Chapter 10

Lissa couldn't understand how I could feel that anger towards Moroi. She was that naïve to think that nothing in this world is worse than Strigoi. The things that Victor alone did, should tell her exactly how bad Moroi can be.

'You seriously want to know Liss? You really want to know why I hated all Moroi so much for a year of my life? Fine I will tell you…I was raped Liss, I was drugged, tortured and beaten for hours and then when I could barely stand anymore, I was raped – by my charge and two of his mates. But you know the worst part about it, they weren't the only three people in the room. There were also three women in that room. All of them were Moroi and not one of them stopped it from happening. Finally the next day one of the women came into my room and helped take me to the hospital. She didn't stick around, but she did tell the nurses what had happened. The police came later that afternoon for a statement. Nothing happened with it though. The head detective said he had a report from one of the men that I had begged for it, even though my blood results showed that I had been drugged at the time. Seems when the police went to get them, they had been wiped off the system. My charge was Jamie Zeklos and his father was the head detective' at this point I couldn't talk anymore. If it wasn't for my mum holding me up, I would've collapsed on the floor.

'Oh my god Rose, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you' Lissa cried, racing to wrap her arms around me.

'Roza…words can't explain how sorry I am' said Dimitri. Adrian, Christian and Eddie all said similar words.

'Don't. All of you stop. Don't pity me' I yelled.

'Just give her minute guys that's not the end of it' said Janine.

'How the hell can it get any worse than that?' yelled Christian. They all sat silently waiting for me to finish sobbing so I could get the rest of it out.

'After the investigation was closed, everyone in town knew about it. Unfortunately, they didn't know what really happened. They only knew Zeklos's side of the story. Turns out, Jamie Zeklos is Jesse Zeklos's first cousin. Guess the rumours of me being a bloodwhore made their way to Jamie and he wanted to see how true it was. I tried to get re-assigned, but without evidence of wrong doing on his part, I didn't have a chance. And the report against me didn't exactly help. I think the queens words were "given her reputation, she probably asked for it". Being his only guardian, wherever he went, I had to go with him, parties, college, moroi balls, everywhere. It was hell. But you know me, I wasn't one to be knocked down by rumours. I, and everyone in that room that night, knew the truth. Unfortunately, the rest of the town didn't believe me. One afternoon we were heading to yet another one of his social events with two of his mates, who weren't assigned guardians as they aren't royals. We were attacked by Strigoi. Putting everything that happened aside, I defended the boys. After all, I was bought up that they come first. There were three Strigoi and I managed to stake one of them pretty quickly. The other two gave me a pretty good fight. Thankfully, I remembered all my training with Dimitri and I had the upper hand. The Moroi didn't even try and help, even though one of them was a fire user. They just stood there. I finally got a shot to stake the second one, leaving me with the last one. We circled for a while, it was like he was doing it to wear me out' I stopped and looked up at all of their faces. I couldn't look any of them in the eye and quickly looked back down to my hands.

'Roza, you can stop. You've told us enough, you don't need to keep going. I'm so sorry we pushed you so far' said Dimitri. He was standing next to me now and put his hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me to look at him. I couldn't meet his eyes. I was worried about what I would see in them. Did he blame me for what happened? Did he think I was stupid for getting into that situation and not being able to defend myself? Did he think I was weak?

He lifted my chin up with his finger, trying to get me to look in his eyes. I closed my eyes so I couldn't see them.

'Stop those thoughts right now Rose. You did everything you could possibly do. You still defended them even after everything they did. You cannot blame yourself for what happened' he said.

I opened my eyes in surprise. Did I say all of that out loud? Crap. Me and my big mouth. The surprise must have been showing on my face.

'I may not have remembered my feelings in the past three years Roza, but they are all there now. And I can still read you like a book. Now stop doubting yourself. You are an amazing woman and should be proud of everything you have pulled yourself through in the past five years. Not many people would have survived that. Now, like I said, you can stop, no more pushing you. I'm so sorry we pushed you like we did' he said. It's the most I've ever heard him say in one sentence. I wrapped my arms around him, sobbing into his chest like a baby. He just held me until I was finished. Everyone else was sitting down in silence, no doubt everything I had just told them going through their minds.

This was the closest contact I have had with someone in so long. I realised I was still clinging to him, so I let go and took a deep breath before continuing.

'It….it's ok. I need to finish telling you the rest. I need you all to know, that way when I come back, if you want me to, you will understand why I can no longer guard Lissa. After about 10 more minutes of fighting the last strigoi, he started to make little comments. The last one he said before I staked him was "Jamie was right, you are a good fighter". When I turned to Jamie, he was backing away with his hands in the air. He had hired the Strigoi, not to kill me, but to kidnap me and use me as a bloodwhore. I guess his mate was in shock too because he once he heard the strigoi's comment, and saw Jamie backing up, he blurted it out before he ran off. I ran at Jamie and punched him, over and over again. If it wasn't for his other friend Matt, pulling me off him, I would have killed him. I wish I could say it was the darkness, but it wasn't. It was all me. Turns out, Matt was one of the nice guys. He was a spirit user, so he couldn't help with the Strigoi anyway, but he did help me with Jamie. He realised then that everything Jamie had said was a lie, and that I was in fact telling the events the way they truly happened. He can do small healings as well, and healed Jamie enough to be able to get home. Said he deserved the beating, but not to die. He said he would make sure that everyone knew what really happened to me, and that Jamie would pay. I wasn't around long enough to see if it came true, because my mum and Abe turned up the next day. I was in a pretty bad way. I still had cuts and bruises from the fight with the Strigoi, but mum could tell there was more. She begged me for days to tell her everything and I did. She was the first person I had spoken to about it apart from the detectives and nurse. That night I was assigned to Abe Mazur, who I later found out was my dad. Before I left, Jamie told me he'd make me pay and in a way he did. He told his father who had beaten him up, and of course pressed charges. Thankfully, with Matt's testimony to the events that had happened with the Strigoi and I'm sure a bit of persuasion from Abe, I escaped a jail sentence' I was cut off by Dimitri, Christian and Caleb who yelled in outrage at the prospect of me going to jail.

'You can't be serious. After everything he did to you, they were going to put you in jail?' yelled Dimitri.

'The fact they even considered a jail sentence is a fucken joke' yelled Christian and Caleb.

'Guys, before you get to outraged, keep in mind he is a Royal Moroi, and I managed to break his jaw and nose, dislocated his shoulder, cracked his knee cap and six ribs' I said it seriously, but everyone started laughing. 'What are you all laughing at? I'm serious'

'Oh Rose, we know you are. That's what is so funny. The way you said that just then was the way the old Rose would have talked and exactly what the old Rose would have done' Christian said through laughter.

'Yeah well it might be funny now, but at the time it wasn't. And it cost me my guardian title' I said quietly hoping no one heard me. Unfortunately every single one of them did and their heads whipped to me gobsmacked.