Here's chapter 1!

Disclaimer: I don't own VA or any of the characters!

Chapter 1

"Rose…? It's time to go…" Dimitri told me. The funeral for Mason had just ended. I stood there, frozen. I got him killed. I told him Dimitri's secret and he died because of me. The rain was pouring now, but still I didn't move. "Rose?" He asked again.

"I-I can't…"I whispered. It probably wasn't enough for Dimitri to hear, but knowing his sense of hearing, who knew? I heard him come closer.

"Rose…"

"I CAN'T LEAVE HIM!" I yelled. His footsteps stopped. I turned to him in anger. The anger was not only from his insensitiveness, but mostly because of my deadly mistake I made. I felt stupid beyond belief. Tears rushed down my cheeks and nothing could stop them. Not even Dimitri. The rain mixed with my tears so that was actually kind of nice. When I heard Dimitri take another step, I look at him with sadness. He reached for me, but I pushed him back, hard. "Don't touch me!" I screamed.

"Rose, I'm not going to hurt you!" He finally yelled out. Darkness consumed my heart and finally I glared at him. "Rose…your eyes…" I knew a dark aura surrounded me. Finally, I took off, dashing back to my room, leaving Dimitri where he was. When I got back to the school, everyone whispered and glared at me. That's right. They blamed me for Mason's death. Lissa, Mia, and everyone else knew what happened, yet they couldn't stop what had started. Rumors spread like wildfire here. When I eventually got back to my room, I finally just hid my face in my hands and sobbed. It was bad enough that Mason had to lose his life because of me. Now, I somehow had to face the rest of the school, the rest of reality.

"Knock, knock," I sniffed, but didn't answer. The knock was repeated.

"Rose?" It was Christian. He opened my door gently since it wasn't closed all the way.

"What do you want, Christian?" He stood at the door and watched.

"Lissa wanted me to ask you if you up for dinner…" His voice trailed off. He knew it was the wrong time. I shook my head.

"Sorry, just eat without me. I just want to be alone. Thanks," He nodded and left. When I heard the door close, I slid against my bed. I felt miserable and guilty beyond belief.

"Rose, dear?" I looked at the door. It was Lady Ozera now. I opened the door for her and she came in.

"What do you want, Lady Ozera? Can't you see I'm not in the mood?" I told her. She looked at me.

"Oh? Well, I thought I would just come by to tell you that Dimitri and I are leaving tomorrow," I looked at her quickly and she had a smirk on her face.

"If you take him, I'm going to kill you," I threatened her. Darkness bubbled beneath me and one more action from her would cause everything to run wild.

"That's no way to talk to her, Rose," I looked behind her and saw Dimitri with a sad face.

"You're leaving…" I looked at him and he nodded.

"Are you going to stop me?" He asked.

"Should I?" I turned my glance away from him. To be honest, I would do all I had to stop him, but I just didn't have the energy to do anything. "If you're going to leave, then leave. I won't stop you. Just know that besides Lissa, you're the only thing keeping me here. Christian can take care of Lissa so if you're leaving, I'm leaving too," I told him. Yes, I was planning to run. I didn't want to face the school like this. This was hell.

"Rose, you can't leave. Kirova has you on a tight leash," He warned me.

"Like that makes a difference! The minute I leave this school, I'm free. And unless you're here to stop me, I'm leaving anyways. I can't stay here like this," I started to pack a bag of my stuff. Dimitri grabbed my wrist.

"You're staying here and that is an order, Rose Hathaway," He growled at me. I turned my arm quickly and regained my hand back.

"Why do you even care? You're leaving too!" I yelled at him. "Why am I so different?"

"Because you're a child," Tasha answered.

"Stay out of this!" I yelled at her. Dimitri slapped me in return. I quickly packed what I needed and left my room.

"Roza. I will call the guardians to catch you. I'm staying here until tomorrow. I can catch you,"

"Little dhampir—woah…" I growled menacingly at Adrian. "Woah, there. Not going to hurt you. Belikov, what in God's name did you do to her?" Adrian carefully made his way towards me. "My dear, your eyes…they're gold colored…Belikov, her aura is so dark…I'm not kidding," He told Dimitri.

"Little dhampir?" He called for me.

"Help…" Suddenly I just slumped into his arms.

"Belikov!" Dimitri dashed towards me.

"Rose! Rose, are you okay?" I saw Dimitri's face as it became blurrier. I tried to get up, but somehow I couldn't stabilize myself and ended up collapsing onto the floor of the hallway. "Get a doctor here!" I heard Dimitri yell before my consciousness slipped from me.

Late into the night…

"Look, she's coming around," I heard a lady whisper. It was the doctor. I suddenly shot up, gasping.

"It's alright…we're here, Rose," I saw Dimitri and Olendski surrounding me.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Hathaway?" The doctor asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. 'Crap. I lost my voice.' "Rose?" I tried to scream but no sound came out. "Oh dear, it's finally taken effect," She looked at me sadly.

"What took effect?" Dimitri asked.

"The one thing that can't be cured. Trauma. Experiencing Mason's death like that probably sent her into shock. When she passed out, it was probably her mind's last resort to protect her from the memories harming her," I obviously didn't say anything. I just sat on the bed looking at my arms and hands. This wouldn't be bad at all. Sure I wouldn't retort like I usually do, but maybe keeping quiet now was as good a method as any. Plus, it'd be creating a reason for Dimitri to stay with me.

"Guardian Belikov? Where are you?" It was Tasha. "There you are. What are you doing here? You should be packing. We don't want to rush tomorrow," She gave a fake smile towards me and Dimitri.

"Sigh…Tasha…I don't think I can go. I can't leave Rose in this condition," He said. I just stared at him.

"What condition? She looks fine to me," Dimitri shook his head.

"She lost her voice due to trauma. From the looks of it, she might not be getting it back for a while. Tasha, I'm sorry, but you'll have to find another guardian. That or if you can, we'll have to wait until she gets her voice back," Dimitri suggested. I couldn't react. If I did, Tasha would notice and I would be dead.

"I can wait. I have time. It's not like I have much to do back in Russia anyways," She gave me an angry glare behind Dimitri. I just ignored her. I tapped Dimitri's shoulder. He looked at me and I motioned for a pen and paper. He handed me a notebook he carried with notes from my classes.

'Can I go back to my room?' I wrote down. He asked Olendski for an answer.

"You can leave. Nothing's wrong with you besides the lost voice. Just try to take it easy," I left on my own.

"Rose, wait!" It was Dimitri. Suddenly he was held back by Tasha.

"Guardian Belikov, she's fine on her own. Let her rest," Dimitri didn't follow me so I stopped to look back at him. He looked at me then at Tasha.

"I don't think I can do that. As her mentor, I have an obligation to make sure that she is alright at all times. Why don't you head back to your room and just unpack everything in the meantime," Dimitri followed me. When we were out of Tasha's view, I tried to hold his hand. However, he actually flinched away from me. I gave a sad smile and walked faster. He probably already had feelings for Tasha. To be honest, I didn't know why I wanted Dimitri with me. If he didn't love me, there was already no point in keeping him around. When I walked faster and faster, Dimitri suddenly came after me and held my hand. I squeezed it tight and he took me aside. He looked deep into my eyes and hugged me. "I'm so sorry, Roza…" He told me. "I'm sorry about Mason, I'm sorry about Tasha, and I'm sorry about my behavior towards you," He added on. I gripped onto his duster tightly and let go.

I just headed towards my room. I had class soon and I couldn't waste time like this. If he wanted to go, I couldn't stop him. He followed me to my room as I grabbed my material for Stan's class. "Are you going to be okay in Guardian Alto's class?" He asked. Why did he still continue to talk? It's not like I could answer him in the first place so I just ignored him. I couldn't respond so what was the point? I quickly headed to Stan's class right as the bell rang for classes to change. When I sat down, Stan looked at me, shocked.

"Why, Miss Hathaway, you seem to actually be early to class," Dimitri quickly approached Stan, I'm assuming to tell him what had happened. "I see…well, it's nice to have you in class," He smiled lightly. Great. Now I was being pitied. The students filed in eventually and Dimitri took his normal place in the back of the class to watch over me. And each person who saw me sitting at my desk started whispering. This sucked, seriously. I used to be the best and at the top. No one would dare challenge me, but because I couldn't tell them I couldn't talk, well, I couldn't reveal anything. All I could do was sit there.

"So Hathaway, how did you fight off the Strigoi that killed Mason?" Ralf and Jesse joked. I stood up quickly and glared at them.

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled at me. I sat back down quickly.

"Ooh..can't fight back now, can we?" They continued.

"That's enough you two!" Dimitri barked at them. I stood up again, darkness radiating from me. "Rose, calm down!" I strode towards the two of them. When I was within arm's length, the darkness from me somehow reached out, grabbing the two of them and throwing them to the other side of the class. They hit the blackboard and collapsed, groaning.

"MISS HATHAWAY!" Stan yelled at me. I didn't care at this point. I couldn't argue back. I couldn't talk. Nothing made a difference but this. I still had my physical strength and as long as I had it, I would use it. Darkness started to widen its range throughout the class.

"Roza! Stop!" Dimitri ran to protect the two of them. I hissed at him. "What they did was wrong, but that shouldn't make you react like this, what's going on?" He tried to touch me, but darkness pushed him back. I didn't show any emotions. "Is it darkness? Is that what's going on? Has it taken over?" I didn't nod or do anything. Jesse and Ralf were terrified.

"That's enough, Rose," I looked at whoever talked and it was Adrian. He came and put a necklace around me. Instantly, the darkness was suppressed and my legs gave out. Dimitri caught me by the waist as I was gasping.

"Why don't you get her to the infirmary? I'll give the class material to you Belikov, so just teach her while she's healing. I'll notify the other teachers of her absence too," Stan spoke up quietly. Dimitri put me on his back and took me to the infirmary. All the way there, I kept panting.

"We're almost there. Just hang in there, Roza," As soon as I returned back to the infirmary, Dimitri tucked me into a bed. "Does it hurt anywhere?" I kept looking at him as I laid on my stomach. He gently moved his hand up and down my back. When he hit my lower back, I tensed. "Over here?" I just continued to look at him. He massaged it gently. "Funny, you're not usually this quiet," He tried to joke. When he ran his hands over my lower back again, I tensed quickly. "Shh…it's alright. Just relax. It won't hurt as much if you relax first," He kept it up. "But really, is it the darkness that's hurting you this much?" I nodded a bit. "So the necklace?" He asked.

"It's just a charm," I finally answered.

"Rose…you can…" I nodded.

"I realized it when Adrian put the necklace on me. The darkness, when overwhelming and if I ever freak out like I did during class, I lose the ability the speak so as long as it's controlled, I can talk for the most part," I sat up in the infirmary bed and sighed.

"It's not easy to lose a person you love," He told me. I looked at him. He had a sad smile.

"What?" I asked again. What in the world is he talking about?

"Mr. Ashford. You loved him. You clearly showed that at the ski resort," He told me.

"Wait, what?" I was surprised. This was new. Could this all have been started by a misunderstanding?

Well, that's the end of chapter 1! Hope you guys liked it! Review and tell me what you thought of it!