”Give up?” Zoey bared her fangs and hissed. “You tried to kidnap me.”

“I wanted my brother back. That was all I wanted.” Rumpke answered. His voice seemed somber…sincere. Pete almost felt bad for him.

“Your brother attacked me,” Pete explained. “So did you.”

Rumpke sat up, legs bent in front of him, and hugged his knees. “The Trash Pandas have to steal. It's one of the laws of the moderators. You must fulfill your calling. If someone tries to do something else or ignores their calling…well… The moderators have destroyed cities for less.”

Pete remembered when the mayor indicated that was the punishment for breaking a law of the moderators. He liked the moderators less and less by the second.

Zoey asked. “Your brother stole from us because he has to steal? Your gang steals because stealing is their job? You don’t have a choice?”

“The technical term is raiding.” Rumpke shrugged. “And no, we don’t have a choice. Cedric—my brother—had to steal from you. Then you captured him. I always told mom and dad I’d take care of him…doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Pete plopped down next to Rumpke, patting Rumpke’s shoulder. “You did what you could. What would you say if I told you I have a way to get your brother back?”

Caution entered Rumpke’s voice. “You’d help me? Why?”

“Because,” Zoey said. “Pete always believes in giving people a second chance. He’s always been this way. There was this one time at Pizza Place where a customer didn’t tip him four deliveries in a row. Pete was still nice to the customer. It was crazy.”

Rumpke blinked. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It means,” Pete explained, “that I have a plan. It will help you and your gang…at the same time…It will help the town of Greenlake.”

“I’m listening.” Rumpke looked at Pete. “But if you’re messing with me, round two of our fight is about to start.”

One round against Rumpke was enough. Pete shivered at the thought of round two. Then he hurried to explain. “I overheard the mayor say she needs a garbage man.

“What do you think about being a gang of garbage men?” Pete asked.

“Wouldn’t work,” Rumpke wasted no time with his answer. “If we get paid to do work, then the moderators won’t consider it doing our job.”

“I never said you’d get paid for it.” Pete stretched his arms up. “In fact, it only works if you don’t. Think of it this way. We make big bins that we use to keep garbage in, but we label those bins with big, capital letters, ‘Do Not Steal.’ Then your gang members come by and steal it.”

“Okay,” Rumpke offered a toothy smile. “I like how you think. We sort through the do not steal bin items, keeping what we can use, disposing of the rest.” Rumpke’s smile faded. “One problem, though.”

“What’s that?” Pete asked as he returned to his feet and offered Rumpke a hand.

Rumpke took his hand and stood. “We won’t be able to survive on other people’s trash. I have over thirty raccoons who depend on me.”

“That’s where the second part of my plan comes in,” Pete said, pointing at the forested mountain where the raccoons live. “You can keep the forest safe for travelers. If you perceive any threats, you can either handle them or warn us about them. For that, the mayor can pay you. That way, you are still thieves, but you also have honest jobs.”

“That doesn’t sound fun at all.” Zoey rolled her eyes.

Rumpke laughed at her comment before replying to Pete. “The concept of honest thieves seems like a strange one. Yet, if you can make this proposition a reality, I would be happy to acquiesce.” He turned his eyes back to Zoey. “Plus, I’d prefer to say on the good side of every vampire with whom my path crosses. I hear they make great allies.”

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“Oh, you know we do,” Zoey added some extra attitude into her words.

Pete clapped his hands together. “Then it’s settled. I’ll talk to the mayor first thing in the morning, see if she has the funds and means to support a group of forest protectors who moonlight as garbage thieves.”

“If she says no?” Rumpke inquired.

“Let’s hope she doesn’t.” Pete took in a deep breath. “But if she does, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Regardless, I want to offer you a sign of good faith. Whenever you stop by Mod’s bakery—we call it M&P’s now—you can count on a free slice of pizza. Consider it a sign of good faith. Also, I’ll see if I can talk her into releasing your brother.”

“For that, I would be eternally grateful.” Rumpke put his hands on his hips. “When and how will I know if the mayor accepts these terms?”

Pete contemplated before answering. “Tomorrow, as the sun sets, meet Zoey and me where the path up the mountain meets the tree line. By then, we’ll have an answer for you.”

“Good,” Rumpke nodded his agreement. “Then, I will see you tomorrow night.”

“I look forward to it.” Pete offered his hand, and Rumpke returned his. After they shook, Rumpke moved to Zoey to shake her hand, too.

“No,” Zoey explained, holding her hand as a fist. “Like this. You tap your knuckles against mine.” Rumpke did as commanded. “Boom.” Zoey opened her hand as if it exploded. “We call it pounds.”

“Boom,” Rumpke copied, exploding his own fist. “Yes, I do like that. It is entertaining to me. I bid you both a wonderful evening. I will see you tomorrow as the sun sets.”

“See you tomorrow,” they said in unison, turned, and began toward the town.

As they entered the town, Pete looked at her. “Rumpke mentioned how vampires are stronger than humans. It made me curious. What are your stats like?”

“You don’t ask a girl her stats like that.” Zoey lectured. “It’s like asking them their age.”

Was it like asking them their age? Pete hadn’t heard that. Did Zoey learn the rule from one of the customers during her delivery shift? Had Pete breached etiquette? His lawful good conscience sank.

“Relax,” she giggled. “I was only joking. If I remember, at level one, my strength was thirty-one. Does that help?”

“What?” Pete’s heart dropped. “Thirty-one? At level one? When I was level one, my strength was four.” Pete pulled up his status screen. “I’m level twelve. My strength is Thirty-seven. What level are you now? What are your stats like?”

“I don’t know,” she wrinkled her forehead. “Pull up yours, and I’ll pull up mine. Let’s compare.”

They each stopped walking, pulled up their respective status pages, and compared:

“Wh…wh…what?” He stammered, unable to believe the difference in their attributes. She was tougher in every category. All that because she was a vampire. He understood why Rumpke wanted to remain friends with vampires.

Zoey remained wide-eyed, staring straight ahead as they closed the screens and resumed walking. A sly smile snuck across her lips, and she said. “It’s okay to be weak. Not everyone can be strong and awesome.”

“Funny…” Pete glowered. “Then again, if you weren’t as strong as you are, we wouldn’t have defeated those raccoon raiders. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks.” She put her arm around his shoulder and hugged. “I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

“Speaking of the battle.” Pete tried not to blush as she hugged him. “How did you know where the invisible raccoon was? The one that stabbed me in each side?”

“I smelled your blood on his knife.” She grinned, adding. “It smelled tasty…”

“Funny joke.” Pete smiled.

“I know. I’m a funny vampire.” She released her hold on him.

They came to Mod’s bakery, opened the door with an iron key which Mod had given Pete, and entered inside. Both remained as quiet as possible, sneaking back to their room. Once there, Zoey lied in the bed, and Pete claimed his spot atop the hay in the corner.

Before falling asleep, Pete carried out one more task. He opened up his job skills screen and began to allocate the points he’d earned from gaining five levels.

He started by allocating points to strong fire. The standard fire spell had saved them in their fight against Rumpke. It only made sense to further develop the skill.

Next, he put three points into strong steel hands, knowing it would boost his slapping ability. That would help him in battle and in the kitchen. After unlocking the ability, he had eleven remaining points.

He unlocked strong heat resist next, lowering the total job points remaining to eight. And he had three options to choose from: oven survival, cut resist, and milk to cheese.

Oven survival would grant him the ability to touch hot pans in the oven with his bare hand without getting burned. It could be helpful for loading and removing pizzas.

Yet, Mod tended to the oven during shifts. During work, Pete took deliveries and helped with slapping and topping pizzas. Unless he filled in for Mod, the ability wouldn’t help him. It could wait.

Cut resist offered a twenty percent resistance to slashing, stabbing, and cutting damage. It was a no brainer, so he put points into it, lowering his total remaining job points to five.

This unlocked a new ability, pizza cutter accuracy. It added five extra damage points when he had a pizza cutter equipped. Since he hadn’t yet fought with a cutter, he chose not to unlock it.

Instead, he scanned his eyes back to milk to cheese. It allowed him to turn a quart of milk into a block of cheese in an instant. He wondered if the ability would save Mod money on cheese. After careful consideration, he unlocked it.

A new trait appeared, a line connecting it to milk to cheese. The new trait was tomato to sauce. It would turn one tomato into a quart of sauce. It was another useful trait, so Pete put two points into it, leaving him with one.

With that, he closed the job skills menu, closed his eyes, and slept.