Within the blink of an eye I was back on my feet despite the gut wrenching pain that was being kicked back and forth across my abdomen as though it were a soccer field. A battle scream escaped my mouth and I charged the Strigoi standing in front of the door way. There was no time for hesitation, it was the most common reason why guardians failed against the undead; well second most common the fact that the Strigoi wield insane strength and speed was the most common. I felt Lissa's fear coarse through my veins as my body impacted against the Strigoi. It wasn't a graceful maneuver, heck it wasn't even a maneuver just a good old classic body bashing. Kind of pointless really, because it barely had an impact.
"So eager to die." The Strigoi leaned down and spat his words against my cheek, spraying me with his killer undead breath. He wrapped his arms around my body pulling it in close to his, his grip tightening harshly in an attempt to stop my struggle. "You smell delicious.." He decided to emphasize his words by skimming his nose along and up my cheek.
I threw my head back just as he pulled his nose from my cheek, catching him off guard. He lost his grip on me completely with the head butt giving me the chance to pivot slightly, throwing my elbow into the side of his face. "You smell like a rotting corpse." I said as I turned completely and followed up the elbow, aiming a right hook at his face. My knuckle caught only air as he moved at lightning speed to reposition himself behind me once more. "FYI... I'm not into the whole taking it from behind thing." I said, turning so that we were face to face but a little taken aback by the proximity with his face just inches from mine.
"Just do it!" Victor yelled across the parlor at the Strigoi. "Stop stalling and just finish it."
As I was about to make a sarcastic retort I felt the Strigoi's hands slip through my long dark raven locks and grip down firmly on them. He yanked twice to make sure he had a firm grip and then used it as a way to catapult me back against the bookcase behind him, turning my body in the process so that I went face first into multiple shelved case. My forehead and nose was the first parts to impact against the ancient wood. His hand twisted in my hair and he twisted my face, pulling it back briefly away from the bookcase and then slammed me back into it again causing the self to snap and books to fall to the floor. He loosened his grip completely on my hair and stepped back allowing me to fall freely on my own accord. I slithered down the bookcase and felt my ass hit the floor, my hands reaching up to hold onto one of the shelves to stop myself from losing my balance completely.
"Leave her alone.." Lissa screamed out as Adrian held her back against the window. Any emotions that had been seeping from her to me from our bond had completely ceased probably overpowered by the physical pain I was feeling. "Please stop..." Lissa looked across the room at Victor, who was still guarded closely by the three moroi and three guardians. "Take me instead." A hasty plea entered on her part, she was trying to save me but in doing so she would condemn herself and ultimately that would destroy me.
"No." Victor cried out. "We had an arrangement, Travis."
I looked up at the Strigoi and watched as his attention wavered from Lissa to me. Dhamphir blood was almost intoxicating for Moroi and the same could be said for Moroi blood to Strigoi. The struggle was evident on his face, the battle between the need to complete his so called agreement in killing me and the want to take Lissa for himself. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was reliving the scene earlier with Dimitri, outside of the gymnasium after my bust up with Davies.
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.
I gripped onto the bookshelf tightly and pulled myself up onto my knees. Reaching up to the next shelf, I pulled myself up even further to stand on my own feet. "Travis..." I called out to him, spitting blood from my mouth in doing so. He looked over his shoulder at me, a grin touching his lips as he took in my bloodied and disheveled appearance. "How are you at bowling?"
The question was enough to wipe the smirk from his mouth and let confusion cloud his face completely. I made my move, lunging away from the bookshelf counting on the darkness to consume me and it did. As soon as my hands touched his chest, a twinge of white hotness burnt through my skin and set me and my senses on fire. I pushed on his chest with the darkness engulfing me and watched happily as he was knocked back several feet, though unlike Davies he managed to keep his balance.
"Someone's had their wheeties.." Adrian commented under his breath.
No hesitation, I reminded myself. I lunged forward again throwing my entire body into his and knocking him back into Lissa and Adrian. The four of us went through the patterned window and fell a short distance onto the grass surrounding the house.
Adrian was the first to react, he reached across the darkened grass and pulled on Lissa's arm rolling her body closer to his, trying to get her out of harms way. I sighed and pressed the palm of my hands against the slightly damp grass, tucked my knees under my chest and pushed myself up off of the ground. I turned to look over my shoulder at Travis hoping to find him still writhing around on the floor but no such luck. He was standing directly behind me, a twisted grin playing at his lips. His hand wrapped tightly around my neck and he pulled on my body, pulling me closer to him.
"Victor was right about you," I could hear the smirk in his voice which only pissed me off even more. "You're feisty."
To prove his point, I threw my body back against his with all the strength I had and knocked him off his feet. We toppled and I fell on top of him, his hand moved from my neck and rested on my waist. A shiver went through my body as I felt his other hand slide up my leg to the other side of my waist. This was a joke right? We were fighting to the death and the undead guy was trying to cop a feel? I frowned and threw my head back, head butting him once again causing him to lose his grip on me. I threw my body off of his and rolled away to the side.
"Hathaway!" I looked up from the floor and watched as Davies and Tasha approached us from the darkness. Without warning a set of flames circled the Strigoi laying on the floor beside us. Adrian and Lissa were still laying on the floor, they hadn't moved throughout the commotion. I reached across and pulled on Lissa's arm, pulling her body on top of mine. I rolled us to the side, fronting my back as the wall between the flame and her. The screams from the Strigoi rang loudly through my ears.
"Rose move now..." Tasha's voice called out to me. I jumped to my feet and helped Lissa up from the floor and pulled her aside to where Adrian was now standing. Looking over my shoulder I watched as the bright red and orange flames completely swallowed the Strigoi. His screams became louder and I watched through the flames, his body convulsing erratically. Within seconds the screams along with any movement died out. But I was mesmerized by the burnt corpse that lay beneath my feet.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" The strong out pour of concern from Lissa seeped through our bond and suddenly I was no longer looking at the corpse but looking at myself through her eyes. I looked like I had just gone one on one with a Strigoi who had almost royally kicked my ass but despite my disheveled and bloody appearance the cause of her concern wasn't the free flowing blood from various different wounds but rather my coal black eyes.
"Stop." I sighed and was pulled instantly back into my own skin. I had never before had so much control over the bond; to be able to pull myself back from the clutch of Lissa's conscious at any time. "Just stop.." I whispered in a weak tone but feeling anything but. Turning to look over my shoulder at Davies and Tasha, "Get them back to the van." I ordered, ignoring the fact that technically Davies was still my mentor, in or out of school grounds.
"No," Lissa frowned determined. "I"m not leaving you again."
"I'm not arguing, Liss." I didn't need to look through her eyes to know that my eyes were still pitch black representing the darkness that had escaped me.
She was about to back down but thought better of it. Shaking her head like a petulant child, she folded her arms across her chest. "I'm staying with you, you need me." But what she really meant was that she needed me. "Besides, I can heal your wounds." Taking a step towards me, she went to rest her hand on my shoulder but I stepped back from her touch.
"Davies..." I looked past Lissa and nodded at him. He walked towards Lissa and before she could protest, he threw her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing at all.
Tasha walked the short distance separating us, stopping a foot away from me. She reached up and touched the side of my cheek with her hand, her eyes sad with emotion. "Your too young to bare the brunt of this anguish. Find a way to release it, Rose or you will forever be scarred." Tasha was the prime example of someone who had been scarred for life but through perseverance she had not let those scars define who she was. "Finally joining the party?" She looked up at the manor, a small smile playing at her lips.
I turned and there standing in front of the glass window I had dove out of with the Strigoi in a game of Moroi bowling was Dimitri, Christian and Victor who held his hands in front of him with a ring of fire circling his wrists, not quite touching his skin but close enough that his face was taut from the pain. Though his expression changed once his eyes assessed me, and that creepy older man smile was back in place. "Interesting.."
Dimitri patted his shoulder a little too hard and Victor stumbled and fell forward, face first out of the broken window and onto the grass below my feet. And despite the commotion the fire handcuffs circling his wrists didn't falter once. Dimitri jumped down from the manor, leaned down and picked the fallen prince up off the floor and stood him back up on his two feet. "Tasha, will you take him back to the van?"
Tasha nodded, "Sure Dimka." I winced on the inside at the sound of her pet nickname for him. "We shouldn't wait around too long, we don't know who or what else he has lurking in the shadows to protect him." Dimitri simply nodded and Tasha along with Christian and Victor began to walk away towards the forest where we had stored the van.
"You really shouldn't leave those two alone together, it's not exactly all professional with them." Victor said to Tasha as they walked away. My face burned red with embarrassment as Tasha turned to quickly glance over her shoulder at Dimitri and I before pushing on his back to urge Victor forward.
As soon as the three of them were out of earshot I decided to go on a little rant. "What is he, 12? It wasn't enough to kidnap my best friend, have one of his little Strigoi guard dogs try and kill me but he has to out us too, so fucking childish." I frowned and kicked at a stone on the floor.
"I'm not worried about that." Dimitri reached forward and cupped my chin, lifting my face so I would directly at me. "Roza..." Was all he said when he looked into my eyes. His concern for my well being was almost too much to bare, he could see into the darkness of my soul. And for once I didn't want him too. The darkness was already tainting my friendship with Lissa, I could feel the hostility towards her inside of me building up. I didn't and couldn't have that happen to my relationship with Dimitri, it was too precious to me.
"I'm not coming back with you..." I mumbled deciding right there and then my fate could no longer be intertwined with his.