Rose's birthday part 2

A quick shout out to Roza-Dimka-Reader to say thanks for drawing my attention to a couple of silly errors in the last chapter so I could fix them :)

Disclaimer: I own a living dragon, a working magic wand and Vampire Academy. (In my dreams, that is ;P )

Enjoy :)

I opened the next present, and was glad to see something relatively normal. Black Ops for my new Xbox.
"Thanks, Christian. I knew you weren't all bad." I said sincerely, and he nodded, still rubbing his forehead.

After opening a set of headphones from Adrian, some black stilettos from Sydney, and a load of make up from Mia, Lissa passed me another of her presents. This one was heavy and book shaped, and I unwrapped it carefully.

It was a big ring-bound scrapbook, where more pages could be added as needed, the front made from some weird wood-like stuff that was really light, and had rose vines carved into it. In the middle, there was a cut out frame; where there was a picture of me aged 12, holding a rose. I ran my hands over the patterns on the wood, remembering being that young.

Lissa came and sat down beside Dimitri and I, and I opened up the book. On the inside cover was a page of Lissa's beautiful flowing script; a message basically saying what a great friend I was and wishing me happy birthday.

I turned to the next page, where there was the last picture of Lissa and me before we came back to the Academy. We were just in our room, messing around and killing time, and decided to have a photo shoot. For a moment, as I stared at our carefree smiles, I wondered what it would be like if Dimitri had never caught us, and I was filled with a bittersweet longing for what we had once had. Then, my eyes rested on the caption under the picture.
Some endings are happy ones; they allow us to make better new beginnings.

I was pulled out of my wishing for a simpler life, as I thought of everything that wouldn't have happened if I had stayed in the human world. Most important, I wouldn't have met Dimitri, and that would have been tragic, as I would have lived my life never realising that I had one, and at the same time a million, less reasons for living.
"I'm gonna go get a drink; this'll probably take a while. Anyone want to come with? " Christian asked, standing up and stretching. He had probably seen this before, anyway.

Everyone else got up, except for my mom, who moved closer to us, and Sydney and Adrian, who were busy eating each other's faces off again. I turned my attention back to the book.

The next double page was a montage of pictures all taken at the Academy. There probably hadn't been that many to choose from, but those that were here were the important ones. Lissa and I outside with Eddie and Mason before the dead animals, and Lissa and I in our dresses, the night of the banquet- and lust charm. I saw Dimitri take extra interest in that photo.

One of Mason and I in our ski gear at the top of a mountain, and one that Christian had taken of Lissa and I in our hot tub on our balcony. Perv.

There was one of Dimitri and I in a training session, sparring, both laughing. I remember Lissa walking into the gym on this day, but hadn't realised she had taken a picture.

One of Lissa and I at court, and Mia was in this one, too. The next one surprised me, it was me pinning Dimitri out on the quad in our field experience, and I met Dimitri's eyes with a smile, remembering that moment, and what had happened afterwards.

"I wanted to kiss you so badly." He whispered.

"Me too." I whispered back, and kissed him quickly, before turning back to the book.

The last couple of pictures on the page were from graduation, and I turned over to the next page, not focussing on my false smile.
This was where it began to look like a proper scrapbook, and the first few pictures were of Lissa's coronation. 2 were at the party, one of me and Lissa, and one of Dimitri and me, and one back at our apartment where I was wearing Lissa's crown. Fun times.

There were a couple more pages of pictures at us at random court functions, and then there were photos of Russia. I realised Lissa must have taken pictures from my camera as well as her own.

Against a background of bright coloured paper and gold sparkles, there was a photo of Dimitri and I outside St. Basil's cathedral, where I was pressed very close to his side. Since we had gone in winter, it was really cold, but of course Dimitri hadn't cared. To the side of this picture, was another smaller one, just of the cathedral, like a postcard shot.

The next was at Olena's house, of Dimitri and his family, not long after the reunion. One the same page, the 2 of us at the celebration party, Dimitri with Viktoria and I, one sitting either side. Vika and I were laughing, she'd been telling me stories about Dimitri as a child, so he sat between us looking embarrassed.

The next page was from when we went out sledging; there was one of Dimitri and Paul on a sledge, one of Vika and I, one of me and Paul having a snowball fight, and one of Dimitri and I on a sledge. I was wrapped up in scarves and a hat with like 3 coats on, Dimitri just in his duster. I was still cold, so in the picture he was wrapping me up in his coat, holding me close.

I sighed at the memories, and Dimitri squeezed me tighter for a second.
We went through the rest of the pages, my favourite pictures among them being of Lissa's and Dimitri's birthdays, a random shopping trip where Lissa and I escaped court long enough to shop in the human world, and a picture of Christian and Dimitri standing in the kitchen making dinner. They were wearing the aprons Lissa and I had bought them; Christian's said 'warning: fire hazard' and Dimitri's said 'kiss the chef'.

When we got to the end of the pages that had been finished, there was a sticky note on the page.
'To be continued...'

Lissa suddenly jumped up, and with speed that could rival a Strigoi, snapped a picture of Dimitri and me looking at the book.

I closed the cover gently, and hugged Lissa. "Thanks, Liss. It's beautiful. You're going to continue it, right? My crappy craft skills will mess it up."

Lissa looked horrified. "As if I'd let you near scissors and glue, Rose. They put the supervision warnings on things for people like you; that's why they specify 'responsible adult.'

I huffed, and looked away from her, only to see everyone else coming back. "Hey, can I get a new elf minion over here? Lissa should sit down."

Eddie stepped up to the dwindling pile, and picked up the next box, passing it to me.

I checked to the tag, to find it signed; 'mom and dad.' I ripped off the paper, eager to see what they'd got me. It was a new generation iPad. I looked up to find my parents.

"Hey Old Man, I would have tracked you down sooner if I'd known I'd get presents like this!"

He raised an eyebrow. Why couldn't I have inherited the gene that allowed me to do that? Grr.
"I believe that I found you, Kiz."

"Pfft. It was all part of my master plan. People like us can't be separated for long, the explosives and law-breaking tend to bring us together."

Abe grinned in a way that would send his enemies running, fangs flashing, and nodded. "You inherited my criminal mind, that's for sure."

We all laughed, and Eddie passed me the next present. This one was from Alberta.
It looked the shape of a CD case, and when I opened it I saw a home-movie type DVD inside.
I read the small writing on the DVD. R. Hathaway Trial.

I looked up at Alberta. "Is this..?" I asked hesitantly.
She smiled. "Yes, it's the recording of you Guardian Trial. We record all of them, in case there is a dispute with scoring or something. But anyone with a score of over 90 will have their DVD filed away for future reference. I made a copy of yours so you could watch it, because you said you couldn't remember any of it. Also, now Dimitri can see how all his hard training paid off." She turned her attention from me to smile at Dimitri.

I hugged Alberta, she really was a great person, and I was glad that I was still able to see her after leaving the Academy. She had always been so good to me.

I sat back down on Dimitri's lap, and he now spoke to her. "Thank you, Alberta. Rose told me that you took my place next to her, and I'm very grateful for that. I just wish I could have been there."

"It was my pleasure, Dimitri. I would have still been with her, even if you were as well. Probably telling you off for PDA, or something."

I laughed, but Dimitri didn't. I knew he really hated that he had missed my Trial. I turned around in my seat on his lap, so I was facing him. Brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes, I left my hand on his cheek.
"I was fighting for you, Comrade. I knew what you would have said had you been there, and that you believed in me. Plus, I had my plan of action; I knew it wouldn't be too long until I had you back by my side again."

Okay, so that wasn't exactly true; I hadn't been at all sure if I could have got him back, but I'd had hope, and that had been enough. It worked though, and the look of sadness on Dimitri's face was quickly replaced by a smile.

I kissed him softly on the lips, trying to keep it suitable for having my parents right there in front of me.
I reluctantly pulled away, after a little longer than I had meant to, but like usual, I had lost all concept of time and space.

I turned to Eddie, who was standing to one side, tapping his foot, small blue-wrapped box in his hands.

The tag said it was from Sonya and Mikhail.
I opened the small jewellery box to find a bracelet- a thin silver band with words engraved around it. I took it out of the silk lining to read them.
Loyalty-Strength-Love-Honour-Courage.

I slipped the bracelet on, and the 2 sides pushed together so it sat snugly on my wrist, and did not move around. The metal felt strangely warm on my wrist, and I looked up at Sonya in shock.

"It's charmed."

She nodded. "It's filled with energy. It'll only activate when you need it to. I made it so that if you're in a hard fight, and you start to tire out so that you think you're in danger of losing, you can pull some of the energy from this to replenish your own."

I was impressed. Sonya carried on speaking. "If you wish, it will also heal any minor injuries whilst you fight, and you will not have to stop to let it heal. Though this will use up the energy store sooner, so be careful with that. "

I nodded, but she wasn't finished talking yet. "If you were to be severely injured, you would have to stop fighting to be healed. So be careful using this. Also, you may not have enough energy stored to complete the healing, so it would start taking yours. If you didn't realise this was happening, then you could end up passing out where there may still be Strigoi around. So my advice to you would be; don't rely on this. And if you have to heal anything major, only heal it enough to survive."

"How do I make sure there is enough energy stored?" I asked.

"You can transfer some of yours into it when you don't need it. Mikhail and I have put a small amount in there over the last 3 nights, just before we went to sleep. This is the best time to do it. But don't be tempted to put too much in; you might regret it the next morning."

Mikhail nodded. "Feels like a massive hangover."

We all laughed at him, and I looked down at the bracelet on my arm. This was a huge thing; I could save myself during a battle that I would otherwise have lost. I glanced at Dimitri. If he'd had one of these... no, the past was past. But still, in the future...

Sonya caught me looking. "Yes, it can be used to heal others as well. Just take it off your wrist and place the bracelet in their hand, and tell them what to do. If they are unconscious, keep holding it yourself, and concentrate on pushing the magic into them."

I nodded, and got up and went over to them.
"Sorry about the headache, Mikhail."

He smiled at me. "It was the least I could do; maybe I can repay you for what you did for me. Though I hope the need never arises."

I hugged him, and moved onto Sonya. "Thank you so much for this." I hugged her tight.

"It was my pleasure, Rose."

I went back over to Dimitri, picking up another present on the way. "Oh, look. The mighty Rose stoops to pick up her own things. What a beautiful moment" Christian said, voice full of false awe and wonder.

I spun around, new dagger in my hand and pointing at his heart within a second. He gulped, and shrank back towards Lissa. I growled at him, before continuing on my way.

"I pity the next Strigoi to face Rose. They won't stand a chance." Eddie said, but I ignored him as I recognised the neat wrapping and handwriting on the tag.

I turned to Dimitri excitedly, and he smiled back. With that encouragement I proceeded to tear the paper, revealing carved wood.

Discarding the rest of the wrapping, I ran my fingers across the lid of the carved wooden jewellery box I'd coveted since spying it in the window of a store in Baia. Linear floral designs flowed around the edges, leading through concentric shapes towards a starburst design in the centre, with middle of which was a deep green gem.

I hadn't bought it then because I hadn't had any money with me, and honestly didn't have much of a use for it. My only jewellery consisted of my Nazar and Chotki, which stayed on me pretty much all the time, and when not on my body, were perfectly happy being flung onto the dresser.
But now, with a ring, Sonya's new bracelet and the expensive jewellery set Lissa had bought for me to wear to her wedding, I actually had something to use it for.

I looked up at Dimitri with wide eyes. "When did you get this?" I asked. "We left the next day!"

"Guardian secrets."

"You can't use that anymore- I'm a Guardian too." I leaned over to nudge him, and as I did so, something rolled inside the box.

I let my interrogation go, allowing myself to be content with the fact that he had given me the perfect present and not dwelling on the logistics of buying it. Turning my attention back to the most importing thing- presents- and flicked the catch to open the box.

My smile doubled in size as I picked up the tube of lipgloss inside, rolling it between my fingers.

"You're such a sap, you know that, right?"

Dimitri fought to hide a smile. "Just don't tell the Strigoi."

Making sure the box was firmly tucked between my knees and wouldn't fall on the floor, I locked my arms around Dimitri's neck and pressed an appreciative kiss to his lips, before shifting to bury my face in his shoulder. His hands came to rest on my lower back.

"Thank you," I mumbled before raising my head so he could actually hear what I was saying. "It's amazing. You're amazing."

Pulling back, I moved so I could kiss him again, and he responded wholeheartedly. Seeing as it was my birthday, the others left us a little longer than usual before the throat-clearing and obnoxious coughing started.

Dimitri broke away first, and my disappointment lasted exactly as long as it took for Eddie to pass the next present to me.

The envelope said it was from Lissa; on opening it I found a voucher for treatments at a spa near here. It was a group token, with enough for 3 treatments for 7 people.
"Wow, Liss. Thanks. When do we go?" I asked eagerly. I seriously needed this. My nails were short and split and my hands were still cracked and dry from winter. Whatever Dimitri had said to me so long ago about staying pretty, and me being different to other female Guardians, I didn't trust him entirely. I tried to get regular facials at court, but it had to be in my time off. Even if she was with me, I couldn't exactly guard Lissa when I had cucumber slices over my eyes and with nothing but a towel over my ass.

Lissa saw my eagerness now. "We could go today. It wouldn't take too long."

Adrian cut in. "And Dimitri could probably do with some rest, because I have no doubt as to what you would be doing if you stayed here."

I saw my mom and Abe glare at Dimitri, and though I didn't turn around, I knew he would be blushing. I didn't care, though.

"Good idea, Adrian. That way, we'll both be all rested up for later. And no one can say anything about the noise, because it's my birthday." I said with glee. They all groaned.

"Clever, Adrian. Really clever." Sydney said sarcastically.

I looked sympathetically at her. "Don't worry. We'll get some earplugs for you guys when we're out. Come on girls, let's go."

Lissa and Mia stood up, motioning for the older women to join them. Before I stood up, I leaned in to kiss Dimitri again. He kissed me back, and it went on a little longer than I intended, and when Mia shouted at me.

"Rose! Remove your tongue from Dimitri's throat and get your ass over here!"
Oh please. My tongue was not down his throat... oh, actually... Maybe this was not the most parent friendly position to be in. Even I had limits.

I pulled away with a groan, resting my head on his shoulder.
"You know, the other option is sounding a whole lot better than the spa right now." I whispered.

"Later." He promised, kissing my forehead.

I stood up reluctantly, swinging my leg over from where I had been straddling Dimitri. When the hell did that happen? The things that man does to me...

After grabbing our handbags, all the girls piled into 1 car. It was a bit of a squeeze, as all 7 seats were being used, but we got around alright. Alberta and my mom sat up the front, and Mia, Sydney and Sonya sat across the middle, being the slimmest ones. I sat at the back, as I was bigger, and Lissa sat beside me, because... well, it was my birthday and I said I wanted her to.

We chatted on the way to the spa about what treatments we were going to get, and Lissa and I laughed quietly at my mom and Alberta. Hardly more than a year ago, my mother had been incapable of talking about anything other than fighting and evil vampires. Now, she was chatting to her friend about what colour she was going to get her nails done, and Alberta was talking about James. Soon, though, their conversation turned to something more horrible than any Strigoi massacre could ever be.

"So, Janine, how are you and Abe? The last time we spoke, you were unsure about letting him back in, but now you two seem to be very friendly."

My friends' conversations died down, as we all listened in on what the 2 at the front of the car were saying. It was like at a really gory, scary bit of a film. You hide your eyes behind your hands, but still watch the screen between the gaps in your fingers.

"We've been great. I think that when Rose was shot, it brought us closer together. We realised that what we had between us was too special to ignore."
My mom giggled, actually giggled. "That and, well, he can be very persuasive. I swear, in the years we've been apart, he's only got better-"

"Mom!" I shouted, and she stopped talking immediately. "Gross! Just because it's my birthday, it doesn't mean I need to know the details of my conception!"
My mom looked slightly embarrassed, before recovering.
"Well, I don't particularly want to hear about your sex life either, but I do. And Abe and aren't all over each other where others can see it." She said pointedly, referring to earlier.

"But you're my parents. It's unnatural and awkward for me to hear that stuff. "

"And you're my daughter, it's awkward to see you and your former teacher, my former colleague, getting it on in front of me."

"At least it's not geriatric sex talk!" I was way too grossed out to think of proper comebacks.

"We are not geriatric. And your father has the body, and stamina, of a much younger man-"

"AhlalalalalalaIcan'thearyoulalalalala" I sang, not caring how immature I sounded. No one should be subjected to hearing what I had just heard.

Thankfully, we pulled into the spa car park a minute later, and I shot out of the car as fast as I could, and when I saw my mom step out onto the tarmac, I pretended to vomit in the bushes. My friends laughed, Sonya and Alberta shook their heads. My mom shouted over to me.
"Rose, grow up. If I have to listen to Adrian and Christian making constant innuendos about you and Dimitri, you can put up with one comment about Abe. Now come over here and act your age."

Ooh, it seemed like I had really hit a nerve.
I shuffled over, head down, and fell into step beside Lissa. When we reached the door, I straightened up and walked normally, before turning round and grinning at my mom, and saying to Lissa;
"I can't wait for later, when Dimitri gives me the rest of my present. Tonight is going to be amazing."

DPOV

As soon as the car was out of sight, we jumped into action. Eddie and I ran to the tent where we had hidden the boxes of party decorations, and came out each carrying 3 boxes stacked on top of each other. I had ended up carrying the 2 that were filled with drinks, and it was heavy, even for me. Adrian followed us to where the party was being held, and started complaining when we were half way there.

"Man, this is so heavy. My arms feel like they're gonna fall off."

I turned back to look at him. The pathetic man was holding 2 carrier bags; one with two 6-packs of beer and one full of food and a 2 litre bottle. I glared, and he shut up.

"I thought you'd be used to carrying around cans, Adrian." Eddie sighed, as 2 minutes later he began complaining again.

"Nah, the vodka's not heavy. It's just my 6-pack."

"Or lack of." I muttered, and Eddie laughed.

Adrian stopped walking.
"Alright then, Mr. Budweiser, you think you're so buff, you carry this. As well as what you've already got."

I thought about the way to just get us to where we needed to be as soon as possible. We'd probably get there faster without Adrian slowing us down. With a sigh, I walked back to Adrian.
"Put the stuff in the box, then."

He did, barely able to lift the bag above shoulder height, and I grunted at the added weight. Taking a moment to regain my balance, I continued to walk forward again, faster than before.
Eddie sped up and Adrian was practically jogging to keep up with me.

"Slow down, Belikov. Not everyone has legs the size of freaking trees."

I looked down at him, and noticed for the first time that for his height, Adrian did actually have short legs. Holding back a laugh, I kept walking, but didn't slow down.
"Think of it as good exercise, you might thank me one day."

Eddie laughed again.
"That sounds familiar. Rose was always complaining about how you made her run but wouldn't let her touch a stake."

I chose to ignore him. They all loved to tease me about when I mentored Rose, and it never did any good to fight back. Eddie would usually back off after one comment, but the Moroi had no way of understanding the importance of the training I had put Rose through.

The lodge appeared in front of us. It was a long, single story rectangular building, made of wood. We stepped inside the doorway to see Christian at the far end, setting up the karaoke machine, microphones and leads all over the low stage.

I put the box onto the long, high table at the side of the room that served as a bar, and started unpacking the drinks. Most were non-alcoholic, as the Guardians wouldn't drink on duty, but it wasn't fair to force the Moroi into the same, even if most were underage. No one here cared, and it wasn't as if they hadn't been going to crazy parties since they were 15.

Once that was done, I helped Eddie set out the food. It was all Roza's favourites; crisps, chocolate, donuts, other junk food. Adrian had even managed to find a chocolate fountain, which he was currently trying to work out how to use.

By now, Christian had finished with the Karaoke, and was putting up the decorations. Eddie and I went to help, and of course I was made to put up all of the high ones.

After an hour of pinning balloons to the ceiling and draping streamers over the chandelier, everything was finished.
I stepped down off the chair, and the others came over to me.
"Alright, they'll be back in about half an hour. Have we checked everything works?"

Christian shook his head. "I didn't try out the karaoke machine."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Go check it then."

He did, and spent five minutes pressing buttons on the remote before coming back to us. The look on his face did not fill me with hope.
"What is it?" I asked.

Christian scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, it seems the guy in charge of the karaoke is a bit of a Swiftie."

I stared at him blankly.
Christian continued. "All the music on there is Taylor Swift. There's nothing else at all."

Adrian burst out laughing. "That's freaking hilarious!" He shouted.

After a checking my watch, I realised that they would be back in 20 minutes. "Look, we don't have time to do anything else. They'll be here soon, let's just go and get dressed."

"Oh good, we'll already be wearing our best. Good and ready for our funerals, we'll look pretty in our coffins once Rose has killed us." Adrian muttered.

"Stop being such a drama queen, Adrian. I don't know how Sydney stands it." Eddie sighed.

When we got back to our tents, we split to go get changed. We only had 10 minutes before they got back, and we had to be ready and waiting by then.
I quickly swapped my t-shirt for a white button-down, and was standing in front of the chair where my duster rested, wondering if I could get away with wearing it with this.

Christian came out of his side of the tent and noticed my predicament.
"Just wear it. Whatever you wear, you know that Rose will end up ripping it off by the end of the night anyway."

"That is true." That thought made me almost wish I'd never had this party idea and we could get started on the clothes-ripping right away, but I knew she needed this. Back to the duster, Rose would be wearing that dress, which she would undoubtedly not think to wear anything over. She'd get cold, and need my coat. That was fine by me, I loved seeing her wearing it; she looked so cute. She'd kill me if I said that, though.

I picked it up, and went to sit outside, where Eddie was already waiting.
"Where's Adrian?" Christian asked.

Eddie snorted. "Where do you think? Lady Ivashkov is doing her royal hair, wasting her family's money on insane amounts of gel and hairspray. I had to get out of there; I was getting gassed by the carcinogenic fumes."

Just then, Adrian walked out of the tent. His hair was messier than it had been before, though I suppose that was the point. The funny thing was, before Adrian styled his hair to look like that, it was perfectly neat. I had never seen someone who could just wash their hair and leave it to dry, and it would look so choir-boy straight and perfect as Adrian's. It was ironic. I could see why he messed it up, though. When it was unstyled, he looked like a total idiot; even more than usual.

Like the time when I was 12 and boys at school had teased me for having 'girl hair'. I'd begged my mother to let me cut it, and eventually she did, and 5 minutes later I realised why she'd been reluctant to do it.
When it had finally grown back, I had made her promise never to let me get it cut like that again; and to show me a picture if I needed any more persuasion.

I was pulled out of my random thoughts when a car pulled up. I stood up and looked through the tree, relieved to see a small car that Abe and James had left in, not the SUV that Roza had taken. The other guys stayed back, and watched as I walked over to the silver car.
The engine cut off, and rear door opened. A second later, I was attacked.

Mwuhahahaha! I know it's really mean to leave a cliffie there, but hey, I was going to cut the chapter off at the end of the RPOV, so you got another 1,500 words :P And I won't leave you waiting this close to Christmas- next update should be Monday :)

Review and Dimitri will buy you that present you'd really like... ;)