Drabble:140

The air whooshed past him as he plummeted towards the frigid waters and he braced himself for the impact. The height from which he fell should have killed a man, be he human, moroi or dhampir, but it only caused him pin prickles of pain all over his body, if said pin prickles could hurt like daggers stabbing him to his very bones.

But one good thing about his fall was that he hit the waters sideways, which meant that as soon as he hit the surface, the stake lodged in his chest came free.

As relief swept through him, Dimitri quickly caught hold of the stake that had threatened to end his life and grasped it in a fist before it could sink into the black depths of the Ob. He brought his fist back to his chest, struggling to keep his head above the rushing waters and took in a ragged breath of air before diving underwater and aiming for the closest shore.

Reaching the riverbank was made difficult by the violent currents and he was further impeded by the fist he still clutched to his chest-refusing to let go of his silver cargo, which by now had begun to burn his skin; but Dimitri managed it, swimming broad stroke one-handedly. Upon reaching land, he pulled himself up and sank to his hands and knees, gasping for breath, and as he did, he thought over the events of the night….

He'd gone from bargaining with Galina about Rose's allotted grace period approaching it's close to visiting Rose's room, intent on making her choose that very night. She'd surprised him, his Roza, with her resourcefulness and stabbed him with a broken chair's leg. When he'd recovered from that, he'd followed her scent-which was branded into his brain-downstairs to find her facing off Galina. He'd immediately taken charge and fought….Rose was his and his alone, her death, if it happened, would be by his hands. And she'd pissed him enough to make him want to torture her slowly….but murder? Never.

He'd ended Galina and claimed the life of two more of her lapdogs before going after Rose, who'd escaped through the library window. He'd chased her to the bridge, both of them battle-weary, and faced the ghosts she'd unleashed….she managed to surprise him, even now, when she was trying to kill him. When he'd announced that he'd still have her join him, she'd decided to end her life, which had thrown him into an inexplicable panic...
His heart clenched painfully, for some reason he couldn't comprehend, but he knew, he knew he had to save her, to keep her with him. He'd told her as much when she'd asked, that he wanted her with him, he needed her, but Rose had sadly shaken her head, tears brimming in her glorious moon-brightened eyes. She'd staked him-not well enough-as she'd told him, achingly, that she would love him forever.
So that was the password that she'd been searching from him…the words that would have made her give herself willingly to him. How human of her, he'd thought mockingly as he'd let go of the bridge's railings and fallen to the black waters below, before she had realized and rectified her mistake by stabbing him just that little bit deeper…Oh, Roza…he thought now, as he stood up again, and looked towards the bridge.

What was he to do now, Dimitri wondered, chase after his lethal beauty or go back and claim Galina's estate, which was bound to be in an uproar by now? It was already predawn; he'd need to find shelter fast, so he decided to retrace his steps back to Novosibirsk and establish his dominance.
Roza was resourceful enough to find her way back to civilization, and he knew that with her thinking him dead, she'd return to the one place she considered home…St. Vladimir's. He'd find her soon and she'd join him…but for now…
It was a good thing that the school still had a post-system, for Roza was about to hear from the dead….

I've wanted to pen this scene for quite some time now, and I hope I did it justice. So let me know what you think, okay? Cheers!