Hello my fellow VAddicts! Sorry it took me so long to post up this chapter. My beta and I have been busy bees, but it's finally here! I would like to thank my beta who helped writting this chapter and to all of you who review and read the story. Oh and it always seems to slip my mind but Richelle Mead owns all.
Enjoy!
Daisy
Chapter 9
I was in a rose garden overlooking the ocean. The salty ocean breeze played across my body and caressed my face as I closed my eyes. Immediately I knew this was one of Adrian's dreams but I remained where I was with my eyes closed.
"I didn't think you would come back," I told him.
"I'm not Adrian," said a voice behind me that I could recognize anywhere.
I turned around and opened my eyes. Lissa stood there looking as beautiful as ever in a white summer dress. "Lissa!" I yelled, running to her and giving her a big hug.
"Oh Rose, I've missed you!" she said against my shoulder.
"I know I've missed you too Liss." I pulled back to look at her. "So you learned how to walk dreams," I said. "When?"
"A couple of days ago," she said with a smile. "The first time I did it was with Christian and I've been practicing with him since then." Her smile fell then. "Rose where are you?"
"It's better if you don't know Liss. But I'm okay, don't worry."
"I was planning on getting you out…" she said trailing off.
"I know, and you shouldn't have been even thinking of doing something like that," I scolded her. "You could have gotten into trouble."
"I know but it would have been worth the risk. I could never let them execute you," she said looking into my eyes, trying to convey just how much she meant it.
"But still, I wouldn't have wanted you to get into trouble," I said. I don't know what I would have done if Lissa had been caught. "Anyways, how are things with Christian?"
As soon as I mentioned Christian, a huge smile spread across her face. "Everything is great and back to normal." Then her smile fell and her forehead creased slightly. "Well as normal as it can be with total chaos around us. The queen's murder has really had an effect on the court."
At the mention of the queen I remembered her note. Maybe telling Lissa wasn't the wisest decision but she had a right to know, especially when it directly affected her. "Um Liss, there's something I need to tell you."
Her face became clouded worry. "What's wrong Rose?"
"No it's nothing like that. It's actually good news depending on how you look at it." She kept looking at me, waiting for me to continue. "Um well, you kind of have…a half brother."
Shock and bewilderment replaced her earlier emotion of worry. "A half brother? What do you mean? How do you know? Who told you?" Her questions came out in a rush one after the other, not even giving me time register them.
"Wow slow down Liss. First off you can't tell anyone," I told her.
"Why?" she asked as she became more confused.
"You just can't okay? Promise me you won't tell anyone. Not even Christian or Adrian," I said.
She knew me well enough to trust whatever I told her to do. "Okay."
"Now, I know this sounds crazy but—"
I was about to tell her everything when I was woken up by someone vigorously shaking my arm. "Roza wake up," whispered Dimitri.
"What's going—"
"Shh," he whispered covering my mouth. "There's someone in the house."
Immediately all my senses became alert and I felt nauseated, I pointed to my stomach trying to tell Dimitri that I was sensing Strigoi. His eyes widened, I nodded and Dimitri removed his hand. We made our way to our clothes and got our stakes ready for a fight. The moonlight was shining through the glass doors and made it easier to see. Dimitri slowly opened the door and we walked out into the hallway. My adrenaline was pumping, my heart was racing and the nausea got worse with every step I took. I was expecting one to pop out at me at any second now. As we entered the living room I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye right when we became surrounded by three Strigoi.
"Damn it, how do you guys find me?" I said more to myself than anything.
The Strigoi to my left lunged for me as Dimitri took on the other two. I kicked the Strigoi's head and managed to make him waver just enough to let me get a clear view of his chest. I aimed my stake at his heart but he grabbed my arm and threw me to the floor. He got on top of me and pressed my shoulders to the ground, not letting me move my arms. So I used my knee to hit him in his groin and his brief lack of concentration allowed me to change our positions. I quickly grabbed my stake and struck him in his heart, making sure that the stake went all the way through.
"That's what you get when you mess with me," I told his corpse.
I turned to Dimitri who had already killed one of the Strigoi and was now fighting his second one. I came up behind the Strigoi and kicked out his legs. When he fell on his knees I grabbed his arms behind his back with one hand and forced him to lie down with my knee.
Catching on to my plan, Dimitri spoke. "Who sent you?"
"You already know who sent us."
"No I don't, now tell me who the hell sent you," I said.
"You won't survive much longer," he said. "We'll find you where ever you go."
"Tell me who sent you!" I yelled but he didn't respond.
"He's not going to tell us anything more Roza," said Dimitri.
I gave up trying to get more information out of him. "Fine, kill him," I said lifting up the Strigoi so Dimitri could stake him. I let the body hit the floor and went to sit down on a couch. I was so not up for this. All these attacks were taking a drain out of me.
Dimitri sat down next to me and put his hand on my arm. "Are you okay? You look tired."
"I'm fine," I said. "Apparently not only am I the most wanted murderer in our world, but Strigoi are also hunting me. But then again, when haven't I been pursued by someone?"
"It's going to be alright," said Dimitri rubbing my arm. "Now go back to bed and get some rest. I'm going to call the Alchemists to come clean up the bodies and then I'll go back to bed."
I nodded and headed off to bed but I couldn't fall asleep again. The Strigoi were finding me more often and the scary part was that they knew where to find me. These frequenting Strigoi attacks were starting to panic me, but I didn't want to admit it to Dimitri. Eventually I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up to some annoying sunlight hitting my face. "Ugh." I groaned and rolled over to avoid the light. I wonder what time it is, I thought to myself. I stretched out my arm expecting to touch some warm flesh but instead was faced with an empty space. I opened my eyes and saw no Dimitri there. The alarm clock on the bed side table said it was 11 am.
"Shoot," I said getting up. I made my way to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before going back to the room and changing into some clean clothes. I walked into the kitchen to find Dimitri drinking coffee and reading one of his westerns.
"Where did you find that?" I said. "'Cause I'm pretty sure Abe doesn't read westerns." The thought of Abe reading a western made me smile.
He chuckled. "I brought some from home."
"Of course," I said. "How could anyone forget their western novel collection?"
"Don't be so quick to disregard them," said Dimitri. "You might be surprised to find that you like them."
"Um, yeah…I'll try them some time," I said slowly. Like that will ever happen. I poured myself some cereal and milk and then went to sit with Dimitri. "So what are we doing today?" I asked.
"Actually," he said looking down at his watch, "we are leaving in about two hours."
"Where are we going?" We had nothing to follow here so I wondered where we were off to.
"We are going to Alaska."
"Alaska? Why are we going to Alaska?" I asked with a puzzled look.
"Because your father and I thought it would be best if we went to Alaska for a little while. We've noticed that the attacks have become more frequent and it has both of us unsettled. This time of year Alaska has light all day long, which means that there is no fear of Strigoi attacks."
Of course, I knew that since I had gone to Alaska not so long ago. "Look its fine, we don't need to blow this whole situation out of proportion. Plus we're both great fighters and can ward off anything that attacks us," I said.
"Yes I know we are, but I still don't want to risk anything."
"But—"
"Please don't argue Roza, we are doing this for your safety," he said with loving yet firm eyes.
"Fine," I said giving in.
He marked the page in his book and stood up. "We should pack up so we can head off to Watsonville."
"Well we don't have much to pack up, we've only been here for like two days."
"Well then we can leave in a bit."
When we were done packing up the few things we had taken out, we got in a car that Abe had left us and took off. The ride was nice and pleasant with the beautiful scenery around us. We were listening to a song about a karma chameleon on a 80s radio station that Dimitri had remarkably been able to find.
"You know, I actually kind of like this song," I said. "It sounds like one of those happy songs that they play in old movies." Dimitri just smiled and kept driving.
When we got into town we still had an hour and a half to spare before the scheduled departure.
"Can't we just leave now?" I asked. What were we supposed to do for an hour and a half?
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have to get things prepared for flight and it's going to take some time," said one of the pilots.
"Okay, thanks."
I made my way towards the car with Dimitri shadowing me. He turned on the car and we rolled down the windows.
"So, now what do we do, Comrade?" I said turning off the radio.
"We could go into town unless you prefer to listen to music?" he said lifting up an eyebrow.
"I guess it is better than having to listen to your 80's music."
"Okay, Watsonville here we come."
As we made our way into town we kept stopping people to ask directions. We figured it would be easier than getting told once and then ending up lost. We, well Dimitri, drove the car as I observed the town. It was not that spectacular as Santa Cruz but it was normal. Santa Cruz had some weird looking individuals like a man we had seen wearing all pink equipped with a pink umbrella.
I didn't want to get down and walk so I asked Dimitri if he wouldn't mind if we went to sit down on the grassy area of a park we passed by, Callaghan Park I think it was called. The park was very nice and clean. I gotta say even the grass looked healthy. Grass healthy gosh Rose what's gotten into you? We laid there watching the clouds go by. I caught Dimitri watching the children play on the playground that the city had installed, I presumed. He must have been watching them carefully because he didn't notice me watching him. Somehow it bothered me that he adored children so much yet he wouldn't be able to father one because of me. How I wished I had the ability to give him at least one child. I sighed sadly.
"What's wrong?" I heard him ask.
I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I hadn't noticed Dimitri had turned his attention to me. "Oh, umm, I was just… umm… I was…" I sighed gathering my thoughts. "I noticed how you were watching the kids there," I nodded towards the playground, "and it passed through my mind how much you want a child and it's just that… that… we, I am not capable of giving you a family." I hadn't noticed that there were tears running down my cheeks.
He placed his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him while he wiped the tears away.
"I don't care Roza. As long as I am with you and you are with me, it's more than I would ever want." He whispered wrapping his arms around me and holding me close to him.
When we arrived at the airstrip again the jet was ready to go, so we boarded and took off. Six long, eventless hours later we arrived at the Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska. I was flooded with memories of the last time I had been here to break out Victor. I hoped no one from our world would notice me.
I figured we would be staying in town but instead the driver got on George Parks Highway and drove out of town. We remained on the interstate until we turned right onto another road called gold hill or something like that. From there we got out on a dirt road that had a "Private Property: Do not enter" sign. The road led us through the tree filled mountains until we reached a log house overlooking a lake. I had to hand it to Abe, he knew how to choose his houses.
The driver helped us take our luggage inside and handed Dimitri some car keys. "There is a car in there for your disposal," he said pointing toward the garage.
"Thank you," said Dimitri.
The driver nodded then got back into his car and drove away.
"It's just you and me in the middle of nowhere," I told Dimitri.
"Town is just thirty minutes away," he said.
"Well we're still far away." I was not going to lose this argument.
"Yes." He smiled. "Let's go inside and unpack. I have a feeling we're going to be here for a while."
The house had a tall ceiling that made the house feel really spacious. When you entered the house there was a small living room to the right that looked like a nice napping place. To the left there was a much larger living room that looked more for entertaining guests and spending time with family. The kitchen was cute and spacious with wooden cabinets and a black granite counter top along with a small table that flowed from the center island. On the second floor there was another small living that had a fireplace and a calming view of the mountain side. The master bedroom had a huge bed that looked comfy and inviting. Across from the bed there was a brick fireplace and a flat screen TV, but the bathroom was the most stunning. It had a shower and a separate Jacuzzi bathtub and a toilet that had its own little room. Hmm I could imagine some good uses for that Jacuzzi bathtub.
After looking around I let myself fall on the bed that was so comfortable it felt like I was lying on a cloud. I turned over so that I was lying on my stomach and started gazing outside the glass doors. A memory came to me then of when Dimitri and I had gone on a weekend trip to Idaho to meet with other guardians. We had stopped at a gas station that overlooked the snow covered pines and mountains, a place that was completely quiet and still. I had told Dimitri that I wouldn't mind living in a remote cabin and he had said I wouldn't last in a place like that.
"What are you doing Rose?" he asked, materializing in the doorway and making his way toward the bed.
"Remember that time when we went to Idaho to meet with a group of guardians?" Maybe he would remember.
"When we made the snow angels behind the gas station?" he said.
"Yeah." So he did remember.
"What about it?" he said lifting up one of his eyebrows.
"Remember how you said that I wouldn't like living in a remote cabin?"
"Yes…" he said, trying to figure out where I was going with this.
"Well, you were wrong. I mean I didn't imagine a cabin this big, but I did picture myself with you. And all I know is that if you are with me, then I don't care where I am. Being in a remote location is just a plus," I said giving him a small smile.
Dimitri smiled and lay down next to me. "I remember I had told you that you wouldn't live in a cabin until you were an old, old lady. But you've changed, become more mature in not only your actions but how you perceive yourself and the world." He grabbed a strand of my hair and put it behind my ear. "This cabin fits you just right, Roza."
"I'm so glad you're with me," I said giving him a peck in the cheek. Our arms circled around each other and we lay there enjoying the heat emanating from our bodies and just enjoying a sweet moment like this.
Aww how sweet :) I promise that the next chapter will be posted up sooner!
And if you guys are curious as to how the house looks, I will post up links on my profile :)
Also, if you guys want to watch an awesome fan made VA trailer go here: .com/watch?v=0wr4blWgwdY&feature=related
I have to say, it's one of my favorites that I've seen so far ^_^
