Chapter 7
Lissa was sneaking into the chapel's attic again, and like last time she met no resistance. Sunrise lit up the stained glass window and Christian was sitting on the floor with one of the books. "You're late," he told her. "Been reading while I waited." Lissa pulled up one of the chairs brushing off the dust and picking a book up. "I figured you'd be tied up with Headmistress Kirova." He shook his head. "Not much to it. They suspended me for a week, that's all. Not like it's hard to sneak out. And hey more time to read." He smirked at her. "I'm surprised you didn't get more time. You set someone on fire!" Lissa said frowning at him. "No, I didn't. Did you see any burns on him?" Christian defended himself. "He was covered in flames." "I had them under control. I kept them off of him." She sighed. "You shouldn't have done that." Straightening out of his lounging position, he sat up and leaned towards her. "I did it for you, and Rose of course," Christian told her softly and Lissa looked at him in surprise. "You attacked someone for me and Rose?" "Sure he was giving you guys a hard time. She was doing an okay job against him, I guess, but I figured she could use the backup. Besides, that'll shut anyone else up about the whole fox thing too."
"You shouldn't have done that," she repeated looking away. "And don't act like it was all for me. You liked doing it. Part of you wanted to -- just because." Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise. Lissa might not be psychic, but she had a startling ability to read people. Seeing him off guard, she continued. "Attacking someone else with magic is forbidden -- and that's exactly why you wanted to do it. You got a thrill out of it." "What's the big deal, Rose was thankful, if I didn't do it she would have punched him in his stupid face. Then where would she be? Those rules are stupid. If we used magic as a weapon instead of just warm and fuzzy shit, Strigoi wouldn't keep killing so many of us." Christian told her and I had to agree with that. "It's wrong," she said firmly. "Magic is a gift. It's peaceful." "Only because they say it is. You're repeating the party line we've been fed our whole lives." He stood up and paced the small space of the attic. "It wasn't always that way, you know. We used to fight, right along with the guardians -- centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and stopped. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells." Christian told her. "Then how did you know that one?" He crooked her a smile. "Not everyone forgot." "Like your family? Like your parents?" Lissa reminded him.
The smile disappeared. "You don't know anything about my parents." His face darkened, and his eyes grew hard. To most people, he might have appeared scary and intimidating, but Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seemed very, very vulnerable. "You're right," she admitted softly, after a moment. "I don't. I'm sorry." For a second time in this meeting, Christian looked astonished. Probably because no one had ever apologized to him. Hell, no one even talked to him. Certainly, no one ever listened. Like usual he quickly turned into his cocky self. "Forget it." Abruptly, he stopped pacing and knelt in front of her, so they could look each other in the eye. Feeling him so close made her hold her breath. A dangerous smile curled his lips. "And really, I don't get why you of all people should act so outraged that I use forbidden magic," Christian said smugly. "Me of all people? What's that supposed to mean?" Lissa said startled. "You can play innocent if you want -- and you do a pretty good job -- but I know the truth."
"What truth is that?" She couldn't hide her uneasiness from Christian or me. He leaned even closer. "That you use compulsion. All the time." "No, I don't." She said immediately. "Of course you do. I've been lying awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you two were able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting to meet your parents. Then I figured it out. You had to be using compulsion. That's probably how you broke out of here in the first place." "I see. You just figured it out. Without any proof." "I've got all the proof I need, just from watching you." "You've been watching me -- spying on me -- to prove I'm using compulsion?" He shrugged. "No. Actually, I've been watching you just because I like it. The compulsion thing was a bonus. I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that math assignment. And you used it on Ms. Carmack when she wanted to make you go through more testing." "So you assume it's compulsion? Maybe I'm just really good at convincing people." There was a defiant note in her voice, understandable, considering her fear and anger. Only she delivered it with a toss of her hair -- she was flirting and I decided it was time to pull out, it was an invasion of privacy now. It took some effort but I managed to pull out of her head.
Then I went back in. And out a couple of times just to get the feel of it so I could know how to stop and control it. I finished my homework in silence and then went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. I was just passing the lounge on my way to my room when I was pushed into the room and someone stole the breath from my lungs. Air user. There were two guys, one of them. One of them managed to get my shirt off and the other was keeping me down using air magic to steal the breath from my lungs. Sloppily kissing my breasts and touching me, this could not be happening. I tried to squirm away but one of them was holding me down. Kissing me and touching me and I just kept thinking this cannot be happening. It took me a while to realize that I was stupid since I was a witch and I could just obliviate them later. I was just about to use a stunner or something on one of them when the door sprung open.
I sagged in relief, I did not want to use magic unless really necessary. One of them was lifted and I finally looked around now that I could breathe and the black spots in my eyes were clearing. I pushed the other one off me. Ralph and Jesse. Dimitri was holding Jesse up by his shirt. Nearly holding him off the ground. "What's your name?" Dimitri barked. "J-Jesse, sir, Jesse Zeklos, sir." "Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?" "No, sir." "Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?" "Yes sir." "What exactly has been happening here Mr. Zeklos." "Rose agreed to meet with us both and uh--" I kicked Ralph right in the family jewels for what he did and lying about it and he fell to his knees. I now had my breath back and I was pissed. Ralph was still bent over and I used my knee to break his nose. Then I turned on Jesse, I managed to punch him right out of a shocked Dimitri's hands and then when I rounded on them both Dimitri held me back.
Jesse and Ralph scrambled and I was breathing hard, from anger and the lack of air I had been suffering from. But then I started becoming aware of another problem. I was just in my bra and jeans and Dimitri was holding me, albeit from the back but his one hand was on my stomach and one arm around my chest. When he spoke into my neck goosebumps erupted on my body. "Rose, what are you doing?" I pulled out of his arms, I needed to get some distance between us. I felt like this was cheating, irrationally since the man I loved was no longer alive in this universe. I went to the side and picked up my bottle of water and then started to look for my shirt. Dimitri was looking at me, face blank and he was checking me out. What do you expect he was a guy and this body was hot. Which was weird because it was my body and I have been thinking about it in the third person. I really hoped that I would not be stuffed into other people's bodies again. It sucks since I never seemed to get the memories with it. I spotted my shirt and walked right up to Dimitri who seemed to have stiffened a bit, fists tightly held next to his sides and I could see the muscles tighten in his jaw. I grabbed the shirt next to him unconcerned and pulled it over my head.
"Thank you for finding me, I could not fight when Ralph used his magic on me, they would have --" I looked away not willing to see the disappointment in his eyes. I was stronger I should have fought more, but I was taken by surprise. "You were not willing?" He looked confused and slightly angry. "Nooo! They are disgusting pigs, I went to the kitchen to get water and then I was pulled into the room and air sucked out of my lungs. I was so surprised and taken off guard. Thank you." I told him and made to leave. "Rose you have to report this." "No one would believe it, they are Royals and I am me, with my record from before .... I have a reputation for being easy, no one will believe that I am not the same girl anymore." "Rose, If I back you up?" "You were angry at me a minute ago, I saw it in your eyes. What you saw was 2 guys and a girl making out. Even if one was holding me down, I would rather they think that I made out with them both than have them knowing that I was too weak and pathetic to fight back."
"It is not right Rose, you said it yourself you are not the same girl." He was holding my shoulders now looking at me in concern. "I am 17 and in less than a year, I need to be able to protect Lissa, I have to be ready. I don't have time to have fun. I am not ready, if I cannot fight against 2 Royal pricks how will I fight Strigoi." "You are right, you are seventeen, and if you were human or Moroi you could have fun but you are not. When I was seventeen I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction...." He sighed. "And it's too late."
"Jesse's a Zeklos, does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?" "It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel." "But it does bother you." I could read his pain, though he clearly worked hard to hide it. "You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him." Dimitri looked surprised like he didn't want me to know that, like I'd uncovered some secret part of him. I'd been thinking he was some aloof, antisocial tough guy, but maybe he kept himself apart from other people so he wouldn't get hurt if he lost them. Ivan's death had clearly left a permanent mark. I knew now that Dimitri was lonely. The surprised look vanished, and his standard serious one returned. "It doesn't matter how I feel. They come first. Protecting them."
I thought about Lissa again. I felt very protective about her, was it somehow something brought over from the Rose I replaced or was it that she shared similarities with Nicky my Tribrid daughter? "Yes, they do." A long silence fell before Dimitri spoke again. "You told me you want to fight, really fight. Is that still true?" I grinned at him. "Yes." "Rose .... I can work with you, but I have to believe that you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted." "I know, and I am ready." "All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate running but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi is like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast.... well .... you can't even imagine. So I can't stop the running and the conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more training. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot." "I know, it doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it." He studied me hard like he was still trying to decide if he could believe me. Finally satisfied, he gave me a sharp nod. "We'll start tomorrow." Inside I was jumping up and down. That was so awesome.