Chapter 24

God, when did my kisses get so popular, because of the change of face?
"No way! You better get out of here sooner like that monster."
Cecil, who had been quiet, suddenly burst out and turned Duster down for me. although his tone was a bit grumpy and his wording not very polite.
"Cecil, are you irritated?" Duster frowned at him.
"Okay Duster, don't get on his case." I stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek, "Is that okay?"
I suddenly felt simply more tired this day than when I was on the run.
"Looks like that's all we can do for now." Duster chuckled, hugging me again, "I'm off, Cheryl, but I'll be back to you soon."
"Cecil, protect your sister." Duster said uneasily.
"I know." Cecil's tone was impatient, "It's going to be light if we don't get going."
Duster eventually disappeared into the dark green jungle.
The sky was whitening and it was almost dawn, and I felt a pang of discomfort.
After a short discussion, Cecil and I were ready to return to the hotel where we had previously stayed with Duster.
I couldn't go out during the day and when I got back to the hotel I drew the curtains and got ready to rest.Cecil said he wasn't sleepy and was standing by to keep an eye on me.
Before going to bed, Cecil pulled out something familiar to his eyes and subsequently handed it to me.
"Some water?" Cecil asked me.
That's my water bladder!
The body is of black cowhide with a carved rosebud at the mouth of the capsule.
I knew that all my stuff had been put away by Cecil, and I wasn't surprised by that. I was so surprised because, in that moment, memories from before suddenly came flooding back to me.
I remember meeting Katelyn under Tyrone's office building before I went to church and she gave me back my water bladder.
And before that, my water bladder was in the hands of another hunter.
Katelyn said the hunter knew she was coming for Tyrone, knew I was there, and asked her to bring it to me.
Later on the road I was suddenly very thirsty, and seeing that there was still water in my water bladder, I didn't think much of it and took a sip.
Before the accident, Katelyn and I were not on good terms. She was only one place behind me on the Hunter list, yet she couldn't get past me every time.
Perhaps out of jealousy, she often seduced Tyrone in front of me. although Tyrone never fell for it, when it still made me uncomfortable.
Then we became the enemies everyone at Hunter Camp knew we were, but I thought it was just a little scuffle.
We're all hunters, after all.
In unison, we are comrades in arms who can give our backs to each other and will certainly not harm each other's lives.
But now the truth was in front of me. It was Katelyn who had poisoned my water that made me look like a vampire.
I told Cecil about my suspicions.
"It must be her!" Cecil said angrily, "That bad woman, I'll kill her."
After some thought, we decided to go to Katelyn together for the evening.
If she did all this, even if I'm the only one, I'm going to get revenge on her. Not to mention there's two of us now, and Cecil says he's outranked Katelyn.
"She seems to be in a love trap these days." Cecil snickered, "She's already getting lower and lower on the list, dressing up like she's going to prom every day."
"Yeah? With who?" I asked, somewhat surprised.
"I don't know, she's been acting kind of secretive and hiding her boyfriend well." Cecil said.
"Oh." I responded carelessly.
In the darkness, I stayed awake. I just lay stiffly in bed, occasionally talking to Cecil for a while.
At lunch, he went out to eat once and stayed in the room with me afterwards.
And I'm still hungry and feeling full of power because of the blood I drank from Vicky last night.
That's the beauty of sucking on high level blood.
Through the curtains, I could see the sun's rays fading until they were completely hidden in the sky.
Darkness enveloped Peterman, and the bustling crowd outside gradually became thinner. Finally, when the hour hand on the worn clock in the guest room pointed to eleven, there was complete silence outside.
Cecil and I left the hotel quietly, ready to go to Katelyn's apartment, where she lived close to me.
"Hey, sis, where are you going?"
Cecil suddenly called out to me, standing in the opposite direction from me.
I walked over to Cecil and looked at him in disbelief, "What's going on?Did Katelyn move?"
"Yes, moved to a remote location." Cecil said, "That's what makes her a bit of a mystery to the hunters."
"Okay, but that's just fine." I said.
I didn't think much of it; after all, there's less trouble where there's less people.
I followed Cecil and set off in the other direction.
Cecil is human and I had to walk with him. We walked for about thirty minutes before we finally left to Katelyn's apartment.
It's a small, detached, red apartment surrounded by woods.
I really don't know what this place is for other than being secluded and quiet. Maybe not even necessarily quiet, there could be the sound of wild animals screaming in the middle of the night.
I grew curious about Katelyn's reasons for moving, with a must-know gut feeling.
Cecil and I had agreed ahead of time that she would question Katelyn alone first, while I hid in the shadows and watched.
Because then Katelyn would be less guarded and say things with more truthfulness.
I followed Cecil as he tumbled in through the balcony.
The apartment was dark, with only what appeared to be the bedroom room lit. We lightened our steps and passed Katelyn's kitchen and utility room.
The room with the light on is just ahead. The layout of the apartment may have been that the toilet was next to the bedroom, and next to the room with the light on was a small door with a frosted glass texture.
I ducked inside after making sure that door was empty. Immediately after, I heard rapid footsteps coming from the room next to me, and with Cecil still outside, I suddenly got a little nervous.
What if there's two people in that room, can Cecil handle that?
"How is it you?Cecil, you better give me an explanation."
Katelyn's familiar voice sounded outside. Her voice was recognizable, sharp and loud, as if it were the noise made by nails scraping against a chalkboard.
"There's something I need to ask you, and you'd better be honest about it." Cecil said coldly.
Katelyn grunted disdainfully and said meanly to Cecil, "What are you freaking out about, did you think your sister Cheryl would still help you? Not unless you go to hell with her!"
No sooner had Katelyn's voice fallen than the sound of a violent scuffle was heard outside. Through the frosted glass, I could only make out their blurry outlines.
But luckily, Katelyn was the only one in the apartment.
"Oh! Damn it! You vile woman!"
Suddenly, a Cecil's cry of pain rang out from outside and I immediately grabbed the doorknob.