Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your reviews again!
Shout out to Kimavinzant for being my 300th reviewer. I still couldn't believe we hit that mark! Thank you so very much once again.
I'm sorry I haven't been able to post recently. Classes have been hectic and I'm having a hard time catching up. Hope this doesn't reflects in my story!
Onward with the next chapter then, shall we? So, none of the readers pointed out what that 'it' was Shade mentioned :-(
Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
"Lord Belikov!" Shade bowed down.
"Shade." Dimitri replied. None of them could make out the emotion in Dimitri's voice. It wasn't hostile, but wasn't friendly either. Which was quite odd, if you asked because it was very rare a moroi interacted like this with a guardian? He seemed a lot surprised if not shocked to see the guardian.
Meanwhile, Rose took her time to assess the man. He could easily be in his early twenties, Twenty four maybe? He was tall, almost as tall as Dimitri, but much bulkier and tanned. His dirty blonde hair was short, like of every other guardian Rose has ever known. He was wearing a brown long coat which looked a lot like Dimitri's Duster, but was somehow different. He had hazel eyes and Rose couldn't help but notice how devilishly handsome he was! On top of that, he had an accent to which she couldn't place. French, maybe?
Not that she had eyes for anyone other than Dimitri, but the person or should she say, Shade? Was one fine piece of a man!
"What are you doing here?" Dimitri asked, his tone never betraying the lack of emotion.
The smile gracing Shade's lips grew wider into a grin, and Rose saw the human cashier swoon in her peripheral vision.
"I'm here on a vacation," he answered but his eyes shifted to Rose, who was still holding the dress in her hands. She quickly shoved the dress back, remembering his comment from earlier. She was not sure but she saw his eyes darken as he took her in.
"Vacation?" Dimitri moved to stand beside Rose, not liking the gaze of any other man on his Roza. Shade answered but his eyes were still lingering on Rose.
"I took on some of my pending holidays, guess I needed some break from guarding."
"And Ivan let you?" Dimitri's voice left no doubt that he was having a hard time believing his words. Oh! So this was Ivan's Guardian! Rose mused. This is how Dimitri must know him!
"Yes, my boss let me." Shade replied coolly, turning to look at Dimitri now. "I think he was fed up of me, needed some break too." he joked.
"Come on, Lord Belikov. Be done with it. Aren't you happy to see your old friend?" Shade smiled at the younger moroi. Dimitri's stoic face gradually converted into a soft smile as he went ahead to catch him in a friendly hug.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm doing just fine. What about you?"
"Ah, Guardian Panin!" Alberta called walking towards them from across the shop with Stan in tow.
"It's a pleasure Guardian Petrov. How are you doing?" he said shooting a big grin in her way.
"I'm doing just fine, thank you!" Alberta replied as merrily as she could. "I'm glad you took on my request to stay at the academy for few days. The students could learn a lot from you!" she gushed, sounding genuinely pleased.
"Are you a teacher?" It was Lissa's timid voice that caught everybody's attention. It wasn't normal for a moroi to intervene in the Guardian business, but no one could ignore a direct question from a royal authority, even if that authority was a seventeen year old student!
Lissa couldn't tell why, but she was unnerved by Shade's presence. It felt like he was not what he seemed to be. Call it a Spirit intuition, but Lissa had mostly been a good judge of people (except some) all her life and therefore she couldn't shake the feeling that set her off. She called on her spirit powers in order to have a peak in his aura.
Normal blues and yellows surrounded him with hint of red flashing every second his eyes flicked towards Rose. Tell tale signs of lust, she thought wryly. And just when she started to think nothing was wrong, something flashed.
Yes, a flash! It felt like somebody had shown a torch on her while she was in somewhere dark, nearly blinding her. Except there was no dark here! It was gone as soon as it came.
"Pardon me Princess!" Shade bowed down in courtesy. "Guardian Shade Panin. And yes, I'll be there in St. Vladimir's for a few days as a guest teacher."
Lissa couldn't get off the feeling off her. There was something here, right in front of her eyes and she missed it! God dammit! It was an aura, that she was sure of, but whose? She tried to concentrate a little more, trying to summon some more spirit to aid her but nothing, there was nothing in there! Annoyance filled her and she could feel something bubbling inside her. The same dark feeling she had when she'd healed the raven, when she had tried to heal the fox. A sharp pain shot through her head and she faltered right into Dimitri's arms that caught her just in time she staggered.
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you okay, Lissa?" Dimitri asked his hands around her waist to keep her from falling.
"Lissa?!" Christian and Rose exclaimed at the same time and were beside her in a flash.
"Yeah, I…I'm totally fine, don't worry." Lissa assured though her expression betrayed her.
"Can you please take me to the ladies?" she asked leaning against Christian for support.
"Princess, are you sure you're alright? We can cut the trip short…." Alberta hadn't even finished her sentence when Lissa was already shaking her head in negation.
"I'm perfectly fine as I said. I just need to freshen up a little bit." she said.
"Alright, Russell and Bennett accompany the princess and Christian."
"Rose, will you be fine guarding Lord Belikov on your own? We've got to cover for Natalie and …"
"I'm good, I'll do it." Rose replied a little too quickly, eager to spend some time with her boyfriend. Alberta shot her a look but all she got was an angelic smile in reply.
"I would like to accompany you both," Shade's voice halted them.
"But.."
"Actually, I think Guardian Panin is right," Alberta intervened. "It's not totally safe for you two to be on your own."
Any protests by either of them were cut off by one look from Alberta. Reluctantly, they started walking with Shade in their tow.
"So, a guest teacher, huh?" Dimitri asked slipping his arms around Rose's waist, pulling her closer to his side.
Shade watched in amusement as Dimitri tried to 'declare' his territory and hummed in acceptation.
"How old are you?" Rose asked. It wasn't common for there to be a Guardian this young be a guest teacher. He must be something for Alberta to request him to attend St. Vlad's.
"Twenty three," Shade replied eyeing Rose from head to toe.
"You've got five molnijas at the age of twenty three?!" Rose exclaimed having counted his molnijas earlier.
"Aye," Shade said as modestly as he could. Molnijas were nothing to brag about. It was a reminder of all the lives he had taken. Many people called him a cruel bastard, but deep down he still had a heart. Even though it was now covered with a layer of black ice, but it was still there.
"He is one of the best," Dimitri piped in.
"Pardon me, but how do you two know each other?" Rose asked genuinely curious.
"We met four years ago, believe it or not, but we were very good friends back then," Shade replied, his eyes always on Rose. He had seen her pictures earlier and had heard of her beauty, but this was the first time he was seeing her in person. And to say that he was floored would be an understatement. He was totally enthralled by her. She had the perfect body any woman could ever own. Her curves would be enough to tempt any man into oblivion. Her innocent brown eyes almost called onto him and he felt lust burst through him.
"Shade was requested as Ivan's guardian," Dimitri continued guiding Rose inside a clothing shop.
"Isn't he too young to have a guardian?" Rose asked, her brows knitting in confusion. Both Dimitri and Shade chuckled at this, as if it were some private joke.
"Believe me miss, if you came to know the tricks he pulls and the chaos he causes, you would suggest him two guardians instead of one," Shade chuckled.
"Well, he does sound like trouble," Rose conceded.
"Trouble is his middle name!"
"So Lord Belikov," Shade started but was cut off by Dimitri.
"Shade please, it's just us now. Call me Dimitri like you always have." Rose left his embrace to rummage through some daily wear shirts and shorts.
"Dimitri," Shade tried again. "You've changed a lot my friend."
"Yeah, America did me well," Dimitri replied placing a small kiss on Rose's crown.
"Changed a lot?" Rose asked looking up from the rack of clothes. "What was he like before?"
"Oh, definitely not so outspoken!" Shade replied, happy to engage her in a conversation. "He was broody and never talked to anyone. How he and Ivan were best friends was beyond me! They are poles apart, chalk and cheese."
"Shade," Dimitri hissed, embarrassed.
"Oh shush comrade! Let me hear him. I wanna know how you were before you were here!" Rose had now abandoned her shopping stall, leaning in to get some information from Dimitri's past.
Shade chuckled, "He was a momma's boy, introvert and never speaking to any of the girls. You won't believe but he went to the homecoming dances alone, when he had a line of girls chasing him throughout St. Basil's!"
Rose's eyebrows knitted in confusion. The person Shade was describing was nothing like the person she knew him to be. Her Dimitri was sweet and caring, yes, but always outspoken and proud, never giving a shit about anyone. He got into fights and threw punches whenever he felt like. He was broody, yes, but never a celibate!
She turned around to look at him but he was looking anywhere but her way. What could have happened that had changed him like this, totally opposite of his real self. Before she could give some more thought into it, Lissa appeared before them.
"We still haven't found your dress, are you sure you didn't want that one?" Lissa asked looking nothing like a person who had just fainted in front of everyone.
Rose was startled at the sudden interruption and stammered something incoherent. Lissa rolled her eyes and dragged her by the arms to the next designer shop. Rose decided to let the matter slip. For now.
Rummaging through the racks wildly, Lissa pulled a black dress off the rack. She brightened immediately.
"This is the dress, you were born to wear. I don't care how practical you are now."
Made of silky black material, the dress was strapless, like the previous one, but still different. It was sleek, falling about to the knees. Although it had a slight flair at the hemline, unlike the first one, the rest looked like it would definitely manage some serious clinging action. Super sexy.
"This is my dress," Rose admitted. She kept staring at it, wanting it so badly that it ached in her chest. This was the kind of dress that changed the world. The kind of dress that started religions.
Lissa pulled one out in her size. "Try it on." Rose shook her head, "I can't. This is still a training exercise for me."
"Then we'll just get it without you trying it on."She bought that dress.
The afternoon continued and Rose found herself getting tired. Dimitri had joined them along with Christian, Shade and Natalie and together they hit the last shop, a jewelry store.
"Here you go," said Lissa, pointing at one of the cases. "The necklace made to go with your dress." Rose looked. A thin gold chain with gold and diamond rose pendant. And just like the dress, Rose fell in love with it too. She hated rose stuff, she really did, but something about this neck piece tugged her in her heart.
Dimitri was standing just beside her when he saw her appreciating the jewelry. He saw her fingers trace the price tag and her smile fall. He frowned, leaning in to look at the price. It was quite a fortune, yes. But it looked like Rose really liked those.
"I hate Rose stuff." she declared placing the case back on the display. Lissa shook her head and moved to the next counter.
"Come on comrade," Rose urged him to follow her. They were finally finished and it was time to go back to the academy now.
"You go ahead milaya; I've got some errands to run." Dimitri replied, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans casually.
"What errands?" Rose asked.
"Nothing important. Go ahead with Lissa. I have Shade to guard me," he said kissing her forehead.
"Okay," Rose said and left although a little reluctantly.
"So what errands do you have to run?" Shade asked once Rose was out of earshot.
Dimitri smirked and beckoned him, walking into the same jewelers shop.
"Are you tired?" Rose asked leaning against Dimitri's chest. They were back into the vehicles, departing for St. Vladimir's and as promised earlier, Rose was sitting beside her comrade. It had been later than they had planned returning to the academy. It wasn't nightfall yet, but dusk was approaching soon.
"No," Dimitri replied. Although it would have had more effect if he hadn't yawned while saying it. Rose giggled and pecked his chest.
"Why don't you take a little nap? It's some time before we reach the school," she suggested. Dimitri agreed, pulling her towards him.
It was quiet in there, Lissa and Christian already dozing off in the middle seat and Eddie leaning against the widow with his ear buds stuffed, snoring lightly. Guardian Shade was behind the wheel while Stan was acting as his second. Rose snuggled closer to her Russian god relishing in the sense of comfort he provided her.
Screech. Creech. Screech. The radios in the vehicles screeched disrupting the silence in the vehicle. Everybody went on alert as Rose and Eddie jumped pulling out their stakes.
"Strigois here in the way. Secure the Princess and Lord Belikov!" Alberta's panicked voice sounded through the radio and Shade pulled the vehicle to a screeching halt. The other vehicle was at least fifty yards ahead them. Lissa whimpered snuggling closer to Christian whose eyes were wide open.
"How many are there?" Shade questioned, pulling out his own stake.
"Eight!" This time it was not Alberta but Janine's voice. "We need backup!"
Quickly doing the calculation in his mind, Shade instructed, "Stan, stay with them and the novice, Hathaway, come with me!"
Rose was surprised that he would ask her and not a trained guardian to accompany him into the fight, but hey she wasn't complaining! They quickly exited the vehicle, ready to make a run to help the others when Dimitri stopped them.
"Wait! I'll come with you!" he said getting out of the SUV.
"Are you crazy?!" Shade yelled. "Stay in the car, we don't have time for this!"
"I can fight," Dimitri replied adamantly.
"To the novices, yes but this is real deal. Stay in the car!" Shade was pissed now.
"Comrade, please…" Rose said wanting him to get into the safety of the vehicle.
"What?! I'm not letting you go there alone!"
"Fuck!" Shade shouted, grabbing Dimitri by his arms. "This isn't the time to get carried away in cheap emotions. I'm taking her cause she is the best. If you really wanna help, then guard the car along with Stan and Castile!"
Dimitri stared at Shade for the longest time before averting his eyes and nodding in consent.
"I'll be back, Comrade," Rose said kissing him softly before taking off with Shade in her tow.
Dimitri watched as they ran off faster than ever, before smirking. Stan was outside too, holding the door open for him to get inside.
"Take care of them, Guardian Alto." he said before taking off in their direction.
"LORD BELIKOV! Get back in here!" Stan shouted, not knowing if he should stay back to watch over the princess or to stop a rebel moroi from running into the face of death.
"MITYA!" Christian hollered, getting out and taking off behind his friend. Lissa shrieked at him to come back but in vain. They were gone now.
…here we go!
We'll get to see the fight in next chapter. So, what do you all think of Shade and Dimitri being friends? And what! Shade is Ivan's guardian? Didn't see that one coming ;-)
Liked it? Loved it? Hated it?
Leave me reviews, tell me everything!
….until next time!
Love,
Lara.