Moving Objects

Chapter 27

I could tell that this was a lot harder than Dimitri was letting on. He hugged his mother longer than I thought, holding her tightly with his face tucked into her hair. The Belikova's stayed much longer than originally planned, but it was needed. Once they pulled away from each other Olean stroked Dimitri's cheek before wiping away her own tears from her face.

Dimitri moved to hugs his grandmother when Olean slipped to me, wrapping me in her embrace too. I rested my head against her shoulder, basking in the familiar feeling of her embrace.

"Thank you," she whispered in my ear, stroking my hair with motherly affection. I squeezed her gently before kissing her cheek.

I gave her a soft smile before catching Vika in a hug, laughing as we toppled back a bit. During the time I did get to spend with her, I realized that Dimitri was right when he told me once upon a time. We were alike and we grew close very quickly. The same with Karoline. I grew close to her and she was the big sister I never had. I genuinely viewed the two of them as sisters.

Sonya on the other hand...well, we were better off seeing each other in small, supervised doses.

Either way, I felt like I was a real member of the family. My heart felt whole. I went from having next to no relationship with my mom to meeting my father, and now, Dimitri's family. I felt like I had a real family.

I hugged the remaining family goodbye, promising that I would keep in touch and that we would see them again soon. I wrapped my arms around Dimitri's waist as we watched them, his hand on my hip before slipping into the back pocket of my jeans.

"We'll see them again soon," I said resting my head against his shoulder. His hand squeezed my flesh before he dipped his head down so he could kiss mine. We waited until we saw their plane taxi before leaving, and we sat in the car in silence for a few minutes. I reached over and put my hand on Dimitri's leg, squeezing gently while his hands were over his face.

He made a noise that was a mix between a groan and sigh before removing his hands. He turned to look at me and gave me a tight smile before starting the car. I placed my hand back in my lap but Dimitri slipped his hand into it, resting it in my lap as he drove.

____________________

I was being shaken. Not hard, but enough to pull me from the clutches of sleep. I groaned and rolled onto my back to find Dimitri leaned up on his side.

"What is it?" I mumbled as my eyes slide closed again. He was quiet for a moment and I cracked an eye open and looked up at him. That was the only answer I needed, his face said enough. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes wild in fear. I opened my arms and beckoned to lay down and he did, resting his head on my chest while I wrapped my arms around him tightly. He held me just as tight, his arms slipping under the arch in my back to hold himself closer. I ran my fingers along his scalp and kissed the top of his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

Dimitri shifted his head so his face was pressed against my collarbone, his breath dancing over my skin and he breathed through his nose.

"There was a girl. After you found me, and I left you in that ally. I came across a girl that looked so much like you..." he started before trailing off. He was starting to get worked up and I shushed him softly, rubbing my other hand over his back as he tried to get his breathing right.

"She couldn't have been more than sixteen, and I killed her. I feel guilt about all the people I hurt and killed as a Strigoi, but she was the only kid. She haunts my dreams."

I tilted my head back into the pillowed and tried to prevent the shaky sigh that tried to escape. It was hard to hear about some of the things he had done, but we lived in a twisted world. A world where the monsters of our nightmares crept in the shadows. Monsters that were very much real. And Dimitri was the victim of those monsters.