A/N: So, veeery slow chapter, but awesome news: I have a job! XD One down, one to go. Again, thank you for your support of Roza. Please take the time to comment!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vampire Academy. All rights belong to Richelle Mead.
Major kudos to A I.T. Author In Training, for her awesome work as beta!
"You shouldn't have to keep protecting me," she said.
I laughed. "That's my job. I'm going to be your guardian."
"I know, but I meant like this. You shouldn't suffer because of me. You shouldn't always have to look after me. And yet you always do. You got me out of here. You took care of everything when we were on our own. Even since coming back... you've always been the one who does all the work. Every time I break down- like last night- you're always there. Me, I'm weak. I'm not like you."
I shook my head. "That doesn't matter. It's what I do. I don't mind."
"Yeah, but look what happened. I'm the one she really has a grudge against- even though I still don't know why. Whatever. It's going to stop. I'm going to protect you from now on."
There was a determination in her, a passion, a wonderful confidence radiating off of her that reminded me of the Lissa I'd known before the accident. At the same time, I could feel something else in her- something darker, a sense of deeply buried anger. I'd seen this side of her before too, and I didn't like it. I didn't want her tapping into it. I just wanted her to be safe.
"Lissa, you can't protect me."
"I can," she said fiercely..."Bytellingthem." Her eyes flashed.
My mind was moving too slowly tonight. It took me a while to catch on. "Liss- no. You can't use compulsion. Not around here."
"I might as well get some use out of these stupid powers."
The more she uses it, the worse it'll get. Stop her, Rose. Stop her before they notice, before they notice and take her away too. Get her out of here.
"Liss, if you get caught-"
Dimitri stuck his head out. "You've got to get back inside, Rose, before someone finds you."
I shot a panicked look at Lissa, but she was already retreating. "I'll take care of everything this time, Rose. Everything."
Vampire Academy, pg 175
"You've got to be joking." The very cross look that Ana wore dashed my hopes. I sighed heavily. "Do I at least get a translator or something? I can't spontaneously learn Russian, you know."
This trip had been one drag after another. Ever since we'd left Dimitri and Janine behind, this bitch seemed determined to make me as miserable as possible. First, none of the others were allowed to talk to me. At all. Not that I really cared, but it got really boring really fast. Thenshe refuses to tell me anything about her mentor, only that we're going to Siberia- the one place I'd been trying to avoid. Now I find out that this mentor doesn't speak a word of English.
The complete lack of... well, anythingfrom Lissa didn't help either. All in all, I was very cranky. And just about ready to stab this mysterious mentor in the face and see if she understood that.
"I'll be there to translate," she replied, her voice showing that once again I was managing to get on her bad side. "However, I am not part of the conversation. You'll ignore me."
"Yeah, big shock. You people seem to do a lot of ignoring."
Ana didn't bother to reply. Probably because she would have tried to kill me, and while I was sure she wouldn't manage, it might piss off this mentor.
We were waiting in a large room in a really big house in the middle of nowhere. Someone had poured a lotof money into it. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing something worth more than a normal person made in a year. Maybe three. Ana didn't look impressed by any of it, just sat in her chair as if she had all the time in the world. If I didn't provoke her into trying to tear my head off, that is.
When the door finally opened, Ana was on her feet and out of the room before I could sit up straight. I purposefully took my sweet time walking in. This person might have saved my ass, but if she thought I was going to jump on command, she had a really harsh life lesson coming up. Ana was standing next to a woman by the window.
She had a thicker build than Ana, so I knew she was a former dhamphir. I had a few moments to take in her immaculately trimmed blonde hair, cold eyes and solid stance. A former guardian, I'd bet. She looked up when I entered, her expression as blank as I'd ever seen a guardian on watch. I stopped about a yard away from her, arms crossed.
Ana stepped back, putting her back to the wall. "This is Galina," she said quickly. "Tryto show some respect, will you?"
I was about to tell her exactly where she could shove it when Galina began to talk. Of course, I couldn't catch any of it.
"You were trained at St. Vladimir's?" she asked through Ana.
It was a bit disconcerting to have a silent go-between, but after years in Lissa's head, I could roll with it. "Yeah."
She nodded. "Dimitri Belikov was your mentor?"
"Yeah," I said again. Either this lady was not one to mince words, or she found the translator issue as annoying as I did.
She seemed amused by my reply. "Do you recall the guardians that found you in Romania?" I raised an eyebrow. She took it as a yes. "I gather that you haven't been keeping up on current news. You're a very famous person, Rose Hathaway. Your information has been passed along to almost every guardian. Queen Tatiana has put a price on your head."
Now thatI didn't expect. I had to try very hard not to look as stunned as I felt. I knew that they would pursue me, but this? I guess Tatiana hated me more than I thought. "And?"
"I can offer you protection, resources. There's a good reason they pursue you. Work for me, and I will help you get to Vasilisa."
I couldn't help it. I almost doubled over laughing. I wasn't sure who looked more pissed, Ana or Galina. "Work for you? I don't need anything you can offer-"
"The Dragomir Princess has been under twenty-four hour surveillance. Only approved friends may visit her while she completes her studies. There are four guardians lined up to protect her once she graduates. How could you possibly hope to overcome all that?"
"Not a problem." Galina didn't believe me. So I elaborated. "Lissa will come to me, eventually. She's more than intelligent enough to give her guardians the slip."
A secret smile broke the bad-ass vibe she'd been working so hard on. "Yes, your bond."
Nowshe had my full attention. I stopped gaping at the frame behind her that I'm pretty sure exceeded the price of a four bedroom house to decide if I was annoyed or amused. "That's not really fair, is it? You drag me all the way here, try to hire me, throw all this in my face, and all I have is a name."
"I would consider this carefully, Rose."
Well, this was a huge waste of time. "I did. No thanks."
I made it to the door before she spoke again. "And what will you do when they catch up to you? Dimitri may have hesitated, but he won't do it again. And you didso well at getting away last time."
Damn it. "I've been doing fine."
"Is that the extent of your ambition? Will you spend eternity satisfied after ruining the lives of a few dhamphir and one princess? What will you do once you have your revenge?"
The spirit-induced anger had vanished days ago, but I could remember it clearly. I had plans. I had decided to go further, to cripple the Moroi system. But once Lissa's emotions faded, it seemed like a lot of work. And to pull something like that off, I'd need help. I was never much of a team player. But here was an incredibly well-connected ally, offering to share. In exchange for what?
"I'll work withyou, not foryou," I finally replied, turning to stare her down. "And I want access to whatever I need, without question, or I'm gone."
The Strigoi was silent, only her red-ringed eyes moved, taking in every detail of me. I wasn't sure what she thought she'd find out. Even Ana was becoming uncomfortable in the sudden silence.
"Agreed."
"Come on, Lissa. It's been hours. Time to relax."
Lissa pulled her eyes from the book in front of her reluctantly. Her head was swimming with information. In the few days since her epiphany, she'd read every piece of literature mentioning spirit. There was somethingthere, something she was missing that would help. "Just a few more chapters, Avery."
The Moroi sighed, holding out a bottle of whiskey. "You can't think straight exhausted. You can attack that thing again in the morning."
She hesitated. The reading was going slowly, the words beginning to blur and lose their meaning. A loud sigh came from the other side of the couch. Lissa jumped. She'd forgotten that Adrian was there.
"Go ahead, princess. Your endless research is making metired."
"You're just angry I haven't helped you with spirit in the last week," Lissa teased. She took the whiskey.
Adrian sat up, scattering the pillows that had managed to survive his initial collapse. "There's nothing to do lately. You're always buried in books, Avery's the new Rose-"
"She's not," Lissa snapped. Avery and Adrian looked less shocked than they should have at the outburst. Lissa was thinking about me, about the oldme that was always reliable, always knew how to make her feel better, that spent almost every second at her side. "No one can replace her."
There was a short silence. "We know that, Lissa. Adrian wasn't serious."
"Oh, so you're speaking for me now, too?" he scoffed. "I thought you only had Lissa dangling from your fingers."
Lissa didn't pay much attention to Avery's expression, but I knew that look well. It was the look of a predator. "Just what are you-"
The whiskey bottle hit the coffee table with a loud thunk. Lissa was sick of them arguing, sick of being caught in the middle. She got to her feet, refusing to look at either of them. That was just what she needed, being forced to choose between them now that Christian- She pulled from those thoughts abruptly.
She left them without a word, looking for somewhere, anywhere to be alone. She thought of the chapel, but there was the fear that Christian was there. She didn't have a roommate. She could go to bed. But the guardians, the strange ones who never even told her their names, would be there. Lissa couldn't take that. She felt so alonethat for a moment she felt like screaming.
I would have exploited that- such a perfect opening, really- but so far Lissa hadn't noticed my intrusion, and I wanted it to stay that way. She was up to something, and I needed to know what. Someone called Lissa's name.
Avery ran up to her, a little breathless and probably more than a little drunk. She took a few breaths before speaking. "Lissa, I'm sorry. You don't think that, do you? What Adrian said? If I've been bossy-"
"No, it's fine," Lissa assured her. "It's not you. Just Adrian being... Adrian."
"Liss, I hate to say it..." Lissa flinched at the nickname. It was myname for her. It shouldn't be used by Avery. But as that thought processed, it struck her that in many ways, Avery had taken over for me. She actually lookedat her, how she had run across campus to apologize, how concerned she was now. Was it really so different? "But do we really need to spend time with him? I know he helped you a lot at first, but we don't need him to teach you Spirit. You have me."
This was definitely news to me. Avery was a spirit user? Lissa was unsure. "But... he and Rose-"
"Didn't have anything. One-sided, remember? You said that Rose liked her mentor, that Russian guy."
"Dimitri," she supplied. She knew Avery was right, but she still felt guilty. How could she just cast Adrian aside? She'd lost Christian already. There would be no one left, no one to share the burden of finding me, of curing me.
Avery wrapped her arms around Lissa. "It's okay. I promise, we'll figure it out. Adrian will just drag us down." She stepped back, hands on her shoulders, and locked eyes with her. "Tell him you don't want his help anymore, Lissa," she urged. "Tell him to go away."
Suddenly, the guilt seemed stupid. Adrian liked Rose, not her. Why should she feel obligated to spend time with him? Avery was so much stronger, knew so much more about Spirit. Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "We'll help Rose, just you and me."
I didn't like Avery's sickly sweet smile, or the strange gleam in her eyes. I didn't like that she had Lissa wrapped around her little finger. Lissa was mine.
She's tricking you, Princess.
Lissa panicked. Avery saw the change. Her eyes narrowed, and she pushed at me. The force was almost physical, unyielding and harsh. I was back in my own mind in seconds.
It was good timing anyway. I opened my eyes and looked around the room that Galina had given me. Every modern convenience you could imagine, all wrapped up in a nice little cage with bulletproof glass and steel doors with electronic locks. Cozy.
As if on cue, Ana entered, followed by one of the cretins they kept for menial tasks. The human girl stood silently by the door, eyes downcast. The Strigoi glanced around the room. "So, any complaints about thisone?"
I shrugged. "It's functional."
She sighed. "It's the best room here, besides Galina's- and you're not getting that."
"Do I get the other thing I asked for at least?"
The human held out a laptop. "There's all the contact info you need in there," Ana said. "And you have access to a bank account. What do you need it for? We don't work with humans unless we have to."
I set the computer down and got to my feet. I gestured towards the room, filled with expensive modern amenities. "Look at all this. Galina has all the money she could want, and what does she use it for? TVs and fancy showers." I smirked. "Money talks, Ana. Give a human a number with five or more zeros and they'll do anything. For example-" I tapped on the glass. "This is the modern world, but we hunt like stone-age barbarians. We need to move forward."
"And how do you propose we do that? We don't need guns."
"No," I agreed. "We need fear. We need to show the Moroi that nowhere is safe. They will never be able to hide from us again." I grinned. "We're going to walk in sunlight."
The look on her face was priceless. I'm sure she thought I was insane, or delusional. Probably both. She settled with insolent. "If you're just wasting our time-"
I turned on her, shoved her against the wall so quickly she never saw it coming. I pinned her by the throat. "If anything, you're wasting mine," I growled. "I said 'without question'. Will you be responsible for Galina losing her best asset? Or does she not want to share the fame of ending the Dragomirs?"
She relaxed marginally, and I let her go. She left without another word, the human trailing behind. I returned to the computer, but even with the world at my fingertips, I couldn't focus. There were so many questions. Why was Avery using compulsion on Lissa? Had she taught her how to make the bond work both ways? What did Galina want from me? Where were Dimitri and Janine?
I gave up on the project. It would have to wait for later. For now, the itching in my throat needed soothing. It was time to ask Galina about the local cuisine.
