand, but he nodded. The man left. Chase reached over to the nightstand and picked up the dog collar. “This is for you, buddy,” he said, his chest filled with grief.

He changed out the dog’s collar and then buried his face in Baxter’s thick fur and let a few more tears fall. “I thought I’d lost you, too. But no.” He pulled back and took the dog’s face in his hand and looked into his dark eyes. “It was really you, wasn’t it? You called me back. I heard you.”

Somehow Chase knew it was true. Baxter had saved his life. He didn’t know how he could hear the dog from the mountainside. Didn’t know how he’d survived the crash. Or what the hell had happened to him, or … He looked at the glass with a red rim around it. Was that … ? Oh, hell, he still didn’t know what was happening to him. He bent his legs again, remembering not being able to move them. And his arm. It had been broken. How had he healed so quickly?

Taking a deep breath, he glanced at the collar. NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A CHALLENGE.

Live, son, his dad’s words echoed inside him. Live for us.

“I’ll try, Dad. I’ll try.”