Blood Rose (Vampire/Ballerina Book 1)

Chapter 24: Caught

KOTA

I nearly slept for a day straight. I expelled all of my natural resources. I did travel  16 states...I've never done that sort of exertion ever. I need to recuperate by sleeping. I guess my kind does need to slumber despite being immortal. If I think about it...old stories of vampires always refer to them hibernating in the morning, then waking at night. Is that side of pop culture true after all?

It's the next day. 10 am. Kota is amazed that he's slept in for so long. I never woke up at 10am before... I used to being an early bird because of school. He leaves bed, preparing to exit the window to continue his hunt now that he's no longer fatigue.

Kota should be accustomed to meeting an invisible barrier, given this is the third time he's smacked face first into it. Yet he's still flabbergasted. Did they confine me to the house??? HOW DARE THEY???

"You're not leaving this house until you accept the new arrangement." Matto says from the doorway.

"Let me out...." His son hisses.

"No...you're grounded until you learn to let go of this rivalry."

"LET GO??!!!" Kota spins around. "No, I'm done listening to you!"

Odina peeps over her husband's shoulder with sternness. "We're telling you to listen, or you'll never leave this house again."

"If you decide to keep behaving this way, we'll limit you to this room."

"So, you're jailing me???"

"We don't want to." His mother discloses. "But you're forcing us too."

"None of you understand what I'm going through!" He snarls.

"We do...trust us." His father admits softly. "We know this life is a nightmare.

"That night is on repeat! Their deaths are a plague!!"

"I offered the right solution...visiting their graves is the best way to..."

"MOM...THAT'S BULLSHIT!! HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO DO NOTHING!!"

"Because you're too young to have murder on your mind."

"We're enrolling you back into school now that you're well enough. That way you can get back to a normal teenage life."

"I'm not going back to school!! Are you serious, dad??! I'm not a normal teenager anymore. I don't belong there."

"Your mother and I are sure this will help you cope."

"We know what's right for you..."Odina supports Matto.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!"

Matto reprimands his son by intimidatingly closing the gap between them. "No....don't!" His wife petitions.

"He's losing respect for us...I have to."

"We can talk it out..."

"No...I tried this your way." Kota is too puzzled to lash out. What is he going to do?? Matto draws a simmering symbol onto the air between them. The sign is an illustration of sound waves. The mystical ripples near Kota's mouth, trembling roughly against the thin skin. ", (vOICE)." He speaks Cherokee.

His son clutches at his throat, feeling detachment within it. All motion terminates. He can't form words...nothing escapes when he tries to express language. He's no longer in charge of his speech. WHAT???!! Kota expresses his devastation through dramatic facial cues. He's upset by what his father's just done.

"Kota!" Odina wails.

"Don't baby him...he deserves this lesson!" He scolds his wife, then glowers at his son. "You'll regain the right to speak once you restore respect for me and your mother. You have no right to shame the family the way you have. That conveys that I have no power over my household. Adjust yourself...and comply. You're going back to school. I don't care if you are against it! End this assassin feud of yours! I didn't raise you to be violent!" Matto emphasizes his dominance through every fiber of his being. Kota cowers, slinking his shoulders and head down to the floor. "Nod to agree!" He orders as a drill sergeant would.