Chapter 21 - The car ride

Present day - March

Dimitri POV

I was worried about Rose. She was unusually tired and sleeping a lot. It was clear that something was wrong, maybe she had a concussion. I made sure to keep an eye on her during the morning.

It was lunch time and we were driving again. We would soon have to stop for gas, and find somewhere to eat. I could hear her stomach grumbling in the backseat. I looked back and noticed that she was sleeping again. Despite the bruise on her face, I saw the bags under her eyes. I frowned, and wished that I could be sure that she was all right. I wanted to take her to hospital or an alchemist but it was too risky.

I didn't want to stop to get food, but we could all use a cooked meal and a proper restroom. It would also give us the opportunity to stock up on water again. We turned right at the next intersection and drove through a small town. There was only one place to get food, which made the choice easy, and Spiridon parked the car in front of the diner. He opened his car door and got out. I turned around in my seat, expecting Rose to be awake, but to my surprise she was still sleeping. I gently nudged her knee to wake her up.

With a gasp she opened her eyes and swung her arm out in a defensive manner. If it wasn't for the seatbelt that held her back she would've hit me in the face. I was shocked that she was still so afraid of me, of us, but I managed to keep my face neutral and said "we're stopping here to get some food, I didn't mean to startle you."

Without a word she unfastened her seatbelt and got out of the car, following Spiridon with heavy steps. By the way she moved she looked exhausted, and the wave of worry that washed over me almost made my step falter.

We all sat in a booth that gave us some cover. Spiridon and I didn't want the other patrons noticing her bruises, so she sat closest to the wall with Spiridon next to her, and I sat in front of them.

She looked at the menu for a long time. Spiridon was getting hangry, and I could tell that he wanted her to decide already. Before he could say something I cleared my throat, and she looked up at me with shy eyes. "Do you see anything you like?" I asked gently. Spiridon shifted in his seat in front of me and I kicked his shin. He glared at me but remained silent. Rose didn't say anything, averting her eyes to the menu again. I wasn't sure if she had been to a restaurant before so I decided to help. "We could order different things and then you can choose whatever you like the most. Does that sound good?" I continued. It seemed to help as she nodded, and placed the menu down. Spiridon grumbled "finally" under his breath and I kicked him again. This time he grinned at me, probably just happy that the waitress was approaching. I ordered different things off the menu, and the waitress kept writing them down with raised eyebrows. "And you guys are sure you'll eat all of this?" she asked with doubt.

"Don't worry, we'll finish all of it. I have a very big appetite," Spiridon said, eyeing the waitress. She looked flustered, and turned to Rose instead. Switching to broken English she gently asked "Honey, do you want anything else?" and the question was laced with an underlying meaning. She had noticed Rose's bruise, and I took an instant liking to the waitress as she seemed concerned about Rose. I just hoped that we wouldn't run into issues.

It was a tense moment until Rose smiled hesitantly. "I'm okay, thanks anyways." Now that Rose had eased some of the waitress' suspicions she was much more interested in Spiridon, and they chatted for a moment. I ignored them and looked at Rose instead. She was biting her bottom lip, looking down again. I hoped that she would like the food I ordered for us and that she would get better with some nutrition.

Turns out she liked everything that we set in front of her. She ate almost as much as Spiridon, who was genuinely impressed. I was too. She seemed to like the blinis most, and I made a mental note of that. I was finishing my cup of black coffee while Spiridon paid for the food. He was stalling at the counter, flirting with the waitress again.

"It's a long drive again, so I recommend using the restroom," I quietly said as Rose and I got up. I walked in front of her towards the restrooms, most of the other customers looking at my tall form instead of her. I caught Spiridon's eyes and motioned him to wait outside the toilets in case she decided to leave again.

Inside the restroom I washed up the best I could, splashing water on my face. I took my time, mulling over Rose for a bit. I didn't know how we would get her to open up, to trust us. Arthur had forbidden us to reveal too much to her, but I thought he was wrong. He still hadn't called, and we had no real plan. She didn't have a passport, meaning it would be close to impossible to get her out of the country. We couldn't contact anyone in the Moroi world, no alchemist or anyone to help us, as it would only compromise her. I didn't even know where we would stay the next night, but soon we would have to find a place where we could stay for a while if the Division's security breach didn't resolve soon.

Maybe all the driving rendered Rose exhausted, and was the reason she slept so much. I thought about bringing her back home to Baia, she had to remember me then and maybe feel safe enough to open up so that we could get intel to report back to Arthur. I quickly dismissed that thought though, it wouldn't be safe enough. The person who told on us the first time I took her home was probably still there.

When I got back out into the hallway nobody was there. I didn't think Spiridon would've taken her to the car and sure enough, I saw that he was still chatting with the waitress. Damn Spiridon and his inability to keep it in his pants. He noticed me and the sour look on my face and quickly said his goodbye to the waitress who was now blushing, flustered.

"She's still inside," he said casually in a low voice. I had a feeling something was off. We waited for another moment until I ran out of patience, and opened the door to the women's restroom. Spiridon and I both stopped in our tracks when we saw Rose.

"As much as I love your derriere, it really isn't necessary to show it off like that," Spiridon joked. Rose's upper body was already out the small window, but her lower body was still inside giving us a grand view of her behind. I wished Spiridon wouldn't stare, and I tried to quickly avert my eyes to something else. "Get down," I commanded, my voice harsher than intended. I was somewhat impressed that she had managed to climb up to the window and squeeze half her body out of it.

She neither moved or answered. "Are you stuck?" Spiridon asked, and when she replied with a faint yes he started laughing. Admittedly, I was also amused, but managed to contain it when I asked if she needed help.

Spiridon and I managed to wiggle her back inside, and set her on the ground. Her cheeks were flaming red and she looked furiously ashamed. Spiridon was still laughing. "Maybe you should've tried that before you ate all the food," he grinned. To my surprise Rose actually graced him with an answer. "Are you calling me fat?"

Spiridon just laughed some more.

I had to turn around in order to keep my straight face. We all walked out of the restroom, ignoring the looks from the others in the diner, and made our way back to the car.

After we had stopped at a gas station, Rose fell asleep again. I noticed a thin sheet of sweat on her forehead. Something was wrong.

"Rose, wake up" I nudged her knee gently, careful not to startle her again. No reaction. Spiridon and I glanced at each other, and he reduced the speed we were driving, getting ready to stop if needed. "Rose, I need you to wake up." This time, I shook her harder. No response, but I could see that she was still breathing steadily, and I leaned back and checked her pulse, her skin hot under my touch.

Spiridon slowed down more and turned right onto a gravel road, driving a couple of minutes until we came to a full stop. I understood that he didn't want us to be visible from the main road. I quickly got out of the car and opened the back door and sat next to Rose in the back seat. Spiridon opened the other door and leaned in a bit from the other side.

"Rose, open your eyes," I said and put my hand on her forehead. She was burning up. Shit. When my hand touched her forehead, she let out a low sound. It sounded like a whimper, and I was immediately worried that she was in pain. I unbuckled her seatbelt and she leaned into my hand, against me. "Rose, please, can you hear me?" I said, my voice now more desperate. "Mmmhmmm" was all the response I got.

"Should we take her to a hospital?" Spiridon asked. Her eyes fluttered open a bit before closing again. A faint whisper escaped her lips. "No. No infirmary. Please, I'm fine."

Spiridon and I looked at each other. I knew we both reacted to the same thing she said. Infirmary. All the institutions we had found had them, as odd as it had seemed.

"You're not fine, we need to take you to a doctor," I said, fighting to keep my voice calm. That seemed to give her a push, and her voice was now a little bit stronger than before. "No doctors. I'm fine, it'll pass. Just give me water and let me sleep," she said in a decisive voice.

"It'll pass? Have you been this sick before?" I asked, and she nodded against my shoulder. "Is it serious?" I demanded. Her eyes were closed, but she seemed steady and conscious. "No, it's not serious. It'll pass."

Spiridon and I looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "It's fine, I promise. I've been sick my whole life, I'm going to be fine in a few days," she reassured, her voice sounding strained. "Does it hurt?" Spiridon asked. She nodded and clutched her stomach. Maybe she ate too much at the diner? Or maybe it was Moore who had kicked her too hard.

"I'm going to take a look at your stomach, I need to make sure your ribs are fine and that I can't feel any lumps or swelling," I said sternly. Before she could object, Spiridon had leaned her back towards him instead, allowing me to get a better view. I carefully lifted her hoodie, and grit my teeth when I saw the bruise on her left side of her stomach. I probed around, gently checking for injuries with my fingers. I couldn't feel any lumps or anything else that was alarming, but that didn't mean I knew for certain that she wasn't seriously injured. I was fairly sure her ribs were fine, her dhampir genetics had helped her endure the abuse.

Her eyes were slightly open, observing me. She was breathing heavily, and I was suddenly very aware of her smooth, warm skin underneath my fingers. The softness of her skin was such a stark contrast to my rough fingers, and I didn't want to add to her discomfort. I pulled down her hoodie, and Spiridon leaned her back against me. Her eyes fell shut again, and she sighed.

"Hospital?" Spiridon asked, switching to Russian. I shook my head, wanting to trust her judgment. "All the institutions had those infirmaries, which had creeped me out until now. But maybe some of the children were sick or something? Like Rosie?" he continued.

"Let's monitor the situation for a while and make a new assessment later. I'll stay in the backseat with her. Try to scout for somewhere to stay the night. We can't stay in the tent if she's sick," I asserted. Spiridon nodded and gently closed the car door. I did the same on my side, and fastened Rose's seatbelt. She leaned heavily against my shoulder, and I hoped that my presence didn't scare her. More than anything I hoped that she would be all right.

I shifted in my seat again, embarrassed and uncomfortable. My mouth was pressed into a thin line trying to fight off the most inappropriate hard-on of my life. I wasn't aroused, at least I didn't think I was, nothing about this situation was calling for that. On the contrary, I was worried about Rose who was still sleeping against my shoulder. I gently pushed her back so that she leaned against her car door instead of me, it simply felt wrong to be touching her when my body was betraying me as it was. I moved to the window seat, as far away from her as I could. What the hell was going on with me? I felt disgusted by myself, not being able to calm down as my pants strained. I tried to take deep breaths, but they just seemed to make it worse. I shifted again, trying to discreetly adjust myself.

"Look, I don't know what the fuck is going on but I've been sporting the weirdest boner of my life the last half an hour. And as far as I know, I haven't taken a viagra in my whole life unless you or that waitress drugged me or something," Spiridon said in Russian, his voice sounding strained under the attempted humor. "From the way you're fidgeting around I'm pretty sure you also have a situation" he continued. What the fuck was going on?

I didn't reply and opened my window. The fresh air seemed to help, and I relished the cool air filling my lungs. We continued driving, and after a while I leaned over to Rose to check that she wasn't cold from having the windows open. When my hand touched her burning forehead she moaned. Like actually moaned. I jerked my hand off, backing away from her as much as I could in the limited space. Her moan hadn't sounded like she was in pain, on the contrary, it sounded like she-

"What were you doing to her?" Spiridon spat out. The harsh question was fair but I really didn't know what I had done to make her, well, feel even remotely that way.

"We need to stop the car." Before I had finished my sentence Spiridon had the blinkers on, pulling over to the side of the road. We both got out quickly.

"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded. I didn't know how to respond, I had no idea what was happening. I stayed silent, trying to think about everything we knew about the infirmaries and the Institutions. Admittedly, it wasn't much. I let my mind think about the more shameful memories, the painful failures.

/ "All clear." Arthur's voice crackled in my earpiece. I was now on the second floor, making sure the children were escorted out. "Have you seen Vinny?" I asked. None of the team members confirmed that they had. "No, and Emil is missing too," Yuri said after a while. I looked around the second floor, opening one door at a time, Spiridon doing the same on the other side of the floor. I was sure that we had incapacitated all of the guardians, but something felt off.

One door was white, a sharp contrast to the rest of the doors in the hall. I heard noises coming from behind the door, and turned around to signal for Spiridon to join me. He walked over to me with brisk steps, and we listened for a moment. It sounded like- it sounded like someone was having sex inside the room. My stomach turned as Spiridon lowered the handle and opened the door.

Well enough, the two missing team members were inside that room. Both Spiridon and I stood still, baffled as we observed the obscene scene before us.

In the middle of the room was an examination table. Emil sat on it and on top of him was a young girl, her nightgown ridden up, bouncing up and down in his lap with her head thrown back. Emil's hands were gripping her hips, steadying her pace and rocking her against him. I hesitated, standing still in the door opening, when Vinny yanked the girl off Emil and threw her on the ground. The girl got up on her hands and knees, and I noticed the thin sheet of sweat on her forehead and she was seemingly out of it. I thought that Vinny was saving her, protecting her from Emil until he got down on his knees behind her. It was only when he pulled her close and I noticed that his belt was unbuckled and his pants open that I snapped out of it, yanking the girl away from him, pulling her behind me. When I touched her skin my cock jerked, and I quickly let go of her, appalled by myself. Spiridon kicked Vinny, who didn't even try to fight it. Emil was looking at the girl, crying, saying sorry over and over again.

Arthur and Celeste barged into the room, and Spiridon and I dragged away Emil and Vinny. Before closing the door to that room, I grabbed Arthur and pulled him with me so that only Celeste stayed behind. /

"Remember Romania?" I asked in a low voice. Spiridon looked at me with a serious face and nodded. I scratched my neck, unsure where to start. "When we opened the door to that room, to the infirmary there, I was furious. I was shocked and furious. But also- I can't explain it. It was as if a part of me needed to do the same to that poor girl, and I'm thinking the same thing is happening now" I admitted, ashamed of myself.

I thought that Spiridon would judge me, but instead he just nodded again. "I felt the same too. I've never considered myself capable of rape, but in that moment a part of me didn't care if that girl was in for it or not," he said quietly. "I never understood how two of the most respected and kind guardians could be capable of what they did. It just didn't make any sense. And also, why would they rape someone and getting caught for sure? It's been bothering me so much, knowing that I had felt something in that room," he continued, almost rambling.

Now that we were standing in the fresh air, I felt so much better. I no longer had the situation, and felt more secure with my body. More in control.

"We need to find somewhere to stay the night, we can't be in the same space as her for long. It's not safe for her." I paused. "We're not safe for her."