A/N: Thank you for my reviews. I really would like to hit 300 for the finish, so please review, whether it be compliment or complaint.
'Tell me what you know, Dimitri. What did Adrian mean?' I asked, leaning into him. He stroked my hair and murmured,
'I don't want you to hate him… but…' he paused, 'Adrian was the one who shot me…' he sighed, laying his head on mine.
I gasped, pulling away from him and staring at him, wide-eyed. Why wasn't he as shocked as me at this revelation? My ex-boyfriend and close friend had shot him and he wasn't even slightly perturbed. Why would Adrian do such a thing anyway? It's wasn't like he had anything to gain from Dimitri's death or serious injury. And after he had committed the deed, why did he fess up? Adrian's devil-may-care attitude to life surely suggested that he wouldn't admit to shooting someone.
I didn't mean to hurt anyone. But he had, big time. Dimitri was injured physically and I was in mental pain. Yeah, I wasn't present at the incident, but losing Adrian for his crime and almost losing Dimitri to the consequences was driving me mad.
But there was no way Adrian would ever go to court and be tried. In fact, his mother and her Legend-Lawyer cousin would have found a loophole in the law to get him off before he'd taken one step inside the courtroom.
Why would he do that? And to me, of all people. Wasn't I mean to be the supposed 'love of his life', who he had difficulty getting over? Clearly not, if that's how he dealt with emotional pain. Or, maybe shooting Dimitri was some kind of punishment to him for having me when he couldn't? That fit what the facts suggested, to my knowledge. Adrian orders Dimitri to call me in Russia and tell me to move on because he didn't love me anymore. Dimitri refuses, so Adrian shoots him. That fitted perfectly, sadly.
'Don't think of him as some kind of sadistic gunman who got jealous, I promise you that that wasn't his motive.' Dimitri said finally, after a long, uncomfortable moment of silence. I remembered how well he could read me. He probably saw my Jealous Adrian idea occur in my mind and flash in my traitorous eyes. I had been looking away from him throughout my little thought session and now I returned my eyes back to his face. I tried, unsuccessfully yet again, to raise an eyebrow, instead raising them both. A small smile played on his features, but it soon disappeared again once he remembered the matter at hand.
'Don't look at me like that. I'm not crazy. Adrian told me why he had come after he had shot me,' he started and then he waited for a signal from me to begin his story. I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips, waving my hand in a rotating gesture, silently telling him to get on with it.
'I was in my room, reading and wondering whether or not I should call you, when Adrian knocked on my door…
*Flashback*
I opened the door and saw Adrian. Smiling, I asked him what he wanted, to which he said,
'I have something important to talk to you about. But it's private. Can I come in so we can talk without anyone hearing?' he looked really uncomfortable and his right hand kept twitching as if he wasn't sure what to do with it. I nodded slowly, fully opening the door and letting him in. I closed the door and turned my back to him while I went to put my book away. I heard Adrian lock the door and approach me from behind. I froze as I felt his gun press into my back. I turned my head, uttering,
'Why?' he sighed and pushed the gun into my back further, making me sit down on my bed. I complied, turning to fully face him and he raked a hand through his hair, keeping the gun trained on me.
'Call Rose.' Adrian said, simply, handing me the phone. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow but he rolled his eyes and raised the gun so it was aimed at my head. I lifted my hand to begin typing the numbers, trying to be slow to get extra time. Once I had finished, however, Adrian spoke,
'Speaker phone…' the tension was thick in his voice. I noticed that the hand holding the gun was shaking, visibly. He wasn't used to this, thank God. I complied, pressing the accept button and then the speaker button. He stepped away slightly, allowing me space to talk to my beloved without her hearing him instructing me.
'Hey…' Rose's beautiful voice said uncertainly.
'Rose…' I replied, keeping my frustration out of my voice as much as possible.
'Dimitri, I'm sorry, honest…' she whispered. I winced, remembering how she had left me. I looked up as Adrian said,
'Tell her that you're moving on.' I almost fainted at that thought. My eyes widened, but the gun was too threatening, so I did as I was told.
'It's no matter. I can see that you've moved on...' I said, gripping the bedsheets next to me for support.
'Moved on? What the hell?' she protested and I smiled slightly. I'm glad she hasn't lost her bravado.
'Make an excuse. She's probably latched onto a new guy anyway.' Adrian shrugged and I nodded,
'I talked to Alberta today and she said that your flight wasn't scheduled for another week. So you clearly didn't want to stay with me. Plus, I got a call from a friend of mine, who says that you're quite happy with another man. So I'm telling you that I understand that you've moved on.' I breathed in a sharp breath in my agitated mood.
'Dimitri, I can't deal with this. I'll call you later and we can talk about this properly…' she said, in a pained voice, hanging up on me. I looked up to Adrian,
'Now what?' I asked, placing the phone next to me and clasping my hands together. Adrian simply sat on a chair opposite me, the gun never moving from it's position.
'We wait. She'll call back soon.' Adrian murmured, his left hand, which wasn't holding the gun, tightened into a fist.
'Adrian, I don't know why you're doing this, but even a blind man can see that you don't want to carry it through.' I said, gently. He sighed and began to rake a hand through his hair, pausing to grip his hair tightly. He groaned quietly and let go.
'I just have to… I'm sorry… but I-' he started, but he was interrupted by the phone ringing. He pointed to it and I picked it up off of the bed, putting it on speaker phone as before,
'Dimitri…' Rose whispered, almost soothingly. My breathing was ragged from lying to her and having a gun pointed at me. I couldn't reply. I just couldn't. If I spoke, I'd either tell her to move on and thus condemn my 'spared' life to one of misery and pain without her, or I'd confess that I loved her and get myself shot by a psychically imbalanced teenager. Neither option was very appealing.
'Tell her you're moving on!' Adrian whispered loudly, pushing his arm forward to emphasise the fact that my death was imminent if I didn't reply.
'I believe that your giving up on me gives me clearance to move on also...' I said, finally manning up. I knew that she had burst into tears, but Adrian glared at me, so I continued, 'I will move back to Russia to my family. Perhaps I'll find a woman who will be a more suitable partner.' I hated the evil words that were spilling out of my mouth, but Adrian's weapon was pressurising me to make a self-defensive decision.
'I'm not cheating… I love you…' she murmured, most likely incapable of making a sound any louder. I gulped, why did she have to say those words? Adrian walked towards me, clearly tired of my games. He leaned down to my level and clicked the gun into place, aiming at my chest.
'I… don't believe you. You wouldn't have left otherwise.' I said, the first words that I thought of springing to my lips. I knew that my voice gave me away and I was clutching at straws, knowing that one way or another, I was going to suffer soon.
'I know you don't mean that. I can hear it in your voice...?' she said, confused. I sighed and groaned. But she continued, 'Dimitri! Why are you lying? Is there someone there?' finally she had understood. And now was the time for me to make my decision. Rose or my life? Rose or my life?
And then suddenly, in that one moment, I chose.
'Rose I love you! I always will-'
And Adrian finally got the guts to shoot me. Firing once, a bullet hit my chest and I fell, letting go of the phone. I faintly heard Rose's scream as I saw the colours of the room around me morphing into black and white shapes. I saw a shaking boy lean down and frantically begin to speak,
'Oh God, Dimitri… I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that… I was only planning to threaten you! I wanted to see how much you loved Rose!' he touched at my wound, and when he brought his fingers back, I saw dark red blood on them. I groaned quietly at the impact o the sudden intense pain. He continued, 'I guess that once I knew that you were truly the guy for her, I wanted you dead because you have her and I don't! I never meant to shoot you, you have to believe me! I'm so sorry! I can't believe I-' he was cut off when I faded out and blackness swallowed my consciousness…
*End Flashback*
I stared at him as he concluded his story.
'Then when I next woke up, you were by my side, trying to get me to talk to you through the heart monitor…' he smiled and stuck his tongue out at me. I couldn't help but smile at him, kissing his cheek gently.
'I still fail to see what Adrian did to deserve my sympathy here…' she whispered to herself, but I replied anyway.
'I know what you mean, but after thinking about it at dinner, I think I can figure it out. He came originally to see if, threatened with death, I would give you up. I imagine that he expected me to save myself, but when I shocked him by refusing to stop loving you, he had some kind of mood-switch. Instead of his normal attitude, some kind of defensive, protective-of-you side came out and this caused him to shoot me out of jealousy. It wasn't Adrian and it isn't Adrian's fault that I was injured.' Dimitri concluded and I rolled my eyes. I reached forward and pulled off his jacket. He raised an eyebrow at me, probably thinking I was in a passionate mood today. Far from it, I wasn't interested in sex right now. I unbuttoned his shirt and ran my fingers lightly over his wound. He flinched slightly, most likely at my touch and not at the pain.
'It still doesn't excuse this.' I said the word with a slight venom to my voice, but I quickly whispered, 'Not to say that you look bad with it, it makes you look sexier…' I grinned and he rolled his eyes. He lay his hand over mine on his chest and stared into my eyes,
'This will heal over eventually and leave a tiny spot or something. I'm no longer in pain like I thought I'd be. Stop worrying and do not give Adrian a hard time. This is like what you continually say to me about 'forgiving myself and moving on'. It's hard, right? Well, now you know how it feels.' Dimitri let go of my hand and turned away, buttoning up his shirt again. I sat on the edge of the bed. He was right, it was a similar situation and I was being a bitch. But seeing Dimitri injured was hurting me more than anything I'd ever experienced before. I leaned over my handbag and took out my cell, all without Dimitri noticing. I dropped the cell in my dress, resting it in my bra. No way was Dimitri gonna look there. I hoped.
'I'm going to go mull things over outside… go to sleep. I'll be back soon.' I whispered in his ear as I passed him. He nodded and moved into the bathroom.
Closing the door behind me, I ran outside and dialled Adrian's cell quickly. It rung a few times before I heard an uneasy voice pick up,
'Rose…' Adrian said, sounding guilty as hell.
'I know what you did. Dimitri got his memory back.' I said simply and I heard a deep breath being inhaled by him.
'I'm really sorry… do you know why I did it? Or do you think I'm just a freak, desperate to see Dimitri dead?' he didn't say it sarcastically. He said it with a large amount of regret lacing his words. I smiled weakly, feeling compassion for my friend.
'I know why you did it and even if I didn't, I'd never think such bad things about you. I love you, Adrian. Not like Dimitri, but I do want you in my life forever. I'd die without you. I don't care about your craziness, I don't care about your quirks, I don't care about your drinking and smoking. I love you for the person that you are. I know you never meant to hurt Dimitri and I know that you just had a little crazy moment.'
'You're blowing it off? I shot your boyfriend!' he exclaimed and I smiled a stronger smile.
'I know, but Dimitri doesn't feel any anger towards you and if he can forgive you, so can I.' I felt my confidence boost as I said those words. Truly, Dimitri had taught me a most valuable lesson. Forgiveness. Adrian was silent for a few moments, most likely stunned at my sudden change. I was proud at finally making Adrian Ivashkov shut up without removing my clothes.
'He's changed you…' he murmured, finally and I instantly felt defensive. Was he saying my change was a bad thing? My silence must have made him explain as he quickly added,
'For the better. He's changed you so much and now I can let go of you, firm in the knowledge that he can take care of you and give you what you desire…' he concluded and I felt my heart leap.
'Thank you… so much… you're amazing Adrian…' I stammered, a grin spreading on my lips.
'That's okay, Little Dhampir… I'll see you back at Court soon, okay? I miss you…' he finished, bidding his goodbyes. I returned them, promising a speedy return. Hanging up, I wandered back inside the room, straight into Dimitri arms. I gasped at the shock of it, but soon leaned into him, enjoying his embrace,
'Well done… I knew you'd be able to do it…' he murmured, kissing my hair and rubbing my back soothingly. I leaned up and kissed him slow and gentle,
'You know, Comrade, forgiving's pretty easy…' I admitted and he raised an eyebrow. I glared at him,
'If you raise your bloody eyebrow again, I'm going to impale you. Stop being better at it than me…' I pouted, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. He laughed softly and murmured a brief apology before lifting my legs so they rested around his waist, closing the door and leading me to the bed, kissing me all the while.
A/N: I know I ask constantly, but I really would like you to review this chapter. I personally think that it's one of the best and I wrote it all in under two hours so that you guys could read it especially. I would like an exceptional amount of reviews to brighten my day, please?
All my love,
BelikovsRoza1697 xxx
