Here ya go! It's not the longer chapter ever, but I promised to have it up by this week. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: It belongs the Richelle Mead.
In the background I heard the distant pounding of feet and yelling. It sounded like it was coming closer. Hunter swore under his breath.
"Rose, I can't talk right now I-"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The call was cut, and there was silence.
I stared down at my phone for a second. What had just happened? Was Hunter in trouble? What could he have possibly done? I sat there, confused. I decided to call him again. I dialed his number and brought my phone up to my ear. Seconds later a mechanical voice came on.
I'm sorry, this number is non-existent. Please hang up and try again.
Huh? What was going on? I checked my phone to make sure I had dialed the right number. I had. I started to panic as different scenarios went through my head. What if he was attacked? Mugged? Calm down Rose, you need to get back home. You're no use to him here. I thought.
"Rose?"
I looked up and saw that Brooke had returned. Her eyebrows were knit together with worry.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." I forced a smile, "I just, can't get a hold of my friend." I explained, holding up my phone.
Brooke smiled at me gently, then looked down at my neck.
"That's a pretty necklace." She commented.
I looked down to see that I had unconsciously been playing with the necklace that Dimitri had given me. The miniature stake. It had become a habit, playing with it, whenever I was nervous or worried.
I caressed it fondly, then smiled up at her. "It was given to me by a friend."
"Like a boyfriend?" She asked, wriggling her eyebrows.
I thought about it. What was Dimitri to me? Definitely a friend. A teacher. The first man I ever loved... I shrugged my shoulders. "It's complicated." I said.
"It's it always?" Brooke sighed as a wistful look came upon her face. I watched her, amused, as she went off into her own little world. I cleared my throat and laughed as she snapped back into reality.
"So, do you have a special guy?" I asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Brooke smiled softly, "Yes, his name's Ben."
"Brooke and Ben, huh? You sound like quite the couple." I teased.
"Oh, tush!" She slapped me playfully.
Suddenly my phone started to ring. I looked down at the tiny screen, hoping that it was Hunter. Was I ever wrong.
"Oh boy," I muttered.
"Your special guy?" Brooke asked.
"The one and only," I breathed. Brooke giggled quietly as I answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Rose." Dimitri's voice was even and calm.
"Hey. Look, I know what I did was stupid and-"
"Rose, I can't come get you right now." Dimitri interrupted.
I sat there, confused. "What?" I asked rudely.
I heard Dimitri sigh. "Another strigoi attacked has happened. Janine and I have to stay here and do damage control. Do you think you can find a place to stay for the night?"
I looked over at Brooke and asked her if I could bunk at her place for the night. she smiled and nodded.
"Ya, I got a place." I said into the phone.
"I'll be over there sometime before noon tomorrow. Bailey Town is about a four hour drive from here." Dimitri said, his voice still even and calm. In the background I could hear my mom ordering someone around. Probably Eddie.
"Alright, I'll see you then."
"And Rose?" Dimitri added as I was about to hang up, "We need to talk tomorrow."
And with that he hung up. I just sat there, the phone still up to my ear. Whatever he wanted to talk about, it couldn't have been good.
"Rose? Rosemarie Hathaway?"
I looked up to see Brooke waving her hand in my face, she was laughing gently.
I shook my head to clear my mind and forced a laugh. "I'm here."
"Good to know!" Brooke teased, "Look, I'll be off in an hour, so you can just hang out here until I'm done. Okay?"
I nodded my head. She was about to walk off when I called to her, she turned around and looked at me questioningly. I bent down and pulled out my back-up credit card that was in my shoe and handed it to her. She was about to protest, but I interrupted her.
"No. You're already letting me crash at your place. The least I can do is pay for my own meal."
She sagged her shoulders dramatically and sighed loudly, "Fine." She grumbled, walking to the cash register.
During the next hour I just sat there quietly. I know, strange. My whole life had become quite strange lately. I thought about what had happened yesterday. What had happened exactly? It felt almost as if there was someone else in my body. Someone who was controlling my movements and thoughts. But that's crazy right? Right?
Before I knew it, I was in Brooke's apartment. The place was small, but very warm and comfy. There were a lot of floral prints and pastel colors. It was all so... girly, for a lack of better words. It was perfect for Brooke.
"Well, this is it." Brooke said, after giving me the grand tour.
"I like it." I plopped down on her couch, "It's very... you."
She laughed, "You got that right!"
"Well, I'm turning in. You know where the bathroom is and I've put out a towel and toothbrush for you. Goodnight Rose."
"Night!" I called after her as she retreated into her bedroom. I was going to be sleeping on the couch tonight, which was like a heaven compared to the dirt ground that I slept on last night.
I sighed, suddenly feeling the exhaustion creep up on me. I stood up slowly and shuffled my way to the bathroom. I winced when I caught a sight of my reflection. I looked terrible, there was no other way of putting it. Brooke must be dumber than I thought, letting someone as filthy as me into her home, I thought.
But that's what I liked about her so much. She was so innocent and carefree. I bet that it never even crossed her mind that I might be a thief or a robber.
I looked at myself one more time before I stripped off my grimy clothes and jumped into the shower. The water felt amazing, and I relaxed for the first time since I left my home. I quickly washed my hair and body, and then just stood under the warm water, letting it sooth my dry skin that had been under the scorching sun all day.
I looked down at my toes and was startled when I saw that the water coming off my body was pink. I searched my body, looking for where the blood was coming from. I found that it was from the four long gashes in my arm, given to me by that strigoi on the side of the road. I noticed that the stitches that my mom had put in had broken sometime when I was running. It wasn't bleeding heavily, but I was concerned that it hadn't healed yet. Dhampirs usually healed faster than humans.
I sighed warily, the calming effect from the water gone. I shut off the water and got out of the shower, wrapping my body in the big, comfy towel that Brooke had left out for me. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and gently dabbed the area around the gashes dry. I then went through the cabinet's and found a pair of tweezers and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.
I took a deep breath and started to pull out the stitches with the tweezers. I grunted in pain, not wanting to make too much noise, in fear of waking up Brooke. Blood started to flow down my arm and I quickly grabbed the toilet paper to stem the blood, dropping my towel in the process.
I've had stitches pulled out before, many times in fact. But I've never had to do it myself. I think that it hurt more this time than any other because I knew when the next stitch was coming out. I was anticipating the pain. Plus, whenever Dr. Olendzki did it, she would give me pain killers. My arm started to burn, as I yanked out the stitches faster, wanting to rid myself of the pain quickly. Pull, grunt, pull, grunt....
Finally, I pulled out the last stitch and I almost shouted for rejoice. Then I looked at the bottle of rubbing alcohol. Great. Why me? Why!?! I thought miserably.
I sighed and cursed some more as I found a hairbrush and stuck it between my teeth, to bite on. I put my bloody arm over the sink and grabbed the bottle. Deep breath. I poured. I won't go into detail about what it felt like. I'm quite sure we've all experienced the burning sensation of lighting your insides on fire. Great fun!
After that, I bandaged my arm and cleaned up my mess. I dried off my body and put on the pajamas that I found on the counter, courtesy of Brooke.
I quietly made my way back to the living room. As I laid down on the couch, I yawned in exhaustion and gently rubbed my arm, which was starting to itch. I closed my eyes and started to doze off. Right before I passed out, I felt it. I was going to dream tonight.
And dream I did.
Chapter 12
