Light My Fire

Beta-ed by: Rose Melissa Ivashkov

Dedicated to: Przybyszewski for helping me with ideas for this chapter, I probably annoyed her but I am very thankful for her help.

Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy

It was a nice fall night out, the wind was blowing and the weather could only be described as just right. I was walking home from my university's football game; the game was a success as we beat the opposing team twenty to nothing. My university—Lehigh—has gone undefeated for eight years now. If I were to be honest, most of Lehigh's football players were a cocky bunch, they strived to impress the ladies and hated each other, and they thought they were better than everyone else. They could do no wrong—god I so wanted to punch them—especially Adrian Ivashkov; he was the captain of the football team and he was so freaking annoying. All the girls wanted him because of his green eyes, pale complexion and brunette hair. He was a bit tall, and I would find him handsome if I didn't hate him so much.

He also happens to be my best girlfriend's cousin so there wasn't much that I could do to him. Ugh, I so wish I could just do something terrible to him; he knows I hate him, so he goes out of his way to flirt with me and annoy me to no end. Not all the football players are cocky and terrible. Three of them to be exact and they are Christian Ozera, Mason Ashford and Edison 'Eddie' Castile, very good friends of mine.

Christian and I have known one another since the tender age of six years old; he was always being made fun of in first grade because he was smarter than all of us, a prodigy; he has pale skin, black hair and piercing blue eyes. He has a snarky attitude that I would love to slap out of him most of the time. We argue and pick at each other a lot but we are the best of friends.

Then there is Eddie Castile, he's like a hero to me, he has blond hair and brown eyes, he's tall, tan and muscular. I've known him since the tender age as six as well. He knows what's right and wrong, tends to keep me out of trouble. He's like the brother I never had. Lastly, there is Mason Ashford, cute adorable, innocent Mason; he is a bit tan, but not really. It's hard for him to get a tan. He has red hair and blue eyes, with an adorable splatter of freckles on his face. He is a close friend of mine; I've known him the same amount of time as I have known Christian and Eddie. Unlike Christian and Eddie though, Mason has a crush on me, has since our High School years, its adorable really, but I don't feel that way about him, and it breaks my heart when he gets jealous when Adrian flirts with me. Mase is always defending me from him.

Sighing out loud, I picked up my steps and walked faster to get home. It was getting darker out and the part of town I am in is very dangerous. Women have been known to get mugged, raped and kidnapped here. Hearing a branch crack from somewhere behind me, I hastened my pace and was nearly running when I saw headlights turn on from behind me. I started to run, that is until a familiar person called out to me from the vehicle. I stopped what I was doing and turned around walking over to the vehicle.

"Get in. You shouldn't be walking home this late at night, especially in this part of town," my best girlfriend's brother Dimitri Belikov demanded me.

"Okay." I walked to the other side of the car opening the door and getting in while shutting the door behind me; I heard the locks click down almost instantly. "Thank you, Dimitri."

"You're very welcome. Rose. Why were you walking home this late at night, especially using this street. You know it's unsafe—need I remind you what happened to a schoolmate of yours?" he asked, driving away from the terrible street. I shuddered at the memory of what happened to a fellow school mate and friend of mine. Her name was Jill Mastrano, she was walking home late at night a couple of years ago, down the very street I was walking, she was raped and kidnapped; she had been missing for three months until one day she was able to escape. She was in the hospital for days, but she had lost too much blood. Each time they would give her a transfusion her body would reject it. Finally when it did stop rejecting the blood, she had the misfortune of losing her life a week later.

"I know it's unsafe, but I didn't have a ride home from the football game. This was the fastest way to get home," I said, looking at him out of the corner of my eye; his knuckles were white from grasping the steering will so tight.

"You could have called someone. If you don't have a ride home again call me," he hissed at me. I looked over at him to see him looking at me; our eyes met and I could see the anger in his eyes, whether it was at me or directed at someone else entirely I didn't know. "Besides I thought you and my sister went to the game together, why didn't she bring you home?"

"Lissa and Christian went home together in his truck. Adrian took her car home. You know my aversion to Adrian, and you wouldn't catch me dead or alive in a vehicle alone with him," I said looking out the window and watching as passing cars drove by, watching as couples left the cinema. We stayed quit after that; it was silent for about fifteen minutes.

"You were being followed," Dimitri stated, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked curious as to what he was talking about.

"You were being followed when I found you. Don't lie—you were running."

"Excuse me, don't accuse me of something that never happened. I was running because it was a dangerous neighborhood that I was walking in, or did you forget? I didn't want to take any chances of getting attacked, you know," I said while ignoring him. Jeez what a douche, prying in my life like he's allowed to. "Why do you care any ways?" I asked, leaning back into the seat and looking through the sunroof. It was quiet for a bit, until he practically blurted his answer out.

"Because I care about you, Rose. We all care about you. You've had too many hardships in your life." I turned from my position of looking out of the sunroom and looked over towards him.

"Don't, just don't. Don't act like you care about me." Dimitri swerved in his car and pulled up into the wooded area that was close to where I live.

"I'm not acting, Rose. I care about you. A lot of your friends care about you. Get off your high horse and start appreciating yourself more," he said angrily.

"You're only saying that because you have not experienced the things that I have. You're loved by everyone, a well-known fire fighter, who has captured the hearts of all the women in the small town of Missoula, Montana."

"Rose, that's enough, you're right. I may not have had a life like yours but just because I've never experienced it does not mean I don't care. Just please for once, don't dismiss me or anyone else of us caring for you." Dimitri drove his car back up on the highway and continued driving back to my house. We remained silent the rest of the way until we got to my home.

"Thank you for the ride, Dimitri. I really appreciate it." I unbuckled my seat belt and was just about to open the door and step out of the vehicle, when I felt someone grab my arm; I turned around to look at Dimitri.

"You're very much welcome, but please if you ever need a ride, call me. I don't want you wondering the streets late at night." I looked up into his brown eyes, his beautiful brown eyes that were framed by his medium length brown hair that was thrown up in a low ponytail.

"I will, Dimitri. Don't be too hard on Lissa. It's not like she knew I was going to walk home." With that, I turned around to leave, but Dimitri's hand, which was still on my arm, tightened. I turned back around to look at him again.

"I'll try my hardest to, but she should make sure to know if you'll have a ride home before she leaves. Good night." With that, Dimitri leaned forward planting a soft kiss on my forehead.

"'Night," I said finally getting out of the car, shutting the door behind me. I walked up the driveway to my home. I reached in my pocket to reach for my keys when I discovered they were gone. I must have lost them. I bent down and dug through a potted plant on my porch, until I found the spare key. I unlocked my door and opened it; I looked down the driveway to see Dimitri still in his car waiting to see that I got in the house safely.

I waved at him, letting him know that I got in safely; he waved at me as I shut the door and locked it, and I flipped my lights on and walked to the window watching him drive off. Once he was gone, I went to my room, grabbed my night clothes, which consisted of an overly large shirt that I stole from Dimitri a couple of years back. I took off my clothes and donned the shirt. I walked back to the front room and turned the lights off.

I then walked over to my window and started to shut the blinds. As I did, I noticed a figure in my yard, leaning against my shed. My heart started to race real fast. I lifted up my cell phone and started to dial a number. Before I was done dialing, I looked up to see that the figure was gone. I sighed to myself, relieved. I ran to my kitchen and grabbed my chairs putting them each under the door knobs of my doors leading out of my house. I locked all the windows and ran back to my kitchen, grabbing another chair. Once I had the chair I ran back to my room and locked the door behind me and put the chair in front of my bedroom door, I ran to my bed and jumped in it and hid under the covers.