Dimitri's new life

The truth unfolds

Chapter 5: The truth unfolds

I had my bag packed and was saying goodbye to my family before I headed for the airport. Krystal was going to watch Dimka for me so that momma didn’t have to worry about him too. I hugged her tightly and felt her hands run through my hair. “Take care of yourself and come back soon.” She whispered before kissing my cheek.

The airplane ride was long and the longer I was on it the harder coping with Rose’s death was. I can’t believe she killed herself. My love. My life. I don’t understand how she could do that to herself or to me or to Marie or even her parents. “Please fasten your seatbelts we will be landing soon.” The overhead dinged while the seatbelt light went on.

Finally I was at Saint Vlad’s and saw the familiar buildings. Lissa and Christian were outside waiting for me with Marie and Angel. Marie was in a little school girl outfit and her hair up in pigtails. When the cab pulled up, I quickly got out and went to pick up my daughter. “Marie!”

“Daddy! I missed you.” She began to cry on my shoulder.

“I missed you too, baby.” I replied while hugging Lissa and Christian.

“The funeral is at three this afternoon so we should go make sure Marie is all ready and for you to look over Rose’s place. No one has touched anything in there so maybe you’ll be able to find something.” Lissa told me and already started pushing me to where Rose had been living. See Lissa is head mistress now so she lives at Vlad’s.

Interestingly enough, Rose and Marie were staying in my old apartment and nothing had changed besides the dolls and girl clothes thrown everywhere. I rummaged through some things while Lissa finished packing Marie’s bag. Going into my bed room, I flopped on the bed and snuggled my face into the pillow. Something didn’t feel right though and I pushed my hand into the case. Sure enough, there was something in the pillow case. A letter addressed to me.

Deciding it would be best not to read it here, I slipped it into my suit jacket. “Find anything?” Lissa interrupted me as I wiped away a few stray tears and shook my head. She nodded sadly and left the room. Next thing I heard was Marie screaming.

“I WANT MY MOMMY!” SHE SCREAMED. “YOU ARE NOT MY MOMMY!” I ran to her and found Lissa trying to calm her down. Her eyes flickered.

“Don’t you dare use compulsion on my daughter! GET AWAY FROM HER!” I yelled and ran to Marie. She glared at Lissa even through her tears. “Come here, baby girl.” She ran into my arms and I took her from the room and into the hallway.

Marie and I spent the next few hours in silence. She didn’t want to talk about what happened. All she wanted was to be held by me and I gladly obliged. It was time for the funeral and I wasn’t ready to face the truth.

“We are gathered here to say goodbye to a friend, a student, a co-worker, a mother, and to some a lover. Rose Hathaway has touched our lives more than some would realize. No one knows what brought on her death or the reason behind it, but we will miss her nonetheless. Now I’d like Dimitri Belikov to come speak to us.” The priest took a seat and I went to the front of the room.

“Rose was the most important part of me. She was my student first and then a lover and along the way became the mother of my child. We didn’t have an easy relationship, but somehow we still cared for each other. We got together again this past year and our relationship was great. I proposed to her a few weeks ago and for reasons unknown to me she said no. I became the jilted lover and decided to stay with my family, but my love never stopped. Rose will always be the girl I loved more than my own life and I know she’ll have a special place in your heart as well, but one thing I know for sure is that she wouldn’t want us to mourn her for too long.” I couldn’t continue so I stepped down and found my seat.

Others spoke on Rose’s behalf, but I couldn’t pay attention. I allowed my mind to wander away from this place. It came time for the goodbye and for some sick reason Lissa decided that the casket needed to be opened. I think the one thing that no one factored in was Marie. She was in my arms and when she saw Rose’s dead face her screams filled the chapel. It was just screams, no words. I must say seeing Rose that decapitated and hearing Marie screaming was too much. I walked out of the chapel, went to the waiting taxi that was taking Marie and I to the airport, got in, and left without a goodbye.

Some time along the way Marie stopped screaming and fell asleep. While she slept I decided to read the letter Rose left me.

Dear Dimitri,

By now I am dead and gone and more than likely the funeral is over. You must be wondering what drove me to kill myself and why I rejected your proposal. The truth is that I was pregnant. It wasn't your child. In fact, it was Adrian's. We had been secretly seeing each other for some time. He knew you and I were together, but it didn't bother him. I rejected your proposal because he had also proposed and our celebration of engagement is what got me pregnant. I know you must be distraught by now and I hope to ease your mind by telling you that I am not dead. Adrian and I faked my death so that we could leave and not be found. I refused to take Marie with me. I don’t want her. She reminds me of you and that disgusts me. Don’t bother looking for me. By now Adrian and I are somewhere far away and I can finally be rid of all of you people. I hope you realize now that I never loved you.

Adrian! That bastard! I’ll rip him apart when I see him. Rose’s words suddenly sunk in. She’s far away by now and I won’t track her down. She doesn’t want you. I repeated to myself. Part of me couldn’t believe she was playing me, but another part could. Rose always acted strangely around me, but I thought it was her fear of me being Strigoi.

We reached the airport and I was happy to see that Marie and I wouldn’t have to wait to board our plane. The ride home was spent with me and Marie sobbing. I don’t understand who or what the corpse in the casket was, but I knew the picture was forever engraved in our minds. Poor Marie shouldn’t have had to see that.

“Massy,” she whispered. “What are you doing on the plane?” I stayed silent. “I know you miss her. I miss her too, but she doesn’t love me. Mason did you see her in the coffin?” Marie’s eyes became wide. “It made me sad too.” She continued to whisper to Mason and I allowed her to since she was calming down. Momma would find this interesting. Her granddaughter talking to a ghost. I mused over that until our plane touched down in Russia. Time to face the family and Krystal.

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