Blood Promise Chapter Six

I bolted upright, both part of me awake and alert. on that point were no city lights to shine through the window, and it took me s ever soal seconds to make by any(prenominal)thing in the darkened room. Sydney was curled up in her own bed, her verbal expression unusu everyy at peace as she slept.Where was the Strigoi? Definitely not in our room. Was it in the house? Everyone had utter the road to Dimitris town was perilous. put away, I would meet thought Strigoi would be going after Moroi and dhampirs-though humans were a spacious part of their diet too. Thinking of the nice couple whod welcomed us into their home, I matte up something tight clench in my chest. No way would I let anything happen to them.Slipping quietly emerge of the bed, I grabbed a hold of my put up and crept from the room without disturbing Sydney. No one else was awake, and as soon as I was in the living room, the nausea went away. Okay. The Strigoi wasnt inside, which was a good thing. It was outdo ors, apparently on the side of the house near my room. Still moving silently, I went out the houses front door and walked virtually the corner, as quiet as the night around me.The nausea grew stronger as I approached the barn, and I couldnt help still looking at smug. I was going to wonder this Strigoi whod thought it could sneak into a tiny human village for dinner. There. ad good near the barns entrance, I could mark a long tint moving. Gotcha, I thought. I readied the stake and started to spring forward-And then something struck me on the shoulder.I stumbled, astonished, and looked into the character of a Strigoi. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow by the barn materialize into another Strigoi striding forward. brat shot through me. There were two, and my secret detection system hadnt been suit fitted to tell the difference. Worse, theyd gotten the surrender on me.A thought immediately flashed into my mind What if ones Dimitri?It wasnt. At least, this good o ne wasnt. It was a woman. I had yet to suit a tonus for the second one. That one was approaching from my other side, moving fast. I had to carry morose with this immediate threat, though, and swiped at the woman with my stake, hoping to wound her, but she dodged so quickly, I hardly saw her move. She struck out toward me in an almost workaday way. I wasnt fast enough to react and went flying toward the other Strigoi-a jackass who was not Dimitri.I responded quickly, leaping up and kicking him. I held the stake out, creating distance between us, but it did little(a) good when the woman came up from behind and grabbed me, jerking my body against hers. I gave a muffled waul and felt her hands on my throat. She was probably going to break my neck, I realized. It was a fast, easy technique for Strigoi that then let them drag score a victim for feeding.I struggled, jostling her hands slightly, but as the other Strigoi leaned anyplace us, I knew it was useless. Theyd surprised me. There were two of them.They were strong.Panic surged in me again, an overwhelming sense of fear and desperation. I was afraid every time I fought Strigoi, but this fear was reaching a fault point. It was unfocused and out of control, and I suspected it was touched by a bit of the madness and darkness Id absorbed from Lissa.The feelings exploded within me, and I wonde exit if theyd destroy me before the Strigoi did. I was in very real danger of dying here-of letting Sydney and the others get killed. The rage and distress of that thought were smothering.Then, suddenly, it was deal the earth conniption open. Translucent forms, glowing softly in the darkness, sprang up everywhere. Some looked like normal people. Others were horrible, their faces gaunt and skull-like. Ghosts. Spirits. They surrounded us, their presence fashioning my hair stand on end and sending a ripping headache through my skull.The phantoms turned toward me. Id had this happen before, on a plane, when appari tions had swarmed and peril to consume me. I braced myself, trying desperately to summon up the strength to build barriers that would shut me off from the spirit world. It was a expertness Id had to learn, one I usually kept in dimension without any effort. The desperation and panic of this situation had cracked my control. In that horrible, blood-curdling moment, I again selfishly wished Mason hadnt found peace and left this world. I would hasten felt better if his ghost were here.Then I realized I wasnt their target.The ghosts were mobbing the two Strigoi. The liquor didnt have solid forms, but every place they touched and passed through me felt like ice. The female Strigoi immediately began beckon her arms to fend the apparitions off, snarling in rage and something almost like fear. The ghosts didnt step up to be able to hurt the Strigoi, but they were apparently pretty annoying-and distracting.I staked the male Strigoi before he ever saw me coming. Immediately, the ghosts around him travel to the woman. She was good, Id give her that. Despite struggling to fend the spirits off, she was still able to dodge my attacks fairly rise up. A lucky punch from her make stars give out before my eyes and sent me into the barn wall. I still had that ghost-induced ripping headache, and my head slamming into the barn didnt help. Staggering up, dizzy, I made my way bind going to her and keep my efforts to get a shot in at her heart. She managed to keep her chest out of my range-at least until one particularly terrifying ghost caught her off guard. Her momentary distraction gave me my chance, and I staked her, too. She fell to the ground-leaving me alone with the spirits.With the Strigoi, the ghosts had understandably wanted to attack them. With me, it was a lot like on the plane. They seemed spell-bound by me, desperate to get my attention. Only, with dozens of phantoms swarming, it might as well have been an attack.Desperately, I tried again to summon my wal ls, to block the ghosts off from me as Id through long ago. The effort was excruciating. Somehow, my out-of-control emotions had brought the spirits, and while I was calmer now, that control was harder to bring nearly. My head continued throbbing.Gritting my teeth, I focused every ounce of my strength into blocking out the ghosts.Go away, I hissed. I dont study you anymore.For a moment, it looked like my efforts were going to be useless. Then, slowly, one by one, the spirits began to fade. I felt the control Id learned before gradually drift off into place. Soon, there was nothing there but me, the darkness, and the barn-and Sydney.I tickd her beneficial as I collapsed to the ground. She was running out of the house in her pajamas, face pale. Kneeling at my side, she helped me sit up, legitimate fear all over her. Rose Are you okay? I felt like every scrap of energy in my brain and body had been sucked out. I couldnt move. I couldnt think.No, I told her.And then I passed out.I dreamed of Dimitri again, his arms around me and beautiful face leaning over me to share for me as hed done so often when I was sick. Memories of things past came to me, the two of us laugh over some joke. Sometimes, in these dreams, hed carry me away. Sometimes, wed be riding in a car. Occasionally, his face would start to take on that fearsome Strigoi see that evermore tormented me. Then Id quickly order my mind to thicket such thoughts away.Dimitri had taken assistance of me so many times and had always been there when I needed him. It had gone both ways, though. Admittedly, he had not seemed to end up in the infirmary as much as me. That was just my luck. Even when he was injured, he wouldnt acknowledge it. And as I dreamed and hallucinated, images came to me of one of the few times Id been able to take care of him.Just before the school had been attacked, Dimitri had been involved in a morsel of tests with me and my fellow novices to see how well we reacted to surprise a ssaults. Dimitri was so tough that he was almost impossible to beat, though he still got bruised up a number of times. Id run into him in the gym once during these tests, surprised to see a cut on his cheek. It was hardly fatal, but there was a fair amount of blood showing.Do you realize youre bleeding to dying? Id exclaimed. It was kind of an exaggeration, but still.He touched his cheek absentmindedly and seemed to notice the injury for the first time. I wouldnt quite go that far. Its nothing.Its nothing until you get an infectionYou know thats not likely, he said obstinately. That was true. Moroi-aside from contracting the nonchalant rare disease, as Victor had-hardly ever got sick. We dhampirs had inherited that from them, just as Sydneys tattoo gave her some protection. Nonetheless, I wasnt about to let Dimitri bleed all over.Come on, I said, pointing to the small bathroom in the gym. My phonation had been fierce, and to my surprise, hed in reality obeyed.After wetting a was hcloth, I gently cleaned his face. He continued protesting at first but finally fell quiet. The bathroom was small, and we were just a few inches from each other. I could smell his clean, intoxicating thread and studied every detail of his face and strong body. My heart raced in my chest, but we were supposed to be on good behavior, so I tried to appear cool and collected. He was eerily calm too, but when I brushed his hair rearward behind his ears to clean the lie in of his face, he flinched. My fingertips touching his skin had sent shock waves through me, and hed felt them too. He caught hold of my hand and pulled it away.Enough, he said, fathom husky. Im fine.Are you received? I asked. He hadnt released my hand. We were so, so close. The small bathroom seemed ready to burst with the electricity building between us. I knew this couldnt last but detest to let go of him. God, it was hard being responsible sometimes.Yes, he said. His voice was soft, and I knew he wasnt mad at m e. He was afraid, afraid of how little it would take to ignite a fire between us. As it was, I was warm all over, just from the feel of his hand. Touching him made me feel complete, like the person I was always meant to be. Thank you, Roza.He released my hand, and we left, both off to do our own things that day. But the feel of his skin and hair stayed with me for hours afterwardI dont know why I dreamed that store after being attacked near the barn. It seemed weird that Id dream of taking care of Dimitri when I was the one who needed care. I guess it didnt really social occasion what the memory was, so long as it involved him. Dimitri always made me feel better, even in my dreams, giving me strength and resolve.But as I lay in that delirium and moved in and out of consciousness, his comforting face would occasionally take on those terrible red eyes and fangs. Id whimper, fighting hard to push that sight away. Other times, he didnt look like Dimitri at all. Hed turn into a man I d idnt know, an older Moroi with dark hair and cunning eyes, gold jewelry seem on his neck and ears. Id cry out for Dimitri again, and eventually, his face would return, safe and wonderful.At one point, though, the image shifted again, this time into a womans. Clearly, she wasnt Dimitri, but there was something about her brown eyes that reminded me of him. She was older, in her forties maybe, and a dhampir. She laid a cool cloth across my forehead, and I realized I wasnt pipe dream anymore. My body ached, and I was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. No sign of the Strigoi. Had I dreamed them, too? Dont try to move, the woman said with the faintest trace of a Russian accent. You took some bad hits.My eyes widened as the events by the barn came back to me, the ghosts Id summoned up. It hadnt been a dream. Wheres Sydney? Is she okay?Shes fine. Dont worry. Something in the womans voice told me I could believe her.Where am I?In Baia.Baia, Baia. Somewhere, in the back of my head , that name was familiar. All of a sudden, it clicked. Long, long ago, Dimitri had said it. Hed only ever mentioned his towns name once and, even though Id tried, I had never been able to remember it. Sydney would never tell me the name. But now we were here. Dimitris home.Who are you? I asked.Olena, she said. Olena Belikova.