The loud, hypnotic club music was making my ears deaf. I danced across the room, to the strigoi that I was targeting. I had a tank top with a leather jacket, shorts, and combat boots. I could see Lev, Artur, and the others, slipping outside. We were the sexiest strigoi-hunters in town. I reached the strigoi, and pressed myself against him, ignoring the nausea that I felt.
"Hello..." I practically purred. The strigoi glanced up at me and grinned, looking up and down at me with hungry eyes. He pressed closer to me, rubbing against me.
"Do you...want to go somewhere more private?" The strigoi said in a husky tone. I let him lead me to the alleyway. Perfect. As he pressed me against the wall, I whipped my stake and quickly got out of his grasp. My crew came from the shadows, forming a semi circle around the strigoi.
"Rose Hathaway," The strigoi spat with disgust, as he crouched. There's been an increase of strigoi attacks, on dhampir and moroi, and I didn't like it. I glanced at him and my teammates. "Bring it on..." I say, before we launched ourselves at him. The fight ended quickly, the stake finding home as it pierced his heart. I took out my cell phone and called Sydney. I quickly described our location and ended the call.
Suddenly, I spun around, nausea hitting me. More strigoi...in fact, ten of them. I glanced at the others, confusion was clealry in our faces. Strigoi...didn't work well with each other, and ten was a rare number.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Rose Hathaway and her group of friends," The strigoi sneered at us as we took formation. I cursed in Russian, under my breath. I got to learn Russian, it's sort of hard not to when you live in Novosibirsk for two years and your best friend can only speak Russian.
"Go to hell." I snapped at them. Damien glanced over at me and murmured some comforting words. He and I have been inseparable ever since he asked me out a year ago.
"We're already in hell, darling." The strigoi said before he and his friends launched themselves at us. We gracefully fought, dancing back and forth with the strigoi. It didn't take long before ten more strigoi bodies were on the ground...dead.
"What's with strigoi working in groups?" I broke the silence, glancing at Denis. He shrugged.
"I don't know...but I don't like it. This isn't good. There's been so much attacks lately." He observed.
"Let's get back home..." Tamara suggested, and none of us argued with her. It's weird...how my perception of home has changed. Before, my home was in Montana...now, it's in Novosibirsk, in an apartment that the Zmey bought us.
It was late in night, around two in the morning. We had semi-nocturnal sleeping schedule, due to the fact that strigoi hunt at night. I changed into my PJ's and went into the room I shared with Tamara. I've grown closer to her than ever. We talk all the time. As I went to shut the lights, my cell phone went off.
"Who is it?" Tamara asked, raising an eyebrow at me as I went to answer the call.
"Hello, Rose."
"Zmey?"
"Yes, I need to talk to you about something urgent."
"What is it?"
"Have you noticed an increase in strigoi?"
"Yes...we just fought a group of ten strigoi." I could hear Abe swearing loudly in Russian.
"Okay...I'm going to call you in the morning."
"Wait, what? What do you need to tell me?"
"Nothing that you have to worry about...yet." He says, before ending the call on me. Great. I turn to Tamara.
"He didn't say much. Only asked me about the increase of strigoi. This isn't good," I sigh, rubbing my temples.
"Sleep, Rose. You'll need your energy." Tamara tells me, before snuggling back into bed. I shut the lights off and fell into a troubled sleep.
The next day I woke up, I checked my cell phone. There were 0 missed calls. Groaning, I got up and showered quickly, before heading downstairs to the delicious smell of bacon and eggs. Damien was cooking, as usual. He was the best cook out of all of us.
"Hey," I smile at him, wrapping my arms around him as he cracked the egg and poured it into the pan. He turned back at me, throwing the egg shells into the trash. He planted a sweet kiss on my lips, the eggs in the pan completely forgotten. I stood on my tip-toes, my arms around his neck now. The kiss was nice, sweet, and innocent. It wasn't intense or anything. Someone coughed, and we broke apart. Damien had a goofy smile on his face as he turned back to the eggs.
"Ugh, I don't think I can eat breakfast anymore." Lev groaned dramatically, clutching at his stomach. I grinned.
"More eggs for me then, I guess!"
"How do you eat so much and not get fat?" Tamara complained as she walked into the kitchen. I could eat a dozen donuts and still stay the same weight. I shrugged.
"When she retires, she'll probably get all fat." Denis commented, as he stared at the pan. I rolled my eyes at him, and punched him in the shoulder. "What was that for?" He complained. Before I could answer him, my cell phone rang. Tamara whipped around to look at me, raising an eyebrow. I answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Rose...there's something I need to tell you and you'll probably not like this."
"...what is it?"
"There's been major attacks...over at the Court. We need as much guardians as possible and..." Zmey trailed off. I was silent.
"Are you still there? Rose?"
"Yes...I'm still here, Abe." I sighed. "Let me talk to the others first. I'll call you back." I ended the call before he could continue talking.
"What is it?" Damien asked me. He saw the troubled look on my face.
"Major attacks at the Court. They need as much guardians as possible..." I sighed. The happy mood in the kitchen was completely gone, and replaced with tense silence. The others knew how I felt about Court.
"You don't have to go...you know," Tamara says to me, patting my back.
"No, I've been avoiding this for really long. I'll go to Court...as long as you guys will go," I said, standing up straight with a determined air. Lev rolled his eyes.
"Of course we'll go with you. We're a team." I grinned at his words.
"Alright, I'll call Zmey back." I re-dialed Abe's number and waited.
"Ello?"
"Hey, Abe. It's me. I'll go back to Court...along with my team.
"Good. I'll send a jet over in 30 minutes. Get ready." The call ended.
"The jet's over in 30 minutes, we need to get packing!" I say, taking a plate of eggs that Damien just prepared and scoffing it down, before going into my bedroom to pack my clothes and toiletry items. I was stuffing clothes into the bag, mentally preparing myself to meet...Dimitri.
"Are you okay?" Tamara asked, concerned as she came into the room and began to place her jewelry into a big red suitcase.
"I'm...fine," I say, unconvincingly. "I'm just preparing myself." I said, truthfully, as I carefully took clothes off hanger.
"Hey, Rose. I just wanted to say...we have your backs. Damien's always going to watch out for you, and so are we. We're a family now," Tamara says fiercely, pausing for a moment to stare at me. I nodded, gratefully. I grinned. "This is your first time going to America...right? We're going to have lots of fun..." Tamara smiles mischievously.
"Hopefully, there's going to be some hot guys over there," She says, raising an eyebrow and smirking. I laugh, glad of my decision two years ago to go to Novosibirsk.
An hour later, my crew and I were boarded on the jet, courtesy of Abe Mazur, known as Zmey to several. My crew already knew he was my father, but when they first known, their jaws practically hit the floor. It was great. Damien sat beside me for the ride, his hand on mine. I glanced at him, smilingly. He was the best boyfriend, ever. He was extremely supportive and I felt like I could tell him everything. Out of the corner of the eye, I could see Abe glaring at Damien. I rolled my eyes and leaned into Damien, whispering,
"Don't mind Abe. I think he's just jealous that he isn't as hot as you." I say, making Damien blush slightly, before giving me a devious smile. Abe glared at him even more, before turning to me. He spoke,
"Rose, are you okay with going back to the Court?" Although he had a scary demeanor, he was actually pretty nice.
"Yeah...I'm fine," I sighed, my mind flashing back two years ago. Damien gave me a reassuring squeeze on my hand and I relaxed against him.
The plane ride was overbearingly long, as I relived memories over and over again. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Damien was shaking me awake and Adrian was standing in front of me.
"Adrian!" I say happily, jumping up to give him a hug. He didn't smell too much like alcohol and smoke, which I pulled back in surprise.
"Little Dhampir..." He murmured, pulling me back.
"You haven't been smoking or drinking." I say.
"Well...I, uh, met someone." He says, scratching the back of his neck with embarrassment.
"Who is it?" I asked, excited. I was glad that he met someone. Adrian turned even redder before making some excuse and leaving the plane with some suitcases in his hands. I raised my eyebrows-yes, I still can't do the one eyebrow thing—and turned to my teammates. "Welcome to the Court." I say, sweeping my hands in an exaggerated way towards the door of the airplane as I grabbed my duffel bag and suitcase and dragged them outside. Some escorts were waiting for us, and several airplanes were landing. Apparently, they've been calling practically all guardians. I slipped inside the car, pulling in the others. They were staring, because they've never set foot out of Russia before.
The ride to the Court was uneventful. We passed several guards, who checked us out and made sure we weren't strigois in disguise or something. We were waved pass the wards. I stepped outside, grabbing the duffel and suitcase. Hans walked towards us. "Who are...you guys?" He asked questionably.
"Forgot me already, Hans? Does Rose Hathaway ring any bell?" I asked him, sarcastically. Hans backed away in surprise.
"I couldn't recognize. You look different, the whole red hair, blue eyes, leather jacket look..." He trailed off, and I couldn't help smirking again.
"Where should we stay?" I asked, gesturing to our many bags. Hans gave us directions and we headed to the housing area, with a bunch of people staring at us. We looked around our new house. It was giant, much bigger than the apartment we had. I dropped my bags on the floor, looking around and whistling. "This isn't bad..." I say, with the others agreeing with me. "Do you guys want to head to the cafeteria and sight-see, or do you want to unpack?" I ask. It was unambitious for sight-seeing, so we head to the cafeteria, where I treated us some donuts, eclairs, and other delicious and unhealthy foods.
"Still eating like a pig, eh?" Adrian asked me, as he sat down next to me with another girl.
"Wait...Sydney?" I asked in surprise, suppressing myself from giving her a hug.
"You know my girlfriend?" Adrian asked.
"Yeah...we met a couple years ago in Russia," A smile spread through my face as I took another bite of my second donut. Adrian began to open his mouth and then closed it, his eyes seeming to glare at someone. I turned around uncertainly, and I see Dimitri and Lissa's eyes glance at me. I turned back around quickly, and Damien seemed to understand.
"So, I'll just introduce my teammates here." I say quickly, trying to get rid of the awkward silence. "This is Lev, Artur, Aaron, Dennis, Damien, and Tamara." I gestured to each of my teammates and they nodded. Tamara, Artur, and Aaron wasn't as fluent in English, so they refrained from saying anything. Instead, they muttered to themselves in Russian. I see cowboy boots before I saw his face.
"Roza..." He whispers.
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