Chapter 4, Dimitri
I was too stunned to scream. I felt the worst pain I had ever felt in my life rip through my chest, but I was too surprised to see Dimitri there. My mind ran with a hundred different thoughts. Why was Dimitri there? Did he come back for me? Why did he think that even if he stopped the executioner from stabbing me, he could stop them from killing me? Was Lisa going to be okay now? Would Dimitri take care of Lisa? Wasn't a stake supposed to kill instantly? Why wasn't I dead?
Then Dimitri was there, his face hovering over mine. "Rose, Roza!" He was shouting at me, a look of concern on his face. "Roza, don't close your eyes, don't go to sleep!" I noted his idiocy at suggesting that I could sleep when a semi had just run over my chest, but slowly, the pain started numbing and I realized the wisdom in his warning. I wanted so much to close my eyes.
"Guardian Belikov!"The judge screeched. "That girl is sentenced to death for murdering Queen Tatianna! How dare you interfere!"
"Rose is innocent! I have proof!" My curiosity to see what Dimitri's proof was helped me fight off my grogginess.
"But first Rose needs medical attention. The stake didn't go into her heart, it went in right beside it, but she'll bleed to death if it isn't attended to immediately!"
"What is your proof, Guardian Belikov?" The judge persisted.
"I have Victor Dashkov with me." Dimitri told me. He had apparently come to the conclusion that if anyone was going to get me to stop bleeding, it would have to be him, because he pulled out the stake, then shrugged off his duster, covered the wound in my chest with it and pressed down. I suppose no guards came to haul him off of me because they were both curious about what Dimitri had to say and they were never exactly excited to kill one of the top role models for female dhampirs. The fact that he was a 6' 7'' killing god probably didn't hurt either.
"What does Victor Dashkov have to do with this?" The judge questioned.
"He killed The Queen! I can explain this later, just please get a nurse over here!"
The judge held out a hand, stopping the medically educated people who had made their way through the crowd from coming forward. "Victor Dashkov killed the Queen?" Obviously the judge had decided to let me bleed to death, then determine if I was innocent or not.
I was surprised that I could even think with the immense pain that was slowly spreading through my body.
"Victor killed the queen and made it looked like rose did it so that you would kill her and then Lisa would go crazy and be easier for him to control!" Dimitri snarled. "Rose needs medical attention NOW or he's going to succeed!"
What? Dimitri's explanation sank in and soon even the pain was blocked out by the realization that I needed to live to save Lisa. I tried to steady my breathing and keep my vision from going blurry, but it wasn't working. A black haze was slowly blocking out all vision. If I lost consciousness how could I keep myself from dying?
The judge looked down at us with cold, hard eyes. "Your word is still not enough proof, Guardian Belikov."
I reached up and dug my fingernails into Dimitri's arm as a burst of pain tore through my body. My vision was becoming blurrier by the second and I was barely able to see the desperation in Dimitri's eyes as he calmly told the judge. Victor Dashkov is tied up to the entrance gates. It won't be long until he's able to untie himself and escape." As the crowd broke out in chaos, Dimitri lifted me in his arms, shouted for one of the nurses in the crowd to follow him and ran toward the hospital.
"Rose, hold on, don't close your eyes, Rose!" he shouted at me. I tried, i really did, but despite my efforts, as Dimitiri broke through the hospital doors, my world went black.