Chapter 9
"I don't know how you managed to kill any strigoi with that footwork," declared Belikov.
"Your fancy forms don't mean anything when your battling a starving strigoi in an ally three feet across without a stake," countered Rose, exhausted from the morning workout and frustrated that Belikov wouldn't listen to her ideas.
"You yourself said I had 45 confirmed kills, amongst a number of other suspected ones. I know what I'm talking about. Just fight me head on. Act like you want to kill me, then I can show you some fancy footwork worth a damn, otherwise this is pointless."
The workout actually wasn't useless, it was whooping her ass after two years of laxed training, but she wasn't going to admit that to Belikov. She could already imagine his amused "I told you so" face.
"Not yet, Hathaway. Why don't you take a break and run five miles?"
"You call that a break," exclaimed Rose incredulously.
"Yes, I do, and afterwards you will be allowed to eat lunch."
At the word lunch Rose took off, fast enough to leave dust in her wake. Belikov shook his head in amusement. He couldn't begin to understand that girl. Well, woman really. It was strange to think that she was ten years younger than him when at times she seemed ten years older. There were many moments she acted quite childishly too, however. If only she weren't so headstrong and impulsive. Training with her was the most fun he had had since his days at his own academy though, even if he would never voice those sentiments aloud. While he critiqued her constantly, she was in truth a formidable partner and lethal fighter. He had barely maintained dominance in every fight. More by Rose's own hesitation than his own he assumed.
He needed to get her out of his head. A nice shower and a western novel before their afternoon session is just what he had in mind.
Rose threw herself into the shower, clothes and all, and stood there panting under the cold stream until it began to warm. Finally, removing her clothes and breathing at a normal pace Rose contemplated her routine at the academy. She had been catching up on lessons privately and training one on one with Belikov, but Headmistress Karova wanted her to join the pack again. She wasn't to really train with the other novice guardians, but Karova wanted her to participate with them every now and then in comradeship. These would be the future guardians she would be working with after all. Her class schedule would be the same as Lissa's as well, with the exception of the Moroi elemental magic class.
Rose knew that after the ceremony tonight when she gets her molnija marks she would never really be a part of the pack again. She intimidated people before she left, but now that she's back and killed more strigoi than the next four guardian trainers put together, it really ain't going to be easy to blend.
"Lunch, Rose. Pull yourself together and go get some food," she thought as she stared hard at her reflection in the mirror. Not even her appetite for tacos could destroy the body she had now, so at least there was something positive in the mess of her life.
Walking into the cafeteria was undoubtedly more painful than the time Rose fractured her ribs in a strigoi fight. It seemed as if every student froze, unsure of what to do and unsure of their uncertainty. Regardless, Rose pretended to not have noticed and walked nonchalantly to the line for food.
She was legitimately so upset by the copious amounts of vegetables and lack of anything fried that she didn't hear Eddie come up beside her.
"Hey, Rose, what's up?"
"Do you see what they're serving us?!" Rose demanded indignantly. "Please tell me you and Adrian have more pizza somewhere…"
Eddie laughed, "No, but if you ask nice enough we might be able squeeze you some Chinese for dinner."
Rose squealed and grab Eddie in a hug, "I don't know what I would do without y'all."
"Oh, is that a southern twang I sense," teased the still chuckling Eddie.
Rose darkened at the mention though, thoughts of Logan and his family pushing to the forefront of her mind.
"Hey, it's okay, you don't have to tell me. Just go on ahead and get a stack of steaks down there by the end and come sit with us at our table, hm?" He motioned to a table in the corner inhabited by Lissa, Adrian, and Christian, who, from what she'd gathered from Lissa's thoughts, was a serious love interest.
"I think I might need a second plate for the amount of steaks I'm about to down," joked Rose, though absentmindedly.
Eddie just smiled and shook his head as he walked away, heading to the rest of their friends.
Rose was on constant watch, eyes sweeping the cafeteria and absorbing every detail about every thing and one. Now was prime "no sunlight" time for strigoi, and she could never quite shake the feeling that they were always a step ahead of her. Isaiahs words still ring loud as if he said them yesterday, not two years ago. She wasn't going to let anything happen to Lissa. Neither was Dimitri Belikov, who had just walked in that moment. She still had to figure out if she trusted him, but at the moment who else did she have?
