Dimitri's Point of View in Frostbite (Vampire Academy) (Book 2)

Part 12

My whole world shattered before my eyes.

It wasn’t just a sweet and short kiss either, it was long and desirable. Just like it had been in the gym when Rose kissed me. Seeing this, Mason and Rose kiss, set me on edge. How could she do something like that when she had made it clear how much she cared about me in the gym? I started to feel queasy and weak at the knees. It felt like a stake had been plunged into my heart.

It must have showed on my face because one the guardians turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”

I stared at him with as much control as I could muster. “Fine.”

Tasha came a short time after to retrieve me. I embraced her in a hug before we walked back inside. I let one tear slip before I hastily wiped it away. Rose had hurt me bad, whether she knew it or not. But I didn’t want to ruin whatever relationship she had created with Mason. I had vowed not to hurt her anymore, and that meant letting her go. No matter how much it hurt me.

But if she wanted to date someone else, then two could play at that game.

After a long night of talking and laughing with Tasha I finally went to bed. I refused to recap on what happened between Rose and Mason. She must never know that I knew. If she did she would feel bad and hurt poor Mason’s heart. I had to forgive her; she was a kid and had a lot of growing up to do.

 A loud knock pulled me out of my dream. Answering the door in only my pajama bottoms Janine Hathaway stood there stiff and guardian like.

“There has been another Strigoi attack.”

This sprung me to action. Grabbing whatever outfit I picked first I put it on and was soon in Janine’s room. It was filled with guardians milling around, moving in and out, and discussing strategy. Soon we were all crammed and huddled in one spot.

Janine and the rest of us stood, trying to get as much information about the attack as possible. Something moved on my left side and as I glanced over my eyes caught Rose’s. She quickly turned away from me, leaving me with confused and hurt feelings. Although I wouldn’t show it. Not with this many witnesses.

We had learned that Eight Moroi had been killed along with their five guardians. Three Moroi were missing, either dead or turned Strigoi. The attack hadn’t really happened near here; it had been somewhere in northern California. Nonetheless, a tragedy like this couldn’t help but reverberate within the Moroi world, and for some two states away was far too close. People were terrified.

“There had to be more than last time,” said Janine.

“More?” exclaimed one of the other guardians. “That last group was unheard of. I still can’t believe nine Strigoi managed to work together---you expect me to believe they managed to get more organized still?”

“Yes.” Janine snapped.

“Any evidence of humans?” Someone else asked.

Janine hesitated then as all eyes turned to her. “Yes. More broken wards. And the way it was all conducted…it’s identical to the Badica attack.”

Her voice was hard, but there was a kind of weariness in it, too. It wasn’t physical exhaustion, though. It was mental. Strained and hurt over what had happened. It was a hard and ugly matter to discuss---but at the same time, she was tackling it without hesitation. It was our duty to.

Humans. Identical to the Badica attack. Ever since that massacre, we’d extensively analyzed the oddity of such a large group of Strigoi teaming up and recruiting humans. We’d spoken in vague terms about it. But no one had seriously talked about this group---the Badica killers---doing it again. Onetime was a fluke---maybe a bunch of Strigoi had happened to gather and impulsively decided to go on a raid. It was horrible, but we could write that off.