Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, profit from this story and all creative rights to the characters belong to Richelle Mead.
The original content, ideas and intellectual property of this story are owned by Ms. Belikov. Please do not copy, reproduce, or translate without express written permission.
Previously on Kill or be Killed...
"That's why I always use SPF 1 billion, limited Vampire edition. It works phenomenally for me." Tasha chortled at her own joke, flipping through the pages of Vogue magazine.
"You look like a lobster, Rose." Mia chimed in. "So not attractive."
"It'll heal." I peeled off a sheet of dead skin, making my second in command gag.
"It's not that bad," I snapped. "Man the fuck up." That was my philosophy. If one couldn't handle the life of being a Guardian, then they needed to pack their shit up and get the hell out of my life. I didn't spend centuries searching the world for a team of Nancy's. I only had soldiers.
"Sorry." Mia said immediately, sensing my terrible mood.
Lissa's brows crashed down, the wheels in her jade-green eyes turning. "What happened out there, Rose?"
"I told you already." I said. "I got hit by a car, had to erase the family of humans memories, and fix the dent. That's why it took me so long to get home, and also why, I look like like a rotisserie chicken right now."
It had been over a day since what happened at the Strigoi headquarters and I was itching for a fight. Blessedly, the sun was just beginning to set. I was in love with the night.
"Huh." was all she said, tone disbelieving. Yeah, well, I could care less if she bought the story or not. I was tired. And hungry.
"Can someone please go get me a bag? I don't care which type. Just get me one. Now."
As Sydney left to go retrieve what I asked for, I wondered why I had lied to my team. It was something I never did. Trust and honesty are what The Guardians were all about. Maybe I didn't want to worry them. Maybe I didn't want to make a big thing out of nothing. Who cares if I'd just battled a Master vampire? One that had been walking the earth for more than a thousand years? It was no big deal.
Or maybe, I was trying to protect Dimitri.
No.
Of course not.
That couldn't be it.
Sydney set the glass full of crimson down in front of me and my fangs throbbed from hunger. I picked it up and started chugging it. The blood created a wonderful full feeling in my belly. I could feel my injuries healing straightaway, the pain fading.
Suddenly, my adrenaline spiked and instinct twisted in my chest. "Check the window," I commanded. "I think we have visitors."
"How did they get past the gates?" Meredith asked.
Mia peeked through the blinds and cursed. "Ayyyee Papi! We got some hotties. Who ordered a team of strippers?"
Everyone was crowding around the windows the instant Mia was done talking, all shoving the other around in an attempt to get a good look.
A growl escaped my lips. "Those aren't strippers." I stared at Dimitri and the menacing men standing beside him. "They're vampires. And they're here to fight."
Rose POV:
Battle lust flooded the faces of the Guardians, and though sheer panic coursed through my body, I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of pride for my warriors—even the bitchy, whiny ones.
This is what I had worked so hard to build, to create. The structure and system that surrounded the Guardians was nearly unbreakable, and I had a feeling Dimitri and the fighters standing at his sides were going to give the walls a good test, see if they were built properly, check if the bricks tumbled easily.
I wished the Master vampire luck, because he sure as hell needed it.
It was unnecessary for me to tell my team what to do, because they each had their own ways. I was okay with them having their own fighting techniques, as long as they kicked some major ass and defeated the enemy.
"There's six of them out there, so we're evenly matched. You know the drill." I said, unsheathing a silver stake. The air was filled with low hisses as they did the same, drawing out their weapons.
Silver was lethal to both a vampire and a Strigoi, and in order for the mineral do its poof-you-to-ash job, it had to pierce the strongest organ of our kind—the heart. Though Strigoi were virtually human, having been drained of blood and filled with only a Master vampire's blood, their anatomy still operated in the same fashion as a vampire. Strigoi were immortal, fed off of other vampires, were allergic to the sun and silver, and had bionic hearing and speed. The only difference between a vampire and a Strigoi, was their sole purpose. Strigoi lived to please and obey their Master vampire, a minion to them, mindless. They lived and breathed for their Master vampire, doing whatever they were told, taking care of the dirty deeds. Which is why the Guardians needed to drive their species to extinction, or at the very least, shorten their numbers. Because like Dimitri, Master vampires could be evil bastards and send their Strigoi out to do some pretty sick shit to innocent people.
The Guardians spread out like a peacocks feather; graceful, beautiful, captivating. They disappeared into the shadows of the penthouse I'd purchased in 1908, watching and lurking above like cobras ready to strike.
To a humans eye, I would have been a blur, nothing but a breeze being passed in the air. But the incredibly, mind-baffling speed I used was natural to me, a part of me, the predator in me begging to be let out of her cage.
I whipped the door open and charged Dimitri at once. Wrapping my fingers around his thick throat, I slammed him to the ground and straddled his waist, struggling to keep control of his tremendous weight.
"If any of you fuckers try to sneak up on me, you will seriously regret it." I said without looking up at the surrounding, menacing male vampires.
One went to lung at me, but was stopped by Lissa. I spared a glance over my shoulder. The two skidded across the grass in a tangle of limbs. My best friend lifted her arm and struck the vampire with glowing ice-blue eyes and jet-black hair in his face so hard, his nose shattered on impact.
"Here, let me help you with that," Lissa said, gripping his nose and twisting, breaking it back in place. "Can't ruin that pretty face now, can we."
"Aw, you think I'm pretty." the vampire said. "That's real cute. Now, I know I'm almost going to feel bad for doing this, especially since you're a lady." With a flick of his neck, he brought his head up and smashed it against Lissa's.
With a groan, she fell off him, dizzy and seeing stars.
That's when all hell broke loose.
In the blink of an eye, I jumped off Dimitri, came up behind the male vampire, and shoved the silver stake through his back. There was a little spark, and a pop, then he turned to ash, falling into a small pile of charcoal on the ground.
"Told you you were going to seriously regret it. Why don't men ever listen?" I said.
"Christian!" The Master vampire roared, shattering the windows of the penthouse, sending thousands of shards into the night sky. Dimitri's head lifted, and his eyes glowed red with anger the instant they landed on me. "You killed my brother. You are going to seriously regret that."
He claimed the distance between us and sunk his ivory fangs deep into my neck. I cried out in pain as he yanked his mouth away, leaving me with a viciously torn throat. There was blood everywhere. On my skin and clothes, his brown duster, my hair, all over his face. So much blood…
The Guardians dropped down from the roof of the penthouse, landing on the ground silently, gracefully.
"Son of a bitch!" Mia ran at Dimitri and shoved him with all her might. The Master vampire skidded like a rock across water along the length of my lawn, destroying everything in his path.
"You just messed with the wrong mother fuckin' white girl!" Mia screamed, and I had to laugh. That amusement soon turned to rage when I looked at the well attended and loved garden the Master vampire had plowed through.
"Goddamn it! You ruined my flowers!" I yelled at Dimitri, who launched into the air and descended on me. My head cracked against the sidewalk as his body landed on top of my own.
"You killed my brother." Dimitri said, raising a shard of glass he'd retrieved from the pile beside us.
"Tit for tat." I grinned challengingly up at him, waiting for the pain to strike me. He shoved the glass into my gut, and I was proud that I only grunted a little.
Turning my head, I checked on my troops. Tasha, Mia, and Sydney were holding their own, but Lissa and Meredith had been immobilized, their arms held behind their backs in vice grips by two gorgeous vampires. Hell, looking at Dimitri's team now, I realized that all of the males were eerily beautiful. Their bodies were amazing, as if chiseled and carved by the Roman Gods themselves. And their faces were otherworldly—masculine, stark, ruthless.
"I should take you as my Slave," Dimitri growled in my ear.
I barked out a laugh, astonished by his insult. "Fuck you."
"Please do," His lips curved into a cold smile.
Distantly, I was aware of our numbers dwindling. Sydney and Mia had been captured and knocked unconscious. Now, we had only one fighter, Tasha, against six male, multiple generation vampires. Yeah, Tasha was a brilliant fighter, but every girl had her limits. The odds weren't looking so good for the Guardians.
"What do you want from us?" I gritted my teeth, struggling to get out of his steel hold. Panic settled in my chest, heavy and constricting.
"I didn't come here to hurt you…" Dimitri said, voice surprisingly gentle and soft.
"Bullshit."
"I'm a lot of things, Rose, but a liar isn't one of them."
"Tell me what you want." I growled.
"Your help."
I laughed in a harsh burst. "You're funny, you know that? Truly, you are."
"My goal isn't to get you to laugh."
"You storm into my home. Trash my garden. Hurt my fighters." I said. "Oh, yeah, totally man. I will so help you!"
That earned me a flat stare. "I'm giving you a chance to come to me willingly, or I can force you to. Either way, the outcome is the same."
"I'd rather get shot in the face than help you."
"Pavel." Dimitri called out, turning his head to the side. It caught the attention of a gorgeous tan vampire with thick, long black hair and amber eyes that illuminated gold in the night. His fangs protruded out of his full lips, too big to fit in his impeccable mouth. I shuddered when I met his feral gaze. He carried nearly as much power as Dimitri did, which meant he was pretty close to hitting Master status.
Shit. These vampires were stronger than I'd first assumed.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
What kind of a leader was I? A horrible one. I'd just thrown my whole team into a snake pit. I should have had them run while we still had the chance, even though they'd most likely catch us anyway. But it wasn't as if I was used to this type of situation. The Guardians were rarely, if ever, defeated. Unfortunately, we were unprepared for this, and now we were neck deep in quick sand. There was no getting out unless we were pulled out. And the only ones who had the power to do that was the male vampires.
Yeah, we were pretty much dead.
The Master vampire said something in a different language. Russian, I believe. My God. It was the most incredible sound rolling off his tongue. A burning shot of adrenaline exploded in my veins and pooled in my abdomen. I couldn't stop the small moan that escaped my lips.
Dimitri's head snapped over, like he was surprised. He met my eyes, grinned, and leveled a lazy, sensual gaze on me.
He was still holding me, both of my hands easily pinned over my head in one of his, and that's when I realized how intimate are positions were. I could feel every solid inch of him pressed against me, his tremendous weight, the hard rope pressed against my inner thigh, and it was euphoric. Exhilarating, even. I wanted the Master vampire more than a drug attic wanted their next hit.
As Dimitri continued to address Pavel in his native Siberian tongue, never taking his eyes off my own, I found myself making little feral noises in the back of my throat and arching my back, pressing my breasts against his huge chest. The urge to rake my nails down his back and sink my fangs into his throat was nearly irresistible. With a blanket of pure, icy dread, I realized that I wanted to mark him as my own. To show other female vampires who he belonged to and what would happen to them if they dared to cross that line.
I wanted to take him as my Mate, for the rest of eternity.
I gritted my teeth, putting a stop to that insane train of thought. That just wasn't going to happen. Absolutely not.
Just as Dimitri was done speaking, Pavel advanced on Tasha, effortlessly taking her down to the ground.
"Oh, God." Just as realization settled in, the breath pushed out of me, as if someone has strangled my lungs. "No."
Tasha struggled with everything in her and used all of her strength to get away, but Pavel was too strong. The strength in him shocked Tasha to her core, and she froze, unable to move, paralyzed to the spot with sheer terror.
That didn't stop Pavel. He ripped her shirt down the middle, roughly shoved her bra up, revealing small breasts, and took one of her pale-pink nipples into his mouth.
No words in any dictionary could have described the way I felt in that moment. I couldn't breathe as I watched him savagely sink his teeth into her snow-white skin. A drop of crimson formed and gracefully slid down her ribs. Pavel licked the crimson trail up, savoring every last drop.
Nausea formed in the pit of my gut when Pavel unzipped his pants, then hers.
Tasha turned her head to the side, and stared at me with ice-blue eyes, glossed over with blood tears.
"I'm so sorry." I said, chin quaking. "I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," Tasha said, wildly shaking her head. "Goddamn it, Rose. This isn't your fault. Don't you dare blame yourself."
Except, I couldn't do as she asked me. It was my fault. As the leader, I should have been more prepared. If I had been, none of this would have happened. Tasha wouldn't have been forced powerless, held against her will, and raped in front of six male vampires, who were intently watching the horrendous act about to go down.
Seeing her in such a helpless position made me think of the years of torture and abuse I'd had to suffer through at the hands of my uncle.
It had started out as an ordinary, so much like the countless others. I lived in a small village located in the remote forests of Italy with my family. Lissa and I, both fourteen at the time, had raced from day school to see who could get to their cottage first.
Unsurprisingly, I won. I was always the fastest. That still hadn't changed to this day.
"Ah, sister, you fool." I danced in victory, running in triumphant circles around an ancient tree. "You should know by now not to challenge the Mighty Greatness."
Lissa, the girl I'd known for as long as I could remember, my best friend, rolled her eyes and chucked a small stone at me. "You are full of yourself, sister. It's going to get the best of you one of these days. If anyone is the fool here, it is you, not I."
I held up my hand, silencing her. "Do you smell that?"
Her nose crinkled and she sniffed the air. "No, I believe I do not. Why, sister? What has troubled you?"
"Fire." I pointed in the distance as shock and dread filled every fiber of my being. "Strigoi. They are here. In the village."
"How did they get past the wards?" Lissa bunched the fabric of her purple gown into her hands and ran after me, fighting hard to keep up. "It is impossible."
"Evidently not, sister." I said, the panic and need to protect the people of my village making my voice breathless. "Wait." I spun around, grabbed my best friend by her fragile, slender shoulders. "Turn around. Run back to the towers. Warn the guards."
Lissa looked as scared as I felt on the inside. But a moment later, braveness filled her lime-green eyes and I felt a profound sense of pride and respect. "How dare you ask me of such a thing. I am not leaving you here to fend for yourself. You may not be my sister of blood, but you are the sister of my heart, and I will protect you until I take my last breath."
"Lissa, now it not the time to argue with me," I said, shaking her, hoping to confuse her a bit, overwhelm her. "People are dying all around us, can't you see? Look at the cottages, half of them are already burned to the ground, nothing but ash beside the growing number of dead bodies. And for our people who are alive..." As if on cue, there was a horrendous, blood-curdling scream followed by "Please! Please! Take me instead! Have mercy on my family!"
"But I cannot just leave you..." Lissa said, hanging on by a thread. Tears made her eyes sparkle and glossy. "You are my sister. We must stay together. I do not want to go out there alone...I am too afraid of what monsters the darkness and shadows of the night carry among them."
"There isn't much time," I urged. "You have to go now. They're coming."
My best friend stared at me for the longest time, glossy eyes filled with loss and regret, and then she turned around and ran away to never be the same again. She'd been robbed of her innocence that day and never got it back. Somehow, that seemed like the worst crime in the world.
I remember helping my neighbor extinguish the flames on his cottage by bringing him bucket after bucket full of water from the well, then I ran to my childhood home and threw open the door.
"Mother! Father!" I'd cried in relief, throwing myself into their arms and hugging them with everything in me. Janine and Ibrahim Mazur were the best fighters in our small village. They were the ones our people looked up to in time of need, when they were frightened or unsure of a decision to make. As the eldest transitioned vampires of the village, it was their duty to guide the younger ones, to push them down the right road.
My father's whole body went rigid, and a second later, my mothers did as well. I froze, more terrified than I had ever been in my short life. "What is it, father?" I asked in a small, pathetic voice.
"Shhh." he hissed, listening intently. As a vampire who hadn't gone through her transition yet, my senses were human; dull, weak, useless. So I waited for my parents supernatural, brilliant hearing to pick up something. Unfortunately, it did.
"Get into the cellar!" My parents rushed my uncle Victor, my father's stepbrother, and I towards the kitchen, all but shoving us down the creaky wooden stairs.
"But father..." I cried, my whole body shaking uncontrollably with fear.
"No buts." He said in a hushed tone, then crouched down and gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Stay down here. No matter what you hear. Do you understand? Stay. There."
The cellar's door slammed shut, and darkness ate the entire room up. That was the last time I had ever seen my parents alive.
Three days later, we emerged from the cellar, having heard not a single sound aside from our heaving breathing—the oxygen was running very low in the small enclosed room—in the past twenty-four hours.
The brutal sight that met my eyes forever changed me. It was a massacre, a slaughter. That was the only way I could describe it. Blood covered every inch of the living room, splattered on the lovely furniture and pale walls. The smell was even worse, it still churned my stomach to this day thinking about it.
At my feet, lay my parents dismembered, mutilated corpses. Both Janine and Ibrahim had been decapitated, their limbs savagely torn from their abdomens and thrown across the room. Only one Strigoi lay dead, undisturbed aside from the stake in its heart. This massacre was the work of a pack of Strigoi's, likely one of many who'd ambushed my village. Thing was, Strigoi were mindless, brain dead even, their only thought and purpose was to serve their Master. That meant the pack of Strigoi took orders from a Master vampire who ordered the entire slaying of my village. It took an incredibly Master vampire to control one Strigoi, let alone a whole pack of them. It was unheard of, but evidently not impossible.
I leaned over and dry heaved on my empty stomach.
Victor stared at me with cold, uncompassionate eyes. "Your mother and father are gone and will never come back. Get over it."
The years following had never been the same once Victor had full custody over me.
At first, it hadn't been so bad. There were just the extra long hugs and the inappropriate touches and creepy stares. But my uncle grew braver over time as he went undetected. He threatened to kill Lissa—the only person I had left on earth—if I opened my mouth, spilled his sick secrets. So I kept my lips tight together, kept my head high, and dealt with the abuse. A year before my early transition, on my sixteenth birthday, Victor had crept into my room while I was sleeping and crawled into bed with me. I remember the bitter smell of alcohol on his breath, the hot, sticky sweat on his meaty palms, the prickle of his beard rubbing against my chin and cheeks as he forced a sloppy kiss against my lips. It took everything I had to keep the bile down my throat.
Victor then shoved my nightgown up to my ribs and my underwear down to my ankles, and the rest I didn't have the stomach to think about.
From then on, every night, Victor would come into my room and climb in bed and commit the same horrendous act. The routine was something I never became familiar with, but I learned to deal with it, no matter how much I was dying on the inside. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that one day, when the world ended, I would die and float up onto heaven where I would see my parents, and Victor would go to hell where he belonged.
I snapped back into the present, and saw Tasha in the exact position I had been in all those centuries ago—rendered powerless, stripped of dignity, and forced to do something that would scar for the rest of time. Just as it had done with me. I would do anything—absolutely anything—to make sure she never had to endure what I had to, even if it meant helping Dimitri.
"STOP!" My scream of surrender made everyone still and look over. "Stop...please. I'll help you, okay? Just, please...let her go."
Nothing had actually been done to Tasha—thank God—but it had been pretty damn close. Dimitri ordered the vampire away immediately. Pavel buttoned up his jeans, then went to pull up hers.
"Get away from me!" Tasha hissed, savagely baring her fangs in warning.
Pavel pushed up from his arms and climbed to his feet with the grace of a predator.
A wash of relief hit me so hard, I sagged completely in the Master vampire's hold. He stood, then roughly grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. Those dark, hypnotic eyes stared at me expectantly.
I looked over at Tasha, who was now standing. She pulled her jacket closer and hugged herself, like she was protecting her own body. Then her blue eyes snapped over to Pavel and she shot him a look full of such icy hatred and malice, it was a miracle she hadn't attacked him yet and clawed out those golden-amber eyes. She probably just didn't want to touch him, in fear of him violating her again.
"I need a shower," Tasha said, then promptly disappeared inside the penthouse, no doubt to scrub her skin raw with scalding hot water.
Thankfully, the other Guardians were beginning to wake. Mia and Sydney were shuffling to their feet, little moaning sounds easing out of their lips. The others had been released from the vice grips of the male vampires.
Still rattled and shaken, I said, "Come inside so we can discuss this."
Lissa held a handful of charcoal-gray ashes in her hand. She let the grain fall from between her fingers onto an ancient scroll, making a perfect intricate design that symbolized the Spirit Goddess. The Spirit Goddess was Lissa's biological mother, who was worshiped and loved by the vampires of the Ancient Land for her healing abilities. Lissa possessed the same miraculous power, which had become increasingly stronger over the years as she'd practiced and perfected it. Even if I'd had to crack a few ribs in the process and be her experimental lab rat, I was impressed by how powerful she'd become.
"What is she doing?" Dimitri asked, standing beside me. Well, towering was more like it.
"Shut up," I elbowed him hard in the groin area. He so deserved it. "She needs total and complete concentration in order for the ritual to be successful."
I sensed him behind me before I felt him. His incredible body pressed against my backside. I shivered when his hand drifted underneath my shirt, his blisteringly hot fingertips circling the skin of my hip bone."You know," he leaned down and whispered in my ear, his voice rich and thick with his accent. "I cannot figure out whether you are extremely brave or obliviously stupid challenging me like you are. I could tear you in half with my bare hands."
Reaching between are bodies, I cupped his package that overflowed my palm. The Master vampire growled, and his body hardened instantly at my touch, his size overwhelming even behind his expensive black silk slacks.
"Back the fuck up," I smiled wickedly, gave a rough squeeze and twisted. "I don't liked to be touched."
A groan of agony escaped Dimitri's mouth and he stumbled backwards, shocked and a little bit amused. That ought to teach him to keep his distance.
"She's growing weak, Rose." Meredith said urgently. "Look at her face."
She was right. Lissa's skin was a sickening shade of pale with an undertone of blue. Her eyes were dark and sunken in. She needed blood. Now. Without another thought, I punctured my skin and brought it to her lips. My best friend was in a subconscious trance, essentially unconscious, so it didn't register with her at first. But when her hunger took over, so did her predator side, and she latched onto my vein with an feral growl, grabbing my arm so tightly my bone nearly snapped in half.
Dazedly, I looked all around me, at the staring eyes. Oh, God. I felt a pang of embarrassment and shame. There was a certain intimacy to sharing blood, even if the relationship between the two people was just friendly, like mine and Lissa's.
I began to feel lightheaded, and I was faintly aware of Dimitri walking over and gently pulling me away from my best friend. Lissa looked healthier now, the color in her face and skin restored, but I knew it was only temporary. As the ritual progressed, she would grow weaker and weaker again.
The Master vampire pulled me over to the couch and eased me down into it. Funny, considering we'd been at each others throat merely an hour ago and now he was playing Mr. Nice Guy.
He crouched down, eyes studying my face. "Can I get you anything?" His voice was so deep, and I felt a rush of warmth in my abdomen.
"Fuck me?" I asked sluggishly, my tongue felt like a thousand pounds. It was the after affects of giving too much blood.
Dimitri gave a rich chuckle. "No."
"Fuck me hard?"
An even louder laugh, a belly one. This made me smile big because I got the impression he wasn't one to show his emotions often. "No."
"Let me fuck you?"
"How about a cookie?" Dimitri suggested.
I nodded wildly, my head lolling to the side. "I loooooovvvveeee cooooookieeeeess."
The Master vampire disappeared and evidently didn't have trouble finding the kitchen because he came back a moment later, holding out the chocolaty treat. He held it to my lips, and I greedily bit in.
"Careful," I said, around a mouthful. "I might take a finger off."
Amusement sparkled in his brown eyes.
"Hey," Something popped in my head, making me angry. "You owe me new windows. You ruined them all."
Dimitri wiped a crumb from my mouth, his fingertips sliding across my lips slowly. "I will certainly replace them, Rose. You have my word."
Lissa POV:
Everything around me was bright and white. I squinted at the beautiful light, trying to avoid the temptation. I was here to do a job, not prance and frolic around on the other side.
I found what I was looking for. The vampire named Christian. My God, was he incredible. My heart fluttered at the sight of him. His hair was the color of night and his eyes the color of the brightest ocean. He was built to perfection, muscular not bulky, and his pale skin matched the world, but everything else seemed out of place. Covered from head to toe in black clothes and intricate tattoos, his darkness stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Yoo-hoo." I called out impatiently, waving my arm to grab his attention. "We have to go now. You don't belong here. It's not your time yet." How unfortunate that was. The world could use one less pain in the ass like him.
"Where am I?" Christian looked out his glowing self, then at me. "Are you an angel?"
"Oh, Gosh. Stop being such a romantic. I'm blushing." Suddenly, I became serious. "You're lingering between planes, not quite in heaven but not yet gone from Earth. Your soul is confused right now, which is a good thing, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this."
We were sucked from the passage to the other side and boot-kicked back into Earth. The whole trip back to reality was disorienting, but I was still able to focus on the pile of ash and watched with a fascination as it began to move, the pieces gluing back together, the molecules forming into real flesh and bones. A second later, Christian stood there, perfect and unharmed, just as he had been before Rose had staked him.
The first thing he did was look at me, and I swear to God, I saw a flash of love and complete devotion.
"You're very welcome." I smiled. And then I blacked out from exhaustion.
Rose POV:
"Whoa, girl." Christian caught Lissa's body before it fell to the floor, and cradled it with a surprising gentleness. He brought her over to the couch and sat beside me, resting her head against his lap, holding it with his broad hands. I couldn't help but notice how large his knuckles were, probably from centuries of brutal fighting.
"Don't worry. This always makes her come around." I slapped my best friend hard across the cheek. My palm stung from the impact. I could only imagine how her face felt.
"Hello, sleeping beauty." Christian said, lips twitching when Lissa's eyes snapped open and she glared at me with enough force to burn holes into my skull.
"I need to feed," Lissa declared, trying to sit up but Christian pushed her back down by her forehead. She turned her murderous glower on him. Thank God. I was sweating underneath all of that heat. "Can someone grab me a bag from the fridge?"
"Here. Don't worry about being gentle," Christian said, rolling up the sleeve of his black thermal and offering his wrist to her. "The harder the better. I like girls with a bite."
My best friend stared at him, shocked, while everyone in the room looked away uncomfortably, coughing and rubbing the backs of their necks.
"I'm not going to feed from you."
"Why not? My blood is warmer and fresher than that plastic shit. And I've been told I taste really delicious." Christian winked.
A loud laugh brought everyone's attention to a corner of the room, where a man with thick, messy bronzed hair and emerald-green eyes stood. He wore nice dress slacks and a gray trench coat. God, I hate rich people, I thought, staring at the vampire with distaste. He seemed to stink of money. "Please." Lord, he had a velvety, smooth voice tinged with a Romanian accent that made chills dance up my spine. He chuckled again, the sound rich like hot caramel dripping from a spoon. "Don't let me interrupt. Continue. I insist."
"I don't want to bite you." Lissa said stubbornly.
"Think of it as a thank you. For saving my life." Christian said, leaning down and brushing his mouth against her ear. He said something so low none of us were able to hear. My best friends cheeks warmed, eyes sparkled, and she giggled with delight.
"Here, Love. Drink deep. Take as much as you want." He brought his wrist to her mouth, and I could have sworn I saw her drop a kiss to his skin a second before she sunk her teeth into him and took what he offered. When she moaned in pleasure, I averted my eyes to the ceiling and concentrated really hard on something else.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star... I sang as loud as I could in my head, trying for a distraction. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky...
Dimitri watched me the whole time, and when he made an amused sound in the back of his throat, my head snapped over and I did that thing where you pretend to scratch your eyebrow while flipping someone off at the same time. Then I swiftly returned to my inward singing.
B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O!
"How about this," I said, slamming my feet down on the desk. "I'll help you when you absolutely need it."
We'd been discussing this alone in my office for the past two hours, and we'd done everything but settle on an agreement. Well, not everything. I eyed his package, then quickly looked away. The thing was, Dimitri and I were like two bulls in the same pin—we'd done nothing but bump heads. The Master vampire wanted the Guardians help—no he needed our help. Aside from his group of vampire super heroes, we were the best fighters in the world. Well, the best fighters he'd ever come along. I took it as a huge compliment, even though it came from a complete arrogant asshole.
Rumor had it that there was a war coming. A Master vampire—I still wasn't a 100% sure it wasn't Dimitri, in spite of everything he'd tried to prove me he was innocent—was recruiting a mass army of Strigoi in an attempt to dominate the world. His goal was to wipe out any vampire who wouldn't surrender to him, and enslave those who did. Man, that guy seriously had power trip problems. Apparently, Dimitri was positive of what was coming and when it was coming: soon. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here, forcing me to help him. I didn't want to ask him how he got all of his information—it probably involved a lot of blood shed, broken bones, and dead Strigoi bodies. My stomach churned.
The Master vampire planted his fists on the polished mahogany desk, eyes blazing with barely concealed rage. "I don't make conditions. You play by my rules."
"Or else?" I challenged him. Something very stupid of me. No one ever crossed a Master vampire if you favored actually having a pulse.
His eyes flashed, and then a sinister smile twisted his lips, making my blood turn to ice. "I hear you have a human friend by the name of Mason Thomas Ashford." he said simply, the treat obvious in his voice.
My heart jumped into my throat. "You wouldn't dare," I said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.
"You are very protective of him. Why?"
"He's my friend. I protect him, as I would anyone of my Guardians."
"Are you in love with him?"
"No." I said a little too quickly, and Dimitri smiled like a man who hit the nail on the head.
"And I would assume you'd like him to say human?"
I growled barbarically. "I won't let you turn him into a vampire."
Dimitri leaned his hip against my desk, crossing his arms over his huge chest. "Who ever said vampire?"
In a micro second, I was out of my chair and advancing on him. But before I could wrap my hands around his throat like I'd planned, he'd flipped me around and slammed me against a near wall, immobilizing me with his body. "You don't want to do that," he whispered.
"If you make him a Strigoi, I will rip your head off with my bare hands and watch it burn in the sun." He was an all powerful Master vampire. He was one of very few who could make Strigoi. Of course, it took a sick bastard to do such a thing, make minions. But Dimitri, evidently, was a sick fuck.
"I just want to make sure we're on the same page," Dimitri pressed his nose into my hair and inhaled deeply, and I'd be damned, but my body reacted to him, readied itself for him. And I knew without a doubt he knew it. "We are on the same page, right, Roza?"
My senses seemed to be on vacation. I swallowed hard and nodded dazedly, wildly. My stomach, full with the cookies he'd fed me, turned into a bottomless, achy pit. I wanted his warm blood in my mouth, sliding down my throat, filling my belly with satisfaction.
"Good." Suddenly, he pulled away from me completely and my body groaned in protest. "My team and I will be here tomorrow at sunset. Be prepared to train."
I spun around, still dazed from his blistering touch that awakened such heat inside of me. My skin felt on fire. "Train? Why?"
"Because the Guardians techniques are lousy," he said, and I narrowed my eyes. How could I be so angry and so turned on at the same time? "We need to teach you how to fight properly. Erase everything you've ever learned and rebuild you into true warriors."
"Fuck you. I'm a fantastic fighter." I yelled, but the door already slammed shut. I ran over to the broken window, just in time to see Dimitri and his fighters disappear into the shadows of the forest. "You still owe me new windows! Don't forget it, you douche!"
The Master vampire smiled in amusement. I wasn't sure how I knew it—I couldn't seem him—I just did.
Damn, what had I gotten myself and the Guardians into?