The Hand That Holds The Fire

Chapter 18

It struck my heart, no matter how ridiculous, that neither of Kain’s parents ever got to see him again before they died. His biological parents had died without ever seeing their darling son again, and his brother,  the only one in his family still alive, hated him with passion. How Linus could have developed such warped character when Kain was such an angel was far beyond me.

“Perhaps telling you what I know of your past might ease your frustrations.” Val offered, and though I wasn’t up to learning more about my past self, Val started anyway, taking a seat across me and spreading his massive wings out.

“Before you discovered the secret of that vampire you call Kain, every time you summoned me, I felt torn love in your heart. Half of it went to that vampire prince –Lorcan, as you call him. The other half devoted to Kain. You desired them both, but when they put their advances, you hid behind your responsibility. You knew you had to marry Lorcan, but you loved Kain. You knew you loved Kain with your heart, but Lorcan took half of it too.” Val narrated, and even though he was recalling a past, I was pretty sure the same thing was happening in the present.

“You did not call me into the Earthly plane after you discovered of Kain’s secret. When I finally came up again, I could feel every single moment of your pain and anguish. As your demon familiar, Seraphina, I can feel your every emotion whenever I come up. In Hell, I am isolated from you, but when I come up, I feel everything you do, and I know everything you know.”

I looked at him in surprise. Ren didn’t tell me that…

“That mage you call Ren is an elemental mage. He doesn’t understand fully the intricacies of summoning demons.” Val replied to my mental thoughts, and I realized he could sense more than my emotions.

“But he was the one who taught me to summon you.”

Val nodded. “He has attempted to learn. You should do well to know that Ren is a special kind of mage, and his secret is almost as large as Kain’s.”

“Ren is keeping a secret from me too?” It seemed like Kain wasn’t the only one. Was I really so gullible? Was I really so easy to lie to? Why did no one respect me enough to come clean with me? What about Lorcan? Did my supposed fiancé have secrets to hide from me, too?

“Lorcan is true to you, Mistress. His love to you is pure, as is Kain’s. Back then, after Kain left you, you were distraught. You felt betrayed –as you feel now. But you straightened your thinking soon, Mistress. You understood Kain’s need of keeping his identity away from you. You understood his desperation to stay, and while you had been the one to drive him away, you understood the wisdom in that movement. You didn’t despair for long, Mistress.”

“I didn’t?” It was nice to know that before my car crash, at least I was a slightly emotionally strong woman.

“No, Mistress. You saw light instead. You knew Kain would do something –something to protect you. You knew he is not stupid enough to rush back to Dragos and declare himself back in their ranks, but you knew he was going to do something for you to change Dragos. You waited patiently for him, and buried a piece of your heart with the memory of him.”

“That sounds…… hard to do right now.”

Val shook his head. “That is not the point, Mistress.”

“Then what is your point in saying all this?”

Val suddenly jumped to his feet, nose up in the air and sniffing. He cocked his bull-head to one side, as if straining to listen. He moved towards where his head was tilting towards, till he reached the wall. He pressed his ear against it, and closed his black-bead eyes. Tense silence filled the cell as I watched him with caution.