Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!
(Especially to Kimavinzant, who you can thank for the somewhat speedy posting of this new chapter – also in reply to your comment, someone will spot her tattoos very soon. I'll update again asap - please don't die.)

Chapter Eight

Fuelled with darkness I fought harder I ever had in my combat class with the novices. So much so that I defeated several of my friends in less than 10 minutes in easy succession before then knocking out poor Shane Reyes after only 15 seconds of being paired together. After that I was very quickly reallocated and forced by the teacher (after he dropped Shane of at the office) to use one of the practice dummies to 'annihilate' instead of my fellow students.

"Wow, ok. That was...intense," observed Mason after class.

"Yeah. Guess so." The darkness still swirled in me. I had released a lot on the poor defenceless dummy (and, regrettably, my school mates) but I still had heaps left bottled up inside me. I had been collecting far too long. Maybe if I sneaked out and found some strigoi...no. Too risky. I can't leave Lissa. Especially after all that's happened.

Mase gently touched my arm. "How's Lissa?"

It didn't surprise me that he knew. Gossip spread so fast around here sometimes, it felt like everyone had a psychic bond not just me and Lissa.

"Okay. Considering." A train of thought came back to me. "Hey Mase, you claim to know about Mia. You think she could have done that?"

"Whoa, hey, I'm not an expert on her or anything. I don't have a doctorate on Miaology or anything. But honestly? No. Mia won't even do standard dissections in biology. I can't picture her actually catching a fox, let alone, um, killing it."

"Any friends who might do it for her?"

He shook his head. "Not really. They're not really the type to get their hands dirty either. But who knows?"

Lissa was still shaken when I met her for lunch later, her mood made worse when Natalie and her group wouldn't shut up about the fox. I began to drain Lissa of her darkness once again but couldn't get all of it as I felt my mind fill and my hands began to twitch. I knew that it wasn't a good sign. I had to get rid of this darkness. And soon.

"And it was just there," Natalie explained, waving her hands for emphasis."Right in the middle of the bed. There was blood everywhere."

Lissa looked as green as the sweater she wore, and I quickly pulled her away before I even finished my food (it was that important) and immediately launched into an attack on Natalie's social skills.

"She's nice," Lissa said automatically correcting me. "You were just telling me the other day how you liked her."

"I do like her, but she's stupidly incompetent about certain things."

We stood outside our next class, and I noticed people staring and whispering as they passed. I sighed. Nosey bastards. The lot of em'.

"How are you doing with all this?"

A half-smile crossed her face. "Can't you tell?"

"Yeah, but I want to hear it from you."

"I'll be okay. I wish everyone wouldn't keep staring at me like I'm some kind of circus freak though."

My anger exploded again and I tried to stop myself from lashing out. The fox was bad. People upsetting her made it worse, but at least I could do something about them. "Who's bothering you?"

"Rose, you can't beat up everyone we have a problem with."

"Mia?" I guessed, already imagining tearing her apart.

Breathe in...Breathe out. It's the darkness. That's all it is. Control it.

"And others," she said evasively. "Look, it doesn't matter. What I want to know…that is, I can't stop thinking about that time—"

"Don't," I warned, holding up a hand and glancing around us.

She stared at me with those big green eyes and opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted.

"Hey, Rose."

Our conversation dropped as Jesse casually strolled up to us and I turned on my best smile.

"Hey."

He nodded to Lissa before turning his attention back on me. "So hey, I'm going to be in your dorm tonight for a study group. You think…maybe…"

I focused my full attention on Jesse. Suddenly, I so needed to do something wild and bad. Too much had happened today. "Sure."

He told me when he'd be there, and I told him I'd meet him in one of the common areas with "further instructions."

Lissa stared at me when he left. "You're under house arrest. They won't let you hang out and talk to him."

"I don't really want to 'talk' to him. We'll slip away."

She groaned. "I just don't know about you sometimes."

"That's because you're the cautious one, and I'm the reckless one."

Once Animal Behaviour started, I pondered the likelihood of Mia and her flock being responsible. From the smug look on her psycho-baby face, she certainly seemed to be enjoying the sensation caused by the bloody fox. But that didn't mean she was the culprit, and after observing her over the last couple of weeks, I knew she'd enjoy anything that upset Lissa and me. She didn't need to be the one who had actually done it.

"Wolves, like many other species..." blah blah blah. Ms. Meissner continued to drone on. Usually I'd have some interest in this class but today I had too much on my mind. Well, I did until Mia spoke up.

Mia raised her hand. "What about foxes? Do they have alphas too?"

There was a collective intake of breath from the class, followed by a few nervous giggles and whispers. No one could believe Mia had gone there.

Ms. Meissner flushed bright red with what I suspected was anger. Me and you both sister. I'm sure my face was a similar shade. "We're discussing wolves today, Miss Rinaldi. Not foxes."

Mia didn't seem to mind the subtle chastising, and when the class began to work on an assignment, she spent most of the time looking over at us and giggling. Through the bond, I could feel Lissa growing more and more upset as images of the poor fox kept flashing through her mind.

"Don't worry," I told her. "I've—"

"Hey, Lissa," someone interrupted.

We both looked up as Ralf Sarcozy stopped by our desks. He wore his trademark idiotic grin, and I had a gut feeling he'd only come over here because of a dare from his friends.

"So, admit it," he said. "You killed the fox. You're trying to convince Kirova that you're all kinds of crazy so that you can get out of here all over again."

"Screw you," I told him in a low voice, hoping the teacher wouldn't hear.

"Are you offering?" He asks, grinning wider.

"From what I've heard, there isn't much to screw," I shot back. I so badly wanted to hit him.

"Wow," he said mockingly. "You have changed. Last I remembered, you weren't too picky about who you got naked with."

"And the last I remember, the only people you ever saw naked were on the Internet."

He cocked his head in an overly dramatic fashion. "Hey, I just got it: it was you, wasn't it?" He looked at Lissa, the back at me. "She got you to kill the fox, didn't she? Some weird kind of lesbian—ahhh!"

Ralf burst into flames.

I jumped up and pushed Lissa out of the way of the flames—not easy to do, since we were sitting at our desks – and we both ended up on the floor as screams filled the classroom and Ms. Meissner sprinted for the fire extinguisher.

Then, just like that, the flames disappeared. Ralf was still screaming and patting himself down like a mad man, but he didn't have a single burn mark on him. The only indication of what had happened was the lingering smell of smoke wafting in the air.

For several seconds, the entire classroom remained frozen. Then, slowly but surely, everyone put the pieces together. There were only three fire users: Ralf, his friend Jacob, and—

Christian Ozera.

Since neither Jacob nor Ralf would have set Ralf on fire, it sort of made the culprit obvious. The fact that Christian was laughing hysterically sort of gave it away too.

Ms. Meissner changed from red to deep purple. "Mr. Ozera!" she screamed. "How dare you—do you have any idea—report to Headmistress Kirova's office now!"

Christian, completely unfazed, stood up and slung his backpack over one shoulder. That smirk stayed on his face."Sure thing, Ms. M."

He went out of his way to walk past Ralf, who quickly backed up against the nearest wall as he passed. The rest of the class stared, open-mouthed. Unfortunately, as well as shock, I also felt something akin to awe but I quickly dismissed it. No matter how cool it was (or how much I had wanted to set Ralf on fire myself) using magic was definitely against the rules, especially against another student.

After that, Ms. Meissner attempted to return the class to normal, but it was a lost cause. No one could stop talking about what had happened. No one had ever seen that kind of spell before: fire that didn't actually burn anything. They also couldn't believe that Christian had used it offensively. He had attacked another person. Moroi never did that. They believed magic was meant to take care of the earth, to help people live better lives. All that rainbows and unicorns stuff. It was never, ever used as a weapon. Magic instructors never even taught those kinds of spells. I don't think they even knew any.

Christian, who disappeared into the shadows in his all black clothes and was never noticed, was certainly going to be noticed now. I knew for one that I was going to be keeping an eye on him. As much as I had enjoyed the look of terror on Ralf's face, it had suddenly occurred to me that Christian might truly be a psychopath.

"Liss," I said as we walked out of class, "please tell me you haven't hung out with him again."

The guilt that flickered through the bond told me more than any explanation could.

"Liss!"I grabbed her arm.

"Not that much," she said uneasily. "He's really okay—"

"Okay? Okay?" People in the hall stared at us. I realized I was practically shouting. "He's out of his mind. He set Ralf on fire. I thought we decided you weren't going to see him anymore."

"You decided, Rose. Not me." There was an edge in her voice I hadn't heard in a while. "And let go, you're hurting me."

I loosened my grip but didn't let go. "What's going on? Are you guys…you know?"

"No!" she insisted. "I told you that already. God." She shot me a look of disgust. "Not everyone thinks—and acts—like you."

I flinched at the words. She knew perfectly well I never went pass some heavy making out, but she made it out to be like I was some kind of slut who slept with anything that walked on two legs.

Mia then passed by, making everything worse. Again. She hadn't heard the conversation but had caught the tone. A snide smile spread over her face."Trouble in paradise?"

"Go suck your thumb somewhere else, and shut the hell up," I told her. Her mouth dropped open, then tightened into a scowl.

Lissa and I walked on in silence, and when we got out of sight Lissa burst out laughing. Like that, our fight diffused.

"Rose…" Her tone was softer now.

"Lissa, he's dangerous. I don't like him. Please be careful."

She touched my arm. "I am. I'm the cautious one, remember? You're the reckless one."

I hoped that was still true.

However, it wasn't until later that I truly had my doubts. I was in my room doing homework afterschool (Training with Dimitri was cancelled due to what happened this morning) when I felt a trickle of what could only be called sneakiness coming from Lissa. Losing what little interest I had in my work, I decided to check up on exactly what Dear Little Lissa was up to.