Thank you very much for all the reviews! I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of reviews I got! Wow. And I know, it was cruel of me to stop the chapter there. Sorry! ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 38

RPOV

"I was sexually assaulted at a party."

My parents looked confused as hell. Which was understandable.

"What?" Dad said, dumbfounded.

I bit the inside of my cheek and glanced at Dimitri, who gave me an encouraging nod. Okay, just spit it out. I held his hand tightly as I continued, "Someone drugged me and tried to…rape me."

Dad blinked. Finally, he registered what I'd said and he shot up from the couch. "What?" he exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Rose, I don't understand – h-how – you were drugged and…" He looked distraught as he caught hold of my arms. "Are you okay, Rose?"

"I'm okay," I answered.

"But-"

"Dad, please calm down," I pleaded. "I want to tell you, but you have to stay calm. Please."

He hesitated, but then sat back down next to my mother, who seemed to be in shock. She was very still and didn't say a word, which was something I wasn't used to.

"I was talking to this guy…" I said quietly, not daring to look them in the eye. "I let him fetch my drink. After a while, I started feeling funny and he took me upstairs. The next thing I know, I was lying on the bed and he was…" I blinked away the tears. "He was undressing me."

Mom whimpered and covered her face with her hands. Dad looked ashen; his face was so white I thought he was going to faint. I felt so bad for lying to them for so long.

"I couldn't move, I couldn't…stop him," I choked out. Dimitri squeezed my hand gently and I took a deep breath to calm down. "But before anything could happen, Dimitri walked in and pulled him off of me."

"Dimitri?" Dad said, glancing at him briefly, confused.

I nodded. "That's how I really met him. He was looking for his sister at the party. When he saw what was happening, he got me out of there. He took me to the hospital to run some tests…"

"Oh, Rose. Why didn't you tell us?" Mom said, her voice wavering. There were tears in her eyes. "Why did you keep this a secret for so long? We are your parents. You should have told us!"

"I know, but I was too ashamed," I admitted. It was only now that I realized my cheeks were wet with tears. "I didn't want anyone to know. What I did was stupid, I should've never accepted a drink from him."

"But you said Dimitri got you out," Dad said, still white as paper. "Before he could…before-"

"Yes," I said, squeezing Dimitri's hand. "Dimitri walked in just in time."

Dad looked at Dimitri. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "Thank you so much for getting my little girl out of there."

"You don't have to thank me. Anyone would've done the same thing," Dimitri said.

"Do you know who he is?" Mom asked, looking at me. "The guy who tried to…" She choked on her words. She balled her fists and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "The guy who tried to rape you."

I nodded. "Yes, I do. Like I said earlier, I was too ashamed to tell you and because of that, I didn't want to report him either. But I should have because…" I bit my lip. More tears rolled down my cheeks."He's been harassing me ever since."

"What?!" My dad exploded. He jumped up from his seat again. "Are you telling me that he's been harassing you since September?! That's six months! Six months, that is-" He cut himself off, scowling. "Wait a minute, did he throw that rock through your window, a couple months ago?"

I grimaced. "Yes."

Then, his eyes widened as realization hit him. "Is he the reason you've been coming home with bruises?" he nearly shouted, anger clear in his voice.

Oh man, he was pissed now. Well, I guess he had every right to be pissed. I'd practically lied to his face every day. He realized it now, too, that his daughter was a liar. One big, fat liar.

I nodded, feeling so, so ashamed. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Who is he?" Dad demanded. "I swear, I'm going to kill that son of a bitch! How dare he touch my daughter! He's gonna wish he never-"

"Abe, calm down!" Mom interrupted his rant.

"Calm down? Calm down?" Dad raged, throwing his hands up. "How am I supposed to calm down when my daughter was almost raped and we didn't have a clue of what was going on!"

"Dad, please," I pleaded, taking a step towards him. I put my hand on his arm and he seemed to calm down as he looked at me, breathing hard. "I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I was scared. I wanted to take care of it on my own so I… I went to Dimitri and asked for self-defense lessons."

Dad's eyes flicked back to Dimitri. "So not everything you told us was a lie," he muttered, his voice bitter. He shook his head and started pacing the floor. "I can't believe this. I asked you so many times if there was something wrong and you kept insisting everything was fine, but you told one lie after the other. And you too," he added, glaring accusingly at Dimitri. "You lied to me about Rose. You said she was fine."

"I'm sorry about that," Dimitri said calmly, "but I thought it'd be better if Rose told you what happened instead of me. It wasn't my place to tell."

"Well, you thought wrong! You should have said something!" Dad bellowed. Five minutes ago, he was thanking Dimitri for saving me and now he was shouting at him. As if it was all Dimitri's fault. "I can't believe I actually trusted you with my daughter!"

"I asked Dimitri not to tell you," I cut in quickly, standing between the two of them. I wouldn't put it past my dad to attack Dimitri. His hands were curled up in fists and his face was red from shouting. I'd never seen him this angry before. "I made him promise me. This is not his fault. Don't blame it on him! Blame it on me."

"I don't care who's fault it is!" he exclaimed angrily. "I don't care if he made a promise to you! He should have told me!" He turned to Dimitri again and pointed at him. Dimitri didn't flinch once as Dad yelled and cursed him. "You lied straight to my face! And I was foolish enough to trust you! All this time you've known what Rose…what Rose has been through and you didn't say a single word! Do you even care?" Dad didn't give Dimitri time to answer. "I want you to get out of the house! Now! Get out of my house!"

I realized this was getting out of control and Dimitri was getting all the blame while he wasn't at fault. I asked Dimitri to keep it a secret. If it was anyone's fault, it sure as hell was mine.

"Did you forget that Dimitri was the one who saved me from Nathan?" I said sharply.

"Nathan? Is that the guy who-"

"And afterwards, he helped me get me back on my feet, he helped me get my confidence back," I continued, my voice loud and clear. "He's been there for me ever since. I asked him to keep quiet and he did because he respected my choice. So don't blame this on him. Blame it on me."

"We could have been there for you too, if you'd told us!"

"I know, Dad," I said, "and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was being stupid and tried to deal with it on my own. I know better now. And that's why I'm telling you all of this now. You deserve to know the truth."

A heavy silence fell. Dad took a deep breath and then sat back down on the couch, burying his face in his hands.

"So… Nathan? That's his name?" Mom asked quietly, breaking the silence.

I nodded.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Dad said, getting up. "If you know his name and who he is, we should go report him right now. That bastard doesn't deserve to walk free of his crimes."

"But Dad," I started. "There's something else you should know…"

He scoffed. "I think I know enough." He started for the door. "Let's go!"

"No, wait," I exclaimed, pulling him to a stop. "He's the son of the Chief of police!" My parents gaped at me. "That's the other reason why I didn't want to report him," I explained. "I thought they'd never believe me because Nathan… Nathan is the Chief's son."

Dad was at a loss. "That's just…I can't believe this!" he stammered. "All the more reason you should have told us a lot sooner, Rose!" he said at last, scowling at me. I apologized for what felt like the hundred time, but I don't think he heard me. "Well, I don't care if he's the Chief's son. I'm not going to let this boy get away with assaulting my little girl!"

"I went down to the police station a few weeks ago, told him that Nathan was harassing Rose," Dimitri spoke up. "He didn't believe me."

"He'll believe me after I'm done with him! I won't rest until that boy is in jail!" Dad bellowed, shrugging on his coat. "Let's get going!"

"At least now I've got some proof," I said to Dimitri as we followed my parents out.

"Hopefully it is enough," Dimitri murmured.

"What are you two whispering about?" Dad said, interrupting our conversation. "More secrets?" he added, bitterness in his voice.

"No more secrets," I said. "I'll tell you in the car, okay?"

Dad grunted. "I'm guessing you're coming with us?" he muttered to Dimitri, not particularly happy at the prospect.

Without waiting for an answer, he got inside the car. Mom was already seated, staring ahead of her. She was acting strange. I'd thought she'd be yelling at me, too, but instead she'd stayed quiet throughout it all.

"I'll be right behind you," Dimitri said, kissing me quickly before walking to his own car.

I sighed and got into the backseat. Neither of my parents spoke to me as we drove to the police station. Dad was muttering to himself and sometimes he'd utter a curse. Boy, was he angry! But he had every right to be, after all the lies I'd fed him. I wondered if he'd ever forgive me.

I heard a strange noise and, a few seconds later, I realized it was my mom. She was crying. I leaned forward in my seat and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Mom?" I asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head and started crying harder.

"Mom," I said, on the verge of tears myself. I didn't like to see her cry; I wasn't used to it. Normally, she never let her emotions show, but now they were all over the place. "Mom, I'm sorry."

She turned in her seat to face me and shook her head fiercely. "Don't apologize, Rose. I should be apologizing to you. I'm your mother and I-" She choked on her words and more tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm your mother," she repeated. "I should have known something was wrong. But instead I dismissed the thought that something could be going on with you. I'm sorry, Rose."

"No, Mom," I said firmly. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. I should have told you guys from the start. I shouldn't have kept it a secret. I shouldn't have lied to you."

"But you came home with bruises, Rose! And I still didn't think to-" She let out a sob. "I dismissed it! I said to myself you were fine. I'm a terrible mother!"

"Mom, no!" I protested. "Of course you're not a terrible mother. I'm just very good at…hiding stuff. That's all."

Dad snorted. "Don't cry, Janine," he said softly, patting her leg. "Rose is right. It's not your fault and you are not a terrible mother." Our eyes met in the rearview mirror. "I believe you said earlier you'd tell us everything in the car. That there'd be no more secrets. Well, we're in the car and I'm waiting for an explanation."

I was taken aback for a moment. The way he spoke to me, his voice cold and distant… He'd never spoken that way to me before. He'd never looked this angry at me before. I really blew it. Now I was sure of it; he'd never forgive me.

Taking a deep breath, I told him everything I'd left out earlier. From beginning to end, I rehashed everything as quickly as possible. Dad didn't interrupt me once, but I could see he was having a hard time. He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. Mom only started crying harder, which made me feel even worse than I already did. When I finished, Dad slammed his fist against the steering wheel and started cursing loudly. I flinched.

"God, Rose, I can't believe this! How could you've been so stupid?" Dad nearly shouted. "You should have come to us immediately! Then this wouldn't still be happening! Then Nathan would've been stopped a long time ago!"

"How? Were you just going to convince the Chief that his son is a rapist?" I said calmly. Getting angry at him now would get me nowhere. "Without proof, he'd never have believed you. But now I have proof so he'll have no other choice than to listen to my story and take it seriously."

"Trying to find evidence on your own was another stupid-"

"I wasn't alone! I had Christian with me!" I interrupted.

Dad snorted. "Christian! Like he would have been able to stop Nathan…" He shook his head and sighed. "Now I finally know why you're suddenly such close friends with Christian…" He looked at me again. "Seriously, Rose? You told him, but not us? Not even Lissa?"

"Like I said earlier, he found out accidentally so I told him everything," I explained. "And Lissa... We are no longer friends, remember?"

We finally arrived at the police station. Dad parked his car in front of the entrance and started for the door immediately. Mom and I glanced at each other before getting out of the car. We hurried after him.

Dad stopped the first cop he ran into. "I demand to speak to the Chief right now!"

The door opened and I glanced over my shoulder. As Dimitri walked over to us, the cop groaned and muttered, "Not again."

"The Chief!" Dad said. "Where is he? I want to press charges against his son! He tried to rape my daughter!"

The cop's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief. "Um, I – I'll go get him," he said quickly before hurrying off.

"Abe, calm down," Mom said, putting her hand on his shoulder. She'd stopped crying. "You have to calm down."

"I can't calm down! Not when I know that bastard is still out there, not when I know he still wants to hurt my little girl!" Dad yelled.

"What's the meaning of this?!" a new voice boomed out from across the room. It was the Chief. He looked pissed off as he stared at us, his hands on his hips. His eyes landed on Dimitri. "Great," he muttered. "You again. I see you brought a whole crowd with you this time."

Dad looked outraged. "Excuse me? Is this how you treat-"

"Dad!" I cut him off. He glanced down at me and I looked at him pleadingly. "Please. Let me do this."

His jaw tightened. After a beat, he gave me a slight nod.

Dimitri found my hand and squeezed it gently. I took a deep breath and looked the Chief dead in the eye. "I'd like to press charges against Nathan Tarus."

Ooops, I did it again :P

Before anyone calls me out on it, I'm very much aware that Nathan's last name isn't Tarus in VA. But because Jesse (Nathan's younger brother in this story) and Ivan are related in VA and not in this story, I decided to change their last names instead of Ivan's. Thought I'd mention it now because last time I changed something, some readers had a few problems with it. So I hope you guys don't mind this little change :)

Well, I hope you liked it even though it was a pretty angry chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I hope you have a nice weekend! ;)