Rose pov
"Ok rose, were going to do a power test now, we are going to start small and get bigger ok?" said I nodded quickly and went over to the doctors. "I really don't know how to measure this because she says its so different, so bear with us Rosemarie." I groaned. Dimitri came and stood right behind me with his hands on my shoulders as the others stood in a half circle behind me getting no closer than Dimitri.
"It's rose, you can call me rose" I said. He nodded absent mindedly as he picked up a few items.
"Now rose, this part is going to be recorded verbally so please be serious ok?" said to me. I shrugged
"Test one, I Have a ping-pong ball, a golf ball, a tennis ball and a baseball." said into the recorder as he laid them out in front of me "rosema... Rose, I need you to lift these things separately." I did, each ball was covered in a thin black shadow and lifted, then to show him how easy it was I lifted them all and twirled them in a circle. "Very nice please put them down." He said about to get more things.
"you know that's not all they can do." He raised his eyebrow. I set 3 of the balls down and focused on the golf ball, it made a few splinting and cracking noises before it came apart in 2 perfect halves.
"Amazing, " he said before I put the halves down. I picked up the tennis ball and used my power to slit it, I then turned it inside-out." Wow, you said they, are your powers different from you? Like other you" he asked I shook my head
"they are the shadows, it's not some creepy force. I just control the shadows. And manipulate them to be real like the object they mirror." I said " it's easier to break the object and the shadow than just the shadow. It still wants to be like its object so if I begin to rip the shadow and make the object weak and separate the object then tear, I can easily get the shadow pieces." I said.
" interesting. Test 2, I have a ping-pong paddle, a tennis racket, a baseball bat, and a bowling ball. Ok same thing with these too rose." He said, I lifted the things easily.
" so rose you said you could move the object through the shadow, could you move me" asked, I shook my head.
"People are kinda stretchy, and stretchy things get 'too stretched' I might rip you apart, I haven't been able to stop the stretching once it starts." I said. She nodded quickly like she regretted she asked. We tried more tests. They were all simple; the 5th was a bunch of tires, the 6th was a large tree branch the 7th was a bench, by the time the 8th came around and I was supposed to lift one of the vans I was growing irritated With all the talking and wows and amazing's, "can we take a break now" I asked the boredom and annoyance seeping thro my words.
"No."
"Yes." The doctors both said, they looked at each other " go ahead and take a minute or two to yourself hon" Dr. Olenski said.
"but were nearly done, you can wait a bit can't you? Lets just finish this." He said picking up his clipboard,
"but this is all so trivial and easy, it's actually very annoying, you know" I snapped at him. Dimitri began to massage my shoulders, I looked up at him 'calm roza, you don't want to get to angry and hurt him' I looked back at the doctor who was frozen stiff, his clipboard, glasses, and pen behind his ear were covered in the shadows, I don't know if anyone else saw, but there were thin long shadows circling around his feet on the ground, like the ones I used to torture victor with. I closed my eyes, and relaxed trying to draw the shadows away. I opened my eyes to see the shadows slither off him and to me 'willingly' popped into my head, that must be what they were feeling then, but when I thought about it it was supposed to be opposite, so that was what? Forcefully?
" come on Roza, just take a minute or two, come over here." Dimitri said to me, leading me away from the others, we sat down under a tree and I leaned into him as he whispered sweet nothing's into my ear in Russian,
"Dimitri,"
"mmh yes Roza"
"I'm sorry for not telling you about my meetings with the strigoi. I love you, I really do"
"don't be, I know you had a reason. I figured that you were probably scared of what might happen if you told people that you interacted with strigoi, they would think you were 'going bad'. but its ok Roza, you can always tell me anything I love you, more than anything." he said, I leaned up and kissed him gently, and layed back into his chest. a minute later we saw people gathering an started to walk over to them,
"Dimitri, what would you say was the opposite of willingly?" I asked him, it still bugged me about those shadows
"I don't know, maybe forceful, oh or regretfully? why" he asked.
"I'll tell you later" that was it, the shadows were regretful to leave him, they wanted to hurt him, id have to be really careful now, if I wanted to hurt some one. the shadows would do it whether I really mean it or not. I sat down on a stool facing the opposite way I was earlier talking to me friends, waiting for the doctors to get back.
"so rose, if lifting a van is easy whats hard for you hu?" Eddie asked, i shrugged
"whats the largest thing you've ever lifted?" mia asked. I thought back to this huge old dead tree trunk Leon had me lift,
"there was this huge tree that had fallen like a really long time ago, and it was just sitting there pretty much all hollowed out by bugs and critters, it wasnt too heavy but you could park 2 or 3 vans in it, it was so huge" i said.
"so have you lifted a live tree?" Cristian asked,
"no, the roots go too deep and if i could it would make a bunch of noise. besides i dont really wanna up-root a whole tree for nothing" i responded, i heard the doctors leaving the house behind me. i sighed and looked around, my eyes landed on the tree, it was pretty far from the rest of the trees, I hadn't even realized id thrown it so far. christians question snuck back into my head, i grinned.
"rose whats up?" Lissa asked
"I guess we'll learn today if I can lift a living tree." I said getting up and walking just past my friends. I focused on the tree envisioning the shadows embracing it, nothing was happening. I thought of how mad i was when the queen locked me in the room with those ass holes, how disgusted i was when they touched me how good it felt to punch them. i felt the shadows rushing out towards the tree I imaged them picking up the tree so it was up right,
"I'm not seeing anything Rosie" Christian called
"shut it Sparky!" I snapped and the tree began to creep up, still on its sides but rising. i felt the familiar control as i tried to get it upright, the tree instead shot straight up in the air. No. I thought and the tree began to fall, i tried to catch it in like a shadow net but the tree was really heavy and i felt it pull on me. I clenched my fists to try and regain control.
"rose, you wanna stop. don't hurt yourself" Dimitri said
"i got it!" i said quickly. I was trying and it took concentration, I'd like any of them do this. I tried to push the tree back to the forest but instead it just turned in one spot while the leaves rustled about. I tried to get it to stop turning so fast but again it was so heavy, it felt like it had hit me, I clenched my teeth while stopping it from spinning. once it had stopped I started to move it back towards the forest. it had taken a few minutes to get it to go back because it would start spinning or moving to fast and I had to stop it each time it felt like a blow. I finally got it to its hole and stood it there, I was going to cover it in some dirt so it would stay but I had no energy left and it took crazy amounts to place it right so it leaned on two other trees. once i had it placed I pretty much fell over, i sat on the ground but the energy drainage was so bad i immediately laid on my back looking up at the people behind me. "and that my dear friends is how you re-plant a tree" I said sarcastically.
"Roza!" Dimitri shouted, "are, you ok? do you need to rest?" he said trying to get me up.
"no offence, but im am soo drained right now, it would be to much energy if you just carried me. just let me lie for a few"
"that... was... it was an impressive amount of weight." Dr. Axel said as Dr. Olenski rushed off.
"tell me about it" I replied. I started to feel better after a minute and got up. "do we have to continue or have I impressed you enough for one day." I said. Dr. Olenski came up to me then,
"here rose, drink up. I don't think you've had any yet." she handed me a cup of blood, it still smelled wrong even from here. I shook my head
"no thanks, I think im good"
"regardless it will probably help you get better" Dimitri said from behind me taking the cup and holding it in front of me. its 'wrongness' more defined. I leaned up and kissed him lightly
"I really don't need it, I couldn't if I wanted to." I said to him then looked at the doctor "thank-you for the offer though" she frowned
"rose, there are exactly the same amount of full bags in there that I put in there, and you haven't eaten since 2 days before we left, if anything your appetite should be growing not shrinking. and after that power exertion, you need to drink. I don't think you want to get dizzy" she was right I was pretty hungry, but I didn't want that, I wanted something sweeter. I shook my head, at both the thought and her. other me might be craving something and I didn't know what to give her.
"I know, I know. but if I get hungry I'll tell you or go get some my self. promise" I said to them and went off to go talk to my friends before they could further comment. out the corner of my eye, I saw Dimitri and the two doctors chatting a bit. that night at dinner it was painfully obvious that Dimitri and the doctors were trying to get me to drink the weird blood. near the end of dinner they went to far and had a sneak attack, they poured it into my juice. I took one sip and immediately tasted the wrong blood. I spit it all out immediately. "really! fucking really! I said I don't want it! why do you insist on continually trying to force that repulsive shit at me! I. don't. want it." I yelled at them
"rose" Dr. Olenski said calmly "its no different than it normally is, why do you thing its all the sudden repulsive?" she asked
"how the fuck should I know what you did to it!" I yelled "it smells wrong! there's no way in hell im drinking that!"
"there's nothing been done to it Roza, please calm down. I promise nothings been done to it" Dimitri said to me cup in hand. there were a few people left in the kitchen but by now they were near or at the door way. I backed away from him toppling over a chair behind me. it all started to happen in slow motion, apparently Dr. Axel was behind me carrying a cup of straight blood, when the chair hit him, he tripped splashing the entire cup on me as I turned. as the taste of it in my mouth and the smell of this wrong blood got to me I let out a scream and kicked the chair spitting the wrong blood onto the floor, when a new scent hit me. I looked over at the Conta royal standing at the door way gripping her arm blood seeping out of her sleeve. apparently the chair broke and a leg flew off and sliced her arm as it passed. we were both looking at each other with wide eyes, I stared at her as the scent of her blood reached me and my face twitched a bit. I saw 3 guardians go over to her looking at me, one ripped open her sleeve and immediately started to tie it above her cut. the smell hit me full force and I covered my face and nearly retched on the floor, saw Lissa coming towards me but I could smell her blood too and I backed away from her. Dimitri's hand was on my shoulder, his blood wasn't as bad as the others it was just so strong and over powering that I had to get away. I pushed him away, and ran towards the door, a guardian tried to stop me but I rammed him out of the way and fled for the steps away from all the horrible smells.
I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and into our room, I slammed the door and nearly fell into the toilet throwing up. I heard light knocks turn into more serious knocks then into bangs on the door since I was throwing up so loud everyone in the hall probably heard me. they stopped and a minute later I did too, I was so exhausted I didn't have the energy to get up and unlock the door, or even use the shadows to do it for me. they swirled around me worriedly and kept darting off and coming back a few seconds later, I couldn't move much less think of what they meant, I probably passed out. I thought I heard the window open a minute later and then the door opening, I heard Dimitri and a few others enter the room and the bathroom door open to revel And'drex. his eyes widened at the sight of me, and what a sight I musta been, he carefully lifted me up and carried me to the bed. I felt Dimitri near me stroking my face, and kissing my forehead.
"roza, roza, roza, can you hear me answer me, Roza please" I heard him say. I weakly opened by eyes and turned my head slightly in his direction "oh roza I was so worried. im sorry, im so sorry I tried to force it on you, im so terribly sorry roza" he said. I couldnt muster enough strength to speak to him. 'oh Dimitri, it wasn't your fault it was all that blood, I couldnt handle it, and then Conta started bleeding and the smell got 100 times worse. its not your fault' I thought to him. 'oh roza, im glad your ok. but you need to rest for now' he thought back. I nodded my head and closed my eyes, I felt Lissa's hand enter mine as she layed her head next to mine. Dimitri stayed still for a few more seconds before jumping up.
"what the hell are you doing here! how did you get in here." he shouted at And'drex
"trying to help her!" he hisses "since apparently you can't get through a simple door!" he said
"we were trying!" he yelled back " how did you even get past the wards" he yelled
"I would do anything to get to her if she were hurt or in need no matter how agonizing. you weren't there, she was retching so loud I could hear it half way to town! poor rose was in so much pain so lonely, and where were you? outside banging on the door as if she was going to magically stop to let you in" he snapped at Dimitri.
"guys please stop! Lissa said. I still couldn't move and I didn't have the energy to open my eyes anymore. I heard shuffling and I realized my door was still open, drawing crowed. their scents were going to taint the room, I didn't have anything left to throw up. I frowned slightly when I heard Lissa speak up again.
"thank-you And'drex, for letting us in and saving rose. Dimitri appreciates it too." she said getting up and stopping Dimitri from making any further comment. I felt her hand leave mine as she backed away "thank-you again, but if theres nothing else, it would be easier on everyone if you please left." she said
"of course" he said suddenly right from where Lissa's voice was, I heard a small whimper "you are her closest and best friend, so I would not ever hurt you, you need not worry. but they do" his voice turning dark "I have no need for you, especially when you bring pain upon rose. you keep that horrid blood away from her, from now on it will only be toxic to her and so will yours. if you ever try to force it on her again you will be seen as a threat and killed immediately. now get out of her room before the scent of your filthy blood taints her room" he growled "and im afraid you will have to leave to miss Lissa, your blood will saturate her air, she should be well by morning after rest." he said calmer and politely to Lissa. I heard feet shuffle and the door shut.
"are you leaving to" Dimitri said darkly and emotionless from near the bed. I heard And'drex sigh
"not yet, not until she's fully sleep and I can be assured her body is healing itself"
"she is, and it is now go."
"no, Dimitri. im sworn to protect her to keep her safe. after the horrible accident that happened last time I'll be sure not to make the same mistakes again, starting with underestimating how others affect her. I had no idea how hurt she was when they forbade you two to be together and surprised and powerless when you took your lives together. I will not let it happen again, you must understand things will change drastically for her in the next few days and she will be terrified out of her mind, but of course her personality will prevent her from showing it you have to be there for her always."
"I am there!" Dimitri raised his voice
"no! no you weren't you were trying to help them because they told you it might help her. believe me, she knows what's good and what's not. whether she has an explanation or not her body knows and if its refusing to do something listen, your on her side Dimitri, hers alone. not a mediator. not a bring-them-to-a-middle-ground guy. her side and they need to bend for her or back off she will follow you, wherever you are she'll be. don't let them get that control over her. don't ever let her get trapped in a corner with them in which she can't escape. she may be special, but she's still 17 and the weight of 2 worlds just got loaded onto her shoulders all at once its stress full. so do your job to take that stress away and keep them off her back." I heard him move to the window and slid it up "and remember no mater how good or bad she'll become its never to late to switch sides, since there are 2 of them in that head of hears." I didn't know what that meant or what to think of the conversation, I felt like some one else had said something but I was so tired and the world fell silent.
Dimitri
after the strigoi left I sat down next to rose on the bed. he coud have been lying, but he was right about one thing. The weight of two worlds was now on her shoulders, and I did need to be there for her. she was my mate, and no one and nothing was ever going to take her away from me. we would always be there for each other when we needed each other and now, my roza needed me. I layed down next to her and pulled her into my arms as I fell into a dream-less sleep