Orange Roses

Chapter Twenty: Jealousy

Chapter Twenty:

Jealousy 

Trying to change the subject, I asked, "So what are you doing here?" I looked at the pretty orange roses.

"Been makin' sure that the dead girl's spirit sleeps peacefully. Ye never want a vengeful spirit wondering' around in Spirit World. Bring bad luck," he explained, "That's my job and I do a good job."

"I bet," I said with a smile as I felt eyes burning into the side of my face.

"Poor girl though. No one deserves that death," he told me as my ears perked up. "That human boy much too cruel."

"Human boy?" I asked as I tried not to smile. Perfecto. I was right! I was right! It wasn't some fucked up faerie! It was a human. Hot damn! I knew coming to the crime scene would find me something. I couldn't believe it!

"I always know when a poor human's going to die prematurely. Saddest thing to watch," he explained, "I follow them around for a few days before because I like getting a sense of em'. Ye know...pretty girl. Real pretty with all that black hair."

"Did you see who it was that killed her?" I asked him even though I doubted it. This guys has been getting away without getting caught by a witness with all the iron and whatnot, but I couldn't help it, I had to give it a shot.

"I was followin' her real good too, but he had sight." I sat down with my legs crossed now.

"How do you know?" Daisy asked as I figured it out, it was because he knew to wear iron to get the faeries away from him and his victim.

"He wore a lot of iron and them chemicals that humans use some of. It burned my nose so bad that I had to leave the poor girl when he started talkin' to her." He explained as I nodded.

"He didn't take her?" Daisy asked.

He shook his furry head. "No Ma'am. He talked to her first. Real charming, but he had them dark men following him and he stank of blood. Men who smell like that are tainted. The nightmare court won't even take them souls like dat."

All the guys in the group wore a lot of iron to keep faeries away, so it didn't narrow it down, but it did prove my point.

"I really did try to stick around," he whispered, "but the smell and those men!" he hung his head like it weighed fifty pounds. "She screamed and fought like hell. I can tell you that much."

I nodded and got up. "Thanks." I picked up Drake because it seemed that the news about Erasmus made him freeze to the spot. Daisy got on Unicorn boy's shoulders as I turned to leave.

"Make him stop, me lady." I stopped and turned around to look at the cat who looked at the blood spots on the ground. "I can't take no more blood screaming girls. It weighs too heavily on me old heart."

"Promise," I whispered. I walked into the sunlight and felt the weight of Drake's glamour lift off of me as Drake sat on my hand, not looking at me.

"Oh come on, Drake, don't be pissed," I told him as we walked toward the water. "I'm going to need you for the next part of my plan." The waves licked my ankles and the cool water felt good against my feet and my scars on the right foot. Sometimes they still burned like the wounds were still opened.

"What do you expect, Matty?" Daisy asked. "I still can't believe you didn't tell him!" Unicorn boy decided to stay out of this by looking at anything other than Daisy, Drake, and me.

"I'm not pissed," Drake finally said in a voice that reminded me of the sounds that like when a monster does right before it attacks me. The kind of monster that kids wake up screaming from.