Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 35

A/N Just a bit of vampires and Wendy fluff. The main cast refused to do anything interesting, so they are being punished by exclusion.

"Excuse me, miss, when I said I wanted the whole set, I meant, I wanted the whole set!"

The clerk of the most famous bookstore in town cowered as one of the vampires looked at her with narrowed eyes. She swallowed.

"This is the whole set, sir."

The vampire immediately cut her off. "I think not. You see, when I came here looking for a famous child-care book series, it was because I wanted to take care of a child. The books you gave me end at four years old. What to Expect When You are Expecting, What to Expect in the First Year, Second Year, Third Year, and Fourth Year. I need the rest of the set."

"B-but sir, the set ends here!"

Samael slammed his hands on the table and the clerk flinched.

"A child becomes an adult at eighteen. Suppose I want a book to deal with a fourteen year old child. What the hell do you expect me to do with- with this?"

The clerk swallowed again. "Sir, I heavily doubt that a fourteen year old child just happened to walk up to you, and you adopted him or her."

Seeing the expression on the vampire's face, the clerk realized immediately that that was exactly what had happened. So she backtracked.

"And even if that did happen, sir, they must have had some upbringing. I mean what are the chances that they roamed the continent alone for years and survived?"

The vampire's expression did not change as he deadpanned, "You do know what happened to Hot Topic a few years back, don't you?"

The clerk's eyes widened with fear. "Please sir, I swear, this is where the set ends. Please don't burn down the store, sir!"

Samael didn't say anything as he lazily brought out a lighter from his pocket. He flicked it on and off a couple of times. "I don't think-"

The clerk suddenly felt an inexplicable flash of pure rage.

"Dammit, sir! I'm telling you that there are no more books in this set! If there are, NO ONE has ever heard of them, and you will not get it HERE!"

Calming down from her rage, she looked frightened for a moment, before steeling herself for her inevitable demise.

Goodbye dad. Bye, mom. Bye, sis. Bye, pretty boy at my school whom I haven't even talked to yet.

"I know."

She looked up at the vampire, who was grinning now.

"What?"

"I already know. I was just messing with you."

She could do nothing but gape as he took the five books and laid down a wad of cash on the table. More than what was needed.

"Sir, you've-"

"Keep it."

So she kept it.

When Sam got back to the guild, he unhooked the hidden camera on his shirt and tossed it over to Vlad. After all, why wind up people and make them freak out unless you're recording it to watch it again with a kid?

Wendy cracked up at the part when the clerk exploded in anger.

"She looks funny like that!"

"So, uh, Wendy", Vlad said, asking her something they all wanted to know, "How did you find us?"