16 No Electricity (2/2)

”I'm over here,” he called.

”Where? I'm completely blind at night.”

Ash appeared in front of her so suddenly that she flew two feet in the air in a panic, immediately crashing back to the ground because of her bad wing. ”Watch it!” she shouted irritably.

”Sorry. I didn't think about you needing light to see either.”

Ruby sighed heavily. Of course he didn't. Vampires were nocturnal. They would be able to see in the dark perfectly fine. ”Whatever. Just help me with this, will you? I need to bring it to the dungeon.”

He did as he was told taking the heavier of the two objects she carried with one hand and gripping her wrist to lead her down to the dungeon with the other. She wasn't comfortable being led blindly but had no other choice.

It was pitch black down there so she had to tell Ash what to do since she couldn't see a thing. She had bought the largest cooler they had to be filled with ice and function as a makeshift freezer. The dungeon was cold enough that it should hold out for a while. It was hard to believe it was the middle of May based on temperature alone.

”What is this for?” he asked.

”I'm hoping it keeps the food cold until I can get a freezer,” Ruby said tiredly. ”I'm going to bed now. It's been a long day. Can you lead me up to the bedroom?”

Instead of taking her wrist again, Ash lifted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She yelped in surprise. ”What are you doing?!”

”I figured this was the most effective way to carry you without affecting your wings. Am I wrong?”

Well, no. But that didn't make it any less weird. She hadn't been carried like this since she was about sixty years old and still living with her parents.

Ruby had nothing to say to that so she let it go. Why did it always seem like she and this vampire were at a stalemate? They had only been together for a little over a day and this sort of thing had already happened multiple times. Talk about species incompatibility!

She made it back to the bedroom and flopped onto the top of the covers with a sigh. This was getting ridiculous. She needed to make a list of things this castle needed to make it habitable for a fairy in the next few weeks before she went back into town tomorrow so she didn't have to go back and forth so much.

Funny how being on the run makes you realize how much you take simple comforts for granted. Clothes to change into. Electricity. Light. Food. Ruby would have to make a comprehensive list of basic necessities of life to get immediately before she left this place.

She would need to make more expensive jewels for tomorrow if she wanted to have enough to get what she needed for herself and start buying furniture for this gigantic place. With any luck she would be able to rake in at least $20,000 this time. She still needed to stock up on for her eventual escape.

Thankfully she set up a bank account separate from her aunt and uncle as soon as she was legal in the human world. She ran away from them with nothing but her extra thin wallet in her pocket that held a debit card with only $200 on it and the clothes on her back.

Right now funds were low because Ruby had been spending as she went, totally winging it. It wasn't like her aunt and uncle ever gave her spending money so she had very little to work with from the start but knew it would be easy to get more.