Chapter 2 - Unanswered questions

cont. 10 years ago

Dimitri POV

It took some encouragement, but eventually we convinced Rose to follow us home. Although our house wasn't far away, she struggled to move one foot after the other, clearly exhausted. I briefly wondered if I should carry her but remembered her reaction to my earlier touch and didn't want to make her more afraid of me. The entire walk she stayed closer to Yeva than myself. I couldn't blame her really, I was tall and well-built for my age, probably intimidating her. I tried to control my movements and wanted to respect her space, but also gain a good position to be aware of our surroundings.

A few years back my usually smooth motions became clumsier as I grew almost a foot taller, and I found myself sometimes tripping and accidentally barging into things. Galina had taken upon her to get me comfortable with my body after my growth-spurt, re-learning coordination and finesse. Despite some of the initial clumsiness, I found my height mostly to be an advantage. Right now it allowed me to see above the thick undergrowth and bushes, and combined with my enhanced dhampir eyesight and hearing I felt certain that we weren't followed.

Once we stepped through the front door, mama immediately rushed towards us from the kitchen and took Rose under her protection. She must have seen us from the kitchen window and had already prepped a plate of food for Rose.

The girl was famished, eating surprisingly much for someone of her size. I leaned against the cupboards with Vika hiding behind my back, who was trying to catch glimpses of the girl. Something about Rose's skittish behavior must've alerted Vika and made her nervous.

As I took the girl's appearance in, I realized it wasn't only her behavior that was a cause for concern. Her dark hair was a tangled mess full of leaves, she had stains on her knees and scrapes on her tiny hands from falling over. I couldn't see any other injuries as she wore a small jacket, but her face was full of small cuts, probably from branches snagging her. She looked very nervous, although mama didn't seem to intimidate her as much as I did.

"Let the girl eat and give her some space, boy." babushka said as she shooed us out of the kitchen. "Go make yourself useful".

As I was leaving, taking Vika with me, I heard mama asking Rose how old she was. My heart dropped when I heard her reply in a small voice that she was seven. Seven - only a year older than Vika. How the hell did she end up in the woods? We needed to find her mother somehow, my mind desperately trying to find a solution.

It was dark outside, so I couldn't go back out into the woods searching for clues. I was itching to follow the girl's trail, hoping it would reveal some answers. Vika ran upstairs and I absentmindedly decided to follow her. Karo and Sonja were not home yet and it made me feel uneasy. But then again, it was Saturday evening so they were probably with their friends, hopefully staying out of trouble. But probably not, since it wasn't too long ago I had found Karo locking lips with a Moroi outside our house. I didn't have time to think about that right now, forcing my mind to return to what babushka had said to me. Make yourself useful - that I could do.

Checking that Vika was okay in her room playing with her toys, I made my way to the cupboard with the bed linens. I grabbed a fresh set and briefly wondered where the girl would be most comfortable sleeping in. Mama and babushka slept in the room at the end of the hallway, and in Vika's room there was a spare bed that babushka used to sleep in when he visited. Anger quickly flared up as memories of his visits surfaced and I struggled to keep the anger at bay. I hated how he still had this effect on me, this power over me.

I took some deep breaths still holding the linens and unsure of where to make place for Rose. I assumed that mama already had a bed in mind, so I walked down the stairs and silently approached the closed kitchen door. Their sounds were muffled but my dhampir ears could still easily hear their conversation.

"I don't know where home is." I heard Rose say in her small voice. Even through the door I could hear her sadness, and my heart clenched.

"Can you remember how you ended up in the forest, sweetheart?" mama gently asked.

"We just drove a lot. I also saw clouds from a window, like really close to us, but that place was noisy and made my ears hurt."

She must be talking about an airplane. This was bad, if she had flown here it would be a lot harder to find her home. She sounded American so it wasn't too surprising that she had been on an airplane, but that piece of information still weighed me down.

"Who is we? You and your mommy?" mama continued to coax information from Rose.

"I don't have a mommy. Can I go back to my friends now?"

"Friends - did you go to an Academy?"

"I don't know, it's just my home."

"And if it wasn't your mommy bringing you here, do you remember who did?"

"I don't know who the man was. I was on my way to breakfast when he grabbed my arm and then we were just driving."

"Do you remember anything about the man?" mama asked, and I could picture her worried face that accompanied her tone.

"He smelled funny."

A wave of nausea and disgust had already washed over me. Rose had been taken by an unknown man, God knows what his fucking intentions were. My mind was frantic trying to put together pieces of information in a vain attempt to get some answers.

If she didn't have a mother and said she lived with friends it seemed most likely that she indeed lived at an academy. Then we should be able to bring her home. I knew of St. Vladimir's Academy but I wasn't sure if there were any others. Nevertheless it slimmed down the options, and I started to feel hopeful. Maybe I could ask Galina if she knew about the American Academies. Even if I knew we wouldn't be able to transport her home they must be able to send someone for her?

The sound of car tires alerted me from my brooding. The hairs on the back of my neck immediately raised. Something was wrong. We lived on the outskirts of the community, and we wouldn't get any unexpected late night visitors, as it was an unspoken rule to not come unannounced after sunset. Perhaps he had come to retaliate? A part of me cherished that thought, bloodthirst filling my entire being. No, that coward wouldn't come in the evening - It had to concern the girl.