Well, whenshesaid it, Clay didn't have any issues with the wordboyfriend.
"Hi, Sylvie. It's nice to meet you," Clay said, lifting a hand.
Sylvie held out her hand and waited until he took it before giving it a firm shake. "Hi, Clay. Nice to meet you, too. Are you going to take her home with you when you leave?" she asked.
Clay nodded. "Yeah, I talked her into it."
"Good."
"Will you be okay here?" he asked.
Sylvie laughed. "Oh, I'll be fine. If he comes to my place, I'll introduce him to Lucille." She lifted the bat in a miniature salute.
"That would probably be effective," he said.
Sylvie grinned. "I have to get ready to go to work, so I'm going to head home." She glanced at Dylan. "Do you need anything else?"
"No, I'm good," Dylan replied with a shake of her head. "Thank you so much for saving my ass earlier."
"No problem. Let's get together for a drink sometime soon and you can keep me updated on everything. Including the boyfriend situation."
Dylan smiled. "You bet."
Sylvie disappeared into her side of the duplex with Lucille and shut the door behind her.
"She seems nice," Clay said. "I like that she was willing to bash someone over the head with a barbwire-wrapped baseball bat to defend you."
"You should. She's a Valkyrie, so she would be more deadly with that thing than most people would with a handgun."
Clay's eyebrows lifted. "A Valkyrie? Holy shit. I thought she looked tough, but that's not what I imagined."
"Yeah, she's awesome. Sometimes, when I wake up early, I like to drink my coffee and watch her train with her sword and other weapons."
"Wait, if she has a sword, why didn't she pull that out to defend you when the guy broke into your house?" Clay asked.
"She would have if it was necessary, but with the human police coming, she thought they might not appreciate her walking around with a razor-sharp sword in her hand."
"Good point." Clay went back to retrieve his tool bag from the lawn where he dropped it earlier. "If you'll show me where the door I need to fix is, I'll get started on the work while you get your stuff together."
"If I'm staying with you until this guy is caught, you realize that I'm going to be bringing a ton of stuff, including my perishable food and plants, right?" she asked.
Clay stared at her with a blank expression. "Plants?"
"Follow me," she said.
When he walked into the house, Clay's mouth fell open. "Those aren't plants. Those are pets," he said, watching the way they swayed toward Dylan when she got close to them. "They're actually moving, right? I'm not hallucinating?"
"Yes. These are my friends. They helped me when that man broke into the house." She reached out and ran a finger over one of the vines that reached out to her.
"How did they help you?" he asked, getting closer. He stopped short when the vine turned toward him, slowly creeping closer to where he stood. "It's not going to eat me or anything, right?"
"No, she's curious about you," Dylan answered.
"She?" Clay lifted a hand and held still as the vine reached out to touch his fingertips. "Does she have a name?"
"Not that she's told me," Dylan answered.
Clay stared at her. "She actually talks to you?" The vine slid up his palm to wind around his wrist and squeeze gently before it released him.
