And a new chapter is finally completed! Hope you guys like it :)
Lyn x
~x~ Chapter 60 ~x~
Spinning away I turned to see his arms outstretched as though he had been intending to grab me in some way. Surprise shone in his eyes and I narrowed mine at him. As nervous as I had been as we drove up to the mansion earlier in the evening, I did manage to notice that the mansion and the immediate area surrounding it was heavily guarded. So the chance of this man being an attacker was almost zero.
After all, why would this man need to attack me?
"Excuse me if I'm being rude but who are you?"
"I am a guardian of Lord Ozera."
"And you are trying to sneak up on me because?"
"I was intrigued to see if you are as good as they say."
"So you decided to check it out yourself by trying to sneak up on me when I was all alone? No offense but that's a little creepy." A little of my usual snarky edge returned to my voice now that I was actually comfortable in this gorgeous mansion.
Amusement flickered across his eyes before it was gone as quickly as it had appeared and he slipped on a typical guardian poke face.
"Would you like me to lead you back to the dining room?"
"Thanks for your offer but I think I can make it back alone just fine. Luckily this mansion isn't too much of a maze." I gave him a grateful smile and watched as he turned his back and silently walked off somewhere. He was probably returning to his surveillance spot or resuming his patrol.
I made it back just in time as the maids were bringing in the desert. Dan commented on my impeccable timing and I shot him a wide grin. Desert was a damn tasty dark chocolate fondant topped with homemade vanilla ice cream. It was so delicious I couldn't stop the hum of bliss as I took a bite. The quartet laughed at me when they heard.
"You could probably make one just as good, Kai." Dan pointed out.
"I've tried but I just couldn't get it right." I sighed. "I might ask Guardian Valiere for some tips on how to do it."
"Do you cook?" James asked curiously.
"It tastes as good as it smells. I can't say much for the presentation though." Drew told him.
"Hey, I didn't hear any complaints whenever you and Dan steal my food at home ec." I retorted indignantly.
"You could probably become a chef if you ever wanted a change of career." Dan complimented.
"I did consider working towards opening my own restaurant once but I guess that's not going to happen now." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"There were some rumours about Vampire Guardians and Risqué disbanding. Is that true?" Rhiannon asked.
"There was a point when I thought they would but my manager and Headmaster Hunt came to a compromise so it seems that I can still continue my career as a singer."
"That's fantastic. It would've been such a shame if you had to stop because of being at the academy."
"Did Quinn ever tell you that he could play the piano?" Lady Dragomir asked. "It would be lovely if you two could perform a song for us tonight."
"Can we hear you sing tonight, Kylie?" Trace pleaded cutely. "I want to hear you sing."
"I don't really mind. It's up to you Quinn." I turned to him with a questioning glance.
"I haven't had a chance to play for a few weeks but I reckon I could keep up."
"Quinn, if you have the time for practice again, there is a charity event coming up the week after you all return from your week long trip with the Academy. I would like it if you and Kylie could perhaps perform a few songs throughout the course of the evening." Lady Badica interjected. "That is, permitting that the event doesn't coincide with your work schedule."
"I would need to check with my manager regarding my timetable. I hear that she's planning on squeezing in as much as she can into this summer holiday before I am due back to the academy." I told her honestly. "But if that evening happens to be free I will let you know as soon as possible and I would love to perform at your charity event."
"That would be wonderful, Kylie." Lord Badica smiled appreciatively. "We will send the details to Headmaster Hunt so that he could pass the information on to you."
"Thank you."
"We should head over to the music room." Rhiannon suggested when she saw that everyone had finished eating for a few moments already. "I can't wait to hear you sing in person. You so very rarely perform live I've never had the chance."
"So now would be the perfect time to say that I've already seen her sing twice." Drew mused.
"You haven't." Rhiannon glared.
"Honest truth."
"That is so unfair! I'm more of a fan than you are!"
"That's not true."
"I've bought every single one of their albums and singles and posters. It so is."
"Yeah well I bet you don't have a guitar pick and a cd signed by the entire band AND I go to school with the lead singer."
"Seriously this is really embarrassing so I'm going to cut in before this carries on any longer." I jumped in, kicking Drew's leg under the table since he was sat across from me.
He flinched from the force of my kick and shot me an indignant glare. Oops, maybe I kicked him a little too hard.
"Kai, why don't we go to the music room first and let them digest their food a little more. We can have a couple of run throughs while I refresh my memory with playing the piano." Quinn suggested.
"I want to go too!" Trace chirped, jumping off his seat and I watched with an amused grin as he dashed around the table to grab my hand. "Let's go, Kylie."
"Do you mind if we leave the table first?" I asked the quartet's parents politely.
"Not at all. We will make our way there shortly." Lord Zeklos shook his head with a small smile.
"Then please excuse us." I inclined my head and followed Quinn as he guided me through the mansion.
I glanced around this time, actually paying attention to the paintings that lined the walls. They were filled with portrait paintings of various royal families and my eyes lingered on one of the Ivashkov families. It was the one and only one that was ever painted of my family. It was when I had been ten years old, not too long before the attack.
"Kylie?" Trace called out curiously, tugging on my arm.
"Sorry." I apologised and picked him up into my arms. "I was just a little intrigued since I've never seen a portrait of them before."
"Apparently, the Ivashkovs should've been the next in line for the throne."
"But only if they had a Moroi child, right?"
"Do you know about the family?"
"All I've heard is that the couple were killed in an attack a while back and the daughter disappeared." I shrugged. I felt a little guilty lying to him out straight like that but it couldn't be helped. I trusted Quinn and he was a great friend but I just couldn't trust him with something of this magnitude just yet.
Not until I was ready.
I felt a little breathless when I saw the music room. My favourite had to be the sleek black grand piano not far from the French doors which led onto a patio. Trace jumped out of my arms and made himself comfortable on one of the armchairs. I let out a delighted sigh as I trailed my hands over the shining keys.
"Do you play?" Quinn asked curiously.
"Just a little. I was always too tired with sports and dance training to practice properly." I smiled a little. "I love the sounds that a finely tuned piano makes. It's so… resonant and beautiful."
"So it seems that romance isn't lost on you," he teased as he took a seat at the piano.
"I already said that it wasn't." I scoffed.
"Do you like John Legend?"
"Do I like John Legend?" I glared playfully. "I adore John Legend."
I smiled as the beginning of 'Ordinary People' flowed through the room and I casually leaned against the piano, gently swaying to the tune. We were halfway through the third song when the others arrived and each took a seat comfortably on the scattered armchairs.
"Can I make a request?" Rhiannon piped up as soon Quinn and I were finished with the third song.
"It would depend on what the song is."
"Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey."
"Do you know that score?" I turned to Quinn.
"Rhiannon made me play it countless times after she saw that film." Quinn nodded with a grin.
After a few more songs, I excused myself to go to the bathroom once more. This time, rather than trying to sneak up on me, I simply found the guardian from earlier leaning against the wall as I was heading back to the music room.
"No more attacks?" I joked.
"I'd like a word, Miss Valentine."
"Um… sure thing." I shrugged, not seeing any reason to refuse. I couldn't see any sign of threat in his eyes or posture so it seemed safe if not really bizarre since he really had tried to sneak up on me for some reason.
I followed him down a few corridors until we reached a beautiful library and he led me out onto the patio. He inspected me from head to toe several times before he finally crossed his arm across his broad chest and frowned at me.
"What you did regarding the break out was reckless and foolish. You may have had good intentions but you did place those around you in unnecessary danger. Whatever the reason may be, you managed to avoid receive any form of strict punishment. I hope that you don't think that what you did wasn't highly dangerous, Kylie Valentine."
Wow...
While I did wonder whether I was ever going to receive this lecture, I most certainly didn't expect to receive it from a total stranger, albeit a skilled guardian who managed to creep up on me far too easily for my liking and one I had literally met just moments ago.
"I understand that what I did was immature but I wasn't going to let the Academy keep me from that game whether or not I took the others with me."
"You understood the severity of breaking out and you still did it?"
"I wasn't raised to be bound by the rules of a vampire academy with whacky social hierarchies and a monarchy." Okay, so technically that was a lie since I was for a while up until I was ten but this guardian didn't know that. "So why should I place these rules above my loyalty to friends who had stuck by me for years?" I retorted. "It's not like I came to the academy by choice. I was dragged against my will."
"And yet you have stayed by your own choice."
"As if I really had a choice." I mumbled, not really expecting him to hear it but he did.
"There is always a choice in life, Kylie Valentine. No matter how hopeless a situation may seem, there is always a choice."
Well, despite not knowing all the details behind my being hauled back to the very same academy that I had run away from six years ago, he was right about the fact that I did have a choice. I could have chosen to leave again. Though this time probably giving my loved ones less of a heart attack by letting them know that I hadn't been kidnapped but had in fact left by my own choice.
But I had chosen to stay.
I chose to stay at a place where I would flourish best. This was undoubtedly the best place for me to be to train myself and to prepare myself further for the life ahead of me. There really was no better training programme in the world against deadly vampires besides a vampire academy.
''Going back to what I was saying."
"You mean you're not done with the lecture?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.
"The lecture, yes. But I had another point I wanted to make," he told me, amusement shimmering in his eyes. "You are young and you do make mistakes. But you have also undoubtedly shown them something fantastic. You have given them the opportunity they never had, the chance to mingle with people who didn't know who they are. That is a gift that they have all yearned for but their wish was never granted until now."
"So it wasn't all bad?"
"I never said that it was. You bring a younger, though perhaps immature, insight to things. You can think of things we don't even consider and in some ways that can be a great thing. You also demonstrated just how penetrable the academy could be."
"It really was horrible of me to betray their trust, wasn't it?"
"Yes," the guardian stated bluntly. "But with the growing number of spirit users and the number of Moroi who are capable of commanding their compulsion to frightening degrees, we need to be prepared for the breaking of security from not only the outside but within as well. What if there was a traitor? I don't think that that is something that has ever been considered before."
A traitor... For some reason, his words seemed to ring in my mind. What if... just what if... all those years ago the reason why so many Strigoi could break in was because of a traitor? What if it wasn't a simple lapse in our security but someone had deigned it... The thought terrified me. If it happened back then, what's to stop it from happening all over again? What's to stop the Strigoi from taking away the people I hold dear to me a second time? I couldn't let it happen again. I was going to do everything I could to protect those dear to me if anything were to happen again. I wasn't a weakling like back then. I was much stronger now. I would hold on to that.
"It's not good to ambush a guest, Guardian Kendrick." Drew joked as he approached us on the patio.
"You have an uncanny skill of finding me, Ozera." I mused.
"One of the guardians told me where you would be," he explained.
"I simply wanted a private word with the young miss." Guardian Kendrick shrugged.
"Guardian Kendrick," I called to him as he was leaving. "I'll keep our conversation in mind."
"That would be much appreciated. Enjoy the rest of your evening."
"Thank you. You too."
"What were you guys talking about?" Drew eyed me curiously. "You have a pretty serious expression right now."
"I just had a couple of things to think about."
"Whatever you were thinking about, stop. Relax and enjoy your night, Valentine." He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "If you think any more about it you're going to throw yourself into one of your heavy states of mind again. You have a habit of doing that."
"I'm sure I'm not the only one." I scoffed, leaning against the stone barrier to gaze out at the beautiful garden. "This is a nice place."
"Dan grew up here. After the four of us got to know each other from the training course, we actually came here pretty often since it's so close to the academy."
"A nice break away from all the social drama and all that, huh?"
"It does get a too overbearing sometimes," he sighed. "It only got worse when we hit puberty and some girls became irritating."
"I'll bet." I sniggered. "Seems like some things really are just the same whether you're a bloodsucker or a casual human."
"Puberty appears to attack all races."
"So it does."
For a moment, neither of us said anything, simply admiring our beautiful surroundings. Eventually, he turned towards me again and curiosity gleamed in his sapphire depths. They really were so much like his mothers'. So beautiful and captivating. It would be so easy to just get lost in those eyes for hours without even realising it.
He seemed to be pretty intent on my eyes too as his gaze never broke away from mine as we stared at one another. "Your eyes are different than before."
"That's because I'm wearing contacts." I explained. "Had to. Otherwise it would've been impossible to hide my identity out there. With the number of dhampir, alchemists and Moroi that I'd encountered over the years, they would've realised who I was and sent me back."
"When was your first encounter with a Moroi or dhampir after you'd run away?"
I thought about it for a moment before answering. "Dhampir, I'd say about a month or so. Moroi, maybe four months give or take."
"Aren't coloured contacts really uncomfortable?"
"They are but bearable once I got used to it." I shrugged. "I do need to get new ones though. These ones are starting to get a little worn."
"I'm glad you didn't go so far with your disguise as to dye your hair. That would've been a shame."
"Is that a compliment, Ozera?" I teased.
"Perhaps."
"I did briefly consider it, but I knew that it would've been really expensive to keep up and I was really short on money when I first left. I took all the change I had saved up over the years from pocket money and stuff but that didn't really last very long. I was really lucky that the school nurse and his wife decided to take me in."
"It definitely was kind of them. I mean, most people wouldn't just take in some kid they just found. Take them to an institution or something, sure, but actually take responsibility for them? That's a whole other story."
"I think about it every now and then about how lucky my circumstances were. To be perfectly honest with you, when I first broke out, I was a little lost. All I had planned was my destination and how to use money wisely. As for the rest… I didn't really know." I sighed. "I'm not Moroi so I can't use compulsion against government workers to create fake documents for me but somehow I just managed…"
"What about school? I mean, it's easier to lie when you're older but you were only ten. How did you manage to enrol by yourself without them questioning anything?"
"I forged signatures and made up voices on the phone pretending to be a legal guardian for myself when I spoke to the Headmaster on the phone." I smirked. "I was one heck of a smart kid thanks to all the pranks that Ali and I used to do. Thanks to those times, I possessed the skill to plan for any given situation I think, especially ones where I needed to blag my way through things."
"You definitely were shockingly devious when you seemed to be so anti-social back then." Drew chuckled. "You were almost never caught red-handed and the both of you had the scary ability to talk your way out of getting punishments."
"He certainly did teach me how to sweet talk my way out of punishments which came in handy when I was out there in a human school." I laughed. "I got into a fair number of fights at the beginning. I think that somehow helped with my confidence because I could actually win in a fight for the first time."
"You used to be sent to the infirmary quite a lot, didn't you?"
"I was Rosette's most regular patient and I even had my own room there. That's how ridiculous it got." I sighed.
"You had your own room?" he mused.
"It was my hiding place sometimes when people got too much and I couldn't run to Ali because he was in class."
"Did you spend a lot of time with him back then?"
"Almost every shared free moment."
"That's a lot of time. But what about when he had a girlfriend? A guy like that must've had them."
"Oh he had them alright." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "He loved the attention and was a total flirt to boot!"
"If I didn't know any better, you almost sound like you were jealous." Drew teased as he glanced at me with amusement gleaming in his eyes.
"I was only ten."
"That didn't answer my question."
"I'm not talking about this with you, Ozera." I protested, feeling my face warm from embarrassment.
"Now you've definitely got me curious. Is there a reason why a lot of the kids were calling you his girlfriend?"
My face heated even more at the memory of Ali showering kisses on me. Letting out a soft groan of embarrassment, I covered my face with my hands and crouched down. "I can't believe he did that in front of so many people!" I squealed.
"He must've had the shock of his life when he saw the girl he used to be with so often had grown up so much." Drew mused, refusing to drop the teasing subject.
"Do you have any idea how bizarre this is?"
"How bizarre what is?" he drawled, knowing full well what I was talking about but decided to be horrible and torture me further.
"This conversation topic."
I heard the rustling of his clothes and peeked between my fingers to see what he was doing. He'd crouched down right in front of me, his face leaning close so that it was much closer than I expected. I could almost feel his breath fanning against my face. It was a weird sensation. I wouldn't go as far as to say I didn't like it. It just seemed to make me feel odd. I could butterflies fluttering in my stomach. My heart skipping a beat before its beat accelerated so much that its pounding almost hurt.
I watched unmovingly as he reached out towards me. Gently, he took my hands away from my face and simply held them. Neither of us said anything, simply stared at each other for who knew how long.