"See, if they just let me go out with them, I could help kill Strigoi," Christian defended, hands placed on his hips and a smug look on his face.
I covered my yawn with my hand and shot him an unimpressed look, "All you did was light a candle." I pointed at said candle, the flame slowly burning the wick. "I made a bigger flame with my hairspray."
Adrian laughed, "She's right. You're going to need better firepower than that if you want them to let you out." He smirked at Christian and then turned his attention back to the magazine in hand; it was one of Lissa's that she brought with her to the rooftop.
In a ploy to take my mind off the fact that I still wasn't on patrol detail yet, Lissa offered for us to go to the roof and watch Christian's attempt at showing off. We laid out a blanket and had snacks and reading material.
"Am I more of a summer girl or a winter girl?" Adrian asked, leaning back to rest against Viktoria and angling the magazine so she could see.
She elbowed him away, "I can punch you and see if purple is your colour."
Christian sneered at us and focused forward again, breathing deep and positioning his hands in front of him. I could see the vein on his forehead pulse and whispered it to Lissa. She smirked, shaking her head.
"His aunt is really good at defensive magic and I think Christian wants to be just as good," she explained.
I toyed with one of the magazines, flipping through the pages. "Where is she? Maybe she could actually teach you something useful."
"Funny," he grumbled. "She's in New York living in another compound with her husband."
"Why don't you live with her?" I asked, I didn't know too much about Christian, other than the fact he was annoying and that he lost both of his parents. It was one of the things that he and Lissa bonded over—they both knew the loss of their parents.
I supposed I did too, but it felt rude to say that when my parents were actually alive. They were just assholes.
Christian's eyes flicked to mine for a moment before he focused on his stance again. "I just didn't want to." He took another deep breath and then outstretched his hands and a large flame was produced. It was much bigger than the previous tries, I was even able to feel the heat it gave off, but it didn't hold for long.
"Wow, that was almost impressive," I teased after a moment. I chuckled when Christian flipped me off in response, returning to practising.
I looked back at the magazine and paused on a page. Images of a happy family playing together; some advertisement for jeans, but it made me think. Thoughts of my parents kept returning since Dimitri told me more about them searching for me. I wanted to know more about all of it.
Their bedroom door had remained closed since I first arrived—I couldn't go through it before, but now I felt like I needed to if I wanted answers.
"What's wrong?" Lissa asked as I rose to my feet.
"I think I'm going to go through my parent's room," I replied honestly. She climbed to her feet as well, a look of surprise on her face.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded, "I need answers and I doubt anyone else is going to give them to me." I glanced at Christian and Adrian that were both lost in their own worlds. I looked back at Lissa and then at Viktoria, "Want to join me?"
"What are we looking for exactly?" Viktoria asked from the doorway. Both she and Lissa were hesitant to enter my parent's room, while I marched in and started opening the bedside drawers.
I never would have done this when younger, but I had been left in the dark by them for too long. "Anything that looks like it would have details. Journals maybe. Or books." I didn't have a clue of what to look for.
My mother always kept a journal, always writing in it at her desk back home. She never told me what was in it, hiding it when she would notice me hanging around outside her door. My best guess was that if there was something, it would be in that journal.
Lissa shrugged and went to the built-in closet, opened the doors and peered in without touching anything. Viktoria was still unsure. "I don't know, Rose. I mean, they told mama to not say anything. Maybe they don't want you to know for a reason."
I scoffed. I slammed the drawer closed and then got onto my knees to look under the bed. "They never should have kept any of this from me. They can shove their reasons up their–" I paused.
Under the bed were two clear containers packed full of books.
Jackpot.
I dragged them both out and opened the one closest to me, I grabbed the first book and examined it. The binding of the book was plain, with a brown leather cover. I opened to the first page and let out a noise of triumph. These were my mother's journals.
I picked up a couple of the others, flipping through the first couple of pages and found they were a combination of my mother's and father's journals.
"I recognise that book," Viktoria exclaimed, coming to join me and pointing at a book in the other container. She tilted her head, "I swear I saw your parents talking about it once with mama and babushka."
I put the journals back into the container and picked it up. "Can you grab that one?" I asked and then moved around her and Lissa to carry the books into the living areas. I dropped it on the coffee table and made room for the second box. "There has to be something in here," I muttered to myself.
Viktoria placed the other box and I took the lid off it. This one was full of textbooks, pieces of paper wedged in between pages. I picked up the one she had pointed out, it looked old, with a worn spine. Moroi History.
I picked up another. Prophecies through history.
The last one I picked up caught my attention. The Ancients.
"I guess pick a book and see if there's anything good in there," I offered with a shrug, putting the books back and taking three journals instead, and sat on the far end of the couch. Lissa and Viktoria each took a book and start going through them.
We read for an hour before Viktoria called it a night; Lissa remained, seeming to be enjoying herself. I put down the journal I was reading, the pages filled with writing about my mother's day and thoughts, but occasionally there was a mention of her and my father researching something.
"They were really interested in the Ancients," Lissa commented, opening another book and skimming the notes.
"What are those?" I asked, shifting closer to read over her shoulder. My parent's notes read like cryptic half-thoughts that they never finished. Even the journals read more like a code as if they were worried that someone else would read them.
"They were around hundreds of years ago, said to be the ones before the Strigoi and Moroi. They were monsters that killed and could use magic. It says here that they were the beginnings of our kind, Moroi being created when some chose to stop killing. And the Strigoi were the ones that gave completely into the blood lust."
I had no idea about the history of Moroi. I didn't even know the basics of dhampirs and I was one. "What happened to the Ancients?"
"They were killed," Lissa replied. She picked up another book and flipped through it until she found a passage, showing me the drawing of a body pulled apart. "They staked them and cut their bodies into parts and burned them. Apparently, it took a lot of people to do it. The Moroi thought the Ancients were a threat to the world."
"That's a lot of work to make sure what was dead stayed dead," I grimaced, pulling a face at the image again. "None of this helps me though. It looks more like a weird obsession with history rather than a great big secret."
Lissa's hand covered mine, squeezing it gently, "Maybe there isn't a big secret. Maybe they just didn't want you to be out there fighting Strigoi?"
I frowned, ignoring the soft look she gave me. I had considered it, but then there was all the Strigoi that seemed drawn to me. And then there were the dreams.
I didn't even know how to approach those dreams or the voice I heard.
Lissa was still looking at me, I pressed my lips together in a small smile. "Maybe," I replied.
My eyes were tired, words blending and blurring on the page. When I stretched I felt my back pop and muscles protest after being hunched over for so long. I wasn't sure how long I had been reading, but I knew it was at least a couple of hours.
Lissa left a while ago and I had promised I would go to sleep as well, but I still had too many questions. So what was meant to be just one more book turned into two, and then three. Now I had a pile of books that I had gone through.
I rubbed my hand over my eyes and stood. I wanted snacks and probably needed to walk a little. My eyes were half open on the walk down to the cafeteria, hoping to find something to eat in the vending machines. Instead, I was surprised to find the cafeteria open and serving food.
"You're up early," Dimitri's voice spoke beside me.
In my half-awake state, he scared me and made me jump. "What the fuck, Dimitri!" I yelled. I spun and glared at him, putting on a tough face in hopes he wouldn't mention how unaware I was. "What are you doing here?"
He raised an eyebrow at me, "I'm getting breakfast."
It took me a moment to realise Dimitri wasn't dressed for patrolling, but instead in a pair of loose jeans and a faded shirt.
How late was it?
"You've already finished patrols?" I rubbed my forehead.
"Yes. Have you slept?" Dimitri asked. His hand twitched as if he was about to reach for me but stopped himself. "You look tired."
We were still finding our footing. It had only been three days since he told me he wanted a real relationship and I hadn't given him a proper response yet. I knew I had to soon. I clasped my hands together, and then decided to cross my arms instead, "I've been reading. Guess I lost track of time."
Dimitri nodded. "You should go sleep, we have training later," he reminded me with a small smile. Our training sessions were more like flirting with punches; it was basically our foreplay and always left me feeling pent up and craving more. But Dimitri didn't want just sex.
Why couldn't I just tell him how I felt?
I ducked my head before I gave in to the voice telling me to just lean forward and kiss him. "Good point. I guess I'll go back up…and sleep."
"Good night, Roza," Dimitri whispered with an affectionate look in his eyes that made my stomach flip. I watched his back as he walked away, my lip caught between my teeth.
"Night, comrade," I mumbled to myself.
I dragged my feet back to my apartment, fully intending to sleep, but as I passed the books I was drawn back in. There was something here, I knew there was. I just wasn't seeing it.
I dug further into the container that held the journals, sifting through them until I found one of my father's. My mother's journals read more like diaries, but his were more research notes with some diary entries. With the journal in hand, I went to my room and settled in bed.
Just this last one and I would sleep.
"Rose?"
I jolted, twisting to look behind me at Dimitri. He looked annoyed but concerned as he took in the scene of me sitting on the floor of my living room with books laid out around me. "What are you doing here?" I asked, irritated that he was interrupting me. I looked back at the book in my hand, and then at the one opened on the carpet.
"What are you doing? I've been knocking for a while."
"So?"
"Rose," Dimitri started, he stepped closer to me, "you were meant to be in the gym an hour ago."
I ignored him and focused on the books instead. None of it made sense.
"Rose," he tried again but I interrupted him.
"What do I have to do with the Ancients?"
That made him pause, expression morphing into confusion. "What do you mean?
I grabbed his hand and tugged him down until he was on his knees beside me. "Look. This is Abe's journal, and he kept writing about Strigoi and some prophecy from twenty years ago that I can't find." I pointed to a passage in the journal, "I didn't think too much about it, but here he mentions me. More are showing up, they can sense Rose. We have to move to the compound soon to keep her safe." I read aloud to him, then turned to him expectantly. "He's talking about the Strigoi that keep hunting me, right?"
"What is all of this?" he asked, running his fingers along the pages of the opened books.
"And here," I continued, searching through the books again for the right one, "they keep mentioning the Ancients and have all of these notes on them. I think they are looking for a way to kill them."
"The Ancients were all killed."
"They don't think they were," I argued. I threw the books down and then climbed to my feet. "Why were they researching all of this stuff? And why are Strigoi searching for me?"
Dimitri watched me as I started to pace, "I don't know. I've never been told about this stuff."
"And there's more." I stopped with my back to Dimitri. Ever since I first saw my name mentioned in my father's journal, I had been panicking. It was like a piece clicking together and the cryptic notes in my mother's made sense. She kept mentioning avoiding things, scared that they would have to move again. I figured it was Strigoi in general, but now I realised it was because they knew they were drawn to me.
What if it was all connected? The Strigoi, the dreams, and that voice.
"What do you mean?"
I slowly turned to face him. I knew then that I couldn't keep hiding it.
"I've been having dreams…"
Dimitri climbed to his feet, slowly approaching me, "Dreams?"
"Weird dreams," I amended with a grimace. "There's always this voice talking to me. I didn't think much about it before but then that night that I ran off…I heard that voice."
Not holding back, Dimitri's hand cupped my cheek, encouraging my eyes to meet his. "The voice in your dream?" I could see the hesitation in his eyes, brows knitted together in confusion, but he was trying to keep an open mind for me.
"Yeah. I heard it calling me." It was the weirdest part of all of it, and I still had no explanation. "I could hear it in my head, calling me to some warehouse…and I almost followed it."
He paused, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he considered my words. "That was a stressful night, maybe you are misremembering it."
My face fell. "You don't believe me?"
"I…"
I broke away from his grasp and marched back to the books. "This is why I didn't want to tell you. You think I'm crazy."
"No I don't," he defended as he followed me. "Hearing voices just isn't something that happens."
"Neither is Strigoi hunting one dhampir and yet that's been happening!" I argued. "You don't know anything for sure. The only people that do know what the fuck is happening to me are my parents or Yeva…"
Yeva.
I stalked past Dimitri and out of the apartment, I could hear him following, calling my name as I ran down the stairs and to his floor. This whole time I had accepted that they wouldn't tell me more, barely pushing, but I'd had enough.
I didn't even knock, I turned the handle and marched purposely into Dimitri's apartment. I shouldn't have been surprised that the very person I wanted to talk to was already seated at the table, a cup of tea in hand and biscuits on the table. Yeva glanced at me and I froze in place.
My chest was heaving, part of me aware of Dimitri's presence behind me. "What do I have to do with the Ancients?" I demanded. My fist clenched at my side. I didn't know what I would do if I was denied answers again.
Yeva laid her thin hands on the table, her expression not giving anything away as she studied me. "It's time," she finally declared.
I felt anger boil in me, clenching my teeth to stop myself from demanding more. "Time for what?"
Her eyes locked on mine, lips pressed into a thin line. "Time to call your parents."
I've had to accept that this story is going to be longer than planned. Shocker.
So get comfy. I am hoping to post more often now that the ficfest stuff is done. If you haven't already had a look, I have three new one-shots on my page :)
Who is ready to get some more information about what's going on with Rose? Exciting stuff :D
Thank you for reading. I love to hear what you think :)
