Chapter Nineteen

Mental Patient

AN: I would like to thank dpower so, so, so much for doing me such a big favor as to beta this story. I'm very thankful and grateful to have such a load off from rereading my story. I can barely stand my writing!

Dimitri POV

For the past two an a half days I have been completely alone just being bored out of my mind. Yeah, sad, I know. Ever since Rose chose school over me, that's how I've been. Every part of me is missing her. I shouldn't be down about this, and I know it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's killing me. She had a right to choose the way she did. But my jealousy is not helpful for either of us. I'm just causing strain and unneeded feelings of stress on Rose. I can't help but feel horrible about how I treated Rose.

God, why did I have to act so stupid? It's not like I didn't know this could happen. I know how much she cares for Lissa. She only wants the chance to be Lissa's guardian. I have known that from the beginning. I know how I felt about being Ivan's. So how could I hold this against her?

I pulled out my phone. There was an unknown number calling me, and I wasn't sure if I should answer the call or just plain ignore it. For some reason, I had a feeling it was Rose calling. My heart gave a little squeeze at the thought, so I answered it. And crazily enough, much to my pleasure it was Rose.

"Comrade?" Rose asked, out of breath as if she had been running.

"Yes Rose?" I replied simply. It came out sort of annoyed and a little bit rude, but Rose ignored that completely.

"There's been a strigoi attack! Alberta told me to call you to tell you to come over immediately. She just scheduled a flight for you. We desperately need you here, and when I say need you, I fucking mean it! There are tons of them! So get your ass out of your goddamned house and over to the airport! Right fucking NOW!" she said hurriedly.

I chuckled. I was so happy to hear her voice I almost wasn't listening to what she was saying. "Alright, Roza, calm down," I said, suddenly remembering how ambitious Rose could be... and then I remembered other things about Rose, her beautiful endless chocolate brown eyes, her long silky hair, her wonderful scent. Those defined hips...

Rose sighed dreamily. "I love it when you call me that," her tone was seductive and warm, but it dropped quickly as her stern voice came back. "Now quicken the pace, fat ass!" Rose yelled into the cellular device before hanging up with a click. My heart warmed knowing I was going to see my Roza soon.

All I could do was chuckle. That was the Rose I knew and loved. Luckily for me, and everyone else at St. Vladimir's (That's the cocky side of me talking), I wasn't too far away, only at the Royal court. I had come for a quick visit just to see how things were going. I knew a couple people here, but no one had to tell me twice to get on a plane and go back to her. I hurried over to the runway where all the jets were ready and waiting.

Not surprisingly, there were quite a few other guardians. There were about twenty. I checked in with a guy with a clip board and he pointed towards the plane. As I boarded I realized that I didn't know any of them so I introduced myself and we all got acquainted with each other.

From Pennsylvania to Montana was normally about a four and a half to five hour flight. In this case, we were on a super sonic jet, meaning it goes twice the rate and in half the time. Therefore, we arrived in about two hour's time. When we arrived the entire place was in complete havoc, and our little group of nearly twenty instantly split up into groups of four and went to search the campus.

I turned around just in time to dodge out of the way of a strigoi. He had his fangs blatantly out of his mouth in an attempt to suck the life out of me. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt my adrenaline taking control of me. With deadly silence, I yanked the stake out of my leather duster and slashed it across the strigoi's neck. He hissed out in pain and held a hand to his seeping neck, a string of profanities flew out his mouth. I knew he was in pain, and it pained me as I staked him straight through his heart. Every single time I had to kill strigoi, it hurt me; though I knew it was the correct thing to do, it still chipped away a piece of my heart each time.

I raced further into the heart of the school where I knew more of the strigoi would most definitely be. As I ran I searched for her. I needed to see her. As I turned a corner, a loud ear-splitting scream was rendered from a recently staked strigoi. Another one was set aflame.

Woah, wait... Set aflame? A Moroi is fighting against a strigoi? I turned my head in the direction of the source of the fire. Christian Ozera? For a moment, I was awestruck at how quickly he disposed of the recently burned to a crisp strigoi, and then attacked another with his fire techniques. I was impressed!

My eyes flickered over to the fighter to his left. It was a female dhampir, an astonishingly impressive novice. She had a terrified, as well as a determined look on her face. It was my awe inspiring Roza. Her movements were absolutely amazing they were graceful and fluid like a deadly dance. I was even more awestruck, keeping in mind that she is/was my student.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl from my right. I turned just in time to block a hit from a strigoi. I need to focus! This is not the time to be distracted by my beautiful Roza! The strigoi was only a little bit stronger than I was, it wouldn't be hard to over power him and stake him. He was pretty stealthy, and crafty, but I could tell he hadn't been a strigoi too long, due to his skill level, or lack thereof. I proved to be right as it took only a moment more to proceed with his dreadful end.

I took on seven more strigoi consecutively before I realized there were no more around me. Glancing around, I noticed Rose again, in all her glory. I took another millisecond to admire her and contemplate how much she's learned since I started training her. Pride for her filled my chest. I hurried over to her side. She was exhausted, and having a little difficulty with the strigoi she was facing. After fighting my own battle with a strigoi for at least three minutes and staking him, I turned to help Rose and Christian out. At this point, Christian was definitely growing incredibly weak. He had a look in his eyes that explained how much he wanted to help Rose, but he understood that he didn't have the stamina to continue the fight.

Taking things from there, I staked the damned strigoi. Rose looked so relieved, as did Christian. Rose's face contorted from anger and frustration to sheer bliss at the sight of me next to her. Then it changed back to confusion and hurt.

"Dimitri," she said breathlessly. At least she acknowledged me... right? I gave her a brief smile and nod before walking up to her. I took one last look over the area to make sure there were no strigoi before giving into my temptations.

"Hello, Roza," I chuckled and leaned in, cupping her cheek and placing my lips on hers. Rose was shocked to say the least- but she responded to my kiss. I couldn't blame her, I had been an insecure prick and allowed the immature part of me take over. I shouldn't have left her; and from that moment on, I declared to myself that I would never, ever again do such a thing.

After a few moments we broke for air, but as I looked at her, Rose's lips were in a thin tight line. She raised her hand and slapped me hard across the face. "You jackass!" I was about to complain about how I didn't deserve that, but Rose cut me off. "That was for ditching me. Don't ever leave me again!" She pulled me in by the collar of my duster and we lip locked once again. "That… was because I wanted to," she said with a wink.

"Woah... Mentor and student. How kinky," Christian said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "I can totally imagine that. Do you guys, like, do it on the desk and stuff?"

"That's enough, Lord Ozera," I said stiffly, he was hitting a little to close to home. Christian was laughing his ass off as Rose threatened to strangle him if he wouldn't stop.

"On a serious note," Christian said as he stood up, after being knocked on to the ground by Rose, and brushed himself off. "I think we should get the fuck out of here before I pass out from exhaustion," he said with a big sigh. I agreed with him on that whole heartedly.

"Alright, let's get out of here," Rose added. With that, we took off running towards the office, where more guardians were bound to be. Entering the building, there is a group of nurses standing around what seemed to be a body.

Rose POV

I pushed past them, hoping it wasn't someone I knew too well, and someone insignificant... like Ralf. Yeah. I'm kidding. I wouldn't want this to happen to anybody.

But to my utter disappointment and shock, it wasn't Ralf. It wasn't a Moroi, but a dhampir. With curly red hair and a head turned at an incorrect angle. It was Mason.

"Mason!" I screamed at him. Panic was rising in my chest. He was unresponsive, and I scrambled to feel his neck for a heartbeat. "NO!" There was none. I squeezed my eyes shut when I felt tears spring to my eyes. "What happened to him?" I gasped out as I pulled Mason's limp body to mine. My hands were shaking I could feel my whole body trembling. I looked up to a doctor who was holding a clipboard, writing something down.

She finished writing and then looked down at me. I must've looked pretty distraught; I held Mason's head to my chest and tears were streaming out of my eyes. My chin quivered, and I was wearing a pout on my lips, and Dr. Olendzki sighed. "His neck had been broken five minutes ago," she said sadly, but picture perfect calm. This was strange to me, how could you be calm when someone- specifically a child as well as a student- was dead right before you.

He's dead! This horrid thought ran through my mind in circles, and then burned into my brain and into my heart. I didn't want to let go, I didn't want to say goodbye. I couldn't, not yet! Mason was too young to die! He didn't deserve it, not in the least bit. I felt terrible and so guilty for breaking his heart only a few days before his end.

I was so full of rage in that moment that I didn't even comprehend Dr. Olendzki's voice and hands trying to pry my arms from around Mason's limp body. "Rose, you nee to let go of Mason now; physically and emotionally. Please, Rose, don't make this harder than it needs be," she said calmly. I felt someone's arms slowly dragging me from the body, and though I was definitely reluctant to let go of Mason, the hands were soothing, and calm. I could only imagined Dimitri standing there behind me as he drew me from Mason.

I turned into his arms and cried away the pain. It was hard killing tons of Strigoi, yes, but watching one of my best friends- dead- is nearly devastating. Dimitri ran his hand through my hair and kissed the top of my head. To others, this seemed to be a comforting gesture. They didn't notice nor understand the meaning behind the kiss.

As Dimitri starting whispering soothing words in Russian, I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I only understood half of his words. I had just picked a few of them up after living with him in Russia for a couple months.

"Ty v poryadke?" Dimitri asked/whispered into my ear. You're okay? I translated in my mind. I nodded numbly as the tears ceased all at once. I hoped I would be okay. At this point I was just to numb to even think.

Dimitri left to attend to some important matters. After Dimitri had finally let go of me and made sure that I was fine, I let out an ear-splitting cry as I picked up a chair and threw it across the room, shattering some glass from a window. They put me in a white room, and I recognized it to be one for patients. The guardians as well as doctors decided they didn't want to take their chances leaving me alone.

The door opened and someone walked in. I looked up, excited. I was about to call to him to sit with me, when I realized who it was. It wasn't Dimitri; it was Christian who had somehow missed my whole psychotic episode with Mason and the chair. He sent me a weak smile as he came over to sit next to me.

"Hey," he said softly. I turned to him with watery eyes and gave him a halfhearted smile.

"Hi Christian," I whispered. He nonchalantly wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me to him. I rested my head on his shoulder as we sat there together, quietly, for what felt like hours, but in reality was only about three minutes. It was slightly awkward, I mean, this is Christian, but it was also comforting, in a way.

"You know, despite our constant fighting and arguing, Rose, I'm here for you. You may decide to be annoying and immature and call me names every waking second, but I'm being serious right now," he took a breath. "I love you," he said and looked into my eyes. I beamed at him. I felt my eyes water up again at his little speech, but I wouldn't shed any tears this time.

"Thank you, Chris. To be dreadfully honest with you, I'm just jealous that you can take Lissa's breath away. She means more to me than anything I could possibly think of," besides Dimitri, I mentally thought, "And I want- no, need- you to take care of her with everything you have."

"That, I will do," Christian said in an even confident voice.

I smiled. "Good," I leaned my head back on his shoulder. Christian would be a pretty good big brother. If only I had one.

Christian sighed and then stood up as he looked down over me. "Come with me, I'll take you back to your room." he said as he started out the door. Nurses and other people walking down the long corridor of rooms looked at me in terror, probably afraid that I would pull another one of my stunts like the one earlier.

We walked up to the front where a secretary sat, typing away at her computer. She noticed us out of the corner of her eye and gasped at the sight of me. "Rose! What are you-"

"It's fine. I'll take her back to her room," Christian said in a low voice. The woman nodded and typed some more things in her computer. She gave us her word that I was now free to go, and so we left. "Come on, you mental patient. You look tired," he said.

It had probably been about half a day since the attack, I realized as I looked up at the clock before we had left the building. Christian slid on some sunglasses and pulled his hood on over his head; it was getting light out quickly.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I sure as hell am. And I wouldn't mind some Chinese food right about now," I said as I rubbed my stomach. Damn, I really was pretty hungry. Christian chuckled to himself as we walked across campus. We were nearing the dhampir dorm, and I noticed Christian looking uncomfortable. "I can go the rest of the way by myself," I said tiredly. "Tell Lissa to come by and see me soon," I said with my shoulders slumped and a worn-out expression on my face as Christian nodded and patted me on the back one last time before turning the opposite way that led to the Moroi dorm.

I pushed the door open to the lounge area. There was nobody around. It was about nine PM, or AM if you want to get specific, so it only made sense that everyone was in bed by now. I drug my exhausted body up the many stairs to my room on the fifth floor. I entered my room and took in a deep breath. My new room had been cleaned up and my bed never looked so good. I peeled off my clothes and rushed in under the covers. I breathed a sigh of contentment. My mind let go of the horrible sights of the day.

-.-

Waking up was painful, my body was sore as hell. I vaguely smelled the scent of Chinese food, and I smiled a huge, shit eating grin. I got out of bed to see a note atop of two take out boxes of Chinese food.

Rose,

Hi. I'm so, so, so, so, so proud of you. You are an amazing strigoi slayer. Yeah, you get that badass title now. ;) Love you, babe. Mwah. xxx

-Lissa

I smiled at the note and even laughed a little. I had forgotten that I asked Christian to invite her over last night. I realized that there was a curfew and Lissa must've gotten caught trying to sneak over. Plus, the food was still warm so I was guessing that she had only dropped this off recently.

I opened the top box to smell the amazing aroma of orange chicken, some egg rolls, and rice. I looked down at the food in wonder. "Yes!" I fist pumped.

My phone buzzed, and I turned around to look at it. It was a text message... from Dimitri?

You up?

I smiled at the fact that he had only written two words and they made me feel great. I quickly text him back, telling him that I was up. I started pigging out on my orange chicken. I set it down to go into the other room to the mini fridge that Lissa had brought in the other day. I pulled out a water bottle when suddenly a knock came from the door.

I turned around and ran to it as quick as possible. It was none other than Dimitri. I sent him a suggestive smile, as he returned it with a breathtaking one.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, concern suddenly lacing in his words.

"Better now that you're here," I said with a little laugh as I grabbed the front of his shirt and drew him into my room. Dimitri closed the door behind him, and to my utter surprise, he locked it. I sent him a questioning look, and he just returned it with a laugh.

"I don't want anyone interrupting us," he said with a little smirk. I smiled and sat down on my bed. Dimitri pulled his leather jacket off and dropped it on the ground. He walked up to my bed, looking directly in my eyes he pushed me over so that he was on top. He attacked my lips with his own, and I wasn't one to complain. A thrill shot through me with anticipation and desire.

Dimitri's and my clothing quickly disappeared in the frenzy of passion. Then, Dimitri reminded me what sheer bliss felt like.

TBC

Kinda disappointed with the accumulative amount of reviews recently. Ten reviews gives me a dejected feeling... and it makes me think that you guys either don't read this anymore or that you just don't want to review and share how you feel about what I'm writing. Just think about it; and I want to give a big thanks to those of you who are reading and reviewing every chapter.

Ben Barnes birthday tomorrow? Anyone doing anything drastic? x)

Dpower: What you added was lovely. Thank you so much.

To those of you who are worried about Lissa... something will happen... *evil face*