When Spirit Shows Its Thorns

Chapter 7

I stayed on the couch with my mother, Dimitri taking over Abe's seat. "Mom, we're okay." I said as I looked upon Abe's back exiting the plane. I heard her sigh of relief and feeling her body shift; I took her hand and slightly squeezed it. "I think I could use a nap though." I could feel my body beginning to come down from its alcohol induced buzz. Dimitri stood before he could really find much more comfort and reaching for my other hand, led me to our couch. He laid us down, cuddling me to his front. "I hope there are bigger beds at Abe's house." I said closing my eyes. The couches on the plane were comfortably deep and would have been plenty big enough for my medium Dhampir height. With Dimitri's 6'7" muscular build added in, there wasn't much space left when we were lying down. He must have felt claustrophobic being squished between me and the back of the couch. "I like you being close, Roza." was his reply. Nothing else needed said and I drifted off into sleep.

"I knew you would sleep again eventually. You must be doing better if I can slip in." I heard his voice before I could see him. Adrian stepped from the shadow of the single maple tree that was standing beside the wrought iron table set I was sitting in. I took a good look at him. His eyes were bloodshot and his usual demeanor was gone. In its place was a more than usual crumpled Adrian. No amusement touched his eyes. He looked defeated.

"Adrian," I began, my voice faltering. He shook his head stopping me from saying anything more.

"I'm not done fighting for you yet, Little Dhampir. I know you love him and that a part of you always will, but you love me too. Even if you don't want to admit it, Rose, you do love me."

"Of course I do, Adrian." I said appalled to the idea that he would think that I had no feelings for him what so ever. "It just isn't the same." I continued in almost a whisper.

"I can give you everything Rose, anything you've ever wanted. A home, children, we'd be happy, if you would just give us a chance. You could give him those same chances."

"I don't want those things, Adrian. I only want Dimitri. I'm sorry that it is hurting you, but I can't let him go. I love him with everything that I am. Even if he and I could have children together, I am unsure if I would even want to. Look at what kind of life I had. I didn't even know who my father was until this year and my mother was so caught up with her Dhampir duties, I was probably just a fleeting thought to her a few times a year." I said frankly. "I can't leave Lissa and I couldn't devote the time needed to raise a child much less a whole gaggle of them."

"The Cradle Robber does. He wants children, dreams of a day when he has a few of his own even." He spat at me. "If you would let him go, he could accomplish that dream. Don't you love him enough to let him go or are you so selfish that you would hold him back? Keep him from fulfilling his own hopes and dreams so that one day he wakes up and realizes how much he had truly lost in life? He will begin to hate you for it, you know. Then what happens? Do you hold on to a shell of a relationship because you love him, knowing that he feels that way?"

"It won't be like that!" I yelled.

"You need to grow up Rose. Let him go and get over the Hero Worship thing you have for him. What do you think is going to happen in another five years? He is going to realize that there is nothing really holding you two together. You'll get, what, a weekend or two here and there out of a year? You're being selfish, Rose-to him, to me, even to yourself. One day he is going to wake up and when he does, you are going to be left cold and alone."

"You're wrong Adrian. Dimitri truly loves me. He had a chance for that life when Tasha"

"When Tasha what, offered him his dreams? You couldn't even allow him to contemplate it could you because you made sure to keep yourself close. You made sure to lure him in every chance you could. Your girlish fantasy of the Russian God and his student falling in love and living happy ever after is that of story books. Let go of Fairy Tales, Rose. Grow up and accept what is sitting in front of you. Accept that I love you and that we could be happy. Don't let your fantasy of him destroy what we have begun to build."

I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew that this would hurt Adrian, but I didn't know it would hurt him enough to make him so cruel. Adrian sat across from, silent and waiting for me to process his words. He looked almost hopeful.

"You don't fight fair." I whispered.

"It wasn't a fair fight to begin with." He countered. His gaze held me captive as his eyes gaze grew hard. We sat for a long moment, me a prisoner under his watchful eyes. In them I saw flashes of anger, defeat, and hope. Hope was at the forefront and it broke my heart to see him so shaken and unsure. The silence began to grow deafening around us; still I could not keep myself from breaking apart his words. Letting them slide through my thoughts. I hazily saw him straighten in posture as my resolve began to slip. Was I really holding Dimitri back from his dreams? Would I, Rose Hathaway, only bring heartbreak to his life? A life he now had a second chance at.

"I have to be enough for him." I finally cried out. "I wouldn't ever be whole in a life without him."

"He won't be dead, Rose. He will be somewhere in the world happy. He'd probably go to Natasha. It would be the best of both worlds, for him; protecting a Royal Moroi and a child or two to fill their days. I think you would be alright if you knew he was happy. We'd all be happy if you would just let go of him. Let me love you, Rose. Let yourself love me."

"I do love you Adrian." I claimed exasperated once again. "I love you, but"

"Someone is waking you Little Dhampir. The Cradle Robber, I imagine. Just think about what I have said. I'll talk to you soon." With his parting words, I was released from my dream and opened my eyes to see Dimitri peering down at me worriedly.

"Rose you were crying in your sleep." His voice was thick and laced with alarm. He wiped the tears away from my cheeks with his thumb as he asked. "You love him?" I didn't know how to answer him. What could I say to that? Yes, I loved Adrian, but it wasn't the soul consuming love I had for Dimitri. I don't know what Dimitri saw in my face, but he brought me closer to him, brushing his lips against my forehead and then resting his head on my shoulder. "What I would do if I could take away all of the pain I have caused you."

"When you're here, I don't remember any of it." I whispered. His head lifted from my shoulder and his lips gently stroked mine. I don't know who he was comforting more, me or him.

"Rest now, Rosa he said against my lips and returned his head to my shoulder.

I awoke alone on the couch. It was such an odd sensation. Since our escape from the warehouse, there wasn't very many moments that Dimitri had been away from my side. Sitting up I took up my surroundings. Lissa and Christian were sleeping on their couch. The Guardians were in their seats towards the back of the plane, some sleeping, but a couple talking quietly. My mother was curled up on one of the front couches, and on the remaining couch sat Dimitri and my father, talking.

My waking was not lost to them, as they both had turned their heads from one another to look upon me, my father smiling at me brightly. Dimitri gave me a small smile, exchanged a few more words with my father, and then returned to my side.

His expression was one of question. My father had turned to lounge on his couch with his eyes closed. Either he was going to sleep, or else giving us another chance for the appearance of privacy. "Adrian funded my trip to Russia on the condition that when I returned I would give him a chance. He wanted to try to build a relationship." I didn't need to express why I was in Russia. It was there, that I had first found Dimitri as a Strigoi. "When I returned he was there, not in a pushy way, but he was there all the same. I did come to love him, but not in the way he wanted me too." I felt the tears well in my eyes again, threatening to spill. "I love Adrian, Dimitri, but not in the way I love you. I could never love anyone as I do you."

"I understand, Rosa" I heard him say before his lips crashed against mine. Under his lips I felt all the fear and worry disappear from us both. This was what I wanted, what I had needed. I tilted my face towards him, giving him better access to my mouth and Dimitri lips took on a hungry desperation as they lay siege upon my own. Burying my hand in his hair, I pushed him closer as I opened my mouth underneath his. The world around me slipped away leaving only the awareness of Dimitri and the way he felt against me. I slipped my other hand under his t-shirt, raising it as my hand traveled up the muscles of his back.

The close by clearing of a throat caused Dimitri to pull away. Both of us were left wanting and trying to get our breathing under control. Looking up, I saw my father standing in front of us smiling. "We will be landing soon and as much as I love seeing two people in love, I am very certain, I do not want to watch my daughter carry out any sort of debauchery on my furniture." He quickly turned and walked to the couch my mother was sleeping on.

I looked back to Dimitri seeing he sat still in horrified embarrassment. "Well Comrade that sounded like permission to do all sorts of debauchery on his furniture when he isn't watching." I wisecracked before we both burst with laughter.

I glanced at Christian and Lissa, who now were being roused by our laughter and snuggled back against Dimitri. I was looking forward to finally getting off this plane, even if it was for just a few days.