Once we had landed in Moscow, we waited in the airport for our next flight. That one took us to Omsk, the city that contained the nearest airport to my home town. Despite being the nearest airport, it was still almost twenty four hours away from my home town.

Once we had landed in Omsk, I rented a car for Rose and myself and we started the next part of our journey.

As we drove, I couldn't decide if I was dying to arrive to see my family, or if I was dreading it, in case they turned me away. Rose didn't say much, but just having her there was a massive comfort to me.

As I drove through the small village of Baia, I found myself slowing the car slightly. I wanted to take in each and every aspect, not missing any of it.

I took in all of the houses – both old and new. The school's, the shops, the walks…all of it.

Finally, we reached the house I was looking for.

It was an old building. Two storeys high with a brick front. It wasn't anything special, but it was familiar.

It was home.

I sat out in the car in silence as dusk approached, trying to muster up the courage.

Rose let me do just that, but after a long while, she leaned over and kissed my cheek, giving me the push I needed.

"Showtime, comrade. They're waiting for you."

I took a deep breath and tried to relax a little. Failing to do so, I mentally prepared myself to be turned away from the family. At least I would be ready if that was to happen.

I nodded, letting Rose know I was ready and climbed out of the car. I was giving myself another mental pep-talk when I heard the front door slam open. Before I knew it, my youngest sister had hurtled herself into my arms.

Shock was the only thing that registered in my system. It took me a few moments to calm down and realise what was happening.

I embraced her back. Once she had pulled back, I got my first proper look at her. She was seventeen now, and looked a lot different than when I had last saw her.

She had grown up.

She was about to say something else to me, when she suddenly noticed the figure standing a couple of metres away. With a cry of what could only be joy, she launched herself at Rose and hugged her just as tightly as she had me. I watched in happiness as my baby sister embraced my girlfriend so lovingly.

Viktoria started thanking Rose profusely for returning me to my normal state. The confused look in Rose's face told me she didn't understand. It was then that I realised we were speaking in Russian.

I turned suddenly when I heard more footsteps running down the path. I turned in time to see my other two sisters and my mother rushing towards me.

I engulfed each of them in a tight hug and we comforted each other, all of us emotional at finally being reunited.

"Come in, come in," my mother said after a while, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Let's sit down and talk."

I followed my family inside into the hallway and then into the living room. Everything looked almost exactly how I remembered it - the bookshelves, the sofas, the wooden floor…everything except for the young boy and the two babies in the room.

The boy, I realised, was my nephew Paul. He had only been a toddler when I had left. The older of the two young girls, I knew as Zoya, my sister Karolina's other child. I remembered a phone call I had received a few months before I had been turned from my mother, telling me that Sonya was also pregnant. This was her baby, I realised.

I settled myself on the couch, my eldest sister, and my younger one sitting either side of me. My youngest sister sat by my feet and leant against my legs. I felt the circle of love and warmth surrounding me as my mother joined us.

"This is a miracle," my mother said. It was unusual for us to not speak in Russian to one another, but they were doing it for Rose's sake. I knew from the welcome we had both received that they adored Rose almost as much as I did. "I didn't believe it. When I received the message, I thought it was a mistake. Or a lie." She sighed happily. "But here you are. Alive. The same."

"The same." I repeated. That wasn't completely true. I felt as though I had changed. I was more careful. More appreciative of the small details, more aware that every day was a gift and that everything can change in the space of a heartbeat. But in the sense that my mother meant, yes, I was the same.

"Was the first story…Was the first story a mistake, then? You weren't truly…truly a Strigoi?

If only.

I wished more than anything that it was a mistake. But it wasn't. I had been an evil, undead creature of the night and I had murdered innocents. Lots of them.

I thought of the days when I had captured Rose and used her as a personal bloodwhore. I could still remember the dazed look in her eyes when she was high on vampire endorphins. I remember the bruises and bite marks on her neck. It felt as though I was looking at these memories through a stranger's eye.

I looked over at Rose and saw that she was gazing back at me. The look on her face told me she was remembering the same things I was…just from a completely different point of view. Looking into her eyes, I also saw the love and forgiveness she had given me…and that gave me the strength to answer my sister's question.

"No, I was Strigoi. I was one of them. I did…terrible things." I didn't want to go into details about what I had done – not that they would want to know. "I was lost. Beyond hope. Except…Rose believed in me. Rose never gave up."

It was important to me that they knew this. That Rose was the sole reason for my second chance at life.

"As I predicted."

My grandmother's voice rang through the room. I turned and saw her standing in the doorway. She was one member of my family who hadn't changed at all since I had last seen her.

"You did not." Rose said suddenly. She had been quiet the entire time, but I saw a sudden spark of life in her now. "All you did was tell me to get out of here do that I could 'do something else.'"

"Exactly," my grandmother replied. "You needed to go restore my Dimka."

She began to walk towards me and I met her halfway. I hugged her small frame to mine, greeting her properly. Once we had finished embracing, we returned to our seats.

"But you never said that's what I was going to do," Rose continued the argument. "You can't take credit for that."

"I knew." Was my grandmother's reply.

"Then why didn't you tell me that's what I had to do?" Rose demanded. I watched their comical banter with amusement. Both my grandmother and Rose were quite stubborn…and obviously clashed with each other.

Yeva thought about her answer for a moment. "Too easy. You needed to work for it."

I almost burst out laughing at the speechless look on Rose's face. I decided right there and then to stop Rose in her tracks. Yes Rose was stubborn and if she tried, she could usually get her way…but Yeva was…well Yeva. You'd be foolishly to even try and argue with her.

Rose caught my warning look and I could see an internal battle waging within her. She always had a hard time of letting the little things go. She nodded slightly at me, indicating that she would let it go. Just this once, I guessed.

"But how did it happen?" Sonya asked, changing the subject. "The change back to a dhampir, I mean."

I glanced at Rose, wondering if maybe she wanted to answer this particular question.

She did.

"My friend Lissa used spirit while, um, stabbing him with a silver stake," she explained.

"Lissa?" My nephew said suddenly, his eyes wide. "Do you mean Queen Vasilisa?"

"Oh yeah," Rose said. I knew that she forgot on a daily basis that her best

friend was in fact the queen of the entire Moroi world. But not many others took it quite so calmly when they found out we were her acquaintances. "Her."

I watched Rose during the brief pause after she spoke.

Her face was full of worry. I knew she had been nervous to leave Lissa to come with me to Russia but she had made arrangements and had made sure that Lissa had protection twenty-four seven while she was gone. She knew how much seeing my family again meant to me, but it was nothing compared to the fact that she had left Lissa for a week to be with here when I faced them.

We stayed up for hours after that – just talking. My family wanted to know every detail about my transformation back to a dhampir. I asked my own fair share of questions about what I had missed here in Baia over the past few years but somehow, they always directed the conversation back to me.

It suddenly occurred to Karolina, that both of her children were flat out on the floor. My mother announced that it was bed time, and we would talk more the next day. She led Rose and me to our bedroom.

On our way up, my mother informed us that there would be a 'small' get together here at the house.

"Everyone wants to see you," she said. "As incredible as it is for us, it's even more unbelievable for them. So…we just told them to stop by tomorrow. All of them."

I wasn't really a party-type of guy – especially when the 'party' revolved solely around me and it was something that I didn't even want to remember, never mind talk about with people I hadn't spoken to in years.

But of course, my mother had put a lot of thought and work into organising this. And I wanted to make her happy.

"Of course," I said to her. "I look forward to it."

She smiled back at me and then bade both Rose and I good night. I kept my own smile on my face until the bedroom door had closed behind me.

I moved and sat on the bed, feeling tired. What had I gotten myself into? I could have just said that I'd prefer if we could just spend the week together as a family. Talking about my Strigoi days was something I had only done with Rose…and even then, I didn't go into all the details.

"Why so blue, comrade?" Rose said. She had obviously been watching my mumbling and approached me. Settling herself in my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck.

"You know why," I replied, not playing any games. Rose knew better than anyone that this was something I didn't want to do. I found myself running a small piece of her dark hair through my fingers; its softness soothing me. "I'm going to have to keep talking about…that time."

"It's true," she answered truthfully. "But they're only going to talk about that in order to find out the rest of the story. No one's going to focus on what you did as Strigoi. They're going to want to know about how you came back. The miracle. I saw these people earlier this year. They mourned you as dead. Now they're going to want to celebrate you being alive. That's what the focus will be." She leaned down so that she could kiss me gently. That one kiss distracting me and changing my mood drastically. I suddenly became very aware of how close we were. "That's certainly my favourite part of the story."

I pulled her as tightly as I could against me. "My favourite part was when you slapped some sense into me and got me to stop feeling sorry for myself."

Thinking about the day that Rose and I had finally admitted to ourselves and to each other of our feelings, I lay down on the bed, pulling her down on top of me.

"Slapped?" Rose asked. "That's not exactly how I remember it."

"Maybe you just need to help remind me," I said suggestively.

"'Remind,' huh?" she repeated. She suddenly glanced behind her. "I feel bad enough having our own room in your mom's house! It's like we're getting away with something."

I reached my hands up to her face and caressed her soft cheeks. "They're very open-minded," I told her. "Besides, after everything we've been through? I think we might as well be married, as far as most of them are concerned."

"I got that impression too," she told me, looking lost in thought.

"Not a bad idea," I said, teasing her. I had suggested on more than one occasion about my feelings about married…and each time she had replied with the same answer. I knew where she stood on the whole idea, but there was no harm in teasing.

She tried to elbow me…and failed. "Nope. Don't go there, comrade."

"You say that now," I told her, trying to stop myself from laughing at the serious look on her face. "but one of these days you'll crack."

"No way," she replied as I traced her pattern of her tattoos, the heat of her skin having a strong effect on me. "You've given some pretty convincing arguments, but you're still a long way from winning me over."

"I haven't even really tried," I told her, running my hands from her neck into her hair. "When I want to, I can be very persuasive."

"Yeah?" she said, manoeuvring herself so that she was now straddling my waist. "Prove it."

"I was hoping you'd say that."