OK guys, here is another cliff hanger for you. Some of you will be ready to kill me after you read this, but you will have to continue to read the next chapter to find out what happens next.
Chapter 11
I could hear a flurry of activity in the house, which I assumed could have only been my mother, grandmother, and sisters scrambling to retrieve their weapons.
"Shit! They think I'm Strigoi!" I spat at the Moroi Royal.
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" the Royal yelled back at me.
"We have to go, " I yelled as I grabbed the Moroi to make a run for it.
The door burst open dangling on its hinges. Instinctively I thrust myself in front of him allowing myself to accept the brunt of the attack. My body instantly adopted a defensive stature guarding the Moroi as my mind reeled with the weight of trying to convince my family that I was not Strigoi before they could stake me.
Shock spread over my body as my eyes focused on the figure standing in the doorway. Rose was wearing black skinny leg jeans and a fitted V-neck burgundy T-shirt with a black lacy camisole underneath. Over the T-shirt she had on a black, leather, multi-pocketed riding jacket and her feet bore stout, but sexy, black boots. From the way that the clothes clung to her magnificent body, I could tell that she had lost some weight since I last saw her. Her hair was tied up in a cropped ponytail exposing her neck with its two molnija marks and the star representing the mark of many kills in battle. And her beautiful brown eyes were rimmed in red, indicating that she had recently been crying. Immediately my hand reached toward her delicate cheek as I softly whispered, "Oh, Roza." I wanted take her in my arms and never let her go again.
"Do not call me that!" Rose said forcefully. "You have no right to refer to me by that name."
The harshness of her words bit at my consciousness, and I immediately responded, "What? Rose, I know why you're here, but you can't. You need to listen to me. It's not--"
She cut me off, "It's not what? It's not like we thought. You're not a soulless, inhuman, monster. You know that I know better Di--." But her voice broke at my name.
Unexpectedly she lunged for me. She truly was the best guardian of her time. Anyone else would have faltered. I faltered, as a voice told me that I couldn't fight the woman I loved. Then I realized, if I did not she was going to kill me. She was going to kill me because of what I had made her believe I had become.
Her blow struck me hard in the chest and knocked me backward. "Rose, you have to stop!" I yelled at her. She ignored me, but tears glistened in her eyes as she struck again. Channeling into our training sessions, I detected her blow and promptly blocked it knocking her backward. She moved swiftly, anticipating my every move, as I anticipated hers. She had gotten stronger, and faster in my short absence. I quickly realized that I needed to subdue her to get her to listen to me. I could predict her moves, but she also predicted mine. We fought blow for blow for what felt like an eternity. At last I broke through and pinned her to the ground. Holding her down I said, "Roza, look at me!"
Tears streaking her face, she fought against me pressing the heel of her hand into my eye. My vision blurred slightly and I loosened my grip just enough that she was able to overpower me, rolling me over onto my back just as she had during her guardian training. She maneuvered the stake over my heart. I had to do something. Trying to grab the stake I plead, "Damn it Rose, what do you feel? Let yourself feel me."
Through grief-stricken sobs she said, "It doesn't matter what I feel anymore. This isn't you!" And then she drove the stake toward my struggling chest.