His hands reached up to touch my shoulder, lightly caressing it as he leaned down from his six foot seven frame to kiss me. As we break apart to catch some air, I can't help but look up into his soulful dark eyes and lose myself in them. A smile perked on my lips all too ready to embrace his again. He leaned down again and kissed me softly while his hands shape the base of my neck, his touch more of a massage than a soft caress working out the rest of the knots. A soft moan escaped my lips as his his hands and his mouth washes away everything else but him. The bed creaked as I moved onto my knees without breaking the kiss to shorten the distance between us. I moved my lips from his mouth, kissing the corners of his lips and start to make a trail until my lips lightly brush against his neck. I took in a deep breath, smelling him into me. "I love you," I whispered against his neck completely lost in the moment, lost in him.
"You are mine. I love you Roza." And with that his soft hands, remarkable really considering the years of turbulent abuse they had subjected to were no longer soft or light. The mood had changed with our words, his hunger for me had grown as his caresses had become tighter and his kisses more passionate. He took ahold of my hands and pinned me down against the bed, taking control. My own insatiable need for him caused my usual fighting instincts to lay low, this was one time I definitely didn't want to battle him for power. I was more than willing to be his student again. A soft moan escaped my lips as his hands moved down my bare naked arms and crossed over my taut stomach moving their way down...
"Ooouch" A loud screech escaped my lips as I opened my eyes and stepped away from the now scorching hot spray emitting from the shower. My breath hitched trying to recover from both the memory of being with Dimitri and the roasting hot wake up call. A deep sighed escaped my lips as I stepped out of the shower, wishing that I could relive last night over and over again, with Dimitri. Walking across the the bathroom, I grabbed a towel from the towel rack, wrapped it around my body and fitted it with a knot to stay in place. Reaching across the sink, I wiped my hand across the mirror several times until I could see my reflection clearly. Last night had essentially been the turning point with him, there was no going back now. Not that I wanted to.
"Rose.." Her voice called out to me and with that a sudden rush of emotion enveloped me. My hands clenched onto the edge of the sink for support as I was overpowered and pushed out of my own body.
"JUST DO IT!" His breath was hot and heavy against her ear, he was so close she could smell the perspiration leaking from his pores. His proximity and loud voice would have normally been enough to make her shake with fear but he held something sharp against her captured wrists and slowly cut away at her pale skin. "NOW!"
"I can't" Lissa's voice shook as she cried out from the pain. "Please stop." She wailed, trying to hold onto the tiniest of hope that I or someone would come bursting through the large marble doors and save her. "Please stop.." She whimpered as the tears ran freely down the side of her face, leaving a wet trail down her cheeks.
"Yes you can," His volume may have eased but his voice was still menacing. "And if you don't, I'll move pretty boy over here so that when I slit his throat his Royal blood will wash over you and that'll be on you princess."
Lissa's water filled eyes cleared as she blinked and looked up across the room. There sitting less than twenty feet away was Adrian, who like her was bound by his feet and hands. His usually pretty face was already stained with blood, his left eye half closed no doubt due to a beating he hand be subjected to. "I'm sorry.." Lissa whispered to him but her voice didn't carry that far. She was too distraught. "I can't."
"Bring him over here," The Moroi man called over and suddenly within the blink of an eye Adrian had been dragged across the stone cobbled floor and was sitting directly in front of Lissa, still completely bound. The blond Moroi turned back and looked down at Lissa, his eyes baby blues framed by a perfect set of dark lashes were hard and cold like ice. "Then this is on you."
"No!" I cried out. Lissa shook in her seat as my voice echoed through her head.
"Rose?" She asked aloud, unable to filter her thoughts from her mouth. She was completely exhausted, torn and beaten. Her tired mind opened as much as it could to me and she welcomed me in, all too easily. I felt the power shift between the of us as she struggled against her restraints and touched Adrian's fingers with her own. And with that touch, I felt the darkness completely engulf me. Her own body awoke with the power and she began to physically heal both herself and Adrian, at my expense.
"He will be pleased." The blonde wannabe Tom Cruise standing at her side laughed and began to walk away from Lissa who was still healing herself.
"Lissa" Adrian's voice cracked and blood splattered from his mouth, his wounds were healing but it wouldn't make the blood that had already been tortured out of him disappear.
"You just made the biggest mistake of your life."
The blonde Moroi turned and walked back over to him, bending down so that the two of them were on the same eye line. "And why's that, princess?" He asked, mocking her.
"Because I'm going to rip out your jugular and spit on your dying corpse." Lissa blinked back in her chair stunned from the words that had just escaped her lips, because they hadn't been her words. They had been mine.
I fumbled my way down the corridor still dressing myself as I hurried to meet the others. Thanks to my little blood bonding session with Lissa I was sporting a badass headache that wouldn't quit, darker than normal eyes and a busted lip thanks to a little encounter I had with the bathroom sink. And this was only the start of my day, I sighed as my half ran down to the gymnasium where I was meeting with the others. Pushing through the double doors, I walked in just as I buckled the belt on my jeans. All eyes turned and were on me. "Sorry I'm late.. I ugh, had a bit of trouble with a sink." I joked as I walked further into the gym.
They were gathered in a little circle no doubt going over the brilliance of a Tasha Ozera plan, I thought bitterly to myself as I noticed she was standing a little too close to Dimitri. "Jesus, Hathaway." Davies was the first one to speak, his eyes scanned my appearance and he shook his head. "You look like you lost the fight with the sink."
"Bite me." My tone was snarky to match my mood. I wasn't in the mood to say my P's and Q's, let alone kiss the ass of an instructor.
"Watch it, Hathaway." Davies warned. "We're still on school grounds and I'm still your instructor."
Your still an ass, I thought to myself but bit my tongue. I looked down at the mat beneath our feet where a bunch of crystal styled jewelry was laid out. "So, this is the genius plan? I storm the compound wearing a bunch of charms which will undoubtedly be removed from my possession as soon I step foot onto the Dashkov compound and then what, I'm left with my killer right hook and Hathaway wit?" I looked up from the floor and met disapproving eyes from every which way. "What? I'm just stating the obvious."
"No, your just being a bitch." Christian butted in. He sighed and folded his arms across his chest in order to appear more manly, no doubt but he just looked like a tiny Moroi next to the two male guardians standing either side of him.
"I'm sorry this here is for the grown ups who can pack a punch, why don't you go back and sit at the kiddies table. Once this is all over and Lissa is back where she belongs, I'll let you know. Until then why don't you go and make yourself useful... singe a marshmallow or something." I nudged him aside with my elbow and shoulder, making more room for myself within the circle and completely blocking him out.
As soon as his hand touched my shoulder I felt a twinge of hotness burning through my hooded sweatshirt, I turned slightly and clenched my fist. As I extended my elbow to follow through with the punch, I felt Davies hand grip my bicep holding it back. Fight or flight, out of instinct I turned in my sneakers clenched my other hand tightly and threw a punch at him. Only this time no one held me back and my fist impacted against his face, knocking him off balance and throwing him back a couple of feet.
"What the f--" Davies looked at me stunned.
"Rose?" Dimitri's soft voice called out to me. I was expecting mentor tone to kick in, a harsh telling off for striking an instructor but it he called out to me, asking not telling.
I looked up at him and then over to Davies and took in a deep breath. I had just knocked a well muscled, stronger and more experienced Guardian back more than what was possibly, or at least possible for a dhamphir novice. My eyes glanced down and I looked at my hands which were still clenched tightly together, ready for another attack. The darkness inside me had never manifested itself so physically. Sure I had felt the occasionally twang of pain when Lissa did and of course the murderous headaches but nothing that made me seem like I was cracked out on steroids for the already enhanced. "It's nothing.." I lied, trying no to let the darkness completely swallow me.
"Nothing?" Christian spat back, unwise really considering he was still standing too close and he hand almost burnt my hoodie. "You just ripped out and went all incredible hulk on Davies," He said mirroring my own ignorance for formalities of name calling. "That's not nothing."
I turned and looked over my shoulder and raised my brow, "Aww, careful Christian your emotions are showing and it seems like you care." My snarky attitude was apparently here to stay. "Look, let's just get this over with and we'll deal with moody broody teenage hormones later, ok?" I bent down and picked up several pieces of the jewelry. "Just tell me what they do and I'll be on my way."
"Your not going alone." Tasha said eyeing me cautiously. "It doesn't work like that. These charms are designed to get you past any magical forces that are trying to keep you out. Once your past their defense system, you'll need as much muscle as you can and that's where we come in." She was the only one looking at me like I wasn't a freak of nature for my little outbursts, but then maybe it was because she had sympathy for freaks of natures considering she never really fitted in anywhere. "Right, Dimka?" Except with Dimitri.
Damn and I was just beginning to warm to her. "Look I know you've got that whole fire thing down but eventually fires burn out." Snippy attitude, check. Condescending tone, check. "With that much power, you'll stop being any use within minutes. So then it's all down to brute force, which is where... we" I pointed around to Davies and then to Dimitri, "Good ol' Davies and little Dimka come in."
Tasha threw her hands on her hips and sighed, tired. "Ok, I get it. Your best friend and your boyfriend have been kidnapped and you've got this whole, I hate the world routine going on. I get it I do, I was a teenager once upon a time. I've been through battles.. obviously" She said referring to her mangled face. "And you usually seem like a nice enough girl, but cut the crap Rose. You need me, I don't have to be here but I am. Because I want to be. I want to help." She paused and looked across at me, "So let me help you."
I was about to scoff that she couldn't help me but once again I felt a hand grip my bicep, only this time it wasn't Davies who had taken ahold of me. It was Dimitri. He looked at the others, "Outside Rose." He wasn't asking this time, he dragged me forcefully across the gymnasium floor and out of the door. Once we were outside his grip tightened on my arm, pushing me close to the wall and trapping me with his presence. He let go of my arm and looked down into my eyes. "Control it..."
My eyes rolled at him and I made a move to push past him but his hand shot out quickly against the wall, stopping me. I turned and looked back up at him. "Aww, not so touchy feely with me today, huh Comrade?" Leaning back against the wall, I threw my shoulders against it and extended my chest pouting. "You want me to control myself? Maybe you should follow what you preach, cause last night you certainly didn't control your self. Now move out of my way." I turned and waited for him to move his arm but he didn't.
His body moved closer to mine, so close that his aftershave washed over me. "I don't know what happened Roza, but I know you can control this..." He whispered into my ear, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.
My face turned to him so that we were merely inches apart. "I don't want to control it," I said a former part of myself surfacing. The darkness was still in the drivers seat but I wanted it to be. "You saw what I did in there, I need that strength if I'm going to save Lissa."
"You have me." He said simply.
"It's not enough." I sighed and pushed past his arm and made my way back inside of the gymnasium. I stopped at the doors at looked at the three of them. "Get your bags, we're leaving. Now."
It was a two hour drive to the Dashkov residence. The plan was to park in the woods just on the outskirts of the compound and to hike our way to the east entrance, where with charms permitting we would disable the magical security setup and then take out any and all guards on patrol. Tasha and Christian would turn on their Carrie at the prom abilities, Dimitri and Davies would use their years of Guardian training to engage any hostiles in hand to hand combat while I would skip up the house and ring the doorbell. Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely the plan. Dimitri had given me strict orders to do surveillance on the house and wait for them before doing anything "Rose like." God knows what he meant by that, I had been a model pupil.
"Hey." Christian moved from his seat in the van to sit beside me. I had purposely sat at the back of the van away from the others for peace and quiet and here he was annoying me. The others were busy talking away in the front, strategizing coming up with contingency plans.
"What do you want, Christian?" I asked tiredly.
"I wanna know what's going on and don't give me that whole teenage mood swings crap and don't tell say it's nothing."
"Maybe I'm just a bitch, did you ever think of that?" I raised my brow and smirked at him.
"No, I know that." He returned my grin and shook his head. "And usually your bitchiness is kind of endearing but its more than that." He paused and glanced down at the others in front of the van before turning back to look at me. He moved closer so that we were almost in each others faces. "You can talk to me."
I was tired. Maybe it was from the lack of sleep from having lost my virginity the previous night or maybe it was from my little one on one session with Lissa, but I was just mentally exhausted. Physically I felt fine and ready to go, but my mind felt too heavily weighed down. "I couldn't stop myself earlier.." I paused trying to find the wording. "The pull she had on me was too much. I felt everything she did through the bond, like normal. She was so scared and in so much pain, Christian." My fingers played around with the edge of the sleeves as I talked, "Hours of being mentally and physically tortured, she was completely drained." I looked up, glanced down at the others who were still talking amongst themselves and then turned back and looked down at my arms. I pulled the hoodie's arms up, exposing my slashed wrists. They were no longer bleeding but they were fresh wounds, they had been Lissa's and now they were mine.
"What the hell?" Christian took ahold of my wrists in his hands and examined them.
I pulled the sleeves quickly down to stop anyone else from seeing. "Usually its headaches now it's becoming more than that.." I frowned.
"You shouldn't be here, Rose." He vocalized his concerns and I noticed he was still holding onto my wrists. "If they knew this..." Christian said referring to my physical pain, "They wouldn't let you be here."
"Exactly." I shrugged, "You saw what I did to Davies earlier. I can use it to my own advantage."
"But at what cost?" He retorted.
The van came to a stop. Davies and Tasha stepped out of the van but Dimitri turned to look back at us before following them.
"I guess we'll find out." I said, patting his shoulder. It was time for some of the usual Hathaway bravado, even if it was faked. "Don't look so grim, flame boy.. we're here to save your girlfriend." I stood up as much as I could in the van and scooted past his body, "Don't look at my ass." I said before stepping on his foot purposely.
"Are you guys ready?" Davies asked as Christian and I stepped out of the van.
"Is your face ugly?" I quipped quickly, "And in case you don't own a mirror, the answer to that would be yes." I sighed and turned my back on them to walk away. "So while you guys are doing the whole G. thing, I'll be doing surveillance... Yep got it."
Tasha and Davies walked off into the darkness, apparently it was a Moroi/Guardian partnership going on. Oh well, at least she wasn't with Dimitri, I suppose that was a plus. Christian walked back to the van, giving Dimitri and I a minute alone.
"Be careful and don't do anything..."
"Rose like?" I asked, finishing his sentence.
Dimitri nodded and leaned down closer to me, whispering. "I mean it.. I can't lose you." My breath caught in my throat from his admission. He turned on his heels and walked over to Christian and they too made their way into the darkness.
I was told to survey.
I was told to be the look out and to wait for them.
But let's be honest, no one bought that. I sighed and stepped up to the front gates of the compound. No need for any magic parlor tricks, no need to work out the old gymnastic bones and climb my way up and over the steel iron gate. A small figure approached me and through the darkness with my heightened senses, I recognised him. It was the blonde wannabe Tom Cruise who had subjected Lissa and Adrian to hours of torture and who had been the one to instigate Lissa into using her magic, the very magic that made me the tortured, brooding, super badass novice standing before him.
"We've been expecting you, Miss Hathaway." He nodded up the the security camera located on the top left hand wall next to the gate and just like that, the iron gates closed behind me. "Mr Dashkov is most eager to see you."
"How's that jugular?" I feigned nonchalance about his statement and retorted with my own quick wit, giving him an inkling that I was the one who in a few short hours would be ripping out his jugular, in some way. Due to my relationship with Lissa, I had figured that Victor would know that I would have tried a snatch and grab job with Lissa.. but that would have been done on the sly, the blonde Tom Cruise was acting like I had been expected to walk through the front gates all along.
Like it had all been planned.
Ok.. Time to panic.