Oh my goodness! I have once again been blown away by your support! That last chapter got so many reviews, and you have no idea how much that cheered me up!
I just wanted to ask you guys a quick question.
After this story, I have a plot in mind for another one (not a sequel) and I wondered what you guys thought.
Would you be interested if I put another story out there?
Anyway, thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favourites.
PLEASE keep the reviews coming! I love hearing what you guys think! After my concussion last week, the last ones really cheered me up!
Thanks,
E xxx
Chapter 14: News
Adrian POV"What the hell is your problem man?" I exclaimed amusedly.
"What the hell is my problem? WHAT THE HELL IS MY PROBLEM?!
Gee, let's see… one of our closest friends might be being fucking raped as we speak, we've heard nothing from the rescue team, and lastly, oh! What's this? It would appear an arrogant little drunk, with a reputation for being a man whore, has got his hands all over my godamn woman!"
Christian spat angrily, fists clench, and fire in his eyes, quite literally.
I rolled my eyes and drawled lazily ignoring the 'man whore' comment.
"Relax mannnn, all this stress will give wrinkles and make you age before your time. And no one finds an older man attractive, ain't that right cousin?"
I playfully patted her bottom- not the first time I had touched her this evening, earning me another glare from Christian.
Lissa muttered under her breath "Rose does." And I guffawed outloud, and had to high five her for that.
We both started giggling uncontrollably, and Christian, having missed the joke, stared at us incredulously and with great annoyance.
"What's so funny? Tell me now! For God's sakes!
Rose is missing and you two find this hilarious?! You're sick!"
Holy crap, Christian Ozera of all people accusing me of being sick. That was not something to take lightly.
"Woah Ozera, calm down man. Listen, the rescue team are on their way, they've already told us they've found the place and are looking for her right now." I purposefully drawled out my words slowly, with my usual smug grin slapped on my face, I Adrian Ivashkov, was the master of annoying the hell out of people.
And sure enough, he reeled and practically hissed at me, shaking violently with rage.
Man alive, this was just too easy.
The truth was, with Lissa and I being Spirit users, and recently having used our powers, we both had been completely drained. But we had also both wanted to be awake for when Rose returned.
We had every confidence that she would come back to us, as much as I loathed the Cradle Robber, I sure as hell knew he could kick ass. And with the team he had, I hoped the bastards that took Rose didn't have a chance.
But it was more than that hope we were high off…. We'd been given 'Pick me up' drugs, only temporarily naturally, just to keep us from going stir crazy. With Spirit being such an unknown and rare element, that no one knew anything about, they just decided to give us the drugs.
Lissa and I had desperately wanted to tag along with the rescue team, and were told they could not compromise and risk our safety.
So, we were left here, and quite naturally, the insanity decided to make an appearance.
Both Lissa and I, though still learning and mastering Spirit, had both managed to get it relatively under control.
Hers through Rose, mine through…..drink. Perhaps not ideal, no. But it sure as hell beats someone intruding in my mind and reading all my thoughts. I'm quite positive they'd feel the constant need to bathe and wash themselves if they lived inside my head.
Anyway, whilst the majority of the time, we could control Spirit, we had used a lot today, and that combined with the extremely stressful situation had been enough to send us overboard. We had both began muttering to ourselves, before starting to violently shake and shout incoherent ramblings, the volume and extent of such, caused them to try to shut us up.
"God, I'm soooo bored. I hope they hurry up already, I'm starving- now I know how Rose feels all the time." Lissa moaned, and it set us off giggling like crazy again.
Christian grabbed Lissa's hand,and stared worryingly into her eyes.
"After the Spokane incident... Things changed. Don't get me wrong, Rose still annoys the hell out of me, but after… after...Mason….we all decided, Mia, Eddie, Rose and I to make a pact.
We would look out for each other, as much as we could, before graduation at least.
We were not going to let another one of us die before we were eighteen."
He desperately searched in Lissa's eyes for an inch of understanding and compassion, hoping the drugs hadn't taken away two of her most endearing qualities when he needed them most.
When Lissa just stared blankly at him and cocked her head to one side confusedly, he sighed and closed his eyes in quiet frustration.
"Lissa, Adrian, I need you to contact Rose, see if they found her, and if not, at least see...at least ….
"See if she's alive?"
A feminine voice softly spoke behind me, and I turned around to see the striking face of Tasha Ozera.
I say striking...for more than one reason.
There was no denying Tasha Ozera was hot, and I mean smokin' hot.
She was tall and slim, and although I preferred women with a bit more curvature, her body was still pretty goddamn impressive, for a Moroi at least.
She wore her dark silk curtain of hair down today, covering the markings on her face, and the striking Ozera ice blue eyes.
She walked into the room, and flipped her long hair over her delicate shoulders, and no matter how many times I'd seen them, I gasped softly at the extent of her scars. A long purple gash sliced along her cheek, and whilst one could tell of her natural beauty, there was no denying the scars ruined what would have been a stunning woman.
Like I said…. She was striking for several reasons.
Christian ran up to her, and in the most un-Christian like way, he wrapped his arms around her, momentarily stunning her.
She returned the hug and whispered in her ear, "You know they've been given some sort of drugs, right? They won't get the full extent of the situation, and the gravity of your words."
Christian nodded solemnly and was about to reply, when we heard the sound of footsteps.
I glanced at the clock, stunned by the time I saw. It had been nearly seven hours since we last heard anything from them, no wonder Christian was going crazy.
Guardians filled the room, the room being that of the Guardian Lounge, and with them being Guardians, we had no idea if the news from their mission was good or bad… their faces gave nothing away.
Not until we saw Dimitri.
His eyes gave him away. So full of raw emotion and pain.
I knew this was bad, but the cursed drugs could not make me appreciate and realise what had happened.
Dimitri avoided eye contact with everyone, and his head lowered to the floor when that middle aged, rather masculine woman….Alberta I think her name was, broke the news to us…
"We sent two teams out, and the first one reached their location first, and conducted a search before notifying us that there was no sign of the organised crime Novice Hathaway had alluded to.
Our team were not far behind, and as soon as we got there we saw over a hundred girls, stripped naked and beaten, huddled together outside of the building.
Half of the group ensured that the girls had somewhere to go, where they could be protected and have cover overnight with suitable medical care.
The other half scouted the building, and upon entering the building, immediately found the dead bodies of the criminals involved, burnt to a crisp. Amongst the dead were several female bodies belonging to the victims of the organised crime.
As of such, we were unable to distinguish Hathaway amongst those found, and after searching the surrounding perimeter with no sign of her, we concluded…." She briefly hesitated and closed her eyes. And if I hadn't been paying such close attention to her, I would have surely missed the emotional (for a guardian anyway) response. "... that Hathaway must be amongst the remains of those that had fallen."
Another Guardian I didn't know spoke up. "After speaking to several of the girls, we found out that Hathaway managed to single handedly release the girls and kill the Strigoi, Moroi and humans involved. We're not sure how she did it, but we do know that she will be honoured in death as a heroin and true Guardian."
A moment of silence fell across the room, the silence owing to shock for some of us, and respect and sorrow by others. The silence was terrifying, and it was as if the universe knew the loss the World would suffer without Rose.
The Guardians were then thanked for their time and effort, and quickly dismissed to their posts. No rest for the wicked.
It's strange, being a royal and all, how I never noticed how tough Guardians had it, and it had only been since my time with Rose, that I had begun to see them as more than just permanent shadows, trailing close behind you, barely noticeable.
God….Rose.
My heart swelled thinking about her. I loathed the fact that my prior reputation as a womaniser meant that she didn't believe the extent of my feeling for her. She was more than just a cheap, quick thrill, like so many of the others had been…..no, she was different.
I had never met a girl who didn't throw themselves at my feet for my status, money or good looks.
But Rose… she saw beyond the superficial crap. She made me want to reveal my true self to her in a way that I had been unable to do because of my privileged, but restrictive lifestyle. She was humble, yet confident, beautiful and brave, and no woman had ever captured my heart the way she had.
The drugs were beginning to wear off now, and judging by the scream Lissa had let out, before collapsing from shock, I guessed hers had too.
Either that or the news had sobered us both right up.
And as I was repossessing some control over my hazy mind, my vision tinted with red.
Belikov.
I had never liked that man.
He didn't realise how lucky he was that a goddess like Rose had chosen him.
Chosen him over you, you mean, a voice at the back of my head muttered bitterly.
He had a shot at perfection and was stupid enough to reject it. Rose did not deserve that, he did not deserve her.
And yet, despite his rejection of her, he continued to warn Rose off other suitors, in particular me. The bastard was selfish enough to let her go, but keeping her from seeing other people was on a whole other level.
And now… now she was gone. None of us had had the chance to show her the love she deserved. Suddenly, my world felt very empty… and the pain my heart felt was like no other I had experienced before. I felt a darkness rise in me.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and as the last Guardian left the room, he allowed himself to collapse on the couch behind him.
He put his heads in his hands before clasping them together in a prayer. He closed his eyes and bent his head down, and muttered so softly, that without my Moroi hearing, I wouldn't have been able to make it out.
"Moya milaya Roza ... moy angel. Vy ne mozhete ostavit' menya takim, dumaya, chto ya ne lyublyu vas, kogda eto ne budet dal'she ot istiny
Я никогда не любил ни того, ни другого, как я любил тебя, и все же, как я был глуп, чтобы все это выбросить. Пожалуйста, вернись ко мне, моя сладкая, позволь мне показать тебе, как сильно я тебя люблю"
Suddenly, all of those tortuous hours of Russian at school seemed to be finally paying off, as I scrambled about my brain, trying to translate it to the best of my ability….
"My sweet Roza... my angel. You cannot leave me like this, thinking that I don't love you, when that couldn't be further from the truth. I have never loved anything or anyone like I have loved you, and yet how foolish I have been to throw it all away. Please come back to me my sweet, let me show you how much I love you."
My heart softened slightly, perhaps he was hurting as much as I was, perhaps under the cold, stoic exterior, he did truly care and love Rose, and desire to be with her, but felt powerless to do so.
I was about to walk over to the man, and invite him on alcohol fuelled night or drowning in our sorrows, when Tasha took my place next to her, wrapped her arms around him and turned his head towards her.
When he didn't push her away, and actually reciprocated the embrace by leaning his head on her shoulder, my blood boiled.
I stalked over to him, eyes burning with rage, as I pointed a trembling finger at him accusedly.
"You… you fucking bastard." His head shot up as he pulled away from Tasha, he stood over me, a puzzled expression on his face.
Without a second's thought, a threw out my fist, and punched him square in the jaw.
"Fuck!" I shouted, clutching my wrist to my body and cradling it. What the hell was this man made out off… he didn't even flinch.
His jaw clenched, but he did not show any other response to my pathetic attempt to harm him.
"Ivashkov…. May I suggest that you retire to your room. I am in no mood to tolerate your drunken behaviour tonight."
My face burned as I blushed furiously from anger… the nerve of the man… thinking I punched him because I was drunk.
Tasha latched onto his arm, looking up pleadingly at him.
"Come on Dimka, before either one of you gets into a situation you might regret. We can talk in my room if you like, you shouldn't be alone tonight."
He looked reluctant to follow her request "Tasha I would much prefer some solitude and time to myself right no—"
He was cut off by her, "Dimka, you've got no choice about it. You need to be with someone tonight. Let's go." She began dragging him by the arm, and to my horror his feet slowly began to follow her.
I couldn't contain myself anymore.
"You're an asshole Belikov, you know that right? Rose is barely cold in the ground and you're already off screwing the nearest woman you can see. You act all high and mighty, when it's clear you never gave a shit about her.
I always knew Rose didn't deserve you".
Any self control the man had attempted to cling onto vanished immediately. His eyes flashed black with anger, and and before I knew it, a fist lunged out at me, and my vision went black.