Vampire Academy 1. Training With The Guardians

"Honestly Rose, you are not getting much better at this," Adam told me – he was a guardian at St Vladimirs and one of my 2 teachers/mentors. He was my magic and mind reading mentor and for the last 3 weeks, we had been practicing on the mind reading front than just what the person was thinking in that second, to read into their lives, past, subconscious. It was almost un-known for a Dhampir vampire to get powers – magic or whatnot. That was usually left for the Moroi and their royalty – one of which was my best friend Vasilissa Dragomir. The last remaining in her family leaving her the only princess in our world who can carry on the Dragomir name. Her parents, brother and Guardians were killed in a car crash which her and I were both a part of. She survived because of her specific power area and healed me. I was dead before she bought me back. She has a very rare element. Most Moroi specialize in one of the 4 elements-Water, Fire, Air and Earth. Those who "don't specialize" are probably specialized in Spirit, which is what Lissa has specialized in. We didn't figure this out until last year. Spirit can do some incredible things. Lissa can heal things-though depending on healing extent, it can drain her of all her energy. When she healed me a bond formed between us when she bought me back from the dead. Having that bond allows me to feel everything she does, read her mind as to what she is thinking, know what is wrong with her just by channeling in on her thoughts. Sometimes, when I concentrate, my mind can become part of hers, without her realizing it is happening. It is just like I am her, I feel everything she does, hear everything, see everything. It is only one way though, like a window to her mind, which is why I am to be her guardian when I have finished school. My theory of why I got my powers is because of the bond and Lissa passing spirit though me. It is like a play off of the bond but at my disgression and to whomever I want.

"Criticism is hardly something I need right now," I told him. To get into the depths of someone's mind, you must get through the first 2 layers, what they are thinking in the second and what they see and think and remember in that second. Adam was letting his mind go blank to help me through it easier, also to try and keep his thoughts, well, private. It was practice and concentration. My skill is rare; even those few Dhampirs who get magic usually don't get a skill like this. I am one of very few who ever existed, one of them was Adam, which is why he was good at blocking it and knew so much about it.

This was when Dimitri walked into start my extra fighting and defensive training-the general training for a Dhampir who is going to become a Guardian. I have a personal teacher for this because Lissa and I ran away from school for 2 years and when they caught us and bought us back, I was far behind. Adam was trained as a Guardian also, but was nowhere near as bad ass as Dimitri at the fighting. I looked into Adam's eyes, they were a deep blue. Dimitri and Adam were both gorgeous. Dimitri was a tall 6 foot 5 inches, skinny, tanned but muscled – enough to complete humiliate a lot of people in a fight but not enough to look over the top and silly, very lightly tanned with longish brown hair that he tied back during sessions with me, dark brown eyes and a gorgeous smile. Adam, although a bit shorter than Dimitri at 6 foot 2 inches, was just as gorgeous in a different way. Blue eyes, black hair, tanned (very rare for a vampire, only found in Dhampirs because we are half human), muscled in the same way as Dimitri (most male guardians were) and his smile, although shy and sheepish sometimes was completely melting. Of course, I noticed this as soon as I met them, but they were off limits.

When Adam made eyes contact with me, he said inside his head 'Rose, we will try this again this afternoon. I'm proud of how well you are doing with this' and smiled, his eyes lighting up. He stood up and I followed suit, tying my hair up as I did.

"Guardian Lockheart," Dimitri said as Adam went to leave. Adam nodded his head and said "Guardian Belikov," and then left the room, leaving Dimitri and I for practice.

As soon as Adam had left the room, Dimitri turned to me

"How are you Rose?" I sighed internally. Even the sound of his voice did strange things to me.

"I'm good," I told him, smiling. He looked like he was trying to hold something back. The rest of our lesson was spent on fitness and practicing offensive tactics.

"Your getting better," he said, not really any emotion being shown on his face. I wondered if it was because of his job or something else – like holding back emotion because I was on probation, extra lessons with Dimitri were crucial if I wanted to graduate with my classmates at the end of the year AND become Lissa's Guardian. Even as his extremely serious self he was gorgeous, it was hard not to notice.

"Thanks," I said to him, avoiding eye contact.

"How are your mind reading sessions going with Adam?" he asked me, seeming genuinely curious.

"Good…" I said cautiously. "… he must be trying to drop his mental barrier for me to be able to get in and read his mind. But I think, because he is like me, his mind automaticly has a barrier that is stronger than most people. I am having trouble getting past his immediate thoughts. It will take time." Dimitri looked at me thoughtfully.

"Why don't you try it on me? I don't know what to expect so I don't know how to put a wall up," he said, staying perfectly professional, hardly any emotion showing. I grinned at him, breaking the serious look on his face momentarily. This could be fun. I desperately wanted this to work. We had been working together for a year and once, only once, his control slipped with me. We were off school campus – Dimitri had something he had to do and requested I go along too for the experience (Guardian work). We had got trapped in a town by a snowstorm on our return. We had to stay in the same rom. It was too cliché and we didn't get far. We were just talking killing time until we could return to St Vladimirs. Something he questioned me on struck a nerve and I let go off my control just a little, letting a few tears fall. We ended up kissing and it was amazing, until he realized what he was doing and pulled away. The rest of the trip, he was all business, making sure he didn't slip up around me again. For him to have to do that, he must have had control problems before that. There must have been that same attraction towards me that I felt when he kissed me. Wondering what he felt and what he was thinking was something I never knew and I had wanted to know for a long time.

I sat down on the floor and he sat down across from me, the stray bits of hair that escaped his ponytail (which was laying down the back of his neck) draped over his face and into his eyes, his ponytail sticking to the delicate beads of sweat that lined his collarbone. I closed my eyes, breathing in the smell of him, the smell that I would always associate with him. He was so close, the closest we had been apart from fighting since the car ride back after that trip, and even then, it felt like the hugest gap when, really, we were only about a metre apart. I relaxed my mind, preparing to invade his.

I took one last breath and then dove into his mind.


	2. Dimitri's Memories

Chapter 2

"Oh my…" Dimitri said, gasping in shock. The feeling the first time was strange, but that was because I wasn't very practiced. Once more skilled, mind reading went un-noticed until the reader, me, sent a message through. That was another good trick with this, I could send mental messages to people, talk to them without them having to listen or me having to speak. The bond between Lissa and I was only one way, she could talk to me through the bond but this was over any distance and because I am constantly linked to her mind, she doesn't have to make any effort. Messages were something I had yet to master though.

As I reached Dimitri's mind, I saw, or rather, heard his immediate thoughts.

_*"I wonder what she can hear, can she see this? Oh gosh this is very strange. Rose, be nice. Don't look at her, she looks; don't think that Dimitri, she is in your mind, reading your thoughts, you can't think about how… no Dimitri, no, don't do that. Umm, what do I think when I know she is listening. Look at her, just look at her. She looks tired, and rather scary, non-Rose like. Oh god, she smiled, she did hear that"*_

I was enjoying every minute of this, but I had to keep going. I closed my eyes again and leveled myself. I forced my wandering one step deeper – Visions, pictures, thoughts in the immediate time.

_*"This is so hard, she can hear this, she looks so beautiful, damn it, Rose, I hope you didn't hear that. We haven't been this close since the trip, that was a bad move on my part, but it was so right. I wish we didn't have to stop. Oh, Dimitri, you think about this every lesson with her, It does you not one bit of good. You fell for her that night. You can't do this Dimitri Belikov. Oh crap, she is still in my head. Crap!"*_

I opened my eyes to look at him while still in his head. He had his eyes closed; they were tight shut, like making an effort to try fight his thoughts. I tried going into the next level of his mind. I started struggling to get through, it was a lot for my mind to handle and I couldn't make the connection strong enough to fight through at my level of skill. Eyes still closed I said

"Dimitri, give me your hands." I head his hesitate, knowing he would find this harder if he was holding my hands, so much harder.

"I need to make the extra connection, make it stronger so I can get through," I told him. That was when he believed me, in his mind I heard him say

"Rose, our connection is already strong," just as he touched my hands. I gasped in shock. All of a sudden my mind was pulled into his. Holding his hands I looked into his memories. I knew I was looking for something in particular, that night on the Guardian trip. I found it and prepared myself, knowing I would be able to feel the emotions he was feeling, the thoughts going through his head. His memories were like a timeline via what he would be able to remember more easily. I found training sessions with me, Dreams he had, even his breakfast yesterday morning. I knew I had found the right memory when I did. It jumped out at me because I saw myself. I looked cold, but flustered and happy. I was curled up in an armchair. As soon as I focused on it, I was pushed into the memory. I felt Dimitri flinch. He could feel which memory I was going into. I became Dimitri. This sensation was no where near as vivid as the bond because it was the past and the emotions didn't hit as hard because they had already been felt, it would be like someone remembering it themselves. It became that night.

"Your mother is an amazing woman,"Dimitri said_. _This was beginning to feel a little disconcerting, I couldn't control anything he did, being him and watching myself, it was all very strange.

"Yea, she killed a few Strigoi, made a name for herself, got the marks she wanted and now she is worshiped by all those of our kind. She only did it for the marks that now graffiti her pretty little neck," I said. I remembered the rage I had felt when that happened but because I was wired to Dimitri's brain it was harder to connect with.

"You know that isn't why Roza," Dimitri said, a little growl at the back of his throat. "I taught you, well, tried to anyway, that killing Strigoi is nothing that is done just for the glory. They used to be like us and it is a devastating time when they have to die. You do know that Rose." I saw myself reach my hand up to touch the back of my neck where my two marks were.

"I think…" Dimitri said "… that you just resent her for not caring enough for most of your life," He was being blunt, but it was true.

"Caring _enough! _She didn't care_ AT All!" _I snapped at him. It broke me though, the one thing in my worries that was really knew because I was not exactly quiet about it. I saw a solitary tear run down my face. I felt Dimitri soften and feel guilty for making me, of all people, cry. He stood up and walked towards me and he sat on the arm of the chair. I remembered I was crying because off the huge levels of emotion about not being loved by my own mother. He leaned over me a bit, his face full of concern, I remembered. His thoughts were going crazy.

_*"Gosh, she is so beautiful, I… this is my fault, bringing this up, forcing this on her. I can't believe I did this to my beautiful Roza!" he thought.* _My heart fluttered, his Roza. _*"I need to make her feel better, stop her crying."*_ He touched my hand.

_*"What do I say to her? This is hard, just touching her hand is almost too much for my control. Fight for control Dimitri. But you know you don't want to, but I have to, so fight."*_ He was taunting himself and fighting back. He was holding world war three in his own head. I felt his heart beating faster, him wishing he could lose the control. Knowing he had to say something, he did.

"Roza, I know you think she doesn't care, but you have people who do. Lissa, Christian, Adam…" I looked up at him. My eyes were all teary and red-rimmed. He continued "… and me, I care too. You have all of us supporting you Roza." That was when he kissed me, his mind going insane.

_*"I love this, I love this, I love her."*_

That was when I forced myself out of Dimitri's head. I was back to sitting infront of him, holding his hands. He looked happy yet scared. I could guess why. That was when I knew that I loved him too. I smiled at him.

"I'm back," I told him.

"Yeah, I felt you leave." He looked stunned.

"I did it, I got passed," I said. He looked really worried.

"And…?" He asked.

"I love you too."

_**Author's note:**_

_The next chapter is to come in a few days. It is cold here so I find it hard to type very fast. The next chapter is a bit longer too. _

_Ama xx_


	3. Lissa's Happiness

Sorry this has been sooooo long and that I have been M.I.A. I kind of lost inspiration for a while after I hurt my hand and wasn't able to type very fast. But here it is, Chapter 3 for you all =]

_Chapter 3_

Dimitri, shocked, stood up and looked at me, his face stern. He held his hand down to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet.

"Why that memory?" he asked.

"I knew how I felt, I didn't know what happened with you, I had wondered." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and releasing it. When his eyes opened, he relaxed a bit.

"Well, reading my mind could have been enough. I was finding it hard to control my thoughts. I don't know how Adam does it. He must have serious amounts of practice."

"Yea, he does," I said, not knowing what to say now.

"So what now?" he asked, breaking the tense silence. I took a step forwards so that I was standing right in front of him.

"I don't know," I said, genuinely not knowing. I looked up at him; his face was full of sadness. He was struggling, holding a mental war again. I knew.

"We can't be together, we both know that," he said, my heart sinking a bit. I knew he was right though.

"Yea, I know," I said. He was my mentor and a school Guardian. I was just a student, his student. I sat down again and hung my head. Why did this have to be so hard? I loved Dimitri and he loved me. He sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. I leant into him.

"Roza," he said quietly, my heart swelling with excitement and pain through the sound of his voice and his nickname for me.

"I will always love you, you know that, you saw my mind and you have no reason to doubt me. If you ever do, my mind is always open to you." He was right of course. I knew he loved me. I didn't doubt him and as I leant up to kiss him, he bent his head down to mine. His lips made this so much more unbearable. He kissed me back, but he was the one who broke us apart.

"But as long as I am training you and we are to become Lissa's Guardians, we can't be together." I looked in his eyes. Dimitri hardly ever showed emotion like the god he was, but right now, the emotion was there and taking over. The love, the pain and the longing all wrapped up in his dark brown shining eyes. He hugged me tighter.

"I have to go," he said, looking at his watch. "I'm late for my watch of the late side grounds," which meant I was either late, or very close to it, for my next class. We stood up and he hugged me before he strode off towards the grounds. After watching him leave the room I tore off towards my next class – combat class with my year level, to find that I got there just in time.

The rest of the day, my head was reeling with thoughts of Dimitri, what he said and what I had seen in his mind. My heart ached, missing him and knowing we couldn't be together drove me insane. When I finally had a class with Lissa I had to block my emotions on the outside. I knew she, of all people, would figure out something was wrong if I didn't.

She walked in smiling. She must have just had class with Christian – Her boyfriend.

"Hey Lissa," I said, smiling. Her smile was so genuine and happy it made me realize just how fake mine really was and possibly looked, but no way was I going to drop it. She was too happy for me to bring anything up or for her to see anything was wrong. I couldn't tell her as much as I wanted to anyway. She couldn't know about this mental love and control war I was constantly fighting. It was one of the few things I couldn't win against.

Lissa and I sat and talked through half our class and we spent the other half passing notes to each other. We walked out of class smiling, arms linked. Once out the door we both noticed Christian. He was leaning against the wall opposite, waiting for us to emerge. She looked at me and floods of guilt burst through the bond along with the longing, love and excitement.

I sighed. "Go on," I told her. She hugged me and told me she would see me later. A few classes later I had my second training sessions and immediately thoughts of Dimitri re-flooded my head. My mind had been distracted slightly by jealousy towards Lissa for the last few hours for two reasons. One: that I was no longer the cause of her happiness most of the time. Two: that she can be with the man she loves. The second thought burned my mind everyday anyway; it was just that much worse today. None of this would be a problem if Strigoi didn't exist, but then again, without Strigoi there would be no need for guardians and I would have never met Dimitri in the first place. I prefer the pain of loving someone I can't love than not loving them at all.

I turned the corner that would take me into the gym. I was only vaguely aware that my face must be giving away my misery. I looked up to find both of my mentors standing there, talking, and waiting for me. I walked into the room and they looked up, hearing my footsteps. Suddenly I was rather concerned.

"Rose, Guardian Belikov has been discussing this morning and how you managed to get into his mind," Adam said. I looked to Dimitri and the look he gave me told me he didn't say what I read, what I saw and what happened because of it. He was smart enough to know what would happen if people found out. Problem was, Adam was the one person in this school who would figure it out without us telling him and that didn't really present a huge problem. I trusted him and I knew he wouldn't say anything.

"So Guardian Lockheart thought it might be good to work with me and he can coach you until you are string enough," Dimitri said. I stared at them. This wouldn't end well. It is harder to do this if you have a lot on your own mind and I did, too much. Knowing I had no choice in the matter thought, I cautiously agreed. I knew if I refused then Adam would get in my head and figure out why out of concern.

I sat on the floor and both Dimitri and Adam followed me, Dimitri facing me and Adam next to both of us. I would far rather fight off a couple of Strigoi than do this right now.

"Now Rose, I want you to try sending messages today. Try entering his mind as undetectably as possible and speak into his mind, interrupt his thoughts." I nodded wondering how on earth I was going to manage this. I knew I had to try otherwise it would be straight into my mind to see what was wrong. Usually, I was all for the challenges of this. I wasn't skilled enough yet to blank my mind which would stop him from reading anything much and would help me do this even in the middle of severe panic.

I took in a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Slowly and cautiously I tried to creep into his mind, little by little. He shuddered so I left his mind and tried again. About 30 tries later and only improving a little bit, Adam stopped me and told me to try the messages. I had done them once before and had managed to say a word or two before I was drowned out. Today, nothing happened and I became exhausted. I didn't really want to see inside Dimitri's head right now and that wasn't helping.

"I can't do this," I said, pulling my mind from Dimitri's and resting my head in my hands. I closed my eyes and tried to regain some energy, calm down. Adam was silent. I felt his and Dimitri's eyes on me, burning holes in my skin. He had been talking a lot, encouraging me, for the last 30 minutes and now the room was silent. All of a sudden Adam jumped up, mumbling about forgetting to do something and ran through the door, disappearing and leaving me, alone once more, with Dimitri.


	4. Can't Have Him, Can't Live Without Him

Chapter 4

Adam's POV

"Get a grip Lockheart," I muttered to myself in frustration. "This isn't about you. Ican't believe this!"

_*Flashback*_

"_Come on Rose, You can do this," I said, encouraging her. She was trying to send messages to Dimitri through his mind and was succeeding today. She usually did much better. _

"_I can't do this," she sighed, giving up. She rested her haed in her hands. Something was wrong. She was struggling and she never gave up. This was Rose we were talking about here. I let myself into her head to see what was wrong, even though the little voice at the back of my head told me to not do it. _

_***Why today, after what happened this morning with Dimitri. He loves me we can't be together. This is emotion suicide. I love him, there has to be some way. Rose! You know better! There is no way! But loving someone else can't be possible if I love him…"**_

_I ripped my mind from hers. I had a lot more practice than her and I was able to enter and exit minds completely un-detected. My heart started falling to pieces. I knew I had to get out of there. _

"_Excuse me, I forgot to do something," I said mindlessly and ran from the room. I knew it was laime, breaking down over what would have been a crush If I were still a student in high school, but this was Rose. Dimitri loved her and she loved him… and not me. But I love her!_

_*End Flashback*_

Rose's POV

"What was that about?" Dimitri wondered out loud.

"I don't know," I responded, my head still in my hands.

"Why can't you do this?" Dimitri asked.

"When either Adam or I have a lot on our minds, we find it harder to do this. He is better at blocking the emotions than me. I just can't at all." Dimitri's face was full of concern.

"Did you even manage to read my mind at all Rose?" His voice became soft and quiet.

"No," I responded, not wanting to lie to him.

"Then whats wrong?" He queried. I looked up at him and for the second time that day his eyes portrayed every little bit of emotion he felt. I frowned.

"You know, you are not making this any easier Dimitri! You tell me we can't be together and I know it is true. Being so blatant about how muuh you care isn't really helping either. I can't get to a place where I can live without you if you keep doing this, not that I want to but this life has made me make that choice."

"So that's what's wrong. You don't want to live without me." He said, his voice low.

"Can you honestly tell me that you can?" I pressed. He grabbed my hands.

"No, I can't." He slumped his shoulders in defeat. "But I care Roza, so so much. That is something I can't change and never plan to. I wont stop caring no matter what happens." His eyes were full of burning desire. I had to get out of here.

"I… I have to go." I said and ran from the room, not giving him any time to say anything as I fled.

The next few days were silent and awkward around both Adam and Dimitri, even though they both tried to counter-act it. 3 days after what happened with Dimitri, I was in my room getting ready for bed when a rush of panic and fear burst into my head. Lissa. I flew out of the room, grabbing my jacket from my coat rack as I did. I raced down the halls towards the Moroi dorm. She was getting even more scared as I raced closer to her. I wove through the corridors. As I reached her door, I heard her hyperventilating. I grabbed the handle and turned is, opening the door and I saw her and the blood that stained her pale skin and the white carpet.


	5. Realisation

Chapter 5 for all of you. Gasp the whole way though. I thought I should explain why I posted 2 in one day a few nights ago. I feel bad for not posting for so long, so I am getting back into it. I'm inspired again…

The shock that was plastered on her face began mixing with fear.

"Rose!" she yelped, barely able to speak. The shock was beginning to wear off to be replaced by agony. "I can't do it! I can't save him." I sprinted over to where she was. Flashes of me finding Adam or Dimitri lying here just made me scared, my chest hurt. She dropped to the floor beside the body, the source of the blood. It was too short to be Dimitri or Adam and my heart unclenched a little bit. I put my hand on their shoulder to turn their face towards mine. The face clenched in pain. It was Christian. Suddenly everything dropped. I had to get people here fast because Lissa couldn't heal him. I couldn't leave Lissa alone with Christian in case she kept trying. I forced my mind out to Adam and Dimitri's, hoping they were both awake and wouldn't think they were dreaming.

_Come to Lissa's room. Now. Bring Medic's. Christian is dying._

The amount of energy it drained from me was staggering. I wasn't expecting it. I hopped they would understand. Sure enough, 5 seconds later, Adam was in my head, telling me he had heard. Soon after, a barrage of people came bursting through to door, lead by Adam and Dimitri. As strong as I was trying to be, Lissa's devastation and pain flowed through the bond making me feel everything she did. Trying to fight it was a waste of my energy. I held Lissa in my arms and she sobbed into my shoulder. We were on the floor and I was leaning against her bed, facing the scene behind her. I exchanged knowing looks with both Dimitri and Adam. No one knew if Christian would survive. HE had multiple stab wounds and there was so much blood you could not tell where it was all coming from.

"Liss, we need to follow them," I whispered to her as the Medic's ran from the room with Christian on a stretcher. She shook her head into my shoulder and I sighed.

"Liss…" I started but trailed off as Dimitri, his expression grave and concerned bent down to pick her up. She carried on sobbing but now into Dimitri's leather duster. He carried her out the door, flowing the medic's. Adam walked towards me and held out a hand, wanting to help me up. I took it gratefully, not knowing if I could stand. The emotions from Lissa and mind walking were exhausting me.

"I know, you look it," he said. A kind smile spread across his lips, despite the look that mirrored Dimitri's. As he pulled me up, my legs decided they didn't want to support me in the endeavour. I began collapsing but Adam was in my head still. He saw what was about to happen and caught me before I fell even 10 centimetres. I wondered how long he had been listening to my thoughts.

"Since you called out to me. I'm leaving now," he said laughing. "It's amazing though. The few times I have been in your head the bond with Lissa was distant, but now in full force, it is so difficult to comprehend. It is a strange feeling."

"I know it is, I live with it."He smirked and leant down to put one arm round the back of my knees and one around my waist. He lifted me up into his arms. It was so effortless for him. I had underestimated his strength. He laughed again.

"Don't bother struggling Rose. You are too weak to get yourself there." I sighed and pushed those thoughts from my head and gave in, letting him carry me.

"Will you get out my head now?" I asked him, annoyed he didn't leave when he said he would. He smirked. The emotion from the bond pushed through in one full wave. Lissa was still crying, sobbing. She was scared, for Christian, for her own safety. No one knows why this happened. Adam was about to carry me out when my eyes fell onto a piece of paper with blood splatters on it. I was surprised no one else had noticed it already.

"Adam, let me down," I demanded.

"But…" he began.

"No, let me down. There is a note on the floor." My words sank in and he placed my feet on the ground. He kept my arm around his neck and supported me. We bent down and I wrapped my fingers around the piece of white card on the carpet.

_Princess, _

_Welcome back to St Vladimir's Academy._

I froze. Someone in league with Victor Dashkov? This is the sort of thing he would do but on a much higher level. He had tried kidnapping Lissa so he could use her powers to keep him from dying. We went and broke her out and Victor was sent to jail to die from his tragic disease. He must have someone he can control from inside jail. Revenge in a slow and nerve-wracking way. Adam gasped behind me.

"I think your right," he muttered. Adrenaline raced through my veins. Even as I started sprinting, Adam was right by my side, predicting my movements through my thoughts.

"I warned Dimitri we were coming and to leave Lissa with Christian. She doesn't need to hear this yet," Adam told me as we ran thought the corridors. I knew we couldn't stay here anymore. Another breakout was inevitable. We needed to get Lissa out of here.

"I'm coming with you," Adam said in a tone that I knew meant there was going to be no discussion on the matter.

We couldn't wait. We needed out as soon as possible.


	6. Leaving Him Behind

**_I have to apologize for the severe lack of chapters. I was un-inspired to write this for a very long time and wrote other things instead and then I had exams. But I am back, this chapter now and another I am in the process of writing. Was away from Internet for the weekend. =]_**

Chapter 6

Dimitri was waiting for us outside when we arrived at the infirmary. I handed him the note.

"I think it is Victor," I told him. He nodded, silent.

"I had hoped this was all over," he said, his face even more concerned.

"We have to get out of here, Lissa and I." I felt Adam's eyes on me. "Adam is coming."

"And you think I'm not?" Dimitri questioned. "I am Lissa's guardian after all. Rose, you might want to go and talk to Lissa; she was annoyed when I told her she should stay with Christian. She wants to know what's going on." I nodded at him and walked towards the door, opened it and walked inside.

Lissa looked up when she heard my footsteps. She had stopped sobbing, a few sniffles though.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on now Rose?" She said. "Tell me."

"Liss, a note was on your floor and we saw it as we were leaving your room." I passed it over to her. Fear took over her expression. I knew she had come to the same conclusion I had. "We have to leave Liss," She nodded then looked worried.

"What about Christian? We can't leave him behind!" she said, panic building in her voice.

"We can't take him with us." He face fell. "I guess we can come back for him, when we need to or we can tell him to follow when he can." I told her. She turned to face to Christian, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"I can heal him!" She tried franticly to get my approval so I wouldn't stop her.

"Liss, no. Don't. You tried already and it didn't work. You will waste all your energy trying. He is going to be okay! You don't have to heal him for him to survive," I persuaded her. She sniffed again.

"They stabbed to injure him, not to kill," She said to me. Puzzled, I moved over to Christian's side. She was right. They had cleaned up his wounds and bandaged everything up; All over his legs, arms, shoulders but all away from vital organs. That had to be intentional. She was right.

I took Lissa's hand and pulled her up from her chair.

As I turned, I saw Adam standing in the doorway.

"_He went to go get things ready for us leaving. Packing things we will need"_

So Dimitri was packing, that means we had to as well. "Come on, we have to pack. Where is the nurse Liss?" She pointed to a door off the room.

"Adam, can you escort Lissa to her room so she can pack? Then everyone meet in my room. I will see you there soon. Sneak back" He nodded.

They left the room and I walked back to the nurse's office. She was sitting in front of a computer, Christian's file on the screen. I asked her how long until Christian would regain consciousness. She contemplated before answering.

"3 hours, give or take," She said. I thanked her and left to go and get ready. I was exhausted. This had been a hard week. As soon as I hit my room, I went to my closet, grabbing a big black bag – enough room for clothes and other essentials but small enough to run with. We needed to have money and luckily for us, Lissa was the only one left in her family and had just turned 18, she had all her inheritance on hand.

I was finished with my packing when Lissa and Adam returned. She had on clean clothes and a bag similar to mine. She remembered. I was so proud of her. Last time and I had had to drill the packing amount. It had stayed.

"Dimitri?" I asked.

"He is getting gear – only what we need. Then getting his personal things. He wont be long," Adam told me.

"Liss? I said to her. She looked at me.

"You have your card?" She nodded. Facing Adam, I said "We need a note for Christian." He sat down on the chair by my desk.

"Rose, you should write it," he told me. I was hesitant. Lissa should write to him. He will need some sort of comforting, know that she was actually okay. Hear it from her.

"_Rose, He has a lot of respect for you. You should write it. Lissa can write one telling him what she wants. You need to do the fact telling," He said_

Sometimes that head thing really annoyed me. Then there was now and I actually appreciated it.

"_Glad to help." _I looked up to him and he smiled at me.

"Okay," I said. I glanced at Lissa to see her view on me writing it. She was just sitting there looking very sad and worried. I looked back to Adam and his expression reflected mine. Concern. His face got very focused. I shot him a querying glance and he nodded. He was reading her mind, seeing if she was okay. Lissa was sitting on the floor, leaning against the foot of my bed; staring at and twisting the sapphire ring her Dad had given her before the accident. She never took it off. I got to my feet to seek out some paper and a pen. I ripped a page out of one of my notebooks and picked up a pen from the jar on my desk and I sat down next to Lissa. She looked up as I sat down and I felt it all through the bond as I opened up to it. She was scared. Liss leant on my shoulder and my hand lifted up to stroke her hair.

"It will be alright Liss," I whispered to her. Her head turned towards me and her eyes were glassy.

"You promise?" she asked me. I hated this part. I couldn't promise her that. Lying to her wasn't going to help her trust in me if things went wrong even though I knew she would never blame me.

"None of us can promise you that Lissa, as much as we want to."

Adam… of course. Reading my thoughts as always.

"_Get out," _I thought, knowing her would hear me. Sure enough, he smiled a small smile.

"_Getting," _he thought to me.

My thoughts turned back to this letter and what I had to say. I decided just starng at the paper wasn't going to help me so I gripped then pen, the ridges sliding on to my writers bump on my ring finger.

_Christian,_

_Get rid of this when you read it. Eat it if you have to. I wish we could be here to tell you this in person and so Lissa could say goodbye properly. We are leaving. The "people" who did this to you did it to scare Lissa and I don't know what will happen to her if we stay, I don't want to risk it. I know your probably going to remember what happened last time; you know the stories. We all know I wasn't ready to protect her. You and I both know that I can now. Both Adam and Dimitri are coming with us. They didn't give me a choice in it. I didn't know last time what or whom I guess I should say, was coming after us but we all have the same assumption now. I know you know. 3 guesses who wants to get her. We don't know where we are going just yet but when you are better and able to follow, and actually ready, don't want to be carrying your ass all over the place because your wounds didn't heal properly, call us and follow us. Lissa doesn't want to leave you behind. On a healing note, Lissa couldn't. She tried and we have no idea why she couldn't but She tried and I would let her again. You were going to be okay and you know what healing does to her. I hope you understand why and I hope your better soon. Don't worry about her. 3 of the best guardians in the world are with her. _

_Rose_

I looked over to Adam.

"Want to read?" I asked him. "See if I missed something?"

"You didn't. I saw already." Of course he did. My mind was free access to his scarily mastered skill. I rolled my eyes and turned to Lissa, who was reading over my shoulder.

"Liss, you want to write something? I wont read it." She nodded and took hold of the paper. She started writing in her perfect cursive.

"So, where are we going?" Adam queried. He pulled his sun-streaked brunette fringe out of his eyes and looked out the window. I sat there and thought. I was inclined to go somewhere like England or something, somewhere where winter was in full force. It was summer here. Cold and overcast and dark.

"Antarctica?" I joked. "We could hang with the penguins."

"I didn't pack a tux," he said, smirking. The door opened then and Dimitri came around, carrying to black duffel bags easily on one shoulder.

"Where you been comrade? You're missing all the fun. We are thinking Antarctica as a hideaway, with the penguins in their tuxedos." He smiled and dropped the bags to the floor. He walked over to the window and grabbed my laptop off the desk, pressing the on button. He planted himself on the floor on my rug and waited for it to start-up.

"We need somewhere wintery and somewhere they wouldn't expect us to be. Easier to hide and I'm just sick of summer anyway." I love the sun and all, but summer means I can't sleep. It is too hot during the day to sleep at all. A few clicks later and Dimitri turned the laptop towards us. On the screen was a page for purchasing plane tickets. 4 tickets to New Zealand from LAX were on the screen. I grinned. Grabbing Lissa's card, I punched in the details, pressed okay and hooked up my laptop to the printer to get the tickets out.

"I'm done," Lissa told us, sounding exhausted. She had had a long few hours. Sleep on the plane will do her the world of good. I wished we could get her to a feeder before we left but I'm not sure if we would have time.

"To Christian's room then," Adam said. I grabbed the laptop, charger and tickets and stuffed them in my bag, picked up my cellphone and switched off the light. Once in the hallway, one confirming look between all of us resulted in a quiet but quick run down the hall, through the foyer and out the door of the dhampir dorm. Here we go.


	7. The Escape Plan

_**I have changed my pen name or whatever it is technically called to Charliesperanza. Amatureangel was a childhood one which I am over. So, as promised, here is he next chapter. 2 days later. I'm proud of myself. Finishing at 2am =D Enjoy the latest chapter and I will try and post again ASAP. Xx =]**_

Our heavy footsteps echoed throughout the halls, if this we not a deserted part of the school at this time, I don't know how we would have got out. We had dropped the letter in Christian's room and snuck Lissa in to see the feeder. There was always a nighttime feeder but Lissa had to use compulsion to wipe her memory. She was so high and out of it she probably didn't know who bit her. Dimitri was carrying Lissa's bags for her so she could move quickly. It was 4.30am already.

"The guard should be changing around now so, if we are lucky, we can slip between them," muttered Dimitri. Slowly he began reducing his pace and a door came into view through the darkness. Adam, knowing what Dimitri was think, as I was, said "They aren't immediately outside the door. I'm pretty sure they are far enough away to not bother us."

"I will go first, I'm supposed to be on guard around now anyway, they will expect to see me if they are here. Adam, Rose, take my bags." I took Lissa's from him and Adam took Dimitri's two.

"Rose, I can take mine," Lissa told me. I glanced at her and shook my head.

"You need all your energy, no. You are exhausted Liss."

"Okay, I am going out. As soon as you see it is clear in my head, run out and be prepared to run fast in any direction, run into the tree's." Dimitri turned to me and gave me a look, only one he could give and went out the door.

We waited in suspenseful silence for the coast to be clear, listening and mind reading. Adrenaline pumped through my veins giving me that energy I would need. Lissa became more alert too; it flowed through the bond, slowly getting more energy. But she was nervous, scared, worried because she knew. She knew we had one chance at getting out and this was it. She knew it as well as Dimitri, Adam and I. If someone saw us, we wouldn't get out.

"It's time," Adam said, breaking the deafening silence. I turned to face the door, and placed my hand on the cool, metal handle. I opened it slowly; just I case and peered around it when it showed a fraction of light. Dimitri stood there, beckoning us out into the open.

"Run," he mouthed and pointed at the edge of the forest. I trusted he had a plan, some way to get out of here. Last time was a little fluky, and not really the best way to get out. The shadows cast by the tree's and the sunlight reached for half our run, 200 metres. I sprinted, knowing that this would be our breaking point, the place where anyone could look out their window and see us. Lissa, though, affected by not being a Dhampir and the sunlight, was slower and found it hard to keep up, knew she couldn't. Dimitri noticed too and took her bag from her to help her out. I slowed, to match her speed and ran at her pace to the tree's. Adam ran ahead, still carrying his bag and Dimitri's two. I was surprised by his speed and strength. It shouldn't really surprise me; he was a Dhampir and a very well trained guardian. I had just never seen him fight. We reached the trees in just over a minute and didn't stop running until we were several metres in, protecting us from the sunlight. When we slowed to a walk, I spoke up.

"So, oh great leader, how are we getting out of here?" I threw Dimitri a skeptical look. I had no idea how to get out without people noticing. They noticed last time, boy did they notice. Setting the mutts to chase us.

"You know the "abandoned" cabin." It was a statement, rather than a question. I knew, the place that held happiness that I could not comprehend and bought back amazing memories. I hoped Adam was reading Lissa's mind or none at all because Dimitri's face just proved her remembered and it held as much happiness to him as it did to me. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed, but it was slipping through, he was trying not to let it. Guardian face.

"Anyway, I know it sounds kind of fairy tale-ish and really weird, but that place has some sort of secret tunnel leading to outside the school walls. I found it a few months ago," Dimitri told us. He was right, that was an unbelievable thing, totally unreal and, actually, really lucky for us.

"So your saying some trap door in the floor and an underground tunnel are going to lead us to safety?" I queried, little hints of sarcasm and that skepticism creeping into the words.

"Behind the bookcase entrance, actually, as even more unreal that is… you pull a book out and it opens." Dimitri's face was totally serious for a second, and then he smiled.

"You read too much," I told him, as I walked off in the direction of the cabin. I looked to Adam, whose face wore an expression of confusion as he tried to figure out what was going on. Dimitri was walking behind Lissa and Lissa was wandering a few metres behind us. We were in a hurry to get out but running while under cover was going to waste energy. Adam fell into step beside me.

"You and Dimitri, I didn't see that coming," he muttered beside me. I glanced at him and gave him a 'really?' look.

"You're a mind reader, genius," I told him. He was silent for a moment as we walked; the heat was beginning to hit me now.

"Just because I can read minds does not mean I dive right into your most personal memories Rose. I respect you enough to leave that part of your mind alone. I don't like to be sadistic with my gift. I could go into the depth of anyone's mind and pull up every horrible thing and stupid mistake of someone's life and use it to unravel them bit by bit but I don't because I don't want my gift to do that to me, turn me into that sort of person. So, until you think about it with me in your head, I don't know. I know what was going on. Just not that… never mind"

I looked straight ahead through the tree's and the cabin slowly came into view. I picked up the pace, wanting to get there as soon as we could.

"Where, Dimitri?" I asked.

"Under the rug, back left hand corner of the room." I pulled the door open as soon as I reached it and darted across the tiny space, looking at the bed as I did so, grinning internally. As much pain as it caused me because we knew we couldn't be together, It was still one of the happiest moments of my life. I pulled back the rug to reveal a heavy trap door with a sturdy iron handle. Just as I placed my fingers over it, the rest of them walked through the door. I wrapped my fingers around the cold, rough iron and pulled hard and the trap door, with some reluctance, squeaked open revealing a staircase into the ground.

"Lets go," Adam said as he walked forward taking the first step onto the dark steps. Dimitri pulled out a flashlight and walked towards it, Lissa in front of him.

"Go Liss," I told her, rubbing her arm. She was scared still. "I'm right behind you." She nodded and took her first step down, following Adam who held his hand out to her to hep her down safely, Dimitri shone the light down the steps and told me to go down next. I nodded at him and began my walk down. Before Dimitri followed, he leant down to the rug and fastened the rug to the top of the trap door.

"So the rug actually goes down when I shut it." He said.

"Good idea," I told him and I walked down into the darkness. The small amount of light flooding down the stairs from the windows in the cabin were cut off instantly and replaced by the artificial light of Dimitri's torch as soon as the trap door thudded shut behind us.


	8. The Journey

_Sorry for this chapter being a little boring. It's building up to them being in New Zealand. There may be a few chapters like this in the next lot before the next lot of exciting events. _

~The sprint through the tunnel was rather un-eventful. The whole way through, I expected someone to end up following us, come down the trap door. For me, this sort of thing always involved someone trying to get me and knowing no one was coming after me this time was disconcerting, but a little comforting. We reached the end of the tunnel sooner than I expected. Tiny slithers of light shone through the door above our heads. Dimitri climbed up the stairs ahead of us and pushed up to open the trap door but was met with some resistance. It wouldn't budge. Panic from Lissa flowed through the bond and I couldn't blame her. Dimitri turned off his flashlight and walked down the steps again to stand next to us.

"People?" He whispered to us. We all looked towards the door and back again.

"No, no one there," Adam clarified.

"Well, what do we do then?" I asked. I didn't know what other options we really had. The sun was setting outside and I a few hours, people would notice we were missing, guardians would already know Dimitri was gone because he was supposed to be on duty.

"We try and break through it," Dimitri said, the tones of his voice not letting anyone disagree. So, together, Adam and Dimitri pushed against the trap door, Dimitri keeping the handle twisted open. After 20 seconds of the boys shoulder barging the door and 20 seconds of Lissa slowly growing more panicked with every bang, the trap door opened, sunshine pouring in to the tunnel in beams of light and blinded us all. We were in the middle of the forests surrounding the Academy. We all jumped out quickly and shut the door.

"I figured it out," Adam said and he aimed his gaze to behind us and we all followed it. There was a rather large, rounded rock that was lying in the bushes next to the trap door having just recently crushing the vines. I gave a look to Dimitri and he smirked at me, sighed and walked towards the trap door, rolling the boulder back into place over the trap door.

The exit of the tunnel had left us very silent and I sat on the ground thinking about what next.

"Sooo…." I started, "How do we get to Los Angeles?"

And hour later we were one of the academy private planes headed in the direction of California. Lissa had crashed from exhaustion, Adam was listening to music and Dimitri was just sitting there watching. He never stopped being guardian. Adam, although watching too, was mouthing the lyrics to songs while he did, a little head bang thrown in here and there. The sun was just setting as we flew to L.A and as the adrenaline dropped, so did my energy levels. I could sleep when we were on the plane to New Zealand.

Getting to this plane was a hassle in itself. Dimitri had spent 15 minutes persuading them to give us the plane, saying that there was sudden business for the princess in L.A and that She needed protection of 2 fully trained guardians and I was getting on the job training. They ended up buying it, thankfully, and gave us the plane. The academy would know that we had taken a plane to L.A but because planes went all over the world from L.A and we were making 2 detours on the way just to confuse them, we didn't expect them to know where we were and they wouldn't be able to figure it out. But still, deep down, I was making plans so I was ready for anything, plans that involved them finishing us and how we needed to hide ourselves when there so that if they did know where we were, they wouldn't know where in the country we were. The good thing about Lissa's card was that after the first Victor incident, it was decided that her card should become un-traceable by anyone except by one person, me. She had nominated that I be the only one to be able to trace it for safety reasons and I had agreed.

The rest of the plane ride was uneventful and we landed safely at LAX. I had been watching Lissa dream for part of the plane ride to pass the time. Nightmare is more accurate. Her dreams were riddled with bloodshed and it scared me half to death because she dreamt of my death, alongside Dimitri and Adam. Strigoi. She, however, was about to be turned when she started awake, cold sweat sticking her hair to her face. I gave her a deeply concerned look, all the stress when she was conscious and now when she was supposed to be dreaming happy things too.

The wait for the plane that would go to Australia for a stop over had us all on edge for 4 hours. Just sitting there having no control over our current situation made me even more on edge and finally, when the plane did arrive, we were in front of everyone else to board. The second plane ride was very similar in its events, except this time, being a commercial plane, we had to sit where we were assigned and annoyingly enough, we were stuck in coach because Dimitri thought we were less likely to be noticed amongst screaming children and excited tourists, all of whom would not shut up. My reaction consisted of 30% 'this is smart' and 70% 'I'm so not impressed right now'. Somehow, we managed to get 4 seats all in a line together, which was rare on a plane as it was, it meant however, we could plan while Lissa slept, and take turns sleeping ourselves. This plane ride was so redundant. The flight from LAX to Sydney, Australia is a longer flight than one going straight to Auckland but for detouring reasons, we had to take it.

We ended up having 3 asleep while one guardian watched and we arrived in Australia at 7am their time and we all went to take a taxi to the largest hotel in the city, the reasoning being that if they were searching the rooms for us, we would be able to figure it out before they got there. Not that I knew or cared to know the name of it. Despite me having a few hours sleep, it was enough energy to get me through a fight with the adrenaline pumping but that was it. I needed to crash and the vamperic night was just beginning.

Dimitri booked us in under false names and we went straight up to the suite. Double bed with a couch in it for a bedroom and a bathroom that I noticed had one of those incredible showers where the water faucet is built into the roof. The most relaxing showers of all time and I eyed it, desperate to clear off some of this grime, wash my hair and relax before some much needed sleep.

"We need to eat before we crash, any requests for room service?" Adam asked us all as we collapsed onto the leather couches in the living area.

"I would kill for a pizza right now but it is technically morning so they will only have the breakfast menu." I sat there, contemplating my options, deciding on what I wanted most right now, as I didn't know how long it would be before I would have food this good again. "Order me chocolate chip pancakes and a hot chocolate. Come to think of it, ask if there is any pizza leftovers from last night that they could heat up for me as well." Dimitri dictated what he wanted including strong coffee. I assumed that was his way of offering to take first watch. He had already made up his mind.

I slumped back into the couch and opened up the bond a little more to see how Lissa was doing. All I could feel through it was that Lissa was getting weaker and hungry. Not food hungry as much as she needed a feeder, she needed blood.


End file.

Vampire Academy, Romance