Who's to judge?

Chapter XVI

This morning was the first morning I was awakened by knocking. I opened my eyes, but I didn't feel like getting up. There was another knock. I grumbled briefly, "Come in." And closed my eyes again. The door opened slowly and chocolate smells flooded in. I remained lying there with my eyes closed.

"Are you still asleep?" Talon asked me, slightly amused. I answered by snuggling further into the blanket. My eyes remained closed, but when I didn't hear anything for a long time, not even how he had gone out the door, I opened them and was startled. Talon had crouched in front of me and was now at eye level. He was close, very close, I had no idea what he was up to, I just knew I was certainly awake now. He looked surprised too, then with a slight chuckle, tilted his head to the side and said, "Good morning, kitten."

My cheeks warmed as much as my heart. He stood up and walked to the door while I sat up. Arriving at the doorway, he said, "We want to discuss everything, are you coming?"

I nodded quickly and stood up, but forgot two things: One, I had taken off my dress yesterday and gone to bed in my underwear; two, Talon was still in the room. So now we stood there, me in my panties and bra, and him wide-eyed. It wasn't as if we had never seen each other in our underwear, after all we had been together for years, a lot of things happened, but it had just been a long time. I didn't move, and tried not to react to the cloying smell that just emanated from Talon.

But when I smelled burning coming closer and Leroy's voice trying to say something, I turned abruptly. "Is she awake? Did you-" He was silenced by Talon, though, as he stepped out of the room in seconds and closed the door. I stifled a laugh and got dressed. I was bubbling with joy because Talon still seemed to find something about me, maybe it was imagination, but his scent gave him away.

When I entered the kitchen, I saw only Leroy and Talon.

"Where's Valerio?" I asked as I took a seat at the table. Leroy sighed and explained to us, "Well, what happened yesterday took quite a bit out of him, so he's taking it easy today." I should have expected that. After he had to see something like that, it was only understandable. The worst part was, it was a reminder, which meant that unfortunately he had experienced it, unfortunately they both had.

"Before I start, I want to know the last time you guys had a drink." Said Leroy, looking at us questioningly. I didn't know, but it had been a while. Talon seemed to be thinking for a long time too. Sighing, the mongrel went to the fridge, took something out and filled it into two cups. When he was done, he slid the cups over to us and explained, "You need to keep your strength up."

We nodded and took a sip. A question popped into my head that I wanted too much to ask, but wasn't sure. Finally, I pulled myself together and asked, "Tell me, where did you guys get the blood?"

"We go and loot a hospital every week" Talon told me calmly. I was shocked, and almost believed it if I hadn't heard Leroy's little giggle. Thanks to Talon's goofy grin, I quickly understood he was pulling my leg.

"Very funny." I said, laughing lightly. Talon laughed too and took a sip.

"Alright, let's summarize everything we know." Leroy began. "Today we will be able to find out if they died from vampire bites. If that were the case, we need to ask the doctor if he can find out who the attacker was. While that's going on, we're going to look up this guy David, who was the last person to see the dead." Apparently Valerio had told him everything.

"So we're going to split up today. Talon, as soon as Valerio is on his feet, you take the blood samples to the doctor." Said Leroy, pointing to Talon. He saluted him and then leaned back on the chair.

"You and I will go see David. Is that all right?" he then asked me. I nodded in agreement. The day was ready to begin.

Leroy and I were the first to leave the house, since Valerio was still in bed. It had probably taken quite a bit out of him, I wondered how Leroy felt. It had been a terrible time for him too, how had he managed to pull himself out of it?