Chapter 9

I knocked on his office door politely three times before waiting patiently.

"Come in," he called and I walked in casually. I noticed that he was preoccupied with a phone call so I simply sat on one of the chairs to wait. After around five minutes he finally hung up looking a little tired.

"Difficult caller?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah, far too many complaints," he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So how are you settling in so far Kai? I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Don't worry Martin, I'm not here to complain." I laughed. "As for the settling in, well I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would. Some of the people here are really nice."

"I've heard from Joe that you seem to have gotten along with McCarthy, O'Reilly and French."

"They are really kind and accepting. They don't push for answers when I'm reluctant in answering and I really appreciate that." I smiled softly.

"You also seem to be more skilled than I could've possibly expected. Beating the four royal boys in one go is something I haven't heard of," he chuckled. "I'm sure they regret getting off on the wrong foot with you."

"Who knows." I shrugged with a grin.

"I also heard that you nearly punched O'Connor at breakfast the other day."

"Yeah…" I smiled sheepishly. "What can I say? My grudge has held for this many years."

"Good thing Joe stepped in. I would've hated to give you detention on the first day."

"Sorry, I would hate to put you in a difficult spot unless I had to." I smiled apologetically. "But hey, I managed to kick his ass in class so all is well for now until he decides to do something stupid again."

"Which I find highly probable," he grimaced. "He used to harass you quite often didn't he?"

"And alas that is why I hold a personal grudge against him." I smirked. "Not that he's realised that fact yet."

"Do you think he ever will?" he asked and I knew that there was a double meaning behind his question. The deeper question was whether anyone was going to find out that I was an Ivashkov. I stared back at him levelly and I was somewhat surprised by the heavy gaze he gave me. I thought carefully about it before shaking my head.

"I don't know Martin, I honestly don't know. Even I'm not stupid enough to think that I'll be able to get through to graduation without people realising or recognising me. No doubt as soon as Rosette or Aunty Jules see me, they'll know instantly who I am. Rosette will see the resemblance in my aura and well you know that barely anything slips past Aunty Jules' observation. The question will be how long until people find out, Martin, not if. Even I know that."

Martin studied me for a few minutes before he gave a regretful sigh. "I wish I had been there to watch you grow up. You have definitely changed for the better Kai. Back then you never would've said something like that aloud. You've certainly learned to think through worst case scenarios too it seems."

"Well living out on my own for so long definitely does something for my maturity. I couldn't afford to be naïve out there on my own. If I was, I wouldn't stand a chance against the world. I learned that school is kind of the same really. Even if you are naïve, don't show it, otherwise there will be plenty of people who would take advantage. And if you are naïve, grow tough enough to be able to overcome any obstacle."

Martin just sat there before he suddenly stood up and swept me up into a hug. I stood there frozen for a moment unsure of what to do before wrapping my arms around him. We simply held each other for a long moment and neither of us spoke. I didn't speak because I didn't know what was happening and he didn't speak because… well I guess he was pretty caught up in his own thoughts.

"Sorry that was probably a little careless of me," he smiled as he stepped back so that we were at arm's length.

"Don't worry about it." I shook my head. "What's up? You seem oddly sentimental at the moment."

"I just can't believe how much you've grown up. If you think I'm being sentimental, wait until some of the others realise your return. No doubt Juliet will give you the lecture of your life but she will most likely suffocate you first as will Rosette."

"I haven't grown all that much Martin, the little old me is still here… somewhere. I just hide it that's all. Like I said, I had to grow up with a tough front to battle away people who might try to take advantage of me."

"And I am so proud of you."

"You ain't seen nothing yet Martin, soon you might start hating me for all the troubles that I will no doubt cause around here."

"I will be proud of you nonetheless depending on what you do," he laughed.

"Well at this point, even I have no idea how much trouble I'll end up being." I shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"Considering who your parents were, I have no doubt that you'll cause trouble," he scoffed and ruffled my hair before moving back to sit in his chair so I sat back down in mine.

"So, I have a favour to ask."

"Ah so now we come down to it."

"It's nothing that major. It's just that the other girls want to go shopping and I was wondering if I could tag along."

"This is for Thursday right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "It would mean missing one of my extra Vampire 101 lessons."

"I don't see why missing just one would do any harm. You probably know some of the things that Mark is going through with you right?"

"I am not going to go into a rant about how pointless the one hour I spent in that lesson was." I grumbled in annoyance. "It was one of the biggest wastes of my time! I mean seriously, some of the stuff even a bloody three year old would know!"

"So it really was that bad," he laughed. "It is your own fault for living under a façade of knowing nothing of our world."

"I know, that's why I'm so annoyed, because I know that in the end it is my own fault for choosing this." I huffed.

"Unfortunately everything has a down side in life."

"Unfortunately is right," I scoffed.

"You have my approval for going into the city. Do you have money?"

I just stared at him incredulously. "Did you seriously just ask that question?"

"Yes, it's a perfectly natural question for someone who is one of your guardians to ask," he said defensively.

"Martin, I had two jobs, one of which has pretty much guaranteed that I could live in luxury without effort for the rest of my life. To this day even though I may not be able to record any more albums because I'm at this school, money is still flooding into my account because of people buying my songs and other types of franchise." I stated with crossed arms.

This time it was his turn to stare at me and realisation slammed into him. "Right, you are the lead singer of a very popular band. I forgot about that. Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The fact that you might never get to be with your band again."

"Yeah I miss it." I replied instantly and a flash of guilt crossed his expression.

"We really have torn you away from some important people to you haven't we?"

"You have." I nodded without hesitation. "But you've also brought me back to some equally important people here and I don't regret that. I think we both know that if I really tried, I could break out of here again."

"The scary thing is, I have to agree with you on that," he gave a troubled sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "If you would like, I could make some arrangements for certain Thursdays for some authorised absences so that you can work with your band."

"You can do that?" I screamed as excitement rushed through me.

"I'm the headmaster, of course I can," he chuckled. "I take your enthusiasm as a thorough 'yes'?"

"Of course I would love to continue working with the band!" I squealed and jumped up and down in glee. I knew that I probably looked completely comical hopping around like that and I most definitely would've looked like some small child but I just couldn't care because Martin's suggestion was one of the best things I'd ever heard in my life! "Oh my god, on behalf of my band and my manager and the company that I usually record with, thank you so much!"

I screamed again in utter joy and dashed around his desk to hug him tightly.

"I will call your manager and make some arrangements for this to work."

"I promise I will work extra hard in school! Thank you so much for this Martin!" I screamed again. "I'm so excited! There's a new song coming up as well! There's so much to do! I'm going to send Louise a text to say that her song will be accepted! Ah!"

"Now you're starting to resemble like a teenager," he chuckled and I think there was a dash of relief in his tones but I wasn't sure. I was too happy to know for sure.

"Thank you! You won't regret this!" I squealed again and then I noticed the time. "Call me if anything urgent happens. I better get going or I'll miss dinner. Ah! I love you Martin!" I jumped to hug him one last time.

"Love you too Kai," he laughed and watched with an amused smile as I ran out of his office and back to the dorms.

"Whoa, what's gotten you into such an amazing mood?" Els asked curiously when she opened the door. The other two instantly noticed my huge smile and I simply hugged all three of them.

"Don't worry about it; I just heard something really good from an old friend that's all." I shook my head. "Oh and I've got permission to go with your guys tomorrow by the way."

"That's great!" Ingrid beamed.

"Let's go to dinner, I'm really hungry." Roxy suggested and we all headed to dinner. Dinner was well… dinner. There was gossip, mostly about me since I was still the new kid and there was also some talk about the upcoming party on Saturday. It seemed that everyone was pretty hyped about it and I could understand why. From the little bits of gossip that I could make out and from Ingrid's source of information, they were sneaking in a lot of alcohol. I had already guessed that there would be some from the conversation during breakfast, but it seemed that quite a few boys were planning to challenge me to drinking contests in hopes of getting me drunk.

Everything seemed to be going fine. At least, that was until I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes to see white. Everything around me seemed ridiculously white, almost blindingly white. Another thing that shocked me was the cold that bit into my skin. My teeth were chattering and there were goosebumps all over my body. At first it seemed silent. But when I struggled a little to listen more carefully, I could hear quite whispers of what sounded like shouting across the wind. Without another thought I took off running towards what I hoped was the right direction.

I ran as fast as I could possibly go in the knee thick snow and I realised that that was why I felt so cold.

I was mortified by what I found as the shouting became clearer. It wasn't just shouting anymore. There was screaming, howling, hissing, shouting, barking even. I dashed through the woods and arrived at a battle ground. Strigoi were everywhere as were Moroi and dhampirs and Guardians.

And there was blood.

So so much blood.

The blood stained the white sheet of snow and for a moment all I could do was stand transfixed in my spot and watch the massacre ahead of me.

It was clear that the Strigoi were winning. It seemed that no matter how many of those monsters the Guardians and dhampirs alike took down. More and more Strigoi just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Through fear and desperation I fought my way through the mass of Strigoi staking any that got in my way efficiently and even used my fire to help.

Getting towards the middle of it all I found my friends and family fighting for their lives and I dove in to join them without hesitation. I vaguely noticed that Dan and Quinn laid dead on the ground as well as Rosette and Brooks. Then one by one they each seemed to fall and there was nothing I could do about it through this fight.

"No!" a scream of denial tore from my lips as my fire grew stronger and brought down more of the Strigoi.

"You will watch this little princess. You will watch this before you yourself will join our side," one of the Strigoi hissed and smashed a fist to the back of my head with such brute force that almost knocked me unconscious. Almost, but not quite.

I could still see everything and although I forced my eyes closed so that I wouldn't have to, I had to because the bastard used compulsion to keep my eyes open and watching ahead.

"Watch them die little princess. I want you to suffer. You will watch everything be taken away from you before your soul will become ours," he laughed mirthlessly.

"Stop it! Leave them alone!" I screamed and thrashed in his grasp as he held me up. "You can't kill them!"

"Oh but that's where you're wrong. I can."

With that I watched with tears streaming down my face as each of my friends died. And I watched Martin and Joe die in the same way my parents did. They died as they tried to wrench me away from the Strigoi holding me.

They died trying to protect me.

"NO!" I screamed again but it was no use because they were gone. They were all gone.

"And now it's your turn," he smiled maliciously and grabbed my shoulders roughly pulling me towards him as I struggled.

"No!" I screamed one last time and then I was consumed by coldness.

I was jolted awake by the sudden coldness that splashed onto my face. I could feel the sting on my cheek as though someone had recently slapped me and I opened my eyes to stare at a pair of familiar warm brown eyes full of live and full of concern. Without another thought I threw myself into Joe's arms and cried.

"Shh," he soothed and stroked my back as I sobbed into his chest.

"They died… everyone died…" I cried and he hushed me again and wrapped his arms tighter around me.

"It's alright, we're all still here. It was just a dream, only a nightmare," he whispered.

I vaguely registered the footsteps that left the room and the gentle closing of my door. "It felt so real Joey… I seemed so real, the pain, the blood, the coldness… everything seemed so real!"

"Shh little sky, I'm still here aren't I? And all your friends are here too. It was just a dream," he whispered again into my hair and gently cradled me like a small child in his arms.

"I was so powerless against them. We were all so powerless. No matter how many we brought down, they just keep coming. There were so many of them…" I whispered with a broken voice.

"It was just a dream," he repeated.

Eventually I calmed down and the shaking finally stopped. I pushed myself away slightly so that we were at arm's length and he continued to watch me worriedly. "I'm alright now… I think."

"Are you sure? I could take you down to Rosette's to make sure you're not alone and have someone to talk to."

"No." I told him hastily. "I don't think I'm prepared to see them just yet."

"You'll have to eventually, Jules will certainly bump into you at some point and you'll have to visit the doctor's office eventually. It's only a matter of time," he told me sternly.

"I know, but please Joey, not now." I shook my head fervently.

"Okay, I won't push you if you're not ready."

"What's the time?" I asked with a weak voice.

"About an hour until normal wake up time for everyone."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is one moment I'm sleeping, the next I could hear your scream."

"Was it really loud? Do you think everyone heard?"

"I think everyone on this floor heard yeah," he nodded.

"Oh crud." I grumbled and he gazed at me sympathetically. "Who was in here just now? I heard someone walking away."

"Your friends rushed in here as soon as they realised that it was you who screamed and they were the ones who suggested splashing water on your face to wake you up. I tried shaking you but it didn't work very well," he informed me.

"Oh… I'm sorry for waking you guys up." I smiled sheepishly and I was surprised when he suddenly whacked the back of my head with a brief flash of anger across his eyes.

"You stupid girl! How could you even think about something like that at a time like this?" he muttered.

"But it is my fault."

"I will be there for you whenever you need me Kai, remember that. And I have a feeling that those friends of yours feel the same way. We don't care that we're losing out on a little sleep if someone important to us is in pain and you most certainly were in pain a few moments ago."

"I know you'll be there for me Joey and that's what worries me. I don't want anyone to die for me anymore, not ever again."

"You still think that Ray and Ami died because of you."

I nodded feebly. "It's still a little hard to not think that way."

I narrowly dodged his next hit and glared up at him. "You have to stop thinking that way alright Kai? None of it was your fault. You didn't let the Strigoi in, and they protected what was important to them just as you would recklessly throw your life in exchange for someone else's. You all think in the same way. We all think in the same way so stop being irrational about this."

"I can't help it alright." I pouted childishly.

"Listen, I better go for now. If I stay in here any longer, talk is going to start and spread and I don't you need any more rumours at the moment. I will see you later Kai."

"Alright, thanks for being here for me Joey." I smiled and gave him a quick hug.

"Try not to think about things like that again alright?" he advised and kissed my forehead before leaving my room.

A few moments later, I was still sitting on the floor of my room when someone knocked on the door.

"Yuh-huh?" I called out. The door opened and Roxy, Els and Ingrid walked in hesitantly. "Sorry about that." I smiled apologetically.

"Not to worry." Els shook her head and held her hands out. I gave her a puzzled glance before realising that she intended to help me up from the floor. I took her hands gratefully since my legs were still a little shaky and we all sat on my bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ingrid asked nervously.

"You mean about why I screamed?" I asked and they nodded. "I had a nightmare that everyone I loved was being killed. Watching you all being killed in front of my eyes while I could do nothing tore me up inside and I hated it. I hated being so powerless. It killed me to watch as everyone died one by one."

"You had a nightmare about losing us?" Roxy asked gently. I nodded weakly when I couldn't seem to find my voice.

"And you tore yourself up about it?" Els stared at me in surprise and I nodded again.

"We love you Kai," the three of them chimed and wrapped me up in a hug.

"Well unfortunately for you Kai, you're stuck with us for a long time still." Ingrid grinned to break the tension. "None of us intend to die any time soon and we'll definitely be together until graduation."

"But what about after that? What if something happens to one of your charges?" I argued.

"Let's not think that far ahead." Ingrid grimaced. "All I want at the moment is to pass graduation first. I don't even want to know what would happen if I failed."

"You won't fail Ingrid, it's quite hard to fail isn't it?"

"Actually, it's really easy. If you're not strong enough and fail the final field test, you won't get assigned to a charge. Instead, depending on the academics, you'll have to either work in administration at Court or teach at a school." Ingrid shook her head with a defeated sigh.

"Well I'll just have to make sure that your skills are strong enough to pass your field test." I told her confidently.

"Hey Kai, is that picture on the wall of your soccer team?" Roxy asked curiously. I glanced up at the picture with a grin and nodded. I got off the bed and took it down to show it to them.

"You want to check out the guys don't you?" I smirked.

"You caught me," she giggled and so we went by the next hour until it was time to get dressed for breakfast by talking about the guys that were in the soccer team.

9