Thank you all so much for your comments and follows! I love reading what your theories are for the upcoming chapters. Your support drives this story forward. I can't wait to hear what you think is going to happen next! Especially after this chapter lol. Happy reading, everyone!

-GreyMare

Chapter 5

I couldn't look Dimitri's way for quite some time after he felt me speechless on the balcony. I wasn't a woman who was often at a loss for words, but that man left me bumfuzzled and felt no remorse. It was already getting close to 10 am and Ivan was still here. I had started my shift the same way I always started them, checking for any security problems. As silly as looking into closets and underneath beds may seem one could never be too careful when guarding the most important person in the world. So, if Lissa laughed at me while I was checking locks and windows, so be it. Dimitri stayed with Ivan despite him trying to get Dimitri to take the night off. We stood opposite each other, him on the wall facing the doorway and me directly next to the doorway.

There was a stealth about him that I had never seen in a man before. I took small glances at him when I could, I didn't want him catching me looking at him. I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he shook me. His jaw was a hard line of diamond, the small amount of stubble that had graced his jaw and neck was gone completely now. His eyes were deep pools of chocolate between a nearly perfectly straight nose. Odd I thought since most guardians had a few broken noses in their lifetime. It was one of the more common injuries. Mason had broken his nose twice before even leaving the academy. Eddie was just healing from a broken nose, courtesy of a nasty fight he encountered on his last outing with his charge.

If Dimitri's feet grew tired standing, he didn't show it, he never moved a muscle, never let his guardian mask slip from his face. As the hours ticked by Ivan and Lissa continued talking to one another. The curtains had long been drawn together, removing any sunlight that might try to escape. They went from the couch to the kitchen for snacks, back to the couch, and somehow, they ended up on the floor of the living room, sitting with their legs crossed. Ivan was holding one of Lissa's plants that she had let die. Lissa had her palms facing up and talked with her hands as she explained, "Dig deep down into your core. There's a tight ball of light that you can feel swirling. Latch onto that and pull from that. That is your power and only you can control it. Pull from it like you're unraveling a ball of yarn. Slowly." She guided. Small drops of sweat started popping up on his forehead as he focused on her words and tried to remake whatever feeling it was that she was describing.

"Slowly. Don't push yourself." She guided. Ivan let out a deep breath and sucked another one in through his nose. He nodded his head as if deciding something and relaxed his body. My eyes were glued to the dead plant he held in his hands.

"You can do this," Lissa whispered. Small leaves that were drooping started twitching. The dark brown color of the steam shook slightly as the color faded from dark brown

to light brown, to pale nude, then a faint trace of green.

"Great!" Lissa was breathless.

"Now- "Lissa was cut off by a knocking at the door. Startled, Ivan dropped the plant, soil, and small broken piece of the pot scattered around him. Along with the once again lifeless and dead plant. I checked my watch; it was past midnight.

"Who the fuck is it?" I asked as I opened the door.

Leaning on the doorframe, wagging his eyebrows stood Adrian.

"Nice to see you too." Adrian let himself into Lissa's apartment and slung himself down on the couch. Lissa and Ivan still sat on the floor in front of him. Adrian crossed his legs, threw an arm over the back of the couch, and smiled.

"Learned any fun stuff yet?" He teased. Ivan collected himself and stood up. Holding out a hand for Lissa, which she took.

"I was teaching him how to heal. He almost had it." Lissa placed the blame on Adrian as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not teach him to dream walk? Healing is harder." Adrian stated it like it was the most common topic of discussion in the world.

"What?" Ivan asked.

"Dream walk, I do it to Rose all the time." Adrian threw a hand in my direction. Dimitri's eyes shot over to me causing my skin to heat.

"How do you do that?" Ivan asked.

"He invades my privacy while I'm sleeping because he knows that's the only time or way, I'll talk to him," I spoke up.

"Oh hush, she loves it. I wait until she's asleep, and since I'm sure she's already dreaming about me I just make it a little bit better and pop on over into her head." Ivan joined Adrian on the couch.

"Can you teach me?" He asked. Adrian looked Ivan up and down. Taking note of something that I wasn't sure of; he nodded his head.

"I'm sure I could, Lissa for some reason can't grasp onto it. But that's a student error, not teacher." Adrian uncrossed his legs and sat on the end of the couch.

"I need you first to fall asleep." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dimitri move closer.

"Ivan," Dimitri warned.

"Oh, Dimka lighten up. It's fine!" Ivan waved Dimitri back. I saw him bite the inside of his cheek to not say what he wanted to.

Adrian's eyes looked between the two men talking.

"We don't know if this is safe…" Dimitri tried to explain.

"I'm going to take a nap, how isn't that safe?" Ivan argued. Knowing that he had lost the battle, Dimitri returned to his position along the wall. His fists clenched tightly by his sides.

Ivan turned back to Adrian and continued. "Once I'm asleep what will you do?" Ivan asked. Adrian uncrossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees as he spoke.

"Like with healing, you must tap into something that is on another level. But unlike with healing, you must hold onto it for longer. It's not just done in a few seconds or minutes. It can last as long as you want it to. Or as short as you want it to be."

"You don't need a connection to do it, no personal meaning to each other but that does help. It helps to need to be next to the person. Once you're asleep I'll reach out to your mind. Sometimes it may take a few tries before I get there. Especially since we're just now meeting. And I'll tell you the rest once I'm in there." Ivan hung on his every word. Adrian

guided Ivan to lie down on the couch as he slipped to the floor next to Lissa.

"It may be hard for you to fall asleep. But try." Adrian patted his shoulder and shot me a wink.

"Tell him, Rose, it'll be so worth it once he's dreaming of me." I rolled my eyes and refused to answer. Lissa watched as Adrian crossed his legs and faced his palms up.

"I'll try to draw your mind to mine. Hopefully, that'll make this go a little easier."

"You never done that with me!" Lissa was insulted.

"Hush, I'm teaching." Adrian shushed her.

Dimitri and I watched as the three of them waited for Ivan and Adrian to connect in the world of dreams. Lissa had pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. The clock ticked away until half an hour had passed, then a full hour. Small jerks in Ivan's body indicated that he was finally in a restful sleep. Adrian had turned his body around until his

back was against the couch, his head resting on the cushion by Ivan's calves. It was odd to see how Adrian looked whenever he walked into someone's dreams. I had only ever been on the receiving end of things, but watching it now made the whole experience seem all the creepier. Adrian's eyes glazed over, and his body went stiff. After Adrian had been sitting like that for a few minutes he stopped moving altogether, there was no twitching or jerks.

"He looks like he's dead," Lissa observed.

"We wouldn't get that lucky," I answered her. Lissa's hair was starting to frizz out and small dark circles started to cloud under her eyes.

"You should probably go get some sleep, Lissa. It's almost four in the morning. My shift ends in like two hours. You've been up a long time. Plus, you know how drained you get when you use it." I walked over to where she was sitting and offered my hand.

"I want to wait for them." She said sleepily. And like a mother ushering their children to sleep I countered.

"They'll be here when you wake up. And if they aren't you can still see them tomorrow. Come on, you know I'm right. You've been up for like what, eighteen hours now?" Lissa reluctantly took my hand and stood up.

"I liked you better when you were careless." She muttered as she made her way to the stairs.

"I did too." I agreed. I followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom. Lissa changed into her silk nightie that was hanging on the bathroom door and sighed as she ran a brush through her hair.

"I don't figure we could get a feeder up here in the next few minutes, could we?" Lissa was looking more pale than normal. I wondered how long it had been seen her last feeding.

"Lissa, you're the queen. If you wanted a caramel souffle topped with truffles only found in Asia within the next few minutes, then it would happen." I pulled the covers back and patted the fluff covers down.

"You're ridiculous. I'll just go in the morning; I don't want to be a bother." Lissa slid into the sheets and sighed as she relaxed into the cool cotton of the sheets.

"You're the only person that I know that when presented with unlimited power, won't use it." I laughed softly. All the power in the world and Lissa still acted like she was a burden to the staff. Not their boss or their queen.

"Goodnight Lissa. I'm going to lock the door behind me. Just to be safe."

"Night Rose. You take such good care of me." She smiled; her eyes still closed.

"I know I do, whatever did you do to deserve me?" I teased. Lissa couldn't have said anything back, because soft, gentle snores

fell from her. I chuckled lightly, locked the door behind me, and placed the key back in the pocket. Dimitri was still posted at his spot when I returned, Adrian and Ivan hadn't moved from their spot.

"You should probably get him back to his room soon." I pointed my thumb to Ivan.

"I didn't think that he would stay this long." Dimitri had a leveled voice, but his eyes shot back and forth between Adrian and Ivan.

"Adrian won't do anything to hurt him. At least on purpose." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall.

Dimitri had his hands clasped in front of him, his body ridged from holding its

place for hours. How he was able to hold his stance for that long was beyond my knowledge.

"You didn't show up at the gym anymore." For the first time since our shifts had started his eyes locked with mine. I couldn't tell if he was asking, accusing, or hurt by the statement.

"I didn't," I agreed. I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't really want to tell him the truth about why I was avoiding him in the first place.

"Why?" he asked. His eyes held mine as he spoke.

"I know that I didn't make the best first impression, but I thought we were getting along."

"No, we were. I enjoyed our session. Well, no I take that back. I didn't enjoy getting knocked on my ass. That part was not fun."

"You did say that you normally show up at the same time every day, right?" his guardian mask was in full effect. No hints as to what he was feeling or thinking was leaking through.

"Right." I agreed.

"And I showed up the next day at the same time. But you weren't there. Right?" His jaw twitched after he spoke.

"Right." I agreed again.

"And the only thing that I can think of as to

why that happened was because of what I saw in the hallway." His voice was lower now than it was before. The sound of grit and gravel combined with that faint accent made me shiver.

"I think you think too much into things." I needed to think of a good lie, and fast. "I zone out sometimes. It's happened ever since I was a teenager. Ever since the car accident that killed Lissa's family. Migraines follow after one of those episodes. Skull-splitting, stomach-turning migraines. I don't like people thinking I'm weak. So, I didn't want anyone, let alone someone who I don't really know, seeing me in that position." Half true, half lie. Good job, Hathaway.

"Are you okay now?" Dimitri had turned his body so that it was slightly facing mine and not the opposite wall. A small flash of true concern ran across his face, but it was gone in an instant.

"Yes," I whispered. "I'm okay now." I pulled a tight smile across my face and pushed off the wall.

"I can make Adrian leave. I understand you being apprehensive about all of this." I waved my hand behind me.

"This is all new," he started "And I don't do well with uncharted ground. What am I supposed to do if a threat happens, and he is sucked into someone's mind? Or what happens when he uses too much and retreats into the shadows?" He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.

"Lissa was put on medicine to help suppress her magic. She hated feeling like a freak who couldn't live up to her family name. But once we found out why she was like this, it helped. She wanted to be able to control it, not the other way around. It helps if he is on board with controlling it. But he is here to learn." I tried to support him; I knew what it felt like to be helpless in regard to Lissa's madness. Taking it from her was one of the only ways that I was able to help her. Dimitri didn't have that. At least, I didn't think that he had that.

"Ivan has always known that he was different. But he never thought of it as him being a freak. He thought the world just needed to catch up." Dimitri shrugged his shoulders.

"At least that's a good way of looking at it. It helps to not think that you're crazy. Lissa just thought that she was going insane for a few years."

"Just a few, huh?" Ivan jerked out of his sleep with a gasp. Adrian shook his head as if he was shaking the memory away. Dimitri was immediately by Ivan's side. For this man to be six foot a hundred he moved like a cat.

"Ivan." Dimitri placed a hand on Ivan's shoulder as Ivan tried to control his breathing. He breathed in his nose and out of his mouth, taking long, deep breaths to try and calm himself.

"Dimitri…" Ivan's voice cracked like he had just woken up from a deep sleep.

"Ivan, are you okay?" Dimitri asked him, his voice low.

"Hell yeah, I'm fantastic!" Adrian stretched his arms as he stood up and smiled.

"Now why don't you try it on me." Adrian offered. The look on Dimitris's face was a deathly warning. I tried to put myself into his shoes for a minute. A new type of magic, a strange land to practice it in, strangers all around you with the potential of danger at almost every turn. I didn't want Dimitri to think that he was in this fight alone.

"Actually, Lord Zeklos, I'm going to have to

ask you two to leave. Lissa needs as much sleep as she can get, and I know that

she would appreciate a morning alone." I walked towards them as I spoke,

switching my eyes between Ivan and Dimitri. It was almost five in the morning

now; my shift would be ending in an hour, and I didn't want this going on with

another guard.

"Certainly, Guardian Hathaway. My apologies,

I hope I didn't overstay my welcome." Ivan stood up and took my hand.

"Of course not, you're welcome here anytime

the queen allows it." He kissed my hand and did a ridiculous bow.

"Dimitri let's go back to my suite. Adrian,

would you care to join us?" Adrian started to answer Ivan, but I quickly cut

him off.

"Lord Zeklos, would you mind if Adrian met

with you later? I need him for a few minutes." I pulled out my best smile as I

talked.

"I'll see to it that Adrian finds you

tomorrow, or should I say later in the day. When you're both well rested, fed,

and recharged."

"Rose you little minx you." Adrian grinned

and winked at me. "I'll find you later, Ivan. Remember what I said." Adrian draped

an arm around me as Ivan listened. Dimitris's eyes landed on Adrian's arm, and

I felt the need to shrug it off. But instead, I played nice and left it.

"Of course, nice seeing you both." Ivan

smiled and nodded before he and Dmitri excused themselves and left Adrian and

me alone. I threw his arm off me and punched him in the ribs.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why did

You show up in the middle of the night?"

"Rose if you want to get me alone just to

yell at me, we're going to have to get married first."

"Shut

up. Why are you here?" Adrian rubbed the spot where I punched him. Big baby, I

didn't even hit him half as hard as I wanted to.

"I wanted to see what Ivan was capable of.

Lucky for us that isn't much apparently." Adrian walked over to the armchair

and sat down. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes together.

"I kept seeing a face in his dreams, I think

it was where he was stationed at last. But I can't be sure. I let him dream for

a while before I showed myself."

"Why would you do that?" I went and locked

the door then joined him back in the living room.

"Because he's hiding something."

"You've known the guy for like two seconds.

How could you possibly know that?" I sat on the arm of the chair that Adrian

was sitting in.

"Because I was what he was dreaming Rose.

There's a room, a cage, and after that, it goes blank. But there's a dark

feeling and a cloud of black surrounding his aura when he dreams. He was

talking to someone in his dream, I let it play out for a few minutes then I

changed the dream landscape so he wouldn't think I saw anything. But there's

something more going on than what we think there is." Adrian pulled out a clove

cigarette and tapped it twice on my knee.

"What if he was just having a nightmare?

Nighty-five percent of my dreams are complete nonsense. If someone were to take

what I dreamed for reality or an evil plan, then I'd be in a world of

trouble." I leaned back and took the cigarette out from between his lips.

"I know the difference between a dream and a memory. This was a memory." Adrian defended his bouts of insanity.

"What did you tell him?" I propped my head up on my fist. Adrian rolled the cigarette between his finger and thumb and sighed.

"Once I entered his dream, I told him how I had done it. How I just focused on him hard and then there was a tunnel I walked through and bam I was there. Of course, that's the water-down version of the story. But I told him that if he let me read the books that he was keeping from Lissa about when Saint Vladimir killed himself then I would teach any to read auras, dream walk, heal, the works."

"You don't intend on truly teaching him though, do you?" I asked.

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"I don't trust him, Rose. I can't explain it, but I don't." I patted Adrian's shoulder pushed off him and stood up.

"Time for you to go, I'll talk to you later." Adrian shoved me off the chair and grabbed my hand mocking the way that Ivan had just done.

"I'll see you later Rose." Adrian let my hand fall and let himself out. Locking the door once again behind him I sat on the couch and listened to the sound of sweet silence. This was normally how these shifts were supposed to go. Me on the couch, Lissa sleeping, and no one was around to interrupt. The next five days would be easy to power through if Ivan and Dimitri stayed in their suite during my shifts. I tried to give much into the things Adrian had said, half of what he said was nonsense anyway. But the other half was true, scarily accurate to say the least.

But for a moment I let my mind wander and become the devil's advocate.

What if Ivan was hiding something? What if his intentions for being here weren't entirely what he had told Lissa? He was a spirit user that much was obvious, but not knowing how to do any small tricks other than just simple compulsion? That was unlikely. To have all the information stored up on Saint Vladimir but not have any of the discipline to manifest any of the other gifts was very strange. He should've had the whole world at his feet. He wasn't even able to probably charm a piece of jewelry. He had to be close to his thirties, the exact age was somewhere in those files in my room, but I couldn't be sure. Maybe I should bring this up to Lissa, maybe she could use her compulsion to get it out of Ivan and then make him forget that she asked about it.

Lissa was too much of a goody two-shoes with that. Adrian would be more on board than anyone. But he wasn't as strong as Lissa with compulsion. No, this would have to be something that I figured out myself. Without involving Lissa. If she could keep something from me knowing that I would be mad after I found out then I feel as if I'm entitled to at least free sneaky endeavor.