Secret War

Chapter 8

8

"She what?" I shouted.

"You're a smart girl Roza, work it out." Riya grinned. "Now enough of depressing subjects, let's go. You need some unwinding."

"Definitely." I agreed sighing heavily.

"Oi girls what's taking so long?" Luke complained.

"We're coming!" Riya yelled back. "Ready?"

"Yeah." I nodded. We headed to the same club that we had gone week ago and lost ourselves in the music. As the night wore on I felt my muscles relax from the tension of the training and I felt parts of my heart return to me. It was all thanks to my new friends. It made me a little guilty thinking about Lissa though. She had been my best friend since I was born. She must've been suffering quite a bit. I knew that for a fact because I could feel her darkness seeping into me still despite the fact that I was all the way here in Russia. Although, the really weird thing was, I didn't feel the same rage or depression that I normally felt, the same emotions that I should have yet I don't. It was both a concern and a relief. To be able to be away from all the pressure of Lissa's deep emotions helped me clear my mind. I also haven't slipped into her head once at all since I left the academy. Although, it wasn't until I met Riya that the depression lessened considerably.

Looking over at the mentioned girl, I saw her chatting animatedly to some guardians. They seemed really nice to her, so nice that they were almost flirtatious. I grinned as I looked for Zana. Luka looked so jealous since another guy was dancing rather close to Zana. That brought back the question that I had asked earlier, whether Strigoi could get pregnant or not... It would be amazing if they could.

The night wore on and we all joked around teasing one another. At the moment I was with Cain, Luka and Zana were off dancing and Riya had disappeared but since Cain didn't seem worried at all, I guessed it wasn't serious.

"Cain?"

"Yeah."

"Do you like Riya?" The question caused the big guy to choke on his drink. Whoops. Maybe I asked the question at the wrong time but it was a comical reaction especially from someone like him.

"What!?"

"Well do you?"

"Why would you ask that question?"

"Just answer it, it's not that hard. You either do or you don't."

"It's more complicated than that Roza." Cain shook his head.

"How so? If you like one another then you like one another. There is no argument about something like that." I protested.

"I love her." Cain admitted. "But not in the way that you love Dimitri. I love her in a way that I would do anything for her, absolutely anything. There are rare times that I understand her and at those times I support her as much as I can. As you can probably tell, Riya is a very mysterious person. None of us know anything of her past. The only thing we know is that she died when she was 15 and she came from a family of guardians. We don't even know whether she used to be one herself. We know just as much as you do Roza and we've known her for a lot longer than you.

I would stay by her side for as long as she needs it. If she ever wants me to leave, or gets tired of me, I will go if that was her true wish."

"But she'd never wish that. I can tell that she values you all so much. She would never risk anything to endanger you all." I shook my head. "She needs you all, she really does. It's just a shame that's all, you two look like an amazing couple."

"We are part of each other just as you are part of St. Vladimir. She is a sister to me, my saviour. Without her I would be nothing." Cain smile fondly and my insides melted. A few weeks ago if someone told me that a Strigoi didn't have to live by killing Moroi I would've laughed at them. If they told me that a Strigoi could smile fondly with so much love in their eyes I would've punched them for messing with me. But now... now everything was different. I would think differently. It was obvious that these guys could show love, they already do towards one another.