I shrugged. "He does magic. Seems like a mage thing to me."
"He's stronger than I am. How do you explain that?"
Turning and heading back to the armchair in the living room that I liked, I shrugged again. "There's spells for that sort of thing."
George rubbed his shoulder as he followed me into the living room. "Is he really a vampire hunter?"
I shook my head. "No. His parents were. I think they taught him everything they knew, but he's not really the type to go out hunt someone down just because they're a vampire, or a were. He'll defend anyone he thinks he needs to, but he's not going to look for trouble."
I curled up in the armchair and hoped no one else would ask awkward questions I didn't want to answer.
Mom and Rick focused on Donna. Tears streaked her eyes and she clutched her hands into fists while they tried to comfort her. Matt and Eric had been banished to the bedroom, and George paced by the front door. Dad flipped on the TV. Though the reception flickered with the storm, most of the local coverage was about the closures due to blowing snow.
I pulled out my phone and held it, in case Doc tried to get a hold of me. I knew reception was bad here, but maybe he could get a text through.
Time crawled, but finally my phone dinged.
Doc: Found him. He's okay.
Sofia: Great!
"Donna, Doc found Bobby. He said he's okay."
Donna started sobbing.
It was still about another half an hour before the front door banged open, and Doc stumbled in. I jumped to my feet and just barely beat Donna and Rick to the door.
George shut it behind them, closing off the draft of cold air and swirl of snow that followed Doc inside. He had Bobby wrapped in his own jacket and clutched to his chest. Snow coated both of them.
Rick took Bobby from Doc.
"Bobby, are you okay?" Donna managed through her sobs.
The kid nodded, and Rick set him down and handed Doc's jacket back to him.
"Where did you go?"
"I tried to go to the barn, but got lost." He cried, too.
"He needs to get warmed up," Doc ordered. He shook the snow off of himself before wrapping his arms tight around himself, shoulders hunched.
"You need to get warmed up, too," I ordered, and wrapped my arms around him. Deliberately placing myself between him and George just in case the werewolf thought he might try to take advantage of the situation. Doc shivered in my arms, but I guessed he would warm up quickly as he didn't seem worried.
Dad handed Doc a thick blanket, and I pulled him into the living room and shoved him into the armchair, before sitting in his lap. He wrapped the blanket around us and soon his tremors subsided.
I rested my head against his chest and let him borrow my warmth while everyone fussed over Bobby.
His story slowly came out. His older brothers had been tormenting him again, so he'd decided to go to the barn. That wouldn't have been so bad. Chilly, but the farm dogs were in there along with some livestock, and he would have been able to stay warm and get away from his tormentors for a while. The blizzard had disoriented him, and once he realized he was lost, he had found some shelter out of the wind and tried to keep warm. He was mildly hypothermic, but they were slowly getting him warmed up.
"You okay?" I whispered.
"Yes." He tightened his arms around me.
Once it was clear Bobby was okay, Rick turned his attention to us.
"Doc, we can't thank you enough."
My boyfriend tensed, not comfortable with the attention. He nodded. "You're welcome."
"Are you warming up?"
"Yes. I'll be fine before long."
"Need anything?"
Doc shook his head.
Rick went back to helping with Bobby. They finally decided he was warm enough to try a warm bath and herded him off to the bathroom.
George sat down on the couch and stared at us. We both ignored him as much as we could.
Dad helped Mom in the kitchen, making lunch for everyone.
"Have you heard from anyone?" Doc asked after a while.
"No. They've been strangely silent." Ed, especially, had been texting a lot since they knew the demon had given me my body back for a while.
"Hmm."
I drifted off in Doc's arms, warm and comfortable, only to be startled awake moments later.
"Sofia."
"What!" I jerked upright, looking around.
Doc still held me cradled in his arms
"I'm going to help them go check the stock. The storm has let up somewhat."
I grumbled, warm and comfortable.
He laughed. "Sorry."
"I'll probably survive this."
He kissed me on the top of my head, and I crawled out of his arms.
"I'll come. I think my coveralls are still here." I glanced at Dad to make sure he didn't have any objections, but he nodded. The more hands the better.
I hurried to my room and found my warm clothing. I might actually bring some of it back to Colorado with me. Especially since we would have space in Doc's truck. Of course, it might not matter, anyway.
"We need to check that gully in the south pasture," Dad was saying when I returned. "The cows like to go in there during storms, but they get stuck. We'll probably have to pull a few out. We can throw some hay and check the horses. Cut open the stock tanks and hope they get enough water before they freeze again."
Doc nodded. Someone had found him coveralls, and he had bundled up along with the rest of us. I didn't actually know how much the cold bothered him, but clearly not badly or he would have been in worse shape earlier.
Dad fired up the old farm truck. The bed was full of hay and we all squished into the cab. If we got the farm truck stuck in one of the pastures, it wouldn't be the end of
