Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. All characters in the original stories belong to Richelle Mead. This disclaimer covers all chapters. Any songs used in this story belong to their respective writers and performers.
Chapter 7
Richard POV
I really can't see how she got away from me again. That bitch has caused me too many problems over the years. I resorted to working with these damn vampires to get rid of her and even they can't do the job! The Strigoi attacked that school that she was at and failed to bring her to me. I made a deal with them and they agreed to get her for me for my price. One of them will come out of the wards eventually and I will have her, even if I have to go through her friends. I will have my way with her again and I will give her to the Strigoi. They are going back to court soon so the window of success is slim.
Mel POV
I breathed in Adrian's scent as I opened my eyes. He was still wrapped around me sleeping soundly. I carefully moved out of his arms and sat up on the edge of the bed. I stretched and went to shower. Shortly after I entered the shower two strong arms wrapped around me and I melted into his embrace.
"I really didn't like waking up to an empty bed after last nights' extracurricular activities." Adrian said kissing my neck and rubbing my shoulders.
"I'm sorry babe. I just wanted to get the day started and you were sleeping so peacefully I couldn't bear to wake you." I said turning around in his arms to kiss his lips. "We have a Molnija ceremony to attend today as well and I think that Lissa and Mia want to go shopping, although I'm not really excited about that part." I laughed at the prospect of being dragged into shopping. Adrian groaned at shopping too.
"Okay baby, when we get showered and dressed we will go to breakfast and meet the others." He said. I nodded.
I finished my shower which was hard to do with your sexy boyfriend's hands all over you. I got out of the shower and dressed tying my long hair up in a bun showing my promise mark and five marks for my previous kills. When we were both ready, we went to the dining hall for breakfast. At breakfast there were a lot of whispers from the students but because I missed dinner last night, I didn't care. About an hour later we were filing into the room for the ceremony. The tattoo artists' name was Lionel and Rose said that he was really good. I wasn't sure if they were giving me individual marks or a Zveda. As the room began to fill up Alberta stepped up to the podium and started the ceremony as soon as everyone found their seats.
"I would like to welcome everyone to this Molnija ceremony. Due to the attack last night, those that fought in the attack will be awarded the Zveda. Over fifty Strigoi were killed during the attack without a single death on our side." The crowd gasped at this information. "That being said, the majority of the kills were conducted by a single guardian that had she not warned us as soon as the wards were broken, would have resulted in the loss of many lives." One guardian stood and began to question motive.
"Guardian Petrov, this guardian might be in league with the Strigoi. Although unlikely it has been known to happen." I stood up to voice my thoughts.
"Guardian …" I drew out asking for his name.
"Guardian James Tremmel. Who are you?"
"Guardian Tremmel I assure you that the person who raised the alarm was not in league with the Strigoi. It is stupid and unprofessional of you to openly accuse another guardian of such things without any proof or knowledge of said guardian's identity. I ask that In the future, you use your head for something besides a hat rack." I smirked while the whole room snickered at this idiot. "As for the question of who I am, I am Guardian Melissa Mazur. I am a close friend and cousin to Guardian Hathaway. Furthermore, I was the one that raised the alarm last night." His eyes widened. "Guardian Tremmel, how many marks do you have out of curiosity?"
"Three plus what I would receive today." I smiled. Oh this idiot was in for it.
"Guardian Tremmel, I'll have you know that I killed over twenty last night on my own and another five are accounted for in the marks on my neck. Those five were before I received my promise mark nearly a month ago." I said. "So if you are through showing your ignorance can we please get on with this ceremony?" I raised my eyebrow at him. The whole room was trying to hold back laughter. He sat down and I turned to Guardian Petrov. "I'm sorry for the disruption Guardian Petrov, please continue with the ceremony." I sat down and she continued. I noticed that the guardian I humiliated had a strange expression on his face. I will have to watch for him.
We received our marks and once they were bandaged we went to the reception hall where they had refreshments available. Adrian wrapped me up in a hug and kissed my forehead while the others in our group entered the room and came towards us.
"Mel you were absolutely brilliant. It took all I had not to fall out in the floor laughing at him. Everyone else was waiting for you to jump him and beat the shit out of him." He said grinning. I smiled and by now the others were waiting around me.
"I wanted to, especially when he suggested being in league with the Strigoi."
"Well you did great. You handled yourself like a true professional." Guardian Petrov said coming into the room. "I was a little afraid of what you would do, but you proved him foolish in front of his peers so that is a lesson that he won't easily forget." She smiled.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Adrian and I stayed close to each other and I got some rest so that I could be dragged into that stupid shopping trip. Adrian gave me his credit card so that I could get anything that I needed. He hinted that I needed to buy a dress. We were gathering by the van at about three in the afternoon human time. This gave us two hours of driving time and three hours of good shopping before dark.
In the van there was Rose, Lissa, Mia, Jill, and myself plus Alberta and three other guardians. One unfortunately was Guardian Tremmel and I had a really bad feeling about this outing. The boys were staying at the academy to do their own thing. Rose and I sat at the rear of the van with the Moroi in the middle and the other four guardians up front. I shared my thoughts with Rose.
"Rose?" I asked.
"Yeah Mel?" She looked over at me concerned.
"Do you know anything about that guardian that I humiliated during the ceremony? I keep getting some bad vibes from him. I don't trust him. I trust my instincts and they have never let me down so far." I whispered.
"I don't know him and I agree with you. Something about him is off." When she said that, I tried to look at his aura. I saw deception, jealousy, and fear.
"Rose ask Lissa to look at his aura but tell her to keep quiet, we don't want to alert him." She nodded and whispered in Lissa's ear. I touched Lissa's shoulder and asked her in her mind what she saw. She was startled at first that I was talking to her in her mind but told me what she saw. "I saw the same thing. We need to stay even more alert tonight." We agreed not to say anything to the others and carried on as if nothing happened.
When we arrived at the mall I told Rose to stay with Lissa and Jill no matter what happens. She didn't like it but nodded. The shopping trip was over before we knew it and we walked back to the van. That feeling of mine was getting stronger and stronger. We were almost at the van when we were suddenly surrounded by Strigoi. The guardians tensed and I looked over at Rose and spoke to her in her head. There are at least a dozen Strigoi here.
(Remember what I said Rose. Make sure that Tremmel stays away from Lissa, Mia and Jill. If you get the chance get them outta here with Alberta.)
Rose nods but clearly doesn't like the situation. The Strigoi lunge forward, clearly avoiding Tremmel, and set their sights on me. I fight hard killing three of them within minutes. I take a hard hit to the head from my fourth apponent. Stars dance in my vision. Alberta has managed to get the girls in the van with the other two guardians. When Guardian Tremmel sees that the van has left he stops fighting the Strigoi and turns on me. The last thing I see before darkness takes me is red eyes and fangs of the remaining two Strigoi and Tremmel's wicked sneer.
Rose POV
I absolutely hated to leave Mel there with Tremmel. I knew that something like this would happen as soon as Mel asked me about him.
"Rose we have to go back and get Mel!" Lissa cried huddled up with Mia and Jill
"Liss you know I can't do that right now." I said but I really wanted to know if she was alright. Alberta was driving and the other guardians were on phones calling the council and the alchemists. I called Dimitri.
"Hello?"
"Comrade, Are the boys with you?" I asked.
"Yes Roza, What's happening?" I heard a door shut on his end of the phone so I decided that I would tell him to see if Adrian could dream walk her.
"There was an attack outside the mall. Guardian Tremmel was one of the academy guardians that came with us. Mel thought that there was something off about him. She told me to leave with Liss, Mia and Jill if we got the chance to make it to the van." I began to cry. "We left Mel and Trammel there and we are heading back to the academy now."
"I'm sorry Roza. We will get her back here soon. I need to go talk to the guys. I'll see you soon Roza." Dimitri said.
"See you soon Comrade." I hung up with tears in my eyes. I called the only other person I could think of to help.
"Hello Kiz!"
"Baba, we need you again. Are you still at the academy with mom?" I asked.
"Yes Kiz. What's wrong? It sounds like you have been crying."
"I have Baba. I need you to find Richard again. Mel has been taken by Strigoi again and I'm pretty sure that he has something to do with it." I heard him mutter something in Turkish and bark orders at Pavel and Sergei.
"We will get her back Rose."
"Thanks Baba. We'll be back at the academy soon." We said our goodbyes and I hung up. When we got to the academy the place was in an uproar. This was going to be a long night.
Dimitri POV
Roza's voice broke my heart when she told me that Mel had been taken yet again. I am sure that Richard had something to do with it. The guardian that accused Mel of working with the Strigoi during the attack was also in on it. Now I had to tell the guys what's going on before they find out from others. I called my family to meet us in the room and I walked out to the lounge area. The boys knew that something was up but they didn't say anything. Once we were all gathered in the room I began to speak.
"There is no easy way to say this. Alberta and three other guardians went with the girls on their shopping trip. Guardian Trammel was one of them, the same guardian that called out Mel at the ceremony. The girls were attacked leaving the mall by Strigoi. Guardian Trammel and Mel didn't get to the van before they had to leave. Mel made them promise that if they could get the Moroi out that they were to go." Adrian's face showed sorrow and pain, more so than the rest. "Mel has been taken and we assume that it is Richard again working for the Strigoi." Adrian stood without a word and went to leave the room. Yeva grabbed his shoulder gently. "Melissa will come back to us. Be strong for she will need you now more than ever." Adrian nodded and left the room. I could only hope that Mel would not have to go through what she had before. She is so strong but everyone has a breaking point. We sat there waiting for the girls to arrive and hoped that Mel would be home with us soon.
Mel POV
I woke up chained to a damned bed again. Shit! Do they ever give up. I'm so tired of being fucking kidnapped! I was brought out of my internal rant minutes later when the door opened. The bastard Richard walked in with Trammel and I saw red.
"You bastards let me go! Trammel you piece of shit, accuse me of working with fucking Strigoi and here you are working for the biggest asshole known to man and the Strigoi." I wanted to continue my rant but Richard backhanded me across the face. I spit at both of them.
"Now Melissa, that is no way to treat the person who was your father."
"You are no fucking father of mine. Go to hell!" I spat.
"Suit yourself my dear." He said and came over to the bed. He crawled on top of me and ripped my clothing off. You need to learn some manners girl. Women are supposed to be submissive. You are going to give me permission to do whatever I want when I'm through with you." He reached up to where my wrist was chained and slowly twisted. I screamed as cracks and pops came from my mangled right wrist. "Yes that's it scream. Now you know what I want so what is your answer?"
"Go to hell!" He shook his head and looked back to Trammel with a nod. Trammel stepped forward and punched me in the face. He grabbed my right leg. Doing just as Richard did, breaking my leg. I screamed in pain as Richard asked his question again. I replied in kind. I really wanted this pain to stop, but I was not giving myself to him willingly. Richard called in the Strigoi that was present during my last abduction.
"Ah, so good of you to join us again Melissa. I must say that I missed your blood." He reached down and pulled my head forcefully to the side and sank his fangs into my neck. As the endorphins increased I heard them talking.
"Richard why don't you just kill her already? Take what you want, let me have a little and kill her." Trammel said. That is all I heard before darkness took me. The darkness changed into a variety of color and I was in the garden with Adrian. He rushed to me being careful of my wounds.
"Adrian!" I cried as I hugged him.
"Shh Mel, I'm here baby. Do you know where you are?" Shit I remembered something.
"Adrian." I screamed in excitement. "My necklace that you bought me after the last time I was taken, I put a tracker in it after everything that happened. The information is in my bag in the room. Get the paperwork and have Abe track it. I know I still had it on when I was bitten just now." His eyes lit up at the idea of tracking me using the necklace. The dream began to fade quickly. "I love you Adrian. Find me please."
"I will baby. Hang in there I promise we will find you." He said and the dream faded. Again I woke up to a pair of red eyes but there were two more pair in the room Richards and Trammels.
"Well Melissa it seems that you will enjoy the company of these two for a short time and then I will come back to see that you share the information that I desire on the Queen." He turned to Richard and Trammel. "Boys, do try not to break anymore bones. I have to have some leverage to get my answers you know." They nodded and the Strigoi left the room. Richard approached me again.
"Melissa, Trammel here wants to get better aquainted with you. I think I'll leave you two kids to play for a while." He laughs and exits the room. I look up to see Trammel come over with a sadistic smile. Two hours of pain and blood. Trammel basically beat the shit out of me. After he was done with the beating he began to touch me sexually. I screamed inside my head at Adrian (Adrian where are you. I need you now). Trammel began to pull down his pants and hovered over me. Hell was about to begin all over again.
Adrian POV
I immediately went to my room so I could locate Mel in a dream. As soon as she was asleep (more likely passed out from being bitten) I found her. Her right wrist and right leg were broken and her face was bruised. Her lip was busted and beginning to swell. When she told me of the tracker she had put in her necklace the dream began to fade. I got the required papers and ran to Abe's room. Not bothering to knock I stormed in and handed him the papers. He gave me a questioning look.
"Mel had a tracker put in her necklace. All the information needed to track her is in these papers." His eyes widened and began barking orders to his guardians.
"Mel is more clever than I thought. Gather the others and by the time you get them together I'll have a location." I nodded and ran to get the others. I ran into the dining hall where the others would be for dinner. By the time I got there I was panting from exertion.
"Adrian what's wrong?" Rose asked now on full alert.
"Nope." I smiled. "Get everyone together in my room as quickly as you can. Guardian Petrov and any other guardians you can gather to get Mel back. Abe will come up to tell us where she is."
"How?" She asked dumbfounded.
"I'll explain everything in my room, just get everyone there as soon as you can." I said. "Eddie, come with me and we will get Guardian Petrov." He nodded and followed me out of the dining hall. After locating Guardian Petrov, she gathered a few guardians and we all went to my room. Within minutes we had a location and we were on our way to a small warehouse where the signal was located. The guardians got into position and Rose was right beside me waiting for our signal. Moments later I heard Mel's voice in my head, saying (Adrian where are you. I need you now). I looked over to Rose.
"Mel is in trouble in there we need to go now." We made our way into the building and headed downstairs. We encountered a few Strigoi and found Richard sitting outside a metal door. I heard a scream from inside and a gunshot. I hope to god that Mel is okay.
Mel POV
Trammel was about to push his way in when a commotion upstairs distracted him. I dissolved the chains as I did before and pushed him off of me. The commotion continued upstairs and Trammel and I were engaged in a rather unfair fight. I was doing anything I could to stay alive. Trammel pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I was already in motion as Trammel fired a shot hitting me in the chest. I hit the floor as soon as the door burst open and guardians filled the room, tackling Trammel and cuffed him. Adrian was hovering over me with Rose. Rose was trying to put pressure on the wound trying to stop the bleeding. I was weak and my eyes closed without my consent. I heard Adrian's pained cry as darkness took me.
Adrian POV
We stormed into the room and what I saw broke my heart. Mel was crumpled in the floor, naked and had blood pouring out of a hole in her chest. While the others secured the room and arrested Trammel, Rose and I ran over to Mel and tried to stop the bleeding. Her aura was fading so fast. She was too weak to heal herself and slipped into unconsciousness. I placed my hands over the wound and sent spirit to her along with all the love that I felt for her. Her aura was gone for a minute and I thought that I had failed. I cradled her broken body and tried again giving it everything I had. I heard Mel gasp for air as I fell into darkness from exhaustion.
Rose POV
We entered the room and Mel was crumpled in the floor and had a gunshot wound and broken wrist and a broken leg. Adrian and I reached her at the same time and I tried to stop the bleeding. Adrian tried to heal her but it didn't work at first. He cradled her body and tried again to heal her. Adrian and I are both in tears and Dimitri enters the room wrapping his arms around me. After a few moments I hear a gasp of breath and Adrian slumps over to the side still holding onto Mel. I find something to wrap Mel's naked body with before everyone else comes in. Eddie enters the room and carries Mel while Dimitri carries Adrian to the vehicles. I know that they are bonded now. I get in the SUV and Eddie lays Mel down with her head cradled in my lap. I looked up tp Eddie and Dimitri as they lay Adrian in the seat behind me.
"Did we get Richard?" I asked.
"Yeah I think Abe is taking care of him. Trammel will be transported to court but we will have to talk to Mel before we know what to charge him with." Dimitri stated sadly.
We arrived at the academy and went straight to the clinic with Adrian and Mel. Everyone gathered in the waiting room. Liss was the first to ask what everyone was afraid to ask.
"How are they Rose?"
"Adrian passed out from healing Mel. She was shot and I think that they will be bonded." I said sadly. Her eyes widened. "Mel will probably wake up first but we will just have to wait and see."
We all sat in the waiting area and prayed that they would both be okay. I was really worried about Mel since she had been through so much. If they are in fact bonded then the bond will probably be stronger than mine and Liss's was. I miss our bond sometimes but I definently do not miss the darkness that plagued us both.
