Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 19 - The Scales Fell From My Eyes

Half awake, I stretched luxuriously on the bed. Momentarily confused by the space available to me, opening my eyes it all came back. I wasn't at St. Vladimir's in a rickety single cot. I was at my father's home in the bed I shared with my lover Dimitri.

My lover! In the forty-eight hours since I'd crossed the ford with Stan during our field trip, I'd had sex with Dimitri in a Guardian car, had our first proper date, spent an amazing afternoon at Bodie, been attacked by five Strigoi and discovered there were orders for me to be murdered, left almost everything and everyone I knew behind to go into hiding, been offered sanctuary by my father, met my father for the first time, introduced him to my seven years older 'formerly my mentor now my lover' boyfriend, discovered I could one day have a baby with the man I'd fallen in love with, been seriously humiliated when an intimate moment between Dimitri and I had been interrupted, and last night been introduced to my father's full staff as his daughter. My head was honestly still spinning.

The only constant in all of this was my Dimitri.

My mentor at St. Vladimir's, Dimitri and I had fought against our mutual attraction from early on. But the more we denied it, the more difficult it had become. Hours combat training together had brought us closer, until we'd realized it wasn't just a physical attraction. Without knowing it, we'd fallen for one another. Two months ago, when I was filled with spirit-rage, Dimitri had taken me to a cabin in the woods outside campus to calm down. Trying to soothe me, one thing had led to another, and we'd ended up making love, Dimitri claiming my virginity. Since then, we'd been trying to hide our love for one another. If it had been discovered before I graduated and turned eighteen, the consequences for us both would be disastrous.

But then with the Strigoi attack, I'd had to go into hiding. Thinking about it now, it spoke volumes that Dimitri not coming with me hadn't been considered by either of us. We both knew that we belonged together. Fortunately, my father had apparently accepted this, and we were now installed together in a suite in his house. Speaking of my Russian God, he was noticeably absent from our bed.

Sitting up, I looked out through the full-length bedroom windows that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Dimitri and I hadn't bothered to draw the curtains last night, so I was treated to the beauty of the sun just peeping over the ocean at the horizon. Checking the nightstand, I saw it was 6.15 am. Today was the first day of his new job, so I knew Dimitri would have been up early, eager to work with the Guardians he would be training for the duration of our stay. Knowing Lissa would almost certainly be up, I thought I'd quickly check in with her.

Closing my eyes and concentrating, I slipped inside her head. As I'd suspected, Lissa was awake. What I wasn't expecting was for her to be talking to Alberta.

"Can you tell me everything, Princess Dragomir?" Alberta was saying, clearly frustrated, sitting on the bed opposite Lissa's in her St. Vladimir's dorm room.

"I'm sorry, Guardian Petrov. I would have told you earlier, but I've only just realized it might be of interest to you. It's happened four times in the last forty-eight hours. The first time was almost two days ago. I was asleep when it happened, so I can't recall the exact time, but it was probably around 10 or 11 am? I woke, suddenly really happy. It's hard to describe, but it was more than that. I wasn't just happy, there was kind of a relief as well? It was as if I'd been waiting for really bad news and instead got the best news ever? I know I'm not describing it well. It's just not something I've felt before."

"Ok," Alberta said, jotting down some notes on a pad.

"The next time I was awake. It was before breakfast time, but I was up early, so maybe 7 pm? I was chatting with Christian and suddenly I felt pure dread. I know this doesn't make sense, but it was like I was saying goodbye to everything. I mean I was really really scared, but I felt peaceful, too."

Alberta looked thoughtful.

"And the one after that?"

"It was around twenty-four hours later. I was getting ready to go to breakfast again when I became blissfully happy. It came out of nowhere. And then not much later I was angrier than I've ever been. Really vengeful and super pissed off. Like Rose when she's in a CRAP mood," Lissa joked.

Seeing her through Lissa's eyes, I recognized a light bulb moment occurring within Alberta.

"And the most recent?" Alberta asked innocuously.

"An hour or so before lunch, so maybe 10 or 11 pm? I was sitting doing some work, and suddenly I felt super peaceful. It was like a wave of peace, happiness and contentment were rolling over me. I know this isn't making sense," Lissa said in frustration, "but it felt like suddenly everything was clicking into place, and that things that had not been right before suddenly were."

I could see Alberta putting the pieces together. Like me, it appeared she recognized the bond was starting to develop both ways.

Poor Lissa! I remember when the bond started for me, and how terrifying and invasive it had been. I'd been freaked out to the extreme, but at least I'd had her there, and I'd figured it out with her help. With me here, Lissa was alone and probably petrified. And given it seemed to be my most extreme emotions she was copping, I was also worried she might learn about the nature of my relationship with Dimitri before I had a chance to tell her!

"I can't believe she just disappeared," Lissa continued. "Her job is to be here looking after me! I mean, all she has to do is hang around chilling out and make sure I'm ok. And she's taken Guardian Belikov with her. She's basically left me completely unprotected!"

"I wouldn't say you're completely without defense," Alberta replied laconically, looking at Lissa speculatively.

"No of course not," Lissa placated, her inner politician realizing the implicit insult of her words. "That's not what I meant. But Rose's place in life is defending me. I can't believe she's abandoned me based on a threat some Strigoi made! She needs to remember where her duties lie," Lissa said self-importantly. "I'm due to go to Lehigh next semester," she continued. "She needs to make sure I'm safe, and I don't think it's fair for me to have to get used to another Guardian just because she's spooked," she finished peevishly.

Pulling out of her head, I felt confused. The bond potentially going both ways was scary and confronting. However, it didn't escape my attention that during her entire conversation with Alberta, Lissa hadn't once concerned herself about me or my welfare. Basically, she'd been pissed off I'd left her in the lurch.

I didn't know how I felt. What was going on with Lissa? This wasn't her, was it? We'd been so close, but I'd never seen this side of her before. Of course, I'd never had a family, a lover, any money worth speaking of or any real life beyond how I was involved or training to be involved in hers. I couldn't figure out what was going on. If something had changed, was it her or me? Had she always been like this and I was only now seeing it?

Putting that problem aside for the moment, I saw I had two and a half hours until breakfast with my father. Of course, a 9 am breakfast for a Dhampir would usually be a second breakfast, so I went to the bathroom to relieve myself with the intention of heading down to the kitchen to get myself some food.

Wondering whether Dimitri had had time for a coffee, I thought I might pick up a coffee and some snacks for him from the kitchen and head down to the gym. I wasn't quite up to sparring myself yet, but it didn't mean I couldn't appreciate my man putting the Guardians through their paces! Besides, after seeing Lissa's comments, I felt a particular need to be near other Dhampir and my man in particular. Everything was changing so fast, and my only constant – the only person I knew I could trust implicitly – was downstairs sparring.