DIMITRI P.O.V
I wasn't sure where Rose had gone, she had been talking with Isaiah off to the side, which stirred up some emotions in me that I refused to acknowledge. When I looked up again, they were walking towards the caves, and it took everything in me not to make her come back.
I sat with the rest of their family around a fire, while they all told stories of the 'old times.' I was intrigued, these stories sounded somewhat familiar, but had a different twist to them. It didn't seem like too long, before I heard my name being screamed in the distance, I was alert immediately, jumping too my feet, I turned and saw Isaiah, as he barreled towards me, I grabbed his upper arms,
"What, what is it?" I asked, scanning the area behind him, then it hit me, Where was Rose?
"I'm – I'm so sorry, I ran into the woods, and I knew she would have to come after me, I – I didn't think there would be any lost ones out there! She – made me - She made me leave when they found us!"
No. "How many were there?" I ordered, Roza could take care of herself, I knew, but if there were too many…
"Four, she killed two, then screamed at me to run." He caught his breath for a few seconds and I fought the urge to shake him, "She was hurt and the other two had her cornered."
My heart lurched, she was hurt, outnumbered, and I wasn't there.
"Where were you!? Show me where you were."
"Off to the side of the first cave, you'll see an opening."
I turned and looked at the others, "Your people need to get inside, now." I ordered, as I took off to where the boy had pointed. I heard Angeline in the background say, "She actually killed them?! Oh god…" I heard an alarm behind me then and knew the people were receding to cover, I ran into the passage, about 10 feet in, I heard the snarls of strigoi, and heard a woman's feral screech, "KYLE!,", I broke through the branches in time to see Rose lift a stake in line with the woman's heart as the man to the side, circled and grabbed her around her waist,
"No!" I yelled, and ran forward as he lifted her from the ground, I jumped to the woman's side, So much for screaming for help I thought, as I shoved my stake through her heart. The man's surprise at seeing me and watching me kill the woman caught him off guard and his grip on Roza's waist slipped. She thrashed weakly and I could see that she was struggling to stay conscious. I took in her blood soaked jenas, she wasn't in shape enough to fight anymore, and at that second, he grabbed her again. This time, he gripped her below her breasts, and I saw his arms tighten around her, she let out a strangled scream, and I could've sworn I heard a cracking noise.
"NO!" I yelled again, lunging forward, I carefully snaked my arm around Roza's neck and pulled her away gently, to make sure I avoided any possibility that I would accidentally hurt her. I dragged my stake across his face, he screeched in agony and let her go immediately instinct, and he dropped Roza to the ground. While he was distracted I shoved my stake through his ribs, and watched as he paled and went limp. I stayed alert for a second more waiting to see if there were more. Rose didn't get back up, and my heart skipped a beat, god what if she was…no., When I was sure, there weren't anymore, I dropped to my knees beside my Roza. She was lying on her back, her legs off to the side,
"Dimitri…?" Her voice was weak with pain.
"It's me, you're okay, you're okay." I said gently, relieved that she was conscious. I felt blood on my hand, I turned her leg to the side slightly, and she whimpered,
"I know." I said gently, "I have to make sure it's okay to move you."
I inspected the wound the best I could through her jeans, I would have to strip her down later to take care of it. I was sure she had a few cracked ribs, maybe broken.
"Is-is Isaiah okay?" She choked, I couldn't help the small sad smile that crept to my lips,
"Yes, he's alright, they didn't touch him, you got him out in time. You were amazing, Roza." She smiled slightly, but I could tell she was in pain, her breathing was labored,
"I pressed my head to her chest, "I need you to take a breath in, Roza." He said gently,
Her breath was shaky, but she did it, her lungs were intact and unharmed. I leaned back up and I saw her eyes flutter, "Hey, hey don't do that, I'm gonna get you out of here soon."
She nodded, and I pulled her shirt up and probed my fingers along her stomach to make sure she wasn't suffering internal damage.
"I'm sorry, this is gonna hurt, but we need to get you out of here." I said gently, then I picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the woods, I carried her towards the house we were staying in, and Angeline met us, holding the doors open for us as I carried Roza in, who was only half conscious, into the room me, her and Sydney were sharing. I lay her on the middle mattress, her eyes were only half way open, Angeline disappeared for a second and then came back carrying a small box,
"There should be everything you need in there." She whispered, "I'll make sure everyone leaves you alone for awhile." She said gently, none of the hostility she had had before lingered in her voice, probably because Rose had just saved her brother, she looked at Rose's injured body, and I could have sworn I saw tears in her eyes,
"I'm so sorry I shouldn't have judged her the way I did, I didn't even know her. I hope she's alright."
"She will be." I said, "She's a fighter, she won't let go."
"She's definitely a fighter." Angeline whispered.
"Thank you." I replied quietly, and she shut the door behind her, I turned a lamp on, and opened the small box,
I pulled out a small pinpoint flashlight,
"Alright, Roza, look at me, look at me." She was in shock, but was still responsive and she slowly looked towards me,
"I need you to follow my finger, alright?" She nodded, she winced, and closed her eyes for a second as I shined the light in her eyes, but she opened them again, and did as I said.
"Alright, your responses are good, you have a concussion but it isn't too severe, I'm going to take a look at your leg first, try to get the bleeding stopped, then I'll check your ribs, I wouldn't be surprised if you cracked or broke some." I told her. She winced at the idea of having broken bones, I hated seeing her in pain, but I could see her fighting through her fog.
"That's right, hang on Roza."
I looked at the gash on her leg, and then unbuttoned and unzipped her pants, if she hadn't been as out of it as she was she probably would have made some remark, but right now, she was too weak.
Gently, I began to pull them down, she whimpered, and I put my hand on the inside of her leg to hold her still, as I slowly pulled them down and then off, trying to not disturb the wound.
"Alright, I'm going to turn you on your side, and make a tourniquet, okay?"
She didn't say anything, but gave me a small nod,
I turned her over carefully, and she gave a small cry of pain, and I winced, I put my knee in between her legs, propping her leg up so I could treat it.
Her breathing became labored, and I waited till it was back to a more normal rate, I reached for her bag and then thought of something, a pillow case. I yanked it off,
"Alight, here we go." I warned her gently, before setting it up and tying to tightly around the top of her leg, she choked in pain, and I ran my hand over the top of her thigh, in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. I then rummaged through the bag looking for some sort of pain reliever, to my surprise there was a syringe case with a small but, good amount of anesthetic. I got the needle ready, and when she saw it, she moaned in displeasure, I couldn't help but smile, she hated needles.
I took the waistline of the back of her panties in my hand, and she gasped,
"No, I don't need it."
I couldn't help but give a small smile, "Yes, you do, and you know it." I said,
"I can take the pain." She argued weakly, not wanting to get the shot, especially in her bottom, she squirmed and I put a stern hand on her hip,
"Don't." I ordered, "I'll hold you down if I need to, and something tells me I could take you in a fight right now."
She sighed and resigned, closing her eyes as I pulled her panties down slightly, and cleaned the spot, before pressing the needle through her soft skin, she whimpered, but then breathed out as the anesthetic began to take effect and the medicine spread.
I took a small towel out and soaked it in alcohol, the smell stinging my nose,
"Oh god." Rose said, recognizing the smell,
"You won't feel it." I said gently as I placed the towel over the wound to cauterize it and hopefully stop the bleeding.
I pulled it away after about a minute, and checked the wound and decided to have her make the choice,
"Alright, Roza, I can either give you stitches," She almost protested before I interrupted her, "Or we can use the alcohol treatment every night for the next few nights."
She frowned not liking her choices, then she said hesitantly, "No stitches." I nodded, and cleaned the rest of the blood away the bleeding had stopped, but I knew it was probably going to hurt in the morning. I pulled out the sweatpants Sydney had packed Rose, and pulled them onto her.
"Alright." I said gently, and moved her slowly onto her back, she gasped and her face contorted in pain,
"I know." I said, and pulled the scissors out again, I cut away her shirt, knowing I wouldn't be able to get her arms over her head. I debated taking her bra off, but decided against it, wanting to let her keep some of her privacy, I could work around it. There were dark bruises, where the man's arms had been.
"Alright, tell me where it hurts." I said gently, and probed my fingers up her sternum and then over each of her ribs, there were three places, but by the feel of it, she hadn't broken them all the way through, which I was grateful for, but she probably had some pretty severe cracks. By then, she was in tears, which I had almost never seen.
"Alright, I'm going to help you up, and I'm going to tape your ribs to hopefully splint them, then bandage the leg to avoid infection, and to stop the bleeding completely." She didn't bother arguing with me, knowing that if this got any worse it could stunt her fighting.
I helped her up and she tried her best to hide her pain, I moved to her leg first pulling the sweatpants down until they pooled at her ankles, then I cleaned the wound one more time, and put a cream numbing agent on it and wrapped gauze and then a sturdier bandage around it, then I pulled her pants up most of the way, and cleaned the spot on her bottom again, she moaned in protest as I set up another more long term anesthetic and gave her another shot, which would dull the pain in her ribs and stunt the pain in her leg. I then unclasped her bra, I knew she was holding her breath as I removed it, and I had to too, I stayed behind her to give her more privacy, and began the tape in the middle of her back and wrapped it around repeatedly, tightly, until it was just below her breasts, then I let her put her bra back on, and I helped her to clasp it again, there wasn't a pain reliever that would be able to take the pain in her ribs away, but I had the bandage tight enough that I hoped the pain would be stunted. I turned her around, my face was close to hers, and we both stayed like that for a second, and surprisingly, she pulled away first, and I helped her to get a tank top over her head, her hair, which was cascading in wavy curls down her back, covered most of the bandage. We were both still slightly wired from the fight, Angeline walked in right on time, and walked over to us, handing me some crutches,
"You guys are trying to kill me." Rose whispered, Angeline laughed and I smiled,
"We're trying to do the opposite actually." I said, then Angeline left,
"I don't need them." She protested.
"I know you don't, because for the next 4 to 7 days you'll be staying in bed."
She was about to put up a fight, and I gave her a dangerous look,
"Roza, you're hurt, and you need to relax for a while."
"Dimitri… a week is a really long time."
"I could always make it longer." I threatened.
She groaned, "Fine…I'll be good."
"Good? Do you know how to do that?"
She slapped my leg, "Hey!...and no, not really." She smiled, and I just smiled and shook my head.
"Dimitri…" She whispered, and her tone confused me, what she in pain?
"What is it?"
"Thank you." She whispered, looking away from me,
I smiled at her as the moment brought up conflicting emotions within me, I touched her hair,
"Anytime."
"~*~*~*~
I checked her wounds every night until 5 days later, when I told her, I would let her walk around the house a little bit.
I helped her across the room and opened the door as she situated herself with the crutches, I walked with her out to the living room where the family was, and they looked up as we walked in,
Anna smiled, and stood, "How are you, Rose?"
"I'll be fine." Rose said gently.
Anna smiled, she stood, "Here." She said gesturing to the small couch seat she had left, Rose began to say she was fine, so I leaned down,
"Sit. Down." I whispered sternly in her ear.
"Dimitri…"
"Rose."
For once she sighed and gave in, she looked towards the fire, and I saw a sort of sadness pass over her face,
"Isaiah…" She said gently, I looked over to the boy sitting at the fire, he looked towards her and swallowed,
"I'm really sorry." He said quietly.
"Really, don't worry about it, this isn't the worst injury I've ever gotten."
"That's definitely true, Rose always happens to get herself into dangerous situations." I said.
She looked over at me, and smiled, "Thanks." She said sarcastically.
I couldn't help but laugh.