Hey guys, here is the next chapter. Thanks again to my beta, who ROCKS! Well, enjoy the chapter and I'll see you on the other side.
We set off before I could even close the door. We sped away, trying to get to the freeway as quickly as possible. I closed my eyes, breathing slowly as I tried to get my body to kick out of fight or flight and lower my adrenalin levels. I felt a warm, calloused hand cover mine. I opened my eyes and looked down at the hand that covered mine, gasping when I saw the state of it; the wrists were all bruised and bloody, where Dimitri had been straining against his restrains, his hands had innumerable scratches and grazes from god knows where. I knew all of the other captives were in a similar situation but at that point, I didn't care.
"Dimitri, your hand!" I said in shock. He looked down, as if to notice the injuries for the first time; I swear he was only observant about other people.
"I'm fine Roza." He said quietly, moving his arm to go around my shoulders. His movements were slow and looked pained. I think he must have seen the worry on my face, as he smiled a little and whispered "I'm fine, stop worrying." He whispered in my ear, leaning his forehead against my temple as he spoke to me. I pulled back a little to look at him, a sceptical look in my eyes, but it soon disappeared when I realized how close our faces were together. As if reading me, Dimitri leaned forwards, pressing his lips gently to mine. I returned the kiss with the same passion. I heard someone clear their throat. I pulled back at little, turning my head to the side and looked at Eddie, who's face looked somewhere between amused and awkward.
"Here," he said, thrusting a small first aid kit towards me. I took it, thanking him and turning towards Dimitri, grabbing his hand before he could protest. I gave him a look, telling him with my eyes 'Don't start' as I took antiseptic wash and cloth, wiping Dimitri's wrists and the cuts on his hands. He watched my movements carefully. I wrapped a bandage around each of his wrists, and then looked up at him.
"Anymore?" I asked, holding up the antiseptic doused cloth. He hesitated before answering; perhaps deciding whether to lie to me or not. Apparently he decided on the latter, as he moved his hair away from the side of his head, revealing a gash that ran from his right temple up to his hairline. I moved the hair away, shifting a little closer as Dimitri bent his head forward a little, so that I could reach. Dimitri winced slightly as I touched the cloth to his wound, but didn't move after that. I knew that it stung like a bitch, but he was trying not to make a fuss; I knew he would need stitches, but tape would have to do for now.
"Thank you Roza" he said, his voice taking on a husky quality. I looked into his eyes, seeing tenderness as he looked back at me.
We were literally jolted out of our daze by our SUV turning off the road.
"What's going on?" I asked. I knew I could get lost in Dimitri's eyes, but I knew we couldn't be at court yet; it was hours away. I looked outside onto a dirt track.
"We need to stop; none of us are in any fit state to drive all the way back to court," explained Alberta from the driver's seat, her eyes darting from the road to looking at me in the rear-view mirror, "so we are pulling in here. This is the closest safe house, and a close by family has offered their guardians to help keep watch while we wait for a court jet to take us the rest of the way. There is a doctor on his way as well, to check we are all fit to fly." As she finished speaking, a modest looking house came into view, illuminated by the car's headlights. As we stopped in front of the house, middle aged Moroi emerged onto the front porch; along with someone that I was assuming was his guardian. We all got out of the car and I wrapped my arm around Dimitri's waist and he put his arm around my shoulders as he lent some of his weight on me. To everyone else it would just look like an affectionate gesture, but I knew he had too much pride to look weak in front of the other guardians; I gave him support without letting anyone know. Alberta walked forward, shaking the hand of the man who stood on the porch and speaking to him. As we walked forward, I could just catch the end of their conversation. He shook his head a little,
"It's no trouble. You defend our race, the least I could do is lend you my guardians and my services." I began to wonder what such services could be, until Alberta turned around to introduce him.
"This is Dr. Zeklos; He has offered us the use of his Guardians and will treat anyone who needs medical attention. Now, when we are all inside, we will meet in the living room and we can sort everything out."
Everyone made their way inside revealing the aforementioned living room. In the center there was a large coffee table, surrounded by arm chairs and couches; all of which looked old and didn't match. Off from that, to the left, was a small kitchen and pantry which was filled with canned and packaged food, as well as about a month's supply of bottled water. At the far side of the living room, there were three doors. I assumed two were bedrooms and one a bathroom. A couple of the guardians that had come with me brought in duffle bags that we had brought, as well as those that had been recovered from the HQ. We had tried to salvage everything we could; most of the documents had been burned or shredded, but allot of what was in the living spaces on the floor below was still there. I knew Dimitri was in pain, so I made him sit in one of the chairs. Everyone else followed suit; those who had been captured taking the seats, everyone else either standing or sitting on the floor. I felt Dimitri's hand on my arm, pulling me down so that I sat on the arm of the chair which he sat in. He laced his fingers in between mine, bringing my hand up and kissing it. I looked at him, at his eye level because of my higher position. I leant forward towards him, resting my forehead on his.
"I love you" I whispered, relieved that we were back together.
"I love you too, Roza" he said back, just as quietly, then kissed me gently. I pulled back, remembering that we weren't the only people in the room. I turned just in time to see Alberta walk in and stand in front of us.
"Right," she said, her eyes scanning the room. "We need some of you to help Dr. Zeklos' guardians on watch. There are only a couple of hours until sunrise, but we still need to be vigilant." Her eyes scanned the room again. "There is a high alert back at court due to the shortage of guardians, so no one can enter or leave court after sunset. Because of this, there won't be a plane available to take us back until after the sun is up." I was about to ask who would fly the plane, with Morois evasion to light and all that, until the answer came to me
"Alchemists?" I asked, surprised they would go anywhere near court unless they got something out of it too. Alberta nodded,
"They're not too happy about it, but even they have to listen to our Queen." Then she looked at us all individually, "Anything else? She asked, looking around the room. When no one answered she continued, "Well Dr. Zeklos will be in here for anyone who needs medical attention, even if you are too proud to admit it." I squeezed Dimitri's hand at that point, making sure he knew he was too proud. I could see him roll his eyes in my peripheral vision. "Anyone who is willing to be on watch come see me. There are beds for anyone who needs to rest in the two rooms to the left," she pointed to the back of the room, "and plenty food and water in the kitchen. Oh and all the bags we found back at the HQ will be left in here, come and collect yours if it's here. If it's not, well, sorry about that." With that, everyone when to do whatever they needed to. Dimitri stood up and I had a feeling I knew why. I slid down off the arm and into the chair that Dimitri had just been occupying, my legs hanging over the arm, before speaking,
"You're not going on watch, comrade, I won't let you." He turned to look at me, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips as he looked down at me, I just stared back, a challenging look in my eye. "Rose, you heard, they need people to help guard."
"Yes people Dimitri, not you. You don't have to be the one to pick up the slack all of the time; especially not when you're injured." He opened his mouth to argue back, but it seems the look on my face stopped him. He sighed again, running a hand through his hair as he crouched down in front of the chair, so that we were at eye level.
"Roza let me protect you, please." His voice was much softer now, for my ears only. I shook my head slightly.
"You don't need you to protect me; I can do that myself, that's what you taught me to do remember? But I do need you, I'm not losing you again," He opened his mouth to speak, but I held my hand up to stop him, "which means you have to stay here, let the doc treat you then get some rest." He looked into my eyes, probably to see if there was any room for negotiation. "There's no point in me arguing is there?" He said, giving me a half smile.
"Nope" I said as I shook my head, happy that I had won β until he spoke again that is.
"There is a condition though; if I'm not allowed to go on watch, neither are you." He raised an eyebrow at me, completely aware that it would annoy me.
"What?" was my eloquent answer. I realized that he had turned the tables on me, so mimicking his words; "There's no point in me arguing is there?" I said to him.
"Nope" he said laughing, then leaned towards me and kissed me briefly on the lips.
Most people had left the room while Dimitri and I had been in our own little world. Dimitri had stood up again and moved to look through the pile of duffle bags until he found his own. I stood too, looking around the room for the doctor. Behind me, the front door opened then slammed shut again. I whipped my head around, ready to face whatever had made the noise.
"Sorry," said the Doctor, struggling with a large green bag with a white cross on the side, "I didn't mean to startle you." I tried to get my heart rate back to normal, telling my body that there was no danger.
"It's fine," I told him, shocked that my words came out a little breathless, "I was looking for you actually. Dimitri needs stitches for the cut on his head, as well as some bandages to keep his broken ribs in place." Saying as Dhampirs regularly break bones and generally get beaten up, we tend to be able to self-diagnose by the age of twelve, as well as know how to fix what is broken. Saying as Dimitri is a Dhampir, he could do the same to me. He came back over to where I stood, dropping his duffle bag between the armchair and the sofa as he spoke.
"And Rose hit her head so needs checking for concussion, as well as getting her wrist wrapped where it's sprained. You should probably check that cut on her stomach as well, could need stitches." He was looking at me while he spoke, trying to make the point that I needed help as much as he did. Dimitri sat down on the sofa, a small, triumphant smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes at him before looking back at the doctor, who had watched our banter with an amused expression.
"Check him first, his wounds are older." I said, knowing Dimitri couldn't argue with that. "I'll go boil some water" I said, moving to the kitchen area, finding to my delight that there was an electric kettle to do most of the work for me. I turned the kitchen taps, but nothing came out. I sighed, and then moved towards the pantry area to grab a big bottle of water. Only using the bare minimum, I flicked the switch on the kettle and put the water back. I looked through the pantry, looking for anything that I have to cook or find a can opener to get at. On the top shelf I found a big box of energy bars. I took them down; leaving the box on the counter so others could find them, taking out three. I poured the boiling water into a large bowl, taking it back to the doctor, as well as the energy bars. I passed one to Dimitri, "Eat." Was all I said and he obeyed. I put one on the coffee table next to where the doctor sat facing Dimitri, as well as the bowl of water. The Doctor thanked me absentmindedly as he took the tape off of Dimitri's head wound, before dipping some gauze in the water and cleaning a needle. I sat back down in the chair which I had occupied before, eating my food quietly as I watched the doctor do his work.
"I'm guessing you two are a couple?" He asked. I wasn't sure where he was going with that. After all, he was a royal, so he could completely dismiss our relationship; say we are irresponsible and selfish, like all of the others did. But the way he spoke was conversational and curious rather than accusing.
"Yeah," I said, unsure how else to respond.
"It's nice," he continued glancing at me before looking down to where he was threading his needle, "you don't often see Guardians who are together. Shame really, to make them sacrifice love when they have already sacrificed so much for us, it doesn't seem fair."
I was shocked yet pleased by what he had said; Dimitri's face portrayed the same emotions. It made me glad that not everyone who didn't know us was judging us in a bad way.
"I think we need more people like you back at court"
"People like me?" He asked, giving me a curious look.
"People who speak sense." He laughed quietly, wrinkles showing around his eyes, the only indication, apart from his greying hair, that he wasn't as young as the rest of his features would make you think.
"Oh I could never stay at court. The politics bores me more than the people do." I laughed outright, enjoying the doctor's bluntness; Dimitri seemed taken aback by it.
"Yeah," I said, "defiantly need more people like you at court." I shifted in my chair, tucking my legs underneath me and wrapping my arms around myself as a chill ran through me. I hadn't noticed how cold it was in the room.
"There's a sweatshirt in my bag if you are cold." Dimitri said, not looking up. I didn't even know how he could have seen me shiver βhe had been looking down the whole time. I swear he could read my mind. I reached down the side of the chair, lifting the bag onto the arm of the chair before unzipping it. I searched through until I found a very familiar item.
"You still have this?" I asked in disbelief, pulling an old sweatshirt with Cyrillic writing on it, which I had once worn over a very small, black dress. It was a little tattered; the sleeves were frayed at the ends, there was even a rip along the bottom of the sweatshirt, presumably where one of the Psi-hound had clung onto me. However, it was surprisingly clean; there was no sign of dirt from the forest floor, or blood from my wounds. I slipped it over my head, feeling the fluffy fabric against my skin. Dimitri was sitting straight now β the doctor had finished closing the wound on his head and had busied himself looking through his bag. Dimitri looked at me, smiling at the sight of me, wrapped up in his sweater. I knew he liked it when I wore his clothes, I suppose it shows other guys that I'm off limits; which was an obvious sign of Dimitri's possessiveness. On most people it would be annoying, but on Dimitri, I found it sexy, but saying that, I think he could be wearing a bright pink tutu and a tiara and I would still find him sexy.
"I didn't want to throw it away." Was all he said, but his eyes showed all of the meaning behind his words. He kept it to remember that night, well the first half of it anyway. I closed my eyes, wanting to rest before the flight back to court, but the doctor woke me up again by tapping my arm.
"You can sleep once you have been checked over." He said. I groaned, but went to sit where Dimitri had been, saying as he had left his seat to get some water. The doctor started by shining a bright light in my eyes. "Now, tell me your date of birth." I sighed; this is going to be a long night.
What did you think? Love, hate, let me know. I only have one exam left, so I should be able to UD relatively quickly.
Thanks Guys,
Gina xx
