Rance was glad to see him go and thanked Brew for calling them.After closing the connection with him, he set back to work on getting his furniture arranged.Just as he was starting on the living room to get his lamps just where he wanted them, he remembered he had a meeting with his accountant.
He needed to make sure that he wasn’t signing checks that shouldn’t be, and was going to check on his books.He did this once or twice a year and had never had any trouble with it before.It was to keep them on their toes and himself too.He wasn’t going to be broke because some human decided that he liked his money more than Rance did.Besides, he could find him anywhere he hid, and they both knew that.He thought that alone was keeping him honest.
It took him nearly three hours to go over his books.Since he was the only one who could sign checks, he thought things were working out well.As soon as he finished with that, he decided to take a walk around town and see what he could get into.There were several houses for sale nowadays, and he thought about investing in the town by buying up a couple of them and turning them into rentals.He was renting out his condo now that he didn’t need it and thought that was the way to go.He was making money, and his condo wasn’t sitting empty any longer than it had to.
There wasn’t much going on around town.The kids were still in school for now, so they weren’t running around.He did see a lot of shops with their doors open, and he went into one of them just on the off chance to see if they could tell him about anything else that was for sale.
“My building is going to be for sale as soon as I bury my husband.”He asked when he had died, and she told him that he’d not yet, but she was working on it.“He’s been a pain in my ass for the last twenty or so years, and I’ve had enough.I’ve been thinking about pushing him down the stairs, but he’d live on life support, and I’d be no better off than I was before with him lingering for a long time.”
“Does he know you’re trying to kill him off?”Rance was delighted with the older woman and watched as she rang up customers who stayed for the story.She told him he knew that’s why pushing him down the stairs wouldn’t work.He was prepared for her.“I see.So what other methods have you applied?I’m sure that you’ve used a couple of tricks.”
“He don’t drink tea or coffee, so I can’t poison him that way.He don’t even drive anymore, so that cutting his brakes would work.”He told her that she’d figured out a lot of ways to kill off her husband.“He’s all right sometimes, but here lately he’s been wanting me to sell this place and be done with it.I guess I could, but then what would I do all day but to cater to his needs?I done that when we was first married.I’m not going to fall into that pit again.”
“Why don’t you just leave him instead of killing him off?”She said that she signed a pre-nup when he had money, and she can’t get out of it.Rance wasn’t sure that either one of them had a pot to piss in the way that store looked, but he knew better than to judge a book by its cover.He’d bet anything that they had more money than sense and were just wanting to go out and spend it like they should have.“I have an idea.I’ll buy your building, and you can take your time selling all your wares out of it before I take over.Then you and your husband can have some fun on a trip before you kill one another off.”
“Deal.”She cackled like a hen that had just found a prize of feed and told him she’d do it.After they settled on a price, he said that he’d meet her in the bank in the morning, and they could go over the contract and exchange money for the building.As soon as he was out the door, he realized what he’d done and laughed at himself all the way home.He’d just bought something for no other reason than he’d been entertained by the woman in the shop.He thought that he needed to have his head examined.
Chapter 2
Kimmy didn’t want to be bothered with what had happened to her family.She’d not even known she had any until today.Apparently, she had not just a sister but a brother too.And they had died in a car accident several weeks ago.
She’d been adopted when she’d been about four.She remembered that the people who had taken her in were nice, but they really hadn’t wanted a kid, more like a general slave that would do as they wanted and not ask any questions.She’d done that and more for the next twelve years until the mister died of pneumonia after a week of being sick, and the missus decided that she didn’t want her anymore.That she could do better in a nursing home all by herself.So at seventeen, Kimmy found herself homeless and without any kind of job.It took her another two months of living on the streets before she was able to find herself both.Now this.
“The insurance isn’t all that much, nearly half a million dollars.The only reason that it’s that high is that they’d been in an accident that took their life, and they got double the amount.”She told him that half a million was better than she’d had in her life.“Yes, but if you don’t spend it well, you’ll be out of it in no time.Both your brother and sister had paid into it so that they could benefit from it when something happened to the other.I don’t think they could have guessed that they’d both die together.”
She had a feeling that he was thinking that she was going to spend the money like a fool.When all she could think about was paying her rent and buying food at the same time.It would be nice too to be able to buy meat once in a while, but she wasn’t going to get ahead of herself.She knew better than most what it was to not have anything at all but a couple of dollars in her purse.
She still didn’t know how they’d figured out that she was their sister.She had filled out one of those DNA things to find her parents, but that had been a bust.That’s the only thing that she could think of in order for them to find her.She was just lucky; she supposed that they even bothered.The man who was working with her seemed to have a stick up his ass about giving the money to her.She’d show him, she’d have double the amount in a few years, and he’d be eating crow.Whatever that meant.
He told her several times that she was going to have to get herself a bank account.Little did he know she already had one, and it was overdrawn as of this morning.This money would go a long way in helping her out of the hole she was in.Just as she was leaving the office, she bumped into a man who was coming in the door.
“I’m so sorry.”He just stared at her for several moments before he started cursing.“I only bumped into you.I didn’t hurt you enough for you to be all pissy with me.”
“You’re human.”She said that she thought that everyone was.“No, you’d be wrong about that, too.I’m not.I’m a vampire of considerable age, and you’ve messed up my entire life.”
“By bumping into you?You’re nuts.I didn’t even hit you that hard.I should have been watching where I was going, sure, but you have no reason to be rude to me.I said I was sorry.”He glared at her, and she’d had enough.Walking around him, giving him a wide berth, she went out into the sunshine and looked up at the sun.
It had been a beautiful day until dumbass showed up.She would admit that it was her fault, but there was no reason for him to treat her the way that he had.Going to the bank, she was nearly there when she realized that he was following her.Turning around, he bumped into her this time.She asked him what he was doing.
“I have to protect you.Even if it’s from yourself.”She told him that the only one she needed protecting from at the moment was him.“People will kill you for that check that you have on you.One of them has been following you since you left the office.”
She looked around him and didn’t see anything.Looking at the man, she asked him what his beef was with her.When he called her a human again, she decided that she’d had enough.Ignoring him for the moment, she went to the bank and stood in line so that she could deposit the check.
“You’ll have to talk to the bank manager.”She told him she just wanted to put it into her account.“They will only refer you to the bank manager, so you might as well go there first.It will save me a lot of time if you were to just listen to me.”
“I don’t even know who you are.”He said his name was Rance Smith.“Smith, huh?That’s not very special, is it?I guess you’re going to tell me you’ve never had a last name before and picked one that you thought was cool or sexy or something.”
“It’s what all vampires use.It’s easier to remember.”She was next in line, and when she was at the counter, they told her that she’d have to talk to the bank manager.Glaring at Rance, she decided that she didn’t want him in her business and was just about to tell him that when she was bumped into by a stranger.“Give it back to her before I have to drain you.”
If she’d not been looking at Rance, she would have missed the change from man to…well, she had no idea what to call what he changed into.He looked monstrous, and she was suddenly afraid for the man.He handed back her check that she’d not even known was gone and left them by backing out of the bank until he was out the door.
“You’re not a human, are you?”He told her that he’d told her that and she’d not listened.“I listened, but I didn’t want to know that there are people like you in the world.”She told him that it came out wrong.
“Aren’t you afraid of me?”She thought about it and told him that she wasn’t.She didn’t know why; he was something that she’d never encountered before, but she wasn’t afraid.“You should be.I’m nothing like anything you’ve encountered before.”
“No, you’re not.But I’m not afraid of you for some reason.”She waited in the chairs for the bank manager, and when she went back to see him, Rance went with her.She decided that she couldn’t have a better protector than him and didn’t say anything when he went into the office with her.Sitting down, she told him that she’d just inherited a great deal of money and needed to put it into her account.“I know there are rules about that much money.I’ve read up on them.Just put some of the money in this account, and I’ll open a savings account too for the rest.”
“She’s going to be on my accounts too.”She just stared at Rance and then asked him what he was talking about.“You’re my mate.I’ll have you know that I’m not going to be giving you money for just anything that you want.You’ll have money of your own for that.”
