Hell's Rath

Ch. 4 - Hotseat

I'm so sorry *cries*
I feel so bad for not writing in such a long time
It's been over a year.

***

I'm burning. I hope no one notices the sweat that is lining my scalp. His very suggestive and very real threat caused heat to flash through my body. I would not like to visit the Kingdoms while looking like a complete train-wreck. I need to clear my mind too, I'm sure more than half of them would be able to read my mind like the latest social media scandal.

They placed me in the back of the armored car with Rath, and I don't know if it's because I am just incredibly nervous that he is sitting within inches of me or if it's because there is actual and real heat emanating from his body. I wouldn't even be surprised if that were the case, I've seen actual smoke come from him before. Valentine and Nikita are in a deep conversation about the recently placed borders around each kingdom and several other political things I'd rather not get into. The only thing running through my mind right now is how small I feel next to the giant hunk of a body sitting next to me. He could crush me in a second.

I look out the window and attempt to pay attention to the scenery that never seemed to change. Numidia is a large Kingdom, it has everything the mortal world has. You can think of it as a parallel dimension of the human world, only it is filled with blood-sucking vampires. I, honestly, don't know where they get enough humans to supply this many vampires. They eat food, yes, but very scarcely. Maybe they have access to the blood banks, I thought silently.

"We are going to show you your family's portion of the Kingdom, Karina," Valentine says. "I know it's been years since you've been here but we'd like to take you home"

"Home," I say under my breath, "it doesn't feel like home."

Valentine looks into the rearview mirror and I can see the sympathy pulling out of his eyes I turn my head to break his gaze. Valentine was really the only family I had that kept in touch, that is if you count the yearly birthday gift and a card as keeping in touch. We aren't close but we are not distant either.

Ten long minutes pass by and the car comes to a halt. I look out the window with all the desire I had to dig into my past. The decent-looking manor is illuminated hauntingly with bright white lights. "I don't remember it being this small," I say, trying to lift my own mood.

"Well, you were smaller then," Valentine replies as he was getting out of the car.

Rath leans down to whisper in my ear, and I get nervous. "Still pretty small though."

I feel a tingle go from my ear to my stomach and I try to swallow the liquid that has built around my tongue. I will never get used to that feeling especially when he's around, so I just play it cool and roll my eyes and scoff. I'm not my fault he's six foot four and I'm just barely five foot. He gives me a very identifiable smirk and continues to walk into my childhood home.

I was the last to enter the manner as soon as I walked in all of the vivid memories of me with my parents came crashing back like waves on the seashore. I didn't know what to feel I certainly didn't know how to comprehend the fact that this was once my home. This is where I was born and raised and this is also where my parents kept me hidden for the first nine years of my life.

The air feels cold and all evidence of life is non-existent. "Does anyone live here?" I break the unnecessary silence that has circulated the room.

"No," Valentine quickly says, "the only thing that lives here is the shadow of your mother and father."

Their shadows; that's all I really can remember about them even after spending countless hours chasing them through the halls only to be taken away by a governess. It wasn't the childhood that I really wanted it was the kind of childhood that makes you wish that you had a different life. I make a slow walk over to the window that overlooked the garden. I expected it to look like a forest but it was only slightly overgrown. This entire state is surprisingly well kept for it being abandoned, almost as if it has been frozen in time.