9
My stomach started growling and that put an end to our lazy afternoon siesta. We decided to get up and get dressed and then call Abe to find out what new information they might have found.
Dimitri brought me a water bottle from the fridge and we sat in the chairs in the corner of the bedroom.
"Did you want to get room service again or go down to that sandwich shop in the lobby?"
"The sandwich shop looked good when we passed it this morning." I was starving and could eat just about anything at this point. Dhampirs could eat a lot in general it wasn't only because of all the physical activity and training. "We should call Abe and then we'll go downstairs."
I found my cell on the floor near the bed and flipping it open pressed the speed dial for Abe's number.
"Well it's about time." Abe chuckled into the phone.
"Hey Abe, how are you? What's new?" I asked politely. You can't say I don't learn from my mistakes.
"Well we got a call back from our friend Sarah a little earlier than I had expected. She had worked with a woman, a dancer, who had little girl around 2 years old. She isn't sure who the father is, but said that she had seen Eric with them once. Shortly after that the woman quit working as a showgirl and moved out of state." Abe reported to me.
"Did she remember a name or anything that would help us identify her?" I pressed.
"Sarah had mentioned that the girl must have gotten her hair and eyes from her father because the mother had long black silky hair and blue eyes and the little girl had dirty blond curls and pale green eyes." Abe rewarded me by filling in these most important details.
Something tugged at the back of my memory, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
"So do you think we could get our hands on company files, Like the Witching Hour's employee records?" Abe should be able to do this, he has all the connections.
"I already tried that, but they destroy the records after seven years and it has been nearly thirteen years." Abe sounded a little dour. "We just need to find Victor to fill in the missing information."
"Okay. Well I don't have anything new to share with you so Dimitri and I are going to eat lunch. I'll chat with you later." I ended the conversation and turned to Dimitri. I filled him in on what Abe had shared with me and we grabbed our things to go down stairs for lunch.
The lobby was a bustle of activity. There was a big group of senior citizens checking in. The bus that brought them was parked in front of the hotel and their luggage was being unloaded onto hotel bellman's carts.
We wove our way through the crowds and into the small sandwich shop. Luckily the restaurant wasn't crowded like the lobby area. We went up to the counter and studied the menu. I ordered a steak and cheese sub and Dimitri got a grilled Rueben. We found a booth in the corner of the restaurant and waited for our order to be ready.
"I have this weird feeling that I know something that I can't seem to pull out of my brain." I mentioned a little frustrated and distracted.
"Like it is on the tip of your tongue? Perhaps you are trying too hard to remember. Maybe if you relax and think about something else it will come to you." Dimitri offered helpfully.
I sighed and put my head down on the table. Dimitri reached over and played with a few strands of my hair. It felt really good.
"Keep doing that, it feels good and it is definitely helping me relax." I mumbled into my arm.
"I could do this all day. I love your hair and I love the way it slips through my fingers."
"I know you love it long. That is why I never want to cut it short like my mother or Alberta. Though I have to admit there have been quite a few fights lately where my opponents have used my hair against me. When I fought Galina I thought she was going to rip my hair out when she lifted me off the floor with it."
"You can cut it if you want, but if you don't want to you just need to find a way to tie it up that works in a fight. I'll help you test out some styles if you want. Sparring today was fun." He kept playing with my hair while he spoke. I opened one eye and looked up into his contented face.
"I enjoyed it too." I sighed. I was definitely feeling more relaxed. "When we go back up after lunch I think that back rub will help me relax."
"Good idea. We can buy some cookies and milk for dessert and bring them up with us too. Cookies and milk always made me feel safe and comfortable." That must be something to do with growing up with a mom. They never gave us milk in cookies in the dorm rooms at St. Vladimirs.
"I'll take your word on the milk and cookies." Dimitri looked at me sadly realizing that I grew up in the academy and not a home.
"No, I will get you milk and cookies and you will find out for yourself, Roza." He reached over and lifted my face off of my arm and then leaned in and gave me a kiss. "I love you and I want you to know what home and family are with me. You are my family. You are my home."
"I love you too." I was so moved by what he said that I could feel the tears starting to burn in my eyes. I didn't want Dimitri to see me almost crying so I put my head back on my arms. My plan was foiled when they called that our lunches were ready.
"You stay. I'll get the food and bring it over." He was giving me the opportunity to pull myself together. When he walked away from the table I grabbed a napkin and dabbed the moisture from my eyes. I took a few deep breaths and felt better.
Dimitri slid my plate down in front of me and then took a seat next to me instead of across from me. He pulled me into a hug and murmured against my hair quietly. "I didn't mean to upset you. I know you didn't have what I had growing up, and I want to give it to you. Only if that is what you want. No pressure."
Did he really think that he was pressuring me? This was my dream come true. "Of course I want that with you. More than anything else I want that. We can't have children though, not without a Moroi."
"I didn't mean that we had to have children to be a family. I meant you and I will be a family. If we decide to have children someday, then we can discuss our options at that time, okay?"
I never thought that children were an option for us. "I would be honored to be your family. I almost stayed in Baia with yours actually. I really felt at home there. And as far as children, we can definitely discuss them later. Like way later." I smiled thinking about little Dimitris running around.
He laughed, "Yes, I agree. Way later. Here's your sandwich and your napkin to put on your lap." He handed me the napkin to spread out on my pants. We sat quietly enjoying our lunch. When I finished my sandwich I looked over and saw that he hadn't touched his pickle. I had eaten mine first.
"Are you goin' to eat that pickle?"
He picked up the pickle and waved it in front of my face. "This pickle?"
"Yes." He zoomed it through the air like a jet plane and landed the pickle right in my mouth. I couldn't help laughing. It is hard to chew pickle and laugh at the same time.
We finished up our lunch, picked out some fresh baked chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal raisin cookies to bring upstairs with us. We bought two small milks to go with the cookies. On the way back to the suite Dimitri wanted to stop at one of the boutiques to buy some massage oil. We found some vanilla scented oil and bought some candles to make the atmosphere a little more calming and romantic.
When we got upstairs I took off my clothes and laid down on the bed for my backrub. Dimitri warmed the oil in his hands before putting it on my back.
"Let me know if I hurt you or if I press too hard and I will be more gentle." I didn't have to say anything because his hands were strong and gentle at the same time. He didn't just concentrate on my back he massaged my whole body. He started with my neck and shoulders and then worked down one side of my body and back up the other side. He concentrated most of his time on my back. I was so relaxed I was teetering on the edge of consciousness.
Dimitri stayed quiet the whole time allowing me to completely relax and my mind to wander. I was thinking of Lissa, Christian and Mia back at the Royal Court. I wondered about Adrian and how he was dealing with the realization that as a couple we were finished and I was back with Dimitri. I wondered if Eddie had agreed to help or if he finally came to his senses and decided to stay far away from anything that had to do with Rose Hathaway.
Dimitri finished my full body rub and pulled the sheet over me so I wouldn't be too cold. He lay down next to me still not saying a word. I had my eyes closed and I wondered if he thought I was asleep. I was so relaxed that my breathing was deep and even like I was sleeping.
I moved my arm. It felt like it was jelly but I managed to lift it over Dimitri and let him know I wanted him to come closer. He sat back up and lifted his shirt over his head and then slipped off his pants. He snuggled in close to me and pulled up the covers.
I was suddenly in Lissa's nightmare. I had learned to shield most of time, but I must have been so relaxed that my shield was down. It was the nightmare where she relived the experiences of the car accident that killed me and killed her family. She hadn't had this nightmare since we'd left Portland. I wonder why she was having it again. I thought this nightmare stopped when she came out as a spirit user and with her relationship with Christian.
I sat up and looked around for my cell phone. I remembered it was in the clutch that I had brought down to lunch. I slid out from under a sleeping Dimitri and got my cell out to call Lissa. I didn't want to wake him so I grabbed a robe from the bathroom and went to sit on the couch. Lissa didn't answer right away, but I knew as soon as she awoke from the nightmare, because the fear coming through the bond calmed a little.
"Hello?" She said sleepily.
"Liss, you okay. It was only a dream sweetie. Everything is okay. You and I are okay." I said soothingly.
"Rose. Thank you. You always know how to make me feel better."
"Is Christian there with you?" I hoped he was so that he could comfort her with more than just words.
"No, he is in his room. I was hanging out with Adrian tonight practicing spirit and he was with Mia practicing defensive spells. We are going to meet for breakfast in the morning." She explained.
"He'd come over if you called him. Why don't you have him come over and spend the rest of the night with you so you don't have to be alone." I hoped that she wouldn't brush off my suggestion. I could still feel her fear and uncertainty through the bond.
"Yeah, good idea I will do that." She said truthfully.
"You better not be saying that just to appease me because I cannot be there with you. You know I can feel it if you don't call him." I warned.
"Rose, I promise as soon as I hang up with you I'll call him." I knew she was telling me the truth so I told her I loved her and hung up. I popped into her head for a second.
Lissa hung up from our call and hit Christian's number. It rang quite a few times before he answered.
"Lissa?" He croaked out sleepily.
"Christian, I'm sorry I woke you up. I had a bad dream and Rose suggested that I call you to come over to my room."
"Of course I'll come over." He knew that if I was involved it meant that Lissa was pretty upset.
They hung up with each other and a few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I waited until she let him in and Christian had wrapped her in a soothing hug before I broke the connection.
I snuck back into my room and back into the bed with Dimitri. He stirred as I tried to snuggle closer to him under the covers. "Is everything okay with Lissa?"
"I'm sorry I woke you. I tried to be quiet. Everything is okay now. She had a nightmare and I called her to wake her from it. Now Christian has gone to her room to be with her, so she should be fine."
He pulled me into his arms. "You are such a good friend. Lissa is lucky to have you."
"And I am lucky to have her. You and I both wouldn't be here without her."
"Did Lissa and Christian get back together? Last I knew they still hadn't made up." Dimitri had spent a lot of time with Lissa after she turned him back to a dhampir. They had a weird connection that made Lissa feel responsible for Dimitri.
"Oh sorry I forgot to tell you they made up the night we escaped. She finally asked him if he had a relationship with either Mia or Jill – Jill! Dimitri that is what I have been trying to piece together. Jill's mother is a dancer. They live in Detroit and Jill has curly light brown hair and light green eyes. She is almost fifteen years old. Everything fits." I sat up and reached over to grab my cell phone again. I thought of calling Lissa so that I could get Jill's number from Christian, but a quick check with the bond told me that she was busy with Christian.
I decided to call Abe and tell him and my mom. He picked up the phone on the second ring.
"Hello Rose. I hope everything is okay." Abe asked a slight concern in his voice.
"Abe, I remembered something that I think is important. There is a girl at St. Vladimirs that you met actually, Jill. Her mom is a dancer and she has Black hair and blue eyes, but Jill has curly light brown hair and pale green eyes."
"Do you know where they are now?" Abe sounded hopeful.
"Yes, Emily Mastrano works for a dance company in Detroit." I remembered Jill telling me that when I helped them carry boxes to their car after graduation.
"Well, perhaps we should go on a road trip to Detroit and get some tickets to see a dance show. Get packed and I will order the jet to be ready for lift off in the morning."
We hung up and I relayed the information to Dimitri about packing for departure to Detroit, Michigan in the morning.
"Well that means we better enjoy our last evening here as Mr. and Mrs. James Salmonetti." Dimitri looked at me lying next to him in the bed. "You stay here. I'll be right back."
When he came back he had a tray with milk and cookies on it. We sat in the bed eating cookies. Dimitri told me a bedtime story that was the Russian version of Beauty and the Beast. He was absolutely right about milk and cookies feeling like home. I was perfectly at home eating cookies in bed with him.
"You know we haven't tried out the hot tub yet. How about we go see how hot it is out there on the balcony? Or we could occupy ourselves until after dark and then try the hot tub."
"I am all for occupying ourselves until it is dark and then trying the hot tub." I put my empty milk bottle on the tray and Dimitri put the tray on the table in the corner.
I snuggled into him when he got back into the bed. "Did you learn anything from calling your contacts with the Badica and Zecklos guardians?"
"I called my friends and they said that both families were on the up and up. No secrets. The Zeckos's voted to pass the lower guardian graduation age because they thought it would help our current guardian shortage situation. None of the Zecklos family was at the Royal Court when the murder occurred. The Badica's had been at the Royal Court, but my contact said there is no way that they had anything to do with the murder. The family had enough trauma at Christmas when the Strigoi attacked and killed an entire Badica household."
So no new information there. I made a quick check of the bond with Lissa and found that she was sleeping. I would have to wait for a few hours to call her and Christian. Adrian would be asleep as well and I really wasn't sure how I was going to make that phone call.
"Well that leaves us without any new leads to help prove that I am innocent." I snuggled closer and put my head on his chest. Dimitri slid his arm around me and squeezed me with a reassuring hug.
"It will work out. Look how far we've come in two days finding Eric's child. We are not sure that Jill is the one, but we're going to find out tomorrow. Everything will fall into place with finding the murderer too." He kissed the top of my head.
"Do you mind if we talk about Novosibirsk?" I asked pensively. I immediately felt his body stiffen. He realized what he had done and he tried to force himself to relax. "We don't have to talk, never mind."
"No Rose, ask anything. It's okay." I definitely think his heart was beating a little faster. I pressed myself up on my elbow and looked him in the eyes.
"Are you sure? Because I mean-"
Dimitri interrupted "Rose! Ask please. I am fine." I took a deep breath and thought before I formulated my first question.
I laid my head back on his chest. "Do you think badly of me because I hesitated to kill you on the street and let you drink my blood?"
"Roza, I can't even imagine the pain you were in during that time. I cannot blame you or think badly of you no matter what. No one knows how they will react when faced with someone they love as a Strigoi."
"Tasha was able to battle her own brother to save Christian." I pointed out.
"Tasha wasn't alone. She had guardians with her to protect her and then they were killed. She knew her brother meant to kill her and take Christian and she wasn't going to allow that to happen"
"But I had been searching for over a month for you and when I found you I froze."
"I don't think badly of you for that. Now knowing how it all turned out I am glad you froze or I wouldn't be here." He had relaxed again and was running his fingers up and down my arm. "As for the blood you really didn't have much choice. The situation was pretty bad and you were a prisoner. You actually played it really cool. You had the evil me fooled, stabbed me with a wooden stake, and got out of your prison. Fought another Strigoi, found a stake, fought and killed Galina and escaped."
"I replayed that night on the bridge over and over analyzing it at first to try and figure out if eventually you would have said you loved me and then after your letter I analyzed it for my mistakes." I admitted.
"Rose, Strigoi cannot love. They are too selfish. They want instant gratification and to have the most power. They use the memories that come with the body to get what they want." He tilted my chin up so that he could look me in the eyes again. "You did nothing wrong that night. You escaped and lived. That was the right thing to do. I taught you that sometimes you fight and sometimes you run and you did both of those things." His eyes were filled with concern. "Rose, what happened there at Galina's was my fault. I kidnapped you and drank your blood and tried to trick you into becoming Strigoi. You outsmarted me. You should be proud of yourself." He brushed a stray hair out of my face.
"I loved you so much I tried to make it work with Strigoi you for the first few days and then I realized that you were just tricking me, but it was still hard to fight you, and kill you."
"I know from experience that there was no soul and nothing humane left of me in that Strigoi. I was a prisoner too. I am lucky that I was freed, but I don't think Lissa can save everyone. If you come across another Strigoi that you know I hope you will free them the only way we can, by killing them."
"How did you spy on me, both at St. Vlads and at the Court?" I traced scars on his chest with my fingers.
"There are a lot of humans that can be compelled into doing things for Strigoi. There are also a lot that do it for the promise of immortality." I remembered that Sydney the Alchemist had shared that information with me in Siberia.
"What if you called them now and asked them for favors. Do you think they would know you are not Strigoi? We killed everyone that was there that night, so no survivors means no witnesses." I was formulating a plan.
"What do you have in mind?" Dimitri asked curiously.
"Are there any more of your Strigoi network that you left behind that night that noticed your absence?"
"No, I left a few people in charge in Russia and came here a few weeks after you left. I knew I had until graduation to wait for you to leave St. Vlads."
That made sense. "So your connection of Strigoi here was destroyed that night. Are your humans still around?
"Yes, what do you want me to tell them to do?" He trusted me and my plan.
"Find Victor Dashkov."