When Spirit Shows It's Thorns
Chapter 2
"Comrade," I questioned in astonished disbelief. Didn't he realize that they were going to kill him?
"Belikov," Christian was grabbing at his arm as he stepped back in front of Dimitri. "Not without us. We don't trust them just yet." Dimitri nodded his head once and I was finally able to push myself up off the ground and entwine my fingers with his. Glancing back at Lissa, I could see she was struggling to stand. Patches of her skin were still looking raw from Christians earlier fire storm that has surrounded and protected them. Why wasn't she healing herself? She must have caught what I was about to say as I heard her voice in my head.
"I'm okay. In pain, but it's not bad. I used a lot of Spirit in restoring Dimitri. I just need a feeder or twelve." Her attempt of a joke did nothing to settle my worry for her.
"Dimitri, help me with Lissa, she is tired from using so much spirit." I whispered, looking at Christian. He understood. Don't let anyone near us. I didn't have to speak the words. If he turned to help Lissa up, the Guardians would ascend on us before any of us could blink. I hoped that in my wording I had let Christian know that Lissa was going to be okay.
Dimitri released my hand, turned, and lifted Lissa onto her feet. She stumbled trying to walk, and grabbed Dimitri's arm to steady herself. "Walk beside him Lis, just follow Christian, and I'll be right behind you." Lowering my voice, I then asked, "How are we going to get through them? Dimitri is unprotected on his left side."
"I got them, Rose." Christian stated glancing at down the semi-circle of Guardians surrounding us. It was then that I noticed the balls of flames floating above his hands once more. "When I say run, we run. Dimitri carry Lissa, she won't be able to keep up." I wasn't sure what he was planning, and I really didn't have time to think before I saw a wall of fire flash a few feet in front of us. Once it reached higher than Dimitri's head, it began to creep forward towards the line of Guardians. Did Christian mean to kill them? I couldn't even finish the thought before Christian quietly said, "Run."
The three of us took off running toward the door, the wall of fire rushing towards the Guardians, but staying just a few feet in front of us. As it reached the Guardians they began to shift backwards towards the front corners of the room. Just as the fire reached the door, the flames opened, and spread to form a semi=-circle behind us. "Keep running." Christian yelled. The fire coming to block the door we had just exited from, blocking any Guardians from exiting the room.
Running out of the building, we followed Christian to the SUVs outside. He ran around to the driver side of one, and I jotted beside Dimitri. Tossing open the back door, I allowed him enough room to slide in to the back seat with Lissa still in his arms, and jumped in beside him.
Christian floored the gas pedal before my door had fully slammed shut beside me. I glanced a look back just as we were pulling onto the street, seeing that all of the Guardians were running to the remaining vehicles left next to the building. "Where do we go?" I asked.
"The Alchemists?" Christian asked, looking straight ahead and dodging at a neck brace speed through traffic.
"No, they will be just as bad, if not worse than the Guardians." I replied.
"Back to Court, then? Lissa asked.
"No Lis, we can't. At least not Dimitri and I. The Queen may forgive you two, you're Royal. I'm just unruly Rose Hathaway, someone that can be easily disposed of."
"You're wrong, Rose. The Queen will listen to me. She will listen to Adrian. You will be fine. You both will be safe." Lissa said with innocent conviction.
Adrian. Oh God, how could I forget about him? Would Dimitri forgive me? Would Adrian forgive me? How was I going to explain to either of them? Looking over to Dimitri, I see he is sitting with Lissa tightly held in his arms, his face turned towards the window. In the reflection of the dark glass, I see a look of resignation and a single tear sliding down his cheek. I place my hand on his arm, feeling his muscles slightly flinch under my touch. "Dimitri," I mumbled barely above a whisper, but still, he did not turn to look at me. Could he already know about Adrian?
Leaving my hand on his arm in hopes that it would keep him reassured that I was still nearby, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes and sighed. Opening my eyes, I looked to Christian. "We need a plan."
"We should go back to Court." Lissa stated.
"I'm not sure about that, Lissa." I said.
"Listen to me. We call Adrian. He will talk to Queen Tatiana. He will clear things up. It will be okay."
"She has a point." Christian said in agreement with Lissa.
"We can call him, but we can't go back to Court, unless I know a hundred percent that Dimitri will be okay."
"So what do we do until then? Christian asked.
"I can call my father." I said as I fell back into the seat, hating the idea of having to ask Abe for anything.
This caught Dimitri's attention. "Your father? I thought you didn't know who he was." His voice was emotionless and worried me.
"I discovered who he was when I got back from Russia." I simply stated. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to reveal who my father was to Dimitri just yet.
"Who is he? How could he help?" Dimitri asked as he moved his gaze back to the window.
Sighing and readying myself for a reaction, I wasn't sure of, I whispered, "I think you know him as Zmey."
Dimitri's face, turned to look at me as if asking if I was serious. I just looked at him not really knowing how to verbally answer his gaze. His expression of indifference finally broke, and amusement flashed in his eyes. Then slowly, he began to laugh. At first it was just a slight shaking of his body, then a strangled noise emitted from his throat, before turning into full on laughter. I really wasn't expecting this reaction. After his remorseful mood the last thirty minutes, I wasn't expecting to his laugh either. "Zmey is your father." Dimitri rasped out between bellows of laughter. "That explains a lot." He finished as his laughter died down to a slow chuckle.
"Do you think he would really help us?" Christian asked.
"I don't know." I whispered. "I don't really know him well."
"Oh, I think this is something Zmey would love to get his hands in." Dimitri said as he glanced down at Lissa. "He could probably get her a feeder too."
"So Adrian or your dad, Rose?" Lissa asked.
"Well, I guess we can call both. Adrian can work on smoothing things over at Court and hopefully Abe will be able to help us hide away somewhere." I answered. Lissa nodded and leaned into Dimitri, closing her eyes and giving into her exhaustion. I felt a flash of jealousy at her comfort in Dimitri's lap and placed my hand over his. He turned is hand and wrapping his fingers around my own hand, swallowed my palm in his grasp. His gaze returned to the window, the reflection once again showing his gaze had returned to one of tortured resignation. I realized I wasn't going to get much more interaction from him and turned my attention to my phone. Who should I call first? Abe was probably the best bet. Adrian would have too many questions. Plus, even though our hearing wasn't as good as Moroi, Dhampir could still hear better than a human. I really didn't want Dimitri to overhear anything that Adrian might possibly have to say to me. I knew that I was placed in a horrible predicament. I did care for Adrian, but Dimitri, was my life. He was my heart and soul. I knew I would have to be honest with him at some point, but I didn't want to cause him anymore hurt than was necessary right now. I also knew I was going to have to break things off with Adrian, but it wasn't something I wanted to do on the phone, and definitely something that I didn't want to do with Dimitri right next to me, either.
Sighing, I looked to Lissa. She appeared to be sleeping and when I tested the bond, I felt I quiet hum, proving that my assumption was correct. "Christian, we should find a place to pull over for a bathroom stop." I said, looking towards the front of the car.
"Alright." He murmured as he took a turn off of the main road. A few minutes later he let me know we had about ten minutes to the next town if I thought I could wait. I nodded and picked up my phone, found Abe's number and dialed.
I held my breath and waited for him to pick up. I would Adrian once I was safely tucked into a bathroom stall.
