The trip back wasn't easy, the car remained silent, Christine fast asleeep on my lap, the silence heavy. Cam and Daniel were in shock. We had never lost a member, it couldn't happen to us. I saw Dimitri glancing at me in what he hoped was a sneaky fashion. I tried to raise one eyebrow but I knew it just didn't happen for me, like usual. His lips twitched slightly, quirking upwards like he wanted to smile. I thought back to when he did that at the academy, the days where he might let Roza slip out, maybe even a stolen kiss. What would change now?
"We're almost at the jet now Rose. Can you wake Christine so she can tell the head mistress what happened?" Daniel's voice broke the sombre silence. The silence was uncomfortable and I was glad he had broken it, snapping out of my reverie. Daniel and Cam, they were inseperable, best friends all through the academy. I nodded, Daniel's blue eyes trained on me in the review mirror. He was like a big brother to me, always keeping an eye out. The red ferrari was his baby, his one love in life. I thought it was pathetic, but what does a girl know about men and their toys. He pulled into the academy and I gently shook Christine's shoulder, watching her eye elids flutter before opening them, peering around.
"Hey Chrissy. We have to go and speak to the old bird about what happened, can you do that for me?" I spoke in a voice I reserved for her, soft and gentle, much like the soothing tone I used when Lissa panicked. She smiled angelically at me and nodded, blonde hair bouncing. She put her skinny arms around my neck and I lifted her up, climbing out the care to face the academy. I eyed the window to my old room, remembering all the times I had climbed down to escape from it. Christine waved shyly at two moroi girls around her age that were gawking at us as I strode through the grounds, my clothes singed, bloodied and torn. Daniel and Cam headed towards the clinic to get the others prepared for departure and Dimitri ghosted me, looking like a russian god more than ever, his hair still loose.
We had to pass through the dhamphir commons and I spotted two tall moroi boys pinning someone to a wall. I handed Christine to Dimitri, ignoring his warning glance. I put my tough face on, drawing up to full miserable height and strode over, parting students like the red sea. I stopped just behind them and cleared my throat, watching with satisfaction as they whirled around. They took in my expression and then my appearance, visibly swallowing and fear crossing their face. The person they had been intimidating was a girl dhampir with flaming red hair. She glared stonily at them and I felt proud before turning on them.
"And what exactly were you doing?" If looks could kill... the smaller one lookede afraid, maybe he recognised me, but the other was arrogant and stared me down, obviously holding the "dhampirs are dirt" frame of mind. I resisted the urge to hit him.
"What does it matter you Guardian? We can do what we want." he sneered at me and I heard the other guy moan slightly, knowing his friends mistake. Anger flared up again and he took a step back,.
"me? It matters to me because one day you might have to rely on her or even me to keep you alive? Got it? You can't do what you want just because you're a moroi? Wanna know why?" I made sure that my voice was icy cold and dangerous, making the red head smirk. They paled but he bravely continued. Yep, definitely didn't recognize me. His head jerked down in a shaky yet defiant nod and I looked frostily down at them, yes, they were shorter than even me.
"Because I'm Guardian Rose Hathaway and I said so." it was widely known the I was too be respected as I controlled who got assigned to who, a power that Lissa gave me. The girl looked shocked before awe crossed her features. Both boys took off, running towards their own dorms. I smiled at red head before going back to Dimitri, my ponytail giving red head a veiw of my heavily addorned neck. Dimitri chuckled and handed back Christine who was smiling serenly as if she knew all the secrets of the world. I frowned at her before sneaking a glance at my russian god again.
"Auntie Rosie... are you and Uncle Dimky gonna get married?" I stopped walked and looked down at her flabberghasted. What? I glared accusingly at the 'uncle' in question, seeing his small smirk and the humour deep in his eyes. He must have said something to her. I smiled uncertainly at her and shook my head.
"Not that I know of angel. Remember what I told you? Boys are...?" she grinned while Dimitri stared at me quizically. I grinned reluctantly at his expression, not wanting to give away the serious attitude. She giggled and frowned playfully, trying to imitate the face I used when I told her, pointing her finger at me.
"Boys are bad. They pwomise you the world and then screw you over." she sounded so cute, her innocence meaning she didn't get the double edged meaning to the word 'screw' and never would. It wouldn't last. Dimitri looked shocked and shook his head, 'only Rose...' clear on his face. I laughed, the awkward moment passed and we continued to the old birds office, taking about 10 minutes to breifly tell her what had passed. She dismissed us and I carried the now sleeping Christine to the jet, her bag already packed by Alberta. The team was assembled outside the plane: Daniel, Cam, Wes, Alberta, Alex, Eddie. No Lucian. My heart sank with their expressions. It was official. You fall behind, you get left behind. Lucian had fallen.
We all boarded the plane and Alex took over taking care of Christine while I went into the specially adapted shower area and rested my head against the cool tiles. Lucian was the second best fighter in the team, he was my wingman. We would need to adapt our strategies... or teach Dimitri the place of Lucian. It felt so wrong, replacing him with another. I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was in desperate need of attention, my face was dirty and bloody, even sooty. My clothes wer ripped and gross. Basically how I felt. I sighed again and flicked the lock, turning the shower on and starting to peel my ruined clothes off, throwing away my blouse and 'jeans' that probably now went from a possibly 'artfully ripped' to a 'put through a blender'. My leather vest was still fine so that stayed. Lucian's stake, a gift from me with the russian words "stay strong" engraved on it's base fell from the pocket that I didn't know I had. I almost broke down but stashed it with mine before stepping under the jet of hot water, feeling all my muscles just unclench and relax.
After a good scrub I felt clean enough to start on my hair, lathering it up with generous amounts of shampoo, finally emerging, skin steaming and hair creating a small waterfall. I rung it out before wrapping a towel around me and drying off, finding the emergency clothes. Aka, my comfiest favourites. ¾ leggings and figure hugging v-neck cashmere jumper. Soft and warm. I towel dried my hair a little and just let it hang. Finally, I grabbed my gear and the stakes and unlocked the door. Cam was flying the jet, Daniel sitting in the co-pilot seat but slumped to one side, fast asleep. Wes and Alberta were asleep too and I smiled slightly spotting their entwined hands. I had always guessed as much. Alex was reading Interveiw with the Vampire by Anne Rice again. I shook my head and looked for Christine, finding her curled up on Eddie's chest, his arms loosly holding her in place as he snored quietly. Some babysitter. Finally, my eyes landed on Dimitri.
I couldn't help but giggle internally. Rose Hathaway does not giggle out loud. Dimitri was sprawled over four seats, the arms rests raised. He had removed his vest and duster, leaving him in a black wifebeater and jeans, his boots neatly placed under his seat, socks inside them. His hair was falling over his face and he slept soundly, despite his arm hanging off the seat and his head at an odd angle. I grabbed one of the blankets and a pillow, kneeling next to him and rasing his head carefully to place the pillow under it at a healthier angle. Then, raising his arm gently and placing it on his stomach with the other one, I threw the blanket on him before grabbing another for me and collapsing on my own seats, curling up and shutting my eyes, pulling my hair over the armrest so it hung down to dry rather than sticking to my back. I wouldn't go to sleep. I was just going to rest my eyes for a while, we were landing in an hour or so anyway. That was my last thoughts as I drifted off to sleep.
"Poor Rose and her poisonous love, killing off all she cares about. I wonder who's next..." A cold silky voice sang out from the darkness, a tone I wasn't used to hearing from Mason. He strode out towards me, circling me, glaring at me. I shrunk back against a brick wall and stared at him in horror. He laughed and I saw another figure approaching and I recognized the easy gait as Lucians. He sneered at me and stood with Mason.
"Love? She didn't love me. Did you Rose? I was your distraction, your replacement for your Russian God. You always loved him, even when you were with me." I shook my head frantically, trying to get them to understand, I loved them all. Tears welled up in my eyes and felt one escape. Damn it. Then Tasha approached. Her eyes glinted dangerously and I began to shake. Then the dream faded slowly...
I opened my eyes to an anxious Daniel. Ha! And you thought it was going to be Dimitri. His worried eyes made me aware of the wetness on my cheeks and the tears that should never had fallen. I sat up and peered out the window, watching the cluster of buildings that made up the court come into veiw.
"Are you alright Rose?" Daniels voice was gentle and quiet and I was grateful for his discretion. I nodded numbly and straightened up, glancing around. It was the same as before except now Daniel was awake. I yawned and stood up, the blanket falling from my shoulders. My hair was dry now and I brushed it quickly and put half of it up before goin g around to rouse everyone. I went to Wes and Alberta first, putting my head inbetween theirs.
"Wake up lovebirds..." I cooed softly, having the satisfaction of seeing them leap apart and look around in horror. I moved on to Eddie and Christine, tickling her so she wiggled waking them both up, she giggled and he just sleepily grumbled about five more minutes until my fingers danced under his chin, sending them both tumbling to the floor. I smiled happily, pushing the dream out of my mind and went to Dimitri who lay just as I had left him. I backed up and let out a wild war cry before launching myself forwards, running and jumping to land on his stomach, shocking him and knocking the wind out of him. He growled and pulled me down on his chest, his heart pounding from undeniable shock. I laughed and tried to stand but he held me down, hugging me tightly.
"I... I felt.. your dream, I heard it in my head. Your love isnt poisonous Roza.." I wrenched my self out of his grasp and stalked to the front of the jet as it touched down. Let the stress begin. Dimitri came up behind me and rested his forehead against my shoulder, breathing hard. I shut my eyes knowing what was coming. He was going to push me away again, say we couldn't be together.
"Roza, you want me to be with you, I want me to be with you. It's not fair that I can't be there for you too." I turned around to face him, absolutely livid. If it were possible, steam would be coming out of my ears like in the cartoons. He backed away a bit from my murderous expression while Alex looked up at the exact wrong moment, seeing something was up. I took a step towards Dimitri so I had him backed up against a wall and poked his chest with my finger.
"Welcome to the fricking club! Open your eyes Dimitri, listen to yourself. God damn it Dimitri! You are such a filthy hypocrite! You think that this sucks? You try being me and having to put up with your self-righteous, hot-one-minute-cold-the-next, completely hurtful behaviour and then when I finally thought I had you, you leave. For 6 years. When that is even remotely fair, give me a call and I will consider speaking to you again. Face it Dimitri, I have. Life. Isnt. Fair." he looked like had slapped him and I wrenched the door open, breathing hard and thankful that we had landed. I looked back once to see him staring blankly at the floor while Alex was standing in front of him, fists clenched. I kept on walking, heading to where ever I hit first. I didn't care. They could take Christine up themselves. I ended up in the small grove and wild rose garden, ironic or not, I collapsed to my knees and screamed in frustration, slamming my fist into the ground repeatedly. I looked at the bruised and split knuckles, dirt and blood running down my wrist. I smiled in spite of myself. Pain. I lay back in the grass and just stared at the night sky, looking at the constellations I had begun to miss. I sighed sadly, my life sucks.