Vampire Academy Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREEID NEVER HAD SO MUCH trouble staying out of Lissas head before, provided then, wed never been through anything like this together either. The strength of her thoughts and feelings kept trying to pull me in as I hurried through the fo lodge in.Running through the brush and woods, Christian and I moved farther and farther from the cabin. Man, how I wished Lissa had stayed keister there. I would hurl loved to limit the raid through her eyes. exclusively that was nooky us now, and as I ran, Dimitris push on laps and stamina paid off. She wasnt moving really quickly, and I could feel the withdrawnness closing mingled with us, giving me a to a greater extent precise idea of her location. Likewise, Christian couldnt cargo deck up with me. I started to slow for him but soon realized the foolishness of that.So did he. Go, he gasped out, waving me on.When I reached a point close enough to her that I thought she could hear me, I called out her name, hoping to get her to t urn slightly. Instead, what answered me was a set of howls a soft canine baying.Psi- delineates. Of course. Victor had said he hunted with them he could control those beasts. I abruptly unders withald why no one at discipline recalled sending psi-hounds by and by Lissa and me in Chicago. The Academy hadnt arranged that Victor had.A minute later, I reached a clearing where Lissa cringed, back against a tree. From her looks and bond feelings, she should have fainted long ago. Only the ba break scraps of self-control kept her hanging on. Wide-eyed and pale, she stared in horror at the four psi-hounds cornering her. nonicing the full moon sunlight, it occurred to me that she and Christian had an other obstacle to contend with out here.Hey, I yelled at the hounds, trying to draw them toward me. Victor moldiness have sent them to immobilise her, but I hoped theyd sense and respond to a nonher threat especially a dhampir. Psi-hounds didnt like us any better than other animals di d.Sure enough, they false on me, teeth bared and drool coming out of their mouths. They resembled wolves, unless with brown fur and eyes that glowed like orange fire. Hed probably ordered them not to harm her, but they had no such instructions regarding me.Wolves. Just like in science class. What had Ms. Meissner said? A lot of confrontations were all about willpower? Bearing this mind, I tried to project an alpha attitude, but I dont think they fell for it. Any one of them outweighed me. Oh yeah they also outnumbered me. No, they didnt have anything to be scared of.Trying to pretend this was secure a free-for-all match with Dimitri, I picked up a branch from the ground that had about the same gasp and weight as a baseball bat. Id exclusively positioned it in my hands when two of the hounds jumped me. Claws and teeth bit into me, but I held my own surprisingly surface as I tried to remember everything Id learned in the stand up two months about fighting bigger and stronger o pponents.I didnt like hurting them. They reminded me too much of dogs. But it was me or them, and survival instincts won out. One of them I managed to beat to the ground, dead or unconscious I didnt know. The other was shut up on me, still coming on fast and furious. His companions looked ready to join him, but then a new competitor burst on the scene port of. Christian.Get out of here, I yelled at him, shaking off my hound as its claws ripped into the bare skin of my leg, nearly toppling me over. I was still eroding the dress, though Id shed the heels a while ago.But Christian, like any lovesick guy, didnt listen. He picked up a branch as well and swung it at one of the hounds. Flames burst from the wood. The hound backed up, still compelled to follow Victors orders, though also clearly afraid of the fire.Its companion, the fourth hound, circled away from the torch and came up behind Christian. Smart picayune bastard. It sprang at Christian, hitting him back first. The branch flew from his hands, the fire immediately going out. Both hounds then leapt onto his fallen form. I finished my hound again feeling sick over what I had to do to subdue it and moved toward the other two, wondering if I had the strength to take on these last ones.But I didnt have to. Rescue appeared in the form of Alberta, emerging through some trees.With a gun in hand, she shot the hounds without hesitation. Boring as hell perhaps and completely useless against Strigoi but against other things? Guns were tried and true. The hounds stopped moving and slumped next to Christians physical structure.And Christians bodyAll three of us do our way over to it Lissa and I practically crawling. When I saw it, I had to look away. My stomach lurched, and it took a lot of effort not to throw up. He wasnt dead yet, but I didnt think he had much longer.Lissas eyes, wide and distraught, drank him in. Tentatively, she reached out toward him and then dropped her hand.I cant, she managed in a i nfinitesimal voice. I dont have the strength left.Alberta, leathery face both hard and compassionate, gently tugged her arm. Come on, Princess. We regard to get out of here. Well send help.Turning back to Christian, I labored myself to look at him and let myself feel how much Lissa cared about him.Liss, I said hesitantly. She looked over at me, like shed forgotten I was horizontal there. Wordlessly, I brushed my hair away from my neck and tilted it toward her.She stared for a moment, blank-faced then takeing shone in her eyes.Those fangs that lurked behind her pretty smile bit into my neck, and a small moan escaped my lips. I hadnt realized how much Id missed it, that sweet, wonderful pain followed by glorious wonder. Bliss settled over me. Dizzying. Joyful. Like existence in a dream.I dont entirely remember how long Lissa drank from me. Probably not that long. She would never even consider drinking the quantities that would slay a soulfulness and make her a Strigoi. She fini shed, and Alberta caught me as I started to sway.Dizzily, I watched as Lissa leaned over Christian and rested her hands on him. In the distance, I heard the other protectors crashing through the forest.No glowing or fireworks surrounded the healing. It all took place invisibly, occurring between Lissa and Christian. Even though the bites endorphins had numbed my connection to her, I remembered Victors healing and the wonderful change and music she must be bringing forth.A miracle unfolded before my eyes, and Alberta gasped. Christians wounds closed. The blood dried up. Color as much as a Moroi ever had, at least returned to his cheeks. His eyelids fluttered, and his eyes regained their breeding again. Focusing on Lissa, he smiled. It was like watching a Disney movie.I must have keeled over after that, because I dont remember anything else.Eventually, I woke up in the Academys clinic, where they forced fluids and sugar into me for two days. Lissa stayed by my side almost the ent ire time, and slowly, the events of the kidnapping unfolded.We had to tell Kirova and a few choice others about Lissas powers, how shed healed Victor and Christian and, well, me. The news was shocking, but the administrators agreed to come on it secret from the rest of the school. No one even considered taking Lissa away like they had Ms. Karp.Mostly all the other students knew was that Victor Dashkov had kidnapped Lissa Dragomir. They didnt know why. Some of his guardians had died when Dimitris band attacked a damned shame, when guardian numbers were so low already. Victor was now being held under 24/7 guard at the school, waiting for a royal regiment of guardians to carry him away. The Moroi rulers big businessman be a mostly symbolic government within another countrys larger government, but they had systems of justice, and Id heard about Moroi prisons. Not any place Id privation to be.As for Nataliethat was trickier. She was still a minor, but shed conspired with her father. Shed brought in the dead animals and kept an eye on Lissas behavior even before we left. Being an earth substance abuser like Victor, shed also been the one to rot the bench that broke my ankle. After shed seen me hold Lissa back from the dove, she and Victor realized that they indispensable to injure me to get to her it was their only chance to get her to heal again. Natalie had simply waited for a good opportunity. She wasnt locked up or anything yet, and the Academy didnt know what to do with her until a royal command came.I couldnt help but feel sorry for her. She was so awkward and self-conscious. Anyone could have manipulated her, let alone her father, whom she loved and from whom she so desperately wanted attention. She would have do anything. Rumor said shed stood screaming outside the detention center, begging them to let her see him. Theyd refused and hauled her away.Meanwhile, Lissa and I slipped back into our friendship like nothing had happened. In the rest of her w orld, a lot had happened. After all that excitement and drama, she seemed to gain a new sense of what mattered to her. She broke up with Aaron. Im sure she did it very nicely, but it still had to be hard on him. Shed dropped him twice now. The fact that his last girlfriend had cheated on him probably wasnt helping his confidence any.And without any more hesitation, Lissa started dating Christian, not caring about the consequences to her reputation. Seeing them out in public, holding hands, made me do a double take. He didnt seem able to believe it himself. The rest of our classmates were almost too stunned to even comprehend it yet. They could barely process acknowledging his existence, let alone him being with someone like her.My own romantic republic was less rosy than hers if you could even call it a romantic state. Dimitri hadnt visited me during my recovery, and our practices were indefinitely suspended. It wasnt until the fourth day after Lissas kidnapping that I ran into hi m in the gym. We were alone.I had follow back for my gym bag and froze when I saw him, unable to speak. He started to walk past and then stopped.Rose he began after several uneasy moments. You need to report what happened. With us.Id been waiting a long time to talk to him, but this wasnt the conversation Id imagined.I cant do that. Theyll fire you. Or worse.They should fire me. What I did was wrong.You couldnt help it. It was the spellIt doesnt matter. It was wrong. And stupid. Wrong? Stupid? I bit my lip, and tears threatened to fill my eyes. I quickly tried to regain my composure. Look, its not a big deal.It is a big deal I took advantage of you.No, I said evenly. You didnt.thither must have been something telling in my voice because he met my eyes with a deep and serious intensity.Rose, Im seven years older than you. In ten years, that wont mean so much, but for now, its huge. Im an adult. Youre a child.Ouch. I flinched. Easier if hed just punched me.You didnt seem to think I was a child when you were all over me.Now he flinched. Just because your bodywell, that doesnt make you an adult. Were in two very different places. Ive been out in the world. Ive been on my own. Ive killed, Rose people, not animals. And youyoure just starting out. Your life is about homework and clothes and dances.Thats all you think I care about?No, of course not. Not entirely. But its all part of your world. Youre still growing up and figuring out who you are and whats important. You need to keep on doing that. You need to be with boys your own age.I didnt want boys my own age. But I didnt say that. I didnt say anything.Even if you choose not to tell, you need to understand that it was a mistake. And it isnt ever going to happen again, he added.Because youre too old for me? Because it isnt responsible?His face was perfectly blank. No. Because Im just not enkindle in you in that way.I stared. The message the rejection came through loud and clear. Everything from that night, e verything Id believed so beautiful and full of meaning, turned to dust before my eyes.It only happened because of the spell. Do you understand?Humiliated and angry, I refused to make a fool of myself by arguing or begging. I just shrugged. Yeah. Understood.I spent the rest of the day sulking, ignoring both Lissa and Masons attempts to draw me out of my room. It was ironic that I should want to stay inside. Kirova had been impressed enough by my performance with the rescue to end my house arrest.Before school the next day, I made my way to where Victor was being held. The Academy had honest-to-goodness cells, complete with bars, and two guardians stood watch in the hallway nearby. It took a little bit of finagling on my part to get them to let me inside to talk to him. Even Natalie wasnt allowed in. But one of the guardians had ridden with me in the SUV and watched me undergo Lissas torture. I told him I needed to ask Victor about what hed done to Lissa. It was a lie, but the guardia ns bought it and felt sorry for me. They allowed me five minutes to speak, backing up a discrete distance down the hall where they could see but not hear.Standing outside Victors cell, I couldnt believe Id once felt sorry for him. Seeing his new and reasoned body enraged me. He sat cross-legged on a narrow bed, reading. When he heard me approach, he looked up.Why Rose, what a nice surprise. Your adroitness never fails to impress me. I didnt think theyd allow me any visitors.I crossed my arms, trying to put on a look of total guardian fierceness. I want you to break the spell. Finish it off.What do you mean?The spell you did on me and Dimitri.That spell is done. It burned itself out.I shook my head. No. I keep thinking about him. I keep wanting toHe smiled knowingly when I didnt finish. My dear, that was already there, long before I set that up.It wasnt like this. Not this bad.Maybe not consciously. But everything elsethe attraction physical and mental was already in you. And in him. It wouldnt have worked otherwise. The spell didnt really add anything new it just removed inhibitions and strengthened the feelings you already had for each other.Youre lying. He said he didnt feel that way about me.Hes lying. I tell you, the spell wouldnt have worked otherwise, and honestly, he should have known better. He had no right to let himself feel that way. You can be forgiven for a schoolgirls crush. But him? He should have demonstrated more control in hiding his feelings. Natalie saw it and told me. After just a few observations of my own, it was obvious to me too. It gave me the perfect chance to distract you both. I keyed the necklaces magical spell for each of you, and you two did the rest.Youre a sick bastard, doing that to me and him. And to Lissa.I have no regrets about what I did with her, he declared, leaning against the wall. Id do it again if I could. Believe what you want, I love my people. What I wanted to do was in their best interest. Now? Hard to say . They have no leader, no real leader. Theres no one worthy, really. He cocked his head toward me, considering. Vasilisa truly might have been such a one if she could ever have found it within herself to believe in something and overcome the influence of spirit. Its ironic, really. Spirit can shape someone into a leader and also crush her ability to remain one. The fear, depression, and uncertainty take over, and keep her true strength buried deep within her. Still, she has the blood of the Dragomirs, which is no small thing. And of course, she has you, her shadow-kissed guardian. Who knows? She may surprise us yet. ?Shadow-kissed? There it was again, the same thing Ms. Karp had called me.Youve been kissed by shadows. Youve crossed into Death, into the other side, and returned. Do you think something like that doesnt leave a mark on the soul? You have a greater sense of life and the world far greater than even I have even if you dont realize it. You should have stayed dead. Vasi lisa brushed Death to bring you back and bound you to her forever. You were actually in its embrace, and some part of you will always remember that, always fight to cling to life and experience all it has. Thats why youre so heedless in the things you do. You dont hold back your feelings, your passion, your anger. It makes you remarkable. It makes you dangerous.I didnt know what to say to that. I was speechless, which he seemed to like.Its what created your bond, too. Her feelings always press out of her, onto others. Most people cant pick up on them unless shes actually directing her thoughts toward them with compulsion. You, however, have a mind sensitive to extrasensory forces hers in particular. He sighed, almost happily, and I remembered reading that Vladimir had saved Anna from death. That must have made their bond, too. Yes, this ridiculous Academy has no idea what they have in either you or her. If not for the fact that I needed to kill you, I would have made you part of m y royal guard when you were older.You never wouldve had a royal guard. Dont you think people would have been weirded out by you suddenly recovering like that? Even if no one found out about Lissa, Tatiana never would have made you king.You may be right, but it doesnt matter. There are other ways of taking power. Sometimes its necessary to go outside the established channels. Do you think Kenneth is the only Moroi who follows me? The greatest and most regnant revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. He eyed me. Remember that.Odd sounds came from the detention centers entrance, and I glanced toward where Id come in. The guardians who had let me in were gone. From around the corner, I heard a few grunts and thumps. I frowned and craned my head to get a better look.Victor stood up. Finally.Fear spiked down my spine at least until I saw Natalie round the corner.Mixed sympathy and anger flitted through me, but I forced a kind smile. She probably wouldnt see her fathe r again once they took him. Villain or no, they should be allowed to say goodbye.Hey, I said, watching her stride toward me. There was an unusual purpose in her movements that some part of me whispered wasnt right. I didnt think theyd let you in. Of course, they werent supposed to have let me in either.She walked right up to me and no exaggeration launched me against the far wall. My body hit it hard, and black star-bursts danced across my vision.What? I put a hand to my forehead and tried to get up.Unconcerned about me now, Natalie unlocked Victors cell with a set of keys Id seen on one of the guardians belts. Staggering to my feet, I approached her.What are you doing?She glanced up at me, and thats when I saw it. The faint ring of red around her pupils. scratch up too pale, even for a Moroi. Blood smudged around her mouth. And most telling of all, the look in her eyes. A look so cold and so evil, my center field nearly came to a standstill. It was a look that said she no longe r walked among the living a look that said she was now one of the Strigoi.