The Pet Shop (bxbxb)

5. Cry

Stress was something Warden was accustomed to, but the amount that he was suddenly under as landed on his balcony was hurting his chest. Cerat was squirming his arms, nearly awake after having dozed off a few times while he'd been flying. 

He dropped down into one of the chairs he had set out, bringing Cerat with him. Since the guy wasn't quite awake yet, he hurried to slip his fingers into his back pocket and pull out the wallet he'd felt there earlier while shifting his weight around. 

Warden found a few useless pieces of paper inside and a twenty dollar bill, but no real identification. He probably got rid of it since he is practically killing himself.. He thought as he pulled out one last folded piece of paper from the back of the wallet and opened it to read. 

"Oh... it's for the pet shop." 

Leaning over a little, he glanced at Cerat's face where his head rested against his chest. Still asleep. He took his phone from his own pocket and quickly dialed the number, then lifted it to his ear as it began ringing. 

"Hello, this is Flora, of Flora's Pet Shop. How may I help you today?" Cerat's manager, and the owner of the store, answered. 

"I'm going to cut to the chase. Did you know that your employee was a vampire?" He said, trying to hold back at least some of his frustration about the situation. 

There was a long pause on the end of the phone that told him that he'd guessed right, but when she replied, it wasn't to deny or confirm his suspicions. 

"You are one of those men that came in earlier, aren't you? You were with that werewolf pretending to be a dog." She said, making him purse his lips. She was pretty good for a human.

"That doesn't matter. Do you know that it's illegal to harbor a vampire in this city?" He asked, getting another long bout of silence before her response came. 

"Is he alright?" 

Sighing, Warden looked up at the sky, then back down to see Cerat staring sleepily up at him. 

"Yes, he's alright. I've got him." He said, holding the guy a little closer to his chest to make it clear that he shouldn't try to fight him right then. 

He could hear her give a relieved sound on the other end of the line. "That's good. I was very worried. When are you bringing him back?" She asked, earning a raised eyebrow from him, even though she couldn't see it. 

"He's not coming back. I signed a contract to save his life. He has to stay with me." Warden said, the enormity of what he'd actually done slowly sinking in with his words. 

Flora made a frustrated noise and replied. "He has to stay where he lives, and he lives here." She said haughtily. 

Warden could almost see her crossing her arms, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear as she spoke. 

"I've read that paperwork because I was considering doing the same thing. I wish you hadn't beaten me to it, but it does state in the fine print that he must remain confined to his residence, and if you look on his employee application form, that would be here." 

Please tell me that's not true. 

"You can't tell me that he lives in your pet shop. He's not an animal." Warden said, even though he technically owned him now. 

She scoffed, making him pull his phone away to stare at it for a moment before putting it back against his ear to hear what she was saying. 

"Don't you smart mouth me, young man. He lives upstairs. It's a small apartment I decided to let him borrow. I live with my nephew, and it's on Cerat's contract, so you best bring him back here."