Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Thirty-Three: Time to Pay

"To a vampire, 'forever' holds a whole new meaning."
~ Zachary Nolan

THIRTY-THREE

As I darted close, Zach detected me. His eyes flew wide, and his mouth fell ajar. Henrietta noticed me, too, and she briskly steered clear.

I spun the key between my left index and middle finger. In an instant, it morphed into the six-feet-long spear. The jewels embedded around the claws glowed a brighter crimson than ever before as if to match my irises.

I first swung it like a bat. Of course, Zach completely dodged it. When he tried to speak, I cut him off and whirled my weapon at a faster speed. He struggled to gather his thoughts and produce words when I fired such dense attacks, but he only evaded and blocked, never fighting back.

I grunted as I thrust the spear at him, the tip slanting right by just a fraction. As I predicted, he shifted his balance to the left to get out of the course of the blades. I quickly axed the crescent blade on the spear to the left, but he saw through such a simple tactic with ease and ducked speedily, avoiding the swing entirely.

It took him minutes into the fight to realize what I'd been doing this past week. The reason I disappeared wasn't to think about my feelings at all.

"Hazel," he mumbled in a voice that was barely audible. The last time I heard so much emotion laced in his tone was back when he brought me to the rose garden.

Back then, Zach's voice alone stirred up so many complicated feelings within me. My body ached to speak to him, but I could ignore it now. I was stronger than before.

I levered my spear in Zach's direction unexpectedly, and this time, he sustained a cut on his arm. It encouraged me.

I let out a battle cry that I didn't know existed and charged. I swung; he leaped. I pierced; he parried. I whipped it like a baseball bat, and he performed a limbo.

"Calm down!" he finally yelled.

I yelled back, "I'm perfectly rational!"

He got momentarily disoriented by my attempted sweep at his feet. I took advantage of that and tightened my grip on the spear. I aimed for his chest. But the weight of the weapon suddenly got to me, and the spearhead punctured the bottom of his rib cage instead. Just as I shifted to land the finishing blow, my body was abruptly not mine to control.

I had completely forgotten to wear eye protection.

Zach and I both panted in mild exhaustion. His dark orbs locked firmly with my fire-engine ones. He glanced at my attire, then at the spear.

He scowled. He tried to convince himself otherwise, but it was clear as day that I had joined the hunters.

I was a traitor; didn't he want to kill me now?

I glared at him unblinkingly. I felt both frustrated and nostalgic that I couldn't read his expression one bit. He frowned and returned a hard stare.

"Listen." He drew a breath. "There's an idiotic reason behind all of my actions. I only realized why you tried to give me a second chance after Ashlynne told me everything."

Zach was barely able to finish that sentence as he sensed, at the last second, a bullet coming his way.

I couldn't turn my head to see, but by the growl of hatred that emitted from Zach's throat, I guessed that Henrietta had thought I was in danger and fired a shot.

I wish I'd escape from his mind control!

While Zach was distracted by Henrietta's bullet, I briskly accelerated the spear toward his chest, again. He noticed just as the point was an inch away from his flesh.