We Are Shadows

Chapter 1

Hello everyone, sorry it has been so long since I wrote anything but I've been really busy.  This is the first chapter of my new story.  Its only a short chapter but I will have more for you, hopefully posting each week.  Anyway I hope you like it.  

I do not own any of these characters they belong to Richelle Mead.

Vampire Academy Fanfiction

We Are Shadows

Chapter 1

RPOV

Being the best fighter in the school really sucks sometimes. Yeah I can hear you all now; 'What's wrong with being a badass? To be a great guardian you need to be a badass.' Don't get me wrong I want to be a great fighter and then guardian but I have no-one to train with. My fellow novices run in the other direction when it comes to practical classes and even the teachers find ways to avoid sparring with me. The only person who attempts it anymore is Alberta Petrov, Head Guardian here at St Vladimir's, my school, but even she doesn't last for long now and she is really too busy to spar regularly anyway. I also think she is the reason I'm still at this school instead of banished to some remote location far away where I can't hurt anyone.

I'm currently in the middle of trying to coax my best friends and fellow novices Eddie Castile and Mason Ashford to come and train with me.

"Oh come on guys, please?" I begged them "I'm bored and I really need to burn off some energy."

"No way Rose, last time you were feeling 'bored' I ended up in the infirmary with concussion" said Eddie rubbing the back of his head in remembrance.

"Hey it wasn't my fault someone left that dummy out" I replied. "Anyway if you had fallen right you would have hit the mat and all would have been well" I said sweetly.

"Hit the mat! He nearly hit the wall at the speed you pushed him" Mason threw in "and don't start on me, I'm still nursing a few bruised ribs."

"I did apologise for that. It was a miscalculation in strength" I said remorsefully.

I heard laughter "Are you still trying to get the boys to fight with you Rose?" Lissa asked. "You nearly killed them last time."

"Don't exaggerate Liss. They are still walking, aren't they?" I joked back.

"Just" said Eddie disgruntled. "Why can't you be normal like the rest of us?"

"Yeah, instead of being a freakishly strong warrior goddess" laughed Mason.

"I can't help what I was born with" I said with sass but inside it hurt. I know Eddie and Mason meant nothing bad by what they said but I was sick of being so singled out, sick of being stronger and sick of being faster; in essence sick of being a freak.

The truth is I felt lonely. I wasn't always this strong or fast, in fact I was quite normal until the year I turned fifteen. I progressed like anyone else, yes I was still top of the class but through hard work not any unexplained attributes. Then halfway through my fifteenth year I was practicing kicking on a dummy and broke it. At first it was put down to equipment failure but when I broke my instructor's leg that was when people started asking questions. They banned me from sparring until investigations could be carried out. At first they thought I had done it on purpose. You see, my record was against me but those were never really my transgressions, as I took the fall for other people, mainly Lissa. Eventually though after days of questioning and recriminations, they accepted that I hadn't broke Yuri's leg on purpose and that I truly didn't know my own strength. It was decided that I needed to undergo more rigorous testing. They made me do physical tests like lifting weights to test strength and running to test speed and endurance. When these came back higher than normal I was put through medical tests but nothing showed up out of the ordinary except increased metabolic rate, lung capacity and oxygen transfer. They even sent me to court to be prodded and poked by Moroi scientists but nothing else came up. All in all it took them several months to find out I was more of a freak of nature than a dhampir already is. To add insult to injury, I now have to eat more. Dhampir usually eat large quantities because we burn it off in training however, I need to eat three times as much which can be quite embarrassing at times, especially when Christian Ozera, Lissa's boyfriend, starts commenting on it. To him, the amount of food I eat is obscene, especially because he is a moroi and their diet is split between a little normal food and a blood diet.

The bell rang and everyone headed to their next class, except for me. I had out skilled this class and was told not to attend any more, therefore this free period found me walking around the outside of the Admin building.

"Rose!" and I turned around to see Alberta walking towards me. "What are you doing wandering around? Shouldn't you be in class?" she said and my face fell.

"It's a physical class that I can't attend" I said in a dejected voice. "The whole gym is being used so I can't even work on my own. Besides the teachers don't like me being around when they are teaching those classes because they say 'it's bad for morale'" I added a slight hiccough of a laugh to hide the sadness I really felt.

"I'm sorry Rose" she said with compassion. Alberta knows how much I miss sparring and learning with my fellow novices but there was nothing she could do to stop the others from being scared of me. "I'll tell you what, if I'm not busy later, I will spar with you" she added.

"It's alright Alberta" I replied. "I know you are busy and it's not your fault I'm a freak" I added with a little more self-loathing than I wanted to show.

"You're not a freak Rose so stop talking about yourself that way" she said placing a hand on my shoulders.

"Oh come on Alberta, I'm a freak and you know it. Everyone is afraid of me. My friends won't spar with me because they get injured which makes me feel even worse. The teachers don't want me in their classes because I've surpassed even them. I'm alone Alberta, yes Lissa, Eddie, Mason and Christian still talk to me but you can see the fear in their eyes and I can't really blame them. I'm alone Alberta and there is nothing I can do about it."

"Have you spoken to the school counsellor?" Alberta asked "Maybe she can help." I couldn't help but give a slight laugh.

"Been there Alberta and she doesn't know how to help me. Even she was frightened of me and couldn't wait to get me out of her office" I answered with more sadness.

"I'll have a word with her" she said.

"It's alright Alberta, there is nothing you can do and you have so many other things on your hands" I said to her trying to be upbeat about it. "Besides, you have already done enough on my behalf already. I suspect if Kirova had her way I would be in some god forsaken commune somewhere." I could see Alberta thinking of an answer but before she could I continued "I think I may take a run around campus maybe that will help with the restlessness."

"Alright Rose, I'll come find you later if I have some free time" she said giving me a smile and walking away.

I decided to take my bag back to my room, get changed into my running gear and head out towards the wards. Hopefully this run would clear my mind and get rid of the frustration.