Aww, thankyou guys (: i wasnt expecting that many favourites and stooof 3 yaaay for positive feedback!
I also forgot this last time - but thankyou to Zoe, my little Beta!
Disclaimer:
Me: '*sigh* Dimitri, you wanna do the discaimer for me, i dont think i can' :(
Dimitri: 'Um, no. First you made me get bitten by a psi hound, and then you made me put up with Andres whining. Do it yourself.'
Me: 'fine. GUYS, i do not own Vampire Academy or Dimitri Belikov (cries), the amazing Richelle Mead does.'
Still frozen, Andre looked at me with pleading eyes; they seemed to be sending a message saying 'get us the hell away from her'. We had no choice but to run. Run away from the memories that followed that voice. From the dangers of the life we lived. From everything really.
But as we took our first steps towards the entrance, a large amount of guardians – at least 20 or so – came from all directions, making it almost impossible to leg it. Almost. I knew Andre was the most important Dragomir, so to speak. He was the only one left that could carry his family name into the next generation, as Liss would be married off into another important Royal line. But having this many guardians after us? Well him? There were more guardians here for Andre than the Queen travelled with.
I pushed Andre behind myself and bent my knees, ready to take on anybody who dared getting past me. The guardians closed in around us, surrounding us. There was really no point in having Andre behind me now, they obviously knew of my amazing skills and my tactics so they could use that to their advantage. Nevertheless, I stayed in my fighting stance, ready to take on the world. That's when one of the guards jumped towards me. I anticipated his actions and just as I went to attack him something stopped me. I heard Andre, in my head. 'It's okay Dimmy, let them take us back'. It was like he spoke out loud, but when I stole a glance towards him, his lips weren't moving. Noticing that I was distracted, someone came from behind me and hit me on the head with something hard. As I fell, my eyes landed on somebody familiar, somebody holding a stake. This was my attacker. She was a short brunette and she was looking down at me with a seriously pissed off expression. 'Ahh, Rose. Always knew how to make men fall to her feet' was my last thought before darkness engulfed me.
I woke with a killer headache. I rolled over on the bed and suddenly yesterday's events flashed through my head. ROSE! God, would that mean I was at…?
I looked around. I was in a small room with a bed in it. In fact, I don't even think we were in a house. I stumbled out of bed and towards the tiny window. I mentally swore as I stared at the blue sky and houses that looked tiny specks of sand from this distance. Great, we were on the schools private jet. How the hell didn't I feel the plane moving? I'm really starting to question my guarding; first it's not seeing Liss, then the embarrassment of being rendered unconscious by somebody at least 2 heads shorter than me, and now… this!
"Oi Dimitri, I can see you're awake in there. Open up", a voice commanded behind the sliding door.
Sighing, I got up unlocked it and sat down on the bed, going back to stare at the window to think. Rose, Lissa and Andre all walked in and sat on the floor in front of me. After about 10 minutes of coming up blank with an escape plan I turned my head towards the gang. It looked as if the twins were having some sort of silent argument with their facial expressions, and I didn't really want to get in the middle of that – although I did want to know what it is about. I could always just… go into Andres head and figure out what it was about, but no. I couldn't do that. He hated it when I did that, and quite frankly, so did I. It was invasion of privacy. Not to mention it was a bitch to get out of his head once I got in. So instead, I stole a glance towards Rose. She must have noticed and looked back at me with that smirk she always has. I guess old habits die hard there. Bet she thought she was the bees knees back at the mall.
"Rosie Posie eats crap loads of pie, punched the boys and made them cry. When all the girls had something to say, Rosie Posie kicked them all and ran away", I sang to her. That wiped the smugness off her face at once. I guess she doesn't like to be reminded of that.
Flashback:
It was about a year ago, so we were all 15 or 16. And being the typical teenagers we were, we decided to have a party in Lissa's room. I came in late, as I had to attend some community service I was given by Stanny boy, also known as Alto. I had put superglue on his chair when I walked into class just before he arrived, so it wouldn't dry before he got there. Of course, him being his usual ignorant self didn't notice, and sat down for the entire hour, torturing us by making us read some booklet in silence. After half the lesson passed I had to put the paper in front of my face, so Stan couldn't see me silently laughing like a maniac. Rose just stared at me like I was going crazy, until I mouthed 'Super-glued his ass' to her. She of course, burst out laughing causing the whole class to stare at her like she was the crazy one. Stan looked up and gave her his 'I'm not in the mood for your shit Hathaway' look. Yes, she even has a look named after her.
"Come at me bro!" she yelled at him, giving him one last smug look before he got up.
Well, attempted to get up. The chair sort of rose with him, and he looked completely idiotic. That was it. The whole class just lost it; even the guardians standing around the room cracked their masks and smiled at Rose, obviously thinking it was her doing.
"Nice one Belikov, you're in my good books for this one", we high fived each other, and then it dawned on me. Wait, did she just rat me out? That little… I'll let you leave your imagination to finish that sentence. I received 4 hours of cleaning the church's attic for that little stunt.
Back to the party. I came in late, as said before, and I noticed our gang were sitting in a circle playing truth or dare, already drunk. I noticed Eddie and Mason had dried blood and bruises starting to form on their faces. I guess they would fill me in on that later. Rose was nowhere to be seen. Odd, usually she was the life of the party. They also had dessert. Chocolate pies. I had asked where mine was, and that lead to them telling me what went down at dinner. Turned out Rose had eaten hers, mine, half of Lissa's, threw Eddies at his face, and then ate the rest of the leftovers. It was a wonder she wasn't morbidly obese yet.
Eddie had apparently stood up to her, alongside Mason and bitched her out. To which she punched them both in the face repeatedly until they took what they said back. So, that was what happened to them. And then Lissa of all people, laid into her, pretty much saying if she didn't cut it out she would never have pie again and wouldn't be invited to anymore parties. Drunken Rose somehow took that to heart and kicked Lissa in the shins until Mase restrained her. She eventually stopped struggling and ran back to her room, crying. She's always been an odd one.
So that's how that song was formed.
"Shut it, Belikov. At least I can protect my Moroi." She replied back with venom laced in her words, bring me back to reality.
That earned her a death glare from me, and caused Andre to stop midway in his argument and defend me.
"Rose, Dimitri has protected me. So shut up, you have no idea what we have been through and you need to learn to shut your mouth, I guess you haven't changed much in that department", Andre snapped back, causing Rose and Lissa to stare back at him with shock written all over their faces. Andre wasn't one to lash out at people, and I could tell it was the darkness forming in Andre doing the talking. I quickly removed some of it from him into me, just a bit, so I wouldn't get all violent, and he would be released from the dark thoughts floating around in his head. He mouthed a 'thankyou' to me and mumbled a string of apologies to the girls until they ended up lying all over each other in a human sandwich, hugging and laughing.
We finally landed back in Montana, about two and a half hours away from the school. There were cars parked at the end of the airstrip waiting to take us back to hell on earth. I mentally sighed at that thought; it looked like we were really going back.
The guardians weren't as stupid as I remembered them being, as they made it very clear that I wasn't to be in the same car as Andre, so I had to sit next to the one person who would go out of their way to make life hell. Want to take a guess who that might be? She actually didn't pull any stunts on me during the whole trip back. Actually, she kind of looked out of it, like she wasn't really there. I attempted to talk to her half a dozen times at least, but every time I spoke I received no reply. Well, two can play at that game. So for the rest of the ride in I just thought about the punishment Kirova would dish out to me. She would never punish Andre, never. Stupid Royal heritage.
I was so caught up in trying to figure out what community service I would be allocated by that old hag, that I didn't even notice we pulled up at the front of the gates. If anyone was to ever find this place, they'd probably think this was some kind of castle, or a historical sight. It was just so… old. There were really no other words to describe it. It has never been modernised, except for inside, and I swear it's been around since the beginning of time.
Our stuff from Seattle also came with us. I hadn't even noticed them removing them from the plane once we touched down, but I was too preoccupied summing up our chances of escape. Why was I still so hell bent on getting out again? It was obvious they were going to reinforce more guardians around the premises, so we have no chance of getting out. And of course, Andre's life was the most important thing to me, so why was I denying him his right of protection behind wards? Gee Dimitri I don't know why. Maybe because the threat was inside the wards 5 months ago. Now I'm talking to myself? Great, that's a common sign of mental instability. I decided to start listening in on Alberta –our head guardian at the academy- tell Andre what was happening now.
"- taking you to Kirova's office, to receive your punishment", was all I caught in that sentence.
"How bad do you think it'll be 'Berta?" Andre asked.
Alberta was like a second mum to him after his parents died. She was even more bad-ass than all the other guardians here and probably most at court, but she had the softest heart possible. Kind of ironic actually. She pulled him in for a bone-crunching hug before replying with an uncertain answer that consisted of an "I'm not sure". I was certain Andre would be let off the hook with a couple days of detention. But me? A lowly foreign dhampir who had a similar mind to Rose? Yeah, I was screwed.
We finally made it into the academy itself and then led towards Kirova's office. They decided to take us through the main lobby of the academy, where it was currently rush hour as lessons changed. The fun just keeps on coming. A few seniors – like ourselves- stopped and stared as if we had grown another head or something. I felt like telling them what for, but somebody bet me to it.
"Take a photo morons, it'll last longer!" Rose yelled out to the bystanders, causing them to start walking again or suddenly look as if they were busy. Either way, nobody dared stare at us again, in our eyesight. But I could feel eyes burning into my back the whole way there. It was times like these that made me realise why I actually liked Rose. She was such a bitch, but if anyone dared to mess with the people she cared for they had better sleep with one eye open.
As we rounded the corner that led us into her office we almost ran into another large group or seniors coming out of her office. Straight away I recognised them, well all but one, some random Moroi. We stood there for a couple seconds awkwardly before Eddie spoke up.
"What the..? What the hell Rose? This is what you rang us all smug about? You said we would never guess what happened in Seattle, and we expected you to have found some specials at Victorias Secret that you could try out on Adrian." – Who the hell is Adrian? I stole a glance towards Rose and I noticed she was actually blushing. And I don't mean a light pink, but completely red! Something triggered in my body at that moment, it made me want to find this Adrian guy and see if he was worthy of her. 'What the hell Belikov? Why is there suddenly a green monster sitting on your shoulder, you don't even like Rose that way for Christ's sakes!' There we go again with the mental talk. –"But instead, you find these two and bring them back?" He exclaimed, clearly annoyed that we returned.
Christian, Mason and Mia all nodded their heads in agreement. The guy I had no idea of just stood there staring at Rose, and as I turned to look at Rose, her attention was completely focused in on him. What had I missed while we were gone? And what had we done to deserve the cold shoulder from the rest of the group?
Before Rose could reply, or really anybody else for that matter, we were dragged into Kirova's office. It was the usual lecture she would dish out if you skipped class, but this time maximised by about 100 because well, we didn't just skip class. I found myself checking out my surroundings in the room; a habit I had eventually picked up during our time away. I heard someone's throat clear and turned back to see Kirova glaring daggers at me. I stared back and made a motion with my hand telling her to go on.
But again, I ended up zoning out thinking about Roses new play toy. I wondered if he was a Moroi or dhampir. Whether he was a doormat and just let her walk all over him, bossing him around, or if stood on his own two feet and wore the pants in the relationship. I doubted the latter, I mean its Rose we're talking about. What I really wanted to know was if I had seen him before. I'm certain I would have remembered him before we left; I'm pretty good with putting a name to a face. But I was coming up blank. Who was this guy?
The attention was then turned onto me, so I zoned back in. She droned on and on about how reckless I was, and how irresponsible it was to leave the safety of wards, just so we could sleep in til god knows what hour of the day. On and on the lecture went until I couldn't stand it anymore. Then she mentioned my lack of guarding skills, and that was it. I slammed my fists down on the table before standing up swiftly.
"I DID KEEP HIM SAFE! I KEPT HIM SAFE WHEN NONE OF YOU" I made a sweeping gesture around the room, pointing at every individual person "COULD. YOU DON'T THINK I WOULD FORGET THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DECISION TO LEAVE? I TELL YOU WHAT KIROVA, I MAY BE A FUCKING FOREIGN COMMONER, BUT I KNOW HOW TO KICK ASS, AND NEXT TIME, THAT ASS MIGHT BE YOURS!" I finally let out the anger forming in me from the darkness. It wasn't until the words left my mouth that I regretted them instantly. Shit. The guardians around the room stepped forward until they were right behind or beside me. I slumped back down in my seat, suddenly feeling drained. 'Now you've done it' my subconscious scolded me. Wow, I was turning against myself now.
"See this? Absolutely no respect and no restraint. This is why I have decided upon my decision of your punishment. As a Royal, Andre will stay here to finish his schooling and graduate. You, on the other hand are disposable, and all the very raw potential in the world will not change my mind. Dimitri Belikov, I have decided that you are no longer a part of St. Vladimir's Academy. You will be sent away, immediately." She finished her tiny speech with the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen. That almost made me get up from my seat again and show her just how fast I could wipe it off her face. But the next words I heard made my face drain of blood and my palms suddenly sweat, despite the freezing weather.
"They're bonded Kirova."
Those three words. Simple, yet they stopped everybody in their tracks. Everybody but Rose and Lissa stared at us like we were from another planet or something. I finally looked up to the person who had revealed our secret. It was that guy that Rose was staring at before. He was standing at the door, as if he had just happened to walk in right on time to say this information, or maybe he'd been listening the entire time. Either way, I was pissed. How dare this guy tell everybody this information? Just who does he think he is?
"I'm going to ignore the fact that you've been eavesdropping Adrian, for now." He was Adrian? Why wasn't it so obvious before? He and Rose were obviously undressing each other with their eyes before in the corridor, how had I not picked up on that. God, my 'guarding skills' really weren't proving the best of me lately. "But why would you assume they have a bond? They're best friends, nothing more. This 'bond' stuff is only in the books, it's a legend", Kirova seemed to be having an internal war going on inside of her, and here I thought I was the crazy one.
But Adrian decided to keep his argument going by adding myself and Andre into the conversation.
"You can feel what Andre can, can't you Belikov? Is it like a hum of emotions in the back of your head, and you can tell that they're not yours? Or maybe you can go into his head, as if you were him? But you can't control him whilst you're in there. It's just like you are watching everything through his eyes. Or how about this, to put the cherry on top. He can send you thoughts, as if he was speaking, yet his mouth isn't moving. Like telepathy?" How the hell did he know all about bonds? I thought.
My lack of response must have been a confirmation in his eyes, because he gave a slight nod towards Kirova. I slowly turned back to the old hag; no doubt she's going to start ranting again. But this time, she surprised me. She looked behind me, probably at Adrian, there must have been some silent confrontation going on there, then her eyes moved to Andre and I.
"Right, this is how it will be. Given the circumstances, Belikov must graduate. Legend says that guardians with bonds to their charges turn out to be the best of the best with their… extra abilities." She directed her words towards me, "You will be under strict supervision, with a guardian around you at all times. You will attend extra trainings before classes start every morning with Rose, as sh-"
"Excuse me? Do I get a say in this Kirova? It's not like you're sacrificing my much needed sleep ins' here." Rose interrupted for the first time.
"AS I was saying, you will attend those trainings with Rose because she is the most talented novice around, and I'm sure she'll put you in your place, just like she has done with most of the guardians here. That is, if Rose is willing enough to help"
Great. Now my life was in Rose's hands. I didn't think she would be that shallow, but you never know with Rose. I wonder what Rose was seeing as she looked at Andre and I. Two seventeen year olds who broke out of a high security school, with not so much as a peep and managed to live a life of freedom for 5 months, or two helpless friends that were staring at her with wide, pleading eyes. I think it was the latter.
"Fine., I'll do it Belikov. But only because I get the pleasure of whooping your ass time and time again all morning. That might deflate that big head of yours eventually." She finally decided before walking out with Lissa and Adrian in tow.
Unlikely, I thought to myself. But boy, I was wrong.
K, i probably dragged that on a bit too much then, but hey. i wrote this last night at like 2 in the morning, and only just got my lappy back. gimme some slack if youre a hater?
Review? xx
- De
