It was a long walk that went through some rather seedy areas and the apartment housing she indicated was very rundown in appearance. I couldn't restrain my objections anymore.
"You walk this way every night, well after dark, to get to this shack!"
"Yes, Mr. Concerned Stalker."
She said squeezing my arm with hers.
"You should at least take a taxi!" I exclaimed.
"Taxi's cost money and the legs that God gave me are just fine for walking."
"You're a mugged rape victim in a dark alleyway waiting to happen!" I said abruptly and she didn't respond.
The apartment complex did actually look a little better on the inside, but just barely. She pulled her key out of her purse to unlock her door and before she knew it I had snatched her purse from her.
"Hey!" She said objecting strongly to my actions.
Grimly I rifled through her purse. There wasn't so much as a pocket knife, let alone a can of pepper spray!
She stood there silently her arms folded, every inch of her radiating anger, but her anger dropped away as I lashed into her.
"Unless you have a black belt in something that I'm not aware of, just what do you plan to do when you're backed into a dark alley some night?"
She dropped her eyes from mine and mumbled out, "I'll cross that bridge when or if I ever come to it."
"That's not good enough! You owe it to yourself to have a little more common sense than this!"
I was mad! Didn't she read the newspapers and see the news at all? I dealt with monsters of every kind on a daily basis. This world was made up of bad people, who wouldn't think twice about gobbling up an innocent girl such as her for breakfast.
I leaned down and pulled a 9mm out of my ankle holster. It was a smaller gun, but it would do the job. Anna's eyes grew large as she saw the pistol in my hand. For being a woman Anna didn't have much in her purse and the pistol fit easily into it.
"But I don't have a permit!" She exclaimed.
"Consider this your chance to do something highly illegal then. Do you know how to use it?"
She nodded, "I shot some of my father's when I was younger."
"Good, it's fully loaded and ready to go. Make sure to keep it with you and use it if you have to."
I caught her looking at me curiously and I asked somewhat defensively, "What?"
"You really do kill people don't you?" I nodded as I felt myself being led off track again by her pretty eyes.