Keeping Promises

Chapter One: Dangerous Parking Lots

Dimitri's POV

"Where is she?" Rose growled. "I'm tired of playing this game!" I stood back, watching as the love of my life threatened the Strigoi. She had him pinned against the wall, using only about half her strength. Her red eyes glinted with hate.

It had been two months since we had left court, and two months that we had both been learning how to control our Strigoi half. We could now completely become Strigoi- but still have control- at any point in time. But getting back into our Dhampir forms, well, that was another story entirely.

"She…" Rose shoved her arm into his throat. It didn't affect his breathing, but it sure did hurt. "Paris!"

"Now, the other Strigoi over there-" She pointed to the decapitated body slouched in the corner, "Told us that she was in the country. Don't lie to me."

"It's a small town… about an hour from here! She's by a lake- blue house." With that, Rose's eyes shined with hate and rage. She grabbed the Strigoi's, and with a sickening tear, ripped it off. The mangled and bloody body fell to the ground, while Rose chucked the decapitated head in the corner. When I saw her start to shake, I knew that I had to calm her down before something bad happened. I went up and roughly grabbed her shoulders, to turn her gaze towards me. Her head snapped around, and her eyes bore into mine.

"Roza, calm down. It's not you." She nodded, and with her gaze fixed on mine, her red eyes melted in to the brown ones I loved. She sighed, and leaned into me.

"That sure does take a lot out of me." She stood up straight again. "But at least we have some sort of area to look in." We walked out of the tattoo parlor in the middle of the boorish town, and straight to our car. Rose made a quick phone call to the alchemists and then we set off towards Paris, Kentucky.

Rose's POV

The sun was in the middle of the blue sky, when we arrived at the quaint blue house next to the sparkling clear lake. Her love of flowers seemed to turn on her, as we knew exactly which house was hers because of the overflow of orchids in the front. And, as Dimitri pointed out, black- out curtains hung from every window, blocking the suns deadly rays out of her house, allowing her access to the upper levels of the house during day.

Instead of taking that long way around, we just decided to bust down the front door. With our combined strength, one Strigoi would be no problem for us. We kicked the door down together, and stormed in. Sonya Karp jumped from her sitting position on the couch and stared at us. We only looked like two dhampirs in her eyes, so she lunged for Dimitri first, thinking him the biggest threat. If I hadn't been in the middle of a fight, I would have thought that an insult.

I quickly went it to action grabbing Sonya's arm and swinging her around away from Dimitri. She wasn't expecting that type of strength from me, so I was easily able to throw her across the room. I jumped on top of her on the ground, trying to pin her. I got her on her stomach and held her hands over her head, but her legs were still thrashing wildly.

"Get the rings!" I yelled to Dimitri. I saw him pull them out of his pocket and quickly come over to shove them on our opponent's fingers. First, they had no real affect, but after he put the fourth one on her, she seemed to calm down. She was still Strigoi, but a little bit of her Moroi mind set came back. She stopped struggling all together, and I slowly got off of her. She slowly rolled over on to her back and looked up at each of us. She didn't recognize Dimitri because she had been taken away before he had gone to the academy, but her eyes widened when she saw me. I gently smiled down at her, and she just gaped up at me. I put my hand down to help her up, and she hesitantly put her hand in mine. I lifted her up and she stared at me.

But then, she started sobbing. Strigoi couldn't cry, but the noises coming from her throat were definitely sobs. "I didn't want to become a Strigoi!" Despite my effort of pulling her off the ground, she just collapsed back down. Dimitri and I looked at each other. I understood what she felt, but Dimitri understood much more than me. He pulled her up, and set her on the couch. She leaned into him, and he offered her support and strength to overcome this.

I walked into the kitchen, preparing to fix myself something to eat. I opened the cupboards to be meant with bare shelves and cobwebs. I shook my head and sighed at my own stupidity. Of course there was no food here- this was a Strigoi's house for god's sake. I walked back into the living room. "Dimitri?" He looked up at me from comforting Sonya, "I'm going to go to the store. I'm starving." He chuckled and threw me the keys. I grinned and headed out.

Sonya lived on the outskirts of the already small town, meaning the sun was almost ready to set when I walked through the doors of the market. I shopped around for a little while, getting some junk food for me, some healthy stuff for Dimitri, with some coffee for the both of us. I grabbed some extra random items for Sonya too. The sleek black credit card Abe had given me slid easily out of my pocket and into the cashier's hand. I walked back out into the dark night, and put all the groceries in the trunk of the car. I closed it and started the small three step walk to the car door. I was about to reach for the handle when someone grabbed my shoulder.

"Remove the hand or I'll rip it off." I said in an eerily cheerful voice.

"Oh, don't be shy darlin'," A man said in a southern accent, "I just want to have some fun." He twisted me and shoved me so me so my back was pressed up against the car and he was pressed against me. "I saw you in the store and I just couldn't help myself." He said, bringing his mouth down to mine.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I said, unmoving.

"Of course I do. And I know you want to too." He placed his hands a tad bit too low for my liking. I grabbed his wrists and twisted. I kicked his legs out from under him, and he fell to the ground.

"I'll ask you again," I growled, "Are you sureyou want to do this?"

"Yes." His arm made contact with the side of my head. He was on top of me for a moment until I flipped him over and put my hand across his neck. I squeezed and he fell limp a second later. I sighed and clambered off of him. I grabbed his legs and drug him underneath a nearby bush. I left him there and got in the car, driving back to Sonya's house. The side of my head hurt slightly, but nothing I couldn't handle.

I opened the door to Sonya's house, and carried the bags into the kitchen. Setting them down, I started to put things away. I heard Dimitri come down the stairs to greet me. He grinned, but this smile faltered when he saw me. "Rose- What happened?" He rushed over to me and put his hand on my head where the man hit me. I hissed in pain and grabbed his hand. A couple of his fingers had small splashed of blood on them.

"That asshole! He made me bleed!" I grabbed a dish towel and pressed it against my head. Dimitri grabbed another towel and got it wet. He dabbed my head, and I groaned.

"Rose, who did this to you?" Dimitri asked, worry and hate coming through his voice.

"This idiot in the parking lot. Human. Trying to… you know." I said, closing my eyes out of pain.

"What did you do?" He asked, taking me in his arms.

"Choked him and dumped him behind a bush." I hugged him. "Are you proud?"

He leaned down to my height and pressed his soft lips to mine. I gladly pressed closer to his body, loving the warm feeling her brought to me. I started to argue when he pulled away, but was silenced when his hot breath brushed against my ear. I pressed in to embrace harder, only to have his whisper in my ear. "Oh so very proud."

So there is chapter one of Keeping Promises. I hoped you guys liked it! Make sure to review! Dpower, thank you for giving me pointers for this first chapter, and I will apply your advice to all chapters to come.