Reaction to Vampire Academy

Chapter 14 - Alberta POV

Alberta quickly began reading, to distract Janine from the feelings developing between Dimitri and Rose. She also wanted to try and get through at least this chapter before lunch.

I CONTINUED SPYING ON LISSA over the next couple of days, feeling mildly guilty each time. She'd always hated it when I did by accident, and now I did it on purpose. Steadily, I watched as she reintegrated herself into the royal power players one by one. She couldn't do group compulsion, but catching one person alone was just as effective, if slower. And really, a lot didn't need to be compelled to start hanging out with her again. Many weren't as shallow as they seemed; they remembered Lissa and liked her for who she was. They flocked to her, and now, a month and a half after our return to the Academy, it was like she'd never left at all. And during this rise to fame, she advocated for me and rallied against Mia and Jesse.

"I'm glad she is integrating back in with the Royals, even if it is through the wrong means" Tatiana beamed. Christian on the other hand, looked miserable.

One morning, I tuned into her while she was getting ready for breakfast. She'd spent the last twenty minutes blow-drying and straightening her hair, something she hadn't done in a while. Natalie, sitting on the bed in their room, watched the process with curiosity. When Lissa moved on to makeup, Natalie finally spoke. "Hey, we're going to watch a movie in Erin's room after school. You going to come?" I'd always made jokes about Natalie being boring, but her friend Erin had the personality of dry wall.

"Can't. I'm going to help Camille bleach Carly's hair."

Abe looked displeased at the frivolous actions of the royals. He disliked the thought of Lissa participating and becoming as useless as most royals are.

"You sure spend a lot of time with them now."

"Yeah, I guess." Lissa dabbed mascara across her lashes, instantly making her eyes look bigger.

"I thought you didn't like them anymore."

"I changed my mind."

Worried glances everywhere as they suspect Natalie is fishing for something, hoping Lissa will stop the compulsion and distract Natalie.

"They sure seem to like you a lot now. I mean, not that anyone wouldn't like you, but once you came back and didn't talk to them, they seemed okay ignoring you too. I heard them talking about you a lot. I guess that's not surprising, because they're Mia's friends too, but isn't it weird how much they like you now? Like, I hear them always waiting to see what you want to do before they make plans and stuff. And a bunch of them are defending Rose now, which is really crazy. Not that I believe any of that stuff about her, but I never would have thought it was possible—"

Dimitri, Alberta and Abe looked concerned, Natalie is playing the 'innocent' game, phishing for information without it looking that way and not giving away what she knows.

Underneath Natalie's rambling was the seed of suspicion, and Lissa picked up on it. Natalie probably never would have dreamed of compulsion, but Lissa couldn't risk innocent questions turning into something more. 

"You know what?" she interrupted. "Maybe I will swing by Erin's after all. I bet Carly's hair won't take that long."

The offer derailed Natalie's train of thought. "Really? Oh wow, that would be great. She was telling me how sad she was that you're not around as much anymore, and I told her..."

On it went. Lissa continued her compulsion and return to popularity. I watched it all quietly, always worrying, even though her efforts were starting to reduce the stares and gossip about me. 

"This is going to backfire," I whispered to her in church one day. "Someone's going to start wondering and asking questions."

Tatiana turned to Kirova. "See, Rose is trying to get her to stop" however Kirova just grumbled a reply along the lines of 'Yeah, now she has what she wants'.