Hi Everyone, thank you for all your comments, again sorry for the delay.
Some of you have messaged me to ask if I'm using Jill as the half sibling, Well I could go down that road because I think that might happen in the last book myself but instead I wanted to be a little different and make up my own characters. I hope you all like my characters when you get to know them.
About my mistakes with confusing the royal court and the academy. Sorry about that, I have only read the series once so far, I guess I need to read it through once more lol. I will correct the mistakes later on but for now I'll carry on with the rest of the book.
The comment about the casino, you are correct I have never been in a casino, so forgive me for any mistakes I have made..
Anyway on to the chapter, it is a small chapter I'm afraid, I just haven't had much time to myself lately.
Chapter Eleven
I was getting a little impatient waiting for the guy to find his scrapbook, I could feel Lissa's frustration as well. "Ah here it is, sorry about that, someone must have moved it" He started to flip through the book but came to a sudden stop "What's happened here" He said "What's wrong" Lissa said with an anxious voice. "I'm so sorry my dear, someone has ripped the page out" Lissa looked at Oksana "Someone must of beaten us to it, can you remember anything at all about her" Lissa said, The man was obviously thinking, Oksana interrupted "Do you mind if I take a look" the man gave Oksana a puzzling expression "What at the book" Oksana swung her head from side to side "No I mean, do you mind if a take a look at your memories, I'm psychic you see" The man raised one eyebrow "I don't believe in that type of thing but you are welcome to try". Oksana walked towards him "This won't hurt but please close your eyes and open your mind to me" Oksana touched his face with both hands and closed her eyes too.
About five minutes later Oksana opened her eyes "I saw two main dancers, ballet dancers, not show girls" The guy opened his eyes "That's correct, my two stars, we don't just have showgirls here, we put on special shows to entertain the royals as well". Oksana began to speak again "Both had long black hair, blue eyes but one had darker skin, and I saw the names over the top of the stage, Zarifa and Sabrina" The guy's eyes opened wide "That's right, Zarifa is the lady you're trying to find, sadly I cannot remember her last name, but that was her real first name, Sabrina was a stage name for the other lady, Emily Mastrano" Lissa gasped "Emily Mastrano, are you sure?" Oksana turned towards Lissa "Do you know her, Vasilisa" Lissa nodded "Yes I know her, I've met her" Lissa walked closer to the gentleman "Did Emily know Zarifa well? or perhaps could Emily be the one who was with my father?" he took a breath and started to speak "Emily Mastrano did know Zarifa very well, they were close friends until Zarifa became very secretive, I'm sure you could find out more information from her and as for your other question, no Emily was not the one with your father, she was very much in love with someone else at the time, from what I've heard". Lissa looked at Oksana "I think we better get back to the others" Oksana nodded and Lissa turned back to the gentleman, held his hand "Thank you very much for your help" he smiled "If you find Zarifa, tell her Nicholas said hello and I'm sorry I couldn't be any more help" Lissa smiled and I broke the bond connection.
"Looks like it's not going to be as easy as we thought" I said to Dimitri who was still sitting next to me "what happened, Rose" He said in an eager voice. "It looks like someone is one step ahead of us, and we need to move fast, we need to call Abe" I turned towards Dimitri "Lissa found out the first name of the lady we're looking for, but someone has stolen the rest of the information from the choreography, Oksana had to go into the guys memories and she managed to see what she looks like and her first name and the guy then told them that she was part of a double act with a lady named Sabrina, whose real name was Emily Mastrano" Dimitri's eyebrows raised, I nodded to him "yep, we need Abe to talk to Emily, to find out the last name of this lady called Zarifa". Lissa and Oksana arrived then "Did you get all that Rose" Lissa said, I nodded to her "you need to call Ibrahim" Lissa nodded and she pulled out the phone from her trouser pocket.
She walked over to a quiet area where no one could listen. While we waited Oksana describe the lady to us, long black hair, deep blue eyes which did sound just like Jill's mothers, but Oksana mentioned that the lady had tanned skin. "Zarifa, what a unusual name" I said to Oksana and she replied "Yes that's because it's Arabic" I replied "Arabic, what's that all about" Oksana shrugged her shoulders "I don't know, but it means Moves with grace" Oksana started to smile at my shocked expression "Yes Rose, I like to read about names, one which may not be a surprise to you would be Vasilisa's name meaning Royal" I laughed a little "Yes that sounds about right".
Lissa returned "Well I've told Abe, he's going to speak with Emily now and told us to go back to our hotel and wait" Oksana spoke first "well it's time for us to say our farewells then" Lissa gasped 'Wait you're leaving" Oksana nodded "I'm afraid so, we've helped you find your next lead but we have to return to our home now, this is your mission, your journey, not ours" Oksana walked towards Lissa, hugged her and whispered something to her. Lissa started to cry "I'm really glad I met you" Oksana smiled and walked towards me. "All of you are always welcome to come visit us, don't be strangers". She hugged me and whispered to me "You have a great future ahead of you Roza, just wait patiently and everything will come to rights in the end" she smiled when she saw tears fall from my eyes then she turned towards Dimitri, he stood up and held out his right hand. Oksana took his hand "It was nice to have met you Dimitri Belikov and I will make sure to tell your family you are doing well" Dimitri nodded. Oksana spun around to face Lissa and I and with a clap of her hand she said "Right then, now all we need to do is find that husband of mine and Adrian". After wiping my tears away I managed to say "Adrian is in the games room, maybe Mark is there too"
We made our way to the games room, I was correct, Adrian and Mark were playing pool together. "Hi guys" Adrian said. "Having fun" Oksana said to Mark, "Just a bit of male bonding" Mark smiled. Adrian probably needed sometime away from me, "Find out anything interesting" Adrian said with a smile. Lissa nodded "yes but not as much as we hoped to find and the bad news is someone else is a step ahead of us". Adrian's smile vanished from his face "What?" Lissa just swung her head back and forth "We'll discuss it later at the hotel, first we need to say goodbye to Oksana and Mark, they are going home". Adrian turned to Mark "You're not joining the fight then" Oksana answered Adrian "No, Mark has been out of training for a long time, and besides this is your fight. But there are ways of keeping in contact with you all if you need our help" Adrian, Lissa and I all smiled at Oksana's last comment. Oksana and Mark said their farewells to us all, "Take care all of you" Oksana said as they made their way to the elevator, when the doors closed, Lissa made the call to Isaac to pick us up.
When we got back to the hotel, we separated and went to our own rooms. Lissa made her way to the bedroom straight away to sleep. I assume Adrian did the same. I stayed in the living room with the mobile so it wouldn't wake Lissa. I fell asleep on the sofa eventually and was soon surrounded by the usual scenery when Adrian visits "Hey little Dhampir" well at least he sounds cheerful "Aren't you suppose to be resting" He smiled at me, "I am resting, but thought I'd pay a visit so you can fill me in on what happened this morning" I nodded and sat down. After explaining everything to Adrian, he said "I can't believe Jailbait's, I mean Jill's mother is involved in all this, Was the man positive Emily isn't the women who was with Lissa's father" I nodded "He seemed very sure" Adrian shrugged his shoulders "it would of been so much easier if it was Jill's mother, but never mind, at least we've got a good lead now". I smirked a little "Well at least one of us is optimistic" He chuckled and put his arm around me "We'll succeed Rose, I know we will". I smiled to myself, "I'm glad you're not angry with me Adrian, I think I would really miss all this". His hand gripped my arm a little tighter "I'm still angry, but not with you Rose, but let's forget all that right now, besides I haven't given up remember, I still have a chance by the looks of things" I started to laugh a little and put my head on his shoulder "I'm just glad you're still here" he sighed "I'll stay with you for as long as you allow me too" he sounded so serious but before I could answer I was awoken by the ringing of the mobile.
I rushed to pick up the mobile "Hello" I said in a relieved voice that I answered it in time. "Rose, is that you?" it was Abe "Yep it's me" he signed "For a second there I thought no one was going to answer, anyway I have spoken to Emily Mastrano" he paused for a moment "It was a little hard to get the information out of her at first but it's funny when I mentioned I was your father, she told me everything she knew, are you good friends with her?" I answered "No, we've barely spoken, but we do know her daughter quite well, Jill" Abe continued "I see, well she explained that she used to dance with a women who had a similar look to her own and that they were a double act on stage, she said her name was Zarifa Valdez" he took a breath "I have informed Sydney and she is trying to trace her now" I interrupted "what else did you find out?"
He began again "Apparently Emily was very close with Zarifa, they even fell pregnant around the same time and gave birth in the same hospital." Again a quick pause "They both had a daughter but when Emily went to visit Zarifa, she was gone and never heard from her again, but she did tell me that Zarifa always dreamed of opening a dance studio in Los Angeles, That's what I've got Sydney checking on now". I sighed "Long shot but try searching for a studio called move with grace" he answered "And why is that?" he sounded intrigued "It's something Oksana mentioned about Zarifa meaning Moves with grace" I laughed to myself, it was definitely a long shot "I will tell Sydney, but while you are waiting get everything together and check out of the hotel, you've been there long enough. Call Isaac and wait near the airport, I'm sending you over to New Orleans to pick up Sydney, you're going to need someone like her just in case you run into any trouble" He just hung up after that, no goodbye or anything "Bye then" I said to an empty room.
After I processed the information for a few moments I got up, grabbed our bag, gathered all the stuff out of the bathroom and just shoved it all in. Then I made my way to the bedroom. A few quick shoves and Lissa woke up "hhmm, what's happening" she said as she yawned. "It's time to go Lissa, Abe rang and we are to wait at the airport for further instructions" I said, she jumped up and was wide awake "Let's go" she said, I laughed at how serious her face was "Calm down Lissa, first get the rest of the stuff packed and I'll go get the guys" she smiled and nodded.
I made my way to the guy's room and knocked on the door before I entered. Dimitri's head appeared over the sofa, he must of been sleeping "Rose, everything alright?" I see he's started to just call me Rose again, but I suppose it's better that way. "Yes everything is fine, but I have instructions from Abe to pack everything and wait by the airport" Dimitri was already making his way to the bedroom before I'd even finished speaking. I hurried over and helped Dimitri get all the stuff together and packed it in Adrian's bag. I walked over to where Adrian was sleeping "Time to get up" I said as I shook him. He started to smile "I'll wake up if I get a kiss" I heard loud footsteps coming towards me then "Enough, this is not the time for playing childish games". At first I thought maybe Dimitri was jealous but the sound of his voice was more like a teacher scolding one of his students. It was very effective, Adrian jumped up from the bed "What's going on" he said in a panic. "It's alright, everything is fine, we just need to gather everything and get to the airport" Adrian nodded and finished packing the rest of the stuff.
We met Lissa outside of the other room "Got everything" I said, she nodded "yep, let's get out of here". I called Isaac in the elevator but Abe had already rung him, he told me he's already waiting outside.
Dimitri, Lissa and I went on ahead to the car while Adrian checked out, it shouldn't take him too long as the usually receptionist wasn't on duty. Adrian joined us ten minutes later and I told them everything Abe had told me. Dimitri spoke first "Why are we going over to New Orleans first?" I turned towards him "We have to pick up Sydney the Alchemist, we will need someone like her in case we bump into any Strigoi" He nodded to me. Then I saw Adrian grinning "You can wipe that grin of your face, we might not even be going to LA yet. Anyway we'll have a lot of work to do, no time for playing around". Adrian laughed "I'm sure we can fit a bit of sightseeing in Rose".
Now all we need is Abe to give us the details of our flight. "Next stop New Orleans" I said to them all, I wonder how Sydney will react to having two Dhampir and two Moroi around her.
End of Chapter Eleven
Again sorry for the short chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it though. I have been drafting ideas on how I'm going to progress with the story. I've got a big exciting ending which I've thought up with lots of twists to it, but that's a little while away yet lol.
I'm so excited for the new book, it's not long now but long enough lol.
Please keep reading and reviewing.
But before I go, I have a question, what do you all prefer, shorter chapters like this one or the bigger chapters like chapter ten?
P.S. I just pre-ordered the Vampire Academy Graphic Novel, coming out August 2011, Can't wait.
If anyone saw my comment on the official cast of vampire academy movie, I got the information from a friend but turns out she was messing around lol, sorry :-(