Hi, thank you a bunch for the words of encouragement on the first chapter of this, it means the worlds to me! My writing isn't the best, but I'm hopeful that the story will still come together well enough to be enjoyable. This is probably the length that most chapters will be just so that I'm not straining to meet a wordcount when I'm struggling, so hopefully that's okay. Either way, thank you for returning, enjoy!
Zero-Zero-Eight's grip on my wrist was iron. She heaved me toward her as my father reached me. He grabbed my legs and pulled with all his might, but even an ounce of her strength wasn't something he could contend with.
Pride be damned, I screamed. As she dragged my entire left arm into the very cage that she was trapped in, I screamed as loudly as I could.
The side of my head collided with the glass, sending a sharp ringing through my ears. I planted my other hand on the glass surface and desperately tried to push.
Around us, other guardians breached the tape line and made to grab at any part of me that they could reach. Legs. Pants. Shirt. Hips. Waist. Shoes. Every part of me was a handle for useless hands as they made no headway against the impossibly strong monster holding me so very tightly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cage, my mother wailed. She shouted, pounding the glass in some attempt to gain the beast's attention.
My arm felt about ready to tear itself from my body when she stopped pulling. She held me there, firm and unforgiving, glaring down at me on the other side of the glass. In a moment of insanity, my father's own arm shot in beside my own. He was practically lying on top of me, desperately trying to grab at her as I screamed until my throat was raw.
The harsh edge of the open hatch cut painfully into my shoulder and my neck. Briefly, I wondered if she was considering trying to pull me close enough to get to my neck. All she'd have to do was kill me.
Her red eyes looked down at me, curious as she cocked her head from side to side.
In any other setting, I could admit that she would have been someone I deemed attractive, somehow making the whole thing worse. In that moment though? In that moment I knew that a single bite from her would be enough. She could drain me through my wrist in front of everyone, she didn't need my neck or anywhere else, she'd gotten more than enough.
With fangs bared, she hissed menacingly at my dad as he cussed at her in Russian. He told her that he'd kill her. He told her that he'd put her head on a pike. He begged her for my life. He told her that he'd give anything if she spared me. He pleaded with her that she just grab him instead. He cried that I was his only daughter.
Whether she understood an ounce of his language, I had no idea. Her features didn't soften though.
Somehow, her grip grew tighter, drawing blood.
As quickly as her back arched, I felt it. Electricity. She howled her pain as it coursed through her. My screams had all been expelled. I had nothing left as my body convulsed in time with hers. Pain became something of an after thought. I was aware of us both as we stopped convulsing and as her eyes bored down furiously into my own. Did she hate me as much as I hated her? Did she want me dead, or was I simply a meal?
"Please!" My mother's voice was raw as she opened the hatch on the opposite side of the glass. I saw too late as she thrust her own wrist, weeping with blood, through and toward the starving beast.
No! I wanted to scream, to tell her not to trade herself for me, but I couldn't. I was terrified and in pain, staring death in the face.
A guardian tackled Haynes in my peripheral vision, slapping the offending button from his hand before he could shock Zero-Zero-Eight to discomfort and me to death, shouting something directly into his face though I couldn't make any words out.
Students were screaming and running from the room, some of them even tripping over guardians as they did what little they could to help me. I was silently aware of Tallie, sweet, beautiful Tallie, actively fighting a guardian to get closer to me. She was no match for them, not while panic was clouding her mind, but I had a feeling that I'd find it both sweet and hilarious later on.
My mother, kicking and screaming, was dragged from the open hatch. A trail of blood followed before someone, my uncle Eddie, clamped his hands over her wound. She cussed at him, desperate to do anything in her power to help me.
As Zero-Zero-Eight looked down at me, still not having bitten, I saw it. Disgust in her eyes. Was I not a worthy meal? Had I been too easily caught? Was there no sport in catching something so weak?
She released me, not answering a single of my unasked questions.
My father and the other guardians dragged me safely back over the line, but my eyes remained on her.
"Lexa, milaya!" I was flipped onto my back, dragged against my father's chest for him to cradle. He whispered Russian comforts into my hair as he swept me into his arms and stood.
Whether they'd been unable to stop her or had simply released her, my mother was beside us both in an instant. "The infirmary, now." She spoke firmly, seemingly unbothered by her own blood. She grabbed my injured hand, pulling her jacket off and wrapping it around my crushed flesh. I'm sure I should have cried or tried to pull away, but I couldn't feel a thing as the darkness began to creep in around the corners of my vision.
As my father, the great Guardian Belikov, and my mother, the revered Guardian Belikova, ran with me in their arms, they weren't guardians. There weren't protectors of the Queen, nor any royal line. They were my parents and they were scared to death.
My head lolled weakly against my father's shoulder as he hurried from the room. Startled crowds parted for him. Over his shoulder though, I saw her. Zero-Zero-Eight. She watched from within her box, entirely unbothered, as I was swept away. She stood there, facing us with no real concern toward those around her. She didn't even seem interested in the two pools of thick, fresh blood on opposite sides of her cage. Even with blood in reach, even with it covering her own hand, she watched me.
I hated her. I wanted her dead. I would be the one to kill her, no matter the cost.
The dark edges of my vision began to draw closer with each step that my dad took, each heavy thud of his combat boots jolting me further into its clutches.
For a moment, my eyes fluttered closed. Behind them though, I saw those blood red irises looking back at me. Fuck! My eyes flew open again, this time to see Tallie racing toward us, Jake and Jade in tow.
Try as I might, I couldn't hold onto my consciousness as it desperately slipped away from me. I was gone before we made it to the infirmary.
Eyes closed, passed out, I saw her.
Zero-Zero-Eight.
Silently, with no voice to pin to her, she mocked me.
Her eyes called me weak.
Her sneer called me pathetic.
Her refusal to kill me told me that I wasn't a threat, that I would never be Tallie's guardian.
A thousand times over, she grabbed me. She grabbed at my arm again, pulling me to her with no hopes of help. Without the glass between us, nothing stood in her way as she drove her teeth forcefully into the flesh of my throat.
For every second that I was trapped in this hellish nightmare, she made things worse. She demanded pain for every moment that my mind was plagued with her.
So very faintly, I could hear my parents. They were oceans away, buried deep. I heard them shakily as they barked orders to others, though their words escaped me. I heard them as they desperately begged me to be okay, to just hold on. I heard them as they cried together.
Their voices became more and more faint with each passing second. Eventually, even as they carried on speaking, they simply sailed too far for me to hear them anymore.
Left there, alone and out at sea, drifting away in my agony, she never once let up. Even once I was long sure that I had no blood left, she continued.
Zero-Zero-Eight's movements were desperate and animalistic. She was hunched over me, one strong hand cradling the back of my head while the other was digging so deep into my ribs that I feared she would break them.
My nightmares, of my own making, haunted me for far longer than I deemed fair. Even long after I recognized them as figments of my own mind, they continued their assault, shocking and scaring me out of my newly rational thoughts.
Each time I found myself calming under the reassurances of nothing being real, the grip of fear pulled me back down with both hands.
Finally, thought I didn't know how long it had been, the horrid imaginings stopped.
They slowed at first, warded off my the voice of my father. He spoke to me in Russian, low and close. His words, slowly but surely, drove Zero-Zero-Eight from my mind.
I wasn't sure if she got up off of me or if she simply vanished, but she was gone as the light began to peel my eyes open.
Breathing hoarsely as I blinked myself awake, my father's voice stopped. Only long enough to kiss my head and to call out a single thing. "Roza!" He called out the same pet-name that he'd called my mother for longer than I'd been alive.
The shape of him began to form at my side, as did the rest of the room.
Beside me, an inane beeping was loud and insistent. It squawked in my ear, demanding to be heard.
"Lex?" My mom's voice was gentle as she neared.
I'm not sure if I was already looking her way or not, but a sob worked itself into my throat as she began to form before my eyes.
As I allowed myself to take in my surroundings, it all became clear. I was in this infirmary, that much was clear. The machines around me were monitoring my condition, though the real healer was standing at the foot of my bed, a single hand on my exposed calf thanks to the shoe and sock that I seemed to be missing. Aunt Lissa. Or, to everyone else, Queen Vasilisa.
Her kind smile warmed me from the inside as the events in the lecture hall came rushing back.
I made to open my mouth, to speak, but Mom was beside me immediately, a glass of water in her hands. I don't even know what I was going to say, not really. Dad helped me to sit as I took the glass from Mom.
After a drink, the weight of it all began to set in.
"You guys must be disappointed." I managed to mutter. After all, I'd fucked up. I could have done something, anything. I should have moved away from the TIT squad before they'd had the chance to push me. I should have-
"Disappointed?" My father spoke first, disbelief coating his tone. "Milaya, never."
"Why would you think that, sweetheart?" My mom sat on the edge of the bed, just beside where Lissa was still standing.
I took a breath. What the hell? "I-I messed up." I told them, feeling tears well in my eyes as my throat grew tight.
The three of them all shook their heads. My mom made a light sound of agreement, though not with me. Something that Lissa had communicated through their bond, no doubt. Then, confirming my suspicions, the Queen was gone, flashing me another warm smile before I was left alone with my parents.
"You didn't mess up. Not at all." My dad stated, his voice far softer than I expected. "Those boys, however?" He then scoffed lightly, some of my mother's anger seeping into him.
She touched his hand over me, smiling lovingly. "They'll be expelled. Lissa's going to see to it now."
"Expelled?" I repeated dumbly. I hadn't ever so much as wished for that, not ever thinking that such a thing could be granted.
Mom nodded. "The one who pushed you at the very least. I saw him and so did Eddie." Her voice grew stern as she spoke, reliving what she'd seen. "He'll never be a guardian, not so long as I've got a say in it." Oh, how my mother would make it her business to have a say in it for the rest of her life. If there was one thing that I could count on, it was her attitude. She was like a psi hound; so damn stubborn and just as deadly.
Thinking about it, really thinking about it, I realised that whichever of them had pushed me very nearly had my death on their hands. I could have fucking died and for what?
God, those guys really were assholes.
The tears in my eyes began to fall, something that I didn't stop. I wasn't a guardian yet, I could cry all I wanted. Hell, even my dad was letting a few tears loose.
In spite of the healing that I knew had been given to me, I was still insanely sore. So, while my physical injuries had been healed in the mere hour that I'd been out, there would be some deeper aching for a few hours, maybe a couple of days if I was unlucky.
My parents stayed with me for as long as they could, but it wasn't long before they had to leave for their duties and I had to get back to my room.
In light of the morning's events, I'd been granted the rest of the day to just relax. It wasn't the kind of thing that my kind were offered often, so I took it.
Against my every protest, Eddie walked me back to my room. He'd been my mom's friend since they were in this very school, something that he loved to talk about. More than that though, he'd been hurt by strigoi before, something I was glad he didn't talk about as we walked together.
"You sure you're okay, kid?" He asked me once there was only a door to close between us.
Absently, I looked at my previously crushed wrist. It was fine by all accounts. "Yeah." I answered quickly, putting my hand on the door. "Thanks, Eddi- Uh, Guardian Castle." I smiled at him as best I could, accepting a loving squeeze on the shoulder from him before he nodded and turned, off to his own duties.
Once the door was shut between us, I threw myself face first onto my bed, glad that I didn't have a roommate as the tears fell once more.
There was a deep ache in my wrist. It was though I could still feel the cold, undead fingers of Zero-Zero-Eight as she dragged me closer.
Worst than that though? The pain in my damn neck. The angle that she'd forced my neck and shoulder into had, according to my mom, broken my collarbone in impact. She'd also dislocated my shoulder. In short, she'd royally fucked me up in front of everyone and I'd just cried and screamed.
I knew that, logically, anyone would have. No one would have done any different, but that didn't matter. I was different. Hell, I was the only one of my fucking kind. I was literally different, the only dhampir born to two dhampir parents ever thanks to Lissa's spirit magic.
So my plan still stood. I would kill Zero-Zero-Eight for how she'd embarrassed me. There were no ifs or buts.
That evening, once classes were long since over, my friends all came by my room. I say "all", but that was really just Tallie, Jade and her twin, Jake. We were a popular enough group, but the four of us were the inner circle, so to speak.
The three of them brought me snacks and drinks. Together, we sat on my bed as they took on the task of keeping a smile on my face. Jake was his usual dumb self, letting himself be the butt of most of the jokes. Jade was sweet and considerate, choosing some of my favorite shows and movies to play on her laptop. All the while, Tallie was glued to me. She rubbed my shoulder and wrist so very softly practically all night, braiding my hair for me as I eventually drifted to sleep.
Before sleep came though, I told them what I wanted.
Drunk on more candy and junk than any of us had consumed at once before, I got their attention." Hey, guys?" Naturally, they looked. Fuck, they were good friends. "I'm going to kill it... the strigoi."
"Are you allowed?" Jake had asked, glancing almost worriedly to the other two. They returned his look.
I batted his shoulder lightly. "Am I allowed to kill a strigoi? What do you think, dumbass?" I snickered, though I could see that none of them were convinced. "I need to kill it." I then told them a little more firmly.
Tallie, sat behind me at that point, stroked my hair. "Okay." She told me softly. I could tell that she was just trying to placate me.
"I mean it." I told them firmly. "I can't ever feel that way again. Guys... I just... fuck, I need to kill it, okay? I need to drive a stake into it myself and see it dead."
There was a long silence. It was uncomfortable. Then, my savior it seemed, was Jake. "Then we kill it." He nodded firmly, getting a look from his sister. "I mean, they're evil, right? So fuck it, we find out where they're keeping it and we fucking kill the thing."
"I'm in." Tallie's voice was firm behind me, supportive as ever.
All eyes turned to Jade. "Me too." She nodded.
So it was decided. Together, somehow, we would kill the strigoi.
The end of an admittedly short chapter... thoughts? Feelings?
Thank you so much for reading and potentially sharing your thoughts with me, I really do truly appreciate it each time my phone pings! Have a great day!