A big shout out to MaxieMoose for helping me with come up with the Emily Conta character. Help me show her some love by reading and reviewing her story Kismet. It's really good.
I don't own Vampire Academy, obviously.
Rose POV
"I'm sorry too. We could've been great together, but..." he doesn't finish but just looks at me for another moment before walking out the door. I shut the door behind him and immediately fall to my knees, crying. Why does love have to be so hard? I just hope that I can find Stephan and kill him soon so I can finally admit to Adrian what he apparently already knows. I just hope he can forgive me for pushing him away all this time. I hate hurting him like this, especiallly after that kiss. That kiss was better than I ever dreamed. The way his lips fit perfectly with mine and how he was so gently and loving, I can still feel the burn of his touch linger on my skin. I know I shouldn't have kissed him back, but how could I not. I'm just glad I was able to regain my control and stop it before it got too far out of hand. I pull myself up off the ground and drag myself to my bedroom. I'm so exhausted and I only have a few hours to sleep before starting another hard day. All this training and extra shifts is killing me. At least Adrian healed my ribs so it's better than it would have been. I better take my shower now while I'm still awake because I know I won't be able to get myself out of bed early enough in the morning. I crank the water up nice and hot and feel the tension melt away, until I think about Adrian and how he looked at me right before he walked away. Again, I fall to my knees and let all the emotions come rushing out as I sob to myself in the shower. When all the tears are done flowing and the hot water has run cold, I get myself out and dry off. I plop into my bed and go right to sleep.
The next morning I drag myself out of bed and get dressed into my uniform. I'm covering the front gate today with Guardian Conner. At least I'll have good company. I walk over to my post, soaking in the last of the sun's rays as it sets low in the sky. God, I miss the sun. I need to do more grave shifts. I get to the little guard shack by the front gates and walk in, noticing that Guardian Conner isn't here yet. I relieve the guardians that are getting off their shift and go straight to the coffee maker to pour a cup of wake up juice. I normally don't drink the stuff, but I definitely need a pick me up this morning. As I take my first sip, Conner comes strolling in with a platefull of donuts. My eyes widen and I think I actually start drooling looking at that wonderful sight. He starts laughing when he sees my face staring at the sugary bounty he's holding. "I noticed how hard you're working the last few days, so I thought I'd bring you a little treat." He puts the plate down by the coffee maker and takes his jacket off, getting comfortable. I grab a big chocolate one and take a big bite and let the ooey goodness just melt in my mouth. I so deserve this.
"How did you know donuts are my favorite?" I ask as I take another huge bite. He chuckles and shakes his head.
"Are you kidding? Back at St Vlads, the kitchen staff knew to hide a tray in case you were late and didn't get your fix. This was at the request of all your teachers." I didn't realize how addicted I was to sugar in the morning. Oh well, everyone's gotta have some vice.
"Well, thanks. That was very thoughtful of you." I give him a smile. I finish my last bite and look to see who is planned to come in today. I notice on the list of arrivals is Emily Conta, the lady Tatianna wants Adrian to show around. I hope she's an ugly cow that Adrian wants nothing to do with. Hey, just because I can't be with him, doesn't mean I want anyone else to. Especially not now that there's a slim chance that we can be together. I figure that if I have any chance of taking Stephan down, I'm going to need help. I need to talk to Tatianna about getting some more guardians trained like me.
The morning goes by pretty slowly. Conner and I play dirty twenty questions to pass the time. It didn't start out being dirty, it just turned out that way. How immature are we? We stop our little game when a care pulls up to our gate, waiting to be checked in. I walk over to the driver to see who wants admittance.
"Lord Conta and his daughter Emily Conta along with their guardians are here for business." the driver tells me. I look over my list and don't see Lord Conta's name on the list for living quarters.
"There seems to be some sort of mix up. I have Emily down to recieve an apartment, but not her father. Is he just visiting?" I ask. Just as the driver was about to answer, the back door opens up and a tall, middle aged Moroi steps out and walks over to me. He is dressed in a way that screams 'look at me, I've got lots of money and I like to flaunt it'. I can see him looking me over which makes my skin crawl.
"I'm only here to get my daughter settled in, Guardian..." he says waiting for me to introduce myself.
"Hathaway. Guardian Hathaway." I tell him straightfaced. I know his type and I don't want to do or say anything he might misconstrue for flirting. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to think he needs an invitation to get handsy, as he palces his hand on the small of my back, right above my ass.
"Guardian Hathaway, I hope there isn't a problem. I'm sure you can find some place for me to sleep tonight." he says as his hand slides down and he grabs my ass. I quickly move out of his reach and excuse myself back to the shack before he ends up a bloody heap on the ground. I shove the clipboard with the room assignments at Conner and start pacing the floor, practicing my deep breathing to calm myself down.
"Can you find Lord 'Conta Keep My Hands To Myself' a room please. If I have to face him again, I won't be able to keep my fists to myself." I fume. I so hate these royal assholes who think every pretty Dhampir is a bloodwhore. I just hope his daughter isn't a reflection of her father, or she's going to be all over my Adrian. Conner walks out and handles the arrangements for Lord Conta, returning a little while later handing me a piece of paper. I look at it and it's a business card with a handwritten messagge on the back. 'Guardian Hathaway, looking for sexy guardian, call if interested. great benefits.' followed be his cell number. Does he seriously think that's an attractive offer? What a sleaze ball.
Finally, my shift is over. I don't have another until Monday morning, but I still have to train. Normally I love to train, and I still do but right now, sleep is what I crave most. After I change, I head to the gym to start abusing my body all over again. At least I'm seeing some improvement in my form and strength. About halfway through, Roger, my Krav Maga trainer, has something new he wants to try. Five guardians, including Dimitri and Conner, come over to the mat and get in attack mode. I look over to Roger and give him my 'are you kidding me?' look. "You need to practice fighting multiple assailants at the same time." he tells me. Is he trying to kill me? Well, anything that gets me ready to face Stephan is worth the pain and suffering I know I'm about to receive.
I walk to the middle of the mat and get ready to be attacked. They all come at me at once instead of one at a time. I guess that's logical since Strigoi won't be so accommadating as to wait their turn. It doesn't take long before I'm pinned to the floor by Dimitri. He seems to be enjoying this a little too much. As I look at the guardians surrounding me now, I notice that they each have an evil grin on their faces, waiting to take revenge on me for kicking their asses in previous matches. Paybacks a bitch. By the end of the day, I was able to 'kill' three of the five attackers before I was taken down. Not bad if I say so myself. I'm also pleased that I'm not the only one walking away badly bruised and sore. "You did very well Rose. I'm proud of you." Dimitri tells me as we are walking toward the locker rooms to clean up. I still can't help getting a thrill out of making him happy with my performance.
"Thanks comrade. You did pretty well yourself, getting me good with that last kick you gave me. I'm gonna have a huge bruise on my hip in the morning." I say rubbing the sore spot.
"Are you and Adrian coming over tonight? Tasha is very excited. She loves to entertain." he says. I cringe at the thought of seeing Adrian after what happened last night.
"I'll be there and I told Adrian about it, but I don't think he'll show." I tell him, getting a confused look from him in return. "It's a long, complicated story I don't want to go into right now." I tell him and he just nods in understanding. I wave to him as I walk into the ladies locker room to clean up. As I walk back to my room to get ready for Tasha's dinner, I can already feel my muscles starting to hurt. When I get to my bathroom, I look in the mirror and I gasp at the sight. It looks like I've been in a rumble with a pack of Strigoi, which is what kinda happened. My bottom lip is cut and I have a huge bruise on my right cheek, which might be fractured by the pain I feel when I touch it. I wonder if Adrian would take pity on me and heal me so I don't scare everybody. But I doubt he wants to see me right now. I do what I can to cover it up with make up, but it doesn't really help. I bandage up my knuckles, again and put on some nice blue slacks and ivory long sleeved blouse to cover up my many cuts and bruises. Oh well, no one ever said being a guardian was glamorous work.
I walk over to Tasha and Dimitri's apartment and take a deep breath before knocking on the door. Tasha opens the door and smothers me in a huge embrace. I pat her on the back and pull away and give her a smile. "I'm glad you could make it Rose. Where's Adrian?" she asks puzzled as she looks behind me thinking he's with me.
"I don't know. We had a bit of a disagreement last night so I don't know if he's coming or not." I tell her honestly without getting too personal. She pulls me in and leads me to the living room where Lissa, Christian and Eddie are sitting. Lissa jumps up and practically knocks me down when she tackles me with a hug.
"Oh Rose, I missed you so much. I have so much to tell you. You're never gonna believe who we met." she rambles on, not letting me get a word in edgewise. She pulls away and looks at my face and frowns. "Oh my god Rose, you look horrible." The smile that was on my face fell at her bluntness.
"Gee thanks Liss. We can't all look like super models." I say dryly. She looks embarrassed by what she said and tries to correct it.
"I'm sorry Rose, I didn't mean it like that. Did you run into Strigoi again guarding Adrian?" It's a well known fact that everytime Adrian has left the wards, we've been attacked.
"No, just training. If you want to know who gave me the split lip, go see Dimitri." I say with a little smile. She suddenly looks concerned and leans in close so no one can hear.
"Are you okay? I know how it was when he left you. Seeing him again with her, especially pregnant, must be hard."
"I'm okay. We're actually getting along just fine. Don't worry about it." I pat her on the back and she walks back over to sit next to Christian. He just waves at me from his seat so I walk over and smack him on the back of the head. "Nice to see you too, Pyro." I greet him. He glares at me but goes back to watching tv. Eddie gets up and gives me a hug. "Hey Eddie. I missed sparring with you. I had to settle with Dimitri and Guardian Conner. It'll be nice to have some proper competition again." I joke knowing Dimitri was listening. Eddie and I laugh as we see Dimitri shaking his head and rolling his eyes at us. It's good having my friends around again. Having Adrian here would make it complete.
Someone knocks on the door and my heart races, hoping Adrian decided to come after all. I can't see who it is, but Tasha gives them a hug and moves aside so they can enter. It's Adrian. I smile thinking that maybe he isn't as mad at me as I thought and we can definitely work through this. That is until I see him holding hands walking in with her. Emily Conta.
She has the typical Moroi build, tall and slim, with red wavy hair and green eyes. She's dressed in expensive clothes and has a very large purse on her arm that seems to be moving. They walk in and Adrian greets everyone but only nods to me. He drops her hand and introduces her to everyone. She smiles at everyone, but you can tell it's totally fake, like she would rather be anywhere than here. I have no idea why he brought her here anyway. He brings her over to me and introduces me.
"Emily, this is my guardian, Rose Hathaway." Oh, I'm just his guardian now? I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. She smiles bightly at that, maybe she's not so bad. Nope. I spoke to soon. She shoves her very large purse in my face.
"Spartacus needs to tinkle." She tells me. I give her my 'are you crazy?' look and look from her to the bag wondering what the hell she's talking about. Then, a head pops out of the top of the bag and scares the hell out of me. I think it's supposed to be a dog, but that's pushing it. It has white hair only on its tail and the top of its head and has a diamond dog collar on its scrawny neck. As soon as it sees me, it starts growling and barking. It's not my fault, animals just don't like Dhampirs. I point to the creature and address her.
"Is this Spartacus?" She rolls her eyes at me and pushes the bag closer to me. I push it back to her. "I don't so tinkle detail. It's your dog, you walk it." I tell her. Who the hell does she think she is?
"Rose, Emily is new here. Could you do us this favor and walk the dog please?" Adrian asks me. I glare at him and glares right back. I suddenly need to get out of their before I punch someone, and that someone might be Adrian. I snatch the leash out of Emily's hand and drag the dog to the door.
"Come on pooch. Let's see if we can find a whole in the fence with your name on it." I say as I leave. I am so going to make Adrian pay for this. I walk to the park not too far from the apartment and tie the leash to a bench. I go lay down on the grass, far away from the mangy mut and stare up at the stars. I'm out here for another five minutes when I hear footsteps coming my way. I look up and see Eddie running toward me.
"Tasha said dinner's ready. You ready to go back in there?" he asks while laying down next to me. It seems he's not too eager to go back in either.
"Something happen while I was gone?" I ask.
"Yeah, she laughed. It's the most annoying sound I ever heard in my life. Think Janice from Friends and you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about." he winces at the memory. I laugh at his reaction. He looks over to me with concern on his face. He takes my hand in his and gives it a squeeze. "Are you alright? I saw your face when Adrian walked in with her." God, can everyone read me so easily?
"I don't know. Just last night he's telling me how I'm the only woman for him and he loves me and today he's holding hands with a woman he just met. I know I'm the one that won't let us be together, it just hurts to see him move on so quickly." I confess. Eddie has always been like a big brother to me and unloading to him just feels so natural. He doesn't say anything after that, but just lays there with me. Finally, he sits up and pulls me up with him.
"We better get back before Lissa gets worried. You know how she gets." I nod and we go to get the dog and head back. We walk back in, dragging the dog behind us, to see everyone seated at the dining table. The only two places left to sit are by Christian and Adrian. Eddie takes the seat by
Christian, leaving me to sit by him. Emily decides to make conversation and addresses Tasha.
"So do you normally eat with your guardians? Wouldn't they be more comfortable eating with their own kind?" she asks like we're not even there. Everyone looks shocked at her question.
"Rose, Eddie and Dimitri aren't just our guardians, they're are family." Lissa tells her with an edge to her voice. Emily just gives her a fake smile in response to Lissa, but the girls doesn't know when to shut up.
"Well I can see why Guardian Hathaway is your guardian Adrian, and by the looks of her face, it isn't for her fighting skills." she chuckles as if she just made a joke. Oh no she didn't! Everyone went silent and looked over in my direction to see my reaction, which was to beat the crap out of her and show her my fighting skills. Unfortunately, Dimitri, who is sitting at the end of the table next to me, grabs my arm and holds me down and whispers in my ear.
"She's not worth it Roza. Calm down." I glare at her and when Adrian turns his head to look at me, I turn to give him the same look. After all, he brought her here. Apparently this woman doesn't like silence because she opens her mouth again.
"So Tasha, when do I get to meet your husband?" I almost want to laugh at her question. She just keeps saying the wrong thing. Tasha looks a little flustered, bordering on pissed.
"Well, Dimitri and I aren't married yet, but we are expecting the baby around Christmas time." she says with a nervous smile, waiting for Emily's reaction. Emily looks over to Dimitri and then back to Tasha with a confused look on her face.
"You mean you got pregnant by you guardian?" she asks shocked and disgusted by the very idea. I can see Dimitri's hands clench into fists. I put my hand on his trying to calm him down. I look over to Tasha and see her getting angrier by the second. But Emily, bless her heart, doesn't stop there. "Well, I guess with the reputation of your family and the scar on your face, you had to lower your standards if you wanted a family. Too bad the baby will only be a Dhampir." She says sympathetically as if she's trying to make Tasha feel better about her choice. I swear I think I see sparks flickering from Tasha's and Christians hands. This girl is unreal. I can't help but start laughing hysterically. Everyone looks at me puzzled like I just lost my mind, which I probably have. Adrian, finally sensing the tension in the room, gets up and takes Emily with him to the living room.
"Why are you laughing Rose?" Lissa asks me. I finally calm down enough to answer her. I take a deep breath and wipe the tears from my eyes.
"That girl has raw talent. You can't teach that." I say pointing in the direction they left in. "She insulted every single person here, except Adrian in one breath. You don't see that everyday." I start laughing again. Maybe the fact that I haven't slept much in the last few days is making me a little loopy. I just chuckle to myself while I finish eating the chicken parmesen in front of me. Now that she's gone, everyone relaxes a little and starts eating again.
A few minutes later, Adrian comes back in, alone. "I appologize for Emily. I'm going to escort her to her apartment now." he tells Tasha. Then he looks over to me. "Rose I know tomorrow is your day off, but Emily needs to get something at the mall so I told her I would take her. Would you like to come or should I get Guardian Taylor to come in your place?" I don't know why he's asking because he knows I will always go whenever he leaves the wards.
"You know I'll go. What time?" I ask with a sigh knowing I won't get much sleep again tonight since she'll probably want to leave early.
"Meet us at the car by six." he tells me. He gives Tasha and Lissa kisses on the cheek and just waves to the rest of us. The remaining of us don't say anything but eat our dinner until Christian breaks the silence.
"Well, Rose, what do you think of Emily?" he asks knowing I won't have anything nice to say. He's right.
"Oh, I hate her, and her little dog too." I say with a smile. Everyone laughs and raise their glass of wine in the air in agreement. I sure hope Adrian isn't seriously thinking about becoming friends with Emily, because I don't think I'll be able to control my temper much longer.
So, what do you think of Emily? Review and let me know what you think.