A/N: Hey thanks for stopping back in for more. I'm really starting to see what everyone is talking about when they get excited about receiving reviews. They make you feel all bubbly inside when you realize that people care enough to comment, so thanks for those that do. This chapter is a bit shorter than the first but I think I like this length a bit better. Let me know if you care one way or another. And yeah... I guess that's it... Oh um... I don't own anything or something like that. Have fun.
Waking up was, in general, an extremely disorienting process for me. I would not consider myself a morning person by any stretch of the phrase.
Waking up with my hands zip-tied and my entire back and head aching was worse.
Groaning, I shifted in my seat simultaneously trying to work the kinks out of my shoulders and cater to the pounding throb echoing in my head. The sharp tug at my wrist, which caused me to open my eyes, was what alerted me to my detained situation. Fear and adrenaline began to barrage my system, bringing with it the worst kind of wake-up buzz. Bright light streamed in from the cabin lights above my head, temporarily blinding me. Looking down in an attempt to shield my eyes, I realized that I was still in my pajama shorts, white with red lips printed on it. My jacket was still on with the hood drawn, which was nice because the cabin was chilly on my bare legs.
"Finally up?" A pleasant, accented voice came from my left on the other side of the isle of plane. I looked up in time to watch the man from the street put down a weather-beaten book and openly study me from across the isle.
"Fuck me..." I muttered under my breath, closing my eyes briefly as yesterday came back to me. We were in for it now. The fear that had helped me wake up a second ago was quickly fading into resignation as I realized our situation. We were caught. We got lazy and now we were gonna pay for it.
Never one to stay down for long I snapped my eyes back open. In a swift movement I sat forward in my seat, staring intently at our capturer. He had shifted forward instantly in response, coiled as if ready for me to try something. Lifting my hands in front of my body in a semblance of an awkward prayer pose I queried, "Handcuffs? Really? For a Moroi? What am I gonna do, attack you with my superiority complex?" I put on my signature Rose smirk as I spoke.
His cold demeanor didn't change, the mask of his face only moving when he tilted his to the side to accentuate the small gash under his eyes.
Easing back in my seat I crossed my legs in a demure fashion. "You should really get that looked at. Wouldn't want it getting infected." With the way he was seated I knew he was now on high alert from me. Without the element of surprise I really didn't stand a chance against a fully trained guardian. "Where's Liss?" I zoned out briefly as I said it, chastising myself for not thinking of her sooner, but her mental signature rang loud and clear from somewhere nearby. It was laced with slight anxiety but but no pain so I know they hadn't hurt her.
"The Princess is fine, and safe now thanks to our successful operation." The sound of his voice brought me back. I focused on his words and his face, hearing the slight accent that slipped through on the vowels as he formed each word. It sounded European, Russian maybe. The effect only added to the quite bad-ass vibe he was rocking. And Saints Above was he rocking it. Like most Dhampirs he was muscularly defined, but this guy took it a step further. He worked out, no doubt about it. He was pulling off a 'I work out four hours a day' kind of definition in his shoulders, which only served to be more intimidating when coupled with his height. Even sitting down he was tall. He had to be at least half a foot above me, impressive given my 5'10 frame. The image was further improved by his sharp jawline and vivid eyes which were now burning holes in mine. Conclusion: hot as fuck. Which made it even more embarrassing that I was sitting here in the same pajamas he had handed me my ass in.
Hearing Lissa's name filled me with determination once more. Hoping to my feet I twisted to stretch my back as I asked, "You got a bathroom on here?" His response was instantaneous. Like the strike of a cobra he was on his feet in a non-aggressive but fully prepared stance opposite me. A blade had appeared in his hand. Fear trilled through me at the sight, causing me to bound back towards the windows on my side. I wasn't in the best condition for a fight but I sure as fuck wasn't going down easy.
"Relax," he said, his relaxed tone completely at odds with his reaction. "Toilets down on your left. Your clothes are in there. You might want to get cleaned up a little." He looked pointedly at my neck for a second before approaching and cutting the zip tie. I automatically rubbed my wrists, mock tipping an invisible hat to the guardian as I brushed past him to walk down the plane. Now that I could see the layout a little better I realized it was fairly small, but separated into two sections by the hall holding the bathrooms. On the side I awoke, which I now realized was the front, were only a few lounge chairs and a table. As I stopped at the bathroom I caught a glimpse of the back of the plane. Again there were a few chairs and tables as well as a small bed in the back. Lissa sat in one of the chairs facing away from me, surrounded by 6 other guardians who were in various states of awareness. Only one had glanced up at my approach. I saw brief alarm pass through his eyes when I wiggled my fingers in hello. I sent a warm breeze up the back of Lissa's neck to let her know I was awake as I dipped into the bathroom. I felt her response in my head as she started bombarding me with questions about how I was and what we were going to do.
Feeling the soreness on my ass from where I had fallen, I settled for looking in the mirror, asking myself those same questions.
The face starring back was haggard and pale but that wasn't completely unexpected given the last twenty four hours. What did scare me was the trail of dried blood I could see leading down from my neck. I frantically unzipped my hoodie moving it out of the way as I went to get a closer look at the injury. Had that asshole actually cut me? My anger was quickly replaced by worry. On my neck stood two distinct trails of blood that met and pooled at my collarbone. I wet some toilet paper before cleaning of the blood as best I could. While the puncture marks had healed now, two barely visible scars were on my neck. I woke up with my hood one but I wonder if anyone had seen. I couldn't be sure if the guardians could have seen through our bedroom window when she bit me but I was sure the man I fought had seen the marks. His earlier comment now made more sense. Great, not like I needed more hits to my reputation. I just hoped this wouldn't get out. News of a Moroi bloodwhore would not go over well for either me or Liss.
Cleaned up as best I could I looked at the pile of clothes. They must have pulled it from the bags we had with us because it was comprised of my least favorite pair of jeans and an old cut-up t-shirt from concert I couldn't even remember. Resigned to not looking my best I put the jacket back on over my new clothes, flipped down the hood and did my best to give myself two Dutch braids. I've got a reputation to uphold, even when I've gotten the shit kicked out of me. Looking back in the mirror I thought I didn't look to bad. A little makeup would sure help but I wasn't embarrassed anymore. Stepping out of the bathroom I saw that the big bad guardian was once again settled into his book. I should probably go back over but seeing as no one had specifically told me to return to my seat I grabbed a bottled water from the little service cart in the hall and walked towards Liss. I bristled when one of the guardians got up to block my path. Tilting my head I scoffed, "Really, you're gonna get in my way of talking to Liss?" I shifted my weight to one hip and put a hand on it. I know I looked simultaneously unassuming and bad-ass like this. The look would be completely if I could raise just one of my eyebrows but they refused to cooperate, both of them lifting to give me an astonished air. Good enough.
"Please return to your seat," he intoned.
"Rose?" Lissa's voice drew my attention to the side where I saw her getting up from her chair, a headphone hanging from her ear. The small smile that had flitted to my face upon seeing how vibrant she looked (clearly they let her have some makeup) quickly faded as the guardian next to her gently grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back into her seat.
I hissed, and was about to slap the guardian hard with an air whip when I felt strong hands envelope my wrists and detain me. I deep voice spoke from above me, causing me to shiver at the deep timber. "Now, now. Lets keep the claws away shall we." His tone and weak grasp were rather insulting, and while I knew I couldn't take all of the guardians on the plane and somehow get us to safety, my anger was really starting to take the wheel. I was about to break his grasp and send him flying with a gust of wind when Lissa spoke up.
"Rose! Its not worth it." I'm fine, she intoned in my head, just go sit down.
Her reassurances helped sooth me. My sass returned in a huff. Leaning back slightly into the man who had grasped my hands, I suppressed the slight tinge of pain as I looked up at him over my shoulder. "Comrade," I chastised, " All this aggression you're directing at me is really making me think you've taken a liking to me. Does someone have a crush?" His grip on my wrists tightened sharply as I heard one of the other guardians chuckle. Someone muttered "classic Hathaway" under their breath as he escorted me back to the front of the plane. Back in my seat I slumped sideways in my seat, kicking up my feat. In an annoying whine I questioned whether I would get to listen to music, too. My guard didn't even bother looking up.
Shouting at the top of my lungs I called to Liss.
"DJ DRAGOMIR, DROP A BEAT!" My captor merely raised one eyebrow (the annoying p.o.s) then smirked when no music could be heard.
But I didn't need the music out loud. I tuned my mind into Lissa Radio hour and she had obediently turned to my favorite music.
Still in my Black Keys mood, Lissa had turned on the El Camino albumn. I started wailing on my air guitar as Nova Baby started coming through. By the chorus I was belting out the lyrics.
"All your enemies
Smile when you fall
You take it cause you
Don't know what you want
You don't know what you want.
All this love of mine
All my precious time
You waste it cause you?
Don't know what you want?
You don't know what you want."
He either hated the song or my rendition of it because I found myself with my iPod in my lap rather quickly. Flashing Guard Man another smile I stuffed my headphones in shouting my thanks back to Liss. I thought I briefly caught a flash of confusion on his face before the 'Guardian Mask' was back in place.
I passed the remaining hours of the flight in a blissful bubble of good music. The newfound peace didn't last after we landed; our iPods were once again confiscated as we got into a car. Luckily, though, they hadn't felt the need to keep us separated again. I was situated in the front next to big man, who was driving. Lissa was put in the very back but I wasn't going to let that stop our conversation.
I chuckled in response to her mental comment that at least it took like twelve guardians to take down two Moroi girls. "Yeah, that's the making of a legendary reputation right there." Liss and I were used to these types of conversations by now.
'He's pretty hot, yeah?' she thought. I sent her a look over my shoulder. "Ja feel, honey." This man looked delicious, even with his defined muscles now hidden behind some type of long leather jacket. A duster, I think it was called.
'I'm thirsty, can you toss me that water you've got?' she asked in my head. With a quick "Sure" I flipped the bottle backwards towards her.
'You see his marks?' She was talking about Comrade up front with me. I shook my head, thinking to myself that a man as young as he looked couldn't have seen much battle. I got sucked into her head enough to see the image she was seeing. From between the head rest and the seat she could just make out a cluster of symbols on his neck representing the number of Strigoi he had killed. The number both astonished and saddened me. The 'honor' of killing our enemies was not one I regretted missing out on, being Moroi and all. Nor do I think I would particularly like it ingrained in my skin but to each his own. Focusing back on the present I watched as St. Vlads came into view. I felt the shift in magic as we passed through the barrier, but instead of the relief that should have come with the safety a tight ball of anxiety dropped into my stomach. The same heavy feeling that had dogged me before we left was once again hanging on my shoulders. A streak of auburn hair and blue eyes flashed through my head but was gone before I could lock onto the image. My concern and confusion was pushed to the side as I took in the time. My gaze quickly rose to the busy campus that was alive with activity as the students went to lunch. I groaned, looking over at my guard. He was parking the car, and with lithe gracefulness jumping out to coordinate with the other guardians. Knowing that we were just delaying the inevitable I popped open the door and hopped out. Stretching slightly I grimaced at what was to come. We would either be greeted by judging silence or raucous applause. Either way we would be the center of attention. Looking at Lissa, I saw the same wariness in her eyes. I focused straight ahead.
"Here we go."