Hey guys! I'm back off my holidays, and I was a bit bored on one of the days, so I wrote this for y'all. I hope it serves justice to the previous chapter! Thank you to all who reviewed and followed the story, it really cheered me up! 3 Again, please R&R once you've finished reading this chapter, because it really helps to give me motivation, and I like to see that I'm not writing for nothing ;) It's my birthday tomorrow, so I probably won't update for a few days or so, because I still need to write the next chapter.
Usual disclaimers apply.
The rest of my day was pretty uneventful, to be honest. Stan had a go at me again in his lesson, but it wasn't my fault. Surely he must have the intention of putting us to sleep when he writes out his teaching plan? Eddie had fallen asleep too, but naturally it was only I who was caught, which I don't think is very fair. But the joke's on him, because I managed to get myself out of the lesson. Stan never told me to go and see Kirova when he sent me out of the room, so I was simply following orders.
Dimitri and I ran laps in our training session after school. He decided that it was unacceptable that we didn't actually do anything in the morning, and so pushed me extra hard, and I knew my muscles would be killing me tomorrow. However, I did manage to shave a minute off my previous best time, so I guess every cloud has a silver lining. Dimitri's affectionate mood had worn off, and he wasn't very happy with me when I decided to race ahead of him and stop suddenly, so that he tripped over me. I thought it was hilarious, and was definitely worth the extra ten laps. I mean, I have to do something to brighten up those dreary runs, right?
I was sat in my room tackling some homework when I heard the soft rap on the door. I knew it wasn't Lissa; I would have been able to tell through the bond. A quick flash into her head told me she was with Christian, in his room. I shuddered, and was glad that I could finally control myself enough to drag myself out of her head when I wished. The person knocked on the door again; apparently not happy with the whole ten seconds it had taken me to see if it was Lissa. Before they could start beating the door down, I swung it open, revealing a very scruffy and intoxicated Adrian. Well, who else would it be? Nobody comes to visit me except Lissa, Christian, Eddie and Adrian, and seeing as though Eddie would be doing homework like me, and Liss and Christian were… otherwise occupied, the only other person it could be was Ivashkov.
He staggered past me and collapsed on the bed, not waiting for an invitation inside. Sometimes, I wished that the Moroi needed to be invited into a room before they could enter, like in those old fashioned movies. I could have been sorting out my thongs for all he knew! Although, to be truthful, he'd probably enjoy that. Rolling my eyes behind his back, I shut the door and sat down on the chair I was doing my homework in, swivelling it around to face Adrian. His hair was a mess, and his eyelids were drooping, his green irises flickering wildly behind them. His shirt was untucked, not that that was out of the ordinary, and he was curiously missing a shoe.
"How did you lose that?" I asked him incredulously, tilting my head towards his shoe-less foot. He just smirked at me, and shook his head. "Left it in one of the teacher's apartments. I had to leave fast; someone heard voices and came in to inquire. Wouldn't look good if she was caught with one of the students, would it, Little Dhampir?" He asked me sadly, meeting my eyes, scorn laced in his velvet voice.
"You're not a student," was all I could reply, and he laughed softly. Adrian would have been expelled weeks ago if he was enrolled at the school. Although most of the older students drank, we at least tried to hide it. Adrian had no such qualms, and was quite happy to stumble across the quad clutching a bottle of vodka. Of course, the teachers and guardians stopped him before any of the younger, more impressionable students saw him, but this didn't deter Adrian. He just didn't get the hint that it wasn't considered acceptable to be drunk in front of the elementary building.
"Ah, that isn't the point, and don't pretend you don't know it, Little Dhampir. I heard you and Dimitri this morning," he said before leaning forwards and locking his lips onto mine. I was in a state of shock, and didn't think fast enough to push him off. All I could do was have an argument with myself. On one hand, he was a GREAT kisser. The way his lips moved paralysed me, and it was obvious he had had a lot of practice. On the other, I didn't want this. Adrian wasn't Dimitri.
I love Adrian. I love him like a brother, much like the way I love Lissa. They were the family I never had, and as much as I argue with Christian, I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. I know Lissa feels the same way. Before the accident, we both had a true family. Although I wasn't blood related to the Dragomirs, I was close enough with them that I should have been. Lissa's parents were my parents, and Andre was my brother. The crash affected both of us. Physically, I was worse off, because, well, I died and stuff. But emotionally? Lissa was hit the most. She was left by herself. No family at all. At least I had family, even if I hated them. Lissa had nobody except me, and she nearly lost me as well.
When it came out that I was shadow-kissed, people kept on asking me lots of questions. A lot of them were similar depending on what gender the person who was asking me was. From the girls, I got questions like, "Is it nice to be bonded with your best friend forever?" and, "Are you guys okay after losing your family?" From the boys, the questions tended to revolve around one base question; "Can you see each other naked?" They usually got a smack across the face when they asked that. Although not if it was Mason or Eddie. They were the only two guys permitted to ask me questions like that, because they were my best friends and I knew they didn't mean it.
Eventually, I regained my mind, and pushed Adrian off my mouth and into the wall. "What the hell are you thinking?!" I asked him, wiping my mouth as if that would remove any piece of history about that kiss. Adrian just smirked. I wanted to kill him. He knew I was devoted to Dimitri, and I'd told Adrian numerous times that I didn't want to pursue anything romantically with him. I got up and stormed into my bathroom, slamming to door shut with as much force as I could summon. The woman I was staring at in the mirror wasn't very different to the usual one, except her eyes were wild, and her lips slightly plumper.
I still wanted to kill him. I didn't know why the feeling wasn't ebbing away like it usually does. All I could think of was ripping Adrian's head off those broad shoulders, his obnoxious smirk still playing on his lips as the life faded away from his eyes. It wouldn't be too difficult. A Dhampir who had been training to kill since she was twelve against a weak Moroi who hadn't had a self-defence lesson in his whole life. I couldn't remember feeling this way about anyone, ever. Except for one night. That one night when Jesse tortured Lissa. I wanted to tear him apart, limb by limb.
Darkness. It was the darkness. I clenched onto the bathtub, determined not to go outside. Who knows what would happen if I did? Adrian obviously figured I wasn't going to come back out, and I heard the door to my room shut. However, that didn't mean that I was feeling better. I would have done anything to chase on after him. But there was a small voice in my head telling me not to. Telling me I was better than that. The voice was low and soft, and had a soft Russian hint to it. My mentor had obviously made a bigger impression on me than I thought. Mental impression. I already knew he had left a physical one.
I needed Dimitri. As luck would have it, I actually had my phone in my pocket for once, rather than leaving it somewhere, and I texted him as fast as I could, telling him to get his ass to my dorm. Less than two minutes early, I heard him knock swiftly, and I took a deep breath and exited the bathroom to let him in. He just stood there in the doorframe, recognising the frantic look in my eyes immediately. "No, Rose," he told me firmly, grabbing onto my hand and dragging me to the bed, after shutting the door. Later, I was to hope nobody had seen him enter, but my mind was still focused on Adrian.
"Rose, snap out of it. You know you're better than this. Don't let the darkness capture you. You're the strongest woman I know. Fight it," was all he said to me, and watched me warily as I started to calm down. There was something about his presence that acted like a tranquiliser to me. It would calm me down, force me out of any mood that I was in, and send me into a happy bubble only present when he was near. I hoped he felt the same about me, although I wasn't sure. He was so wise, so mature, and I didn't deserve him. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to disagree with him when he decided he loved me. I was going to love him with my whole heart until he decided to pursue something, or someone, who was better for him than I was.
He ran a hand through my hair, and it suddenly hit me that we were in my bedroom, alone, with nobody coming to interrupt. I think it had just hit him too, because his eyes filled with lust as I leant forward to kiss him. He pulled away slightly. "We shouldn't," he whispered, and the words looked painful for him to even mutter. "We should," I told him before reaching up again. This time, we didn't stop, and we spent the rest of the night together, reclaiming each other as our own.