Rose and Dimitri

“Lissa, he can’t be Strigoi” I screamed. Somehow she had taken me to her room with Eddie and Christian following. We knew the rules, but the rules were being smudged for the end of the year tests. With the dhampirs guarding the Moroi and the genders being crossed, rules didn’t really have affect. “No, no, you have to let me go after him. You have to!” I screamed and ran for the door.

“Sit down, Rose.” Eddie told me and pulled me into a tight hold. I didn’t do what he wanted. I fought against him with everything I could. I had to.  “ROSE!” a few different voices screamed at me. I stopped fighting and looked at my group of friends in this little dorm room at the academy.

“I have to go find him!”

Lissa looked at me and that stopped my rage only momentarily. “Why? Why do you have to? He was just your teacher, nothing special.” That felt like a slap in the face, but it was my own fault for not telling my best friend about my boyfriend. I looked at the floor, not wanting to confess what I kept from her. “Rose, what are keeping from me? Why is he so important to you?”

I stayed silently looking at the floor. It was Christian that spoke. “Rose, did you love him? Is that what is wrong? You love him.” Lissa gasped and Eddie looked impassive since he didn’t know me that well. “Rose, it is true. You love him.” Christian continued.

“No way, he is seven years older than her and strictly professional.” Lissa spoke up at Christian. No matter their relationship, both spoke their mind.

They continued to banter back and forth on if I loved Dimitri or not. “How’d you know?” I asked quietly, still looking at the floor. Lissa and Christian stopped their bickering and I felt eyes on me. “How’d you know?” I repeated after the silence became uncomfortable.

“Besides how you’re acting now? I’ve seen you two. I’ve seen how you act when someone mentions his name. I’ve seen the way you look at him. The way he looks at you. It has been going for a while now, but more prominent the last month or so.” Christian concluded. “Rose, as much as you want to believe he isn’t Strigoi, the evidence is still there.”

“If it was Lissa, what would you do?” I loved Lissa and my life revolved around her since I guarded her, but Christian would be willing to give his life for her too.

He placed a hand under my chin and lifted it to meet my gaze. “I’d do what you’re doing, but I wouldn’t do it alone. However, you’re Rose and you operate differently, plus one of us has to stay here with Lissa and I know it won’t be you.”

“Rose,” Lissa gasped. “You lied to me. You didn’t tell me!” Yes, she was upset. I met her gaze. “Rose, do you really love him?” Her moods changed quickly so it didn’t surprise me.

“Yes, I love him.”

She brought me down to sit with her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I sighed. “We figured out that we couldn’t be together. If you were in danger and both of us were guarding you he would try saving me first and I’m almost positive I’d do the same. So we kept strictly business, most of the time. There were instances when he would slip and steal a kiss, but then we went back to business. It would put you in danger and we didn’t want to risk it, but before the attack,” I stopped and looked away.

Lissa grabbed my arm tightly. “Before the attack, what?”

“We, um,” Lissa’s mind shifted and she was asking me quietly if I’d done it with Dimitri. “It doesn’t matter what happened or didn’t happen,” I paused to get my point across, “he told me he loved me. Sure I already sorta knew that, but he’d never actually said it till then. But it is still wrong and we know that.” My whole body ached. I needed to move now! I couldn’t stay around and chat. I had to find Dimitri.

“Christian, take care of her with your life!” I said sternly and got up. Taking off the bracelet Lissa gave me with her royal crest on it, I gave it back. “Until I come back,” I hugged her tightly and gave Chris a warning look.

“With my life, anything for her safety,” he told me and I left. I headed through the dorm building and past guardians. They didn’t question me. It was daylight now and the Moroi would be going to bed soon. Since I’m only half vampire the sun doesn’t bother me, although usually all students were in bed by now. If Moroi went out in the sunlight then they’d be drained of power. Not bothering if I got in trouble, I went up to Dimitri’s room and raided for the spikes. Spikes, if used properly, killed Strigoi. There were only three ways to kill them; stake to the heart, chop their heads off, or burn them. After looking through his closet and under his bed and in his bedside table, I turned to his dresser.

This felt wrong, but where else would they be. I approached slowly and with a deep breath opened the top drawer. Thank goodness, I didn’t have to go any further. Mixed in with his socks and underwear were five stakes. I took them out and placed them in a backpack. His room smelled like him and after looking at myself in his mirror, while surveying the damage I’d done to his room, I decided I needed to change out of the torn and blood stained outfit. Since I’d already started moving through his dresser, I found one of his black t-shirts, which was too big for me, and a pair of sweat pants.

All this took maybe five minutes. I ran back outside and started for the campus gates. Janine, my mom, was guarding the entrance. Damn. “Where are you going Rose?”

“To get Dimitri,” I told her and walked past, but she caught my arm. “Let me go!”

“You’re not going anywhere. Rose, you can’t save him.” She told me harshly.

                                                                                                                        

“Just because you’d give up your love for this life doesn’t mean I will. I can’t live without him. I won’t live without him.” I stressed the ‘won’t’ part and ran from her. So we didn’t get along and I had been rude. That is nothing new. I was still running from the school in Montana that played as my prison for most of my life, Dimitri filled my mind. I need him.

Suddenly, I wasn’t seeing Dimitri in my mind. Instead I was seeing a shirtless Christian. This didn’t surprise me considering it wasn’t the first time. Lissa of course was with him. That is the only way I’d be seeing this. This isn’t happening to me. I chanted to myself over and over again until I was out of Lissa’s head. Luckily without it becoming weird. More than once it had been weird and very uncomfortable to me. The things that were happening were private matters and the only reason I knew was because Lissa couldn’t control her feelings and sucked me into her head.

With a shake of my head, I continued on. I guess that was a way of keeping her safe, in a sense, since they would be together, but with his mind not in guard mode, that could prove a problem. Whatever, I can’t worry about that now. I paused to think of where Dimitri would go. Surely he wouldn’t go with the Strogoi. He’d want to get away from them. Somewhere in my mind, I heard his voice from when we talked about his home in Siberia.  Ugh, that was going to be expensive, but I knew somehow I’d make it.

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