CHAPTER THIRTEEN- GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
Hey there, I'm so sorry for the wait on my chapters, I did three the last time and I'm hoping you guys liked them, it was kind of hectic with school, and me trying to get my freaking computer working, and I've been writing without the internet, just on Microsoft and when my connection is in again I'll upload my chapters that I've just written so it sort of makes up for not updating in a while.
Just for good measure: I hate my computer.
Here's the next chapter…
I ran back to the guardian building as fast I could, I was not sticking around to have my heart ripped up or be the butt of Dimitri's mocking. I booked it fast and hard, turning my iPod back on to the loudest volume and blocking out all sound other than the music. I closed my eyes and just ran, not caring where the hell I was going, I just had to get away from that damn gate.
I ran straight into someone and my eyes snapped open. I looked up to see Alexander's slightly surprised expression (talk about an under statement), I saw his mouth make the form of my name but I couldn't hear him because of my music. I lifted my hand to pull out my head phones and noticed that they were shaking and quickly pulled them out and assessed the rest of me; my whole body was shaking with what was unmistakable fear. I didn't want to be afraid, but I was, I couldn't help it; knowing that Dimitri was out there, all wrong and Strigoi, getting pleasure from others' pain and fear; knowing that it was him who was watching me and that it was him who had intentionally scared me.
"Rose?" Alexander repeated and I hardly heard him. There were voices leaking into my head, whispering, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I closed my eyes and willed it away. Go away, go away! Get the fuck out of my head! I screamed internally. But the voices did not go away, they got louder and I focused hard, trying to push them away.
A hand touched to the side of my face, brushing away a piece of hair and I lost control. The voices consumed me and practically bowled me over; I lost my footing and collapsed against the wall.
"Rose!" Alexander's voice was now alarmed and I waved him away weakly. "No, no, I'm fine," I mumbled as I slid down the wall and onto the ground. I lifted my hand and placed them on my face and moaned. "Go away," my head felt like it was going to burst, it was terrible. It hurt, oh God, it hurt! How do I get rid of this? I needed to stop the pain, it was killing me; like I was being stabbed, run over, thrown off a building, being beat by my mother and like there we pins all through every part of my body.
Focus, damn it, focus. I squeezed my eyes shut and I vaguely heard Alexander's voice calling to me, but I blocked all sound out and could and finally stop the pain. I opened my eyes and my sight was disoriented. I blinked a couple of times, but my vision still didn't clear; I looked in the general direction of Alexander's muddled form so he would think that I could see him.
"Rose, are you alright?" he asked anxiously as I saw his blurry form move down slowly so it was about my height.
"I'm fine, it'sokay, I'm gooood," my words slurred together to some extent so it sounded like I was on the verge of being drunk.
"Rose, what happened?" his voice was still anxious and I saw the sketchy shape of a hand move toward my face and I shook my head and tried to get up only to slip back down the wall and onto the drenched ground with a small splash.
"Rose!" Alexander exclaimed and I saw the vague movement of two somethings flailing around in the air.
"I. Am. Fine." I concentrated on getting my words out right and grinned foolishly at my accomplishment. I held my hands down to the cement and let a small amount of water pool into them then I splashed it on my face. It cleared my vision and I blinked rapidly to get full sight of Alexander's face- it was priceless.
"What's wrong, Alexander?" I said clearly and calmly as I bit back a smile. His face was confused and shocked for one moment before answering me.
"You," he ran his hand through his hair and I huffed, "There's nothing wrong with me!" then his face was shocked.
"No, no, not like that. It's just that you look like you've just seen a ghost," he shook his head at me. Yeah, buddy, ghosts don't scare me now, I thought. Well, at least, not as much as you think they would, I amended. Then Alexander said, "You're very pale,"
I shook out my hair and very slowly tried to stand up; and I succeeded, but was leaning heavily against the wall for support. These things really drained me I thought vaguely then I focused on Alexander.
"I just went running…fast and hard…it must have drained me," I lied. By the look on his face it was easy to tell that he believed me and was disapproving.
"Well, shouldn't you being taking it easy? With your ribs, the doctor told me to make sure you were not working to hard." He said sternly and I turned my face away to roll my eyes.
"Yeah I'm fine, okay?" I was annoyed that now that he'd brought up the topic of my ribs, I realized that they hurt like hell. I winced slightly, but other than that, I showed no other sign of pain except for the deep breaths I was taking.
"Well, I can't really stop you from doing what you want, because…your reputation proceeds you." Then he just sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. "Just…well, you know, don't push yourself too hard, okay, Rose?" I nodded curtly and he sighed again and walked away and I watched him until he entered the guardian building. I slowly walked out into the rain and sank to the ground.
What is happening to me?
"Lots of shit, Rose - are you happy now?" I answered the thought out loud and just kept talking. "You've left Lissa and everyone else…for what? To kill someone who's already dead! You're smart, real smart. Lissa might not take you back now and just because her e-mails are nice, doesn't mean that she'll be nice when she sees you again…if she sees you again."
When you start talking aloud to yourself, you know there is something that is seriously wrong; and you probably should have figured it out sooner. You're losing your mind and everyone who once cared about you…they won't be there anymore. They're going to turn away from you in disgust and you will be an outcast. Like you should be…
The hateful voice leaked into my mind again and I groaned angrily and hit the ground in front of me, sending water slashing everywhere. It's not like it mattered though, I was already drenching wet. It's not like I cared…
What do you care about, Rose?
*****
I ended up sitting in the rain for about three hours until someone had come up to me, another guardian, and told me that I should probably go inside. Even then, when I was sniffing because my nose was running uncontrollably, I was reluctant to leave my spot.
Now, as I was in my room, rubbing a towel through my hair, I checked the clock and thought that I should probably go find Dereck.
I changed out of my soaking clothes and into jeans and a pull-over hoodie and walked out of my room and into the rain; this time I jogged through the rain with my hood pulled up, I wanted to find Dereck, not stick around and see if Dimitri could scare me again some other way. I made it to the dhampir dorms (still soaking wet, weather I wanted to be or not) and asked the secretary where Dereck's room and she smiled up at me and told me a number and I thanked her kindly and walked up the steps to the second floor of the dorms. I smiled to myself thinking how pumped Dereck must be because he'd gotten marks of is own…but my smile quickly vanished as I remembered what he had to do to get those marks and how his face looked as he stared down at the two Strigoi. I shook off the thought and came to Dereck's door and knocked twice. There was no response so I knocked again, this time five times.
"Alright, alright; let me put some pants on, one minute!" Dereck's voice yelled from the other side of the door and I gave a small smile and leaned against the door frame and waited somewhat impatiently for Dereck to let me in.
The door finally opened and there stood Dereck with a towel draped over his drenched hair in a pair of dark blue jeans. I had to admit that he was very muscular and could probably be a Calvin Klein model. But I was in no way attracted to him the way I was with Dimitri, obviously. I only felt a closer kinsman ship to him after we fought again the Strigoi together. When Dereck pushed his hair out of the way and saw that it was me, he waved me in and I smirked and went to go sit on his computer desk.
"What's up, Rose?" he said nonchalantly, but as I looked at him, I could see that there was something that he very much wanted to ask me.
"Just say whatever you want to," I rolled my eyes and he blushed.
"Why did you run out today?" he asked.
"Run out when?" I asked but I knew exactly what he was talking about.
"When you got your marks finished, Charles finished bandaging you up and you just got up, asked if you could leave and practically bolted out the door. What was up with that?" he seemed confused.
"I needed to run," I said quickly, but I saw in his eyes the doubt.
"You needed to run," he repeated deadpan and I nodded.
"Yes, I needed to run; I was…confused, so I ran. It's what I do," I answered.
"Then why were you just sitting in the rain all by yourself…why were you just sitting there?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"I like the rain,"
"Why didn't you respond when I called your name?"
So that's who was calling me, "I didn't hear you," I fibbed.
"You didn't hear me," he repeated incredulous. "I yelled for like five minutes and I decided to leave you alone because you looked pretty tense and Jane practically dragged me inside,"
"I was listening to my iPod," I really hadn't been, but it was a good excuse.
"How did you get an iPod?"
"I bought it," I said in a poor imitation of his voice. "Now, if you're done interrogating me, can I ask a few questions of my own?"
"Fine," he sighed and I smiled.
"First, find a shirt," I instructed and Dereck raised an eyebrow, making no move to find a shirt.
"Does it bother you?" he asked and I looked at him like it was the stupidest thing that he could think and he shrugged. "Well, I'm just fine like this, so I don't think I need a shirt," he smirked at me and I looked around and found a t-shirt on the computer desk beside me and tossed it to him.
"If someone, like a guardian, comes in here and sees this, it wouldn't look to good and I don't think I really want to deal with it, so I'm sorry for wanting to keep out of trouble with Alex- Guardian Contrive, but I'm going to, okay?" Dereck rolled his eyes and I heard him mutter, "Good two,"
Oh, wouldn't you like to know how good I am. I thought sarcastically and looked out the window as he put on his shirt; it didn't look like this was going to stop anytime soon.
Dereck cleared his throat and I returned my attention to him. "So what did you come down here for?"
"Oh, I don't really know, just wanted to talk to somebody, I guess. How are you marks, how do you feel?" I shot at him.
He blinked before responding. "Um, my marks are doing okay, I guess, they're a little itchy though. I feel…I don't know how I feel; it's like I'm kind of shocked and…" he thought for a minute then said, "Yeah, I'm just surprised,"
I didn't believe him, not with the way he looked when he killed the Strigoi, he was such a fibber! But then again, so was I. "Sad, do you feel sad at all, or guilty or maybe…afraid? Are you afraid of yourself?" I asked with narrowed eyes as I watched to gauge his reaction.
He looked away. "I…I-maybe; I feel sad because I killed something living, but I keep telling myself that I was doing them a favour. That I was doing the right thing, but I can't help thinking that it was wrong some way. So I guess that also makes me feel a bit guilty, but I didn't think of being afraid of myself…" he looked down at his hands as if her were trying to read something from them. "Do I have blood on my hands?" he half whispered half spoke normally so it came out kind of broken.
I wanted to go over and comfort him, but I didn't need him getting the wrong idea so I stayed put. "No, not the way you think, you did do the right thing, it's what you had to," I answered levelly.
He looked at me pleadingly. "But how can it be right? I killed something that was living and I took away its life!"
I shook my head. "It is what you had to do and if you hadn't done it, you would have died and I probably would have too," I added just to make him feel better, but it was true.
"Yeah, but…"
"But nothing, you did good, very good. Now if you're done moping, can we actually do something?" I asked somewhat irritated but not really, I understood how he felt.
"Um…what do you want to do?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively and I rolled my eyes and hopped off the computer desk and walked towards him. I saw his eyes widen in surprise and I started laughing.
"Not a chance, Dereck, where are your friends?" I asked and had to bite back a grin as his face fell.
"They said they were all going to be in one of the lounges in the Moroi dorm to play some video games or watch a movie or something. They asked me to come, but I said that I had to talk to you," he said, trying to sound casual, but it was obvious that he was really embarrassed.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" I was curious now; why would Dereck turn down his friends to talk to me?
"Well, we kind of already talked about it, just right now; I just wanted to let you know that my marks were doing okay."
"And you didn't expect me to tell weather you were lying or weather I could tell how you were really feeling?" I said looked at him levelly and he just looked away and nodded. "Come on; let's go find your friends,"
******
Dereck was cheered by the idea of spending the night with his friends and we got drenched when we went out into the rain, but if Dereck minded he didn't let on.
We checked two lounges before we found Dereck's little crew chatting and gaming together. They all looked very comfortable and were surprised as we entered. They were happy to see Dereck but became more surprised when I followed him in.
"Guys, this is Guardian Hathaway, my mentor," Dereck said and one of the boys sitting there chocked on the pop he was drinking.
"You're one of many mentors," another boy muttered then did a double take. "Guardian Hathaway!" he squeaked. "Like Rosemarie Hathaway from Montana?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that's me," I said and gave a dry smile when they all looked at me in awe, well, all of them except Kevin, Leo, Laura and Madison. They all just smiled at me.
"Hey, Guardian Hathaway," Kevin nodded and gave me a sweet smile that I returned.
The others nodded to me and I looked at the Moroi. There were seven Moroi here: two girls and five boys. There was a Moroi boy that had a girl with blond hair and emerald green eyes cuddling up against him. I recognized the eyes right away and said, "Are you Jane Ivashkov?"
She smiled pleasantly but it was obvious that she was surprised. "Yes, I'm Jane, how'd you know?"
"I've got a friend who's an Ivashkov and you have the same eyes," I smiled tightly at the reference of Adrian.
She smiled back. "Who is she?"
"His name is Adrian Ivashkov," I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I witnessed all their shocked looks.
"You're friends with Adrian Ivashkov?" Dereck exclaimed and looked at me with his mouth open.
"Yeah, Adrian's my friend and he's a good guy, a close friend," I said defensively. I'd felt the urge to protect him, which I found kind of weird; I'd thought that I'd never have feelings for Adrian, but this was just a friendly protectiveness.
"Rose, have you ever heard of Adrian Ivashkov's reputation?" Dereck asked me.
"Yeah, I have and I do know what you guys say about him and what everyone else does, okay? Adrian's done some pretty…questionable things, but if you don't know him, don't rip on him." I said sternly. "I owe a lot to Adrian,"
"For what? Getting you laid or sucking your blood?" Dereck snorted rudely and I recoiled like he'd slapped me. I'm pretty sure my face looked scary because Dereck's eyes widened. I concentrated on making my face emotionless and clenched my fists, the only thing that was showing how truly pissed I was.
"Dereck, you shouldn't have said that," Jane said, I glanced at her and saw that she looked shocked that he would say something like that to a guardian.
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath through my nose. I opened my eyes and didn't look at Dereck, but he said, "I don't care; I'd just like to know if my mentor is a blood whore,"
That did it. I was going to punch –
No! Don't do it! Control, control, control…
They gasped.
"Dereck!" Jane yelled.
"Shut up, man," Kevin said.
"That was just inappropriate, Dereck," one of the Moroi said, a small part of my brain made a little note that he sounded kind of girly.
"That was just too far," Laura said.
"Dereck, are you fucking mental!" Leo exclaimed. The others and Madison were just too shocked to say anything. I took deep breaths. Calm, control…
My fists were shaking. "You are out of line, Mr Hays," I hissed.
"So what? Am I wrong? Come on, Rose, are you trying to tell me that you haven't slept with Adrian Ivashkov?" his voice turned incredulous. I didn't respond at first and Dereck took my silence the wrong way. "Ha, I am right; I'm not stupid, Rose."
"Dereck, shut up!" Jane exclaimed.
"Does this bother you? It's obviously bothering Rose; would you care to take this outside, Guardian Hathaway?" he said pretending to be polite, but he was glaring at me and I glared right back.
"Gladly," I growled.
"You're going to get your ass kicked, Hays," one of the Moroi called; it was the one who had his arms around Jane. I vaguely thought that he must be Riley Zeklos, but I couldn't concentrate on that right then.
"I won't hurt him, I'll just talk to him," I said to the Moroi and everyone else.
He laughed. "Yeah right, I'm Riley Zeklos, by the way," he said holding out a hand. I shook it and smiled tight lipped. I was about to ask him something and try to forget about what Dereck had said and maybe calm myself down some. But then Dereck called to me, it was the worst thing that he could have said.
"Hey, blood whore, do I have to try and bite you to get you to do something or what?"
I was pretty sure that the others could feel the anger vibrating off me, because I was all practically convulsing with rage.
"Oh my God," Madison whispered. "He is such an idiot,"
"Guardian Hathaway, you shouldn't put up with him when he's like this. The best thing to do is walk away," Leo said.
I turned my gaze to him. "I'm not running from Dereck Hays, I can handle it, thanks, Leo,"
"Blood whore, come on!"
"That's it, I'm going to kick his ass," Kevin started to get up but I pushed him down gently.
"It's fine," I said tightly. "Does he always do this?"
"Only when he's really mad," one of the Moroi said. "I'm Tommy," I smiled at Tommy and nodded. I was about to ask him what they did when he went all rouge but Dereck called, "Blood whore!"
I clenched my fists again and stormed out the door slamming it behind me. Dereck was leaning against the wall. "Ah, there you are, I was wondering if I'd have to drag you out, or maybe pretend to bite you,"
"Dereck, outside. Now." I pointed and he shrugged off the wall and walked in front of me.
We walked silently out into the rain and I didn't even care if my hood wasn't up, I didn't care if I was getting drenched, I freaking didn't really care about anything, I was practically blind with rage. I focused my sight as I upturned my face to the sky. He led me to a spot by the wall and under a window. I moved about five feet away from the wall, if he was trying to make a move on me, I might not be able to keep myself from beating him up.
"You are totally out of line, Dereck," I said as calmly as I could.
"There's no way to treat a blood whore other than cheaply," he titled his head to the side and looked at me. "You seem mad, Rose; did I do something?" he faked an innocent voice and I resisted the very, very strong urge to punch him out right then and there.
"Dereck, you need to shut up right now," I growled angrily.
"Why, Rose?" he strolled a step towards me and I watched him through narrowed eyes. "Is this subject a little touchy?" he taunted and took another step forward.
"Shut the fuck up, right NOW!" I yelled at him, he stopped for just a second; showing that he was surprised then he went back to strolling towards me.
"You know…if you're as easy to let Adrian Ivashkov get in bed with you, I wouldn't mind—" I cut him off.
"I said shut up, Dereck!" I screamed and I was sure than almost all of campus could hear me. Dereck ignored me and kept coming closer, we were no more than three inches apart.
"Well, Rose, if you want me to shut up…you might have to," he raised an eyebrow and I didn't move; afraid that if I did I would end up doing something I might regret- punching Dereck Hays out and getting fired from my job and getting kicked out of this academy. He once again interrupted my unresponsiveness the wrong way.
"Ah, so you do want it," he mused and I was livid. "Why would you let a scum like Adrian Ivashkov touch you?" Dereck demanded.
"Adrian Ivashkov has never touched me, I never would have let him," I said dangerously. "I am a guardian,"
He flattered for a moment and peered at me. "Why didn't you say anything before then?"
"Because I was concentrating on not beating the shit out of you!" I shouted and threw my hands up exasperated.
"Then how come you said that you owe a lot to Adrian Ivashkov?" he demanded.
"Because Adrian has given me a lot of money, to do the things I need to," my rage was slowly decreasing and I was focusing on cooling down- the rain helped with that.
"Then didn't you at least defend yourself?"
"I already told you; because I was controlling myself, unlike you, I have learned to control myself to some extent," I rolled my eyes then turned back to him and fixed him with a steady stare. "And if you ever call me a blood whore again, I will hurt you; remember that. I will not tolerate your shit full mouth just because I'm the same age as you. It doesn't matter, I am a guardian, and you are not. I am your mentor, I have a higher power than you, and you have to listen to what I say. It is so obvious, so you will listen to what I say and will obey my orders. Understand?" he nodded his head, but I could tell that he was starting to be ashamed of his actions. I probably should have stopped lecturing him, but I didn't want to, not now. "I should take you to Headmistress Modia," as soon as I said this Dereck looked at me beseechingly.
"You can't do that! She said that the next time I mess up, I'm out! They'll cut me from the field experience and I won't graduate!" his voice was panicked and his face was just priceless. I couldn't help from laughing.
Picture a teenage boy…who looks scared, worried, pleading, ashamed, and then add confused and embarrassed to the face. Then try to imagine trying to keep a straight face if you saw that- I just couldn't.
"Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry," I panted out when my laughing had cut down a significant bit. "That was just too funny," I sighed and stared at him and he stared back.
So we just stood there for about four or five minutes in pouring rain, just meeting each other's gazes steadily. Dereck finally broke the silence by saying, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you a blood whore and I shouldn't have lost it," he met my gaze still and I saw that he actually meant it and that he wasn't bullshiting me.
I nodded sagely. "Damn right, you shouldn't have called me a blood whore," I said angrily, but then decided that there was no use showing him how mad I really was about it. I could wait until he was gone to take out my anger.
He hung his head. "I'm sorry, Rose, I really am,"
"Right, go back to your friends,"
He looked up at me surprised. "You're not mad?"
I didn't respond and his face fell. "Leave, Dereck, go back to your friends,"
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow? In the gym for practice?" he asked hopefully.
I nodded and he smiled. I didn't smile back. His face fell once again, but he did turn to go. "I'll see you later then," he called over his shoulder and I waited till the sound of the door clicking shut to take out my anger.
"Rrrrrr!" I growled and swung my arm back and punched the wall. Pain shot through my hand and when I pulled back to inspect it, all the skin on my knuckles and around them was broken and bleeding pretty badly. "Fuck," I cursed and reached into my sweater and pulled out my iPod and stuck one earphone in and left the other dangling; I turned it on and jumped at how loud the volume was. I rinsed off my hand in the rain, but it did no good. The blood was coming faster now and it was thick, the rain hardly thinning it. I went into the Moroi dorm to go ask for a bandage, a big bandage.
"Rose?"
I turned to see Dereck looking at me confused, and then his face lit up. "Are you coming back to meet my friends?"
I lifted my hand and waved him off. "No, um, not now, no," I mumbled. His eyes widened and he stared at my hand and I realized that I had lifted the hand that was bleeding. Aw, shit.
"Rose, what happened?" he asked, astonished.
"Um, nothing, I, um fell," I muttered and kept moving.
Dereck caught up with me, of course. "Rose –"
"Fuck off, Dereck,"
"Rose, you didn't –"
"I told you to fuck off. Remember you have to listen to my orders and that's an order. Leave me alone right now."
Dereck looked at me for a second and then said, "No,"
I stopped walking. "Excuses me?"
"I said no, I'm not letting you walk around with your hand all scraped up,"
"And I said, leave me alone right now, or I will resign my position as your guardian," I retorted and he looked taken back.
"You'd really do that?" he asked astounded.
"Yeah, I would. Is it so hard to go hang out with your friends? No, I don't think so, so leave!" I ordered. This was a direct order and he couldn't reject it. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Fine, bye, Rose," and he walked away. I nodded in approval; he would start listening to my orders.
My hand was hurting like hell and I practically ran to the secretary's desk. "I need a bandage, now," I said.
"Why? What's wrong sweetie?" the secretary said in a sweet voice, with a slight southern twang. I held out my hand wordlessly and she gasped, "Oh my goodness! Honey, we've got to get you to the clinic,"
I shook my head. I didn't want another lecture from the Doc. "Okay," I lied. "I'll go there right now, thanks," I said and spun on my heel and walked out the door and into the rain. I went back to the guardian dorms instead of the clinic. In the kitchen that was available all the time, I banged through cupboards looking for some type of first aid kit or something to wrap my hand up in. I finally found an ace bandage in one of the bottom cupboards and I stuck my hand out and started wrapping it up around it. The blood soaked through, so I just wrapped more around. Then I remembered that I probably should have rinsed my hand off.
I quickly unwrapped my hand and ran over to the sink to clean it off. There was some alcohol in another cupboard and squeezed it out into my cuts.
"Ah!" I cried as the alcohol stung; my hand felt like it was on fire. I bit my lip to keep any other protests from coming out as I turned off the tap and let the alcohol sink into my cut. I reached for the bandage and started rewrapping it around my hand. I chuckled to myself, thinking that I could even put on a bandage right.
Once it was back on I stuck the last little bit under the bottom so it would stay put. I shook my hand out and sucked in a quick breath as it stung. If I can face Strigoi, I can handle some alcohol, I told myself sternly and made closed all the doors that I'd opened and went to the pantry and looked for some type of snack. I found this weird kind of granola bar, but when I put it in my mouth, I thought I was in love; those things were amazing! I finished the whole thing in about two minutes and went up to my room. I check wanted to check my e-mail. There was one from my mom asking where I was and how I had became a guardian- I said that I wasn't in America and repeated that I was Guardian Hathaway.
There was one from Lissa asking for specifics- I replied without giving her any and just repeating that I was at an Academy not in America.
Then there was one from Adrian saying that he was surprised at my request but he would visit my dreams none the less (like it actually was something taxing!-I rolled my eyes at that. He wanted to know where I was too- I didn't give him anything too detailed, just sketchy facts.
Someone was banging on my door. "Rose! Rose! Get out here! We've got to go to dinner!" I recognized Mikhail's voice and got out to open the door. My ribs still hurt, but I was doing all I could to ignore that fact.
I opened the door to see an irritated Mikhail Tanner standing there soaking wet. "Mikhail, do you know how to change your clothes?" I said dryly.
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I do, I just needed to get you out and down for dinner," he said and I looked at him.
"Why do I need to be there?"
"Alexander sent for you," he answered. "Now, go down there and I need to get changed," then the just left.
"See you," I muttered and stocked off to the guardian cafeteria. When I walked in, everyone looked up, and then went back to talking quietly, but I could still feel a few people watching me. I ignored them.
I served myself a plate of spaghetti and meet balls and went to sit at an empty table by myself. I ate silently and was thinking about how I would need to control myself better when I heard a chair lightly scrape back. I looked up and saw Alexander standing above me with a kind smile. "Is this seat taken?" he asked and I shook my head and waved aimlessly with my fork.
He placed his own plate of spaghetti down and sat in front of me. I didn't say anything and kept eating, he didn't speak either. Could I control myself with Dereck when he was like that? Even if he decided to call me a blood whore again? Yes, the answer came to my mind right away and it wasn't the type of thought that you could doubt either. I took another mouth full of spaghetti and stared out the window as the rain was falling down very heavily and splashing off the ground and bouncing right back up. It was beautiful; a lot of people didn't like the rain, but I loved it.
The thought of Lissa came into my head and I starting thinking about what I would say to her, if I got back to her. Would I be able to tell her the whole story and not cut anything out of it? I owed her at least that much, I would telling her everything and answer all her questions truthfully. I had to do that and anything else she asked of me. I would do anything for Lissa. After this, I would focus on only her and I wouldn't let anything else come in my way of doing my job guarding her. But you might not get assigned to her; the cold voice broke my thoughts. It was right though, I might not get assigned to her, and I certainly didn't deserve to be. I would not be fit to guard a Dragomir Princess in the Queen's eyes. Hell, I wasn't fit to guard even a Dragomir in my own eyes. I shook my head and told myself not to expect anything from anyone because they didn't owe me anything. If anything was owed, it would be me owing about the whole word to them; I really did owe my friends so, so much. I would need to apologize to them when I got back and I needed to make my absence up to Lissa somehow.
I wouldn't even argue with the Queen if she objected to let me be Lissa's guardian and I wouldn't even fuss about it.
"Rose?" Alexander said and I looked up at him surprised.
"Did you say something?"
He laughed. "Aren't you a little out of it today, Rose?" he joked and I threw him a small smile, nothing flirty or anything, just friendly.
"I am, just a little bit; so what were you saying?" I asked politely, putting down my fork and intertwining my fingers.
"I asked you what happened to your hand," he said, looking pointedly at my right hand and back to my face.
"I, um, fell," I muttered.
He threw his hands up exasperated. "You too!"
I immediately snapped into attention. "What do you mean?" I demanded.
He looked at me suspiciously, but answered my question. "The students, a number of them are coming into the clinic very injured, saying that they just fell," he said and I froze. "It's ridiculous, they come into the clinic with burned welts on their faces and they expect us to believe that they've simply fallen down?"
I jumped up. "Are they all Moroi? Royals?" I demanded.
He thought it over for a few seconds and nodded. "Yes, they are all Royal Moroi," I started walking to the door and Alexander had followed me.
"Where are you going?" he demanded. All the other guardians were staring at us in surprise and curiosity. I took his wrist and pulled him out the door. "I am going to save this Academy, because I'm sure that you wouldn't want it to be over run by Strigoi, do you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "No, you don't; and I don't want a replay of what happened and my academy, alright?" I talked quickly and in a low voice.
"What are you talking about?" Alexander asked.
I looked at him bluntly. "The Mána,"