Charlotte

Chapter Fifteen

We'd walked into a fight between two young adult men, and they paid no attention to either of us. I grabbed ahold of Rose a little tighter and backed us up, just in case someone started swinging. Neither of us were in a good position to defend ourselves if this went bad for us. I was right to move us, as not a moment later the guy we'd ran into stomped over and shoved the other guy, hard. 

"You're afraid!" Hissed the first one. He was a dark haired Moroi with green swim trunks on. "You're all afraid! You just want to hole up in your mansions and let the guardians do your dirty work. What are you going to do when they're all dead? Who will protect you then?" 

The other moroi was the blonde one who had challenged Tasha earlier. He wiped the blood off of his face and snarled at his attacker. He swung at the other guy but missed completely, his body not moving in sync with his fist. "This is the safest way. Listen to that Strigoi-lover, and we'll all be dead. She's trying to kill our whole race off!" 

"She's trying to save us!" 

"She's trying to get us to use black magic!" 

I never quite understood the ban on using their magic to protect themselves. They were born with those gifts for a reason. Every race is created with some sort of evolutionary instinct or ability to ensure their survival. Humans had fight or flight instincts and hunter/gather abilities. Dhampirs got the vampiric speed and senses. Moroi got magic. Why were the Moroi the only ones misusing their gifts to light campfires and warm bathtubs and grow flowers? Who deemed it black magic to begin with? Probably some coward who would rather hide away from the world than face it. 

The dark haired Moroi punched the other one again. Rose took a leap forward, surprising me and nearly knocking me off balance. She stood between the two men who were practically foaming at the mouth, and I couldn't believe the absurdity of her actions. Maybe I should have, though...it is Rose after all. Thankfully, the fight skidded to a halt as they hesitated to throw any more mind-boggling punches with Rose so suddenly in the way. 

"Get out of here," the blonde snapped. Rose ignored his raving, instead choosing to grab ahold of both of them and pull them in close to her. She then flung them both away, surprising all three of them with her strength in that moment. They fell on their backs. She wobbled a little, still inebriated. 

The non-royal-the dark haired one- looked up and glared at Rose from his position on the floor. "What are you doing?" He exclaimed. 

Rose met his glare with one of her own as a larger crowd had gathered around us for some juicy gossip. "I'm trying to stop you guys from being any more idiotic than you already are! You want to help? Stop fighting each other! Ripping each other's heads off isn't going to save the Moroi unless you're trying to thin stupidity out of the gene pool." She pointed at the blonde. "Tasha Ozera is not trying to kill everyone off. She's trying to get you to stop being a victim." Then, she turned back to the other guy. "And as for you, you've got a long way to go if you think this is the way to get your point across. Magic-especially offensive magic-takes a lot of self-control, and so far, you aren't impressing me with yours. I have more than you do, and if you knew me at all, you'd know how crazy that is." 

I stood back with my arms folded over my chest, impressed with her. She sounded a bit like Dimitri, and I wondered if their conversation earlier is the reason behind her sudden enlightenment. And she was right, it did sound crazy...if we were talking about the Rose two months ago. She'd developed her character since she was that irresponsible. True, she still had her moments, but when it came to the really important things, she was able to fight with her head and she played her role with a maturity that anyone would commend her for. Even Kirova. Even Dimitri.