Chapter 8

[sroni]

The kid was driving me nuts, and he had to know it.

Had to.

There was no way he could be driving me that crazy, and NOT be doing it on purpose. We were shopping for beds, and all he wanted was the cheap crap. I kept trying to explain to him that I had money, and wouldn’t spend it all on the two of us no matter how fast we went through it (the charities in town LOVED me, because I donated a heck of a lot of money) but he wouldn’t listen to me.

After three bloody hours of looking at beds, I put my foot down. “Hard bed or soft?” I looked him in the eye, and willed him to give me an answer.

Not one of my abilities, by the way. And if it were, I wouldn’t use it. I don’t mess with people’s free will.

“Soft.”

I nodded slightly. “Soft soft, or sorta soft?”

He shrugged. “Soft soft.”

I waved a clerky type person over, and led them to the softest bed in the whole darn stor (we’d found it about seventeen beds previous). “We’ll take this one.” I dared Sam with my eyes to argue with me. He rolled his eyes, but kept his mouth shut.

Good boy.

If he’d opened his mouth, I might have screamed.

We got the bed loaded up in the truck I’d borrowed from Riker, with me pretending to be a lot less strong than I am, and I caught Sam hiding a smirk at me more than once. I caught his eye and mouthed, “I’m such a helpless female. Help!” and he dissolved into giggles.

It did my heart good to see him looking and acting like a normal kid.

I swear, if I ever saw his mother again...

I only hoped that I was never faced with having to save her from vampires. I’m ashamed to say that I’m not sure what my choice would be.

God willing, I wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Once the bed was safely on the truck, I turned back to the kid. “Do you want to go home, and get you some new clothes later, or go ahead and get clothes now while we’re here?”

His eyes widened. “New clothes?”

I bit back a laugh. “yeah. Clothes. You know, the things you wear to keep you from being arrested for indecent exposure.” I couldn’t hold it back any longer, and my laugh bubbled out. “Tell you what. You can spend two hundred dollars. The only catch is, you have to buy clothes you actually like, and not what you think I would like. And if you come back with more than ten dollars, I’m sending you back in. Deal?” Sam nodded and I handed him the money. “I’m going to go to the bookstore. Come get me when you’re done.” As Sam walked off, I realized he had Anthielle in a sheath slung around his waist.

Interesting.

Anthielle was a special dagger. All of my daggers were. But Anthielle was special. She had a semi-consciousness, and could choose who to allow to wield her. I’d had her for over a century, and I’d always had the sense that I was safekeeping her, but she wasn’t mine.

Apparently, she’d chosen who would own her.

Interesting.