Alpha Dhampir~ On Hold

Chapter 11

Rose Hathaway

I couldn't believe it. I had just reverted a Strigoi back to their original state. I stood there gasping in shock as I didn't know how I had achieved such a feat and it wasn't like the man, Ivan, was any help, he just sat there staring at me as if I hung the moon and stars. Next to me Mason shimmered, his mouth lifted into his signature smirk one that if any other occasion would have had me snarling or laughing with him, instead it made me want to rage at him.

The sound of someone pounding on the door, and yelling pulled my eyes from Ivan, and I registered the voices. It was Baba and my Uncle Pavel. Sighing I walked over and had barely opened the door when they barged in, fists at the ready only to freeze when they watched as Ivan stood in direct sunlight from outside.

Baba was the first to react, his mouth hanging open as he turned to face me. "Oh, hell no! My daughter is not going to be some miracle worker, to be hunted down by Strigoi." Pavel turned to face me, his face white as a sheet. "You did this?"

I shrugged, still unsure on how this had happened. "I do not know." A snort from Mason had me frowning, as I turned to him growling as he laughed. "Well, I don't know Mase, you aren't telling me anything!"

He laughed even harder, rolling his eyes, and pointed at Ivan, "You used the five elements plus your shadow kissed abilities to take away what was dead in Ivan, therefore leaving him a hundred percent alive and Moroi again."

We all listened, scared, and shocked at his words and the possibilities behind it all. I could cure Strigoi back to normal. I could heal Christian's parents and they along with Ivan could return to Court and be with their loved ones. Ivan would be with Dmitri, and the Ozeras would be reunited with their son. I couldn't believe it, I didn't remember how it exactly happened, Ivan had been pissing me off, asking about Dmitri, the one person I didn't want to talk about, and I had acted out. It was instinct, first it was fire. Sure, I had seen Christian use it, but he had never told me what it was like to use, next was earth. Again, I had seen Baba use it, but had no other knowledge to it, same with water and air. But the spirit and darkness, I felt those, it felt intimate, like it had ever since Lissa had brought me back to life. If Mason was correct, then somehow the first four elements made some kind of holy concoction while the spirit and darkness searched for Ivan's soul hidden somewhere underneath what made him a Strigoi.

Staring at my hands I didn't hear Lucas and Moira walk in until they screamed in shock at seeing Ivan as a Moroi. Well, it was either that they were seeing the difference in him, or they were smelling the intoxicating scent of his blood. Either way, they looked hungry as they advanced on him. Jumping in front of them I screamed as I unknowingly called upon my powers for the second time in a day, freezing them both in place as their souls were searched and located. The bright light that followed blinded me and threw me backwards where Ivan struggled to catch me before we both landed headfirst into the joint of where wall met floor. Groaning I panted as I scanned the room. Pavel was standing over Baba protectively while Lucas and Moira sat on the bedroom floor, their hands limp in their laps as they stared at me with the same amazed wonder that Ivan had done earlier.

I stood shaking at first like a freshly born deer and had to almost crawl to where Baba was still protected by Pavel. However, when I reached them, Pavel stopped me from seeing him. He stood there with his stake out, it being pointed at me was enough to make me halt, but the words that came out of his mouth, they had me terrified and what little was left of my heart and confidence was shattered into such little pieces, that if the wind could blow within my heart, they would have been blown away like dust.

"Don't! Do not come any closer Rosemarie. Stay away from us."

My uncle viewed me as a threat. He feared me! Somehow those words hurt as much as Dmitri's. Sniffling, I shuffled backwards until I was strong enough to stand and without a second glance behind me, I ran. I ran until I was out of the house and curled up on the Gazebo where I cried. I cried all the pain, heartbreak and sorrow out of my system leaving myself numb and hollow. How could my own family see me as a threat? I would die protecting those I loved, hell I already had. But now because of some stupid blood purge I was a freak, well more of a freak than I already was. I was now an outcast among my own kind. I was no longer a Dhampir, and I couldn't call myself a Moroi either.

I didn't know how long I stayed out there, crying until there were no more tears to be shed. I watched as the dawn approached, the morning announcing itself as the birds sang. The sun bloomed on the horizon, golden petals stretching ever outwards into the rich blue. It was the brilliant flower of the sky that warmed our days. It was the invitation to a new day, that made a sunrise so ordinary extraordinary. I watched as under the sunrise; the apples glowed rosier than they did in the day shine. The branches of each tree stretched out as if so proud of the bounty they bore, and sweetness given within each one. It was a party of colours, of chaos and order, of a beauty that sprung from simple seeds blessed with mud and rain. In a moment, I was casted in crimson, bathed in a rosy glow; amazed by how the sun gave each dawn without even the asking or the earning of the light. I moved my fingers through the air that grew brighter with each passing moment until it became a new bold day.

I couldn't help but remember the lessons that the Pastor would tell us about the Sunrise and the magic behind it all. "After the blackness of night, Earth's star rises on the horizon, spreading her gold in every direction. She comes in the way that natural forces do, needing not invitation yet feeling her welcome. The light is her gift, bold and free, for anyone who cares to open their eyes in the dawn and watch the world awake. This is our sun, a fire ignited to bring warmth to creation and inspire us to seek our own beauty within." At that time, I used to think Father Andrews was on crack or something, but he was right like every other time. The Sunrise was truly magical and only after you suffered without it could you be grateful for it. After my time in Novosibirsk, I learnt how to worship the changing of night into day, it was something that deserved your attention and I knew that Ivan and the Ozeras were going to feel the same way, after all Dmitri had.

The sound of gasps brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see Ivan and Christian's parents take their first steps, in God knows how long, in sunlight. The expressions of amazement and tears that they shed made my heart leap. I was so happy that I could bring such joy to them that I forgot my self-shaming and destruction thoughts. I couldn't even think of how hurt I felt seeing the look of horror on Pavel's face, because it had been overridden with the delight on theirs. Lucas and Moira danced, their feet crunching in the newly fallen leaves still damp from the dew. Ivan was too busy making leaf-angels in the piles that Adrian and I had collected the day before; he looked so much younger and carefree, as if the weight of the world had disappeared from his shoulders.

"You did something amazing here Rosie. You should be proud of yourself, I know I am." Mason's voice curled around my ear from where he was standing behind me. I nodded meekly and turned to him, "Do you think they will suffer like he did, like he still is?"

My best friend shook his head as he gazed at the trio, "No their souls are clean, unlike Belikov. He didn't have someone else take the darkness away leaving only white so pure it can blind. Hence the explosion of light after the transformation."

I smiled, pleased with the news until his words settled in. "You mean I took the horrors that they had seen, the depression they felt?" I was horrified. I barely survived the aftereffects of Lissa's spirits, could I really survive their darkness as well as my own? I started to feel heavy, as if someone was sapping the energy out of me, leaving me with the burnt leftovers, leftovers that were quickly dismissing, leaving me dead to the world. My knees shook and folded out from underneath me, my vision went blurry as I fell landing painfully on the ground, the shadows of those who had passed hounding me, crying for me to save them. It was too much, it was even worse than after Victor's trials, worse than getting the shadows to distract Dmitri in his Strigoi's form.

The black clouds closed in, enveloping me in its soft and gentle caresses, hugging me and shielding me from the world, from the spirits of those who called for me. It reflected any attacks on my mind while my body had to rely on those around me. I shivered in fear due to that aspect, the only ones who were around were either playing around like children or were transparent, so they would pass right through me, no anchor on the real world. Mind you, that's how I felt at that moment, as if my anchor that kept me nailed to reality had been broken or had snapped under the stress and I was floating into nothing, into oblivion where no one knew what laid ahead. All my senses were gone as silence surrounded me and left me alone, alone with my own thoughts. Oh no, even they had gone, I was truly alone, and I was afraid, I could admit that. I would admit it a thousand times over if it meant yanking me out of there. But alas, there was no hero with a lasso that made people tell the truth, there was no hero with a cape to come flying in at the last second to save the day. I was isolated from everything and everyone and I didn't know how to escape so I succumbed to the inevitable and closed my eyes, leaving everything else behind, embracing the unknown future.