vampire academy ~ dimitri's point of view

7/30/2019 Vampire Academy ~ Dimitri's Point of View

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By : Val Wurth

Vampire Academy Book 1

Dimitri's Perspective

Hey this is my first book so please be understanding Disclaimer!! These characters don'tbelong to me but to the wonderful Richelle Mead and no intended copyright infringement.

Let me know what you think and I'll be sure to be working on it! Thanks! -Val

Chapter 1

I woke up from another terrifying number, seeing Zeklos face. I felt so disappointed in

myself. All I had ever wanted growing up was to be the best guardian; I prided myself in mywork. And now, after taking a simple vacation, he'd been murdered. I knew there was

nothing I could have done, everyone takes vacations but I shouldn't have taken it. If Ihadn't, maybe he would still be alive and I wouldn't be exiled here at the Academy. I had

failed him. I remembered the funeral now, the way his family looked, their sadness; I couldhave saved him if only things had been different. If only I had been there.

I went for a walk, unable to stay in this bed confined any longer, I just felt so tortured, and

the sun would give me some fresh air. It was bright outside since the Academy ran on anocturnal schedule. Usually, the sun chased away all of my nightmares, but this loss washere to stay. I felt so guilty.

When I was growing up, all I had ever wanted was to be a great guardian. I was sure that ifI trained as hard as I could possibly could I would be able to protect my moroi from any

danger. I always had the highest marking in my classes, I worked to be the best ateverything, and I'd been gifted with incredible height and strength. But in the end, all thatskill and determination was for nothing because I failed, my charge had died.

As I walked along the walls of the Academy, I suddenly knocked into Alberta.

"Dimitri, what are you doing up this late?" she asked with concern.

"Couldn't sleep," I answered her.

"Still having trouble with your loss, Dimitri?" She asked, but it was more of a statement.

"Somewhat. I just feel like I should have been there, that I let him down. If I wouldn't havebeen on vacation, he would still be here today." I let out. I was so frustrated for myself andsuddenly couldn't contain the words.

"Dimitri you have to stop this. You were on vacation because you hadn't taken one in

almost two years. And you don't know if it would have changed anything. You need to stop

blaming yourself, you did not murder him, strigoi did. And honestly, you really should getsome sleep. In a few hours you'll be leaving on that mission," Alberta reminded me.


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"Yes, I hope all goes well," I told her.

"It will," she assured me, "you are very good you know. Just remember, the Princess has ahuge value, she is the last Dragomir so be careful. Rosemary Hathaway, the novice that

took her is not a bad fighter nor it she dumb, she would have made a great guardian oneday if she wasn't so busy getting in trouble," she said.

"I won't," I answered.

"Ok. Then go get some sleep," she told me.

"Alright," I told her, I knew she was right. I should be worried about getting the Princessback. Who knows what kind of trouble those two have faced out there.

When I had heard the story, I couldn't believe it. Security was strong at the academy. Itwas easier to escape prison than the Academy, and managing to escape and go on withoutgetting caught was completely unheard of, yet this novice who seemed to only be trouble

and of no value from what I had been told had managed it. I reached my bedroom and tried

to go back to bed. Soon enough, my mind relaxed and I was gone.

A few hours later I awoke to get on the plane, we'd been briefed on the plan. A few sourceshad realized that the two girls were staying on a college campus in a house, and we were togo there and retrieve the two girls.

I couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement. All that I had been doing lately was working out

and patrolling the academy but really, it had only been giving me time to think about how

things could have different had I only been there for my charge. Now at least I could focusall of my energy on something else. I was to lead the group. There were eleven of usguardians and we were well prepared. I thought the group was rather big considering they

were only two troublesome teenage girls, but then again when one of those girls was the

last of the Dragomirs, it counted.

I looked over the portfolio again, trying to memorize every angle. Suddenly a pictured fellout of Rosemary Hathaway, the novice, who had long hair and big almond, shaped deep

brown eyes. Her beauty basically radiated off the image. I felt a bit immersed andcaptivated all of a sudden.

"Dimitri," called Alberta.

I looked up instantly realizing that I had been busy admiring the Hathaway girl, which wascompletely out of line. What had I been thinking?

"Yes," I answered Alberta.

"You ready for this?" she asked.

"Of course," I smiled to her, the last think I needed was for her to start worrying about mebecoming incompetent.

The plane was descending now as we arrived in California. We decided to take threeseparate cars and leave them parked about a mile away. We would walk the rest of the way


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in the shadows, trying to avoid being seen by people. The last thing we needed was

attention. It should be a quick grab and go. We pick to go late at night when at least there

would be less people around. Unfortunately, they lived very close to a college campus, sopeople were barely settling.

I was in the front lines. I think the air was actually cool, but I was sweating and tense

ready for whatever was the come. We walked to the house, each of us sticking to theshadows. We would have to invade the house as quietly as possible and I stood close to the

trees so as to not be seen. I stopped, then realizing we had gotten to the house. I saw herthen, Rosemary Hathaway, she looked tired and seemed to be having some sort ofconversation with the black cat. I stuck to the shadows, trying to assess the situation. Therecould be other people in the house and we didn't want to hurt innocent bystanders.

Then I came to a halt at the closest tree to the house, careful not to move, the other

guardians stopped as well, all of us turned into statues. The cat suddenly looked out at thetree, damn, he'd seen me, he tensed up, as expected, animals didn't like dhampirs.

Rosemary then eyed the window and approached, looking out into the darkness. I tried notto move, but judging by the way her expression changed I could tell that she saw me. I

then disappeared back into the darkness to alert the other. I told them to surround thehouse, that she had seen me. They told me we should invade now, but I contrasted, she

had only seen one man, this way the two girls would run out and there would be nowitnesses.

We then all encircled the house, assuring that they would be caught regardless of thedirection that they ran out.

Suddenly, I saw the front door open, I tensed, adrenaline pulsed through my veins theywere making a run for it. I hurried along, taking notice of the two girls, the blonde one, the

princess had only fear in her eyes, panic really and I could very faintly hear their hushedwhispers.

On the other hand, Hathaway, the one with the long dark hair held no fear in her eyes anylonger instead determination. My impressions at the academy had been that these twogirls had left because they didn't want to follow the rules and just have fun. I found that a

little hard to believe looking at them. Something, something was there. An unspoken bond

and Rosemary seemed so determined to protect the Princess I could hardly believe it wasabout having fun. I didn't believe someone that determined to protect would not be moreinterested in being reckless.

The two girls struggled, so much fear in their eyes, they had no idea what was to come. Ithen saw my opportunity. I wouldn't give them any chance to escape and charged forward.

I heard one of them ask in a trembled voice, "Do you hear that?"

We were almost to them. They tried to run, but they were hardly fast enough. I was sureRosemary could run faster but I supposed that she chose not to so that she could stick tothe princess, dhampirs were much more physically adapt than moroi. I saw what they

aimed for then, there was a sole car in that area of the parking lot, a green Honda and

Rosemary began to pull out a pair of keys, I picked up the pace and stepped directly in theirpath there was no way I would allow them to get in that car.

Rosemary came to a screeching halt, jerking back the Princess with her; at least herreflexes weren't completely hopeless. I saw recognition in her eyes that told me she had


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realized I was the man staring at her from the trees. The others slowed, realizing that we

had them; I don't think she had realized that there were almost a dozen of us. If she would

have, would it have stopped her from trying to escape? There was no way she could get outof this situation, we had them and they looked resigned, ready to surrender.

Rosemary pressed up against Lissa, putting her behind her and looked up at me, nearly

growling, she let out, "Don't touch her!" through gritted teeth. I don't think she realized thatwe didn't mean any harm, I realized how much she cared for the Princess right then, here

she was, ready to take on almost a dozen guardians by herselfeven if it got her killed-justto protect her. I didn't see that a lot, the kind of passion in guarding, the willingness to giveup her life immediately. I didn't expect that from her.

I held out my hands to her, I didn't want her to get hurt if she didn't have to and I didn't

think the other guardians would try avoiding conflict when she seemed so offensive. I hoped

that she would realize that my intentions meant no harm and spoke as I stepped forward,"I'm not going to"

I saw her attack immediately, and like a cobra I knocked her off and sent her backwards, I

didn't mean to hit her so hard and seeing her lose her footing heading towards the floorwith her hip, I reached out and caught her arm pulling her towards me. As I did, I caught a

glimpse of her neck. She reached up to touch her throat and realized that she still held todark spots of dark blood on her neck. She had given blood recently. It made sense it wasthe only way Lissa could have survived. But she must be so weak and drugged up.

She looked embarrassed then, clearly aware of the taboo that ensued with permitting

someone to drink from you. She pulled her thick long hair down and completely covered her

neck. It surprised me too that she must have given blood a very short time before theattack. I knew of the kind of effect it had on a person, the endorphin rush, the light

headedness and weakness. I couldn't believe she would try to run in that state or tryattacking such a large group so much more advanced than her.

She jerked out of my hold and our eyes met. Hers were beautiful and showing defiance, shebacked toward Lissa now, bracing herself for another attack.

Then Lissa spoke, "Rose, don't." I didn't think Rosemary would change her mind, but thenher fierceness faltered, and she calmed down. I could see the tension escaping her as sherealized that there was no way to win right now and sensing her resignation, I stepped

forward looking at Lissa, trying to look as calm and composed as possible. I swept a bowand introduced myself, "My name is Dimitri Belikov. I've come to take you back to St.Vladimir's Academy Princess."

Chapter 2

We managed to get the two girls to the airport and onto the jet without much difficulty. The

academy's private jet was ready for us when we reached it. I looked over to the Princessand Rosemarie and suddenly realized their secretive whispering couldn't be innocentconversation so I told the guardian who escorted Rosemarie, "Don't let them talk to each

other. Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan," there wasabsolutely no way that I would allow that.


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Once the plane took off, however, I relaxed, ever so slightly. The possibility of them getting

off this plane was nonexistent. Princess Dragomir sat next to me, holding a water bottle

unnecessarily tight and when I took a look at her, her eyes showed nothing but fear. Whywas she so afraid of me? Then I realized that she was eyeing the tattooed symbols on the

back of my neck my molnija marks-the streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an Xsymbol. Each one was for a strigoi I killed. It wasn't exactly something I was proud of

either, because even though I knew strigoi were completely evil, it was still taking a life. Ihadn't completely come to terms with that.

I also started to notice the way Rosemarie and her stole glances to each other, it was as ifthey were almost having a silent conversation, reading each other's thoughts. Where had I

heard that from? I pondered and realized that it was from the guardian stories, when a

moroi and their guardian would become bonded and the guardian could read the moroi'sthoughts. That couldn't be possible though, it hadn't happened in a very long time or else Iwould have probably heard of it.

I looked at Rosemarie then; she seemed, gone, distant, out of it. It was as if she had lefther body and suddenly I saw her face become twisted, and she grimaced. It was like she

was back once again. What had just happened? Could it be true? Could they really bebonded?

Towards the end of the flight, I decided to go sit next to Rosemarie, asking the guardian

there to switch seats with me. As soon as I sat down she turned away pointedly, staring at

the window absentmindedly. It was a bit juvenile since I was very aware of her armsclenched in tight fists, but I decided to still try to talk to her, there was something I neededto ask. I hadn't completely ruled out the bonded theory.

"Were you really going to attack all of us?" I asked finally. She didn't respond though. So I

continued, "Doing thatprotecting her like that it was very brave. Stupid, but brave. Whydid you even try it?"

She then brushed hair out of her face, looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "BecauseI'm her guardian," and turned back towards the window like it was the most obvious thingin the world. And I suppose it should be, but most novices wouldn't take their jobs so

seriously. I remembered that I had always taken my job seriously, even when I was a

novice and the other students would insist that I take a break. And their connection, itseemed more than just that. After several moment I realized she didn't really want me to sitnext to her and I decided to go back to the front of the jet, after all, hell was about to bepaid once she visited Headmistress Kirova, it was no secret that she detested Rosemarie.

When we landed after, we drove Rosemarie and Lissa back to the academy. It was around

sunset, the beginning of the day for the academy. This academy wasn't as old as the onethat I had attended in Europe, but it was built in the same beautiful architecture, it's

medievalness reminded me of home in Siberia. As we walked, suddenly I saw Rosemariebreak from her guardian and run up to me.

"Hey, Comrade," she called.

I kept walking and refused to acknowledge her with that sort of comment, I called, "You

want to talk now?" as sped up as did she to catch up.


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"Are you taking us to Kirova?" she asked vulnerably.

"Headmistress Kirova," I corrected her. She then looked at Lissa and again, I saw the silentconversation happening between them.

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-," but she suddenly stopped

talking when she realized we were walking through the commons. It was breakfast time,and all their class was gathered together instantly. Hundreds of eyes set on both Rosemarieand Princess Dragomir all of a sudden. There was so much tension I thought someonewould burst.

I looked at Rosemarie and noticed her reaction, a lazy grin. Everyone gawked at them, their

eyes widening, they were legends here at the academy. Most of the stares were curious, but

one of them from a small Moroi girl was not friendly at all. She looked more like she wantedto rip the Princess's eyes out. It looked like they had been popular back here at theacademy when they had actually attended.

We finally reached Headmistress Kirova's office and most of the other guardians left with

the exception of Alberta and me. We stood along the wall and tried to fade out while theytalked. The Headmistress looked terribly angry, and just as she was about to open hermouth Prince Victor Dashkov cut her off.

"Vasilia" he spoke.

Prince Dashkov then rose from the chair he had been seated at with what looked like greateffort, since he was very ill and the Princess ran to him, throwing her arms around him for ahug.

"Uncle" she whispered, sounding like teardrops would come out at any moment.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe Vasilisa," he smiled, " and you too Rose."

They talked for few moments and then Vasilisa returned to her chair. The Headmistresslectured the girls, but then the attention shifted to Rosemarie.

"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among out kind: the promise of aguardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you violated by selfishly takingthe princess away from here. The Strigoi would love to finish of the Dragomirs, you nearlyenabled them to do it."

"Rose didn't kidnap me," spoke up Lissa, "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."

The headmistress continued, "Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one whoorchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still her responsibility to make sureyou didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'ddone her duty, she would have kept you safe."

Rosemarie snapped then, "I did my duty!" she shouted, I flinched and I think Alberta didtoo. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you could do it. I took her away to

protect her. I did what I had to. You certainly weren't going to." I wonder what exactly shemeant by that.


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Kirova stared, "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of

heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's somethingyou aren't telling us?"

Rosemarie than bit her lip.

"I see," she continued, "well then. By my estimation, the only reason you left aside fromthe novelty of it, no doubt, was to avoid the consequences of that horrible destructive stuntyou pulled just before your disappearance."

I had read reports about the incident, and it had said that Rose grabbed a baseball batduring one of the parties a student was having without permission and smashed an entirestudent's room.

"No, that's not-" Rose began but Kirova cut her off.

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue

here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be

sent away as soon as possible."

"Iwhat?" Rose began, suddenly realizing the severity of the situation, her audacityfaltering.

Lissa then stood up to defend her, "You can't do that, she's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents" Lissa began.

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss

Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

I didn't really like the way Kirova spoke about us like that. Expendable when guardians

were out there risking their lives every day and dedicating everything to them. And I didn't

think it was right for her to throw Rosemarie out like that. It'd be a waste of talent. Shecould see that, right?

"Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Ormaybe you'll send me off to my father? Or maybe you're going to try and send me off to bea blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day."

"Miss Hathaway," she hissed, "you are out of line."

I knew where this was going. I had to admit, this girl had guts, especially to stick it to

Kirova and try to protect Lissa against all odds last night. Sending her off, I thought again,would never work out, with the way they acted, especially if they really are bonded.

I hadn't realized I spoke aloud until it was too late, "they have a bond." Kirova eyed me,and I knew I would have to explain. I looked at Rosemarie this time, "Rose knows whatVasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"


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"No" Kirova began, not wanting to believe it, "that's impossible. That hasn't happened incenturies."

"It's obvious, I suspected it as soon as I started watching them.

Neither Lissa nor Rose responded, and when I looked at Rose again, she averted her eyes.

Victor then chimed in "that is a gift, a rare and wonderful thing."

I added, "the best guardians always had that bond, in the stories."

Kirova began again, outrage painted in every word, "Stories that are centuries old, surelyyou aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

I admitted, "She might be wild and disrespectful, but she has potential" she reminded meso much of me when I was younger.

"Wild and disrespectful," Rose began, "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

I couldn't believe she'd say that. After all, here I was advocating for her. She was sojuvenile, she didn't even understand when to pick her battles.

Kirova quickly informed her, "Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Kirova."Her sanctioned guardian." I didn't think Rose would like that one too much.

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?" Ouch, like she was even American. Nearly allmoroi and dhampir roots are Eastern European.

Kirova then threw her hands up in exasperation, "You see? Completely undisciplined! All thepsychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian

without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline," I insisted determined not to lose this battle, "Classes just started.Put her back in and get her training again.

"Impossible," argued Kirova, "She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers.

"No I won't," Rose tried to assert.

"Then give her extra training sessions." I insisted. I didn't want to see her talent wasted.We already had such a shortage of guardians, especially female guardians as it is.

"Who's going to put in the extra time? You?" Kirova demanded.

That caught me off guard. "Well that's not what I"

"Yes. That's what I thought," Kirova said with satisfaction.

I frowned and looked as Rose and Lisa, their eyes pleading to me.


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"Yes," I finally said, deciding, it wasn't like I had much to do anyway, "I can mentor Rose.I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what? She goes unpunished?" asked Kirova.

"Find some other way to punish her. Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk

losing another. A girl, in particular.

Victor suddenly supported my argument, "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov.

Sending Rose away would be a shame. A waste of talent."

"Please Ms. Kirova, let Rose stay," Lissa pleaded.

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be. Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is

strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will attend all classes andrequired trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in everyspare moment you have before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all

social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this,

and you will be sent away."

Rose bickered, "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart? Afraidwe'll run away again?

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished fordestroying school property. You have a lot to make up for. You are being offered a verygenerous deal. I suggest you do not let your attitude endanger it."

Then Rose looked at me. She was about to say something to screw herself over but I lookeddeeply into her eyes and she stopped herself from going on any further realizing herpredicament.

"Fine, I accept." Rose finally said with resignation.

This definitely changed things.

Chapter 3

After the meeting Rosemarie and Princess Vasilisa were sent directly to their counselors to

get schedules and then to whatever class they were assigned for the period no break time

for them on the other hand, I'd finally get a break from these two before committingmyself to something else. All in all, I didn't think mentoring Rose would be so bad; she had

been disrespectful, but she was so intent on protecting Vasilisa that I felt assured she wouldcommit to the trainings.

As for me, it wasn't like I had some big social life that these trainings would interfere with and honestly, less downtime would let me repress some of my thoughts about Lord Zeklos.I still felt terribly guilty, we had both gone to the Academy in Siberia, grown up together

and had been close friends. He had actually requested me when we graduated, thinking thatI could be able to protect him but instead I failed him.


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After the schedules Alberta and I escorted Rosemarie to the guardians' gym, none of us

speaking. The other novices were in the middle of gym setting up when we entered, and

just like before, all eyes were glued to Rosemarie. Truthfully, I was sure most boys' eyeswere glued to her regularly. She had a very womanly body, curvy, thin and with a much

larger than average upper chest, especially in a school full of Moroi girls who were usuallyextremely thin. Her face was exotic tan, beautiful big brown eyes and long thick black hair.

She looked more like some alluring desert princess than a student in high school.

I noticed Rosemarie then, she seemed to be gathering her courage as she looked around,probably searching for someone she was well acquainted with before her "vacation".

"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it onyour own time," Rose called out to the crowd eyeing her. Mason was a red haired boy with

freckles all over his face and becoming one of the best novices. Did she have to put herselfout there like that?

He snapped out of his haze then and answered her with a lopsided smile, "This is my time,Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

"Oh yeah," she continued, "Huh, well I guess this is a good time to think about me naked,then." Something strange happened when she said that I noticed their interaction andrealized that it bothered me. After deciding to be her mentor I guess I started to feel a bit

protective over her. Besides, she didn't need these sorts of futile distractions. She had a lotof catching up to you.

"It's always a good time to think about you naked," replied Eddie Castile, another goodnovice who didn't seem so great anymore to me.

The comment seemed to hit a nerve. Rosemarie was very beautiful, and it wasunderstandable with the fact that she is a teenager that she is going to flirt, but I didn't

really like the way the boys looked at her like she was a piece of meat. It bothered morethan it should have, and I really wanted her to respect herself. I cursed out loud in Russianthen and walked off, shaking my head at her.

She looked at me for a moment and shrugged, deciding not to let it get to her and thenjoined her class. I went off to the back of the gym where I could easily watch them,

although they couldn't see me. I also was curious to where she stood at this point with

regards to her body. Had she trained while she was away? If she hadn't, practice would behell.

I watched as the class engulfed her, hearing people question her as to the reason forleaving and catching up she never did tell them. Finally, Guardian Steven came over and

scowled at Mason for neglecting his duties. Still with a sloppy smile, eyes basically attachedto Rosemarie, he barked out orders to everyone explaining the exercises.

He then proceeded to grab Rosemarie by the arm, telling her, "Come on, Hathaway. Youcan be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time." After that, I watched at

Rosemarie was beat on, time after time. She was really out of shape. I felt a small pleasure

in having Mason do the beating, maybe now she wouldn't be so interested in flirting withboys and actually take her responsibilities more seriously. The way she trained now would


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affect how she would handle Strigoi in the future, and more importantly whether she wouldprotect her Moroi or get both of them killed.

After practice was over, he asked, "No practicing, huh?"

"Ow," she groaned. There was his answer.

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up, holding her hand a little longer than Ideemed necessary.

"I hate you," she told him, rubbing her thigh where she had taken a bad hit.

"You'd hate me more if I held back," he retorted.

"Yeah, that's true," she answered as they put their equipment back.

"You actually did okay," he told her, clearly trying to make her feel better. She really hadn'tthough she'd be killed in an instant if it had been Strigoi.

"What? I had my ass handed to me," she answered.

"Well, of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That'ssomething," he told her.

"Did I mention I hate you?" she asked jokingly.

He flashed her another smile and then it faded, telling her the harsh truth, "Don't take this

the wrong wayI mean, you really are a scrapper, but there' no way you'll be able to takeyour trials in the spring."

They hadn't seen me standing in the corner, not realizing I could hear them.

"They're making me take extra practice sessions. I'll be ready," she assured him.

"Extra sessions with who?" he asked.

"That tall guy. Dimitri," she responded.

I had the pleasure of seeing his expression abruptly change; he stopped walking altogetherand stared at her for a few seconds, "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"

"Yeah, so what?" she asked casually.

"So the man is a god." A god? Really. I didn't know I had that big of a reputation amongnovices.

"Exaggerate much?" she questioned, not buying it.


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"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial usually, but when he fightswow. If

you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you," he toldher.

Rose didn't seem too pleased with this comment and they left class. I left too, deciding to

go to Guardian Stan Alto's class, I knew it would be her next class and I was curious about

her. On the way Alberta came to talk to me.

"Hey Dimitri, I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but I'm pretty impressed with you forstanding up for Princess Vasilisa and Ms. Hathaway."

"Oh that," I said, nonchalantly, "It was nothing."

"Yeah, that's what you say now, wait until you have to deal with her," she retorted, hervoice teasing.

"Is she really that bad?" I asked.

"Honestly, no. She just seems to always find herself in these horrible situations. The girl haspotential though. And if anyone can hone those skills, it's you."

"Thanks," I told her.

"Where you headed?" she asked.

"Guardian Alto's class, I wanted to observe Rosemarie," I replied.

"Guardian Alto," she said, "that should be interesting. Those two have never been able to

see eye to eye. And with the way Stan is, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to humiliateher."

"Great, then she should be in an excellent mood when I get her," I said.

She laughed, "Don't worry; she won't bite that hard." She became serious then, "I thinkthis will actually help you too. It'll keep you busy." I knew what she meant about that, you'llspend less time tormenting yourself over Lord Zeklos.

"Yeah, I know. I'll see you later Alberta," I said as I walked out to Stan's class. I stood at

the back of the class as everyone took their seats. Again, all the pairs of eyes jumped andstared at Rosemarie. Stan's eyes, however, did not look as friendly or curious.

"What's this?" he began, "No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose

Hathaway. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busyschedule and share your knowledge with us," he added, bitterly sarcastically

Rosemarie's face grew angry and her cheeks began to look a flaming red.

"Well come on, come on." He gestured to her to stand up, "Don't sit there! Come up to thefront so you can help me lecture the class."


13/77

Rose seemed to want to disappear into her seat, "You don't really mean"

But he cut her off with a taunting smile, "I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to thefront of the class," meaning he wasn't taking no for answer.

I felt bad at this point. Even though she had taken Vasilisa away from the Academy and

safety, I knew there had to be some logical explanation, something she wasn't telling usbecause while Rosemarie was no angel, she would do anything to protect Vasilisa. Besides,his taunting of her seemed immature, like he was just taking her weak moment to use tohis advantage.

Rosemarie managed to go to the front of the class, attempting a bold look as she tossed her

hair over her shoulder. A few of the other students gave her sympathetic looks. As she

scanned the room, her eyes halted when they landed on mine. She saw me lingering in theback of the room. I put on a stone face not wanting her to see my feelings.

"So, Hathaway," said Stan, "Enlighten us about your protective techniques."

Rosemarie answered, voice cracking a little, "my techniques?"

"Of course," replied Stan with a smirk, "Because presumable you must have had some sortof plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took and underage Moroi royal out ofthe Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

I felt de ja vu over Kirova's lecture this morning.

"We never ran into Strigoi," Rosemarie answered, basically inviting Stan to humiliate her.

"Obviously, I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive," he replied dryly.

Rosemarie looked defeated, realizing his words and probably pondering today's beatingfrom Mason. If she couldn't take out a novice, there was no way in hell she had a chancewith Strigoi.

Stan started pacing as he spoke, "So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe?Did you avoid going out at night?"

"Sometimes," Rose answered. Bad choice of words, I thought.

"Sometimes," Stan mimicked, trying to make it sound like a ridiculously stupid answer."Well then," he continued, "I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard atnight."

"Erno," Rose admitted.

"No?" asked Stan, "But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on sologuarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know because you weren't here."


14/77

Next time Rosemarie opened her mouth I could hear her voice cracking a lot, his words

were hurting her as she realized she could have gotten Vasilisa killed, "I watched the areawhenever we went out."

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or theRotational Survey?"

Through her silence I presumed she didn't know what those methods were.

"Ah." He continued triumphantly, "I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-Whenever-You-Remember-To Method."

"No!" Rose snapped, anger leaking out of her words, "That's not true. I watched her. She'sstill alive, isn't she?"

Stan then proceeded to lean right into Rosemarie's face and say, "Because you got lucky."He was being a jerk about the way he presented this, humiliating her in front of her peers,

but I had to admit he was absolutely right.

Rosemarie tried to defend herself, "Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there. It'snot like what we've been taught. It's safer that you guys make it sound."

"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled now. "One of them could walk right

up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him and he'd barelybreak a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human,

but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they arepowerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

She was on the verge of tears now, searching around the room, again, she met my eyes,

and this time, it caused some strange feelings to stir inside of me. Suddenly, I wasn't

looking at a student; I was looking at a stunning and enticing angel. She was so, sobeautiful. It'd been a very long time since I felt something like that. Her eyes attracted me

to an alluring world. Then I realized what I was thinking how out of line it was. What had Ibeen thinking? Her voice brought me back to Earth and I snapped out of my haze, "Moroiblood," she answered.

"What was that?" asked Stan.

She turned to him and shouted, "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

"Yes. It does. It makes them stronger" He continued, but I tuned him out. For some

reason I couldn't comprehend, I felt sorry for Rose, really sorry. I wanted to go wrap my

arms around her and comfort her. I wanted to protect her. When he finally finishedtormenting her she took her seat and sulked, looking defeated.

While I admit Stan had a point in what he said, she had been completely wrong in her

choices but I knew there just had to be some other reason for her actions, I just hadn't

discovered it yet. Training her wasn't going to be easy, but I definitely wanted her tosucceed. I wanted her to prove Stan wrong and show everyone that she wasn't just adefiant teenager. I wanted to teach her to protect herself so that she would never get hurt.


15/77

After class let out I stayed, wanting to confront Stan. What he'd said, the way that he had

treated her, brought out a dark emotion and I wanted him to know that I was ready toprotect to Rose if I needed to. "Guardian Alto," I called. We weren't on first name basis.

"Yes? Guardian Belikov," he answered, voice puzzled.

"What was all that about?" I snapped.

"What was what about?"

"The way you spoke to Rosemarie Hathaway," I told him, my tone informing that I found itquite of line.

"Oh that. She needed to hear that what she did was wrong," he replied simply.

"You humiliated her in front of her whole class, she was on the verge of tears," I responded,

growing angry.

He seemed taken aback, maybe he hadn't realized that I didn't approve, "Look Belikov, I

understand that you've been out there in the world and that you are one of the bestguardians, but when it comes to teaching, that's my realm. You can't be soft-hearted withthese students when they will eventually have a life in their hands."

"I understand that, but if you felt that you needed to talk to Miss Hathaway, why didn't you

just wait until after class? Why would you want to hurt her like that it wasn'tprofessional."

"Look Belikov," Stan's tone harsh now, "this is my class, and if I want to show an example

over some girl who only cares about having fun and does not understand the gravity of the

situation that's my business. When you're in my class, you are here to protect the novices,

not intervene. And I heard that you are going to be Hathaway's mentor, and if you want toget anywhere with her, I suggest you don't go soft on her. She does not deserve it. Besides,I really don't believe she'll be able to graduate."

"She will graduate actually," I retorted, "And she will do it with flying colors because I will

teach her. And you're right, this is you're class and I get that but don't think that I will allowmy student to be harassed by her teacher. Have some professionalism yes Rosemarieseems like she can be trouble but you're stooping to her level because you are an adult she's still a child."

With that, I stocked off. I wasn't ever someone to intervene with someone else's business

but I watched the way he tormented Rosemarie. Everyone seemed to think the worst of her

but they forgot to acknowledge that she did protect the Princess, and with the way thatshe cares about her they couldn't have just left so that Rosemarie could avoid trouble. Iwas sure of that.

A few hours later I managed to catch up to Rosemarie. I really was rooting for her she was

the underdog, no one believed in her and to me that just made her so vulnerable. I feltsome need to protect her that I didn't understand. I suppose that she sort of felt like atroublesome younger sister at least that's the way I should be looking at her.


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I fell into step with her as she was walking across the campus to the commons. She spokefirst.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she began not beating around thebush.

"Yes," I responded.

"And you think that was fair?"

No, I thought, but Stan was right about one thing going soft on Rosemarie would not helpher, "Was he right?" I replied, "Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"

"I kept her alive," she mumbled looking towards the floor. I think after the beating she tooktoday against Mason she realized how powerless she was.

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" I asked, knowing the answer.

She looked hurt and I felt bad again that feeling to protect her came in and I wanted to

give her a hug but instead I kept my face a stone revealing nothing of the sort. When shedidn't answer, I pointed, "If you can't fight them"

But she cut me off, "Yeah, yeah, I know," with an attitude.

I felt bad, I think she was starting to lose faith in herself, so I told her, "You're strong and

fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports why youwere gone?"

"Sure," she shrugged, "Now and then."

"You didn't join any teams," I asked realizing she really was in bad shape.

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here." Great that

would be a fantastic attitude to work with. Maybe I was wrong and she really did not takeher job seriously.

"You'll never be able to protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always belacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," she responded, attempting to sound fierce. I saw right throughit and I realized she needed some motivation.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know for your field experience or

after you graduate. No one wants to waste the bond but no one's going to give her an

inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. Youhave your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisawhen you both graduate if you can prove worthy. I hope you will."


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"Lissa, call her Lissa," she corrected. Was that all she heard just now? I was growing a little

impatient, what had I just committed myself to? I walked away before saying anything Imight regret later. I passed Victor Dashkov on the way; he was heading to talk to Rose.

Chapter 4

I spent the rest of the day stepping into classrooms, blending in and protecting the novices.There were a lot of guardians on campus not nearly as many as there used to bebut

enough so that I could ease up just a little. Most of the time I just sort of thought it was

tedious to just stand there all the time and watch the students. I overheard theconversations too every now and then; today those conversations seemed to revolve aroundonly one thing: the Princess and Rose's return.

There were many rumors as to why they had left from Rose being pregnant and going to

get an abortion to that the girls left and went to hang out with Guardian Hathaway, Rose'smother. The mother theory was ridiculous considering who Guardian Hathaway was one ofthe greatest Guardians who had killed several Strigoi in her lifetime. She would never beirresponsible or reckless she contrasted her daughter Rose like black and white.

Eventually, I heard some of the rumors switch to other subjects subjects that were a bitmore provoking.

One particular conversation jumped out at me, it was between two Moroi, Jesse Zeklos andRalf. Ralf was a chubby Moroi, an unlikely scenario for his specie. He basically followedJesse's lead. Jesse, on the other hand, was the typical royal Moroi, completely self-

absorbed, nothing like his cousin Lord Zeklos he pretty much believed he was God's gift toEarth and that he could get anything, or anyone, in this particular case. I was especiallysensitive to Moroi men trying to sleep with Dhampir girls; they never really wanted anything

serious and felt that they were above them. I grew up in a commune of women and theirchildren in Siberia, my mother decided not to be a Guardian so she could raise me. Thesecommunes had a bad reputation for being Blood Whore centers when a dhampir, usually a

woman, let a Moroi drink blood from her during sex; it was considered a very skanky anddirty thing to do. Every once in a while I'd hear Moroi boys talk about sleeping withDhampirs at the school and it reminded me so much of the Moroi men back home that itreally through me off.

My father had been one of those men. He would drop in every once in a while, expect sexfrom my mother and not acknowledge his children. Like most Moroi men I met there, they

believed they would do whatever the hell they wanted and get away with it. I beat up myfather when I was fifteen for this particular beliefhe dropped in expecting to be able to getwhatever he wanted from my mother, she told him to go but he wouldn't listen and began

to push her. I then proceeded to beating his ass. Even though I was fifteen, I was extremely

tall and muscular and I worked out constantly. I barely broke a sweat. After that, I neversaw my father again.

Rose sort of reminded me of the person I'd been then at fifteen. I'd learned a lot of self-control since then, but there was a time when I rushed into things as she did. At the same

time, I realized she didn't have a family backing her up and supporting her and telling herwhen she was making an ass out of herself. Without my family I wouldn't be where I amtoday and Rose Rose doesn't really have anyone. I don't believe she knows her father and

while her mother sacrificed her life to protect Moroi which is the honorable thing to do, Idon't think it was a good thing for Rose at all.


18/77

Now I was hearing Jesse and Ralf's conversation they were just like those Moroi men that

thought every Dhampir girl was a whore. Jesse and Ralf discussed the return of Rose to the

Academy, why Lissa and Rose had left in the first place and the fact that another Moroi ayear younger, Mia, had some friction with Lissa and Rose because Mia was dating Aaron,

Lissa's ex-boyfriend. It began with the usual high school juvenile stuff. Eventually though,the conversation took a different road. They began to chat about Rose's body, her larger

breasts and more defined hips. Jesse was convinced that he could sleep with her and fulfillhis "exotic conquest." Jesse also told Ralf that he had seen Rose and talked to her at lunch

and that Rose had "basically melted when they spoke" and that he'd have her in no time.With that, I started to become angry they thought so little of her. Jesse was in over his

head if he thought his plan would work. I would keep Rose safe which included keeping her

away from any Moroi who wanted to take advantage of her. I also realized there was noway he could ever be alone since Rose was not allowed to do anything social, this remindercalmed me down a little. Rose was too beautiful for her own good.

It was silly, really, to get all worked up about something like that. They were only beingteenage boys to some extent; Jesse probably didn't really think what he was saying, he was

probably just trying to impress Ralf. I tried to make myself believe that at least. Besides,Rose was under lock-down, all she could do was go to class and practice with me. These

boys could keep fantasizing all they want but I would make sure Jesse wouldn't so much astouch a hair on her head.

Later that evening I had practice with Rose, she hadn't showed up yet so I went to find hershe was talking to Lissa when I came up to her.

"Rose?" I called.

They both looked up then at me, scared that I had overheard whatever they were saying. Ihadn't, unfortunately, I was going to have to watch these two like a hawk or at least Rose.

"You're late for practice," I said evenly, then nodded towards Lissa, "Princess."

Rose then followed me and we walked away. She looked worried and kept looking back Isuspected it was about Lissa. The students hadn't made their return to the Academy easier.

Chapter 5

I noticed Rose was suddenly doing that thing again that she did on the plane she wassomewhere else and completely out of it. I tried to call her attention. "Rose, Rose?" I wasgripping her shoulders now and shaking her. We had stopped walking and I began to get

worried.

She finally snapped out of it then. "Are you all right?" I asked.

"Iyeah. I was I was with Lissa" she said as she put her hand on her forehead thatwould take some getting used to, "I was in her head."

"Herhead?" I asked, a bit puzzled, I didn't really know much about being bonded.

"Yeah, it's part of the bond," she answered simply, without details.


19/77

"Is she all right?" I asked warily.

"Yeah she's" she hesitated before continuing, "coasting through the middle. She's not indanger," she said, with a doubting tone.

"Can you keep going?" I asked quite concerned. She looked at me then, really looked that

way she had in Stan's class stirring up all these emotions in me I didn't quite understand.Rose really was too beautiful for her own good or maybe my own good.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she answered, snapping me back to reality. I had to stop doing that.

She then proceeded to go to the gym's dressing room and change to workout clothes. Whenshe came out she actually suggested I let her off this time.

I laughed then.

"Why is that funny?" she asked not amused.

I'd have to be tough with her, "Oh," my smile fading, "You were serious."

"Of course I was!" she replied, gaining an attitude, "Look, I've technically been awake fortwo days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to be. It's just one hour."

Now she actually sounded whiny, how was she supposed to ever learn to be a Guardian ifshe didn't push herself?

I crossed my arms and looked at her, all hint of humor gone from my visage, "How do youfeel right now? After the training you've done so far?" I asked her.

"I hurt like hell," she replied honesty.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow," maybe reasoning with her would help, though I doubted it.

"So?" she asked, not getting my point.

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel not as bad."

"What kind of logic is that?" she retorted.

I just led her into the weight room, showing her the weights and reps I wanted her to do.

While she performed this I sat in a corner and read one of my favorite Western novels. The

book was quite beaten down after hundreds of readings. When she finished, I stood besideher and demonstrated her some cool down stretches.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian? You weren't here a few years ago. Were you eventrained at this school," she asked, I hesitated, not wanting to relay my failure. It wasn't a

subject I found easy to converse about. At the same time, I realized she seemed like thepersistent type anyway so I decided to answer part of her question.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia."


20/77

"Whoa." She paused, "That's got to be the only worse place than Montana."

That amused me, "After I graduated," I continued, "I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. Hewas killed recently," I continued, smile now gone from my face. "They sent me here

because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me toher, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

She pondered what I said for a moment, finally speaking, "Did this lord die on your watch?"

This wasn't something I usually felt comfortable talking about, but in the strangest way itwas easy with Rose and almostrelieving. Rose may be a lot of things but she definitelytakes guarding Lissa seriously. "No. He was with his other guardian. I was away," I told her.

We were silent then for a moment, both of us thinking about this. I still felt guilty that he

died I'd been on legitimate leave, I hadn't taken a vacation in a long time and had actually

denied vacation time Lord Zeklos told me to go though I couldn't help be torment, if I'dbeen there, he'd probably still be alive today.

"Hey," Rose said suddenly, "did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because itwas pretty good. Brute force and all that."

That caught me off guard and brought me back, I arched an eyebrow at her curiously,"You're complimenting me on that?" I asked her. I didn't think that she liked me because of

that after I forced her to come back to the Academy.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

"Last one?" I asked, this was actually the first time that we found the girls.

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

That worried me, "This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

She then sat up from her stretches and crossed her legs, "Um, I don't think I imagined psi-

hounds. Who else would have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no you toldyou about it."

"Maybe," I responded though I didn't think so because it would have been on the files besides the fact that the Academy wouldn't send psi-hounds, the point was to keep themfrom danger not bring it to them.

After Rose left to her room in the novice building, I went to mine, still a little shaken about

the psi-hounds thing. I went to look at the files and it said nothing about psi-hounds orfinding them before. I knew the Academy wouldn't do that.

That night I lay in bed, recalling the day and for some reason, not being able to get Roseout of my head. She worried me, amused me, angered me, puzzled me and yet I couldn'thelp but like her. I've always sort of kept to myself. You can't really have many friends

when you're a guardian because you will never see them. No distractions that's what'sbest. I did get lonely from time to time, but that was the price to pay for saving someone'slife.


21/77

Now, Rose seemed to fill that gap. She had so much potential, if only I could teach hersome self-control then we'd be on to something.

There was something else about her too though that I couldn't shake offI cared about her.

I think it was hard not to, she was beautiful and dedicated. She was an adventure every

time. The more I spent time with her, however, the moreI confused myself. I wasn't sure if

I was crossing the line between mentor and student. I already considered her my friend but sometimes, she'd look at me and I just felt blown away. She was so beautiful she was

sort of driving me crazy. I shouldn't have those feelings for her. She's my student I triedto tell myself. I tormented myself about it for the rest of the night trying to find a way tonot think about her in thatway.

The next day Rose and I had a before school practice. It looked like she was pretty sore

but I pushed her on, I knew I couldn't coddle her when her life might depend on her oneday.

Chapter 6

It was Sunday and like all other Sundays, I went to Church. I've never really been religious

but after killing six Strigoi, church became a habit. There was an Eastern Orthodox Church

on campus which most students attended like me. I always sat in the back and I didn'tpartake in communion. I went to try to find peace. Even though Strigoi were evil creatures

of the night who killed innocent lives', to me, it was still taking a life. I had killed and thathaunted me sometimes, thinking of their faces. They all had been human, Dhampirs orMoroi at some point. Many of them had been turned by brute force.

Today I noticed Rose in church sitting next to Lissa, somehow I didn't think she wasreligious either as she didn't partake in communion but I guess when you were on fulllockdown, church was the only option to see your best friend on Sunday.

Today I was especially conflicted, after thinking about Rose all night the way she smelled,those mysterious laughing eyes, her body, her curves Jesus what was I thinking I was in

church. I looked over to her not being able to help myself. Her long dark brown thick hairwas down that hair, it looked so great, if only I could run my hands through it just one

time. Finally, church ended and I left guilty for thinking those sorts of thoughts in the houseof God, well more guilty for thinking those thoughts period.

When I walked out, the smell of trouble radiated. Apparently, icy water had landed on Rose

and Lissa's necks Rose was just then giving Lissa her coat. That sort of thing showed mejust how much she really did care it proved to me that she would put in the effort tobecome a guardian.

Then I heard the idiot Moroi Ralf speak, "Wish you hadn't been wearing a coat, Rose. Thatshirt would have looked good wet."

I resisted the urge to slam him into the wall. My fists started to clench. He had absolutely

no respect. I don't think Rose was very fond of his comment either by the look on her face.I wanted to walk away, but there were crowds of students filing out.

"That shirt's so ugly it should be burned. Did you get that from a homeless person," asked avery pale, skinny and young looking Moroi girl. I felt bad I knew Rose didn't have the


22/77

means to buy expensive clothing then again, she could probably wear a rubber suit andlook out of this world sexy.

"I suppose you want to offer to burn it, huh? Rose retorted, "Oh, wait fire isn't yourelement is it? You work with water. What a coincidence that a bunch just fell on us."

Ahh, I realized, this must be the Mia girl the students talk about who seems to dislike Roseand Lissa. Rose, don't do anything stupid I thought to myself.

I think I heard Mia deny her claims but there were a lot of people, and she didn't talk asloud as Rose.

"Nothing to me. But Ms. Kirova will probably have something to say when she finds out youused magic against another student." Not if she knew it was against Rose I thought.

I finally managed to stalk off. I didn't want to have any part of that. Besides, it sort of mademe realize just how big our age difference was; in numbers, I was twenty-four and Rose

was seventeen. Seven years wasn't that much in the great realm, but right now, it was life

time. She was getting in fights with teenage girls; I was getting in battles with murderousStrigoi.

Later I spotted Rose with the Mason kid, all huddled up in a corner table. She was supposedto be in her room. Knowing Rose, I didn't want to be the one getting her in trouble so

instead I walked up to the matron and pointed out that Rose was not supposed to be

hanging out she was on probation. It was cowardly, I admit, but the last thing I neededwas an angry Rose.

The matron said she would take care of it and I walked off, suddenly feeling a little guilty.Mason was harmless, mostly, but I didn't want someone else catching them together when

Rose was supposed to be in her room. I tried to convince myself that was the only reason

but truth be told I hated the way that Mason kid looked at her. I envied him because Rosewas something that he could have right now. Something I couldn't have. I could never goand just sit close to her, hold her hand or flirt with her.

I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I can't believe I was even thinking that. Iwondered about it. I finally decided that it wasn't so bad. Nothing was ever going to

happen, she was my student and I was her mentor. I simply cared about her and admittedthat she was a very beautiful girl.

Later I read a letter from my grandmother she's always been a bit crazy and sometimes

would try to tell the future. She lives in Siberia with my mother and sisters and I haven'tseen them in over four years. It made me realize how homesick I was.

The letter said the following: Sometimes you have to stop playing by the rules and dowhatever you want. Steal a Roza from the garden.

What did that mean? Grandma always found some way to freak me out, especially becauseRoza was Rose in Russian. And the only rule I wanted to break was with Roza.

I spent the rest of the day in my room reading a Western novel the book was my escape.

If we all lived in the West, there would be no social constraints. You could do whatever you


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want, protect whoever you want edand marry the girlyou wanted. And I only wanted onegirl.

Chapter 7

The weeks began to pass; I spent most of my free time with Rose, training her, trying toget her to stay out of trouble. I continued to have her stretch and send her to run becausein truth, if she ran into Strigoi, that was her only option.

Rose continued to haunt my dreams at night, or rather continue to torment me with

beautiful bliss I could only see, but never touch or possess. Additionally, my grandmother's

words kept coming into my head steal a Roza from the garden. Oh Grandma, that gardenis forbidden fruit.

Sometimes in the dreams I would just watch her. But lately, they were getting a bit more

personal. Suddenly I wasn't just looking, I was touching feeling what I could never have her hair, her eyes, cupping her chin and slowly my hands would mid-ways down her body.

Then I'd wake up, sweat all over me I'd usually go for a run after that, unable to trust mydreams.

In general, we got along pretty well she wasn't a difficult person to get along with, at leastnot with me. She was respectful towards me, with the exception of her witty comments

making fun of my jacket which she swore was a Western or calling me comrade. Honestly,she was nice to be around, she filled the gap I had always felt and suddenly, I wasn't solonely anymore.

One day, after three weeks of Rose's return to the Academy, she walked in and found me

sprawled on a mat listening to music. At first, she seemed excited about the boom box, butI think when she realized I was listening to "When Doves Cry," that excitement dimmed.

"Whoa, Dimitri," she said as she tossed her bag on the floor, "I realize this is actually acurrent hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen tosomething that was recorded before I was born."

I tried to act like that didn't bother me, only letting my eyes react to her comment, "Whatdoes it matter to you?" I asked, "I'm the one who's listening to it. You'll be outside

running."

She made a face as she set her foot up on one of the bars as she stretched her hamstring.

All in all, I didn't really mind Rose's running commentary, so long as she didn't slack intraining, I didn't really care.

"Hey," she asked suddenly, "What's with all the running anyway? I mean, I realize theimportance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a littlehitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

I didn't really appreciate her questioning my methods knowing it would only lead to metelling her a veracity that she wasn't really interested in hearing. "Maybe you should hitharder," I responded dryly, trying to evade this conversation.


24/77

"I'm serious," she responded.

"Hard to tell the difference I said, setting my book down, "my job is to get you ready todefend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?"

"Yup," Rose answered.

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall.While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?"

"Depends on what store we're in," she answered. This wasn't something I wanted to jokearound about.

I looked at her seriously then.

"Fine," she began, "I'll stab him with a silver stake."

I sat up now, "Oh?" I raised my eyebrows at her, "Do you have a silver stake? Do you evenknow how to use one?" I knew she didn't.

"Okay. I'll cut his head off."

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for thefact that he may be a foot taller than you?"

She was annoyed now, "Fine, then I'll set him on fire."

"With what?" I asked.

"All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at themall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

I looked at her deep in her eyes, "You run." Because I knew that she had no chance againsta Strigoi.

She looked angry but more so hurt that bothered me a lot. I didn't mean to hurt herfeelings; I just wanted to keep her safe. We didn't speak until it was time to run and then I

told her that I would run with her, hoping she wouldn't be so angry with me anymore. Ihated her being mad at me. She cheered up then, and together, we headed to the track.

We began running, I was a lot faster than her, so I slowed down to match her, that way wecould stay together and I'd actually get to look at her, I couldn't if she was behind me.

She seemed bothered by the fact that she slowed me down because she suddenly picked upher own pace trying to get my approval, I guessed. It was well really cute.

After reaching the third to last loop, a couple of novices passed by who were preparing to goto group practice, and then I heard Mason cheer, "Good form Rose."


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That wouldn't have bothered me if she hadn't acknowledged them, but when she turnedaround to smile and wave back, I grew incredibly jealous.

"You're slowing down," I told her harshly, she looked surprised at my tone but I was angry,"Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

Her face turned beet red then, portraying her embarrassment. She picked up the pace oncemore; when we finished, I realized she'd shaved off two minutes off her best time.

"Not bad, huh?" she asked, "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoigot me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

I felt bad about what I had said earlier, remembering how I had hurt her so I told her, "Ifshe was with you, she'd be okay."

She looked up surprised then, her face lit up with joy and I couldn't help feel amused andelated that I had caused that reaction in her.

I knew that it was only because she looked up to me probably because of my reputationhere at the Academy and that it wasn't anything like the feelings I was unable to controltowards her but it still felt great to be admired by someone so absolutely beautiful.

We were looking at each other for a minute, both us not speaking, just enjoying themoment of being close to one another and then something happened.

All I saw was Rose suddenly gasp in pain and cradle up I panicked for an instant but just

like that she was sprinting down across the track towards the Moroi dorms. She hadn't said

a word, but I realized Lissa. It didn't matter that she had just run a mini-marathon, shesprinted, legs now at a much faster pace than before and I just followed after her. It wasn't

long before I caught up to her, I kept trying to get her to tell me what was wrong, but she

was so determined to reach Lissa she wouldn't answer me.

We finally reached the Moroi dorms and Rose immediately demanded to Lissa, "What'swrong? What happened?"

Lissa didn't answer at first; she just put her arms around Rose and sobbed into her chest.Rose held her there, comforting her, stroking her hair and told her everything was going tobe alright. I hovered over them, adrenaline pulsing through my veins, my body coiling readyto attack.

About a half hour later, we managed to get inside Lissa's dorm with three other guardians,

Headmistress Kirova and the hall matron so they could see what had happened. Outside in

the hallway, immature Moroi girls crowded, trying to see what was going on.

There was a reddish orange fox on Lissa's pillow whose throat had been sliced open.

Disgust seemed to show on everyone's face including mine

"It was still alive when I got back," Lissa whispered to Rose, "Barely. Oh God, it wastwitching. It must have suffered so much."


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"Did you?" Rose asked her. Did you what? They started to do that silent conversation

thing again, only this time, it was getting on my nerves. I didn't like not knowing what wasgoing on.

"No. I wanted toI started to" Lissa responded making my curiosity augment.

"Then forget about it," Rose told her sharply, "It's stupid. Somebody's stupid joke. They'llclean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want." There was something going onhere.

"Rose do you remember that one time." Is this why they had left? Is this what washappening before?

"Stop it," Rose answered Lissa, "Forget about it. This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows?" Lissa continued.

"No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?" Rose then noticed

me starring at her in what had to be a bewildered expression, "It's going to be okay.Everything's going to be okay."

"Get this cleaned up. And find out if anyone knows anything," ordered Headmistress Kirova.

She then realized Rose was there and ordered me to take her away. Rose begged to stay

with Lissa that hurt for one, I hated not giving her what she wanted, but I also caredabout Lissa and she was hurting right now and she really needed her best friend there, but Icouldn't question the Headmistress's orders.

I walked her back to the novices' dorm, trying to find the best approach to find out whatRose and Lissa's hushed whispers had been about.

When we were almost there I realized it's now or never so I asked, "You know something.

Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told HeadmistressKirova that Lissa was in danger?"

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke." I could read right through her lies especially since she wouldn't look at me in the eyes.

I just ignored her and continued. "Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?"

She pondered this for minute, then finally answered, "No, no clue."

I tried to reason with her, "Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side.We both want to protect her. This is serious."

She spun around then, anger written all over her face, "Yeah, it is serious. It's all serious.

And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If

you want to help her, then teach me something! Teach me how to fight. I already know howto run away."


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I knew that she was angry about the fox and that she was taking it out on me. It still hurt

though she didn't understand that we didn't spend enough time together for her to learnhow to fight and flight and right now flight was more important it would keep her alive.

During her outburst, I kept my expression composed, figuring this wasn't the best time toconfront her.

When she finished, I beckoned her forward, no longer wishing to be around her, "Come on.You're late for practice."

I spent the rest of the day sad that Rose had lashed out on me. I cared so much about her.I enjoyed her company, her wit and humorous remarks, the way her hair hung down herface, the way she smelled and she'd hurt me with her words.

It was stupid anyway. For one, any feeling other than the professional one we had together

was completely immoral and despicable of me to feel. It'd be me taking advantage of her.Also, she had been really angry about what had happen to Lissa, and I'm sure anyonewithin a close vicinity of her at that moment would have received the same reaction.

It didn't make me feel much better though.

Chapter 8

"Hey Dimitri," called Alberta as she walked towards me.

"Yes?" I answered.

"I just wanted to talk to you in regards to the incident that happened with Lissa. I don't

know why but I got the feeling that they were both hiding something from us."

"Yeah, me too," I agreed with her.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" she asked.

"No," I answered, "But I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the reason they left."

"You really think so?" asked Alberta.

"Absolutely, Rose would never endanger the LissI mean Princess Vasilisa unless she felt it

was necessary."

"Oh, well then you should really get it out of Rose."

"Yes, but that's a lot easier said than done, she's a little hard-headed."

"Yeah but she trusts you and she looks up to you. If anyone can get her to talk, it's you,"Alberta told me.


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I didn't really like the thought of trying to conspire against Rose, using our relationship to

my advantage but I hated not knowing what was going on more so I responded, "Yes, I'lltry."

"Oh and by the way, Rose had a decent day today in group training. I think she's starting toget a lot better. Keep up the good work." With that, Alberta walked away.

That made me happy maybe she had taken my jerk comment seriously, hit harder. I had afeeling it had more to do though with being ticked off about the fox incident though.

Later that day, I learned of some events, unfortunate events, I shouldsay, regarding Rose,Lissa, Ralf and Christian Ozera, a royal Moroi whose parents had turned Strigoi on purpose.

The students were basically buzzing over the situation. Apparently, Christian Ozera had

used his element fire against Ralf when he was teasing Lissa and Rose. No one really knewwhy he of all people would even get involved with something like that. Probably to try to get

in good with Rose, I thought, then immediately chastised myself for thinking that. Christian

was the nephew of a good friend of mine, Tasha. She and I had dated during high schooland I felt bad about saying that over her nephew. Besides, he did it to protect Rose, and I

would have loved to see it happen because that Moroi Ralf was a complete idiot.

When I was guarding class, I noticed Ralf and Jesse whispering to each other and decided togo try and listen. Sometimes it's better to hear things from the source. Besides, I was sure

now their interest in Rose had faded and I couldn't help but feel happy about it. Thehappiness didn't last very long though.

"Ralf, what the hell man, why'd you go say that stuff to Rose?" Jesse asked Ralf. I guessJesse cared more about his love escapades than his friendship.

"Are you serious?" exclaimed Ralf, "You saw what that bitch caused?"

"She didn't do anything, Ozera did," answered Jesse, "Besides, you made fun of Lissa aboutthe fox thing, and you know how close they are."

"Yeah, but it was a dare, and I wasn't going to back out," replied Ralf, revealing just howpathetic he was.

"Well you should've. You might have just ruined things for me and Rose," answered Jesse.

"Are you delusional? There's nothing going on between you and Rose and you know it,"replied Ralf. And there won't ever be, I thought silently to myself.

"Oh really, you doubt me my friend?" asked Jesse confidently. That really irritated me.

"Yeah. Rose isn't the same anymore. Her and Lissa aren't into the party scene," replied Ralf.I hadn't known Rose then but I had heard that both girls had a reputation for being partygirls.

"They may not be into partying, but Rose is definitely into me. If not, then why did sheagree to go 'study' later?" asked Jesse, pronouncing study like it was a code word for

something else. I had to try very hard to keep myself composed, Jesse and Ralf hadn't seen


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me standing there, but I don't think it worked caused suddenly Ralf looked up at me. Howwas Rose even supposed to meet him when she couldn't leave her room?

"Isn't she on lockdown?" asked Ralf, as if reading my last thought.

"Yeah, so? It's not like she's ever good," replied Jesse. This was really pissing me off. I

understood that I could never have Rose, and if there was a nice, respectable guy that sheliked, I supposed I'd try to accept it, but Jesse didn't care about Rose at all, he just wantedher for her body.

"You think you guys will actually hook up?" asked Ralf. No, I thought to myself, but I sort ofstarted my thoughts. What if she did?

"After tonight, there won't be much Rose and I haven't done," remarked Jesse. I wanted to

walk up and fling him across the room. I wanted to go grab Roza and take her away with

me keep her for myself. Never have any other man lay eyes on someone so beautiful.Have her be mine forever. There was no way in hell I'd allow some retard Moroi to takeadvantage of Roza.

I guess Ralf must have caught me glaring at them then because he quickly said to Jesse,"Hey Jesse, shh," as he pointed up with his eyes towards me.

Jesse turned around but I put on my most absent minded look, like I hadn't overheard

anything. Inside, I was fuming. There was absolutely no way Jesse was going to takeadvantage of Rose.

Chapter 9

I checked the dorms several times, attempting not to look suspicious. I had to purposely

avoid the matron. I didn't want to get Rose in any trouble. She actually had spent the entiretime after classes locked in her room so far, luckily not permitting Jesse's plan to work.Unfortunately, Jesse was in the novice dorms apparently working on a homeworkassignment with another novice, Meredith. I couldn't exactly tell him to go.

TAs I was waiting to see if any changes occurred, I received a call, Alberta wanted me to

come meet her. Great, how was I supposed to keep tabs on Rose? I swore in

Russian. I considered telling Alberta what was going on with Rose but it wouldn't really doany good. Rose would get in more trouble and who knows, Headmistress Kirova could even

expel her over something as futile as Jesse. I tried to walk as fast as I could, trying to getthis over as soon as possible so I could get back to Rose.

"Alberta," I called as I met her.

"Hey Dimitri. I just wanted to know if you found out what it was that Princess Vasilisa andMiss Hathaway are hiding."

"Oh, that," I responded, "No, not yet, I'm working on it though."

"Do you have any idea who could have done such a thing?"


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"No not really," I answered, a little annoyed she was asking me at this time. Thinking about

what Jesse could be doing to Rose was making my heart beat faster, ready to take him on. Ithink she sensed my tension, judging from her next words.

"Are you okay?" she asked, clearly noticing my uneasiness.

"Yes," I responded, "I'm fine." I tried to put on a calm facade, but I doubted that shebelieved it.

"Are you sure, you look a little agitated. Does this have anything to do with Rose? Is shebeing too difficult I could talk to her?"

"No, nothing's wrong," I answered quickly, too quickly, realizing she wasn't buying it, Idecided my best option then was lying, not something I enjoyed doing, but something Iwasn't exactly bad at, "I'm just concerned about Princess Vasilisa."

"Oh, yes. We'll get to the bottom of this, don't worry."

"Yes, of course," I answered.

"Alright then," she continued, "you're free to go."

With that, I returned as quickly as I could to the commons. Since I had left, I hadn't beenable to keep an eye on Rose and after looking for a little while I decided to go knock on the

door, figuring I'd just make up an excuse since I couldn't be sure she was in there. As I didthis, I was especially wary so that the matron wouldn't see me.

I knocked several times.

No answer. My heart sank a little then.

After a few moments I turned the knob and walked in. She wasn'tin there.

Dammit, I cursed silently. I decided to try to look for her. If she was caught, she'd throwaway everything she just worked for and would be kicked out of the Academy.

I tried to search through the commons, room after room I went. Then I remembered therewere a lot of empty rooms on the fourth floor that no one really went to. Rooms Rose wouldprobably be aware of.

I tried one of the doors, but no one was in there. I hadn't braced myself for what I saw afterI opened the second door.

In it, I found Jesse on top of a half-naked Rose. No shirt on.

I lost it.

Suddenly, I didn't care anymore what I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to act.

That bastard had put his hands all over her.


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Whatever self control I had faded from me and I think I was going to rip his head off.

They sprang apart as they saw me coming, but they weren't fast enough. Within the blink ofan eye, I held Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding him off the ground.

I realized the similarities between Lord Zeklos and him then, and I had to discard whatever

menacing threat I was just thinking, and go for something more rational, I managed togrowl, "What's your name?"

"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir."

"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?" I asked, putting on asfierce a look as I could, I didn't need to try very hard.

"No sir," he replied, voice breaking a little.

"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?" I asked himbitterly, knowing that he did.

"Yes, sir."

"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone

who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again," I warned him, pointingtowards Rose, who was half-dressed, "I will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot.Do you understand?"

Jesse swallowed hard, his eyes widened and he looked petrified, "Yes, sir!"

"Then go," I released him, more for my own good than his I think. I was walking a very fineline with my self-control right now. Jesse ran out as fast as he could.

I had so much rage it was almost animalistic.

I looked at Rose, disapprovement painted all over myself.

Then all of a sudden I noticed her. I mean really noticed her. Her long and thick blackhair was down, her tan stomach exposed, as well as her black bra which showed howvoluptuous her breasts were and I could see some of her curves. Suddenly, suddenly, allthat animalistic passion I'd just felt against Jesse switched into a passion towards Roza.

She looked so beautiful. So sexy. She wasn't my student anymore, she was a gorgeous

goddess and it was hard to control myself. I wanted to wrap my arms around her, pin her

down and show her what a real man is.

She seemed to be checking me out too.

Then she spoke, looking sort of embarrassed, "You see something you like?" she asked.

Immediately, I snapped out of my haze, ashamed at what I had just felt, and angry, veryangry, I told her, "Get dressed," coldly.


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She immediately put her shirt on she looked scared.

"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?"

"Be quiet," I snapped. I had no patience for this. I couldn't admit that I sort of had beenfollowing her so instead, I lied, "A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea

how stupid this was? "

"I know, I know, the whole probation thing right?" she asked.

"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in that kind of situation in the firstplace."

"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." That really burned

me. I didn't want to think of her getting in that sort of situation with anyone, except for,well me. It also showed me that she had no self-respect. She was so beautiful. She didn'tneed to get in this situation. Any guy would fall in love with her.

"Stop calling me that." I snapped, "You don't even know what you're talking about."Comrade was something you called a person in a communist party with a strongly leftistview. I was not in the mood for her jokes right now.

"Sure I do," she responded, "I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year."

"US.S.S.R. and it is a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag."Didn't she know what the students said about her?

She simply responded, "So?"

"So?" was she fucking serious. I think the disgust showed all over my face, "So don't you

have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what alot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me."

"Oh I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraidI'll ruin your reputation?"

"My reputation is already made. Rose, I set my standards and lived up to them long ago.What you do with yours remains to be seen. Now get back to your room if you can manageit without throwing yourself a

vampire academy ~ dimitri's point of view

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