Alpha Dhampir~ On Hold

Chapter 5

Abe Mazur

When the phone rang, I was beside myself. I had just gotten home from Court, having spent most of my day investigating the disappearance of my daughter. Pavel had found out that the man my daughter loved enough to chase down a legend had been returned to his Dhampir state. I knew Rose would be over the moon, so I made my way to Court. It was meant to be a joyous time, see the man that had stolen my daughter’s heart for the first time in like fourteen years, and introduce my daughter to her family who had wanted to meet the newest member of the family. The Badica family had always recognised the Dhampir members and didn't discriminate against them.

I wanted to finally announce Rose’s royal stature and give her the world and treatment she deserved. But what did I find? Instead of a happy daughter, I found an investigation and her friends mourning. To say I was furious was an understatement. I couldn't believe that that Belikov fellow had betrayed my daughter’s love in such a hideous way; after everything she did, everything she sacrificed and that was how he repaid her. ‘Love fades, mine has.’ He was lucky that his mother and Babushka were such good friends of mine, or otherwise he would have been dead.

We searched everywhere, miles beyond the wards until the sun was well and truly risen. I would have searched for longer, but Pavel and my mother urged for me to rest. Sighing, I gave in and went home, running into a hysterical Tatiana. Now I knew my daughter hated Tatiana, and she was right to with some of the reasons; but her belief that Tatiana hated her as well couldn't have been further from the truth. Tatiana was my daughter's great great-aunt and loved her, but as Queen, it was hard for her to express that love. She wasn't the only one. The whole of the Ivashkov family struggled, and it wasn't because she was a Dhampir like most would think. Most of them remembered the cute little four-year-old who ran around with pigtails and followed her cousin Adrian around everywhere. Janine had lived with her half-sister for four years after Rose had been born, that was until someone tried to kill her and Rose. Janine went back by her mother's name and left Rose at the Academy.

When I heard that they had reconnected over Christmas at the Ski Resort, I was happy for her. She finally had a family, but of course, that didn't last long. She had never been told her relationship with the ruling family. She hadn't been able to know my side of the family as there was a bout of issues with my business and the Badicas were being wiped out, my mother didn't even want me to go by the family name, instead Ibrahim Badica had been killed off and Ibrahim “Abe” Mazur had been born.

Tatiana wanted to know if it was true, that Dmitri Belikov had broken Rose, and that she had been attacked by a Strigoi outside the wards. I couldn't give her a definitive answer as I didn't know myself. With a promise to keep her updated, I left and resumed home. Barely making it into the door, I froze with suspense as my phone rang. Answering it, all I got was “Spokane”. Now, a normal person would have thought it was a threat or a taunt, but Rose and I had decided that it was the perfect code word knowing the heartbreak and sorrow that was behind it. So, when I heard that, I dropped everything and raced to find Pavel. I had been given an address, and the two of us drove there, ignoring the need for sleep.

Making Pavel travel back to court to at least keep my family updated, I found myself in a house of Strigoi. Instead of being drained, killed, or turned within moments of being in the house, I was gifted with the sight of a couple that I had thought had been dead for over a decade. They recognised me as the son of Marcella Badica, not as the feared mob boss Mazur; welcoming me into the house. I was given some blood and an extremely comfortable sofa to sleep on. The next day, I woke up to find the same couple talking among themselves in the kitchen and joined them, finally getting the truth that many of us who had known them doubted.

Lucas and Moira were too kind-hearted and gentle-souled to have willingly turned. I knew it. Their son I knew wanted to believe the memory of them, so it was a relief to find out my suspicions were correct. They told me over another cup of blood that they had been cornered and attacked, losing their lives to the soulless beasts, along with the lives of their guardians and unborn son. To hear that Christian would have been an older brother saddened me, it was horrible enough that the Ozeras lost two honourable members, and that my daughter lost her aunt and uncle but to have lost a child as well, that was a harsh blow.