Our group had split up with three vehicles. We used the large black SUVs from the parking garage which were equipped with heavy armor. It was specially designed for guardians and was necessary if they ever needed to protect or rescue a moroi.
I had wanted to drive, but no one had even hesitated in saying no. I had a license, but for whatever reason, nobody trusted me enough to be behind the wheel. Dimitri was driving, and although I was still a little bummed out from not being in his place, I trusted him. He always knew what he was doing.
Eddie sat in the front passenger seat while Damian and I sat in the middle row. Alberta sat on her own in the very back. In the car behind us was Stan, Yuri, Abe, and Janine. The last car held the rest of the guardians that had come with us. Damian was giving directions to the house, but I occasionally made small conversation when we went down long roads that stretched for miles. We were far from Spokane now.
I was thinking about the pictures Dimitri and I had looked at and decided to pull them out from the bag I had taken with me. I was hesitant to bring them up at first, but handed the envelopes to Damian anyways.
"What's this?" he asked, opening one of the envelopes.
"Just look," I told him. He gave me a skeptical look before taking the pictures out, placing one behind the other as he skimmed through them. He paused for a few of them.
"Damian...did you take these pictures?" There was something in my voice that seemed to put everyone on edge. I was quiet, but my voice almost sounded like it was going to break. Damian was helping us now, and I needed to know if he had taken any of the horrifying pictures of me. There was an uncomfortable tension in the car as we waited for his answer.
"No," he finally confessed. "I didn't take any of these."
"You sure about that?" Eddie asked bitterly.
"Yes, I'm sure. Look, while you all have every right to hate my guts, I really was just following orders. I wouldn't stoop that low." Damian's eyes rested on me. "Seeing you like that was more disturbing to me than you think."
I scoffed. "And you didn't do anything to stop."
Damian looked like he wanted to say something, but one look at the road distracted him. He uttered some directions to Dimitri, and the next thing I knew, we were driving down a familiar road surrounded by forests. I looked at Damian again, wondering if I should bring up the picture of me and him. Instead of speaking, I simply pulled it out of my bag and gave it to him.
"I don't remember this," I admitted. The remorse on Damian's face was starting to grow the more he looked at the image.
"I don't remember how much you had to drink, or many drugs you were on, but you weren't sober. You had lost a lot of blood that night, too. Those guys...I think there were multiple—they beat you. Your injuries were so bad you couldn't even walk."
I caught sight of Dimitri's eyes in the mirror which had darkened. I hoped he wouldn't lose control while he was driving. It would be like crashing the van all over again.
"I remember that part...well, the abusive part. I just don't remember what happened afterwards," I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. I urged Damian to keep talking. My curiosity was starting to grow despite the uneasy topic.
"You wouldn't stop crying," Damian explained, resting his gaze straight ahead as if he was looking at something far away. "I know you weren't yourself, but you only calmed down when I held you. I think that's when something in me started to break. You were talking to me about your life at the academy. You were ranting about wanting to be with your friends, about wanting to go back home and protect your loved ones from the pain you felt."
"I still do," I interrupted. "I still want to protect them. Moroi or dhampir—they're equal to me. I used to believe only the life of a moroi was worth protecting, but things have changed. Guardians are so undervalued when they're literally putting their lives at risk every single day to protect someone else. The moroi government will never understand. In fact, I'm starting to hate the whole 'they come first' crap. Our lives should be equal, not categorized into levels of importance."
My rant seemed to leave everyone speechless. Dimitri glanced at me several times, and there was a look of thoughtfulness on his face as he took my words in. He almost looked surprised to hear me say things like that, but he didn't seem disappointed or opposed.
"Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that whether my loved ones are a moroi or dhampir or human, I will always protect them. When I was kidnapped, I couldn't protect anyone. That made me feel helpless."
Damian didn't say anything else, but he didn't need to. He knew how bad things had been a long time ago, and he still felt guilty about it now. I still remembered how torturous it all was. I spent a solid two weeks as a sex slave before being turned into a strigoi hybrid. I was raped and drained of blood almost every night. Sometimes, I was even forced to watch it happen to other girls while I was drugged up and unable to do anything. The nights in which I fought back usually resulted in getting beaten up until I could barely walk. My body had been covered in bruises and cuts from head to toe, but all of them had been healed when I was turned. Regardless, all the evidence was in the pictures and videos.
"There, on the right. Turn in there," Damian said. Dimitri put his right signal on to alert the guardians behind us as he turned into another narrow road. The ground wasn't paved, and the rocks made the rest of the car ride bumpy. At the end of the narrow road was what looked like our destination: a white house surrounded by fences.
All three vehicles parked outside. As soon as the engine shut off, I opened my door and crawled out. Dimitri followed me soon after, stopping me before I could reach the fences.
"Hold on," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a silver stake, handing it to me. "I wasn't going to give this back yet, but today is an exception. This is strictly for your protection. Remember, this stake is your friend, and friends don't hurt each other."
I nodded, feeling a little bit guilty as I took the stake. I slipped it into the long side pocket of my leggings so that it would be tight and secure on my body. Dimitri and I walked around the car, meeting up with everyone else at the door of the fence. The lock that had once been there must have been cut off at some point as the door was now slightly open.
"The lock's broken," Abe pointed out. "Looks like someone must have visited this place."
I walked through the doorway, looking at the house to search for any signs of a break-in. "This house is pretty much abandoned now."
"Since the authorities got involved, the rest of the girls were sent somewhere else," Damian mentioned. "It was a thing with Sebastian. Any time he suspected trouble, he'd send the girls to another place. We moved around a lot."
"I wonder what would have happened if I'd moved with them; if I would have ever gotten out or been found," I said sadly. We were at the front door of the house now and had just stepped up onto the porch.
"Why do you think I was trying to help you and Nevaeh escape?" Damian asked. He was behind me now while Dimitri stayed beside me. He was checking the house through the door's window while the others checked the surroundings of the house to make sure there were no threats. I didn't answer Damian's question, but it made me wonder why he actually had such a change in heart.
The sound of the door squeaking as Dimitri slowly pushed it open diverted my attention. We both had our stakes out, ready for any threats that could have been in the house.
"I can't sense anything," I whispered. The house was just as dull as it had been the last time I was here. I felt strange being back here again, but at least I wasn't a prisoner this time.
"I'm going to go check some rooms," I started, heading for the stairs.
"Stay with him, Eddie," Dimitri ordered. I didn't even notice Eddie had been behind us the whole time. He nodded, keeping a watchful eye on Damian. Dimitri gently took my arm in that moment and led us both upstairs.
"Are you my bodyguard now?" I asked, my lips quirking up into a half smile.
"I'm just protecting what's mine," Dimitri replied casually. "Plus, with your crazy plans, it's probably best to keep an eye on you."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, nudging him in the arm. We were at the top of the stairs now. All the rooms were open, and I intended to check all of them. The house was pretty big, and if I didn't know this place, I would have thought that whoever owned the house had quite a bit of money.
"Roza," Dimitri said, tipping my chin up with his fingers. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," I answered. I still felt a little unsure of myself in this house, but my worry for Nevaeh kept me from backing out. Dimitri and I stayed upstairs but searched different rooms. Most of them only had what I'd seen last time: a floor mattress, dirty blankets, and some slutty clothes piled up on the floors. When I came across the room I had been staying in, I paused for a moment, taking the room in. Nothing had changed about it, but there were memories that lingered in here. Most of them had been with Kira. We had only really been talking for about two weeks, but she was the only close friend I had made here. I remembered her giggle, her bubbly voice when curiosity took over, and even her never-ending cries when she was upset. Even though she had been a dhampir at the time, she had also been so...human.
I left the room before my emotions could take over. Something else caught my eye in a different room—something a little more vibrant and child-like. I walked inside to find a much smaller mattress covered in a pink blanket. On the floor was a colouring book along with crayons, toys, and some children's clothes. Beside the colouring book was also a pile of paper which had been drawn and scribbled on by a variety of different colours.
My chest tightened when I realized this was definitely where Nevaeh was being kept. For four years, she was here, shortening the length of the crayons over time as her colouring book filled up. I walked closer, finally sinking to my knees near her bed. I picked up her own drawings, smiling when I saw pictures of rainbows and what looked like animals. It was all so pure and I could feel myself becoming emotional.
"Rose, it doesn't look like there's any..." Dimitri had just walked into the room when he saw me sitting there.
I put the picture down and picked up one of her old stuffed animals, brushing some of the dust away. "This was her room."
"I figured," Dimitri said, looking around at the little mess on the floor. I took his offering hand and stood, still holding the toy. It was just a basic teddy bear, but all I could see was a little toddler running around with it in her hand. My damn maternal instincts were going off.
Dimitri reached up, using his thumb to wipe a tear off my cheek. "Hey. We'll find her. No matter how long it takes, we won't stop."
"I'm so worried about her. I don't know if she's okay or where she is, or what those people are doing to her. I want to slaughter everyone who lays a hand on her. I want to keep her away from all the dangers in the world. I want her to grow up and have a good life—not surrounded by crap like this."
To my surprise, Dimitri actually smiled, looking at me with a look of admiration. "You know what you sound like?"
"Like an insane, over-protective, dramatic freak—"
"Actually," Dimitri interrupted, "you sound like a mother who wants to protect her child."
I beamed, almost taken back by his words. "I'm not even her mom."
"I'm well aware of that, but that's how you treat her. You may not be her biological mom, but you pose a fierce protectiveness for that girl that I haven't seen since the day you defended Lissa in Portland. Think about it—you gave her a safe place to stay and an opportunity to grow up in a healthy environment."
Dimitri was right. Nevaeh had been safe and happy at the academy. She had proper food and a good supply of blood to keep her healthy. She had friends too, and with my constant visits, she had someone to look after her.
"Come on," Dimitri said, holding his hand out. I slipped my hand in his, linking our fingers together and giving him a tight squeeze. He brought me downstairs where we met up with Abe, Janine, and Alberta. Dimitri and I immediately broke our hands apart when we saw my parents, but it was too late. Alberta might have known about us, but my parents didn't. Abe raised his eyebrows, but he didn't actually seem that surprised. Well, not as surprised as my mother. She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked hastily.
"Still checking other parts of the house. We haven't found anything on this floor," Alberta informed me. I could tell she was aware of the awkward situation and gave Dimitri a sympathetic look.
"We should check the basement before we leave," I suggested. I really just wanted to break the tension, so I made my way to the basement and went down. It was just as cold and dull as I remembered. Even with the lights on, there was an uncomfortable sense of uneasiness down here. On top of that, my senses were going off again. It wasn't necessarily a strigoi...but there was something or someone here. I couldn't see a ghost, so that wasn't it either.
I kept my voice to a whisper, facing the people behind me who had followed me down. "I can feel something...or someone."
"What do you mean you can feel someone?" Janine asked, pulling out her stake. Everyone had theirs out and I was surprised to even see Abe holding one. It was rare for a moroi to carry stakes on them.
"Do you even know how to use that?" I asked him, momentarily distracted.
Abe smirked. "Believe it or not, sweetheart, I've had a good few years of training myself. They're quite handy, and it can be used on more than just strig—"
The sound of glass shattering stopped us all in our tracks. It came from the room in the far back, one I recognized the second I laid my eyes on it. It was the room I had been experimented on, the one where I had been turned into a cold-blooded monster. I swallowed, trying to push my fear away as I approached the door. Within seconds, Dimitri was beside me, moving slightly in front as if he was inconspicuously trying to protect me. As he opened the door, the bright lights from the room lit up his face. The lights were so bright. It had nearly blinded me when I was on the table, and it was still difficult to look at them now since I was slightly sensitive to light.
I listened closely and caught onto the sound of a rapid heartbeat and nervous breathing. It couldn't have been anyone from the group, because everyone here was fairly calm. There was someone else, and they were definitely in this room.
"Dimitri, there's someone here. I can hear them." I moved past him and stepped into the room, still trying to hold back my fear. My own breathing started to increase when I saw the metal table in the middle. The counters weren't messy as the research files had been taken somewhere else, but I could still see computers and tablets that hadn't been touched in a long time. The fridge full of blood bags was still there, enhancing my thirst. I wanted to look away and ignore it, but something else caught my eye. Between the fridge and the wall was a small space where I could see someone's foot on the ground. There was blood on it, but whoever was hiding behind in that little space wasn't a strigoi. Or were they? I was usually able to sense them easily, but right now, I was confused.
I put a finger up to my lips, telling the people behind me to be quiet. I snuck towards the corner as quietly as I could, holding up my stake. I took the opportunity to leap into the small space and grabbed whoever was hiding by the neck, pinning them to the wall. I was ready to strike their heart until my eyes met theirs...and then, my mind went blank.
"Kira?" I gasped. She was still wearing the same clothes as before, but it was now dirty and ripped up in some areas while others had dried blood. Her hair was a mess, and there were fresh tears pouring down her cheeks. It looked like she had been crying for hours based on the swelling around her eyes. Her red rings were gone, but her irises were still red. Her skin had gotten some colour back, and she wasn't nearly as cold as she had been when she had attacked me.
She was trembling so much. I could smell fear on her, and fear as strong as this was almost non-existent on a strigoi. They never cried either. They didn't hide away because they were afraid. Something was wrong here. I lowered my stake and slowly let her out of my grasp, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I didn't see a cold-hearted murderer. I saw a broken girl who was vulnerable and afraid. I saw someone who had just gotten their humanity back.
And then it hit me. She had taken my blood. She had changed. I turned her into a hybrid...and now we were sired.
Fuck.
Soo, what did you think? Rose and Kira's little sire bond (as well as Kira's humanity restoration) will be explained in the next chapter, and the damaging effects it has on her mind. Please, please review! :)
