Thanks again for the wonderful reviews. You're too kind, but I love it.
I don't own Vampire Academy.
Rose POV
"Rose, this is Abe Mazur, your father." my mother tells me. This has got to be a joke. I look at her face intensely to see if she's trying to deceive me. She has that damn emotionless guardian mask on, so I can't really tell. I look over to this Abe guy who's smiling at me, still holding my hand. After over twenty years of being absent in my life, he picks tonight of all nights to show up. What a coincidence. Yeah, I'm not stupid. I see what she's doing and it's not going to work. I look between the both of them and start laughing. I can't help it, but their little trick isn't going to work.
"Rose, why are you laughing? It's rude." mom chastizes. Abe just looks confused.
"Mom, do you really think I'm going to fall for this? Did this mob guy owe you a favor? He agrees to be my dad and is going to threaten us not to get married. It's not going to work. Come on Adrian." I say to them as I grab Adrian's hand and try to pull him away. I can't believe she went through all this just to keep us apart, or at least from getting married. Someone grabs my shoulder, and it's not Adrian. I spin around and glare at the idiot that dares to touch me. It's Abe. "If you want to keep that hand, old man, I suggest you take it off me." I growl. At least he's smart and removes it. When I look at his face, I see he has a matching scowl.
"Rosemarie, you need to calm down and listen." he snaps at me. Oh no he didn't. I'm about to tear into him when Adrian leans down to my ear, his breath tickling my skin.
"Rose, I hate to admit it, but I think he might be your father. Just look at him. You have his eyes and hair." I take a minute and really look Abe over. Well, shit! He does look like me. That doesn't mean I'm going to throw my arms around him and call him daddy.
"Alright, I'm listening." I say as calmly as I can. I feel Adrian's arm go around my waist, holding me tight for support.
"First off, I am your father. I've been following your life from afar all these years. I'm very proud of the person you've become. I didn't make myself known before, because your mother didn't think my lifestyle was... kid friendly." he pauses. My eyebrows raise on their own as I wonder what he means by his last statement. "Let's just say that I tend to get what I want for myself or others through many different methods, intimidation being one of them." I let that sink in and I hear Adrian swallow beside me. He must be taking all this in too.
"If you think you're going to intimidate us into not getting married, you just met your match." I tell him looking him right in the eye not letting him see that he does scare me a bit. Adrian straightens up next to me, creating a united front. I just love that he knows exactly what I need to support me. Abe looks at us and starts to laugh. What the hell is so funny? You would think that if he has been following me like he says, he would know not to piss me off.
"Don't worry Rose. I have no intention of trying to keep you two apart. I know a lost cause when I see it." he says with a smile. Finally, a parent who understands. He might not be so bad after all. His smile dissappears though as he turns to Adrian. "But, I do want to impress that if you hurt my daughter in any way, I won't hesitate to deal with you myself." Wow, this guy is super scary. Now I see where I get the death glare from.
"You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Mazur. Keeping Rose happy and cared for is my life's mission. I'm not going anywhere without her." Adrian tells him with so much conviction, I can't help but smile. I see Abe smile, too.
"Good. Just make sure you do that." Abe tells Adrian. This is so weird. I feel worry coming from Lissa through the bond. I gaze around until I see her across the room looking at our little scene. I give her a smile letting her know everything's okay, and I feel her calm down a little. I should probably go talk to her.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Abe. Now that I know who you are, we'll have to talk more later." I say as lead Adrian away.
"Of course Rose. Until next time." Abe tells me. God, I need to sit down. We make it to where Lissa and Christian are standing. We tell them about Abe and they look just as stunned as I feel. There's an announcement that the Queen is on her way and we should find our seats. Thankfully, Adrian and I are at the same table as our friends up at the front. On our way Adrian grabs a couple champaigne glasses from a passing waiter and hands me one, which I quickly gulp down. This night is proving more stressful than I imagined.
"Slow down, babe. The night is still young." Adrian whispers. My stomach is still in knots, so I take his hand and lean my head on his shoulder. He responds my putting his arm around me, instantly calming me down. "You know, Abe being your father explains a lot about you, little Zmey." Adrian teases. I turn to face him and give him a glare, which only seems to strengthen his arguement as he laughs quietly next to me. "I think facing you, Janine and Abe together would have the devil pissing himself." he laughs harder. The image puts a smile on my face too. "I don't think we have to worry too much about people opposing our getting married with Abe on our side." Now that I think about it, if people are as intimidated by Abe as it seems, having him for a father is starting to pay off.
Everyone rises to their feet as the Queen is announced and walks in looking very elegant and regal. She sits down in the thrown at the front of the room. We all follow suit and sit back down. The room is silent as we wait for her to give her speech about the past year. I let my attention wane a bit as I think about how my life has changed this past year. Let's see, I reconnected with an old flame who is now a very good friend, I made some enimies, I almost died a couple times, I lost a dear friend, I finally killed Stephan, met my father and best of all, I let Adrian into my heart and I couldn't be happier. Adrian squeezes my hand, bringing me back to reality just in time to hear her speak of the raid and the loss of the four guardians that burned in the fire. I can't help the tears that fall as I think about Conner and how we used to flirt with each other and how I purposely stepped on his feet when we took that one and only dance lesson. I sure miss him. Adrian puts his fingers on my chin and turns my head to face him. He wipes away the tears from my cheeks and tenderly kisses my lips.
"It's okay." he whispers. I can't say anything with the lump in my throat, so I just nod my head. He again puts his protective arm around me and pulls me close as I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tatiana then speaks about the 'field test' Adrian put together to get me out of that prison Stephan held me in. I can hear the murmurs around the room and a few curses from the out of date royals who still don't believe Moroi should use offensive magic. Then she gets to the part I've been waiting for.
"Because of the fire, two of my personal guardians have been lost and will be sorely missed, Guardians Chenko and Johnson. To fill the positions their absence has created, two of the finest guardians we have among us have agreed to take their place. Will Guardian Rose Hathaway and Guardian Dimitri Belikov please come up front to take the Oath of the Royal Guard." She announces. I can't believe Dimitri is going to be the Queen's guardian too. I quickly glance at Adrian to see if her knew about this and the guilty look on his face tells me all I need to know. I can't believe he kept this from me. Adrian stands up like a gentleman and takes my hand as I stand. Dimitri was standing at the back on duty, so I wait a moment until he reaches me and we walk up to the Queen together. I curtsy and Dimitri bows to her highness as the Moroi Court Judge walks over to administer the oath. The Queen stands to our side as we face the judge and raise our right hands.
"I, Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway, solemly promise to protect and defend our Royal Highness to the best of my ability, gladly sacrificing my very life to ensure the safety of my Queen." Dimitri repeats the oath as Tatiana smiles down on us. Applause breaks out as we walk back to where we were. I look over to see Abe grinning proudly and my mom even looks proud of me. It doesn't even compare to Adrian, though. He's out of his seat clapping and hollaring like a maniac. I walk up to him and pulls me in and gives me a big kiss, right in front of everyone. Well I bet you can guess the reaction that caused. With all the simultaneous gasps, you'd think a vacuum was created in the room. The Queen clears her throat and the noise dies down as I take my seat next to Adrian.
"That reminds me, congratulations are in order to my nephew, Adrian Ivashkov, and Guardian Hathaway on their recent engagement. I wish you two nothing but happiness." What better way to shut people up than to have the Queen herself give us her blessings. The music starts up and couples make their way out to the dance floor and begin to sway to the music while holding on to each other. Adrian takes my hand and leads me out to the center of the floor. The hand on the small of my back pulls me close against his body while he takes my hand in his other. I look into his beautiful green eyes as he sings along with the song as we dance. This night is turning out a lot better than I thought it was. At least the end is. As the next song starts, we're interupted as someone taps Adrians shoulder.
"May I cut in?" I look up to see Abe smiling down at me. I give Adrian a nod lettig him know I'd like to dance with him. "Rose, I knew you were an exceptional young woman, but...I'm just so proud of you." I hear his voice catch a little. I'm still not sure how to take this all in. He's at an advantage since he's known of my existance and has kept tabs on me throughout my life, where I just found him not an hour ago.
"Well, thanks Abe. How long are you planning on staying here at Court?"
"That depends on you, actually. I would love to stay for a few weeks to spend some time with you so we could get to know one another." he says with a hopefull look in his eye. How can I say no to that face?
"That would be really nice. As long as you don't mind Adrian tagging along. We both have busy schedules and usually spend any free time we have together." I tell him.
"That's fine. I'd like to get to know him too, since he's going to be my son in law soon." he winks at me. We continue to dance together for a couple more songs. I don't think anyone is brave enough to interupt Abe Mazur, except Adrian who just tapped Abe's shoulder.
"You've monopolized her long enough, Mr Mazur. I'd like to have my fiance back if you don't mind." Adrian says with a smirk as her looks at me. Abe graciously hands me over to Adrian who takes my hand and twirls me around and then dips me like he's Fred Astair and I'm Ginger. He lingers over me, his lips just out of my reach. "Finally, I have you back." he whispers and then gently brushes his lips to mine. He pulls me back up and I get a bit of a head rush which makes me giggle. At the end of the song, I excuse myself because I need to visit the ladies room, bad.
As I'm walking, a young Moroi woman passes by and stops me. "Guardian Hathaway, congratulations on the promotion and landing Adrian Ivashkov. Quite the catch, both of them." I'm not sure how to respond so I just smile and say thank you. "Oh, that bathroom is full with a line. Use the one down the hall and to the left. It's empty." she says and then walks off. Cool. I'm not really sure how long I can go before I explode. I quickly make my way down the hall and find the bathroom. After I leave the stall and walk to the sink to wash my hands, I look in the mirror to check my make up. Nothing too bad. I grab a towel to touch up around my eyes that is a little smudged from crying. Much better. The front door swings open and I see who enters reflecting in the mirror. Emily. Just seeing her causes my muscles to tense up, ready to fight. Man, I can't stand that woman. I don't turn to face her, but make eye contact with her through the mirror.
"Rose, you're sure the center of attention tonight, aren't you?" she says bitterly. Before I even have a chance to reply, my head feels like it's about to implode. Oh my freakin' god, this hurts so bad. I scream out as I grab my head and fall to my knees. I manage to turn to my head to see if Emily will help me, but the contorted look on her face tells me she isn't going to come to my aid any time soon. In fact, it looks like she's the source of my extreme pain, being an air user and all. I grab the sink to try to stand up, but black spots are dancing across my vision and I know I'm going to black out soon. I need to break her concentration so she'll let up. On the counter is little vase with some daisies in it. I grab the vase and throw it at her with all the strength I can muster. It seems to do the trick because the pressure has disappeared. I see her trying to use her power again so I jump at her and knock her across the room. She falls to the floor, but tries to get up again. I don't think so. I quickly walk toward her to subdue her when the bathroom door slams open. I look back expecting to see old Royal woman needing to use the facilities, but that's not what I get.
Charging through the door is Lord Conta and a few other Moroi men I don't know. It looks like I have my very own lynch mob. The four men and Emily all circle around me. "Guardian Hathaway, you sure have a way with fucking everything up." Lord Conta yells. "You think that just because you convinced a Royal to marry you that you're one of us? You're nothing but a bloodwhore and that's all you'll ever be. Just because you're one of the Queen's guardians doesn't mean shit. Dhampirs are bred to serve Moroi, and I think you need a little reminder of that." That doesn't sound good. I know I took an oath to do no harm to Moroi, but screw that. If they think I'm going to stand idly by while they try to touch me, they're sadly mistaken. My heart rate is picking up, readying me for a fight. I get into my defensive stance as I try to keep them all in my sight.
Suddenly, all the air around me seems to disappear. I figure it's probably Emily and I kick out and knock her on her ass, allowing me to breath again. This time, I punch her in the face, rendering her unconscious. One down, four to go. I see fear in one of their eyes as he realizes that I'm going to use force to defend myself. I go after him next. I grab his arm and turn him around and pin him to the wall while I have his arm against his back. He screams out as the bone is getting close to breaking. "Did you really think you assholes could take on a fully trained guardian?" I ask him as I apply more and more pressure to his arm until I hear a snap and he screams even louder. I let him fall to the floor since I doubt he'll give me anymore trouble. Two down, three to go. "Who's next?" I ask as I carefully watch the others.
I notice that while I was dealing with numb nuts with the broken arm, one of the others turned on a faucet. Great, a water user. I look around to see if I can see any water balls floating around, while keeping my attackers in sight. I don't see anything yet, but I don't want to be surprised. They must have used the running water as a distraction, because while I'm looking around, a wall of fire surrounds me. Oh shit! I can hear them laughing as I try to stand as straight and still as I possibly can. "You know Rose, you wouldn't be in this predicament if you just would've shut you mouth and come to me when I told you. It would've been a pleasant experience for the both of us. But now, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson." The fire is getting so hot, all the make up I had on has surely melted down my face with all the sweat I'm producing. Fear is rising inside me as I'm at the point I'll do whatever he wants just to get out of this inferno. "When we remove the fire, you are going to take that dress off. Whether you take it off yourself or we burn it off is up to you." Right now I wish my bond with Lissa went the other way so I could call to her for help. Wait. My bond with Adrian. He can feel me. I wonder if I can send him a message. I close my eyes tight and try to send out an SOS to him. I just hope he gets the message and comes looking for me.
The ring of fire slowly dims and goes out. I take a deep breath and fill my lungs with nice cool air. Lord Conta and his buddies are looking at me with smirks on their faces because they think they've won. Just the battle, though. I still plan on winning the war. "Dress off now." Conta demands. I reach behind me and start to slowly pull down the zipper, taking as much time as I can. I eventually get the dress pushed down to my feet and I step out of it and pick it up. I hold it in front of me, hiding my body. Lord Conta grabs the dress and pulls it out of my grip.
"Will you be careful with that? It's a one of a kind Versace." I yell at him. I love that dress. I watch helplessly as he just throws it on the floor as if it were a rag. Now I'm standing in front of them in nothing but my strapless bra, thong and heals. Please, Adrian, get your butt here now. All three of the Moroi walk closer to me, carefully. They stand so that I'm the center of their sick little triangle. The one on my right moves closer and makes the mistake of putting his filthy hand on my ass. My elbow meets his nose so hard and quick that now his hand is busy trying to keep the blood gushing from his nose from getting on his expensive tux. Hope it's not a rental. But before I can land another punch to his bloody face, I feel my arm burn and look to see flames licking up my body. I scream out as I try to pat the fire out with my hands.
"You fucking bitch! We're going to burn you so bad that Ivashkov idiot won't want to have anything to do with you." he rages. "Now fall to your knees and beg me to stop." I do as he asks when the most wonderful sound hits my ears. The door slams open and Adrian cries out my name. I turn to see him running to me when I'm hit with a wave a cold water, putting out the fire. That feels so good. I see Mia standing by the door, directing the water from the sink over to me. Adrian drops to his knees and grabs me and pulls me to his chest. He is breathing so heavily and murmuring something that I can't make out. He pulls me away and looks over my body and starts cursing when he sees the burns along my leg and arm. He places his hands on my body and heals away the burns. As he is finishing, I hear more footsteps coming up to the door. It's Dimitri and my mom followed by Abe. Adrian takes off his jacket and drapes it over me. Having my dad see me in this state of dress is embarrassing.
Dimitri looks around the room and his eyes stop at Lord Conta. The look in his eyes has me afraid his going to kill him. My mom must notice this too because she takes hold of Dimitri's arm and pulls him back. "You can't hurt him Dimitri." she says. Adrian helps me stand up and hands me over to Mia while he walks over to Conta.
"No Dimitri, you can't hurt him. But I can." he says as he pulls him arm back and thrusts his fist out and lands it square on his jaw. He gets in a couple more good hits before Dimitri pulls him back when Lord Conta starts to fall to the floor. I can see Adrian's chest heaving as the adrenaline is rushing through his veins. I run over and wrap my arms around him. That's my man. More guardians come running in and take them all into custody.
"You are all being charged with treason. An assult on one of the Queen's guardians is like an assult on the Queen herself. I hope you have a good lawyer." One of the guardians tells them as they lead them out of the ladies bathroom to a holding cell. My mom walks up to Adrian and me and gives us both a big hug. Saying I'm a bit confused is putting it mildly, but what really scares me is when she takes Adrian's face in her hands and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"You really do care about her don't you?" she asks him. Too stunned to speak, Adrian nods his head. "Then I would be proud to have you as a son in law." she smiles briefly before putting her mask back on and walking away. Mia hands me my dress and pushes the the guys out. I put it back on so I don't have to walk out half naked.
"Thanks Mia." I say as I give her a big hug. She pulls away and drags me over to a sink.
"Honey, you look like a raccoon in drag. Let's wash that make up off. It's not like you need it anyway." she smiles while handing me a towel. Together we walk out with my clean face to meet up with all our friends. Lissa practically tackles me when I enter the hallway.
"Oh, Rose. Are you alright?" she asks with tears in her eyes.
"Liss, I'm fine. I just want Adrian to take me home now." My mom leads us to a back door to leave by so I don't have to go through the crowd. In fact, she walks us all the way to my apartment.
"Rose, I'm glad you're okay. I'd like to come over tomorrow and check on you, if that's alright with you." she asks.
"Yeah, mom. That'd be great." she nods and walks back the way we came. I open the door and head straight to my room and to the shower. I'm still sweaty from the heat of the fire and just want to wash the whole incident off me. I come out wrapped in a towel and see Adrian lying in my bed in his boxers, waiting for me. I put on a big tee shirt and slide in next to him. He doesn't say a word, but embraces me as I rest my head on his chest. I finally drop all my walls and let all the emotions I've been keeping in check come flooding out as I cry and sob in his arms. He slowly rocks me back and forth as he kisses my forehead and whispers soothing words to me as I let it all out. He always knows just what I need.
Finally, Lord Conta and Emily will get their comeuppence. I hope you liked this chapter. The story is getting close to the end, and I want to give Rose and Adrian a great wedding. Send me some ideas you might have. I don't want to do traditional because I already did a wedding like that for Rose and Dimitri in The Chosen One. Rose and Adrian need something extra special for all they've gone through. Review and let me know what you thought of the chapter and any wedding ideas you have. Thanks for reading.