A Guardian's Promise

Chapter 10 - Followed

The rest of the walk was uneventful. My pace had slowed considerably from what it had been before the fight, but was still fast for a moroi, or even a human. I still had my stake in my hand, one—because I was still on edge and ready to jump at any strigoi I met, and two—it had blood on it and I wasn't putting that away in my pocket. I figured I could quietly clean it when I got back to the house.

I eventually reach the front of the house and let myself back in with the spare key Olena had given me on my first trip there. Everyone was obviously still asleep, but one look at the clock told me I had been out there for too long for it to be just a walk. If anyone was awake and had heard me leave, they would have been worried. A walk didn't take almost two hours. I creep over to the kitchen, which was right outside Dimitri's room. It wasn't his room exactly—Viktoria had taken that when he left—but it was now his again. And mine I guess, though it felt weird to be sharing a room with Dimitri in his family house.

I turn the kitchen tap on—and regret it instantly. The sound of the running water hitting the metal basin echoed through the silent house. I begin to clean off the blood. The air outside was cool, so part of it had dried onto the stake. I give it my best shot, scrubbing the dried blood off, when a warm hand rests on my shoulder, making the rest of my body shiver. I jump around, still on edge from the Strigoi, although a voice buried deep in my mind told me this house was safe. No strigoi would dare go into a dhampir residence. They were all trained, and it would pretty much be suicide for a Strigoi to enter. And that voice was right. The hand belonged to Dimitri. Regret filled my body, knowing if I had listened to him, I wouldn't have had to battle two relatively old strigoi. But then again, if I had listened to him, there would still be two strigoi wandering the world. And that annoyed me. How come I was always torn between obeying people and doing what is right?

Dimitri immediately knew what had happened. I swear it is like that guy could read my thoughts like I used to Lissa's. He reaches out to take my stake out of my hand. Instinct tells me to hold onto it, that it is my lifeline, but as his hand brushes over mine, I shakily hand it over. I expect him to try and clean off what I had failed to do, but he places it in the basin gently and wraps his arms around me.

"Roza." He only said one word, yet it spoke millions. I press my face against his chest, realising I was shaking. He takes a deep breath and I could tell what he was thinking. In time, he would interrogate me for details on the fight, but knew better than to do it now. Anyway, for now, all he wanted was to know if I was safe and okay. He pulls away, and I open my mouth to explain that I was fine and just needed my stake clean, so I could put it back in my pocket, but the expression on his face stopped me. This expression wasn't new, but it also wasn't something he showed openly to many people. Even to me. It was a combination of pain, longing, love and anger. Basically emotions. It wasn't really that he thought it was manly to not show feelings, but more that he didn't want anyone to pity him. He just wanted people to leave him be and save the empathy for other people. He looked me over for any visible cuts or bruises. I had a few, but nothing that wouldn't heal in a matter of days.

"Rose, go back to our room. I will join you in a moment."

I open my mouth to protest against him but reconsider. I turn away and walk the few steps to Dimitri's room. I leave to door open and flop down onto his bead. Everything just felt so surreal at the moment, yet deep inside I knew it would feel very real tomorrow when we were flying back to court. I lie there staring at the ceiling. A figure appears in the doorway, but I don't turn towards them, as it would just be Dimitri coming back. But they don't come further in and knock on the doorway. I jump up and am faced with Viktoria.

"Can I come in?" She asks.

"Yeah sure," I say wearily. She thanks me and sits down on the end of Dimitri's bed. I join her, and she looks at me awkwardly.

"What happened with you and Dimka? He seems upset or worried or something." She asks me.

"He is?" I ask quietly. I had expected him to be disappointed in my decisions, but not upset with me. Maybe, I hoped, maybe Viktoria didn't quite realise his emotions. He was a complicated guy. But also, Viktoria had spent eleven years with him, compared to my mere one.

"I'm not quite sure, he wouldn't talk to me, but I am going to talk to him again and try and find out for you." She jumps up and disappears just like that. I was going to tell her to leave it be and I will talk to him, but a moment later, she skips back into the room. "Dimka wants to talk to you. He went outside." I hug her and softly walk through the house to the courtyard. Dimitri was sitting on the concrete step, twirling my stake, which was now clean, in his hands.

"Hey comrade," I say softly, taking a seat on the cold concrete next to him. He gives the stake one last twirl, before handing it to me. I slide into the sheath on my belt, not wanting to be reminded that it had killed two people. Strigoi or not, they were still people, and I had killed them. I wasn't new to killing strigoi, hence my five—now seven—molnija tattoos. Plus, I also had one Zvezda mark from the attack on St. Vladimir's. In fighting those strigoi tonight, I had forgotten all about Lissa, but now everything had come back.

"We need to leave soon." Dimitri's strong accented voice snaps me out of my thoughts. He was avoiding the topic of the Strigoi. I couldn't blame him—I didn't want to either—but it was something that we would sooner or later.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

Dimitri sighs. "I am fine. I was just scared for you and it got the better of me."

I bite my lip, stopping myself from saying something stupid, giving me some time to think. "I love that you care about me, but I am strong. I can kill strigoi. I mean, I was taught by a god after all."

This made him smile. "You will have the same amount of molnija as me now. I told you we are always equals Roza."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I was always used to him being just that bit better than me. It never occurred to me that one day I might have more kills than he had. "Okay, I get it, I killed two strigoi, but that's all. We need to focus on Lissa. She is the one who needs us right now."

That got him to stop. He promised to be loyal to her to repay her for bringing his soul back. He had eased up on that a fair amount when I snapped some sense into him, but he was still adamant that he had to repay her somehow. "You're right." He takes a deep breath and stands up. "We need to say our goodbyes." I take his hand in which he had extended to me and stand up. He pulls me into a hug. At this moment, I forget about the strigoi, Lissa, and everything else going on. In this moment it was just us. His lips press against my forehead gently and we stay like that for what seemed like hours but in reality, it was just mere minutes. I would have held on longer—

Until we heard the screams.

All my guardian instincts and priorities came back to me and I run inside, pulling out my stake. Someone had broken into the house. But with another look, I realise it wasn't just someone.

It was three strigoi.

I had been followed.