*Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does!*
So I have very diligently been writing this story in a notebook while my laptop wasn't here. And now I'm slowly typing it up.
It's funny how productive I was when I didn't have a laptop to distract me – weird.
And great news! Guess whose back! I got a new laptop – wooh. So I'm back and writing and yeah. You probably don't care and aren't reading this, but I decided to tell you anyway. So for the one person reading this, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Rose's Point of View
I watched Christian, Dimitri, and Natalie leave. Once they did, I turned to Lissa. It didn't require any prodding. Lissa told me everything. How Natalie was playing the role of innocent roommate in the morning. How she had even looked upset that Lissa was upset. And how Natalie had started threatening her, making the ground shift, saying she wouldn't stop unless Lissa agreed to break her father out of prison. After Lissa had told me everything, I urged her to take deep breaths. It only took a couple of minutes for her to calm down. When she did, I walked with her to the Headmaster's office.
When we got there, I took a seat next to the door. "Aren't you coming in?" Lissa asked in a small voice.
I shook my head. "Let's not tempt Natalie anymore, shall we?" I told her quietly. Lissa raised her hand to knock on the door, but I stopped her. "Liss?" Lissa looked at me confused. "Can I… is it okay if I watch?"
She knew what I was asking. She bit her lip before she nodded her head. I'd prefer that you did, she sent through the bond.
I nodded. "You'll be fine," I promised her.
She took a deep breath than raised her hand and knocked on the door. She looked like she was going to her doom.
I closed my eyes, allowing myself to feel our connection. Suddenly, I wasn't seeing the back of my eyelids, I was looking around Kirova's office. This is one of the few office's I am not in all the time. When I get in trouble, I'm sent to Stan, not Kirova.
I tried to send Lissa calming thoughts as she began to speak, but the bond only works one way. She was doing well though. She only stumbled a little bit on the ingenious lie Christian or Dimitri came up with. Really. Saying she texted Christian made everything perfect without the real explanation.
When she had finished speaking, Kirova nodded. He said he was going to expel Natalie. I was doing a little victory dance in my head… well technically in Lissa's head. But suddenly Lissa's fear spiked and I forced myself to pay attention.
"Robert Hemmingway is illegally attending this school," Natalie said. I could hear Lissa's chaotic thoughts running rampant. She was terrified. She knew how much this meant to me. But there was nothing she could do.
"Mr. Hemmingway?" Kirova asked. "I understand his relationship to the Dragomir Princess, but what does he have to do with anything?"
"Robert Hemmingway is no more Lissa's cousin than I am your daughter. He is in fact not even a he," Natalie said harshly. I closed my eyes, willing this to not be real. For this to not be happening.
"I'm sorry… I don't think I'm quite following," Kirova said. This was a good sign. Maybe he wouldn't believe her. maybe he would think she's just trying to get out of trouble.
"Robert is a girl," Natalie said bluntly.
Lissa's thoughts were truly frantic. "Um… I've lived with Robert for over a year. I've seen more of him than I care too. I promise you. He is indeed male," Christian said.
Lissa found strength in Christian's statement. "And I've known my cousin my whole life. He's been a boy since I was in diapers," Lissa said in a convincing voice. She threw just the tiniest bit of compulsion. Not enough for it to be noticed.
"They're lying. Like I said before. They just want to protect her," Natalie said angrily.
"If I may sir?" Dimitri said in his quiet voice. I knew he was trying to follow protocol. If Kirova didn't grant him permission to speak, he wouldn't.
"Yes Guardian Belikov?" Kirova asked him.
"I am in charge of Robert Hemmingway. I train with him before and after school. I have to hope I would have noticed if he weren't a man. There are some things that women just cannot hide," he said calmly.
Kirova nodded. "Thank you Guardian Belikov," Kirova said. Lissa was only faintly aware of that though. She was too focused on Natalie.
Natalie, whose expression was changing from shock to comprehension to anger. I braced myself inside Lissa's head. I knew that Natalie was capable of a lot. I wasn't sure how far she would take this.
"He's in on it," she said, her voice quivering with anger. "He knows she's a girl. He's trying to protect her too."
"Now that's enough," Kirova said sternly.
"You're not listening to me. They are all in on it! Everyone is conspiring against me! Even the guardians!" Natalie said, her voice picking up in volume and becoming increasingly panicked.
"That's enough!" Kirova yelled. "Guardian Belikov is one of my most trusted Guardians. He has been extremely faithful to this program and has never once strayed from protocol. Unless you have something to base these ridiculous accusations on, we are done here. I will contact your guardian and they will make arrangements for you to leave before sunset."
"Over my dead body!" Natalie snarled, jumping to her feet.
Dimitri shifted so he was standing in front of the door. He wasn't about to let Natalie escape. But he underestimated her. A lot.
I watched, my horror mingling with Lissa's at the scene that unfolded. Natalie attempted to go through Dimitri. When that didn't work, she dropped to the ground. Dimitri thought she was going to try to crawl through him. That's what I thought as well, to be honest.
That is not what she did. Natalie bit him on his ankle. She didn't drink enough to kill him, but she drank enough to successfully get around him and run away. I watched with horror as Dimitri collapsed to the ground. He looked so pale.
I pulled myself from Lissa's head, but I wasn't quick enough. Natalie disappeared around the corner before I even got to my feet.
I hesitated before I walked into Kirova's office. It was natural I would want to wait outside to make sure my cousin and my roommate were okay.
Seeing it through my own eyes was worse. Much worse. Lissa hadn't really concentrated on Dimitri. She preferred to stay away from the blood and gore. Natalie had been sloppy, tearing away some of the skin on his ankle in the process of biting him.
I looked at Christian. "What happened?" I asked, playing dumb, pretending I didn't know how this came to be.
"Natalie bit him. we have to get him to the nurse," Christian said. he looked at Kirova for permission to leave.
"Yes, yes. Take him to the nurse," Kirova said hastily. "Princess, you are free to go as well. This school is about to go into lock down so you'll have to stay in the nurse's office."
Kirova didn't look up from a huge binder as he spoke. He was no doubt looking up the numbers he needed to call now that a deranged student was on the loose.
Christian and I helped Dimitri to his feet and supporting most of his weight, we headed to the nurse. Normally Lissa would have healed him, but Kirova wouldn't approve of her use of magic. her magic is strictly monitored when used… or at least when they know it's being used. I think her magic frightened a lot of the teachers. It's rare. Really rare.
We were almost to the health building when the lockdown started. We had had drills before, but never something like this. I could see students rushing towards buildings with frightened expressions on their faces. They knew this wasn't a drill.
Dimitri slumped in our arms, falling unconscious from all the blood he lost. That was when we full blown sprinted.
Finally, we walked into the health building. The nurse looked like she was going to tell us we shouldn't be here, but she took one look at Dimitri and changed her mind.
"Put him here. On the bed," she told us. She bustled around the room looking for supplies. "What happened?"
"A student… bit him," Christian said in between pants.
I forced myself to leave Dimitri's side and stand by the wall. I didn't trust myself not to touch him if I stood by the bed. I knew he would be fine. The worst part was going to be waiting for his
I just stood there, watching and waiting. That was all I could do.
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