Vampire Academy: Dimitri's Point of View

Secrets Decovered

After our conversation, Rose seemed to be doing much better. She still was a bit quite and reserved during her classes, and still seemed somewhat nervous at times, but she was back to eating and sleeping like normal.
Even our training sessions were back to their regular routine, something that I had mixed feeling about. I knew that I should only focus on her training, but every so often I felt that now familiar spark of contact when I blocked one of her moves. I felt the desire to steal something more than the victory if I pinned her in a match. Opening up to her, and being there to support her in return felt so comfortable. More so than I ever thought it would. More than I still thought it should. But, more than anything, I couldn't forget that blush. The image seemed to be at the forefront of my mind, no matter how often I tried to push it away. During training, at church, on patrol, and almost every night before falling asleep.
What could it mean? That's the question that haunted me. Nothing. It probably meant nothing. I had been completely out of line. Touching her hair, lingering and holding her hands far longer than I should have. She had probably been embarrassed by forwardness. That's what I tried to tell myself, but it didn't feel right. The way that she looked at me was...different. It made me feel different.
I had never really been one to worry about the attention of girls. At school, I had gone on a few dates at Ivan's insistence and had a girlfriend for a short time before graduation. Even after school, none of my relationships ever lasted that long; a few months at most and typically only a date or two. Nor did these relationships ever delved that deep. Sure, there was always some type of compatibility that formed the initial connection and some sort of physical attraction, but even my most serious romantic tryst was short lived and fairly superficial. They were more for convince than companionship. The few relationships that required an official parting of ways were amicable and mutual, and for the most part we never crossed paths again.
Rose was something else though. Her smile made my heart race more than my first kiss. I wanted to share more with her than I had ever truly wanted to with a girlfriend. I wanted to know more about her in return. I couldn't tell you where most of the women I had once dated were now – heck, I couldn't remember some of their names! – but I couldn't image my life where Rose wasn't somehow tied to it. As much as I tried to tell myself that having her as a student, a guardian partner, or even a friend was enough...I couldn't quite convince myself.
There were moments where I thought she might have felt the same about me. While half of me wondered if it was some strange masochistic hope on my part, the other half remembered her breathlessly pinned beneath me the first time I felt the desire to kiss her. Or how she opened up to me in ways that I had never seen her open up to other, save for Vasilisa perhaps. Not to mention the particular smile that I saw occasionally grace her face, the smile that I had never seen her give anyone else. And that blush...oh, how that blush and its meaning haunted me.

I had just finished patrolling the grounds and was making my way towards the gym to meet with Rose for our scheduled practice when I heard a group of voices. Typically, I blocked out the students' conversations, but her name caught my attention. With rumors still circulating around campus, I tried to stay at least somewhat aware of what people were saying about my student.
"How's it been going, Rose? You getting lonely? Want some company?" The voice was male, and the taunting tone left me with little doubt about what he was referring to.
Most of the blood-whore rumors were dying down. Strangely, it was happening much quicker than I expected. It seems like most people now realized that Jesse and Ralf were lying. Even more odd was the fact that people knew that the situation between Rose and Lissa was real, but they were accepting and just saw it as necessary at the time. Still, it seemed like some people weren't as quick to let things go.
Another male voice laughed then joined in, even more brash than the other. "I can't bite you, but I can give you something else you want."
Novices then. I started making my way towards the voices, hoping to break things up before a fight broke out because I knew Rose would have none of the hesitation in hitting them as opposed to a Moroi student. I was still out of sight when I heard her voice for the first time. Her words stopped me in my tracks.
"Get your hands off my ass before I break your face!"
Teasing and taunting was one thing, but physically harassing her? No, I was not going to let that slide. I had just stepped around the wall to see one on the senior novices pulling Rose by the hips until she was pressed against him in a very inappropriate (and from the looks of it, non-consensual) way. He held her tight as she struggled against him.
"Come on," he hissed, "I thought you didn't have a problem taking on two guys at the same time."
I saw red. I may not have the authority to beat Jesse Zeklos to a bloody pulp, but I could certainly make these novices feel the pain of my wrath under the guise of training. And I wasn't above giving them a taste of it now either. I was about to step forward and get their attention when a third male voice broke through.
"If you guys don't walk away right now, I'll take both of you on."
I may not have been able to see him, but I recognized the voice instantly.
"You're so full of it, Ashford." One of the tormentors, the one without his hands on Rose, squared off against Mason. The other boy finally released Rose with a small push and watched the impending fight with interest.
"Are you doing her too? You don't want to share?" The larger boy was only a foot or two away from Mason, now in full view.
"Say one more word about her, and I'll rip your head off." Mason seemed just as livid as I was. I'd seen him fight more than once in class and knew that he was one of the more talented students. If it came to blows, there would be no doubt who would win.
The other idiot simply rolled his eyes and carried on. "Why? She's just a cheap blood-"
Mason hit him before the boy could finish the sentence. It was strong enough to hurt and leave him with a black eye tomorrow, but I could tell that Mason's blood lust over the situation wasn't even close to sated. Both of the other boys were ready to join the fray. I was tempted to let Mason get a few more hits on them before stepping in, until I saw that Rose was also tensed and ready to fight. If she was cited in the altercation, then it would be hard keep her from expulsion.
Thinking quickly, I stepped behind the wall again to open and slam the small door just out of sight. The noise was enough to get the group's attention and stop the brawl before it progressed any further.
"Probably some guardians coming." I could practically hear the victorious grin on Mason's face. "You want them to know you were beating up on a girl?" Poor boy, his heroic gesture towards Rose would probably backfire because of that comment.
"Come on. Let's go. We don't have time for this." I could hear the other boys' footsteps walking away from the fight and directly towards me. Oh, this could be fun.
As soon as they saw me, I shot them a glare that silently promised pain and retribution for everything I just witnessed. I was long past vocal threats, especially when their own imagination could invent much more vivid horrors than I could...legally...fulfill. Their eyes widened as my intentions became known, and then they ran faster than I'm sure they ever had before.
I stayed hidden behind the wall, listening to the new conversation between Rose and her protector.
"I didn't need your help." Rose was defensive, but I could hear some uncertainty underneath her words. I wasn't the only one who could.
"Sure. You were doing just fine on your own." His statement was ripe with sarcasm, making Rose even more upset.
"They caught me off guard, that's all! I could have dealt with them eventually." She didn't realize that I would have stepped in if Mason hadn't. If anything, it was better that Mason showed up before me. I would have left them with a few more obvious marks.
I heard a deep sigh. "Look, don't take being pissed off at them out on me."
"I just don't like being treated like..." Rose hesitated, her voice softening with his gentle scolding, "...a girl."
Mason laughed as I tried to stifle my own chuckle. Neither of us meant any condescension, but her worry was borderline ridiculous. We both knew full and well that she wasn't helpless, but that didn't mean that either of us were going to step aside when she was in trouble. Chivalry wasn't completely dead.
"You are a girl. And I was just trying to help." Mason's voice was earnest, and I think his sincerity was the only thing the kept her temper from flaring up again. And I wasn't even sure that was enough until she spoke up again.
"Well...thanks. Sorry I snapped at you."
I should have left then. I knew that things were fine now, and I knew that I would be seeing Rose at training in a few minutes. But I didn't. I stayed there, hidden like a creep and eavesdropped on their conversion. Slowly, their idle chatter morphed into something else: something flirtatious. It wasn't completely surprising from Mason. His harmless, friendly, flirtatious nature was pretty par for the course. It was clear that he adored her. Occasionally Rose played along, though nothing ever came from it. This time however...
"You know, I still don't approve of your whole hero thing, but you did scare them. That was almost worth it."
I slyly peeked at them. Perhaps it should be a bit concerning that I was able to spy for so long on these two nearly-graduated novices without them noticing, but they weren't exactly expecting an audience and I was a bit better than average when it came to stealth and surveillance.
"But you don't approve?" Mason was practically beaming from Rose's attention. I didn't blame him one bit, but I was somewhat annoyed to see her standing so close to him.
She smiled and gently started trailing her fingers up his arm. We both flinched. Him out of pleasant surprise, me out of a sharp inner pain. "No. I mean, it's hot in principle, but not in practice."
"The hell it isn't!" He laughed, then pulled her closer. This time, she willingly stepped into his embrace. "Sometimes you need to be saved. I think you like being saved sometimes and you just can't admit it."
"And I think you get off on saving people and just can't admit it." Her voice was playful, suggestively teasing even. Suddenly, it felt like I was intruding on a very private moment between them and I pulled away when I started to see Mason lean towards her. I started heading towards the gym, but not before hearing Mason's reply.
"Oh, I don't think you know what gets me off..." I didn't care to stick around and hear the rest.