Shadow Rider (Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Chapter 34 - Rose

I walked into the gym to find Thanatia and Casimir throwing knives at each other.

Thanatia hurled one with such speed and strength it zoomed like a tiny missile in Casimir's direction. He used his telekinesis to make the knife move towards him as if in slow-motion, then he grabbed it, spun fast, and threw it smartly back at Thanatia, who dodged neatly.

It was a pleasure to see them practice together, but perhaps most importantly, I was glad to see they had mended whatever had happened between them.

'Another round?' I heard Thanatia ask Casimir, as I dumped my bag on the floor to change shoes.

'I wish, but I promised Jenny I'd lunch with her,' answered Casimir.

Thanatia punched him lightly on the arm. 'Oh, fine then. You're dismissed,' she said jokingly, turning to greet me.

'Rose, practice is in the evening - what're you doing here so early?'

'I have another day off,' I said, tying my shoelaces. 'Dimitri is doing his meditative thing.' I shrugged, then fixed my gaze on her. 'Something you could benefit from, by the way.'

She snorted. 'Do you enjoy meditating?'

'No,' I admitted.

'Then why on earth should I enjoy it?'

I cocked an eyebrow. 'We're twins now?'

She laughed. 'No. But we have some common denominators.'

'True enough,' I observed. 'Did you like the movie yesterday?'

'Oh, did I.' She clasped both hands to her chest, quoting:

'I may have lost lover, family and friends,

Yet the vows I've made I'll honour,

To commemorate the dead.'

I snorted, thinking the quote totally befitting to Thanatia. She was all about vows and loyalty.

'What happened to the rest of you after?' I inquired sheepishly. 'I can't say Dimitri and I had much mind else to-'

'Yeah yeah, I get it,' Thanatia interjected, shaking her head and waving her arms in dismissal. 'All of you had that same thing on mind,' she muttered. 'Ash and I escaped before things had time to escalate.'

'Oh?' I gazed at her, eyebrows raised. 'You and Ash close now?'

'By his doing,' she stated, matter of fact. 'He talked non-stop about all the movies he's seen in his life.'

I snickered with mirth. 'He told me once he was into the Terminator. He has a picture of him dressed up like Schwarzenegger for Halloween.'

'He did tell me,' she said. 'But,' she said with emphasis, 'I like it as well. It's action - I enjoy movies like that.'

'Yes, god knows you don't get enough action in your real life,' I said sarcastically, but with the same tone of humour.

Thanatia's eyes shimmered with amusement, but there was a seriousness in their depths. 'Well, I have to enjoy while I can,' she said, voice light.

I opened my mouth to reply to that, but her face shut down like it usually did when we approached a subject she saw no use in discussing. She urged on with the lesson, and I decided to let it go.

As it were, I was beginning to really like my two daggers. Natia produced two of her own, so it would be an even fight.

'No cheating,' I said, fixing her with my gaze. She knew what I was referring to.