Chapter 13
Mason delivered, or rather he gave the message to Christian and Christian delivered. He found me the next day with a box of books. "Thank you, Christian." I took the box and put it in my room hastily then with a sigh, I started sifting through the stuff. When I opened the first book, though I saw that this was reprints of reprints. Sifting through the books, I discovered they fell into three categories. Books written by people after St. Vladimir had died, books written by other people when he was alive, and one diary of sorts written by him. I quickly opened the last one. Vladimir's words were the ones I wanted to read now.
Today I healed the mother of Sava who has long since suffered from sharp pains within in her stomach. Her malady is now gone, but God has not allowed me to do such a thing lightly. I am weak and dizzy, and the madness is trying to leak into my head. I thank God every day for shadow-kissed Anna, for without her, I would surely not be able to endure.
I continued to read about him talking about Anna a lot, most of the time he wrote long sermons, just like what I heard in church. But other times, the book read like a diary, telling what he did every day. He healed all the time. Sick people, injured people. Even plants. He brought dead crops back to life when people were starving. Sometimes he would make flowers bloom, just for the hell of it. Reading on, I found out that it was a good thing he had Anna around because he was pretty messed up. The more he used his powers, the more they started to get to him. He'd get irrationally angry and sad. He blamed it on demons, but it was obvious he suffered from depression. Once he admitted in his diary, he tried to kill himself. Anna stopped him. Later, browsing through the book written by the guy who knew Vladimir, I read:
And many think it miraculous too, the power of the blessed Vladimir shows over others, Moroi and Dhampirs flock to him and listen to his words, happy just to be near him. Some say it is madness that touches him and not spirit, but most adore him and would do anything he asked. Such is the way God marks his favorites, and if such moments are followed by hallucinations and despair, it is a small sacrifice for the amount of good and leadership he can show among the people.
Proof that Vladimir used compulsion on his followers. So Vladimir healed plants and animals, could use compulsion on everyone, and used it on a massive scale too. Using his powers made him irrational and depressed.
Someone rapped at my door, and I jerked out of my thoughts. No one had visited me, not even staff, since my suspension. When I opened the door I saw Mason in the hall. "Hey Mason. How did you get up here?" He flashed me an easy smile. "Someone put a lit match in one of the bathroom's garbage cans. Damn shame. The staff's kind of busy. Come on, I'm springing you." I shook my head. Setting fires was apparently a new sign of affection. "Sorry, no saving me tonight. If I get caught --" "Lissa's orders." I shut up and let him smuggle me out of the building. He took me over to the Moroi dorm and miraculously got me in and up to her room unseen. I wondered if there was a distracting bathroom fire in this building too. Inside her room, I found a party in full swing. Lissa, Camille, Carly, Aaron, and a few other royals sat around laughing, listening to loud music, and passing around bottles of whiskey. No Mia, no Jesse, and no Christian. Natalie, I noticed a few moments later, sat apart from the group, clearly unsure how to act around all of them. Her awkwardness was totally obvious. I would have felt sorry for her, if she wasn't such a disturbed individual, torturing animals was not a sign of someone normal.
Lissa stumbled to her feet, the fuzzy feelings in our bond indicating she'd been drinking for a while. "Rose!" She turned to Mason with a dazzling smile. "You delivered." He swept her an over-the-top bow." "I'm at your command." Lissa slung an arm around my waist and pulled me down with the others. "Join the festivities." "What are we celebrating?" "I don't know. Your escape tonight?" A few of the others held up plastic cups, cheering and toasting me. Xander Badica poured two more cups, handing them to Mason and me. I took mine with a smile, all the while feeling uneasy about the night's turn of events. Too much bothered me, and Lissa getting sloshed was too close to Adrian dealing with his madness. I also did not feel like partying anymore. I ignored the laughter and chatter not feeling it. "Why aren't you drinking?" Mason asked me a little while later, speaking quietly into my ear. I glanced down at my cup, half surprised to see it full. "I don't know; I guess I don't think guardians should drink around their charges." "She's not your charge yet! You aren't on duty. You won't be for a long time. Since when did you get so responsible?"
"Since I grew up, and started realizing that her life and death is in my hands." Mason looked at me surprised and a little shocked. "Hey Rose," Xander said nearly spilling his drink as he walked over to me. "What was it like?" "Letting someone feed off you?" The others fell quiet, a sort of anticipation settling over them. "She didn't do that," Lissa said in a warning voice. "I told you." "Yeah, yeah, I know nothing happened with Jesse and Ralf. But you guys did it, right? While you were gone?" "Let it go," Lissa said but her powers only worked while sober. "I mean it's cool and everything. You guys did what you had to do, right? It's not like you're a feeder. I just want to know what it was like. Danielle Szelsky let me bite her once. She said it didn't feel like anything." There was a collective "Eww" from amongst the girls. Sex and blood with Dhampirs was dirty; between Moroi, it was cannibalistic." "You are such a liar," Camille said. "No, I'm serious. It was just a small bite. She didn't get high like the feeders. Did you?" He put his free arm around my shoulder. "Did you like it?" Lissa's face went still and pale. Alcohol muted the full force of her feelings, but I could read enough about how she was feeling now. Dark, scared thoughts trickled into me -- underscored with anger. She usually had a good grip on her temper -- unlike me -- but I read about it flaring up. The party before we left, was the one I got into trouble for and was punished for now. The one where she compelled a guy to destroy the room and I took the blame for to protect her.
I managed to miss most of the conversation while thinking back on what I read about the past. But I did hear Xander now. "Just a little blood, I won't take much. I just want to see what Dhampir tastes like. Nobody here cares." "Xander, leave her alone," Lissa growled. "Sorry not this Dhampir, I had to hit the last guy who asked me that, and you're a lot prettier than him." "Pretty?" he asked. "I'm stunningly sexy but not pretty." Carly laughed. "No, you are pretty. Todd told me you buy some kind of French hair gel." Xander was distracted and I focused my attention back on Lissa to check her mood now. Lissa was smiling and nodded to me before she returned her attention back to Aaron.