Chapter 8:

RPOV

That afternoon I went to training with Dimitri. But my heart wasn't in it. I tried to keep up with him, but between him and the shopping trip I was in a mood. And moody Rose didn't pay that much attention to what hot mentor was doing.

He seemed to notice this too when his fist collided with my shoulder quite hard. He frowned.

"Rose, pay attention, you should have been able to block that." He sounded exasperated.

"Sorry Comrade." I grumbled an apology trying to do better. But After another round with the same outcome, Dimitri was done.

"Rose what has got you so distracted?"

Other than my very sexy mentor only inches away from my body?

"Ugh. The girls are going on a shopping trip and Natalie invited me along, but I doubt Kirova would let me go. She is going to ask Victor though if he can put in a good word. It has been so long since I went shopping." I said longingly.

It would be so nice to actually shop for things we wanted instead of needed again.

Dimitri stared at me for a few seconds. Blinking.

"That is it? You got distracted over a shopping trip?" Dimitri actually sounded a little disappointed, for a moment I thought he might have assumed I was distracted because of him but when I looked at him I saw it was simply the fact that I could put thoughts of a shopping trip before training. Argh, men!

"Well for a teenage girl that is a big deal, Comrade. I thought you had sisters? The dance is coming up, I don't have anything to wear and I am running out of my favorite lipgloss." I whined. I know I sounded young in that moment but boys just don't get the need for good clothes and makeup.

I saw Dimitri smile a little. I think he realized chastising me would not be productive right now. So he opted for a more gentle approach.

"I am sure Vasilisa will get you those things if you ask her, and maybe Lord Dashkov can convince headmistress Kirova to let you go. You have been behaving rather well lately.

He emphasized the titles to correct my informal use of their names earlier. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You know, Comrade, you are fighting a losing battle with those titles right," I said cheekily at him.

He smiled back, I think he was just glad I wasn't moping anymore.

"Well since you are not paying attention to physical training today, Roza, I thought I would try to teach you something else." He had his lips curled into a small smirk. Did he just make a joke?

I tried not to blush. I could think of a few other things he could teach me that didn't involve physical training. Well… maybe not in the strict sense of the word. When I pulled my mind out of the gutter something occurred to me.

"Wait, you're Lissa's guardian so if she goes off campus you have to go with her."

I saw the look in his eyes change from amusement at my expense, to absolute horror. He had not considered that he would have to go on the trip too. He actually paled a bit at the thought of escorting teenage girls to a mall.

"Great I am dying to go and can't, and you would rather be dead but you have to go anyway. Life isn't fair. Although I do get a little satisfaction knowing you'll be suffering too. Serves you right to diss on the shopping trip. And if you think I am obsessed with shopping you haven't seen Lissa yet."

I had a devious smile on my face and I saw Dimitri visibly swallow. Then he straightened out his guardian mask.

"My duty is to guard the Princess wherever she may go. Be it in the field with Strigoi or at the mall. My duty stays the same."

I laughed a little at this.

"I am guessing you would rather have the Strigoi."

There was that smile again. I liked the fact that I could bring that out in him. I rarely see him smile in public, always so stoic. I liked the fact we could still banter like this. I had worried that after the other day he would shut down completely and just kept things cold. But after the smile vanished and was replaced by his guardian mask once again I knew the moment was over.

"Why don't we call it for the day? I wouldn't get much out of you when your mind is on shopping. I expect your full attention in training tomorrow morning."

And with that, I was dismissed. He started to clean up our gear while I went to the locker room to shower.

Sometimes I chose to go to my own room and shower, but I still wanted to have dinner with Lissa tonight, so I opted for using the gym showers. They were hardly used, and certainly not by students, but seeing as we were the last ones here and it would save me some time I would use them on occasion.

The water was nice and I forgot the time. There was something about the hot water washing away the troubles of the day. I had to meet Lissa later, but I was in no hurry. I could use the time to get a good scrubbing in. Honestly the showers here were better than in my dorm room. The spray held a little more pressure. I think it is mostly used by Guardians so they invested in slightly better showers than the novice dorms. Although it might just be that my showers water pressure wasn't a priority because it was only used by one person.

DPOV:

Shopping. That was what had her all tight up? Shopping. I could never understand women and I had three sisters. But I guess it was nice to know Rose could also worry about the little things. At least her mind was set on something that was normal for her age. I thought it would be good for Rose to get out and have a little fun. Maybe I would talk to Kirova about it and put in a good word.

Headmistress, Headmistress Kirova. My god, she is rubbing off on me.

I smiled at the thought. Today at training we were back to normal and I was able to relax around her. Until she mentioned I had to go shopping with the princess. I mean a normal girl shopping is bad enough; a royal with an unlimited credit card that hasn't been shopping in ages just spelled disaster. Rose is right, I would pick the Strigoi any day.

I was done cleaning up. I packed my things up and headed towards the locker room and headed towards the showers. I had a shift after this otherwise I would have used the one in my room. And to be honest the pressure was a little better here. I preferred these showers if no one was around.

I walked into the shower stalls thinking Rose had finished ages ago.

When I entered the stalls I froze. My mind could not have prepared me for this. I had a hard time processing the image in front of me.

Rose stood in front of me, her back towards me under the shower, naked and wet.

Now, one might think that seeing the girl one has been fantasizing about for weeks naked would have a certain effect on a man. It did have an effect on me. But not the one you might expect. Not that I did not notice her perfect body and her long cascading hair down her back. Oh, I noticed. It just wasn't the first thing I noticed. So instead of feeling embarrassed or even turned-on, I felt rage.

At that moment Rose turned her head around and saw me standing there. The look on my face told her enough. She did not try to cover herself up or turn away. She knew she had been made. There was no going back now. I saw the defeat in her eyes.

"Finish and get dressed now and meet me in the gym."

"Dimitri." Rose began to protest, but I was having none of that.

"NOW."

No, the first thing I noticed was not her naked body... it was the scars.

She had scars across her back running towards her arms. She had scars running all over her body. Slashes, and I think I even saw a bite mark on her shoulder. Some looked old, others still a little purple, indicating maybe a few months old? What the hell happened to her while they were on the run?

I understood now why she was wearing long sleeves even in 100-degree weather. I understood now what I had felt while my hand was roaming her back the other day. I was too high on Rose to notice back then, but I noticed now.

She had lied to me, or at least withheld the truth. I thought after she came clean about what the bond was doing to her she would trust me. I guess I was wrong.

Rose walked in. She was hunched over slightly; she knew she wasn't getting out of this one.

Through gritted teeth, I said, "Start talking."

Rose looked up like a deer in headlights. "Dimitri, I …"

She hesitated and I saw she was visibly scared. Scared of me? Or scared of what I would say or do after revealing the truth? I slowly took a deep breath trying to calm myself down. I tried a different approach from furious. I sat down opposite of her and asked her in as much of a pleading voice as I could.

"Please Roza, what happened to you? Who did this to you?"

Maybe the rumors were true. Maybe they were kidnapped and tortured before we found them. Maybe they escaped and were trying hard to stay hidden. Not from us but from however did this to her. Them? Did the princess have similar scars? The only scars I have seen on Vasilisa were self-inflicted cut marks. I don't think the girls have realized that I know but I am not stupid. I know why Rose needs to take the darkness away from Vasilisa.

Rose was rubbing her arm up and down, stalling. I don't think she knew where to start.

"It wasn't one person. It wasn't people at all."

She sighed and took a deep breath.

"It was Strigoi."

Now I was shocked. Why would Strigoi torture her for that long? The marks on her back led me to believe the scars were inflicted across the entire two years they were gone. It would be unprecedented for a Strigoi to keep a victim that long. Besides she would have a lot more bite marks and a lot fewer slashes.

"What do you mean? Strigoi kept you prisoner?"

"No."

She sighed again. She looked me straight in the eyes. Here it was. Whatever Rose was hiding, she was going to tell me. At least she trusted me enough not to lie to me again. That was something.

"I went to them. These are battle marks."

I just stared at her not saying anything. Not sure I could say anything. I didn't really know what to say anyway. I didn't understand at all.

"The first time the darkness overtook me, I nearly killed a human we were living with. Lissa stopped me but I knew if I did not find an outlet the next time I would kill an innocent person. I was putting Lissa in danger."

I had seen the effects of the darkness before, but thinking Rose could actually hurt someone, and nearly kill someone, was new. I knew Rose would never do that if she was sane. It showed me that this darkness was really something that was done to her.

"One night we were walking down the street and it was already late and I had a bad feeling. We were faced with two Strigoi. I put Lissa behind me, but I knew I did not stand a chance against two of them. I made Lissa run for it. She hesitated but eventually left me. I blocked the two Strigoi from going after her. I knew it would kill me, but I was determined to keep them from killing Lissa. At least I would have done right by her."

She obviously survived the encounter, but that was amazing for a fifteen year old to face two Strigoi and live. What was even more amazing is that she still protected Lissa even if she knew it could kill her. Most people her age would have run in fear even if they had sworn to protect their friend. It was instinct.

"It did not take long for them to overpower me. I was trapped underneath a Strigoi and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. I thought it was funny, I always expected Strigoi to have a cold icy breath. I was not ready to die yet but I knew there was nothing I could do. But I would go out Hathaway style."

She laughed humorously. I had experienced 'Hathaway style' myself on occasion. She was formidable, but it wasn't enough to handle a Strigoi.

"Then suddenly, I felt a surge of power. I blacked out after that. I felt my body move and react. I knew I was still alive, but that was the only conscious thought I had. When I came back around the bodies of the Strigoi were on the ground, dead. I had cuts and bruises all over me and was covered in blood. Not my blood, theirs. I looked at the bodies and slowly as my mind began to clear I could play the events in my head like a movie. I had ripped them apart, pulled their heads off of their bodies. I could now hear the screams they uttered only moments ago."

The way she was describing it sent shivers down my spine. I think I understood now why she was hesitant to tell me. Handling Strigoi like that, handling anything like that, was a lot to take in. It sounded like a massacre.

"But the darkness was gone. I hadn't felt so light since Lissa and I had gotten bonded. The fight with them released the darkness and burned it off."

I was starting to put the pieces together and came to a horrible conclusion as to why she would have so many marks accumulated over a two year time period. I prayed I was wrong.

"From there on out, I would go out hunting whenever I thought I was taking a lot of darkness from Lissa. I could somehow feel Strigoi if they were nearby. I felt this sense of nausea. I think it is another side effect of the bond. But it didn't always go without a hitch, hence the scars. "

Rose finished. I could not move. I could not speak. I understood Rose so much better now. Everything made sense. She does see all the moves in training because she has battle experience and a lot of it. She tries to hold back so as not to release the darkness and hurt her friends in training. She is getting better because she has simply relied on the strength and speed she gets from the darkness before and now she has technique to fall back on.

But my God. She has been going through this alone.

"Rose, how often did you do this? How many have you killed?"

She looked away from my eyes. Oh, this was not good.

"Rose?" I asked again.

"I lost count, Okay." She said exasperatedly, throwing her hands in the air.

She lost count? What is that supposed to mean? Who losses count on how many Strigoi they kill? I had six kills and remembered everyone in explicit detail. How many do you have to kill to lose track of that? And here we were questioning if she was suited to be a guardian. Rose probably had the highest kill count out there and nobody knew.

We needed to get this darkness thing under control. If she was able to do this to Strigoi, I did not want to know what could happen if she released the darkness on campus. We had to get to the root of this darkness. Why was it affecting them so much?

I wanted to hold her close to me again. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay, that I was there to protect her now. She didn't have to live like that anymore. She didn't have to get hurt anymore. But I knew if I hugged her, if I crossed that line between friend and mentor to something more, there was no going back. So instead I tried to steer the conversation to more neutral territory.

"Rose, I looked into bondmates and I think I found another pair. Maybe we can find some reference to the darkness in the books I found. "

She looked at me with great interest. I guess the girls did not know much about being bonded and just figured things out as they went.

"Who?"

"Saint Vladimir and his guardian Anna. They called Anna shadow-kissed, maybe as a reference to the darkness? Although they don't specifically state that they are bonded, there are a lot of references to the possibility."

I hesitated for a moment before continuing. I wondered if I should bring it up. But we were being honest with each other now. Better to get it all out into the open.

"There are more similarities between Vladimir and Vasilisa. Rose, I know about the princess cutting herself. They say Vladimir also suffered from bouts of insanity and would self-harm and that only with the help of his guardian was he able to remain sane."

Rose looked at me panicked. I didn't understand why. Vasilissa cutting herself was probably one of the more normal things these girls were going through.

"Dimitri. You can't tell anyone about Lissa. We have it under control. She did not start cutting herself until after the accident and she hasn't in a long time. Not when I take the darkness away. Please, Dimitri."

I sighed. This was the least of my problems.

"Don't worry. I won't tell until I think it is necessary. If she endangers herself I will have no choice, but for now, her secret is safe with me, as is yours."

I could hear her let out a breath of relief.

"Rose you mentioned Vasilisa hasn't specialized yet. It was the same for Vladimir. He was revered for his miracles, but I could not find the element he specialized in."

"What kind of miracles?"

Rose asked, all innocent. I almost laughed if the situation wasn't so dark.

"Rose, you have been going to Saint Vladimir's Academy for years but don't know what its namesake is famous for?"

She shrugged in a totally Rose fashion. I had to smile a little at that. Even if we were discussing life and death, Rose would still be Rose.

"Saint Vladimir was known for the miracle of healing. He was said to have healed many sick and injured."

That got Rose's attention, something passed before her eyes. I knew she had figured something out. She quickly tried to conceal it. She was deep in thought. Maybe contemplating if she would let me in on it. She looked at me intensely. I was willing her to trust me. We had gotten this far. I wanted to know everything. I needed to know everything. How else could I help her?

I guess she decided it was time to share. I was relieved and also honored. I knew she didn't trust easily, but when you reveal to someone you are a very efficient Strigoi killer by the age of seventeen, and they don't run away screaming, you can trust them.

"Lissa can heal too. I didn't let her heal the superficial wounds, she only heals me when… it is necessary. And she has healed other things before. There was a raven when we were still at the Academy two years ago. I think it was dead. She healed it."

I had to process that. I had never heard of any Moroi with the ability to heal. I had assumed Vladimir's miracles were just exaggerated stories of a doctor just a bit smarter than everyone in that time. I did not exactly believe Vladimir magically healed the people in the stories. But Rose seemed adamant that the princess could heal. And after everything I had seen with those two lately, healing didn't seem so far-fetched.

"Did the stories say anything about Vladimir being able to compel really well?" She asked.

"No, not that I know of, why?" I asked, already dreading the answer.

"Lissa has awesome compulsion skills, not just on humans but on Dhampirs and even Moroi. How do you think she got Kirova to agree to let me stay?"

The last part she said very softly but I still heard. Amazing, what these two girls have been trying to hide from the rest of us was just amazing. Although compelling the headmistress, that was plain bold and stupid. But it did explain how they kept under the radar for so long. Is this also why they ran away. To hide Vasilissa's abilities?

"Which element do you think healing and compulsion belong to? I don't know Moroi with such a skill."

"I do," Rose responded "Miss Carp. She healed me once when I fell out of my window while trying to sneak out." I gave her a disapproving look but let her continue. I guess Rose did deserve most of her black marks on her record.

"Miss Carp helped us get out of the Academy. She was a little paranoid but she said that Lissa was in danger and I needed to take her far away from here. She actually called me shadow-kissed too, now that I think about it. Lissa had the same feeling for weeks like she was being followed. It was making her paranoid and depressed."

So them leaving did have something to do with her powers. And a teacher helped them. I wondered if someone was actually following Lissa. What I understand from Miss Carp is that she was insane at the end. Maybe she talked Lissa into believing she was in danger. If Lissa suffered from darkness and depression she might have been impressionable. They might have missed two years of school for nothing. Rose might have gone through all of that for nothing.

"So you guys leaving had nothing to do with you destroying that room?"

I asked, trying to confirm my suspicions.

"I didn't destroy that room. The guy was being an ass to a feeder girl and Lissa tried to stop him. When he didn't listen, Lissa got so mad she compelled him to destroy his entire room. This was before I learned I could take that darkness away from her. Anyway, when the guy came out of her compulsion he did not remember a thing, so I took the blame, so no one would suspect the truth."

Rose looked down at her hands. I placed mine on top of her hands. Even at fifteen she was sacrificing everything for her best friend. Her hands felt cold underneath my own and I tried to warm them just to give her some comfort. She has been shouldering all of this for the past two years, alone. Well not anymore. I was going to protect her. Protect the both of them.

"I think the dead fox was related to this. I think somebody found out about what Lissa could do and they are testing her. Whoever was after her before is still after her."

I contemplated this. If it is then it wasn't just Miss Carp influencing them. Placing a near dead animal was either a very sick prank or someone wanted to see if Vasilisa could heal the fox back to health. But I guess they had gone overboard and Vasilisa can only do so much.

"Maybe. If that is true, we need to keep a close eye on her and anyone who shows any interest in the Princess. But Rose, that is my job. You need to focus more on yourself and get through training."

"But.."

I cut her off.

"I'll keep you updated and if you see anything suspicious you will tell me, but this isn't your responsibility anymore. It shouldn't be. You need to let me take some of the burdens here. I need you to trust me."

I gazed deeply into her eyes, willing her to understand. She was not alone in this. She could trust me. We needed to do this together. Not just for the Princess, but also for her.

"Okay. But you keep me posted okay?"

I let out a breath of relief. It wasn't easy getting the girls to trust me.

"Okay. Now get back to dinner. It's getting late. And tonight you need to dream about dresses and lip gloss, promise?" I said trying to keep the conversion light and not focus on the fact we just discussed bloodbaths and people trying to hurt her charge.

"I'll try." She replied with a small smile.

She left the gym a lot lighter than when she came in. I could almost visibly see that a burden has been lifted from her. I just hope I can keep my promises to keep them both safe.

I walked into the shower I was supposed to take earlier. The image of Rose in this very stall, naked, returning to me. Except this time it was the second thing about that image that occupied my thoughts in the shower.