The alchemist moved so quickly that I couldn't stop him. A fine powder drifted down over me, and the second the first speck hit my skin I was frozen with my hands in midair. With a smile, the alchemist reached into my suit and felt the inner pockets until he found what he was after.
His grin only grew when he pulled the philosopher's stone out of my pocket and slipped it into his. He stood and tipped his imaginary hat at Cathy. "Sorry to interrupt."
To me, he snarled and said, "Try it again and I'll take your head off next time."
The powder didn't keep me still for long, but just long enough for me to sit immobile while Cathy threw her napkin down. "I don't know what's going on here, but I don't want anything to do with a thief, and stealing from your opponent’s counts. I thought Roma said you were a decent guy." Her green eyes flashed as she tossed her brilliant red hair over her shoulder.
Man, she washotwhen angry. I could barely contain myself.
"I am a good guy," I said as calmly as I could. "And it looks like I have to explain what's going on—"
"No, thank you. You're, apparently, a monster, like all the others." She walked away, her heel clicks echoing in my ears like a symphony of percussion.
The woman was perfection. Fire and ice, filling my veins like a potent drug. I'd figure this out. Nothing would stop me.
Had I read anything about a situation like this? Not that came instantly to mind.
As soon as I could fully move again, I threw a large bill down to cover the tab and tip, then rushed to my car. I needed to talk to Bran. He'd just gotten through a bit of a whirlwind romance with his Andromeda. He'd have some sage wisdom for me to help me figure out how to fix this.
SCENE BREAK
"Just be sincere with her. Try some open honesty." Bran grinned at me when he saw his words were not what I wanted to hear. The goblin was honest to a fault and was finding my predicament most entertaining. It irritated me to no end.
“Thanks for nothing.” I hung up the video chat and stared out at the parking lot. I’d pulled over to talk to him once he’d finally called me back. I was still a good ten minutes from home and his advice hadn’t been what I’d wanted to hear, but I had asked for it.
I sighed and looked at the convenience store I'd parked in front of. A little cake did sound good after not finishing my dinner. Maybe I'd go in and get a snack before heading home.
My attention was distracted, to say the least. By the time I picked out a small cake, a beef jerky stick, a selection of candy, most of it off-brand, and a large bottle of sugary soda, then meandered my way to the register, my senses finally caught up with me and I realized the shop owner was being robbed. Two men stood behind the counter, one with a gun held high, quietly but urgently telling the clerk to open the register.
I paused and looked around for something that could serve as an easy weapon. Nothing was near, but I was between the robber and the door.
A plan formed in my mind, and I held up both hands. "You won't get any problems out of me," I said. "I never saw a thing."
The man had a mask over his face, probably making him feel invincible. He grinned and waved his gun, then stepped closer to me.
"I appreciate that," he said in a surprisingly deep voice.
Once the clerk, hands shaking, put the money in a shopping bag, the would-be robber ran past us. I sat my food on the counter. "Please ring that up. I’ll be right back."
Hurrying after the man, I caught him just as he was about to dive into his car. Luckily for me, he'd left it running by the door instead of using a getaway driver. Idiot.
Not so lucky for him. It took me only a moment to be standing over his knocked-out form and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I’d expected more of a fight, but he’d crumpled like a bad poem being tossed away.
I’d found that while villains often used guns, few of them practiced with them; he probably couldn’t hit the broad side of a board door with that, even at this range. And even were I shot successfully, I’d heal. In this case, he hadn’t even thought to pull the trigger when I smiled at him, showing all my teeth. Even without all of my fangs showing, I did still have a lot of sharp teeth to show.
With a sigh, I picked up the bag of money and walked back into the store. "Here ya go." I plopped it on the counter, then reached into my back pocket for my wallet. "I'll leave him out there for the police, yeah?"
The amazed and still-rattled clerk nodded. "Sure, yeah. Thank you. Um, shouldn’t you wait for the cops too?"
“Nah, no reason.” I pushed my purchases toward him and opened my wallet.
The clerk bagged my items and shook his head. "No, these are on me."
"You sure?" I grinned and took the bag. "Hey, thanks. See ya."
Once outside, I felt around in the thief's pockets and found a huge wad of cash. "Nice!"
I gave him a little tap on the head for good measure, then left him snoring there while I headed home. I kept enough of the money to cover a deluxe flower bouquet Lego set, ordered it to be delivered in Cathy's name to Ms. Fortuna's office, then swung by a local house I'd just heard about. They provided a safe place for foster kids to go when there were no homes available. Plus, they made sure all foster children had things like Christmas presents, birthday presents, and so on. This was a good place to donate to, and it wasn’t as if I needed the money anyway. They could use it better than I could.
