Chapter 6

[sroni]

Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to save humans. When I came home and found Sam curled up in the closet, one of my daggers in his hand? That was one of those times.

In spite of my lifestyle, I don’t really think of myself as a violent person.

Which was probably more of a denial than an actual reflection of truth, but whatever.

Still, I didn’t really have a lot of destructive urges, and the few thies that I did have them, they were easy to control.

But seeing Sam like that, seeing him flinch every time I reached towards him, seeing the bruises and scars on his skin, and worse, the bruises in his eyes-

Well, that put me the closest to being in a murderous rage than I’ve ever been.

I hate to see children mistreated. There are very few things that break my heart these days, but that’s the way to do it.

Mayhaps it stems from my own mommy issues. Doesn’t matter, don’t care. I still get my heart broken every damn time a broken kid is concerned.

I lifted the poor kid off the floor and stuck him in the bed.

Or at least, that was my plan. What happened in actuality was, I reached out to pick him up, and the instant I made contact, he was awake and on his feet, and only my speed and reflexes kept the dagger from being at my throat.

I backed off and waited for him to wake up enough to calm down.

When his eyes were normal sized and not reminiscent of Japanese anime, I stepped forward again. “Get in the damn bed. Go to sleep. Take Anthielle with you, if she makes you feel safe. And in the future, ask me before touching any of my weapons. Some of them have a tendency to bite anyone who’s not me.” I nodded at him, “Anthielle was a good choice, though. She’s a protector.”

Sam nodded at me, and started to shuffle out to the living room.

I stopped him. “And where do you think you are going?” I pointed to my bed. “Bed.”

He pointed to the living room. “Couch.” He pointed to himself. “Me.” He pointed to the bed. “Bed.” He pointed to me. “You.”

The poor kid was dead on his feet, and he was arguing with me, trying to convince me to take the bed.

It would have been sweet if I weren’t annoyed by it.

We went back and forth for a few minutes. I finally won the argument by picking him up, dumping him on the bed, running for the door and locking him in.

I collapsed on the couch face first and was asleep in seconds.