Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Twenty-Nine: May the Trials Commence

"At last, I felt the solitude that I no longer welcomed."
~ Zachary Nolan

TWENTY-NINE

Arthur hurried back, then exchanged glances with Alecx.

"Really?" he asked.

With no emotions present in my being, I didn't feel the need to explain myself. "You said I could start today, right?"

Alecx beamed in relief, and Arthur, too, seemed like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"Excellent. You made the right choice, Hazy. I'll go right now to speak with the committee and retrieve the key for this cell," Arthur said, resembling an excited child on Christmas.

I shook my head. "Move."

I wish the bars confining me would break down.

They reacted just in time and stepped back before the solid silver bars in front of us suddenly snapped to pieces. It clanked loudly on the concrete ground. I stepped over the pile of metal as if I didn't just effortlessly break the artificial material that had always been indestructible to vampires.

I glanced over my shoulder at the two stunned boys. I offered a small smirk and asked, "What are you waiting for?"

The fact that I was a vampire must've only sunk in just now. Neither Arthur nor Alecx had seen me in action or with vampiristic traits until now. Although my heart had already frozen over, I was sure that the warm shade of my hazel eyes made them subconsciously doubt that I was any different from the girl they'd known forever.

Arthur was better at masking his emotions, but Alecx, as usual, was an open book to me. The only thing I found on his face was sadness after the shock had passed.

Just then, my ears picked up on a distant screaming female. I turned back to the entrance of the dungeon. Soon, the voices grew closer, and Henrietta descended the stairs, furious. Kaydence followed right behind her.

"One vampire is already too much. I don't care what the old hags say! That vampire girl is not staying!" Henrietta yelled.

Kaydence noticed me first, and she tugged on Henrietta's arm. Henrietta directed her fuming gaze at me, and her eyes flew wide. She glared at Arthur and demanded, "Why did you let her out? As a Chief vampire hunter, this proposal of yet another vampire among our ranks has to go through me."

Arthur smiled a little and pointed his thumb to the ruins that used to be sturdy prison cell bars. "Well, you see, she broke those bars in the most epic way possible and stepped out. You can't blame this one on me."

Henrietta exhaled deeply. "Arthur, are you really going to take in another vampire just because she's the daughter of your best friend? I don't know what screw was loose in everybody's heads twenty years ago to have allowed Grant, but now that I'm here, I insist our line of hunters should remain human-only. If I had the authority twenty years ago, I would've done everything to forbid a vampire vampire hunter."

"People like Grant and Hazel were pulled into lives that they don't want. You're acting selfishly," Alecx shot back, very unlike his usual gentle character.

Henrietta seemed like she could say a hundred things to counter Alecx's argument, but she held them back and made a mess of her feathery paperboy cut instead.

"Look," Arthur said. "Grant had to pass multiple tests to ensure that he was truly on our side. Hazel can skip that and go straight to the fitness testing." His voice was firm and left no space for debate.

If I could still feel guilt, I'd be feeling it at this moment.

"If she's so goddamn trustworthy, why didn't she come to us when she first got turned?" Henrietta inquired and crossed her arms. She wasn't addressing me, so I saw no need to talk. Her opinions had some sway over the final decision, but as long as I proved my worth, I'd pass without a hinge.