SUMMER IS HERE! SCHOOL IS OUT!
Got an internship to do, and then maybe learn to play guitar, get a tan, dance, write, send out query letters, get rejected, and maybe go to a birthday party? Oh well! This is going to be fun.
As you can see, I've got a few things to do this summer, but it won't at all affect my writing, unless an agent accepts my query. Then things might start getting a little shaky. But let's not hold our breath on that one just yet, darlings.
ShoutOuts ~
BookNinja15: Thanks, as always. And Adrian is a beast. He was the only one I could stand in the books, so thereforth he and Madi are going to hang.
Klaus-is-Epic: Ian Somehalder has weird eyes. That is all I will ever say upon the subject. And, the mystery of the Fae-Bag is…
Crazy4MadHatter: Thanks a lot! Yeah, Madi enjoys being a badass, though I'm trying to tone that down. Unfortunately, Madi is a narcissistic type, and it does become somewhat impossible.
Nyx's Pinky Girl: I like your name. Pretty unique. Wow, thank you. It really means a lot that someone just happened to find my stuff. And, yes, Madi is helping me grow an ego of my own, but it is still really nice to hear. I'm glad that so many people find her to be a somewhat endearing character… when she can attempt it.
~ THEMESONGS ~
The Breaks ~ The Black Keys
The Difference Between Us ~ The Dead Weather
.M.I.W.
7. Fight or Flight
I slowly sized up the mini jet that was in front of us, shrugging my rucksack further on my shoulder. It was indeed mini, fitting its name to a 'T', but it was also probably light and super-duper fast!
Yes… That last sentence was supposed to sound like a giggly teenage school girl. Come on, it's me here, I don't sound like that on a daily basis unless I'm talking about –
"I still don't know your name, Mystery Girl." A smooth, low voice informed me. Warm breath washed over the back of my neck that was bare, since I'd put my hair in a ponytail, laced with the light scents of cigarettes and alcohol.
I pretty much leapt out of my skin at that one, and spun around, only to face the smug smirk of Adrian Ivashkov. I narrowed my eyes and let out a slight huff of irritation.
His smile only grew, green eyes twinkling. "Kind of jumpy, aren't you?"
I rolled my eyes in response. "Be lucky I wasn't jumpy enough to give you a new haircut, darling." I muttered, and began to walk towards Rose and Lissa who were hanging near the jet's stairs.
Except Adrian blocked me off by standing in front of me.
I raised my eyebrows in amusement.
"You may as well tell me." He went on. "I'll find out anyway."
Scoffing outright, I moved past him, and started walking. He quickly joined my side though and easily kept pace with me. "Then why should I tell you if you'll just find out anyway?" I asked. "Besides, you don't even care."
He looked slightly affronted. "Then why would I be going through all of this trouble for you?"
"Because you're not doing it for me." I stated. "You're doing it for Rose."
"But I set up her being able to go to the trial in order to prove you right." He argued weakly. "That's something."
I snorted and waved him off. "That's nothing. You did it for Rose, and you know it. You just want to pretend to be interested in me so you can attempt to make her jealous. I'm sorry, but it's not going to work."
"Why?" He asked cynically. "Are you already off of the market?"
I paused at that, and stayed silent. I didn't even know the answer to that. I straightened up, squared my shoulders, and began to walk faster than him.
He, of course, noticed this change in demeanor with his retarded spirit magic or whatever, and sped up to join my side once again. "Oh," he said jeeringly, "so there is a boyfriend."
I narrowed my eyes, feeling sadness and anger well up in my chest. "Shut up."
"Whoa…" He seemed to pause, jump out of himself, and become another person entirely. Once flirty, now scientific. "Your aura is different."
"No shit." I growled.
"Yeah." He answered as if my response wasn't warning enough. "At first it was yellow, slightly lined with pink. Content, amused, flirtatious, whatever's your call. But then I mention this boyfriend of yours, and –"
Could he seriously not take a hint?
"That's weird."
"What?" I snapped. "You just realized that talking about people's auras is kind of awkward? Good call! You just won a brand new car!"
He stepped in front of me, almost making me run into his chest. I stopped short though, and glared up at him. His gaze seemed to be that of a different person's. Analytical, curious, thoughtful. He continued to scrutinize me, making me feel my resolve somewhat crumble, but I quickly steeled myself back.
He blinked, and pulled back. "You're a very complex person, Mystery Girl." He admitted calmly.
"Yeah," I sighed as I pushed past him and walked to the plane. "What else is new?"
.M.I.W.
I clutched the armrests of the plane, sitting rigid in my seat, breathing somewhat erratically.
The landing was rough, nearly sending my nerves into a chaotic shock. I was probably going to have a heart attack if the driver served from the path on the runway one more time.
"Madi…" Rose said quietly from my side. "Are you all right?"
Another rough bump sent my whole body into shock once again, and I gasped in surprise. I gritted my teeth and glared squarely ahead. "Can't this damn pilot learn how to fly the God damn plane?"
"Her aura is black." Adrian informed us most unhelpfully from across the plane. "She's scared of flying. I can hear her gasping from here."
The plane swerved again. My nails dug into the fabric. "Shut up, Ivashkov." I snarled.
He merely chuckled (which pissed me the fuck off) but thankfully fell silent after that. What was it with jackasses? Always wanting the last word and all that shit.
When the plane finally coasted to a stop, I was beyond relieved. Flying was the worst thing ever. Wright brothers? I'm going to go back in time and cut your heads off with my amazing seraph blades. Then you'll be sorry…
Everyone in the plane – not that many of us, let me assure you – got up as soon as the door opened. As I walked out of the isle to get to the entrance, I felt my back immediately watched by another older woman reminding me of Headmistress Kivora, Alberta. Unlike Kivora, Alberta didn't seem to like seventeen-year-old, kickassing, smartass punk teenagers that enjoyed living an edgy life.
Yes… this said seventeen-year-old is me.
I shot her a look, and saw her hand go to her stake. I rolled my eyes in response, and hopped down all of the stairs of the plane in order to get away from her faster.
"Some people." I noted with a sigh to Rose, Lissa, Christan, and Eddie as I tightened the straps on my rucksack and joined them.
Rose chuckled. "Alberta still giving you trouble?"
"By the time this is all over, she'll have stabbed me for no reason." I said.
Lissa and Eddie laughed while Rose and Christian cracked a smirk. We were quickly joined by Adrian, who was smiling like he'd just figured out the secret of every single person in Court. Yeah, that's right, I pick up lingo.
"Did I hear something about stabbing?" He inquired pleasantly.
Eddie continued to laugh. "Madi thinks that Alberta is going to stab her."
I rolled my eyes when Adrian's smile grew, and Rose gave a chuckle in the background. "Madi, huh?" He asked. "Told you I'd figure it out sooner or later."
"Thanks a lot, Ed." I said as I gave him a slight glare. His smile quickly fell, and he took a step back.
Before Adrian or I could come up with some witty comment to use as a whip, Dimitri had joined our group. He looked at Rose, as if he were about to say something, but Rose simply looked him up and down, sniffed, grabbed Christian's arm, and turned tail on Dimitri as she led the way to wherever this mysterious Court was. He frowned slightly as Lissa went after her, closely followed by Eddie.
I simply watched the exchange along with Adrian, who was equally curious.
"That was –" He started off, making Dimitri look at him, but I grabbed his arm.
"Come on, Adrian." I said, pretending to be completely absorbed in something else, "You said you were going to show me that spa you were telling me about."
I tugged him along behind me until he finally got the hint and joined my side. "Should I ask?" He inquired
"You know, you kind of gave me the impression that you had some form of tact." I told him shortly. "Don't you know you're not supposed to talk about auras to strangers?"
"I wouldn't exactly call Belikov a stranger," Adrian snapped. "And since when are we going to a spa? I'm not going to some girl place –"
"I was keeping you from putting your foot in your mouth, jackass." I retorted. He pulled his arm out of my hand with a huff, but continued to walk beside me.
"Jackass, am I?" He asked, allowing fake surprise to creep into his tone.
I rolled my eyes, shoving my hands in my pockets as I walked towards the now looming castle ahead. "Coming from me, you should take it as a compliment."
"Because your opinions mean so much to me." He replied sarcastically.
"As they should." I deflected it darkly.
.M.I.W.
There are few things you can do in Court if you're not a Dhamphir or a Moroi. Well, you could, but it would probably be a waste of time and lead to cannibalism which we all know is not all that great.
All of the Vampire Academy cast seemed to go running off in several different directions, leaving me to fend for myself. In fact, the words out of Alberta's mouth were, 'don't do something you'll regret' with all the usual creepy foreboding-ness that everyone loves so dearly.
So, that pretty much leaves you with two options.
One. Stealing Adrian's vodka and cigarettes, and creating your own party.
Or two. Being mistaken for a Dhamphir (I'm guessing it's the black clothing that sets them off) and being bossed around to go do something by a high ranking Moroi.
Which is kind of what's happening now.
"You there. Girl!" A woman barked.
Seeing as there were no other 'girls' in the proximity, I slowly turned around while raising an eyebrow. "Um… yeah?" I answered.
"Why aren't you with the other feeders?" She demanded crossly. "You shouldn't be wandering the Court."
Yes, my mind is still drawing a blank. But instead of asking my usual 'what the hell', I went for the different approach. "Feeders?"
She sighed in exasperation, as if she couldn't be bothered with the subject. "I forgot how… dull the feeders' minds get. Why must I do everything? Come along, I'll take you back to where you belong."
She reached and grabbed for my arm. Her cold hand locked around my upper arm in a vice-like grip, almost instantly cutting off circulation. I yelped in surprise, and pulled back. "Hey, man, back off!"
"Come on now," She seemed to attempt to persuade me like I was some sort of toddler. It only made me more confused as she took my arm in her hand again, and pulled me along.
I quickly swept my arm to the side and broke her hold. She turned around and looked at me in surprise. I took a step back warily. "What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.
There's your usual 'what the hell'!
Her eyes widened slightly, and then narrowed. "Don't make me call some Dhamphirs to take you." She warned, still treating me like I was four. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"
"First of all, quit talking like that." I snapped. "It's freaking me out. Second of all, what the fucking hell is a feeder, and why do you think I am one? Because I'm not."
She reached to grab my arm again, and I stepped back.
"And if you try to touch me one more time," I glared at her, "I'm going to call you out for sexual harassment. I know I'm undeniably gorgeous and everything, but come on, hold onto some form of self control."
She bared her teeth, exposing a pair of wicked fangs. "Maybe you need to be sedated." She snarled.
I reached back for my swords, scoffing in response. "Bitch, I'd love to see you try."
"Madi!"
Dimitri had jumped in front of me in the next moment, Rose right at his side. I straightened up quickly and frowned.
"What's going on?" Rose demanded.
I pointed to the Moroi. "Ask her. She keeps coming at me. You know, this is the second time you've come in between me and my kill." I said to Dimitri. "I think you need to watch it."
The Moroi started in surprise. "She's a Dhamphir?"
"Fuck no!" I snapped. "I'm a Rogue!"
"Somewhat." Dimitri translated to the woman's still-confused expression.
"As in not really." I said as I stood on my tip toes, only to have my chin just reach over Dimitri's shoulder. "I kill all vampires."
Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Except Moroi. She understands the difference." Dimitri said, quickly dipping his head. "I'm sorry for the confusion. If you'll excuse us."
We quickly walked away, Dimitri grabbing my arm to tow me along. What was it with these people and all of this touching? I could walk on my own.
"Do you mind?" I hissed as I wrenched out of his grasp. "Personally, I'm getting sick of all of this manhandling."
All three of us seemed to pause and look at each other warily. I took a slight step back and folded my arms across my chest. "Where are you two going?" I inquired, pretending to make it sound like I assumed they were sneaking off to have sex. Because I'm just that tasteless.
"No –" Dimitri started.
"Dashkov's cell." Rose finished, and watched Dimitri give her an incredulous look. She shrugged in return. "She knows everything."
"Seriously." I agreed earnestly.
"Do you want to come?" Rose asked.
I shrugged, realizing that I really had nothing better to do. Unless I wanted to be called a 'feeder' or whatever again. And maybe next time I would not be so lucky as to have a giant Siberian step in the way to save the day. "Yeah. Sure."
Dimitri continued to look at her in surprise. I swear, with the look his was giving her, someone would have to be flapping their arms and yelling 'what the hell' over and over again to get the same effect.
Rose nodded to him. "She's trustworthy."
Dimitri simply shook his head and let out a loud, exasparated sigh. He pushed past us, and led the way to Dashkov's cell with Rose and I following somewhat-certainly.
.M.I.W.
Wow, I had a déjà vu while writing this chapter. That's intensely epic.
