Blood Promise Page 0,64

when absolutely necessary. Considering our last road trip had involved us stumbling onto a Moroi massacre, this one being uneventful was probably for the best. As usual, he wouldn't let me drive, despite my claims that I could get us there in half the time. Or maybe that was why he wouldn't let me drive.

We stopped at one point to get gas and scrounge some food from the station's store. We were up in the mountains somewhere, in a tiny town that rivaled St. Vladimir's for remote location. I could see mountains on clear days at school, but it was a totally different experience being in them.

They surrounded us and were so close it seemed like you could just jump over and land on one. Dimitri was finishing up with the car. Holding my sub sandwich, I walked around to the back of the gas station to get a better view.

Whatever civilization the gas station offered disappeared as soon as I cleared it. Endless snowy pines stretched out before me, and all was still and quiet, save for the distant sound of the highway behind me. My heart ached over what had happened to Mason, and I was still having nightmares about the Strigoi who'd held us captive. That pain was a long way from disappearing, but something about this peaceful setting soothed me for a moment.

Looking down at the unbroken, foot-high snow, a crazy thought suddenly came to me. I let myself go, falling back-first to the ground. The thick snow embraced me, and I rested there a moment, taking comfort in lying down. Then I moved my legs and arms back and forth, carving out new hollows in the snow. When I finished, I didn't get up right away. I simply continued lounging, staring up at the blue, blue sky.

"What," asked Dimitri, "are you doing? Aside from getting your sandwich cold."

His shadow fell over me, and I looked up at his tall form. In spite of the cold, the sun was out, and its rays backlit his hair. He could have been an angel himself, I thought.

"I'm making a snow angel," I replied. "Don't you know what that is?"

"Yes, I know. But why? You must be freezing."

I had on a heavy winter coat, hat, gloves, and all the other requisite cold-weather accessories. He was right about the sandwich. "Not so much, actually. My face is a little, I guess."

He shook his head and gave me a wry smile. "You'll be cold when you're in the car and all that snow starts melting."

"I think you're more worried about the car than about me."

He laughed. "I'm more worried about you getting hypothermia."

"In this? This is nothing." I patted the ground beside me. "Come on. You make one too, and then we can go."

He continued looking down at me. "So I can freeze too?"

"So you can have fun. So you can leave your mark on Idaho. Besides, it shouldn't bother you at all, right? Don't you have some sort of super cold resistance from Siberia?"

He sighed, a smile still on his lips. It was enough to warm me even in this weather. "There you go again, convinced Siberia is like Antarctica. I'm from the southern part. The weather's almost the same as here."

"You're making excuses," I told him. "Unless you want to drag me back to the car, you're going to have to make an angel too."

Dimitri studied me for several heavy moments, and I thought he might actually haul me away. His face was still light and open, though, and his expression was filled with a fondness that made my heart race. Then, without warning, he flopped into the snow beside me, lying there quietly.

"Okay," I said when he did nothing more. "Now you have to move your arms and legs."

"I know how to make a snow angel."

"Then do it! Otherwise, you're more like a chalk outline at a police crime scene."

He laughed again, and the sound was rich and warm in the still air. Finally, after a little more coaxing on my part, he moved his arms and legs too, making an angel of his own. When he finished, I expected him to jump up and demand we get back on the road, but instead, he stayed there too, watching the sky and the mountains.

"Pretty, huh?" I asked. My breath made frosty clouds in the air. "I guess in some ways, it's not that different from the ski resort's view... but I don't know. I feel different about it