Shadow Kiss Chapter 4

FOURIT BEGAN.At first gain, things werent too different from any(prenominal) otherwise day. Dhampirs and Moroi attended separate castes in the first half of the school day, then joined up after lunch. Christian had almost of the same afternoon family unites Id had last semester, so it was almost give care pursual my own archive again. The difference was that I was no longer a student in these classes. I didnt sit at a desk or have to do any of the work. I was also a lot more uncomfortable since I had to stand at the back of the room the entire time, along with other novices who were guarding Moroi. Out lieu the school, this was what it was usually like. Moroi came first. Guardians were shadows. in that location was a strong temptation to talk to our fellow novices, oddly during times when the Moroi were working on their own and talking amongst themselves. N angiotensin-converting enzyme of us cracked, though. The pressure and adrenaline of the first day had us all on good behavior.After biology, Eddie and I started using a bodyguard technique cal jam pair guarding. I was near guard and walked with Lissa and Christian for immediate defense. Eddie, being far guard, walked further away and scanned the larger area for any potential threats.We followed this pattern for the rest of the day, up until the last class came around. Lissa gave Christian a quick kiss on the cheek, and I realized they were role.You guys dont have the same schedule this time? I asked with dismay, stepping over to the side of the hall to stay forbidden of student traffic. Eddie had already deduced that we were parting and had stopped far guard duties to come talk to us. I hadnt known how Lissa and Christians schedules lined up for this sunrise(prenominal) semester.Lissa took in my disappointed look and gave me a sympathetic smile. Sorry. Were liberation to study together after school, hardly right now, Ive got to go to original writing.And I, declared Christian loftily, have to go to culinary knowledge.Culinary science? I cried. You elected culinary science? Thats like the most brainless class ever.It is non, he countered. And hitherto if it was well, hey, its my last semester, right? I groaned.Come on, Rose, laughed Lissa. Its just one class period. It wont be that She was cut gain when a commotion broke out farther down the hall. We and everyone near us stopped and stared. matchless of my guardian instructors, Emil, had practically appeared out of nowhere and playing Strigoi reached for a Moroi girl. He swung her away, pressing her to his chest and exposing her screw as though he would bite her. I couldnt go for who she was, just a tangle of dark-brown hair, precisely her assigned protector was Shane Reye. The attack had caught him by surprise it was the first one of the day precisely he fumbled only a little as he kicked Emil in the side and wrested the girl away. The 2 guys squared off, and everyone watched eagerly. A few even whis tled and shouted, cheering Shane on.One of the catcallers was Ryan Aylesworth. He was so fixated on reflection the fight which Shane, wielding his set mail service, had just roughly won that he didnt notice two other liberal guardians sneaking up on him and Camille. Eddie and I realized it at the same time and stiffened, instinct cookery both of us to spring forward.Stay with them, Eddie told me. He headed toward Ryan and Camille, who had just discovered they were being set upon. Ryan didnt fight back as well as Shane had, particularly since he suitd two attackers. One of the guardians distracted Ryan era the other Dimitri, I now saw grabbed Camille. She screamed, not faking her fear. She apparently didnt find being in Dimitris fortify as thrilling as I did.Eddie headed toward them, approaching from behind, and landed a blow on the side of Dimitris head. It hardly fazed Dimitri, simply I was still amazed. Id barely ever been able to land a hit on him in all our traini ngs. Eddies attack forced Dimitri to release Camille and face this new threat. He spun around, graceful as a dancer, and advanced on Eddie.Meanwhile, Shane had staked his Strigoi and jumped in to help Eddie, moving around to Dimitris other side. I watched, fists clenched in excitement, intrigued with the fighting in general and with watching Dimitri in particular. It amazed me that soulfulness so deadly could be so beautiful. I wished I was part of the fray except knew I had to watch the area around me in case any Strigoi attacked here.But they didnt. Shane and Eddie successfully finished off Dimitri. Part of me was a little sad at this. I needinessed Dimitri to be good at everything. However, Ryan had seek to help and failed. Dimitri had technically killed him, so I felt a twisted comfort in theoriseing that Dimitri had still been a hardass Strigoi. He and Emil praised Shane for being fast on his feet and Eddie for realizing we had to treat this as a group endeavor rather than one-on-one trials. I got a nod for watching Eddies back, and Ryan was chastised for not paying attention to his Moroi.Eddie and I grinned at each other, happy over getting high marks on this first test. I wouldnt have minded a slightly bigger role, yet this wasnt a bad start to the field experience. We high-fived, and I saw Dimitri shake his head at us as he left.With the drama over, our four just about split up. Lissa gave me one last smile over her shoulder and spoke to me by the bond, Have fun in culinary science I rolled my eyes, exclusively she and Eddie had already go a corner.Culinary science sounded pretty impressive, but really, it was just a fancy term for what was basically a cooking class. Despite my teasing Christian about it being brainless, I had some respect for it. I could barely boil water, after all. Still, it was a lot different from an elective like creative writing or debate, and I had no doubts Christian was taking it as a blow-off class and not becaus e he wanted to be a chef someday. At least I might get some satis faction out of watching him mix a cake or something. Maybe hed even split an apron.There were three other novices in the class who were guarding Moroi. Since the culinary science room was large and open, with very much of windows, the four of us worked together to come up with a plan to pool our efforts and secure the totally room. When Id watched novices do their field experiences in past years, Id only ever paid attention to the fights. Id never detect the teamwork and strategizing that must have been going on. Theoretically, the four of us were here to only protect our assigned Moroi, but wed slipped into a role where we were protecting the whole class.My post was by a fire door that led outside of the school. Coincidentally, it was right by the station Christian was working at. The class normally cooked in pairs, but there was an odd number of students. Rather than work in a group of three, Christian had volunt eered to be by himself. No one had seemed to mind. Many still regarded him and his family with the same prejudice that Jesse did. To my disappointment, Christian wasnt making a cake.What is that? I asked, watching him take out a bowl of some kind of raw, ground-up marrow squash from the refrigerator.Meat, he said, dumping it onto a cutting board.I know that, you idiot. What kind?Ground beef. He pulled other container out and then another. And this is veal. And this is pork.Do you have, like, a T.rex that youre going to feed?Only if you want some. This is for meatloaf.I stared. With three kinds of meat?Why eat something called meatloaf if you arent actually going to get some meat out of it?I shook my head. I cant believe this is only the first day with you.He glanced down, focusing on kneading his tri-meat insane asylum together. You sure are making a big deal out of this. Do you really despise me that much? I acquired you were screaming at the top of your lungs back in the gym. No, I wasnt. And I dont hate you at all, I admitted.Youre just taking it out on me because you didnt get paired with Lissa.I didnt answer. He wasnt that far off.You know, he continued, it might actually be a good idea for you to practice with someone different.I know. Thats what Dimitri says too.Christian put the meat into a bowl and started adding some other ingredients. accordingly why question it? Belikov knows what hes doing. Id trust anything he says. It sucks that theyre going to lose him after we graduate, but Id rather see him with Lissa.Me too. He paused and looked up, meeting my eyes. We both smiled, amused at how shocked we were to have agreed with each other. A moment later, he re cancelled to his work.Youre good too, he said, not too grudgingly. The way you encompassd yourselfHe didnt finish the estimate, but I knew what he was talking about. Spokane. Christian hadnt been around when I killed the Strigoi, but hed been instrumental in dowery with the escape. He and I had teamed up, using his fire magic as a means of letting me cut down our captors. Wed worked well together, all of our animosity put aside.I guess you and I have better things to do than fight all the time, I mused. Like worry about Victor Dashkovs trial, I realized. For a moment, I considered telling Christian what Id learned. Hed been around the night it had all gone down with Victor last fall, but I decided not to mention the news just yet. Lissa needed to hear it first.Yup, Christian said, unconscious of my thoughts. Brace yourself, but we arent that different. I mean, Im smarter and a lot funnier, but at the end of the day, we both want to keep her safe. He hesitated. You knowIm not going to take her away from you. I cant. No one can, not as long as you guys have that bond.I was surprised hed brought this up. I honestly suspect that there were two basiss he and I argued a lot. One was that we both had personalities that liked to argue. The other reason the big one was that we were each envious of the others relationship with Lissa. But, as hed said, we really had the same motives. We cared about her.And dont speak out the bond will keep you guys apart, I said. I knew the link bothered him. How could you ever get romantically close to someone when they had that kind of connection with another person, even if that other person was just a friend? She cares about you. I couldnt bring myself to say loves. She has a whole separate place for you in her heart.Christian put his dish in the oven. You did not just say that. I have a feeling were on the verge of hugging and coming up with cute nicknames for each other. He was difficult to look disgusted at my sentiment, but I could tell he liked being told that Lissa cared about him.I already have a nickname for you, but Ill get in trouble if I say it in class.Ah, he said happily. Thats the Rose I know.He went off to talk to another friend while his meatloaf cooked, which was probably just as well. My doo r was a vulnerable position, and I shouldnt have been chatting away, even if the rest of the class was. Across the room, I saw Jesse and Ralf working together. Like Christian, theyd elect a blow-off class too.No attacks occurred, but a guardian named Dustin did come in to make notes on us novices as we held our positions. He was standing near me right when Jesse chose to stroll by. At first, I thought it was a coincidence until Jesse spoke.I take back what I said earlier, Rose. I figured it out. You arent mad because of Lissa or Christian. Youre upset because the rules say you have to be with a student, and Adrian Ivashkovs too old. The way I hear it, you guys have already had a lot of practice watching each others bodies.That joke could have been so much funnier, but Id learned not to expect too much from Jesse. I knew for a fact that he didnt care about Adrian and me. I also suspected he didnt even believe we had anything going on. But Jesse was still bitter about me threatening him earlier, and here was his chance to get back at me. Dustin, standing within earshot, had no interest in Jesses idiotic teasing. Dustin would probably have an interest, however, if I slammed Jesses face into the wall.That didnt mean I had to be silent, though. Guardians talked to Moroi all the time they just tended to be respectful and still keep an eye on their surroundings. So I gave Jesse a small smile and simply said, Your wit is eternally such a delight, Mr. Zeklos. I can barely contain myself around it. I then turned away and surveyed the rest of the room.When Jesse realized I wasnt going to do anything else, he laughed and walked away, apparently thinking hed won some great victory. Dustin left shortly thereafter.Asshole, muttered Christian, returning to his station. Class had about five minutes left.My eyes followed Jesse across the room. You know something, Christian? Im pretty happy to be guarding you.If youre comparing me to Zeklos, I dont really take that as much o f a compliment. But here, try this. Then youll really be glad youre with me.His chef-doeuvre was finished, and he gave me a piece. I hadnt realized it, but just before the meatloaf had gone in, hed clad it in bacon.Good God, I said. This is the most stereotypical vampire food ever.Only if it was raw. What do you think?Its good, I said reluctantly. Who knew that bacon would make all the difference? Really good. I think you have a promising future as a housewife while Lissa works and makes millions of dollars.Funny, thats exactly my dream.We left the class in lighter moods. Things had grown more friendly between us, and I decided that I could handle the next six weeks protecting him.He and Lissa were going to meet in the library to study or pretend to study but he had to stop by his dorm first. So I followed him across the quad, back into the winter air that had grown chillier since sunset seven hours ago. The snow on the paths, which had turned kitschy in the sun, had now froze n up and made walking treacherous. Along the way, we were joined by Brandon Lazar, a Moroi who lived in Christians hall. Brandon could barely contain himself, recapping a fight hed witnessed in his math class. We listened to his rendition, all of us express emotion at the thought of Alberta sneaking in through the window.Hey, she might be old, but she could take on almost any of us, I told them. I gave Brandon a puzzled look. He had bruises and red splotches on his face. He also had a few weird welts near his ear. What happened to you? Have you been fighting guardians too?His smile apace disappeared, and he looked away from me. Nah, just fell.Come on, I said. Moroi might not train to fight like dhampirs did, but they got in brawls with each other just as often as anyone else. I tried to think of any Moroi he might have a conflict with. For the most part, Brandon was pretty likeable. Thats the lamest, most unoriginal excuse in the world.Its true, he said, still avoiding my eyes.If someones screwing with you, I can give you a few pointers.He turned back to me, locking eyes. Just let it go. He wasnt hostile or anything, but there was a firm note in his voice. It was almost like he believed look the words alone would make me obey him.I chuckled. What are you trying to do? Compel me Suddenly, I saw movement on my left. A slight shadow blending in with the dark shapes of a cluster of snowy pine trees but moving just enough to catch my attention. Stans face emerged from the lousiness as he sprang toward us.Finally, my first test.Adrenaline shot through me just as strongly as if a real Strigoi were approaching. I reacted instantly, reaching out to grab both Brandon and Christian. That was always the first move, to blur my own life before theirs. I jerked the two guys to a halt and turned toward my attacker, reaching for my stake in order to defend the Moroi And thats when he appeared.Mason.He stood several feet in front of me, off to Stans right, looking just as he had last night. Translucent. Shimmering. Sad.The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I froze, ineffectual to move or finish going for my stake. I forgot about what Id been doing and completely lost track of the sight and commotion around me. The world slowed down, everything fading around me. There was only Mason that ghostly, shimmering Mason who glowed in the dark and seemed like he so badly wanted to tell me something. The same feeling of failing Id experienced in Spokane returned to me. I hadnt been able to help him then. I couldnt help him now. My stomach turned mothy and hollow. I could do nothing except stand there, wondering what he was trying to say.He lift one translucent hand and pointed off toward the other side of campus, but I didnt know what it meant. There was so much over there, and it wasnt clear what he was pointing at. I shook my head, not understanding but desperately wishing I could. The sorrow on his face seemed to grow.Suddenly, something slammed into my shoulder, and I stumbled forward. The world suddenly started up again, snapping me out of the dreamy state Id just been in. I only barely managed to throw out my turn over in time to stop myself from hitting the ground. I looked up and saw Stan standing over me. Hathaway he barked. What are you doing? I blinked, still trying to shake off the weirdness of seeing Mason again. I felt sluggish and dazed. I looked into Stans angry face and then glanced over at where Mason had been. He was gone. I turned my attention back to Stan and realized what had happened. In my distraction, Id completely spaced while hed re-create his attack. He now had one arm around Christians neck and one around Brandons. He wasnt smart them, but his point was made.If I had been a Strigoi, he growled, these two would be dead.