Desperate Attempts

Chapter One

I woke up and slowly stretched, trying to minimize the pain in my chest. I had been shot upon returning to Court, which is basically a Moroi palace. The shooter was none other than Tasha Ozera, my best friend's boyfriend's aunt, and the woman who tried to steal my Russian god, Dimitri Belikov. I then got up and started getting dressed, which was even more painful than stretching. Honestly, I didn't think I was ever going to get my shirt on. Luckily, I heard a knock on my door, and my best friend Lissa walked in. Less luckily, her boyfriend Christian also walked in. Christian took one look at me, in my jeans and black bra, and started to fake gag. I picked up my hairbrush and threw it at him, knocking him in the head. Lissa laughed, and Christian shook his head and went to sit on my couch. Lissa walked over to me and asked if I needed any help. Nodding my head reluctantly, she began helping me put on my shirt.

"Thanks," I told her when she finished. "Never thought I'd need help putting on a shirt."

She laughed, but added more gravely, "And I never thought Tasha Ozera would shoot you."

I didn't need to point out that Tasha was shooting at her, and that I had just jumped in front of the bullet to save her. We would never forget that day, when I returned from my great jail escape to prove who really murdered the old queen, and to bring Lissa's illegitimate sister Jill to her so that she could be the new queen and take her rightful place in the council.

I shook my hair and went over to get my brush, then got all the tangles out of my hair. As I was brushing through my hair, I noticed that Christian and Lissa were alone, without a guardian, which were damphirs trained to protect Moroi.

"Where's Dimitri?" I asked.

Lissa smiled at me, and said "It's a surprise. Now, I'll help you pack a bag. Come on." I stared at Lissa in wonder. Why was I packing a bag? And where the hell was Dimitri?

I walked over to my bed anyways, and pulled out my traveling bag. "What do I need to take?" I asked her.

"Hmm... Some jeans, some shorts, some t-shirts, underwear, a bathing suit, and a dress or two."

I walked over to my wardrobe and pulled out a few of everything she mentioned. For my dresses, I chose a black one that I got when we were at the academy, and a red on that showed a little skin. I stuffed everything into my bag, and sat on the couch, on the opposite side from where Christian was.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now we go to the airport." she said, and so I followed her outside of my dorm, letting her lead the way to the Court's private airport.

"How are you, the queen, managing to escape this ancient palace?" I teased.

"I'm the queen. I can do anything I want." she said with a smile. We were silent as we boarded a jet, and everyone – even Christian – was quiet when we took off.

"Hey guys, I don't get migraines or see ghosts anymore. You can talk." Before I was shot, I had been shadow-kissed, which is where I could read Lissa's mind and sometimes slip into her head. I side-effect was that I could also see ghosts of dead people I knew. When I saw ghosts, I got a killer headache, and I acted like a bitch. Well, more of a bitch than usual, that is.

Lissa shot me an awkward glance, and Christian stared out of the window. Ugh. This was going to be a long ride. To pass the time, I decided to take a nap. Settling down on the seat, I leaned my head on the window and soon fell asleep.

Surprisingly, I felt a weird sense, and I realized that I was in a spirit dream. I looked around, and my surroundings were amazing. I was in some sort of lush forest with a creek, and everything was beautiful.

"Little damphir," I heard a voice say. "Long time no see."

Turning around, I saw my old friend (and ex-boyfriend) Adrian. He had been avoiding me since I came back to Court and he realized that Dimitri and me were in love. "Yeah, well, I thought you didn't want to see me." I said.

"I don't. I just wanted to see your aura." Oh. Well then.

"Oh, to satisfy your own curiosity. Well, I'm on my way somewhere, and I'm pretty sure my friend's would like to chat with me." I began pulling out of the dream, and just as my surroundings faded, I heard Adrian shout something.

"Rose! Wait, I have to tell you something! Dimitri is being- " His words broke off as I woke up and ended the dream. He was probably going to say something bad about Dimitri anyways.

Looking around the jet, I saw that Christian was asleep also. Lissa was merely looking out the window. I walked over to her and sat down on the seat in front of her, since Christian was beside her.

"What's up?" I asked her. She looked a little strange, as if something was wrong. Without the bond, I felt so lost. I couldn't always guess her feelings.

"Nothing." she sighed. " I just can't wait until we get there."

"Yeah, me either." I told her. It was true: I couldn't wait to see where we were going, and again I wondered what Dimitri had to do with this.

A few minutes later, the plane slowed down and descended. Lissa woke Christian up, and we all got off the plane, our bags in tow. Looking around at our surroundings, I spotted seagulls, palm trees, and hotels. There was also a sign, which read "Welcome to Hawaii".

"Oh my God!" I squealed. "We're in Hawaii!"

"Surprise!" said Lissa, hugging me. She let go, and almost as soon as she did, another pair of arms wrapped around me from behind, bringing me into a hug. Then they kissed my head, and I looked up to see Dimitri smiling down at me.

"Welcome to our well-deserved vacation, Roza." he said.

I giggled. He only called me Roza on special occasions, and each time he said it I would feel a burst of passion for him, and I savored every minute we had together. He then turned me around and kissed me on my lips. I returned the kiss with a fierce passion, and I wanted that moment to last forever.

Just then Christian coughed loudly, reminding me that we were in public. I turned around with a grin, and said "Jealous much?".

"Hey, I got the world's sexiest woman right here beside me." he retorted, pulling in Lissa for a hug.

"Oh, cut it out you two. Let's go; our five-star hotel is waiting."

I was about to explode with joy. A five-star hotel? Amazing!

We all turned and began walking towards a garage with tinted windows, where I guessed guardians were awaiting us. I also bet that the hotel we were in had wards, or else I doubt Lissa would've been able to come with us.

We arrived at the garage and hopped in an van with tinted windows (no surprise). We settled in, with me sitting beside Dimitri on one side, and Lissa sitting beside Christian on the other. There were about ten other guardians sitting or standing around us, and they nodded to me and Dimitri as we sat down. Well, most of them, that is. A few guardians still disrespected Dimitri because he was once turned into a Strigoi. He was back to being a dhampir now, thank God. When he was Strigoi, he didn't really love me. After he was changed back, it took a while for me to convince him that we could still love eachother, and now we were closer than ever. I couldn't wait for this vacation to begin, and I secretly wondered if Dimitri and I would get to share a room. I hoped so.

"Ready?" the driver asked us.

"Ready." we all replied together.