Hi again, I'm really sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as usual. I actually started writing the last chapter I published (20) as soon as I published the one before (19) but I found that my recent exasperation with the male species was rubbing off on my writing and I wanted to stay as true to the VA style as possible.
Let me know what you think as always. Your reviews are what keep me writing.
Instead of returning to my ordinary dreams, as often happened when I was 'released' from one of Adrian's dreams, I woke up with a start. Looking around me at the still unfamiliar room I felt a longing for my dorm back at the academy. It had been more of a home to me than I'd known anywhere else and its familiarity would have been comforting in such trying times.
Adrian's face was like a haunting image I just couldn't shake. I knew that theoretically we were safe here in Abe's house, and I knew that Adrian was safe now with Abe but I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Something had certainly happened to Adrian to cause him severe mental stress; it also seemed to have caused problems with his spirit powers. He hadn't even known he was dream walking my dream which was strange; he usually took complete charge even down to the way I was dressed.
I couldn't lie staring at the ceiling with so much on my mind so I stumbled out of the ridiculously high bed and down stairs to the kitchen, silently praying that Tad was a heavy sleeper down in his ground floor bedroom. It wasn't Tad however who was stood in front of the open fridge, trying as silently as possible to extract all the ingredients to make what looked to be a particularly huge sandwich.
Dimitri had to almost double over to reach into the fridge because of his height. I stood and watched him for a moment, and I knew he knew I was there; he wouldn't have made a very good guardian if he hadn't sensed me. I was expecting him to be exasperated by my presence, to scowl at me or to simply ignore me and walk straight past and back to his room. He did none of these but carried on making his sandwich only stopping to ask if I wanted one, of course I did, I never turned down food. As he layered ham over tomatos and mayo etc I felt a presence behind me and I didn't need to turn around to know it was Tad. I could practically feel his eyes roaming all over my body, dressed in pyjamas that were a little tight over my ample dhampir chest. I ignored him as best I could and sat down at the kitchen table. Dimitri was staring at Tad, a look of disdain on his face that mirrored my own feelings toward the sleazy Moroi. Tad, with his duller observational skills was oblivious to Dimitri's eyes boring into the side of his head as he continued to leer at me.
'Rose, may I say the pyjamas I picked out for you fit just like I hoped they would' If my mouth hadn't been full as string of strictly adult insults would have streamed from my lips, as it was I had to settle for flipping him off. Tad sniggered, still oblivious to Dimitri's glare and possibly his actual presence. 'Sassy, I like it. It'll be all the more satisfaction for me when those pyjamas are on my bedroom floor.' Crack.
Even with my heightened dhampir senses I only saw the punch coming as Dimitri's fist collided with the side of Tad's head. Poor Tad had no chance whatsoever and fell to the floor, his body limp and unconscious. He wasn't dead, no, guardians like us were trained to kill but we were also trained to incapacitate. And that was what Dimitri had done. He had punched Tad square in the face. Whether it was in my defence I didn't know.
Dimitri was leaning right past me as he leant over to check Tad, always the careful one. I could smell him that scent I used to know, used to love. His long arm was stretched out, almost touching me, so close it would be easy to be pressed against it. I tentatively lifted my hand and placed it on his forearm and I felt a thousand messages pass from me to him, and I knew he'd received them, because it had taken me this long to figure out what I now knew Lissa had known all along.
He was still Dimitri, and I was still Rose. Whether he was dhampir or strigoi we'd always been connected, it was inevitable and couldn't be destroyed. It was bigger than the two of us and I knew that Lissa had known it, maybe even seen it in him. He had needed time; time to come to terms with what he'd done. He had been punishing himself, and punishing me, linking me with his time as a strigoi and therefore feeling pain and guilt whenever he was around me.
Although I loved Adrian, and I did love him, I wasn't just in love with Dimitri. Some might call it a toxic relationship and maybe it was but I couldn't help the way I was pulled to him no more than I could help what happened next. Our lips met, and I heard him moan, a sound that held relief and sadness and pain and happiness all at once. All thoughts of Adrian were forgotten as the kiss broke and he pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes searching my face hungrily as were mine. I wanted to take in his every feature, drink it in because in my experience moments like this were always followed by something life changing.