Bloody Petals

Chapter 3

Now that Zero was more relaxed, his eyes darted on the room's entirety. There was one huge bed across the bathroom. On the bed's right side, from Zero's point of view, was a wooden two-layered shelf. Above it was a huge rectangular mirror hanging on the wall. Zero could see his image in the mirror. He was naked except for the small towel on his abdomen area down to his upper thighs. His skin looked so soft and creamy with all the droplets of water trickling down his chest and torso area. His hair was still wet and the tips were also contributing to the total delicious wet look that he had. On the shelf's right side was a tall cabinet where his clothes and other things would be kept. On the bed's left side were a study table and supposedly, a chair. But the chair was currently in front of the cabinet. The wall on his right side had the door and on his left side was an open window where the sunrays come from.

His room looked so bright and warm, something he was not used to. He cleaned himself with the towel and clothed himself immediately. He started unpacking more of his things and put them in the shelf and the cabinet. Some of them, like his books and his educational things, were put on the study table. He needed to look like he was really here to study after all.

After he finished doing everything, his hair was already dry and he felt that he wanted nothing to do for now but sleep, until he heard knocks on his door.

Zero looked at it for a while before he answered. "Come in." The door opened and Zero knew who the person was even before he felt, rather than saw, that overly familiar way of smiling at him.

"Is it a nice room, Kiryuu-kun?" Cross asked.

"It's okay." He answered casually. He wasn't really used to this kind of environment so he didn't know what he would feel. He looked at Cross and immediately knew that those topics were not really related to what they would talk about right now.

"You were attacked by vampires, weren't you?" Cross asked seriously.

"Yes, it was obvious." He answered as he sat on the bed, feeling really exhausted. "Are you going to report me to the Association?"

"No, not really." His eyes were so serious Zero could have thought he was a different person than the awfully cheery man he met earlier on the road. "I want to know who bit you."

"Heh? You also knew about that? How convenient." Zero voiced in a sarcastic manner.

"Kiryuu-kun, I want to help you." Cross said seriously as he too sat on a nearby chair.

Zero's gaze darted straight into Cross's as he heard the words. The Chairman was indeed helping vampires... He needed to report it to the Association immediately. Cross, however, immediately guessed what Zero was thinking and voiced his side so he would not be misunderstood.

"Kiryuu-kun, I want to help you not because you are a vampire." He said. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble with the Association right now. It was suicidal. "I want to help you because you are my friend's, Yagari's, student. I want to help you because you are part of the Elite Force where I used to belong. That's all."

"This person is very observant..." Zero thought as he heard Cross's explanation. He didn't know if Cross was saying the truth but he knew Cross read what was on his mind based only on his cold facial expression. This mission was more dangerous than he originally thought. If he was like this, then the vampires in this area would most likely be the same. For a while, the thought about him being a vampire became the least of his problems, until it was brought back by Cross again.

"We need to do something so you won't turn into Level E." He said. And suddenly, Zero really wanted to just shoot a bullet into his head. He didn't want to become one of those creatures that didn't have any will anymore and just moved based on their instincts. He didn't want to become the lowest of the lowest kind of monster. He at least wanted to die as a hunter and maintain his honor as being one.