So, funny story about my summary. I think I must've been half asleep when I wrote it, because I typed 'Blood' from 4th book title, and 'Kiss' from the 3rd book title. You know what I meant though, which is good. One reviewer did point it out and at the time I had no clue what this person was on about.... but now I've changed it.
Okay, that wasn't funny.
On with the chapter!
"I... I... I... How do you know about me and Dimitri?" Then I flinched. That damned name. His cousin flinched too. Apparently it was killing him as much as it was me. Then he smiled weakly.
"My cousin wrote you a lot," he told me.
"He wrote you letters about me?" I asked, confused.
"No... He wrote to you. Letters. Hundreds of them. All in Russian... your school found them in a box in his room. They couldn't understand a word of it, so they thought they should call one of us. I sat there reading them for two whole days, and then I realised I had to find you. I stumbled across you at the airport yesterday, though you didn't notice. You were too busy running away."
"Oh."
"The school wanted to know what the letters said, but I wouldn't tell them a word of it. 'It's private matters,' I told them. I've actually taken a whole load of the few more..." he coughed lightly, "intimate ones with me, so they wouldn't know. And most of the ones that are just romantic drivel. We wouldn't want anyone to see those now, would we? And they'll find a willing translator sooner or later... trust me.
"Anyway... now the Strigoi have got him, they'll be taking him to Siberia, yes. Not Yakutsk, although it's probably better you didn't walk straight into their hands. They're looking for you, Rose. The Strigoi have found ways to access memories of their kind. It's a brutal process. I only know a little of what happens.
"Once a dhampir turns Strigoi, they've found that the Strigoi's memories go to pieces. They can remember names and faces, and then over time, they remember much more detail. But the Strigoi have found this way of tearing the memories out and back into the new fledglings." His face looked stricken. "It's disgusting, and very painful, as far as I've heard. And it damages the fledglings unbelievably. They're doing it to him, though... they don't care that they're wrecking him, because they know all about his killings. They want to make him suffer, and then they want to use him, once they've brought his memories out. They want to make him kill you."
I blinked.
"Okay then."
"You're not bothered by this?"
"Of course I'm bothered."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not you that needs to be. You said this memory thing damages them?"
"It does. You know how Strigoi are when they first turn? They're mindless rouges, and they will kill for the sake of killing. This is a natural part of their change. It's something that has to happen for them to survive certain changes that start to take place. I'm not really sure how it works... no one sane is. The memory extraction interferes with some of the changes."
"I see." I stood up, straightening out my clothes. As if that made a difference. I ran my hand through my hair, looking wearily at Dimitri's cousin, who was also watching me with a concerned scepticism. "Thank you..."
"Valik."
I turned to go.
"Where are you going, Rose?"
"I'm going to save Dimitri." Valik hissed and pounced up, grabbing my arm. It sort of hurt, and I wasn't fast to react as I usually was. Apparently being away from the academy had made me kind of slow.
"Have you not been listening to a word I've said?" he asked. I noticed that the angrier he seemed, the thicker his accent became.
"What you do expect me to do? Just sit there?" He shook his head.
"No. Of course not. I expect you to listen to me, though, and come back with me to our base in Tolon. We will help you. Trust me."
"You're going to turn this into some official operation, aren't you? And it will take months to even kick off. And you'll have to consult the Academy. And then just out of the blue before we finally leave, you'll tell me that because I dropped out, I'm not trained enough to be a part of this operation. And then you'll all get killed or turned into Strigoi."
Valik frowned.
"Why would we all get killed or turned into Strigoi?" I shrugged.
"That seems to be happening a lot lately." He shook his head slowly.
"You're every bit like he described you, Rose." He pressed a piece of paper into my hand. "Come and find us when you've made up your mind, Rose. And think carefully about it."
He released his vice-like grip on my arms and walked away. I wanted to call after him, and at the same time I didn't. By the time I'd made up my mind whether or not to, he'd already faded away into the crowds.
My flight flashed up onto the screen. Time to get going.
Now the fun was really starting, eh?
Another short chapter. You'll have to deal, though. I have a maths exam tomorrow. I only wrote this because someone reviewed telling me to get the next chapter up quickly. So I did a typical me-styled procrastination move and wrote the whole thing, just for you.
So you can all review to make up for it!
Please?
