Author's note: I'm so sorry for the wait! I was out of town for a few days, but I'm back! Thanks for your reviews! Here is the next installment. There is quite the time jump. Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, the most brilliant woman in the world.
Warning: Nothing, except maybe language.
Word Count: 5,352
Mattias was pissed when he found out that my "pet" was gone. He send Hannah out to survey the area, and keep an eye open for any more Dhampir coming back for a surprise attack. This is probably the most Strigoi that I have ever seen him and if I ever joke about how I couldn't take a Strigoi like him seriously, I take it back, I would take that Mattias over this any day.
This Mattias is stomping from one side of the kitchen to the other, steam practically billowing from his ears as he flies from one end of the room to the other, too angry to be able to form words. His eyes are wide and wild, bloodshot. His jaw is working strenuously and occasionally, his mouth would open, snarl something I don't understand, and then snap closed again. He rakes his hand through his hair as all of us girls stare at him, waiting for him to get over his rage.
That's too much to hope for.
"Why?" Mattias snarls, flying toward me. He pins me to the chair by putting his hands on either side of me. His face gets uncomfortably close to mine. "Why would you be so stupid as to let him escape?"
I don't respond. Partly because I'm not sure how to respond to that and the other part is because I don't trust my voice to be convincing. I listen in silence, painfully aware of all the snide remarks sent my way as Mattias rattled through different places that they could stay. He then sent all of us away to get ready, that we would leave as soon as the sun went down. As I closed the door to my room, laying my back against the hard wood, I knew I couldn't go with. Would it have been smart to follow them to see where they would end up going? Yes. But I couldn't do it. Mattias is more concerned with getting out of there instead of killing me. That could change the moment we find shelter and I, for one, do not want to be there for it.
But I can't figure out how to get out of here without losing my head. Surely they'll know that I'm leaving when I run from the house screaming and not going in the same direction that they are. There is a chance I could separate from them while we are out, but there is the chance that I try and slip away only to get caught or am unable to find a safe time to get away before it's too late.
Think, Rose, think. There is a way out of here, I just need to find it.
A knock on the door makes me jump. I jump to my feet and turn, opening the door quickly, hoping and praying it's not Libby ready to take me to my doom. Because, while Mattias was momentarily sidetracked, Libby's eyes didn't leave me until I was out of the room and running to the safety of my room. Even now, though, I wouldn't be surprised if she had carved a hole in my way to glare at me through. But it wasn't Libby outside my door.
It was Gillian.
"Gillian, if you are here to tell me how stupid it was to lose my catch, don't. I don't have time for that," I growl.
The girl with the pixie cut stares at me blandly. "Trust me, Rose, your issues are the last on my list of really giving a fuck right now. Although, I will say, smooth move dumbass, if you were going to let him escape, at least make sure fucking Libby wasn't on duty!" Gillian rolls her eyes. I sputter, trying to find the words but nothing comes. Once again, Gillian surprises me. "But that's not why I'm here," Gillian continues.
I lean against the doorframe, trying to regain my composure. "Okay? So why are you here?"
"You're going to run away, right?" Gillian asks bluntly.
I bulk for a moment before reaching out and yanking her into my room, slamming the door shut behind me. I spin around to face her. "Are you some kind of mind reader?"
Gillian stares blankly. "No. I'm here because logically your next move would be to leave. They'll probably kill you once everything calms down." I shake my head. She must be able to read minds. "So, I have a proposition for you. I'll help you get out of here if you take something with you and protect it."
I'm suddenly weary. "And, why would you do that?"
Gillian purses her lips at me. "Well, Rose, since your oh so well planned out escape plan blew up in your face, I need to get my own catch out of here. There is no way I will be able to get him out myself. I don't have the methods, or the brains. So, I need you to do it and the chances you can get both of us is slim. Mattias won't let me take him with, I just know it. He'll expect me to kill him. I can't do that. So, you need to get him out."
"Why does he need to be gotten out at all?" I say, giving her a pointed stare. "Is he important to you?"
For a moment, I knew Gillian was going to lie to me. The way her face scrunched up, she opened her mouth, but then the lines in her face smoothed out and she looked defeated. Something happened. She must of convinced herself that lying to me wasn't going to get her what she wanted. "You could say that," she says evasively. I just stare back at her, waiting. Finally, she gives in. "Yes. He is. Now, will you get him out or not?"
"Before I commit to anything, who is it?"
Gillian moves passed me and opens the door. "This way," she murmurs, heading down the hall to her room. I follow her in and stop when I see the young Moroi man sitting on her bed staring outside. The bit of sunlight peaking through over his face. His already white-blond hair glowing even lighter in the light. He turns to look at us, not really seeing us before looking away, his head snaps back sharply, blinking between me and Gillian.
He's tense for a moment, eyes on me, before hesitantly lowering the thick curtain over the window, eliminating the only other light source other than the dim ceiling light. He takes his eyes off me for a moment to look at Gillian, before flickering back to me. His lips part and his hands raise, making rapid strange gestures.
"Is this the Strigoi you spoke of?" he asks, voice strange. It's thick and sounding from the back of his throat. I can barely understand him.
"Yes," Gillian says, walking over to him, her hands also moving. "This is Rose Hathaway. She was Guardian before all of this. She's Shadow-Kissed too."
"Wait, what?" I say. "Is he...? Is he deaf?"
Gillian looks over at me. "Yes."
"And what did you mean by 'too'?"
"I mean," Gillian says, hands moving as if automatic. "That you are not the only Shadow-Kissed Strigoi I've met."
My eyes flicker over to the male Moroi, him looking between the two of us. Gillian is facing away, toward me, so he's reading her hands, while he has plain view of my lips. I point to him. "And how do you know this guy?"
She shrugs a shoulder. It's the Moroi that answers, "She was dating my sister before all of this." He makes a gesture around us. My eyebrows shoot up.
"Oh," I say. The noise just escapes me without my consent. I pull all of my hair over one shoulder, just to do something to distract me for a minute. I'm not homophobic in the slightest, it just came out. I look back up at Gillian, attempting to salvage this conversation. "That's cool. So what do you mean by I'm not the first Shadow-Kissed Strigoi you've met?"
Gillian shakes her head. "Uh-huh." She smiles a little. "Don't worry about offending me."
"Sorry," I say. "Now, the Shadow-Kissed Strigoi?"
Gillian crosses her arms over her chest for a moment, before remembering that we aren't the only two in the room, like I did. She brings her hand back up to continue signing for the Moroi. "That doesn't matter right now, Rose. What matters is that you get him out of here."
"This probably should of been my first question; but who is he? I don't even know his name," I say, crossing my own arms.
"I'm Bentley Myers." His hands move really fast. I'm not sure why I keep staring at his hands, especially since I know that I can't read sign language. But his movements, while incomprehensible to me, is still slightly hypnotizing. His movements are elegant and smooth. It takes all of my will power to pull my eyes away from his hands to look at Gillian.
"How am I suppose to get both myself and him out of here without anyone knowing?" I ask. "What's the plan?"
Gillian turns to Bentley. "Alright, you tell her."
Bentley drops his hands, figuring he doesn't need to use them with me, considering that I have no idea what any of them mean. "I am a Spirit user." I open my mouth, a quirky remark about how Spirit users are literally crawling out of the woodwork but it doesn't seem important or witty enough for now. "I am able to create protective barriers with my Spirit."
I stare at him, wondering if I'm hearing him right. "Protective barriers? As in, you can't protect... people and things with some kind of Spirit barrier?"
Bentley nods. "I would be able to protect you from the sunlight."
I'm suddenly very weary. I shift all my weight to one hip. "I'm not so sure that I'm comfortable with this idea. Especially considering that one little mistake could end up turning me into a hot pocket. Scorching hot on the outside, trying in vein to protect my cold, lifeless soul on the inside." I shake my head. "It won't though. Because then it will seep right into my cold soul and burn it to a crisp."
Gillian rolls her eyes. "That's Rose for you. Now, trust me, he's good. He can do it."
I nod solemnly. "Okay, so, how about no."
"Rose, don't be such a baby," Gillian says.
I snort loudly, throwing a glare her way. "Rose Hathaway is anything but a baby!" I huff out. Gillian's eyes sparkle mischievously.
Gillian walks over and sits on the bed, her hands still moving as she talks, "Oh, by anything, do you mean, like... I don't know... a scaredy cat?" She raises her eyebrows high.
I almost hocked a loogie half way across the room with my loud scoff. "I am not a scaredy cat! If anything, I'm like... a rottweiler. A mean, vicious rottweiler that can kick your 110 pound ass." I narrow my eyes at her.
"My ass isn't that heavy," Gillian says simply. "Now, trust me. I believe in Bentley. He'll be able to get you out of here. I swear it." She holds her hand up in a very 'scouts honor' way.
"Says the girl who doesn't have to go out into daylight with only the power of Spirit to protect her," I say sourly. I look at Bentley feeling a little bad. "I'm sorry Bentley, it's not you, it's me. I'll die in the sunlight. I'm not so sure I'm willing to take that risk at this particular moment in time."
Bentley smiles faintly. "I understand, but it is the only thing I can think of."
"What if I die?" I ask, roughly stroking my hair over my shoulder. "This escape attempt is to get out of dying not change the amount of blood I have when I do!"
Gillian stares at me blankly. "Rose, it's this or nothing! I need you to get him out of here safely. If there was any other way to go about this that might have even the slightest chance of success, don't you think I would consider it?"
"I don't know," I snap, "Would you? And besides, this plan... I call it project Snow-balls-chance-in-hell. I am the snowball, not because I'm pasty white now but because my heart is surrounded by ice and there," I point toward the window. "Out there, I mean, is hell. Literal hell. I will burn up faster than a blink of eye. It'll be embarrassing."
"I can do it," Bentley says assuredly. "Trust me."
Gillian nods. "He can do it. Now go, grab what you need. Dress to cover as much skin as you can. It'll help Bentley out if he doesn't have to protect all of your body. So, yeah."
I nod, still a little worried. The thought of burning into a crisp in the sunlight isn't exactly fun. So, I slip out of Gillian's room, mind racing on how exactly I'm going to be getting out of this, but I can't think of anything. How do I know that I can trust this Moroi to be able to protect me, a Strigoi? It just makes no sense to me. He was weary before, but he seemed so relaxed with us. I mean I get that Gillian used to be his sister's girlfriend but that wouldn't make him relaxed in dealing with me. And what is this about another Shadow-Kissed turned Strigoi?
Something really fishy is going on here and I need to know what. But first, I have to get out of here and if Bentley and his Spirit shield are the only way... well, then I've lived a short but fulfilling life.
Mostly.
I slip on jeans, Lissa's boots, a red tank top with my black leather jacket and at the last minute, slip on a lame baseball cap and a black scarf I found in the hallway that probably belonged to one of the other girls. Hopefully they won't notice it's missing until long after I'm gone. Or never at all, preferably. Now with only my face, hands and a bit of my neck being the only pieces of flesh revealed, I think I covered a good portion of my body.
I pack a small backpack with my meager belongings. Another shirt and pants. Abe's phone. Hairbrush I bummed off one of the girls. Staring down at my half full backpack, I'm a little sad. A lot of my personal belongings were left at Gerard's house. I wonder if we would be able to make a pit-stop there as a resting place. I'm sure Gerard and the rest of them haven't returned so it should be as it was left. Hopefully. Unless that was the first place Abe went and in that case, damn it. I'll probably never get that stuff back.
Besides, something tells me that I have a greater chance of getting that stuff back from Abe. I bet anything, he went and got my stuff back for me. Damn! I run my hand through my hair, smoothing it down. I forgot to ask Gillian and Bentley where the hell I was suppose to be taking him. All I know is that I have to get him out. But to where am I taking him? Damn, it hasn't even been that long and already I'm slipping in my Guardian duties.
I reach up and touch the dopey smile on my lips. It's like I was drowning in the ocean and just suddenly thrown a life raft. And that life raft comes in the form of a deaf Moroi boy. I'm going to be protecting a Moroi again. Once the thought settles in, I shift easily into Guardian. I begin sifting through my meager belongings looking for something to use as a weapon.
A part of me wished I hadn't given Asland the only stake in the house, but then I remembered that I'm Strigoi and that's a really stupid thought. But even if I can't use a stake, I would feel better having one near. I would probably give it to Bentley. Now it's not super-duper strange for a Moroi to protect themselves when they have a perfectly good Guardian looking out for them. Thankfully, I am not a Guardian.
And just like that, my mood tanked.
Once everything is is in it's place, I sneak out of my room and down to the kitchen. The room is silent. Everyone is going around through their stuff, finding what to take and what to leave. I grab a dish towel that was probably left here by the previous owner before this house was turned into Strigoi home base. I head for the basement. I turn on the light at the top of the stairs, staring down into the darkness. I haven't been down there since I was turned. I have to know. I had my stake on me when I fought Mattias, what if I still had it when I was turned?
It's wishful thinking and an unbelievably long shot, but something I'm willing to check out. I go down nasty, rickety old stairs until I reach the bottom, open the door there and go into a very dark room. It's familiar, but strange from this point of view. This was the room I was held in before being turned. I wanted to think that I might have had my stake on me, somehow even though I know I didn't have it when Mattias knocked me out, and that when they checked me, they wouldn't have taken it off and thrown it into the nearest pothole into hell.
I walk around the small room. There are chains on the ceiling that are made to hold up prey. Or girls that Mattias deems is good enough to become one of his band of merry-women. There is a couple of candles around the room, which sickens me unsurprisingly, until my eyes land on a door directly behind me. It's not really a door. It's one of those miniature crawl spaces. Only about three feet tall and five or six feet deep. And it's filled with old things. Like clothes and jewelry and shoes. Probably from people who were killed before me.
A sudden thought occurs to me. I reach in and start pulling everything out. I chuck shoes and clothes behind me. Men. Women. None of it matter, until I get to the very end and find Guardian garbs. Libby is too smart a person to be dealing with Strigoi and not have a stake laying around the house. I bet anything, it's for the humans that Mattias keeps around. I bet Libby gives them all a little bit of training with the stake, how to maneuver and get away from it for when they turn. She's way to smart not to have people with some form of skill to be the outermost layer of protection for Mattias.
With the dish towel, I reach in and grab the stake, quickly wrapping it up and hiding it under my jacket. If my shirt rides up and the towel unravels a little, I'm going to get the burn of my life. I don't even consider trying to hide what I've done. I need to get out of here. I race up the door, only stopping the quietly shutting the door at the top of the stairs to at least try and not make it really obvious.
I head up to the top floor and knock lightly on Gillian's door. She answers with a curt, "Are you ready?"
I nod. "Let's go." In the time it takes for Bentley to make his way over to the door, I've ran back to my room and grabbed my own backpack and returned to get him. I don't give them a chance to really say goodbye. I drag him down the stairs by his wrist. He must be signing goodbye with the other but thankfully that takes up no time at all. We stop in front of the door and I stop to listen to the sounds of the house. I can hear people moving around but so far, no one has come running out, screaming about me trying to escape.
"How do you do this?" I say to him. "How are you going to protect me?"
Bentley doesn't respond. I turn around slowly to snarl at him but stop when I see his eyes on my lips. He's waiting for me to speak. He didn't hear my question. This is going to be harder than I thought.
After I repeat my question Bentley looks slightly pensive. He smiles sweetly. "You're going to have to trust me."
So when I let Asland go earlier, this was no how I imagined would be the seeing eye Strigoi for a Moroi who's eyes have rolled up into his head. Around us is a shimmering aura. We walk around in open daylight like it's nothing. I mean, other than 130 pound growth I have in my arms. I walk him down the street, keeping my eyes open for people passing by. There are a few people milling around outside but it's entering the early evening and people are now starting to return home from their jobs.
Bentley's eyes are wide open, but only the whites of his eyes show. It was like some kind of horror movie. As the world started to shimmer around us and he twitched a little bit until his eyes rolled up into his head. My stomach is usually lined with steel, but even I bulked a little at the sight and the small, humane part of me that exterminates the unnatural died a little inside.
I hold tightly to his arm and lead him down the street, not really sure where to go. I look over my shoulder to see the house that I've been hustling away from is slowly getting smaller. I turn down a street and keep going. As far as I know, no one knows I'm gone yet. I wonder if Gillian will be okay. They have no way of knowing that she was helping me, but they also know that out of everyone in the house, she is the one I'm closest with. I hope none of them think about the fact that she no longer has a "pet".
My eyes drag upward toward the sky and I'm amazed at being in the light as a Strigoi. It hasn't been so long since my last bout with sunlight, but here I am, walking around like it's nothing. But it's not nothing. This isn't a pleasure stroll.
I look over at Bentley, his face is stoic and calm but his hands are trembling and the sun is getting to him. We haven't even made it that far and he's already looking overwhelmed and tired. As bad as I feel pushing him so hard, I know for both our sakes I need to get him as far away from that house as possible. I didn't want to really think about the implications, but he came here with Abe. That means that one way or another, I was suppose to meet this boy. I bet, Abe's intention was to bring him here to save me.
And now here I am, saving his life. Score one for Rose and none for Abe.
As it draws closer to night time, I pull Bentley into a mom and pop shop and into the far back corner, far away from any windows. After we are both seated and Bentley is panting from exhaustion, I shake him until the shimmer leaves us and his dark brown eyes roll back into place. I shiver a little at the action before shaking it off. When the waitress comes by I order us both water.
She crinkles her mouth a little in annoyance until Bentley turns to her, still tired, and signs while speaking, "Thank you very much, Miss. I deeply appreciate it." That shut up her nasty look quick. She mumbled something and rushed off.
I wait until she's gone before turning back to Bentley. "Are you okay?"
He nods. "Just a little winded. I'll be fine. I just need a few minutes to relax and then I'll be fine."
I stare at his hands as he settles them down onto the table. "Why do you keep signing? I can't understand sign language."
He smiles faintly, exhaustion lines appearing on his young and youthful face. "I'm sorry about that. It's just something that happens. I'm so used to doing it, that it happens without me really thinking about it." His smile turns apologetic as he lowers his rapidly moving hands to the table in front of him.
The waitress gives us the water and we both sip in silence. After a few, long minutes, I finally ask him where he needs to be going.
"I don't know, just out of town. I know how to get back home just fine. I need protection for a few hours, then you are free to go, Rose. Thank you," he says. He runs his hand through his feathery white-blond hair. We kill almost forty-five minutes in silence, just looking around the room. I stare out the window, watching as the world out there slowly gets darker.
I finally stand when I think that the sun will be sufficiently hidden behind the buildings to be much of a worry, I finally lead us out of the shop, without having bought anything, much to the waitress's annoyance.
It's bearable enough that I can skirt around the light patches that trickle through the buildings until we get to a bus station. I turn to him very slowly. Bentley has been following me faithfully like a puppy since we left the shop. He's been following me through each detour I've taken. I've kept my eye on the area, wondering if Mattias and the others will just suddenly show up but, thankfully they've kept in doors until nightfall. Or they went the opposite way of us when they raced out of the house looking for us.
Either way, we are safe for now.
"Do you have money for a fare?" I ask.
Bentley nods. "I do. Thank you. Do you need some?" He makes for his pocket but I shake my head.
"Don't worry about it. Go, get your ticket. I'll look out for you until you get onto the bus. Then I'll head out. So, go on," I nod toward the station. Bentley hesitates, looking like he may just offer me money anyway but seemed to of thought better of it and makes his way into the station. I wait for him outside, like a good Guardian, and right before he leaves to get onto his bus -to where? I didn't ask- I inquire about what Gillian meant by another Shadow-Kissed Strigoi. Who was the other person like me?
Bentley stood there for a long moment as the few other people got onto the bus before him. He chewed on his lower lip before finally sighing and looking me in the eye. Unable to control himself, his hand comes up and he signs to me. "I'm not at liberty to say. All I can say is that you have to be careful. There is bigger players at work here and if they figure out that Mattias lost you, more will come looking. Protected behind seals and walls and an army of Guardians and Moroi, you are the only one who can get to Queen Vasilisa."
"What do you mean?" I snap, reaching out and grabbing his arm tightly. He flinches, I'm hurting him, but I can't stop. He's talking about someone hurting Lissa. I'm a Strigoi, I shouldn't care. But I do. And I'm pissed. "Who's going to hurt Lissa?"
Bentley shakes his head but makes no move to pull his arm from my grip. The bus driver calls for him to hurry. I let Bentley go and he steps up onto the first stair on the bus before looking back at me. "I don't know much, Rose, but what I do know is that you have an ally in Gillian. She's helping you because of who you remind her of. Queen Vasilisa needs you, Rose. You have to protect her. You're the only one who can." With that, Bentley signs the universal sign for farewell, a single, sad wave of the hand. The bus roars to life and leaves.
And I'm left there, alone.
In the warmth of the day, I swore to myself I wouldn't do again what I did my last day at Gerard's. I found my way out of town and headed east, toward Pennsylvania for days. On the road. Walking. I'm in Des Moines, Iowa, downtown when the sun comes up almost two weeks later. I hold up in this shady underground parking structure to hide from the sun. And there, I did the thing that I promised myself I wouldn't do.
I plugged in my phone to charge, after it being dead for practically the entire time I've had it, because I got it partially charged with no cord or anything, so I charmed a charger off of some guy from the phone store. I plugged it in for the first time and hid in a corner of the little building that has the elevator that leads up to all the floors and hide from the rising sun. I wrap my arms around my legs and close my eyes.
The images comes to me immediately. The thread that connects Lissa's brain to mine. We are closer now, not nearly as far away as before, but there is still a lot of miles that separate us. I follow the thread all the way to Lissa, connecting my mind to hers and stepping into it. I'm leaving my own body, floating across the distance, which seems so short now, and stepping into hers.
My heart rate climbs until it's pounding so loudly in my ears. Like a big drum thumping next to me in an erratic beat. Boom. Boom. Boom. I wonder for a moment if I should stop, pull back. But I don't I push forward because my heart isn't racing for the sake of racing. It's Lissa's heart that's racing. It's like a light tower pointed out at sea, silently beckoning wayward boats home. Lissa is my light tower.
I open my eyes and I am inside of Lissa's mind.
