58 Paranoid

She thought he was being paranoid but couldn't brush off the worry in his eyes because she knew he was only like this because of his recent loss. He didn't want to lose her too.

So she spent a lot of time cultivating the garden and summoning endless heaps of jewels in preparation for when she was able to get back to a big city and sell them. She used her smartphone as a design reference, which was rather helpful in allowing her to branch out.

Ruby was nervous about testing her powers on other minerals so she stuck to what she knew. That sort of power came with an awful lot of responsibility she did not want at all.

Ash liked to help in the garden but she kept jewelry-making a strictly daylight hours activity. They had come to a sort of accord though, slowly shifting their sleep schedules so Ash went to bed/woke up earlier and Ruby did it later.

This allowed for a few more hours of the day that they were able to spend together. At this point he was sleeping 6 AM to 3 PM and she was sleeping midnight to 9 or 10 AM.

He had to wear his cloak to help her garden when the sun was high in the sky but he said he didn't mind because he liked seeing her in her element. That made Ruby blush. Sometimes she wondered if he was even aware of the things that came out of his mouth.

Ash was able to tease her with a perfectly straight face so she could never be sure if he was teasing her purposely or not. He was difficult to predict. After spending so much time with him she still didn't understand him.

Ruby was in the middle of transporting today's jewelry haul down to the dungeon when he woke up. His eyes widened at the sight.

"…how long did it take you to make all of that?"

"A couple of hours. At this rate I'll willing to bet you'll be able to buy a small country for the price of all the jewelry I'm keeping down here. The problem will be spreading them out enough for buyers to be able to afford them," she said with a shrug.

"We might need to randomly tour around the country hitting every big city we can. Or…uh…I might. You don't have to come with me since you wouldn't even be awake for hours of operation at most jewelers' anyway."

Ash's expression grew insulted. "As if I would make you go off by yourself when you're doing work on my behalf! We can go together as soon as it's safe for you to travel freely. We don't know how far the fae who wants to buy you can reach."

He frowned. "Ruby, we talked about this…"

"I know but as soon as I get these things I promise I won't leave the barrier again for the next month. I know what food I need to stock up on this time so I won't run out as fast. Please pretty please with a cherry on top?"

She clasped her hands together and fluttered right up in his face with her best puppy-dog pout. Her parents used to let her get away with anything if she did that but she wasn't sure it would be effective on a vampire.

Ash bit his lip, the tips of his fangs sinking into it. "Fine, but be sure you bring back more things to entertain yourself with as well so you really won't have to leave again any time soon. And keep your phone on you so I can contact you at any time, alright?"

Ruby nodded excitedly. She had been dying to get a change of scenery and she could sell some of her lower-end items while she was at it.

"Thank you!"

He grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest but couldn't stay in a bad mood for long. She grabbed his forearm and dragged him outside so she could show him the progress she made on the garden today and noticed he had a slight smile on his face when she briefly turned her head to look back.

She told him how she had finally scrounged up enough leaves, lawn clippings, and pruned branches to make mulch and all she needed now was to buy a wood chipper so she could mix it all together. She had every intention to plant fruit trees and vegetables once the season was right for it in an area away from the fancy garden.

Ash listened to her intently and asked periodic questions so Ruby knew he was listening. He was a rather easy person to talk to and never seemed to mind when she went off on a rambling tangent or twelve.

"Are homegrown fruits and vegetables that much better than the ones you buy at the store?" he asked.

"Don't get me started! Once you go fresh it's hard to ever go back to that over-processed garbage humans use…" and there went another long tangent as they worked.

He handed her gardening tools and followed her instructions regarding easy tasks such as weeding. They were having such a great time that they didn't even notice the sun setting on them until it was too dark for Ruby to see anything.

She sighed. They really needed some outdoor lighting out here. Maybe she could look into battery-operated light posts that suited the general vibe of the dark vampire garden she was trying to create.

It was a moonless night too so she was even blinder than usual. Ash ended up taking her hand and leading her back inside until he could find the nearest lamp.

Ever since they kissed back in Vegas her entire body had heated up in mortification each time he touched her. He wouldn't notice though because with his body temperature she always seemed hot. He smiled at her normally as if she wasn't about to spontaneously combust from having her hand held.