Thank you for all the reviews I got! This next chapter takes place 2 days after chapter 6. I'm making up how they get the tattoos and the ceremony, so don't be mad if it's not perfect.
"Come on, Liss, we're going to be late!" I called out to my roommate as she finished up her make-up.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" She hollered back, appearing in front of me and starting towards the door.
"Let's go," I said, grabbing my purse and walking out our door.
"I heard they're making you and everyone else who fought the Strigoi go to therapy, is that true?" She asked, taking a few awkward steps to catch up to me.
I slowed down to match her pace, "Ugh, yes, I totally forgot about that. I have it today at four," I groaned.
"Is anyone else going to be there at the same time?" She asked, fixing her hair as we walked towards the end of the hall. This particular hallway was full of students all either going to watch the ceremony or be in it. We were going to be getting our molnija marks.
I remembered her question and turned my head to look at her, "I think they're making Christian, Mason, and me all go at the same time 'cause we're the only students who fought actual groups of Strigoi. They said we were gonna separate eventually, but for now they want us together," I shrugged as we stepped outside into the cold night air.
I shivered a little as my body adjusted to the change in temperature as we walked to the bus in silence. Kirova decided that it would be best to put us in groups and shove us all on busses.
"Hey Lissa," Christian greeted her as he gave her a swift kiss before taking her hand and climbing the steps of the bus. "Rose," he nodded to me over his shoulder as I found Mason sitting in a seat alone.
"Hey," I murmured back to him, stepping onto the bus behind them.
I left Christian and Lissa alone and walked to the back of the bus. When I reached Mason, he was turned around talking to one of the other novices. I grinned and kissed his cheek, then sat down next to him.
He turned around immediately, a curious look on his face, which left when he saw me.
"Hey Rose!" Mason grinned, pressing his warm lips to my cheek. He turned around so his back was on the seat and threw his arm casually over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.
He looked me up and down and grinned again, "You look beautiful," he whispered, his lips brushing my ear.
I blushed and took him in for the first time. He was wearing a black suit with a dark green tie, that seemed to bring out his eyes, and his red hair was all over the place.
"You don't look too bad yourself," I grinned seductively at him, which made his smile only widen.
"Well thanks," he whispered, turning my head towards him to kiss me. I heard a throat clear from behind us and looked up to see the novice Mason was talking to laughing.
I pulled back after a moment, not wanting to get too far, "So how long is this bus ride supposed to be?"
He thought for a second as the bus started moving, "They said like two hours, but you never know," he shrugged, kissing my forehead sweetly.
"You excited?" I murmured, snuggling into his chest and relaxing.
"Yeah," he breathed, intoxicating me in his minty breath.
I smiled, content with my life for once, "Me too."
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We arrived three hours later at the Morsani Grand Hall. The Guardians surrounded us and kept us enclosed in a circle.
I looked up at where the ceremony was taking place and my eyes widened in awe. It was gorgeous. All the walls were painted an elegant crème color. The ceilings were about 300 feet in the air, with a large chandelier dangling in the middle. All up the walls there were little designs of pictures of dhampirs fighting Strigoi, while their Moroi stood behind them and watched.
In front of us was hundreds and hundreds of seats in a circle, surrounding a small area in the middle that had a special chair and a table with a bunch of foreign tools on it. It appeared to be where each dhampir involved in the battle would be receiving their battle mark.
I couldn't help but rub my fingers along the smooth skin of my neck, knowing that I would have a tattoo etched into it soon.
I could sense Mason nervously looking around, his eyes resting on the needles on the table in the middle of the room.
"You okay?" I whispered softly, studying his expression.
He nodded briefly, "I'm fine," he put up a fake grin and squeezed my hand reassuringly.
"It's okay to be nervous, you know," I pointed out, making sure that nobody else heard us.
He dropped his smile, "I admit it, I am a little nervous. I just don't like needles," he muttered quietly.
I gave him a sad smile, "That's perfectly fine. You don't have to," I grinned and pecked his cheek.
He beamed, looking relieved that I didn't expect him to always be fearless.
"Rose isn't this place amazing?" Lissa squealed, squeezing my arm as she grinned at me.
I tore away from Mason's gaze and turned to face her. I grinned back, "Yes! I can't believe we get to actually get our tattoos here!" I giggled, excited for what was going to come.
Christian rolled his eyes, "Girls," he shook his head at us.
Mason nodded in agreement, "Always giggling."
We were all shushed and Mason and I were pulled into the seats in the front next to the guardians. I hesitantly sat down, suddenly nervous for the ceremony.
Mason slipped his hand into mine. I looked up at him and saw the cold determination shining in his emerald-colored eyes.
I leaned over to my other side, where Guardian Stan Alto was sitting and asked, "Who's that?" pointing towards the man dressed in all white in the middle of the room.
He leaned to me and replied, "That's the priest, he's going to be delivering the ceremony and etching the tattoos onto our necks."
I glanced over at Stan's neck and saw that he had about seven or eight molnija marks. His hair was cut off his neck so his marks were on full display.
I nodded at him, saying that I understood and turned to face the man in front of us.
"Welcome everyone!" The priest shouted into the microphone. The whole room fell silent as soon as he said the first word.
"I'm very pleased to be here leading this ceremony. For those of you who don't know me, I'll explain a little about myself. I have been tattooing guardian's necks for over thirty years. I've even done a few of the guardians here," he paused, letting the words sink in as I thought back to Stan's tattooed neck.
"This is a very special occasion," he continued. "We were cursed with hundreds of evil Strigoi. Luckily, some extremeley brave guardians helped wipe out the wave of the undead. We even had a few novices helping out," he smiled, his eyes crinkling, as he looked at Mason and me.
He continued on, talking about how blessed we were to have so many strong men and women protecting all of us from the evils of the world.
My mind flitted back to Christian, wondering if he was going to be getting the battle mark too. I had never seen a Moroi with any molnija marks. But then again, before Christian and his aunt, no Moroi had even tried using offensive magic.
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"Rosemarie Hathaway," the priest said softly, taking his spot behind the chair as he waited for me to sit down.
I glanced at Mason for a second, and he smiled warmly at me, pointing to his neck to show me the bandage covering his tattoo.
I stood up and walked to the chair. The mere five steps it took from my seat to the tattoo chair seemed endless. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes on the chair, but I could feel everyone's eyes boring holes into me.
I sat down, aware that a needle was about to be pressed into my neck. The priest pulled my hair up onto my head and held it there with a shower cap. I tried to relax, taking deep breaths to try and calm down my racing heart.
I winced when I felt the first touch of a needle on my neck. I clenched my teeth and concentrated on Mason's smiling face and tried to forget the stinging pain on the back of my neck.
"All done," the priest smiled at me, showing me what my tattoo looked like before bandaging it. I grinned, glad that it was over and examined the star etched onto my skin.
"Thank you," I nodded to him, stood up from the chair and sat back down next to Mason, feeling him squeeze my hand.
"You did great," he breathed, his lips brushing my ear, sending a warm shiver down my spine.
I beamed at him, feeling proud of myself, "Thanks."
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"Christian Ozera," the priest called, looking out into the audience to spot Christian.
I looked back and saw Christian hesitantly standing up, a confused look on his face. He pushed through all the people and made it to the front, walking directly to the priest.
He whispered something to the priest, and the priest responded. It was too quiet for me to hear anything but I assumed Christian was asking why he was called up, because Moroi didn't receive molnija marks.
Christian sat down in the chair and the priest did the same exact thing he did for every dhampir in the chair. He took out his needle and went to work.
I looked around at the large audience and gauged their reactions. Some of the people in the crowd looked angry, while others just looked extremely surprised.
I myself was very surprised, as I didn't think Christian would be receiving a mark.
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We finally finished the ceremony, and we were allowed to get back on the bus to return to the lodge.
"I can't believe they gave me a mark," Christian muttered, still not able to get over it.
"Well you deserve it. You killed Strigoi just like all those dhampirs," Lissa pointed out, reaching out to him to hold his hand.
He snatched her hand and continued to walk with us, "I guess so. But they never give marks to Moroi. It's just not something they do," he shrugged.
"That's because no Moroi has ever killed any Strigoi before," I said, walking next to Lissa.
"That's true," Christian murmured, reaching back to itch his neck.
I stepped onto the first steep step to get onto the bus. I slipped and fell onto Jesse Zeklos. He caught me smoothly and grinned flirtatiously at me.
"Ugh," I muttered, disgusted. I tried to push him away, but he just tightened his grip on me.
"Where do you think you're going, Rose?" Jesse muttered, pulling me away from the bus and yanking my head to his for a kiss.
"Get off me you creep!" I yelled, kicking him hard in the stomach and punching his head.
"Ow!" Jesse groaned, as I ran away from him and onto the bus.
I sat down next to Mason, panting loudly and loooking out the window at Jesse stumbling away, holding his bloody nose.
"What happened to you? One minute you were behind me and the next minute you were gone," Mason asked, furrowing his brow as he looked me up and down.
"I slipped on the stairs and Jesse caught me. He pulled me away and tried to kiss me," I breathed, grossed out again.
Mason's face turned as hard as stone, "Excuse me," he muttered through clenched teeth. He stood up and walked past me, his face turning red with anger.
I watched Mason as he made his way to where Jesse sat alone, still moaning over his nose. I felt some sort of sick pleasure at that sight.
Mason sat down next to Jesse, and looked as though he was talking to him. After a few minutes of Mason talking and Jesse arguing back, Mason stood up, came back over to me, and sat down.
I looked at him questioningly. After a few seconds I asked, "Well?"
He finally looked at me, a fake smile on his face, "I talked to him. And I said we would finish talking when we got back to the lodge," the smile had disappeared from his face and was replaced by a menacing scowl, his lip quivering slightly as he didn't look at me.
I sighed and reached out to him. I stroked his arm softly, waiting until he met my gaze. When he finally did, I murmured, "You don't have to beat him up, I already did."
He forced a small smile, but shook his head, "No, I need to show him that he can't touch you whenever he feels like it."
I sighed again, "If you really need to. But I would much rather you just stay with me," I murmured, sitting up straight to kiss him softly on the cheek.
"I do really need to," he said weakly, turning his body to face me. He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, protecting me from everyone else.
Screeeeeeeeech! The bus halted to a stop when it smashed into the car in front of us.
The bus erupted in screams and chaos. I stood up immediately and scanned the bus for Lissa, not wanting to see her hurt.
"Oh no!"
Sorry for this crappy ending, I just really needed to finish it. I'm so so so so so so so soooooo sorry that it took me this long to write this! I was almost done, but then I couldn't put it up 'cause I was going to Washington DC and I didn't have access to decent Internet. I understand if you don't want to read it, but let me know what you think of it if you do actually read it. My next chapter won't take this long, I promise!
