Okay guys, I know the last chapter was kind of boring, but every chapter is important. :D Thanks to the reviews, alerts, and favorites I recieved! Thanks to Twilighternproud for the awesome idea :D. Im just going to let you know that if i do use your idea, it'll be a few chapters away. I'm really thinking about doing it that way! It may be sad, but those emails make my day :D. The poem that is in this chapter is my friend Maestia Puryear's. She wrote this a while back and I thought it went good with Dimitri's feelings :D. I swear she will be the next Poe, but without the tragic life and the fact that she's a girl :D. But anyways, I guess I'll do a disclaimer since I almost forgot yesterday. Dislcaimer: I don't on VA or any of the characters, sadly, but Richell Mead does, and I don't. :'(. Oh well, a girl can dream. Now for the story ;D
The service was mostly a blur. I swear the whole school was there, without a dry eye. So many people loved Rose and I could understand why. She always stood up for her friends, and what she believed in. There was a table at the front of the room that had a red satin table cloth on it. It had a big picture of Rose when she was a novice.
She was in sweats with her hair in a pony tail, and no make-up on. She never looked more beautiful. There were red candles and roses on the table.
The priest walked up to the table and started to speak. That's when everything became hazy to me. Almost everyone there believed that Rose is dead. They would grieve for the loss, and then move on.
Was Rose actually dead? I thought silently. As soon as I thought that question, a terrible pain worse than anything I have ever felt before, shot through me. My breathing hitched and I grabbed my chest, willing for the pain to stop.
I sat there for what felt like hours, trying to get the pain to cease. Finally, it became too much for me, so I stood up and left the room. I went to the nearest bathroom, and released the emotions I've been hiding.
I grabbed the nearest trash bin, and threw it against the wall as hard as I could. It simply bounced off the wall and landed next to me. I kicked at it while letting my body slide down the wall to the floor.
Oh God. It's all my fault. No matter if she died or became Strigoi, it was my fault. If I hadn't been taken down, she would never have come to get us. She died because of me. If I hadn't been so carless, my Roza would be here with me. My head began to pound. I just wanted to let my control go. I wanted to break things.
My mind went to a poem I read in high school.
You're attempting to push me over the edge. I am nearly there. Just a little farther and you will have me in your grasp. "I will succeed" are the words that burn from your eyes, into my sole understanding of you. You push, you shove! And now, I am over and beyond the edge! But what is this? I still have yet to fall to the depths of my sorrow? Am I...hanging? Is that what this is? You torturous monster! You hold me by rope over my own demise! How long will you carry this on until you are satisfied? Will I dangle here until your satisfaction is met? Or will I fall? Fall out of this tangled mess and into my end? Obviously, you will not let me go free.
It fit perfectly with the emotions I was dealing with. The thoughts of Rose dead were tempting me to go insane. When I first read it, I just thought that the author, Majestia Puryear, was just a nutcase who didn't have anything better to do than writing completely messed up poems. Now, the more I thought of it, the more I understood.
The emotions I was getting from thinking about Rose dead, were threatening to tear me apart.
I took a breath and slowly got up from the floor. I cleared my thoughts, and walked calmly out of the restroom.
Rose is not dead. I won't let her be. She's alive, and she will come back to me, even if I have to freeze hell over to get her. I thought, suddenly determined.
I walked back in the service, noticing that people were taking turns telling everyone something about Rose. They were doing death speeches? As that thought crossed my mind, a Moroi named Mia Rinaldi walked to the front of the room.
"Rose and I didn't really have the best start, as many of you know." She paused as some people laughed. "We hated each other, and did everything we could to hurt one another. When we were captured in Spokane, she could've left me for dead, many times. She didn't, and after that she became one really close friend. She pushed aside what I had done to her, and saved me. She was a good person, and will be remembered that way by many." She spoke, as tears rolled down her face.
Ah. So these are speeches to remember her, and what people thought of her. As Mia made her way back to her seat, Adrian went up.
"Look around. Everyone in here loved Rose, or they wouldn't be here. Do you see how many people are here? They love her, and so do I. So why are you guardians being so stupid?" There was a shocked silence. I quickly got up, wondering how he could've gotten drunk so fast, and went to save him from embarrassment.
I reached him just as he was about to say something else, and grabbed his arm.
"Lord Ivashkov, I don't think you need to be up here right now…you seem a little drunk." I whisper into his ear.
"I am not drunk. I just want them to get off their lazy asses and find the woman that we are in love with!" He yelled at me.
He and I both froze when we realized that he yelled that to where everyone could hear. We both turned around and everyone was staring at us, open-mouthed.
"Oh crap." Adrian breathed.
"I think it's time we leave." I whispered in his ear.
He nodded and we made a quick escape. Not quick enough, though, seeing as Alberta followed us out in the hallway.
"Lord Ivashkov, I want to know what you meant, and I want to know now." She said, glancing between the two of us.
"Uh…Um…I…" Adrian stumbled, obviously not sure what to say.
"He meant what he said, Guardian Petrov. He is in love with Rosemary." I paused and he smiled, relieved that he didn't bust our secret. "As well as myself." I continued shocking not only Adrian and Alberta, but myself as well.
Adrian shook his head and looked at me, dumbfounded. Alberta on the other hand, was quick to recover.
"What you're telling me is that you are in love with your underage student?" She asked, completely void of emotions.
"Yes." I stated, waiting for the condemnation of my admission.
"Did you ever act on it?" She asked, completely throwing me for a loop.
"We knew it was wrong, but yes. I won't lie to you, we did act on it, but we were waiting until she was going to be eighteen to express our relationship to the public. I understand that there will be consequences, and I will take them without a word. I know people would think wrong of it because of age, but once you've met the one person you were meant to be with, your soul mate, age doesn't matter. I will not apologize for it, though. Rose is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I will not apologize for it." I spoke, taking pride in our relationship.
"That was completely irresponsible, Guardian Belikov. Not to mention against the law. As for not apologizing, you better not, or so help me, Lord. Rose was happy with you. I thank you for making her happy. As for this conversation, it never happened. No one knows, and Lord Ivashkov was a little too drunk to speak correctly. Have I got this correct?" Alberta asked.
You could see the emotion she had in her eyes when she talked about Rose being happy, despite her Guardian mask. Adrian and I both nodded, and she turned on her heel and walked back into the service.
"Did that just…?" He asked.
"I'm not entirely sure myself, Lord Ivashkov." I answered.
We walked to the back doors of the service and just listened out in the hallway.
Eddie Castile started to walk up to the front when Alberta came running to my side. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Strigoi. Front gate, around 14. They have the two Guardians who were at their posts, and they have Rose." She breathed. I turned around to run outside, when she grabbed my arm.
"You're not going to do any help going out there by yourself. We'll get the others and have a plan. We are not going into this blindly and that is an order, Guardian Belikov." She said while calling the service to a halt.
"We are going to need everyone to stay here, and I need all Guardians to come with me." She spoke, full of authority.
The Guardians gathered together out in the hallway, trying to come up with a plan. We decided that 17 Guardians, including Alberta and myself, would be going to the gate to get the captured Guardians back, while the rest would stay with the Moroi and Damphirs in the cafeteria.
The plan for attack was simple. There would be five of us walking straight up to the gate, while the other twelve would split into two groups of six. The two groups, who split, would come go around both boarders of the gate. The five of us who would walk up to the gate would cause a distraction, and hopefully get the captives out safe.
Alberta led our group of five, with me beside her. Walking up to the gate, we saw the captives. My heart flew. Rose was right there with them, next to the blonde Strigoi, named Nathan. She had her hair tied up and she was dressed in sweats. Apparently ready for a fight. I gasped when I looked closer at Rose.
The skin that you could see was covered in bite marks and bruises. Her neck was so bad that I had to turn away, sickened.
Nathan pulled Rose in front of him and put his chin on her shoulder, and his arms hugging her waist. It infuriated me.
How dare he touch my Roza like that? Only I should be able to! I yelled in my head.
"Belikov, don't let this get to you. Look at her and the two other Guardians who are with them. They might be under compulsion. Keep your head, Rose needs you to stay focused." She whispered to me, never taking her eyes off of the Strigoi.
"Now, I want y'all to listen to me. I could've easily gotten one of the three Damphirs with us to break the wards, but I didn't. I wanted to play a game, and what better way than to do it with 17 Guardians? I would rather enjoy it if you would get the others before they make me angry." He said, eerily calm.
Alberta told them to move in, farther away from the gates, but still relatively close to the Strigoi.
Why we are just standing there, Nathan begins to kiss Rose's neck. She moans quite loudly, and tilts her head to the side as he bit down.
I almost snapped. I wanted to rip him to shreds for hurting her. I didn't, for I remembered what Alberta had told me.
He finished, and then looked up at us with blood lining his mouth. He tossed Rose aside, done with her at the moment, and spoke.
"You know…" He started as Alberta interrupted him.
"What do you want?" She hissed, getting in fighting position.
"Well since you so rudely interrupted me, I think it's time for our snack." He said as the Strigoi came at us through the gates.
We didn't check to see if the wards were still in place. First slip up, and hopefully not a fatal one. I thought meekly.
I charged Nathan, stake ready, and soon we were dancing a deadly dance. He kept teasing me, and I kept getting angrier and angrier.
He ran at me, going for my throat, as I slid to the ground and went under him. Before he could turn around, I twisted and kicked his knee, savoring the sound of his bones breaking. I jumped up and went to stake him, when I felt a terrible pain rake through back on my left shoulder to the bottom right of my back.
I turned, and started at what I saw. Rose, bloody stake in hand, was coming to try to stake me.
I glanced behind me to find that Alberta was fighting the now majorly wounded Nathan. I smiled and turned back to the approaching Rose. She lunged for me, a move I easily dodged due to her lack of blood and the increased endorphins in her system.
"Sorry, Roza. I have to do this." I said, while grabbing her hand with the stake, and hitting her across the head with my free arm. It wasn't hard enough to hurt her, just to knock her out. I hated myself for having to do it.
I turned around to see the fight still going strong. I jumped in, ready to help Alberta kill Nathan, when he turned and ran. The others didn't know what to do, so they kept fighting. They were taken down very easily.
I looked over at Rose, to make sure she was okay when I saw the most terrifying image. Rose was there with Nathan leaning over him.
"I think I'll go now, but I can assure you that I will be back." He said while standing up.
He turned and vanished before we could stop him. I immediately ran over to Rose to see if she was okay. I leant down and pulled her into a sitting position, and hugged the love of my life.
She's back! My Roza is back with me, and she is safe. Oh God, I've missed her so… My thoughts were interrupted as I felt pain shooting up my body. I pulled back, in shock.
"Oh Dimitri, we need to get you to the infirmary!" Alberta spoke as she saw the stake lodged in my back.
I looked at Rose and her eyes that were recently glazed over from compulsion, cleared. She must've realized what she had done as she started crying uncontrollably.
"Dimitri! I'm so sorry! I didn't know…" I smiled at her, trying to calm her down.
"It's fine Roza. I'm just so happy that you're back with me…" My words became slurred and my world became black as I saw, was my life staring at me in horror. The next thing I knew, the ground was rushing to meet me as I fell into my loves sweet sorrow.
Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it enough to review? Please? :D. Another thanks to Jesters for the poem! Thanks girl! Thanks for reading and don't worry, this is NOT even close to the end. I have some tricks up my sleve ;D. So review and tell me if you like it or not :D.
xoxo~RavenChenell