A.N: Hey Guys!! Another extra long chapter just for you! =D
Firstly let me thanks the one who reviewed it's very sweet of you guys. You know how much I love reading you right?
I just wanted to clarify something about the date though. Adrian went to pick Rose up one hour after the classes ( as said in chapter 3) so it is still night time and he brought her to an area of the campus that is 'forbidden' to students so that's why their date was not interrupted by other students.
Oh and check out the story called Imaginary written by my good friend Mmsimpy09 it's full of potential =D
By the way, please try to respect and not to be that harsh on my beta, Megan, work on this story. She is working very hard on it and spending a lot more time trying to make it perfect for us. You just have to understand that she is not a professional Beta and that most books are usually Beta'ed' twice ( by professionals) before hitting the shelves and it's still possible to spot mistakes here and there so please try not to pick on every little things that is missed as it hurt her feelings (and mine for her). I personally think she is doing an awesome job and i'm very grateful she is putting so much time and effort into it. So, thank you Meg!!
One last tiny thing I did a promo for Spirit Bound on youtube if you want to check it out ( the link is on my page)
For the poll the results so far are : 61% Team Dimitri, 27% Team Adrian and 12% either.
Now I shut it and don't forget to review!!! =D
Chapter 5:
Today did start a lot better than yesterday. Firstly, it was Saturday so it meant no classes and no sidelong glances from my fellow students. Fellow students that were even getting out of my way whenever I walked through the corridors. Even the Moroi, royal or not, were showing me respect when I walked by them and this included Jesse and Ralph, I still couldn't comprehend that!
I had some plans with Eddie and Lissa this afternoon. Still, I haven't given up on the idea of getting Christian to join us, I'd go to his room and drag his hardheaded ass if I had to.
I was just getting out of training with my mother and I couldn't help but smile. She was still the tough guardian, she would still look cold and detached to an outsider but to me she was totally different now. She was my mother and I knew at this point that with everything that had happened between us, all the mistakes that had been made, could be repaired.
She asked me about my date trying to sound as detached as she could. I could see the curiosity and hope in her eyes. Bless her heart, she was just hoping that I would heal fast enough. Even if it was getting better and better between us, it still felt extremely awkward to talk about my love life, or rather my lack of one, with her. So I stayed pretty evasive with a 'we're taking things slow' and a 'we're friends for now, we'll just see where it leads'
Friends it's good, slow, it's very good. She said approvingly and taking an offensive stance and we did what we both did best…Fight.
When we were done my mother went it the direction of the guardians building because she was scheduled for a morning shift. I went towards the Moroi dorm to spend a bit of alone time with Lissa but I could feel that she wasn't there. Also, I could feel a wave of uneasiness, pain, guilt, and sorrow coming from her and it could mean only one thing...she was with Christian.
I bit my bottom lip and decided to sit under the oak tree near her dorm just to slip in her mind for a few minutes. Those two needed help and I needed to know the material I was working with. Well actually, I was just super curious and dying to know but the first excuse seemed far more commendable.
Lissa was standing near the door of the chapel attic, their old love nest . Christian, who was sitting in a corner, stood up looking pained.
"Don't be silly… you don't have to go because I'm here," he said softly brushing some dust from his pants. "You have as much of a right to be here as I do." He added as she took two slow steps in.
Lissa nodded thinking about how much she missed him. What she wouldn't give for him to hold her tightly in his arms again while whispering in her ear how much he loved her, whispering about how everything would be ok.
It hurt me to feel that with her because I felt just the same, except that in my case the chances to get my prince back were close to absolutely zero.
Abe did tell me that not every fairy tale gets its happy ending and of course I knew that. My fairy tale turned into a nightmare in just seconds. The prince had been cursed, the princess was now dancing with the fine line between sanity and despair not really knowing how strong she really is. How far could we go before we break? That is the question she kept asking herself. What if the spell could be broken? What if the prince could return home and save the princess from her own bleeding heart? What if this infinitesimal chance was in the hands of the bad wizard, the one that swore to take revenge? Any normal 'princess' would give up this hope before it got her killed but not me, I was the masochistic, self-destructive, idiotic type, I would hold on to that hope till the end thinking 'Come what may!'
I concentrated on Lissa and Christian again.
"Will it always be like that?" Asked Lissa not able to hide the longing and pain in her voice any longer.
I saw the pure anguish in Christian's eyes but I didn't think Lissa registered it. Christian and I apparently owned the corner of the 'self-sacrificing' shit.
"Will what?" He asked now being the one standing by the door and I understood when he told her to stay, it meant that he would be the one leaving…
Idiot! I thought. At least talk to her geez!!
"You and me?" She asked pointing to both of them trying her best to keep her feelings in order because she was a mere step away from breaking down. "Avoiding each other."
"I…" Christian sighed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Please Lissa give…just give me some time to figure it out."
"That's what Rose said." Lissa muttered, not able to help but feel a bit jealous that Christian confided in me. Almost immediately, she chastised herself because she preferred he did confide in me rather than in anyone else.
Surprise crossed Christian's face, he was probably as shocked as I was myself when I defended him.
"I'll see you later," he said with a small smile as he turned to leave.
"I just miss you so much," Lissa whispered. She didn't want to say it but she decided that her relationship with Christian was just more important than her pride.
Christian froze with one hand on the door frame. Slowly, he turned around to face her. He looked thoughtful.
"I miss you too Lissa." He finally said.
"So why aren't we together?" She asked him, she was human enough to do it. "I love you, you know that right."
"I love you too and you know that. Love is not the problem." He admitted and sat down in front of her.
Lissa was so happy he decided to stay and she considered that as a small victory. To some extent it was one.
"So what is the problem?" She asked almost plaintively. "Whatever it is I'm sure we can work on it. As long as there is love, the rest will follow."
"Sometime love just isn't enough," said Christian, the exact same moment than I said it to myself. It was a little eerie!
"Would you mind developing?" Lissa asked and now I could even feel anger in her.
Chill out Liss…Just breathe, I thought in a useless attempt to calm her down.
"Love has never been our problem, the problem is what we are and what we want to become." He replied. "It has nothing to do with Aaron or even Avery because lets face it, you wanted me to come with you when you went to the Court. You would have never kissed that guy and…" He shrugged slightly. "I was just getting tired playing the Court and royal game."
Lissa seemed to get more and more desperate by the second. She realized it was not only anger or her silly behaviors during my absence that made him break up with her. It ran deeper, it was something he really thought about but she did her best to keep her face blank for him to continue.
"I understand your desire to live up to the name of your parents. I mean you are the last Dragomir and it's a terrible burden to carry and I'm genuinely sorry for you." He said softly and you could read the sincerity in his face. "And I know you'll end up as our ruler one day," he said with pride, "and you'll be the best ruler the Moroi world will ever have but… I'm not sure I'm ready to play the game or I don't know how long it will be before I can't do it anymore and it's not fair to any of us."
"But I don't need to play the game, I mean…we don't have to." She said but part of her deep down knew that she was lying to herself. She wanted to do honor to her name and it ran deep in her blood.
"Yes you have to Lissa, it's who you are and it's part of the girl I love. If you sacrificed that part of you, you'd end up resenting me." He smiled. "We both need to consider the future seriously before it's too late and that irreparable mistakes are made. So lets just take a step back on everything and think for a while."
Lissa nodded, it all sounded scarily reasonable and she hated the idea to lose the man she loved because it was the reasonable thing to do, she also couldn't deny that. "I understand," she said with a sigh.
Christian smiled.
"Why are you smiling?" Asked Lissa curiously, unable to stop her own smile.
What Christian said startled me. "It's Rose," he said chuckling at my name. "She told me to talk to you , that you were smart and that you would understand. She said avoiding you was just making the situation unnecessarily uncomfortable." He shook his head, "she was so right."
Lissa actually laughed. "Yea? Well she told me to grant you the space you asked for, that you just needed time to think and that it wasn't too much to ask." She smiled and I could feel all her love for me, so much love that it actually hurt me to think how I let her down.
"We've go one hell of badass guardian angel don't we?" Christian asked with a grin.
"Yep… She is the best." Lissa said fondly.
"I agree but if you ever rat me out I'll deny it with my life." He replied teasingly.
"God forbid I ever do that!!" She said teasing him back.
At this exact moment I could see it was still there the connivance, the friendship, and the love. I probably wouldn't have my fairy tale ending but I could help them have theirs, if only they saw what I could see.
"You know together or not we could at least try to be friends…" Lissa shrugged. "We could at least give it a try."
"I agree." He said seriously before smiling. "It would be better for the kid."
"Yeah poor Rose," Lissa added with exaggerated contrition. "She could almost denounce us for child abuse."
They both started to laugh and I exited her head with a smile on my face. My smile faded as soon as I opened my eyes and saw someone sitting in front of me with a wide grin on his face.
"Well well well my little Dhampir," said Adrian teasingly while folding one of his long legs up and resting his chin on his knee. "If I didn't know you better I'd say you were spying on your best friend."
I blushed slightly. "Says the guy who dream stalks people and I was just checking on her to see if she was alright."
"Uh huh right," said Adrian chuckling. "I've been sitting here for the last 10 minutes so…" He winked, "either you are super slow to assess a situation, which I know is not the case, or you were spying." He shook his head. "And I don't dream stalk everybody. I just do it to you and I never denied it."
Okay one for Ivashkov, I thought and decided to drop the subject. "Anyways….how are you doing today?" I asked standing up. I did do some quick research last night on the meaning of the daisies. It said they mean loyal love, fidelity, beauty, share your feelings, patience, and simplicity. I decided to purposely forget about that, at least for the time being.
"Good now that I'm with you," he said goofily. I reached down with my hand to help him up.
"Uh huh!" I said rolling my eyes. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something since you seem to know everything." I said only half joking because even if the secret of the alchemist was very well kept he knew about it.
"Well yeah I do know about everything and if your question is 'can we have some angry sex on the roof of the building?'" He replied and pointed up, "my answer will be 'of course!'"
"OK…good to know," I said laughing. "No my question is more serious actually."
"Business…always business with you Rose." He said bringing his hand to his chest. "You are breaking my heart."
"Sure I am," I mumbled sarcastically.
"Sometime it's true," he said all teasing gone. He shook his head. "Anyways what do you want to know?"
I looked up meeting his eyes. "Do you know where Victor Dashkov is incarcerated?"
"Oh!" Said Adrian eyebrows arched with surprise. "That was honestly not something I saw coming," he said apparently dazed.
He walked to the little wooden bench near the path and sat down.
I joined him but just stood in front of him.
"So do you know?" I questioned.
He frowned slightly. "I honestly never thought you would be the one to be concerned about that Rose. I thought all that mattered to you was that he was locked away for life possibly in the shabbiest, crappiest, dirtiest jail in the world."
I shrugged cocking my head to the side. "I'm just curious," I said trying to sound as disinterested as I could. "I haven't heard anything about him since the trial."
"You are not just curious Rose I know you by now," he had a smile playing on his lips. "You usually have ulterior motives for--"
"Do you know or not?" I asked cutting him off, my patience was wearing thin. Almost immediately, I felt bad for snapping at him when I saw shock, sadness, and anger cross his face.
"No I don't know." He said coldly standing up with his jaw locked. "And I don't care."
"I'm sorry," I said in a breathe. "I didn't mean it."
I saw his features soften by the second. He sighed. "It's alright Rose," he said resting his hand on my shoulder. "I can try to find out if you want me to but I can't promise anything, he is the biggest royal treat you know, the biggest traitor." He grimaced. "I'm not sure a lot of people even have the answer."
I looked up at him and emotion washed over me. He really did mean what he said, he would help me whatever the reason was, even if it sounded crazy or unusual. "Thank you," I replied and hugged him tightly burying my face in his chest.
"Wow if I knew that trying to answer your question would lead to that kind of reaction. I would try more often," he said teasingly and wrapped his arms around me, holding me even tighter against him.
"Yeah…" I said getting out of his grip, cursing myself for reacting so impulsively. "Listen we're all going to hang out together," I said, pretty sure that Christian was going to join us today. "Do you want to hang out with us?"
"A chance to hang out with Rose Hathaway?! I would be totally crazy to refuse!!" He said trying to make it sound like a banter but I knew he meant it.
The week end was very agreeable, so agreeable that I was actually sorry to see it end. We all spent just about every waking hour together. Christian was starting to be more and more like himself, which could be seen as annoying for some but I just marveled to have some of my stability back. My friends were the one constant thing in my life and I had to hold on to that with dear life.
I was even impressed by Lissa's behavior. At first I could feel the pain radiating from her even if she concealed it so well. By Sunday night she was still longing for him but she managed to be there and just enjoy his presence.
By Monday night we were all like before except with less sexual tension from fire boy/spirit girl but a lot more from the spirit boy/crazy dhampir girl. But it was nice nevertheless.
"Where is your fellow dhampir?" Christian asked curiously as I sat beside him for dinner.
"Dunno…" I shrugged quickly scanning the room . "Maybe he is getting a quickie somewhere," I said just to piss him off.
"Oh Rose I love when you talk dirty to me," said Adrian wiggling his eyebrows as he sat across from me. "Are you jealous I mean…I can help you with that."
"You really are a pervert aren't you?" Asked Lissa elbowing him. Things were getting even better, now she could sit across from Christian without being sullen.
"Only as far as my little dhampir is concerned," he grinned and winked at me.
I just rolled my eyes ignoring his comment but deep down I really liked his unwavering attention.
About 5 minutes later we saw Eddie enter the common scanning the room probably looking for us. He was slightly flushed and a light of excitement was in his eyes.
"Umm either he got laid or he has exciting news…not sure, I can't tell with him." Christian stated so matter of factly that I burst into laugher.
Lissa rolled her eyes but couldn't help but chuckle too, waving her hand so Eddie could spot us.
"Dude!! You won't even guess why I'm late!!" He said coming to sit beside Lissa.
"Does it involve a girl?" Asked Christian suggestively.
"Or a boy…Let's keep an open mind." Adrian added.
"Uh…?" Eddie shook his head. "Yeah there is this guy and--"
"YES!!" Said Adrian cutting Eddie's off with his hiss of victory. "I totally won, you owe me $20.00 Ozera. Told you he liked boys."
"Shit," said Christian shaking his head with defeat.
"Stop it" I said slapping Christian's arm which was almost immediately imitated by Lissa on Adrian.
"Oh you are so funny guys!!" Said Eddie with heavy sarcasm, "well I hope mobster dude blows up your knees," he added slightly pouting.
The mobster reference swept my smile away. "A mobster guy?!" I asked apparently the voice pretty appealing as Lissa eyed me warily and Eddie frowned.
"Yeah I had to go to the Administrative building to give the paperwork Alto forced me to collect during class you know," he said to me.
I quickly nodded trying my best not to jump from my seat.
"Anyways I got up there and there was this guy with flashy scarves and golden jewelry. He was with 3 guardians and talking to Kirova on how he would like to visit the school to see how the generous donations he had been making for the part 15 years had been used." Eddie looked up like he half expected for someone to be standing behind him, he dropped his voice. "Apparently the guy is like one of the biggest mafia bosses… Mazur I think was his name is."
"Oh that's good!!!" Said Adrian chuckling. "Abe Mazur at St. Vladimir!! It's going to get ugly," he added and I could hear the real respect in his voice.
"Was my mother around?" I asked imagining the effect it would have on her to see him after all these years.
Eddie shook his head negatively.
Lissa looked at me with wide eyes. "Is that---"
"Yep"
"The one that help you when--"
"Uh huh,"
"The knee blowing machine?"
"The one and only," I said almost wanting to laugh at the irony of the moment.
Lissa was whispering in Eddie's ear probably helping him get up to speed.
"What do you think he wants?" Asked Christian warily. "I mean if his reputation is accurate I don't think he gives a shit about his donations." He frowned. "Why would he even give money to a school…this school in the first place?" Asked Christian looking at me quizzically like I was a freaking Abe expert and had all the answers.
Well, I did have the answer to that particular question. I thought it was the time to come clean and if my mother got mad for me telling the truth to my friends, then so be it.
All three of them were looking at me with wonder which was making me self conscious.
"Yeah I think I know why he did that you see he---" I started but stopped when an almost eerie silence fell over the room.
I looked up and saw Abe looking right at me. He was only with one of his guardians. One of the guardians I met in Baia…Pavel I believe his name was.
He slowly walked to our table as people started to whisper, it was true that he had a freakishly enormous charisma. I could see why people just shut up when he was looking at them but he never impressed me. Maybe…Maybe I always knew deep down that it was different, that I was different.
"Oh, oh the man is something," said Christian chuckling and keeping his eyes on Abe.
"Yeah no wonder he scares people shitless," added Adrian laughing too.
Oh you won't laugh long I thought seeing Abe approaching our table. I bet the others thought he would continue to the end of the room to join the guardian quarters but I knew better.
And as expected they stopped laughing when Abe stopped just behind Lissa and Adrian and looked at me with his cocky, sarcastic trade mark grin.
"Hello Little girl," he said resting his hands on the back of Adrian's chair.
Adrian was looking at me and I could see he was tense. Not such a smart mouth anymore I thought laughing.
"Hello old man." I said under the incredulous eyes of my friends. I bet they knew that not a lot of people could disrespect Abe Mazur and get away with it. "What brings you to the middle of Montana?…Business?" I asked with heavy sarcasm raising an eyebrow but I was sure I was not looking as cool as Dimitri used too, I was probably looking like I was having an attack of some sort.
"I missed you, you know," he said chuckling. "Nah, I came to check on my daughter!" He said still keeping his eyes locked on mine.
The others were looking completely astonished.
"Poor kid, whoever she is," muttered Christian just loud enough so I was the only one able to hear him.
"And by the way you should stop calling me 'old man' it's not very polite." He grinned. "We should stop the pretenses, you can call me Daddy."
"What the f--" Started Adrian trying to see in my face if it was the true but I probably paled 2 shades and gave away the answer.
"Hi dad," I said trying not to show he destabilized me. "How are you doing?"
Lissa was completely astonished. You never told me that!! Rose that's big!! Why didn't you say something like 'By the way the mobster guy is my dad.'? She said through the bond. She wasn't mad, just vastly surprised.
"I couldn't have. I didn't know that when I told you the whole story," I answered to her unspoken thoughts.
Adrian, Christian, and Eddie didn't react. They were used to our unusual way of conversing but Abe lost his natural smugness for just a second.
He looked at Lissa raising an eyebrow about to talk but he was stopped by Christian.
"Well at least now we know where Rose got her 'psycho-criminal' side from," he said nudging me playfully.
I couldn't help but smile at his comment. You had to give it to him whatever the situation, he couldn't keep his witty mouth closed, we probably were brother and sister in another life.
"Excuse me? Are you calling me a psycho criminal?" Asked Abe now concentrating his attention on Christian. His eyes and voice were pretty cold but I knew he wasn't mad. I had a small glimpse of Mad Abe in Baia and that wasn't it.
"I…" Started Christian the eyes widening slightly. He didn't look that smart now. "Help me." He whispered to me.
"Anyway baba…" I said for Abe to concentrate on me. Baba was the Turkish translation of dad and I knew it would be enough to divert his attention.
"Yes Kazim?" He asked apparently pleased with my efforts. I also knew that Kazim meant 'daughter' in Turkish that I randomly started to learn words from the Turkish,/English dictionary I borrowed from the library. It helped me to keep my mind occupied during my nightly alone time.
"And he wants to sleep with your daughter!" Christian blurted out pointing at Adrian.
That was something I didn't expect. I looked at him wide eyed and mouth half open probably just like Lissa and Eddie.
"Thanks Ozera," said Adrian acerbically apparently doing his best not to look up and meet Abe's probable death glare. "Smooth…really smooth."
"What? I want to keep my kneecaps." Said Christian actually making me laugh.
"We're all going to keep our kneecaps." I said standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow guys. Want to go somewhere private?" I asked Abe.
"Please…that would be nice." He said quickly glancing at both Christian and Adrian causing me to smile.
I want to know the whole story Rose! Tomorrow. Lissa warned me through the bond.
"Promise Liss." I said standing beside Abe. "Let's go. "
As we turned around I saw the little red head walking in the room and, as their eyes met, my heart literally crushed in my chest…at least the little part I had left.
What I saw in my moms' eyes was just breath taking. It was pain, longing, sorrow, and above all else, there was love. I knew most people would miss it but I knew her well enough and I knew that would be exactly how I would look when I see Dimitri again, even in 20 years.
I could feel Abe tense up beside me and I dared a quick look to his face, his jaw was locked and his face somber.
Yeah I guess the expression of feelings was something that neither my mother nor father were experts in… I never stood a chance in that area.
We slowly walked to the door where she was waiting for us.
She smiled at me probably to tell me that everything was alright but as she looked up at him again, the longing was still there.
"Hello meleğim. It has been long, too long bi tanem.'' Said Abe very softly to my mother.
Oh my god!! She just blushed like a school girl!! I would have bet my silver stake that my mom could not blush except for when she was mad. I didn't know what the Turkish words he just said meant and honestly I didn't want to know. I was just guessed it was lovey dovey and gooey enough to make me puke. Yeah I didn't react that well to love these days but who could blame me…
''What are you doing here?'' She asked trying to sound detached but I didn't think she fooled any of us.
''Aren't you happy to see me?'' He asked raising an eyebrow.
Damn!! He could do the sexy eyebrow thing too just like Dimitri! That was something I wished I had inherited from him.
''Well guys things are getting awkward for me right now,'' I said doing my best to sound teasing. ''So I think I'll go back to my room but I'll see you later'' I added to Abe's attention.
My mom nodded with a discreet sigh of relief.
Abe gave me a strange smile. ''Oh you can count on it.'' He said his voice slightly threatening.
He was probably here to kick my butt about my childish attitude on the phone and my stupid wish to find Victor.
I sighed, tomorrow I'll have to respond to the Gestapo questions about for being the biggest Moroi mobsters' daughter. I could already hear Christian's witty remarks and couldn't help but smile. As strange as it seemed I was not ashamed to be his daughter, not ashamed at all. That man went out of his habits just for me, he took risks to keep me safe.
I was just starting to drift into sleep when I heard a knock on my door, it was firm and still quite loud.
I looked at the alarm clock and frowned. I heard the knock again, it was even more impatient this time.
''I'm coming!'' I growled. ''I hope it's important or god help you I'll kick your butt,'' I mumbled.
I opened the door and swore with surprise when I saw both Abe and Pavel standing in front of me.
''I'd like to see you try,'' said Abe with a small smile playing on his lips
The sun had just risen and it was not good for a Moroi to be out and about.
''What…Is everything ok?'' I asked worried.
Abe nodded quickly. ''Dress quickly, Pavel is going to take you to my private plane where Mishka (One of Abe's other guardians) is already waiting. The three of you have to go now so you make it back before morning. No one needs to know…your mother would kill me.''
''Go? Go where?'' I asked looking from one to another. From Abe's concerned face to Pavel's grim one.
''Where you wanted to go Kazim. I managed to do it.'' He said clearly proud.
''Do what?'' I asked still slow.
''Arranged for you to see Victor Dashkov,'' he said barely louder than a whisper.