B.L.O.O.D (BlackRose)

Fifty million.

Arnold has already begun to question the wisdom of his decision in bringing Angel into family hiding. Judging from any side, his actions were foolish. However, he was unable to stop himself, possessed by instincts much older than human common sense. The panther inside him wants Angel in his own territory when he finds Angel in a terrible condition in London, where he is drawn by feelings and emotions that he does not understand, he thought he would eventually start seeing the real Angel. But if he believes in the way Angel plays, the real Angel is only in his mind.

Was he wrong about Angel from the beginning?

Arnold takes Angel down a hidden path that lies beneath his hideout, most people are not aware of the danger coming from above.

"How high can you climb.”

Angel raises her head “Tree house."

“I'm kidding, there are hidden stairs as well as elevators. Come with me.”

"This house is far from your office."

"You forgot I have an apartment in town that I use when the time is urgent. Come on."

An elevator hidden in the trunk of the tree began to open, Angel was amazed by the sophistication of Arnold's tree house technology. As soon as the elevator doors opened they were immediately greeted by a fairly spacious room.

The living room is large and open, with a window facing the forest. Given the fact that Arnold's nest must be well protected, Angel guesses that the windows are made in such a way that they are not shiny when exposed to sunlight. Vines spread across its surface, almost bringing the atmosphere of the forest into his home

From the humidity in the air and some aquatic plants he recognized, Arnold guessed that they were near a river, probably close to one of the rare swamps.

Shifting his gaze from the window, Angel observes Arnold's living room. The light emitted by the two motion sensor lights on the floor appeared soft, The other light source is a small red power light on the communication console that hangs on the wall closest to the door. Looking closely, Sascha realized that it also served as a receiving aircraft for entertainment programs, although his gut feeling was that Lucas liked a much more physical type of entertainment.

“Morrel is that you?.” A soft voice rang out from the direction of the kitchen, A blonde haired woman came out approaching.

“Rose, is that you?. Oh my God you look skinny.” The woman is Jessica Arnold's older sister, she tightly hugs Angel's body and involuntarily nudges her left arm.

Aghh..

Jessi was startled and immediately let go of her embrace. “You're hurt?.”

“Yes, the girl's left arm is injured. So be careful.” Arnold Clearly. “Where did the kids go?.”

“They are playing in the room.” Jessi pulls Angel into the kitchen “Dear baby, sit down.”

Angel followed Jessi's orders without flinching, a plate of chocolate-flavored pastries neatly arranged on the plate.

“Eat, Arnold tells you'll be here. So I made you your favorite chocolate cake, and here's the warm chocolate.” Jessi presents everything on the dining table, Angel was embarrassed but he began to chew one by one the chocolate cake.

“Who is he?.” Alice came out of the bathroom shocked to see Angel sitting down and eating the pastry they had just made.

“Include her Rose, my friend and Rose meet this Alice my sister-in-law.” Arnold introduced the two of them, Angel got up and shook hands for a while then sat back down.

Angel observes Arnold's kitchen, the medium-sized and compact Arnold Kitchen, equipped with a simple cooking unit as well as heating and other equipment that is quite complete in number. A cleverly camouflaged refrigerator, so it does not take up too much space. Unconsciously Angel had spent half of the cake, Arnold just sat and looked at the chair beside Angel.

“It seems almost time for lunch, what's our menu today?.” Arnold told Jessica.

“You just sit down, oh yeah can you please call the kids. Soon the food is ready.”

Arnold said and called the kids, Jessica and Alice serve scrambled eggs and boiled potatoes doused with cheese sauce for children as well as chicken parmigiana, a typical Italian food that is chicken served fried using sauce, cheese and served along with spaghetti for adults. Four children sit next to each other neatly, although sometimes they disturb each other making Jessi have to shout to separate them.

Lunch was over, Jessica and Alice cleared the dining table while the children returned to play. Angel helps put a dirty plate into the sink, he sees something under the table turned out to be unknowingly Arnold dropped a piece of paper. Angel picked him up he walked into the living room, apparently Arnold did not close the door so Angel could peek and listen to Arnold's talk.

“Sial.., how did he get caught...., I still can't forget Mathew's death and now Mike is in danger of what's wrong with you Nelson......., Blood I will destroy the rotten organization........., do your best and let me know if there is new information.”.

“What do we do to you?, Explain to me.” Angel makes Arnold surprised not play.

“Not your business.”

“The murder you can tell me.” Angel walks into the room .

“I told you it's none of your business.”

“You called my organization, which means it's my business.”

Arnold felt that arguing was not a good thing so he asked Angel to sit down. “Sit.”

Near the window was a large sitting pillow half of which was propped against the wall, half of which was stretched out on the floor, turning it into a sofa. The length is more than enough to be used as a place to relax by men as tall as Arnold. Three smaller "sofas" are propped up on the other walls.

Arnold presented Angel with a can of soda, They sat down without saying anything until Angel finished his soda and turned to Arnold.

“Tell me about those murders.”

Horror relieves Arnold's body heat. Getting rid of his own empty can, Arnold leaned his head against the back of a sitting pillow. "We've found seven victims over the past three years. Matthew is eighth. And Mike will be ninth if we don't find him in time.”

“That's a lot?" Angel asked that question.

“Yes. But my hunch is that we haven't found all the murders he's committed.that guy's too good at this."

"Are you sure it was a man?"

Arnold clenched his hands tightly until it hurt. "Yes." Yeah."

"Why don't you try harder to find him?"

"Matthew was murdered six months ago. Back then, we didn't know this was a serial murder and, given the clear evidence that Blood was involved, we thought the police would close the case immediately. We don't care about their jurisdiction.We want to shed blood, but we don't want to go to war with Blood. We are willing to surrender to the police's demands. It almost broke our hearts, but we still do it for a better future but..

Arnold's words came to a halt, anger began to overwhelm him, he took a breath and exhaled slowly.

“How but, Mike.... He was kidnapped, and the evidence points back to Blood.”

“I'm sure it's not Blood's organization, there are others who want to divide us.”

“Maybe, but the emblem they left behind is a tangible piece of evidence. That's the epitome of your greatness is not.”

“Black roses and bells, not our emblem. As far as I know, black roses are just a code we use often when in action and bells, we never use them. After all, the shape of the black rose is very different, do you remember my tattoo. Our black roses have petal-shaped leaves on the left and right sides, whereas these are just black roses wrapped around a bell without leaves.”

Arnold was silent for a while, he did hope it wasn't Blood. The atmosphere became quiet, Angel opened her Smartphone and saw the message stored and never opened.

“Yes lord.”