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Chapter 13 - Pavel

With the Moroi having fed and dinner proofing in the oven, they all took a seat to try and get through another chapter before they finished making dinner. Believing that Abe or he could read with the least interruptions and Abe lost in thoughts of wanting to finally meet his daughter, Pavel took the book from the table and began.

PEOPLE STOOD UP AND SHOUTED, everyone wanting their opinion to be heard. As it was, most of them held the same view: Tasha was wrong.

The guardians were not surprised. Proposing one radical idea would be hard enough and here she was proposing two at once, and when tensions and fear were already high.

They told her she was crazy. They told her that in sending out Moroi and dhampirs to fight the Strigoi, she'd be expediting the extinction of both races.

All the guardian training in the world could not have stopped their laughter at the irony of that statement. "Funny how they would think that when they are being thrown into the mix but not when they are proposing to force all dhampir into service as children, and with the possibility of forcing us to breed more meat shields to be considered soon after".

They even had the nerve to suggest that that was Tasha's plan all along- that she was somehow collaborating with the Strigoi in all of this.

"Idiots" Abe mumbled under his breath as Pavel continued reading.

Dimitri stood up, disgust all over his features as he surveyed the chaos. "You might as well leave. Nothing useful's going to happen now." 

Mason and I rose, but he shook his head when I started to follow Dimitri out. "You go on," said Mason. "I want to check something out."

I glanced at the standing, arguing people. I shrugged. "Good luck." 

I couldn't believe it had only been a few days since I'd spoken to Dimitri. Stepping out into the hall with him, I felt like it'd been years.

Alberta gave Dimitri a sad looking smile, knowing how hard this must be for Rose. She is trying to be a grown up but stuck on her feelings that she is dismissing as childish. Dimitri was trying to puzzle out if he was looking disgusted because Tasha once again was using offensive magic, and in such a public arena with the recent events, or if it was because of everything that was just discussed.

Being with Mason these last couple of days had been fantastic, but seeing Dimitri again, all of my old feelings for him came rushing back. Suddenly, Mason seemed like a child. My distress over the Tasha situation also came back, and stupid words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Shouldn't you be in there protecting Tasha?" I asked. "Before the mob gets her? She's going to get in big trouble for using magic like that."

Adrian, Christian and Dimitri were wondering just how much trouble she would get in. Christian and Dimitri were wondering if they could simply warn Tasha of what the consequences would be beforehand in an effort to stop her from doing it.

He raised an eyebrow. "She can take care of herself."

"Yeah, yeah, because she's a badass karate magic user. I get all that. I just figured since you're going to be her guardian and all..."

Christian didn't like that Rose was mocking his aunt but before he could say anything Alberta turned to Dimitri "This is a trap. One I believe you are about to fall into without knowing what hit you". Dimitri looked confused but not scared, oh if only he knew what he was about to start to set in motion.

"Where did you hear that?"

"I have my sources." Somehow, saying I'd heard it from my mom sounded less cool. "You've decided to, right? I mean, it sounds like a good deal, seeing as she's going to give you fringe benefits...."