Shadow Kiss

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Chapter 1

We ran to the exit, emerging into the air. My group clustered by the opening, anxious to see what had happened. The sun, I was dismayed to see, was nearly gone. The nausea hadn't left me, which meant Strigoi were still alive.

Moments later, my mother's party came tearing down the hall. By the numbers, one more had gone down. But they were so close. Everyone had tensed up. So close. So, so close.

But not close enough. Three Strigoi lay in wait in one of the alcoves. We'd passed them but they'd let us go by. It all happened so fast; no one could have reacted in time. One of the Strigoi grabbed Celeste, his mouth and fangs going straight for her cheek. I heard a strangled scream and saw blood everywhere. One of the Strigoi went for Ms. Carmack, but my mother jerked her away and shoved her forward toward us.

The third Strigoi grabbed Dimitri. In all the time I'd known him, I'd never seen Dimitri falter. He was always faster, always stronger than everyone else. Not this time. This Strigoi had caught him by surprise, and that slight edge was all it had taken.

I stared. It was the blond Strigoi. The one who had spoken to me in the battle.

He grabbed Dimitri and pulled him to the ground. They grappled, strength against strength, and then I saw those fangs sink into Dimitri's neck. The red eyes flicked up and made contact with my own.

I heard another scream – this time, it was my own.

My mother started to double back toward the fallen, but then five more Strigoi appeared. It was chaos. I couldn't see Dimitri anymore; I couldn't see what happened had to him. Indecision flashed over my mother's features as she tried to decide to flee or fight, and then, regret all over her face, she kept running toward us and the exit. Meanwhile, I was trying to run back inside, but someone was stopping me. It was Stan.

"What are you doing, Rose? More are coming."

Didn't he understand? Dimitri was in there. I had to get Dimitri.

Just as my mom and Alberta burst out dragging Ms. Carmack, I snatched my arm out of Stan's firm grasp and started for cave opening. I heard people screaming out my name in protest, but I didn't care. All I cared about was saving Dimitri.

I could hear several pairs of feet following my pursuit, I just pushed that fact aside and let the remains of the darkness inside of me fuel my fight, I was deadly. I lunged at the nearest unsuspecting Strigoi and staked him from behind. I turned to the next Strigoi and kicked out, hitting it in the stomach. It cried out in pain but a second later it was straightened up and advancing on me. I felt a wave of pure bloodlust scream through my veins. I have never felt the dark side effects of spirit use so powerful or dangerous. When I attacked Jesse, it felt nothing like it did right now. A roar of pure hatred for these despicable creatures escaped from my mouth and I went on autopilot. Everything went past in a blur; I knew I was fighting, every punch and kick. In my peripheral vision I could see other guardians fighting with the last of their strength. From the faces I could see, it was my mother, Alberta, Stan, Stephen, a couple of novices and another guardian I couldn't see.

There were four Strigoi left insight, I knew more were coming so if I was going to make a move I had to do it now. In amongst all the grunts and attacks, I heard the sound of a struggle followed by familiar Russian swear words.

Dimitri.

He was still alive.

I looked around franticly. All the other guardians were busy with the four Strigoi that weren't attacking Dimitri. But the blond one that was fighting him was getting the upper hand. Dimitri managed to kick him off and scramble to his feet, dodging the blond's furious swings. His neck and shirt was smothered in blood and he was breathing heavily.

I ran forward and tried to create a distraction by kicking the Strigoi in the side, he stumbled two steps and in those few seconds of faltering, Dimitri threw a hard punch to the blond's pale face causing him to raise his arms for the slightest second in which I shoved my stake in his heart.

I pulled it out and looked up at my favourite pair of dark brown eyes and I let the tears flow. I flung my arms around him and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around me and murmured my name into my hair, and then he quickly let me go.

"We have to get out of here." He panted as he began hobbling out of the cave.

I yelled out to the remaining guardians that were fighting the last two Strigoi to make their retreat, and with that we bolted out of the caves as fast as our exhausted bodies could take us. Stan and Alberta came up from behind to support Dimitri, who probably had a broken leg, and we started running back to the academy to the safety of the wards.

I noticed that as we exited the cave that most of the novices had already left the mountainside and headed back to the school. Which was a smart move considering how scarily low the sun was. Night time was a heartbeat away, which only made the remaining guardians push themselves that much harder and that much faster.

We tore through the forest at a blinding speed. My adrenaline was racing through my body, my lungs screaming in protest. I just kept pushing, the pain could wait, safety first.

The clearing through the forest that led to the school was in sight after a couple of minutes of solid all out sprinting. My heavy breathing was getting the better of me and I could feel myself slowing down, I was out of energy and my adrenaline rush was long finished.

"Keep going, Rose! We're almost there!" Dimitri managed to call out in between painful grunts and groans.

He was right. I could do this. All his trainings were to make me stronger and faster, to push myself farther. I took a deep breath and pumped my legs back into a sprint. I literally threw myself over the threshold of the wards and collapsed on the ground. My vision was beginning to blur and I felt like I was about to pass out. My heart was pounding almost painfully in my chest, and my lungs burned with lack of oxygen.

I began to close my eyes slowly when I heard a worried high-pitched girl voice scream my name. Lissa. She was here, most likely to help the injured Moroi, guardians and novices. Adrian must be around to help too.

I sensed someone drop to the ground beside me, and through the bond I knew it was Lissa. She was crying and scared out of her wits for me. I must look pretty close to dead if she is this worried about me. She pressed her hand to my cheek and I could feel her using spirit to heal me, the wave of magic travelling through her body to mine, even though I didn't think I needed to be healed. I wasn't that bad was I?

"Liss. Stop." I managed to croak out through my practically numb body. I opened my eyes, which was an effort let me tell you, and tried to focus them on her luminous green ones. "Go heal someone who needs it. I'm fine. Promise." I lied.

"I know your lying, you know. You're just trying to get rid of me and its so not going to work, Rose." She remarked, emphasising on the 'so'. After my useless attempts to fend her off, I eventually let her heal me to a certain degree; well it was until I could breath without tearing up. Then I pushed her away and said the first thing that rushed to my mind.

"Dimitri."

"Calm down, Rose. He's in the med clinic, I heard them say he has a broken leg and possible bone fractures in his hands. Along with the bite mark that looks more like a gaping hole in his neck, I think there might be some more broken bones to be found. He looked really bad. What happened?" she asked the last part in a quiet whisper, trying not to attract attention from the other surrounding people as I sat up.

That was it. I let the tears I had been holding back go. I cried out all the terror I had felt when I saw the blond Strigoi sink his fangs into Dimitri's neck. I cried because I had to lie to Lissa about our secret relationship, I cried about everything - the pain, the loss, the lies, and my fears. All of it.

During my breakdown, Lissa just hugged me tight and promised me everything would be all right. When she knew better. I could feel her doubts through the bond, I could feel that she was scared for her own safety as well as mine, Christian's and all the other people who were a part of this never ending war.

That thought sobered me up straight away. I let my moment of weakness scare Lissa and make her doubt how safe she was. I pulled back and grabbed her shoulders firmly, enough to show I was serious but not enough to hurt her. I stared her straight in the eyes and vowed.

"I will never let anything hurt you. I will die before that ever happens, do you hear me, Vasilisa Dragomir?" I clarified.

Her only response was a sharp nod of her head as a few tears streaked down her beautiful pale cheeks. I shifted so that I was copying her kneeling position, but this time, I wrapped my arms around her slender figure and reassured her of all her fears. I was going to be her guardian and I needed to be strong, not an emotional wreck. I needed to be honest and not hide secrets from her. Part of it was being a good guardian, the other part was because I was her best friend and we didn't keep secrets from each other. I needed to tell her about Dimitri and I, I had too.

"I'm so sorry. Lissa, please don't get upset I didn't tell you earlier." I started in an almost inaudible whisper as I pulled away to look her in the eye. I swallowed down more tears; they had their chance before to come. No, I was done being weak.

"Tell me what, Rose?" Lissa asked just as softly. "Tell me what's wrong. I promise I won't get upset or angry. Just tell me, please."

God, I hate it when she begs.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth at the exact same time my mother bellowed my name so loud that every person within a miles radius could have heard it.

"ROSEMARIE HATHAWAY! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? WERE YOU TRYING TO GET EVERYONE KILLED? WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU RUN BACK INTO THOSE DAMN CAVES? DID YOU HONESTLY HAVE A DEATH WISH?" She screeched at me.

Lissa's and my head snapped up to face my avenging mother. Right now I was scared of her, and apparently Lissa was too. I could feel her emotions through the bond. She was incredibly intimidated by my guardian mother and for me, the person my mom's anger was focussed on.

I was still kneeling on the ground when Janine Hathaway stormed her way over to me and ripped me off the ground by the back of my shirt and turned me to face her. Okay, screaming at me in front of nearly a hundred people was one thing. But making an even bigger scene just pissed me off. Big time.

"Huh, Rose? Where do you get off putting other people's lives in danger?" She asked, practically fuming.

Who was she to say this? "You didn't have to follow me! You could have run off with the others and left me! It was my decision!" I snapped back. She was not the only person here with a bad temper. Like they say, "like mother, like daughter."

"Of course I followed you! You're my daughter, I couldn't just abandon you!" She argued back. I could see the hurt on her face. She was still my mother, she might not be perfect, but who is?

"You didn't have a problem doing that eighteen years ago." I struck low, which was clearly unfair. This was a different situation. I couldn't make decisions as a baby, but now I could. Not only that, but we were just starting to stand on level ground with each other. "What? Not your forte these days?"

She glared me down. "I couldn't look after you then, and you know it. So, don't you dare use that as an excuse, young lady! What in God's name don't you understand about 'retreat'? Is that too hard to comprehend in your pretty little head?" She barked at me.

I noted that she called my head pretty. At least I got a compliment along with the insult. Lissa felt sorry for me, especially considering my mom was making this so public. I also noticed that more people had been attracted to the commotion, including Adrian. Great.

This was getting to be too much, and I was at breaking point.

"I know what 'retreat' means! Its just another word for 'run away' or 'ditch' or 'abandon'." I shouted making some words colder then others. But I was done with her judging me. "But I wasn't going to do any of those things to Dimitri! He needed us to help him! But apparently nobody felt it was there duty to even give him a second glance!" I aimed that one straight at her and saw her flinch. Good, serves her right.

"So you took matters in your own hands? Real mature Rose. It's nice to see my daughter can make smart decisions when necessary." Sarcasm filled the last part of her comment.

"It wasn't about me!" I screamed at her. "It was about him! Nobody deserves to die that way! And I wasn't going to let one of the best guardians out die because of a Strigoi attack! Especially one that could have been stopped!"

"There were other guardians who died fighting, Rose! Some nearly if not just as good as Guardian Belikov, what your excuse for that?" She questioned. She knew she had cornered me, but I wasn't going to let her push me around, and definitely not in front of basically the whole school. I straightened my back and told her the blunt truth.

"I saw guardians as they went down. I watched those Strigoi kill them within a blink of an eye." My voice had gone down noticeably, it was more of an indoor level now, but I put in as much pain and misery I could muster. "But I couldn't watch him die, mom." I whispered that last part, and I began to sound like I was begging. I knew Lissa could hear me, due to the fact she was about three feet behind me. Through the bond, I could feel her curiosity. What do you mean Rose? I can tell your not saying something.

"You ran into a fight, without back up, or knowledge of what was going on. So quit telling me all your excuses and give me the truth. I'm sick of cover stories, so spit it out!" She demanded with her hands on her hips.

Fine. You asked for it. "You want the truth?! Well, here it is! You left Dimitri behind, and I couldn't just stand back and let him die!" I screamed straight at her, causing her to flinch again. And here comes the grand finale. "And you want to know why I went in there after him? BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM!" I finished, which amazingly, I managed to make my voice even louder at the end.

My mother was speechless and looked at me incredulously. Like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. I couldn't handle everyone's eyes on me, so I ran for it. I didn't know where I was headed, but I needed to get away. I ended up at my dorm room.

I threw the door open and slammed it shut behind me, and then I turned and flung myself on the bed where I bawled my eyes out for literally hours. I couldn't believe I had just told everyone about Dimitri and me. How stupid am I? I'll get expelled for sure. Even worse, he'll get fired. I've completely screwed things up, mom's probably filling in Kirova about my little declaration, and how I'm irresponsible and how I let my emotions get in the way of my rational thinking. Which is true, but only when it involves the people I care about. I can make life saving decisions; I have made life saving decisions.

I cried until my eyes ran dry, and I eventually passed out due to the exhaustion from today's horrible events.

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