We’d taken good care of it over the years, refusing to allow the only good painting of our mother be ruined by time. I couldn't take my eyes off Elyssa's face as she took in the picture. As I opened my mouth to comment on her expression, to ask what she thought of it, she turned to me, a brilliant smile taking my breath away.
"I can see you guys in her," she murmured, looking back at the portrait. "May I?" she glanced at me, extending her hand. "I won't touch it, I'll just point..." I nodded my consent and waited.
"You got the shape and look of her eyes – not the color of course, but they're your eyes nonetheless," she breathed, tracing the air just above the surface of the painting as she spoke. "You can see Zeke's expression all over her face," she laughed. "I'll bet he's very happy about that..."
A sigh left her mouth as she moved her fingertip to hover over my mother's mouth. "Her smile was definitely reborn in Reid," she whispered.
I wanted to break the suddenly heavy atmosphere by mentioning that she left out Wyatt, but she hadn't really seen too much of him – come to think of it, had she ever really seen my oldest brother? – so she wouldn't be able to see that the strong jaw of my brother came from our mother.
I stepped up to her, setting my hands on her shoulders tenderly. "Yes, Reid's smile is the same as our mother's," I murmured, squeezing her shoulders lightly. Elyssa sighed once more before looking over her shoulder at me.
"Thank you," she said. It was as simple as that.
I didn't know what she was thanking me for, but I nodded anyway, smiling as I hugged her loosely from behind. "You're welcome, Elyssa," I said, kissing her temple.
She stiffened and removed herself from my grasp carefully, not meeting my eyes again. I chuckled. "So shy all of a sudden, Elyssa!" I said, winking. "One may think you have a crush on the best-looking brother of them all!"
I was relieved when she scoffed and rolled her eyes; if she had taken me seriously, I might have had a problem – I certainly didn't have feelings of that sort for Elyssa.
"Why, Dmitri, you devil, you! Taking advantage of your brother's mourning widow!" She held the back of one hand to her forehead dramatically before laughing at me. "Dumbass." We both laughed and she began to wander around the attic, reaching out to touch random objects as she passed them. I watched her, my eyes falling on many weapons that had been stored up here since before our mother's death. When she passed a long sword, I let our an excited laugh and dashed over to it. Elyssa peered at me curiously.
"This is the kind of weapon I trained with when I was younger," I explained, lifting the sheath off its stand and pulling the sword out a little. Some light from the window reflected off the blade and shone on Elyssa's face, making her eyes glow as I stared down at her. "It's my specialty," I murmured, turning my face back down to look at the blade.
Damn it, I thought, trying to calm myself. Her face, her eyes... There was something about Elyssa that was beginning to draw me in. She was sincere and was interested in more than just... I shook my head before thoughts that would put my own Mate down could take over. Elyssa was my brother's Mate. End of story.
"Anyway, this one isn't silver, so I can actually use it," I told her, sparing her only one small glance. She'd wandered away while I was lost in my own head, and was examining a pair of twin blades like her own. She lifted the set off their stands and ran her fingers over the sheaths.
"Are these silver?" she asked. Her voice was barely audible as she spoke; she seemed transfixed by the weapons in her hands. Knitting my brow, I shrugged and walked over to her. Before I even said the words, a cool sweat broke out across my skin. I inhaled deeply.
"One way to find out," I said. Before she was able to stop me, I grabbed the hilt of one of the blades and gave it a solid yank. The clanging noise echoed in the attic as the blade came free of its sheath, but there was no pain. I relaxed. "These are not silver. Why did you ask?" I slowly pressed the blade back inside its sheath and tilted my head curiously at the petite brunette before me.
She flushed. "I figured, if you wouldn't mind, that you could teach me how to use them if they weren't silver. Since you're already teaching me hand-to-hand combat, I mean. Would you be alright with that?" she asked. Her voice was so eager, eyes hopeful for the first time in days...
How could I say no?
I sighed silently before smiling down at her. "I'd be happy to. We can't begin using weapons until you know how to use the weapons you were born with, however," I told her sternly. She nodded and tied the sheaths around her waist before holding her hand out toward me. Hesitantly I took it, and we shook hands.
"It'll be a pleasure learning how to defend myself from one as skilled as you," Elyssa said formally, bowing her head a little. "Thank you for this opportunity."
I laughed and she glared at me, yanking her hand away. "No need to be so formal, Elyssa!" I told her, still chuckling. Mussing up her hair with one hand, I grinned. "You're family now, and we have to take care of our own, you know." She was silent, nodding her head slowly at me. I was glad that she understood.
"Plus, it may be fun to knock you around a little bit," I said, dodging away from her quickly. She growled and lunged at me, managing to get her arms around my waist as she flew toward me. The tackle didn't hurt as much since I was prepared for it, but it was still a good one. "Nice job," I mumbled, prying her arms from around me and pushing her off to the side quickly.
I didn't need to randomly find out if I was interested in her on more than a platonic level. She was my in-law for Christ’s sake.
Elyssa
Their mother was beautiful. That thought stayed with me after seeing her image in that attic. Especially her smile.
Reid’s smile…
I realized that Dmitri was talking to me and felt my face heat when his expression told me that he also realized that I hadn’t been listening. He chuckled and shook his head, and I grinned sheepishly.
“You know, you have to focus in order to learn how to fight, right?” he teased, shoving me gently. It was enough pressure to make me stumble slightly, but I caught myself and stuck my tongue out at him, which made his grin grow wider. “Also, while you do have a very nice tongue, that will not distract your opponent,” he said matter-of-factly. I took that as my cue to stick my foot out and trip him. He stumbled for a moment – more than I had – but caught himself and glared at me.
“Distracted you,” I sang, a self-satisfied grin planting itself on my face.
Dmitri growled and launched himself at me. One of his hands wound around my throat while the other hovered over his blade’s hilt. “How easy,” he sneered. I couldn’t help but notice that he’d dropped fang on me, and smirked up at him.
“Someone isn’t very attentive,” I coughed out. I held one of my new weapons against his back, having drawn it as he flew toward me. Pressing it against his back, I smiled more.
Dmitri scoffed, and then nudged my arm with his shoulder. My amateur grip on the blade loosened, and the short sword clashed to the ground. “Like I said,” Dmitri breathed, grinning. “How easy.”
I struggled against his grip, furious that I hadn’t been able to do that correctly. He released me and I retrieved my blade, grumbling. He cautiously reached a hand out to pat my back.
“In due time, Elyssa,” he said. His tone was comforting, and I sighed, nodding. Dmitri slung an arm over my shoulder in an awkward half-hug. “I know you’ll do well when we get to training you,” he murmured to me.
As we rounded the next corner on our way to the gardens for training, we nearly collided with someone. Automatically, I jumped away from Dmitri; if it was Ollie, she would assume the worst, naturally. But it wasn’t Olivia.
“Well, don’t you two look… Comfortable,” Annibel said. Her tone sounded forcibly cheerful and I frowned; it sounded so fake and odd coming from sweet Annibel.
“We’re on our way to the training grounds,” Dmitri told her with a shrug. The blonde narrowed her eyes slightly, turning her gaze down to the weapo
ns we carried. She then smiled brightly at us.
“Have fun then,” she chirped, turning on her heel to leave.
“Wait!” I blurted, startling myself. From the look Dmitri gave me, he hadn’t expected me to call her back, either. “W-weren’t you leaving?” I asked breathlessly, remembering the goodbye – no, the ‘keep in touch’ – we’d shared before Tywin had begun to attack me.
Annibel appeared confused for a moment. “What? No,” she said slowly. I frowned, clearly recalling the conversation.
“Wyatt and I, it turns out, were never Mated. It was an honest mistake, but one that has opened up so many possibilities for my life. Keep in touch, okay?”
“You told me that your Mating to Wyatt was a mistake,” I pressed, a feeling of dread filling me – what I was dreading, I didn’t know. Something is off here…
“Oh! Yes, it was just a misunderstanding,” she mumbled, turning to face me once more. “But I decided to stick around; I really like it here after all.”
I nodded slowly, letting a smile fall onto my lips. A completely fake smile, but one Annibel should have believed. She smiled back and gave me a short wave goodbye before walking away.
Once she was out of earshot, Dmitri turned to me, one eyebrow arched. “What was that about? She and Wyatt aren’t Mated?” I shook my head, unable to speak.
Something was off. Was Annibel planning something? Revenge on Zeke? She was acting so strange.
“Hello?” Dmitri waved one hand in front of my face. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “What was that about?”
I began walking, pulling him along with me. “I just very clearly remember her telling me that she couldn’t wait to get out of this castle,” I murmured, glancing over my shoulder. I shrugged. “It just seemed really weird to me that she would want to stay.”
I glanced up at Dmitri. His face was hard. I paused, frowning. “Oh, right,” he muttered coldly. “Because you can’t imagine why anyone would stay here.” He began to walk away, but I grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to a stop.
“I didn’t mean it that way, Dmitri,” I said. He moved to tug his arm away, but I duh my heels in and held on tight. “No,” I said sternly. He glared down at me fiercely. “Annibel told me herself that she desperately wanted out. My reason for wanting to leave is different, you know that…”
He sighed and nodded. “I know,” he whispered. His voice told me how much pain he was in talking about it, so I released his arm and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.
A few minutes later we were at the training grounds, preparing for my first official fighting lesson. I knew my hair would get in my way, but tying it up meant revealing the bite wounds on my neck from my time with Zeke.
I absolutely cannot do that, I thought, biting my lip.
Dmitri looked at me oddly, holding back a smile. “If you don’t out your hair up, I won’t be able to resist using it against you,” he chuckled, stepping closer. I tensed when he played with the ends of my hair, worried that he would move it out of the way.
“I uh, don’t have any ties,” I stuttered breathlessly. “And I would need two, if I want to be comfortable sparring.” It wasn’t necessarily the truth, but it I didn’t feel like having my hair used against me, it was going to be going into two low ponytails, one on each side. That way the marks are covered… Damn Zeke and his potions!
Dmitri patted his pockets and shrugged. “Sorry. Don’t even have one. Guess I’ll have to try my damnedest to not use that long hair against you,” he said, grinning.
Making a face at him, I pushed him away. “Like you need even more of an advantage right now?” I asked. He seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding energetically. I scowled at him.
“What?” he asked, laughing. “You’re the one who said it. I just agreed.” I sighed; there was just no winning with him. “Anyway, let’s get started?”
I nodded, and then checked to make sure my new set of blades were on properly before looking back to Dmitri. I froze as he lifted his shirt off over his head, tossing it off to the side before strapping the long sword onto his back. From the front, you couldn’t even tell that he had horrible scarring from Zeke using silver-tipped whips on him.
Before my thoughts could run away from me and lead me down a dark path, I refocused myself on what was about to happen. Learning how to fight. Training so I wouldn’t ever forget my blades again. Being able to properly defend myself. Starting now.
I heard the air whooshing around his body before I could look up in time to see him. Automatically, I dove out of the way. The ground met me unpleasantly, making my shoulder ache as I collided with the hard surface. As I rolled over to haul myself up, a blow to my ribs knocked the breath out of me. A sick crunching sound accompanied the fierce pain.
I folded one arm over my side, hugging myself tight as I fought to breathe through the pain. I was used to pain – Zeke’s beatings weren’t exactly walks in the park – but suddenly having broken bones was different.
Dmitri allowed me the time that I needed to recover. He stood off to the side silently, eyes trained steadily on me. When I was able to stand upright without bracing myself with my arm, he moved to stand beside me.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. I knew he meant it, so I nodded. “In my experience, people learn best when they’ve had a taste of what could happen to them in a real fight. It shows them something they don’t want to feel again. You understand?” I nodded again, lifting my hand to wipe sweat off my forehead. I moved slowly, my breath hitching as waves of pain rolled through me; the potion was preventing my broken bones from healing as fast as they could, and it hurt to lift my arm.
“I think I can deal with it,” I told him. He pushed some hair out of my face and froze. My body went cold in the instant I realized that he’d seen the marks.
“Elyssa.” His voice sent chills down my spine. I made a move to get away from him, but he slipped one hand into my hair, gripping by the roots. He jerked my head to one side. I held in a yelp of pain, but winced when Dmitri touched one of the marks.
“Why did that bastard bite you?” he demanded, a feral growl ripping out of his mouth at the end of the sentence.
Part of me wanted to tell him to mind his own business, that whatever went on with Zeke was my problem, but I knew he wouldn’t let it go. I couldn’t very well reveal my shame and tell him what had happened, either. But another part of me desperately wanted to defend Zeke; he was in pain like the rest of us were, wasn’t he?
“I-I don’t know,” I told Dmitri. My voice had hardly any volume, so I cleared my throat. “But I was embarrassed by them, so I hid them…” He nodded impatiently and I thought of what else to say.
Oh, and the reason I’m embarrassed by them is because he bit me while I was moaning in pleasure, I thought sarcastically. That’ll go over real well, I’m sure.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Dmitri,” I said. He released me with a scoff. “I’m serious. He isn’t in a good place right now. Everything that happened with Reid and Tywin took a huge toll on him.”
My friend looked at me, a disbelieving expression on his face. “Zeke has never been in his right mind, Elyssa. Why would Reid’s death make any difference to him?”
“He feels like he should have been able to save him!” I blurted, taking a few steps away from Dmitri. I covered my mouth with one hand, breathing heavily while I ran my other hand through my hair. “I mean,” I spoke through gritted teeth, the pain of my ribs still kicking me, “he thinks he failed his family for not being able to save Reid…”
Dmitri shook his head. “He’ll go into an emotional dead zone over Reid, but not care that he beat me senseless for the death of our mother, a death I wasn’t responsible for? Lovely.”
"You know Zeke," I muttered with a sigh. I wrapped my arms around Dmitri's waist loosely, gasping in pain when he hugged me back. "He goes off of whatever evidence his tiny little mind conjures up. In his mind, you murdered your mother.
Until someone else comes forth to tell him otherwise, to say that they did it, he will always believe that you were her killer." My words were breathy from the pain, and the feel of sweat coating my face made me grimace.
He sighed and released me, brushing my hair out of my face. "Yes, I know. It just isn't right," he whispered. His voice was thick with emotion, and I wanted to distract him, but couldn't think of anything that would accomplish that task. Before I had the chance to say anything at all, his face cleared up and he began to lift my shirt up.
I didn't know what he was trying to do, but trying to take my shirt off was definitely a bad move. "Dmitri!" I shrieked, shoving him away from me. I could feel the blush on my face and knew that my eyes must have been as big as saucers. "What the hell are you doing?!"
The vampire looked startled. Suddenly he began to laugh, and I glared daggers at him. "Calm yourself, Elyssa. I want to look at your ribs. You really are taking too long to heal from these wounds and the marks that Zeke gave you should have been gone already as well. How much of his potion did he feed you?"
I found that I couldn't recall the amount and hoped that the additional heat on my face didn't intensify the color that my cheeks were sure to be. Every time my mind wandered to the latest dungeon session, it conjured up images of Zeke's body, hovering over mine as he drove into me with his –
I quickly expelled myself from that recollection, coughing a few times to clear my head. "I'm not exactly sure," I said, shrugging. "Hopefully it doesn't take too much longer, though... Unless there is something that we can do in the meanwhile to counteract the potion?"
Dmitri shook his head. "Usually Zeke's potions are very careful, and cannot be countered with anything else in order to reverse their effects. Although, I suppose that having blood in your system would help you. How long has it been since you've last fed?"
This time, I knew that my embarrassment showed even more. I chuckled nervously. "I can't remember?" I said weakly. Dmitri glared at me and I shrugged. "What can I say? It just doesn't appeal to me right now... Feeding off of someone else? Yuck."
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