Chapter 9 #2
He’d been joking. Or at least trying to make a joke about how she couldn’t be the slayer.
But all she did was stare at him as if he should be getting something that she was telling him.
Looking around the room, he leaned down to the little girl and asked her in a whispered voice if she was the slayer.
“Yes.” He leaned back in his seat and continued to stare at her.
He didn’t think she was kidding him or lying to him.
He thought that was what was so frightening about what she’d said.
“Great Grandma knew right away. Dad is freaking out. Will you go and talk to him? He loves you the most and trusts your word. I’d never hurt anyone in this family now that Great-grandfather is gone.
He was hurting her, and that’s not right. ”
“No, that’s not right.” His mind was in turmoil.
He couldn’t capture one thing to say to Celesta.
So he asked her the first thing that came to mind.
“Was he hard to kill for you? I mean, you’re so small.
I don’t doubt that you did it. I don’t know why I say that when you’re just a child, but I know that you did it. ”
“I did it. And no, it wasn’t hard. I just removed his head from his body.
I’m powerful. I’ve spoken to the elder faeries.
They said that there hasn’t been a slayer around for decades.
More than some of them can count.” He agreed with her, telling her that he didn’t think there had been one since he’d been a child.
“You’re right. Not for a long time. But I was needed now, and I had to come forth.
Great-grandfather was going to behead her next, and I couldn’t allow him to do that. ”
“Is it true that he was hurting the children as well? I’d never seen it, but I’ve heard from some reliable sources that he’d been hurting them as well.
” She told him that he was going to start beheading them, too, as he didn’t like children.
“I didn’t hear that part, but I’d heard that he’d been hurting them. I hear more than my brothers, I think.”
“Yes, we all can come to you when we have a problem, and you take care of it. You had a meeting with him today. Right?” He said she was correct. That he was going to talk to him about hurting the children all the time. “He would have denied it, but you have proof, didn’t you?”
“I do. Two of your brothers were going to come forth and tell on him. It took me a long time to convince them that they’d be all right.” Celesta said he would have killed them both. “You’re sure about that? Never mind. Of course you are. You’re the slayer.”
“I am.” She was so small sitting at his table that he wanted to pick her up and carry her to her parents. But he was too far in now to think that she wasn’t who she said she was. He believed her. “Don’t be afraid of me.”
“I’m not. I don’t know why, but I’m not. I’m sort of relieved, actually.” He laughed a little and felt stupid for it. “This is all true, isn’t it? I…he would have killed them if I’d had them go forward with my plan.”
“You would have died as well.” Nodding, he knew that on some level, he could have been killed by the man, too. “I protected the three of you. It was the only way. You’re all safe now.”
They didn’t say anything more but sat finishing their meal.
When Celesta said that she was finished, he helped her down off the chair and helped her wash up.
While he was on his knees in front of her, she touched her fingers to his brow.
The warmth from the touch was more than he could have hoped for from her.
“You’ll go and talk to my daddy, please?” He nodded, then said that he’d talk to him as soon as she was ready to go back. “I’m ready. I want him to feel safe. I don’t think he believes me when I say that I’m the slayer.”
“Perhaps he just doesn’t want to believe you.
He does, but he’s also afraid for you, too.
It’s a big job, and you’re only six years old.
” She nodded. “I’ll talk to him today. I don’t know what I’m to say to him, but I’ll talk to him.
We might have to talk to your brothers. Will that be all right now that William is gone? ”
“Yes. No one will harm them so long as I’m around to save them.” He got up and took her smaller hand into his much larger one. “Thank you, Uncle Melbourne, for believing in me. I’m glad too that you and Aunt Sammy are going to have a baby soon. I won’t tell anyone.”
She went skipping off to the opening to the other realm, and he was left standing there with his mouth hanging open.
She was six years old and had killed a great, powerful dragon because he’d been plotting to kill his mate and grandsons.
Shaking his head, he wondered what else he was going to have to talk to Fowler about today.
He didn’t even know if he was up for this, let alone something else that was going on.
Going to the other realm, he found his brother.
He did look slightly freaked out and was glad that he’d gone to talk to him. Maybe they could talk to each other and feel better about the six-year-old dragon slayer in their family.
~*~
Sidney inspected the houses that he’d help build and couldn’t believe the shape they were in.
Not all of them were in good shape; a few had had the stove stolen and the refrigerator taken out as well.
But he could live with that. The others were in great shape and ready to be upgraded again.
He would put new carpet and replace windows too.
They were perfect for what he’d built them for, and that was for the homeless to have a place to stay.
They were just one-room houses that had a bathroom in them as well.
The kitchen/living room was all one room, and there was plenty of room for an air mattress to be laid out to sleep.
Each of the homeless would be given their own mattress to use, then take with them when they left.
The houses had been used throughout the winter months and into spring for a lot of people, and he was quite proud of himself for the idea.
For the past fifteen years, he’d been able to make it so the homeless had a place to stay when they wanted, and he loved that his mate, Olivia, had been on board from the beginning.
“How many homes have you built so far? How many of them had to be replaced due to the homes being destroyed?” He answered the question that was put to him by an interviewer. “So many have been built. I thought you’d only put up about half a dozen.”
“No. When I decided to help, I had a goal in mind to build seventy-five homes. We had enough volunteers and equipment to build just over a hundred. And only two have been destroyed beyond being able to repair them. There are still one hundred of them around. The two that had been destroyed had been destroyed because they’d tried to light a fire on the floor, and it got out of hand.
Since then, they’d put in portable heaters, and they’d been very helpful.
” He was able to get the heaters at a good discount, too, and had saved a lot of money for the project.
“They can live in them for up to a month at a time before they have to renew their application for staying. It’s an easy process, too.
All they need to do is show that they’ve been taking care that nothing is wrong with the house, and they can stay there for another thirty days.
It’s worked out well for all concerned.”
“I bet it has. I don’t doubt that you’re making a lot of money off of it, too.” He asked how they were making money. “Don’t you charge them for sleeping in the rooms? I’ve heard that you’re getting up to fifty dollars a night in some of them.”
“There is no charge to them for anything. Not even the electricity that they use when staying.” He decided that he didn’t care for this woman and was ready to cut the interview short.
Having had to do it in the first place was something that he’d not wanted to do, but since he wanted to upgrade some of the houses, he needed more donations.
And this was the way to get them, according to his brother Edgar.
“I believe you were told that before you and I talked. You were given the specs on the houses as well as the cost to build each one before I agreed to this interview. As far as a money-making deal, you were also told that wasn’t what this was, too. I’ve had enough.”
Even as he walked away, she kept shouting questions at him.
He wasn’t having it. And when she finally seemed to have had enough, he got into his car and drove home.
There was no point in prolonging the interview, as she was going to keep up with treating him like a money-grubbing landlord when he wasn’t that at all.
There was comfort in being at home with his family.
The kids were at school, so he had the house to himself and Olivia.
As soon as he found her in the kitchen with the cook, he sat down on the stool and told her about his interview.
She seemed as pissed off about it as he had been.
Watching her get all fired up was funny to him, and he kissed her on the mouth when she started telling him that she was going to find the woman and show her what kind of things she’d learned with her magic.
“Slow down, baby. I’m fine.” She said she was pissed off for him. “That’s all right. I got the interview stopped in time so that she didn’t do too much damage. It’s hard to tell what she’ll actually put on the news, but that’s all right, too. I know what I said.”
“If she says one thing that’s not true, I’m going to zap her into next month.
” She really couldn’t do that, but he was proud of the way that she was defending him.
“What do you want for supper? I was just thinking about pizza when the cook reminded me that we have all those leftovers from the last time we made our own pizza night.”