FROSTBITE -- CHAPTER 9
I got up early again and went for a jog around the trail and then met mom for our training. We would be leaving tonight to go to the Drosdov's. No one knew about it, only the guardians and the Queen. After a really hard training session, we said goodbye, and I went back to my room. Lissa was not there, and I got into the shower, I loved this bathroom. The shower had three nozzles, and I turned it to scalding hot. After my shower, I stood in front of the full-length mirror, combing my hair. I tied my hair in a bun. Dressed in jeans, boots, and a thermal shirt with my leather jacket ready for the fight tonight. I went downstairs to find some food. The dining room was just shutting down breakfast, but one of the waitresses gave me a couple of peach marzipan scones to go. Munching on one as I walked, I expanded my senses to get a feel for where Lissa was. After a couple of moments, I sensed her on the other side of the lodge, away from the student rooms. I followed the trail until I arrived at a room on the third floor. I knocked, and Christian opened the door.
"The badass Guardian arrives. Welcome." He ushered me inside. Lissa sat cross-legged on the room's bed and smiled when she saw me. The room was as sumptuous as mine, but most of the furniture had been shoved aside to make space, and in that open area, Tasha stood. "Good morning," she said. "Hey," I answered back, not willing to follow the Rose attitude, Dimitri won't do that to me. Lissa patted the space beside her. "You've got to see this." "What's going on?" I sat down on the bed and finished the last of my scones. "Bad things," she said mischievously. "You'll approve." Christian walked over to the empty space and faced Tasha. They regarded each other, forgetting about Lissa and me. I'd apparently interrupted something. I remembered that she was teaching him to use offensive fire magic. I tuned out. Tonight was putting me on edge. Rose did not do this, I had no way of knowing what was going to happen tonight, no layout of the property and no warning whatsoever. I needed some darkness, and Lissa was not packing any.
I watched Christian and Tasha but I was not really that into it. I was more in my own thoughts than paying attention to everyone out there. "Try it." I listened in again. Christian hesitated for only a moment and then made a hand motion. Fire streaked out, but he lacked control. And he had to work on his aim. It went straight for her face, but before it could touch her, it parted and split around it, almost like it had hit an invisible shield. She and Christian practiced a while longer. He improved as time went by, though he clearly had a ways to go before he had Tasha's skill. I just couldn't get into it with the worry growing like a pit in my stomach. They wrapped up their lesson when Tasha said she had to go. Christian sighed, clearly frustrated that he hadn't been able to master the spell. He was competitive in nature, just like me. "I still think it'd be easier to just burn them entirely," he argued. He had a point; it would be easier for me. I did not grow tired as fast as them but I could not use my magic in front of them. I would become a bloody unicorn here. Everyone would want a guardian that could do magic. Tasha was tying her hair. "Easier because it involves less focus. It's sloppy. Your magic will be stronger in the long run if you can learn this. And like I said, it has its uses."
"It could be really useful if you were fighting with a guardian, especially if completely burning a Strigoi takes so much energy. This way, you can use a quick burst of your strength to distract the Strigoi. Then that's all it will take for the guardian to stake them. You could take down a whole bunch of Strigoi that way." Tasha grinned at me, we all had the same idea Victor included, but like I told him, his methods sucked. "Exactly. You and I'll have to go Strigoi hunting someday," she teased. "If you are serious, join us tonight." "Oh, I am, not that Dimka agrees." I nodded and I saw the worry in Lissa's face again.
"Rose, are you sure about this?" "Yes, when the great Arthur Schoenberg vouches for you to be a badass guardian, you don't say no. My mom and Dimitri do not like it, but I know I can help." "But what if . . ." "Nothing bad will happen Lissa, don't worry about me, I am doing this to keep you safe," I told her, with more confidence than I felt, but I was worried. This was completely beyond the original timeline, and I did not know what to expect; I wasn't sure what to expect. Not even Alice's gift helped. Christian wanted to come too, but Tasha told him he was not ready.
We left the room and walked down the elaborate spiral staircase leading back down to the lobby. A bunch of Moroi children came tearing through the lobby bundled up in parkas, and a weary-looking Moroi ski instructor followed. I was glad I wasn't him. Christian was in a bad mood, not being able to come and fight Strigoi, but I, just like his aunt, knew he was not ready yet. I did not even know if I was ready for another one of those attacks. Mason came towards us. "Hey there, Hop-along, sorry you didn't go the boring Rose way now?" I told him, smiling. "Is it true your suicidal moves finally caught up to you?" Mason's eyes were on me. It kind of annoys me now. I have tried everything to dissuade him. "Is it true you were hanging out with Adrian Ivashkov?" I looked at him, astonished. "What?" I managed to stutter out, sorry that I did not check the book this morning. "I heard you guys got drunk last night." "You did?" Lissa asked, startled. I looked between both their faces. "No, of course not! I barely know him." "But you do know him," Mason pushed. I was now extremely annoyed; he had no right to judge me. "Barely." "Yeah," Christian said. "He goes through a lot of girls."
"Will you guys lay off? I talked to him for like five minutes! And that was only because he was blocking my way inside. Where are you getting all this?" Immediately, I answered my own question. "Mia." Mason nodded and had the grace to look embarrassed. "Since when do you talk to her?" I asked him. "I just ran into her, that's all," he told me. "And you believed her? You know she lies half the time." "Yeah, but there's usually some truth in the lies. And you did talk to him." "You know I have had it with everyone talking about my love life like they know everything. I am going to say this once. I AM NOT DATING ANYONE! The only thing I care about is making sure Lissa is safe, and that means taking the threat of the Strigoi coming after her out before it gets to be a problem. I am training hard to get ready, and I am stressed. Boys, sex, and parties are nowhere near my list of activities. I talked to Adrian for five minutes, and it was weird, and that is it. Now lay off." Lissa looked at me, scared and worried. "Rose, is that really all you care about? What about your life, your happiness..." "It doesn't matter, you come first and I have to go soon, don't you have that luncheon hosted by the Comtas." She nodded and looked at the time. "Rose, promise me you will come back." I winked at her, “I will come back. I might need some healing, but I will come back, I promise." She nodded and hugged me tightly. Mason's expression was unreadable and I hoped he got the message loud and clear.
I said goodbye to my friends and started walking to the airfield of the lodge, We would be taking a plane to the nearest airfield to the location and then driving towards the Drosdov's house. We needed to familiarize with the location and hide so that the Strigoi would not sense the ambush. On my way literally ran into Adrian Ivashkov, not the man you want to meet if your head is in lala land. He grabbed my arms to steady me so I would not fall over. "Take the darkness from him." Death said suddenly, and I jerked back in surprise. "You are a spirit user!" I exclaimed and wanted to slap myself for saying it aloud. That was not me, and I had an inkling that death had a hand in that. Adrian was really surprised, and the shock made him hold on to my arms. I grabbed his hand and pulled the darkness from him. The moment his skin came into contact with mine, it sent a pulse through me like I had grabbed a live wire. It was intense. Adrian had been using his powers without an outlet for some time, and the darkness was only held at bay by the alcohol and the cigarettes. I tried to pull away, but I was frozen to the spot. Adrian let go, and I fell to my knees unable to hold my own weight as the shadows began taking over everything. It was too much. "What the hell was that?" He hissed, confused and afraid. "You touched me, and your aura goes pitch black."
I could not answer him. The darkness surrounded me. Choking me. Holding me down and pulling me under. The rage burned through my veins like a forest fire after months of no rain. The pain made me grit my teeth so hard that I thought that they would shatter. There was no escape from it. It would kill me if I found no way out. My chest heaved, and I gasped for air, shoving the darkness through the door. It needed to stay there for now. I would deal with it later; it hurt, but I managed to get up and I looked up at Adrian staring at me with wide eyes, horror and astonishment clear in his expression. I staggered to my feet and ran past him before he could stop me. I needed to contain this first, store it to use it later. It was too much, and it felt like it wanted to bust down the red door in my head. I kept running until I reached my room, grabbed my already packed bag, and ran to the airstrip. I did not stop until I was strapped into the plane, breathing heavily and trying to contain the madness within, quite literally struggling to keep hold of my emotions.
I knew I could not let my mother or Dimitri see me like that; they would make me stay behind, and I needed to release this. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, but I was meditating, trying to beat the darkness back and holding the door in my head. It was a struggle, but I heard my mother and Dimitri's worried whispers next to me. I was shaken awake by my mom. "Rose, we are here. Do you want to stay on the plane?" My eyes snapped open, and I startled my mother when I got up. "I'm fine, good to go, lets kick some ass." "Rosemarie, I don't think-" "Nonsense. Guardian Hathaway, this child saved my life, I have never seen a guardian fight as good as her, especially when injured. She has great instincts and even better gifts that would help us." We all got into black SUVs and drove from the Northern California's airstrip to the Drosdov Estate. I kept quiet, but I felt Dimitri's eyes on me. Had my mother been in the car, she would have watched me, too. It was annoying because I was wound up tightly.
Add that to the fact that the darkness was creeping up on me, and the ghosts came as soon as we left the airstrip. I just looked out of the window. Going into my head again and standing against the red door. I called out to Death again. He appeared to me and waved his hand, annoyed. The door sealed, and I moved away, relieved. "How many are coming?" I asked him. "30, they will be there in 1 hour." I looked up at him, startled. "The attack happened on the 28th?" I asked, startled. "No, you heard about the attack on the 28th; they were in the house from the 27th." We stopped, and my eyes snapped open. "Rose, you are not well. You should go back to the plane." Dimitri told me, looking terrified for me. "There will be 30 Strigoi and 3 humans, and they are attacking in one hour." I told him I could not keep the tremble from my voice. "Oh, Roza." Dimitri looked as if he was fighting the impulse to hug me. This was the first time since the kiss that he actually acknowledged my existence, and it kinda stung. I just turned from him and repeated all that to Arthur. He believed me straight away and started barking out orders. The Drosdovs were moved to a secure room in the house, this time in the basement. The roof was too dangerous.
We were split up into groups, and my mother made sure she was in my group. We were sent to the lower floor to guard the entrance to the basement. I pushed some furniture against the door just in case some moron decided to get out again. Other guardians were stationed at the cellar door on the outside of the basement to protect it from there. Our group leaders had earpieces to communicate with, and I was glad my mom had it since I knew I was going to fry it soon. "They're here," I whispered, and my mom looked at me, astonished. Something I was going to have to fess up soon. I fell to my knees when the wards broke and the ghosts came. "The wards just broke." My mother was terrified for me, and she relayed what I said to the others and then helped me up. "Rosemarie, can you fight? You should go to the Drosdov's in the --" The window to our side broke, and 4 Strigoi jumped through. I gripped my stake tightly and summoned the darkness and the ghosts to help. We overwhelmed the four Strigoi, and I killed another one. There were 6 of us, and there were only 4 of them. I helped Tamara with hers by distracting it so she could stake it. The others were dealt with by my mother.
I heard fighting in earnest and some of the Strigoi that managed to kill the guardians on their sides came through. There were too many, and one of the guardians got killed in our group and the others knocked out. It was only my mom and me and 10 Strigoi were advancing on me. "I love you, Rosemarie." Mom said, and I looked at her in fear. "No, don't say that we will be fine, we are badass guardians you don't get to give up now, Fight!" I yelled at her, and the door burst through, and my eyes were on fire again. I wanted to direct the ghosts to the Strigoi to give us some time but black fire came out of my hands and incinerated the four Strigoi closest to me. Shocking the hell out of me, my mom and the remaining 6. I could not afford to let the shock distract me, though. I moved and staked one more Strigoi before my mother started moving out of her shock and helping me. "You- " hit " And I -" hit, duck kick, "Need to have -" hit stake. " a long conversation --" She staked the one I kicked towards her and I turned around to fight the one advancing on me. Since my mother saw me use the black fire I aimed my hand over her shoulder and blasted the Strigoi that managed to pin my mother down. I was terrified of losing her. I started using my magic, too. Freezing the other two and staking them. My mom did not see them frozen, just the butterfly kick and stake action I seemed to have.
All in all, the Hathaway trio managed to get rid of 14 of the 30 Strigoi. I killed 9 cheating with magic, but they were stronger, and I did not want to lose my mom. My mother was breathing loudly, and she seemed to have quite a few injuries. But she ran towards me and checked me for injuries. "Rose, what was that?" "I died 2 years ago in that car accident. Lissa brought me back from the brink of death. I have been kissed by shadows, I can control them, I can sense dead things, like the Strigoi." "And the black fire?" "The darkness I take from Lissa needs an outlet, or I will go crazy." "That was the darkness? I nodded. "Rose, are you ok now?" "I am wonderful, it is all out, I feel light now." I smiled at her. She looked worried but relieved. "I worry about you, Rosemarie." "And I you, but we can talk later, Mom. Let’s make sure that they are all gone first."