Chapter 30

The loud chatter quietened as Aunty Jules led me through the crowd of people which had split down the middle like Moses and the Red Sea. People fell silent or resorted to using low whispers instead as I walked past them. Somewhere in the crowd I noticed the girls and I noticed the encouraging smiles that they were giving me. Their smiles and encouragement made me feel more confident and more reassured that this was going to be fine.

Yes, there was a large crowd, but technically, all I had to do was just lie there while the tattoo artist etched some symbols onto the base of my neck, right? That was all that I had to do, right? The more I tried to remember what the ceremony was actually like from the memory of having attended one once when I was much, much younger, the more the images of the event that day escaped me. No matter how hard I tried to remember that day, I just couldn't.

I had to guess that it was because it was incredibly boring that I couldn't actually remember much about it. If it had been anything exciting then I was fairly certain that I would have remembered most things in detail. That was how my mind functioned after all. My mind seemed to prioritise events by order of whether they had been exciting or not. I could almost remember everything else about my life here at St. Vlad's so for me to not be able to remember this ceremony at all seemed to suggest that it had been so boring that I had fallen asleep.

Frustratingly, I had been forced to sit at the front of the crowd, waiting for my turn to receive my tattoos. There were five fully-pledged Guardians who received a tattoo before me and all the while I was fidgeting with my fingers on the hem of my shirt as I waited. I had never had a tattoo before so I wasn't really sure what it was going to feel like.

Well, I had never had one except for the magical one that was etched onto my hip so long ago that I couldn't even remember when it was. It was probably when I was first born or not long after. It wasn't really a tattoo, but more of a body charm that had been created with spells.

I had absolutely no idea whether the tattoo would hurt me as much as a normal tattoo would hurt normal humans. I had heard so many horrible stories of tattoos becoming infected that it was the one thing that I had never considered doing. Piercings I could handle easily because they looked awesome, but tattoos? They were permanent body images that would never fade away. They were something that would stick with me for the rest of my life unless I decided to get laser surgery or something to remove them.

When I heard my name being called out by Aunty Jules, I stonily made my way up to the table and lay down on it on my front, facing down onto the ground. I took deep breaths as the artists brushed the hair away from my neck and tugged my top down so that he had enough space to work with.

"This might hurt just a little simply because of the amount that you will be getting in one go, Miss Valentine, so please bear with me," he told me soothingly. His soft tone was so calm and gentle that it seemed to throw me into a state of calm and I suddenly felt my unease slowly fade away. I wasn't so worried anymore and I believed in his words.

After about an hour longer, I realised that he was right. The tattoos didn't actually hurt that much in comparison to being beaten around by a Strigoi. The main reason why the ceremony hurt was due to the fact that I was beginning to get cramp from having to stay firmly in the same position for such a long time. Well, that and the fact that there was so much ink being etched onto my skin. It wasn't so much a real painful sensation but more of an irritatingly tingly and stinging sensation.

When everything was done, I vaguely managed to take in everything the artist was telling me about how to keep the tattoos clean for the next few days to prevent any future infections. He had told me that so long as I kept them clean and sanitized for the next few days then I would be in absolutely no danger whatsoever of future possibilities of getting an infection. I was thankful for that. I didn't even want to know how much hassle it would be if I were to get an infection. So long as I made sure to be careful with my next for the next couple of days then I should be alright.

Everyone seemed to crowd around me as I stepped off the slightly elevated platform where the work bed had been. One question was hurled at me after another. The main general question that seemed to circulate was about whether the tattoo had hurt or not, to which I replied: 'Not really, it just stings which is irritating rather than painful.'

I noticed Eric approaching me and I gave him a small smile in greeting. He managed to make his way to my side through the crowd and he smiled down at me. For a moment, I thought that it was a little condescending, but then I realised that it was somewhat natural considering how he was taller than me.

"Are you okay? I've heard that the ceremony could hurt," he asked me.

"I'm alright." I reassured him.

"That's good," he smiled and dipped down to give me a quick kiss on the lips.

People around us gasped since many within the hall hadn't known about me and Eric just yet. Well, now they did. The kiss was probably the most obvious sign to show that something was going on between Eric and me. I knew that the questions about what happened and how it happened would be endless so I managed to excuse myself before the interrogation took off.

I left Eric to it all since I remembered that I had an important appointment with a certain Guardian after the ceremony. It was then that I realised we hadn't actually arranged a place to meet to talk about what needed to be talked about so I simply made my way to the training salle, hoping that he would be there. I had noticed that the Guardian in question had left as soon as he was finished receiving the tattoo so I knew that he was no longer in the ceremony hall.

When I got there, I found Crispin relaxing in the middle of the room on a large pile of mats. It looked so comfortable that I couldn't help but want to join him. But I knew that I couldn't. If I did then I wouldn't be able to have the serious conversation that the pair of us undoubtedly needed to have.

"Ah, Valentine, good timing. Finally done with the tattoos?" he asked conversationally as he heard me approach. He jumped off of the mats and landed just in front of me and he dusted himself off, straightening his trousers slightly.

"Yeah, it took a while though."

"I can imagine, considering how many kills you made, it was bound to take a while," he told me. "So you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. Could we possibly head to Guardian Belikov's office instead? I think I would feel better if we were to talk there."

"Anywhere is fine with me so long as Guardian Belikov doesn't mind us intruding in her space."

"I don't think she would mind too much if we ask her nicely." I smiled wryly at him.

To be honest, considering the conversation that I was about to have with Crispin, I was sure that Aunty Jules wouldn't mind us borrowing the space of her office for just an hour or so or however long it took for our conversation to end.

"Do you remember where that is?" he asked me curiously.

"Yeah, I went there this morning as well."

"Ah yes, the incident with O'Connor. He really dug himself a great hole there, messing with people he knows perfectly well that he shouldn't mess with if he had any sense."

"Problem is, he doesn't. Not at the moment anyway." I scoffed. "I'm pretty sure that that stupid idiot is capable of being sensible, but I guess that at the moment, his mind is so overruled by the desire to be popular that he just doesn't think straight enough."

"That is certainly one way of looking at it." Crispin commented with an amused smile. "I was under the impression that you didn't like him, so why the nice talk about him?"

"I may not like him, but that doesn't mean that I have to badmouth him without a reason to." I commented bluntly like it was the most obvious thing in the word.

From the surprised expression that Crispin was giving me, I had to guess that perhaps my response hadn't been as obvious as I had thought. Did I really come across as someone who held too serious of a grudge to strangers? I hoped not, I did try to be nice most of the time.

"Wow, that is some serious kindness going on there."

"It's not called kindness, it's just… normal?"

"With the way that he's been behaving lately, especially concerning you, I wouldn't call your rationality towards him, normal."

"Hm… I guess you do have a point there." I grinned.

When we reached Aunty Jules' main office in the heart of the campus, I knocked gently on her door, hoping that she was already there. She gave a loud holler, allowing us to enter and I opened the door slightly before poking my head through.

"I hope you don't mind, but I was hoping to borrow your office space for a little while." I smiled politely.

"How serious is the conversation going to be?" she asked sternly with narrowed eyes.

"Quite serious and important and it would be best if no one else heard the contents of the conversation." I told her vaguely.

She stared at me for several moments longer before giving a curt nod. I took that as my cue to enter the office and Crispin followed behind me. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at who I brought with me before realisation seemed to dawn in her eyes.

"Please go through the door on the left, there is a spare room in there where you two can talk." Aunty Jules informed me and I smiled appreciatively at her.

"Thank you very much, Guardian Belikov." I beamed.

The room next door was small, but not cramped and there was a table and two sofas on either sides of the small coffee table. I settled into one sofa while Crispin settled into another. He had closed the door behind him and for several moments, neither of us said a word. We were silent and it took a while for me to decide on what to ask him. In the end, I decided on a question that I had been meaning to ask since yesterday during our fight with the Strigoi.

"Why did you help me? Why didn't you react the same way that Guardian Castile had and forced me to join the little protected group? Why did you hand me the stake? I found your reaction a little surprising considering how much you freaked out on me that time when we went shopping and I ditched you with those girls."

"You sure do know how to ask a whole collection of questions all in one go, don't you?" he smiled wolfishly at me and I smiled sheepishly in response. Okay, so I hadn't just asked one question. I asked several, but the general theme of them was the same. I wanted to know why his reaction was so drastically different to the one back at the shopping mall.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he told me with a dismissive wave. "As for your questions, what do you remember of my strict reaction to your actions back at the mall?"

"I remember you freaking out, me getting angry, me kicking your ass, then before you could plunge into another lecture, Guardian Maxwell stepped in and stopped a full-on fight from breaking out?"

"I'm glad that he did step in. I would not have liked to have been thrashed by a minor and an undergraduate outside of Academy grounds. Now that would be both painful and highly humiliating considering there were three others with us." Crispin scoffed. "As for Maxwell, he told me to back off and that you really did have things under control. At that moment, I didn't understand why he was taking your side, but later when we got back here to the Academy, he explained a few things to me."

"What did he tell you, exactly?" I narrowed my eyes cautiously at him.

Although I trusted Joe enough to know that he wouldn't have exposed my secret to just anyone, I knew that he would also not hesitate to tell someone as skilled as Crispin anything he needed to know in order to protect me properly.

"Well, for one thing, he told me about how exactly it was that the Guardians actually discovered you. Up until today, not many people actually knew about the fact that you had taken down Strigoi last week. No other Guardian had actually seen it and only Zeklos, Dragomir and Parker actually saw your kills. And actually, I reckon that Zeklos didn't actually see anything, and Parker was probably too terrified at the prospect of having a Strigoi nearly kill her to have taken notice of who actually saved her. So all in all, only Maxwell was certain of your kill."

"Okay… but that still didn't explain why you didn't hold me back like you had done that first time. Even if I was experienced, I was still a minor and an undergraduate, I would have thought that you would react differently than the way you did yesterday."

"At first, I was planning on reacting the same way that Castile did, but then I actually took notice of the situation and realised that in that situation, we were going to need all the help we could get considering how many royals we had gathered in one place. Yes you were a minor and yes you were an undergraduate, but you were also an undergraduate who had made more kills that you could even count, apparently."

"Ah… so Guardian Maxwell told you about that as well." I stared blankly at him.

"Yes, Maxwell told me that when you were first brought to the Academy, they took you straight to Headmaster Hunt and they had interrogated you a little bit to find out your background and why you had been able to take down the Strigoi that the Guardians had been too preoccupied to handle."

"Well what can I say? I've had outside help and vague knowledge about the vampire community with the occasional teachings from the lovely Alchemists and some ex-Guardians who had been kind enough to teach me a few tricks." I smiled.

"But that's not all, is it?" he stared expectantly at me and I merely stared blankly back at him.

"What do you mean?"

"There is something else."

"Did Guardian Maxwell tell you this or just your instincts?"

"My instincts. I don't believe for one second that what I know about you so far is anything near the full story. I have a vague suspicion that there is something vital that I haven't been told and somehow, Maxwell is in on the secret while I'm kept in the dark."

"You seem to have very accurate instincts, Guardian Jenson."

"I have been told that it is one of my valuable assets."

"And without a doubt, you have many. Your combat skills and ability to think rationally during a difficult situation are certainly evidence of your expertise. I think that that is something which Guardian Castile could probably work on."

"Castile has a record of losing his cool at certain times. I was surprised by the intimacy between you two though. It's almost as though you two had already known each other. I've heard the kids from the Elementary school calling you his girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend." I protested.

"Yes, I know, apparently, you are Eric Cooper's girlfriend. Maxwell just texted me about the news having seen your little display of affection after your tattoos were finished."

"It seems so."

"You don't seem very happy about it. Most girls would kill for a chance to be his girlfriend. But then again, you aren't like most other girls, are you, Valentine?"

"I think you've worked that out pretty well by yourself already, Guardian Jenson." I grinned cheekily.

"Yes, I think I have too," he laughed. "I know that I have no authority or any right to be giving you advice on these sorts of matters, but I strongly suggest that you be careful around boys like Cooper. They are not to be messed with."

"Oh? I thought that he was a model student of some kind." I frowned.

"It is the model students who are also popular that you really have to watch out for."

"I'll take your words into account, Guardian Jenson." I smiled. "Any advice would be taken into consideration."

"It's not that Cooper has done anything wrong before. It's just that he is a Moroi and you are a Dhampir. I know that you are a girl with a lot of common sense, but things happen in the vampire community and even the most rational of us end up making some kind of a slip up when it comes to interaction with the Moroi."

I blinked in surprise at his words and for several moments I tried to work out what he was trying to say. I mulled over his words over and over and still managed to come up with nothing so I settled for asking him instead.

"Could you give me a more detailed explanation? I have to say that I don't really understand what you're trying to say."

"I'm trying to say that, for centuries, it has always been seen as a privilege and an honour for a dhampir to be sought after by a Moroi, especially the popular ones. More often than not, it would be a relationship between a male Moroi and a female dhampir and more often than not, that Moroi would get the dhampir pregnant and leave her behind."

"Ah, you're trying to say that I should be careful and make sure that I don't get too carried away and accidentally get pregnant."

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't want you to have to make a choice of having to choose between your child and a bright future as a Guardian, Valentine. You seem like the type who would choose the child no matter what."

"I am." I told him bluntly. "And you wouldn't happen to be referring to something like what happened with the legendary Janine Hathaway, would you?"

"You caught me."

"I would never abandon my child."

"Janine Hathaway didn't abandon her child, she left Rose in perfectly capable and safe hands."

"But she made the choice to leave her child behind nonetheless. It doesn't matter how much you try to sugar coat it, Guardian Jenson. The bottom line is, Janine Hathaway left Rose behind to fend for herself through her childhood. Nothing anyone says can change that fact. It wasn't an opinion, it was a harsh fact."

"Rose Hathaway grew up pretty well though."

"She didn't just do 'pretty well'. From what I've read so far, Rose Hathaway is an absolute legend. She did almost everything that was thought to be impossible. She made the impossible, possible and there has yet to be someone who can rival her reputation."

"You seem to know about her in quite a lot of detail for such a newbie." Crispin glanced up through his long lashes at me and I stared innocently back at him. If the glimmer of suspicion that gleamed in his eyes was anything to go by, I was pretty sure that he wasn't at all convinced by my act of innocence.

"Well what can I say? I liked her character and read up a little about her. She definitely seemed a lot more fascinating than Queen Tatiana."

"Queen Tatiana did what she could to ensure the best for her people. Most might not have agreed with her actions, but she did what she could. Even a monarch has their limitations."

"Oh I know." I grinned. "I have studied general world history, you know?"

"You have?"

"Yes, I have actually and I quite like it."

"I have to agree on that. I was never much of a science lover. I had always and still do prefer history and politics over all things science." Crispin grinned wolfishly.

"My favourite has to be drama and sport above all else."

"I had guessed that from your grand escape."

"It wasn't that dramatic. It could have been a whole lot worse. I had been planning things like gas leaks and the like in order to cause the distraction."

"Gas leaks? Were you planning on blowing up half the school or something?" he arched his brows in amusement.

"Of course not! That would weaken the wards and by default put everyone in the Academy in serious danger of being attacked!" I gasped in genuine horror. "I may have been prepared to do almost anything to break out of the school to get back to my team, but I never would have put the others at such a huge risk. Breaking out of one gate by drugging the Guardians was one thing, to truly damage the wards and weakening them is a different story altogether."

"So the safety of the school was in your mind?"

"Well of course, why wouldn't it be?" I frowned in confusion, not understanding why it was a surprise to him that I cared about the safety of the people at this Academy.

Crispin looked like he was about to say something, but before he could get his words out, there was a loud slam of the door and without having to see, I knew that the main door of Aunty Jules' office had just been violently opened. I was somewhat surprised and wondered who it could have been to have just so rudely barrelled into the Head Guardian's office like that. Crispin must have been intrigued too since he shut his mouth and listened.

The next words that filled the silence made the colour drain entirely from my face.

"Why did you not tell me that Skylar was back?" an all too familiar voice that was usually gentle and soothing demanded furiously.