Chapter 11.
I stared at the old woman like an imbecile. `Shadow kissed`. That wasn't anything that I had heard before. I wondered what it could possibly mean. I could tell that she knew something, but at the moment, she was staring at me, as much as I was staring at her.
"I'm sorry. I have no idea what you are talking about. What do you mean, shadow kissed?" I asked. She tsked. "Like you don't know" She said. I simply looked at her for a moment longer.
"I'm telling you that I don't know what you are talking about" I said, neither of us where being nasty to the other one, but something was coming. I could feel it in the air.
She studied me, my face, for what felt like an eternity. "You really don't know do you?" she stated. I shook my head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you" I told her honestly. She blinked in shock, then she shook her head to clear it probably.
"Oh dear" she muttered. "How is that possible? How could you not know that you once... that you once..." she struggled to say the words that were on the edge of her tongue. She just got weirder and weirder. "...never mind" she muttered. "I must call Oksana and Mark. Immediately" she exclaimed.
Dimitri looked as lost for words as I'm sure I did. "What for?" he asked. He obviously knew them. Unlike me. I had no idea who they were.
"They will be the best ones to explain it to Roza" she said. And with that she left the room.
I looked from retreating figure, back to Dimitri. "What the hell was all that?" I finally asked. He looked at me, "I have no idea Roza. I told you she's a little cryptic. Didn't I?" he smirked. "That was not cryptic. That was doo-lally" I informed him. He laughed at me, pulling me into his arms. "I agree" he said. Then he pulled my face to his, to lock our lips together. His arms encircled my waist, pulling me closer, while my hands found the way to his hair, running my fingers through his velvety brown locks. After several moments we pulled apart. Breathing hard.
"We'd better stop" I said, after a moment. "If not, I'm going to have my way with you, right here. And I don't think your family would appreciate that" I said. "I guess not. But I sure would" he said, in return. I laughed. "Later" I said, as he pecked my lips again. "I'll be waiting Roza" he teased. It sent shivers throughout me, and I couldn't wait until later.
We went and put our bags upstairs, where we began to unpack our clothes and put them away. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door. "Come in" Dimitri called. The door opened and Viktoria entered.
"Mum said there's tea and some of her black bread waiting for you downstairs" she told us. "Great we're coming" Dimitri said, grabbing hold of my hand and leading us back downstairs to the kitchen.
When we entered the room, I noticed that there was a couple sitting at the table. The woman. a Moroi, looked about 25 years old. She was pretty. She had long blonde curly hair, and blue eyes. She smiled as she saw us enter the room. "Hello." she said, standing up to greet us. "You must be Rose. I'm Oksana... This is Mark" she informed me. I smiled at them. Mark was a Dhampir. You could tell by his build. Although he was no where near as muscled as Dimitri was. He was no slender Moroi either. He looked about the 19 years old. Black, short hair and brown eyes. They were both good looking.
He smiled. "Hello Rose. It's nice to meet you." he said, holding his hand out for me. I shook it. "Nice to meet you too" I said. "Both of you" I added, with a smile, in Oksana's direction. "Dimitri" Mark said, walking round the table. They exchanged a manly hug, with pats on the back. "It's been along time" Mark said. "How are you?" he asked. Dimitri chuckled. "I've been great, thank you" Dimitri replied, wrapping his arm around my waist, for all to see. Mark laughed. "So it seems" he said. We all sat round the table, talking and laughing. It was like we had all been friends for years. Everybody was so happy and friendly. And jeez... Olena's black bread was to die for. Dimitri laughed as he saw me pick up my 4th piece. "What comrade. I'm starved. And this is so good" I said, with a smile at Olena. She grinned at me. "It's Dimitris favourite too" she said. Suddenly Oksana cleared her throat, capturing everyone's attention.
"Rose". Mark and I wanted to meet you, the moment Yeva called us" she said. Mark smiled at me, with a knowing look. "Yeva, informs us that you are shadow- kissed, but you don't know what it means. Is that right?" she asked. I nodded my head and she continued. "Well the reason that we are here-" she cut herself off. "Do you want to go somewhere more private?" she asked looking around the room. "No. That's fine." I said, taking Dimitri's hand in mine. "Right then" she continued. "Tell me Rose, What you know of the elements. The magic that Moroi hold?" She asked. I looked at her for a moment. Then I cleared my throat.
"I know that there are normally four different sorts of Moroi magic" I told her. "Air, Earth, Fire and Water. But there is a fifth. `Spirit` which isn't very well known at all. My mother told me all about it" I told her. She smiled at me. "And do you know any spirit users?" She asked. I nodded my head at her. "My friend Lissa- Vasilisa Dragomir is a spirit user. She recently told me that, when we met back up." I told her. She smiled at me.
"Okay. That's good then, alot of people have never heard about `spirit` before. "Now, this part is the most difficult part to explain" she said. "Spirit comes in various forms. I can read your mind" She said. My eyes practically shot out of my head, for once she had told me something that I didn't know.
"Spirit users have very strong healing powers. For example... watch this" she said, then she nodded at Mark. He took a carving knife off the table, the one that Olena had been using to cut the bread. Then he brought it to his forearm and sliced it. Blood appeared, pooling fast on his arm. I jumped up from my seat. "Are you guys insane" I yelled, trembling because the man had just sliced his god damn arm open. "It's okay Rose" Mark said, with a smile. "I know its difficult, but please. Just watch" he said. I sat back down, grasping Dimitri's arm for support, I felt sick. Then Oksana held her hand up, directly above Mark's wound, and very slowly, the blood and the flesh wound began to disappear. I stared at his arm for a moment. I couldn't believe my eyes. There was now no trace that anything had ever happened. I turned back to Oksana.
"Do you see what I mean, about healing?" she asked. I nodded my head again. "How could I not" I replied. Dimitri chuckled.
"Well. Mark, here" she said, with a nod his way. "Mark is shadow- kissed too" she told me. I looked at him for a moment. "What does shadow- kissed mean exactly?" I asked. They both looked at me. "It means that... that you have died once" they told me. What! What the hell were they saying. "What do you mean, I died once. You're crazy" I yelled. "Do I look freaking dead to you?" I bellowed. "No Rose." Mark said calmly. "It means that although you once died, you were saved, brought back to life, by a Moroi with spirit magic" he told me.
I couldn't process this. "Is that what happened to you?" I finally asked. He nodded. "It is" he confirmed. "Oksana brought me back to life when I died during a Strigoi attack. I am bonded to her" he told me. Bonded to her" I repeated his words. "Yes" he said. "It's hard to explain, Rose. Its like... like, not being in your head anymore. Being in your bond partners head. If their emotions are too strong, they can simply `pull you in` even though they don't mean to do it." he said. I gasped and they all looked at me. "Has this ever happened to you?" Oksana asked.
"Yes" I breathed weakly. I couldn't believe what they were telling me. "On the way here" I told them. "It had never happened before. I was suddenly with Lissa, it was like I was her, talking to her boyfriend. I wondered what was happening" I told them. "I bet you did" Mark told me, sadly. "Can you think of anything Rose?" Oksana asked. "Any situation where you may of died. Lissa obviously saved you, brought you back." She added. I looked at her. "No. I can't think" I said sadly. "I haven't seen Lissa in eight years. My mum withdrew me from the Academy after the accident. I only met her again a few days ago" I told them, with as much honesty as I could. Dimitri was rubbing gentle circles on the back of my hand. Trying to relax me, his touch helped a lot and relaxed the tension I was feeling.
"What accident?" Mark finally asked.
"The car crash when we were eleven. The one that wiped out all of the Dragomirs, well except one" I told them. Mark and Oksana looked from each other. "I think that's it Rose. I think that you died in that car crash too. Only... Lissa healed you" he stated firmly. If this was all true, if what they was telling me was right, then I knew that they were spot on. That car accident was the only situation in which Lissa would of ever been able to save me, to bring me back to life.
We sat for hours, talking about everything. They explained about mood swings and darkness that would consume Lissa. About how I would have to take the darkness from her and then have her heal me, or having to fight the darkness out of my system once I took it. About healing silver objects to protect us from the side effects. Then they headed home, when we were all said our 'goodbyes' they left. As I sat at the table with Dimitri and his family, there was a knock at the door, Olena rushed off to answer it.
We were all sitting around the table, me and the Belikov's. They watched me, intently, for my reactions on the news that I had been told. I was simply numb, I couldn't believe it, a moment later that numbness turned to anger as Olena walked back into the front room.
With a Guest following her.
