Soul Bound

Chapter 16

DPOV

All guardians were called in. There had been another attack. This one even bigger than the last. There had also been more casualties. We were trying to keep it quiet for the time being. All out panic would not help.

I was in a room with some of the senior guardians, including Rose's mother. I noticed I was the youngest one here. But that wasn't uncommon for me. They treated me with the respect reflected by my skill and rank, not my age.

We were going over the details of the attack. I had witnessed the attack on the Badica house first hand. I thought that seeing pictures this time instead of the actual bodies would make it slightly less unnerving, but I was wrong. It was the same kind of massacre.

You would think for a species that survived on blood they would not waste so much of it. But it was testimony to their nature. They could not control their violent impulses as they ripped their victims apart. They were lost in the bloodlust.

The new attack had the guardians here on high alert just in case they came here. The attack happened only a few hours drive away, so everyone was worried. But it had another effect. One attack was bad but was considered an anomaly. Now that there were two, it was no longer an isolated incident but the new reality. Strigoi had started too adept to our current system.

This called for action... well it called for debate. There was to be a meeting at the end of the day discussing options of how to proceed. This would include guardians and Moroi alike. Many prominent Moroi were here at the lodge, with their families. They would have a say in what would happen next. I groaned at the thought. Moroi and especially royal Moroi were not known for their empathy towards those that were keeping them safe. They didn't care as long as they knew their way of existing was not threatened. I could only imagine the solutions they would come up with.

The meeting was open to everyone, this meant that Rose would no doubt be there. I hadn't seen her in a day or two, but I knew she probably heard what happened. Knowing Rose she would definitely have an opinion. That could be bad. But Rose was not the only one I was worried about. Tasha also had a very strong opinion, and being a royal Moroi, even one with a bad reputation would mean she would be heard. I was afraid of what she might say. I knew she wanted Moroi more involved with their own protection instead of letting Guardians deal with everything, but although she could probably get some non-royal Moroi up for the idea, since they would not be rewarded a guardian anyway, the royal Moroi would never agree to this. And unfortunately they were the ones that made the laws.

As I walked to the meeting that afternoon I saw Rose entering with her friends, I decided to sit close to her in an attempt to placate her if necessary.

When I sat next to her, she bristled. And did she just move away from me a bit? Maybe she was just readjusting. The seats weren't very comfortable. She didn't look at me though. She started to fidget with her fingers. She seemed almost nervous to be around me.

The Rinaldi girl sat down the row in front of us and I saw that she had been crying. I was wondering why, when I remembered the casualty list. There was a Rinaldi on there, probably family by the looks of it. Rose also seemed to have noticed by the sympathetic glances she gave Miss Rinaldi on occasion.

It was such a Rose thing to do. Even for an enemy that had hurt her and Lissa she had compassion. I wanted to grab her hand, but I noticed it was even further away from me than when I had checked the last time.

The meeting started and as I predicted things were not going well. I had to restrain Rose at one point when some idiot Moroi suggested graduating novices early. She held her tongue but the glare she gave me, sent chills down my spine. I didn't understand where all this hostility was coming from. Part of me suggested it was the darkness, but I had seen enough of Rose to know when it was supernatural darkness affecting her judgment or just short-tempered all original Rose. This was the latter.