Chapter 14

DPOV

"Hello?" I answered hesitantly!

"Dimitri, hello this is Oksana I believe you were expecting a call from us?". Well I'll be damned Yeva still had a few tricks up her sleeve.
"Um, yes actually I just got off the phone to my Mama and Babushka, but can you please tell me how you knew to call me on this number?" Although I already knew it was because of my Babushkas prophecy that had brought up this specific number. It was interesting to know that judging from the amount of numbers she must have deduced that this was a mobile phone number that had to be passed on to Oksana and Mark.

"There is no time to explain we must move quickly as I hear time is of the essence in regarding to a certain flower. I am correct?".

"Well yes Rose is my girlfriend and she has been turned Strigoi". The term girlfriend seemed inadequate but what else could I say? That she was the love of my life, my soul mate? How could I make Oksana understand?

"Right, well for now you must hold on tight Mark and I have booked our tickets for America and we will be landing in Las Vegas in 2 days from now. There is an old friend we are going to try and get in contact with and if everything goes to plan we might be able to restore Rose." I was paralysed with shock, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The ability to restore a Strigoi?
"What! Can this really be? What is he, who is he?"
"He is a spirit user and if the stories that he has told us in the past are true, he once was able to restore a Strigoi to their former state!"
"But if this is true then why has the Queen not heard about it? And why haven't there been more restorations?" This truly sounded like a fairytale and I was in no mood for a fairytale. I needed something solid something real to go by, but at that moment I was desperate and it seemed to be my only lead.

"This is what little information we have to go by for now but we will be in touch as soon as we find Robert and ask for his help. Unfortunately he is a little unstable because of the amount of Spirit he used to toy with but I believe that when he sees our familiar faces he will be willing to help".

I could hear her voice wavier slightly and this concerned me. If this Robert character was unstable it would be highly unlikely that he would be able to help us especially if his insanity was due to an overuse of Spirit. Now with knowledge of Spirit through Lissa and having had first hand experience with the effects of Spirit I knew exactly what that particular magical element could do to a Moroi. Especially one who did not have a bond – mate or a shadow kissed partner to lighten the load of darkness, one would definitely struggle with the results of Spirit.

"Wait, what? How do you know about Spirit?". There was not a lot of Spirit users on record and the information on them was limited, so it was perplexing to know that Oksana might have information on one of them. However after a moment it all clicked. All those years ago in a different time when I was back in Baia living with my family, playing with Oksana and Mark I knew they were different. They knew what the other was thinking like they had a profound connection as if they could read each others mind but to a little boy I thought nothing of it.

"Oksana are you a Spirit user and Mark he is your bond mate, he is shadow kissed isn't he?" It was more of statement than a question.
"Yes my son I am a Spirit user and Mark is shadow kissed this is how we are familiar with this other Spirit user." I couldn't believe what I was hearing but at the same time it all made sense.
"May I ask who is this other spirit user?" I was intrigued to say the least.
"Yes his name is Robert Duru" . Robert Duru this could not get any worse!
"Oksana, you do realise who Robert Duru is? I definitely knew who he was, I had researched Victor Dashkov very thoroughly, especially after the indecent that happened at St Vladimir's academy when he tried to kidnap Lissa and use her Spirit powers to help heal his sickness. He had Sandovsky's Syndrome, which is a chronic disease that eats at all the vital organs, slowly and painfully, until it eventually kills.

"Yes he is the half brother of a one Victor Dashkov, I understand Robert is his illegitimate half brother and that Victor is a royal". Yes a cunning, loathsome, pathetic Moroi, who would have dome anything to claim his rightful place on the thrown and he would have kept Lissa as a prisoner until he had no more use for her.
"And do you realise it was Vaslilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway that put him in jail. Tarasov prison to be in-fact! There is no way that Robert will help us after what we have dome to his brother!".
"Yes we are familiar with the story! Don't worry about Robert we will deal with him! Leave all of that to us you just keep an eye on Rose and hopefully we will get to you as soon as we can and be able to restore her!" . I f I thought this was a fairytale now it seemed like delusions of grandeur.
"If the stories are true?" I whispered, fearing that this might indeed be a lost cause.
"Yes if the stories are true but we can only hope". It filled me up with such warmth to hear Oksana willing to go on this journey for us. I had not seen Mark and Oksana for a long time but I knew that they were such amazing and loyal people and with that I was willing to embark on this crazy journey if only to help my Roza.
"Yes I would do anything for Roza" and it was true I would do anything for Roza for she was the air I breathed and without her in my life I would surly perish for I could not live in this world without her.
"Ah Roza, I see you have a strong bond to this woman!". Yes she is my heart.
"Yes I do but not in the same sense as you and Mark do, this bond is just as strong though. Even not that she is Strigoi I find my heart, body and soul still reacts the same way to hers and I know it will never change". This was true and without that connection in this world I saw no reason to waste my time living it.
"I understand Dimitri and I pray that this restoration is successful for I fear of what might happen if we do not succeed".
"You do not need to worry she is strong willed and has only fed off of animals to satiate her hunger" "That may be true for now but it is in a Strigois' nature to be vindictive, manipulative and seductive. This could all be a ploy so as to awaken you". What this sounded outrageous!
"No I don't believe my Roza would do that and I believe her". I had to believe her!
"Do you really trust her?"

Before I can answer Oksana I remembered the undeniable feeling of distrust that played a the back of my mind. I wanted desperately to trust Rose but could not shake the feeling that she was up to something. When I doesn't answer straight away Oksana seemed to take that as a sign of agreement that Rose could in fact not be trusted.

"Alright I will keep a better eye on her, I will not let my guard down but please hurry. I will do my best to retain to her so that she does not take a human life."

"Yes Dimitri make sure of this as for one drop of human blood will have her craving for more and her intentions will turn evil."

"I understand, I'll hear from you both soon, goodbye Oksana"

"пока мы снова не увидим друг друга Dimka"

After I hung up the phone I hesitated before making the next call. Should I involve this person? Would it be too dangerous to tell anyone else about our situation? However I knew there was nothing that this person would not do to save Rose for their love for her was almost as strong as my own. Yes I would call her and hopefully with her knowledge she can help me get my Roza back.

Authors Note

пока мы снова не увидим друг друга – until we see each other again