A/N: Yea I'm back missed me? ^^ Well schools hectic and I needed some time to work on schoolwork to get my grades up and now scholarships... :p Though for now I can finally update this story and catch up on The Originals later on! Hmm I hope Karoline still happens but from what I see it'll be Klaus and Cami... Alright back to Richelle's world lovelies enjoy and comment!
Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns VA/BL
Chapter 6
Sydney's POV
Lissa and Christian's meeting bothered Rose tremendously, which had now turn into an obsession and tried to establish Project "Anti-Chrissa".
Hmmm thats a nice ring for the pair...
Anyway I was tempted in suffocating Rose with a pillow the night before until she popped up a bizarre idea.
An idea that made me think the apocalypse was approaching sooner than I would have assumed.
"Hey, Kirova - er, Ms. Kirova." Rose and I were standing in the doorway of Kirova's office -no form of appointment established- but them again this is Rose. Kirova's quickly became suspicious as she raised her eyes from some paperwork, clearly annoyed to see us-well specifically Rose. "Yes, Miss Hathaway?"
"Does my house arrest mean I can't go to church?"
Can you believe it? No offence but "Rose" and "Church" didn't even go in the same sentence at all. It was like tasting vinegar.
"I beg your pardon?" Kirova's tone showed astonishment and bafflement. "You said that whenever I'm not in class or practice, I have to stay in the dorm. But what about church on Sundays? I don't think it's really fair to keep me away from my religious…um, needs."
Oh God help me.
Kirova pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I wasn't aware you had any religious needs."
"I found Jesus while I was gone."
I covered my laugh with a cough as Rose nudged me in my ribs and Kirova asked "Are you all right Ms. Melrose?" "Oh course I'm all right, I just caught something... unexpected in the air is all." I ended smiling with such innocent as Rose rolled her eyes and mutter something indiscernible.
"Isn't your mother an atheist?" she asked sceptically turning to Rose. "And my dad's probably Muslim. But I've moved on to my own path. You shouldn't keep me from it." Rose stated as if it were a no-brainer.
Kirova covered her snicker. "No, Miss Hathaway, I should not. Very well. You may attend services on Sundays." Well damn that was easier than I would have thought.
We got to sit next to Lissa;Rose on left and me on the right.
The sermons I admit did tend to became a bore here and there knowing I already heard all this while growing up. Another thing to add on my ever growing list. I'm from a devoutly religious family.
Once I drifted away from the priest monotone holy drifting message and wander my glaze around at the rest of the attendance. Church was optional for us students, but with so many Eastern European families, majority of the students were Eastern Orthodox Christians and attended either because they believed or because their parents made them.
I spotted Christian sitting on the opposite side of the aisle, pretending to be intruded by the sermon. It didn't make him evil thought if he's at least trying an effort to step foot in here.
"Following God's path is never easy," the priest was saying. "Even St. Vladimir, this school's own patron saint, had a difficult time. He was so filled with spirit that people often flocked around him, enthralled just to listen and be in his presence. So great was his spirit, the old texts say, that he could heal the sick. Yet despite these gifts, many did not respect him. They mocked him, claiming he was misguided and confused."
I'd heard all about him, many times before as a kid and when I arrived here. Yet even till now it was quite intruding to hear at St. Vladimir and imagine my reaction when I heard he was Moroi.
Vladimir was I suppose... troubled over the course of his years. I'm talking about mentally ill. Everyone knew it. He was a Saint though so I'd expect much pressure from society to be a bother.
"…and so it was with shadow-kissed Anna."
Oh course Anna Porphyrogenita. She was born around March 13, 963 until her tragic suicidal death in 1011. She was St. Vladimir guardian and suppose as quoted "shadow-kissed".
I could practically feel the wheels spinning in my head on the meaning of that word: shadow-kiss.
I've heard those words countless times yet... "What did the word mean?" I muttered to myself pondering as Rose overheard. "You too? I though I was the only one over thinking that word. Lets see if the priest continues on." We waited, hoping he'd continue, but he'd already moved on to the next part of the service.
Damn it. I turned to Rose who shared a knowing look.
Church concluded, and as Lissa turned to go, Rose shook her head at her. "Wait for us. Sydney and I will be right out." We pushed our way through the crowd, up to the front, where the priest was speaking with a few people. Unlike me Rose,waited impatiently while he finished.
Natalie was there, asking him about volunteer work she could do. Rose and I tried not to prevent our burst of laugher from her request. And I thought I was a practically "Saint". When she finished, she left, greeting us as she passed.
The priest raised his eyebrows when he saw us. "Hello, Rose. It's nice to see you again as well as you dear Sydney." "Thank you sir." I responded. "Yeah…you too," Rose said. "I heard you talking about Anna. About how she was 'shadow-kissed.' What does that mean?" He frowned. "I'm not entirely sure. She lived a very long time ago. It was often common to refer to people by titles that reflected some of their traits. It might have been given to make her sound fierce."
Rose disappointment, tugged on. "Oh. So who was she?" This time his frown was disapproving rather than thoughtful. "I mentioned it a number of times." "Oh. I must have, um, missed that." I couldn't help let out a sigh. His disapproval grew and I swore he would have started lecturing, but he turned around. "Wait just a moment."
He disappeared through the door near the altar. Less than a minute later, the priest returned with a book. He handed it to me. Moroi Saints.
"You can learn about her in here. The next time I see you, I'd like to hear what you've learned." That was indicated to Rose. Poor Rose, Homework from the priest. She scowled as we walked away.
In the chapel's entry way, We found Lissa talking to Aaron. She smiled as she spoke, and was clearly happy. her were happy. "You're kidding," she exclaimed. Aaron shook his head. "Nope."
Seeing Rose and I stroll over, she turned to Rose. "Rose, you're never going to believe this. You know Abby Badica? And Xander? Their guardian wants to resign. And marry another guardian."
Now this was actually ok fine I suppose I needed some sort of exciting news. This one was a biggie. "Seriously? Are they, like, going to run off together?" Rose proclaimed. Lissa nodded. "They're getting a house. Going to get jobs with humans, I guess."
I glanced at Aaron, who had suddenly turned shy with Rose there. "How are Abby and Xander dealing with that?" "Okay. Embarrassed. They think it's stupid." Then he realized who he was speaking to. "Oh. I didn't mean - " "Whatever." She gave him a tight smile. "It is stupid."
I was startled. The rogue in me loved the fact that two people "fought a system" they were to believe in but... in this case, they were fighting a system, I've been trained into my recent life which was a necessity and a better offer. Dhampirs and Moroi had a strange arrangement.
Dhampirs had originally been born from Moroi mixing with us humans. Dhampirs couldn't reproduce with each other - or with humans. Some genetic loophole miscommunication. This only left Dhampirs and full Moroi to have children together, and, by the genetic odds their kids came out as standard dhampirs, with half human genes, half vampire genes.
With Moroi being the only ones with whom dhampirs could reproduce, we were to stay close to them and intermingle with them. So it's important that the Moroi survived. Without them, bye bye Dhampirs. Strigoi loved picking off Moroi, that their survival became a legitimate concern for us all.
That was how the guardian system developed. Dhampirs couldn't work magic, but they made great warriors. They inherited enhanced senses and reflexes from our vampire genes and better strength and endurance from our human genes.
Furthermore, Dhampirs weren't limited by a need for blood or trouble with sunlight. Yes, they weren't as powerful as the Strigoi, but becoming trained really hard, and guardians did a kick-ass job at keeping Moroi safe. Most dhampirs felt it was worth risking their own lives to make sure their kind could still keep having children.
Since Moroi usually wanted to have and raise Moroi children only, long-term Moroi-dhampir romances were short lived. Actually I knew of one pair back when I was in Russia as my first mission as an Alchemist. Moroi and Human romances were strictly taboo in today's society than back in the Dark Ages, not that I cared of such a lose anyway seeing how most of the royal princes were jackasses.
Anyhow, there especially wasn't a case of a lot of Moroi women hooking up with dhampir guys. But plenty of young Moroi men liked fooling around with dhampir women, although those guys usually went on to marry Moroi women. That left a lot of single dhampir mothers, which they fortunately could handle.
However, many dhampir mothers chose not to become guardians in order to raise their children. These women sometimes worked "regular" jobs with Moroi or humans; some of them lived together in communities.
These communities had bad reputation.
Moroi men indeed visited all the time for sex, and some dhampir women let them drink blood while doing it. Blood whores. Majority of all guardians were men, which meant there were a lot more Moroi than guardians. Most dhampir guys accepted that they wouldn't have kids. They knew it was their job to protect Moroi while their sisters and cousins had babies.
Some dhampir women, like Rose's mother felt it was their duty to become guardians - even if it meant not raising their own kids. After Rose's birth, Guardian Hathaway handed her over to be raised by Moroi. Moroi and dhampirs also started school pretty young.
My small time life at the Academy, I had slowly accepted that a dhampir's job to is protect Moroi. It was part of their heritage, and it was the only way they could keep going. The way was now adapting for myself.
What the Badicas' guardian had done so shocking. He'd abandoned his Moroi and run off with another guardian, which meant she'd abandoned her Moroi. They couldn't even have children together, and now two families were unprotected. It's pointless and risky. No one cared if teenage dhampirs dated or if adult dhampirs had flings. But a long-term relationship? Particularly one that involved them running away? Completely a waste of a lifetime.
After a little more speculation on the Badicas, Lissa, Rose and I left. Stepped outside, I heard a shifting sound by my left. I looked up and...too late. A pile of slush had slid off the chapel's roof and onto us.
It was early October, and we'd had early snow last night that had started melting almost immediately. As a result, the stuff that fell on us was very wet and very cold. I wore a sour scrunch face and quickly wiped to snow off which head numbing my lips. I wasn't the only one as Lissa took the brunt as well. I heard a cry as icy water landed on Rose's hair and neck.
A few others squealed nearby too, having caught the edge of the mini-avalanche. "You okay?" I asked Lissa. She stood shivering as her coat was drenched, and her platinum hair clung to the sides of her face. "Y-yeah," she said through chattering teeth.
Rose quickly discarded her coat and handed it to her. It had a slick surface and had repelled most of the water. "Take yours off." She said. "But you'll be - " "Take this." Lissa did, and as she slipped on Rose's coat. I had sense laughter that always follows our unexpected situations. I tried to ignore the group of Moroi that I knew all too well as Rose tried to opt on focusing on holding Lissa's wet jacket while Lissa changed.
"Wish you hadn't been wearing a coat, Rose," said Ralf Sarcozy an unusually bulky and plump Moroi. He was another I hated of course on my hit list next to Jesse. "That shirt would have looked good wet."
"That shirt's so ugly it should be burned. Did you get that from a homeless person?" I glanced up as Mia walked over and looped her arm through Aaron's. She glanced at me me quickly with some hesitation and then her posture became cold again. "Same to you Melrose, planning on bailing out again?"
I glared at her and clenched my jaw making her back away a bit. How dare she I knew the double meaning behind her words.
Her curls were arranged precisely, and she had on a pair of black heels that boosted up her height. Aaron had been a few steps behind us but avoided the slush. I glanced at Rose with her mischievous glint in her eyes upon Mia's smug.
Looks like another round of Rinaldi vs Hathaway, but who am I to complain this I really wanted some back lashing on this fiend.
"I suppose you want to offer to burn it, huh?" Rose asked, refusing her to know how her pervious insult bugged her. "Oh, wait - fire isn't your element, is it? You work with water. What a coincidence that a bunch just fell on us." Mia was a actress of course. Acted insulted but gleaming with delight at the current situation. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing towards us of course." I state as I wipe off the remaining slush off my soggy jacket before continuing. "Ms. Kirova in the other hand-I smirked as Mia skin paling- I wouldn't be so sure... What would be of you if she finds out you used magic against other students?" "That wasn't an attack," she scoffed trying to be convincing."And it wasn't me. It was an act of God."
Right as if God hasn't just witness her devious deed...
A few others laughed, much to her delight unfortunately. Rose was close to slamming the door in Mias face but instead, Lissa simply nudged her and said, "Let's go." We walked off toward our respective dorms, leaving behind laughter and jokes about our wet states and how Lissa wouldn't know anything about specialization.
Mia needs to be taught a lesson...
What the hell why would I think that?!
I quickly shake my head from that thought. But Lissa shouldn't have to deal with more stress than she has to. We'd been okay this first week, and it should be left that way. Right?
"You know," Rose pipped, "I'm thinking more and more that you stealing Aaron back is a good thing. It'll teach Bitch Doll a lesson. I bet it'd be easy, too. He's still crazy about you." "I don't want to teach anyone a lesson," simply stated Lissa. "And I'm not crazy about him."
"Come on, she picks fights and talks about us behind our backs. She accused me of getting jeans from the Salvation Army yesterday." "
Your jeans are from the Salvation Army." Lissa and I say and laugh. "Well, yeah," Rose snorted looking away a bit, "but she has no right making fun of them when she's wearing stuff from Target."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Target. I like Target." Lissa defends. "Hey, don't insult the one store that has classy and casual clothing." I say, as Lissa nods. "So do I- look that's not the point. She's trying to pass her stuff off like it's freaking Stella McCartney." Rose exclaims.
"And that's a crime?" I saw with my eyebrow arched up and hands on my hips. Rose solemn faced, "Absolutely. You've gotta take revenge." She ends with her fisted hand over her open palm.
"I told you, I'm not interested in revenge." Lissa cut Rose a sidelong look. "And you shouldn't be either." Rose smiled as innocently as She could, and when me and her parted ways from Lissa.
"So when's the big catfight going to happen?" A boyish voice questioned. Mason stood there waiting for us outside our dorm after the depart from Lissa. He looked lazy and cute, leaning against the wall with crossed arms as he watched us.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Rose flatly said trying to brush off the question. He turned to me but I just shrugged and smiled. He unfolded himself and walked with us into the building, handing Rose his coat, since she'd let Lissa go off with hers.
"I saw you guys sparring outside the chapel. Have you no respect for the house of God?" Mason mockingly said with surprise. Rose snorted. "You've got about as much respect for it as I do, you heathen. You didn't even go. Besides, as you said, we were outside." "And you still didn't answer the question." Mason pointed out. He's got a point Rose, come on I think mason will enjoy our tale." I stated dramatically.
She just grinned and slipped on Mason's coat. We stood in the common area of our dorm, a well-supervised lounge and study area where male and female students could mingle, along with Moroi guests. It was Sunday, so a pretty big crowd with those cramming for last-minute assignments due tomorrow. I scanned around and found a small, empty table, I quickly yanked Mason's and Rose's arms and pulled them toward it.
"Whoa Melrose, where's the fire?" Mason asked chuckling a bit. "Better we got the table because I'm not going to constantly stand as we talk." I exclaimed as were reached out destination.
Hmmm coffee would be nice right now...
"Aren't you supposed to go straight to your room?" Rose suddenly asked swirling toward Mason. "Nope." He said popping the "p" as the he sat down.
Rose and I popped down in out seats, and she glanced around warily. "There are so many people here today, it'll take them a while to notice me. God, I'm so sick of being locked away. And it's only been a week."
"I'm sick of it too. We missed you last night. A bunch of us went and shot pool in the rec room. Eddie was on fire." Mason said as he leaned back a bit and placed his arms behind his head.
I expected Rose's response.
Rose groaned. "Don't tell me that. I don't want to hear about your glamorous social life." I spotted a coffee machine and my eyes lit up.
"Hey I'll be back I'm grabbing some coffee." I said without waiting for their response. "All right." He propped his elbow up on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Then tell me about Mia... I quickly got my cup and headed back in time for the next stage of plan I suppose it was.
"In other words, find some way to get back at Mia that you won't get in trouble for." Mason summed up after listen to our story. Rose felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips. "You know what I like about you, Mase? You think just like I do."
"Hey, same for me you guys I was thinking we outta teach Mia a lesson." I ended as I sipped my skinny vanilla bean. "Well now Sydney what else are you hiding underneath your innocent glam hmm? Anyway make it the three of us then!"
"Frightening concept," Mason replied drily. "So tell me what you think of this: I might know something about her, but I probably shouldn't tell you…" Rose leaned forward. "Oh, you already tipped me off. You've got to tell me now."
"Let the Hathaway charm begin." I muttered as I sat back down amused to watch the showdown.
"It'd be wrong," Mason teased. "How do I know you'd use this knowledge for good instead of evil?" Rose- I choked on my drink- batted her eyelashes. "Can you resist this face?" Oh yes she went for the kill.
Mason took a moment to study her. "No. I can't, actually. Okay, here you go: Mia isn't royal." I bit my lip, but listened on what Mason has heard about Mia.
Rose slouched back in her chair. "No kidding. I already knew that. I've known who's royal since I was two." "Yeah, but there's more than just that. Her parents work for one of the Drozdov lords." Rose waved her hand impatiently. "Techniques."
Majority of Moroi worked out in my human world-who were not inspected any further due to the Alchemist tasks. Moroi society thought had plenty of jobs for its own kind which were to be slotted in. "Cleaning stuff. Practically servants. Her dad cuts grass, and her mom's a maid." Mason said as if it were the most shocking news ever.
People everywhere had to do crappy stuff to make a living at some point in their lives. But there came a stage where that someone with an unfortunate lifestyle would do anything to it in with the crowd and become ad someone else they weren't. Mia since my time here has desperately tried to fit in with the school elite.
Wait if Mason knew...
"But no one else knows right?" I injected. "And she doesn't want them to. You know how the royals are." He paused. "Well, except for Lissa, of course. They'd give Mia a hard time over it."
"How do you know all this?" Rose asked thoughtfully. "My uncle's a guardian for the Drozdovs." "And you've just been sitting on this secret, huh?" Rose stated as she peered her eyes. "Until you broke me. So which path will you choose: good or evil?" "I think I'll give her a grace - "
"Miss Hathaway, you know you aren't supposed to be here." A unknown voice broke in to our conversation. One of the dorm matrons stood over us, disapproval all over her face. Luckily Mason had us covered "We have a group project to do for our humanities class. How are we supposed to do it if Rose is in isolation?"
The matron narrowed her eyes. "You don't look like you're doing work." I swiftly slid over the priest's book and opened it at random. I'd placed it on the table when we sat down. "We're working on this." She still looked suspicious at all of us. "One hour. I'll give you one more hour down here, and I'd better actually see you working."
"Yes, ma'am," said Mason straight-faced. "Absolutely." She wandered off, still eyeing us. "My hero," Rose declared. He pointed at the book. "What is this?" "Something the priest gave me. I had a question about the service." Rose said in a rueful tone. He stared at her, astonished.
I snapped my fingers in his face to break his away from his daze.
"Oh, stop it and look interested." Rose declared ad she grabbed the book and skimmed the index. "I'm trying to find some woman named Anna." Mason slid his chair over so that he was sitting right beside her. "All right. Let's 'study.' "
We took turns and eventually I found the page number, which took me to the section on St. Vladimir. We read through the chapter, scanning for Anna's name. When we found it, the author didn't have much to say about her. He did include an excerpt written by some guy who had apparently lived at the same time as St. Vladimir:
"...And with Vladimir always is Anna, the daughter of Fyodor. Their love is as chaste and pure as that of brother and sister, and many times has she defended him from Strigoi who would seek to destroy him and his holiness. Likewise, it is she who comforts him when the spirit becomes too much to bear, and Satan's darkness tries to smother him and weaken his own health and body. This too she defends against, for they have been bound together ever since he saved her life as a child. It is a sign of God's love that He has sent the blessed Vladimir a guardian such as her, one who is shadow-kissed and always knows what is in his heart and mind." I ended looking up at the two.
"There you go," Mason said clapping is hands together. "She was his guardian." "It doesn't say what 'shadow-kissed' means." Rose spoke out thoughtfully. "Probably doesn't mean anything."
"I doubt that..." I muttered as I was skimming through the text again to find some sort of clue to the puzzle Mason watched curiously, looking like he very much wanted to help.
"Maybe they were hooking up," he suggested. "Seriously Mase, he's was a saint." Rose said as she laughed. "So? Saints probably like sex too. That 'brother and sister' stuff is probably a cover." He pointed to one of the lines. "See? They were 'bound' together." He winked. "It's code."
I cringed inwardly as I ignored majority of his critic on the Saint and thought back on that one word.
Bound. It was an unusual word choice, and i bet it referred to something else that I somehow knew that was right within my grasp. Also that didn't necessarily mean Anna and Vladimir were a romantic involvement. Actually now that I remember they were.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but Mason's right."
"He is?"
"I am?"
I pinched my bridge nose, as I answered. " Yeah while besides attending church to hear of St. Vladimir, I read up about him and found out if I'm correct that he was in a marriage with Anne Porphyrogenita. Sorry Rose."
I had surprised them as Mason had his mouth hung ajar and Rose eyes widen before shaking her head. "I never read anything on that where did you get your info at? Guys and girls can just be close friends." she said it pointedly, and Mason gave her a dry look. I decided to let the history of the Saint go knowing I could spill the beans about myself at any moment.
"Oh yeah aren't we friends? I might not know what's in your 'heart and mind.' " Mason put on a fake priceless philosopher's look. "Of course, some might argue that one can never know what's in the heart of a woman - "
"Oh, shut up," Both Rose and I said as she punching him in the arm. "For they are strange and mysterious creatures," he continued in his scholarly voice, "and a man must be a mind reader if he ever wishes to make them happy." Rose started giggling uncontrollably and just shook my head, knowing we could get called out again.
"Well, try to read my mind and stop being such a - " It then clicked in me, just as Rose suddenly stopped laughing and turned to me.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I may."
I pointed at her and then out the entrance door. She nodded.
"Are you going to fill me in or leave me clueless while you speak in code?" Mason injected, but Rose and I were still deep in thought.
Anne Porphyrogenita and St. Valdimir had a bond. This was another thing that astonished me on the Saint I grew up hearing. There were lots of vague stories and myths here I've read about how guardians and Moroi 'used to have bonds.' - But this was the first I'd ever heard of anyone specific that it had happened to besides that of Lissa and Rose. So they aren't the only case.
Mason had noticed our startled reaction. "You two okay? You both look kind of weird." Rose shrugged it off. "Yeah. Fine."
I didn't bother uttering anything as I finished off my coffee.
A/N: Hey I'm back again, I don't have any excuse of my lack of writing I've just been lazy on updating and all. Ok and I've been reading some other ff of VD/TO mainly Klaroline... Anyway who's looking forward to Divergent! I still haven't read the book... :/
