I came up with several possible ways to protect Ambrose without hiring additional bodyguards, but the first one I decided to start to implement the next day – without consulting my employers, of course.

“Ambrose,” I said as I pulled away from the school, “what do you think of learning some self-defense?”

His eyes widened and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.  He had to know his parents wouldn’t approve – that had kind of been on their list of rules, no letting him get involved in fights or knowing how to fight – but to my relief, he apparently was more interested in what I offered than in following all of the official rules.

“Yes!”  He agreed readily.  “I don’t want to see people get hurt because of me again.  I’d like to be able to defend myself.”

The butler helped me come up with a room in the house where we could practice without Ambrose’s parents finding out – thankfully the butler understood my concerns and apparently agreed with me – so from that day onward, Ambrose and I had secret training sessions.  When his parents were gone, we didn’t have to worry quite as much about being caught, but we still couldn’t be 100% sure some of the other staff wouldn’t snitch on us, so we had to be careful.  The butler had come up with a story about me teaching Ambrose some exotic dances, to account for the use of the room and any noises people might hear, but we both realized that eventually that story wasn’t going to work any longer.  For now, though, we had a cover story and I could teach Ambrose some basics.

I couldn’t expect him to exactly do much, given his age, but he was quick to learn what I taught him, plus I had another plan.

That one backfired a bit on me when, not entirely to my surprise, Ambrose balked when I offered him gloves with poisoned claw tips.

“I don’t want to hurt people!”  He protested.  “I just want to defend myself!”

I considered how to explain this to a kid.  “These people will hurt you if they get the chance.  I’ll try to keep them from it, but if I can’t?  This is a last resort, Ambrose.  I’m not asking you to use them right off the bat.  But you need to have some sort of backup just in case.”  The kidnappers would never expect Ambrose to know some self-defense, but they’d have even less reason to think he might be armed and dangerous.

He looked upset at the idea, though, frowning at the gloves.  “But – but they’re awkward, too!  I can’t carry them around easily.  What if they fell out of my bag at school and one of my classmates picked them up?  I don’t know about that.”

I had to grant him that point.  “Alright, what if we did this instead.”  I offered him a small knife, also poison-coated – but in a sheath so it wouldn’t get everywhere – and a gun as well.

He looked at them, then at me.  I could almost see the wheels turning in his head.  “You deliberately offered me the gloves first so these would look more reasonable in comparison, didn’t you?”

I hadn’t expected him to realize that, but it didn’t matter much if he did.  “Ambrose, I understand not wanting to hurt someone.”  Yeah, fine – as a naga, of course I’d grown up from an early age fighting and being expected to be able to handle anything thrown at me.  Violence didn’t bother me so much, I’d been desensitized to it early.  But I didn’t expect the same for him.  He hadn’t grown up in my community and had instead grown up in a wealthy household, well insulated from dangers – except for these attempts to kidnap him, none of which had ever succeeded.

“You need to have a backup plan, just in case.”  I tapped the gun lightly.  “I know it’s not fun to think about, but if there’s ever too many for me?  You need to make sure you have a way to get away.  Guns can help, and poison can help against a lot of supernaturals, too.  It’ll slow them down, at minimum, giving you more time to escape.”

He frowned as he looked at the knife and gun, then at me.  “You think something big is going to happen, don’t you?”

I sighed a little.  “I do,” I agreed.  “I think the attempts are more organized than they initially appear and I’m concerned it’s only a matter of time until they send more people or too many supernaturals, more than I can handle.  I might be only able to handle several of them and unable to stop others that go after you.”

“We could tell Papa and Mama,” he started to suggest.

“I did.”

Ambrose took a bit to process that.  “They didn’t believe you, did they?  They don’t tend to believe what their employees say.  Only what people of higher standing say.”  He sighed a little.  “It’s not very smart of them.  Or nice.  I’m sorry, Maddie.”

I ignored his nickname for me, kind of more impressed at how mature and insightful he was despite his young age.  “I thought about trying to hire someone extra myself, but I can’t afford to.”  The pay was decent, but not enough to cover the costs of two people.  “So I’m taking any other precautions I can.  I have weapons in the car, and on me, and I want you to have some too, just in case.  I’ll teach you how to use them, so you won’t go in unprepared, but I want some kind of backup.  They won’t expect you to have weapons, much less know how to use them, but having them may be the difference between being kidnapped or not.  And you do not want to fall into these people’s hands, okay?  Even if they didn’t hurt you, it’d be traumatizing.”  I was also not convinced that they wouldn’t hurt him.  If all they wanted was money, Roland would probably pay the ransom, but I was pretty sure there was something more to this plan, and if so…well, Roland might not go along with whatever it was they wanted, which would mean Ambrose would be in even more danger.

Ambrose eyed the weapons again, then his shoulders slumped a little as he gave in.  “Okay.  I don’t like it, but if it’ll make you feel more comfortable, I’ll do it.”

“It’s not about me,” I corrected.  “It’s about making sure you’re as safe as we can.”

For now, anyway.  If what I suspected would happen did happen, there was a big downside.  Hopefully, Ambrose would be able to get away with the tools I was giving him, and ideally, the extra steps I was taking, such as keeping weapons around, would help, but this plan largely assumed that I would be incapacitated or possibly even killed.  I didn’t point that part out to him, focusing more on the idea that I could only handle so many at a time, but it was a very real possibility.  It didn’t make me inclined to quit, because I was genuinely concerned about Ambrose, plus, well, I’d signed up for this job.  I intended to see it through.

Seeing it through…what exactly would that entail, though?  Would it be enough for Ambrose to nearly get kidnapped and have to defend himself?  Would that be enough to convince his parents to hire more bodyguards and take better care of him?  Or would the only way to really see it through be to deal with the syndicate itself?  I doubted I could do that alone.  Maybe if I had an entire naga nest helping me, but I didn’t, and that wasn’t an option.  All I could come up with was making Ambrose so unfriendly of a target that they’d give up on him.

To my surprise, my predictions didn’t come true.  In fact, the attempts to kidnap him seemed to fade, and as months and then years passed, it seemed less and less likely that anything would happen.  I still couldn’t quite ignore my concerns that something would happen, but I couldn’t understand why things hadn’t played out the way I expected.

Ambrose was 15 now, turning into a handsome young man, but I still trained him in self-defense several days a week.  He obliged, but I got the impression sometimes that he was just humoring me since he had long forgotten the fears that something would happen.

I was standing in the giant dining room one day, watching the Wrights eat their stuffily formal meal, pretending to be alert and ready in this very-secure building that honestly I didn’t need to be concerned about.  The butler, having finished serving the family, came to stand near me.

“Mr. Roland and Mrs. Miranda have discussed whether your services are still required,” he murmured softly to me.  “They seem to think that because there haven’t been any attempts in over a year, any danger of Mr. Ambrose being kidnapped has passed.”

My eyes narrowed a bit as I looked over at the couple.  It didn’t surprise me, to be honest – I’d kind of expected them to fire me before now, especially after my unsuccessful attempt to convince them to hire another bodyguard.

“Thanks for the heads up,” I returned in a low tone.  “I suppose I should start looking for new employment, then.”

The butler didn’t look happy at that statement.  “I believe it would be unwise of them to let you go.  You are the most efficient and effective bodyguard Mr. Ambrose ever had, and you’ve tolerated the family well.  You doubtless scared off some would-be kidnappers, knowing that there was a very capable bodyguard at his side.  Were he suddenly to appear in public without a bodyguard, it might seem like a free opportunity to some individuals of less-than-savory natures.”

“I don’t disagree.”  Honestly, I thought removing his bodyguard was a pretty bad idea, especially while he was still just a kid.  People might think twice before attempting to kidnap an adult, but kids were supposedly easier.  Even if he was a teenager now.  “But I doubt my words can convince them otherwise.  They’ve already proven that they don’t believe what I have to say.”

The butler frowned a bit.  “Mr. Ambrose may have better success in convincing them.  I know he is quite fond of you and feels you are his closest friend.  He would be quite disappointed to lose you.”

That still didn’t seem like anything I could control, so I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do about it.

“If they indicate that those are their intentions, I’ll try to talk them out of it,” I dutifully promised him, not sure what else he might want from me.  “For his sake, I wish my services weren’t required, but I suspect you are right about how it might appear to people if he stopped having a bodyguard around.”

Like a target that was suddenly unprotected and easy to nab.  Well, he wasn’t actually that easy to kidnap, thanks to my training, but people wouldn’t realize that and I didn’t much like the idea of Ambrose being traumatized by being attacked and someone trying to kidnap him, even if they didn’t succeed.  His training and weapons were supposed to be a last-ditch effort to protect him, not the first line of defense.

There was a small chance the danger really was gone, but I doubted it.  I still thought the syndicate might have plans, but what if this was their plan?  Wait long enough so eventually I left and he was unprotected?  It seemed like an odd sort of plan, having to wait that long, but…I couldn’t entirely rule it out, either.  It sort of all depended on what the plan was for kidnapping him in the first place.  Maybe whatever the plan was, waiting a few years wouldn’t be that big of a deal for them.

I didn’t bring up the issue with either of my employers, but now that the butler had alerted me to the idea, I could sort of see it in the way they looked at me.  It was only a matter of time before they decided I really was pointless to keep around.