Decisions Ch. 11

"They'll probably say he survived an assassination attempt." Elena said. "Say, do you have any more pudding?"

"By law, they can say anything they want about him," Anton said. "Chris is a student and even though he's technically not a minor, I believe that the Coven is doing their best to keep things under wraps. Various videos of the attempt is still circulating, though."

"It wasn't an assassination attempt," Stasi said softly, turning her head to look at the damaged photo frame on my bedside table. I turned my head to look at it as well. Only my parents and I could touch it. It was an ornate, silver photo frame. The glass was cracked and the silver was scratched, marred with dents and the smudges of dirt.

Oh yeah. It wasn't a gun the young man pulled out. It was a photo frame. A photo frame with a family in it. Two sisters, the young man and his two parents.

When the man was buried under a pile of parade-goers and security, he dropped the frame on the pathway. I was on my feet by then, wheezing and confused. The frame just caught my eye and I staggered towards it, picking it up and holding it in my hands as I was helped away from the crowd. It took Elena to accidently touch it at the hospital and burn the tips of her fingers for us to really realize that I took it.

Vampires were naturally allergic to silver. Even incidental contact was enough to burn skin, or in Stasi's case, itch uncontrollably. So, the vampires in my room regarded the picture frame with something that was akin to trepidation and fear.

"We're still going to find out who the man is so we can return it," Anton said gruffly in his boisterous accent. "We don't have a name, but he was beaten into a coma. Won't be hard to find him. Mark my words, Christopher, you won't have to look at it for long."

The whole reason he wasn't dead was because of police. The San Francisco Police Department immediately cracked down at the chaos at the parade, launching tear gas canisters and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

"I don't mind looking at it. It's kind of humbling," I wheezed. "But yes, please find a way to return it."

The entire room waltzed into a fine silence before Yulia spoke up.

"Christopher? I think it's time to put the salve on." She stood up, digging into her clutch for the small, glass jar filled with an ointment that suspiciously looked like apple sauce. "You don't mind do you, Susan?"

"Not at all," My mom said. "If it'll help him heal."

"It will," Yulia replied. "Chris, your rubashka."

"Right," I replied, reaching for the hem of my shirt and gingerly pulling it up. Inch after inch of skin was revealed. I managed to bring the shirt up to my sternum, unable to bring it any further. I was paralyzed with pain. The women in the room gasped at what they saw, tears welling in their eyes. One pair had clear tears, the rest, had blood.

"Oh, lyubov..." Stasi breathed, gingerly caressing my cheek, as if afraid that itself would hurt me. "What has been done to you?"

The skin of my abdomen was black and blue, battered into its state by a fairly large crowd. I gasped, my chest rising and falling as I tried my best to shrug.

"Doesn't hurt," I wheezed.

My best friend made a noise, her crystal blue eyes flitting back down to my chest. A shadow loomed over me and I looked up to see Yulia. She had the jar in her hand, the lid popped off.

"I'm sorry, Christopher," She murmured, her green eyes contorted in pain. "I'll try to make this as gentle as I can."

"I can handle it." I said.

I didn't I could. I had that salve applied to injuries when I was younger and in youth football. Bad injuries, like the ones that made Stasi cry for what I thought back then was for no reason. The salve absolutely hurt to put on. The few minutes in excruciating hell was to add up to a few hours of peace, enough to let me breath painlessly and move around.

Good old Russian medicine.

Gently, Yulia scooped out two fingerfuls of salve, applying them softly to my chest. I nearly screamed with pain, my hand squeezing Stasi's hand so hard I knew it hurt her. It felt like I was about to pass out. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and nearly bit my tongue off trying to stay silent.

"Mama!" Stasi cried. "You're hurting him!"

"Skoro vse zakonchitsya." Yulia said.

"Nyet!" Stasi hissed. "I'll do it myself!"

She quickly snatched the salve out of Yulia's hand. Stasi's raven hair was in disarray, her fangs elongated, and crystal blue eyes giving way to an oily black. Terrifyingly beautiful.

Yulia looked surprised. Her face immediately hardened, no doubt to scold or admonish her eldest daughter, then she laid eyes on me. She saw my pleading eyes and she faltered, simply bowing her head and letting my best friend take care of me. Maybe after everything that happened today, that was all I needed.

Stasi immediately put to work, deftly dabbing on scoops on salve with shaking and trembling fingers. I don't know what she was doing that was different than Yulia... but it just felt... it felt better. It hurt, but the way she tentatively and gently slathered salve on my bruised and broken body simply felt reinvigorating and... in a way... painless.

She'd never hurt me intentionally, so I guess that's what made it not hurt as much.

Trust. I trusted her with my life.

Just like how she trusted me with hers.

******

Finally, when the day turned to dusk and the Sun began to set, Yulia announced that they were going to go home before the police checkpoints got too crowded with the evening rush. As my dad and Anton set about cleaning up the chairs, Yulia walked to the side of my bed.

No, our bed. Stasi owned just as much of the bed as I did.

She looked at Stasi with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I suspect from the way you haven't let go of Chris the entire day that you'll be staying the night, Anastasia?"

Stasi looked up at Yulia, nodding and brushing her raven hair out of her eyes. "Can I?" She croaked, her voice becoming heavily accented as it filled with emotion when faced with the prospect of leaving. Ever since we left the hospital, she hadn't taken her eyes off of me. "I don't want to leave, mama. I can't. I won't. I love him too much to do that."

Her words made my heart flutter. I heard it often, but I never tired of it.

"Vy mozhete. I don't know why I even ask anymore." Yulia said, shaking her head happily. My heart thudded in happiness when she said that Stasi could say.

She turned to me, patting me on the arm before bending low to give me a kiss on the brow before bringing her mouth to my ear and whispering, "Get better, Christopher. Even though it's the weekend, make sure you get some sleep. I know how much time you can spend talking with Anna and I want you to sleep. I don't want to have to come back here to drag her home kicking and screaming because you're not resting, da?"

"I will," I whispered.

"Thank you, mama." Stasi said.

"You're welcome, Anna. Come on, Elena. Say your goodb-... oh, don't tell me you want to stay too." She complained, seeing Elena pouting and stamping her feet.

"Viktor can stay. How come I can't?" Elena demanded furiously.

"Because Chris needs to rest," Yulia said, placing her hands on her hips. Her fangs were bared. "I my znayem, chto yesli vy tam, on ne poluchit ni odnogo."

"His friends are coming over later." Elena whined. "Please, mama. He's my brother, too."

Yulia made to reply, but faltered. Something flashed in her green eyes, the same eyes that Elena had. Maybe it was happiness, uncertainty, contentment? Pride? She blew out air. "So be it. You can stay."

"Ya-.." Elena cheered.

"But, do your homework!" Yulia ordered. "Go and get your backpack out of the car."

"Thanks, mama." Elena said, skipping out of my room to go get her backpack. Yulia turned on us again.

"It seems that I have lost all my children to a human," She joked. "First, my eldest daughter falling in passionate love, then my only son looking up to him like a hero, and now, my youngest daughter following in her older siblings footsteps."

"Sorry," I replied, not that least bit sorry. I loved it when the Sokolovs spent time with me. They were my own siblings. My very own little brother and sister that I loved and cherished. Except Stasi. I loved and cherished her in a different way. After all, she was my best friend and love of my life.

"No need, just make sure... if she has trouble with homework, you two will be able to help her, won't you?" Yulia asked anxiously. "I can ju-.."

"It's fine, mama." Stasi interjected. "Really. Chris can help her with Istoriya and Ii'll help her with everything else."

"I know more subjects than just history, you know." I complained.

"I know you do, lyubov. I'm just better." Stasi teased. I gave her a disgruntled look, which promptly disappeared as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"You two are so milyye," Yulia replied, ruffling my hair. "By the way, Christopher... do you have an extra synthetic blood pack in the refrigerator? It might be time for Elena or Viktor to feed."

I nodded. "I do. Stasi's spare should still be ok. They have a long shelf life."

"Good," She replied brightly, giving me a fangy smile. "Speaking of feed, when was the last time you fed, Anastasia?"

"Two weeks ago," Stasi answered, averting her eyes slightly in embarrassment. I squeezed her hand. She was always a bit shy and secretly ashamed about her own vampiric nature. For that reason, we liked to keep what we did together private. In a way, our feeding sessions were unique to us. It was a symbol of our mutual trust and immense love for one another. No one else had that except Stasi and I.

"Interesting, the feeding must've been especially potent," Yulia said, scrunching her nose in thought. "You still have the glow. V lyubom sluchaye, I'll see you two tomorrow, I hope. Get well, Christopher. Once you do, we can focus on getting Anastasia pried off of you!"

"Mama!" Stasi complained.

"I'm only jesting, Anna." Yulia said, winking at our blushing faces and smiling her teasing, motherly, fangy grin. "But I swear, you two share a soul. Take care of him, Anna."

"I will, mama."

She left the room after giving Stasi and I a hug. Well, she tried to give me a hug, but as soon as I tried to sit up, my chest flared up in pain. I settled for another kiss on the forehead. As soon as she left, Anton came back in. He walked to the side of our bed, holding out his hand for a manly handshake.

"Get well, Christopher." He boomed.

"Thank you, Anton. I will." I said, mustering up a smile and shaking his cold hand. "When can I resume my internship at the Coven? Better yet, when are we going up to Sacramento for that trip?"

Anton shifted his feet uncomfortably. "About that, Chris... maybe we should hold off on you coming back to work so soon after your injury."

"Why?"

"Well, after what happened today..." Anton placed his hand on my shoulder. "Chris, I know you want to do right by everybody, but you shouldn't be worrying about this. You should be worried about school, about grades, about colleges."

My heart wrenched when he said colleges. My future, our future, would be decided in the coming weeks. Decision dates were looming on us like the Grim Reaper.

"Anton, I don't want this to be normal." I said, gesturing to myself. "I don't want this to be normal for anybody. This is wrong. This shouldn't happen. Things need to change. If no one does anything, nothing changes." My voice faltered, wilting under Anton's steely gaze. "Stasi... please." I looked at her pleadingly.

It was underhanded, but I didn't care. She was always going to be a papina dochka. Anton was always going to see Stasi as his little girl. If there was one person that could move the mountain that was Anton Sokolov, it was his oldest daughter, Stasi.

"Let us help, papa." She begged, giving her dad the big puppy dog eyes. "You said we'd be a big morale booster at the office. Let us do our part."

I looked at Stasi quizzically. Something was wrong. Having grown up with her at my side, I knew her like the back of my hand, even better than herself sometimes. There was something in her voice, a flash of something that I couldn't quite identify.

Anton sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "I never could fight against the double team," He mused. "Alright, Ii'll find a date for you two to carpool with me up to Sacramento."

"Thank you, papa." Stasi said gratefully, snuggling back into my warm body. She was gentle enough not to jar me too hard, or touch any part that was sensitive.

"It's alright, Anastasia," Anton said proudly. "Have a good night you two."

He left soon after, leaving Stasi and I in the room. I just realized that we were alone for the first time the entire day. I turned to look at her, before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a smiley soft and sensual kiss that quickly turned passionate. I finally broke it, pulling backwards, leaving the both of us panting for air.

"Thanks for convincing him, Stasi. I love you."

"It's no problem. Us against the world hand in hand, right?" She replied, caressing my cheek.

"God, I want you so bad right now." I murmured, touching her cold forehead with mine. Tendrils of her raven hair were tickling my face, but I didn't care.

"With a few cracked ribs?" She asked, cracking a fangy smile and running her cold hand along my neck. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. More than anything."

"Later," Stasi replied, giving me a kiss to placate me. Her ears were perked up, no doubt from hearing Elena stomping up the steps. "Later tonight, I promise. I'll personally rock your world."

"Sounds like a plan," I laughed.

We both settled comfortably back into the bed before Stasi swore.

"Shit." She whispered.

"What?"

"You made me ruin these pair of panties, too." She complained.

******

We settled into a comfy routine. Stasi and I were playing video games, while Elena was chugging through her Pre Calculus homework at my desk. We were burying ourselves in normal activities to forget about what happened today. That is, until I heard the doorbell ring. My parents greeted whoever was at the door and finally, I heard it.

The huge, booming footsteps of the giant, Ricky Ortega.

"Heyo, love den!" He greeted, stooping low and poking his head in through the door. His unruly black hair was covered by an extra large Belcourt High School Hockey State Champions hat. He held out a huge box of pizza. Two in fact, stacked on top of each other. "Pizza's here!"

He was followed shortly after by Jazz, who slithered in. "Oh, I knew it." She said triumphantly. "Those videos of you getting stepped on circulating Twitter don't do it justice. You're alive and well!"

"He is!" Ricky agreed, setting the pizza boxes down on top of my desk and walking over to the side of my bed. "How you doin', C-man?" He thumped me on the chest with his basketball-sized hand. Hard.

"Uhhh!" I grunted in pain, resisting the urge to scream like a little child at the fire that was engulfing my chest. Stasi gasped next to me, rounding on Ricky.

"Idiot! He has cracked ribs!" She snarled in her accent, her fangs elongated and pupils dilating. "Did you not see the text we sent you!" She turned to me, holding onto my face softly. "Lyubov, are you ok? Does it hurt?"

"Fine." I wheezed, resisting the urge to clutch at my ribs. That'd only make the pain worse. They were still tender to the touch. "I'm fine."

"Sorry." Ricky said bashfully.

"It's ok." I winced, touching at the tender flesh. "Where's Lucy and Viktor?"

"Here! We're here! Hey Chris," Lucy said, skittering into my room with Viktor on her tail and making it suddenly seem more compact, now that I had all my friends inside. Their proportions weren't exactly my shape and my room was as small enough as it is.

Lucy walked on all eight legs to the side of my bed, looking down at me. She must've just gotten off work. She was still wearing her barista outfit. "How are you feeling?" She asked, smiling warmly at me.

"Great," I chirped. "I feel like Ii've just been shot."

Ricky and Elena immediately burst into laughter. I tried my hardest not to look at Stasi, but I could just feel it. I felt her crystal blue eyes that I loved so much boring a hole into the side of my head. I turned my head to Stasi and indeed, she was glaring at me.

"Sorry." I said cheekily, giving her a quick kiss on the lips to placate her.

It did.

"That's not funny," Stasi complained, although the corners of her mouth were twitching. "It really isn't. Nobody's laughing with you. They're laughing at you."

"I'm laughing with him," Ricky pointed out.

"So am I." Elena added.

"Same here." Jazz said.

"Quiet, you three are ruining the joke." Stasi hissed.

"Jokes aside," I said. "How was the ceremony after what happened?"

"They cancelled it and got everyone off the stage. We actually didn't know what happened until way after since we were a bit away from you guys," Lucy explained. "All we heard was some screaming and a lot of people running. When Annie texted us that you guys were at the hospital and sent that long text explaining everything, that's when we really found out."

"Sorry," I said.

"What could you possibly be sorry for?" Lucy asked.

"For... you know." My voice trailed off.

"I don't think you actually know what you're sorry for, zaichik." Stasi murmured, wrapping her arm around my stomach and pulling me tight to her. Even though my entire front was aching, tender, and covered in bruises, the feeling of her arm on mine, gently holding onto me, simply made the pain go away. It made the emptiness of my heart disappear too.

With her, I was complete.

"Ruining the ceremony, probably." Ricky said. He broke open a box of steaming pizza, pulling out a slice. Strings of melted cheese connected the pizza to the container. "Don't be sorry. It was boring anyways. Anybody hungry?"

Plates and drinks were passed around and we dined. Our impromptu dinner was uneventful. The only thing that really was of note was Stasi's adorable indecisiveness on what kind of pizza to get. I made her get both, since I knew she was going to eat them both anyways.

"So," I said, biting into my pizza. "Anyone hear back from any colleges yet?"

"Nope," Jazz said through a mouthful of pie. She swallowed, before coiling her tail to make a makeshift table to place her plate on. That was pretty neat. "All I've gotten so far were rejections and waitlists. It seems East Coast schools aren't too kind to... my kind."

"You got that right J," Ricky retorted. "I'll be lucky to get into any State schools. Hell, I might even have to go to community college."

"What's wrong with community college?" Lucy asked weakly.

My heart broke into a million pieces. Lucy and her mom weren't the most financially secure family out there. They lived in the bad part of San Francisco, the ghettos that were strictly for nonhumans only. Lucy had a job at a coffee place to try and help her mom make ends meet, but they were still struggling.

Unless Lucy got a full on scholarship (which, given her species and about average grades, was an nearly no chance), she was going to the local community college. Financial aid wasn't really a thing for nonhumans. It said so in the DTOSA Educational Decrees.

"Well, nothing's wrong with community, it's just-.." Ricky began.

"So, how about that prom?" I interjected loudly. Lucy shot me a grateful look. "Anyone got any plans?"

"I'm taking Abby," Viktor said brightly.

"Of course you are. That's a given. It's as much a given as Chris and Annie going together, if not more." Elena replied. She had a sour look on her face. "I can't believe that I won't be able to go."

"Upperclassmen only." Stasi boasted, tightening her grip on me. "Unless of course, you get an upperclassman to ask you."