Chapter 20: Why Can't You See Me?

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy

DPOV

"Soraya, where are you?" I called as I entered her apartment. She hadn't answered the door and I was a little worried. She was supposed to meet me at the gym this evening for a special training session, but she never showed.

"I'm in the bedroom," she called.

"Are you alright?" I asked knocking lightly on her bedroom door.

"No, I need help."

Without hesitation, I burst through the door. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I had expected her to be in trouble, maybe weak from lack of blood or something else. What I did not expect was to find her sprawled out across her bed wearing a slinky black negligee and thigh high fishnets held up by a garter and black stilettos.

"Uh, I thought you said you needed help," I gulped willing myself to look away from her beautiful scantily clad body.

"I do need your help. I seem to have at itch I can't scratch," she purred patting the bed next to her.

"What?" I asked tugging at the collar on my shirt that had suddenly become far too tight.

"Come on you know you want me. We've been skirting around this for months," she said in a sultry tone beckoning me towards her with her index finger. I stood rooted firmly in the doorway. There was no way I could do this. She was my charge, a royal moroi and no matter how much I wanted her and oh did I want her, there was no way I was going to do this.

"I love it when you play hard to get," she said rising to her feet sauntering over to me. I shuddered in pleasure as she pressed me up against the wall with force placing her hands on my chest.

"Don't you think it's about time we stopped playing cat and mouse?" she breathed sexily in my ear.

I was unable to tear myself away from her advances as she lifted the edges of my shirt pulling it over my head. I allowed her to continue her ministrations my breathing becoming heavy as she used her soft lips to caress every part of my chest moving their way up. It was as if she knew exactly how to drive me insane as she placed her lips just under my right earlobe sucking gently.

I cursed in Russian before giving myself entirely to the experience. I grabbed the back of her thighs and lifted her swiftly into the air. She wrapped her legs around me tightly as I brought my lips to hers possessing her mouth feverishly. We tumbled down on the bed with her beneath me. My eyes and hands perused the length of her body from her smooth legs all the way up to her mid thigh.

"Don't stop," she moaned looking me in the eye.

In the heat of the moment, I knew that what we were doing was wrong not only because I was her guardian, but also because I was betraying my Roza in the worst way. I couldn't stop myself though. She was intoxicating. The way she smelled, the way her skin felt beneath mine, the taste of her lip-gloss. It was all so familiar. My hands found their way under her nightgown and her moaning increased further fueling my desire to be with her. I caressed the soft swell of her breast while my lips pressed slow sensuous kisses along her jaw line.

"Comrade, I need you," she moaned as I tangled my hands in her hair.

"Roza," I murmured holding her close as I tore at her nighty. Wait, what was going on here? Did she call me Comrade?

"Roza?" I questioned, my eyes flying open searching for my angel. Instead of Soraya's deep blue eyes, I was looking down at my brown-eyed girl. She was just the way I remembered her.

"Comrade, I need you to see me. Why can't you see me?" she asked a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I can Roza, I see you," I cried clutching her against my body, knowing that this was too good to be true.

I sat up suddenly, panting. I threw off the covers and put my head in my hands. This was the third dream I'd had this week. They all started and ended the exact same way. Inevitably, I would end up in bed with my charge and I would close my eyes only to open them and find Rose staring back at me instead. She always asked me the same question. Why can't you see me? It was maddening. What did it mean? It had to mean something.

RPOV

"Someone has to stand up for them," I stated rising to my feet. We were in the middle of a royal council meeting and things were not going well. Why is it that royal moroi always think that us dhampirs exist solely for their pleasure and protection?

"I still think we should revisit the idea of changing the graduation age from eighteen to seventeen," Princess Alexandra Drozdov stated, retaking her seat at the request of the royal guard. Things had gotten pretty heated and I followed suit, taking my seat as not to upset Lissa, who was beginning to get flustered. On the outside, she was a picture of serenity, but I could feel her agitation at Princess Drozdov and several of the other council members who supported her.

"There isn't reason for that. Things are going well with the defensive magic programs," I argued.

"Yes, that makes me feel so much better to have a bunch of moroi protecting us," she snorted. "Why do we even have guardians then? If you're saying that moroi can protect themselves, then why don't we just get rid of the dhampirs? They're just a nuisance to have around anyhow." I could feel my blood begin to boil at her racist comment.

"I didn't say we don't need guardians. I just said that with moroi helping, we have a sufficient supply," I retorted trying hard to keep my cool.

"Says you, who has a guardian. What about the moroi who aren't as lucky as you?" Prince Henry Badica spoke up.

"She's not lucky. You should see who she has as her guardian. I wouldn't want him! He used to be Strigoi!" Princess Drozdov exclaimed wrinkling her nose in disgust.

I was about to jump out of my seat and throttle her for insulting Dimitri, but Lissa stood instead.

"That's enough!" she thundered banging her gavel quite loudly.

"I will not have anyone defiling Guardian Belikov's character or bashing the dhampir race. Guardian Belikov was turned by force and was restored by me and my spirit magic. He is a first-class guardian and was, for a time, part of my royal guard and if you're going to besmirch his name or make light of what guardians do for us, then you can relinquish your guardians and fend for yourselves," she cried, her chest heaving. I could feel her darkness creeping into me as her anger level rose to heights I hadn't thought her capable.

"We are not changing the age law. It isn't up for discussion. Meeting adjourned." She stood and without waiting for her guardians to escort her, vacated the room leaving the entire room shocked at her very un Lissa like move.

"Should have known better than to elect a teenager," Prince Badica muttered.

"What was that? Did I just hear you blaspheme our Queen?" I asked glaring at him.

He shook his head at me. "Your father would be so disappointed in you," he stated, walking away.

I laughed internally knowing my father, Abe Mazur, would absolutely not be disappointed in me. In fact, I think he'd be very impressed at how well I stood my ground against those arrogant aristocrats.

I hurried out of the room, glancing at my watch. I was running late for my sparring match with Christian. He'd learned a lot these past few months and I couldn't wait to test him on the skills we'd practiced last week. It was always fun kicking Sparky's ass. He was getting pretty good though. I had to hand it to him, he was a quick study and with the weight training I'd been having him do, he was becoming stronger every day. In fact, he was much stronger than I was physically, but I had the distinct advantage of years of fighting experience and strategizing on my side.

"Hey fireball, ready to get your ass kicked?" I called out approaching the old church.

"You're going to kick my ass in that?" he scoffed taking note of my pencil skirt, button down blouse and pumps.

"Well I have no doubt that I could, but I wouldn't want to ruin a perfectly good dress outfit on your ugly face." He rolled his eyes at me as I grabbed my backpack and headed into the church.

I emerged five minutes later ready to pummel his pasty white carcass.

We circled for a few minutes before I gave up on getting him to throw the first punch.

He dodged it and I came at him from the side landing a decent one to his left pectoral. He grimaced, but pushed on striking out at me with his left foot, which I dodged and came back with my own roundhouse to his abdomen. He lost his footing, but recovered quickly. He landed a slightly awkward blow to my left shoulder to which I responded with an elbow to the chin.

"You hit like a girl," he chided.

"So do you," I countered jabbing him in the chest, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

We went on like this for about twenty minutes exchanging blows and blocking attacks. I decided at that point I was done playing nice guy. Things were about to get real. I anticipated his fake to the right. Ducking left I dropped to the ground, kicked his legs out from beneath him and threw my body over his drawing my stake, placing it directly over his heart.

"You're dead," I panted.

DPOV

"Dimitri have you seen Soraya?" Lissa asked as our paths converged. I was on my way to locate my charge. She should have just come from the same direction as Lissa, but I hadn't seen her.

"Not since last night. I thought you had a royal council meeting. Was she not there?"

"No, she was there. I was hoping to catch her afterward, but since I left quite exacerbated and lost track of her."

"I take it the meeting did not go in accordance with your plans," I surmised.

"Not in the least," she said pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You looking for the princess?" Hans asked having overheard our conversation.

I nodded. "You know where she is," I stated.

"Sure, it's a little after one, she should be in the woods with Lord Ozera."

"What? Why would she be in the woods with Christian?" Lissa asked.

He shrugged. "Not sure. The two of them meet out by that old abandoned church at about this time most days. Have been for months."

"Thank you for your help," she replied.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Go out there and see what they're up to," she said marching purposefully towards the forest.

"Are you coming?" she asked.

I nodded falling into step beside her. I couldn't after all let her go out there unaccompanied. Besides, I was far too curious to see what they were up to not to go along. I had been trying to determine her whereabouts these past few weeks in the afternoons without success. That charge of mine was stealthy. If she didn't want to be found, then it was an impossible task. She seemed to disappear around this time nearly every day and re-emerge sometime around three or three-thirty.

When we reached the old church, I pulled Lissa behind a tree motioning for her to remain silent so we could observe without being seen. At first we only saw Christian, but a minute later Soraya emerged from the church wearing gym clothes.

They bantered for a few minutes and then instead of practicing offensive magic like I had expected, they began to fight, hand to hand combat.

"What are they doing?" she whispered as we continued to scrutinize their behavior.

"Sparring."

"But why? And where did he learn to fight like that?" she asked as bewildered as I was by their seemingly accurate methods of attack. Soraya seemed to be the coach because she was clearly holding back. Her moves were calculated and precise whereas his were awkward and clumsy. Their banter between hits was playful. Upon further inquiry, I recognized a familiarity to her fighting style.

"Did you teach her to fight like that?" Lissa asked. I had just been wondering that myself. They moves she was executing were similar in style and stance to the ones I used myself. Too similar to be just a coincidence.

"No, I didn't. She asked me to teach her to fight, but I refused."

"Well she must have had some training because as far as I know, Christian had absolutely no fighting skills. She must have taught him," she mused.

"It seems so," I agreed. As I had previously detected, she was holding back quite a bit and when she became bored of toying with him, she amped up her game and used a move that I distinctly remember teaching Rose, to knock him off his feet. She pinned him down and held her stake directly above his heart.

We watched two more rounds of their sparring before Christian was too fatigued to continue.

"Hey, before you go can you teach me that move you did on me last week?" he asked. They were both bruised and a bit bloody, but she shrugged.
"Okay, but if you think you're sore now, then just wait," she snickered as he made a face.

"Okay start with your right knee bent like this," she showed him. "Then pivot your body to the left, and touch down your right foot immediately behind your left," she commanded demonstrating the move.

Is she teaching him what I think she's teaching him? I asked myself. It couldn't be. She couldn't possibly pull off that move. It was extremely difficult even for an experienced martial arts expert. It had taken me six months to perfect it.

"Next, spin your body around with maximum speed and momentum while jumping so that both your right and left feet are off the ground," she explained showing him with accuracy how to position himself. "Now swing your left foot around in an arc while the right foot immediately follows in a kick to the face," she finished her foot coming within an inch of hitting his face.

"I think maybe that is too much too soon," he said unable to duplicate her move. I stood my mouth agape as she laughed at him, patted him on the shoulder and grabbed her gym bag.

"Maybe next time Sparky," she called over her shoulder as she began walking our way causing us to scramble frantically out of her way.

"What in the hell was that? Can you even do that?" Lissa asked, once she was out of earshot.

"I can, but it took me a long time to perfect it."

"Could Rose do it?" she asked.

I thought for a minute and smiled. "She was able to perfect it in less time than it took me," I said proud of my girl.

"I miss her," she sighed as we started back towards the main area of court.

"Same here," I mumbled suddenly feeling very drained. I hadn't slept well the past few nights what with my dreams and all. It didn't help that I'd been losing a pint and a half of blood every other day.

"Are you going to tell her you know she fights?" she asked as we reached the palace gates.

I shook my head. "No, I think I'll let her tell me, if that is what she wants. What about you? Are you going to confront Christian?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure right now. I think I'll sleep on it. It isn't like they're doing anything illegal. Besides, I'm not opposed to moroi knowing how to defend themselves, not that it would be enough against a strigoi, but as Tasha proved, strigoi aren't the only enemy we have to face."

After making sure she was safely inside the palace, I trudged home. Today had been a long day and I was looking forward to grabbing some dinner and going to bed.

CPOV

"So what did you do all day?" Lissa asked as we sat down to dinner.

I shrugged. "Practicing my defense."

"Defensive magic?" she asked.

"More or less," I said hoping she wouldn't push it.

In truth, I wasn't just sparring with Soraya, I was investigating her. I knew it was silly, but a few months ago Andrew Badica had come to me with a proposition.

Flashback

"Hey Ozera!" I glanced behind me as I heard someone calling my name. It was Andrew Badica who was struggling to catch up with me.

"What can I do for you? If this is about defensive magic classes, you have to go sign up with Guardian Croft."

"Actually that isn't what this is about. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"Okay shoot," I said. I didn't really know him that well, but he seemed like an okay guy and I heard from Lissa that Soraya had given him the boot. I felt kind of sorry for him.

"Well I know that my girlfriend, err ex-girlfriend, you know Soraya, well I heard that she is taking private magic lessons with you."

"That may or may not be true, but even so, what does it have to do with you and this favor you want?"

"Look, Raya and I have been together since we were children. I know her better than anyone. This isn't like her. I watched your first session. Raya isn't a rookie at performing magic. She could light a forest on fire when we were fourteen. The stuff you're having her do is child's play."

"What is that supposed to mean?" If she was so adept at performing fire magic, then why was she pretending to need help?

"Something is different about her. Ever since the attack she's been acting peculiar. I can't put my finger on it just yet, but something is very wrong."

"Could it be that you're reading into things because she broke off your engagement?" I asked skeptically.

"Why does everyone keep saying that? I know her. She wouldn't have broken up with me. We were in love. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Ask her anything about her life before the accident. I guarantee you she won't give an appropriate answer."

"Why is that?" I asked becoming slightly unnerved at his bizarre behavior. He sounded like a lunatic.

"Because she doesn't remember. She woke up with amnesia and she won't admit to it. She can't remember a thing about her old life. I even found her rifling through her old school papers to see what type of magic she specialized in," he nearly shouted at me.

"Woah dude, you have to calm down," I said corralling him over to a more secluded section of the court.

"I'm sorry. It's just that her inner circle is difficult to penetrate these days. The only people she talks to are the Queen, her Guardian and you."

"So say I believe that you're right and she is walking around with some sort of amnesia. What is it that you want me to do?" I asked still not understanding my part in all this.

"I just want you to observe her behavior, ask her some friendly questions. You guys spend so much time together, personal things are bound to come up at some point."

"I suppose I could poke around a bit, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for."

"Just observe her and I'll be in touch," he said. "Thanks for all your help."

End Flashback

I had been unconvinced of Andrew's sanity when he first approached me, but curiosity got the better of me and as I began scrutinizing her behavior, I came to believe he was telling the truth. She was odd for a moroi. She had nearly no knowledge of how to control her fire magic after having practiced it for nearly ten years, but she had a wealth of information and skill when it came to hand to hand combat, weight training and defensive strategies. She also had a really snarky attitude for a royal moroi and her respect and defense of the dhampir race was entirely unconventional for someone of her status.

By the time classes at Lehigh started back up, I was compelled to think that she was an entirely different person that the one who had been attacked that day. Numerous things about her made absolutely no sense. She apparently freaked out at the feeders asking for blood in a bag. She switched her major junior year from French Literature to Communications, which was entirely bogus. She teased me like she and I were old friends and she could kick my ass at the drop of a hat. A few days ago, I spoke to her in French, which she was supposedly fluent in and she had absolutely no clue what language I was speaking let alone what I had said. I was more and more convinced that there was merit to Andrew's accusations only I didn't think she was suffering from amnesia.

I asked her random questions about her life to which she and Andrew both fed me carbon copy responses. It was almost as if she'd been coached on what to say or she'd read it somewhere and memorized it. After the move she pulled today while we were sparring, I was more sure than ever that she was not Soraya Lazar. I just couldn't figure out who was impersonating her and what their end-game was. One thing was for sure, whatever spell she was using to compel us to believe she was Soraya was very hard to see through. Despite all that, I was determined to figure out her identity by any means necessary. She was spending more and more time with Lissa and I wasn't about to put her in danger.

Hey, you asked for a lemon and for her to call him Comrade, both of which I hand delivered… granted not in the way you expected. Hehe don't kill me! It's too early for him to figure it out and way too early for them to jump in bed together. So do you think Dimitri will take his dreams seriously. It seems like someone is trying to tell him something. When is he going to put all of his clues together, he has so many! What about good old Sparky? I'm thinking he's close to catching on. Who will figure it out first only time will tell.