Bound to love, but sworn to kill

Chapter II - Did my heart not beat? Did my heart not break?

Nathan left in the next second, without trying to mess up with Dimitri. Even though he would have won, he didn’t want Galina to get angry. Not on him. Not now that he almost got her trust back. The Strigoi was staying in front of the metal door looking around, moving his sight from a painting to another even though he already knew them by heart.

“I am going to own this building. This palace will be mine with all the gold and the weapons and all the power will be mine. Galina will be dead or one of my servants.” – Nathan said on a determined voice seeing himself giving orders to everyone in that palace, having all the power, ruling everyone in the house including Dimitri.

“I am going to order him awake that Dhampir. And if he refuses, his body will be buried near hers” – The Strigoi continued on the same voice, but now lower because he was afraid of Dimitri hearing him. Nathan kept his smile on his face every time another Strigoi was passing on that hall, asking non-sense questions.

Dimitri was staying near the door, being too afraid to get closer to Rose. What am I supposed to tell her? How am I supposed to stop all the feelings I have for her?- he asked himself as he was staying there, like a stone, with his eyes lost in the blood that was on his carpet, staying his hand not to drink it.

“This won’t happen again” – Dimitri said finally on a cold voice like it was about one of his victims and not the person he loved.

Rose opened her eyes, but she couldn’t see anything clear. Everything was in fog and all that she could see was Dimitri’s body, staying there, without doing anything to rescue her or at least take her from there. She tried to stand up, but she fell in the next moment. In the next second, Dimitri was there, holding her in his cold arms.

“You should rest now. You lost a lot of blood.”

He pulled his hand through Rose’s hair and almost smiled when he felt how soft it was and remembered the times when he was moving his hands on her back, when they were running together at the trainings and how her hair was moving in the wind.

Rose opened her eyes and for a second she saw Dimitri smiling. It was the first time she had seen him smiling since he was a Strigoi. A smile appeared on her lips too and she opened her mouth to say something, but Dimitri didn’t let her. He put his fingers on her lips and when he touched them he suddenly remembered when he first kissed her and how it felt, when they first made love in the hut and when he promised her that nothing bad will happen.

“I will take you to the bedroom so that you take a nap and recover.”

“You are worried about me. Why?” – Rose whispered, her voice being so low that Dimitri barely heard her.

He didn’t say anything and then Rose fainted in his arms. Dimitri took her to the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He took the hair from her face and put the blanket on her so that she wouldn’t be cold. He took an armchair, put it next to the bed and stayed there watching her body breathing, feeling the smell of her blood.

“Why? Because I still...” – he started the sentence but couldn’t finish it.

He stood up from the armchair and went to the leaving room. He turned his head and saw that Rose was still in the same position, still breathing, still alive. This is all that matters.

Galina opened the metal door slowly and entered the room on her tiptoes so that no one could hear her. The girl should be here, I saw Dimitri bringing her here – she thought when she saw the blood on the carpet. She stepped back for a second and then she looked around to make sure that no one heard her. Galina went to the door and put her hand on the latch.