Vampire Academy: Dimitri's Point of View

Partnership

As irrational as it was, there was a worry in the pit of my stomach that Rose somehow knew of my dream...that totally inappropriate but completely intoxicating dream. Perhaps my fear wasn't completely unwarranted; she could already read Vasilisa's mind and know what she feeling at any given time. True, they shared the bond...but we still didn't know what caused it. Was it unreasonable to be concerned that she was somehow getting into my head also? She already had an uncanny ability to see through the walls I've built up around me...
I reached for the handle of the door separating the stairwell from the matron's desk in the hall and took a deep breath before turning it, putting on the blank mask I so often wore. Rose was standing next to the desk, fully dressed but still showing signs of sleep. Keeping my voice level, I questioned her with a single word, hoping that the only other reason she would call me was the correct answer.
"Lissa?"
She nodded.
I turned around, letting out the breath of relief that I had been unconsciously holding, as I started back down the stairs towards the front entrance. I could hear Rose following behind me and quickly glanced back, but she didn't give me any more information about our late night journey. From the look on her face, she may not know what we'd find once we reached our destination.
As we made out way across the Quad towards the Moroi dorms, I silently wondered why Rose had called me in the first place. I knew she wasn't above sneaking out – though, she hasn't done that since returning to school...or at least she hasn't been caught doing so. There were only two reasons I could piece together as to why she had gone through the appropriate channels tonight. First, she had no other option and second, she was finally maturing enough to respect the rules. While I desperately hoped that it was the latter, I wasn't fully convinced. Either way, a part of me was proud that she trusted me enough to reach out when needed. I looked down at her as we moved, holding back a grin that was almost too eager to show itself.
Rose wrapped herself tighter within her sweatshirt, not noticing my gaze as she protected herself from the chill in the air. Closing her eyes, she tilted her face towards the mid-day (or night, according to the Moroi schedule) sun and momentarily enjoyed it's faint golden warmth. I understood her unspoken thoughts. Since many Moroi lived a nocturnal life, we dhampirs did as well. Still, the human half of us craved the sunlight. The wind blew a gentle breeze around us, making her loose hair dance and revealing her small smile and faint red highlights. I looked away, resisting the urge to touch a stray lock. It's simply left over emotions from that dream, I rationalized.
The distance wasn't very long, but we walked at a fairly brisk pace and reached the other dorms quickly. We surprised the hall matron, but with my presence we weren't questioned as Rose led the way up towards Lissa's room. As we neared her door, Rose finally spoke.
"She's in the bathroom." Rose passed the dorm rooms in favor of the shared bathroom on the floor.
I stopped, knowing that the girls may need a moment of privacy, however the hall matron continued forward.
Rose put out a hand to stall her. "She's too upset. Let me talk to her first." Her voice was clam and collected. There was worry, but it held none of the argumentative nature I had come to expect from her.
When the matron hesitated to comply, I confirmed Rose's plan. "Yes. Give them a minute."
Rose gave a nod of thanks before opening the door. "Liss?" I heard a small sob from my charge as the door closed behind my student. While I felt no immediate danger from Rose's reaction to the situation, I was still at the ready to run to their aid if needed.
After a few minutes of silence with the occasional muffled conversation, I knocked on the door. "Rose?"
"Just a sec!"
I waited a moment longer before the hall matron attempted to move pass me and shouted through the door, "We're coming in." She didn't make it much farther, stopped by the sight in front of us.
Vasilisa was pulling on Rose's hoodie as the door opened and as soon as her face was in view, I noticed the blood. I rushed to her side. There were small stains all over her face, and some on her neck and hair. The white tiled floor was covered with red splotches. Even Rose had some traces on her. While I couldn't see the obvious source of the blood, there was a lot of it.
"It's not mine," Lissa exclaimed quickly as I checked her for injury. "It...it's the rabbit..."
I stopped and stared at her in wonder. "What rabbit?" From the corner of my eye, I could see Rose curiously cock her head to the side, silently asking the same question.
She pointed towards a trashcan, speaking as Rose and I went to investigate further. "I cleaned it up...so Natalie wouldn't see..."
Peeking inside the metal bin, I tried to brace myself for whatever I would see. It wasn't enough. I quickly closed my eyes with a grimace, but not before I noticed Rose bringing her hand to her mouth in order to stifle the sudden wave of nausea we both felt. The smell alone was enough to inspire it, sharp and metallic with an almost overpowering scent of decay. However, that wasn't the worst part. The rabbit itself was practically indistinguishable, looking more like a mass of fur, organs, and body tissue bound by blood than any formerly living creature.
Rose was still gathering herself, shaking her head in disbelief, confusion, and worry. I moved in front of Lissa, kneeling to meet her at eye level. I knew that many people found my presence intimidating, and often that worked in my favor but tonight it wouldn't. While I had been getting to know Vasilisa a little better, she was in some sort of shock and I didn't want to make it unintentionally worse. Between kneeling and speaking in a soft gentle voice, I hoped that I could coax some answers from her. "Tell me what happened."
"I came back about an hour ago." Her eyes became hauntingly distant as she started to recount the experience. "It was right there. Right there in the middle of the floor. Torn apart. It was like it had..." she stuttered searching for the right word "...exploded." She gave a little sniff and appeared to reenter the present. "I didn't want Natalie to find it, didn't want to scare her...so I – I cleaned it up." She spoke to me frantically before looking towards Rose, eyes pleading. "Then I just couldn't...I couldn't go back."
Rose gave an understanding nod before Lissa bowed her head and the tears began to fall.
The sound of her sobs seemed to reanimate the matron, who was still standing at the entryway of the bathroom. "No one should be able to get into those rooms! How is this happening?" We all ignored her question since we had no answers to give.
I returned my attention to Vasilisa, who was still crying in front of me. "Do you know who did it?" I wasn't expecting anything since we hadn't gotten any other information on the previous attack.
Lissa didn't look up, but reached into her pocket and pulled out a small crumpled piece of paper, soaked with the rabbit's blood so it was just barely legible. I did my best to smooth it out and read the smudged words:
I know what you are. You wont survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave NOW. It's the only way you might live through this.
The matron declared that she was going to go inform the Headmistress as soon as she saw the note, even without reading it. I nodded in agreement and told her that we would be at the clinic. I felt Rose come closer to read over my shoulder.
My brows furrowed at the words. This was a direct threat against Princess Vasilisa's life. It was my job to protect her. I looked up at Rose and knew she felt the same way. Either of us were willing to fight, to kill, or even be killed for her. However, all of those required action and at this point, we didn't know where to direct our physical energy to the cause. How could we fight something still unknown?
Rose broke our silent communication and went to our charge's side, linking her arms and supporting the majority of her weight. "Come on, Liss. Let's get you out of here."
I walked behind the girls as we slowly made our way towards the Academy Clinic, searching the area for threats. It was late enough at night that there was only a nurse on hand, but she offered to call the doctor as soon as she saw us. I dismissed her concern, "She just needs to rest."
As soon as Rose and the nurse assisted Lissa onto the bed, Headmistress Kirova made her entrance. She and a few other figures started questioning her all at once. Lissa's eyes grew wide and I could see her shutting down again. I began to position myself between her and the new visitors, but Rose beat me to the punch...in a much more rash way than I would have suggested.
"Leaver her alone! Can't you see she doesn't want to talk about it? Let her get some sleep first!"
"Miss Hathaway!" Kirova seemed unusually shocked by her outburst. "You're out of line as usual. I don't even know what you're doing here."
I stepped forward before anything could escalate further, "Headmistress Kirova, may we please speak privately for a moment?" It may have been phrased as a question, but my tone left little room to do anything but accept. I began walking towards the hall before she actually agreed and started following me.
"Belikov, you need to get your student in line. She cannot speak to authority that way." After everything that had happened today, and with such little sleep, I was already agitated. The sound of her voice was grating on my last nerve.
"Honestly, I'm inclined to agree with Rosemarie." My delivery was harsher than it should be and I struggled to remain calm and collected. "Vasilisa has been through a great deal tonight and is barely functioning as it is. Questioning her tonight will get you nowhere. Let her rest and you can get more information tomorrow."
"Even if you are correct, why is Rose here. She is a student. She has broken curfew and I'm inclined to expel her based on the terms of her probation."
Fury burned within me. I knew Headmistress Kirova was looking for any reason to get rid of Rose, even when Rose had behaved admirably tonight. I took a deep breath and counted to three before answering. "Rose has done nothing wrong..."
"But.."
"She was the one who informed me about Vasalisa tonight," I continued, ignoring her interruption. "As soon as she sensed through the bond that something was amiss, she went through the proper channels and contacted me. You can ask the hall matron in her dorm. I have accompanied her all night and she has been strictly professional about the matter. At the moment she is providing the most calming presence to Princess Vasilisa, and in my opinion, she should stay."
"She's a novice. Even if she is a comfort to the Princess, she isn't necessary. There are more than enough people here to protect her. You are her guardian. You can stay if you wish but Rose has no business here."
"You are right, I am her guardian and in my experience, comfort is just as important as protection in circumstances such as these." I stared her down, challenging her to disagree with me.
After a moment, she gave a small huff and walked towards the room with Vasilisa and the others. As soon as she walked in, Rose silently positioned herself between Kirova and Lissa, still determined to protect her friend.
"You may stay with her for a little while," declared the Headmistress to Rose before looking past her towards Vasilisa. "We'll have a janitor do further cleaning and investigation in the bathroom and your bedroom, Miss Dragomir, and then discuss the situation in detail in the morning."
I met Rose's eyes and we both gave a small nod, silently agreeing on the arrangement. Rose went to Lissa's side as I escorted the others out. When I returned, they were whispering to each other so I took a seat just outside the door to give them some privacy. I trusted Rose to tell me if anything was truly amiss.
After doing a quick perimeter check and not seeing anything out of the ordinary, my mind started to wonder about the events of the night. The note was direct threat on Vasilisa's life but it was still unknown who was behind this and the other incidents that have happened since they had returned. We weren't event sure it was the same person. For all we knew, this could be a copy-cat who was spurred on by the circulating rumors on campus. Either way, this was an escalation. If it was the same person, I was worried about what might come next if we didn't find the perpetrator. The note was hand written, so if we had a few suspects we could do a handwriting analysis. However, right now we didn't have a single lead.
I tried to start building some sort of profile based on what little deduction I could manage with the information I had. Both attacks had been in her hall, which wasn't exactly public access. Those who would have the easiest access without being noticed are be female Moroi students, school guardians, and staff that typically worked in the area. That didn't completely dismiss anyone else, but they would have a much more difficult time. Both attacks had been in her room, which didn't really excuse anyone else unless she and her roommate were mindful of locking the door each time. Even with it locked, most staff and guardians had a universal key, and that key could possibly be stolen without someone noticing.
I put my head in my hands, overwhelmed with trying to process the information in my exhausted mind. I was a guardian, not an investigator. I had been trained to protect against Strigoi, and while we also defended them against other predators on occasion, finding the sick and twisted individual that was psychologically torturing that poor teenage girl was way beyond my experience. At this point, all I knew was that the menace was someone on campus. Even that was a stretch since I wasn't certain, it was just a logical guess. I would check the gate logs tomorrow to be sure that no visitor overlapped both events, but whoever was tormenting Vasilisa seemed to be moving unnoticed through areas not typically open to visitors which would suggest that they were familiar with campus.
Overall, the whole thing was a mess. But even with all the darkness surrounding this experience, I found a small silver lining. Rose and I worked together as a team tonight, almost as if we were already guardian partners. I didn't even notice it initially, but somehow we had slipped out of the mentor-student relationship and started working together as equals this evening. I didn't expect it to last long, but it was a start. She didn't put up any arguments with me nor did she challenge my authority or experience, and I supported her and stepped back to allow her to take the lead at times. Perhaps the most surprising thing was how successful and natural that partnership felt. It often took years for guardian partners to begin working together so smoothly. Even my previous partnership with Guardian Radu hadn't been quite so simple. We were friendly, but working together needed near constant verbal communication and planning. Rose and I had worked together almost silently, only speaking when absolutely necessary.
I remembered my earlier fear that she could read my mind and involuntarily shivered at the thought. I still didn't like the idea that she could possibly know about some of the less appropriate things that have crossed my mind in the recent weeks, but I felt confident that wasn't the case now. If she could, then I'm certain that there would have been some sort of reaction from her; she might have been focused, but she was also a firecracker. No, this wasn't her reading my mind anymore than I could read her mind. This – these conversations that passed with a single glance – was simply a result of practicing together and getting to know one another. We were beginning to understand how the other worked. All the hours we have spent training was paying off in more ways that we initially thought they would. I never imagined having such a natural partnership with someone like Rose, but somehow it worked. If tonight was any indication, then our future together would be better than I could ask for from our profession.
Over an hour passed before Rose came out of the room. I had heard some muffled chatter early on, though I couldn't make out any of the conversation. It didn't last long before Vasilisa must have fallen asleep again. Now I was reading the battered paperback that always had a home in my duster, keeping part of my mind alert for any new or unusual sights or sounds coming our way. As soon as I saw Rose leaving, I set the story aside.
"Hey."
"Hey," her voice was heavy with the need for sleep, as were her eyes.
"How is she?"
"Sleeping for now. She's still shaken up, understandably, but at least she's getting some rest now. I just wish I knew how to fix this for good...to make all these horrible things stop."
"I understand. I also wish I knew exactly what to do, but this sort of thing is a bit unusual in our line of work." My words didn't seem to reassure her. "Don't worry though, we'll figure this out. We'll keep her safe." That earned a very small smile. It was a sad smile, but that was still better than nothing.
"Thanks. The nurse is sending me back now to get some sleep. I don't want to leave her alone, but I also don't want to get on Kirova's bad side again." She started walking past me towards the door.
Without thinking, I reached out and touched her arm to stop her. The tingle that ran through my finger tips didn't go unnoticed. It took me a moment to find my voice, and when I did, I looked up and saw Rose staring at my hand on her arm.
"I'm proud of you Rose. You did well tonight. Thank you for trusting me and coming to me for help. You are a good friend to Lissa, and I know you are going to be an amazing guardian as well."
For a second, her face seemed to become radiant under my praise. However, it only lasted a moment before it dulled into a look of...guilt? She pulled her arm out of my gentle grasp and began to rub her wrists and forearms absentmindedly while looking towards Lissa's room.
"Thank you Dimitri. I just wish..." she faded in her thought, sighing and biting her lip in frustration. Silence stood a moment longer before I spoke again.
"It's late...or early rather. Why don't we skip our morning practice so you can get some sleep. I'll stay with Lissa until she wakes up. I promise, I'll keep her safe."
She nodded and then began walking towards the exit again, bracing herself against the cold before stepping outside. She stepped out of view just before I noticed that she had left her sweatshirt with Lissa.