Well, this one was a little quicker i guess. But yet again i think it's a tad on the short side, and yeah same excuse as always: it was the perfect place to stop :]
I like...just realized, that i never even say thank-you for your reviews. So...
thank-you all heaps for the reviews, they seriously are what keeps me posting! (Honestly, i'd be hopeless with out your awesome suggestions and feedback, i wouldn't know what i was doing right and wrong and then everything would just suck.)
So yeah, THANK-YOU!
Answers:
1)Mia and Adrian were where we left them, in a room scared and confused about the strigoi that had just entered their room. The strigoi in their room are the same ones that go in Lissa's room. (Sorry about the little spoiler)
2)Freddy her name was Tasha, not Tanya. LOL close though. And yeah i hated her for trying to get in with Dimka too...she'll be the first Moroi i kill off ^^ (And personally, i hate Ralf and Jesse just about as much as i hate her)
3)You'll have to wait to find out what happens with Adrian.
4)Hell YEAH they kept the shit they bought, i couldn't send them back to school without them!
5)A baby...that's not a bad idea, but i don't think i could put that in just yet. Thanks for the suggestion though :]
I'm going to shut up and let you read now,
Enjoy! xxx :]
CHRISTIAN POV
The instant the strigoi walked out of mine and Lissa's room I set them both on fire, killing them both within twenty seconds. What the fuck was that all about? And what the hell were strigoi doing in the Royal Court!? That's not possible, it's to secure.
"Wh…what just happened?" Lissa voice was incredulous. She knew what had happened; she just didn't want to believe it. And neither did I.
I turned back towards her, closing and locking the door behind me. "Well, they didn't kill us because of Rose and that deal she made with them. You know, what Adrian was telling us about the other day?" She nodded weakly, still dazed from the attack. "And obviously, I killed them. But, what I don't understand is…"
"How did they get into the Royal court?" she finished my sentence as I sat down on the floor next to her legs.
"I don't know."I said in a dumbfound tone. "Come on. We need to go find Adrian and Mia, they could be in danger." I stood up and grabbed her hand. She followed me down the halls effortlessly, not saying a word or making a sound. She was scared…
Loud noises were coming from the bottom floor, so at least the guardians were doing their jobs right. Five guardians came flying up the staircase me and Lissa just walked past, all armed and ready.
"You two, are there any others up in this area?" one of the guardians asked.
"Strigoi? Or Moroi?" I asked, staying all serious like.
"Either." another guardian answered.
"Yeah, Mia Rinaldi and Adrian Ivashkov. We're going to get them now, and there are two dust piles down there that need cleaning up." The last part about dust was a joke, but they nodded and followed us towards where Adrian's room was, which was where Mia usually was.
I knocked on the door and heard Mia yelp. "It's Christian, hurry up we've got to get out of here."
The door opened a few seconds later and Mia ran into Lissa's arms while Adrian strolled casually along behind her, like there was nothing wrong.
Mia and Lissa started having a little sob fest, talking in voices I couldn't even begin to understand. We didn't hesitate to follow three of the five guardians down to the lower floor to the safe room. The other two were scouting out the top floor to make sure we hadn't left any behind.
"Christian I'm…scared. If they're attacking…does that mean something happened to Rose?" Lissa asked when we were locked away safely in the 'safe' room.
"No Liss, they aren't attacking Saint Vlad's people, they want everyone else. Rose is fine." Ugh. I was actually starting to miss Rose. She always helped Lissa stay calm, and she always made sure there was fun to be had. Most of all she was good at what she did, so no-one ever had to worry. Psycho she may be, but I did miss her.
"Thank-you," she sobbed, hugging into my chest. God I loved Lissa so much.
No-one said anything else for a while. Every now and then you'd hear a few sobs or someone would burst out crying. I didn't realize that the queen was actually locked in here with us, but no-one really cared much either. Right now, she was just another Moroi, another Moroi who was in danger.
More and more Moroi were coming through the doors, and the noises outside had stopped a little. Maybe they were all dead…but which lot? The good guys or the bad guys? What was going to happen to us if the bad guys won?
"Alright, listen up." I stood up, confident and ready. "If the guardians out there are all dead, then we're all screwed. How many fire users have we got in here?" the queen looked horrified at that last statement, but most others seemed to realize what I was getting at, and put their hands up. "Good, that's eleven of us that can help protect the rest of us. Fire users please move towards the door area so we can be prepared." Everyone shuffled off in different directions, the vulnerable Moroi huddling up around the queen in the back of the room, while the fire users lined up around two meters back from the door.
"What about the rest of us? We just sit here and let them come? I'm an air user; I could help spread the flames quicker." A small Moroi girl with hair like mine said, standing up and walking over to us.
I nodded. "Yeah I guess so, didn't think of that. Any other air users that would like to volunteer?" people really could get creative when they were in danger, I never thought I'd be trying to take charge in a situation, little own trying to form a mini-Moroi army to fend off strigoi.
Three others stood up, one other girl and two men. The girl had unnaturally blonde hair, and the men looked like twins with light brown hair and blonde highlights.
We stood there discussing a plan of action. If the door opened and it wasn't friendly, we'd wait for them to step inside then create a small flame, and then the air users would spread them out and push them onto the strigoi. Why couldn't all Moroi work like this all the time? We'd be so much better off if we could help fight off the Moroi with out guardians instead of just sitting there being vulnerable.
Judging by the pissed off and determined looks on all of the Moroi gathered at the front of the room; they were all thinking the same thing.
The door creaked open, and we got ready to burn the next thing to step through the door, but it was a guardian. There were sighs of relief all through the room, mine included. I was a little disappointed, though. We'd organized a wicked attack plan to protect ourselves, and didn't even get to see if it'd work. Talk about lame…
"What's going on here?" the guardian asked. She was a very buff looking girl with curly blonde hair that only just touched her shoulders. Sort of like Rose's mum…
"We were organizing ourselves. Preparing to fight back if it was necessary." It was the queen that answered her. She was walking over towards the door, eyeing me off in what sort of looked like approval. "This young man," she inclined her head towards me. "Was preparing an attack strategy with the fire and air users. He wasn't prepared to stand down and be bait. He was ready to fight for his queen."
I had to bite my tongue when she said I was ready to fight for her. I was ready to fight for Lissa, not her. God I wanted to crack up laughing so bad…
"What's your name, child?" she asked me.
"Christian Ozera." Child? Who the fuck was she calling child?
"Ozera?" that caught her off guard. She obviously didn't think she'd been complimenting the only child of a disgraced family, did she? Hah! "I'd like to see you a little later. Once everything here is all finished I'll send someone for you." She walked out the door, four guardians breaking off the follow her.
Oh great. I was going to have a private conversation with the women who was trying to organize a wedding between my wife and her nephew. The same women who'd totally disgraced Lissa back at the start of our senior year.
This should be good.
ROSE POV
Once in the school grounds we were escorted to the clinic immediately to be checked for anything abnormal. Dimitri got his check-up first, and they found there was nothing wrong with him, just lack of sleep.
I'd been fairly confident there was nothing wrong with me either, but the doctors and test results said otherwise. I'd been…changing.
"What the hell do you mean I'm turning Moroi? If I was turning something wouldn't it be strigoi?" what a load of bullshit.
"No, Rose." Dr. Olendzki said, shaking his head. "I don't know what they did to you, but you are changing. Or were changing."
I glared at him. "So what? I'm part Moroi now?" I was already part Moroi, but he understood it.
He nodded a little. "You're more Moroi then dhampire now, that's for sure. Haven't you noticed any changes?"
Hell no I didn't. "No doc, I don't use magic, I walk in the sun and I don't need…" blood. The strigoi had been making me drink blood, and I'd started liking the taste after a while. My glare turned into a desperate plea. "What's that mean? What's gonna happen now?" Jesus Christ…I didn't want to be a Moroi. I wanted to be a legendary guardian, not someone who needs guardians.
"I really don't know…can you feel the magic? Let me see your teeth." I opened my mouth a little, praying to god that I didn't have fangs. "You haven't exactly got fangs so to speak…but you do have two very sharp pointy canines now. Were they always like that?" I shook my head, unable to mutter words. "Okay…so you're developing fangs. Which means you probably need blood…"
I hung my head down low. I was going to be a little Moroi. No more guardian. "Can't you fix me? I mean I don't feel magic and I'm not dying over not having blood. And I can still go in the sun." I didn't think I could feel the magic. And I wasn't suffering from not having any blood yet, and I hadn't tested out the sun for ages…what if I couldn't go in the sun anymore? What if I was going to suddenly start lighting fires or pushing air around? What if I actually had to start drinking blood again…?
"I don't know if you're still changing, but you'll have to come in again tomorrow so I can check. At the moment you're three quarters Moroi…Rose, you're the same as Alina." Dr. Olendzki said.
Well, that didn't seem too bad. Like, Alina was actually training to be a guardian. So why couldn't I? I was already trained to be a guardian, and if I actually did have magic I didn't really need it.
Speaking of Alina…
"Can I go now?" I asked slightly urgently. He nodded and I grabbed Dimitri's hand, taking off out the door. When I pushed it open I froze. It was night…otherwise known as day time. What if the sun was going to hurt me?
"What's wrong, Rose?" Dimitri asked, turning my body towards him. My head stayed glaring off into the sunlight though.
"What…what if I can't go into the sun anymore? What if it hurts me?" the hurting part wasn't so bad.
"You heard what Dr. Olendzki said. You're like Alina, remember? And Alina can go out into the sun, so you should too." He said, stroking my hair a little.
"Oh," I said. "I'd forgotten about that." I jumped into the light, welcoming it brightly. "Cool!" I started running off towards the junior's dorms where Alina would now be located. I had so much to learn from her.
Running up the dorm hallway I almost flattened her. "Alina!" I squealed in a school girl's voice. "Oh my god I've got to talk to you!" it felt weird jumping around like a little kid, but who cares.
"What is it Rose?" she asked while she tried to hold me still. I could here Dimitri laughing freely behind us, but I couldn't give a shit.
"I'm like you!" I said, calming down a little. "I'm like you now," not really… "Well…sort of. How do you know if you feel the magic?" I asked. I'd been feeling lots of different things lately, but I didn't think any of them felt much like 'magic'.
"You're like me?" her eyes popped open wide and bright. "How? What happened?" she asked.
Ugh. I didn't think about the fact that she too would have questions to ask on the subject. "While I was gone, the strigoi made me drink Moroi blood. I just found out now that it was changing me into a Moroi, but it's stopped. We think. And the doc said I was like you are now. So how do you use magic? How do you find it?" I asked a little impatiently.
"Can you feel it?" she asked, looking just as excited as I was. "Lets go see Miss Carmack, she'll be able to help us more then I can." She grabbed my hand and took off running with me towards the class rooms.
"I'll catch up with you two later!" Dimitri called out from behind us. Woops, I'd forgotten about him.
"Bye!" I called out to him, turning around briefly and almost getting pulled flat on my ass. A guardian that could use magic…wow that'd so cool. What if I didn't specialize in fire though? Sure, I guess air could be cool. But what if I got water? Or earth? What help would they be? Sure, Mia used water to save my ass back in Spokane, but it wasn't deadly or anything.
Pulling into the class room Miss Carmack dropped her book in shock as we burst through the door. "Hello girls," she said, breathing heavy and holding her heart. "How can I help you?" she was looking at Alina when she spoke, obviously not expecting me to need any help from a magic instructor.
"Rose," Alina nudge me in the arm. "Needs you to help her. Apparently she's supposed to be able to use magic like me now, and she wants to know how." Alina was talking that fast that it took Miss Carmack a while to work out what the whole sentence meant.
"Rose is like you? No, Rose is a dhampire. Dhampire's don't have magic girls., you both know that." She frowned, looking a little frustrated with us both.
"No miss I was changing into a Moroi but it's stopped now. The doctor told me I was like Alina now, and Alina uses magic, so I want to know if I can use magic." I was speaking faster then Alina had, so it took her even longer to work out what I was saying.
"You were changing? How?" she asked, looking both confused and eager.
I sighed, and I told her everything that had happened. Once we were done she agreed to help.
"So, how do I get to the magic?" I asked, sitting down on a desk.
"It's a feeling deep inside of you. It feels like life, like happiness and all of those sorts of things." She was trying to find a word that would mean something to me, but I knew what she was talking about already.
"The feeling that shines through the bond when Lissa heals things," I said nodding my head. "I've got it, but I can't…find it. It's in my head I think." I wasn't sure if I did. I'd started thinking that feeling was just Lissa, but what if it was me? That would explain why it was getting more profound every day.
She smiled, nodding. "Can you reach it?" she asked, pulling up a chair next to me and Alina.
"How? I can feel it there…it wants out. But I don't know how to let it out."
She grinned again. "Don't try and let it out, let it out. Try and make a fire," she said. Sure made that sound easy.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" I asked her, a little irritation evident in my tone.
She chuckled. "You tell me once you've done it, and if you can't make a fire I'll get you some water and soil."
I frowned, glaring at my hand. I needed Christian or something. How'd he do it? All he had to do was snap his fingers. Hell, he didn't even do that, he just made fire. Glaring at my hand still, I started trying to will a fire to magically appear on my hand. It felt so stupid. "It's not working," I whined.
"Keep trying, I'll go get some water," Miss Carmack stood up and went out of the room looking for water.
"How do you do it?" I asked Alina. She'd specialized in fire as well.
She frowned. "It just sort of comes. Tell the fire to appear and it does." She grinned at me as I stared down in amazement. "Just like that."
I made a fire. I used magic and made a fire. "Wow…" I moved my hand around a bit, and the flame followed along, hovering a centimeter above my hand. "That's awesome…" I murmured in a dazed voice. Flames really were hypnotic.
"You did it!" Miss Carmack chimed, rushing in to do whatever. But in her hurry to make it to me, she tripped over a chair and the glass jug of water she was holding crashed down on her stomaching, causing a lot of bleeding.
I didn't think about what I was doing, I just got up and ran to her aid. I pulled her shirt up and started picking out some of the glass, my only motivation being to help the teacher that was helping me.
I didn't know what happened at first. I just felt this awesome feeling…a feeling just like the one that Lissa always felt when she was healing. It flowed through me, and then Miss Carmack was all better. No blood, no glass, no pain.
I was just like Alina.
"Hey, you healed her Rose!" Alina stated the obvious as she came over to sit beside Miss Carmack and me. "You really are like me. Fire and Spirit, maybe those are the elements that all dhampire slash Moroi specialize in!" Alina was ecstatic, happy to finally have another person like her.
"Why don't I have that dark feeling Lissa gets when she heals people?" I asked, panicking slightly. I'd had to deal with those horrible dark feelings before, and I didn't want to deal with them again.
She smiled a little. "We aren't like Lissa, Rose. We don't go insane when we heal, no-one knows why." Alina seemed pleased with this, and so did I.
I could use magic. I could set strigoi on fire, and I could heal my Moroi if they got hurt. And I was a badass fighting machine. Man life was gonna be sweet. But then…I wasn't a guardian. Maybe I could still get my promise mark…
"Come on," I grabbed Alina's hand, pulling her up. Miss Carmack was already standing up and looking fine so I didn't mind leaving her there. "I have to talk to Kirova," I told Alina, rushing towards Kirova's office. Hopefully she'd let me get my promise mark. Then I could go find Lissa and Christian and learn how to use both my powers.
Knocking on the door Kirova invited us both in, looking a little confused. It's good to see you Miss Hathaway, and you too Miss Ozera." She nodded at us both as we sat down. "What is it you need?" she asked
"I need my promise mark," I knew from experience with Kirova that it was always best to cut straight to the point.
"I can't just give you your promise mark Miss Hathaway. You'll need to graduate." She said.
Oh you're kidding. "But I'd have to go for another year of school! I'm more advanced then many guardians and you want me to repeat my senior year of school?"
She shook her head. "No you're right, that would be rather pointless." She sat in her chair thinking hard about something, and then a light bulb clicked off. "I'll give you your promise mark if you stay and work here for a year. You can be a trainer, who better for them to learn from then yourself?"
I almost fell backwards on my chair. "You want me to teach other people how to be guardians? Are you insane? I'd drive them all crazy!"
"If you want you promise mark, sign here. If you don't the doors just behind you."
Oh you have got to be kidding me. "Listen here,"
"Rose," Alina put her hand on my arm. "You need to learn how to use your new abilities anyway. If you stay here Miss Carmack can help you, and you'll get your promise mark." She reasoned.
I sighed in defeat. She was right, it really was that simple. What's another year of being here, anyway? At least I wouldn't be a student. I'd be telling people what to do, not being told. I grabbed the pen out of her hand and signed the paper.
"Alright then." Kirova smirked in triumph. "The ceremony's already set up Guardian Hathaway, they're awaiting your presence in the Guardian HQ."
Guardian Hathaway. Now, I sure liked the sounds of that. I grinned at her and shook her hand, heading off towards the Guardian HQ.
Alberta nodded at me when I went to go inside, and I could see Dimitri standing inside, trying very hard not to smile at me. Sure, everyone knew about us now, but he still had to be all business.
"Sorry Princess, guardian's and graduating novices only. You'll have to wait outside." Alberta said, cutting Alina off.
Princess? I didn't know Alina was a princess… oh, right. She was Christian's half sister. So I guess she sort of was a Princess. Alina nodded and took a seat on one of the chairs outside.
Walking into the part of HQ they used for ceremonies, I was greeted by warm familiar faces. And my mother.
She didn't say anything when I walked past, she just smiled and nodded, as did I. so she'd heard…god, news spread quick. Yuri was standing at the front podium waiting for me with a grin on his face, totally ruling out any signs of control.
"You again, Hathaway." He chuckled as I sat down on the chair, brushing my hair over my shoulder.
I clenched my teeth when the needle started jabbing into my skin. It hurt a little, but I'd had it done before so it was manageable, just like last time.
CHRISTIAN POV
Me, Lissa, Adrian and Mia had been waiting for the queen to send someone out to fetch me, and when she did we all grew a little anxious. What the hell did the old bag want with me?
I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't hold back the hysterical laughter that was pressing itself out of my lungs. "God, and here I thought you were all business!" I cackled, wiping away loose tears of laughter. "But you do have a sense of humor!"
She waited until I finished laughing, waited with a very annoyed look on her face. "Mister Ozera. I assure you I am one hundred percent serious."
Okay, so she didn't have a sense of humor. She was insane. "You don't actually believe that anyone would sit in a class room and listen to me telling them how to use their magic to kill strigoi, do you?" she'd asked me if I would go back to Saint Vlad's to teach offensive magic to the students. I just got out of that hell hole; no fucking way was I going back.
"Yes, I do." She cleared her throat and picked up an envelope. "Your aunt has already been hired at one of the other academies like yours, and these are the papers for you. By doing this, Mister Ozera, you will not only be teaching children in need, but you will be restoring your family to power."
I sighed. Of course Tasha was going to teach offensive magic, she believed in it stronger then I did. "What's in it for me? Other then the power crap?" better to stick to the point. Working at Saint Vlad's wasn't very appealing, but I could play along for a while. Let her get her hopes up, then smash them all back down.
"You will be paid double the salary of any of the other staff. You will also be trained in other combats, the same way a guardian would. And when you have completed at least one year you will be tested, if you pass you will be given a promise mark." She smirked a little then straightened up. I'd be a guardian? "You will be one of the few Moroi capable so far of assisting their guardians in combat. You won't be defenseless."
Damn…that sounded pretty good. I'd learn how to fight hand on hand, hopefully learn how to use a stake, and make a heap of money in the process. "Alright, where do I sign?" I asked, picking up the envelope and dropping out the contents.
Once I finished signing the papers I left, going to pack my things and tell everyone what happened.
"Why are you packed?" I asked, walking into my room to find Mia, Adrian and Lissa standing with cheap grins and packed suitcases. "Are you going somewhere?" I frowned, closing the door.
"We're going to see Rose." Lissa said, pushing the suitcase she was holding to me.
"I have to pack my own, sorry honey. Get one of the guardians to help you,"
"This is yours, so are those." She pointed to the other two suitcases. "Yeah we know you work at Saint Vlad's," Lissa smirked. "So does Rose."
