Really thank all of you for the love. I've been receiving so many emails of Story Alerts and Fav Story which is really encouraging to a writer. I've gone on a writing spree for the last two days and managed to write up to Chapter 6 for this story. Therefore, i'm posting all chapters up today as a weekend present! Yay!
Rei
Chapter 3: Ghost of my Past
Oh. My. God.
In front of me, an almost lifeless body laid against the wooden crates.
The tall and lean silhouette , the chestnut brown hair, and the once gleaming emeralds now dull as his life began to slip away.
"I… final..ly.. found… you…." He said in between coughs and rapid breathing.
Tears flowed uncontrollably as I dropped beside the familiar Moroi.
"Adrian! Stay with me!" I cried as I held him close to me. Sydney heard my cries and led her team to where I was.
"Sydney! Help him! Please!" I cried out to her in a desperate attempt to prolong Adrian's life. He had lost a lot of blood and the wounds on his neck are bleeding profusely. I pressed my hand on his wounds to try to stop the bleeding but it wouldn't stop.
Sydney stood dumbfounded for a brief moment before rummaging through her slingbag to retrieve a bottle. She popped open the cap and sprinkled the powder onto his wounds. I snatched the bottle from her and emptied the content onto Adrian's bleeding neck.
I held his hands and kept murmuring "Stay with me" in his ears while the Alchemists carried him to the car to send him to the Moroi hospital in the vicinity.
Sydney stayed with me outside the ER while the doctors tried to do their best to patch Adrian up.
"He'll be fine." Sydney said and gave my shoulder a squeeze.
"How… What if I hadn't found him? What if… what if…" I kept saying, unable to organize any of my thoughts.
"You've found him and right now, the doctors are doing what they can to save him. YOU saved him. You stopped the bleeding remember? Calm down and be-"
Sydney was cut off as the doors to the ER swung open and the nurses pushing an unconscious Adrian through the doors.
I grabbed the doctor immediately and asked if Adrian's gonna make it.
"He'll be fine. It's very lucky for you to find him early and stopped the bleeding. Any later, he would have been dead." He told us with a smile and left with the nurses.
As if a heavy load had been lifted off my shoulders, I felt light and slumped onto the ground.
"Ashley!" was the last thing I heard.
Strong light was blinding my eyes as I rolled in the bed and almost rolled off it. I was lying on the hospital bed, which is way smaller than the one in my apartment. I groaned and shielded my eyes from the blinding sunlight streaming into the room.
"You're finally up." I heard Sydney say.
I groaned and then jumped up asking for the time.
"It's almost 10am."
"Holy Crap! I'm late for work!" I cursed and jumped off the bed. Then I remembered why I was in the hospital.
I turned to Sydney and shook her. "How's Adrian?"
"He's fine. He's still unconscious though. The doctors said that he'll be coming round soon. You wanna go check him out before you go?"
I gave her a smile and left the room.
Even though she didn't quite like the vampires and half-blood like me, she and I got pretty close working together. I didn't mean close like chummy close but we know how each other was thinking just by a small gesture.
I walked towards the counter and asked for Adrian's room. I was at his door but I was hesitant in opening that door.
For the last 5 years, I have been trying to avoid everyone from my old life and yesterday I realised that I hadn't really let go of my past. Seeing Adrian lying almost lifeless in the warehouse last night had made me realised that some part of me is still clinging onto my old life. Although the night job wasn't what I wanted and I kept saying that I was forced by Sydney to take it up but a little part of me knew that it wasn't the blackmailing but the desire to take revenge for Dimitri. I wanted to kill all the Strigoi that had made my life the way it turned out and some part of me still wanted to be part of that world.
The Vampiric world.
I took out my phone and texted Keith I would be coming in late today and mustered up all the courage to open that door.
The door that opens up to my past.
The room was dark compared to mine; well I guess it was Sydney who had drawn the curtains. I stood beside the bed and on it, Adrian was sleeping soundly in a hospital gown. His expression was peaceful compared to last night when I had found him. His breathing is now strong and steady, as opposed to the shallow rapid breathing when I held him in my arms.
He was the one who trusted me and funded my trip to Russia but it was I who broke his heart; who had used his feelings for me to fulfil my own desire. Although I didn't want to be in contact with anyone else, I had felt indebted to Adrian. Adrian who saw me for who I am (was) and loved me unconditionally. Most importantly, I wanted to know how long he had been trying to look for me.
Ever since I was captured by Dimitri, I had lost all my belongings, including the credit card which Adrian had playfully put in under Rose Ivashkov. He couldn't have used any of that to track me and on top of that, I had Abe to keep me under the radar. Sydney had once said: "What Abe wants hidden, stays hidden."
I sat down on the chair beside the bed and took a closer look at his face.
His face was different from what I had remembered. His hair was longer now, touching his shoulders; however, it wasn't the silky shiny brown hair that once adorned his beautifully chiselled face. Replacing it was a mane that's overgrown and dull. His cheeks were slightly sunken and his face was unshaven. It made me wonder when was the last time he had looked into the mirror.
The Adrian I remembered was groomed to the perfection every single day and this person lying in front of me was like the pauper twin of his. On a closer assessment, he seemed to have lost a lot of weight. He used to be pretty muscular for a Moroi but now he's more on a scale with Christian just slightly toned.
I took his hand in mine.
"How long have you been looking for me? I had given up when we had that fight but why, why are you still holding on?" I sobbed into his hands.
If there was one thing I didn't want, it was to see people who I love get hurt. Adrian had been nothing but a great friend to me and all I did was used him and leave him to fend for himself. After we had met at the ski lodge, he came all the way to St. Vladimir for me. When his great aunt, Queen Tatiana and his entire way hating me, he was the one who stood up for me.
"Because I love you…" came a husky voice.
I looked up to see his gleaming emerald eyes looking at me. They were still as filled with love as I had last remembered even though a lot had changed.
"But why…"
"I love you Rose. I couldn't just let you go…" he said and cupped the side of my face with his other hand.
"But I…" I stopped when I saw those loving eyes. All these years while I was mourning for Dimitri, I had forgotten the feeling of being loved.
I smiled and wanted to say something else when I got a text from Keith. I looked at the time and turned to Adrian.
"I would love to stay but I had to get to work. I'll see you again after I'm done okay? Please don't tell anyone that you've found me alright? I like my life now the way it is."
He just smiled and fall back to sleep.
I brushed his hair away and kissed him on his forehead.
"Thank you for loving me Adrian…"
As I exited the room, I was torn between going back to my old life and bringing someone old into my new life. All these years I've spent running away from them and now that I've finally gotten used to my new life, my past decided to come and haunt me, but in a good way.
I've always felt something special for Adrian but I know that it wasn't the love that Dimitri and I had shared. It was something different. Back at the academy, he was like air, always around me and surrounding with his self-professed undying love, so much that I felt suffocated. However, it was as annoying as I had let it seem it. At some point of time, I had actually kinda like the attention that I was receiving, especially during the times when Dimitri was thinking about going with Tasha. The kiss we shared when I approached him to fund my trip, though it was nowhere near passionate, there was something that sparked between us then.
As I was driving to work, these thoughts kept swimming in my brain that almost make me explode. I stopped the car at the side of the freeway, sobbing into the steering wheel, unsure of what I should do.
