Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead!
Practice was both a welcome distraction and a relief. Ivan Zeklos had been in every one of Dimitri's classes that morning. There had been no warning, he had simply walked into first period Comparative Literature and took an empty seat near the front of the class. He did the same in Calculus, Advanced Biology, and Moroi Political Science. None of the professors seemed surprised, but the students – Moroi and dhampir alike – buzzed with interest. There were no opportunities to talk during class, but between classes Zeklos introduced himself, learned the names of his new classmates, and fielded questions like an experienced politician.
Yes, he was a senior.
Yes, he was aware that there were only three and a half months before graduation.
Yes, he was aware he had already missed the first two weeks of classes after winter break.
No, he had not been assigned a room or roommate yet.
No, he was not familiar at all with the area.
Yes, he had just transferred from the St. Petersburg Academy, and yes, he was enjoying the unseasonably warm weather here in Siberia.
And no, since no one had asked, he had not burned down the gymnasium at the St. Petersburg Academy, but he would very much appreciate help starting that rumor.
By lunchtime, Zeklos had met and charmed a good portion of the student body. Dimitri had been – and continued to be - rattled. He had recognized Zeklos immediately, there was simply no question. "Zeklos" was a common enough royal name, but the resemblance was too strong. He hoped he'd imagined it, but Zeklos seemed to recognize him, as well. He'd stared at Dimitri intently in the cafeteria, and had seemed about to approach when a group of royals flocked around him. Zeklos hadn't protested, and had handled the newest onslaught of Moroi with an easy charisma that had Dimitri gritting his teeth. Dimitri had tried to lose himself in the Old West, but Malina had interrupted even that brief escape.
By the time he arrived at practice, it was a relief to be able to hit something.
Luckily, today's class had been changed to freestyle sparring. The usual out-of-bounds still applied, but there were no restrictions on technique or force used. In fact, they were encouraged to not hold back. The other novices laughed, joked, and gossiped while they practiced, but Dimitri stayed quiet. His silence wasn't unusual. He wasn't shy; he simply preferred to stay focused. Today, though, he couldn't have said anything if he'd wanted to.
He won his first half-dozen matchups without breaking a sweat. His seventh, with his friend Sasha, ended the same.
"I'm done." Sasha was on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Dimitri extended a hand to help him up. "You're unstoppable today, my friend."
Dimitri simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
"Good technique," Guardian Nikitin said, stepping in. "But let's work on your accuracy. Your strength is an asset, but you need to make sure all that power is used, not wasted."
Dimitri worked with Guardian Nikitin until break, glad to lose himself in the martial arts drills. After break, Guardian Nikitin had the novices sit in a circle, dojo-style, and stood in the center.
"What is our primary function?" Guardian Ershova would have screamed the question, like a boot camp instructor. Guardian Nikitin's speech was clipped, intense, but he did not yell. He paced in the center of the circle, fixing his stare on the novices, encouraging them to answer.
"Kill Strigoi," Sasha volunteered, and most of the novices murmured and nodded in agreement.
"Exactly the answer I wanted, thank you Mister Kovalev. And exactly wrong. Care to guess again?"
Silence from the novices. Nikitin smiled, but continued to pace.
"Our primary function is to protect Moroi."
"Isn't that the same thing?" another novice asked.
"In some respects, yes, in others, a crucial and distinct difference. Remember, as long as you protect your Moroi, inaction - even retreat - is a viable option. We would all prefer to eliminate the Strigoi threat and have trained you accordingly. However, today the faculty wants to be sure you understand your role."
"What's so special about today?" Katya asked. Dimitri smiled for the first time since breakfast. Katya was sharp and missed little. She was also one of the top novices, and a friend.
"Why am I telling you this today? Strigoi are in the area." He paused, expecting the resulting clamor from the novices. He strode around in the inner perimeter of the circle, keeping them all seated and at attention despite the generally held desire to jump up and take action, any action. "Exactly," he said, and his confidence helped quiet the circle.
"How close are they and what do we know?" Dimitri asked, and Nikitin nodded in approval.
"We have been monitoring human news, internet reports, and police radio. When you know the patterns to look for – something you will all be learning very soon – sightings and attacks are easily identifiable. No Moroi have been targeted, no Moroi have been approached, and no guardians have been challenged. Campus is safe: nothing within a fifty mile radius of our wards. However, in the last two days, Strigoi activity has shown a marked increase. We – the faculty – have therefore decided to utilize this as a real world test and are rearranging your syllabi as we speak.
"You will report to Guardian Petrov at the monitoring station next period. Advance Bodyguard Techniques will be rescheduled. Please be prepared for extra work and extra classes. I, for one, am grateful to the Strigoi. This will make you all better guardians. Any questions?"
"So you're saying we're not hunting them down?" Sasha asked carefully.
"Exactly," Nikitin clapped his hands together and continued to pace, now fixing his stare on each novice in turn. "We are not an army. We guard. We protect. No matter how satisfying it would be to hunt these Strigoi and give them a final death, that is not our function. Please keep this in mind in the coming days. Any more questions?"
The novices grumbled quietly, but no one had questions that would elicit different answers. Nikitin dismissed them, and they cut across the starlit campus in pairs and small groups. They speculated on their new workload, if campus was truly safe, and what circumstances would allow them to be the army Nikitin insisted they were not.
I'm so excited for Spirit Bound tomorrow! I'm a little nervous, too! I'm wondering if Ivan - or anything about him or the circumstances of his death - will ever come up again in these last two books. I've been living with "my" idea of Ivan and Dimitri's history for a while now, and I've got it all worked out in my head in such detail that it's going to be weird to see if Richelle brings Ivan up again / what Richelle really has planned!