The grass was still damp and the pavement still wet after the rain fell during sleeping hours. The setting sun was nowhere to be seen, covered by the thick layer of clouds in the sky.
Alina found a small dry space to start her stretching while she waited for Dimitri to show up.
Normally, he would be the one waiting for her but it seems like she won him to it today as she saw him walking towards her in his sweatpants and hoodie. His hair was once again just combed back his finger.
"Good morning, Alina.” He greeted her with the Mortal circle greeting as he sat down next to her and started stretching.
She greeted him back but she instantly forgot what she was busy doing when she heard his very fresh morning voice.
It was husky, irregular and raw but yet pleasant to hear. She has never heard it before. Every time they had their early… or more accurate, late runs, his voice would always sound normal and ready for the day.
Did he just wake up? Did he just wake up for her early run?
She smiled through the whole stretch session.
Dimitri finished with his stretching and stood up from the ground, he turned back to Alina and stood in front of her, reaching out his hands down at her. Alina grabbed a hold of his hands, they were surprisingly warm in the cold outside temperature.
He gripped her hands and effortlessly pulled her to her feet and she giggled. Alina didn’t know why she giggled at the gesture but it made her feel all warm and girly inside.
Dimitri smiled at her strange giggles but neither of them said anything it about.
“I was thinking we cut our running time in half and spent some time on defence training.” Dimitri causally suggested and it made Alina buddle with excitement.
“We’re starting today?” She asked rhetorically with a massive smile on her face and she pumped her arms.
Alina’s body hit the mat with a loud smack but luckily it sounded hasher than it truly was. The mat broke her fall a lot but the stinging on her side still burned.
“Again.” Dimitri said robotically.
Alina stood up from the training mat with a groan. “When you said that we started today, I thought you would slowly train me into the movement. I didn’t think you would throw me into the deep end, or more appropriately, onto the mat.”
“You asked me to teach you, this is how you learn. By doing one move over and over until you get it right and then you do more until it becomes second nature.” Dimitri explained as he watched Alina stand up from the mat, readying her body to try out the defence move again.
“Wel, l I don’t think I’m getting this.” she said hopelessly. Dimirti looked down at her, his eyes softened.
“You’re getting it." He reassured her. "But remember, I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. So of course you’re going to be at a disadvantage.”
“Fine grandpa, help me improve. I don’t want to be in that helpless situation ever again.”
“And if you told me where you were going, you would've been in that situation.” Dimitri added.
"Touche." She mumbled.
Not even a second after Alina was back on her feet Dimitri attacked again. The same movement as before, he would go for a punch to Alina’s face. She would step back, away from it and go for a punch to the gut to weaken her opponent, to be able to get the high ground or to have time to run away. Those are the two rules Dimitri told her to always follow.
Because technically he wasn’t allowed to teach her at all because it was simply not allowed. But if he drilled those two rules into her head, if someone asked her what he was teaching her, it would be one of those two answers.
Of course he wanted her to be able to fight for herself if he wasn’t around on rare occasions. But he also didn’t want to get her or himself in trouble.
Dimitri went for the first punch and Alina stepped backwards, away from him and his massive fists. Or at least that was what she was supposed to do.
Alina stepped back and stepped onto a wet rain patch on the mat, her foot slipped out from under her and she was falling back down, hitting the mat.
Dimitri reacted quickly and wrapped both of his arms around her waist and as they fell down he turned their bodies so he would be the one to hit the mat first and her against him.
Lucky the fall wasn't so bad but one of Alina’s elbows hit his side when they hit the ground.
“Are you okay?” Alina asked with worry in her tone as she quickly climbed off of Dimitri and sat next to his body.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting one of your elbows to attack my ribs while I was saving you from falling, again.” Dimitri said as he sat up with discomfort in his voice but it disappeared when he stood up and walked towards their gym bags. Alina followed after him. Dimitri picked up his water bottle and took a sip and picked up Alina’s bottle from the floor when he saw her walking up next to him.
“Have you had the chance to talk to Lissa?” Dimitri asked, wondering if the two sisters have had a chance to talk about what happened at the Death Watch. He didn’t want the sisters to be mad at each other. He has seen how much they mean to each other.
“Yes." Relieve ran through Dimitri.
“We had a chance to talk when she came back from the Death Watch and she understood, was really mad about it, mad towards the other royals.” Alina explained.
“Good, that's good. I’m glad the two of you sorted it out.” Dimitri mumbled at himself but loud enough that Alina also heard him.
“Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I won’t be with you for the next day because of the Benchmarks Test.” Dimitri informed her but it almost sounded like an apology.
“Ooh that sounds fun actually. What will you be doing?” Alina asked excitingly.
“I’ll be attacking as a Strigoi, so a Novice will be with you.” Dimitri told her but the last part sounded like the idea irritated him and it did. He had to leave the safety of his Moroi in the hands of a Novice and just be okay with it? Even though it was just a game.
He wondered how Logan felt, leaving the future Queen's life in the hands of a Novice.
“Oh that sounds fun for your part but that's okay. I was going to spend all my free time in the library.” Lina informed him.
“Are you still looking up on the Instinct?” Dimitri asked her as they got to the dorm building's glass door.
“Yes, I need to know what this is. But you’re not allowed to use this information about my locations during the Test against my peaceful time in the library and the poor Novice who is going to have to "keep me alive".” Alina warned him as she pushed her finger against his chest in a threatening manner.
Dimitri smiled down at her as he opened the massive glass door for her. “I promise.”
The Moroi were standing on one side of the Novices training mat and opposite to them were the Novices who were being tested.
The Benchmark Test was for the Novices to see if they were capable of protecting their assigned Moroi form all attacks. And to see it they can become official Guardians.
Alina was standing in the front row next to Lissa and opposite to them was Eddie, Mason and Rose.
Alina looked a little bit worried, seeing a lot of younger Novices standing in the group.
Mikhail, Alberta and Dimitri walked up to us and Dimitri looked just as confused as Alina was. He turned to Alberta to his left and whispered something in her ear, not looking happy about whatever he was talking about, almost annoyed.
“Alberta stepped forward in between the two groups and started talking to the Moroi. “Welcome, Moroi students. For the next 24 hours, your usual Guardian will be replaced with the Novices you see before you.”
“Novices,” She looked toward their side. “The Benchmark Tests are your chance to show us what you’re made of. You will be scored on your ability to protect your assigned Moroi during simulated surprise attacks. Guardians will act as Strigoi.”
“Everyone will be outfitted with these special collars, “Alberta lifted the collars in her hand up in the air for everyone to see. “Containing blood squibs. If you or your charge’s squib gets popped, you’re dead.”
“But if you stay alive and rack up enough points, you’ll get to attend the Royal Tour as part of the Guardian security team. If you’re lucky enough it can lead to a premium Guardian assignment when you graduate.”
Alberta continued but Alina’s attention went to Mason when he softly started to talk as Alberta walked further away.
“I’m winning this thing.”
“You better. I got odds on you.” A novice next to him told him.
“But you’re gonna have to beat Rose.” Said another Novice and it made Alina giggle.
“Difficult, but not impossible.” Mason said with confidence.
“And I’m fuelled by the unflinching expectations of Janine Hathaway, so…Lissa and I will try to leave room for you at the top.” Rose informed the Novices around her but more directly at Mason.
Alberta started talking louder again and it stole Alina’s attention from the two in front of her.
“Pairings go live in three, two, one!” She yelled and then pointed at the board at the end of the training mat. Names pooped up, showing which Novices are paired with which Moroi. And to say that most, if not everyone was disappointed about their pairs, it would be a correct observation.
Lissa was lucky, she got Eddie, it might not have been Rose but Eddie was a good guy.
Rose got one of the rotten apples in the basket, Jesse Zeklos.
Mason was very unhappy when he saw that he got Christian.
And Alina didn’t even know who her Novice was, so she wasn’t really feeling the disappointment until she saw who it was. A young Novices with Wednesday Addams braids and the realisation set in that there would a possibility that Alina would be faked killed in the next 24 hours.
But nevertheless Alina greeted her assigned Novice with a warm smile.
“Hey, I’m Ally.” And the Novices just nodded in greeting.
“Come and get your blood squib collars at the tables. Novices the table to the right. Moroi, the table to the left." Alberta informed them.
Everyone walked to the tables to pick up their collars. Alina picked up a collar from the table and walked away from the crowd to put the collar around her neck.
As she was loosening the collar straps to fit over her head, she saw Dimitri walking towards her. He saw her struggling with the collar and then gently took it from her hands. He loosed the straps and then looked at her.
“May I?” He asked, referring to the collar. He knew that she didn’t really want anyone else around or close to her neck but she had verbally told him on the night of the Death Watch that she trusted him.
Alina nodded and Dimitri stepped closer to her as he gently pulled the collar over her head. Alina pulled her curls up with one hand and Dimitri tightened the collar around her neck. “Is it too tight?”
“No, it’s just fine, thank you.” She said as she let a breath free with her words.
Dimitri wasn't happy that she got a very young Novice and she knew it made him a little bit nervous for the next 24 hours.
“Just stay in your room or the library and you will be fine. I can assure you that there will be no surprise attacks at either of those places.” Dimitri informed her softly and the relief covered her face immediately.
“But you’re not allowed to use this information against me and my fellow Strigoi, okay?” He joked, using the exact same words she used the day before.
She giggled at him. “I promise.”
“Good luck.” Dimitri wished her with a mischievous tone as he walked away and it sounded more like someone who knew they had the upper hand.
Alina walked back to her dorm room, she just got back for the feeders. But of course she didn't drink from a feeder, the nurses gave a blood bag. Alina still didn’t feel like she would be able to drink from an actual human being.
Alina’s Novice has been emotionlessly following Alina around and kept her eyes on Alina like a Hawk. Her eyes never blinked or wandered. She truly looked like Wednesday.
Alina got to her dorm room and saw Eddie standing outside, that meant Lissa was inside. And if she knew her sister she would probably be nose deep in that book that Christian and Rose stole from the library.
“Hey Eddie.” She greeted him and sat down on the floor on the opposite side of her door against the wall.
"Ally.” He greeted her with a sweet smile as he watched her sit down and her Novices stood next to him on the other side of the door. “You’re not going inside?”
“No, I’m just going to sit here and have a long awaited chat with you. It's been a while since we talked.” Alina said to him. She was friends with most of the Novices in Ross’s class.
“The last couple of months have been rough for you…“ Eddie started to say but then he stopped his sentence when he realised what he was about to say.
Alina looked down, Eddie words made her think for some time about it, the last couple of months has been a wild roller-coaster. It made her think about her parents, her loving biological parents.
Alina looked up, back at Eddie, at his red hair. “Both my parents had red hair. Have I told you that before?”
Eddie was a little surprised by her random question but didn’t really care. He was interested in what she wanted to say. “Really?”
“Yeah. When I was younger I would ask them if I’m really their child." She smiled at the memory. "But as I got older I realised my dad’s brothers had the same wild, dark brown hair as I do.” Alina explained.
“Well that's too bad. You’re missing out on being a redhead.”
Alina giggled at Eddie but her face dropped a little. Alina didn’t know why but she didn’t feel like herself. She felt like something was missing and she didn’t know what to do to fix it.
“Are you okay, Ally?” Eddie asked with concern.
“No, not really. I just needed to talk to someone, anyone. And you were the closest candidate.”
Eddie looked pointed at Alina’s Novice. Silently asking why she wasn’t talking to her Novices who were next to her every second of the day.
“My Novice is very serious, as you can tell.” Alina said as she looked back at her. Her Novices gave an emotionless stare and Alina quickly started to explain what she went by it. That it wasn’t an insult towards the Novice. “Which is a good thing. I mean you’re focused…” Then it dawned on Alina, she found the problem on her unhappy day.
“I guess I’m just a little used to Dimitri.” she mumbled but the two Novices heard her.
Eddie smiled down at Alina still sitting on the floor. “Don’t worry. You’ll have your official shadow back in a couple of hours.” He reassured her with a grin.
Alina nodded as she stood up from the floor. “Well, I'm off.” She stated and turned back to Eddie. “Good luck, Eddie. I hope you survive.”
"Thank you.” Eddie said slowly, unsure on who to respond to that.
Alina mindlessly walked around the dorm rooms and the halls for a while. Knowing it’s late, she turned back to her room. She greeted Eddie as he opened the door for her.
As she walked inside she saw her sister, sitting on her dead, shock all over her face and a single tear running down her face.
“Lissa?” Alina sprinted to her sister. “Lissa, what’s wrong?”
“I…I need to get married otherwise I won’t be able to have a seat on the council to help Viktor.”
“What?" Alina asked, confused. " But that doesn’t make sense. You are the princes, future queen.”
“Not anymore. I have no living relatives, so I’m no longer the princess. Or the future queen.” Lissa stated as she brushed her tears off her cheek.
“Why am I only hearing about this now?” Alina asked, she was angry. “Who decided to force you into marriage?”
Lissa looked up at Alina and whispered. “Viktor.”
Alina boiled with anger and didn't wait a second longer before she strode out of the dorm room.
“Are you shitting me?” Alina yelled as she walked towards Viktor, standing in his living room, looking out of the window.
“Excuse me?” He asked with a parental tone.
“Oh, you are definitely not forgiven!” Alina yelled back at him. “How could you force Lissa into a marriage?”
Viktor sighed as he looked down at the floor, gathering his patience and looked back at Alina. “Well, it seems you decided to start stating your options."
“Well it seems like the appropriate time. Because nobody seems to listen when I talk, I guess I need to talk louder."
“People listen when you talk.” Viktor said calmly, with kindness in his eyes but not truth.
“No, they hear me talking but they don’t listen to what I’m saying.”
Viktor looked away from her, like he actually felt guilty. Or maybe he did and it made Alina feel slightly guilty as well.
“And why isn’t Lissa still Princess? I have the Dragomir blood in my veins. Why don’t I count as a living relative?” Alina asked him, close to yelling.
“Because you are not natural!… You are not a natural Moroi, you were turned by blood, you weren’t born like this.” Viktor explained and his words broke her heart. Viktor saw it in her eyes, the exact moment she realised what the Royals really thought of her, the never ending cycle of them finding a way to exclude her, make her feel as unwanted as they do with Strigoi.
“And the marriage is just to get Lissa a seat at the table.” Viktor explained, trying to kill the wild fire between them but he just threw gasoline all over it.
“I think the poets and artists might disagree with you, Viktor.” She told him with venom in her words.
Viktor laughed but it was a tasteless laugh, not one of humour. “With all the people on my side I hoped that you would understand, you’re older than Lissa-“
“Yes by a couple of months-“
“It’s almost a year-“
"But that does not mean that I agree with marrying Lissa to some stranger, throwing her life away just because you want to have more power.” Alina yelled at him, trying to make him see the fault in his idea.
“It has been done with so many Royals. And this is not about my power and you know that.”
Alina took an annoyed breath in, not done with the disagreement.
“Lord Dashkov?” one of the Queen’s messengers walked in. “The queen would like to see you.”
Viktor nodded at the messenger and sighed when he looked back at the sad, angry and disappointed Alina. “We'll talk about this later.’” And then he walked away.
Alina couldn’t go back to her dorm, so she went to the one place where she would be forced to be calm and it would help to get calm. The Library.
She found an old book deep in the library, the paper was brown and sensitive.
Alina found a table to gently place the book on and started reading. She didn’t even realise she was there for hours before she looked up at Wednesday. Sitting at the table asleep with her arm crossed over the table and her head against her arms.
Alina let her sleep as she read on.
The book wasn’t quite helpful. It talked a lot about Instinct but still there wasn’t a direct explanation about it and how it works. Just a vague spiritual description that didn’t really give her an explanation about what it exactly was.
Even with the vague expiations, she copied all the important parts into her journal but after a while her eyes got tired of staring at paper. She stood up from her chair and placed the book back in its rightful place.
Alina looked back at Wednesday, wondering how she was going to wake her up without making her feel like she was lacking on her assignment.
Alina picked up a book off the shelf and “accidently” dropped it on the ground and the noise woke the Novice up immediately.
Alina picked up the book, placed it back on the shelf and walked back to the now awake Novice.
“I need a break. Do you want to go and save my sister from her courting dates?” Alina asked innocently with a sarcastic smile.
They walked into the church and it was just chaos.
Guardians attacking Novices and Moroi hiding and running away and all the sudden action made Alina freezed in her spot.
Dimitri saw her walking in and ran straight for her. But her Novice ran forward to protect her and attack Dimitri but he easily got the upper hand and bit into her Novice’s blood squib. The blood flowing out of his mouth and dripping off his chin.
He looked back up at her, without a Novice to protect her and went straight for her but she somehow dodged his attack.
Yet he still got an arm around her and tacked her to the ground. He quickly wrapped his hand around the back of her head so she wouldn’t hit it against the floor and without any mercy he went to bite the blood squibs around her neck.
Without thinking, Alina quickly brought her hand up to him, snapped her fingers and sent compressed air towards his ears. He flinched away and loosened his grip on her and it gave her the advantage to get out of his grip.
Luckily Rose appeared to grab him around the neck from behind and threw him over her shoulder and went straight for the kill shot. She jumped into the air and the stake traveled fast towards his chest and it hit the target. Dimitri was dead.
A whistle blew from the top of the church telling the. the game was over. “Time!” Alberta yelled.
Dimitri stood up and congratulated Rose. She gave him a thankful smile before Rose walked past him to give Jesse a small taste of her wraith.
Dimitri walked towards Alina who was still sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. He reached his hand out towards her and pulled her up to her feet with a proud, impressed smile on his face.
“That was impressive. I mean, my eardrums don't agree but I certainly do.” Dimitri joked as he looked down at Alina.
Alina giggled at him and mumbled. “Sorry and thanks. It sort of just happened on Instinct.” Alina explained and she realised what a coincidence it was that she used that specific word.
“Instinct?” He asked rhetorically, knowing exactly while she meant and his face turned into realisation.
And she answered back by just saying. “Instinct.”
He nodded, truly understanding that figuring out what this Instinct was has become a top priority for Alina and so it has become one for him as well.
Since the games were over, they didn’t have to wear the collars anymore. Dimitri slowly reached out his hand to Alina, not wanting to scare her. He lifted his hand to her chin to lift it up to get a better view of the collar around her neck, and to get it off. He knew that she would want anyone else so close to her neck.
He loosened the strap and gently lifted it over her head.
“If your blood squibs intact, consider yourself a winner.” Alberta said from the top of the church as she looked down at the rest of us.
All of them looked back up at her as she continued. “Benchmarks are done for tonight, so feel free to celebrate later. You’ve all earned it. Congrats."
Everyone started clapping, glad the 24 hours were over.
An hour later Alina and Rose stood in Alberta’s office with Mikhail and Dimitri with them.
The two girls were standing in front of Alberta’s desk as she stood in front of them and the two men stood relaxed on either sides of the girls.
“First rule of being a Guardian: They come first.” Alberta said to Rose.
Rose sighed and mumbled under her breath but everyone in the room heard her. “More rules. Goody.”
“Rose.” Dimitri said lowly at her, telling her not to be Rose right now, and to listen so she wouldn’t get into more trouble.
“Jesse told us what you said to him.” Alberta continued.
“I was being hyperbolic.” Rose explained with a sarcastic undertone, Dimitri’s warning long forgotten. “He-“
Rose tried to explain but Mikhail interrupted her. “He is pissed. And he is a Royal. With a snap of his finger, he can get you decommissioned.”
“For trying to save his life?” Rose asked rhetorically but she was annoyed.
All the while Alina stood very still in her place as the rest of the room focused on Rose.
“We get it Rose, We’re all just one wrong move away from trouble. So just rein it in, okay.” Mikhail explained gently and all that Alina could think about was how unfair it was towards the Dhampir. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
"Other than that,” Alberta started to say as she sat down. “You handle yourselves well.”
Rose nodded at her in thanks but then Alberta’s attention moved from Rose to Alina and so did the rest of the room's attention.
“Then we have to move you, Miss Dragomir. This will be just a warning coming from me and I won’t report you but Moroi aren’t allowed to use their magic on their fellow Dhampir or Novice. So please, don’t do it again?” Alberta spoke kindly to Alina, soft with her words.
“But, off the record. If there ever was a real Strigoi attack, you will do just fine.” Alberta said with a sneaky smile.
"You’re all excused.” Alberta said to us and we started to leave the office. Dimitri walked with her and as they got to the door, he opened it for Alina but blocked her path just a little bit.
“You hear that. You’re not allowed to use your magic against me.” He said teasingly, but her sneaky smile stayed on her face.
“Yeah, but I still won this round.” She said as she stepped closer to him, their faces so close they were breathing the same air but their eyes stayed locked on each other.
“That’s just because I took it easy on you. Not gonna happen again.” Dimitri said with a smirk, knowing that she would easily destroy him if she was allowed to use her magic.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to roast you alive next time.” Alina said with an evil giggle as she stepped around his body, walking out of the office.