TEN

Christian

Despite everything the night before, Christian woke up feeling refreshed.

Refreshed and like he'd crossed a line. He'd never told Lissa anything about his feeding squeamishness. It was something so personal and embarrassing that he'd really thought he'd never tell anyone, but it had slipped out with Rose last night.

He wasn't sure what about her had made him be honest, but he'd had the overwhelming urge to say it, and he hadn't regretted it. He might not know what her exact reaction was going to be, but he knew it would be the right one. He wanted to be honest with her, but this time he'd gone too far.

She wasn't family, she was Liss's best friend, and he couldn't go baring his soul to her because he'd had a nightmare and she made him feel better. He'd almost asked Rose not to mention this to Liss the night before, and that had solidified it.

He would be keeping his soul to himself from now one.

And his relationship issues, too. The last thing Christian wanted to do was make anything awkward between Liss and Rose.

They took it in turns to get ready in the bathroom, then went downstairs to join the rest of the students and guardians from St. Vlad's. Rose seemed a bit more subdued than yesterday, too, but he didn't question her.

Before long they were soon lost in exploring the campus and the different faculty buildings. Rose stuck close by his side, and was clearly on high alert the entire time.

He felt safe with her there. He knew that he was perfectly capable of defending himself, but he'd been on edge since receiving the threats from his mom, and having Rose there calmed him more than it should have done.

It was hard to admit to himself that he would miss having her there when the field experience was over. He was so against the strict hierarchy of Dhampir and Moroi, but he had to allow that having Rose by his side helped. Knowing that she would do whatever she could to protect him made him feel protected.

He wasn't sure if that would have been any guardian, or just Rose, though.

The day was long and busy. With such a large group of Moroi, there was a lot of ground to cover, and the guardians were against splitting up. It was dark by the time they finally left the library, which had been the final stop on their tour.

Christian was tired, but excited. "I like it," he said simply to Rose as the guardians explained what they'd be doing now.

"Good. Do you think this is the one, then?"

There were things at other colleges he'd liked the sound of, that he would have liked to visit more, just to see. But between here and Lehigh, this was definitely the place for him. He liked the business, the scale of it, the relaxed feel. "Yeah, I think so."

He wasn't looking forward to telling Liss that this was the one, but they were going to have to meet in the middle. He wasn't saying that he would never go to any royal events, he just didn't want it to be the sole focus of his life, and going to a larger, more distant college would help that.

If she couldn't see that, and didn't think they could compromise, then he didn't know where they could go from there. He refused to entertain the thought that there was nowhere to go, that it had to be over if they couldn't find a middle ground.

"How is Liss?" he asked. They were walking across campus to the car park where the two minibuses they'd hired were parked.

"She's okay," Rose said. "She's just woken up. She's still stressed."

He sighed. "I'm sure the outcome of the trip isn't going to make her any less stressed."

"She'll adjust."

Christian wasn't sure about that. And why should she have to? Why should she accept that she was never going to have someone by her side at these events like she wanted? Didn't she deserve someone who wanted to always be with her, no matter where? Who enjoyed the same things she did? Maybe she should stop catering to him and find someone better.

"Stop being gloomy," Rose instructed. "It's been a good day."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

Rose's mood shifted as they walked into the large parking lot, which was mostly empty by now. Plenty of the lights were out, and they were the only people around.

They were such a large group that the chances of them being attacked were slim, but Rose clearly wasn't taking any chances.

And then the attack did come.

From all sides, people with shining red eyes appeared. A shout went up from a large guardian at the front, and the guardians dropped into formation, creating a circle around the Moroi and novices. There must have been fifteen Strigoi to six guardians and ten novices. They weren't quite outnumbered, but there were more Strigoi than he'd ever seen together in his life, and it normally took more than one guardian to kill a Strigoi.

Rose stood in front of him, pulling her stake and prepared to join the fight as soon as required. She could have jumped straight into the fray, but she stayed right in front of him, so close her back was almost against his chest, and waited until someone threatened him.

His magic pulsed through him. He didn't need to get into the middle of the fight to be helpful.

The situation was chaos. The Strigoi descended on them with their supernatural speed and it didn't take long for the formation to break. Novices tried to join the fight, the Strigoi were coordinated and knew how to separate the guardians.

Christian did his best to set Strigoi on fire without guardians getting into his eyeline. He set their heads ablaze, stopping them being able to see or hear, and giving a guardian time to stake it.

It wasn't long before they realized what a threat he was, and pairs of red eyes focused in on him.

Rose stiffened in front of him, and her stance got more aggressive. "Focus on the ones coming toward us," she instructed. "You set on fire, I'll stake."

"Got it."

It was easier said than done, though. Two descended on them, moving so quickly that it was hard to keep his eyes on them nevermind keep them on fire. He set one ablaze, and Rose immediately moved forward to slide her stake through its heart.

The Strigoi were naturally graceful, but so was Rose. She moved easily, like it was a choreographed dance.

The second one slammed into her side and sent her sprawling across the ground and he hurried to use his magic, encasing its head in a more intense fire than the ones he'd been using so far.

Rose didn't hesitate, though. She rolled back to her feet and got her stake between its ribs.

They were still coming. Another two had diverted their attention towards Christian and his muscles and the prolonged, powerful use of his magic were starting to overpower the adrenaline.

He would keep going until he passed out, but he worried that would be sooner rather than later.

They both attacked Rose at once, diving toward her in flashes of movement it was hard to follow. She dodged one, but the other grabbed her arms and bared its teeth. She struggled, and he set its head on fire. She went to stake it, but the other attacked from behind, sinking its fangs into her shoulder and tearing a piece of flesh away and shirt away. She cried out, but forced the stake between the distracted Strigoi's heart anyway, even as the one behind her reached for her head.

Christian cried out, "Behind you," though it would have been obvious to her what it was doing, and tried to redirect his magic to the new threat.

If it got hold of her head, her neck would be snapped in seconds.

But Christian got there in time. The fire was hot enough to kill the Strigoi without needing the stake, but it sucked the last of his stamina.

So when something grabbed him from behind, he couldn't fight it. He was pulled to the ground by one powerful hand around his neck.

His head slammed against concrete and his vision blurred. Above him was a Strigoi and its food was about to slammed down on his throat. It would snap his neck. He'd be dead immediately. There was something like hesitation in its movements, though.

It gave Rose an opening.

Rose collided with the red-eyed monster, launching herself off the ground and toward him. It was enough to distract the monster from Christian, but it just meant the Strigoi's attention was on her, and it was angry. The other guardians were occupied. There was no one to help when it swatted at her, knocking her sideways and back to the ground.

She struggled to her feet, grip still secure on her stake, and barely dodged as it came at her again.

Christian wanted to shout, but his mouth wasn't moving. He forced his hand into a fist, vision still blurry, blackness descending on it, and forced the magic to listen to his command. It was a weak fire, and not covering the Strigoi's whole head, but it worked. It was enough.

Rose got her stake through its heart, and it fell, dead, to the ground.

Rose standing over it, breathing heavily, bleeding, and looking straight at him was the last thing he saw before he passed out.