Chomp

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11:

I hate it when I wake up and can't figure out where I am, my eyes scanning the darkness with panic rising in my chest until realization dawns on me. I'm hiding out from people who want to kill me and Rayna Belvoir. She brought me to her apartment on a terrifying motorcycle and I had to sleep on a couch far too short for my body. There was no natural light in the place, so I had to find the light switch near the door. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I found Rayna sitting on the edge of the coffee table watching me. Her honey eyes flashed golden.

"Jeezus! How long have you been sitting there?" I shrieked slumping against the door. 

"A few minutes," she replied standing up and making her way into the kitchen toward the mini fridge. 

"That's not creepy at all," I grumbled under my breath, searching for my toothbrush in the backpack on the floor.

"I would advise that you keep your thoughts in your head," Rayna chuckled with an amused grin. I rolled my eyes, making my way to the door I had seen her go through. The bathroom had to be in her room. 

The bedroom wasn't nearly as small as I thought it would be, doubling in the size of the living room. A queen sized bed and frame complete with a red canopy made me feel as though I had stepped into another century. The carpet was plush under my feet, and an even deeper red than in the living room. There was a large wardrobe, a vanity, and a vast chest taking up most of the walls. All of it appeared to be antique right down to the lantern-styled lights giving the bedroom an intimate glow. 

Another door which could only have been the bathroom greeted me from across the room, reminding me of what I'd come to do. My bladder was screaming and my mouth felt sour and dry. I could probably use a shower too. When I opened the bathroom door, I was in for yet another surprise. It was all expensive tile along the floor and then the walls in cream and turquois. There was enough space for me to do a cartwheel and not bump into anything, a deep claw-footed porcelain bathtub with gold taps adjacent to the high seated toilet. 

I relieved myself and moved to wash my hands at the sink, the faucet also gold and the morror trimmed with it as well. There was actually a tube of Colgate in the medicine cabinet and I laughed at the thought of watching a vampire brush their teeth. I guess rank breath was rank breath. A knock at the door broke me from my thoughts. 

Ray peeked her head in, not waiting for a reply. "There are clean towels in the cabinet under the sink if you want to take a bath." 

"Bath?" I frowned turning my gaze to the deep tub. There was no shower head. "Great . . ." Men didn't take baths. The last time I got into a tub was when I was like six. 

I took in Ray standing in the doorway. She had bathed sometime this morning before I had woken up, her hair still in a messy bun at the top of her head. Today she was dressed in sweats and a hoodie- a complete contrast to yesturday's biker outfit. 

"How long are you going to continue staring at me like that?" she teased. My cheeks heated up and I snapped my eyes away from her.

"Please," I snorted, "I was just trying to figure out why you always seem to wear winter gear when the summer heat is still here."

"Sorry I'm not subject to the harsher realities of the human world," she frowned making her way towards me. I froze on the spot as she stood uncomfortably close behind me, glaring into my eyes through our reflections. More specifically, she was staring my neck down, right at the spot she'd bitten me. "I should have known you were a halfling by the way you'd healed so quickly."

I unconsciously reached to touch where the punctures had been but stopped myself mid-reach. "I'm still trying to process everything you've told me so far. I mean, my mom being some magical being and all? Highly doubting she's aware of it."