ROSE POV
"I don't need healed, Liss," I grumbled. I jerked my shoulder out from under her arm, then swore softly as it jarred against the back of my seat.
"Stop sulking, Rose. It took three of them to take you down. You're still a badass." I stubbornly refused to look at her, but I could still tell that she was smiling indulgently at me.
I wasn't sulking, damn it. I was proud of the novices that had finally managed to wrestle me to the ground and "stake" me. That was the whole point. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. When Lissa had decided to make a queenly visit to St. Vladamir's I had thought that it would be fun to tag along and help out with the end of year field experience for the seniors. I was seriously re-evaluating my idea of fun.
It wasn't just being beaten either, although that did sting a little. Being back at St. Vlad's had been harder than I expected. I may have had two loving parents now, but that didn't change the fact that my old school practically raised me. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was back.
Not to mention how much I missed Lissa. Which was a ridiculous thing to think, since we were together practically every waking moment. But she was the queen now, which meant she had a ton of duties all the time. And I had to be constantly alert around her, watching for attacks. Even being inside the wards didn't really help, what with how many Moroi didn't like her reforms and would love to see her off the throne. But we had both felt safe enough at St. Vlad's to let our guard down some. Hanging out in guest housing with her had almost been like being in our old dorms again. And I suddenly realized how much I missed my best friend.
We were flying back to Court now, and I didn't want to end our trip fighting. "I'm sorry, Liss. I guess getting kicked puts me in a bad mood." It had been a perfectly executed attack that left me flat on my back and dead, according to the field experience rules. My appreciation of it was only slightly dimmed by the throbbing bruise already forming on my shoulder.
"I understand, Rose." I got the feeling that she understood more than just my excuse. If I thought it was hard to deal with the new pressures we were under, I could only imagine how she felt. "I just wish you would let me help."
"It's really not that bad. It hurts, but I'll be fine in a day or two." Or a week, but there was no reason to tell her that. "You're supposed to be cutting back on spirit."
"It would just take a little bit." I'd gotten used to hearing such things from her. She'd been putting in a lot of work on the anti-Strigoi vaccine lately, and even though I no longer read her mind, I could still tell the darkness was starting to get to her. Unfortunately, the more she used spirit, the harder it was for her to stop.
"Sure, you offer to heal this bruise," I joked, trying to lighten the subject. "Where were you when my mother gave me a black eye right before Christmas?"
"I think I was-" we all felt the plane start to dip unexpectedly. I came to my feet, going on high alert like the rest of the guardians travelling with us. "What's going on?" Lissa asked.
"I don't know," I told her. "But I'm going to find out."
I stumbled up towards the cockpit as the plane dipped a little more. Bracing myself against the bulkhead, I threw open the door and lurched inside. The pilot and copilot were in the middle of an intense discussion. I thought I followed the basics, but I wasn't really sure.
"We aren't supposed to be landing until we get to Court," I told them, like maybe they had just forgotten our destination.
"It'll just be a quick stop," the pilot assured me. "We need to fuel up."
I frowned at him. "We've made much longer trips than this without stopping."
"And we should have been able to make this one." He slanted a look over at his copilot.
"I told you, the tank was filled at the school. I supervised it myself."
"Well it's not full now. It could just be that the gauge isn't working." He reached out and rammed it with the heel of his hand. I didn't really think that would accomplish anything, but I understood his feelings.
"And if the gauge is working?" I asked.
The pilot shot me a meaningful look over his shoulder. "Then we have a leak in the tank."
"Sabotage?" I already knew the answer.
"It has to be. We'll know soon after we land. Even if it is, we won't be delayed by much. It won't take long for another plane to get here from Court."
I didn't like it. I left the cockpit to confer with the other guardians. I went straight to Nathan. He and I had a pretty rocky relationship. He was technically in charge of the queen's guardians, but I sort of operated on my own agenda. His name didn't help matters any, even though I knew it wasn't his fault that just looking at him made me remember my time in Russia with the Strigoi. I thought he needed to loosen up and he thought I needed to learn to respect proper guardian procedure. Despite our differences we were completely united in our common goal: to keep Lissa safe.
"We need to stop and refuel," I told him in a low voice. "But there's a chance the plane's been sabotaged. We may need to wait for a replacement."
He instantly came to the same conclusion I had. "Someone is forcing the queen to ground outside the wards. It's most likely a trap."
"Flying to Court is safer than driving. But do we wait for another plane?" I think he appreciated me deferring to him for a change. Really though, I just didn't know which option was better.
"I don't like sitting there waiting for someone to come at me. As soon as we land, we load into cars and leave." I was surprised to find myself in complete agreement with Nathan. There was just one problem.
"We don't have any cars waiting for us," I pointed out.
"Then we steal them," he told me as he turned away to speak with the other guardians.
Huh. I could maybe actually learn to like this guy. Leaving him to brief the others, I went back to Lissa. She was looking at me with wide eyes, but there was complete trust in them. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Little problem with the plane," I told her, hoping she'd assume I meant something routine and mechanical. "We're going to have to land. Nathan doesn't like leaving you at some random airport, so we're going to drive back to Court instead of waiting for another plane."
"We'll have to wait for cars too," she said before looking at my face closer. "We're just taking them. Rose, what is going on?"
I should have known better than to try lying to Lissa. She'd never needed a bond to read me. I twined my fingers with hers. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
She squeezed my hand. "I know."
She had such absolute faith in me. People always talked about what a dedicated guardian I was. But when someone so easily set their life in my hands, was it any wonder that I felt driven to do everything in my power to be worthy of that trust? We sat in silence until the runway came into view. I stood up to go over the final details with Nathan. "Show time," I told Lissa.
I made my way down the aisle to Nathan. "So what's the plan?" I asked.
"We don't know what we're getting into down there," he answered, "and we're not staying around to find out. We get three cars. The queen goes in the middle one. I'll be driving it, you ride in the back with her. Tess and Frank ride with us."
I nodded in approval, not that he was waiting for me to give him permission or anything like that. But it was a good plan. Straightforward, simple, nothing to it. Impossible to mess up. Hah. I really should have known better.
We all grabbed our bags and lined up at the door. I grabbed Lissa's arm to steady her as the landing jostled all of us. She shot me a nervous smile. "We're going to be fine," I promised her.
The plane came to a stop and the doors opened. Mike and Jake were out the door first. After a quick sweep, they led the charge to the parking lot. It was 2 in the morning, which was both good and bad. On the one hand, it meant that we could get attacked by Strigoi. On the other hand, at least there were no humans around to watch us steal their cars.
I felt a little bad about that. I'd stolen more than my fair share of cars over the past few years. Always for a good cause, but I don't think the airport employees would appreciate our crisis when they got off shift to find their cars missing.
I paused a minute and closed my eyes, focusing on how I felt. No nausea. Lissa stopped with me and was watching expectantly when I opened my eyes. "We're clear," I told her.
"Your Highness!" Nathan called. He had run on ahead and was holding open the door of a Toyota sedan. Ugh. Did we always have to pick the most boring car to take? Lissa whirled to go to him and her backpack slid off her shoulder. The zipper split and a few books tumbled out.
"I can't believe you brought homework," I teased her.
"Vasalisa!" Ooh, Nathan was using her name. He was getting seriously impatient.
"Go," I told her. "I got this."
She sprinted off and slid into the backseat. Nathan closed the door behind her, dove into the driver's seat and took off. So much for me riding with her. I'd just have to hop in with Diane and Steve. I shoved Lissa's books back into the pack and swung it up onto my shoulder. Except I'd forgotten about getting kicked and had picked the wrong shoulder. I gasped in pain and went down on one knee as my bruise started throbbing again.
I looked up at the sound of tires squealing to see the back of the Subaru that Diane and Steve had taken. "Thanks, guys," I muttered. "So much for no dhampir left behind." I guess I was going to have to drive myself. I carefully hitched Lissa's bag onto my good shoulder and jogged into the lot. And then I saw it.
Even in the dark it glowed. I swear it was calling my name. It was a lime green classic Porsche. I'd never understood Sydney's fascination with cars until that moment. In one instant, I became a believer. I couldn't hold back a crazy laugh as I peeled out onto the highway. This was a car.
It took me approximately thirty seconds to catch up with our convoy. They were rolling along pretty quick, but I still had to slow down to fall in behind them. Almost immediately my phone started ringing. Lissa's name showed on the display and I answered with a laugh. "How cool is this?"
"Hathaway," Nathan barked, "what the hell are you driving?"
"A Porsche!" I told him. "It's amazing."
"Did you miss what I said about remaining nondescript?" he demanded.
"Yeah, I did, actually, since I wasn't supposed to be taking a car. I should have been riding with you," I reminded him.
"The queen was in danger," he snapped. "If you can't keep up, you get left behind."
"If I wasn't holding this baby back, you'd be the one left behind," I said.
"We're going to have a long talk once we get back to Court," he warned me.
"Yeah, yeah," I waved him off. "Pull over so Liss can hop in with me."
"Not a chance," he shot me down immediately.
"Killjoy." I took a kind of vicious glee from hanging up on him. Not the smartest move, but I was already in trouble. And really, for me, this was a pretty minor infraction. And totally worth it. It would have been nice if Lissa could have switched cars, but even solo it was a sweet ride. I tossed my phone into the passenger seat and enjoyed the feeling of cruising down the open road.
After several hours much of the thrill had faded. I was ready to be home. We were getting close, and I was starting to think that the trouble with the plane really had been an accident. Diane and Steve left their position in front of me to take off down the road. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I assumed that Nathan had sent them ahead to scout out the road. If someone had laid a trap for us, this would be their last chance to spring it before we were safely behind the wards.
They hadn't been gone long when Mike and Jake suddenly accelerated out of sight. At the same time my phone went off. I grabbed for it. "Is everything okay?"
"There's a tree down across the road," Nathan told me. "Steve thinks they can pull it aside enough for us to get through. It could have just been the wind or something."
"Yeah, and the plane could just be a mechanical failure." His ringing silence was all the agreement I needed. "Don't stop for anything," I told him.
"Not even for God himself," Nathan assured me.
A little blasphemous considering the precarious situation we were in, but I agreed with the sentiment. We slowed down to round a bend and found the rest of our team at work clearing the road. They hadn't gotten the trunk of the tree moved by much, but Nathan managed to squeeze past by dropping down into the ditch along the shoulder. I followed, wincing as the Porsche scraped against some loose branches.
I thought about stopping to help the others, but decided it would be better if I stuck with Lissa. Besides, I wasn't really in the best tree-moving shape. My shoulder still ached, and I was so hungry I was starting to feel sick. Suddenly I realized that there was something horribly familiar about the feeling in my stomach, and it wasn't hunger pangs.
"Strigoi!" I yelled into the phone. "Gun it, Nathan!"
He took my advice, his wheels spinning before finally catching on the pavement and taking off. I hesitated, loathe to leave the rest of our team to face them alone. Suddenly vampires were coming out of the trees on both sides of us.
"Do not harm the queen!" a voice called out. "She is the Master's!"
Shit. Not this guy again. I'd barely survived my last encounter with his thugs. "Get out of here," Diane told me. "Get her back to Court."
I didn't let myself think about what I was leaving them to. I took off. Once again I had to slow down when I caught Nathan, but not by much this time. We careened down the road, taking turns wildly and veering across both lanes. I checked my mirror often, but there was no sign of pursuit behind us. I relaxed slightly as the sickness in my stomach faded.
As we came up on an intersection, I noticed a car sitting on the side road. At first I was just afraid that Nathan was going to cause an accident with his wild driving. Then the nausea hit me again. The waiting car lurched into motion, heading right for Lissa. It was fast, but the Porsche was faster. I revved it high and shot forward, slamming into the left fender and sending it spiraling off course. An explosion of steam poured out from under my crinkled up hood. Through it, I could make out Nathan swerving around the accident. The last I saw of them was their taillights disappearing around a curve in the road.
I lurched out of the Porsche, my stake in hand. Five Strigoi poured out of the car that had hit me. Big Strigoi. It was kind of like watching a clown car empty. Except there was nothing at all funny about this situation. I whirled into action immediately, driving my stake into the nearest Strigoi's chest. My strike lacked its usual force, what with my shoulder being injured, but it still found its target.
Three of the Strigoi approached me more cautiously, unwilling to share the first one's fate. The fourth one hung back, watching the action. I didn't manage any more killing blows, but I successfully fended my three attackers off. I had to keep backing up to keep them from surrounding me. I circled away from the cars. They would have protected my back, but I didn't want to get cornered anywhere.
With all my backpedaling, I lost track of the fourth Strigoi. One of the ones facing me lunged forward and I took another step back. Except there was no where for me to go because the fourth one was right behind me. His hand came down on my bad shoulder, squeezing painfully and making me drop my stake. Before I could think of what to do next, I felt his teeth slice into my neck. There was agony. Then there was bliss. Then there was nothing.