Hi! This is something I've been spitballing with myself for a while now and I decided to just finish off this first chapter an hour or so ago. I won't be even remotely offended if there's no interest in this, I just found the idea kind of fun and thought I'd give it a shot.
If you decide this isn't for you that's okay, I hope you have an awesome day! If you decide it is for you, that's even better and I still hope you have an awesome day! Enjoy! (Also I swear I'm not giving up on my other fics or shelving them etc, I'm just trying to write what I can, when I can, it just happened that this file drew me in today.)
I peeled myself somewhat dramatically from the cool surface of the mat, wiping the blood from my lip with an audible groan. "Really?" I growled, exasperated. "You couldn't go easy on me just once, Guardian Belikova?"
Chuckling, the guardian in question shook her head, reaching a hand out in offer to me. "Now, what kind of mother would I be if I went easy on you?" She asked, flashing the same huge grin that I'd known all my life. It was warmth and love, reaching down with her hand to heal the hurt she'd put on me.
In answer, I simply rolled my eyes. Something that, no matter who you asked, I'd learned from her. She would, of course, have denied it at every turn, especially around my father, but the similarities between us hardly ended there. As if me mimicking her actions all my life wasn't enough, I was practically a mini carbon copy of her. Granted, I got my height from my dad, but looks? Well, in the least self centered way, I'd absolutely gotten a bunch from her.
It wasn't all too often that she an my dad got to visit campus, what with being guardians to the queen and to her husband, but they made it work. Luckily, Queen Vasilisa was keen to visit her own daughter as much as my parents were keen to see me, so things worked out perfectly well. Thinking about it though, I highly doubted that Lissa kicked Tallie in the head around her peers.
Training didn't last too much longer, but I continued to get my ass handed to me by my own mother for the rest of it. Luckily, it wasn't seen as any kind of negative comment on my own skill, my parents were easily two of the best in the freaking world and I was still a novice. No one expected me to be able to go toe to toe with them, not yet. Now, I held my own, but them? They were too freaking good.
Around us, the other novices followed what she was saying, practicing the moves that she was using to throw me around. I took each and every second like a champ, grinning through bloody lips.
Naturally, I was glad once the whole thing was over.
Mom and I left the class together at the end, giving me chance to pick her brains. "So...?" I started expectantly, glad to see that her guardian mask was off as we walked.
More often than not, she and my father had to remain parts of the rigid images that they portrayed, even around me. After all, if we were around others, then they weren't my parents before they were guardians to the most important royal family that we had. It was all that I'd ever known, but it still twinged something in me every now and then when I wanted a parent and instead got a guardian.
"So...?" She repeated back to me, brow raised curiously.
Was she really so dense? No, she wasn't. She was screwing with me and we both knew it. "Why are you guys here?" I demanded, huffing when she rolled her eyes at me. "Look, if it's about the fire... it wasn't my fault! Tallie and I were with Jake and-"
"Fire?" She grabbed my arm quickly, stopping me in my tracks. Oh shit. She didn't know about that? "Lex, what fire? I swear- God, your dad's not going to like this-"
"Whoa, hey, hang on now!" Look, if he didn't already know, then why tell him now? It seemed like she was just looking for an excuse to throw me in a freaking pit with the wolves at this rate. "Mom, come on now. If you didn't hear about it then it clearly wasn't that bad!" I tried to justify, but even I knew how weak that was.
That's when it happened. Just like that, Grinning Mom was gone, replaced by Crossed Arms Mom. Fuck. "Lex." My name said back to me was warning enough. "What happened?" She demanded to know, looking up the couple of inches I had on her through eyes that didn't look as if they'd ever done anything wrong in her life.
It suddenly didn't matter that I knew that she'd been a real handful at my age. All that remained was shame as I saw the disappointment in her eyes. "It was only small. Oh, and it was outside!" It didn't matter at all to her that we were in the halls, surrounded by classmates.
With a sigh, she shook her head and looked away from me, down the hall. I followed her gaze, feeling my heart drop at the sight of my father walking toward me, following none other than Tallie.
Natalya "Tallie" Dragomir-Ozera, daughter of Queen Vasilisa and her husband, Christian Ozera, was my best friend in the whole freaking world. Sure, some of that was down to the fact that we were raised practically as sisters, but we'd stayed close at every opportunity to split.
"Was anyone hurt?" My mom asked, looking back at me with stern eyes.
I shook my head quickly. "No one!" I assured her desperately. "I swear!" I then added, praying that Dad couldn't hear as he neared us.
She looked into my eyes for a second, deep into them, then her smile was back as she shook her head. "He won't hear it from me then, kizim." She told me softly before turning just as Dad and Tallie got to us.
"Have your heard, Lex?" Tallie asked me before I could so much as breathe a sigh of relief over my mom's actions.
What? "Heard what?" I asked, glancing over her. She was anxious, practically jumping from foot to foot as her eyes flitted every which way. Her classic tells of having a secret.
When her eyes eventually settled on me, I could practically feel the words pushing at her lips. She sucked with secrets, always had. "They've got a-" She stopped herself suddenly, looking between my parents. Then she stepped closer, close enough that I could feel her breath against my ear as she whispered to me. "Strigoi."
A chill raced down my spine. The hell did she just say? I pulled myself back, alarmed. "What?" I whisper-yelled, looking cautiously at my father, seeing no concern on his features. "Are... you sure?" I asked Tallie carefully, wondering briefly if this was one of the many things that her active imagination had warned her of. Just like that time that she swore blind that a freaking horse was outside, only for the floodlights to shine and illuminate the same stature -of a human being, might I add- that we walked past to get to class each day.
Still, she nodded furiously. "Some private collector from England has had it in a cage for generations and they've brought it here for us to study! Apparently it's practically tame..." She carried on chattering in that same unafraid way that most of the moroi kids did. After all, if the supposed strigoi got out, it wasn't them who'd be sent to fight it. No, that honor would fall to the guardians and, if the situation got out of hand, us novices.
As the four of us walked to the auditorium, Tallie excitedly consumed by chatting with anyone and everyone, my mom cleared some things up for me. She spoke in hushed tones, telling me that it was mostly true. There really was a strigoi in the school, that so long as we were all careful it was almost entirely safe to be around. However, it wasn't tame, nor was it some strange generational trinket. The thing was heavily sedated at all times an had been turned over to the board of guardians after it's previous owner... captor -whatever- had died.
Even as she spoke, I couldn't believe it.
It was harder for my mind to deny though when we were escorted into the huge room and I could see an enormous box standing where the teacher's podium usually was. The box must have been eight, maybe even ten, feet in every direction, covered in a black piece of cloth.
Were they really going to do this like a cheap magician?
Tallie and the other moroi were taken up to the balconies and the furthest parts of the room, leaving the guardians an novices below. Nearer the box.
It made sense of course. If that thing were to get out, the rows and rows of guardians would be impossible for it to pass, but moroi? Well, they'd have become a freaking finger buffet.
I shuddered internally at that thought as I found a seat beside some friends, watching my parents take their places along one of the many walls. Their masks were back on now, showing a front to the world that exuded strength and calmness. I couldn't help but smile just a little as I watched them. I hoped their calmness rubbed off on the room when the contents of the box were revealed.
Speaking of the box, I'd found myself disgustingly close to it. Like, I was sitting on the front row, less than ten feet from the thing.
One of the first things that I noticed when we'd entered was the red tape on the floor. They'd created a barrier around the box, one that was being heavily enforced by a select few guardians as they ensured that no one stepped into it. It felt like I was sitting in the splash zone at one of those water parks that humans loved so much. You know, the ones with endangered animals, where they made them do tricks? Yeah, only I wouldn't get splashed with water if some moron ended up in that taped-off square. No, it would definitely be blood.
In spite of my parents' calm attitudes, I couldn't help the racing of my heart. I hadn't ever heard of a docile strigoi before, much less one that had been sedated. Sure, I'd heard about them being stunned from gunfire, unable to move, but sedated? It sounded absurd.
Still, with a full room of guardians, novices and varying classes of moroi, they didn't waste much time.
Someone I hadn't seen before, a guest speaker, stepped up to a small wooden podium first. He cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly into the microphone as he looked out at us all before speaking. There was something odd about him.
I couldn't put my finger on it at first, not until he opened his mouth. From his tall, slender frame, I'd assumed that he was moroi, but there were no fangs in sight. Was this man... human? Honestly, that was almost more of a shock than what I knew was in the box. The box that, coincidentally, he seemed all too comfortable around.
"Good morning, all." He began, wincing lightly from mic feedback. There were a few light chortles from other novices. Morons who didn't know what was in the room with us. "My name is Dr. Robert Haynes. In the human world, I am a professor at a prestigious university, studying the things about our world that are... well, otherworldly." Otherworldly. We all knew what that meant. Us. Dhampir, moroi, strigoi, all of us.
Haynes ran a seemingly anxious hand through his greying hair. From my seat in the front row, I could see the nerves in his dark eyes. I hoped that it was nerves from being in a room with all of us, as opposed to the idea that the thing in the box could possibly escape.
Behind me, a couple of idiots were snickering away, mocking the professor's accent and just about anything else that their pea brains could grasp the concept of. I knew their voices immediately. Three of them, the TIT squad as Tallie and I called them, named so because of their names: Tate, Ira and Thomas. TIT. Oh, and how they acted? Well, like guys who'd never get to touch tits, you know, because they were such assholes.
As the professor continued to speak, I found myself relaxing a little. Sure, it was difficult to relax while I knew what was barely a couple of good strides away from me, but we were safe. Hell, my parents were here with the Queen. They wouldn't ever put her in any kind of situation that they deemed dangerous, nor would they allow me to be put in any unnecessary danger. So long as I didn't go and shake the thing's hand, everything would be fine.
Behind me and the novice beside me, Jade, the TIT squad carried on being unruly assholes. They giggled and shoved one another, jostling me lightly. Naturally, when I turned to fix them with a glare, they only laughed harder. Unlike most of us, they wouldn't ever be assigned to families. They had connections abroad in moroi high society, they'd "guard" wealthy families for fantastic money, but no real threat would ever come near them. They'd work inside warded, gated communities, leaving the real work to the next line of guardians.
"I must warn you all," Doctor Haynes spoke loudly and clearly, seemingly undeterred by the buffoons behind my shoulder. "In this very box, there is something that will alarm you. All of the necessary precautions have been taken and there is no risk to any of you. Non the less, I ask that you all remain well outside of these tape lines." There was a certain fear in his eyes as he spoke, possibly as he imagined us all stepping too close.
After a moment, things were handed over to my father.
He spoke firmly, fixing the entire room with the same glare that I'd shot over my shoulder. When he spoke, we all listened. "The good doctor is correct. The contents of this box will be alarming, so we must ask that you all remain calm. No harm will come to anyone, so long as we all follow the rules that have been laid out."
The morons behind me quieted a little. Even they weren't so stupid as to blatantly fuck with anything while my dad was talking.
As his eyes scanned the room, I noticed my mother briefly eyeing the box. The ache in my face, left by the beating she'd put on me, was gone. In its place, a cold dread sank into my bones. I could see in her features that she hated this, even through her mask.
"When the cover is removed, you are all to remain silent. Everything will be explained, but cooperation is mandatory. If anyone wishes to leave, simply raise your hand at any time and a guardian will come and escort you safely out." At the booming of my father's words, the situation only felt more dire. We hadn't ever been told that we could leave a freaking room like this before.
There was a general hum of curiosity as the time for unveiling neared. I could feel Tallie's eyes on the back of my neck, burning through the simple braid that I'd put my hair in. I usually opted for a tight bun on the back of my head but a braid had been easier to do while walking beside my mom from the training room. I ignored the burning of her eyes, keeping my own locked onto the black cloth as the time to remove it drew near.
A single pole connected to the top of the cloth, reaching out past the tape lines and into the hands of a guardian.
With a nod from the professor, then another from my father, the guardian pulled the pole. The black cloth fell.
The shock was immediate. Gasps that were quickly quieted, shuffles that were silently stilled. Around me, as I froze in place, others did their best not to panic.
As much as I wanted to turn and to look at Tallie, to check on the person in this room who I would spend my life guarding, I couldn't. I couldn't so much as turn to see Jade as she stood beside me. I couldn't take my eyes off of it.
Strip lights ran the length of the top of the glass cage. Four of them, one on each length, shone down harshly. Beneath them, the creature shied away into the furthest possible corner.
I couldn't tell immediately if it was a man or a woman, all I could see was muscle. It wasn't specifically huge or anything like that, but I wasn't fool enough think that size meant much. These creatures could be the size of freaking children, that didn't mean that'd struggle to rip your head off.
As it faced away from us, clad in a white tank top and thick grey joggers, all I could really tell was that it was lean and that it had short, dark hair.
What really drew my gaze though? The thick scarring at the base of its skull and onto its right shoulder. Had it scratched those lines itself? Or, possibly, had another of its kind done that when it had been human? If nothing else, the lines were clearly from the raking of nails.
At the podium, I noticed the professor was raising his arms in some gesture to calm us all. What a deal of nothing that did.
In spite of not being able to see its face, we all knew what it was. The box alone was telling, but the force of guardians was confirmation.
Beside me, in a moment of what I knew was terror, Jade grabbed my arm. Her fingers curled around my wrist, seeking something warm and alive. I said nothing, letting her hold onto me. Behind us, even the idiots were smart enough not to snicker now.
Silence held a little longer. That was until it was said. Just one word. "Strigoi." It was muttered quietly, almost fearfully.
At that word, the creature stood.
No one so much as breathed. Even as I saw my parents with hands on their stakes in the corners of my eyes, I couldn't look away from it.
Standing, I still couldn't tell from behind whether it was a man or a woman. It didn't matter though. It was strigoi, that was what mattered. A stake to the heart, fire or decapitation would be the end of it. Perhaps that was part of why it was here, so that we could all safely witness a kill, though I doubted it. We'd seen bodycam footage a million and one times, seeing this caged thing slain wouldn't be of any real value.
"Everyone, please remain calm." As Haynes spoke so very softly, the creature cocked its head in his general direction. "Subject Zero-Zero-Eight is used to the sound of my voice, but the general noise of the room may be somewhat overwhelming. A dose of a tranquilizing agent will be delivered by myself momentarily, I just ask that you all remain silent until then."
I thought the thing was already dosed? That's what my mom had said, right? Well, I wasn't exactly an expert on tranq-ing vamps, so I sure as shit wasn't going to complain if they wanted to give it another shot.
At that, my eyes finally began to roam. Torn from its rigid frame, I found myself looked down at its feet. They hadn't given it socks, nor shoes. Even its feet were tensed and unnaturally still. Though, I couldn't help but notice, its nails were clipped. Were they giving it freaking mani-pedis? I knew some of them had freaking claws that they used to fight, but one glance at its hands and I could see that its fingernails were cut short too. Possibly, it was easier to control when they removed its natural weapons? I wondered briefly if they'd filed down its fangs too. I truly didn't plan on getting close enough to find out.
Movement from some guardians told me that hands had started to go up. As the students were lead from the room, I was shocked to see dhampir among them. I'd assumed that it would be only moroi students looking to leave, but to each their own.
"Pussies." One of the TIT squad chuckled behind me. I tried not to pay it any mind, but my head turned to the voice slightly before I could stop myself. That was when I felt it, the breath of the one that had spoken, now directly behind me. He breathed into the shell of my ear for a second, even as I kept my eyes trained ahead. "Go on, Belikov. Put your hand up and have Daddy take you out, huh?"
His words were soft as he whispered so very quietly. I wanted to spin and grab him, to flip him over my shoulder and to yell, to embarrass him in front of everyone.
As my mother's temper rose in me, I tried desperately to hear instead my father's voice. I gritted my teeth and concentrated on Jade's hand, still clasped around my wrist.
A guardian with a long pole approached the tape line, though he didn't cross it. At the bottom of the cage, using the pole, he slid a slim hatch open. It was wide enough to push a dinner plate through, though no taller than a can of soda. The creature could, at most, reach an arm out, but escape was far from possible. The wall of guardians was deterrent enough, but I was pretty sure that even we novices could take care of that thing if needed. Hell, not even pretty sure, I was certain.
With the hatch open, the strigoi's head twitched. It was just once, noting the difference, but it was enough to grant me the sight of a little of its face. I couldn't tell much, mostly just that it had a strong jaw and sickly pale skin, though I already knew the latter.
It didn't make a single movement as the pole, through the hatch, came closer to it. Doctor Haynes warned us all softly that the creature might startled momentarily, but that we mustn't worry. So, as the pole grew ever closer to the statuesque beast, I readied myself. I stood almost as stiffly as it did, telling myself that I must remain calm.
A light jab, its calf was pricked. In spite of my preparedness, the beast didn't startle. It didn't jump, nor did it step away as a vial of something dark and murky seeped into it. It simply stood there, glancing down at the needle.
The pole was pulled back, leaving nothing in the danger zone once more.
For a brief moment, nothing happened. A total of no more than ten seconds passed before the taut, lean muscles of the beast before us all began to relax just a little. It didn't look so poised to pounce or run anymore, now looking more as though it was considering sitting down.
Quiet sniffles were coming from a few rows back; someone who clearly wasn't as comfortable with all of this as the rest of us seemed to be growing.
Naturally, the morons behind me and Jade began to chuckle to themselves, even mocking the sounds together.
"When's a guardian coming?" A soft, female voice asked so very quietly.
The beast's head turned a little more toward us all. The crying grew slightly louder. The beast turned more. I could see its cheek now, or the outline at least.
A second later, a guardian walked past me at speed, heading silently for the girl who grew louder and more fearful by the second. I kept my eyes on the contents of the cage though, acting as though Tallie's eyes weren't still scorching me to the bone.
With each new sound from the terrified girl, someone I recognized in the corner of my mind as Heather Li was lead from the rows behind me. For some ungodly reason, they were taking the scared kids out of the front of the room as opposed to the back, meaning that poor, terrified Heather had to walk within a few feet of the taped off zone around the box.
With each step that she took, the strigoi turned more. Her cries, it seemed, were interesting to it. I couldn't tell if it found them amusing or possibly if they were making it hungry. Were they triggering its hunting instinct? For Heather's sake, I hoped not.
Finally able to look away from the creature as Heather, now openly crying, desperately trying to calm herself, was lead to the tape line.
The stigoi was looking directly at her, as we all were.
It happened so quickly. The second that Heather's eyes flitted up, looking at the thing that she so feared, it pounced.
The sound of its entire body hitting the glass was foul. Worse, though? The screams and snarls from its mouth.
As it wailed hungrily, pounding itself and its fists against the glass, panting heavily as a now sobbing Heather was lead from the room, we all jumped. I could see so very clearly that they hadn't filed down her fangs. They were still there, threatening.
Jade's grip tightened impossibly around my wrist. There were panicked shouts and yelps from most of the mouths around us. Even the morons behind us barked out a few expletives, jostling one another in a momentary panic.
Just as quickly though, the creature was on the floor.
Flat on its back, shaking hard as though it was having some kind of seizure, it clutched its neck. Its bare feet slammed harshly into the floor as it clawed at something, but what?
"Subject Zero-Zero-Eight," Doctor Haynes began, drawing all attention. In his hand, he held a simple button. He was holding it down, then released it. The strigoi's body fell slack and it began to pant, releasing sad, low howls of pain. "Is not a pet. She is not tame, nor is she trained or anything of the sort. She is hungry. Always hungry."
She.
She stopped panting and moaning as quickly as she had started. If I hadn't seen her flying to the floor in fits of pain, I'd have suspected that she was faking. Why? Well, simply because of how quickly she seemed to recover. That was the thing though, we didn't really know enough about these creatures, not when it came down to it.
Haynes began to talk again, but my eyes were drawn away from the podium. I found myself watching her as she turned to watch him. I couldn't see her face, nor the look in her eyes, but I could feel her distain for him. She hated him for the pain that he caused her, possibly for the cage he kept her in too.
"Zero-Zero-Eight is still a strigoi. We mustn't ever forget that fact. Just as we do not expect the cat to befriend the mouse, we must not ever forget that Zero-Zero-Eight is predatory in nature. She is starving and trapped in a cage, surrounded by her favorite food. She is dangers, she is unpredictable and she must be treated as such."
With each word from his mouth, the chill in my spine grew colder, though Tallie's gaze on the nape of my neck grew hotter. Jade's grip was tighter somehow. These three things, each holding me grounded, were nothing though compared to the odd sensation in my chest as I looked at the strigoi. Zero-Zero-Eight, as I watched her, made me sick. I hated the way that my gut reaction was to feel sorry for her. If the chance to kill her ever arose, I would take it. I would take it, because that is what my kind did. I would squash all feelings of pity and I would drive a stake into her heart.
"It's not too late to leave, Belikov." Came a whisper in my ear.
Fury flushed my cheeks. Within me, my mother's temper raged against my father's calm. She won.
I snatched my hand from Jade's grip and turned my head enough to face him. Thomas, their leader of sorts. "Belikova, you uncultured ass." I growled at him.
God, I can't believe I had a crush on this fucking melon when we were kids.
He snickered down the foot that he had on me thanks to the higher ground that each row had on the last. "You should leave now. Just put your hand up for Mommy and Daddy."
I spun back to the strigoi. Somehow, she seemed less annoying that Thomas did in that moment. Well, no, that was a stupid thing to think.
I saw then though. My parents, both of them, were watching me. They weren't standing together, having been posted on opposite sides of the box. I could see that they were looking some kind of disappointed though. They didn't want me to engage, no matter what the TIT squad said or did. They expected more of me. They expected better.
Fuck.
Straightening, I pulled on the very mask that I'd crafted from watching the two of them. I trained my eyes on the box. I wouldn't show them up while they were here. No. I would be exactly what they'd trained me to be. I would be the pride of them both. To hell with Thomas, Ira and Tate. They were insignificant-
"Careful." One of them snickered, having lightly shoved my shoulder.
My eyes flitted to my mom's. She had seen. I could tell that she was immediately fuming as I felt embarrassed.
She made to move, eyes set on whichever of them had been so stupid as to push me while I was in the first freaking row, but the strigoi moved. She stilled, watching it.
Inside the cage, Zero-Zero-Eight stood. She stood and looked at us all through drug dulled eyes, not focusing on anyone or anything for long. I briefly wondered if she could even see any of us in any kind of real focus if we were further than the tape. That would have explained, at least, why Heather had been of such interest as she'd approached the cage.
Another light shove to my back, followed by yet more snickers and chortles.
"Cut it out." Jade spun and hissed angrily. I could hear the fear in her voice.
Only, they didn't.
"Enough." My mother's voice, loud and abrupt, was too late.
With a stiff shove, I was sent sprawling.
I hit the ground hard, arms stretched out uselessly as they failed to catch me. My forehead had made a sickeningly loud sound as it had made contact, sending a haze across my eyes as I blinked. Christ, that fucking hurt.
Fuck. It didn't get much more embarrassing than that.
"Grab her!" My father's voice was panicked, something that I wasn't expecting. When I blinked the blur away though, I understood.
The tape line, previously in front of me, was sitting beneath my hips. I'd fallen so far over the line that the box was a mere foot from my fingers.
"Oh, fuck!" I began to push myself up, panicked.
Chaos. Pure chaos. "Grab her, now!" My mother was yelling, fighting to get to me before Zero-Zero-Eight.
One glance up at the glass was all it took though. She'd seen me through those blood red eyes. She'd heard the panic and the commotion.
She shot down to the hatch.
With a single hand, she grabbed me.
Thank you again if you finished this, I really appreciate you giving me/this a shot! Please let me know what you think, I love reading comments and messages! I do have a pretty distinct idea of where this is going (I accidentally left the mini plan in the chapter when I uploaded it, so you very nearly got the whole story in about 200 words lol) but I'm not 100% on all the fleshing out in the middle.
Fair warning, this will absolutely be slow as far as updating is concerned. I've got a couple of fics that I'm pretty deep in (deep for me anyway) and I'm doing my best to prioritize those over anything new. Ironically, I started this one on my laptop back in like 2019 and abandoned it, so it's older than the others I've got up, but still.
Also, final apology/note: Since I started this so long ago, my writing style has changed a lot since then. I just wanted to apologize if this first chapter felt a little disjointed. The others aren't written yet so will all feel broadly the same as one another. Have a great day!