Deaths Excellent Vacation

saliva-dripping jaws and red glowing eyes barreled right toward Justin. But as her arm lifted to fire the weapon, he shed his clothes and turned into the huge black dog she’d seen in her mini morning vision.
    Justin didn’t have a huge dog . . . Justin was the huge dog? Now it all made sense . . . This explained so much.
    Brain numb, her outstretched arm held its aim. Somewhere in her gut she knew if she didn’t hit the charging beast before it collided with the protective Newfoundland, the infection from the one would surely ruin the other. It all happened in slow motion; it all happened in seconds. Her arm came up, she pulled the trigger. Her shot tore into the beast’s shoulder, which knocked it back and only made it angrier. Justin leapt out of the way of a vicious claw swipe and made the beast charge again, and just before impact, Justin dodged out of the way to allow the beast to hurtle into the large oak tree in the front yard.
    The weight of the centuries-old oak crashed down on the monster and temporarily pinned it. Jagged branches dug into its fetid flesh, making it howl in agony as it struggled to free itself. Roars of fury cut into the night as the Newfoundland circled his quarry, forcing the beast to expend both energy and blood.
    Justin was a shape-shifter? That reality alone would have been enough to make her pass out, if their lives weren’t on the line. She squeezed hard on the trigger, and this time the slug caught the beast in its side. But there was no telling how many bullets she’d need to finally put the creature down. In one angry toss, it flung the tree off itself and was getting up. The only saving grace was that the wounded thing in her front yard was obviously having trouble deciding who to go after first. That bought them maybe two seconds, as it quickly made up its mind and whirled on Justin.
    A patrol car screeched up as Jessica continued to fire. A shotgun blast hit the beast right between the eyes when it turned toward the new sound, and then the sheriff aimed at the fleeing dog.
    “No, Sheriff! That’s my guard dog!” Jessica shouted as the sheriff whirled around and Justin bounded off between the trailers.
    “Jesus Christ in heaven, what the hell was that thing, Jess?” Sheriff Moore scratched his head, still shaken. Sweat poured down his face as he watched the beast turn into a naked, voluptuous woman. The poor man seemed dangerously close to a coronary.
    “You know what it was,” Jessica said quietly.
    “Where’d the dog go?” Sheriff Moore stammered, looking around. “I got to thinking about what you said, some things your momma used to tell me . . . then I got worried because you were gone—and you never go anywhere. Thought maybe—”
    “You told me to go on vacation, remember?” Jessica’s gaze remained fixed on the body that was slowly turning to ash. “Damn, she must have been really old.”
    “But that killer dog . . .”
    “Sheriff, he’s loyal and brave, and I love him,” she said loud enough for Justin to hear. “I went to New Orleans to find him . . . No doubt he fled back there, so he wouldn’t be shot. Given what was out here, I guess I needed him more than I realized.” Emotionally spent, Jessica started back up the trailer steps. “But I told you I wasn’t crazy.”
    She shut the screen door and listened as the stricken sheriff drove off. Raphael came to her mind and, without waiting to process any other thought, she called her brother.
    A very sleepy voice entered the receiver, and Jessica pressed her cell phone to her ear. “You up?”
    “Do you know what time it is, boo?”
    “I met somebody while on vacation,” she said, ignoring his cross tone. She needed to talk, needed to hear encouragement in the form of a friendly voice that understood the strange life that lived side by side with the supernatural.
    “Get out—divulge all,” Raphael said, sounding as though he was waking up.
    “Well, for starters, he’s a shape-shifter.”
    Raphael sucked his teeth. “Boo, don’t be so judgmental, we’ve all got issues.”

Epilogue
    ONE MONTH LATER . . .
     
    “I told you she’d be back,” Grand said in a triumphant tone. “Mark my words. You jes’ lucky you was able to get back in your car real sneaky and come home after she went to sleep. But you mighta made both of you all sleep better if you would have trusted her to not hold your condition against you, especially after saving her life. She would have let you stay, but