Amnesia // Dimitri Belikov

II

"And go back to a time that was different,
a time when I didn't feel like there was something missing.
Now my body and mind are so distant,
don't know how to escape from this prison."
***

The wind was harsh and her muscles burned, but she kept pushing herself further and further. Another sleepless night, the images flashing through her mind. Her subconscious somehow reasoning that if she ran fast enough, she could outrun them.

A beeping noise sounded from her phone and she collapsed on the moist grass, staring at the clouds. Slow breaths, she reminded herself. But as her eyelids closed, all she saw was blood and all she heard were screams. A child's scream, sounding loud above all others, one that was screeching for her parents.

She crawled back on her feet and walked inside the gym, waving as she passed by Eddie, but heading straight towards the showers. After jumping in and out, she dried herself off and dressed into her guardian uniform.

'Hey, Rose.'

Rose turned around, 'Lady Ozera, what are you doing here?'

'Oh you know, just working out, keeping my selfdefense on track. We should spar some time, who knows, maybe I'll beat you.'

Rose couldn't help the snort and laugh that she should've held down, 'Yeah, right.'

Tasha seemed taken back and even slightly offended as she looked at her, 'Well, I'm sorry that I deemed myself capable of being so good.'

Rose's eyes widened, 'I don't doubt your capabilities, Lady Ozera, I'm sorry I made it seem like I do. If you really want to spar sometime, we can. Just not now, my shift is about to start.'

'Okay!' the usual brightness returning to Tasha's voice, 'I'll see you tonight.'

'Tonight?' Rose questioned.

'Yes,' she replied, 'at the dinner Lissa is hosting. She invited you to go yesterday, as a guest, not a guardian.'

'Oh right, I'll see you tonight.'

Tasha waved as Rose walked off, whom felt her breath catch in her throat. Because for the love of God, she couldn't remember being invited to anything.

***

'Rose! You're here!' Lissa cheered as Rose walked inside in a beautiful red velvet cocktail dress.

'Damn, Little Dhampir, you look breathtaking.'

Rose smiled, 'Thank you, Adrian, you don't look too bad yourself.'

'Everyone take a seat at the dining table, Christian made chicken and roasted red pepper roll ups,' Lissa announced.

The delicious smell of the food almost whisked away every thought of Rose's mind, somehow even softening the anger she felt as Tasha sat down next to Dimitri. The room was soon filled with happy chatter. Mia filled them in on all the Court gossip, while Adrian further explained every crazy action the Royals made.

Eddie tried desperately to explain that he didn't pick up on anything, guardians were not allowed to gossip, even though they did. The life of their charge was not something they should take any play in, the only thing that mattered was protecting it from danger.

It was only until later that the conversation took a dangerous turn, when Tasha looked at Rose. 'You know, I heard you went to Russia not so long ago, you have to tell me what you thought. It's always nice to hear an outsiders perspective on your home country.'

Rose's hand gripped tightly around the fork in her hand, 'It was very nice, cold, but nice.'

'Come on! You've got to give me more than that! Where did you stay?'

She spit the answer out before thinking it through, 'Baia, mostly.'

Tasha paused, lowering her glass of white wine, 'You visited Dimitri's family? That must've been awkward, him being your mentor and all. I mean, Dimka is so different with his family than he's on duty.'

'Why would you visit Dimitri's family?' Mia wondered out loud, all eyes now directed at Rose.

She felt her cheeks burn up as she tried not to look at Dimitri, for whom this was also new information, 'Someone had to tell them about what happened, no one else was going to do it, so I... I did.'

'My family knows- they know I turned...?'

There was a pain in Dimitri's voice that struck right into Rose's heart, like a dagger plunging in her chest, 'Yes. They were devastated. They held a funeral, everything.'

'You were there- at the funeral I mean?' Lissa asked her friend.

'Yes, I was, they asked me to tell al these stories about how Dimitri was at the Academy. They hadn't seen him in such a long time,' Rose cleared her throat, 'anyway... you'll probably need to tell them about what happened.'

'Of course he should,' Tasha agreed, 'in fact, you should go there as soon as possible, Dimka. They're your family, they need to know.'

A silence filled the air and Christian was apparently eager to break it, 'So, Rose, tell us about the legendary Belikov family. You've got to have heard something about Dimitri, while he was younger.'

'Not really,' Rose lied with ease, knowing Dimitri valued his privacy, 'but the Belikova's were lovely. His three sisters are absolutely amazing, his mother the kindest woman I've ever met and his grandmother... well she's a bit different. But I feel like she's growing on me.' A pain surge ran through her head as she was pulled back into one of her nightmares.

'Mom! Dad!' a high pitched voice belonging to a girl screeched, hands gripping firmly around her arms, dragging her further and further back.

Tears running down her cheeks as she watched the house go up in fire, blood staining the walls and grey corpses spread over the floor.

'Are you alright?'

Rose blinked and looked up at Eddie, 'Huh?'

'Are you alright?' he repeated his question, looking directly into her eyes.

'Yeah, fine,' she lied, 'I just need to go to the bathroom. If you would excuse me.'

She jumped out of her seat and ran toward the bathroom, hovering over the sink. She splashed the water in her face and slapped herself once more. Focus, Rose! She screamed in her head as she stared at her reflection.

But everything seemed to stop moving once she looked deep into her brown eyes and saw the little girl.