It's that time of the week! Here's "Secret Revealed" in Dimitri's POV. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Dimitri is not mine. His children, however, are.


"Do you... think it's time?" Rose whispered.

I didn't move, let alone breathe. "I'm not sure," I hedged.

It was definitely time, but my mind kept rejecting the idea that my children would accept me. I just needed a few more years. I wanted a little while longer with them when I still could, but I could tell by Rose's tone of voice that no was not an acceptable answer. We were telling them today.

"I'll go see if I can get them to pay attention. You might want to come along," she suggested. I numbly agreed.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed tightly before opening the door.

"Sabrina? Jeremy? Adrienne? We want to tell you something." The kids appeared in front of us, all smiling faces and shining eyes. I knew that in only minutes their faces would transform completely.

Rose sighed. She glanced back at me, looking for assurance. I smiled brokenly and motioned for her to begin.

"You might want to sit down. I'm going to tell you a story."

I made myself stand next to the wall, but Adrienne came and pulled me onto her bed. "Have you heard this story, Daddy?"

I swallowed. "No, I haven't, Adrienne." I set her in my lap. For the last time ever.

"Okay," Rose began conspiratorially. "I'm going to tell you some things, but you mustn't ever tell them to anyone else. It's a secret. You like secrets, right?" They nodded and leaned forward. "This is the most important secret you'll ever get to hear."

"In this world, besides humans, there are three other kinds of creatures. Not animals, but people that act like humans." Rose paused dramatically, going into full story-mode. "But they aren't."

"I am one of those things," she admitted. Sabrina gasped, and I cringed away. If Sabrina had reacted like that to hearing about a dhampir, how would she react to hearing that her father was an evil, bloodsucking monster? I locked my jaw, preparing myself for the inevitable.

"None of these things are mean," Rose reassured her. "They can be, if they choose to be, but they aren't if they don't want to be. I'm not mean. I am what's called a dhampir. You know Aunt Lissa?" They nodded enthusiastically.

"She is what we call a Moroi. She's a vampire. But she's a good vampire. A very, very good vampire. I am half-vampire, and half-human. And guardians protect the Moroi from the Strigoi. Strigoi are what the Moroi consider to be the bad vampires." I cringed away.

"Because the Strigoi usually hunt down the Moroi and dhampirs and kill them." She paused, a slight shrug of her shoulders picking up where she'd left off. "But the dhampirs need Moroi to live, so we protect them, going to school to learn how to fight them."

"But wait," Jeremy interrupted. "Didn't you say that the Strigoi kill the dhampirs and the Moroi?"

I smiled. Just like him to notice where Rose had made a tiny mistake.

She nodded.

"I thought you said that all of them could be good, if they wanted to."

"They can," she insisted. "Most choose to be evil, because they don't have a reason to be good." Rose's glance met my gaze. "I know of one Strigoi who is good. Who has always been good, and always will be good."

"Is it Uncle Christian?" Adrienne asked. I frowned and stared down.

Come on, Dimitri, prepare yourself for this. You remember what Rose said.

"No, Adrienne."

"Then who is it?" demanded Jeremy.

Rose glanced up at me, her gaze unwavering. The kids followed her motions.

Freeze, I commanded myself before the inevitable happened.

"Eep!" Adrienne gasped, vaulting off of my lap.

"Now, hold on," Rose said. Jeremy was moving toward Rose slowly, as if afraid that I would come after him. Rose started to stand up.

I stared at my hands which lay limply in front of me. I was a monster, and my kids were terrified of me. I had never wanted this day to come. They would be afraid of me and hate me for what I had become, although I had never wanted to become this.

"No, Mommy, don't!" Adrienne objected. "He's mean."

"No, he isn't," she snapped softly. She finally tugged her arm out of Adrienne's grasp. They weren't brave enough to try to come after Rose by themselves. She sat next to me. "Dimitri, it's okay," she soothed, burying her face in my shoulder.

I couldn't help feel guilty when I hoped that she wasn't the one snuggling next to me, but Adrienne or Sabrina or even Jeremy. "You remember what Liss was like when we told her. You remember what Christian was like when we told him. This is just like that."

"But it's not, Rose." My heart, though unbeating, had felt like it had just been ripped out of my chest. "These are my children," I moaned. "I've known them for seven years. You said –" I stopped. "You promised that they wouldn't be like this."

"Dimitri," she choked out. "They will get over this. It won't take long. I promise. You can't . . . you can't just give up. Not like this."

She was right. I couldn't. I sighed in agony... in misery.

"Momma?" came Sabrina's quiet voice.

"Yes?"

"Why do you love him?" she asked. I flinched slightly. Great. She'd just given Rose a chance to reevaluate her relationship with me.

But I shouldn't have worried. "Because he isn't mean, like you guys think he is. I said that he was the only good one I knew, didn't I?"

"But he couldn't have always been like this," Jeremy said.

She shook her head sadly. "Seven years ago – a few months before you all were born. I loved him before then."

"But why, Mommy?" Adrienne pressed.

She smiled, laying her head on my shoulder. "Because I knew that he was nice. He was the one person who never let me down – when Aunt Lissa wasn't there for me, your daddy was."

They gasped. Adrienne, miraculously, scooted off Sabrina's bed until she was on the bed next to me. She climbed in my lap like it was any other day, and said, "I think you're nice, too." She hugged me, and I glanced at Rose, unsure of what to do now.

"They have to hear it rationally," she whispered.

Softly and very slowly, I hugged her back. "I'm sorry, Adrienne. I'm so sorry. I wish I could've told you earlier. We didn't think you'd understand."

"It's okay, Daddy," she said, tears in her eyes and voice. "I understand."

"Me too," Jeremy said, plopping himself next to me. I kissed his forehead, even though I knew he hated it when I did that.

"Are you coming, Sabrina?" Rose eventually asked.

She finally confessed. "I guess if Mommy says it's okay, then it's okay."

Adrienne's fingers whipped around to touch Rose's neck. "Momma? What are these?"

She smiled. "Those are called molnijia marks. They're tattoos. For each Strigoi you kill, you get one."

"So you got... two?" Sabrina guessed.

I laughed. The idea of Rose Hathaway only getting two Strigoi was hilarious and absurd. "No," I said softly. "She got about thirty."

Jeremy whispered, "Whoa."

"Your daddy got some, too," she pointed out.

They all glanced at my neck now.

"Seven?" Adrienne guessed, her small hand reaching out to touch the back of my neck. She was the closest. I nodded.

"Technically," Rose reminded me. "He killed about as many as I did. When we were at school, there was an attack. Nobody saw it coming. Your daddy stayed by himself while I ran to go tell the other guardians what was happening. We were almost done." Her voice was far off. "We had gone after some hostages. We only had about fifteen feet left until we got outside." I closed my eyes, seeing what happened fall into place. "We thought we were free. . . ." She hesitated for a long time. "He never saw it coming."

I hadn't, either.

"I'm sorry, Daddy!" Adrienne moaned, choking me with a hug.

"So why do the Strigoi kill the Moroi?" Jeremy inquired.

"For blood." Rose and I answered at the same time.

Jeremy thought. "Wouldn't you need blood, then?" Sabrina questioned.

"He does. And he gets it without hurting anyone."

"How?"

Rose's anxious gaze met mine, silently asking me what I wanted to do. I shrugged. It didn't matter. They already knew I drank blood.

"From me. Speaking of which," she inserted, and I knew I was going to regret whatever she was going to say. "It's that time of the week."

I groaned but got up without complaining.

"Where are you going?" Adrienne asked.

Rose grinned devilishly. "It's dinner time for Daddy," she teased.

"Can we watch?" Jeremy asked.

My eyes widened. The thought of my children watching me as I drank from Rose terrified me, but I knew they would be relentless until I gave in. "Dimitri?" Rose asked without looking at me.

I shrugged again. "If they want to."

The procession ended when we came into the bedroom. Rose took my hand, sensing my discomfort.

"I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be scared of a Strigoi, because most of them are scary," she explained. "Except for Daddy," she added. "Most of them will kill you within seconds." My hand tightened around hers. "Daddy doesn't do that." She rubbed my fingers anxiously. "Come on, Dimitri," she urged. "Show them your fangs."

We crouched to their level, and I unsheathed my fangs.

"Wow," Adrienne breathed. Jeremy stood there, staring wide-eyed.

Sabrina turned her head. My heart snapped. She still resented me because I was a Strigoi. Because I was a bad vampire. . . Because I hurt Rose on a regular basis.

"Sabrina, it's nothing to worry about. You guys know Aunt Lissa?" They nodded. "She has fangs."

"Does not!" Jeremy snapped.

Rose smiled at his tenacity. "Yes, she does, Jeremy. I've seen them. So does Uncle Christian, and so will Andre when he gets old enough."

I stood up, and Rose followed.

"You all have to be very quiet," Rose cautioned. "Daddy is good, but when he's feeding, he has to concentrate. You must be very still, and very, very quiet. Do you understand?" Everyone except Sabrina nodded.

Rose got to her level again. "Sabrina," she soothed. "Daddy won't hurt Mommy. This has been going on for years. It's happened once a week since you were born. Daddy won't hurt Mommy, I promise."

Rose hugged her once more, and then her siblings pulled her into something of a group hug.

"It's okay, Sabrina," Adrienne assured her. Jeremy nodded, and then Sabrina nodded as well.

I kept my eyes locked onto her neck, instead of my children who wanted to watch this.

Blood flowed into my mouth, and that horrible, evil side of me snarled in expectation. Metaphorically speaking, I dropped an anvil on its head. I didn't need distractions. I wrenched my head away, ultimately satisfied.

Adrienne dashed to my side, even though my fangs were still unsheathed. "That was so . . . cool."

"Adrienne's right," Jeremy agreed. "That was cool."

Sabrina was gone, but I'd expected that. Rose left to go talk to her, and Adrienne and Jeremy quickly disappeared to go do something else. I waited for Sabrina, worried beyond belief. What if she never forgave me?

Eventually, she came back, apologizing for her earlier behavior. I wrapped my arms around her tightly as she jumped into my arms. I buried my face into her hair. "I'm so sorry, Sabrina. I'm so, so sorry. Please, forgive me." She nodded her head into my shoulder, and I gasped in relief.

"Forgive me, Daddy, for being mean to you," she whimpered. I nodded, feeling tears that I couldn't cry.

"Of course I forgive you, sweetheart. There was nothing to forgive." I wasn't upset with her. Her reaction had been understandable. I looked up and saw Rose watching us, smiling serenely. Thank you, I mouthed. She nodded and smiled. I squeezed my daughter tighter as she began to cry.

"I love you, Daddy," she sobbed, holding me as tightly as she could.

"I love you, too, Sabrina. Always," I murmured, internally promising to be there for any of my kids whenever they needed me.


So not as long as the previous chapter, but at least you got to see Dimitri's side of it.

The triplets are politely asking for some love today. :D

- J.C.