Shadow Rider (Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Chapter 12 - Rose

After a delightful, joint shower with Dimitri, the both of us made our way to the dining hall. I was on guard duty, so I was enjoying the last bit of freedom on our walk there. Since we were at Court, Dimitri wasn't really required to guard Christian. I knew though that both Lissa and Christian were political targets, and both of us took that threat very seriously.

'So, what do you think of Thanatia?' I asked Dimitri.

He nodded in approval. 'She is what a guardian should be. Probably the best out of us all here at Court.'

I gave him a look. 'We don't know that.'

'We saw her fight the other day,' he argued.

'Yeah but...that fight was darkness-induced,' I said, troubled.

Dimitri suddenly came to a stop, turning toward me with a worried expression. 'What do you mean?' he said, looking at me intently.

'She's doing what I used to do for Lissa, sucking out the negative side-effects of magic.' I shook my head in wonder. 'It's doing to her what it used to do to me. It turns her violent and...she can't control it. Didn't you notice it, back at the arena? She nearly attacked her own Moroi, Dimitri.'

He frowned. 'I didn't notice it, no. I guess because I don't truly recognise it like you do.'

'No, you wouldn't,' I said in a small voice, turning forward again.

He grabbed my shoulder, turning me so I faced him. 'What do you mean by that?'

I sighed, wondering how I could summarise it as quick as possible. 'When I travelled to Russia to find you...something happened back at the Academy. A spirit user,  Avery, joined the school and tried to become friends with Lissa.' I quieted, remembering how my feelings about her had shifted from happy for Lissa to jealousy. 'Avery kept her element secret though.' I said.

Dimitri frowned. 'Why would she do that?'

'Because in reality, she was crazy. She'd brought both her guardian and brother back from death, and she wanted to kill Lissa and bring her back too.'

Dimitri looked like he had a hard time believing any of it. 'Why? What happened?'

'We think she simply wanted a small army of shadow-kissed. I guess so she could wield her magic freely, without the side-effects. I suppose she was curious what would happen if she brought back a spirit-user.' I shuddered at the memory. 'Anyway, what happened is that Lissa and Adrian kicked their ass, with a bit of mental assistance from Russia. The excessive spirit use by Avery coupled with Lissa's and Adrian's attack fried the trio's brains. They went total nuts.'

Dimitri gave me a curious look, but didn't question it. 'Where are they now?' he asked instead.

'Locked up in a prison. Or mental hospital. Whichever. What matters is that Avery's gone and can't harm Lissa anymore.'

'You're right,' he said, his eyes going vacant for a second. 'I couldn't let anything happen to her.'

Dimitri was understandably very attached to Lissa, something I'd had a hard time adjusting to at first. The reason was that Lissa had staked Dimitri with a spirit-induced stake, restoring his soul and banishing his state of being Strigoi. Knowing that the soul was the core to a mortal, moral being, Dimitri believed that he eternally owed Lissa for the gift she'd given him, his feelings of gratitude knowing no bounds.

'The point is,' I said, bringing his attention back to me. 'It's really hard to see spirit. It's invisible. Lissa can sway the minds of dozens of people at a time, and no one would know. Casimir can move objects with his mind. It should be impossible, but it's not. That's what I meant earlier. You have to really know about spirit to see it and know it's being wielded.'