Okay a couple more questions answered. Please let me know what you think.
Enjoy. xx
We walked back to the buildings in the early morning light.
"I guess I will leave you to it." Alberta said before she headed towards the gaurdian building.
"Mmm-Hmm. Thanks heaps."
"You are more than welcome Rose. You know if there is ever anything I can do I will."
I smiled as I walked to the building that Lissa's and Christians apartment was in. It wasnt until I got to the door that I noticed a figure leaning against the wall.
"Dimitri we need to have a long serious talk."
"I agree, we do Roza."
"The gym?" I asked.
He didnt answer just started walking towards the gym. I pulled my phone out to let Lissa know what was happening. After this is all sorted out I am going to spend some quality time with my kids. I havent seen them much these past couple of days.
Liss just going to the gym with D. Need to sort this out once and for all. Are the twins ok?
I waited outside the gym doors for Lissa's reply.
They are fine Rose. You need to take care of this before it causes you or him any more hurt, not to mention the kids. Take your time.
I smiled. It was great to be amongst friends again. It was great to be with Lissa again. I pushed the doors open and walked in. Dimitri was sitting on the mats in the middle of the gym. I made my way over to him and sat crossed legged, opposite him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Okay so where do we begin?" I asked him.
"Why dont we begin with us? I want to be with you Rose. I want a second chance. What I said that day in the church was, well, it was wrong. I thought I was protecting you. I was trying to do something right, I didnt want to mess up your life. I guess I was too late for that. I want you to be with me again, I want to have a family with you, Cally and Mason. Will you try again Rose? With me?" He looked me in the eyes the whole time he spoke.
I sat there and arranged the thoughts that where flying around my head. I smiled and answered him.
"Dimitri, you hurt me. I wont deny it, when you said what you did I wanted to die. I still love you I always have, even after what you said to me. I want the twins to know thier father, to know you. I would like to try again, but at the moment I need a little time. We need to take things real slow. I am talking about slower than snail pace slow." I took shaky breath. Dimitri was regarding me with a slightly confused look. I raised my eyebrows at him as a question to what was on his mind.
"How long do you need?" Was all he asked.
"Give me two days. I need to talk to the kids and explain to them. Also I have to make plans to get all our shit packed and posted. I deffinately have to get a place for me and the kids. I know Lissa loves having us stay with her, but I need my own space. I have become used to having my own space and solitude and you cant get that from living in a full apartment. I need to check what will be needed or wanted of me, you know work ways." I smiled. The more I talked the better I felt. Like a weight had been lifted.
"Okay. How about three days? You have a lot to do and two days is not enough to do all that. Three days time we will have dinner. I will teach you and the kids how to make black bread. We will all cook dinner together. Then we will watch a movie, just a family night no pressure."
"Sounds good to me. So what do we talk about next?" I asked him. As I watched him, his eyes seemed to cloud with worry.
"Would you be able to tell me more about the shaow kissed warriors? I remember what little I have heard but, it seems to me that there is more to it."
I sighed. I knew this was coming but still, it didnt make it any easier.
"Ok first I need to know exactly what you have heard. Then I will either correct or fill in what I can. Sound fair?"
Dimitri nodded his head.
"Okay what I have heard." He stopped and seemed to be gathering his thoughts. "The shadow kissed warriors are till death. Once you are gifted you are given a gift that goes beyond death. When you join you cant ever leave. Also they are very feared among the strigoi, they are near impossible to kill. I have heard bits and peices about this prophecy. Isnt it supposed to mean the end of strigoi once and for all?"
"Okay so you have heard a fair bit but alot of the main reasoning behind it is missing. There are some parts I cant clarify or correct simply because I don't know. Alright the first part is wrong the shadow kissed warriors arent till death they go, as you say, beyond death. You see when we are gifted we are also given the choice to live past our bondmates. Which isnt as easy as you might think. Loosing your bondmate is like loosing half of yourself, half your soul. Only the strongest can and do choose this, but, they arent the same. Thier eyes are dull, thier smiles are only half there and you can always tell they deeply miss thier other half. Alot of shadow kissed see this and decline the offer. Now the reason that this gift is offered is to fight the strigoi, only not in the way you seem to think. The prophecy tells of a time when all strigoi will be saved, bought back as it were. Even if this does happen the warriors have chosen and nothing can change that. They cant be released or even saved. They will continue to go on forever." I looked down at my hands as I twisted them nervously. "Dimitri you cant tell anyone about any of this. I have told them what I can. If Lissa found out about this it would ruin her, she would blame herself. It was my choice, I was not decieved. They told me the truth, all of it. I made my decision after alot of thought."
Dimitri took a deep breath and I just knew what he was going to ask.
"No." I said forcefully.
"No what?"
"No I will not tell you what I chose." I was not ready for that to be common knowledge.
"I have one more question." He asked. Dimitri's cheeks filled with colour. I smiled at his discomfort. Obviously it was going to be an imbarassing question, for him or me was one thing yet to be discovered. I nodded my head indicating him to ask.
"Have you and Adrian. Um. Well, how close are you two?" He fidgetted while he waited for my answer.
I was that shocked I sat there in silence for a minute before the laughter errupted from me. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. I lay down clutching my sides trying to catch my breath. When I could finally talk I answered him.
"Oh Comrade. Adrian and I are more like brother and sister. We have only ever been intamate once and that was before I left. If I were to think of doing that now. Ewww. He was my only family when I had none. He was my rock, my pillar of strength. I dont know what I would have done if it werent for Adrian. He saved me and my, our, children in more ways than I can say. He saved me from going crazy and I saved him from going crazy. I will always be there for him, just as I know he will always be there for me and the kids." I smiled. It was true Adrian was just as much apart of me as Lissa was.
"Hmm. I always wondered what it was that stopped him smoking and drinking himself into oblivian. When he was gone for those few months he came back a different person. I guess now I know why. I am grateful that you had someone that you could trust in and rely on Roza. Even if I would never had picked that person to be Adrian. He used to be so irresposible, so reckless. Those first couple of months just after you left he was a mess. I didnt realise how much he cared about you. The children certainly love him."
"Yes they do." I agreed. " I saw what my leaving did to you all. I checked in with Lissa at least once a week to begin with. It was hard forcing myself to do even that little bit, but I did. I saw Adrian destroying himself. He was using so much spirit to find me that the darkness was getting really bad. The only way he had to deal with the darkness was getting drunk and smoking those god aweful cigaretes. Thats why I pretty much told him where I was, I didnt want him to destroy himself over me. I know Liss was hurt, angry and upset, but she had Christian and you to help her out. Adrian had no one really and then when Tatiana died." I trailed of.
Dimitri's eyes filled with a brightness that made me wary. I thought about what I had just said and could have slapped myself.
"Roza, do you know who killed Tatiana?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes at him and looked at the roof. I had already told Adrian who had done it, I guess I could tell Dimitri as long as he kept it to himself. Which was highly unlikely.
"I told you before that I knew who had killed her." I answered sharply. Hoping he would leave it at that. However I knew he wouldnt.
He looked at me expectantly, he even raised one eyebrow. I growled under my breath.
"Aargh.. It was Adrians father alright. He was jealous of Adrians relationship with her and he didnt much like me, so he thought he could well, kill two brids with one stone so to speak. Only he had no idea that I had left and that people had seen the queen alive after I had left. He wasnt very smart. Typical self centred royal if you ask me."
"But Nathan Ivashkov has not been seen or heard from in years."
"Yeah I know." I answered wearily. " When I told Adrian he came and made his dad leave. I dont think even his mother knows what happened. Adrian said she thought he had left her for some blood whore, Adrian didn't even attempt to tell her the truth. No one has heard from him since. It does have me a little worried because Adrian has told me he cant even dream walk with him. Its like he doesnt sleep. So our best conclusions are that he is dead or well, undead."
"Well I guess that is a problem for another day." Dimitri mused aloud.
I kept my mouth shut, if only he knew. I myself thought that Nathan Ivashkov had gone strigoi. I also thought he had something to do with the strigoi group attacks. Yet I didnt for one second beleive that he was alone in orchestrating all of this, he didnt come across that smart the first and last time I had ever talked to him. This was all just my gut feeling, but my gut feeling rarely led me astray.
"Roza are you listening to me?" Dimitri's voice cut into my thoughts. I was grateful for it.
"Hmm were you talking to me. Sorry I was a million miles away."
"Yes I gathered that." He said dryly. "I asked you if you were ready to go back now. Unless of course you have more to talk about."
"Nope no more. I have told you what I cant tell the others. You have to swear not to tell them please."
He nodded his head and stood up. He stretched, then held out a hand for me. I took his hand and as he was pulling me up I couldn't help myself. I twisted and flipped him over my hip, but I over balanced and landed ontop of him with a thump. I looked into his beautiful brown eyes and laughed after a few seconds he laughed with me.
"Sorry Comrade, I sorta over balanced."
"Oh Roza, my Roza what am I going to do with you?"
I flipped myself to my feet as agile as a cat and smiled my man eater smile at him.
"Face it Comrade you have never known what to do with me, you still dont." I sauntered away swaying my hips in a seductive way. I heard a growl come from behind me. Only it was closer than it should have been. Before I could duck out of the way Dimitri grabbed my legs from behind me. I would have landed face down if it wasnt for all the extra training I'd had. As I fell foward I used my hands to brace myself and rolled away. I got up to see Dimitri in a fighting stance and a huge grin on his face.
"Oh you so dont want to go there Comrade." I warned him while I crouched down, getting into my fighting stance.
His only response was to make a come on getsure with his hand.
"Fine." I said getting ready to enjoy myself. "This should be fun. Basic sparring rules, any contact equals a point. If your pinned you loose. Let me know when you have had enough." I smiled evilly. This was going to be brilliant.
