Til' Death Do Us Part

Chapter Seven

[Rome's POV]

    I sauntered through the closed pub, walking towards the lit room in the back in search of Dimitri. Once I opened the door, there he sat, surrounded by his blood whores: human women willing to do anything to have vampires feed on them. From what I'd heard, it was worse than any drug addiction.

    Dimitri sat on the couch with a glass wine in his hand, he raised the glass, "You haven't paid a visit in years, to what do I owe the pleasure Romulus?"

    "Just a quick visit. I need a pack of blood. Fresh, if possible?"

    "So you've come in for your fix?"

    "In so many words." I agreed silently.

    "I don't sell them anymore but I can make an exception." Dimitri stood up and started towards a small drawer. He unlocked it before pulling out some plastic bags, "I don't backwash, promise." He joked, knowing I wouldn't find it amusing. I didn't agree with his bloody harem but we both respected each other's boundaries and had for almost a hundred years.

    I bit into my lip as he extracted the blood in his own way before turning back to Dimitri, who tightly sealed the bag.

    "What's the occasion? You hanging around humans again?" If a vampire wasn't regularly around humans, it would be difficult to exercise self control on an empty stomach.

    "Something similar, yes." I responded, nodding to Dimitri, "Thanks for this." I turned to leave as he sat back down before he called on me.

    "Whoever they are, I can smell the sickness but I'm guessing you have too." His voice was solemn. Dimitri knew about my first wife, he'd known her for a brief time when she was just a child as a distant uncle.

    I stopped in my way silently, "Yes, I know."

    "Normally, I wouldn't insert myself into a personal matter like this but it's not worth it." Dimitri ordered the women out of the room and motioned for me to sit across from him. I reluctantly did so, knowing I would need to hear him out and so he continued, "Victoria isn't coming back. You can't look at every other woman with an illness like you would look at her. This pattern will do far much harm than good."

    "It's more of sympathy. All I offered was a simple out-"

    "Boy, listen to me and listen to me well." Dimitri ordered. He reminded me of how he was when he'd gotten back from the war at times like this. Authoritative. Dimitri was no unintelligent fool and was one of the most strong minded men I'd ever met, "It's more to you, whether you realize it or not, you're looking for a piece of her in all of these women and you're not going to find any because they aren't your wife. And neither is this woman. Whoever she may be, bless her heart."

    I stayed silent in refusal to his suggestion. There was nothing I would say and in response, there was nothing Dimitri would say. So we both sat there in silence for the next two hours before he spoke up.

    "You may be a hundred and four years old, but you're still that twenty eight year old rampaging vampire I met ninety four years ago. If you refuse to do what's right for yourself, I will. I am still a part of your family but I will not stand for my niece's husband refusing to live the life he has without her. We both know the toll it took and I know how important she was to you but you know Victor-"

    "Stop with the 'Victoria would've wanted this,' Dimitri." I sighed, barely hesitating to say what I did, "Victoria wouldn't have wanted any of this. She wouldn't have wanted us to lose our son, she wouldn't have wanted to die early. She wouldn't have wanted me to be this-this fucking creature! Dimitri, Victoria wouldn't have wanted some woman to take advantage of me just after she passed, marry me and then turn me into this beast! She-she.." I became quiet realizing I'd been standing and yelling. Yet there Dimitri was, calm as ever. I hated that he could sit and do nothing and be fine with it but most of all, I hated myself for not being able to be the same.

    "Victoria would have wanted you to be happy." Dimitri glanced at me calmly, "And you're not. No, Victoria wouldn't have wanted you to go through what you have but she wouldn't want you to prolong your pain and certainly not in her name. She would have scolded you and hit you on the back of your damn head with that wooden spoon Margaret gave her."

    Victoria would've. With the way Margaret had raised her, she wouldn't hesitate, never did, "I know. That's why I'm talking to this woman. I'm trying to find someone to connect to. Slowly. I'm trying to move on with my life. And be happy without Victoria."

    Dimitri heaved but nodded, "As long as you don't fool yourself, Romulus." That was right. It had been so long ago that some of the time, I forgot. Dimitri had been married too, except unlike mine, his wife had passed on through old age.

    Dimitri never spoke a word of her. After a decade of him being a vampire, he'd had to leave and fake his own death. Even then, I'd never known he wasn't actually dead but he'd checked in on his wife every single year to make sure she was doing okay. He'd spoken to me about it one night over a dozen years ago, how he hadn't even been with her when she'd passed on. How devastated he'd been over her death and then how at peace he felt, knowing she wouldn't experience any more pain. She'd had severe arthritis and bunions and so for the last years of her life, she'd suffered.

    Word Count: 995