Rite of Submission - Rite 1

25: Liar

                Sophie gave me a similar look of shock when she came out, dressed like she was ready to take on the world again. I'd forgotten that today she would be working for her brother. I groaned inwardly remembering that meant I was spending the day with Dmitri, but I gave her my warmest smile. "You look like you're ready to crush corporations."

"Is it too much?" she smoothed her hands down her pencil skirt; "Nathan and I are supposed to meet with a few of the possible venders today to sample the menus." I arched an eyebrow, quizzically. "Human venders," she winked, and then frowned at the table of food. "I guess I shouldn't eat too much this morning, huh?" we both laughed.

"What joke did I miss?" Dmitri called as he strode through the doors and greeted his sister with a hug. The scruff on his chin was gone, and he looked less haggard than he had last night outside the library.

"Nothing," she grinned up at him, "just preparing for the busy day ahead." She grabbed a cup of coffee and a small bowl with some fruit. "How about you Dimi, any plans for today?"

He ran his fingers through his hair, the scar catching my attention and making my heart thump louder. "Not really," he looked over at me and away quickly. "I have to get our guest down to the med wing at some point today. She wants to check on her wolfsbane levels again." They both settled down at the table and seemed to be waiting.

"Le-xiiiiii," Sophie sing-songed my name, "come join us."

"I'm not really hungry," I lied. His words from my dream were still haunting me.

"Dimi," she whined, "make her come eat please. She hasn't eaten since breakfast yesterday."

A look of concern flashed over his face, his regular emotionless mask slipping back into place a second later as he smiled at her. "If I could make her do anything, I'd..." she stomped her foot, interrupting him. Letting out a loud sigh he tried to appease her, "Alexandra, won't you come join us? We wouldn't want Sophie to worry so much, would we?" That last bit sounded too familiar and made me feel all the more guilty.

Begrudgingly, I crossed over to the table and my chair beside him. Chewing on my lower lip I decided not to give Dmitri his kiss this morning, ignoring him as I sat down. After a minute of tense silence, Sophie launched into excited chatter about everything she had planned for the day. I spent the whole picking apart my food more than eating it.

I was on edge the whole time and I flinched every time, Dmitri moved his hand anywhere near me. Sophie didn't seem to notice, but I was sure he did. By the time the table was being cleared, he had his hand balled into a fist under the table in his lap, and the vein in his neck was pulsing.

"Well we're off to taste 6 different kinds of funnel cake, you two don't have too much fun," she winked at us over her shoulder as she left the room with Nathan.

As soon as we were alone, he whirled on me, "Why are you acting like you're afraid of me touching you? It's not like your skin is poisonous." He pushed himself away from the table. "Let's just get you down to Dr Martinez and get this over with."

"Fine," I hopped out of my chair and followed after him, staying out of reach.

She drew blood from both of us making my dream feel all the more real. Leaving him in her office, she led me to a room with an exam table, a monitor and some sort of machine. "Just hop up here, lay back and try to relax." She lifted my shirt to spread some clear jelly on my abdomen and pressed a strange scanner against me while watching the monitor. "You said your last menstrual cycle was about 3 weeks ago?"

"No," I said rather flatly. She looked down at the file she'd brought in with us. "I mean I did, but that's changed."

"Oh," my meaning dawned on her face and she smiled, "that's actually perfect then," she moved the scanner around some more. Pointing at the screen she pointed out the different internal organs she was looking at and assuring me that everything looked perfect and healthy. As far as she could tell, my medical records were correct and she saw no reason I wouldn't be able to conceive and have children normally.

"Was I already here earlier this morning," I asked, keeping my voice hushed.

"What do you mean dear," she looked confused. "Are you having new symptoms from the wolfsbane now?"

I shook my head no. "How high of a dose is in Dmitri's system?"

Her eyes dilated for a second, but softened and she patted my hand, "he's perfectly fine sweetie, no need to worry." Son of a bitch... He'd really used his sway to lock in a gag order?

"Isabel," her eyes snapped to mine. Taking a deep breath I pushed down my anger and tried again, I could feel my pulse slow as I formed the words, "How much wolfsbane was in Dmitri's blood?"

"Not quite a lethal amount," her words were monotone and slightly robotic, "We caught it in time, and he was able to force a shift to burn most of it out of his system both times."

What did she mean both times? I remembered Sophie saying something about him calling for the doctor the day after we'd gone into their parents' suite. "Thank you Dr, you've been so helpful." Now if she could explain to me how a dream had taught me her name and exposed Dmitri's lies.

She blinked a few times, looking confused, "don't look so worried dear. You're probably the healthiest young woman I've ever met." She smiled and shut down the monitor. "All done for today, if you don't mind I'd like to have..."

"Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow so you can take another sample." I interrupted. "I thought this was a wolf pack not a vampire coven." She laughed at my poor joke and helped me wipe the rest of the jelly of my belly before leading me back to her office where Dmitri was waiting on us.

Walking back through the house, I made sure to keep my distance from him. When we found our way back to the hall to their suites, I ducked back into Sophie's rooms. "What are you doing?" he called after me as I made my way back to her bathroom to grab some extra supplies and change out of the strappy sandals into some running shoes. I walked past him, after brushing out my hair; pulling it back into a tight braid.

He stood there with his arms folded over his chest as I stormed back out into the hallway. I ignored the doors to his rooms; headed back down the hall towards the stairs. "Now where are you going?" he followed me, clearly annoyed.

"For a walk," I chose a random direction and kept going.

"A walk?" he snorted, "A walk where?"

I stopped and stepped towards him, "I don't know, just a walk! I'm tired of being holed up in the same rooms' day in and day out. I just need to go anywhere else." I continued my walk to nowhere. I just needed to keep moving.

He grabbed my shoulder to stop me, "You can't just wander around aimlessly," he frowned. Maybe he could finally see how stir crazy I was feeling, "Come with me." He turned down a small hall in the other direction. Aggravated, I stormed after him. We ended up in a garage full of vehicles, where he grabbed a set of keys and hopped onto a motorcycle. "Are you coming or staying?" he called, turning the key and revving the engine. I didn't even hesitate to hop on behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. I didn't even care where we were going. The only thing that mattered to me was that I was finally going to be getting out of this labyrinth of a house.