Go home, Emily. You don’t want to be here for this.” – Rabbit
Loyal, resourceful, watchful.
Dangerous.
Fair-skinned, with black, wavy hair and dark brown eyes, Rabbit proves to be a loyal friend of Emily Swift.
Rabbit is introduced in the first book of the Door to Door Paranormal Mystery series (Door to Door) as a smiling ally to Emily before reappearing in book two of the trilogy (Through the Door), where he helps Emily track down her mother as she wanders through the Empire causing chaos. It’s in this second book that readers also witness a darker side of the man as he and the Rabbit Network take revenge on a heartless killer. Rabbit returns in Doors Wide Open, playing a critical role and bringing the Network back into action as the battle with the Fringe surges in a violent climax.
Emily describes Rabbit upon first meeting the man:
He was dressed in a short black leather jacket, with layers of flannel shirts poking out from the bottom. He wore fitted black jeans tucked into heavy work boots. A chain ran from his belt to a wallet. His grey knit cap pushed out a few dark curls across his forehead and over his ears. He looked to be somewhere in his early twenties.
and:
…He grinned, and I noted what a friendly smile he had. His whole face got in on the action… …I noticed he wasn’t wearing gloves and his hands looked like they saw some labor. Working man…
In Through the Door, Emily lands on Lucie Bellerose’s doorstep looking for help. After learning Emily’s whereabouts, Rabbit follows. In a seemingly innocent conversation about who eats what (Rabbit is a vegetarian), Lucie intimates that not all Rabbits are cute and cuddly. Ooh…foreshadowing?
Well, Rabbits have canines,” I said, pointing my thumb at my friend as he ate. “At least the human Rabbits do. I think.”
Rabbit looked up, swallowing. His eyes bounced from me to Lucie and back to me again. “I’m not showing anyone my teeth.”
“Oh, sure they do. I was just being cheeky.” Lucie handed me a bowl of the bulgur salad. She leaned against the counter and dug through her own bowl with a fork. Fishing out a piece of feta, she continued. “Besides, ever read Watership Down? Or see the original cartoon from the seventies?”
“I know I saw the cartoon a long time ago. Kind of intense, right?” I asked. “There was some surprising violence. Not all rabbits are cute, cuddly, and harmless.”
“Remember that,” Lucie said, pointing an empty fork at me. Her gaze met Rabbit’s briefly… …My friend watched Lucie with a thoughtful expression following her comment about Watership Down. His nose twitched once, and he cleared his throat before speaking…
Rabbit (and the Rabbits in general) have been accused of vigilantism.
Lucie’s Best Friend
Rabbit, along with magic man John Templeton, returns in the Bellerose Witchline series. Following his experiences in keeping Emily Swift safe in the Door to Door Mysteries, Rabbit shows up in the first chapter of A Thin Witchline Between Love & Hate. As the story moves forward, it’s clear that he has become Lucie Bellerose’s most steadfast defender and, eventually, her best friend.
Friend.
In A Thin Witchline Between Love & Hate, Lucie observes:
And then there was Rabbit. I could feel our relationship deepening. I took a big swig of wine. Rabbit was always looking out for me. It was his nature to take care of others. He solved problems and stayed loyal. And he was cute. I loved to tease him about his hair; those soft, black curls were irresistible.
He also had incredibly sexy arms. I swirled the wine in my glass before taking another swallow. I wasn’t blind. Rabbit’s masculinity was appealing. He turned more than a few heads when we spent happier times together last summer, but he never seemed to notice. I knew he had one or two ‘friends’ he kept company with from time to time. He never shared any details, of course, but there’d been a few mornings I’d guessed what he’d been up to the night before. He blushed adorably when I teased him.
I sighed. I wished he’d tell me what was wrong with him…
And yes, Rabbit keeps secrets, too. Big secrets.
Sad secrets.
Rabbit returns in book three, Walking a Fine Witchline.
See also Rabbit’s A to Z Character Alphabet post.