Page 126 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

“Damn straight.”

“When will you be at the café?”

“Probably closer to lunch. It’s my wash day.” Dahlia fluffed her hair. “Plus, I actually have a thing.”

“What kind of thing?” Talula asked, looking around for her socks.

“I’ll tell you if you’ll be my Samhain date.” Dahlia stretched her naked torso out amongst the rumpled sheets. She wore only Kiki’s ring on a necklace and her belly button jewelry. It was a sight so perfect that Talula would have agreed to chew off her own leg for another look (she told Dahlia as much).

Dahlia laughed. She sat up and took a nervous breath. “I’m talking to someone in publishing. Someone my dad knew. She wants to hear more about my book idea.”

Talula was so proud she could scream. “That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, well…” Dahlia tucked a bit of hair behind her ear, not looking at Talula. “I guess writing what I knew made more sense than I realized.”

“Do you want to practice your pitch with me? At the café?”

“Nah, it’s not a formal thing. She’s just a family friend who got back in touch, and I thought, why not see what she thinks?”

“You’re obviously going to crush it.” Talula kissed the top of Dahlia’s head. “Text me if you need anything.”

Dahlia turned her head, slipped a hand at the back of Talula’s neck, and pulled her down for a deeper kiss. When they loosened their grips from each other, Dahlia sighed and made half-hearted shooing motions. “Go before Simon explodes.”

Talula, exhausted and elated, left the house.

Talula’s step was so light on her walk home, she had to double-check several times that she wasn’t accidentally taking flight (a few times, she was). But after the third time she had to ground herself, Talula caught a flicker of shadow in her peripheral vision. She turned, trying to catch a better look. But she saw nothing. She still had a long stretch of woods to walk before she was back home, but she only managed a few more steps before the shadow appeared out of the corner of her eye again. She turned quickly, but there was only empty road. Chilled, Talula picked up her pace.

Then she heard a low whine.

Slowly, she turned. She frowned. Her shadow looked…odd. Like something unseen was casting a shadow right next to her heel. She watched it…wag at her?

Suddenly, that extra bit of shadow deepened, solidfying into the shape of a dog barely out of puppyhood, one of its pointy ears flopped over.

“Oh!” Talula said, surprised and a little nervous. “Hello?”

It looked up at her, and Talula shivered. Its eyes were no color, just pools of swirling eternity. Talula knew exactly what had been following her. It had many names—deathdog, barghest, or, sometimes, hellhound. These shadowy canines existed invisibly everywhere, only appearing to someone just before their death. Talula’s lungs felt iced over, her breath caught in a terror-filled chill. If she was seeing this creature now, did that mean she was going to…?

But then the deathdog gave a small, pained cry. Talula spotted a bright red streak across the inky black of its neck.

“You’re hurt! I’m so sorry.” She knelt. “Can I help?”

The deathdog—deathpup?—limped toward her. She scooped it up with care. The deathpup gave a little sigh and rested its head on her clavicle. Talula could see the wound wasn’t deep. One of the Council’s magical vets could stitch it up, no problem. Still, the hair on the back of Talula’s neck stood up. Deathdogs had no natural predators. They were an aspect of death itself, after all.

Talula looked down at the pup. “What happened? Can you tell me?”

The deathpup looked past her and into the brambles. Together, they watched the wind run its fingers through the leaves, dry forest branches creaking. But no answer emerged. Talula shivered again, then turned and walked speedily home.

When Talula arrived at the house, arms full of deathpup, she called out, “Simon! We have a situation!”

“What, what happened?” Simon came skittering down the entry hall. He spotted the deathpup. “Oh! Oh my…”

The deathpup wagged his tail in a puppyish greeting.

Talula explained about their visitor as Simon listened with a wary eye on the deathpup. “We can take him to the Volta and send him to Dr. Hughes. She’s a fair hand with all sorts of magical veterinary emergencies, big and small.”

“But Simon, what could have hurt him?” She swallowed. “Do you think the hunters…?”

“Absolutely not.” Simon shook his head. “The entire town is under a shield. Elegba, as infuriating as he is, enforced the ward line himself and expanded the perimeter. No magic can be detected within its bounds. Even if the hunters had some sort of magic-finding device, it would be useless within a five-kilometer radius of Pine Hollow. This young pup likely got into a scuffle with an opossum. It happens.”