"You could have been great you know"
"You had all that potential but you gave it all away. And for what? A child?"
I could see the anger in her eyes, the disdain in her voice. My mother truly hated me. My body hurt. I could not find my family. I had no idea if the strigoi had broken through to the throne room yet. The dozens of red eyes that surrounded the school told me that we were barely holding our own. More and more were coming and more and more of our people were dropping. It was an ambush like I had never seen before, more so than that day at the caves.
Her hands were on my neck now and I was struggling against her hold as my lungs strained for a breath of air.
"I kept you and was still able to be great. Instead you became nothing."
Dots formed in front of me as I was started to lose consciousness. I'm going go die.
"She is something. She is my mother."
I felt something cold touch my forehead and my eyes sprang open and my body jerked as I gasped for air.
"Don't try to move," A woman stood next to the bed I was laying in. She spoke with the faintest trace of a Russian accent. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just putting a cool cloth on your forehead."
She only woke me up though. She didn't scare me. It was the nightmare that had me catching my breath. The same one from before. I wasn't sure what it was supposed to mean. Is it a warning for something? I could not help but think it was real. That girl, my daughter. I didn't see her this time. I only heard her voice just before I woke up. Her voice was so beautiful. I was so scared until I heard her voice. Maybe the dream was telling me that we will be okay? Or maybe we are in danger? I placed a hand to my neck. I swear I can still feel my mother's hands on me.
"Are you feeling alright. You took some bad hits." She said.
I looked around me. I was in a room but had no memory of how I got here. The last thing I remember was not being able to sleep after feeling morning sickness.
No. Not morning sickness. strigoi sickness.
That's right. There was an attack. I was caught off guard and I could not get the strigoi off of me.
THE BABY! Something was wrong with her.
It was why I was distracted. I pulled the blanket off of my stomach and tried to find the blood that I knew was there. Only there was no blood and I noticed I had on clothes that were not mine. Where am I?
"Is she okay?" I asked. "Is my baby okay?" Tears began to line my eyes as the thought of me losing this little thing growing inside me terrified me.
"You and your baby are going to be okay." She reassured me. I finally took a moment to look at her. She was older, in her forties if I could have guessed. She was a dhampir.
"And Sydney?"
"She's fine. Don't worry." The woman's voice gave me the sense that I could believe her. That and her eyes. There was just something very familiar about them.
"Where am I?"
"In Baia."
I thought about the name and, almost like a brick hitting me, I remembered. This was where Dimitri grew up. This was his hometown. The place I could not remember the name of. The place I had been looking for. But now that I'm here... Where's Dimitri?
I had to find his families house. Maybe this woman knows where they live. I hope she knows where they live.
"Um, by any chance do you know where I can find..."
"Rose, before you ask me any more questions, there's something I need to tell you." Her face suddenly got serious and that made me nervous.
"What do you need to tell me?"
"It's about your pregnancy." I didn't like the look she was giving me right now.
"But you told me that my baby was good. You said we were both doing good. What's wrong with her?" No, this was not happening. Did I not protect her at the barn? Did I hurt her?
"Rose, do you know what Placenta previa is? I shook my head, unable to speak.
"It's when the placenta lies too low to the cervix and causes bleeding. You have this condition. Luckily you are still in the early part of your second trimester. It is possible that it can be resolved on it's own. I want you to take it easy for a while. I want you to stay on bed rest as much as possible until we know for sure how severe your condition is. Don't worry, we will keep a close eye on you." I laid back down.
Bed rest? The bleeding she mentioned. Was this the bleeding I remember from the attack just before I blacked out? It had to be. Was this something that happened because of me? Did I hurt her? How was I supposed to find Dimitri if I need to stay in bed. And even if I did find him, how could I tell him that I hurt our child.
"You're going to be fine, Rose." She said, placing the blanket back over me. "I can take care of you here. My son should be home soon. He left very early this morning, just before you arrived here, to run some errands. When he get's back I'll have him make a run to the store for some supplies. You do not need to worry about anything okay."
Her voice. Something about her voice was just so familiar. Everything she told me was supposed to be scary but hearing her voice and looking into her eyes that reminded me of something. I wasn't so scared.
"What's your name?"
"You can call me Olena. Olena Beli..."
Thump, Thump
"Mama, are you in there?"
That voice. I know that voice. It's the voice I've been thinking about ever since Olena had first spoke to me. The one that was so familiar. It had to be him.
I turned to the door as it began to open.
"Dimitri?"
Just as I said his name, the door opened to reveal a very tall, very handsome, man with shoulder length hair and dark brown eyes. Eyes that started back at me in shock.
"Roza?"
I could not move. He was right there. Right in front of me. But I could not move. I was just told that I have this possibly harmful condition and that I needed to be bedridden. Something I did hurt out child and now I have to tell him. I had spent so long trying to find him but now that he's here I don't know what to do. How long have we been staring at each other? Ten seconds? A minuet? Maybe more?
"Oh, do you two know each other? Olena asked.
"Rose, what are you doing here?" He asked without answering his mother "Are you okay?"
"I, I had to see you." His face was starting to blur in front of me. Oh great, more tears. "I had to tell you something."
He looked over to Olena and asked for her to step out so that we had some privacy. She obliged without questioning us any further but quickly reminded me to take things easy and to not stress.
When she was gone he did not hesitate to rush to the bedside. I sat up a little on the bed as he sat on the edge.
"I can't believe you are here." He said, placing a welcomed hand on my face. He still looked at me like I was an illusion. Like he still did not quite believe that I was in front of him right now. What did you need to tell me?" He asked.
I took a breath. "I couldn't do it Dimitri." I confessed, shaking my head.
"Do what?"
"I couldn't kill her. She's a part of us and I could not give that up."
"What are you... Are you talking about... Are you still?" He finally took his eyes off of mine and moved to where the blanket over was covering me. His hand met my stomach and my heart fluttered.
I nodded my head. "Yes, we're still having a baby."
I heard him sign in relief. "Oh Roza. I'm really glad to hear that. Are you okay?"
"I think so. I'm sorry that I got you mad and I'm sorry that I drove you away."
"Drove me away?" He asked quickly.
"We got in a fight and you left without a word. You ran away from me." This whole thing was my fault. All because I was so stupid and selfish.
"Roza, I didn't run away. At least I didn't mean to." His hand caressed my face again and the warmth of it gave me comfort. I noticed me looked a little sad now. "My grandmother was really ill. I got the call right after our fight. I took the next plane available but had no time to tell anyone where I was going. By the time I got here my grandmother had already passed.
"I'm so sorry Dimitri." I placed my hand over the one he had on my face. "You could have called."
"I lost my phone getting off the plane." He explained, I could also see guilt in his eyes. "And I'll admit after the funeral, I didn't feel like talking to you just yet. I was not looking forward to losing another person in my life and since you seemed to certain about your decision to end the pregnancy. I just wasn't ready. I'm sorry Roza. I know there should be no excuses."
"It's okay. I'm sorry Dimitri. I just didn't know what to do and I was so scared. But I know now that I want this child."
"I'm really glad to hear you say that Rose." He pulled me into his arms and kissed my lips. I didn't know just how much I missed his lips on mind until now. I didn't want to have this moment ruined but there was still something I needed to do.
"Dimitri, there's something else."
"What is it?"
"It's about the baby." I told him everything about how I got to Baia and about the barn and the blood. I told him about meeting his mother and what she told be about the baby and my condition and how I almost got the both of us killed and how I was now on bed rest.
"Everything is going to be fine Roza. I promise. I'll take care of you."
After our talk I felt better but I was starting to feel really tired so I started to fall asleep.
"Dimitri?" I said as I dosed off.
"Yeah."
"I really missed you."
"I really missed you too Roza." The last thing I remember before completely knocking out was his lips pressed against my forehead as he told me that he loved me.
