"Rose?" Sydney asked shaking me again.
I blinked a few times at her and gave her a confused glance. "Something wrong?"
"Well I would count you suddenly not moving and seem to be in another place all together 'something wrong'." Sydney commented.
"Sorry, I forgot to mention that there are times when I can jump into Lissa's mind." I smiled apologetically.
"Jump into her mind?"
"Yeah, she's a spirit user and I'm her Shadow-Kissed guardian." I nodded.
"Okay, you'll have to explain that to me in simpleton terms I'm afraid because I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Um… where do I start… how much do you know about me and Lissa?"
"You've known her since you were really young, her family got into an accident along with you and apparently you survived by miracle. Then you two ran away a couple of years ago then got dragged back to the school. Now you've run away on your own and they're trying to find you again."
"Well that so called miracle was actually because of Lissa's spirit. Spirit users have been forgotten for a while and there aren't that many of them around in contrast to other specialists. Being a spirit user means that you could do a lot of things but they have in common the ability to bring back the dead and use high levels of compulsion. However their abilities have a side effect too and they get bombarded with shadows and depression. Me being her Shadow-Kissed guardian means that I can help her by drawing the darkness out from her." I took a breath and tried to think of what to say next. "Lissa's main specialty for now seems to be healing things while I've known others to specialise in dream walking or mind control."
"Does taking the depression from your… bond person have any negative effects on you?"
"Yeah it does, it makes me crazy with rage some times. Being her bond mate means that I have a one way connection with her, I can tap into her mind at any time and I can hear her thoughts and feel what she feels but it doesn't work the other way around. If my darkness from her builds too much, I could go mental and have a raging fit and direct my attack at whoever pisses me off in that moment."
"Isn't that quite dangerous?"
"Yeah, but the Strigoi here have it worse. While I only get my rage from Lissa, the Strigoi get it from everyone around them. That's what makes them mental."
"Then how do these guys get by?"
"The same way I do, by not letting it take over them have somewhat rely on the spirit users to heal away the darkness. Once the darkness is away from the spirit user, the darkness becomes diluted and they can heal it away from whoever absorbed it. At least, that's what I learned from Oksana and Clune."
"Has it ever happened to you? Losing control I mean." Sydney asked cautiously as though it was a touchy topic. I glanced at her for a moment and nodded.
"Yeah, on three occasions. The first time it happened was when I was still back at the Academy. Something had happened and Lissa became absolutely furious, then I absorbed all of that and nearly beat a Moroi boy in my year to death. I think it was towards the end of our field experience or something. If I hadn't been dragged off by Dimitri, I probably wouldn't have stopped beating that Moroi." I told her with a calm voice. "The second time it happened was when I was already here in Russia. I can't remember what triggered that one but it was pretty good timing. I was in a fight with a bunch of Strigoi and I was getting tired too quickly but the burst of darkness that exploded gave me the strength to finish the job and get out of that fight alive."
"So it could be useful as well in a way…" Sydney seemed to try and understand the concept of it all and I couldn't help but smile at the frown that grew on her face.
"It's probably hard to get your head around unless it actually happens in front of you." I commented. "But let's hope it doesn't get to that. Thanks to the spirit users around here, I've managed to stay sane along with the Strigoi here."
"I'll have to agree with you about that," she scoffed. "I don't even want to think about the possibility of any Strigoi in this town going out of control…" she shuddered.
"It won't happen. They won't let it happen." I told her with complete faith.
"How long have you been here Rose?"
"Um… I've lost count but around a month I think… or maybe more than that…" I tried to think when I first met Riya and settled in this town but I couldn't remember how long ago that was.
"That's not very long… how did you develop such trust in them so quickly?" she stared at me in shock.
"I've been through enough to know that I can trust them." I smiled. "After the different fights that we've managed to survive through together, that's enough."
"I guess you do have a point there," she nodded slowly. "Wait… I just realised, you mentioned that you lost your control three times, you've only mentioned two," she frowned.
I turned to her and gave her a rueful smile. "You're observant. You're right; I only mentioned two, because the third time I lost control was when Riya died properly. She protected me and in doing so she sacrificed her own life. Then I lost control and went on a rage against the guardians who had swarmed the town."
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while now but… who is Riya?"
I stopped in shock and just stared at her. "You don't know?"
"No, that's why I'm asking you," she crossed her arms in frustration. "I've tried looking her up but I got nothing at all which is just ridiculous."
"Sydney, Riya is the same person as Raisa. Riya was one of her names back when she was still a dhampir. Riya was the name that her family knew her by and Raisa is her guardian name." I explained to her slowly so that she could take it all in.
"Wait… so you're telling me that the legendary Raisa never disappeared twenty years ago and that she's been living as a Strigoi all this time?"
"Yes, well… until she died a second time when she protected me from a nasty guardian." I nodded.
"You've got to be kidding me!" she shook her head in protest.
"Whether you want to believe it or not, it's true and Tatiana is the cause for both occasions of her death." I stated bluntly.
"What's this talk I've been hearing about Rai?" Aleksandr asked and casually draped an arm around my shoulders.
"Oh just explaining to Sydney that Riya and Raisa is one person." I grinned. "How's things going at your end with the patrolling? Everything still safe?"
"Yep, I caught wind of something about visitors being sent our way," he frowned.
"Yeah, Victor Dashkov and a bunch of jailbaits." I nodded.
"You are certainly becoming quite the capable leader Roza; I can see why Rai thought so highly of you. Her compliments weren't false."
"How're you and Konstantin holding up?" I asked. I suddenly realised that this was the first time I spoke to Aleksandr on his own before. In fact, I hadn't spoken to either of them before. Not properly.
He seemed surprised by the question and he gave a small grim smile. "We're doing what we can to hold up."
"I'll go check up again on Victor's movements." Sydney commented when she sensed that a conversation she probably shouldn't intrude on was about to happen.
"Thanks a bunch Sydney." I smiled and then turned to Aleksandr. "Do you have some time? I'd like to talk to you and with Konstantin too sometime."
"I'll let him know that," he nodded. "And I have time."
"Let's go to the lake back at the house."
We headed back to the house at a leisurely pace and Aleksandr seemed to fill the silence with random comments the whole way. I wondered how anyone could talk so much.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked curiously as we sat on the patio.
"Well I'm not sure really. It's just that we've never had a conversation before so I just felt like having one while we're all relatively safe." I shrugged. "And I wanted to apologise as well. It's my fault that you had to lose her again."
Aleksandr blinked at me several times before he boomed with laughter and he slapped my back a few times playfully although I think that he underestimated his strength a little because it hurt. "So that's what it was. Man I had a feeling that this would happen eventually. Roza, you have absolutely nothing to apologise for."
"But -"
"But nothing. Really, no matter what you might think, Rai never does anything that she doesn't believe in. And besides, whatever happened during that siege was tough, it would've been insanity to not have considered the chance of you losing your life at some point. Rai was prepared for that. She'd thought through every little detail and possibility of what could happen during that fight and she weighed the importance of each person. It wasn't a mistake that she saved you Roza. She loved you like a sister and she wouldn't have ever forgiven herself if she knew that she could save you but didn't. That's just the type of person she was. Completely reckless," he smiled fondly which had my heart churn. It was the same type of fondness that I often saw in Dimitri's eyes when he looked at me.
"You two really did love her didn't you?" I asked.
"Yes, we've never held anything else above her safety other than the Moroi's of course. But even then at the very start, Konstantin and I did muck up a couple of times and got into rather large fights. Rai sure did beat us up good for our mistakes those times."
"You two were beaten up by her?" I laughed.
"Well yeah, she was the best of the candidates after all," he smiled again and his eyes were distant as though he was recalling the past. "She was the fastest rising student in history. She aced all her tests and her fighting capabilities were incredible so she was boosted up a couple of grades. Konstantin and I were already bumped up a year because of our skills but Rai sure was impressive and within the first year of her arrival at the school and after a lot of deliberation amongst the teachers, they decided to place a six year old in a class of nine year olds."
"She was bumped up that many years?!"
"Yeah, from what I heard from the teachers at the school, they considered her abilities and the glory that the prodigy could bring to the school. They tried to figure out which year would make her excel the most and they decided that my year was the best because of Konstantin and I. Even then those cunning teachers had a feeling that we would be working together. Back then, Konstantin and I didn't really know each other. In fact we hated each other and whenever we were near each other, a fight would occur. We were the biggest trouble makers back then. And then Rai came along."
Aleksandr took a breather and turned to the woods just as Konstantin emerged. "How about you continue the story?" he suggested.
"Gladly." Konstantin smirked and sat on the other side of me. "Back then, this idiot was insufferable and it was even worse when the teachers forced us into the same room. The amount of furniture we destroyed with our fights drove the headmaster mental. When we first heard of the little prodigy who had been requested to join the school, we were a little curious but we didn't really care. But then when she was put into our year, that's when all hell broke loose."
"The other people in our year were furious, they couldn't understand why someone so young would be studying alongside them and they all thought that she would bring their standards down. At first Rai suffered through some pretty intense bullying. During training, her opponents would strike harder than they needed leaving ugly bruises and scars all over her. But not once did she complain. She was such a tough but cute little cookie."
"You know she hates to be called that." Konstantin rolled his eyes. "She kept up such a strong front to prove that she was capable. Barely anyone knew just how hard she would study and work each day and night just to catch up with the syllabus so that she wouldn't give anyone any inconvenience. She was so considerate."
"I was the first to find out about it. One night when I was bored and it was way past lights out, I snuck out of my room and decided to take a random roam around in the girl's dorms."
"This guy was well known for being a playboy from the very start." Konstantin scoffed.
"Shut up man," he said defensively. "So when I took a look around the girl's dorms, I noticed that one light was still on so out of curiosity, I climbed up a tree to see whose room it was. I was somewhat surprised to see Rai's face buried in piles off books. From that night on, it became a habit to check on her each night. I think it was the third night when I noticed something different…"
Aleksandr's Flashback General POV:
Aleksandr smoothly climbed up the tree for the third time. By now the movements were natural, almost uniform. He was more than surprised to find the window slightly open and there was a plate of cookies and a glass of milk on the outside of the windowsill. Lifting his head up he found a note stuck up on the window: 'It must be pretty tiring to climb up the tree so feel free to take them Aleksandr Beletsky.'
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he read his name. He was shocked enough to know that she'd realised he'd been watching her like some crazy stalker the past few nights but he'd never had any hints that she'd noticed him. For her to have known who he was, was even more shocking.
When he reached out for the cookies, he looked through the window to see her watching him with her chin resting on her palm and she had such a cute smile greeting him. Her eyes shone in amusement at having caught him red handed and she gave a small wave.
Aleksandr wasn't sure what to do so he'd planned on running away. He was halfway down the tree when he heard the window open fully and glancing up he saw her leaning out of the window. Her hair fell around her head and Aleksandr couldn't help but notice how long it was. Nor could he help but notice the intriguing vibrant streak in her fringe.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she smiled sweetly.
"You? Scare me? Not a chance," he lied and even he had to admit that it was a terrible one.
"Oh really?" she arched a brow and rested her chin on her palm again. "Well whatever it doesn't really matter. Are you sure you don't want to take the cookies with you? If I eat any more of them I'll be sick."
"When did you notice?"
"What? When did I notice that there was a stalker? I wasn't that sure on the first night but then you came back on the second night. Are you trying to find some dirt on me or something so that you can blackmail me? Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not much of a blackmailing material," she smiled apologetically. "Cookie?" she asked as she held one out towards him.
Hesitantly Aleksandr climbed back up and sat on the branch. "Why aren't you creeping out or trying to report me?"
"I'm not sure. Probably because you seem funny," she grinned cheekily. "I'm Raisa. Well, actually it's Zarya but since there's already a girl called Zarya I thought it would be easier if I went with my middle name. Nice to meet you mister stalker."
"Well you already know my name but I'm Aleksandr and you can call me Alik."
"Can I? You won't be offended or think that I'm arrogant for calling you with such a familiar name?" she asked with genuine concern and the emotion in her eyes was so clear to him that Aleksandr felt that he couldn't just leave her alone. The sadness was so evident in her eyes of being excluded by her classmates. At that moment, he fully comprehended the loneliness that she must've felt for being forced into such a difficult situation by being placed into a year where everyone was at least three years older than her.
"I won't be offended," he shook his head. "I'll be offended if you don't call me Alik."
"Well then Alik it is," she laughed. "So what made you decide to take an after curfew roam?"
"I was bored so I decided to take a look at the female dorms," he shrugged.
"Isn't that a bit perverted?"
"Well most people are asleep so it's fine. In fact, all of them are asleep, except for you that is. Why are you working so hard? You'll get by with your fighting skills alone."
"Yeah but that would make the other people in the year resent me even more won't it? Just my battle skills aren't enough to make me worthy of being bumped up a couple of grades so I want to work hard for it. I don't want to disappoint the teachers either."
"I've been wondering about this but why don't you have a roommate? We don't get our own rooms until we're a senior."
She looked sheepish for a moment and gave a forced laugh. "Well, I guess I'm a special case."
"Tell the truth."
"Why should I? You're just some stalker," she said stubbornly. "Besides, why does it matter why I don't have a roommate?"
"I'm curious."
"Well, tough luck," she pouted and he found her expression incredibly cute. It was so cute that he couldn't help but chuckle. "What?"
"You really are a cute child."
"I'm only two years younger than you."
"Two years is pretty significant you know?" Aleksandr laughed and his laughter was promptly followed by a sneeze.
"Oh gosh, sorry, why don't you come in? The daylight chill must be catching up with you."
"You're inviting a boy into your room? Are you crazy?"
"It'll be fine, in exchange, you can help me with my studies." Raisa waved her hand, dismissing his concern.
"There's no way."
"What are you? Chicken?" she smirked.
"Don't make me laugh. I'm just being a gentleman."
"You can be a gentleman when you get older so just get in. I heard that you weren't stupid so please come help me out here. I'm stuck on this math problem." The way that she pleaded with him with her eyes made him rethink his decision.
Aleksandr deliberated for a while longer before he realised that he was starting to get cold so he jumped off of the branch and quietly landed on his feet in her room. By now Raisa had another chair at her desk for him to sit on and she had one of her hands fisted in her long hair in frustration.
"What are you stuck on?" he asked and casually leaned over her shoulder to have a glance at what she was working on. "Hm… you're not going to get anywhere with this unless you know your times table quite well. So how well do you know them?"
Raisa stiffened and gave him a sheepish smile. "Um…"
"Do you know them at all?" Aleksandr glared at her.
"I know doubles…" she whistled in an innocent way like a kid caught stealing from the cookie jar.
"Then for now, let's start with forcing the times table into your memory."
"Do we have to?"
"Yes," he stated firmly like a strict teacher and she pouted.
"But it's boring."
"Tough, you asked for my help so take it."
"I gave you cookies; you should be nice to me."
"I am being nice to you, by making sure that you won't fail your exams."
With that said, he began to drum the times table into her memory and he left her room after an hour since they both needed to sleep.
