Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Eighteen: Bloodlust

"Harm no bitch, but take no shit."
~ Hailee Greene

EIGHTEEN

"I'm sure you've already heard from Kaydence that Jeremy passed away, yes? We've discovered that the parents' contacts for Jeremy were all empty numbers. It's unlikely, but as per my duty, I need to ask you. Do you know of any of his family members?"

My jaw dropped in the middle of Arthur's sentence. Jeremy; what a mysterious character. When I first met him, I just disliked the way he made a joke out of my name.

Deciding not to say everything, I told Arthur, "He mentioned once that he had a half-sister who recently passed away. He didn't bring up his parents."

Arthur nodded, then stood up and got his coat. "Thanks, Hazy. I must return to the office now. I still have tons of paperwork to file. Jeremy's funeral is this weekend. I'll inform you of the time later."

I could see the grief and distress in his eyes as Arthur spoke about Jeremy. After he left, I plopped down on my couch. I couldn't unhear the despair in Jeremy's last words. I couldn't unsee the blood seeping rapidly from his body. Everything was printed vividly in my mind.

I tilted my head to peer out the window, only to have the living daylight scared so much out of me that I fell off the sofa. Whenever I viewed out a window, Zach's unblinking pale blues always seemed to be there. I went over and opened the door for him.

"Had a great meal?" I asked as I closed the door behind him.

"Yes, thank you for asking," Zach replied with a side-cocked grin, then held out his hand to me. He needed to make sure that I didn't mention anything about The Ones to Arthur.

Much to his frustration, Zach couldn't read my memory upon simple physical contact; my permission was required. I must explicitly recall an event for him to see. I had nothing to hide, so I rolled my eyes and put my hand in his.

A couple of seconds later, Zach asked, "Who's Jeremy?"

"A newbie vampire hunter who died on the job. I knew the guy."

Zach scanned my face skeptically, then dismissed it. "Alright. I'm crashing here."

"Okay, we could watch a movie or something," I suggested. I couldn't just leave him alone down here.

"Sure. Let's play 'finding a horror movie that actually scares me.'"

I wasn't the biggest fan of horror, but I could still enjoy a marathon. We sat down on a couch, and I grabbed the remote. While I searched through a list of the highest rated horror movies, Zach said, "By the way, remember to tell your uncle not to use a shotgun on me. Those shits take hours to heal."

My face grew hot, knowing that I accidentally recalled that part along with my conversation with Arthur. I tried to stare at the terrifying movie covers to distract myself.

"Are you going to this Jeremy guy's funeral?" he asked again, being unusually wordy today for some reason.

I selected a random movie that had high ratings, then set the remote on the coffee table.

"Yeah."

"I want to go."

"Why?"

"All of the high-ranked hunters will be there, including Henrietta King." Zach stared straight ahead with a deadly glare. "Her grandfather was responsible for the annihilation of my parents and relatives, and she permitted vampire experimenting. She's currently mainly in charge of locating me, but none of the hunters even know what I look like."