Mistakes (Vampire Academy)

Chapter Five

The globe light flickers, colours swarming my line of vision. I push against my skull, crying in hopes that everything around me would become mute.

I want to get out of this damn party. Where the hell is Viktoria?

I holler her name, to no one in particular.

"Where's my friend?" I ask a man, who's currently making out with a petite blonde chick. He sends me a glare, and I stumble on in search for Viktoria.

After searching for what felt like forever, I finally find her. She's sitting on a couch, seeming to be in a deep conversation with Nikolia. I take her arm, forcefully pulling her off of the couch.

"What the hell are you doing?" she slurs in annoyance, backing away.

"I—I, umm . . ." I feel as the tears swell in my eyes, clouding my vision. Sympathy crosses her eyes, and within seconds, I'm tight in her arms.

"We have to go," I plead. She gives me a small smile, nodding her head.

We arrive at the car. Viktoria takes the passenger seat, while I offer to drive. In my saddened and drunken state, I was not acting very rationally. But the only thing on my mind was the exceeding urgency to get out of here.

I start the engine, about to back out, when a tall figure appears in the rearview mirror. I gasp in shock, honking the horn. What the hell is that person thinking? Standing behind a moving car like that?

The figure disappears, and I get ready to leave, until there's a loud bang on the window next to me. I jump, shaken. Rolling my eyes, I roll the window down, ready to give the person a piece of my mind. But then he speaks, and everything I was about to say completely leaves my head.

"What do you think you're doing?" speaks an angry, Russian voice.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I exasperate, crossing my arms, refusing to look at Dimitri.

"I could explain, but I think it would be entirely pointless," he states, in all his glory. I let out an annoyed sigh, shaking my head.

"Well, if you're not going to explain, then could you kindly back out of my way?" Why did he come out here at the exact moment I was about to get away?

"Step out of the car, Rose." There was not a trace of question in his voice. He was dead serious. It was either do what he says, or he would have to force me out of the car himself. Subconsciously, I knew he was right. I was in no condition to drive. But I hated the fact that he was here, trying to tell me what to do.

"Why do you care, anyway?" My voice strained. I try to be as emotionless as possible. I didn't want him to know that I still cared. We were now face to face. His eyebrows furrow, but he doesn't speak.

We both stand in awkward silence. I play with my hands, focusing quite intensely at the ground. Why won't he say anything? Just say something, anything to break this horrible silence.

"She is my sister, Rose." Words. Finally. But I'm left entirely disappointed. Her, not me. It has absolutely nothing to do with me. I feel entirely stupid for thinking he could have possibly cared about me. He made it clear a year ago he wanted nothing to do with me. Why would that change now? I try to hide my shock by hiding behind my hair.

"Right," I say between clenched teeth, still avoiding his eyes.

"Please, look at me," he pleads. I'm not exactly sure why, but those words infuriated me. Why the hell should I look at him?

"Why?" I snap, averting my eyes to look at him, eyes in slits. I fist my hand, getting angrier by the second. My breathing becomes heavier—faster, my thoughts become darker. I want to scream. I want to hit Dimitri square in the jaw—until I make him bleed, to make him feel the pain that I feel. Hell, punching him wouldn't even be close to the pain that he's made me feel. "I know it's what you love most, but you can't control every single thing around you, Dimitri. The world just doesn't work that way. You can't tell me what to do. You can't prance around expecting everyone to bow down to you. Sure, some might think of you as a god, but you are far, far from it, Dimitri."