Vampire Academy: Broken Trust

Chapter 14

DIMITRI

What will they think when they see me? Should I even go there? What am I supposed to say?

I'm standing on at the beginning of Baia street, still choosing if I should go home or not and rather find a hotel or something to stay. Better to try. I miss them.

Walking down the the street with a bag in my hand made me remember my childhood. All the time I spent playing a husband for my sisters’ dolls and all the time I played with other kids from the street. And the time I came to say goodbye and go to America. My sisters and my mother had tears in their eyes and my grandmother Yeva had a smile on her face... "I'm proud of you" she said tapping me on my chest.

Will they believe me that I'm back? In the world of the living?

I heard a loud scream on a balcony on my right side. I forgot that everybody knows everything here. A neighbour saw me walking down the street and they thought I'm a strigoi. And it's even night time. I hope the neighbourhood won't decide to go hunt after me.

I'm here.  I started to breathe hard, and I started to sweat. It’s now or never, Americans say. I knock on the door. Nobody appears. But the door was unlocked. They probably have the loud TV on and they didn't hear me. I enter and put the bag down.

I was right. TV was on. The laugh of my two nieces was heard and the conversation of my mother and Karolina. They were talking about Paul not doing his homework. I knocked on the door frame and the party started.

Paul screamed and that made Zoya cry. Karolina came to see what happened and when she saw me first she gasped and then she stood in front of the children and prepared herself to fight. The front door behind me opened and I saw Victoria running after me with tears in her eyes. She jumped on me and we both fell on the floor. It was dark, so they couldn't see the normal color of my skin and my eyes. Victoria was pushing that silver stake in my face, trying hurt me with it.

"Victoria stop! It's me! I'm not a strigoi!" I say pushing the stake away from my face.

"Stop lying!" she yelled. "You think you can fool me with that nice voice?!"

I hear my mother loudly crying behind us.I see Karolina standing behind kids not knowing if she should help her sister or stay there.

"How many of you are there?!" Karolina yelled. Even if Victoria wasn't bad at fighting she didn't have the skills to defeat me. I grabbed her hand pushed the stake away turned us around so I was on top of her now. Then I felt pain on my head when Karolina came, grabbed my hair and pulled me back. I was on my knees now and Victoria kicked me in my stomach. The kick was hard. I couldn't breathe for a moment. Victoria got back the stake and both of them were ready to stab.

"STOP!" my mother yelled. My mother and my grandmother were trying to stop them. Mother quickly ran and turned on the lights. "STOP, IT'S HIM!" When the lights turned on Victoria looked in my eyes and realized that it's really me.

She got up to her knees and hugged me.

"Oh, Dimitri!" she cried. My sister in my arms. I hugged her back. Now Karolina also kneeled and I hugged them both. They were all crying. My sisters, mother, my grandmother. I don't know for how long were we all hugging each other but I knew that I have to go to my mother.

"It's me. Calm down..." After we broke apart I ran to my mother and hugged her.

"My son! My Dimka is back!" she was repeating it. "Thank God that mother told about her dreams if she wouldn't, those two would kill you." she said.

Now I turned to my grandmother Yeva. She was sitting on a chair drying her tears with a tissue. I walked over there and kneeled in front of her. She held my face with her hands and shook her head repeating, "my dream was true". I took her hands and kissed them over and over again.

Now we were all sitting at the table every one of them sobbing from the crying before. Sonja also came and she also couldn't help it, she cried like all of them were. I just finished the whole story about me coming back and the journey I took to help Rose to run away. Paul was sitting next to me, carefully listening to everything I said. Zoya was in my lap half sleeping. The other one, Sonja's baby girl, Sofia , was sleeping in Sonja's bedroom.

"This is incredible. Now they can turn every strigoi back into their normal form." Victoria said.

"It's not that easy. Not everyone turned into a strigoi by force. Some of them would do it again. Turning somebody back, takes a lot of moroi energy and there's too many strigoi to be healed and too little of moroi with spirit to be able to." I explained to her. "I was lucky to have that chance. And it's not easy... knowing all the things I did...". I remembered the time I kept Rose a prisoner in that house and all the people that lost their lives because of me.

“How is Rose doing?”mother asked.

“We’re not together.” was the only thing I wanted to say.

“How is that? She looked very in love with you and a very nice girl when she was here.” she said.

“It didn’t work out.” If I say this problem now, that would be another shock. This family went through enough shock today already. It’s going to stay this way.

“I there a special reason you are here or you just came here to tell us that you are alive?” Sonja asked.

I telled her about Rose’s problem but without telling them that she’s pregnant.

“I was wondering if I could stay here.”

“Of course you can, Dimka.” mother said.

Baby crying was heard in the bedroom.

“Do you want to meet Sofia? Come.” Sonja said. I walked with her to her room with Paul behind me. She lifted her up and showed her to me.

Sofia had big chocolate brown eyes and dark curly hair. She looked a lot like Sonja. I remember the day I saw baby Sonja for the first time. She was beautiful. She never cried. She was a happy baby.

"Do you want to carry her? Here." Sonja gave Sofia to me. She was smiling. It made me smile too. And it made me realize how much I wish that child of Rose to be mine.