Who's to judge?

Chapter XIV

"No."

That was my final response.

"Come on, you have to put this on or you won't get in." Whined Leroy. He came closer with the dress and I took a step backwards.

"At least try it on." He begged me, swinging the garment back and forth in front of me. The dress in question was a mini dress. It barely reached my thighs and even had a small cleft on one side. It had long sleeves but they were see-through. It looked tight and uncomfortable.

"Don't you have anything else in your miracle chest?" I asked him, irritated. He sighed, threw the dress on the floor and started rummaging again. Annoyed by his fussing, I said, "Don't we have anything else to talk about instead of getting dressed like dolls?" Leroy's rummaging stopped abruptly. I could sense the slightly irritated expression of his vigor.

The mixed turned around, instead of irritation I saw a smile on his face. He said nothing, but walked past me out of the room and then disappeared into one of the others. I didn't know if he was angry or not. Valerio dropped the clothes from his arms and snorted in annoyance.

"Brava!" He only said and followed his vigor. Completely confused, I look up at Talon who was looking after Valerio.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked I. In response, a piece of clothing came flying at me, hitting me right in the face. "Put this on." Came Leroy's voice. He was angry after all. With the garment in my hand, I saw Leroy standing in front of me.

"I hope you like it." He added, slightly irritated. He then crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, probably expecting grumbling from me, but what I said was, "I know you're worried about tonight, but I'm sure it won't go great just because we're dressed right."

Now he raised both eyebrows, while Valerio next to him pressed his lips tightly together.

"The thing is, nothing at all will happen if you're not dressed properly. But it doesn't matter, does it? You're not the one who has to organize everything, are you?"

The whole situation was stressing everyone out, I was aware of that, but I didn't feel like arguing either. So when he tried to crawl back into the room, I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back slightly. Apparently I had thus evoked something in him, because he jerked back violently with panic in his eyes.

"Let go." He whispered softly, almost frightened. Before I could react, Valerio yanked my hand away, pushed me and stood in front of Leroy.

"We are all tense, so it would be better if we rested until tonight." He said quickly.

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Leroy's hand and disappeared into their room. I looked up at Talon, whose expression seemed slightly bleary. I had never asked how long the three of them had lived together, but from his expression, they seemed to have experienced a lot. Because of this, I felt a little out of place, but I could change that if I made an effort to understand them better.

"Talon, what did I do wrong?" I asked. He lowered his gaze to me. With a gentle tone, he said to me, "It's not up to me to tell you, kitten. It's not my story." I nodded, but widened my eyes as I realized what he had just called me. "Kitten," that was the pet name he had given me when we had first met. He hadn't noticed it himself, because he strolled to the room with the bodies without responding. Perhaps that word no longer had much meaning for him.

There were several glass cases in the room, which I had hardly noticed the first time. Talon took a small vial from one of them. He then went to the young lady we had found yesterday.

"What are you doing?" I asked, mildly curious.

"The blood sample for the doctor." He answered me intently. I watched as he carefully set to work. With so many questions running through my head, I couldn't help myself and asked, "How long have you three known each other?"