Christian picked up the book and took his seat.
Eighteen
THE HIGH HEELS WERE STARTING to hurt me, so I took them off when I went back inside, walking barefoot through the lodge.
"Smart move," Alberta nodded, all the girls nodded knowing how much high heels start to hurt after a long while.
I hadn't been to Mason's room, but I remembered him mentioning the number once and found it without difficulty. Shane, Mason's roommate,
"Why are you not bunking with me?" Eddie asked sad that Mason would rather bunk with Shane to bunk than him.
"I don't know maybe you didn't want to bunk with me," Mason defended himself.
opened the door a few moments after I knocked. "Hey, Rose."He stepped aside for me, and I walked in, peering around. Some infomercial was playing on the TV –one downside of a nocturnal life was a shortage of good programming-and empty soda cans covered nearly every flat surface. There was no sign of Mason anywhere. "Where is he?" I asked. Shane stifled a yawn. "I thought he was with you." "I haven't seen him all day." He yawned again, then frowned in thought. "He was throwing some stuff in a bag earlier.
"You two better not be doing what I think you are," Alberta threatened Mason and Eddie.
I figured you guys were running off for some crazy romantic getaway. Picnic or something. Hey, nice dress." "Thanks," I murmured, feeling a frown of my own coming on. Packing a bag? That didn't make any sense. There was nowhere to go. There was no way to go, either. This resort was as tightly guarded as the Academy. Lissa and I had only managed to break out of that place with compulsion, and it had still been a pain in the ass.
"And by now the school has made it even harder," Alberta nodded.
Yet, why on earth would Mason pack a bag if he wasn't leaving? I asked Shane a few more questions and decided to follow up on the possibility, crazy as it seemed. I found the guardian in charge of security and scheduling. He gave me the names of those guardians who'd been on duty around the resort's borders when Mason had last been seen.
"Smart move," Dimitri nodded hoping that Mason and Eddie had not left the resort and if they did that Rose would tell the guardians.
Most of the names I knew, and most were off duty now, making them easy to find. Unfortunately, the first couple hadn't seen Mason around today. When they asked why I wanted to know, I gave vague answers and hurried off. The third person on my list was a guy named Alan, a guardian who usually worked the Academy's lower campus. He was just coming in after skiing, taking his equipment off near the door. Recognizing me, he smiled as I approached. "Sure, I saw him," he said, bending down to his boots.
Mason and Eddie pried that they were still on the resort and had not run off to the strigois,
Relief flooded over me. Until then, I hadn't realized how worried I'd been. "Do you know where he is?" "Nope. Let him and Eddie Castile...and, what's her name, the Rinaldi girl, out through the north gate and didn't see them after that." I stared.
All eyes were on Alberta who looked about ready to kill the two boys. Alberta took a few deep breathes before telling Christian to continue, but the moment the book was done Mason and Eddie were going to have hell to pay.
Alan continued unhooking his skis as though we were discussing slope conditions. "You let Mason and Eddie ... and Mia out?" "Yup." "Um ... why?" He finished and looked back up at me, a kind of happy and bemused look on his face. "Because they asked me."
"Compulsion," Tatiana shook her head.
An icy feeling started creeping through me. I found out which guardian had watched the north gate with Alan and immediately sought him out. That guardian gave me the same response. He'd let Mason, Eddie, and Mia out, no questions asked.
"When did her compulsion get so strong?" Dimitri questioned, worried for Rose.
And, like Alan, he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with that. He appeared almost dazed. It was a look I'd seen before ... a look that came over people when Lissa used compulsion. In particular, I'd seen it happen when Lissa didn't want people to remember something very well. She could bury the memory in them, either erasing it all together or planting it for later. She was so good at compulsion, though, that she could just make people forget completely.
"Well it's a good thing Mia's compulsion isn't as strong as Lissa's," Alberta said relieved. She just hoped that Rose would go and tell the other guardians of what the three had done.
For them to still have some memories meant someone who wasn't as good at compulsion had worked on them. Someone, say, like Mia. I wasn't the fainting type, but for just a moment, I felt like I could keel over. The world spun, and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I could see again, my surroundings stayed stable. Okay. No problem. I would reason this out.
"Smart move," Janine nodded, proud that Rose was not full-blown panicking.
Mason, Eddie, and Mia had left the resort earlier today. Not only that, they had done it by using compulsion -which was utterly forbidden. They hadn't told anyone. They'd left through the north gate. I'd seen a map of the resort. The north gate guarded a driveway that connected to the only semi-major road in the area, a small highway that led to a little town about twelve miles away. The town Mason had mentioned that had buses. To Spokane. Spokane -where this traveling pack of Strigoi and their humans might be living. Spokane -where Mason could fulfill all his crazy dreams of slaying Strigoi.
"And where he most certainly was going to get himself killed," Alberta glared at Mason and Eddie.
"We are so dead," They both said at the same time looking at each other.
Spokane -which he only knew about because of me. "No, no, no," I murmured to myself, almost running toward my room. There, I stripped off the dress and changed into heavy winter clothes: boots, jeans, and a sweater. Grabbing my coat and gloves, I hurried back toward the door and then paused.
"What is she doing?" Abe asked worriedly.
"Not thinking, that's what," Janine shook her head.
I was acting without thinking. What was I actually going to do? I needed to tell someone, obviously...but that would get the trio in a lot of trouble.
"Either way they are going to be in a lot of trouble," Dimitri shook his head, he wished that Rose would just go and tell him. Even if it would piss his book counterpart off.
It would also tip Dimitri off that I'd gone and gossiped about the Spokane Strigoi information he'd told me in confidence as a sign of respecting my maturity.
"That is not the time to worried about that," Ivan shook his head. He didn't want Rose anywhere near a pack of strigoi without backup. He was not going to lose his new baby sister.
I studied the time. It would take a while for anyone around the resort to know we were missing. If I could actually get out of the resort. A few minutes later, I found myself knocking on Christian's door. '
"No, no, no." Christian shook his head, he didn't want to be pulled into this mess.
He answered, looking sleepy and cynical asusual. "If you've come to apologize for her," he told me loftily, "you can just go ahead and -" "Oh, shut up," I snapped. "This isn't about you." Hastily, I relayed the details of what was going on. Even Christian didn't have a witty response for that one. "So...Mason, Eddie, and Mia went to Spokane to hunt Strigoi?" "Yes." "Holy shit. Why didn't you go with them? Seems like something you'd do."
"True," Everyone nodded.
I resisted the urge to smack him. "Because I'm not insane! But I'm going to go get them before they do something even stupider."
"Because that is completely sane," Christian rolled his eyes.
That was when Christian caught on. "And what do you need from me?" "I need to get off the resort's property. They got Mia to use compulsion on the guards. I need you to do the same thing. I know you've practiced it." "I have," he agreed.
Tatiana glared at Christian who just smirked at her.
"But...well..." For the first time ever, he looked embarrassed. "I'm not very good at it. And doing it on dhampirs is nearly impossible. Liss is a hundred times better than me. Or probably any Moroi." "I know. But I don't want her to get in trouble." He snorted.
"But you don't mind if I do?" Christian shook his head and snorted when he read the next part.
"But you don't mind if I do?" I shrugged. "Not really." "You're a piece of work, you know that?" "Yeah. I do, actually." So, five minutes later, he and I found ourselves trekking out to the north gate.
Dimitri glared at Christian who just smiled at him sweetly.
The sun was coming up, so most everyone was inside. This was a good thing, and I hoped it'd make our escape that much easier. Stupid, stupid, I kept thinking. This was going to blow up in our faces. Why had Mason done this?
"Because he was an idiot," Alberta shook her head.
"Sorry?" Mason said not sure what else to say.
I knew he'd had this whole crazy vigilante attitude...and he'd certainly seemed upset that the guardians hadn't done anything about the recent attack. But still. Was he really that unhinged? He had to know how dangerous this was. Was it possible...was it possible I'd upset him so much with the making-out disaster that he'd gone off the deep end?
"No…" Mason shook his head not wanting Rose to believe she had pushed him to do that.
Enough to go do this and get Mia and Eddie to join him? Not that those two would be hard to convince. Eddie would follow Mason anywhere, and Mia was almost as gung ho as Mason to kill every Strigoi in the world. Yet, out of all the questions I had about this, one thing was definitely clear. I'd told Mason about the Strigoi in Spokane. Hands down, this was my fault, and without me, none of this would have happened.
"True, but she was young. Let's just make sure she doesn't do the same, this time around," Dimitri noted.
"Lissa always makes eye contact," I coached Christian as we approached the exit. "And speaks in a really, like, calm voice. I don't know what else. I mean, she concentrates a lot too, so try that. Focus on forcing your will on them." "I know," he snapped. "I've seen her do it." "Fine," I snapped back. "Just trying to help." Squinting, I saw that only one guardian stood at the gate, a total stroke of luck.
"That is lucky for them. Let's just hope you can do it," Adrian smiled at Christian who glared at him.
They were in between shifts. With the sun out, the risk of Strigoi had disappeared. The guardians would still continue in their duties, but they could relax just a bit. The guy on duty didn't seem particularly alarmed by our appearance. "What are you kids doing out here?" Christian swallowed. I could see the lines of tension on his face.
"This is going to be good," Adrian chuckled.
"You're going to let us out of the gate," he said. A note of nervousness made his voice tremble, but otherwise, he did a fair approximation of Lissa's soothing tones. Unfortunately, it had no effect on the guardian.
Adrian laughed at that while Christian blushed.
"As if you could do better," Christian glared at Adrian.
As Christian had pointed out, using compulsion on a guardian was nearly impossible. Mia had gotten lucky. The guardian grinned at us. "What?" he asked, clearly amused. Christian tried again. "You're going to let us out." The guy's smile faltered just a little, and I saw him blink in surprise. His eyes didn't glaze over in the same way Lissa's victims did, but Christian had done enough to briefly enthrall him.
"Not bad," Adrian smirked.
Unfortunately, I could tell right then and there that it wouldn't be enough to make him let us out and forget. Fortunately, I'd been trained to compel people without the use of magic.
"She's not going to do what I think she's about to is she?" Janine shook her head in disbelievingly.
"Oh, she is," Ivan said while laughing.
Sitting near his post was an enormous Maglite, two feet long and easily seven pounds. I grabbed the Maglite and clocked him on the back of the head. He grunted and crumpled to the ground. He'd barely seen me coming, and despite the horribleness of what I'd just done, I kind of wished one of my instructors had been there to grade me on such an awesome performance.
Dimitri shook his head while Alberta laughed.
"Is he going to be okay?" Olena asked worriedly.
"He's going to be fine." Alberta reassured Olena.
"Jesus Christ," exclaimed Christian. "You just assaulted a guardian." "Yeah." So much for getting the guys back without getting anyone in trouble. "I didn't know just how much you sucked at compulsion. I'll deal with the fallout later. Thanks for your help. You should head back before the next shift comes on."
"Like hell that's gonna happen," Christian shook his head.
"And why is that?" Alberta questioned,
"she needs back up and I'm gonna help her no matter what," Christian smiled proud of himself.
He shook his head and grimaced. "No, I'm going with you on this." "No," I argued. "I only needed you to get through the gate. You don't have to get in trouble over this." "I'm already in trouble!" He pointed at the guardian. "He saw my face. I'm screwed either way, so I might as well help you save the day. Stop being a bitch for a change."
"That is not gonna work," Mason shook his head.
We hurried off,
"You were saying?" Christian smiled proudly.
and I cast one last, guilty glance at the guardian. I was pretty sure I hadn't hit him hard enough to cause real damage, and with the sun coming out, he wouldn't freeze or anything. After about five minutes of walking down the highway, I knew we had a problem.
"What now," Eddie shook his head.
"The sun," Dimitri, Janine and Alberta said at the same time.
Despite being covered and wearing sunglasses, the sun was taking its toll on Christian. It was slowing us down, and it wouldn't take that long for someone to find the guardian I'd taken out and come after us. A car -not one of the Academy's-appeared behind us, and I made a decision. I didn't approve of hitchhiking in the least. Even someone like me knew how dangerous it was.
"Well, at least she knew that," Abe said worriedly. He didn't want Rose in that situation.
But we needed to get to town fast, and I prayed Christian and I could take down any creepy stalker guy who tried to mess with us. Fortunately, when the car pulled over, it was just a middle-aged couple who looked more concerned than anything else. "You kids okay?" I jerked my thumb behind me. "Our car slid off the road. Can you take us to town so I can call my dad?"
"Not a bad lie," Victoria nodded.
"And how would you know?" Dimitri asked his little sister, who blushed avoided eye contact.
It worked. Fifteen minutes later, they dropped us off at a gas station. I actually had trouble getting rid of them because they wanted to help us so much. Finally, we convinced them we'd be fine, and we walked the few blocks over to the bus station. As I'd suspected, this town wasn't much of a hub for real travel. Three lines serviced the town: two that went to other ski resorts and one that went to Lowston, Idaho. From Lowston, you could go on to other places. I'd half-hoped that we might beat Mason and the others before their bus came.
"They wouldn't be that lucky," Dimitri shook his head. He was hoping that Rose and Christian would turn back and tell one of the guardians but by now he knew that was not going to happen.
Then we could have hauled them back without any trouble. Unfortunately, there was no sign of them. The cheery woman at the counter knew exactly who we were talking about, too. She confirmed that all three of them had bought tickets to Spokane by way of Lowston. "Damn it," I said. The woman raised her eyebrows at my language. I turned to Christian. "You got money for the bus?" Christian and I didn't talk much along the way,
"You two are idiotes," Ivan shook his head at Christian.
except for me to tell him he'd been an idiot about Lissa and Adrian. By the time we reached Lowston, I finally had him convinced, which was a minor miracle.
"Thank you," Adrian smiled smugly at Christian who glared at him.
He slept the rest of the way to Spokane, but I couldn't. I just kept thinking over and over that this was my fault. It was late afternoon by the time we reached Spokane.
"That is not good," Everyone said at the same time.
It took a few people, but we finally found someone who knew the shopping center Dimitri had mentioned. It was a long ways from the bus station, but it was walkable. My legs were stiff after almost five hours of riding a bus, and I wanted the movement. The sun was a while from setting, but it was lower and less detrimental to vampires, so Christian didn't mind the walk either.
"That is a small miracle," Oksana said hoping that the kids wouldn't get into any trouble.
And, as often happened when I was in calm settings, I felt a tug into Lissa's head. I let myself fall into her because I wanted to know what was happening back at the resort. "I know you want to protect them, but we need to know where they are." Lissa sat on the bed in our room while Dimitri and my mom stared her down.
"Well that didn't take them long to figure it out," Mason said worriedly.
"Rose had disappeared before so it would make sense they would notice it if she just disappeared," Alberta noted.
"And someone else was definitely keeping an eye out for Rose," Abe smiled at Dimitri who blushed before looking away.
It was Dimitri who had spoken. Seeing him through her eyes was interesting. She had a fond respect for him, very different from the intense roller coaster of emotions I always experienced. "I told you," said Lissa, "I don't know. I don't know what happened." Frustration and fear for us burned through her.
"I'm glad that they didn't drag her into this mess," Christian said relieved.
It saddened me to see her so anxious, but at the same time, I was glad I hadn't gotten her involved. She couldn't report what she didn't know. "I can't believe they wouldn't have told you where they were going," said my mother.
"Rose would do anything to keep Lissa save and that included leaving her out of things," Mason said sadly.
Her words sounded flat, but there were lines of worry on her face. "Especially with your...bond." "It only works one way," said Lissa sadly. "You know that." Dimitri knelt down so he could be at Lissa's height and look her in the eye. He pretty much had to do that to look anyone in the eye.
"I'm not that tall," Dimitri shook his head.
"Yes you are," All his sisters said at the same time.
"Are you sure there's nothing? Nothing at all you can tell us? They're nowhere in town. The man at the bus station didn't see them ... though we're pretty sure that's where they must have gone. We need something, anything to go on." Man at the bus station?
"Good to know Rose and me were the only ones having a hard time," Christian said relieved.
That was another stroke of luck. The woman who'd sold us the tickets must have gone home. Her replacement wouldn't know us. Lissa gritted her teeth and glared. "Don't you think if I knew, I'd tell you? You don't think I'm worried about them too? I have no idea where they are. None. And why'd they even leave... it doesn't make any sense either. Especially why they'd go with Mia, of all people."
"They didn't know that they left in two groups," Janine shook her head.
"Let's just hope they find them before they get into any trouble," Ivan said worriedly.
A twinge of hurt flickered through the bond, hurt at being left out of whatever we were doing, no matter how wrong. Dimitri sighed and leaned back on his heels. From the look on his face, he obviously believed her. It was also obvious that he was worried -worried in more than a professional way.
"Good," Abe nodded pleased, while Janine wasn't sure how to feel.
And seeing that concern that concern for me- ate up my heart. "Rose?" Christian's voice brought me back to myself. "We're here, I think." The plaza consisted of a wide, open area in front of a shopping center. A café was carved into a corner of the main building, its tables spilling out into the open area.
"Definitely," Alberta nodded.
A crowd moved in and out of the complex, busy even at this time of the day. "So, how do we find them?" asked Christian. I shrugged. "Maybe if we act like Strigoi, they'll try to stake us."
"We're not stupid," Mason and Eddie said at the same time.
"Yes you are," Alberta, Janine and Dimitri said at the same time.
A small, reluctant smile played over his face. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd thought my joke was funny. He and I went inside. Like any mall, it was filled with familiar chains, and a selfish part of me thought that maybe if we found the group soon enough, we could still get in shopping time. Christian and I walked the length of it twice and saw no signs of our friends or anything resembling tunnels.
"The tunnels aren't going to be oblivious," Dimitri shook his head.
"Well one could hope," Christian nodded.
"Maybe we're in the wrong place," I finally said. "Or maybe they are ," suggested Christian. "They could have gone to some other -wait." He pointed, and I followed the gesture. The three renegades sat at a table in the middle of the food court, looking dejected. They looked so miserable, I almost felt sorry for them.
"Thank god," Alberta was relieved.
"I'd kill for a camera right now," said Christian, smirking.
"Not funny," Mason and Eddie glared at him.
"This isn't funny," I told him, striding toward the group. Inside, I breathed a sigh of relief. The group clearly hadn't found any Strigoi, were all still alive, and could maybe be taken back before we got in even more trouble.
"Yes, now grab them by their ears and drag them back to the resort before you all get into trouble," Alberta nodded at the book.
"Oh they are gonna wish they were that lucky," Yeva shook her head.
"Not good," Abe said, worried.
They didn't notice me until I was almost right next to them. Eddie's head jerked up. "Rose? What are you doing here?" "Are you out of your mind?" I yelled.
"Good yell at them," Alberta nodded pleased.
A few people nearby gave us surprised looks. "Do you know how much trouble you're in? How much trouble you've gotten us in?" "How the hell did you find us?" asked Mason in a low voice, glancing anxiously around. "You guys aren't exactly criminal masterminds," I told them. "Your informant at the bus station gave you away. That, and I figured out that you'd want to go off on your pointless Strigoi-hunting quest."
Mason and Eddie pouted at that.
The look Mason gave me revealed he still wasn't entirely happy with me. It was Mia who replied, however. "It isn't pointless." "Oh?" I demanded. "Did you kill any Strigoi? Did you even find any?" "No," admitted Eddie. "Good," I said. "You got lucky." "Why are you so against killing Strigoi?" asked Mia hotly. "Isn't that what you train for?" "I train for sane missions, not childish stunts like this."
"You tell them," Janine smiled pleased that the three were getting hell from someone.
"It isn't childish," she cried. "They killed my mother. And the guardians weren't doing anything. Even their information is bad. There weren't any Strigoi in the tunnels. Probably none in the whole city."
"But you found the tunnels. If there were no strigoi's then who made the tunnels?" Dimitri asked looking at Mason and Eddie like they were idiots.
Christian looked impressed. "You found the tunnels?" "Yeah," said Eddie. "But like she said, they were useless." "We should see them before we go," Christian told me.
"You are dead as well," Alberta said looking at Christian.
"But…" Christian wanted to say something, but the glare Alberta sent in his direction shut him up.
"It'd be kind of cool, and if the data was bad, there's no danger." "No," I snapped. "We're going home. Now."
"Thank you for being the responsible one," Abe said, proud of Rose.
Mason looked tired. "We're going to search the city again. Even you can't make us go back, Rose." "No, but the school's guardians can when I call and tell them you're here." Call it blackmailing or being a tattletale; the effect was the same.
"She should have done that in the first place," Alberta said wanting to strangle the kids.
The three of them looked at me like I had just simultaneously gut-punched them all. "You'd really do that?" asked Mason. "You'd sell us out like that?" I rubbed my eyes, wondering desperately why I was trying to be the voice of reason here. Where was the girl who'd run away from school? Mason had been right. I had changed.
"That is a good thing," Dimitri and Ivan said at the same time.
"This isn't about selling anyone out. This is about keeping you guys alive." "You think we're that defenseless?" asked Mia.
"Yes," Everyone said glaring at Eddie and Mason.
"You think we'd get killed right away?" "Yes," I said. "Unless you've found some way to use water as a weapon?" She flushed and didn't say anything. "We brought silver stakes," said Eddie. Fantastic. They must have stolen them. I looked at Mason pleadingly. "Mason. Please. Call this off. Let's go back." He looked at me for a long time. Finally, he sighed. "Okay."
"Whipped," Adrian smirked.
"And that is a good thing," Alberta said pleased that the three will be coming back to the resort.
Eddie and Mia looked aghast, but Mason had assumed a leadership role with them, and they didn't have the initiative to go on without him. Mia seemed to take it the hardest, and I felt bad for her. She'd barely had any real time to grieve for her mother; she'd just jumped right on board with this revenge thing as a way to cope with the pain. She'd have a lot to deal with when we got back.
"All three of them will," Alberta glared at Mason and Eddie.
Christian was still excited about the idea of the underground tunnels. Considering he spent all his time in an attic, I shouldn't have been all that surprised. "I saw the schedule," he told me. "We've got a while before the next bus." "We can't go walking into some Strigoi lair," I argued, walking toward the mall's entrance. "There are no Strigoi there," said Mason. "It's seriously all janitorial stuff. There was no sign of anything weird. I really do think the guardians had bad information." "Rose," said Christian, "let's get something fun out of this." They all looked at me. I felt like a mom who wouldn't buy her kids candy at the grocery store.
"And she's gonna give in," Ivan shook her head.
"Let's hope the information was bad," Janine said not wanting to hear about her daughter's death.
"Okay, fine. Just a peek, though." The others led Christian and me to the opposite end of the mall, through a door marked staff only. We dodged a couple of janitors, then slipped through another door that led us to a set of stairs going down. I had a brief moment of déjá vu, recalling the steps down to Adrian's spa party.
Adrian smiled while everyone else just rolled their eyes.
Only these stairs were dirtier and smelled pretty nasty. We reached the bottom. It wasn't so much a tunnel as a narrow corridor, lined in grime-caked cement. Ugly fluorescent lights were embedded sporadically along the walls. The passage went off to our left and right. Boxes of ordinary cleaning and electrical supplies sat around. "See?" said Mason. "Boring." I pointed in each direction. "What's down there?" "Nothing," sighed Mia. "We'll show you."
"Please don't let them find anything. And let them get away before nightfall." Dimitri prayed.
We walked down to the right and found more of the same. I was starting to agree with the boring assessment when we passed some black writing on one of the walls. I stopped and looked at it. It was a list of letters.
D
B
C
O
T
D
V
L
D
Z
S
I
Some had lines and x marks next to them, but for the most part the message was incoherent. Mia noticed my scrutiny. "It's probably a janitor thing," she said. "Or maybe some gang did it." "Probably," I said, still studying it.
"No," The guardians said at the same time. They understood what the message meant.
"What?" Tatiana asked worried but no one answered her.
The others shifted restlessly, not understanding my fascination with the jumble of letters. I didn't understand my fascination either, but something in my head tugged at me to stay. Then I got it. B for Badica, Z for Zeklos, I for Ivashkov ... I stared.
That made everyone freeze. They didn't want to believe what they were hearing.
The first letter of every royal family's name was there. There were three D names, but based on the order, you could actually read the list as a size ranking. It started with the smaller families -Dragomir, Badica, Conta-and went all the way up to the giant Ivashkov clan. I didn't understand the dashes and lines beside the letters, but I quickly noticed which names had an x beside them: Badica and Drozdov. I stepped back from the wall.
"Get out of there," Dimitri wanted to yell at the book.
"We have to get out of here," I said. My own voice scared me a little. "Right now." The others looked at me in surprise. "Why?" asked Eddie. "What's going on?" "I'll tell you later. We just need to go." Mason pointed in the direction we'd been heading. "This lets out a few blocks away. It's closer to the station." I peered down into the dark unknown.
"Nope, no, no, no," Olena shook her head. She wanted Rose out of the tunnels. Janine and Abe were frozen with fear, they didn't know what to do.
"No," I said. "We're going back the way we came." They all looked at me like I was insane as we retraced our steps, but nobody questioned me yet. When we emerged from the mall's front, I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the sun was still out, though it was steadily sinking into the horizon and casting orange and red light onto the buildings.
"But if they have humans working with them it's not so safe," Ivan remembered, that made everyone just worry more. They were all used to the sun being safe but now even that was dangerous.
The remaining light would still be enough for us to get back to the bus station before we were really in any danger of seeing Strigoi. And I knew now that there really were Strigoi in Spokane. Dimitri's information had been correct. I didn't know what the list meant, but it clearly had something to do with the attacks. I needed to report it to the other guardians immediately,
All the guardians nodded.
and I certainly couldn't tell the others what I'd realized until we were safely at the lodge. Mason was likely to go back into the tunnels if he knew what I did. Most of our walk back to the station proceeded in silence. I think my mood had cowed the others. Even Christian seemed to have run out of snide comments. Inside, my emotions swirled, oscillating between anger and guilt as I kept reexamining my role in everything. Ahead of me, Eddie stopped walking, and I nearly ran into him. He looked around. "Where are we?"
"Bloody hell," Ivan shook his head.
"We are gonna need to up their training," Alberta looked at Dimitri who nodded agreeing with her.
Snapping out of my own thoughts, I surveyed the area too. I didn't remember these buildings. "Damn it," I exclaimed. "Are we lost? Didn't anyone keep track of which way we went?" It was an unfair question since I clearly hadn't paid attention either, but my temper had pushed me past reason.
"That is understandable," Mark understood.
Mason studied me for a few moments, then pointed. "This way." We turned and walked down a narrow street between two buildings. I didn't think we were going the right way, but I didn't really have a better idea. I also didn't want to stand around debating. We hadn't gone very far when I heard the sound of an engine and squealing tires.
"Nope, please no," Janine prayed, Abe grabbed her hand.
Mia was walking in the middle of the road, and protective conditioning kicked in before I even saw what was coming. Grabbing her, I jerked her out of the street and up against one of the building walls. The boys had done the same.
"Well their training wasn't so bad," Olena said looking at Dimitri and Alberta.
"Yes but it could have been avoided," they said at the same time.
A large, gray van with tinted windows had rounded the corner and was headed in our direction. We pressed flat against the wall, waiting for it to go past. Only it didn't. Screeching to a halt, it stopped right in front of us, and the doors slid open. Three big guys spilled out, and again, my instincts kicked in. I had no clue who they were or what they wanted, but they clearly weren't friendly. That was all I needed to know. One of them moved toward Christian, and I struck out and punched him.
"Thank you," Christian said at the book in his hand.
The guy barely staggered but was clearly surprised to have felt it at all, I think. He probably hadn't expected someone as small as me to be much of a threat.
"They hardly ever do," Janine and Dimitri said at the same time.
Ignoring Christian, he moved toward me. In my peripheral vision, I saw Mason and Eddie squaring off with the other two. Mason had actually pulled out his stolen silver stake. Mia and Christian stood there, frozen. Our attackers were relying a lot on bulk. They didn't have the sort of background we had in offensive and defensive techniques. Plus, they were human, and we had dhampir strength. Unfortunately, we also had the disadvantage of being cornered against the wall.
"Shit," Dimitri swore. He wished he could do something to help but he knew all this was still to happen.
We had nowhere to retreat to. Most importantly, we had something to lose. Like Mia. The guy who'd been sparring with Mason seemed to realize this. He backed off from Mason and instead grabbed her. I barely saw the flash of his gun before its barrel was pressed against her neck.
"And they lost," Janine said sadly.
Backing off from my own adversary, I yelled at Eddie to stop. We'd all been trained to respond instantly to those kinds of orders, and he halted his attack, glancing at me questioningly When he saw Mia, his face went pale. I wanted nothing more than to keep pummeling these men -whoever they were-but I couldn't risk this guy hurting Mia. He knew it, too. He didn't even have to make the threat. He was human, but he knew enough about us to know that we'd go out of our way to protect the Moroi.
"Because they were working for the strigoi's," Dimitri said terrified of what would happen to them now.
Novices had a saying grilled into us from an early age: Only they matter. Everyone stopped and looked between him and me. Apparently we were the acknowledged leaders here. "What do you want?" I asked harshly. The guy pressed his gun closer to Mia's neck, and she whimpered. For all her talk about fighting, she was smaller than me and not nearly as strong. And she was too terrified to move. The man inclined his head toward the van's open door. "I want you to get inside. And don't start anything. You do, and she's gone." I looked at Mia, the van, my other friends, and then back to the guy. Shit.
"Done," Christian said shocked. Of all the things he thought that would have happened this was not it. How were they going to get out of this?
"Give the book here I'll read next," Abe said gesturing to the book.
~~~~
Abe quickly flipped the book open, eager to know what was happening to his daughter. Everyone else was still on edge.
Nineteen
I HATE BEING POWERLESS.
"Don't we all," Janine said worried for their daughter.
AND I hate going down without a fight. What had taken place outside in the alley hadn't been a real fight. If it had -if I'd been beaten into submission
Abe, Janine, Ivan and Dimitri winced at that. That was not a picture they wanted in their heads.
... well, yeah. Maybe I could accept that. Maybe. But I hadn't been beaten. I'd barely gotten my hands dirty. Instead, I'd gone quietly.
"They had a moroi in their hands so that makes sense. That is what we train them to do," Alberta said not sure if she should be proud of their response to the situation or if she should question what they were teaching their students.
Once they had us sitting on the floor of the van, they'd bound each of our hands behind our back with flex-cuffs - strips of plastic that cinched together and held just as well as anything made of metal.
"Well that is good news, now Christian can melt them and they can get away," Ivan said pleased that there was at least some good news in this horrible situation.
"Let's hope he realizes that as well," Dimitri said looking at Christian who was hoping the same thing.
After that, we rode in near silence. The men occasionally murmured something to each other, speaking too softly for any of us to hear.
"Smart," Janine hated saying that.
Christian or Mia might have been able to understand the words, but they were in no position to communicate anything to the rest of us. Mia looked as terrified as she had out on the street, and while Christian's fear had rapidly given way to his typical haughty anger, even he didn't dare act out with guards nearby.
"Smart," Dimitri nodded,
I was glad for Christian's self-control. I didn't doubt any of these men would smack him if he got out of line, and neither I nor the other novices were in a position to stop them. That was what really drove me crazy. The instinct to protect Moroi was so deeply ingrained in me that I couldn't even pause to worry about myself. Christian and Mia were the focus. They were the ones I had to get out of this mess.
All the guardians nodded understanding how Rose was feeling at the moment.
And how had this mess started? Who were these guys? That was a mystery. They were human, but I didn't believe for an instant that a group of dhampirs and Moroi had been random kidnapping victims. We'd been targeted for a reason. Our captors made no attempts to blindfold us or conceal our route, which I didn't take as a good sign.
"It really wasn't," Abe was worried.
"They must have seen them in the tunnels," Alberta suggested.
Did they think we didn't know the city well enough to retrace our steps? Or did they figure it didn't matter since we wouldn't be leaving wherever they were taking us?
"The second one," Yeva said, her voice echoing around the room. Christian, Mason and Eddie were shells shocked while Janine and Abe merely shook their heads not wanting to believe that.
All I sensed was that we were driving away from downtown, off toward a more suburban area. Spokane was as dull as I'd imagined. Unlike where pristine white snow lay in drifts, slushy gray puddles lined the streets and dirty patches dotted the lawns. There were also a lot fewer evergreen trees than I was used to. The scraggly, leafless deciduous trees here seemed skeletal by comparison. They only added to the mood of impending doom. After what felt like less than an hour, the van turned down a quiet cul-de-sac, and we drove up to a very ordinary -yet large-house.
"This is not good," Abe said looking at the book in his hands.
Other houses-identical in the way suburban homes often are-stood nearby, which gave me hope. Maybe we could get some help from the neighbors.
"Not likely," Dimitri said trying to figure out how to get them out of the situation.
We pulled inside the garage, and once the door was back down, the men ushered us into the house. It looked a lot more interesting on the inside. Antique, claw-footed sofas and chairs. A large, saltwater fish tank. Swords crossed over the fireplace. One of those stupid modern art paintings that consisted of a few lines splayed across the canvas. The part of me that enjoyed destroying things would have liked to study the swords in detail,
"Rose," Everyone shook their heads, they wanted to smile but couldn't seem to given the situation.
but the main floor wasn't our destination. Instead, we were led down a narrow flight of stairs, down to a basement as large as the floor above. Only, unlike the main floor's open space, the basement was sectioned off into a series of halls and closed doors. It was like a rat's maze. Our captors led us through it without hesitation, into a small room with a concrete floor and unpainted drywall.
"Not good," Mark shook his head; he had no idea how the 5 were going to get out of this.
The furniture inside consisted of several very uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs with slatted backs –backs that proved to be a convenient place for rebinding our hands. The men seated us in such a way that Mia and Christian sat on one side of the room, and the rest of us dhampirs sat on the other. One guy-the leader, apparently-watched carefully as one of his henchmen bound Eddie's hands with new flex-cuffs. "These are the ones you especially have to watch," he warned, nodding toward us.
"Not good, they know. Shit, they are screwed," Ivan shook his head.
"No, they're not. Rose and Christian are smart there going to figure something out," Abe and Dimitri said at the same time. They couldn't imagine Rose dying in a place like that and they held out hope that Rose and Christian would figure it out.
"They'll fight back." His eyes traveled first to Eddie's face, then Mason's, and then mine. The guy and I held each other's gaze for several moments, and I scowled. He looked back over at his associate. "Watch her in particular."
"Why can't they be stupid for once," Victoria shook her head.
When we'd been restrained to his satisfaction, he barked out a few more orders to the others and then left the room, shutting the door loudly behind him. His steps echoed through the house as he walked upstairs. Moments later, silence fell. We sat there, staring at each other. After several minutes, Mia whimpered and started to speak.
"No she needs to keep quiet," Janine shook her head, sure she didn't like Mia but she didn't want to see the girl being hit.
"What are you going to -" "Shut up," growled one of the men. He took a warning step toward her. Blanching, she cringed but still looked as though she might say something else. I caught her eye and shook my head. She stayed silent, eyes wide and a slight tremble to her lip.
"Thank god for her choosing that moment to listen to Rose," Mason said relieved that the chances that Mia would get hurt was lessened.
There's nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what'll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor. Since our guards wouldn't talk to us or tell us what was in store, I imagined all sorts of horrible scenarios. The guns were the obvious threat, and I found myself pondering what a bullet would feel like.
Yeva shook her head, while Ivan and Dimitri just felt a shiver went up their spine.
Painful, presumably. And where would they shoot? Through the heart or the head? Quick death. But somewhere else? Like the stomach? That would be slow and painful. I shuddered at the thought of my life bleeding out of me. Thinking of all that blood put me in mind of the Badica house and maybe having our throats slit. These men could have knives as well as guns.
"Most likely," Dimitri nodded not wanting to imagine that.
Of course, I had to wonder why we were still alive at all. Clearly they wanted something from us, but what? They weren't asking for information. And they were human. What would humans want with us?
"The real question is what does their master want with them?" Dimitri questioned, worried about the implications for Christian and Mia.
Usually the most we feared from humans was either running into crazy slayer types or those who wanted to experiment on us. These seemed like neither. So what did they want? Why were we here? Over and over, I imagined more awful, gruesome fates. The looks on my friends' faces showed I wasn't the only one who could envision creative torments. The smell of sweat and fear filled the room. I lost track of time and was suddenly jolted out of my imaginings when footsteps sounded on the stairs. The lead captor stepped into the hall. The rest of the men straightened up, tension crackling around them.
"Not good," Abe said, he was praying that whoever was the leader of this group of people was not a strigoi.
Oh God. This was it, I realized. This was what we'd been waiting for. "Yes, sir," I heard the leader say. "They're in here, just like you wanted." Finally, I realized. The person behind our kidnapping. Panic shot through me. I had to escape.
"Please don't yell," Janine begged.
"Let us out of here!" I yelled, straining at my bindings. "Let us out of here, you son of a -" I stopped. Something inside of me shriveled up. My throat went dry. My heart wanted to stop.
"Not good," Mark said, he knew the feeling Rose was talking about and that strigoi's were near.
The guard had returned with a man and a woman I didn't recognize. I did, however, recognize that they were ... ... Strigoi.
"No, no, no, no," Mason and Eddie shook their head. Abe and Janine were frozen in fear, while Ivan and Dimitri just wanted to go and made sure that Rose was okay.
Real, live -well, figuratively speaking-Strigoi. It all suddenly clicked together. It wasn't just the Spokane reports that had been true. What we'd feared-Strigoi working with humans -had come true. This changes everything.
"We are fucked," was Adrian said.
"Not yet," Tatiana shook her head.
Daylight wasn't safe anymore. None of us were safe anymore. Worse, I realized these must be the rogue Strigoi-the ones who had attacked the two Moroi families with human help. Again, those horrible memories came to me: bodies and blood everywhere. Bile rose in my throat, and I tried to shift my thoughts from the past to the present situation.
"Smart," Dimitri said glad that Rose was trying to keep a level head.
Not that that was any more reassuring. Moroi had pale skin, the kind of skin that blushed and burned easily. But these vampires...their skin was white, chalky in a way that made it look like the result of a bad makeup job. The pupils of their eyes had a red ring around them, driving home what monsters they were. The woman, actually, reminded me of Natalie -my poor friend whose father had convinced her to turn Strigoi.
The guardians shook their heads, Rose was making a mistake. She should not be making those assumptions about Strigoi's, because in the ends it's things like that, that gets you killed.
It took me a few moments to figure out what the resemblance was because they looked nothing alike. This woman was short- probably human before becoming Strigoi-and had brown hair with a bad highlighting job. Then it hit me. This Strigoi was a new one, much as Natalie had been. It didn't become obvious until I compared her with the Strigoi man. The Strigoi woman's face had a little life in it. But his ... his was the face of death. His face was completely devoid of any sort of warmth or gentler emotion. His expression was cold and calculating, laced with malicious amusement.
The moroi's and the novice's shuttered while the guardians and Abe took a deep breath.
"Okay, now they know who was more of a threat, so they just need to make a plan," Dimitri said worriedly
He was tall, as tall as Dimitri, and had a slender frame that indicated he'd been Moroi before changing over. Shoulder-length black hair framed his face and stood out against the bright scarlet of his dress shirt. His eyes were so dark and brown that without the red ring, it would have been almost impossible to tell where pupil ended and iris began. One of the guards shoved me hard, even though I'd been silent. He glanced up at the Strigoi man. "You want me to gag her?" I suddenly realized I'd been hunching into the back of my chair, unconsciously trying to get as far away from him as possible.
"That is a normal response," Mark and Dimitri said at the same time, but for different reasons.
He realized this too, and a thin, toothless smile crossed his lips. "No," he said. His voice was silky and low. "I'd like to hear what she has to say." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Please. Continue." I swallowed. "No? Nothing to add? Well. Do feel free to pipe up if something else comes to mind."
"Oh, he was going to regret that later," Mason was still petrified, but he felt like he needed to say something.
"Isaiah," exclaimed the woman. "Why are you keeping them here? Why haven't you just contacted the others?" "Elena, Elena," Isaiah murmured to her. "Behave yourself. I'm not going to pass up the chance to enjoy myself with two Moroi and ..." He walked behind my chair and lifted my hair, making me shudder.
"He better not," Abe and Dimitri said at the same time.
A moment later, he peered at Mason and Eddie's necks as well. "...three unblooded dhampirs." He spoke those words with an almost happy sigh, and I realized he'd been looking for guardian tattoos. Strolling over to Mia and Christian, Isaiah rested a hand on his hip as he studied them. Mia could only meet his eyes for an instant before looking away. Christian's fear was palpable, but he managed to return the Strigoi's scrutiny.
Dimitri, Janine and Alberta nodded impressed, while Christian wished his book counterpart had done more.
It made me proud. "Look at these eyes, Elena." Elena walked over and stood beside Isaiah as he spoke. "That pale blue. Like ice. Like aquamarines. You almost never get that outside of the royal houses. Badicas. Ozeras. The occasional Zeklos."
"Ozera," Christian glared at the book.
"No offence," Christian said looking at Ivan who just nodded understanding.
"Ozera," said Christian, trying very hard to sound fearless. Isaiah tilted his head. "Really? Surely not..."
"Please no," Christian shook his head, he was hoping that Isaiah would not link him to his parents.
He leaned closer to Christian. "But the age is right...and that hair..." He smiled. "Lucas and Moira's son?" Christian said nothing, but the confirmation on his face was obvious. "I knew your parents.
"Shit," Christian shook his head, glaring at the book.
Great people. Unparalleled. Their deaths were a shame... but, well... I daresay they brought that on themselves. I told them they shouldn't have gone back for you. Would have been wasteful to awaken you so young. They claimed they were going to just keep you around and waken you when you were older. I warned them that that would be a disaster, but, well..."
"Well I'm glad they didn't listen to you," Christian said sadly, he loved his parents and he missed them dearly but he was glad that they were no longer strigoi's.
He gave a delicate shrug. "Awaken" was the term Strigoi used among themselves when they changed over. It sounded like a religious experience. "They wouldn't listen, and disaster met them in a different way." Hatred, deep and dark, boiled behind Christian's eyes. Isaiah smiled again. "It's quite touching that you should find your way to me after all this time. Perhaps I can realize their dream after all."
"Hell no," Christian all but growled at the book.
"Isaiah," said the woman -Elena-again. Every word out of her mouth seemed like a whine. "Call the others-" "Stop giving me orders!" Isaiah grabbed her shoulder and shoved her away -except that the push knocked her across the room and almost through the wall.
"He's old," Alberta said worried for her students. They were already in a bad situation and things just seemed to be getting worst as time went on.
She just barely threw her hand out in time to stop the impact. Strigoi had better reflexes than dhampirs or even Moroi; her lack of grace meant he'd completely caught her off guard. And really, he'd barely touched her. The push had been light-yet it had packed the force of a small car. This further enforced my belief that he was in another class altogether. His strength beat hers by magnitudes.
"They need to get out of there now," Dimitri said worried that the guardians would not find them fast enough.
She was like a fly he could swat away. Strigoi power increased with age - as well as through the consumption of Moroi blood and, to a lesser extent, dhampir blood. This guy wasn't just old, I realized. He was ancient. And he'd drunk a lot of blood over the years.
If it was possible Christian, Mason and Eddie seemed to become paler by the second.
Terror filled Elena's features, and I could understand her fear. Strigoi turned against each other all the time. He could have ripped her head off if he wanted. She cowered, averting her eyes. "I... I'm sorry, Isaiah." Isaiah smoothed his shirt -not that it had been wrinkled. His voice took on the cold pleasantness he'd affected earlier. "You clearly have opinions here, Elena, and I welcome you voicing them in a civilized manner. What do you think we should do with these cubs?" "You should -that is, I think we should just take them now. Especially the Moroi." She was clearly working hard not to whine again and annoy him.
"Why do I get the feeling that would have been the kinder option," Abe asked worriedly.
"With strigoi's, you always should expect the worst and death is never the worst," Dimitri said worriedly.
"Unless...you aren't going to throw another dinner party, are you? It's a complete waste. We'll have to share, and you know the others won't be grateful. They never are."
Everyone shuttered at that.
"I'm not making a dinner party out of them," he declared loftily. Dinner party? "But I'm not killing them yet either. You're young, Elena. You only think about immediate gratification. When you're as old as me, you won't be so ... impatient."
"Not good," Christian shook his head. He did not like the idea that this strigoi knew his parents and was not planning on killing him.
She rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking. Turning, he swept his gaze over me, Mason, and Eddie. "You three, I'm afraid, are going to die. There's no avoiding it. I'd like to say I'm sorry, but, well, I'm not. Such is the way of the world. You do have a choice in how you die, however, and that will be dictated by your behavior."
Dimitri and Ivan glared at the book, they were not going to allow that.
His eyes lingered on me. I didn't really get why everyone seemed to be singling me out as the troublemaker here.
"What the hell, has she not met herself," Christian asked tilting his head.
Well, maybe I did. "Some of you will die more painfully than others." I didn't need to see Mason and Eddie to know their fear mirrored mine. I was pretty sure I even heard Eddie whimper.
Eddie blushed at that, Victoria just took his hand and squeezed it hoping to comfort him.
Isaiah abruptly turned on his heels, military-style, and faced Mia and Christian. "You two, fortunately, have options. Only one of you will die. The other will live on in glorious immortality. I'll even be kind enough to take you under my wing until you're a little older. Such is my charity."
"Never going to happen," Christian glared at the book.
I couldn't help it. I choked on a laugh.
"That is why," Dimitri shook his head.
Isaiah spun around and stared at me. I fell silent and waited for him to throw me across the room like he had Elena, but he did nothing else but stare. It was enough. My heart raced, and I felt tears brim in my eyes. My fear shamed me. I wanted to be like Dimitri.
Dimitri shook his head, he had no idea how he would have reacted in that situation but he knew that he would not have been brave.
Maybe even like my mother. After several long, agonizing moments, Isaiah turned back to the Moroi. "Now. As I was saying, one of you will be awakened and live forever. But it will not be me who wakens you. You will choose to be awakened willingly." "Not likely," said Christian. He packed as much snarky defiance as he could manage into those two words, but it was still obvious to everyone else in the room that he was scared out of his mind.
"That is normal," Alberta nodded at Christian who looked ashamed of himself.
"Ah, how I love the Ozera spirit," mused Isaiah. He glanced at Mia, his red eyes gleaming. She shrank back in fear. "But don't let him upstage you, my dear. There's strength in common blood, too. And here's how it will be decided." He pointed at us dhampirs. His gazed chilled me all over, and I imagined I could smell the stink of decay. "If you want to live, all you have to do is kill one of these three."
Mason, Eddie and Christian shook their heads. While the rest of the room seemed to be sick of the idea.
He turned back to the Moroi. "That's it. Not unpleasant at all. Just tell one of these gentlemen here you want to do it. They'll release you. Then you drink from them and are awakened as one of us. Whoever does this first walks free. The other will be dinner for Elena and me." Silence hung in the room. "No," said Christian. "No way am I killing one of my friends. I don't care what you do. I'll die first."
Christian nodded agreeing with his book counterpart.
"Now let's hope Mia is the same," Abe said worriedly.
Isaiah waved a dismissive hand. "Easy to be brave when you aren't hungry. Go a few days without any other sustenance ... and yes, these three will start to look very good. And they are. Dhampirs are delicious. Some prefer them to Moroi, and while I myself have never shared such beliefs, I can certainly appreciate the variety."
Karolina and Sonja shook their heads at that. That was not something they wanted to know and would ever have wanted to know.
"Wait is he saying I'm just as delicious as one of them?" Paul asked his mother, pointing at Adrian then Tatiana.
"Sadly," Karolina said trying not to smile at Paul who looked like his world has just ended.
Christian scowled. "Don't believe me?" asked Isaiah. "Then let me prove it." He walked back over to my side of the room. I realized what he was going to do and spoke without fully thinking things through.
"She better not," Janine glared at the book not want to hear about how her daughter got bitten.
"No, no, no, no," Eddie and Mason shook their heads again.
"Use me," I blurted out. "Drink from me." Isaiah's smug look faltered for a moment, and his eyebrows rose. "You're volunteering?" "I've done it before. Let Moroi feed off me, I mean. I don't mind. I like it. Leave the rest of them alone."
"Roza," Dimitri said sadly, he knew that Rose was trying to save her friends, but he wished she had not done that.
"Rose!" exclaimed Mason. I ignored him and looked beseechingly at Isaiah. I didn't want him to feed off me. The thought made me sick. But I had given blood before, and I'd rather him take pints from me before he touched Eddie or Mason. I couldn't read his expression as he sized me up. For half a second, I thought he might go for it, but instead he shook his head.
Everyone looked at Mason and Eddie worried for the two boys.
"No. Not you. Not yet." He walked over and stood before Eddie.
"No," Mason glared at the book. He hated himself, it was his fault that they were in this situation and now his best friend was going to be bitten.
I pulled against my flex-cuffs so hard that they dug painfully into my skin. They didn't give. "No! Leave him alone!" "Quiet," snapped Isaiah, without looking at me. He rested one hand on the side of Eddie's face. Eddie trembled and had gone so pale, I thought he would faint.
Victoria squeezed his hand, but she like everyone ells were afraid for him.
"I can make this easy, or I can make it hurt. Your silence will encourage the former." I wanted to scream, wanted to call Isaiah all sorts of names and make all sorts of threats. But I couldn't. My eyes flicked around the room, searching for exits, as I had so many times before. But there were none. Just blank, bare white walls. No windows. The one precious door, always guarded.
No one likes that, they could imagine the panic the kids were feeling and they wanted the kids out of there now. Dimitri and Ivan were ready to jump up and do something but they couldn't.
I was helpless, just as helpless as I'd been from the moment they'd pulled us into the van. I felt like crying, more from frustration than fear. What kind of guardian would I be if I couldn't protect my friends? But I stayed quiet, and a look of satisfaction crossed Isaiah's face. The fluorescent lighting gave his skin a sickly, grayish hue, emphasizing the dark circles under his eyes. I wanted to punch him. "Good." He smiled at Eddie and held his face so that the two made direct eye contact. "Now, you won't fight me, will you?"
Eddie shook his head. He didn't want to hear this, he looked away from the book and focused on the far wall. He was trying to block everything out that he was hearing.
As I've mentioned, Lissa was good at compulsion. But she couldn't have done this. In seconds, Eddie was smiling. "No. I won't fight you." "Good," repeated Isaiah. "And you'll give me your neck freely, won't you?" "Of course," replied Eddie, tilting his head back. Isaiah brought his mouth down, and I looked away, trying to focus on the threadbare carpet instead. I didn't want to see this. I heard Eddie emit a soft, happy moan.
Eddie closed his eyes, Victoria looked at him sadly he was still gripping her hand tightly. Mason was a mess of different emotions, he was angry, sad and so many other emotions he couldn't pinpoint everything he was feeling.
The feeding itself was relatively quiet -no slurping or anything like that. "There." I glanced back when I heard Isaiah speak again. Blood dripped from his lips, and he ran his tongue across them. I couldn't see the wound on Eddie's neck, but I suspected it was bloody and horrible too. Mia and Christian stared wide-eyed, both with fear and fascination.
Mason glared at Christian while Christian shook his head.
Eddie gazed off in a happy, drugged haze, high from both the endorphins and the compulsion. Isaiah straightened up and smiled at the Moroi, licking the last of the blood off his lips. "You see?" he told them, moving toward the door. "It's just that easy."
Abe closed the book. No one wanted to say anything. Janine took the book from Abe before opening it.