Vampire Academy – Book 1
Dimitri's Perspective
Hey this is my first book so please be understanding – Disclaimer!! These characters don't belong to me but to the wonderful Richelle Mead and no intended copyright infringement. Let me know what you think and I'll be sure to be working on it! Thanks! –Val
By the way thanks everyone for the reviews it really helps when you guys encourage and I don't mind critiques either it helps.
Chapter 3
After the meeting Rosemarie and Princess Vasilisa were sent directly to their counselors to get schedules and then to whatever class they were assigned for the period –no break time for them –on the other hand, I'd finally get a break from these two before committing myself to something else. All in all, I didn't think mentoring Rose would be so bad; she had been disrespectful, but she was so intent on protecting Vasilisa that I felt assured she would commit to the trainings.
As for me, it wasn't like I had some big social life that these trainings would interfere with –and honestly, less downtime would let me repress some of my thoughts about Lord Zeklos. I still felt terribly guilty, we had both gone to the Academy in Siberia, grown up together and had been close friends. He had actually requested me when we graduated, thinking that I could be able to protect him –but instead I failed him.
After the schedules Alberta and I escorted Rosemarie to the guardians' gym, none of us speaking. The other novices were in the middle of gym setting up when we entered, and just like before, all eyes were glued to Rosemarie. Truthfully, I was sure most boys' eyes were glued to her regularly. She had a very womanly body, curvy, thin and with a much larger than average upper chest, especially in a school full of Moroi girls who were usually extremely thin. Her face was exotic –tan, beautiful big brown eyes and long thick black hair. She looked more like some alluring desert princess than a student in high school.
I noticed Rosemarie then, she seemed to be gathering her courage as she looked around, probably searching for someone she was well acquainted with before her "vacation".
"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time," Rose called out to the crowd eyeing her. Mason was a red haired boy with freckles all over his face and becoming one of the best novices. Did she have to put herself out there like that?
He snapped out of his haze then and answered her with a lopsided smile, "This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."
"Oh yeah," she continued, "Huh, well I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then." Something strange happened when she said that –I noticed their interaction and realized that it bothered me. After deciding to be her mentor –I guess I started to feel a bit protective over her. Besides, she didn't need these sorts of futile distractions. She had a lot of catching up to you.
"It's always a good time to think about you naked," replied Eddie Castile, another good novice who didn't seem so great anymore to me.
The comment seemed to hit a nerve. Rosemarie was very beautiful, and it was understandable with the fact that she is a teenager that she is going to flirt, but I didn't really like the way the boys looked at her –like she was a piece of meat. It bothered more than it should have, and I really wanted her to respect herself. I cursed out loud in Russian then and walked off, shaking my head at her.
She looked at me for a moment and shrugged, deciding not to let it get to her and then joined her class. I went off to the back of the gym where I could easily watch them, although they couldn't see me. I also was curious to where she stood at this point with regards to her body. Had she trained while she was away? If she hadn't, practice would be hell.
I watched as the class engulfed her, hearing people question her as to the reason for leaving and catching up –she never did tell them. Finally, Guardian Steven came over and scowled at Mason for neglecting his duties. Still with a sloppy smile, eyes basically attached to Rosemarie, he barked out orders to everyone explaining the exercises.
He then proceeded to grab Rosemarie by the arm, telling her, "Come on, Hathaway. You can be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time." After that, I watched at Rosemarie was beat on, time after time. She was really out of shape. I felt a small pleasure in having Mason do the beating, maybe now she wouldn't be so interested in flirting with boys and actually take her responsibilities more seriously. The way she trained now would affect how she would handle Strigoi in the future, and more importantly whether she would protect her Moroi or get both of them killed.
After practice was over, he asked, "No practicing, huh?"
"Ow," she groaned. There was his answer.
He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up, holding her hand a little longer than I deemed necessary.
"I hate you," she told him, rubbing her thigh where she had taken a bad hit.
"You'd hate me more if I held back," he retorted.
"Yeah, that's true," she answered as they put their equipment back.
"You actually did okay," he told her, clearly trying to make her feel better. She really hadn't though –she'd be killed in an instant if it had been Strigoi.
"What? I had my ass handed to me," she answered.
"Well, of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That's something," he told her.
"Did I mention I hate you?" she asked jokingly.
He flashed her another smile and then it faded, telling her the harsh truth, "Don't take this the wrong way…I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there' no way you'll be able to take your trials in the spring."
They hadn't seen me standing in the corner, not realizing I could hear them.
"They're making me take extra practice sessions. I'll be ready," she assured him.
"Extra sessions with who?" he asked.
"That tall guy. Dimitri," she responded.
I had the pleasure of seeing his expression abruptly change; he stopped walking altogether and stared at her for a few seconds, "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"
"Yeah, so what?" she asked casually.
"So the man is a god." A god? Really. I didn't know I had that big of a reputation among novices.
"Exaggerate much?" she questioned, not buying it.
"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial usually, but when he fights…wow. If you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you," he told her.
Rose didn't seem too pleased with this comment and they left class. I left too, deciding to go to Guardian Stan Alto's class, I knew it would be her next class and I was curious about her. On the way Alberta came to talk to me.
"Hey Dimitri, I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but I'm pretty impressed with you for standing up for Princess Vasilisa and Ms. Hathaway."
"Oh that," I said, nonchalantly, "It was nothing."
"Yeah, that's what you say now, wait until you have to deal with her," she retorted, her voice teasing.
"Is she really that bad?" I asked.
"Honestly, no. She just seems to always find herself in these horrible situations. The girl has potential though. And if anyone can hone those skills, it's you."
"Thanks," I told her.
"Where you headed?" she asked.
"Guardian Alto's class, I wanted to observe Rosemarie," I replied.
"Guardian Alto," she said, "that should be interesting. Those two have never been able to see eye to eye. And with the way Stan is, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to humiliate her."
"Great, then she should be in an excellent mood when I get her," I said.
She laughed, "Don't worry; she won't bite –that hard." She became serious then, "I think this will actually help you too. It'll keep you busy." I knew what she meant about that, you'll spend less time tormenting yourself over Lord Zeklos.
"Yeah, I know. I'll see you later Alberta," I said as I walked out to Stan's class. I stood at the back of the class as everyone took their seats. Again, all the pairs of eyes jumped and stared at Rosemarie. Stan's eyes, however, did not look as friendly or curious.
"What's this?" he began, "No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us," he added, bitterly sarcastically
Rosemarie's face grew angry and her cheeks began to look a flaming red.
"Well come on, come on." He gestured to her to stand up, "Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."
Rose seemed to want to disappear into her seat, "You don't really mean—"
But he cut her off with a taunting smile, "I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class," meaning he wasn't taking no for answer.
I felt bad at this point. Even though she had taken Vasilisa away from the Academy and safety, I knew there had to be some logical explanation, something she wasn't telling us because while Rosemarie was no angel, she would do anything to protect Vasilisa. Besides, his taunting of her seemed immature, like he was just taking her weak moment to use to his advantage.
Rosemarie managed to go to the front of the class, attempting a bold look as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. A few of the other students gave her sympathetic looks. As she scanned the room, her eyes halted when they landed on mine. She saw me lingering in the back of the room. I put on a stone face –not wanting her to see my feelings.
"So, Hathaway," said Stan, "Enlighten us about your protective techniques."
Rosemarie answered, voice cracking a little, "my … techniques?"
"Of course," replied Stan with a smirk, "Because presumable you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took and underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."
I felt de ja vu over Kirova's lecture this morning.
"We never ran into Strigoi," Rosemarie answered, basically inviting Stan to humiliate her.
"Obviously, I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive," he replied dryly.
Rosemarie looked defeated, realizing his words and probably pondering today's beating from Mason. If she couldn't take out a novice, there was no way in hell she had a chance with Strigoi.
Stan started pacing as he spoke, "So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"
"Sometimes," Rose answered. Bad choice of words, I thought.
"Sometimes," Stan mimicked, trying to make it sound like a ridiculously stupid answer. "Well then," he continued, "I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."
"Er…no," Rose admitted.
"No?" asked Stan, "But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know because you weren't here."
Next time Rosemarie opened her mouth I could hear her voice cracking a lot, his words were hurting her as she realized she could have gotten Vasilisa killed, "I watched the area whenever we went out."
"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"
Through her silence I presumed she didn't know what those methods were.
"Ah." He continued triumphantly, "I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-Whenever-You-Remember-To Method."
"No!" Rose snapped, anger leaking out of her words, "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"
Stan then proceeded to lean right into Rosemarie's face and say, "Because you got lucky." He was being a jerk about the way he presented this, humiliating her in front of her peers, but I had to admit –he was absolutely right.
Rosemarie tried to defend herself, "Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there. It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer that you guys make it sound."
"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled now. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him –and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"
She was on the verge of tears now, searching around the room, again, she met my eyes, and this time, it caused some strange feelings to stir inside of me. Suddenly, I wasn't looking at a student; I was looking at a stunning and enticing angel. She was so, so beautiful. It'd been a very long time since I felt something like that. Her eyes attracted me to an alluring world. Then I realized what I was thinking –how out of line it was. What had I been thinking? Her voice brought me back to Earth and I snapped out of my haze, "Moroi blood," she answered.
"What was that?" asked Stan.
She turned to him and shouted, "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."
"Yes. It does. It makes them stronger…" He continued, but I tuned him out. For some reason I couldn't comprehend, I felt sorry for Rose, really sorry. I wanted to go wrap my arms around her and comfort her. I wanted to protect her. When he finally finished tormenting her she took her seat and sulked, looking defeated.
While I admit Stan had a point in what he said, she had been completely wrong in her choices but I knew there just had to be some other reason for her actions, I just hadn't discovered it yet. Training her wasn't going to be easy, but I definitely wanted her to succeed. I wanted her to prove Stan wrong and show everyone that she wasn't just a defiant teenager. I wanted to teach her to protect herself so that she would never get hurt.
After class let out I stayed, wanting to confront Stan. What he'd said, the way that he had treated her, brought out a dark emotion and I wanted him to know that I was ready to protect to Rose if I needed to. "Guardian Alto," I called. We weren't on first name basis.
"Yes? Guardian Belikov," he answered, voice puzzled.
"What was all that about?" I snapped.
"What was what about?"
"The way you spoke to Rosemarie Hathaway," I told him, my tone informing that I found it quite of line.
"Oh that. She needed to hear that what she did was wrong," he replied simply.
"You humiliated her in front of her whole class, she was on the verge of tears," I responded, growing angry.
He seemed taken aback, maybe he hadn't realized that I didn't approve, "Look Belikov, I understand that you've been out there in the world and that you are one of the best guardians, but when it comes to teaching, that's my realm. You can't be soft-hearted with these students when they will eventually have a life in their hands."
"I understand that, but if you felt that you needed to talk to Miss Hathaway, why didn't you just wait until after class? Why would you want to hurt her like that –it wasn't… professional."
"Look Belikov," Stan's tone harsh now, "this is my class, and if I want to show an example over some girl who only cares about having fun and does not understand the gravity of the situation –that's my business. When you're in my class, you are here to protect the novices, not intervene. And I heard that you are going to be Hathaway's mentor, and if you want to get anywhere with her, I suggest you don't go soft on her. She does not deserve it. Besides, I really don't believe she'll be able to graduate."
"She will graduate actually," I retorted, "And she will do it with flying colors because I will teach her. And you're right, this is you're class and I get that but don't think that I will allow my student to be harassed by her teacher. Have some professionalism –yes Rosemarie seems like she can be trouble but you're stooping to her level because you are an adult –she's still a child."
With that, I stocked off. I wasn't ever someone to intervene with someone else's business but I watched the way he tormented Rosemarie. Everyone seemed to think the worst of her –but they forgot to acknowledge that she did protect the Princess, and with the way that she cares about her –they couldn't have just left so that Rosemarie could avoid trouble. I was sure of that.
A few hours later I managed to catch up to Rosemarie. I really was rooting for her –she was the underdog, no one believed in her and to me –that just made her so vulnerable. I felt some need to protect her that I didn't understand. I suppose that she sort of felt like a troublesome younger sister –at least that's the way I should be looking at her.
I fell into step with her as she was walking across the campus to the commons. She spoke first.
"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she began not beating around the bush.
"Yes," I responded.
"And you think that was fair?"
No, I thought, but Stan was right about one thing –going soft on Rosemarie would not help her, "Was he right?" I replied, "Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"
"I kept her alive," she mumbled looking towards the floor. I think after the beating she took today against Mason she realized how powerless she was.
"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" I asked, knowing the answer.
She looked hurt –and I felt bad –again that feeling to protect her came in and I wanted to give her a hug –but instead I kept my face a stone revealing nothing of the sort. When she didn't answer, I pointed, "If you can't fight them—"
But she cut me off, "Yeah, yeah, I know," with an attitude.
I felt bad, I think she was starting to lose faith in herself, so I told her, "You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports why you were gone?"
"Sure," she shrugged, "Now and then."
"You didn't join any teams," I asked –realizing she really was in bad shape.
"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here." Great –that would be a fantastic attitude to work with. Maybe I was wrong and she really did not take her job seriously.
"You'll never be able to protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."
"I'll be able to protect her," she responded, attempting to sound fierce. I saw right through it and I realized she needed some motivation.
"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know –for your field experience or after you graduate. No one wants to waste the bond –but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate –if you can prove worthy. I hope you will."
"Lissa, call her Lissa," she corrected. Was that all she heard just now? I was growing a little impatient, what had I just committed myself to? I walked away before saying anything I might regret later. I passed Victor Dashkov on the way; he was heading to talk to Rose.