Vampire Academy

Chapter four

Rose's POV

That was weird. I mean, everything that's happened has been weird, but that was really weird. Lissa had perfect memory. She could even remember her first birthday. I decided to take a closer look into what she was doing and picked the picture back up. I frowned at Tasha because her hand lay softly on Dimitr's, but his arm was around me and mine was around Lissa's waist. Maybe that had been what she was looking at, my arms on her and Dimitri's arms on me. I must have broken her heart pretty badly.

But how did she get into my room? The door, of course was still locked when I got back, but the window was locked as well. Maybe she really is a lock pick. Either way, she must be lonely now that she broke up with Christian and I didn't return her feelings. Maybe she needed someone else to love her. I sighed, knowing this would be hard.

The next day, Christian, Lissa (I only called her Vasilisa to her face), Dimitri and I were sitting in one of the lounges when there was the sound of someone talking. We all looked up and I ground my teeth at seeing Tasha Ozera strolling toward us.

"Hey guys," she said casually as she sat down next to her nephew.

"Hey Aunt Tasha, what, uh, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I got a call from an old friend yesterday telling me that I should come up because he had something to tell me." She glanced over at Dimitri with a flutter of her eyelashes and I glanced up at Dimitri to see him smiling back.

"Hey Tasha, I need to tell you in private."

She nodded and walked passed me, swaying her hips as she followed my secret lover. I growled low in my throat as I watched them go. Lissa took up Dimitri's seat as they left and leaned her head on my shoulder. I felt a small bit of warmth come through the bond, but it was really faint and I looked at my best friend. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be breathing deeply; I assumed she was asleep until her hand tightened on mine and I watched her gaze flit to the two adults. I followed her gaze to see Dimitri kissing Tasha softly. She grinned at him and I felt my heart sink.

Was he serious?

As I felt my heart break, I slowly stood and walked as fast as I could back to my dorm room.

Vasilisa's POV

I watched Rosemarie run out of the room and nodded in grim satisfaction. The first phase was complete. I felt her betrayal come through the bond and assumed that she and Lissa never realized that the bond was actually two-sided. I would tell them when this was over. For now, I will sit back and watch as my plan slowly moves into action. Thankfully, a little known fact about the Dragomir family is that we are the strongest compulsion experts in the Moroii world.

As I watched Dimitri and Natasha talk some more, I compelled him to kiss her again. He did so and I smiled, my plan can't fail as long as Dimitri was within the vicinity of my wavelengths. I didn't have to use my eyes to compel someone to do what I wanted. I guess it was another bonus of being a spirit elemental. As Christian and I continued to watch the movie, I looked through Rosemarie's eyes and found her crying silently in her dormitory room. I slowly stood and pecked Prince Ozera on the cheek before gliding out of the room, something both my alterego and I did very well.

I slowly knocked on Rosemarie's door and heard a small "yes?"

"Rosemarie?" I called softly. "Are you alright?"

"Go away." It was a growl and I felt the wave of distrust come off her. "You're not my best friend; you're just some weird substitute. I don't want to speak with anyone right now."

I slowly reached down to the knob and used my nail to pick it. Opening the door, I slowly crept inside and sat next to Rosemarie's crying form. "Rosemarie, please, tell me what has you so upset."

Rosemarie slowly sat up and sniffed. "He kissed Tasha, right in front of me. Does that make me worthless in his eyes? Am I just a toy to be played with to him? Liss, I love him and he obviously lied to me about being loved."

Just then, I felt Dimitri and Natasha enter the wavelength boundary and began compelling Dimitri once more. I heard him tell Natasha to wait outside and knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" Rosemarie called, her head now on my shoulder as she wiped her tears.

Dimitri strode in and stood before Rosemarie and me. I made him fidget slightly before sighing. "Rose, I made a bad decision when I had sex with you. I shouldn't have done that, knowing my heart was somewhere else. I only ask that you forgive me for using you like that and I'm truly sorry."

As he and Natasha left, I heard Rosemarie break down in sobs, making me smile at the hurt she felt. It serves her right for doing what she did to Lissa. After several moments of crying, Rosemarie finally pulled away and looked up at me.

"Liss, what do I do?" I shrugged putting on an air of indifference, knowing that if I were to comfort her, then my plan would fail.

"Please, Liss, I really need your help with this. Please, help me." I stared at her nonchalantly and she grabbed my shoulders.

"Say something!" she yelled, shaking me slightly. I winced, conveying that she'd caused me pain even though she hadn't and she quickly let go.

"Liss, please." Rosemarie's tears were coming back, but I merely stared at her. "You know what, fine! Get out!."

I stood and left the room, a small smile gracing my lips as I headed to my own dormitory room. Perfect.