Vampire Academy: Dimitri's Point of View

Search And Rescue

I was already pulling Rose towards the SUV, not waiting for anyone to argue further. Guardian Petrov instructed Rose to return to her dorm, but I insisted on taking her along. We had already wasted enough time and Rose could lead us to the princess faster than anyone else.
As the team was dividing between the vehicles, Rose pulled me to the side.
"An attack charm?" she questioned in a hushed whisper. I knew she wanted more information, but I didn't miss the slight smirk at my choice of description.
"Rose, now is not the time..." I really didn't want to talk about this, not now and honestly, not ever. A part of me was more than willing to simply forget the entire night ever happened. The other part of me was desperately holding on to the memory knowing that I may never have a chance to be that close to her again.
She continued to stare at me a moment longer, before she nodded in agreement and began to turn away. The others were still filling into the SUVs, so I grabbed her by the shoulders, leaning in so we wouldn't be overheard. I owed her at least some sort of explanation.
"The necklace was charmed with a type of earth magic. It's a form of compulsion that you don't see anymore. Of course, it wasn't an attack spell but a..." I hesitated, checking again to make sure that nobody would hear me, "...a lust one."
Her eyes widened, and I could see more questions forming on her tongue, but the sound of slamming car doors halted our conversation.
"Get in, we need to go." I instructed. I pushed her into the passenger seat before jumping in as the driver. Alberta joined us, sitting behind Rose.
She and I took the lead car, driving in silence except for the occasional direction from her. I could see that she was just as worried as I was about Lissa, but I wouldn't be surprised if her mind was also racing as much as mine was with...other thoughts. Flashes and images of the evening kept appearing, but I continued to push them aside. I needed to focus now.
"They're still on eighty-three...but their turn is coming. They aren't speeding. They don't want to get pulled over."
I didn't look at her, but I nodded and pressed on the gas pedal a bit more. I didn't push it too far, just enough to close some of the distance that we lost.
From the corner of my eye, I could see her staring at me; watching me. I knew she was confused. I knew she was scared. A part of me wanted to reach out to her, but...I was just as scared and confused as she was.
I knew how the charm worked and what that meant for us. It was fueled by the desire between two people. If there was no feelings, there was no power. The stronger the feelings, the stronger the power. This charm was strong. Perhaps it should be a comfort me to know that she cared for me as much as I cared for her, but it wasn't. The knowledge just made things more complicated.
I wish I could pretend that the charm created those emotions, but I knew it didn't. It didn't even exaggerate them. Those feelings, those words, those actions...they had come from us. All the charm did was remove the inhibitions that were holding us back, letting us express ourselves...freely.
"They're turning. I can't see the road name, but I'll know when we're close."
I grunted in acknowledgment, still not looking over. Was this how it was going to be from now on? This awkwardness?
How could I keep this professional front with her? I couldn't even look at her without seeing her naked and in my arms. It had been so much easier to pretend that there was nothing between us before tonight. Sure, there was a moment or two of flirtation, but we had been able to generally work together. I could pretend it was one sided, or that she had nothing more than a school girl crush, or that I was just lonely. I know better now. A crush or loneliness couldn't produce the effect that the charm unleashed tonight.
How could I train her and work along side her when I knew that she cared about me, that she wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with her. If I couldn't even look at her, how could I talk to her? How could I handle the physical contact that our trainings would require. It was hard enough before, now it would be impossible...
"There!" her shout brought me out of my thoughts just in time to make the turn. The rough road spit rocks back in a dust cloud as we tried to keep up our pace. The silence in the car was now overwhelmed by the sound of crunching gravel.
"They're turning again," she said after a moment or two. She continued to give me directions, turning here and there, until she finally sat up. "They're outside a small cabin. They're taking her –"
She cut off suddenly, falling back against the seat.
"Rose? Rose!" I shook her arm, trying to get her to say something, but she remained quiet. Alberta continued our attempts to rouse her but she was unreachable. She must have been pulled into Lissa. I knew she had been fighting the princess's emotions all evening, but something strong could still trap her. I didn't want to picture what that meant for them both.
I pressed down on the gas a little more. "Don't worry Roza," I whispered, more to myself than to her. "We're almost there."
I tried to follow the last directions that Rose had given me, hoping they would be able to guide us the rest of the way. Thankfully, I could see on the GPS that there were only a few cabins in this area, and we had a pretty decent description of the cars that Victor and his men had left in. If I could spot their cars from the road, we would be fine.
After about ten minutes, I was starting to get worried about Rose. This had been the longest she had been inside Lissa's mind, at least that I had witnessed, and I was beginning to wonder if this could have long term effects on her. She remained fairly quiet, occasionally murmuring something incoherent or changing her facial expression, but nothing that told me anymore about what was going on.
Suddenly, she screamed. I reacted poorly, veering into the next lane before quickly righting us again. When I looked over, my heart was ripped from my chest. Rose was still screaming. Not in surprise, not in fear, but in pain. Anguish. It was as if she was being killed right beside me by some unknown demon. Her hands were tangled in her hair, pressing against her head. Her eyes were pressed shut. I couldn't tell if she was present in her own mind or Lissa's but her turmoil was clear.
I started to pull over, desperate to find some way to help her. She must have had some presence of mind because she felt the car start to slow.
"No, no!" she instructed through clenched teeth. "Keep going! We have to get there!"
Alberta did what she could to comfort her from the back seat, glancing at me occasionally while I tried to focus my attention between Rose and the road.
"Rose," Alberta pleaded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's happening?"
Tears were now streaming down Rose's face, and she was desperately struggling to speak. "They're torturing her...with air. This guy...Kenneth...he's making it press against her...into her head." She pulled at her hair again, shifting in her seat like she was trying to escape. "The pressures insane. It feels like my – her – head is going to explode."
I wished desperately that I could take some of this pain from her. That I could offer her relief, but I knew that relief would only come when we stopped the bastard that was torturing Vasilisa, and Rose by extension. I pressed the gas pedal down harder, now going as fast as I could along the gravel road despite the legal speed limit.
Moments later, Rose went from holding her head to gasping for breath. She was suffocating and there was nothing I could do. I prayed that both girls would be able to hold on. Alberta held on to Rose, trying to ground her in reality, but she seemed to be drifting between the two minds without control.
Then it stopped. Rose's eyes snapped open beside me, full of clarity and determination. I was grateful that her torture seemed to have ended, until she started relaying what was happening at the cabin.
Victor had indeed taken Vasilisa. He wanted her to heal him of his chronic illness so that he could rise to power at court. Because it was a chronic disease, it would require continual healing over time. He was planning on keeping her prisoner. Alberta asked how it was possible for Lissa to heal him and Rose related some of what she had told me before. Victor had confirmed her theory that Lissa was not only able to heal, but bring back the dead using a magic element called Spirit. She insisted that St. Vladimir and her old teacher, Sonya Karp, had also been Spirit Users. She told Alberta that her bond had been formed with Lissa when she unknowingly brought Rose back from death after the car accident. I had to admit that Guardian Petrov was handling this information quite well. I was muttering the occasional Russian curse under my breath as she explained everything. Apparently, Lissa had resisted Victor's offer to heal him, resulting in her torture until she finally gave in. Rose had been trapped in her mind the entire time, only breaking free when Lissa had passed out.
"We're close now Dimitri, very close." I almost laughed at the realization that she was trying to comfort me. She had been trapped and tortured in her best friend's mind and she was worried about my reaction.
"How close?"
"Just under a quarter mile perhaps? It's up on the left."
I could see the turn off ahead of us, and pulled to the side of the road. Alberta was already speaking to the others in convoy through the radio headset. More than a dozen of us discussed a brief strategy while sending someone up ahead to get a bit more information on the situation. As soon as Yuri returned, we were ready to go.
I heard Rose's car door open, and I gently pushed her back inside. "No, Roza. You need to stay here." I knew she wanted to help, but I needed to know that she was safe. The safest place for her was to stay put.
"The hell with that," She protested. "I have to go help her."
I moved my hands from her shoulders to her face, gently cupping her cheek in my palm like I had done just a few hours ago. I fought the urge to kiss her as I spoke. "You have helped her. Your job is done. You did it well. But this isn't any place for you. She and I both need you to stay safe." Especially me.
I didn't say the last part aloud, but I think a part of her knew what I had thought anyways. She nodded, gently brushing one of my hands before I nodded back and turned to join the others. I just prayed that she would listen and stay in the car.
The group was divided into three teams. One would surround the cabin, another would go in and be primarily in charge of dispatching or detaining threats, while Alberta and I were to find and extract the princess. Since she had been initially taken by Guardians, we thought she would be more willing to cooperate with someone she recognized and trusted. For the moment though, all three teams were making out way on foot to the cabin, moving swiftly through the thick trees.
My focus was compromised though. I kept thinking about Rose. We didn't have any guardians to spare, but I felt uncomfortable leaving her alone without protection. I tried to shake the worry though. I needed to get over it. In less than six months, she would be a promised guardian working right along side me. I couldn't be worried about her going into these situations. She would face enemies worse than what we were up against tonight. She would be in just as much danger as the rest of us, but I would need to concentrate on the safety of myself and my charge. Even now, I was already compromising Princess Vasilisa's safety by worrying about Rose.
As the cabin came into view, I pulled my firearm. It felt heavy and somewhat awkward in my hand. I was so used to the simplicity of the stake, that even my pistol seemed overly complex. It would be the most effective tool for this mission though. We weren't up against Strigoi, we were against some of our own. The thought made my stomach knot. These were men and women who had trained and promised to protect the Moroi and they were torturing a young girl. I took a deep breath, ready to honor my promise.
We took our places, and Alberta started the count down. As soon as she finished, the chaos started. I was positioned near the front entrance, and made my way inside moments after the door was kicked down. I could hear a second door burst open around back, plus a few windows being broken on the first floor by the surrounding team to help cause confusion for the suspects inside.
Several of the enemy guardians were taken down in the first few seconds, as well as one of our own. I dispatched any target directly in front of me, but my eyes were searching for only one person. Lissa wasn't in the first room, nor the kitchen, so I made my way up the staircase with Petrov covering me.
All the while, I could hear chatter through my ear piece. Victor and the other Moroi man were already detained without injury, Victor's personal guardian Ben was knocked unconscious but still breathing, and two other guardians he hired were dead from fatal gunshot wounds. Thankfully, our team had no fatalities yet. The guardian I had seen go down earlier was suffering from a gunshot wound that grazed the shoulder, but it was minor as far as gun wounds could go.
The initial scouting from Yuri had identified Victor, Kenneth, and at least five guardians. We were still missing two of them and I tensed in anticipation. They could be outside, but since we had yet to locate Vasilisa, I was prepared to meet them on the other side of any door up here.
The first door, a bathroom, was empty.
The second held a guardian who immediately followed my instruction to get on the floor as soon as I started shouting. He seemed a bit dazed, as if he didn't hear any of the commotion downstairs. I kept my gun trained on him while Alberta pulled out her cuffs to secure him and bring him downstairs. As soon as he was eliminated as a threat, I took a closer look around the room.
There was a small single bed pushed against one wall, with the blankets ruffled as if someone had been recently laying on it. I felt the covers with the back of my hand and could still feel a light warmth. I doubted that the guardian was the one who had been resting while all this was going on, so I reasoned that it was Lissa. She had been here recently. That's when I saw the open window. I had only just walked over there when I heard the door shut.
I turned just in time to see Spiridon lock his gun on a target: me. Mine was aimed within a second later.
"Where is she?" I asked. "Where is the Dragomir Princess?"
"Hell if I know, Dimitri. I left her right here a few minutes ago." He gestured to the bed I had been investigating moments ago. "Probably should have known better than to leave her with the temporary help."
If he didn't know where she was, then I had no business being here any longer. I needed to find a way to neutralize him and find my charge. Killing him would be the easy route, but there had already been so much unnecessary death that I preferred to keep him alive if possible.
"Lower your gun, Spiridon. You don't have to do this. Surrender and perhaps we could work something out. You were only following orders, I understand. You can still have a future as a guardian. Victor is already detained. The area is surrounded. You have no way out. Just lower your weapon."
He gave a deep sigh, dropping his pistol to the ground and kicking it towards me before putting his hands up in surrender. Seeing no other firearms on him, I stepped over his gun and holstered my own, reaching for my hand cuffs.
I had no sooner grasped his wrist before he swung around to knock them away and started attacking me, catching me by surprise. I blocked each one of his maneuvers, slowly moving away from him and waiting for an opening to go on the offensive. He was like a cornered wild animal though, willing to do anything to get away. A swift kick knocked me back against a wall and he managed to get me into a headlock.
"Why would I want to remain a guardian?" He hissed in my ear. "You know what it's like. We dedicate our lives to them and they treat us like livestock! I'm tired of it and I know you are too. Victor has promised us freedom, Dimitri. We can make our own choices, live our own lives! Don't tell me you haven't craved that."
I struggled against his arm that was cutting off my oxygen.
He lowered his voice and continued. "I know what you want, even if you wont admit it. I see how you look at Rose. Do you really want to send her into this life, Belikov? Sure, it's a step above being a blood-whore, but either choice will eventually kill her and you know that. Wouldn't you rather her live a normal life? Freedom, marriage, family?" I didn't even realize that I had stopped fighting as his words sank in, but Spiridon did. "Wouldn't you like to give her those things?"
The idea intrigued me for a moment, only because my private thoughts mirrored this farfetched ideal. I'd never admit it out loud, but there was a part of me that hated this life. I resented the label automatically given to my mother and sisters, even if they did nothing to earn it. I hated the way that we were treated by those who employed us because they often saw us as second class citizens or worse. Even Princess Vasilisa abused her position over Rose on occasion and they were practically raised together. Rose. The thought of her gave me more pause than anything else. I was fretting over Rose's safety less than an hour ago. Before that, I had been lamenting the fact that we couldn't be together, despite how much we cared for each other. If there was a chance I could change that...would I? For her? For us?
I felt Spiridon's grasp loosen as he shifted. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to realize what he was going to do. I quickly pulled away and out of the headlock as he reached for his stake. Moments later, a shot rang out and echoed against the bare walls.
I could see the thin wisps of smoke coming from the chamber of my pistol. Beyond that, Spiridon slowly recognized his blood seeping into his shirt. It wasn't perfect shot resulting in instant death, but my aim was true and he only had a few more moments left. He leaned against the window frame as his strength started failing him and did the last thing I expected...
He smiled.
Something outside must have caught his attention, and with his last struggling breaths, he taunted me.
"Looks like Prince Victor has already called in the hounds." As he turned away from the window and looked back towards me, I wondered if the blood loss was already getting to him. What he had said made no sense to me, but his next words did. "It looks like they've taken quite a liking to your little girlfriend."
Rose.
Spiridon's breathing stopped before I made it to the window. Outside, in a clearing a few hundred yards away and invisible from the ground floor, I could see what had caught his attention. Vasilisa was backed against a large tree and looked like she was seconds from passing out. And then there was Rose, preparing to fight off four large psi-hounds with nothing more than a large branch. Why hadn't I armed her? I watched as the first one lunched towards her and started shouting into the radio as I ran out of the room and down the stairs.
"I've located Princess Dragomir. She and Novice Hathaway are in a clearing off the South-East corner of the house, about 200 yards out. Be aware that there are four psi-hounds as well. I repeat, four psi-hounds off the South-East corner about 200 yards out."
Nobody responded vocally but I could hear several guardians rushing towards the scene. I passed a few of them as I made my way towards Rose, and I heard a few several gunshots ahead.
They came just into view as Alberta lowered her firearm. All four psi-hounds lay motionless on the floor, along with another form. A Moroi form. I could see both Rose and Lissa making their way towards the unknown body before I recognized the dark mop of hair as Christian Ozera. I had no idea how he had gotten here, but he was in a much worse condition than either of the two girls. If he wasn't dead yet, he didn't have much longer.
Though he wasn't directly under my care like Lissa or Rose, I still felt some responsibility towards him. I had promised Tasha that I would keep and eye out for him. He was essentially the last of her family, and he would most likely be dead by morning.
Our group was now close enough to witness the scene before us, though the girls did nothing to acknowledge the dozen or so guardians surrounding them.
"I can't. I don't have the strength left." Lissa's voice was barely a whisper as she hovered above Christian. I could see how weak she was. Between the full strength of the sun, her magic use earlier, not to mention her capture and torture, it was no surprise.
Alberta, with as much compassion as possible, knelt beside her and tried to urge her away from the dying boy. "Come on Princess. We need to get out of here. We'll send help."
I could see one of the guardians next to me look away. We were all aware that help wouldn't arrive before the boy died. His injuries from the psi-hounds were too extensive. Even now, his chest barely moved as he fought for each breath.
"Liss." Rose's voice caught my attention. She didn't say anything else, but she simply moved her long hair to the side and tilted her neck towards Vasilisa.
I knew immediately what she was offering, as did the one or two other guardians who had witnessed this in Portland. The others took a sharp breath of shock as Lissa leaned towards her friend and bit down.
It only lasted a few seconds, but you could almost see the strength flow from Rose and into Lissa. By the end, Rose was the one that needed Alberta's support to keep from falling. Though she didn't recognize it, I was by her side a moment later, holding Rose in my arms as we both took in the miraculous scene.
Lissa knelt over Christian's broken body and placed her hands against his head and chest. The boy must have only have a few seconds of life in him, but moments later the group gasped as Christians wounds started closing. The color returned to his face, his breathing becoming stronger and less labored. Finally, his eyes fluttered open.
Rose gave a weak but content sigh before going limp in my arms. I quickly checked her pulse and found it fairly strong, all things considered. She was suffering from some minor scratches and bite marks, but I was pretty certain that her unconscious state was due to tiredness and the Moroi bite more than anything else.
I lifted her up, grateful for the chance to hold her safe and secure, and started walking back towards the vehicles. Alberta assisted Christian who could now walk fairly well, and Yuri carried the barely conscious Lissa.
Several other guardians had arrived to take care of the remaining captives and corpses, and I knew clean up would take a while longer, but Alberta and I left early with the students so that they could receive the medical care they needed. Once Christian was settled into the middle row fairly comfortably, we maneuvered Lissa beside him and he wrapped a protective arm around her as she slept. He understandably looked fairly tired himself, and I wouldn't be surprised if he fell asleep once we got moving.
With only a bit of struggle, I made my way into the back seat with Rose, opting to keep her cradled in my lap rather than placing her beside me. I'm sure Alberta noticed, but she didn't comment and I didn't care. As we made the drive back, I was content to be soothed by her steady breathing and the scent of her hair. She appeared worse off than the others, but I knew she would pull through. She always did. My Roza was strong.
I was counting on that trait when I broke her heart tomorrow.