“Because that was an exaggeration. You know it was. But this . . . this is something different. There’s something wrong with you right now.”
“No, there’s something right with me.” I was sizing him up, hoping my words distracted him. If I was fast enough, maybe—just maybe—I could get past him. “I’m the only one who wants to do anything around here, and if that’s wrong, I’m sorry. You keep wanting me to be some impossible, good person, but I’m not! I’m not a saint like you.”
“Neither of us is a saint,” he said dryly. “Believe me, I don’t—”
I made my move, leaping out and shoving him away. It got him off me, but I didn’t get far. I’d barely gotten two feet from the bed when he seized me again and pinned me down, this time using the full weight of his body to keep me immobilized. Somehow, I knew I should have realized it was an impossible escape plan, but I couldn’t think straight.
“Let me go!” I yelled for the hundredth time tonight, trying to free my hands.
“No,” he said, voice hard and almost desperate. “Not until you break out of this. This isn’t you!”
There were hot tears in my eyes. “It is! Let me go!”
“It’s not. It isn’t you! It isn’t you.” There was agony in his voice.
“You’re wrong! It is—”
My words suddenly dropped off. It isn’t you. It was the same thing I’d said to Lissa when I watched, terrified, as she used her magic to torture Jesse. I’d stood there, unable to believe what she was doing. She hadn’t realized she’d lost control and was on the verge of becoming a monster. And now, looking into Dimtiri’s eyes, seeing his panic and love, I realized it was happening to me. I was the same as she’d been, so caught up, so blinded by irrational emotions that I didn’t even recognize my own actions. It was like I was being controlled by something else.
I tried to fight it off, to shake off the feelings burning through me. They were too strong. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them go. They would take me over completely, just as they’d done to Anna and Ms. Karp.
“Rose,” said Dimitri. It was only my name, but it was so powerful, filled with so much. Dimitri had such absolute faith me, faith in my own strength and goodness. And he had strength too, a strength I could see he wasn’t afraid to lend me if I needed it. Deirdre might have been onto something about me resenting Lissa, but she was completely off about Dimitri. What we had was love. We were like two halves of a whole, always ready to support the other. Neither of us was perfect, but that didn’t matter. With him, I could defeat this rage that filled me. He believed I was stronger than it. And I was.
Slowly, slowly, I felt that darkness fade away. I stopped fighting him. My body trembled, but it was no longer with fury. It was fear. Dimitri immediately recognized the change and released his hold.
“Oh my God,” I said, voice shaking.
His hand touched the side of my face, fingers light on my cheek. “Rose,” he breathed. “Are you okay?”
I swallowed back more tears. “I . . . I think so. For now.”
“It’s over,” he said. He was still touching me, this time brushing the hair from my face. “It’s over. Everything’s all right.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not. You . . . you don’t understand. It’s true—everything I was worried about. About Anna? About me taking away spirit’s craziness? It’s happening, Dimitri. Lissa lost it out there with Jesse. She was out of control, but I stopped her because I sucked away her anger and put it into myself. And it’s—it’s horrible. It’s like I’m, I don’t know, a puppet. I can’t control myself.”
“You’re strong,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”
“No,” I said. I could hear my voice cracking as I struggled to sit up. “It will happen again. I’m going to be like Anna. I’m going to get worse and worse. This time it was bloodlust and hate. I wanted to destroy them. I needed to destroy them. Next time? I don’t know. Maybe it’ll just be craziness, like Ms. Karp. Maybe I’m already crazy, and that’s why I’m seeing Mason. Maybe it’ll be depression like Lissa used to get. I’ll keep falling and falling into that pit, and then I’ll be like Anna and kill—”
“No,” Dimitri interrupted gently. He moved his face toward mine, our foreheads nearly touching. “It won’t happen to you. You’re too strong. You’ll fight it, just like you did this time.”
“I only did because you were here.” He wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face in his chest. “I can’t do it by myself,” I whispered.
“You can,” he said. There was a tremulous note in his voice. “You’re strong—you’re so, so strong. It’s why I love you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “You shouldn’t. I’m going to become something terrible. I might already be something terrible.” I thought back to past behaviors, the way I’d been snapping at everyone. The way I’d tried to scare Ryan and Camille.
Dimitri pulled away so that he could look me in the eyes. He cupped my face in his hands. “You aren’t. You won’t,” he said. “I won’t let you. No matter what, I won’t let you.”
Emotion filled my body again, but now it wasn’t hate or rage or anything like that. It was warm and wonderful and made my heart ache—in a good way. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and our lips met. The kiss was pure love, sweet and blissful, with no despair or darkness. Steadily, though, the intensity of our kissing increased. It was still filled with love but became much more—something hungry and powerful. The electricity that had crackled between us when I’d fought and held him down earlier returned, wrapping around us now.
It reminded me of the night we’d been under Victor’s lust spell, both of us driven by inner forces we couldn’t control. It was like we were starving or drowning, and only the other person could save us. I clung to him, one arm around his neck while my other hand gripped his back so hard that my nails practically dug in. He laid me back down on the bed. His hands wrapped around my waist, and then one of them slid down the back of my thigh and pulled it up so that it nearly wrapped around him.
At the same time, we both pulled back briefly, still oh so close. Everything in the world rested on that moment.
“We can’t . . .” he told me.
“I know,” I agreed.
Then his mouth was on mine again, and this time, I knew there would be no turning back. There were no walls this time. Our bodies wrapped together as he tried to get my coat off, then his shirt, then my shirt. . . . It really was a lot like when we’d fought out on the quad earlier—that same passion and heat. I think at the end of the day, the instincts that power fighting and sex aren’t so different. They all come from an animal side of us.
Yet, as more and more clothes came off, it went beyond just animal passion. It was sweet and wonderful at the same time. When I looked into his eyes, I could see without a doubt that he loved me more than anyone else in the world, that I was his salvation, the same way that he was mine. I’d never expected my first time to be in a cabin in the woods, but I realized the place didn’t matter. The person did. With someone you loved, you could be anywhere, and it would be incredible. Being in the most luxurious bed in the world wouldn’t matter if you were with someone you didn’t love.
And oh, I loved him. I loved him so much that it hurt. All of our clothes finally ended up in a pile on the floor, but the feel of his skin on mine was more than enough to keep me warm. I couldn’t tell where my body ended and his began, and I decided then that was how I always wanted it to be. I didn’t want us to ever be apart.
I wish I had the words to describe sex, but nothing I can say would really capture how amazing it was. I felt nervous, excited, and about a gazillion other things. Dimitri seemed so wise and skilled and infinitely patient—just like with our combat trainings. Following his lead seemed like a natural thing, but he was also more than willing to let me take control too. We were equals at last, and every touch held power, even the slightest brushing of his fingertips.
When it was over, I lay back aga
inst him. My body hurt . . . yet at the same time, it felt amazing, blissful and content. I wished I’d been doing this a long time ago, but I also knew it wouldn’t have been right until exactly this moment.
I rested my head on Dimitri’s chest, taking comfort in his warmth. He kissed my forehead and ran his fingers through my hair.
“I love you, Roza.” He kissed me again. “I’ll always be here for you. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
The words were wonderful and dangerous. He shouldn’t have said anything like that to me. He shouldn’t have been promising he’d protect me, not when he was supposed to dedicate his life to protecting Moroi like Lissa. I couldn’t be first in his heart, just like he couldn’t be first in mine. That was why I shouldn’t have said what I said next—but I did anyway.
“And I won’t let anything happen to you,” I promised. “I love you.” He kissed me again, swallowing off any other words I might have added.
We lay together for a while after that, wrapped in each other’s arms, not saying much. I could have stayed that way forever, but finally, we knew we had to go. The others would eventually come looking for us to get my report, and if they found us like that, things would almost certainly get ugly.
So we got dressed, which wasn’t easy since we kept stopping to kiss. Finally, reluctantly, we left the cabin. We held hands, knowing we could only do so for a few brief moments. Once we were closer to the heart of campus, we’d have to go back to business as usual. But for now, everything in the world was golden and wonderful. Every step I took was filled with joy, and the air around us seemed to hum.
Questions still spun in my mind, of course. What had just happened? Where had our so-called control gone? For now, I couldn’t care. My body was still warm and wanting him and—I suddenly stopped. Another feeling—a very unwelcome one—was steadily creeping over me. It was strange, like faint and fleeting waves of nausea mingled with a prickling against my skin. Dimitri stopped immediately and gave me a puzzled look.
A pale, slightly luminescent form materialized in front of us. Mason. He looked the same as ever—or did he? The usual sadness was there, but I could see something else, something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Panic? Frustration? I could have almost sworn it was fear, but honestly, what would a ghost have to be afraid of?
“What’s wrong?” asked Dimitri.
“Do you see him?” I whispered.
Dimitri followed my gaze. “See who?”
“Mason.”
Mason’s troubled expression grew darker. I might not have been able to adequately identify it, but I knew it wasn’t anything good. The nauseous feeling within me intensified, but somehow, I knew it had nothing to do with him.
“Rose . . . we should go back . . .” said Dimitri carefully. He still wasn’t on board with me seeing ghosts.
But I didn’t move. Mason’s face was saying something else to me—or trying to. There was something here, something important that I needed to know. But he couldn’t communicate it.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?
A look of frustration crossed his face. He pointed off behind me, then dropped his hand.
“Tell me,” I said, my frustration mirroring his. Dimitri was looking back and forth between me and Mason, though Mason was probably only an empty space to him.
I was too fixated on Mason to worry what Dimitri might think. There was something here. Something big. Mason opened his mouth, wanting to speak as in previous times but still unable to get the words out. Except, this time, after several agonizing seconds, he managed it. The words were nearly inaudible.
“They’re . . . coming. . . .”
TWENTY-FOUR
THE WHOLE WORLD WAS still. At this time of night, there were no birds or anything, but it seemed quieter than usual. Even the wind had fallen silent. Mason looked at me pleadingly. The nausea and prickling increased.
Then, I knew.
“Dimitri,” I said urgently, “there are Strig—”
Too late. Dimitri and I saw him at the same time, but Dimitri was closer. Pale face. Red eyes. The Strigoi swooped toward us, and I could almost imagine he was flying, just like vampire legends used to say. But Dimitri was just as fast and nearly as strong. He had his stake—a real one, not a practice one—in his hand and met the Strigoi’s attack. I think the Strigoi had hoped for the element of surprise. They grappled, and for a moment they seemed suspended in time, neither gaining ground on the other. Then Dimitri’s hand snaked out, plunging the stake into the Strigoi’s heart. The red eyes widened in surprise, and the Strigoi’s body crumpled to the ground.
Dimitri turned to me to make sure I was all right, and a thousand silent messages passed between us. He turned away and scanned the woods, peering into the darkness. My nausea had increased. I didn’t understand why, but somehow I could sense the Strigoi around us. That was what was making me feel sick. Dimitri turned back to me, and there was a look I’d never seen in his eyes.
“Rose. Listen to me. Run. Run as fast and as hard as you can back to your dorm. Tell the guardians.”
I nodded. There was no questioning here.
Reaching out, he gripped my upper arm, gaze locked on me to make sure I understood his next words. “Do not stop,” he said. “No matter what you hear, no matter what you see, do not stop. Not until you’ve warned the others. Don’t stop unless you’re directly confronted. Do you understand?”
I nodded again. He released his hold.
“Tell them buria.”
I nodded again.
“Run.”
I ran. I didn’t look back. I didn’t ask what he was going to do because I already knew. He was going to stop as many Strigoi as he could so that I could get help. And a moment later, I heard grunts and hits that told me he’d found another. For only a heartbeat, I let myself worry about him. If he died, I was certain I would too. But then I let it go. I couldn’t just think about one person, not when hundreds of lives were depending on me. There were Strigoi at our school. It was impossible. It couldn’t happen.
My feet hit the ground hard, splashing through the slush and mud. Around me, I thought I could hear voices and shapes—not the ghosts from the airport, but the monsters I’d been dreading for so long. But nothing stopped me. When Dimitri and I had first begun training together, he’d made me run laps every day. I’d complained, but he’d stated over and over again that it was essential. It would make me stronger, he had said. And, he’d added, a day could come when I couldn’t fight and would have to flee. This was it.
The dhampir dorm appeared before me, about half its windows lit. It was near curfew; people were going to bed. I burst in through the doors, feeling like my heart was going to explode from the exertion. The first person I saw was Stan, and I nearly knocked him over. He caught my wrists to steady me.
“Rose, wh—”
“Strigoi,” I gasped out. “There are Strigoi on campus.”
He stared at me, and for the first time I’d ever seen, his mouth seriously dropped open. Then, he recovered himself, and I could immediately see what he was thinking. More ghost stories. “Rose, I don’t know what you’re—”
“I’m not crazy!” I screamed. Everyone in the dorm’s lobby was staring at us. “They’re out there! They’re out there, and Dimitri is fighting them alone. You have to help him.” What had Dimitri told me? What was that word? “Buria. He said to tell you buria.”
And like that, Stan was gone.
I had never seen any drills for Strigoi attacks, yet the guardians must have conducted them. Things moved too fast for them not to have. Every guardian in the dorm, whether they’d been awake or not, was in the lobby in a matter of minutes. Calls were made. I stood in a semicircle with other novices, who watched our elders organize themselves with amazing efficiency. Glancing around, I realized something. There were no other seniors with me. Since it was Sunday night, all of them had returned to the field experience to protect their Moroi. It was oddly relieving. The Mo
roi dorms had an extra line of defense.
At least, the teenage Moroi did. The elementary campus did not. It had its normal guardian protection, as well as a lot of the same defenses our dorm did, like gratings on all the first-floor windows. Things like that wouldn’t keep Strigoi out, but they would slow them down. No one had ever done too much more than that. There’d been no need, not with the wards.
Alberta had joined the group and was sending out parties throughout campus. Some were sent to secure buildings. Some were hunting parties, specifically seeking out Strigoi and trying to figure out how many were around. As the guardians thinned out, I stepped forward.
“What should we do?” I asked.
Alberta turned to me. Her eyes swept over me and the others standing behind me, ages ranging from fourteen to just a little younger than me. Something flashed across her face. Sadness, I thought.
“You stay here in the dorm,” she said. “No one can leave—the whole campus is under lockdown. Go up to the floors you live on. There are guardians there organizing you into groups. The Strigoi are less likely to get up there from the outside. If they get in on this floor . . .” She scanned around us, at the door and windows being monitored. She shook her head. “Well, we’ll deal with that.”
“I can help,” I told her. “You know I can.”
I could tell she was about to disagree, but then she changed her mind. To my surprise, she nodded. “Take them upstairs. Watch them.”
I started to protest being a babysitter, but then she did something really astonishing. She reached inside her coat and handed me a silver stake. A real one.
“Go on,” she said. “We need them out of the way here.”
I started to turn away but then paused. “What does buria mean?”
“Storm,” she said softly. “It’s Russian for ‘storm.’”
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