The blood of a Dhampir: Vampire Acdamey

Best for you. Chapter 5

My heart gave a small flutter, and I turned away, unsure what to think. His boots crunched in the snow as he walked over to where I was sitting. A moment later, he took off his long coat and draped it over my shoulders.

He sat down beside me. "You must be freezing."

It was cold out, but the heated air from the vent next to me was warming. "The sun's out."

He tipped his head back, looking up at the perfect blue sky. I knew he missed the sun as much as I did sometimes. "It is. But we're still on a mountain in the middle of winter."

I didn't answer. We sat there in a comfortable silence for a while. Occasionally, a light wind blew clouds of snow around. It was night for Moroi, and most would be going to bed soon, so the ski runs were quiet.

"Did you follow me from the party?"

"Yes."

"I didn't even know you were there." His dark clothes indicated he must have been on guardian duty at the party. "So you saw the illustrious Janine cause a commotion by dragging me out."

"It wasn't a commotion. Hardly anyone noticed. I saw because I was watching you."

I refused to let myself get excited over that. "That's not what she said," I told him. "I might as well have been working a corner as far as she was concerned."

"I heard. She's just worried about you," Dimitri said.

"She overreacted."

"Maybe, but mothers are overprotective."

I stared at him. "Yeah, but this is my mother. And she didn't seem that protective, really. I think she was more worried I'd embarrass her or something. I'm not going to open my legs to every Moroi man I meet. Or have a child asap."

"Maybe she wasn't talking about you," he said.

More silence. My jaw fell open.

My mom had been twenty when I was born. Growing up, that had always seemed really old to me. But now...that was only a few years off for me. Not old at all. Did she think she'd had me too soon? Had she done a shoddy job raising me simply because she didn't know any better at the time? Did she regret the way things had turned out between us? And was it... was it maybe possible that she'd had some personal experience of her own with Moroi men and people spreading rumors about her? I had inherited a lot of her features. I mean, I'd even noticed tonight what a nice figure she had. She had a pretty face, too- for a nearly forty-year-old, I mean. She'd probably been really, really good-looking when she was younger....

I sighed. I didn't want to think about that. If I did, I might have to reevaluate my relationship with her- maybe even acknowledge my mother as a real person- and I already had too many relationships stressing me. Lissa always worried me, even though she seemed to be okay for a change. Mason wanting to be my boyfriend instead of my bestie and a rumoured romance with Adrian, my life is in shambles. And then, of course, there was Dimitri....

"You do know that nothing is going on with Adrian and me?" I blurted out.

He gave me a sidelong look. "Really?"

"Yes really. He has quickly become a friend but nothing more." I explained. "He's a misfit just like me."

I thought I detected the hint of a smile. Always a half-smile for me. Rarely a full one. "I don't think you're a misfit."

Sitting next to him there, I marveled at the warm and happy emotions springing up inside of me. There was something about being around him that felt so good, that moved me in a way Mason and Adrian couldn't. You can't force love, I realized. It's there or it isn't. If it's not there, you've got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you've got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.