When Rose is shot by Tasha Ozera in Last Sacrifice, both Lissa and Adrian use all of the Spirit they can wield to try and bring her back. In a shocking turn of events, Rose is not only healed, but somehow ends up somewhere she never could have imagined. Canon up until Time-Travel. Rated T for language. First multi-chapter fic.
"So, you know how everyone's afraid to have their kids come home for Christmas? Well, there's this huge ski lodge in Idaho that's exclusively used by royals and rich Moroi. The people who own it are opening it up for Academy students and their families—and actually any other Moroi who want to go. With everyone in one spot, they're going to have a ton of guardians to protect the place, so it'll be totally safe."
"You can't be serious," I said. We reached the gym and stepped inside out of the cold.
Mason nodded eagerly. "It's true. The place is supposed to be amazing. "He gave me the grin that always made me smile in return. "We're going to live like royalty, Rose. At least for a week or so. We take off the day after Christmas."
Frostbite
-Richelle Mead
Bonds Of Time
Chapter Sixteen
Hurricane Drunk
It had been hours since I last saw Tasha on the grounds. But for the life of me I couldn't freaking get over it. The water in the shower had been too cold and I had blamed Tasha. My best clothes were in the laundry and I blamed her. The feeling of suffocating and choking on my own blood as she held a smoking gun made me blame her. I hated her and I didn't have a reason to hate her yet. It was what irritated me the most. Lissa was enthralled with her. Christian adored her. Dimitri joked lightly with her because they were old friends. And I could see that he was free to be open with her, like he could not with me. Every time her face appeared I heard the harsh pop of the gun and Dimitri's voice saying: 'Love fades. Mine has.' And I hated her even more.
"Are you okay, Rose?" My mother asked from the other side of the bathroom door. "You've been in there for an hour."
"I'll be right out." I said loudly as I pulled the bandage off of my side with a wince. "Just redressing wounds."
My mother opened the door, not caring that I was wearing nothing but a bra and panties and a terrified Christian Ozera was standing in the living room. He had apparently been talking to Lissa but when my mother opened the door to show me off, it was like a train wreck he couldn't take his eyes off of. But I couldn't blame him. The wound was ugly.
While Dimitri and I had been at the hotel, and he had left to get supplies from the pharmacy, I had the super smart idea to cauterize the huge gaping wound in my side using an emergency flare that I found in the back of the Bronco. The results were less than pretty. And it looked better than it felt. Let's just say that I was standing out on the cold pavement in a mostly abandoned parking lot, with my shirt pulled up and lit the flare.
White hot pain flashed across my rib cage as I dragged the flaming flare across the wound. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air around me as I held the white-blue flame on the wound. Sparks of fire rained down on my bare legs but I didn't feel it over the sensation of my side being cooked.
"What the hell?" He hissed in Russian. "Are you out of your mind, Roza?"
"I cleaned it first!" I held my hands up in surrender, one held the flare the other held a tiny bottle of vodka. "See, comrade?"
"Why on earth are you using a flare?" Dimitri growled at me.
"The emergency kit didn't have any duct tape?" I shrugged as I held the flare out and tried not to catch my shoes on fire.
"And how much of the vodka did you drink before you had this wonderful idea?" He took the still glowing flare from my hand, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it until it went out.
"Not enough?" I winced as my side throbbed.
"You're drunk." Dimitri scoffed, looking at me in disbelief.
"You're freaking hot." I rolled my eyes at him. "If we're going to stand around stating the obvious."
Dimitri shook his head, his dark hair whipping around his face as sighed dejectedly. "Teenagers."
"Hold up there," I said quickly in response moving to stand a few feet in front of him, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with being young. Hell, I'm young and I'm mother fucking perfect."
It was healing quickly, but the scar wasn't going to fade anytime soon. Lissa looked like she wanted to help, but when she caught Christian staring she slapped him on the back of the head and pulled him out of the room. I could feel the resignation through the bond. She knew I wouldn't let her heal me. Part of me wanted to let her, if it would ease her pain, but it would only make it worse when that feeling wore off. We both knew this, and we accepted it.
"This should have been treated by a doctor." My mother said as she placed a new bandage over the still healing wound.
"I'm fine." I said as I pulled a shirt over my head. "It just looks bad."
"Sure." My mother shook her head as she walked out and shut the door. "We have to leave in thirty. You better be ready."
"Hey, mom?" I asked before she could escape. "Any chance I could get my dad's phone number from you?"
My question caught her by surprise and I could see her putting her guard back up. "I'll have to see if his number still works."
She went to shut the door but I grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry. But this whole close call with death thing just made me wish I had talked to him at least once. You don't have to talk to him."
She pursed her lips as she leaned on the doorframe. "I'll try my best, Rose."
"Thanks, mom." I said as she shut the door.
Two and a half hours later I was walking through the doors of the ski lodge, Lissa and Dimitri were to my right and Christian and Tasha were far off to my left. My mother stood a few feet in front of me. Tasha, like it or not, had decided to sit beside Dimitri for the entire flight. Which left me sitting with Christian and Lissa and their whole lovebird crap. It was cute and all, but after listening to them for two hours during the flight, I felt like I had been tortured. Tasha and Dimitri looked cozier than ever as she patted his arm and smiled up at him. I wanted to vomit. And then strangle her. Maybe kick her a few times. We still hadn't been introduced to each other, as every time she came near me I had found somewhere better to be. Or I put my ear buds in and acted like I didn't hear her. I had even contemplated trying to push her out of the plane. But she didn't leave her seat the entire flight.
But then I saw him, my salvation, standing at the bar talking to a tall blonde woman and I just couldn't resist. "Yo, Adrian!"
He turned at the sound of his name and when he spotted me in the crowd it was like a goofy romantic movie. "Rosie!"
He ran toward me and I toward him. As soon as I was in reach I jumped into his arms and hugged him hard as he spun me around laughing.
Lissa's jaw hit the floor. My mother looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Christian smiled and rolled his eyes. Dimitri's eyes narrowed in suspicion and maybe a little jealousy. Fucking Tasha just grinned as she pulled Dimitri to the stairs.
"Holy hell, Adrian!" I slapped his arm as he set me down. "I've missed you."
"You too, little dhampir." Adrian smiled at me as he pulled me to sit next to him at the bar. "Two mojito's over here, good sir!" He shouted at the bartender.
"Just like Cancun!" I laughed as I remembered the dreamscape where we had sat back sipping mojitos while we played Candyland together.
"Oh that was a great night." Adrian said wistfully as he passed me my drink.
I looked back to see that every one of my traveling companions had disappeared from view. "Did you hear about the attack?"
"Of course, you're quite the celebrity, darling." Adrian looked back up at the bartender. "A few extra shots of tequila in hers. This is the guardian that protected the Badicas."
I pinched his leg and gave him a ferocious look. "I don't give a fuck about my reputation! It's all playing out the same way. That's what's bothering me. I can't be there to prevent everything. And I can't tell anybody other than you without being sent to the nut house."
"Chill, Rose," Adrian smiled at me, "Unless there's another attack going down tonight, you can just take some time to relax and enjoy yourself."
"I'm going to need more alcohol." I banged my head on the countertop. "And as far as I know, there shouldn't be another one for a week or so. At the Drozdov Estate."
The bartender set down two mojitos and six shots of tequila in front of us. "Nice work out there, m'lady."
"Thanks," I said as I picked up a shot. "Here's to not getting shot by she-bitch again."
"Wait," Adrian put a hand on my arm, "She's here? The woman who shot you in your dream is here in this building and you haven't killed her yet?"
"Unfortunately, no." I grimaced as I sniffed the stout drink. "She's currently upstairs somewhere with the man I love."
"Tall, Russian, so quiet that he's scary?" Adrian asked with a knowing look.
"That'd be him." I drained two shots in quick succession. "How'd you figure that out?
"Darling, are you sure about him?" Adrian asked, concern lacing his tone. "He's not only your instructor, he is Lissa's guardian. And he's scary."
The laugh escaped as I was downing my third shot and tequila sprayed out of my nose. "He's not that scary. And we have things on the down low, so please keep it to yourself. Also, what do I do about psycho bitch?"
"Hell, darling, if I knew that, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you about it." Adrian leaned a little closer to me. "And you need to talk to Lissa about the scary Russian, she's been worried about you lately. If you're sure about the Drozdov's I know the perfect person to call to help out with a pre-warning. "
"Please do," I said seriously, "This whole thing is driving me crazy. Why is Lissa worried about me?"
"She just said that she hasn't seen much of you lately and that she misses you." Adrian took another shot.
"I'll talk to her." I said, draining the last of my mojito. "But when have you talked to Lissa?"
"We've been teaching each other spirit tricks over the dreamernet." Adrian waggled his eyebrows at me.
"Hopefully she is getting to dress herself." I looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"Unfortunately, yes." Adrian slapped his hand onto his face. "Does she usually wear footy pajamas?"
Loud laughter exploded from me and people turned around to stare. "Yes!"
"The people behind us think we're a couple." Adrian whispered while looking over his shoulder.
"Do they now?" I asked coyly as I leaned slowly towards Adrian and put my hand on his knee. His eyes widened considerably. "Give momma some sugar."
I grabbed his face and kissed his forehead while he tried to push me back. "Eck, Rose, that's gross!"
"Still nothing?" I rolled my eyes as he shook his head fiercely. "What about the tall leggy blonde that you were talking to earlier? She kind of looked like your Auntie. You gonna go for that?"
"No," Adrian shook his head as he wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "Not after you just pointed that out. That's a definite no."
"So sorry." I said unapologetically.
"Alright," Adrian picked up a shot and downed it. "To my favorite dhampir, who is bat shit crazy but I love her anyway. Like a sister." He added loudly and smiled at one of the young waitresses who blushed and looked away quickly.
"Aw, how cute." I said mockingly as I downed another three shots and started in on the mojito. "Now order some more shots."
And so he did. The rest of the night was spent in laughter and, well, confusion, as neither of us were sober enough to find our own rooms and ended up stumbling through the hotel three times before we found the right door. Finally, I passed out on the edge of Adrian's bed after having to carry him in there where we both collapsed on the bed in a drunken haze.
The next morning, as soon as the light of day hit the heavily curtained windows, I stumbled around trying to get my bearings. My head pounded and my mouth felt dry and nasty. Adrian was snoring loudly as I pulled off his shoes and covered him up. I brushed the hair off of his forehead and then walked quietly out of the room.
The lodge was silent as everyone was asleep and warm in their beds as I made my way outside. I was still in the clothes I had traveled in and my hair was probably a wreck, but I needed some fresh air. The snow was deep and fluffy looking. It was pure and untouched, not a single footstep was anywhere with sight and I couldn't resist. I fell backwards in the snow and let the soft powder catch me. I put an arm over my eyes to shield them from the overly bright sun as I soaked in the wonderful freezing feeling that eased both my headache and my heartache.
My nerves had been frayed over the past few days, between the attack at the Badica's and the appearance of Tasha. There was almost a year of history in that dream that I had to deal with on a daily basis and I didn't know how much longer I could hold it together without losing my mind.
"I thought I'd find you out here." Dimitri's voice cut through the haze I was trapped in. "You didn't return to your room last night."
"Nope," I didn't move and didn't look up. "What are you doing out here, comrade?"
"You're late for training." Dimitri said in a stern tone.
"I didn't know we'd be training while here." I sat up in the snow and grabbed two fistfuls of the powder. "And I certainly wasn't informed that we'd be training at three in the afternoon."
"You've been avoiding me." Dimitri said as he crouched down in front of me. "Ever since we returned to the Academy you haven't said a word to me."
"You've been busy." I looked away, staring at the slopes. "I didn't want to intrude."
"I know that's not the problem." Dimitri held out a hand for me. "There is a small exercise room here. Let's get in out of the cold. Your clothes are soaked."
"Aye, aye, comrade." I grabbed his hand with my snow covered one. "It is a bit nippy out here."
When we arrived in the small gym, Dimitri's eyes searched the room, and when he found it empty, he turned around and started stalking toward me. He took off his duster and threw it over a weight bench as I backed up, not knowing what to think. Honestly, my mind flashed back to the time he was Strigoi and I couldn't help but gasp.
Dimitri stopped and knelt down in front of me. "You have no reason to fear me, Roza."
"I'm not afraid," I shook my head and slowly looked up at him as I pounced, making him fall backward with me landing on top straddling him, "it's called a feint."
Dimitri's hands grasped my arms. "Not bad."
"I caught you off guard." I said with a smug smirk. "Don't ever take me for some damsel in distress."
"Not you," Dimitri said lowly as he leaned up on his elbows, "And your clothes are soaked."
"Oops." I laughed as I jumped up quickly and held an arm out to help him up.
Dimitri grabbed my hand and pulled me, hard, until I was flying into the air. I landed on one knee and looked up at him and shook my head. "It's on."
His smile made my heart race as I grabbed a towel from the rack and threw it at him, while he easily batted it to the side, I had run forward and then slid on the ground between his legs and turned to kick him in the back of the knee. The kick wasn't hard enough to hurt him, but he still stumbled, giving me the opportunity to jump on his back and kiss his cheek.
"Got ya." I laughed.
Dimitri reached an arm around to grab me and I dropped to the floor and backed away before he could grab hold of me. His smile widened and I waited for him to retaliate, but all he did was walk closer, until he had me pinned in the corner. I looked from side to side, looking for an escape route, but there was none. Dimitri was within arms length and before I could bat an eye, he had picked me up and placed my back to the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned in toward him. His stare froze me in place as he leaned forward and kissed me hard. My hands dug under the soft cotton of his shirt as I let them roam over the planes of his chest and stomach.
"Not here." Dimitri shook his head at me. "Meet me in my room in twenty minutes. It's on the second floor. Fifth door on the right."
Dimitri walked out the door and I counted to ten before I followed and made sure to go in the opposite direction. Barely two minutes had passed by the time I made it back to mine and Lissa's room. When I got to the door, there was a small brown parcel lying at the foot of the door and I picked it up to see that it had my name on it. My fingernails cut through the brown tape easily and I opened the box to see a very nice cell phone underneath the paper. Knowing that I already had Adrian's phone, I wondered who would send me one.
I dialed the only number saved in the contacts and almost dropped the phone when I heard the voice on the other line.
"Mazur." My father growled out.
"It's, uh, Rose Hathaway." I said hesitantly. "You sent me a phone."
End Chapter Sixteen
Thoughts, Comments? Let me know.
Thanks for reading! Things start picking up next chapter.
Special thanks to Caden29 for her help and support! :Hands over the cookies: