Page 13 of Blade

“You might be older than I thought.” Could he actually be the original beast that had been in the papers since the fifties? “We’ll figure that out too. You might need supplements or something for your joints.”

Or for his mood because he really looked frustrated as he walked over and…son of a gun…picked up my backpack.

“What the fuck, dude?” It wasn’t the politest response, so when he dropped it at my side I tried again. “Thank you. Good boy, Blade.”

Fucking hell.

Why was that better?

The damned murder kitty purred again as he lay down beside me.

“I have so many questions.” A list of them that was growing by the second. “One thing at a time, though.”

Clean up first.

That was boring as I wound up the net so it would fit in my bag, but I got it done eventually. Blade seemed to think I’d fucked up somehow based on his huffs and the way he started to shift, but it wasn’t until he nudged at the backpack with his nose that I realized the problem. “Water.”

Yep, definitely couldn’t kill him.

It was probably a drop from all the crazy and finally feeling safe again, but that was the point where I noticed my hands were shaking as I opened the water and I felt hotter than I should have. “And my snack. Thank you for taking care of me.”

I really needed to step up on that when murder kitty did a better job.

“I think I need to reevaluate what I put in this next time I go anywhere remote.” I’d based what I thought I’d need on what my father would’ve likely said but that’d clearly been a questionable decision at best. “More ways to get myself out of difficult situations needs to go higher on my packing list.”

And the gun I probably would never use needed to go at the bottom.

Of the list.

It was currently at the bottom of the backpack and I was planning on keeping it there. If my murder kitty knew what a backpack was, he was smart enough to understand what was secured at the bottom of the pack.

That would definitely get me eaten.

“We’ll talk that out later. Okay. I’ll talk and you’ll listen while I pretend you understand all of it.” I was really good at beingboth people in a conversation, so it shouldn’t be hard. “We’ll come up with a good list.”

It couldn’t get any worse.

Finishing up my water, I looked at the protein bar I’d picked up the other day at the slightly sketchy gas station I’d found after getting off the interstate. “You know, every worker in the store I bought this in looked alike. I thought they were just relatives because it seemed like a family business, but now I’m starting to question that.”

I’d been raised to question a lot but lately I’d just tried to ignore anything weird that didn’t look immediately life-threatening.

“You and I are going to have to decide what my work goals are going forward because this whole monster hunting thing isn’t going as planned. You really should’ve just been a mindless beast but you’ve got a lot of attitude and understand way too much of what I’m saying.”

Shit.

What had I said that might’ve been actually offensive?

I wasn’t going to count the murder kitty stuff because that was factual, so it shouldn’t be offensive.

Right?

Trying to decide the answer, I opened the wrapper and frowned down at the bar. “If I offer you half this, are you going to eat my fingers?” Hmm. “Accidentally, of course.”

Wait.

Could murder kitty eat chocolate chips?

“Damn it. You need to learn to share better.” I might’ve still had all my fingers but I only had a tiny piece of my snack left and he looked very pleased with himself. “If I end up as a murder kitty too because of something weird in your saliva, I’m going to never let you forget this moment.”