When Spirit Shows It's Thorns

Chapter 6

We landed in Russia to refuel, but Abe said it would be evening before we would move on. He had business to attend to but that we should be fine as long as we stayed on the plane and he would have one of his Guardians return to replenish the food and drinks that were available to us. With nothing else to be said, Abe and four of his personal Guardians set off.

"Well we have a lot of time on our hands, anyone up for some cards?" Lissa asked breaking the silence between the seven of us left behind. No one was really in the mood for card games, but it beat having any of the emotional conversations that I knew needed to be held. I gave her a small nod.

A Guardian I didn't recognize produced a deck of cards and Lissa, Christian, Dimitri, and I formed a circle in the floor of the plane between the couches. After a few boring rounds of Black Jack, Christian grabbed a bottle of Schnapps and four shot glasses, deciding that maybe a game of Bullshit would break the morose mood that had taken over everyone. "If alcohol is going to be involved, perhaps we should introduce some food." Dimitri murmured and rose. He came back minutes later with a basket of snack cakes, granola bars, and peanuts, along with some cold juice and waters. "There wasn't anything left in way of real food. When Guardian Aldack returns will be the first time we will restock since we first started flying." He said apologetically.

Realizing it had been at least a full day since I had eaten anything, my stomach grumbled and I reached in grabbing two snack cakes, three granola bars, and a bottle of juice. Before I could open the first granola bar, my stomach rumbled loudly once again. Lissa giggled and rolled her eyes. Christian was just looking at the basket and then the bounty of my pickings that lay in front of me like I had grown a third head. Dimitri gave me a small hug and reached for a bottle of water and a few granola bars from the basket. "Eat Roza, you're probably starving." I demolished the food in minutes. It did make me feel a little better. "Now, teach me this here drinking game." He smiled as I swallowed the last morsel of my chocolate cupcake.

With that we didn't need any more encouragement. Our stomachs full of sugary junk food, Christian shuffled and doled out the deck of cards. Lissa filled our shot glasses. I picked up my thirteen cards and placed them in order, telling Dimitri to do the same and taking the time to notice the two Aces I had been dealt. Nice, I thought. Laying them face down in front of me I called, "Two Aces." and tried to keep my face passive. Christian laid one card face down in front of him and Lissa one card also. Through the bond I could feel her deceit but did not glance at her face, afraid to let on I knew she would be the one 'bullshitting' this round.

Dimitri kept looking at his cards and then giving us all a confused look. "Lay down your aces, or if you don't have any you have to try to bullshit us and make us think you do." I knew he had at least one ace in his hands because of his confused expression and glances between us and his cards. He laid his single Ace face down. Christian was looking between Lissa and I trying to figure out which one of us were lying about our cards. If he called Bullshit on Lissa she would have to drink, if he called Bullshit on me, he would have to drink. He cut his eyes back and forth between the two of us. I saw a flash of amusement as he settled on Lissa and had to hold back the giggle forming in my chest. Her face was beginning to flush and she had her eyes tightly squeezed shut. She couldn't lie to me through the bond, but apparently she wouldn't be able to lie to anyone else either.

Christian smirked, leaned over and next to Lissa's ear said, "Bullshit, Lissa!" Lissa's eyes flew open in shock before she turned a sweet and innocent gaze towards him.

"Are you sure about that?" she cooed at him in a sweet voice that held a bit of a dusky promise. Christian swallowed harshly and cut his eyes nervously towards Dimitri and I. His look said it all. He was nervous that he had pegged the wrong person. He looked again at Dimitri, shook his head, and looked at me. I stared him down daring him to challenge my cards. "I-I'm sure Lissa." He stuttered. Lissa groaned, flipped her card over and quickly downed the shot sitting in front of her before refilling the glass.

I heard Dimitri make a thoughtful noise from beside me and looked over to see him grinning deviously. "You can't lie very well yourself, Roza." His voice was low and gravely in a very good way against my ear. "You may hold a good front for your friends, but I know your tells." I shivered against the brush of his breath that slid across my ear and neck. As he pulled back, I saw the devilish glint his eyes held. Oh Vlad! He was a quick learner.

We made it through the deck three times before Aldack boarded the plane carrying several boxes of pizza. The cards and the alcohol had loosened us up. We were now laughing at a story Dimitri was telling from when he was at St. Basil's. The moment the scent of pizza hit me, I swung my head towards to door of the plane and sniffed appreciatively. "Mm, "I sighed. Dimitri chuckled and stood.

"Be right back." He said and took a handful of steps towards Aldack, grabbing two pizzas, and returning. He set the boxes down in front of us and turned taking some plates and napkins from my mother. She settled herself next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. I wanted to shrug away, but in my inebriated state, I leaned into her, laying my head on her shoulder for a moment. I straightened myself up when Dimitri handed over a plateful of pizza. Digging in to the food, I smiled my thanks to him.

"I really am sorry, Rose." She apologized as she reached for a few slices of pizza and placing them on her plate. I looked at her and saw that she truly was shadowed in grief. It was odd seeing any emotion on Janine Hathaway's face. In that moment, I knew no matter how distraught I was with my mother, I had forgiven her. I looked down at my plate of pizza noticing I had already demolished three slices. I could feel myself beginning to sober up and was about to tell her that we could let bygones be bygones when I heard the door to the plane open.

I jumped into a fighting stance, readying for whatever came through the door. My mother came to my side, "It's your father." She chuckled lightly as she rubbed my upper arm. I relaxed when Dimitri slipped his arms around me from behind, pulling me against his chest.

A split second later, my father appeared through the door, followed by a very smug Yeva. She took in the occupants of the plane grinning like a cat that had eaten the canary. "Babushka!" I heard Dimitri call out gleefully. She returned his greeting with something in Russian and my own smile began to slip when I felt Dimitri's arms tighten around me. I smiled again when he placed a gentle kiss upon my temple. "Yes, I am lucky to have someone as beautiful as my Roza." He spoke in English.

"I knew she would bring you back to us" I heard Yeva's heavily accented words say with authority and had to thank Vlad that she was too old to be an instructor at any of the academies. Yeva could be scary! "The dreams told me so."

Dimitri nodded and we joined Yeva on a couch, the pizza, liquor, and cards forgotten. Lissa and Christian took up their abandoned couch and looked on to the three of us in interest. Yeva glanced over to them and taking in Lissa said. "Ah Princess, you will bring forth a much needed change, but it will be a dark road before you find the light again." Lissa's eyes widened and she visibly shuddered as she shrunk deeper into Christians grasp.

"Babushka," Dimitri warned. Yeva only smiled and waved her hand as if she was brushing away a bit of dust in the air. I huffed at the fact the old woman, who refused to speak a word of English to me for weeks, had smiled and in near perfect English had scared Lissa. I patted Dimitri's thigh with my hand and left him to chat with his grandmother as I went to comfort Lissa. I wouldn't be able to keep up with their conversation anyways. Yeva was determined to hold it in Russian.

"It will be okay, Lissa. Just brush it off." I assured her as I settled on the opposite side of the couch that she and Christian sat on. She hugged me and whispered her thoughts of just how scary she thought the old woman was. We both fell into laughter over her words. I caught my parents gaze and sighed. "I think I better go talk with them." I shrugged.

"Yeah, I think it is time." Lissa agreed. Raising up slowly and taking a few deep breaths I walked over to join them on their couch at the front of the plane. They each reclined in opposite corners of the couch discussing past memories, but looked up as I settled between them. Neither of us spoke as I looked straight ahead. I caught Lissa's nod of encouragement and let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"So what is the plan, Old Man?" I asked Abe. Hopefully I could stall any talking about what had already talking for a bit longer.

"I thought perhaps we would take a long route to my home, stopping to let a select few of some very trusted people look upon your restored Dhampir along the way. If enough people see he is not a threat, Court can't very well make him disappear, now can they?" I nodded my agreement, hoping his plan was all that was needed. "Until Adrian and the two Guardians that I allowed to talk with Dimitri can get things smoothed over, I figure we will just stay moving. We can spend a few days at my home to rest and then move on to another place. I have several houses throughout the world that we can use." I gasped at the mention of Adrian and nodded my reply again. So the plan was to just stay on the run. It felt like I always had to run to or from something. I wondered briefly if it was ever going to change.

Taking in my reaction to hearing Adrian's name, Abe's voice lowered and he called my name questioningly. I knew what was coming. "Can we wait until we get to Turkey?" I asked, watching as Yeva and Dimitri stood. They made their way towards us as I saw Abe nod from the corner of my eye.

"It is time I return home, Zmey." Yeva said as she came to a stop in front of my father. "Rose, you brought our Dimka back to us. We won't forget." She then turned and began ambling towards the door. My father stood and glancing apologetically to the rest of us followed her out along with four of his Guardians.