All. Dimitri. Saw. Was. Red!
With an almost unnatural speed, he pounced on Andre, ready to beat the living shit out of him till kingdom comes but unfortunately his plans were put into hold by Rose and Christian.
As soon as the shock wore off, Rose pushed Andre back, making him stagger in his steps. He looked up to see a furious Dimitri coming up to him but was blocked to be beaten into death by Christian.
"Shit Andre! Why would you do that?!" Lissa squealed, panic setting in her eyes as she watched Christian restrain Dimitri.
"Comrade stop!" Rose took over since she knew Christian couldn't handle him any longer. Lanky Christian was no match for her Russian god.
"I'm going to break his mouth! How dare you kiss Roza?" Dimitri yelled ferociously.
"Will anyone tell me what's going on?" Andre was more confused than ever, rather he seemed annoyed.
"What's going on that you kissed my girlfriend!" Dimitri shouted trying to break free.
Rose saw Andre's face pale at Dimitri's words. He seemed no longer annoyed. His eyes were filled with confusion and hurt. There was only one word to describe him – heartbroken.
"Roses?" Andre's voice quivered. Rose shivered at his nickname for her.
"Andre. I'll explain this later. Please go to your housing now. I'll come back to talk. Please!"
Andre closed his eyes for the longest time, before picking up his luggage and storming in the direction of the guest housing. Lissa followed him with an apologetic look. Rose heart broke a little seeing the person she considered her friend being hurt.
And it was because of Dimitri. She can't believe he pounded on him like some wild animal. She couldn't blame Andre since he didn't know, but Dimitri? Didn't she explain everything to him a few hours ago? Didn't she beg him to not create a scene?
"I'll just leave you two at it." Christian said stuffing his hands in his pockets before walking away.
"You are not going anywhere near that bastard!"
Rose turned about to face him finally. He had expected her to be annoyed or a little disappointed by the way he had acted, but his heart stopped as he saw tears bordering her eyes. Rose was the strongest person he ever knew. She never resorted to crying as an alternative. Heck! The only time he had seen tears in her eyes where when she admitted her love to him – and those were happy tears.
"Roza?" he says, not recognizing his own voice as he heard the desperation in them.
Rose couldn't even bear to look at him right now. She didn't want to, so she turned around, wanting to be away from him. That was when he knew he had crossed the lines. Shit.
"Roza!" Dimitri said moving forward to hold her but she stepped back, not wanting to touch him. "Please don't be like that, milaya."
"Let go of me!" She yelled, trying to break free on his grasp. "I don't want to do this now!"
"I'm sorry baby, I shouldn't have done that." Dimitri said reluctant to let go of her.
"Yes Dimitri." her voice was cold. "You shouldn't have, but you did."
"He kissed you!"
"He didn't know!"
"Does it matter?" Dimitri groaned. "I promised you I wouldn't start anything, but he touched you. Inappropriately!"
"For a second! I pushed him away for god's sake! You pounded on him like some sort of deranged animal!" Rose yelled.
All the blood left Dimitri's face as those words shot through his memory.
'You're not normal! You are a deranged animal, Dimitri. Just like an animal that couldn't control his bloodlust!'
'No!' Dimitri had shouted. 'You're lying! I'm not an animal!'
He felt bile rise up on his throat as the nasty cackle of the old man reverberated in his ears. After all this time, his demons still hadn't parted with him!
And unknowingly, his Roza had triggered them into action.
"Oh no! Don't pretend that you didn't do that!" Rose continued. "I'm going back to Andre and if you have a minuscule of sense left, you'll come with me and apologize to him."
The memories brought some bad reactions out of him and Rose's sassiness wasn't helping. Hs anger spiked. With a low growl, almost feral, he muttered a curse in Russian and turned around to walk away from her.
"Comrade!" Rose yelled her own temper rising as she saw him walk away from the argument. "You'll come with me and apologize!"
Dimitri stopped in his tracks for a second, but then continued his journey without looking back or something bad would happen. He feared that he couldn't keep himself in control.
"Oh yeah. So you're pretending it's my mistake now?!" Rose kept yelling. "Alright then! But don't bother picking me up for the dance tonight. I sure as hell ain't going with an asshole like you! Ugh!"
Dimitri kept on walking, never stopped to give a backward glance at Rose.
"Let's discuss the final plans, shall we?" Shade proposed setting down his coffee mug in the table, before leaning back to peer at his moroi charge.
"Ah yes! Let's iron out the final details. I must say, you did a good job with the rabbit this time. I'm quite impressed!" The moroi complimented.
Shade barely lifted an eyebrow. "By this time, you must know of the perfectionist I am." The moroi barked out a laugh. He was in a considerable joyous mood tonight.
"Aye. That is true! So let's start!"
Shade nodded and began, "I will be one of the teacher's chaperoning the Equinox dance tonight. According to my information, Lissa, Rose, Christian and Belikov will be going together as a group. I was also informed of the arrival of Prince Dragomir, so he will probably be with the group along with Eddie Castile."
The moroi nodded, urging him to go on. "The real task is separating Lissa from Christian and Rose. Rose isn't much threat at the moment, but removing the Ozera kid from her proximity is going to be difficult."
"Why isn't Rose much of a threat? I understand she is going to be busy with the boy, but I bet every penny I have that she is going to keep an eye out for dear Vasya."
Shade smirked. "Don't worry. That part is taken care of."
"Taken care of? How?"
"Well, you see. Our dear boy Dimitri decided to surprise her pretty dhampir girlfriend, who had never indulged in luxuries, by gifting her piece of jewelry. A very expensive piece of jewelry."
The moroi snorted. "I know all this bitches. They act all coy and innocent in front of men to tangle them in their webs – and they foolishly go out, wasting all their money and time on them."
"I don't know about that, but I had the piece charmed. They are going to practically attack each other." At the moroi's raised eyebrows, Shade further clarified, "It's a lust charm. Not an attack one. I would never ever voluntarily harm Dimitri."
"Other that kidnapping Lissa, protecting Dimitri in the midst of this should also be our concern. Inform everyone involved that they aren't to hurt a single hair on his head." Shade nodded in compliance.
"Dimitri doesn't suspect anything, does he?" the moroi asked after a pregnant pause.
"Of course he does." Shade replied. "He's not a fool. He knows you're behind all this." The moroi's face turned sour as he peered over his guardian. "But not me."
"Huh?"
"He has no clue about my involvement. Merde, he thinks I still work for Ivan."
"It's a good thing, but that means that we'll have to cover up our works better. He'll be on our ass as soon as he realizes Lissa is gone."
"Don't worry about it. I got it covered."
"Do I need to know about it?" the moroi smirked.
Shade ignored his innuendo, rather jumping to the next question, the very question that had bugged him since the day he'd joined. "What are your plans afterward?"
At the moroi's raised eyebrows, he said, "After we kidnap Lissa. It's not like everyone will likely ignore the absence of the last Dragomir princess."
The moroi grinned. "Don't worry about it. I got it covered."
Shade rolled his eyes for the tenth time, slouching back on the couch, wishing they succeeded in their plans tonight!
"What?! He kissed her in front of you and rather than being mad at him, she's pissed at you?!" Ivan's voice boomed through the speakers of Dimitri's Smartphone followed by a series of curses in Russian.
"Drop it Ivan." Dimitri's voice was that of a helpless man. "I shouldn't have tried to hit him. She warned me prior to stay calm, but I fucked it up. I pissed her off. And…"
Dimitri sighed and closed his eyes, painful memories danced behind his closed eyelids. The look on Vika's face that night….the menacing man approached her….how she called out for help in her broken toddler speech….how he saw red….how he attacked the man…like…like a deranged animal. All the blood and gore and how he had tried to was it off him afterwards. The particular night had broken him. Shattered him into pieces. He was never the same man again. How could he be after committing such a hideous crime? But that had been until he met her. Rose. His Roza.
"And what Dimka?" Ivan asked impatiently on the other line.
Dimitri let out a bitter laugh, "And she thinks I'm a deranged animal too."
"святое ублюдочное дерьмо!" Curses flew freely as Ivan realized the enormity of the situation.
"Dimka. You know it's not true! You remember Dr. Vamose, right?" Ivan tried to recall him the name of his psychiatrist. The same Dimitri had seen back in Russia after the traumatic event. It was suggested by the queen so it wasn't much of a choice for him but yes – he did remember who he was.
"You established that with him, didn't you?" Ivan asked his voice low and soothing. "You are no such thing, brother. Do not let her words penetrate you. She doesn't know."
"That's the thing Ive. If she thinks I'm a beast now, how will she ever trust me after I tell her the truth?"
Ivan sighed. "You've already let her get to you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. What I want you to is to talk to Dr. Vamose, right now."
Dimitri snorted. "I'm not talking to him!"
"The hell you aren't!"
"You can't make me!"
"Try me?" Ivan challenged. Dimitri groaned, knowing from the determined tone of his voice that he wasn't going to back down anytime soon. Maybe it was for better. The old man had helped him in the past; maybe he could help him cure the situation with Rose?
"I'll arrange for it in half an hour." Ivan promised before hanging up.
Rose was lounged lazily on her bed. She was alone. All alone. Dimitri hadn't spoken to hell after the incident in the terminal. Lissa was busy fussing over Andre and Christian was…well Christian. The time passed making her aware of the approaching dance hour, but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't want to go. It had sounded stupid to begin with anyway, she consoled herself.
She holed up in her room, trying – and – failing to do some homework. Her anxiety and nerves were taking over her thoughts. No matter how mad she'd been on Dimitri, she had wanted him to make an appearance tonight, try and coax her out to the dance with him – as his date. Maybe he'd use his hands and lips….
But as the time ticked, she knew there'd be none of that. She couldn't even believe how upset she was! Damn him! About ten minutes to the dance's start time, she decided to clean up and take a shower. When she came back down the hall from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head, she saw Eddie standing outside her door. He wasn't exactly dressed up, but he wasn't wearing jeans either. It was a start.
"There you are, girl. I was about ready to give up."
"Did you start a fire or what? No guys allowed in the hall."
"Whatever. Like that makes a difference." True. The school might be able to keep the strigoi out, but they did a horrible job at keeping the students away from each other. Dimitri sneaking in and out of her room everyday was an example!
"Let me in. You've got to get ready."
It took her a minute to realize what he meant. "No. I'm not going."
"Come on." he prodded, following her inside. "Cause you had a fight with Dimitri? Don't you want to make up with him now?"
"Oh yea? If he wanted to make up, he should've been here right now!" she grumbled.
"What about a gift?" Eddie said casually.
Her spirits perked up just a little bit with curiosity. "What gift?"
"Uhmmm…."
"Eddie! You dork, tell me!"
"Tell you what?" he played cool, but the mischievous look in his eyes was hard to miss.
"Don't play coy with me!" She threw a pillow at his head. Eddie caught the pillow mid air, launching it at her, so that it struck right in her face. And that was the prelude to the good ten minute – pillow fight.
At the end, Rose was curled up in a ball, laughing gleefully while Eddie repeatedly hit her, making the feathers fly in the air.
"Oh…Eddie, No more!" she giggled.
"Learnt you lesson?" Eddie wiggled his eyebrows.
"Yeah!" For several moments, they just sat on her bed, both trying to catch their breaths.
"Are you going to tell me about the gift now?" Rose asked. Eddie grinned and produced a box covered in blue velvet with silver designing on its top.
"Oh here, take this too." Eddie said handing her a note. She unfolded the paper neatly and was surprised to see Dimitri's elegant scrawl.
I can't begin to explain how sorry I am milaya. Forgiveness is all I ask! Give me a chance! Please let me make up to you and make this all right! Come to the party, my love! I love you with all my heart!
Your comrade.
"And talk about sweeping a girl off her feet!" Rose murmured, her face barely containing the grin that threatened to split her face into two.
"Open the box!" Eddie urged. She did just that and gasped. There in the midst of a sea of purple velvet sat a locket – the same she had admired that day at the mall! Another gasp escaped her as she remembered the price tag.
"Oh god!" she exclaimed, words failing to describe the emotion.
"He truly loves you Rose." Eddie said softly.
"I love him too, Eddie." Rose sighed after a few moments. "More than anything in this world!"
"Good to hear! Now get up and get dressed. We got a party to rock!"
….here you go.
I'm sorry for the late updates, but I can't help it at the moment. I just want you guys to be patient with me! I haven't been online lately and haven't replied to your reviews but please know that I appreciate wach one of them- Thank you!
So…a lot of things happened in this chapter. We got to know that Ivan – thankfully – isn't behind all the plotting. We also got to see snippets from Dimitri past. Isn't it strange that Shade and his charge – both want Dimitri safe? I wonder why!
Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? – Let me know in the reviews.
Love,
Lara.