Chapter 9 - The Dance
"Bright Red or Nude?" I asked Lissa holding up the first two lipsticks I found in my makeup bag.
Lissa pursed her lips, scrutinising my face. "Neither. Let me see that bag." She pushed the make up around in the bag until she found what she was looking for. "Here"
She handed me a tube it looked like a deep dark red. "Not bad Liss" I said putting it on in the mirror and stepped back to get the full view.
The black dress clung to my curves perfectly. My rings and earrings glistened in the light of my dorm. And my pumps made my legs look longer. Lissa had styled my hair giving me large soft curls and my long fringe was swept nicely to the side of my face. Lissa came to stand beside me, her blonde hair was pinned up and had a couple of loose strands around her face. She had light make up and her dress made her matching eyes stand out perfectly.
She smiled at me. "I better go and meet Christian downstairs."
I rolled my eyes. "Tell Sparky he has to share you for a few dances tonight."
She laughed before walking to the door. "Don't worry, he won't keep me away."
"Good" She opened the door and turned to the side I heard Dimitri's voice greeting her. Ok, this is it Rose. Time to shine and make a certain Russian see what he's missing. I smirked before grabbing my stake from under my bed, I put it inside my clutch and walked out. I closed the door behind me and Dimitri turned around and froze.
His eyes ran over my body, leaving a burn all over my skin. "Hey Comrade"
"Roza"
I smiled. Huh, better reaction than I thought I'd get from him. He seemed to say 'Roza' when he was being more affectionate towards me. "I like the way you say my name in Russian." Dimitri blinked before his Guardian mask went up. Shit, you had to take it too far Rose. Dimitri turned around looking up and down the hall. "Alright, let's go." I muttered.
We walked in silence to the cafeteria that had been decorated to the point that you couldn't even tell we were anywhere near the cafeteria we ate at every day. White curtains lined the walls and hung from crystal chandeliers above. Twinkle lights hung from wall to wall above the white tables and a large dance floor took up the back of the room, lasers and other lights lit it up the area. I spotted Mason first he looked up sensing my eyes on him and gaped. I smirked and made my way over to him.
I closed his mouth with my hand. "You don't want to catch flies."
It broke him out of his trance. "Rose, you look hot."
I laughed "Thanks Mase"
"Want to dance?"
I turned to see Dimitri against the wall near some other guardians, who looked away before our eyes made contact. "Sure" I said turning back to Mason. He grinned and led me over towards the dance floor by my hand. Mason had always had a thing for me, but I never returned the feelings. Sure he was good to look at and I had fun flirting with him, but that was as far as it went. After a few dances we walked back to a table our group occupied.
"So the Strigoi didn't take a bite out of you? Damn."
I rolled my eyes. "Shut it fire crotch or one might think you were a little jealous."
"Jealous? Of you?"
I nodded. "I figured you'd want the Molnija Marks."
His eyes widened and I heard the table go silent. "They're giving you Molnija's?"
I turned to Lissa. "You didn't tell him?"
She shook her head. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to tell anyone about the meeting so I didn't say anything."
I smiled at her. "Thanks Liss." She winked, I knew she wouldn't say anything about the Queen issue.
"Wait! Seriously they are giving you the marks?" Mason asked.
"Yeah, Queen Tatiana said I could have them if I wanted."
"Wow" Mason's eyes shown with wonder.
"How'd you do it Rose?" Natalie asked. She was usually the quietest of us all until you asked her a question that is than she didn't shut up.
"Do what?"
"Kill the Strigoi."
"Ohh" I felt uncomfortable suddenly with everyone's eyes on me again. "I staked them."
Her eyes widened. "Isn't that like really hard to do?"
"You haven't seen her fight." Mason jumped in for the save. "The woman's a badass." I smiled but it was fake. I stole Lissa away from Fire Crotch to dance for a few songs. "Hey Liss, I'm going to get another drink, do you want one?"
"Yes please, I'll meet you back at the table?" I nodded and left the dance floor and headed towards one of the tables that had drinks.
"Hello, Rose."
I turned to the sound of my name to find Prince Victor Dashkov, Natalie's ill father. "Hello, Prince Dashkov."
"Rose, please call me Viktor." I nodded and gave him a smile. Viktor's health was quickly deteriorating he looked twice his age physically the Syndovsky Syndrome had certainly taken it's tole on him.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm doing ok Rose, were working on a treatment." I smiled. I knew the disease was taking its toll on him and Natalie was suffering because of it. If they could find a cure or something to prolong the time he had left that would be great.
"Well I hope it all goes well Viktor. I have to get this drink back to Lissa."
"Thank you Rose, I best be heading off now anyway. I'll see you soon." He had a strange spark in his eyes as he said that before walking off. I shrugged it off and walked back to the table.
I danced with everyone in our group and even managed to get one in with Sparky although we spent the whole song throwing snarky comments at one another. I wouldn't have it any other way. When the night was winding down I said goodnight to the others. Mason looked like he wanted to say something more but I didn't give him a chance before making my way over to Dimitri.
We walked out and make our way towards the dorms. The sun was still a couple of hours away from coming up and the yards were eerily quiet. I couldn't even see and Guardians. We went around the back of the classrooms, when I stopped. Dimitri must have realised the same thing I did because he pulled out his stake and stepped closer to me. The lights on this side of the campus were off. Dimitri grabbed onto my arm and pulled my close to a wall. He looked around trying to see anything out of the ordinary. I did the same, my senses were slightly better than a Dhampir's. "Dimitri, where are the Guardians?" I whispered.
"I don't know" He took a few steps forward and squinted into the darkness. I followed his line of sight.
I could just make out a pair of red eyes and another to the right of the first pair. My first thought was Strigoi but as I looked closer the dark outline of the body's came into view. "Psi Hound" I whispered. He nodded. "Run?" I asked him in a whisper.
"No they will outrun us easily." He stepped back until I was pushed between the wall behind me and Dimitri's back. "Stay close Rose" he whispered. I nodded.
We watched as the two animals came closer. They were easily larger than any dog I had ever seen. Their eyes were bright red and they had razor sharp teeth that were easier to see as they stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight. The first one looked the most menacing, he snarled from about 30 feet away. It's fur was black all over and it's large paws scraped at the dirt under them. The second was silver and had patches of brown over it. Psi Hounds were almost extinct, they were trained by Moroi many years before either Dimitri or I were born. The black one pulled back and howled loudly into the sky above. The other followed, a moment later they both charged.
Dimitri took one step forward and got into a fighting crouch. I shoved my hand into my purse until I felt the cool touch of silver and wrapped my hand around it before dropping the bag at my feet. Fighting Strigoi and fighting a Psi Hound were too completely different things. I didn't even know if a stake could kill a Psi Hound, and I really didn't know where their hearts were to test out the theory. But hell I was going to try. I held the stake in my right hand and felt the warmth of fire under the surface in my left. I was ready. When the black hound was a few meters from us Dimitri ran forward. It opened its mouth to bite when Dimitri elbowed its mouth out of the way and the animal ended up biting air. The silver hound completely jumped over both the black hound and Dimitri and went for me. I let my instincts take control and threw the fire out. I jumped to the side just as it lunged for me. Instead it hit the wall and fell to the ground.
I jumped up and leapt onto it's back. It was almost like sitting on top of a horse with its massive size. My stake slashed at its back. It didn't even howl. Ok, silver hurt Psi Hounds, but maybe a stake still could. It's massive head turned back to bite me but I used the stake again and went straight for its nose. The stake dug in a few inches before the animal shook it's head and sent it flying into the darkness. "Shit" I cursed. I gave a quick glance back to Dimitri and noticed that he was doing slightly better than I. But the animal was still fighting hard. I turned back as she stood up. My fingers dug into its neck. I was still perched on its back. I held on as tight as I could but it was easily shaking my hands away with a flick of its head, trying to take nips at my hands. Magic, don't fail me now. My hands warmed and I sent all the fire I could muster out of my hands. The area around us lit up with the orange light of the flames.
The animal finally howled in pain. The only problem was that when it sat up, I went flying onto my back behind it. I stood up and felt Dimitri's body only inches away from my back still fighting hard. "Rose?"
"I'm ok, how do we kill them?"
"I think our best bet from what you just did is fire." I nodded even though he couldn't see me. The silver Psi Hound turned around and when it seen me it lunged forward. I held up both my hands, and sent out everything I had. Flames shot out of my palm's igniting the whole torso of the beast. She whined and cowered before turning and running away from us, I watched until I couldn't see the flames anymore and turned around to see Dimitri.
He was bleeding from several places, mostly his arms. "Dimitri move!" He didn't hesitate as he stepped back. I did the same thing again sending out everything I had at the black hound. It was like having flame throwers for hands. Sweet. It howled and a moment later took off after the silver hound. We both watched it go.
I stepped back and grabbed my bag off the ground and held onto Dimitri's hand. "Let's go before they come back." I muttered. He didn't need to be told twice before we ran to the nearest building entrance which was the Guardian headquarters, I couldn't see anyone inside, but the whole building was pitch black I couldn't really see much further than the door. I ran to the phone that sat on a desk to the right. "It's working!"
Dimitri took it out of my hands and dialled a number. "Guardian Petrov, it's Belikov. We've been under attack... No, Psi Hounds... Yes, she's alright... Where at headquarters... There's no power... Ok" He hung up. "Come on." he said grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hall towards his room. He walked in and did a quick scout before ushering me inside.
"What did she say?"
"They're putting the school into lock down and sending Guardian's out to see if they can find them. Apparently there was a fire over by the administration building and the Guardians here, went to help put it out."
I walked over to Dimitri's bed and sat down. "Let me see your injuries."
"Rose, I'm fine."
I rolled my eyes. "Dimitri if we get attacked again tonight you should be at your full potential." Even I thought that that was hard to argue with. He sighed and locked the door behind him and sat down on the bed and held out his hands. I looked them over and paused biting my bottom lip.
"Rose?" He asked when I didn't do anything.
"Uhh... You need to take your shirt off Dimitri." He looked at his arms and realised what I meant.
Swooooon. :)
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-Skye (FeminineHeroes)
