"Are you sure he doesn't know that we are here?" Rose implores to Alberta for the tenth time this morning. Dressed up in black to represent a Strigoi, Rose looks dangerous and extremely sexy, but the former is probably what others see more than the latter. Alberta waves Rose off as we approach the arena and get into position. Given that Christopher will be going last as his last name is Turing, Rose and I have been hidden away until the end. I decided not to participate in his trial as he would spot me right away, but Rose will blend in right away. Well, that is until she goes toe to toe with Christopher.
"Turing! You're next!"
I slip out of the tent as Christopher comes closer and I listen to Alberta lays out the final rules, and another Guardian steps forward to play Moroi. Christopher goes out and starts while Alberta and I walk towards the observation area. Christopher has improved even more since Rose and I were here only four months ago, and I am rather enjoying watching him go through his trial. He moves towards the final segment of his trial when Rose jumps down from where she was lying in wait for him, and he momentarily falters before he advances her.
The way the two of them move while sparring is hypnotizing and you can see that he is starting to tire, but in a flash he finds an opening on Rose and takes her to the ground, placing his practice stake over her heart. He moves to the end of his finish line just as Alberta and I get there, a bottle of water and towel in hand.
Rose catches up behind him and claps her hand on his shoulder. "Good job Chris! You kicked my ass!" Rose praises and Christopher turns around to give her a big hug. "Thank you. I didn't think you two were coming. Last week you said you couldn't make it," Christopher says as he lets go of Rose and takes the towel from me. He scrubs the towel over his face before wrapping it around his neck.
I shrug and hand him the water bottle. "We wanted to surprise you. We both were going to participate in your trial, but I figured you would spot me a mile away.
Rose snorts a laugh. "No, he didn't do it because he's an old man." I shake my head and lightly shove her shoulder making her laugh as she stumbles a little. Alberta shakes her head at our antics. Alberta congratulates Christopher before taking her leave and he, Rose and I leave the tent and head towards the cafeteria. Thankfully, it is deserted so we get food and sit down at one of the tables, digging into our food and catching up.
Christopher is pushing his food around his plate absentmindedly, gnawing on his lip. "What's bothering you?" I ask wiping my mouth with my napkin and putting it down on my plate. Christopher looks up at me with a slightly embarrassed expression. "I know that I did well combat-wise, but academically I struggled a bit. I'm worried that it will affect my allocation."
Rose looks at me and her lip quirks up at the side before she reaches around the table and puts her hand on Christopher's arm. "I just got by with my academic studies and look at the allocation I got. A Moroi isn't going to care about your academic score, they're only going to care about your ability to protect them." Christopher nods his head but still frowns. "Yeah, but you are a Hathaway, you already have some sort of reputation."
Rose bites on the corner of her lip before replying. "Hey, your name means something in the world too."
Christopher snorts and rolls his eyes in a very 'Rose' way. "Yeah? How so?" Rose smirks and scoops a mouthful of pudding into her mouth. "Well, you have the same last name as Alan Turing. He saved a lot of lives." Christopher and I look at each other before looking back at Rose. "Who is Alan Turing?" I ask.
"He broke the Enigma code. Practically won World War II for the British Army? He started the initial creation of the computer? You seriously don't know who he is?"
I look at Rose stunned as she continues to eat her pudding. Christopher nods slowly before a small smile crosses his face. "So, you're saying that I may do something with my life?"
Rose nods her head while scrapping her spoon around the container to get the remaining chocolate. Christopher gets up to get more food and I lean against the table. "When did you learn all of that? At Lehigh?"
"No, I learned it while watching the Imitation Game in World History. It was one of the core classes for Lissa. I hated the class, but the movie was really good."
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I roll over to find the other side of the bed cold and I open my eyes to the dark room. I look up at the clock on the bedside table to find its late, or in this case very earlier in the morning. I groan and sit up in bed, rubbing sleep from my eyes before wandering out of the bedroom. I find Rose sitting in the chair in front of the window with the blinds open, sun pouring through the window, bathing her in a golden glow.
I take her in and frown at the furrow in her face. She has her knees drawn up to her chest and is resting her chin there, her arms wrapped around her legs. "Rose?" I ask quietly and she jumps in her chair. Her cheeks are flushed and regardless of how much she may have rubbed at her eyes, I can see that she was crying. I sink down in front of her and rub my hands over her sides, leaning in to kiss her head. "What's wrong?"
Rose just shakes her head and rest her cheek on her knees again. I caress her other cheek and she closes her eyes against my touch, her lips parting slightly and a shallow breath passes through. She opens her eyes again as she unwinds her arms from her body and reaches out to me. I pull her off the chair and into my arms, her head tucked under my chin. I run my fingers through her hair and shift so that I am leaning against the chair, the two of us sitting in the middle of the pool of light.
"You can go back to bed Comrade, I know you have to work in the morning," Rose whispers and I squeeze her tighter. Rose sniffs against my chest and I kiss her head. "I don't mind sitting here with you."
We sit together for a few more minutes before Rose wiggles out of my arms and stands up, holding her hand out to me and I stand up. She pulls me back into the bedroom and crawls into my bed, waiting for me to lie down next to her. The moment I lay on my back and open my arms to her, she curls into my chest like a koala.
"I had another nightmare about Mason."
I rub my hand in large circles over her back and wishing I could do something to take those memories from her. She endured something traumatic long before she should have, and a day doesn't go by where I don't feel like I failed her by not being there just a few minutes earlier. "Plus, Lissa's darkness has been building up and it's making me edgy. So, my dreams are a lot more vivid and dark," Rose murmurs, rubbing her foot over my leg. I've learned that she does that small gesture to comfort herself when she has had a particularly rough day, and I find the gesture soothing for me as well. I run my lips over her forehead and wrap my arms tightly around her, hoping that it will comfort her a little more while she comes down from her dream induced terror.
"Tell me something happy," she says meekly, and I ponder what I could tell her to make her feel better. "Uh, well. When I was younger, I would beg my sisters to let me play with them, and at the time I was maybe seven or eight years old. After begging Karo and Sonya to let me play with them, they dressed me up in our mother's clothes and put make up on my face before sending me out to the parlour. I thought Mama was the only one there, but in fact, Mama had company. Actually, come to think of it, your father was one of the people sitting there."
Rose giggles quietly in the darkness and lifts her head up to give me a small smile. "Oh, please tell me your mother has a photo of that somewhere," Rose pleads, and I shrug. I know for a fact that Mama has many photos from that day and more that are even more embarrassing. I shrug as Rose lays her head back down on my chest.
I rest my cheek on the top of her head and close my eyes, but she becomes twitchy. "Can we open the curtains a little? Just to let a little light into the room?"
I slide out of bed and pull the curtain open a crack and look over to her to see if it is enough. Rose nods her head and pulls the blanket back for me to join her again. I wrap myself around her and run my fingers over her skin before kissing her lips one more time, falling back into a deep sleep moments after Rose does.
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Something feels wrong. Wrong to the point where I feel on edge. Like when you are watching a movie and you know something bad is going to happen but can't put your finger on what it will be. I scan the room again with laser focus, trying to find what is amiss, but I cannot find anything. In this very moment, I am silently cursing Christian and Lissa for wanting to go clubbing. Sure, they have fake ID's and it's not my place to say anything, but clubs are hard to guard in.
Not to mention that we are all dressed to blend in, and guys keep trying to grope my girlfriend. I get that she looks exquisite, but clearly, she is not interested.
Speaking of whom, she looks up from her place across the bar at me gives me a wink before her brows furrow. She casually brushes her hair behind her ear, "What's wrong?" she says through the tiny microphone on her watch and I catch her eye again.
"Something feels wrong," I say as I bring the glass of club soba to my lips, taking a small sip and setting it back down. My eyes immediately find Christian and Lissa dancing on the floor closely, but my gut feeling gets worse and I stand up, causing Rose to stand as well. "Outside perimeter report," I say as I wipe my mouth with the small napkin.
"Everything is good outside."
I walk closer to Christian, Rose closing in as well and I stand behind Christian. "We need to leave," I say to him hastily. He nods grabbing Lissa's hand and heading with Rose and I to the door, Guardian Jefferson following behind us.
The five of us head towards the car when Rose hisses and clutches her stomach, her eyes going wide and we move into a protective formation. I focus on the Strigoi that slips from the shadows and I take an inventory of the Strigoi I can see. I have three facing me, and I hope that the numbers aren't as high for the other two. I press the small button on the side of my watch to alert the other Guardians out with us and step into action, blocking and delivering punches, trying to bring down the Strigoi in front of me. I stake two of the Strigoi easily but the previous dhampir male is becoming difficult to take down. A burst of flame ignites around my final Strigoi's head and it gives a small window to drive my stake into its chest.
I look behind me to see that Rose and Jefferson have also successfully taken down their Strigoi, and I give Christian a nod of thank you before we all move towards the first van. We load the two into the car as the final Guardian catches up with us. Jefferson climbs into the driver seat when Rose taps my shoulder. "We have more coming!" she hisses, shoving the younger Guardian, Nealon I believe, into the passenger seat.
"Get them out of here! We will follow!" Rose demands before slamming the door shut and the vehicle takes off back to court. I look over at Guardian Meyers and reach out to Rose, brushing my fingers over her arm in an affectionate gesture before the Strigoi are on us again. This time there are more than last time.
They are effectively backing us towards the brink wall while we try to break them up, but they are being relentless. I take a blow to the face, hearing my cheekbone crunch and I grit my teeth to keep the yell building in my throat from escaping.
Another blow lands on the side of my knee and it buckles, making me drop down onto my other knee. I grip my stake tighter in my hand before swiping it up at the Strigoi and it hisses. I take the opportunity to take it down.
My bad feeling continues to settle in my stomach, and I try to push it away. But we were always told to trust our gut in school. This time is no different. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something that makes my blood run cold in my veins.
Rose facing a Strigoi bigger and taller than I am, and I backhands her so hard her head snaps to the side. She stumbles slightly before the Strigoi gets a grip on her shirt before launching her into the brink behind us. Her head snaps against the wall and she drops to the ground like a limp doll.
That is the motivation I need to push through the immense pain I'm in. I pull myself to my feet and stalk over to her as the Strigoi pulls her up and sinks its fangs into her neck. That moment of distraction is all I need to stake him, and I clutch her body so she doesn't crash back down to the pavement. I look behind me to see Nealon stake the final Strigoi before I look back down at her. Her eyes are closed, but I can see small movements behind the lids.
"Rose?" I say stroking her face, trying to rouse her. Her eyes flutter open, but they are unfocused. I prop her head up with my arm, but it slides against something slick. I look down at my arm to find it covered in blood. Her blood.
"Is she ok?" Meyers asks and I look up at him as I swallow down my own fears. "Go get the other car, she's injured." He nods and races off to get the car and I adjust her in my arms, looking down at her face as her eyes look up at me.
Her head lulls to the side slightly and I pull her closer to me. "You're going to be ok," I whisper, and she gives me a small smile before coughing harshly, blood sputtering from her lips. This is bad, this is so bad.
Rose weakly fists her hand in my shirt, small whimpering noises coming from her lips while tears fall from her eyes. She tries to talk again but just coughs up more blood. I wipe my thumb over her lip to remove the blood from her paling lips.
Rose mumbles something but I can't understand anything through the gurgling in her throat. I shake my head at her, "I don't know what you're saying."
"Kiss. Me."
I lean down at press my lips to her firmly before pulling away. "You're going to be fine. You're tough, you are going to be fine," I say again. But at this point I don't know who I'm saying it for; her or me. Rose gives me a weak smile before her hand that was fisted in my shirt lets go and her eyes slide close.
I have felt panic in my life; the first time I staked a Strigoi, witnessing Natalie standing over Rose, finding out that Rose was missing, the cave. But the panic I feel right now could consume me. I shake my head to myself and clutch her closer to me.
"No, no, no, no," I whisper, cupping her face. A drop of water falls onto her cheek and I wait for one to hit me before realizing that the drop of water was a tear from me. Tires squeal to a stop in front of us and I look up to see Meyers hopping out of the driver seat and coming around to open the backseat door for me.
I clear my throat and pick Rose up, climbing into the back seat and laying her down on the seat. I barely have the door closed before Nealon is speeding back towards court, speaking over the Bluetooth to someone, but I can't understand what he is saying over the roaring of my blood in my eyes. I rip my duster off and pull my button-up off, tucking the shirt under her head and holding it there. I trail my other hand down over her neck to find her pulse, but my heart stops altogether.
I cannot find her pulse because she no longer has one.