And at last... I've finally updated this story.
As always, I'm sorry for the delay... and the funny thing is though... that I wrote this MONTHS ago but never got around to editing it and publishing it. :S
To be honest... I reckon this chapter is kind of 'meh...' but it introduces characters and shiz so it's still sort of important.
I hope y'all will like my spin on Adrian. ;)
And I hope that despite some weird bits that I don't know how to fix... you'll enjoy it. :)
HAPPY READING! xx
DISCLAIMER: The 'Vampire Academy' world belongs to Richelle Mead. This is just my made-up world crossed with hers.
-Deni
She picked up on the third ring.
"Rose Hathaway here… I'm a bit busy right now." I heard sounds of something crashing. Her voice sounded a bit strained, but not tired.
"Rose, it's Denise..." I said nervously as I tried to figure out what was happening over there.
"Oh! What's wrong? I thought you'd never call." She immediately softened her tone, and sounded more approachable, but still strained. I then heard a man scream with agony. There was a kind of static noise coming through the speaker. Was she breathing hard?
"Rose! What's happening?"
"I'm just fighting some Strigoi." She said with a casual tone that made me almost fall back onto my bed with shock.
"Then um... um... should I hang up?"
"Oh no, it's fine. I'm almost done." I heard another scream, this time from a woman, "Alright, I'm done."
I fell onto my bed, unable to say another word.
"Denise? Are you still there?" She sounded more concerned than when she was practically risking her life with Strigoi. I realised that I couldn't really expect anything less from Rose, since I'd seen her take down the first Strigoi that had attacked me the night we met with incredible ease. She was a God. Slowly, my mouth started to move again.
"Oh! Yeah... sorry. Um, we need to meet."
"Good. Midnight? I'll pick you up."
"Alright... see you then." I hanged up, my mind spinning.
Midnight? I wasn't worried because I'd be tired, quite the opposite considering that I was pretty much nocturnal but... my parents were also up at that time. This wasn't good. How would I sneak out?
It was only 4:45pm right now, so I had time to well... prepare. I also had dancing classes in an hour, which I guess could get my mind off other things and let myself relax a bit. However, it wasn't time for relaxing right now though.
I grabbed a black backpack from my cupboard and put the Ancient Book and letter into it. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself, wondering what the heck I was supposed to do next. I looked around my room, looking for something I might've needed. My eyes rested on a drawer beneath my dressing table.
I realised that I had completely forgotten about the box I took from my 'trip to the past'.
I opened the drawer, taking the smooth white marble box out. It was absolutely surreal. The beauty of the box told me that it definitely must've held something very precious... too bad that the box was already empty when I found it though. Someone already had whatever treasure that was kept inside.
I opened the box, remembering that I had seen those Ancient markings again, underneath the lid. I turned the lid over again and as I had recalled, they were there. They were smaller this time though, organised in a sort of paragraph. Then I realised that these Ancient markings reminded me a bit of hieroglyphics, except they weren't really pictures, more like squiggly but black beautiful lines, joined in all sorts of geometrical shapes you could ever imagine.
I focused on the markings, as I had done before, with the book and my Father's letter. As they had done before, the markings started moving and changing into the Roman alphabet, English. I guess I was getting kind of used to reading Ancient markings now, and the reality of that, made me feel scared, yet... glad. Glad because... it meant that everything Rose had told me was true, and the only positive to that is well, that I now had a chance to save the world, and these kind of chances, were very rare to find. I didn't find this chance though, really, it found me. I now had a greater purpose in life.
Even though I had the chance to save the world, I guess I also had the potential to destroy it. My Father had written that I needed to control my powers, so that meant that I definitely had powers now that I didn't even know of. 'With great power, came great responsibility', a quote from 'Spiderman', but it was very true. I finally understood the real truth of that quote right now. However, I was no superhero and never would be... so... how was I going to do this?
I took a deep breath and read the markings on the beautiful lid of the box.
"The Mactabilis Mucro is blunt but can penetrate an Ancient like a sharpened sword. In a situation where an Ancient could be overcome with power and become destructive, is where it should be implemented."
I did a double take. Mactabilis Mucro? What was that? I guess it didn't all translate to English.
The cogs in my brain started turning and trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Then I remembered.
It was the beautiful dagger that Flora had held in her hands when I went back in time. She had told me that it was blunt but was the only thing able to penetrate an Ancient's skin, and kill them.
That dagger must've been called 'Mactabilis Mucro' by the Ancients. What language was that? I remembered that Flora had also called it the 'Ancient Golden Dagger', which seemed more fitting, but probably wasn't the proper name. I figured that Flora must've made the name up, seeing as how she seemed a bit cocky, I guess it was expected.
I decided to call the dagger 'Mucro' for short. It was easier to remember anyway. I'd have to ask Rose about the words not translating into English though, than normal, because 'Mactabilis Mucro' was still engraved into the box in the Ancient markings.
Then I realised that Flora still had the Mucro in her possession.
I was doomed…
No, Rose would help me. We'd figure this out together, with the help of whoever was on her… I mean, our side. I needed to stay optimistic.
I looked back at the box, seeing more markings.
"The Mactabilis Mucro is to be kept in the Arca Archa to regain energy. If left out of the Arca Archa for a long period of time, the Mactabilis Mucro will no longer have strength, being unable to be used until once again placed back in the Arca Archa."
Arca Archa? Ok, more words that weren't in English. This information still helped me though. Whatever this Arca Archa was, it was important for the Mucro and needed it to still work, to still be able to kill Ancients. I needed to find this Arca Archa.
I closed the box and put it gently into my black backpack. Everything was ready. I was good to go.
Dancing class had been a good distraction, just as I'd hoped. My parents had come home and we had already had dinner. I did all my homework earlier, for once, and was sitting on my bed, wide-eyed, really wondering what would happen at midnight. I still didn't really know how I was going to sneak out.
I looked around my room. It was sadly, pretty small, and cramped with big furniture from my old bigger room from a previous home. I was sure that I had packed everything that I needed for my meeting with Rose, so I was sure that I didn't need anything else. I scanned my room again, just in case. I grabbed my phone and hastily looked at my clock.
It was a few minutes to midnight.
I didn't realise how long I'd been sitting on my bed, contemplating what I was going to do. But luckily for once, my daydreaming payed off, as I had a plan for my midnight escape… well sort of.
I opened my bedroom door, careful not to make it creak. Seeming as though my door knew my intentions, it creaked, making me try very hard to suppress a groan. The lights were off, my parents and brother were sleeping. It was time.
I closed my bedroom door and went to my balcony door. I recalled how Rose had jumped off my balcony, the first time we'd met… I however was not confident enough to do the same. I slung my backpack around my shoulders and carefully opened my balcony door, getting smacked in the face with a cold gust of wind by doing so. I closed the door, turned around and gulped. Sure, it wasn't that high, but boy, was I scared poopless. I held onto the railing of the balcony, trying to get a firm grip, and swung my legs over. I was now on the other side of the railing, vulnerable… able to fall and break my skull. I gulped again. I slowly and cautiously let myself slide down the railing holding on with my hands, letting my legs dangle in the air.
I looked down – my feet were about half a metre from the ground. Closing my eyes tightly, I let go of the railing and landed on bent legs onto the ground. For a moment, I felt a sense of pride, like I was Amelia from 'Underworld', jumping from a tall building… even though it was just my 2 and a half metre high balcony.
I was wearing a black t-shirt that said 'I kissed a vampire, and I liked it!' that was silly, but I thought suited the occasion, and jeans and a navy hoodie on top with awesome white and blue sneakers. It was a cold night, making me feel another little bit of pride for listening to my Mum's constant reminders of wearing something warm when it was cold.
I started to walk, turning the corner, when I saw a car approaching. I held my breath as it stopped in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing the one and only, Rose Hathaway.
"Thanks for calling." She smiled warmly at me. Her smile was interesting, and I figured at another time in her life, boys would go crazy for that smile.
"Thanks for coming." I smiled back, opening the door to the back seats. To my surprise, there was a skinny and pale blonde haired girl and a brown-ish blonde haired guy sitting there as well. The girl had a pale green colour to her eyes while the guy's were more of an emerald colour. There was something about them that I felt was alluring, strange, but true.
"Little dhampir, so this is the-" the guy stopped as he finally looked at me. He looked around his mid twenties, wore an expensive looking grey suit that fit him well and boy oh boy was he cute. Totally 'Crush-worthy' material but Date worthy? I'd get in trouble with an age gap like that. Besides, there was always Matt.
"Look at her aura." The blonde haired girl said very curiously. I wasn't sure to sit down or not. I hesitated for a few more seconds but eventually sat down in the middle of the two back seats since it seemed like neither of them wanted to shuffle over. What she had said eventually registered in my head. What the heck was an aura?
"It's absolutely golden...Not just a tinge with other colours like ours, but completely golden." The boy studied me, as Rose began to drive out.
"Denise, this is Adrian Ivashkov, a cocky Moroi that's a partygoer, smoker and drinker." Rose cleared up for me. I guess this guy fit his appearance well, with that sort of lifestyle, no wonder he looked so fancy and 'upper-class'.
"Little dhampir, you don't give me much credit," He pouted at Rose but then looked back at me, smiling, showing his fangs, "Don't worry Denise. I'm sure in time, you will get to know the 'Great Adrian Ivashkov' and become one of my many followers that bask in my presence."
"I see what you mean by cocky." I smiled at Rose as she looked at me from the front mirror of the car. She laughed a little at that which made me smile.
"I'm Vasilisa Dragomir, but you can call me Lissa." The blonde haired girl introduced herself to me, smiling warmly. Lissa…. That name rang a bell. She was Rose's best friend! Rose hadn't told me about Adrian though… so I wondered why. Lissa was wearing a simple light pink t-shirt with a white cardigan and a black skirt with some kick-butt fancy high heeled shoes.
"It's nice to meet you Lissa… um… can I ask you what auras are? How is mine err… golden?"
"An aura is like a certain glow around you, that can change colours depending on your mood and can tell you a lot about a person. You can have multiple colours at once in your aura, depending on all the emotion you feel at the time. Spirit users can see auras." Lissa explained in a matter of fact way.
"Lissa and I both have a gold tinge to our auras, with other colours showing our moods, but yours… it's completely golden… with no other colours, meaning that we can't read you or your emotions," Adrian stopped looking at me and looked at Rose with his expression becoming more serious, "Rose, this girl is pretty much, Spirit incarnate."
"Well, I've known that I've been quite enthusiastic when it comes to –"
"– No Denise, you're actually Spirit incarnate, and that's pretty wild. Sure we'd done research and everything, about the Ancients, but seeing an actual Ancient right now, actual living proof…" He looked back at me, studying me. I started feeling very self-conscious. Lissa giggled.
"What?" I asked very intelligently.
"Sure, we can't read your aura since it's completely golden, but your expression gives your embarrassment away." Lissa smiled warmly at me again, making me feel a bit more at ease.
"Adrian, stop harassing Denise. I already have you harassing me so often-" Rose started but Adrian cut her off.
"– which I intend to keep doing, my little dhampir… Also, how can it be harassment when I know you enjoy it?" He winked at her as she looked at him through the mirror. Rose sighed off her irritation.
Rose kept driving until we ended up in front of a 'Radison' hotel.
"So you've been staying at this hotel?" I asked as Rose parked the car and as we all got out. We talked in hushed voices.
"Yeah, we took a plane here a few weeks ago. St. Vladimirs is in Montana. We thought we'd find you easily… " Rose paused in thought.
"But it took longer than expected." Lissa finished for her.
"Since you're Spirit Incarnate, Lissa and I thought we could probably sense you, because spirit users can sense each other… but we couldn't. So we think you may have some sort of force field or something around you that prevents you from being found." Adrian said with a smile.
"Force field? Whoa, whoa, we're going into the 'sci fi zone' right now. What did you use to find me anyway?" This was all too surreal and moving fast. I just hoped that I could catch up.
He smirked. "Ancients created a kind of tracking compass that pointed to any Ancient near by…Seemed as though even though they were in their own tight knit circle, they didn't trust each other. Like one of them could've gone wild at any second and attack the rest."
"That explains the Mucro!" I shouted with realisation, to which Rose immediately shushed me. I blushed sheepishly.
"Mucro?" Lissa questioned. They probably didn't get to it in their research.
"I'll show you later." I assured her.
"Show?" Lissa's eyes went wide. I nodded.
We walked through the big glass doors of the hotel with a blast of nice and comfortable warmth welcoming us. Some sort of jazzy music was playing. I loved hotels.
"The receptionist's a Moroi." Adrian whispered to me as we walked past the front desk. The receptionist was a woman with red hair who looked tall, skinny and quite pale. If it wasn't for Adrian telling me, I would've never known. I would've thought that her paleness had been due to some sort of lack of sleep, seeing her look as sleepy as she did now.
"Wait, what? How can she be outside like this? Won't the humans find out?" I felt so weird saying 'humans' as though like I wasn't one anymore, but it was true.
"Some Moroi and Dhampirs live in the human world by their own choice. This hotel just happens to be a special place for Moroi to stay when they visit. The place is run by Moroi, with feeders on hand living here. But the humans that actually work here as hotel staff aren't really in on it though." Rose explained in a very hushed and low voice.
"Feeders…" They were humans that had willingly let vampires feed on them and had only done so because vampire bites induced an endorphins rush, like a drug. Sure, it sounded wrong in a few ways, but it was still the humans' choice, and the Moroi had only fed on them when needed, not in excessive amounts that would cause death. If the Moroi caused death while feeding, they'd turn Strigoi. Man, I couldn't believe how I remembered all this.
"But, if they aren't in on it, how come no one's find out about the Moroi yet? Better yet, how come they haven't found out about the feeders?" I gave them my 'confuzzled' look as we went into an elevator. Luckily, there were no security cameras in this elevator, allowing us to speak more comfortably.
"Compulsion," Lissa answered for me. My confusion left me. Compulsion was like mind control. Moroi and Strigoi could 'force their will' on others using compulsion. The Moroi working in this hotel had been using compulsion to make sure humans didn't find out how they had been using the hotel as a kind of 'safe haven'.
"But…. Isn't compulsion looked down upon when used by Moroi?" I frowned at them.
"Doesn't stop Moroi from using it, because sometimes, we have to…. Like in this situation, this hotel is needed for Moroi who don't have a place to stay when they visit. But still, keep it on the low-down when you know a Moroi using compulsion…" Adrian said with a sort of smug look. I figured he was a Moroi that used compulsion. Then I also remembered how Rose had told me that compulsion was stronger in Spirit users, almost as strong as a Strigoi's.
"Ahh…" I smiled.
The elevator 'DINGED' when it reached our level. We walked until we came across two rooms next to each other, in a more secluded section of the level, after turning the corridor.
"So I'm guessing Rose and Lissa share one room and Adrian's by himself?" I asked.
"It's a shame isn't it?" Adrian said.
"Adrian already invades my dreams – I don't want to know what else he'd like to do to me at night if we shared a room." Rose said, making Adrian smirk.
"Lots of things, Rose, lots of things." Adrian said in a husky voice. Lissa cleared her throat.
Yup, there was definitely something going on between Adrian and Rose. Adrian obviously had some sort of feeling for her, but Rose seemed to always try to ignore it. I figured it was because Rose hadn't and couldn't move on from Dimitri – the man that used to be her mentor, turned lover then turned Strigoi. I felt sorry for Adrian. Unrequited love always made me feel upset. Now I knew why Rose hadn't told me about Adrian earlier.
Rose took her key card out and opened the door to her room. After we all entered, Rose closed the door, locking all the locks and using the small chain that didn't let people open the door fully if someone were to try and break in.
"Why all the security?" I asked.
"Usually Moroi hotels are heavily armed with guardians protecting the premises, like in hotels in Las Vegas… but since this hotel is in a pretty secluded area, they don't have any guardians, besides me of course. I reckon it must be because of the Guardian shortage." Rose explained. Guardian shortage? I remembered then how Rose has said something about the reproduction of dhampirs being very complicated, which meant that less guardians were being trained to protect Moroi.
"You never know when Strigoi could come about… Especially at night." Lissa added.
"Especially since you're the last Ancient, Denise, the Strigoi are most definitely looking for you or at least planning something concerning you." Adrian's words made me shiver, because he was probably right.
I tried to take my mind off the thought of Strigoi planning things about me. I looked at my surroundings. The room wasn't too small but wasn't that big either. It was big enough however, to have two single beds separated by a small bedside table, a medium sized table next to a wall with a few chairs, a small TV on top of a cabinet and a bathroom beside another wall. There was a mirror hanging on one of the walls above the medium sized table and a small wardrobe on one of the walls next to the door. There was also a little random chair in one of the corners of the room that I decided to sit on.
Adrian made himself comfy, sitting on the end of one of the beds. He winked at Rose and patted the spot next to him. Rose rolled her eyes and instead, went to lean on one of the walls next to one of the beds. Lissa sat down on the other bed, near Rose, legs crossed, looking very Royal…
"Oh my Spock! Lissa… you're Royal aren't you? Like, an actual Princess?" I was sure that my expression had me looking like some sort of bug-eyed monkey high on bananas. Lissa smiled.
"Yup," She had to stop herself from giggling at my eyes widening even more, if that was possible, "Adrian's royal too. He's an Ivashkov, the Ivashkovs being one of the twelve Royal Moroi families like the Dragomirs."
I was sure that I looked like a bug-eyed monkey high on bananas and coffee by now. Not that I thought monkeys actually drank coffee…
I did before thinking. I sprang up from my little chair and got onto my knees, bowing over to Lissa and Adrian.
"See? I told you it wouldn't be long 'til she basked in my presence." Adrian said, having a triumphant tone to his voice. Lissa looked amused but stunned, like she was about to spring up from her position as well to pull me up. Rose got to me first though.
"Denise, get up." Rose laughed a bit and pulled me up by my arm, swiftly, yet gently, "We can't let Adrian be right for a change."
"And like I said before, you don't give me enough credit, little dhampir." He 'humphed' and acted like a little kid that was annoyed with his parents, crossing his arms and turning his head.
"Ok Miss Attitude," Rose looked at him but then back to me, "So… would you like to start explaining?"
It took me a moment to realise she was talking to me. It took me another moment to realise also that she was referring to what I needed to tell them.
"Well… it's quite complicated and I'm not sure where to start." I played with the ends of my hair out of nervousness.
"It's alright Denise," Rose said, reassuring me with that dazzling smile of hers, "Shoot."
I'll hopefully update this soon... when school gives me more breaks. xD
I hope you enjoyed it and please leave me a review!
I'll try and update 'Twisted' by the end of this week, so look out for that!
Do y'all remember it? It's the story with too many cliff hangers and disasters that make me look like an evil person. Yeah, that one. ;)
And if you're a VA fan that hasn't read 'Twisted' yet, I recommend you read that while you wait for me to update 'Vampire Academy Meets, Me?'
So um... I guess that's it.
Hope to update by the end of this week. :)
HAPPY READING! xx