Dimitri began to pace about the hallway, swearing over and over again. "What are we going to do? I forgot that I wouldn't want the ring on you as a Strigoi…" He sighed.
"I keep touching the ring to you?" I had forgotten the same thing. But what could I do now? My Strigoi self had told him, not me.
"Then the magic runs out sooner and you lose your soul…" He embraced me, and I took it happily. "I don't want you to lose your soul, Roza…"
We were like that for a while. I didn't know what to say, and he didn't want to say anything. Then he tensed.
"Let's get you to the library." He said it very firmly and began to move away. "Follow me."
I rushed a bit to catch up, and then we walked side by side, hand in hand. Though it was my right hand that touched his left. "Dima, you seem…off. What's going through your head?" He ignored me.
We tried to ascend the stairs together, but it was much too small. He whisked me up in his arms, and I felt helpless and weak. "I don't like being like this. It reminds me of when-"
"Don't remind me, Roza. I don't want to think about it." He stiffened more. Like a scene out of a cheesy vampire movie I had seen on TV, he began to dash up the stairs. In a matter of seconds, we were at the top and he was letting me down. "If you had said, 'Hold on, spider monkey,' I would've puked."
He arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Stupid vampire movie. Vampire guy takes human girl through the forest as fast as you did me up the stairs. Before he starts running, he says that."
"Sounds very romantic, actually." He was still eyeing me quizzically.
"It would be if she had any personality, hadn't been called 'spider monkey', and he didn't sparkle."
The last bit threw him off. "Wait, 'he' is the vampire, right?"
"Yeah."
"And he sparkles?" Dima had a twisted expression, disgusted and confused.
"Yes."
"If Strigoi could vomit, I would have. Now let's get to the library before you tell me about other horrible things." He pulled me along quickly until we reached the library.
It was a very large library, plush and full of tons of books and seating areas. It was also in sections, I noticed. Strigoi, Dhampir, Moroi, Human, and Misc. Fiction. Fiction took up a big part, with one row being an entire subcategory. There was even a Westerns section.
"Later on, I'm probably going to expand the Westerns section of the library." Dimitri's words were obviously meant in humor, but he said it very coldly. "But for right now, I'm going to leave you. I have business to attend to."
Dima moved and I stopped him. "Wait, what kind of business?"
He stared into my eyes, and they looked saddened. Like he didn't want to leave. "Roza…" A tear formed at his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. "Please trust me. Let me go this time."
Those eyes. I couldn't say no to him or those eyes. Slowly, my hand dropped to my side. "Okay." Wait, was I going to leave it at just that? "But on one condition."
The sadness dissipated. "And what is that?"
I smiled. "Trust me. You'll find out later."
He grumbled. "Alright. Have fun." And my love took off to do God-knows-what.
So I walked over to the Strigoi section. It was divided into subsections: Abilities, Notable Strigoi, Myths. Myths was exactly what I wanted.
I took a few books out and found myself thinking about Lissa. I had abandoned her, turned into the thing I had worked my entire life to protect her from…I was a horrible friend.
But for once, I had to focus on myself. I was up here to find out if there was any way to go back to the living, or at the very least keep this sanity I held right now because of the ring. I assumed the Moroi section wouldn't have much more than the Moroi libraries would, so this would be the most helpful. There was almost nothing authored by a Strigoi in any of the libraries…for obvious reasons.
I passed Notable Strigoi as I made my way to a very plush couch and began looking at the titles to find anyone interesting. There were a few royal names I recognized on book titles, but one famous name stuck out the most. ' 'St.' Vladimir'.
"He had been a Strigoi?" I exclaimed out loud to nobody in particular. I dropped the books that I had, ripped that one out of the shelf, and raced to the couch.
One perk of being Strigoi was the fact that I could concentrate really hard on one thing and do it much better, which meant I could process this book faster. I had a tremendous interest in this book, and it wasn't until I felt something very pleasurable that I stopped reading.
Over 1,000 pages later, but what felt like seconds, I put the book down to find out what the hell was disturbing me from reading this thing. I found myself naked with Dimitri's khuy deep inside me. He was also holding me in his arms, against the wall all the way across the room from where the couch was.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" I shrieked.
"Finally your eyes are off of that damned book! Do you know how long I've been at this?"
I blinked. I had no idea. "Uh…I dunno."
"Fifteen minutes. And I don't mean just the overall effort of trying to bring you back to Earth. I mean," He thrust in me. "This. I don't even remember how long I was calling your name." He put me down and began to put his clothes back on. There was a bout of silence.
"Sorry…I was reading about St. Vlad. Apparently he was a Strigoi."
He sighed. "Yes, I saw." Dima was being a conversation killer. "You're very lucky I accidentally brushed the ring while I was trying to manually take your hands away from the book. I'm pretty sure my other side would have thrown you into a wall instead of making sweet love to you. Did you learn anything?" Okay, I stand corrected.
I moved to put my dress back on, but he did the honors for me, as he was done dressing now. As he pulled the bra over my head and down my body, I answered him. "Yeah. Apparently he turned Strigoi well before he died according to the Moroi history books. Probably for the same reason as Ms. Karp - to escape the insanity of spirit."
"Then how would he stay as a saint to the Moroi?" My underwear were being slid up.
"Apparently he had the ability to turn from Strigoi to Moroi at will. And by will, I mean he would kill during feeding to turn into a Strigoi…but right before he did, he would use his spirit energy to charm a stake. Anna would use it to turn him back to Moroi." I sighed. "But I don't even know why I care about this. It's not as if we could get a spirit user anyways."
He slid the dress over me and took a few steps back.
Dimitri bit his lip lightly, but because of the fang he pierced skin. "Chert!"
I raised an eyebrow. Something was up. He didn't bite his lips…ever. "Dima, what's wrong?"
He groaned. "Roza…"
I glared him down. "What?" If he was feeling guilty, this was going to be something bad.
"I have ordered Vasilisa Dragomir to be delivered to us."
