Shadow Rider (Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Chapter 5 - Thanatia

I shot back from him. 'What do you know about that?' I snapped.

'Everything,' he said simply.

I felt my eyes widen ever so slightly. 'You're a spirit user?' How many were there at this court?

He nodded. 

'You've shadow-kissed someone?'

The Moroi let out a laugh. 'Hey, it's not like I kiss–'

'It's just an expression,' I retorted.

'Well, aren't you feisty.' He snapped his fingers, making cat noises.

'How long have you been bonded?' I didn't ask because I was interested; I just knew Cas would be.

'Not long.'

My eyes flashed towards him, meeting his gaze. 'Then you don't know everything about it.'

'Everything? No, but then, how can one person truly know everything? And what does it matter, in the end? My fate is to lose my sanity...' His voice took on a dreamy note, and his eyes went vacant. Well. This one was already crazy. His bond-mate was clearly not doing a good job of balancing his sanity.

'No matter how shit you feel, remember that it's probably worse for your guardian.'

The Moroi regarded me, eyes twinkling with curiosity. 'Oh, my bond-mate is not a guardian. She's just a young Moroi girl.'

A Moroi? It was very rare, but not impossible. In my life, I had only once before met Moroi bond-mates. All other bonds were between Moroi and dhampir. If his bond-mate was a young Moroi...well, it was no wonder she couldn't regulate his sanity.

'Are there more bond-mates at this Court?'

'No,' the Moroi replied, frowning while he contemplated. 'However, there's Rose Hathaway. She used to be shadow-kissed.'

I just stared. 'Used to be?'

What on earth did that mean? There was no used to be. You died, you were brought back, and you lived on the brink of death for the rest of your life. That's what I had grown up knowing. For ten years, I had trafficked with darkness. For ten years, I had hovered on the edge between the real world and the otherworld. For ten years, I had battled the undead and the spirits of the dead to stay sane – and more importantly, to stay alive.

'Yeah. I don't think I can do the story justice.' He shook his head, as if the memory of it seemed unreal to him too.

'Who is this Rose Hathaway?'

'Oh, you don't know? That's a first.' He said it a little bitterly. 'She's the Queen's number-one guardian. Youngest, too.'

The near-guard, I remembered. How couldn't I, with the way she had looked at me.

'And your name is?' I prompted, meeting the Moroi's brilliant emerald gaze.

'You seriously don't know who I am?' he asked, a trifle incredulous. He regarded me for a moment, as if expecting me to suddenly concede that I did know him. After a while, he seemed to realise that wasn't about to happen. 'I'm Adrian Ivashkov.'

His arrogance irritated me. 'Of course I don't know who you are,' I spat. 'What great deed have you done to deserve being well-known?'

'Great deed?' He burst into loud laughter. I lifted an eyebrow at him. 'No great deeds, mam. Wealth is all there is to the Ivashkov name.'

Go figure. I glanced away, eyeing the guardians on patrol. I'd do anything to trade positions with them right now.

'What about you?' Ivashkov urged. 'Do you have any great deeds to speak of?'