Okay, I thought I'd try something different. The whole chapter is in Dimitri's nephew Paul's POV. He's a ten year old boy, so I hope I get it right. I translated it to English so you can read it.
As always, I do NOT own Vampire Academy.
Paul POV
"Sonya, you are such a cow!" SLAM! Sounds like Aunt Viktoria and Aunt Sonya are fighting again. When those two go at it, there is no peace and quiet to be found anywhere. I'm laying on my bed, throwing my ball against the wall and catching it over and over trying to drown out their bickering. Being the only man in a house full of women can be very lonesome sometimes.
"And you're an immature brat who thinks she can just take whatever she wants without asking!" SLAM! God, what did Aunt Viktoria do now? She's only six years older than me but at times acts younger. She has a bit of a temper, especially when it comes to Aunt Sonya. They fight about stupid stuff all the time. I hear a door open and then another.
"I don't know why you are being so selfish. You're too fat to even wear it now and it looks better on my anyways." That was a low blow. Aunt Sonya is pregnant so a lot of her clothes don't fit right now. She won't be big forever and will need her clothes back eventually.
"That doesn't matter. It's still mine and I said you couldn't borrow it." Ugh, they're giving me a headache. I can't wait for school to start again in the fall. It'll be so nice away from all these stupid girls. I can't wait for my friends to come over later. Of course the main reason some come over is to ogle at my Aunt Viktoria. My friends think she's pretty and have a crush on her. I don't get it. At least it gives me a chance to do guy things.
"Well, if you won't let me borrow it, then I'm gonna make sure you'll never wear it either." Aunt Viktoria screams. How is she going to do that?
"Don't you dare do anything to that blouse. It's one of my favorites." I hear someone running down the stairs. Finally, maybe they'll take it outside.
"Dimka!" I hear Aunt Viktoria yell from downstairs. Oh my god. Is Uncle Dimitri here? I haven't seen him since I was litte. I think I was around six. I hear my mom come out of her room and start walking down the hall. Aunt Sonya and I follow her to see what Aunt Viktoria is screaming about. I get to the bottom of the stairs and see a huge man hugging my grandmother and Aunt Viktoria hugging some dark-haired girl. Whoa, Uncle Dimitri looks bigger than I remember. He pulls the girls close to him.
"Momma, this is my Roza. The woman who agreed to be my wife." He's getting married? But she looks like a Dhampir. I thought you couldn't do that. Now I'm confused. My grandmother looks very pleased to meet her though. My mom and Aunt Sonya walk over to see my uncle and his girlfriend so I guess I will too. Wow. I think she is the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my life, and that includes Anya from school. I remember when Uncle Dimitri would call home and tell us about his student he was training. She doesn't look like a trouble maker. From what he said about her, she's one of the best fighters ever, aside form him of course. Uncle Dimitri is the best guardian out there. I think I'll ask him to show me some moves while he's here. She already has a bunch of Molnija marks from what I hear. Maybe I can see them if she just turns her head a little... She's looking at me. What should I do? Do I say hi, or shake her hand? Now she's smiling at me. She's even prettier when she smiles. She caught me staring at her. How embarrassing. Look away Paul before you really make a fool out of yourself.
Aunt Viktoria pulls Rose on the couch with her and they all start telling her stories about Uncle Dimitri when he was my age. He doesn't look to happy about this. Then they pull out the old photo album when Rose asked to see him as a baby. I've heard a lot of these stories before so I go sit with Uncle Dimitri. "I'm glad you're back, Uncle. It's hard being the only boy." He smiles at me and nods.
"I know exactly what you mean. I was the only boy until you came along." Yeah, living with a house full of girls really sucks sometimes. At least it's something we have in common.
"You were right." I tell him thinking about a phone call he made to us not long after he brought her and the princess back to the academy.
"About what?"
"She is the prettiest girl in the world." I had asked him is she was pretty and that's how he answered.
"Yes, she is." he said smiling.
Grandma decided that she wanted to talk to Uncle Dimitri and Rose alone so they went to the kitchen to help her make dinner. Rose must not do very much cooking, because when I went in to get a glass of water, Uncle Dimitri was standing behind her, almost hugging her, showing her how to cut the vegetables. How hard is that? She didn't look like she really wanted to know though because she kept tilting her head back and kissing my uncle's neck. Gross. I was able to catch a peak at her marks on her neck. She is so cool! While they finish cooking, I go outside to see my friends. My two best friends, Grigori and Sergei are a few years older than me. The come over all the time when we're home from school because Sergei has a huge crush on Aunt Viktoria. So, of course, they want to come in so he can drool over himself while looking at her. Whatever. I can't wait to introduce them to my uncle, though. He is a legend around Baia. He has more Molnija than anyone else from our town. We go through the back door and into the kitchen. Uncle Dimitri must have given up teaching Rose how to cook because she is now sitting at the kitchen table watching him help my grandmother. Either she really is bad at cooking, or she really knows how to get out of doing things she doesn't want to do. I try to do introductions.
"Uncle Dimitri, Rose, these are my friends, Sergei and Grigori. We were wondering if you could show us some of your fighting moves?" I ask them in my most pleading voice. Sergei looks at Rose and scoffs. A lot of the kids here are raised with the belief that the men become guardians while the girls stay and have children. After hearing Uncle Dimitri talk about Rose, I don't really believe that anymore.
"I'm sure your uncle can teach us some things, but the girl, I could probably take her." Sergie says. Everyone in the kitchen but my friends laugh at him.
"I would be careful what you say around Rose. She's taken me down before." my uncle tells him. My friend doesn't seem to believe it until Rose shows him the back of her neck. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw her marks.
"Why don't you two go out with the boys and show them how real guardians do it. I'll finish up and let you know when dinners ready." My grandmother says as she pushes Uncle Dimitri out the door.
"Let me borrow some clothes from Viktoria. I don't want to get the dress ruined." Rose says as she heads towards the living room. Good luck with that. Aunt Viktoria isn't big on sharing her things. Amazingly, Rose comes back out in shorts and a tank top with my Mom and aunts trailing behind. Even Yeva, my great grandmother comes out to see them fight. They start circling each other and then my uncle lunges at her and she blocks it. I can't believe it! They each start punching and kicking each other while the girls are rooting for Rose and me and my friends are shouting for Uncle Dimitri. Eventually, my uncle ends up pinning Rose to the ground, but she doesn't look mad or nothing. My friends and I were so excited we started jumping up and down, shouting 'boys rule and girls drool'. Then Uncle Dimitri did something I didn't want to see. Before he got off her, he leaned down and kissed her. You don't kiss the enemy after you kicked their butt. What was he thinking. Grown ups are really odd sometimes.
Dinner was really interesting. Uncle Dimitri and Rose told us all about their friends and about how they are looking for a Strigoi named Adrian whose soul is living in Rose's body right now. That is super creepy. They told us about the attack at the academy and all the raids they've been on. I ask my uncle lots of questions about how he fought the Strigoi. Sometimes he answers and a couple times he said I wasn't old enough to hear the answer. Not old enough ? I'm ten and three quarters. I'm practically a man. Maybe he didn't want to say anything in front of my grandmother. She always worries about him, and now Rose too. I notice Yeva staring at Rose all throughout dinner. I know that look too. She must have had one of her dreams. Hopefully it was a good dream, but by the look on her face, I doubt it. Then the girls start talking about the wedding and all sorts of boring stuff, so I stop listening.
Rose invites us all to dinner tomorrow night to meet her family and the friends they hunt with. Uncle Dimitri tells me that they are going to be training at the local gym in the afternoon and asked if I wanted to come watch. You bet I want to come! Aunt Viktoria manages to weasel her way into the training too. She can work with Rose. I'm staying with Uncle Dimitri. I'm gonna be a great guardian just like him someday.
I know it's shorter than usual, but Paul is only ten, he doesn't have a whole lot to say. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review.
