Authors note: I have been wanting to write a Vampire Academy fanfiction for some time now and I wanted to wait until I read all all six books, and so now I have and this story is based after the six books of the series. I personally found the writing style of the books to be brilliant in that it made me empathize with Rose. I felt everything she felt. And so this story has a lot to live up to, I just hope that I write it well enough :) I hope you all enjoy reading my story. Please review, thanks!
P.S. This story is not writing in neither Rose nor Lissa's point of view, but my own character.
I don't own Vampire Academy.
Chapter one
Reunion in the Courts
Waking up was considerably uncomfortable despite the fact that I woke up on a first class private jet seats. One would assume that the soft blue cushion would be kind and comfortable for your muscles and they were at first, but then I fell asleep and now they're just stiff and sore. Standing up, I stretched out my muscles and made my way to the front of the jet. Just as I was about to come to the scarlet curtain that divided the two sections, Aaron moved it aside and stepped it. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and the hint of a crooked smile appeared onto his lips.
"It's very fascinating how you do that." he stated.
"It's fascinating how you're still fascinated, despite how many times I've done it." he shrugged.
"Fair enough." the back section of the jet was darkly lit, making the royal blue and deep scarlet look darker. It also made it a little more challenging to make out Aaron's features, but I'd spent enough time with him to knew exactly what he looked like and, considering my heightened senses, it wasn't too difficult. He is quite tall, having to bend down when walking certain parts of the plane, with tanned skin and the kind of muscle that showed through the clothes he wore. His dirty blonde hair was dark enough to look brown, especially since he kept it short enough not to give his tips that blonde tint. His hazel eyes had more green than brown and his long dark blonde eyelashes curled, casting an extra shadow to his cheek bones. He is one of the most good looking dhampir men I have ever met, and he has a lot of fighting skill.
He moved passed me and as he bent his head down slightly to get through, I paid attention to how tall he really was. I only just reached his shoulder and I wasn't exactly short either. As he sat down, I emerged through the curtain on the other side of the jet. The light was much better, making the two dark colours look a lot more elegant. Two more guardians sat in the section, one speaking to the pilots and the other looking out of the window, though you couldn't see much considering the moon was high and the sky was dark. Moroi brunch.
The guardian that sat and looked out the window was Thomas. He has red hair and blue eyes and doesn't speak much. One wonders if he pays attention to his surroundings because he always looks like he's lost in thought, which is strange for a guardian, but Thomas can tell you exactly what you said, when you said it, the way you said it and why you said it. The guardian that spoke with the pilot is Kyle. He has a pretty boy face with a cocky smile, honey brown eyes and bleach blonde, almost white hair. He's good looking, sure, but if I had to choose anyone on this plane it would be Aaron.
Being the only female dhampir out of four guardians has its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage being that other people look to me and reason that I am pretty tough and a disadvantage being, the dhampir men I serve with don't take me seriously. I've spent enough time with these three men to put that claim to shame, proving that I am probably better than all three of them, but the only one that hasn't gotten that into his head is Kyle. He annoys me to the point where I want to throw him off of this plane, but since my self control is better than that, I try my best to avoid him.
Taking into recognition the fact that there are four guardians on one jet, it's only reasonable to assume that we guard someone of importance right? Well, we do. We guard Lady Lillian Ivashkov, sister to Lord Nathan Ivashkov, her husband Lord Adam and her daughter Lilly - who was named after her mother, as you would've already guessed. Lilly was born shortly after Queen Tatiana's death and Queen Vasilisa has been queen for about a year, making Lilly only over a year old.
Lillian sat with her back toward me, her dark hair hanging in elegant curls behind the chair and over her shoulders. She held a sleeping Lilly in her arms and her husband sat across from her, drinking from a glass of white wine. His hair was a little lighter than Lillian's and his eyes were a dark green while her's were light. One would guess they're siblings from those two features, but their facial structures are very different from each other, making that assumption completely absurd.
"Adam, that's your third glass. You'll be drunk by the time we land." she said, almost pleadingly.
"I know how to hold my liquor." he responded in his common matter-of-fact tone. Admittedly, I wasn't very fond of Adam Ivashkov. He was a rude, whether he was drunk or sober, with a bad temper and a bad mouth. He could ever be abusive, but that was only when he had a lot more to drink than necessary. Thankfully, my job wasn't to like to him or I would suck at it majorly. My job was to keep him and his family safe, and that it what I am good at. He's one of those people who don't appreciate dhampirs, who sees us as warrior servants and nothing more, therefore he doesn't always treat us the way we deserve, but at least it's exercise for my self control. He and Kyle should start a "we piss people off" club. Upon seeing me, the man narrowed his eyes and held out his empty wine glass.
"Fetch me another glass." he ordered. Lillian turned to see who her husband was speaking to and smiled when she saw me. She's a lot kinder than her husband and apart from his good looks and money, I don't know what she sees in him.
"Good morning my lady." I said with a slight bow.
"Good morning to you to Lea. Did you sleep well?"
"Guardian, my drink." as much as I wanted to take the wine glass and break it on his head, I couldn't disobey a direct order.
"Apologies my lady." with another bow, I made my way over to Adam and took hold of his glass then made my way back to the butt of the plane where they kept all of the drinks. Aaron slept peacefully, not a snore escaped his mouth or nose. I walked back in as soon as Kyle started speaking.
"We will be landing in just more than an hour, your highness." he said. Why couldn't we land in less than fifteen minutes? I really didn't like being in a plane. Some people thought it was a safe way to travel, but I just felt vulnerable. A closed piece of machine flying more than a hundred feet of the ground? No ways. I like to be on solid ground where I have space to fight, space to run and space to hide. This little jet was one big death trap.
After handing Adam his wine, I sat down across from Thomas who still stared out of the window. I did as he did and looked out of the window, but stared into thick clouds and dark sky so I concentrated on the inside of the plane. Kyle sat down at the back, close to the curtain that separated the two parts of the jet, and picked up a magazine. I could never read inside a transportation mechanism. I couldn't do anything that required that kind of attention, so I couldn't watch a movie or read. It made me sick, so I had to deal with the time in some other way.
About a half an hour later, Lilly made herself known as she began to cry. Lillian looked down on her daughter with sincere compassion and began rocking her in her arms. Eventually, when she was given a bottle, she stopped crying and sucked adamantly to get the substance out. Apparently it was baby milk mixed with a few drops of blood. Personally, I wouldn't drink that, but then again I don't need blood to survive. It looked kind of gross, but the way Lilly drank it was like it was the nicest thing she could ever be given. The little girl had beautiful big green eyes. The two shades from her parents came together in her eyes like a marble, the colours touching but not exactly mixing. It was very unique, and those big eyes just stared at me as she drink from her bottle. Lillian noticed this and a smile appeared onto her lips.
"She always seems so fascinated by you Lea. Why do you think that is?" she asked me, her words thick with a British accent. She and her husband had lived in England for a long time, though neither were born there. I wasn't completely sure where they were born, but I knew that they met each other in England.
"I have not a clue my lady." I responded. I wasn't born in England either. I moved there with my mother when I was fourteen and graduated there. I wasn't originally assigned to Lillian and her family, instead I was assigned to Maria and Elijah Zeklos with Aaron, but he and I got transferred to the Ivashkov's. We've been with them for about three months. Kyle and Thomas were already their guardians when we came into the picture.
"Would you like to hold her?" she asked but before I could respond, her husband spoke.
"Lillian, don't offer our daughter to her." his voice was scolding and his face with upset. "She knows nothing about childcare and will probably break the child's neck." self control, I reminded myself, self control.
"She's not a savage Adam, she's a guardian. I have every confidence that Lea won't hurt Lilly." she stated with a final tone and stood up to walk toward me. I stood up as soon as she did and was not exactly expecting it when she handed her daughter to me. I didn't want to reject her, so I took the child as gently as I could manage, supporting her neck with my one hand and cradling her body with my other. I looked uncertainly at Lillian, but she smiled and nodded encouragingly. I didn't mean to seem stupid, but I had no idea what to do with this baby. I had never cared for one before, heck, I had hardly held one before. Slowly, I sat down and Lillian handed Lilly's bottle to me. "You see Adam? There's no harm." she sat down and watched us with a smile.
Looking down at the little girl, I saw that her big eyes stared at me with fascination. I brought the bottle to her mouth to see if she would continue drinking, but she pushed it away and continued staring at me so I put the bottle down in the cup holder and adjusted her position in my arms. I allowed her to sit down on my thighs with support of my arms as she looked up at me. Her little body was filled with a lot of heat and she was very light. She put her one hand half into her mouth and reached for my hair with her other. My dark brown, almost black hair was currently tied in a low pony and some of the hair had fallen to the front, which were the streaks she reached for.
The hair was long enough not to pull when she picked it up and brought it to her face. I didn't really want her to put my hair into her mouth and was glad when she didn't, instead she just brought it nearer to her face to closer examine it. Babies were strange things. She seemed so fascinated with my hair and it even brought a smile to her cute little face. Unable to help myself, I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and this brought her to let out a small giggle. As this caught me by surprise, both my eyebrows rose and she let out another laugh. I looked to her mother questioningly and she had a big smile on her face.
"You're a natural Lea." she exclaimed. A natural? I'm not doing anything. Babies are strange, confusing little things. Just then, the pilot stuck his head out and declared that we will be beginning our descent in about five minutes. Thank heavens. At this, Lillian stood up - I stood up with her - and came to get her child. She took Lilly out of my arms, but the little girl wouldn't let go of my hair. As I gently took the strand of hair out of her hand, she began to cry and I regretted it. Adam gave me a death stare, one I ignored, and finished his ninth glass of wine. How much alcohol can that man consume?
Aaron emerged as the jet began to descend. Butterflies filled my stomach the way it always did when the plane started going down, so I inconspicuously took hold of the handle attacked to my seat and sat back against the cushioned seat. My sore muscles were no longer sore, but I would appreciate more walking around. All of this sitting was making my legs stiff. The descent took longer than I would've wanted, but I was grateful when the wheels of the jet touched down on the ground.
Kyle and Thomas walked out of the plane first with Lillian and her husband following behind them and Aaron and me at the back. There was an entire crowd waiting to greet us and it was a bit disorientating not to know anyone. I recognised a few people, Daniella Ivashkov to be one of them, but the rest were just unfamiliar, pale faces. With a smile Daniella came toward us, two guardians following behind her.
"Lillian, it's wonderful to see you." she greeted with a hug that Lillian couldn't return, considering her arms were around her child. Daniella looked down at Lilly with a big smile. "My my have you grown." she turned and greeted Adam with a smaller but still polite smile. "Please, follow me. I will lead you to your temporary home." she started leading us through the crowd, the guardians carrying all of the luggage.
I had been to the Royal Court before, but I could never get used to the magnificence it all. The collection of buildings were beautiful and ornate and the well attended trees and plants were lush and gorgeous especially since it was spring and the plants were newly bloomed. Daniella led us to the accommodations part of the Court, to a large and beautiful house. One of her guardians opened the door for her and we all went inside, me trailing at the back.
"Isn't this your house Daniella?" Lillian asked.
"It is." she replied with a smile. "Nathan requested that his little sister stay under his roof with him."
"That's very ... strange. Nathan isn't really the ... big on family type of guy. It's very uncharacteristic for him. "
"I couldn't agree more, but it's his request and it was a good idea so I agreed."
"Are you sure you don't mind us staying with you? I mean, there's three of us, seven including the guardians. That's quite a bit." Daniella waved her off.
"Don't be ridiculous. There is more than enough space for everyone. Now, let me show you to your rooms." she took us upstairs and led us into a very large room. There was a king sized bed pushed up against the wall, with an open door beside it leading to a luxurious bathroom. On the other side of the room there was a sliding paper door, Japanese styled, that separated this side of the room with another side that had a sitting area. "You and Adam will be staying in here. A room has been prepared for Lilly across the hall, unless you want her to stay with you and there's also a room for the guardians down the hall." she pointed to the rooms as she spoke to Lillian.
"Thank you Daniella." she replied sincerely.
"It's not at all a problem. You are family." family ... family doesn't always mean charity and love. A young man walked down the passage and came to a halt when he saw all of the people. Confusion was written all over his face.
"Aunt Lillian? What are you-" realization struck his features and he nodded with understanding. "Lissa's birthday."
"Queen Lissa." Daniella chaste. I'm willing to bet that this young man is her son, Adrian. I had never actually seen or met him before, and honestly, he wasn't what I expected. He had purposefully messy hair with jade green eyes and a cute face.
"It's good to see you again Aunt Lillian. You too Uncle Adam." he greeted, completely ignoring his mother. His eyes wondered over the guardians, but after his eyes passed me he looked back and gazed for a little longer than he did with the others. "I see you have new guardians." he commented, not taking his eyes off of me.
"We did indeed!" Lillian exclaimed and began to introduce us. Normally moroi wouldn't do that, especially royal moroi, but Lillian was such a kind woman that she fell under the exceptions. "This is Aaron Wilson and Lea Corivashki."
"Corivashki? That's an interesting surname." silence grew in the room as I didn't reply.
"Well, I will allow you to settle." Daniella said, breaking the silence. "Dinner will be in about four hours downstairs." with that she left, taking Adrian with her. We set their bags down in the sitting area before Kyle and Thomas went to go rest, leaving me and Aaron on duty. After finishing a bottle of red wine, Adam passed out on the bed. Lillian wasn't happy with this but she kept herself composed and decided that she would like to go for a walk.
Aaron and I decided to go with her after agreeing that the house was safely secured with more than four guardians inside. Lillian took Lilly with and I walked by her while Aaron took the back guard, keeping her and I in sight. We walked slowly to her pace and we didn't say anything. I knew that Lillian didn't like how much her husband drank and it frustrated her. It even hurt her, that's why she came on the walk. She needed to blow off steam. With a large sigh she, unexpectedly, started speaking to me.
"Was your father an alcoholic Lea?" she asked. As much as the question surprised me, it didn't show on my face.
"I never knew my father my lady, so I'm not sure." my accent wasn't near as heavy as hers. Mine was just ... posh. I'd spent six years in England, enough time to get the accent, but not enough time to get it heavily.
"And your mother? Was she an alcoholic?"
"No your highness." I knew why she was asking me these questions, but I wasn't comfortable speaking about my parents. I would deal with her quizzing me for a while, but if things got too uncomfortable, I would change the subject.
"Is your mother a guardian?" she asked. Before I could respond, we turned the corner and almost bumped into some people. However, as I looked, these weren't just some people. We had almost bumped into Queen Vasilisa and Lord Christian Ozera. Her and I immediately bowed down. "I apologise profusely my Queen." said Lillian.
"Rise." the Queen responded and we stood up straight. "There is no need to apologise Lady Lillian." she and the Queen must've met before. Obviously before I was around. The Queen was beautiful, I had to admit. She had golden blonde hair that fell around her shoulders like golden waterfall and she had stunning green eyes. She had a tall, slim figure that wasn't uncommon for Moroi and she wore an elegant silver dress that flowed as she walked. She held herself proudly and confidently, the way a queen should. Next to her stood her boyfriend, Christian. His icy blue eyes stood out against his black hair and pale skin. He was good looking. On the other side of the Queen stood a stunning young woman, with features much different from Moroi. Her dark hair was tied into a high pony, opening up her face. She had dark eyes and tanned skin, the way most dhampirs had, and it was clear that she had an admirable figure even though she wore guardian gear.
It was uncommon to see guardian women and so I couldn't help but look at her with interest and admiration. From what I've heard, this young lady standing in front of me is Rose Hathaway. She has a very defined, wide spread reputation. Aaron turned the corner and came to stand on the other side of Lillian. My eyes turned to the guardian standing beside Christian Ozera. He is tall, taller than Aaron, with muscle. His hair was tied behind his neck and his hands were behind his back, although he looked ready to attack and defend at any and every moment. His eyes were dark and he held a very businesslike expression on his face. He was gorgeous and ... familiar.
"You have new guardians." the Queen recognised, gazing upon Aaron and I. "What happened to Kyle and Sam?" she asked.
"Kyle is with my husband your majesty. Sam, unfortunately, was killed while he was off duty." Lillian kept herself polite and respectful.
"I'm sorry to hear about that. Would you be kind enough to introduce me to your new guardians?" the queen asked. I was not expecting that, I must admit.
"Of course your majesty. This is Aaron Wilson," Aaron offered a respectful bow. "And this is Lea Corivashki. They were assigned to protect us a little more than three months ago. Both are first in their class; absolutely great guardians."
"Where did you train?" Rose piped up. For a guardian to speak so openly wasn't common either, especially in the presence of the queen, but Queen Vasilisa didn't seem to mind, nor think anything of it. It must happen quite often. Though, from what I've heard, the Queen and Rose grew up together so I wouldn't expect the queen to be surprised. She must know her best friend by now.
"Both graduated in the England Academy." Lillian responded.
"No disrespect meant, but that wasn't my question."
"I grew up and trained in the England Academy, but Lea transferred into the Academy when she about fifteen." Aaron answered. Lillian didn't seem to mind, but her husband definitely would if he was here.
"Do you speak?" her question was directed at me, her eyes focused on mine.
"Yes, I do."
"Where did you train?" she asked.
"Before the England Academy, I trained in Siberia. An Academy about an hour's drive away from a small town called Baia." interest and surprise entered into her eyes and I could tell that I had gotten the tall guy's attention. He didn't particularly show much emotion, but I could see that spark of interest in his eyes. In that moment I knew exactly where I recognised him from and I asked myself how I couldn't have seen it earlier. "That's where I grew up with Dimitri." I looked directly at him as I spoke. Everyone's eyebrows rose, including Dimitri's. He looked at me carefully and recognition struck him.
"Katiya Corivashki." with a slight nod, I confirmed his realization.
"Am I missing something?" Christian piped up, looking confused.
"My apologies my Lord." I said to him. He looked surprise to having been addressed as Lord. "I did not mean to be rude."
"I don't think rudeness had anything to do with it. I'm just want someone to get more details."
"Guardian Belikov and I attended the same school in Siberia. He tutored me until he graduated and then I moved to England where I further trained and graduated."
"How did you two meet exactly?" Rose asked, looking unsure.
"Through his sister Viktoria. She invited me to her house for dinner, that's where I met Dimitri and the rest of his family."
"Dimitri has a sister?" Christian asked.
"He has sisters ." Rose put emphasis on the plural. She must be much closer to Dimitri than the others and with the way she looked at him, I wasn't really surprised. She loved him and everyone could tell. Before anything else could be said, Lilly began to cry. The Queen looked down on the little girl with such compassion. I couldn't imagine a queen like this to be businesslike like Dimitri or angry. She looked so sweet, so kind.
"I apologise your majesty, but I think it's best if we start heading back home so that she can sleep." Lillian said.
"Of course. Be well Lady Ivashkov. The same for you Guardians Wilson and Corivashki." all three of us bowed down in respect for the Queen.
"Thank you your Majesty." I said before we headed back toward Daniella's home.
Authors note: Concerning the first chapter; this was only the beginning to what I hope to be a really great story. The first chapter doesn't compare to what is to come. Thanks for reading! Please review.