Distance Chapter 11

Previously
Dimitri's sent to academy.
Mentor's Rose.
Dimitri, Lissa and Viktoria get kidnapped.
Dimitri is with kidnapper, Katya.
Lissa and Viktoria are still locked in dungeon.
Katya is getting last thing needed for the spell. (The one that's going to kill all strigoi)
Dimitri's family is at the academy.
The spell has been done.
Dimitri has blacked out.

Dimitri's POV

My head was pounding. I was laying on my side, freezing cold as the wind blew past me, an unwanted air conditioner. Slowly I open my eyes and the pounding intensified as I took in my surroundings, everything was a strange grey colour, but I could still see the shapes of everything around me. I took inventory of my body, everything felt intact, sore but intact. Slowly I sat up and if possibly the pounding grew unbearable but thankfully slowly faded to a dull thudding in the back of my head. Hopefully I hadn't done anything to extreme to it.

Slowly I stood fully taking in my surroundings everything went blurry for a minute but I quickly regained eye sight. I was surrounded by trees, obviously a forest of some sort, immediately I thought of calling out for help but pushed the thought away. I didn't need to attract more attention to myself, I didn't know where I was or which way to go, so I just began walking, hoping it would also warm me up a little bit. To keep my brain preoccupied I tried remembering what happen but it was blank. I could remember my name, Dimitri Belikov, I couldn't remember what I had been doing for the last few months after Ivan died. It was just blank. I didn't notice where I was going, only walking forward when I found it. A cabin. In the middle of nowhere? I walked around and found the door, inside it was cosy, it looked abandoned at the same time. There wasn't a book laid open or a cup in the sink but the feeling is still here. Immediately I headed for the kitchen, praying for water, there was barely, the water came trickling out of the tap but enough to slow the pounding slightly. I was about to reach for the cupboard, looking for food when the air was filled with screams. My hand went to my jacket pocket, damn, my stake was gone, I rushed out any way. I headed out and started running, the screams soon became background noise as I found the source.

They had to be 20 strigoi fighting guardians, immediately I jumped into fighting mode. Having no stake I took on the closest strigoi who was already fighting another.

It was easy the strigoi had its back to me to engaged in fighting, to notice. Quickly I sent a blow to the back of his head. It span around too fast for me to see as it came for me, he I noticed was new and at a guess probably a guardian before he died. He threw a punch directly at my face, I barely managed to dodge it, he wasn't too happy I had hit him. I stayed on the defence, having no weapon to attack with, I was just a distraction and just as he was about to deliver another punch he scream in agony, the other guardian had finally found an opening. The strigoi dropped to our feet and we barely had time to nod thanks to the other before we were both drawn back in.

Time pasted in a blur and quickly the rest were taken down I teamed up with other guardians making the kills easy, amongst the fray I found a stake. It was bent at the handle but was better than nothing as we regroup and headed out to help whoever else survived the attack. It was over too quickly, it felt like barely a minute had pasted as the last were killed. I stood breathing heavily trying to slow my racing heart. I had received way too many blows to the head, and I was covered with cuts and bruises, some I was sure we from before I joined the battle. I for the first time took in my surroundings, I stood in front of a church, the wooden doors were intricately engraved there was one place on earth I had seen that engraving. St Vladimir's Academy.

Viktoria's POV

I wanted to be like Dimka. He was always so calm and controlled even when it seemed like we were going to die. I didn't know how he did it, I wish I did.

We sat in silence as we waited for our next meal to arrive, time seem to go so slow in between I was sure he, Stan only feed us once a day or two. I survived, just but Lissa was defiantly feeling the effects, she was if possible skinnier than ever, we both were. I offered her blood but every time she turned it down. We both knew I need to reserve strength, I was the one who was supposed to get us out of there and I fought Stan constantly. At first he gave me lingering looks which turn into gentle touches. I rejected him every time, moving away, glaring all but saying it in case he decided to stop feeding us. I think he has stopped feeding us sometimes.

It reminded me of Prisoners Of War, being feed nothing and being forced to work all day. Even in this dim setting we still were treated better than them. I remember one POW camp, hundreds of soldiers sent to march 260 km, anyone who couldn't make it all the way were shot then anyone who made the trek was killed at the destination from lack of food. 3,000 soldiers. Only six survived. It felt weird taking comfort in this, it made the situation seem better. If that was actually possible. This is how I spent my time remembering life, school, friends . . . The sun.

We heard the footsteps coming our way, it was Stan. Who else would come into this hell hole?

The locks came undone, the metal clanging sounded loud in the silence we had created. Slowly the door slid open flooding the room with light. Slowly our eyes adjusted, I watched Stan waiting for him to make his move towards me. He always did. He sat the tray of food on the floor near the bed, the opposite end from me. I stood as he walked around to meet me.

"You look so beautiful, you always do." He said gently touching my jaw lifting my head up.

"Don't touch me." I growled a warning.

He smirked and ignored my request. He shoved his mouth onto mine kissing me, I punched him, I used all my strength to get him off. My punched had jerked him away from me, looking into his eyes . . . He wanted to kill me now.

"You bitch!" He shouted, he threw me against the wall next to our bed, it in reality probably wasn't too hard but as drained as I am, it felt like a truck. He punched me, I tried to dodge but I was too exhausted, too slow. The world spun as I dropped to the floor, I couldn't fight anymore. We had been here for god knows how long and I couldn't see a way out. I wanted to be like Dimka. But I'm not.

While Stan had been kissing me he didn't notice Lissa. The bowl he had used to give us soup was china. She came up behind him hitting him on the head. He staggered nearly falling on me where I laid. Lissa had given us an opportunity, we had to take it. I stood using all the strength I could, but he came at me. He grabbed at my arm as I ran for the door Lissa had grabbed the lantern that he had left by the food and was standing next to the door. She wanted to leave, need to, to survive, but she couldn't leave me. I fought, she was waiting for me to save her I needed to save myself. He saw me look at Lissa, so he too glanced back, he went for her, leaving me behind.

"Run!" I said as Stan went after her in her state he would of caught up in no time, I needed to slow him down. I punched him twice in the back and tried to kick his feet from beneath him, but he brushed me off like a fly, I landed on the ground and everything went black.

Dimitri's POV

Why was I at St Vladimir's Academy? I remember the engraving from when I had visited as Ivan's guardian he and his family were visiting for a few weeks and I wanted to go to the service they had here. It was different but similar at the same time from the ones at home. I was jerked out of my memories by Alberta, she was calling to me.

"Dimitri? Dimitri! Are you okay? Where are the girls? Did you all get out safety? Dimitri?" She bombarded me with questions too fast for me to understand.

"Alberta? Slow down I can't understand. What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"You were kidnapped. You have been missing for almost two weeks now."

"You said girls, who else is missing?" She didn't answer, I knew I wasn't going to like the answer, but I had to know. "Who is missing?"

She was reluctant but answered. "Vasilisa and Viktoria."

"Viktoria?! What was she doing here? Where is she? I have to find her."

"Calm down, Dimitri, there is nothing you can do right now." She was looking at me worried now. "Do you remember, Dimitri? What do you last remember?"

"Ivan, died." I swallowed hard, Ivan was dead and Viktoria missing. I couldn't considerate, how did I let this happen? Viktoria was missing because of me. I was lost in thought, how could I let this happen?

Alberta's POV

I could see Dimitri was no longer listening his face was blank, not guardian mask, blank. I took him to the hospital but they were overrun by others far worse than him, I guided him back to my office sitting him down in a seat and making some coffee to hopefully wake him from his trance a little. As I was doing so I heard him whispering to himself,"How did I let this happen? How?" Over and over again. I gave him the coffee and he gingerly took it slowly taking sips.

"Dimitri?" I said softly, "Dimitri, I've got to regroup the school, will you be okay here for a while?"

"I can help." I was hesitant, he should rest, he should be in a hospital but by the looks he wanted to do all that he could since he believed the kidnapping was his fault. "You need the numbers." He knew this wasn't a time we could spare guardians.

I inwardly groaned. "Fine, but you feel any worse and you tell me. No excuses. If you don't and you look worse I will send you to the clinic.

I agreed to her terms, I had her at needing the numbers. We headed out, she was gathering all the students in the gym usually I would be out gathering the bodies ready for the alchemists to dispose of. Sometimes we would simply light a fire but that attracts too much attention. I was with her organising the students into their grades, with the entire school there it was a tight fit but we managed.

I got a lot of attention simply because I was here again. We had most off the school organised by now as I stood at the front with Alberta, everyone was chatting as we waited for the last off the guardians to come back after they duties of collecting the dead.

Alberta had just finished talking to a high school teacher, she was pretty rattled after the attack, when she turned to face me.

"Dimitri, I've forgotten to tell you earlier but, your family . . . They're here." She sounded hesitant telling me not sure how I was going to react.

"They here? Why?" Alberta had no time to answer as I was hugged.

"Dimka!" Karolina exclaimed.

"Karolina, where's everyone else?" I said hugging her back tightly.

She pulled back, looking on the edge of tears, "You don't know, do you?"

"No," she said tears spilling over her eyes. "I was out looking for Paul and Roza when I ran into a strigoi, he bit me and I woke up in the cafeteria." She was softly sobbing as she told me, "I don't know where Paul is." She whispered burying her face in my shirt. I put an arm around her and guided her over to a seat getting her to sit down while I crouched in front. "I don't even know why I'm not dead right now."

"I promise you I will find, Paul, he will be fine, okay?"

"Just bring him back Dimitri." I hugged her before heading out. I hoped Paul was fine, Karolina wouldn't live through his death. I wanted to stay and comfort her but it was too dangerous for Paul.

Viktoria's POV

I awoke to the sound of Russian being whispered in my ear. I was confused at first, it was hard to decipher with how low it was being spoken and by who? Lissa didn't know Russian.

Slowly I opened my eyes, too slowly for a guardian but I was too exhausted at this point to care. Looking up, I looked straight into Paul's eyes.

"Paul? What are you doing here?" I said trying to sit up. Bad idea, slowly I sat back down every inch of my body ached, especially down there and I knew he had done it.

"Strigoi came an attacked me and Rosie and so we went into the dudgeon to hide but then someone grabbed Rosie and she disappeared and then he grabbed me and he shoved us all into here." He said his eyes wide with fear. Slowly I sat up remembering to more especially carefully as I leaned over and hugged him, he hugged back burying his face in my hair as I tried to sooth him.

Looking over his shoulder I saw Lissa, she was looking as bad as I felt before she moved over. I noticed she was sitting in a chair. Stan had moved us from where we were before, the dudgeon as Paul called it to here, it looked like a small cottage, it had a bed, kitchen, fireplace and possibly an actual toilet rather than how Stan would give us two minutes in another room. Lissa by now was kneeling by me and had placed a gentle hand on Pauls back. "Do you want me to heal you?"

"You need to reserve your strength."

"I'm not sure what you remember but he . . ." She trailed off.

"I know." I said keeping my face neutral.

I could tell she got the message, we weren't going to talk about that, all I wanted to do was cry and yell at the same time but I had to keep it together for Paul. The situation was already bad enough.

"Hey, guess what I found. Food! There's only about five cans left, I figure we could share one now to restore our energy. And there's water!" She said, changing the subject and I gladly let her. She stood and walked back to the chair where she was sitting and return with a pitcher and glass full of water. Greedily I chugged down the water loving the feel on my throat, she poured another cup and moved to the bed placing the jug next to the bed.

"Come on Paul, auntie Vika needs her sleep."

"You do realize he doesn't understand a word of what you're saying." I said gently detaching Paul from my side.

"I know, but it's better than talking to myself." Gently Lissa helped me up, Stan had covered me in bruises and cuts, all which stung when I moved. Slowly we made our way to the bed, I had my arm around her shoulder leaning on her for support, I probably could have done it by myself but I liked the kind gesture. I had been lying by the door a few meters from the bed but it felt miles away.

I curled up on my side, under the blankets and fell asleep as I felt Paul crawl over me to curl up by my side.

Dimitri's POV

I decided Paul wasn't in the gym, if he was he would have already had made an appearance. Outside I decided to checked the playground, nothing, elementary school, nothing, elementary dorms, nothing. No where I looked could I find anything. I lost track of time as I searched, eventually I decided to check the church, again. I was desperate at this point, I couldn't tell Karolina her son is missing, possibly dead.

Approaching the church, I heard a thud, I drew my stake in case and crept forward. I had to go a far way in to find anything, I could no longer see the church behind me. Everything was oddly quiet, I found the source, deep inside the woods, there was a figure crouched over, defiantly not Paul but also possibly Strigoi.

I decided to go with my instincts and attacked, I just simply tackled it and we fell to the ground, I moved myself to land on it in case it was strigoi. It struggled beneath me, but didn't make me budge. Defiantly not strigoi.

I moved to sit next to it as, her I saw, moved to sit up. Seeing her face, she was beautiful, long brown hair beautiful brown eyes, tan skin, a dhampir, slowly I tucked my stake back into its place. I could tell by her movements she was weak.

"Hello." I said cautiously. At the sound of my voice her head snapped up and she threw herself at me. I could feel she was burying her face in my shoulder as I awkwardly hugged her back.

She seemed familiar, somehow our bodies match shape, it seemed perfect, only I had no idea who she was. I even felt a spark almost where she touched me. Why was I feeling this way about this girl? I cleared my throat awkwardly and she pulled away.

"I can't believe your here! I thought you were dead or worse!"

"I'm sorry, I don't know you. You must be confused."

I could read her face clearly and I could easily see her heart broke as I said that. I must have met her when I moved here, I would remember a face that beautiful.

"You don't remember me?"

"No, I'm sorry."

Immediately it seemed if a wall was put up, I could only see a flicker of emotion cross her face. Quickly her eyes widened as she remembered something.

"Dimitri, its Paul! He's missing, I was with him when they attacked, we were walking back and then one attacked, oh god I can't remember! I just remember there was a cellar we were going to hide in. I made him go first and then everything went black and-and-and I woke up here." She was practically hysterically at the end repeating and I pulled her into a hug knowing she needed comfort. I wonder if she felt the spark as well? I scolded myself she was way too young for me.

"It was all my fault! If we had gone back five minutes early he would be safe but-" she abruptly cut herself off, she hadn't started crying yet. And suddenly she became fiercer and I slowly recognised her, she was more familiar the stronger she got.

She got a stubborn look in her eyes as she told me, "I have to find him." She suddenly got up from her place in front of me and head off in a random direction. I quickly caught up and stopped her.

"No. You need to go to a hospital and get checked," I trailed off fully taking in her body, she was shivering, and as I side note thought how hot she still looked, "You're shivering. Here." I said sliding off my duster. "Take this."

"I can't take your duster, I'm fine Dimitri."

I gave her a stern look in return, and she hesitantly took it, looking tiny and fragile as it dwarfed her.

"Come on." I said taking her arm and dragging her in the direction of the hospital. I got the feeling I shouldn't tell her where we were going.

"Where are we going?"

"Getting help. It's almost night-time, freezing cold, and we are perfect bait for strigoi still lurking around." She seemed to take that answer.

"I hate when people are reasonable, my plans are always scratched." I gave her a look in response.

"How did I know you?"

"Um, you were my mentor." She answered hesitantly, "Kind of, I don't actually know. I got in trouble for destruction of property and you showed up and suddenly I'm in jail."

"Can you explain a bit more?" I couldn't remember what she was telling me but I could remember a deal. I could remember it was to protect someone and was with someone I shouldn't have asked.

"I destroyed school property, then you showed up, somehow you ended up all but having to be my guardian. You even have a bed in my room, then I got roped into training with you. Viktoria arrived and you went missing." She said staring ahead not looking at me. It was quiet but not awkward between us. And then she saw the building we were heading to, I was surprised how quickly she recognised it.

"This isn't Alberta's office! You're taking me to the clinic!" She exclaimed and then nearly bolted in the opposite direction. I quickly grabbed her arm and the spark shot threw me again, I could see in her eyes she felt it as well.

"Please." I said almost pleading, I hoped this would work, I let my face betray me by letting worry show. I wasn't obvious to how girls always threw themselves at me.

She gave me another look, "I will drag you in there, Roza." I didn't know where the name came from, but it felt natural, and right.

I could see her mentally debating, she wanted to bolt with everything in her.

"Please," I whispered hoping it would hold some weight.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she caught sight of the back of my head. "Oh, my, god! Dimitri! What the hell where you thinking?!" She grabbed my head and turned it slightly to the side, I let her. What was she going on about?

"What happened?" She asked gently, concerned.

I gave her a confused look in response.

"There's blood all through your hair, how are you standing? There's so much blood!"

Instantly we heard a high pitched scream and our conversation was cut short as we raced forward.

We reached our destination quickly, two figures came into view I instantly recognised one. Viktoria. The last time I remember seeing her she had a rounder face, more childlike but it was defiantly Viktoria, she was also so skinny covered in bruises. I was going to kill whoever did this to her.

It was sunny out, just so it couldn't be strigoi, but the other figure was undeniably bitting her neck. Expecting it to be a moroi I instantly went for it. Seconds before I could land a punch the other figures head rose, stopping me in my tracks.

Katya.

The memories came flooding back, I knew Rose, I knew this place, I knew everything.

"Hello Dimitri,"