Collateral Damage

- TWENTY SEVEN -

Dimitri's POV

"I love you." Rose whispered as she clung tightly to Scott's lifeless body. Her hair stuck to her cheeks.

I walked over to Adrian who stood emotionless by Rose. "Get Tilly out of here," I said passing my daughter into Adrian's arms, "She has a broken leg." He nodded his head and Tilly thanked me as she wrapped her arms around Adrian's neck.

I squatted beside Rose as she sobbed. I placed my hand on her shoulder. "This is all my fault." She said, "Dimitri, what have I done?" I thought about giving her Scott's letter but decided against it right now. Instead I closed Scott's eyes. She released her death grip on Scott to cover her eyes with her hands.

One of the guardians looked to me for approval to move Scott's body, I gave a slight nod and two young guardians came over. They began to move his body, Rose jumped to her feet, "No, let him go." She said, "Please, no, Scott!"

I was quick to reach her before she could grab one of the guardians. Rose had her back to me as I crossed my arms over her chest in a security hold. She fought against my grip before falling to the ground, naturally I fell with her. My hold on her never lessened as she sobbed, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she repeated.

"It's okay, I'm right here," I said, pulling her closer into my chest. Eventually her sobs turned into silence. I would have graciously accepted her silence if it wasn't Rose, but it is and it scares me.

As we sat on the steps of the patio, Rose stared blankly at the ground. The sun had gone down and I had ignored 4 calls from Lissa. I assumed the Christian had told her what had happened and she wanted to make sure Rose was okay, how could she be? "We should go," Rose finally said, her voice was croaky and her face was puffy from all of the tears. She stood from her spot on the step and began to walk towards the car she had obviously driven here in.

I followed her and walked to the passenger side. Rose was already sat in the car as I slid in, she reached for a photo taped to the mirror of her and Scott and she threw it over her shoulder into the back of the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked as she followed the road.

"Airport," she said as if that explained why we were going to spend $100 on a place ticket instead of $50 on a tank of gas. "I'm going home, I have a funeral to plan."

"I'll come with you." I said and denied her pleads to go back to the Academy. Rose was hurting and she needed someone there to help her through this.

The drive to the airport was silent, as was the plane ride to New York. "I live with my friend Louise, her husband Chris and their son Kane." Rose said as we pulled into a driveway. "Louise is Kane's mother but Chris is his stepfather. They are all dhampirs." I nodded my head as she stepped out of the car. I followed her to the front door.

She sighed as she opened the door with her key. Footsteps could be heard coming down the stair case. I prepared myself for the worst, "Strigoi don't lurk here, Comrade," Rose said walking into the living room where the base of the stairs were. It had felt like a lifetime since she had called me that, well, since she had called me that sober.

"Rose?" A woman's voice could be heard. I was met with a blonde. She looked about Rose's age.

"I'm home Lou," she replied, wrapping her arms around her friend.

Louise looked at me and then around the room, "Where's Scott?" Rose's face dropped and her eyes welled with tears. Rose ever so slightly shook her head, "I'm sorry," Louise said wrapping Rose in another hug.

It was in this moment that I realized that Rose didn't need a friend because she already had one. It never occurred to me that she would be able to move on from the academy and the stuff we went through, but she obviously had. Rose had found a way to make a new life for herself. It's an understatement that I was envious.

"Who is this?" the blonde asked, gesturing to me.

"Matilda's dad," Rose said bluntly and she sunk into a lounge chair.

"Dimitri," I said holding my hand out for a hand shake.