Chapter Four: Never Walk Alone
"Jesus, Schoenberg, do you want me to do explicit things to you on the way there?" Abe blatantly asked as soon as he saw me in my outfit. I wasn't wearing anything too obviously provocative. It was a simple fit and flare black dress which reached an inch or two above my knee, but the back was just black lace, showing my bare skin.
"Only if you want to be your own lawyer," I replied. "Let's go."
I followed Abe outside and he extended his arm to me.
I glanced at him, hesitant to take it. A part of me felt like if I linked my arm with his, my life would also be forever intertwined with his.
"I'm trying to follow up with the whole gentleman thing," he explained.
"Well, in that case..." I linked my arm through his, shivering as the cold wind blew straight through me.
Immediately, he unlinked his arm from mine.
"What? You're already tired of being a gentleman?" I complained, but swallowed my words as soon as Abe took off his coat and scarf. He helped to put them on me and I instantly felt warmth cascading through me.
"Seriously, Schoenberg, I swear you re only skin and bones."
"My father always jokes about how I m built like a Moroi - well, except for my height - but I'm a dhampir. He used to worry about me when I was younger and started combat training. Luckily, my dancing background helped me more than my father would've ever believed."
We linked arms again as he guided me through Baia. "Dancing?"
"Yeah, I started dancing when I was three. If I wasn't going to be a guardian, I always thought I would be a dancer. I guess kicking ass can be like a dance sometimes, depending on who you're sparring with." A part of me couldn't believe I was casually walking through the streets with Abe Mazur, making friendly conversation with him. It seemed like one of those weird dreams I would have and then wake up wondering: what the hell did I eat last night?
"Do you still dance?" He seemed legitimately interested in me. Of course, I knew to assume Abe Mazur always had ulterior motives. Maybe he thought it would be worth making a connection to Arthur Schoenberg's only daughter.
"Not as much as I would like to..." I admitted. "But I guess I won't have time for much anyway after graduation."
"Spoken like a true guardian," Abe commented. "I have a feeling you're just like your father."
"No." I wasn't like my father because I never wanted to make the mistake of falling in love with a horrible person. I never wanted to deal with betrayal every time I saw the one I loved most. I couldn't imagine the constant pain, the constant worrying about what they were doing behind my back. "No, I don't want to be just like him."
"Ahh, you re one of those individualistic teenagers who gets in trouble, huh?" Abe smirked, probably thinking back to days of his crazy youth.
"Yeah, I guess I like to think of myself as a peculiar character who encounters predicaments frequently," I agreed, but my mind began to drift as we came closer to Ivan's party. My odd dream with Ivan replayed itself, making me doubt my decision to go, much less allowing Abe Mazur to accompany me there.
I felt Abe's grip tighten as we reached the Moroi part of town. I could already sense the eyes of many Moroi men studying me, making me uncomfortable. I tugged Abe's blazer tighter around me as if to cover myself up. Without even realizing it, I had walked closer to Abe, my shoulder rubbing against his. "I won't let anything happen to you," he whispered, his voice displaying an edge of protectiveness which reminded me of Dimitri.
I remained silent, afraid my voice would be like a call for all Moroi men to pounce me. I could see Ivan's house across the way, and relief flooded through me.
Until I felt a bullet hit my back.
A scream pierced through my ears - my own scream. My vision blurred in and out of focus, and I could feel Abe's steady arms wrap around my waist and pull me toward his chest, mumbling my painful outburst. Another gunshot fired, coming from a much closer distance and scraped my arm. Abe dragged me away as quickly as he could from the violent scene, luckily in the direction of Ivan's house. However, pain pierced through my back with each step that he took. "Maya, stay with me," he murmured. It was the first time he had ever called me by my first name, and by the looks of it, the last.
I tried to hang on. Not for me, but for the other people in my life. My father, Ivan, Dimitri... I couldn't leave them. My father would have nothing to live for, Ivan would have no one to pick on, and Dimitri would have no one to watch Western movies with. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I took the easy way out and left them to suffer in this tragic world.
The pain only seemed to get worse as time wore on, and I knew I needed to say something. I needed some meaningful last words, something to inspire those close to me to continue on with their lives.
"I'm sorry I got your coat dirty," I blurted out to Abe, even though I didn't know if I spoke in an understandable manner.
"Schoenberg, that's the least of my problems right now."
I could feel my eyelids begin to droop as the pain took over my body. I could do nothing about it. I couldn't fight it anymore; my body wouldn't allow it. My destiny was to lay in Abe's arm until I rest in peace. Blackness flickered throughout my vision, and my lungs seemed to forget how to breathe. Abe's face frantically looked down at me, but I think both he and I knew it was a lost cause. Nothing could be done to change the imminent future.
Nothing.
