Vampire Academy: Dimitri's Point of View

Alto's Class

I was already standing at the back of the Bodyguard Theory class when Rose entered, flanked by Mason and the other young man from the gym, Eddie Castile. I could already tell by the way that she walked that she was sore from the hour of beating she had just taken from her classmates. As unfortunate as that was, I was grateful that her friends knew well enough not to go easy on her.
The class instructor was Guardian Stan Alto. He had handful or so years on me, but I didn't always regard him as I would many of my superiors. He seemed to take great pleasure humiliating his students, and even the occasional guardian. From the moment she stepped into the room, Guardian Alto's eyes locked on to her as his next target.
"What's this?" Stan's eyes widened in mock surprise, "no one told me we had a guest speaker here today! Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take the time out of your busy schedule and share you knowledge with us."
I could see the color rise in her cheeks as Rose tried to ignore him. With her earlier outburst, I was surprised that she remained so calm at the moment. However, this only encouraged her tormentor.
"Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."
"You don't really mean-"
"I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class."
Rose stepped forward, piecing together the shattered bits of confidence along the way. As I glanced across the class, I caught sight of the other guardians monitoring the room. Their faces were as stoic as mine, but their posture shifted slightly. Uncomfortable. I could tell that they were just as embarrassed for Rose as they were by the actions of their colleague. This was a lesson to be taught for certain, however the manner in he choose to go about it was unnecessary.
"So, Hathaway. Enlighten us about your protective techniques."
"My...techniques?" She braced herself against what she knew must be coming.
"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats." It was as if we were back at the Headmistress's office. Except what he lacked in actual power, he made up for in witnesses to ridicule her in front of.
"We never ran into any Strigoi."
"Obviously." The spite was thick in his voice. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you are still alive." Rose winced, but remained silent. Without any defense to throw back at her, he continued. "So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes," his mocking was reduced to childish imitations of her. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard during the night."
"Er...no."
"No? But that is one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because you weren't here." I was tempted to mention that the tactic, while basic, was rarely used out in the field as he described. However, any interruption from me would only make matters worse.
Rose tried to remain composed, "I watched the area whenever we went out." It was a weak defense.
"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"
She remained silent, but it was apparent that she was oblivious to what those techniques were. It looked like I would have to go over quite a bit of the theory basics in addition to combat.
"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."
"No!" She finally broke and Guardian Alto seemed pleased. "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?!"
He was leaned over her until their faces were barely more than an inch apart. "Because you got lucky."
"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there, it's not like what we've been taught." She was addressing here peers before returning to him. "It's safer than you guys make it sound."
"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi," his lecture became an exaggerated rant for a moment before he returned to his focus. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even notice him – and he'd barely break a sweat doing it." Some of the other students jumped at the mental image. I saw Mason Ashford unconsciously bring his hand to his throat as if to sooth the imagined pain. "You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi." As harsh as it was, he was right and the point needed to be made. "They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"
Rose's eyes shimmered on the brink of tears before blinking them away. She looked at me, silently begging for me to rescue her from this humiliation. But she needed to understand this, I couldn't shield her from this truth.
"Moroi blood." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"What was that?" Stan's voice boomed, twisting the knife in her wound. "I didn't catch it."
"Moroi blood!" This time she spoke much louder, "Moroi blood makes them stronger."
He nodded, satisfied, before circling around her like a vulture waiting for his kill. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why the Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough – even with the guardians – to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear..." he stopped, staring down at her and waited for Rose to finish his sentence.
"...so do the dhampirs." Her voice was weak, as if he sucked the will and power from her. Such were his methods, though he wasn't done quite yet.
"Well," he slithered away from her like a snake, "it looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."
With that final death blow, Rose returned to her seat. Her face showed signs of pain and regret after the lecture of her recent actions, but there was also an underlying sense of worry. I knew she was mulling over Gaurdian Alto's final words. She was second guessing if she really could catch up to the rest of her class in time to pass and qualify for field experience. Perhaps if she could graduate at all. I continued to glance around the room, watching from my guardian position, but my eyes fell on her time and time again. My thoughts mirrored hers. It was a long and difficult road ahead for her, for us both, but if the motivated and determined young woman I met less than 24 hours ago was still hidden somewhere behind that self-doubt, then I knew she could make it. It was my job to make her realize that and push her to her full potential.
Two classes later, I saw her heading to the commons for lunch. Within moments, my long strides brought me right next to her. She glanced at me quickly before returning her gaze to the floor. Was she embarrassed? Annoyed?
"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" Apparently she was both.
"Yes."
"And you don't think that was unfair?"
I bit my tongue for a moment. Yes it was immature, and yes it was unfair, but in the end, his point was valid. I needed her to look pass the humiliation and focus on the deeper lesson. "Was he right? Do you think you were prepared to protect Vasilisa?"
"I kept her alive." The tone in her voice wasn't argumentative. She knew that wasn't the point I was trying to make.
"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" It was a rhetorical question. I had seen her fight this morning and here skin was marked with bruises starting to form where was too slow to block an opponent. "If you can't fight them-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." She snapped at me, but the anger was directed towards herself.
I slowed my pace slightly to better match her own. I could hear her beginning to get winded trying to keep up with me. She was out of practice, tired, and in pain. I could show her a small moment of sympathy. "You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?"
"Sure," she shrugged, "now and then." Even that clearly an exaggeration.
"You didn't join any teams?"
"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."
My patience was already wearing thin with her, again. I'm sure even I couldn't have kept the annoyance off my face. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone you skills. You'll always be lacking."
"I'll be able to protect her," her fierce determination was rising again. Maybe I had found a way to break through with her. She cared less for herself than she did for the princess, and she would do almost anything to be sure that Vasilisa was safe in her care.
"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know – for your field experience or after you graduate." I spoke plainly, testing my theory. "No one wants to waste the bond – but no one's going to give her to an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate – if you can prove you're worthy." The look in her eye said that my works had hit their mark, "I hope you will."
She stared at me a moment longer, letting what I said sink in. As she did, I could see the spark light in her eyes. She was going to work for this chance. I just needed to keep her focused in the right direction.
"Lissa," she finally spoke. "Call her Lissa."
For a moment, I was confused as to why she would focus on such an unusual thing after all I had told her. Then it hit me: the girl who valued Vasilisa's – Lissa's – life above her own was trusting me with her friend's care. In extension, Rose was also trusting me with her own care. I had broken through her defensive wall. Without anything further, I turned and walked away to plan that afternoon's lesson.