"Dimitri, why does the hall look so big?'' asked Rose through her microphone.
"Roza, you know this microphone isn't a cell phone, on which you have me on speed dial." The smooth voice replied "Alberta flew through the roof when you asked me what was cooking tonight." Dimitri chuckled.
Rose caught Lisa's eye, and saw she was smiling. Not because she had heard Rose's conversation, but because she had saw Adrian and Jill holding hands on stage again.
Adrian had been hired as the official speaker, like his Father before he retired. He was still new to the job and was rough around, well, everywhere. A lot of Royals did not like Adrian's manner and though Lisa was slacking. The good news was, after Jill had completed studying Moroi and Damphir law she became Lisa's official adviser, and been the one to balance Adrian out. Adrian did not mind Jill's age and whenever his Mother brought it up, he gave me and Dimitri as another example.
"Here comes the Queen, Vasilisa Dragomir! Stand y'all" Said Adrian, in his usual silky voice. Jill gave him a look of despair, mixed with adoration. No matter how annoying Adrian's commentary got, she never scolded him. Unlike me, who was constantly telling Dimitri to back off the weaker Guardians. Dimitri was now the Head of Guardians, with Alberta supervising him. She always suspected Dimitri was going to do something crazy because of me.
Lisa sat on her green and gold throne, and everyone else followed. It was a tradition now, Lisa did not order them to sit, and they sat when she sat. There were a lot of other rules that the Royals did not agree upon. Like allowing all Moroi to vote, and basically giving more importance to the outside Moroi and Damphir world. Not all the Royals liked that, like Ronald Ozera. He and the rest of his cult, like the Zelekos were, completely against Lisa giving more importance to the Damphir and common Moroi. That's why we were having this meeting today, so we could hear everybody's complaints. Lisa was a picture of calm and collection, but I knew she was nervous. The worst possible thing for her was to lose her reputation and dishonor the Dragomir family.
"Good Morning everyone. We have gathered-"spoke Lisa in a loud clear voice.
"Guardians, please go into emergency formation. I have a feeling something's wrong." Said a puzzled Dimitri, through the Guardian earphone.
We all shifted into the usual Code Red formation. Two at the back, two on the sides and me right next to Lisa.
As we were changing, people started muttering about the change in formation. I tried to find Christian to warn him about the emergency, but he was nowhere to be seen. 'Must be with Mia' I thought. They had been spending an awful lot of time together.
"Quiet for God's sake! Lisa is talking" said Adrian through the microphone. The whispering died down instantly.
I thought about what could happen: Striogi attacks, a group of Moroi rebels, an alert somewhere near. Whatever it was, they were not getting anywhere near Lisa. With a look of battle lust and steely determination in my eye, I scanned my surroundings. Nothing.
Frustrated, I whispered, "What is going on Dimitri?" No reply. "Dimitri?" I said a little bit louder. I was starting to feel hands twisting my heart, making me feel like I was going to throw up.
"Come on! D-Dimitri? Answer me!" I said for the final time. This earned a few stares from my fellow Guardians, who were oblivious to the fact that our Head was not answering us. Dumb people, probably thought Dimitri had gone on a coffee break.
"So because of these complaints, I have decided to hold this meeting. I will read a family and a spokesperson, who will come in front of me and express their, um, concern." Lisa's voice bounced off the wall's eerily, making it seem like the room was empty. "Would Jillian Dragomir please come and hand me the papers containing the names."
"Here you go Jailbait." Said Adrian, accidentally through the microphone. He got a few disapproving stares and words for that.
Jill came down with her peach dress flowing behind her, looking like a real princess. Today her caramel hair was tied up into a bun, with hairpin in the shape of a dragon. It was identical to Lisa's hair pin, which she had used as a broach for her purple dress. Lisa usually kept her hair open, but today it was tied in a simple ponytail. 'Must be the stress' I thought.
As Lisa unrolled the piece of paper, her eyes widened and a scream escaped her mouth. Well, it was more like a yelp, but it was scary enough.
"Rose! Jill! Where's Christian?" she asked in a panicked voice. "Oh my God, I knew this would happen. I knew it! Thank God Dimitriā¦"
"Lis, what happened?" questioned Jill, now completely out of it.
Adrian, sensing the change in atmosphere, took this as an opportunity to show off his expertise.
"Okay, meeting postponed." He barked into the microphone.
"What! This is a scam!" said some Zelekos.
"Hey, Pinprick. Go get a drink before you melt." Said Adrian, in the most menacing voice you could imagine.
"Lisa! What happened?'' I asked.
"Look at this Rose. I'm so sorry." She whispered.
There on the paper, instead of the neat names me and Jill wrote-well he section was neat- were words scrawled with red. "BELIKOV AND OZERA ARE OURS. RESIGN AND LET TASHA GO. HATHAWAY IS NEXT"
There and then, my worlds collided. I knew this technique; they put the two people in two different places, and usually killed one of them. "Let Tasha go'', meaning they were linked to Tasha Ozera. And we only had enough time to save one of them. 'That doesn't matter now' I thought.
Examining the paper more closely, I saw the red was blood. Moroi blood.
"Okay, forces behind me. Get the Queen to safety, Annabetha. Don't worry this isn't Striogi. Rest of you, check out the surroundings, and discuss tactics. We have to lead a fully fledged search party. I'm going to go see Tasha Ozera." I commanded. I had picked up a few things from Dimitri; even thinking of him sent a surge of pain through me.
"Rose, what about Dimitri? You're only looking for Christian here." Asked Pricilla.
"They come first," I replied.
