The Secret Hathaway
Hi all, quick A/N before we start. This story is the "craptastic" one I mention in my profile. I decided to make it better by using the skeleton of text I had written and started twisting it to a VA point of view instead.
For anyone who's read the other "story" I posted earlier today, and are confused, this is not the one I'm asking you readers for help with. I will still write that with someone I asked to co-author with me (still waiting actual confirmation, but she should say yes), but it might take a while to get that under way, as there's quite a bit of time difference between us, and we are still to decide on a set plot or idea. At the moment I'm just letting all the ideas flow into my inbox so we can pick and choose at it all later. If you haven't seen the other one yet, I urge you to read my introduction for it and hopefully contribute some ideas for me.
Anyway, I really hope you like this story! I might get stuck later on, and may need a little re-directioning (I'm known for writers block :/) but that shouldn't happen for quite a while!
I'll try my best to update as soon as I can for you all, but it might take a while, considering my grammar fetish and work schedule. (Not to mention the aforementioned occasional writers block.)
Now… on with the actual story!
~~THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN RE-EDITED SINCE ITS ORIGINAL POSTING~~
Chapter One
New Life
"Ma'am? We're here." I snap my eyes open and straighten up out of the slumped position I had taken on the trip here. I stretched my arms out and twisted my neck from side to side, loosening my shoulders up and chasing away the sleepiness occurred from the long journey that bought me here.
I looked up and studied my surroundings. In front of me was a large set of elegantly designed wrought iron gates that, from what I could see, wrapped around the entire complex, securing it's precious Moroi from the dangers of the outside world. The words "Saint Vladimir's Academy" were carved in a formal cursive script, placed in the centre where the gates joined upon closing. Behind the gates were a group of large buildings that looked like they dated back to the 1800's. Turrets and balconies erupted from each building, giving of a classic castle look.
We come to a stop and I wait for the driver to scurry around the vehicle as fast as possible, whilst still attempting to maintain the composure, grace and professionalism I expect from everyone on my payroll.
The door opened and I fill my lungs with several deep breaths of the crisp fresh Montana air before taking the drivers offered hand. I gracefully step out of the car then run my hands over my long black cashmere pants to rid myself of invisible wrinkles while I wait patiently for my coat.
I look behind me and purposely tap my foot in annoyance as the second car finally rolls up behind mine. The staff from the second car don't wait for it to come to a complete stop before they start jumping out and bustling to get things in order. Unfortunately, as 'luck' would have it, the majority of my senior staff are currently off on their annual leave, which left me stuck with this small mob of incompetent apprentices and students. As if I didn't have a lot to worry about already, I now had to assist in their actual training. Fantastic.
Tap tap tap. I am still waiting for my coat. To a regular human being, it would be un-bearable without a coat in this weather. Of course, I can't feel the cold or heat much, but I'm hardly going to make that public to the normal Dhampir and Moroi world now, am I? (My few staff knew exactly who and what I was and were trained to be able to meet any and every demand imaginable.)
Not being able to wait any longer, I decide to see just how quickly I can get them to move. It's probably a cruel thing to do, but I didn't have a lot of patience lately, and I so desperately wanted to watch these people squirm under my command.
Smiling inwardly, I conjured up my best 'furiously-pissed-off-and-tired-of-waiting' voice. "Hurry up, for goodness sake, I'm not paying you to dawdle. In fact, I'm not quite sure why I'm paying you all to begin with. Did you all learn at the same school? What did they teach you there? 'How to make your future employer pissed off before the first hour of your first day is even up?' bloody useless." I trailed off with a sigh. "Also, where the hell is my coat? Do you know how fucking cold it is? Do you want me to get sick? Is that your plan?"
"No ma'am! Apologies ma'am! We'll get right on it for you ma'am" They all said in union. Shit, what were they, robotic copies of each other? I rolled my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger of my right hand, taking a deep breath in an attempt to will the oncoming headache away. It was so much worse than I thought.
Someone finally found my coat and bustled forward nervously, as if afraid I'd cut his head off. Not far from the truth I suppose, had he been Strigoi he would have been dead five minutes ago. I slid my arms in and fastened the buttons quickly, then snatched the scarf from his other hand and wrapped it quickly around my neck.
I sighed quietly and looked around again. How depressing, I thought, that my life has come to this; forced from home because my ass-tard of a father found mum and killed her, slowly, in front of me. Luckily, before he could do too much damage to me, a group of guardians had burst through the house from multiple rooms. With my father becoming instantly distracted, I grabbed the stake my mother had lost at the beginning of the fight and staked him, much to his and the guardians surprise.
When they realised I was a Dhampir – which I'm only half, but what they know can't hurt them – they took control and began to extensively question me. Again, realising I had only just turned seventeen, they pushed their stupid authority and declared I would enrol at their academy to be trained as a guardian.
Once the Alchemists had come to rid the place of my father's remains, the guardians took their leave, leaving two behind to help me pack and "escort me" to my new home. I spent the rest of that afternoon making phone calls to my tutors and my Promised (I'll explain what that means later), so we could set up a plan to get me the hell out of here ASAP. Unfortunately my tutors decided it would be a good experience to see how I would handle myself in the outside world, which made me quite angry. I'd ended up taking it out on all thirty-three punching bags in my gym. Needless to say none of them survived, much to the shock of the two guardians left with me.
It took four days to finalise details with the guardians and my secret plans on the side with the tutors. I was finally on my way to Montana. We! Had been my first thought when they'd told me where our final destination was. Two plane trips and one three-hour drive later (in a fleet of my own very expensive town cars, because I never travelled in anything less, which also shocked the guardians when they'd rolled up to both my house and the airport to collect us) and here I was.
Alberta and Dimitri… I'm sorry, Guardian's Petrov and Belikov, the two who had been a constant pain in my ass for the last five days, came towards me from the office area where they'd no doubt been informing the appropriate staff of my arrival, and fell into line besides me. Halfway to the building, as we were passing through a small courtyard, I saw him. I stopped in my tracks as recognition and the instant-need to protect flooded through me.
His familiar dark from, which I knew stood at 6'6, was wrapped in loose dark jeans and a heavy grey coat. His hair stood out like a splash of blank ink on a piece of snow-white parchment, his frame long and lean, but very obviously built with hard muscle.
He stiffened as a slight breeze blew through the courtyard, ruffling my hair. He inclined his head to the sky slightly and sniffed before spinning around to face me. His rounded nose, pronounced cheeks, and small but full lips were tinged bright red from the slight chill in the air. His eyes were a brilliant and vibrant blue, and they were looking right at me; firstly in, curiosity, and then, finally, in recognition.
We both quickly assessed the areas around each other, and then, once accepting there to be no immediate danger about, we stood there, just staring at each other from across the courtyard. What seemed like an hour later, but was probably only thirty seconds, someone cleared a throat behind me, instantly breaking the spell. I turned around in annoyance and frowned. Only three of my staff remained with me, the rest not being allowed on campus. They were each loaded with four large bags, one under each arm and one on each hand. It was, really, quite comical, the way they were struggling to balance it all. It took all I had not to burst into laughter at them. Yes, I was a complete bitch sometimes. But people learnt to deal with it or else they got the fuck out of my life. Good riddance.
Looking back at him quickly, I nodded once before turning my attention back to my escorts, who motioned me towards what I assumed was the office. "I'll show these few to your rooms so they can leave your bags and return to the, um, city. Guardian Belikov will stay with you and introduce you to Headmistress Kirova and help get your timetables sorted out.
I nodded at her in thanks and went to step through the door when…
Riiiing…. Riiiing…. Riiiing
I quickly pulled out my cell and stared at the screen. "Fuck!" I caught Guardian Belikov scowling at me in disapproval. I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically. Putting on my best 'Pissed-the-fuck-off' voice that the caller knew oh so well, I finally brought the phone up to my ear and answered.
"You have the worst timing in the world, you know that right?"
So? What did you all think?
Please Review or PM me with opinions! Who knows, I may make the first 5 reviewers honorary characters ^^
- Jackie x