Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Eight: Stories

"I designed my own destruction."
~ Hazel Dawson

EIGHT

Zach noticed my interest in his flowers right away. In a glance, he stood in front of me to block my view. He reached out to open the door behind me and said, "I'll take you to the gym."

I glanced at him skeptically. He'd better not guide me somewhere strange. My reluctance didn't faze him. He added, "Or would you prefer to spend the night here?"

That got me straight out of the door with a "no thanks" expression on my face.

"You're not at the stage where you should train to be stronger yet. Right now, you need to focus on the control of your newfound strength. You'll need to be able to do everyday tasks without appearing suspicious," Zach explained to me as if he'd said it a hundred times. "Start holding everything like you're carrying a feather. You'll adjust to your growing physical power soon enough. You go to school, right?"

I nodded as we got on an elevator. Apparently, this mansion had five floors, including two underground levels. Or maybe this entire estate was underground. I'd never seen a single window nor sunshine in this place. I suppose that was understandable for a house full of creatures of the night.

When the double doors of the elevator slid open, Zach didn't move. He nodded out to the gym that had mirrors as walls and told me, "Go on ahead. Try the treadmill and weight lifts."

"What about you? Where are you going?" I asked, not feeling entirely comfortable in the large gym with other unfamiliar vampires there.

He replied casually, "I'm a bit hungry. I'll be back in about an hour."

"I thought you were just ripping people apart before our mission?" I pointed out and faced him while I backed out of the elevator.

"Are you one to judge? Humans are supposed to have three meals a day," he fired back with a straight face as the elevator doors closed.

I nervously turned around to the workout area. Several strangers were chatting while lifting weights in the right corner. I heaved a small sigh of relief when I saw Roman hitting the stuffing out of a punching bag in the left corner. Oh wait, it was made of metal. 

I strode over to the familiar face, but he turned out to be a not-so-familiar person. As soon as he beamed at me happily, I knew I should've stuck to the treadmill as Zach told me to.

"Hi!" Ashton greeted, waving one of his boxing gloves. "Here for newbie training? Is no one with you?"

"Zach ditched me to get a drink," I said. He dramatically pulled the corners of his lips downwards in sympathy.

"I've only known that guy for five years, but everyone knows how often he goes hunting. I'm surprised he hasn't been caught," Ashton remarked. He was quite easy to talk to, despite how Hailee and Zach portrayed him. "Speaking of years, I believe we're the same age."

I almost laughed until I saw that he was serious. I tilted my head in doubt. "Really? I'm eighteen."

"Oh, whoops." Ashton rubbed his head, then smirked. "I'm seventeen."

My eyebrows tugged up. I had assumed Roman would at least be a century old because of how quiet and mature he acted, but he was, in fact, younger than me?

"Guess you are my onee-chan," he hummed in joy.

"Your what?"

"Big sister!" Ashton repeated although I could've sworn he said something else the first time.

He's so silly. Ashton started going on about how I was the only person here closest to his age other than Kassandra. How could these twins be so drastically different? They've been through the same things and still see the same things.