Dimitri Belikov
Guardian Petrova was explaining that she wanted me to face off against her, showing her which techniques I knew as she called them out. It sounded simple enough. We had just begun when a deafening silence fell over the gym. We both paused mid-strike as we watched as the smiling Hathaway girl jogged across the gym to the red headed guy that Guardian Petrova had put in charge of the other novices. After a few minutes of lewd bantering, Guardian Petrova yelled at Novice Ashford and returned her attention to us. She would call out a maneuver she wanted us to do, enact it, and then slide her eyes to watch the Hathaway girl. I had to admit, the girl was putting Ashford to shame.
We began watching their sparring more than we were walking through our own observations. Guardian Petrova locked eyes with an older auburn haired Guardian and a few seconds of silent communication passed between them. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to her assessment of me.
"You've surpassed most of the students here. You know quite a few techniques we haven't even taught yet. I'd like you to rotate between the other Novices during sparring. It will do them some good. You went to St. Basil academy?" she spoke as we finished up.
"Yes ma'am" I answered.
"Goodness, so polite. Novice Belikov, I believe you will be a breath of fresh air to these parts." She offered a small appreciative smile. "Anyways, what type of training schedule did you keep at your old school?"
I told her that we pretty much had the same schedule as I had now, but I had signed up for a mentoring session the previous year. I spent six weeks tutoring for an extra two hours a day under Guardian Galina. After the tutoring was over, I missed the extra workouts and so conned my sister into training with me before and after classes. Guardian Galina had seen our extra practices, and when she didn't have extra duties, she would often join us until her reassignment in Prague.
"Ah that would explain then. Tell me more about the mentoring sessions and how they worked? I would normally get in contact with the school, but under the circumstances, I think I will only need what you can remember of it. It is something that isn't really done here, unless there is need, but I feel it may be something we could benefit from here."
"Well in Russia, our junior year we can choose to enter the program. We just put our name on a roster and they will assign us a Guardian that will give us one on one training sessions. The one on ones are usually much more intense and it makes it easier to learn."
"Why just your junior year, wouldn't they be beneficial your senior year too," she asked as I paused trying to think of what to say next.
"Well, no for a couple of reasons. There wouldn't be enough Guardians to cover both juniors and seniors. The other reason is that in Russia, Dhampir Novices do not have an extracurricular like I do here. Instead we have one hour mini field experiences as our last class. They help prepare us for the actual field experience and the trials in the spring." I answered as best as I could. Guardian Petrova made a small throaty sound and cast a contemplative look about the gym.
"I think I will need to discuss this more at a later time. It's about time we wrap up here. Thank you for being so forthcoming. If you have any questions or concern of your own, I'm usually around here somewhere. I have your sister in my next class I do believe. She would normally be receiving mentoring this year, right?" I nodded my head in affirmation. "I will see what I can do to secure her a mentor here for now."
"It's okay, I mean, it will be okay if you can't. We plan on keeping up with our extra training before and after classes. That alone should keep us both pretty much up to par with our training." I told her. I really didn't want to lose the extra time I would get with Vika. I hadn't made any friends yet and she was the only family I had near. Guardian Petrova gave me one last smile and excusing herself she walked over to speak with the auburn haired Guardian that came in with the Hathaway girl.
Studying the older Dhampir woman, I saw that she held a lot of physical resemblance with the Hathaway novice. If she was another three inches taller and had dark eyes and dark hair, they would be near identical. I assumed they must be related and seeing that the gym was becoming empty, picked up my gym bag and headed to the showers.
Using the map, I found my way to my second class of the day.
Guardian Protection Theory, Instructor-Guardian Stan Alto
I was one of the first to enter the room, and grabbed a seat in the far back corner. One because my height could be hindering to anyone sitting behind me, and two, I really didn't want to become a speculation as the new kid. The room filled slowly, the last to enter was the Hathaway girl and her older loo-a-like Guardian that had been shadowing her earlier. I watched as she lifted her head slightly and made her way to an aisle seat halfway down the room.
Her dark hair was still slightly damp from her shower and framed her face, keeping it just out of view. From the back it flowed down, stopping just before the gentle curve of her lower back. Lowering my eyes, I took in her bottom and long legs, starting to understand the lewd joking the Rose Gang had partaken of in the gym. Feeling my male hormones kick in, I quickly adverted my gaze to the front of the room. I began searching for the teacher, but failed to find anyone at the board or desk, when I caught movement from the corner of my eye.
A muscular Dhampir, just a few inches shorter than me was slowly walking down the aisle of the room. He came to a stop beside the Hathaway girl, turning and leering down at her. The Hathaway girl met his gaze with her own look of contempt before looking back at her Guardian shadow.
The exchange between the mentor and novice was tense and when the Hathaway girl stood and sauntered to the front of the room, I couldn't help but to stare at the way he hips swayed in perfect rhythm to the beat of my heart. When she turned around, her face full of embarrassment, I thought that perhaps I had been wrongfully judging the defiant deity that was Rosemarie Hathaway.
With the first real view of her heart shaped face, I took in her exotic doe eyes, nearly as dark as the curtain of hair framing her face. Her high cheekbones were flushed rose with embarrassment and anger. She had a fitting button nose, and her top lip was a little thinner than the bottom. Taking in her entire face at once, the girl was beautiful.
Feeling my pants tighten at my pelvis, I looked towards the instructor, hoping that in tearing my gaze away from the tantalizing creature at the front of the room, would calm my mind of where my thoughts were heading. Realizing I had been staring at Rosemarie for too long and tuned out everything that had happened in the last few minutes, I straightened up in my desk as the rest of the room, Guardians included, gasped. Really listening for the first time, Rosemarie was furiously yelling up at Guardian Alto about psi-hounds and Strigoi. Her words spat between clenched teeth. It was the way the light shimmered from her hair with each of her jerky, yet fluid motions that pulled my attention away from the words she spoke. She had pushed her hair behind her shoulders, and her neck was flushed a healthy pink once again. Following the vein that was prominent in the side of her neck from her strained anger, I found that her lovely face was a storm of emotions. Seeing that tears were now trailing her cheeks, I fisted my hands under my desk.
I wanted to go to the girl and pull her into my chest and just hold her. I felt my thigh twitch, readying to move when Rosemarie's Guardian shadow flew down the slanted aisle and took hold of the girl's hand. Laying her other hand on the girl's back, the Guardian tried to coax the girl out of the spotlight.
"I'm sorry, so, so sorry, Rose. Please go with your mother now. It's okay Rose, you are okay. I am sorry I pushed you so hard. If I had known, Guardian Hathaway, I think she is about to pass out." Guardian Alto's voice carried fear and sorrow. His face was deeply troubled as understanding overcame him. "Rose, please go with your mother, she can help you. Dear God, what did those girls go through, Janine?" He continued. So the shadow was her mother. That explained the strong physical resemblance.
"Rose, baby, come with me, we'll get you through this. Stan, I can't believe..." her words cut off as Guardian grabbed the girls shoulders and slightly shook her.
"Rose, that's it, look at me. Go with your mother, she's going to take you somewhere with less of an audience. Yes that's it." He coaxed as the girl turned her head to Guardian Hathaway and with a shuddering sob, fell into her mother's side.
When the pair had left the room, the door shutting softly behind them, Guardian Alto looked at us for the first time since class began. "Just read something out of the texts books, write a report on it. I have something I need to do. There will still be Guardians here to watch over you, so no funny ideas. Oh, and someone explain to the new student where we are in our lessons. I'll return shortly." Guardian pulled out his phone and dashing through the classroom, I heard one raspy word as he exited the doors. "Alberta…"
The room then one by one searched the room, their gazes falling and stopping on me.
"New blood!" I heard someone exclaim and shrugged my shoulders. The Dhampir in front of me turned and gave me a curious smile.
"Armand Evers." He says with a wave. "Everyone just calls me Monty, though."
"Dimitri Belikov." I answered loud enough that the entire room could hear me. I didn't really want to repeat my name a dozen times. The attention to me faded quickly as everyone began talking about Rosemarie. Rose, as she preferred to be called, had left the class in shocked silence. With her gone and the teacher away, the shock was wearing off, and in its place a tizzy of conversation was struck up.
Novices began gossiping and betting on things Rose may or may have not done while away from the academy. I listened getting angrier and angrier at the immaturity that some of the other novices were showing. I looked to all of the Guardians left in the room, and found that though their faces stayed a stoic blankness, their muscles flexed under their shirts.
"I'll take that bet. I'm going to go with four Strigoi but only two Psi-hounds." A dirty blond haired boy called out.
"Nah, were talking Hathaway. I bet $10.00 that she killed no less than five Strigoi. Didn't you listen, she didn't kill the Psi-hounds, just escaped them. So yeah, my money goes on five Strigoi and no Psi-hounds." A male novice with dark skin and hair countered.
On and on their ridiculous betting went. Even worse was the gossip that was beginning. They began to wonder how the girls got money to pay for their housing, the gyms, and food. Someone even brought up the subject of Vasilissa needing blood.
"With a body like that, she was probably a stripper. Most likely she lured drunken men back to a private room and an awaiting Lissa." A mousey haired female novice suggested, laughing darkly. The jealousy in her eyes spoke volumes.
I felt even more sympathy for the girl the more the other students talked.
"Don't you have to be over eighteen to be a stripper, Connie?" Castile asked his face masked in pure hatred for the mousey haired girl.
"I wouldn't know. Hell she probably blood whored for some old no name Moroi in exchange for Lissa a feeder."
"Look I've known Rose since we were in preschool, she is not a blood whore and if I ever hear you call her that again..." Castile spat at the girl.
"You'll what? Pull a Hathaway and break one of my bones? It's not my fault your girlfriend is nothing more than a two bit blood whore," the girl yelled back. My mind settled on the disappointing news that Rose was already taken before settling on the next few words as the fell from her mouth.
"You guys are cruel. What do any of you truly know of killing Strigoi or even of blood whores? Maybe you should take a look in the mirror and step outside of your glass walls before throwing stones. Could none of you besides Castile see how devastated she was?" I said as calmly as possible before grabbing my books and leaving the classroom.
I found a bench near the cafeteria doors and waited for Vika as visions of Rosemarie Hathaway played in my mind. Rose was a beautiful in her fiery anger, a siren that stole all of your senses in her sadness, but I wondered what she would look like with a smile on her face. I began day dreaming of seeing Rose, standing in the courtyard, her mahogany hair streaked red from the sun, and smiling up to me.
I felt something jab into my ribs and opened my eyes to find Vika looking down at me laughing. "What has you smiling so much?" Her voice laced with curious laughter. With a groan, I stood and walked into the cafeteria leaving her to either follow me or be left behind.