Blood Promise Page 0,101
"It's sick and wrong."
It happened so fast that I didn't have any time to react. Dimitri leapt out and grabbed me, pulling me to him and spreading me out on the couch.
With his arm still wrapped around me, he positioned himself so that he was half beside me and half on top. I was too stunned to move.
"No, it's not. And that's where you have to trust me. You'd love it. I want to be with you, Rose. Really be with you. We're free of the rules that others put on us. We can be together now-the strongest of the strong, taking everything we want. We can eventually be as strong as Galina. We could have a place just like this, all our own."
While his bare skin was still cold, the press of the rest of his body against mine was warm. The red in his eyes practically gleamed while this close, and as he spoke, I saw the fangs in his mouth. I was used to seeing fangs on Moroi, but on him... it was sickening. I briefly toyed with the idea of trying to break free but promptly dismissed it. If Dimitri wanted to hold me down, I would stay down.
"I don't want any of this," I said.
"Don't you want me?" he asked with a wicked smile. "You wanted me once."
"No," I said, knowing I lied.
"What do you want then? To go back to the Academy? To serve Moroi who will throw you into danger without a second thought? If you wanted that kind of life, why did you come here?"
"I came to free you."
"I am free," he responded. "And if you'd really intended to kill me, you would have." He shifted slightly, resting his face close to my neck. "You couldn't."
"I messed up. It won't happen again."
"Suppose that were true. Suppose you were able to kill me now. Suppose you were even able to escape. What then? Will you go back home? Will you return to Lissa and let her continue bleeding spirit's darkness into you?"
"I don't know," I replied stiffly. And it was the truth. My plans had never gone past finding him.
"It will consume you, you know. As long as she continues to use her magic, no matter how far away you go, you'll always feel the side effects. At least as long as she's alive."
I stiffened in his arms and moved my face away. "What's that mean? Are you going to join Nathan and hunt her down?"
"What happens to her is no concern of mine," he said. "You are. If you were awakened, Lissa would no longer be a threat to you. You'd be free.
The bond would break."
"And what would happen to her? She'd be left alone."
"Like I said, that's no concern of mine. Being with you is."
"Yeah? Well, I don't want to be with you."
He turned my face toward him so that we were looking at each other again. Once more, I had that weird feeling of being with Dimitri and not with Dimitri. Love and fear.
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."
"Believe what you want. I don't want you anymore."
His lips quirked into one of those scary, smirking smiles. "You're lying. I can tell. I've always been able to."
"It's the truth. I wanted you before. I don't want you now."If I kept saying it, it would be true.
He moved closer to me, and I froze. If I shifted even half an inch, our lips would touch. "My exterior... my power, yes, that's different. Better. But otherwise, I'm the same, Roza. My essence hasn't changed. The connection between us hasn't changed. You just can't see it yet."
"Everything's changed." With his lips so close, all I kept thinking about was that brief, passionate kiss he'd given me the last time he was here. No, no, no. Don't think about that.
"If I'm so different, then why don't I force you into an awakening? Why am I giving you the choice?"
A snappy retort was on my lips, but then it died. That was an excellent question. Why was he giving me the choice? Strigoi didn't give their victims choices. They killed mercilessly and took what they wanted. If Dimitri truly wanted me to join him, then he should have turned me as soon as he had me. More than a day had passed, and he'd showered me with luxury. Why? If he turned me, I had no doubt that I'd become as twisted as him.
It would make everything a lot simpler.
He continued when I remained