I knocked on Landon's door, and waited. I heard him moving around a lot, before he came to the door. When he opened it, he had no shirt on, so I had to try extremely hard to focus on his face. He was holding a bag of ice on his eye.
"Awe, Landon." I said, touching his face. He opened his door wider, so I could come in. He shut the door, and smiled. I touched his face. "I'm so sorry you got involved in that."
"No, I wasn't going to let them jump you like that." He said. He looked at my hands.
"Dimitri bandaged them for me." I told him.
"Was he mad at you for fighting again?" He asked. I shook my head.
"What did the rest of the guardians say?"
"They yelled at us for fighting and sent us all to our rooms." He told me. I rolled my eyes.
"They make it seem like we're children." I said, shaking my head. He smiled.
"Your face is bruising a little too."
"Yeah, I took a few hits. My heads hurting a little cause one of those bitches pulled my hair. I don't know which one, but I know I knocked the shit out of her when she did." I told him. He laughed.
"I saw you hit her. I think it was Diana." He said. I shrugged.
"I don't give a crap who it was, them pulling my hair didn't help my headache I've had since yesterday." I said. He smiled.
"I have some aspirin if you want them." He said.
"Please." He nodded and pulled a bottle out of his nightstand and poured a few into his hand and handed them to me. He got me a glass out water from his bathroom. "Thanks."
"Not a problem." He said. "You know, they sent out for a nurse to come check on Glenn, because you messed him up that bad."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, his jaw and nose were messed up pretty bad. They needed someone to come pop them back into place." He told me. I smiled.
"Good, the little bastard deserves it." I said. He nodded.
"I didn't like him hitting you. It kind of pissed me off."
"I hit him, so he had a right to hit me back." I said. He shook his head.
"Guys shouldn't hit woman."
"Dimitri hits me when we train." I told him.
"That's different." He said. I smiled.
"Thank you, for helping me out when they all ganged up on me. Talk about the house divided." I said. He chuckled.
"It wasn't a problem. Like I said, that wasn't a fair fight, although you caught almost all of them in the face atleast once." He said, laughing. I shrugged.
"Shouldn't have been in my way." I said. He smiled. He reached forward and touched my face where it must have been bruised. "Is it that bad? I haven't got to look."
"It's kind of dark." He said. He took my hand and led me into the bathroom in the mirror. I grimaced. The bruise was pretty dark. It was half around my eye, and half on my cheek. It was turning a dark purple. I sighed.
"It looks gross." I said. He smiled from behind me. He removed the ice pack from his face and laughed.
"We match." I laughed.
"We kind of do, huh?" I asked. He nodded.
"Did Dimitri really take you to see Lissa?" He finally asked. I knew it was coming. I looked down.
"Yeah, he did."
"Why'd you lie to me then? I don't understand." He asked.
"Dimitri thought it was better that nobody knew, so they wouldn't react the way dick head did. It wasn't that I didn't trust you. He asked me not to, and I didn't want to say anything and the others find out." I told him. He nodded.
"I wouldn't have said anything." He said.
"I know you wouldn't have. I trust you, Landon. I just didn't need them all freaking out about how it wasn't fair that I got to see Lissa and they didn't get to see their friends and all that. It's more than that, but regardless… we didn't need them grilling us about how unfair it was." I told him. He nodded and I yawned.
"Sleepy?"
"A little. I probably need to go get some sleep. Dimitri says I'm doing something special for training tomorrow. After all of this, I don't know if that's true after everything today, but we'll see." He chuckled.
"Good luck with that." He said. I smiled.
"It'll be interesting." I said. I pulled him into a hug. "Thank you again, Landon." I said. When he released me, he smiled.
"Not a problem, Hathaway." He said. He kissed my forehead, before opening the door for me.
"Goodnight." He said.
"Night." I said. Before walking out. I went to my room, and closed the door. I went into the bathroom and frowned at the nasty bruise on my face. I got a shower, and laid down in my bed. My headache was easing now that Landon had given me that aspirin. I finally closed my eyes, and eventually unconsciousness found me.
I woke the next morning to my alarm clock going off. I smacked it and got up. When I got to the bathroom mirror, my face looked horrible. The bruise had gotten even darker than last night. I sighed, and caked the make-up on my face, hoping to cover it up. You could still see the hint of blue and purple underneath it, but it wasn't as bad. I got dressed and did my hair, before heading downstairs. I was hoping to see Glenn, hoping I could see the aftermath of the ass kicking he'd received, but I didn't see him. When I walked out the back door, I saw someone else standing with Dimitri. He was pale, obviously meaning he was a moroi. As I approached, Dimitri turned and smiled.
"Goodmorning Rose." He said.
"Morning. Who's this?" I asked. Dimitri started to speak, when the boy cut him off.
"Adrian Ivashkov, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hathaway." He said, taking my hand and kissing it. Dimitri rolled his eyes.
"It's nice to meet you too." I looked to Dimitri. "I'm confused." I said.
"Your eye looks bad." He told me. I rolled my eyes then.
"I'm very aware. It only took me ten minutes to try and cover it up with make-up." I said.
"What happened?" Adrian asked.
"Got in a fight with a good portion of the novices in the house. I took a few hard hits." I told him.
"You've got yourself a little badass there, don't you Belikov?" Adrian said. Dimitri shook his head.
"I wouldn't exactly say it's a good thing." He said. I sighed.
"How's Glenn's face?" I asked, giving him my best Hathaway smirk. He sighed.
"We have a nurse coming in today to pop his nose back in place." I smiled. Adrian coughed a laugh.
"How was Landon?" He asked.
"He's got a bruise about like me. He caught of few hits to the eye. Other than that, he was fine." I told him. He nodded. "So, what exactly are we doing today?" I asked.
"I figured I'd give you some firsthand experience of protecting a moroi in a strigoi situation, so I invited Adrian to help out since-." Adrian cut him off.
"Since I have nothing better to do with my time." He said. Dimitri shrugged.
"Well, since he wants to put it like that, yeah. I figured it'd be good for you." He told me. I nodded.
"Alright then. I can't promise that you won't die. I'm not the best fighter yet." I said, turning to Adrian. He laughed.
"It's alright. It's a learn as you go thing. Plus, fighting Dimitri is probably like fighting a train." He said, shrugging. I nodded. It was then I realize there were three mats laid out on the track.
"Afraid I'm gonna fall off again?" I asked. Dimitri smirked.
"I can't be too careful with you." He told me. He pulled my hands up to examine them. My knuckles were still a little red.
"You gonna be okay to fight with your knuckles."
"I'll live, I'm sure." I told him. He nodded.
"Alright. Adrian, you can stand where ever." He told him. Adrian nodded and walked a few feet away from us. He stopped and turned back to me.
"There's a strigoi, oh no… save me, Rose." He said, feigning fear horribly. I giggled.
"Alright, if you expect me to try and protect you… don't do that again… ever." I said. He chuckled. Dimitri was a few feet away, and I stepped in front of him, taking my stance.
"I like the view from back here." Adrian said. I stood up, and turned to him.
"Adrian, knock it off. I asked you here to help her, not hit on her." Dimitri snapped.
"I can't do both?" He asked.
"Knock it off for now, would ya? There's plenty of time to hit on me later." I said, winking at him before turning back around to face Dimitri. I took my stance once again and readied myself. Dimitri started slowly stalking forward, and I realized I needed to get to him before he could get closer to Adrian, so I launched forward, going after his legs. He was quick, but I handed a few hits on him, while still blocking Adrian from him. We went back and forth, exchanging blows, him trying to sneak his way around me, but I wasn't letting it happen. When he finally did get around me, I lunged for his back, throwing my weight down hard. This caused him to fall to his knees, allowing me to take him to the ground. The moment I did, I fought against his hands, going for his heart, but I wasn't able to do it. He put up a good fight. He tried to roll his weight, but I wouldn't let him. Not this time. He finally landed a hard blow to my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I lost it for a second, allowing him to try and roll us, but before he could roll, I weaseled out from under him and stood up, taking my stance back in front of Adrian. When he stood up, he smiled.
"Rose, you're doing amazing. I've never seen you so well on the defense before." He told me. I shrugged.
"You don't know how hard it is to keep you at bay… Jesus." I said. He laughed.
"You need a break?" He asked.
"No, come on… let's keep going." I said.
"Rose, if you need a break that's fine. I don't need you falling out on me again." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"That was one time… let it go." I said. He gave me one of those looks, like he wanted me to admit I was weaker than I thought. I knew what'd get him going. "I think you're the one that needs a break. I told you that you're not as big and bad as you look." He narrowed his eyes and crouched down.
"You're asking for it." He said.
"Let's go, Belikov." I said. He lunged for me, trying to take me down, but I faked him out, knocking his feet out from under him. I tried to manage my hands over his heart, but he was quick. He was already half way on his feet by the time I managed to recover from taking him down. He was on his feet and starting towards Adrian again, when I threw a punch, catching him in the chest. I then threw a kick, catching him in the stomach. He faltered for a second, and when I went to take him down, he caught me off guard, taking me to the mat. I fought against him, but it was too late. He had his hands over my chest. I was dead. Adrian –if he was my real moroi- would be dead now if the scenario were real.
"Shit." I muttered. He laughed and stared down into my eyes. I got lost in the pools of chocolate that were his own, before he pulled himself out of our locked gaze and stood up, offering me a hand. When I took his hand, I threw all of my weight downward, pulling him to the ground, and putting myself on top of him, my hands already over his heart. "It wasn't over yet." I said, simply before standing. He sat up, watching me as I walked over to Adrian. Adrian was laughing, looking at Dimitri on the ground. Dimitri muttered something in Russian, before standing up. I smirked at him.
"I'm sorry comrade. You're a guardian. You should be ready for anything." I told him. Adrian was still chuckling, covering his mouth with his hands. Dimitri pushed him slightly, kidding around. I stepped in front of Adrian, and narrowed my eyes. "Don't bully my fictional moroi." I snapped. He rolled his eyes. Dimitri went inside to get some bottles of water for us, so I sat down on the sidewalk.
"So, how long have you and Dimitri known each other?" I asked.
"A year or so. He saved my ass a few times at court."
"He used to work at court?" I asked. He shook his head.
"No, he was visiting with his charge, and some stuff went down when he was around. He saved my ass. We've been friends ever since." He told me.
"What happened to his moroi?" I asked. The moment I asked, Dimitri walked out, so Adrian just shook his head, and gave me an 'I'll tell you later' look. Dimitri handed me and Adrian a bottle of water, and we mumbled our thank yous.
"Did the nurse show up to pop Glenn's nose back in place yet? I'd really like to watch, or maybe she'll let me do it." I asked Dimitri. He shook his head.
"Rose…" He warned.
"What? I'm just teasing. Jeez, lighten up, Belikov." I said, smirking. He rolled his eyes.
"You need to stay away from him… from all of them."
"That's pretty hard considering we all live in the same house." I told him.
"Don't associate with him." He said.
"Or kick him out. He's the douche bag that starts it. He should be kicked out, not me." I told him. He sighed.
"I'm not kicking anybody out… yet."
"And if you do kick someone out, it'll end up being me." I muttered.
"What?" He asked.
"Eddie hates me; I can tell the other guardians think I cause trouble. Every novice except one here hates me. If anyone's going to be nominated to be kicked out of this place, it'll be me. I can tell you what will happen if I do get kicked out. I'll end up going back to the academy, breaking Lissa out of there, and we'll be on the run again, and I can guarantee you they won't catch us this time." I told him. He sighed.
"No one's getting kicked out, Rose."
"Boy, you've got it all planned out, don't you?" Adrian asked.
"Gotta be ready for anything when you're a guardian." I said, smirking at Dimitri. He shook his head at me. I finished my bottle of water, and threw the bottle at him. He narrowed his eyes.
"One more go round before we call it a day, or are we through?" I asked. He looked at Adrian.
"Do you have anywhere to be?" He asked.
"Actually, I was thinking about staying here a little while. I think it'll be interesting to watch what you do here. If you don't mind of course." He said.
"I don't. You can stay as long as you like, as long as you don't undermine and influence any of my novices to make bad decisions." He said.
"I would never." He said, feigning shock. I'd heard of the Ivashkov rep, especially Adrian's. He was an alcoholic, and a player, and from what I'd heard, he went to college but dropped out because he couldn't focus. I could see why Dimitri would be worried though. There were three females in the house, two of which I'm sure would love to sink their claws into him for some undivided attention. Adrian was dead sexy, there was no denying, but I didn't play the game… I was the coach. I smirked.
"Alright Rose, come on." He said. The moment I was standing, he was going after Adrian. I stepped into his way, shoving him back. We then began to exchange blows back and forth. He tried to fake me out a few times, but I guessed his next move and cut him off. It wasn't long before my body began to ache from the aftermath of me hitting my head, and the gang fight yesterday. I felt it start to weight on me. I kept fighting though, hoping to take him down. I lunged at him, trying to take him to the ground, when he faked me out, and I fell to the mat. Before I knew it, he was behind Adrian, arms around his neck.
"God damn it." I muttered, punching the mat.
"You've got to work on not swearing as much. It's not lady like." Dimitri said. I rolled my eyes.
"How many guardians do you know that are 'lady-like'?" I asked. He sighed, and shook his head. I helped him roll the mats up and carried them inside. He showed Adrian to a room, as I sat down at the kitchen table. Glenn walked out of the gym, his nose and face all taped up. I hid my face as he walked by, glaring at me as he passed. The moment I knew he was out of hearing range, I busted out laughing, almost falling out of my seat. Dimitri walked in, and raised an eyebrow.
"What's so funny?"
"I just saw Glenn." I said, trying to breathe. He shook his head at me.
"Rose, you shouldn't laugh." He said.
"But did you see his face all taped up?" I asked, starting into another uncontrollable laughing fit. He sighed, and a quiet chuckle left his lips as he watched me clearly enjoying myself.
"Rose, you need some serious help, you know?" I rolled my eyes.
"I've never been fully sane. We've all known that." I told him. He nodded. I sighed and was finally able to breathe normally.
"Wow, that was the most entertaining thing I've witnessed in a long time. I love to see my handy work." I said, wiping the tears. He shook his head.
"I've got some things to take care of, so I'm going to go now." He told me, walking into his bedroom. I giggled as the door closed behind him. I downed my bottle of water, and decided to go for a run. I went out to the track, and ran a couple laps, before I heard the door open. When I looked up, Adrian was walking towards the gate. When I reached the gate, he smiled.
"Look at you, miss over-achiever." He said. I smiled.
"I'm not an over-achiever. I just don't like sitting around." I said, simply. He laughed.
"So, you're the one who ran away with Lissa? Can I ask why that was?" He asked.
"You can, but I'm not going to tell you. It's personal stuff." I said.
"Ahh. Okay, I understand." He said. He had no choice.
"They sent me here because of what I did."
"I figured as much. I know Kirova hates dealing with 'problem' children." He said. I laughed.
"She hates everyone." I muttered. "Me especially."
"Oh well, better to be hated for who you are-." I cut him off.
"Than loved for who I'm not, I know. Listen to you with you Zen life lessons. I thought that was Dimitri." I said. He laughed.
"Dimitri rubbed off on me a little bit." He said. I smirked. I met his gaze and smiled slightly.
"You have really pretty eyes." I told him. He shrugged.
"It's an Ivashkov thing. .We all have green eyes."
"I know. I think I've met your mother before a long time ago. I was young then, maybe ten or eleven. I was visiting court and Lissa's parents with her." I said. He nodded.
"Ashamed I didn't meet you then." he said, smirking.
"You would have been what… six years older than me?" I asked. He growled.
"No… If you're seventeen I'm only four years older than you. Do I really look Dimitri's age?" He asked.
"No… I was just guessing. I didn't know for sure." I told him, laughing at his face. He rolled his eyes at me.
"I'm glad you find it funny." He said. I nodded.
"I do." I said.
"So, I saw the boy you obviously beat the hell out of earlier." He said.
"Did you laugh as hard as I did?" I asked. He chuckled.
"I had a hard time keeping a straight face." He admitted. I smiled.
"And Dimitri thought I was the only one." I said. Adrian shook his head.
"Dimitri's a little uptight, but he takes what he does seriously. He really means well." He said.
"I know he does. He's done a lot for me since I've been here." I said. He nodded.
"You're beautiful, you know." Adrian said. I attempted to raise an eyebrow.
"I'm aware." I said. He chuckled.
"I just thought I'd inform you, just in case you didn't know." He pulled out a package of cigarettes and lit one.
"That's a bad habit, you know."
"I'm a bad habit, but it hasn't stopped people from hanging around me yet." He said. I laughed. "I'm like an addiction; once you start… you can't stop." I snorted, and shook my head.
"You're something else, Ivashkov." I told him. He smiled.
"I'm well aware." He said, nodding. He jumped and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "If you'll excuse me madam." He walked back inside. I stayed sitting on the sidewalk, not really wanting to go inside and sit. I wasn't sure how long I was there before Dimitri walked out.
"What are you doing out here all alone?" He said, as he approached. "You're not crying again, are you?" I rolled my eyes.
"No, I'm not crying. Shut up." I muttered.
"Why are you out here?"
"You told me to stay away from everyone inside, so the only place I can really do that is out here." I told him. "Adrian was out here with me, but he got a phone call." I shrugged.
"So, you just sit out here alone?"
"It's peaceful out here." I said, simply. He sat down beside me on the sidewalk. "Can I ask you something?" Every since Adrian had brought it up, I'd been extremely curious, and it had bothered me. I was hoping he'd actually tell me, but the way Adrian had avoided it when he was near, I doubted it.
"Sure." He said, turning to me.
"Adrian said something about your moroi earlier. You used to be an assigned guardian?" I asked.
"I was." He said, looking down at the pavement. I took his reaction as it hadn't ended well.
"What happened?" I asked.
"He was killed. It wasn't my fault… but he's been dead for about three years now." He said. "You probably heard about it… Ivan Zeklos?"
"I do remember hearing about it. Jesse left school for a week to go to his funeral." I said. He nodded.
"It was my off week. I left to go take care of some stuff for him, and there was an attack. He killed his other guardian, and Ivan." He told me. I frowned, feeling bad for bringing it up.
"I'm sorry." I murmured, not really knowing what else to say.
"I couldn't help but blame myself." He said.
"No… it wasn't your fault. It was the other guardian's responsibility to keep him safe and he failed him." I told him.
"I knew he wasn't as good at protecting him as I was. I should have known better than to leave him with him. I had a bad feeling about it, but I left anyway." He said.
"It isn't your fault, though. You can't blame yourself." I said. He shrugged and stood up.
"It's probably time for us to head in. You should get some sleep. Practice is going to come early in the morning." He said, guardian mask slipping over his face. I stood.
"Dimitri, I didn't mean to bring up something-." He cut me off with a shake of his head.
"It's fine." He said, before starting towards the house. When we reached the door, I stopped him.
"Dimitri?"
"Yeah?" He asked, turning back to me.
"Thank you for being honest with me." I said. He met my gaze for a second, and nodded.
"Yeah." He said, before walking in and into his bedroom. Hearing what happened to his charge, made me really want to be with Lissa. Taking the chance of being away from her and something happening to her bothered me. I went upstairs and sat down on my bed, allowing me to slip into her head. The moment I did, this overwhelming depression and sadness hit me like a battering ram. I found her in the bathroom, razor blade in hand, on the floor. There was already a lot of blood. NO! No, Lissa STOP! I screamed at her through the bond. She couldn't hear me… not this time. When she looked down at her wrist I finally saw the extent of her injuries this time. The gashes were deep this time, deeper than they'd ever been, and it was obvious that she wasn't done yet. She brought the razor back to her wrist again. NO! NO, Lissa, stop it. You're gonna-. I gave up when she dug the razor into her skin again. I jumped up, pulling myself out of her head. She was going to kill herself at this rate, and I couldn't let that happen. I ran for Dimitri's room.