Doc VHD – Sheep Interrupted

Doc, Vampire Hunting Dog.
Sheep Interrupted

I raced after the ball, ears pinned to my head.

It bounced.

I jumped and snapped it of the air. I was already turning back to Kevin by the time my feet hit the ground and I reached him in record time, the long grass tickling the pads of my feet as I ran. A bird sang a quick song and I grinned, wagging my tail. It was good to be out in the country again.

My human picked up the ball and threw it. I leapt after it once again. This time it quit bouncing before I could grab it. I picked it up, then stopped, a scent catching my attention. Dead thing.

I growled and dropped the ball.

“Doc, what’s wrong boy?”

I ignored Kevin and continued to sniff, hackles rising. It was fresh enough that the thing could still be in the area.

“Doc, what’s wrong?” My human jogged up to my side.

I growled and pawed at the ground.

“Is it a vampire?”

I stared up at him, meeting his eyes with my own and growled once.

“Ok, Doc. Follow the scent as long as you can.” He sounded sad, and angry, as he usually did when we found traces of the dead things.

I waited until he picked up my ball then started following the trail. I wasn’t a scent hound by any means, but even Border Collies could follow a trail. Especially one this obvious. Nothing else smelled like vampire.

I’d never even heard of vampires until a short time ago. Then one came and tried to kill my human. I defended Kevin and discovered I could catch a vampire with my eye. Then my human could kill it. Before I was just a Border Collie who dreamed of sheep. Now I hunt vampires. It is good to have a job.

I followed the dead thing’s trail through the meadow, pausing now and again to look around and make sure I couldn’t see it anywhere near us. Vampires were tricky, and could hide easily from my eyes, but it was hard to hide from my nose. I made it back to the parking lot where our car was and lost the trail. I growled in frustration then sat down and sighed.

“Lose the trail?” Kevin asked.

I huffed and thumped my tail once on the ground.

“That’s all right Doc.” He scratched my ears. “We know it’s here now. We can watch for it.”

I grinned at my human and followed him to our car. I wasn’t ready to go back to our little temporary home, but I didn’t want to stay at the meadow anymore. The vampire’s scent had ruined it.

The vampire kept me thinking as we drove. I wondered what it was doing out here. Before I’d only ever caught scent of the dead things in the city. Not that we spent much time in the country since we’d moved. I didn’t recognize its particular smell either.

A herd of sheep distracted me and I stared intently at them. My human had promised me that we would work sheep before we went back to the city. I hoped the vampire didn’t get in the way of that. We would have to find him fast. Kevin said we could stay for a week. I was pretty sure that meant a short time instead of a long time.

Once we had lived in the country with both my humans and I’d had all sorts of animals to herd. Then one of my humans went away and Kevin had moved us to the city. I didn’t like the city much, but I was happy to be with Kevin. I was also happy to have a job again.

“Doc, we’re going to head back to the cabin. We’ll rest and go hunting tonight.”

I flattened my ears, but I didn’t object out loud. Kevin liked hunting the dead things, and so did I, but I wanted sheep. I hoped that Kevin would realize how amazing I was at working sheep and take me to the sheepdog trials. Then I could meet Nelli and we could work sheep together.

“Doc, you’re drooling. Are you dreaming about Nelli again?”

I thumped my tail once and hid my face.

“Silly dog. I’ll see if I can find some trials on TV for you to watch while we rest.” He grinned at me and rubbed my ears.

I thumped my tail again and went back to staring out the window.

* * *

It was darker in the country at night then it was in the city. The air was clean, and fresh. It wasn’t any quieter though, the noises were just different. I liked the singing frogs and bugs a lot more than the noise and stink of cars. The cattle in the field close to our cabin mooed softly and I twitched my nose, taking in the scent of the night. I didn’t smell any vampires.

“Let’s go Doc.” I could hear the eagerness to hunt in his voice.

I perked my ears forward and jumped into the car. The loud engine shattered the peaceful night and I flattened my ears against my head. Normally when we hunted, we found old places in the city and I followed scents. I wasn’t sure where we would start out here. The dead things liked being around people. There weren’t many humans out here. I watched out the window while my human drove. It was a dark night and I didn’t see much until we made it to the very small town we were staying outside of. Town was a good place to start.

Kevin put the car outside the building where people gathered to drink and I jumped out when he opened the door. He didn’t have to tell me to start looking for the dead thing’s scent. I started walking, then waited. My human held my leash in his hand, but he shook his head.

“No Rangers here Doc. Don’t worry about your leash.”

I grinned. At home I carried my leash in my mouth so that Kevin could grab it in case a Ranger showed up. I guess there weren’t any out here. I missed living in the country. Various scents filled the air, cooked meat, drinks, cars. Cow, and sheep drifted in from outside town. I looked to both sides of the street. There were no cars, so after glancing at Kevin, I trotted across. He was right behind me.

I sniffed and smelled dogs. I paused, investigating their unfamiliar scents and then moved on. I reached the end of the block without smelling the vampire and wondered if maybe it hadn’t come to town. I glanced up at Kevin and whined.

“No luck?”

I sighed and flattened my ears to my head.

“Let’s try the other side. This town isn’t very big so it won’t take us long to check it all.”

I grinned at him, wagged my tail once and put my nose to the task. I sniffed forever before I caught the barest hint of vampire. It was faint, and I was almost convinced it wasn’t really there. My nose was pretty good though, so I continued to sniff the wall that the scent lingered on. Maybe it had touched the wall here some time ago.

“Find something Doc?”

I wagged my tail but otherwise concentrated on the scent. Once I had it firmly in my nose I tried to trail it. It was so faint that I lost the trail quickly. I growled, frustrated, and went back to the scent. I tried to go the other direction and lost it.

Finally I sat and touched my nose to the spot on the wall and flattened my ears.

“Maybe he touched the wall here?” Kevin scratched my ears while he contemplated the wall.

My human looked around the building, studying the wall and the ground. We walked all the way around it a few times, but I couldn’t catch the smell except at the first corner.

“Can’t figure out what he’d want with a grocery store,” Kevin muttered. “Maybe he was just passing through.”

I planted my nose to the concrete sidewalk, certain I could find the vampire if I looked long enough.

We were both starting to yawn by the time we gave up.

“Come on Doc. Let’s go.”

I whined at the disappointment in his voice. I knew he wasn’t mad at me, but I still felt bad. He scratched my ears. I followed him back to the car and jumped in when he opened the door for me.

A whiff of dead thing hit my nose just as the door shut. I barked a warning and threw myself at the closed door. Kevin turned and looked over his shoulder. I barked, and pawed frantically at the window. My human was reaching for the door when something jerked him away. I barely saw a flash of dark cloth and a pale face before Kevin vanished. He didn’t even have time to yell.

I lost my mind and clawed at the door, trying to get out, trying to get to my human before the vampire killed him.

My paws were bleeding by the time I gave up tearing at the door. I barely felt the pain, fear making my heart sick. I paced back and forth on the back seat a few times then stared at the door. I’d watched my human open these doors countless times. Surely I could open them too. I tilted my head and stared, thinking. Kevin always grabbed a part of it and pulled. I jumped into the front seat where he sat and sniffed the door. His scent was strongest on a small part of the door. I pawed at it, trying to get it to move. I started to get frantic again and forced myself to calm down. I knew I wasn’t supposed to bite his car, but it was an emergency so I carefully bit at the door, trying to grab the part that smelled most like Kevin. It took a while to get my mouth properly around the piece but I finally managed and I squeezed. Something clicked and I felt the door move a little. I pushed forward and the door swung open. Before it could shut again, I jumped out, barely feeling the sharp gravel against my sore paws as I found the scent and tore off after it.

* * *

“What do you want with me?” I heard Kevin demand. He sounded afraid and angry.

I was crouched outside a small cabin in the country, looking in a basement window. It seemed like a strange place for vampires to be, but most of the things they did really confused me. I just knew they needed to die or they would hurt people.

“We hear you’ve killed a lot of our kind,” a vampire said.

“It’s kind of my thing. Yeah.”

Another vampire entered the room. “Where’s his dog?”

“What do we want with a dog?” the first vampire asked.

“Idiot, he hunts with his dog.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at the other dead thing.

“That’s just a damn rumor. Dogs won’t even go near us, let alone hunt us. There was a mutt in the car. I’ll go back and get it tomorrow.” The vampire sat in a chair and stared at my human.

“No, you’ll go now. By tomorrow someone will have let the dog out. And it’s not a rumor. Martin saw it. We have to kill the dog too.” The other vampire walked into view.

The first vampire sighed and heaved himself out of his chair. “Fine. Don’t start until I get back.”

“Don’t you hurt my dog!” Kevin struggled against the chair he was tied in.

“Relax. It’ll all be over soon, Hunter.”

I flattened myself to the ground as the first vampire stomped out of the basement and up the stairs. I knew they could be completely quiet, so he must have been mad. I hoped looking for me in the car would take time. One dead thing was easier to kill than two. The vampire slammed the cabin door open and started running back to town. I lost sight of him then I lost his scent. Satisfied he was gone, I slunk around to the front door. In his haste, the dead thing had left it open a crack. I nosed it open and slipped inside, moving as quietly as I could.

My paws were really starting to hurt, but I ignored them. They didn’t matter, only helping Kevin mattered.

“I think I’ll finish you off before Jensen gets back. He’ll want you to watch us kill your dog, but I’m not quite that mean.” The female vampire walked over to my human.

I barked a warning and slammed into the vampire’s chest with all four of my feet when she turned around. She yelled in surprise and I barked in her face. We hit the ground and I bounced off of her, slamming into Kevin’s chair and knocking him over. I tore at the ropes around his wrist until the vampire grabbed me by the scruff and flung me across the room.

I yelped but jumped to my feet. My side twinged but I could move so I wasn’t seriously injured.

“Doc, catch her!”

The vampire glanced at my human. He was free of the chair.

I barked, trying to get her attention.

She looked at me, almost lazily, apparently not worried about one human and one dog.

I met her eyes and grabbed them with my Border Collie Eye, the same look I used to make the sheep do what I wanted when I was herding. She tried to jerk away, but I held her mind. I could feel her fighting me, but my anger added to my strength and she couldn’t break my gaze.

“Hey babe, the dog was gone.” I heard the male dead thing enter the basement.

The vampire in front of me exploded, blood and bits spattering my coat.

The other vampire screamed in rage and dove at my human. I launched myself at him, anticipating where he’d be by the time I reached him, and collided solidly with his hips. The vampire grabbed me and held me up to his face. He snarled, displaying long, sharp teeth. I growled back and kick at him with my back legs.

The vampire snarled something at me, but I couldn’t hear him over my own angry growl. I tried to catch his eyes, but he glared at my human.

“Don’t hurt him!”

“You’re both gonna die.”

I twisted my head around and clamped down on the vampire’s arm. He screamed and looked back at me. I met his eyes and caught his mind. This vampire was harder to hold on to. I was tired from my first fight and he was very angry. I almost lost him, but Kevin was quick and he drove a stake into the vampire’s back.

He howled in pain and dropped me. I hit the ground on my back feet, prepared for the fall, and twisted around, just as the vampire exploded all over me and my human.

“Doc!”

I wagged my tail, grinning, and threw myself into my human’s arms.

* * *

“All right Doc, let’s go home.”

I sat in the doorway and refused to move. He had promised me sheep. I wasn’t going to let a vampire get in the way of my vacation.

“Doc, you’re injured. You can’t work sheep.”

I glared at him. My paws didn’t hurt that bad, and my side barely bothered me at all. The bandages the vet had wrapped on my paws wouldn’t hinder my run.

“Doc, come on. Now.”

I flinched at the hint of annoyance in Kevin’s voice, but I stayed sitting. I wanted to herd sheep. He had promised.

“Doc.”

I flattened my ears and lay down, whining.

My human sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

I perked my ears forward and thumped my tail once, trying to encourage him.

“You’re injured. You can’t.”

I jumped up and danced around, then crouched and crept forward as if I were working the herd. Then I jumped up and ran around him once before sitting back in the doorway.

“Get in the car.”

I sat up on my haunches and put my paws over my nose as if I was ignoring him.

“If I take you to the farm will you get in the car?”

I stood and barked once.

“All right, fine. You deserve it. But you have to promise me you’ll stop when it starts to hurt.”

I bolted for the car, wincing at the damage I’d done to the door. Kevin wasn’t at all concerned about it though so I supposed it didn’t matter and put it out of my mind. We were going to go herd sheep!

The drive seemed to take forever but we finally pulled into the sheep ranch. Kevin let me out and I walked next to him while we greeted the owner.

“What happened to your dog?”

Most of my attention was on the sheep. I could just see them on the side of a nice rolling hill. I quivered in excitement while I waited for my human to let me go.

“Hurt himself, but he won’t go home until we work sheep. I promised him.”

“Border Collie or not, he’s just a dog, take him home and come back when he’s not injured.”

I heard that and trotted a few paces away and turned to stare at the humans, flatly refusing to leave until I got to work the sheep.

“See?”

“Huh,” the other human said. “Well fine he’s your dog.”

I barked in pure joy and jumped, spinning in quick circles.

“All right Doc, bring ‘em up.”

I ducked under the fence and tore across the field, reveling in the feel of the grass under my bandaged paws, the wind rushing across my face and the scent of sheep filling my nose.

It was good to have a job.












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