Chapter 25: Edward and Conversations

Harry watched as Anita's life force seeped onto the only clean surface in the room. As he watched he thought he should feel something, remorse, pity even anger at the woman who had been trying to sabotage the new life he had made, but he felt...nothing. He felt ...empty. He looked up and stared with blank green eyes at the man who had shot her. He spoke only one word in his now empty voice.

"Edward."

Only Edwards's quick reflexes kept Harry from falling into the blood now pooling at their feet when he feinted.

"Well good to see you haven't changed." Edwards gruff voice echoed through the room as he lifted the black-haired wizard and carried him to the bedroom.

"They may be dead, kid, but they'll protect ya. No matter how much I hate to admit it. They may be able to protect ya better then I could."

Edward quickly placed Harry between the two dead vampires before leaving to clean the mess he had took most of the day to clear away the blood even with the potion Harry had given him the last time they had been together. He was surprised when no one caught him taking and hiding Anita's body. 'Harry must have placed a spell before taking his little nap.'

A few minutes after returning everything back where it belonged, he looked at his watch to see there where only a few hours until sunset. 'I'll just check on him one more time before I leave.' Edward crept to the door in hopes of not waking Harry. He saw it was a lost cause. Harry was sitting up and looking around with a blank look on his face.

"Hey there kiddo, How you holding up?" Edward asked, his Tedd Forrester persona coming to the fore-front of his speech. Harry just continued to stare at him before his eyes flickered to the vampires on either side of him. Edward smirked at Harry's reaction.

"Relax kid, I aint gonna hurt your blood suckers. Well, at least not if they don't hurt ya." The last was said almost as an after-thought. Edward smiled at the small grin his comment drew from the nearly catatonic wizard. 'I'll never understand why he acts like this every time he sees someone die. He's seen enough of death for it not to affect him so much. Humph maybe that's just me.'

Edward sighed when the grin disappeared from his friends face. "I'm here because someone put out a hit on you, and I want to know why." Edwards eyes went from soft to hard and dead when he spoke. His attitude was all business stiffened when he heard there was a hit out on him. He quickly slipped out of his vampire nest. He glided softly toward the big assassin; Harry motioned the cold man into the clean sitting room before chuckled and walked ahead of the suspicious boy with a shake of his head.

"Don't worry kiddo. I don't plan on Killen ya'. That would defeat the whole purpose of savin ya' from Anita." Edward said as he plopped himself down on one of the High backed simply stared at him with his empty green eyes.

"Not if you wanted to kill me yourself." The cold voice answered. Edward winced at the tone coming from the normally warm and sharp young man.

"What's happened to you? You've never acted this strongly before."

Harry sighed at his friends question. "I just, I don't know how they will react to Ms. Blake's death. They did love her you know." Harry explained before sitting in another of the high-backed chairs and conjured a bottle of Firewhiskey and two glasses. Harry sighed when the first sip burned down his throat. "Its times like this I miss Alex. She would know what to do, what to say."

Now it was Edwards turn to sigh. "She would probably give you one hell of a beating for acting like this." Edward sighed when his own sip burned his own throat. "Mmm...Firewhiskey."

Harry just smiled at Edwards laughed when he thought of his best friend's reaction to his self-pity. "Your right you know. She would have my head on a silver platter." Harry sighed, "Gods I miss her." With that he downed the rest of his drink before pouring himself another.

"You and me both kid. You and me both."

Harry finished the rest of his new drink before looked up at his companion questioningly."Now where are you off to?"

Edward just looked at him blankly before replying. "I have something to do before nightfall. I only came to check on you and tell you about the hit. I'll work on who's paying the bounty, but until I'm sure I would suggest laying low for awhile. Just until I know for sure." With that Edward was gone. Leaving a very confused wizard behind.

'Great, as if I don't have enough to worry about, now I have to worry about a hit and an annoying assassin. I never should have closed early.' Harry thought as he finished his drink and stood, banishing the glass, vaguely noticing Edward had taken his with him. He sighed, 'I'm going to relax in a nice warm shower.