I don't own Vampire Academy, Ms Richelle Mead does.
Someone was shaking me.
"Posey... Wake up. We're here." Dominic whispered in my ear. "Come on, let's go. It's 7 in the evening here. We don't want you more jetlag than you are now, do we?"
"I'm up," I replied in a croaky voice, touching the cold sweat on my forehead.
Dominic carried my luggage out of the aircraft and into the airport.
Just as we finished going through airport security, and into the departure area, I saw a man in a white suit, with gold studded earrings and a beard.
"DAD!" I said happily as I ran and hugged him. "I've missed you!"
He hugged me back. "I've missed you too. You've grown so much."
I smiled broadly and pulled back from the hug, allowing my father and Dominic to exchange greetings.
Once we exited the airport and headed out into the open I was engulfed by heat. How did I not just melt then and there? It was boiling, even though it was soon-to-be sunset. I removed my leather jacket immediately.
"Dad, how are you not boiling?" I asked as I realised he was covered up in one of his expensive suits.
"I've adapted to the heat, dear," he replied as we made our way to a flash, sleek, black range rover.
I almost squealed once I touched the car. My father threw me the keys.
"You're driving."
"But I don't have a license..."
He handed both Dominic and I, a shiny, white card; a license.
My father's directions of how to get to an apartment somewhere downtown in Palm Springs were very 'short notice'. He'd tell me to turn just as we went past the turn.
I decided to skim read through the details on my license. It showed that I came from South Dakota and I didn't mind that; until I saw my name. I was expecting to see Rosalie Hathaway. Instead, I saw Rosalie Melrose.
"Um Dad, 'Melrose'?"
"I was just going to ask that too," said Dominic. "Mine says Dominic Melrose." He began to laugh. "Are Rose and I going to be pretending to be twins?" He laughed even more loudly this time.
My father smiled. "Why yes, that's exactly what you're both pretending to be."
I almost swerved into a car which was going in the opposite direction. I looked in the rear-view mirror and I saw Dominic's eyes widen. That was a good sign. It showed that we were both startled by my father's plan.
Once we arrived at the apartment building, it was almost 10pm. I parked next to a brown, latte coloured jeep. It was shiny but not as shiny as this beautiful range rover.
"Wait," my father said as both Dom and I got out of the car. "Once we go up into the apartment, I want you both to listen to what the plan is. One flaw and we could fail this mission. It concerns the Queen's younger sister, Jill Mastrano."
The only thing I knew about the Queen was her name and her specialisation. Her name was Vasilisa Dragomir, and she had specialised in the rare element that Moroi specialised in; spirit. That was all I knew of her, besides the knowing of her illegitimate sister, Jill Mastrano.
St. Niklaus' Academy was the only place I had managed to keep up the vampire world. But ever since I attended uni, I began to lack knowledge of what was happening.
I locked the car and followed Dom and my father up to the first floor.
"Abe's here," said a new voice. "With two guests."
How did he know that? The door wasn't even open, or transparent.
A young girl, about my age, opened the door and her eyes widened when she saw me. She had blonde hair and a golden lily tattooed on her left cheek. She was an Alchemist. I had never met one before.
"Rose," she smiled as I walked into the room.
How did she know my name? She didn't even seem to know Dominic's name.
This apartment was pretty flash. It was yellow and it made me feel cheerful and calm.
5 people were inside the apartment. There was the alchemist, two Dhampirs and two Moroi. One of the Dhampirs, the male one, looked at me with a lust in his eyes.
"Rosa," he whispered gently.
He was very tall, probably about 6'7". He was tan with brown eyes and he had shoulder length hair, a lighter brown than mine. He was probably in his mid twenties. Beside him stood the other Dhampir; a short, tanned girl with dark auburn hair. She looked about 14 or 15 years old. Her facials spelled cocky all over.
Opposite the two Dhampirs were the two Moroi. The male Moroi looked rigid and uncomfortable as he avoided my gaze.
"Rose," he said stiffly as he lit a cigarette and began smoking it almost immediately.
He looked not that much older than me. He had brown hair, which was styled to look messy and emerald green eyes. He was pale and had a tall, lean build. He was hot.
"Rose, I never thought I'd see you again," said the female Moroi as she hugged me. She was probably in her mid-forties and had a crazy, but loving look in her eyes. When I didn't hug her back, she stared at me, puzzled.
"Introductions, introductions," my father said as everyone was silent, except for the sound of the Moroi male exhaling the smoke of his cigarette.
"But we already know each other—" the alchemist was cut off.
"Introductions Miss Sage," replied my father, calmly.
No one spoke so I decided to start it off.
"Um, hi. I'm Rosalie Hathaway."
"And I'm Dominic Vercetti," said Dominic as he tried to look thoughtful.
"Sydney Sage," said the alchemist dreadfully.
"I'm Angeline Dawes," said the short Dhampir girl. Her accent sounded weird; similar to an old Southern American one.
"I'm Dimitri Belikov," said the tall Dhampir, with a faint trace of a Russian accent. He looked at me as if he felt utterly ridiculous about introducing himself.
"Sonya Karp," said the female Moroi as she smiled warmly at me.
"And I'm Adrian Ivashkov blah blah blah," said the hot Moroi guy as he threw the remainder of his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out.
Instead of introducing himself, my father smiled at us all before filling a few of us in on the mission he wanted Dom and I here for.
"Sydney, you will take Miss Dawes, Mr Vercetti and Rose back to Amberwood with you. Miss Dawes, who will be known as Angeline Melrose, will be your little sister. She will be Jill's new roommate. As for you two," my father addressed Dom and I, "you will be twins."
"Twins!" Sydney exclaimed. "Eddie and I are already twins! Rose, and Dominic cannot be twins AND our siblings because we are all practically the same age!"
"Miss Sage, calm yourself. Rose and Dominic will be your 'half' siblings."
"Wow, dad must have got around; having such a big family and all," I muttered.
I had a feeling Adrian had heard me because he laughed very loudly.
"You and Rose will be roommates whereas Mr Vercetti, I'm afraid I have no idea who you will be rooming with," my father continued as if there was no interruption. "And Miss Sage, mind explaining to your half siblings the rest of their family at Amberwood?"
"No, not at all," replied Sydney as she sat down in a chair, looking deep in thought.
"10 minutes for you all to have a little bicker amongst yourselves and then the Melrose students are headed back to Amberwood," said my father as he and Sonya began to talk.
Adrian looked curious and confused. He took me by my arm and pulled me to a corner of the apartment, clearly out of earshot.
"Is this when we kiss and live happily ever after?"I asked, smiling.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm afraid not," he replied, faking a pout. "Rosalie, did you say?"
I nodded and finally couldn't suppress my giggles. Adrian tilted his head to the side and stared at me.
"Oh, you can call me Rose. And sorry, it's just that you have a funny accent."
Adrian smiled. "Me, have a funny accent? I could say the same about yours. So, what school did you attend? St. Vladimir's?"
"St. Vladimir's? Nope, I went to St. Niklaus'."
"Isn't that the academy in New Zealand?" he asked, almost surprised.
"Yup. You've heard of it?"
"Once or twice. And I'm guessing that's what kind of accent you have; a New Zealand one," he said as if he knew all along.
"You give me the impression that we've met before," I said, curiosity on my face.
"Do you know who Rosemarie Hathaway is?" He asked as he fired up another cigarette of his.
"Nope. No clue. It sounds like my name..." I couldn't help it but I snatched the cigarette out of his hand.
"Hey! Give that back."
"No. Smoking is bad for you," I replied as I reached into his pocket and grabbed his cigarette pack.
"Oh? Fine. I don't need it," he said, smiling. His eyes betrayed him. He did need his cigarettes. "I think your father needs to have a little word with you. About the Rosemarie Hathaway thing, not the 'taking away an innocent guy's cigarettes'."
I wondered what he was talking about and I remembered that my father had said something about him and my mother needing to tell me something. Then, maybe I'd find out how everyone seemed to know me...
"I'll see you at Jill's next feeding, yeah? And maybe we could get to know each other?" he said as he looked over at my father. My father gave him a look of approval and Adrian smiled.
"I think I'd like to get to know you over lunch or dinner," I replied.
I walked over to Dimitri, wanting to ask him why he looked at me so knowingly.
"Rosa, what are you doing here?" Dimitri asked as he smiled and placed his hands on my waist.
"I'm here because my father wanted me here?" I said as I wriggled out of his reach. "Do I know you?"
His smile faltered, making him look a little hurt. "You—you don't know me? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"
"Huh? No. I've never seen you in my life. This is the first time we've met."
"Time to leave," my father called out.
"See you around, Dimitri," I said as I headed over towards the doorway.
"Look after your car, dear," my father whispered in my ear.
I almost fainted. "My car? Are you serious, dad!"
He nodded.
"Oh my gosh!" I said as I hugged my father, rather tightly. "Thanks so much dad!"
In a split second, I had a name for the range rover. The French meaning for black, Noir. I liked it.
"You're welcome. Now, be on your way. You don't want to get into trouble on your first day now, do you?"
Before leaving the apartment, I had realised that tomorrow was a Saturday. It was possible for Adrian and I to have lunch. I turned to face him.
"Hey Adrian, have your wallet ready. You're buying lunch tomorrow. I'll pick you up at half past 12." I flashed him my car keys and he laughed.
"Til then," he answered, flashing me a breath taking grin.
I had a feeling I was going to like Palm Springs.