Chapter 10 The Love of a Father

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. Although I wouldn't mind owning Dimitri or Adrian for a few days =)

Here it is the infamous Abe Mazur!!! Keep in mind when reading this chapter that we don't know too much about Abe yet. He wanted to marry Janine so he isn't as hardcore mobster as he'd like to think or at least I don't think he is. Who knows???

AbePOV

My cell phone was ringing. Few people had my private number and I was rather irritated that I didn't recognize the number. It was American. Whom did I know in America? No one I wanted to speak with I'm sure.

"Mazur." I answered gruffly.

There was silence on the line.

"Who is this?" I barked irritated at anyone who would have the nerve to call me on my pirvate number no less and not say anything.

"Ibrahim?" came a soft female voice. It sounded very familiar.

"Who is this." I barked in Turkish.

"I repeated my question seriously annoyed."

"It's Janine." She said.

"Oh." I said my voice softening. Janine Hathaway. The love of my life and the mother of my only child. I had been so in love with her when we were young. We'd met in Istanbul and had a whirlwind romance. We were together two years when she told me she was with child. I couldn't have been happier.

We were supposed to meet and run away together to get married and that night she never showed up. Instead she left a note saying she was sorry, but she couldn't give up being a guardian and it was best that I wasn't involved in our child's life.

I had been devastated at this, but she was firm in her decision and hadn't left me much of a choice. I'd forgiven her of course eventually. I couldn't stay angry with her. Part of me still loved her a lot and understood why she wouldn't want me in Rosemarie's life. I'm not really father material.

"How are you?" I asked. She sounded upset.

"Not so good." she replied.

"Tell me what's wrong my sweet?" Even after all these years I still called her the name that I used to have for her when we were together. I was slightly on edge because the last few times she'd called me were to tell me that Rosemarie was missing and or had gotten into a fight.

"Has Rosemarie gotten into more trouble?" I asked.

She broke down in to sobs.

"Janine?" I questioned with concern. She was usually the pillar of strength I don't think I'd ever heard her cry or show any type of raw emotion. I was very disturbed by this. Something terrible must have happened.

"She's gone Ibrahim." she croaked. I knew it. Rosemarie had pulled another one of her disappearing acts. I hoped this time she would be smart enough not to take the princess along with her. Ah Kiz she was so much like me and yet we never met.

"Where to this time?" I sighed exasperated. What she said to me next will forever be burned into my memory.

"No Abe. She's dead." She choked out between sobs.

I couldn't breathe. It was like someone had sucker punched me. How could that have happened. My only daughter one whom I'd never met, but loved to no end had been taken from this life. This is why I had wanted to run away and get married. I didn't want either of my girls to be subjected to the guardian lifestyle. The lives of guardians were short and violent. I didn't want that for Janine and I certainly didn't want that for Rosemarie. I inhaled sharply.

"How did it happen?" As if it mattered.

"Strigoi attack on the school." She managed. "There were more than 50 stirgoi. They broke the wards."

I gasped. Fifty strigoi working together was not something I'd ever heard about. This was historical. Even schools like St. Vladimirs were not safe anymore. What was this world coming to? I wanted to break something.

"You'd be proud she killed at least twenty." she said trying to comfort me I think.

" That's my girl. Going down with a fight." I said softly. I could tell she was hurting and even though I'd never met my daughter I felt as if a part of me died along with her. I'd seen photos that Janine had sent over the years and I donated large amounts of money to her school and asked for updates on her grades and activities.

I pulled out my most recent photo of her. It was before she had run away with the princess. She must have been around fourteen. She was so beautiful and full of life I couldn't believe that she was gone. I would have liked to have met her and gotten to know her. I thought that when she turned eighteen I would be attending her graduation smiling proudly from the crowd. She wouldn't know I was there, but I would be there. I'd seen her from afar once when I'd secretly attended her eighth grade graduation. Janine hadn't even been there. I could have beat her senseless for that. How she could miss her own daughter's graduation was beyond my comprehension.

"I'm sorry." She broke down again.
"For what my sweet?" I asked even though I knew full well that she would blame herself. She was always so hard on herself as she was on me and I knew on Rosemarie as well.

"For letting you down, for letting Rose down, for keeping her away from you for not protecting her."

It wasn't her fault that Rosemarie was killed, but there wouldn't be anything I could say to comfort her. She would think and do what she wanted as she always did. I was sad because I realized with Rose gone I would probably never hear from Janine again.

"The past is the past Janine. You can't change it." I said. "I must go. Be well my sweet." And I hung up.

I didn't mean to sound insensitive, but I had to get off the phone and away from my guardians for a while. I knew that I wouldn't cry, but I tried not to be emotional at all in front of others it wasn't safe in my business. I couldn't let anyone see me like this. Abe Mazur the most feared non-royal Moroi smashing things and raging out of control out over the death of a daughter he never met and that no one knew he had. What a sight to be seen.

That was three days ago. Now I was traveling with my guardians on the way to Novosibirsk to conduct some business. We had been driving for what seemed like forever when we came across a girl lying in the middle of the road. It was nearly dusk and she was a dhampir. She looked badly beaten and she was dirty and covered in blood. So much so that you couldn't see her face. She had long dark hair and her clothing was torn nearly to shreds.

"Stop the car." I told Pavel.

He pulled the car over to the side of the road and I got out of the car. I approached the girl. She wasn't conscious. I bent down and took her wrist in my hand. She was still alive, but her breathing was shallow and she was ice cold.

"Pavel, Sergei Get a blanket out of the trunk and drape it over the back seat." I yelled.

The sun was nearly gone and it would be dark soon. Strigoi could be lurking anywhere. I couldn't just leave her here to die she looked young maybe seventeen or eighteen.

I sighed. Rosemarie would have been 18 in two weeks. I picked the girl up and carefully placed her across my lap in the back seat. She looked so innocent. She was bleeding from several open wounds. The largest was on her neck. She had been torn up by Strigoi I was sure of it.

"Where are we taking her?" asked Pavel no doubt questioning my sanity for stopping the car at sunset and risking my life to save a young dhampir. I'd never been one to meddle in other people's affairs, but something about this girl tugged at my heart.

"I don't know just drive for now." I said gruffly.

She began to stir, but she did not wake up. She kept mumbling. Belikov.

"Belikov?" asked Pavel "Aren't there Belikov's in Baia?"

"She must know them." I said. Hopefully this was not one of Olena Belikova's daughters I knew she had three and one was a teenager.

I gave him directions and we reached there in a few hours time.

The whole way the girl kept stiring. Her eyes fluttered open at one point, but were closed in an instant.

In a way she reminded me of Rosemarie. This girl looked to have been attacked by Strigoi and had the unfortunate luck to live through it. Her injuries were severe and I wasn't sure even with Olena's help if she'd make it through the night.

We pulled up in front of the Belikova's house and I got out of the car. It was late and my guardians flanked me on either side. Baia was not terribly dangerous, but I didn't take chances.

I knocked on the door and a very surprised Olena greeted me in Russian. We'd met once or twice in passing, but she was shocked to see me and even more so when she saw the girl in my arms.

"I'm sorry. She kept mumbling your last name. I thought maybe you knew her." I said as she ushered me inside. My guardians remained outside.

Three other young women and a small boy came down the stairs and stared at us.

"Abe where did you find this girl?" asked Olena.

"She was lying on the side of the road. I was going to bring her to the nearest academy, but she kept saying Belikov over and over." I said.

She looked puzzled as did the other three girls.

"Set her down on the couch." She said after spreading down a clean sheet.

Sonya, boil some water. Viktoria get me some clean towels and cloths, Karolina get me the first aid kit.

The three girls did what their mother asked.

"Paul go upstairs and sit with Babushka." One of the three girls said to the young boy. He obeyed.

I sat in a chair and watched as she carefully cleaned the girls many wounds and washed the blood and dirt from her face and arms. She was very beautiful under all that dirt.

"Viktoria run and get one of you dressing gowns." Said Olena. "She looks about your size."

"Do you think she'll make it?" I asked wondering why I cared so much for a young girl I'd never met.

"I'm not sure. She has many injuries. Ones I cannot fix. This was definitely a Strigoi attack."

As Olena lifted the girl up and stripped her out of her clothing Viktoria gasped. "She has molnija!" she up the girls's hair to reveal two tiny molnija marks on the nape of her neck.

"She is unpromised." Remarked Olena.

"That's unheard of." I mused. "Novice's don't fight Strigoi and they wouldn't get molnija without a promise mark." I was sure of it.

"That isn't true. I heard about a student from 's Academy that has molnija." Said Viktoria excitedly.

"She was captured by Strigoi and managed to decapitate them with a dull sword." She went on.

"St. Vladimirs is a long way from here Viktoria." Chastised Sonya.

"Well then how else do you explain that she has no promise mark." Viktoria retorted.

"What was this novice's name?" I asked. Maybe she knew Rosemarie I thought hopefully.

"Uh oh I can't remember it was like Rachel or something. Some American name. I think." She said.

Olena laid the girl down. Her breathing was labored and she seemed to be in a lot of pain. Soft moans were all that came from her lips.

"Is there anything else you can do for her?" I asked.

"Not right now. We just have to see if she wakes up."

Aww! Poor Abe he thinks Rose is dead. Please Review! Let me know if you want Abe to break some kneecaps later in the story=) My vote is on Queen Tatiana!!! Anyone??