I disclaim. I own Evie, Erin, and a few other minor character. Adrian, Dimitri, Alberta etc belong to Richelle Mead.
Basically, this is the story of our favorite Spirit-users first love. Or should I say, the first girl that he really had to work hard to get... Some of the ages may be a little off - I know that, in Rose's stories, Adrian's around 21 and Dimitri's 24 - but I had to make a few minor changes so it would all fit.
Hope you enjoy it, this is my first EVER fan-fic, please Read & Review :)
Open Your Eyes
Chapter One: You Can't Always Get What You Want
It was that same old nightmare again.
A montage of repressed memories forced their way to the front of my mind, repeating on what felt like a never-ending loop: a dark hallway and a flash of fangs, the scent of blood thick on the air, and then screams and sobs. My screams and sobs.
Some part of me knew that it was just a dream. So what if it had been real once-upon-a-time? That was then, this was now. But still… it felt so real, like I was living through it all over again. And I couldn't live through that again. I just couldn't.
"Hey, Evie, wait up!"
That was me, Evie. Well, Evelyn, but I hated Evelyn. Like, really hated it. I remembered the last time somebody had actually called me Evelyn to my face; it had been my mother and that had been two years ago. Nowadays, I went by Evie, and Evie only.
Turning on the spot, I came face-to-face with my best guy friend, Dimitri Belikov. Like me, he was another novice and as he drew up in front of me, he grinned, a grin that was as warm as it was infectious.
"Hey there, smiley," I laughed, nudging him with my elbow as we headed towards the dining hall. "Did you get extra homework assigned again or something? Because I haven't seen you this happy since the last time that happened."
Dimitri laughed and nudged me back. "I wish you'd stop going on about that. It was one time." I gave him a pointed look, eyebrows raised. "Okay, okay, two times," he relented.
Now that was more like it. As well as requesting extra homework when he felt that our teachers weren't testing us enough, Dimitri was the kind of guy who was the first person out on the running field in the morning and the last person studying in the library at night. But, hey, that worked for him and I knew that someday his dedication would save life's.
"So, come on, what's with the smile?" I asked.
Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "You seriously need to ask?"
"I haven't had my coffee yet. You know I can't function until I've had my caffeine fix."
"You'll have to break your dependency on coffee one day, you know," he told me serenely before saying, "Field experience." And, as soon as those two words left his mouth, I knew why he was so happy.
Field experience was basically six weeks' worth of hands-on experience for the senior novices, which included me and Dimitri. Classes would be cancelled and we'd each be assigned a Moroi student to protect while the adult guardians tested us by staging Strigoi attacks. Even though I knew it was going to be tough, I was determined to prove that I'd make a kick-ass guardian, and judging from the look on Dimitri's face, I knew he was eager to prove himself, too.
"I can't believe that you actually forgot about field experience," Dimitri said, his voice full of mock-condemnation.
I smiled and shook my head. "I know, I'm the worst Dhampir in the world. But" – I lowered my voice – "I've had things on my mind, you know?"
"The nightmares?"
"Yeah."
Dimitri's warm brown eyes regarded me for a moment. Usually, when people looked at me like that, like they could read my mind or whatever, it irritated the hell out of me. But with him, I knew it was only because he was concerned.
"You could have called me," he said quietly, pulling me aside so we could talk properly. "You know I don't mind if you need to talk about it."
I forced a smile and shook my head. "What, and deprive you of your beauty sleep?" I joked.
"Evie –" he began, but I held my hands up to stop him.
"Look, it wasn't that bad this time," I told him. "It was just – well, I thought that they'd stopped."
He nodded understandingly and squeezed my shoulder. "Promise me that if you have another one, you'll call me. I don't care what time it is, just call and I'll be right over, okay?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die," I said gravely before grinning at him. "So, come on. Field experience. You've been waiting for this day since you were, what, about two years old?"
"Just about," he laughed as we continued on our way to the dining hall. "I mean, I know it's not real or anything but it's kind of exciting. Like, for once we don't know what's going to happen."
I nodded. "I just want to know who I'm going to be assigned to, if I'm being honest," I shrugged.
"As long as I don't get assigned to Andre Dragomir or Adrian Ivashkov, I don't care who I get," Dimitri replied.
I tensed when he said that and said through gritted teeth, "If they even think about assigning me Ivashkov…" But I couldn't even finish the sentence.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get Erin," Dimitri assured me as we entered the dining hall. "Speaking of Erin, where is she? She was supposed to be meeting us here."
The Erin in question was my best friend, Erin Antonov. She was a royal Moroi – a mortal vampire – and we'd been best friends since, well, forever. When I was fifteen, she had even persuaded her parents to take me in when I had nowhere else to go, so now we were pretty much inseparable. Not that we wanted to be separated; after graduation, we both hoped that I'd be assigned as her sanctioned guardian. That's when the fun would really begin.
But first of all, we had to get field experience out of way and with any luck, I'd be assigned to Erin.
"There she is," Dimitri suddenly said, pointing across the dining hall and towards the feeders room. Sure enough, Erin had just stepped out of the doorway; like all Moroi, she was tall, slender, and pale, and as she caught sight of me and Dimitri, her black eyes lit up. Apparently she was just as excited as the rest of the student body.
"There you are!" she exclaimed as she approached us. "I thought the pair of you would be harassing Alberta to kick off field experience early or something." The thought of that made her grin and her fangs that usually stayed tucked away protruded over her bottom lip.
"Harassing is such a strong word," I laughed.
Dimitri nodded. "We prefer to think of it as nudging them in the right direction," he added and the three of us exchanged laughs and eye-rolls before joining the breakfast que. Seeing as how Erin had only just fed, she wasn't particularly hungry but she picked up a vanilla yoghurt anyway. As for me and Dimitri, well, we were Dhampir's and we needed our strength. With that in mind, we piled food onto our trays and then followed Erin to our usual table.
"So, you're looking forward to it, right?" Erin asked as we sat down.
I nodded. "No classes and hanging out with you all day, every day? What's not to look forward to," I shrugged.
"I love how you just assume we're going to get put together," she laughed.
"Why wouldn't we get put together? It's what you and your parents want and the school knows that."
"I know, but you know what Alberta and the rest of them are like. They could pair you with someone else just to be assholes."
I swallowed a mouthful of food and met her gaze. "That's not going to happen. And even if it does, I'll deal as long as that don't put me with him."
Erin's eyes dipped downwards and beside me, I felt Dimitri tense slightly. They both knew how I felt about Adrian Ivashkov and if anything was a conversation killer, it was him.
Forcing a smile, Erin turned to Dimitri and asked him who he wanted to be paired with. It was a subtle change of conversation, steering it away from me without being a completely different topic, and as much as I was grateful to her for doing it, my mind was already racing. You see, I was a pretty self-assured girl; I was confident without being arrogant and I was good at handling situations that could prove to be difficult. But, as much as I liked to think I could deal with anything, I knew deep down that if there was one thing I couldn't deal with, it was spending an extended amount of time with Adrian Ivashkov.
Without really thinking about it, I scanned the dining hall and found him sat at his usual table. Like Erin, his was a royal Moroi; he was tall and slim with stylishly messy brown hair and impossibly bright green eyes, and even though I knew most people thought he was devastatingly good looking, everything about him repulsed me. As I watched, he slipped a small bottle of what looked like whiskey out of his pocket and tipped the contents into his morning coffee. Typical. Even at breakfast he had to make sure that everybody knew what a hard-core party boy he was.
And then without warning, he looked straight at me.
For a moment, I refused to drop my gaze. Well, I say gaze. It was more of a glare. He didn't seem to mind, though; he simply stared back, a smile playing on his lips. God, I wanted to wipe that smile off of his face. But I couldn't do that so I looked away. A second later, I felt him look away, too.
"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked me quietly, seeing my hostile expression.
"Coffee isn't warm enough," I muttered and even though I knew he didn't buy it, he didn't push me for the truth. He was good like that.
Erin was good like that, too. "I'll warm it up for you, if you want?" she offered.
It was an offer too good to refuse, even though the coffee wasn't really that cold, so I handed her my mug and watched as she used her magic to heat it up. All Moroi wielded elemental magic – earth, air, fire, or water – and by the time they reached our age, students specialized in one element. Erin had specialized in fire and as I watched, a small sphere of blue fire appeared in the palm of her hand; she held the mug over it and grinned as the contents began to bubble.
"You're getting really good at that, you know," I pointed out as she handed me my drink back.
"Thanks," she laughed. "You know, for a while I thought I wasn't going to specialize at all. Can you remember, Evie?" I nodded and she turned to Dimitri. "We spent the entire summer trying to figure out why one element wasn't getting stronger than the others," she told him.
He frowned. "I thought all Moroi specialized sooner or later?"
"Nope," Erin replied before dropping her voice. "Adrian Ivashkov still hasn't specialized," she told us. "Apparently Ms. Carmack keeps telling him that it will come but quite a few people think that if he hasn't specialized by now, he's never going to."
I hid a sly grin by taking a quick mouthful of my now scorching coffee as Dimitri said, "That must be hard for him. It kind of explains a few things, though."
"What, like the non-stop drinking and smoking and acting like an ass?" I snorted. They both looked at me. "Maybe that's why he isn't specializing. Because he's got so much crap in his system."
"It can't be that," Dimitri replied. "I mean, look at Andre Dragomir." The three of us glanced across at him; another royal Moroi with the typical Moroi build, topped off with pale blond hair and jade-green eyes. "He drinks and smokes and acts like an ass but he still specialized," Dimitri pointed out.
"Maybe Adrian just had it coming, then," I said off-handedly.
"He could still specialize, though," Erin shrugged.
"The only thing Ivashkov is ever going to specialize in is being as asshole," I replied and even though they both tried not to, Dimitri and Erin laughed. Eventually, I had to join in, even though it really wasn't that funny. I'd meant what I said and the darker side of me kind of hoped that Adrian never did specialize. It wasn't fair to wish that on any Moroi, seeing as how not specializing was like not going through puberty, but hey, life wasn't fair.
"You're terrible, Evie," Erin finally managed to get out as she wiped a tear of laughter away from her eyes.
"That's why you love me, though," I grinned before finishing off my coffee and nudging Dimitri. "Are you ready to get going or do you think it's a little early?" I asked him.
He checked his watch. "I'd rather be five minutes early than five minutes late," he replied.
"Then let's get to the gym." I picked up my tray and turned to Erin. "We'll catch up with you later, okay?"
She grinned and gave us the thumbs up. "Good luck. Not that you need it or anything."
"Thanks," I smiled and after me and Dimitri had said our goodbyes to her, we dropped off our trays near the bins and headed outdoors.
As we crossed the courtyard, we picked up a few other novices from our class who were headed towards the gym; Logan Burgess jogged up alongside us first, grinning from ear-to-ear as usual; Finn Armstrong joined us shortly afterwards, looking nervous but managing a smile when we asked him if he was okay; and just as the gym came into view, Daisy Caine sauntered across to us, throwing her arms around as she chatted animatedly.
"God, I'm so nervous!" she told me breathlessly. "Is it normal to be this nervous? I really don't think it's normal to be this nervous."
I laughed. "I think everyone's a little nervous. Don't let it get to you, I'm sure you'll do fine."
"I guess," she replied. "It's just – well, you know, I've got to nail this. I'll never live it down if I don't."
"Your mom's expecting you to do brilliantly, right?" I asked.
She nodded. "You've got it in one. It's like, just because she's some Strigoi-killing machine, she expects me to be as badass as her, you know?"
"I don't know," I shrugged off-handedly, "but I understand what you're saying."
"Oh, Evie, I didn't mean –" she started, catching sight of my expression, but I waved her off. "Anyway, it's like, what if I'm not good enough? What if I can't cut it?"
I really felt sorry for Daisy right then. She came from a long line of super successful female guardians and I knew that it stressed her out because everybody expected her to be just as good as them. Not that she wasn't a good novice because she was. She just didn't need the extra pressure of carrying on that kind of legacy. It kind of made me grateful that I didn't have a family reputation to uphold. Well, I did, but I definitely wasn't going to uphold it; my family wasn't exactly known for the right reasons.
"Evie?" Daisy suddenly said. I looked up, surprised; I'd been so busy thinking that I hadn't even realized that we'd made it to the gym. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You look a little…" But she trailed off, apparently unable to find the words to describe how I looked.
Forcing a smile, I nodded. "Never been better," I told her. "Just can't wait to get this show on the road."
"That's the Evie I know and love," she grinned before turning away from me and cupping her hands around her mouth, shouting, "Belikov! Burgess! Armstrong! Get your asses over here, we're going in!" She turned back around and gave me a quick hug. "Good luck, Evie. I'm sure you'll get Erin," she said.
I smiled. "Thanks," I replied but just as she turned away to go inside, called after her. "Which Moroi are you after, anyway?" I asked.
Laughing, she gave me a little smile and winked. "Andre Dragomir," she told me, "but you can't tell anybody I said that." And after waving at me, she went inside, followed closely by Logan and Finn.
"Are you ready?" Dimitri asked me as he drew up at my side.
I nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be. Come on, let's get this over with."
"You make it sound so unpleasant," he laughed as he led me into the gym.
"The waiting part is unpleasant. I just want to know who I've got already." But I stopped there, knowing that if the conversation continued, we'd stray into potentially dangerous territory.
Claiming our seats, me and Dimitri sat down and looked towards the front where the senior guardians were waiting for everybody to arrive. Apparently, we were among the last novices to show up because seconds later, Alberta stepped forward, ready to speak.
Basically, her and Stan took it in turns to tell us how important field experience was, what our duties were, what we could and couldn't do, blah, blah, blah… I tuned out for most of it, not because I was being ignorant but because I already knew exactly what field experience would entail; me and Dimitri had done some serious research a couple of months ago and I still remembered every single detail. I didn't need a reminder. Then again, neither did Dimitri, but he was still staring towards the front, listening intently. I tuned back in again and figured out why Dimitri was paying attention; our names were being called. Great.
"Finn Armstrong," Alberta called out. "You are assigned to Julian Zeklos."
Dimitri and I watched as Finn stood up and made his way over to Stan who was handing out the packets and practice stakes; he looked a little nervous still but I figured that had more to do with the fact that he'd been assigned to Julian Zeklos who was, to put it simply, not one of the nicest people.
"Logan Burgess," Alberta said. "Selina Szelsky."
I laughed as Logan bounded towards the front, the smile on his face even broader than usual. It was no secret amongst the novices that he had a thing for Selina Szelsky and a few people wolf-whistled as he collected his things. It didn't bother Logan, though; he simply grinned and shot us all the thumbs up.
"Daisy Caine." I craned my neck, looking for Daisy; I found her in the front row, waiting on baited breath. "Andre Dragomir."
She jumped to her feet so abruptly that I was surprised she didn't trip over them in her eagerness to get across to Stan. Once she'd gotten her things, she scanned the gym until her gaze met my own and then winked. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her as she practically skipped out of the gym.
And then it was my turn.
"Evie Parker," Alberta called out. I glanced towards the front, my stomach suddenly tightening in anticipation. Please be Erin, please be Erin, please be Erin... I thought, even crossing my fingers for good measure.
"Adrian Ivashkov."
No. No, I must have heard that wrong. For a split-second, I contemplated laughing, some part of me adamant that this pairing was just one big joke at my expense. Apparently, it wasn't.
"Evelyn Parker, would you care to join us up here?" Alberta snapped as I remained motionless in my seat.
Beside me, Dimitri murmured, "You'd better move, Evie, or they're going to get seriously pissed at you."
I got to my feet and, in a state of barely-concealed shock, walked towards Alberta. This is not happening, I kept repeating to myself. Me paired with Adrian Ivashkov, of all people? That was the kind of thing that could only happen in dreams. Or, on second thoughts, nightmares.
But sure enough, when Stan had handed me my packet and I had flipped it over, the words Adrian Ivashkov stared back at me. Hesitantly, I ripped it open and found his whole life spread out before me in paper-form. A current picture, illustrating those green eyes and that messy brown hair, and his bio, detailing his background as a member of one of the most prominent royal families.
At this point, all we had been told to do was read through our packets, pack a bag, and then meet up with our assigned Moroi at lunch. More names were called as I read through the dossier, but I barely paid attention. I mean, why should I give a crap at who got assigned who, especially when I had just been assigned, in my opinion, the worst Moroi ever? Even when I heard Dimitri's name being called, I couldn't focus for long enough to hear who he had been assigned to. I was just that traumatized.
And then I was angry. In fact, no, I wasn't angry. I was fuming! How could they do this to me? How could they pair me with Adrian when they knew how I felt about him? About his family? Maybe they really were having a joke at my expense. Well, I thought furiously, the joke stops right here!
When the last novice had been assigned a Moroi, I stomped towards Alberta. She was stood with Stan and I swear that when she saw me approaching, she rolled her eyes as if to say 'Here we go…'.
"What the hell is this?" I demanded, coming to a halt in front of them and shoving my packet under their noses.
Alberta straightened up. "That, Miss Parker, is your assignment," she told me, pronouncing each word slowly, like she was talking to a five year old or something.
"I don't think it is," I said through gritted teeth. "This is somebody else's assignment because it sure as hell isn't mine."
"I don't think you quite understand the concept of field experience," Alberta replied. "Your assignments are not optional, just as your assignments in the real world won't be optional. If this isn't to your liking, Miss Parker, I suggest you tell us now and save yourself the bother of graduating."
"But – but I hate Adrian," I exclaimed, getting worked up. "I mean, if I have to be around him for six weeks, he's going to need extra protection because, trust me, if a Strigoi doesn't kill him, I will!"
"Well, I never thought I'd live to see the day that Miss Parker would doubt her own guardian skills," Alberta sniffed.
"I didn't say that! What I am saying is this: Adrian Ivashkov?" I threw my packet on the floor and folded my arms across my chest. "You must be delusional if you think I'm guarding him."
"Evie." It was Dimitri, speaking in that calm, controlled voice he used when he could see I was about to fly off the handle. I glanced at him but one look at his expression told me that if I didn't shut up, I was going to fuck up. Badly. My mouth snapped shut.
"Finished so soon, Miss Parker?" Alberta said. The hell I was...! "Good," she continued, "because if you refuse to guard Mr Ivashkov, you instantly opt out of field experience. Understood?"
Opt out of field experience? Over my dead body! If I didn't complete my field experience, I didn't graduate. And I couldn't not graduate. But still – it was so unfair! I glanced towards Dimitri again. He nodded discreetly and I knew that I had to accept my assignment.
As gracefully as I could manage, I picked the packet up. "Understood," I said frostily as I drew back up to my full height, an unimpressive five foot three. "I'll guard Ivashkov. But, trust me, if I could have it my way, he'd be the last person I would even contemplate guarding."
"I think we've gathered that, Miss Parker," Alberta said dryly.
"Well, it wasn't like I didn't spell it out for you."
And turning on my heel, I stomped out of the gym and towards the dining hall. I knew that I'd handled the situation all wrong. If I'd really wanted them to reconsider my assignment, I should have done it politely with a smile on my face, and all I had done was make myself sound like a little bitch. But, seriously, they knew what I'd been through and they knew that I hated the Ivashkov's. Not just Adrian, but all of them, the whole freaking family! If they'd lived through the things I had, then they'd be bitchy, too. And, anyway, I was about to spend six weeks with Adrian Ivashkov, for crying out loud, one of two people who I really could not stand. And for good reason, too; he was an arrogant, womanizing, chain-smoking, boozing jackass.
My stomach tightened as I ran through those qualities in my head.
I couldn't wait for field experience to be over.
