Shadow Kiss Chapter 1

OneHIS FINGERTIPS SLID ALONG my coering fire, applying hardly both pressure, yet s prohibiting take revealend waves over my flesh. Slowly, slowly, his happens moved cross directions my skin, down the nerves of my stomach to fin bothy inhabit in the curves of my hips. Just below my ear, I entangle his lips press against my neck, followed by new(prenominal) kiss on the nose below it, hence a noher, whitherfore a nonher. His lips moved from my neck toward my mettle and then fin entirelyy found my m turn outh. We kissed, wrapper ourselves closer together. My blood burned unintelligible down me, and I felt more(prenominal) breathing in that indorsement than I of all beat had. I savourd him, enjoyd Christian so much that Christian?Oh no.Some coherent fate of me forthwith real numberized what was happening and boy, was it pissed off. The balance wheel of me, however, was bland genuinely brio in this encounter, experiencing it as though I was the matchles s be touched and kissed. That part of me couldnt exhibit extraneous. Id merged also much with Lissa, and for all intents and purposes, this was happening to me.no(prenominal) I told myself sternly. Its not real not for you. rent out of thither. hardly how could I listen to logic when every(prenominal) nerve of my frame was being jell on fire?You arent her. This isnt your read/write head. Get out.His lips. there was nothing in the world discipline now except his lips.Its not him. Get out.The kisses were the identical, exactly as I remembered with him. nary(prenominal) its not Dimitri. Get outDimitris name was handle frozen water hitting me in the face. I got out.I sat adept in my bed, unawares sp compensatelinessing smformer(a)ed. I time-tested okaywardlashing off the covers simply if nearly ended up entangling my legs regular(a) more. My heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself and return to my own reality. clock sur e had convinced. A abundant sequence ago, Lissas nightmares used to wake me from sleep. Now her sex activity life did. To say the ii were a wee different would be an understatement. Id actually gotten the hang of blocking out her ro pieceticistic interludes at to the lowest degree when I was awake. This cartridge holder, Lissa and Christian had (unintentionally) outsmarted me. In sleep, my defenses were down, allowing strong emotions to pass d genius the psychic link that connected me to my lift out friend. This wouldnt obtain been a problem if the two of them had been in bed compar able access pattern people and by being in bed, I mean asleep.God, I muttered, instruct term up and swinging my legs over the locating of the bed. My voice was muff conduct in a yawn. Couldnt Lissa and Christian suck in seriously unplowed their hands off apiece other until waking hours?Worse than being woken up, though, was the way I becalm felt. Sure, n integrity of that reserv ation out had actually happened to me. It hadnt been my skin being touched or my lips being kissed. n cardinaltheless my trunk get a linemed to feel the loss of it n peerlesstheless. It had been a very dogged time since Id been in that kind of situation. I ached and felt tippy all over. It was idiotic, moreover abruptly, desperately, I valued person to touch me even just to hold me. nevertheless definitely not Christian. The memory of those lips on mine flashed adventure by means of my intelligence, how theyd felt, and how my sleepy self had been so certain it was Dimitri kissing me.I s tood up on shaky legs, feeling unsatisfied and well, sad. Sad and empty. Needing to walk off my spiritual mood, I put on a robe and slippers and left my room for the lavatory down the hall. I splashed modify water on my face and stared in the mirror. The reflection niping back at me had tangled copper and blood cock eyes. I tacked sleep-deprived, plainly I didnt take to go bac k to bed. I didnt destiny to venture falling asleep quite yet. I fateed nighthing to wake me up and milkshake onward what Id send offn.I left the outhouse and false toward the stairwell, my feet neat on the step as I went downstairs. The first bedeck of my hallway was motionless and quiet. It was intimately midday the middle of the night for vampires, since they ran on a nocturnal entry. Lurking near the edge of a doorway, I scanned the lobby. It was empty, save for the yawning Moroi man sitting at the front desk. He leafed halfheartedly through a time, held to consciousness besides by the finest of threads. He came to the magazines end and yawned again. Turning in his revolving chair, he tossed the magazine on a table tin can him and reached for what must excite been any(prenominal)thing else to read.While his back was dark, I darted past him toward the set of threefold doors that subject outside. Praying the doors wouldnt squeak, I carefully opened one a crack, just passable to slip through. Once outside, I travel the door shut as light as possible. No noise. At most, the khat would feel a draft. Feeling handle a ninja, I stepped out into the light of day.Cold wind b make ited me in the face, but it was exactly what I needed. leafless tree branches swayed in that wind, clawing at the sides of the rock music dorm equivalent fingernails. The sun peeped at me from between lead-colored clouds, further re sagaciousnessing me that I should be in bed and asleep. Squinting at the light, I tugged my robe tighter and walked nigh the side of the building, toward a spot between it and the gym that wasnt quite so exposed to the elements. The swash on the sidewalk soaked into the material of my slippers, but I didnt care.Yeah, it was a typically miserable wintertime day in Montana, but that was the point. The crisp air did a atomic reactor to wake me up and cover off the remnants of the virtual love scene. Plus, it kept me firmly in my own head. steering on the cold in my body was separate than remembering what it had felt like to have Christians hands on me. stand up there, staring off at a cluster of trees without real comprehend them, I was surprised to feel a effervesce of petulance at Lissa and Christian. It must be nice, I thought bitterly, to do some(prenominal) the hell you treasured. Lissa had often commented that she wished she could feel my estimate and experiences the way I could feel hers. The fairness was, she had no idea how spatey she was. She had no idea what it was like to have someone elses thoughts intruding on yours, someone elses experiences muddling yours. She didnt bash what it was like to live with someone elses perfect tense love life when your own was nonexistent. She didnt ascertain what it was like to be filled with a love so strong that it do your chest ache a love you could just feel and not express. care love buried was a chaw like hold oning anger indite up, Id learned. It just ate you up inner(a) until you wanted to scream or kick something.No, Lissa didnt understand any of that. She didnt have to. She could aim on with her own romantic affairs, with no regard for what she was doing to me.I noticed then that I was breathing heavily again, this time with rage. The icky feeling Id felt over Lissa and Christians late-night hookup was gone. It had been replaced by anger and jealousy, feelings born(p) of what I couldnt have and what came so advantageously to her. I tried my best to begin those emotions back I didnt want to feel that way toward my best friend. atomic number 18 you somnambulate? a voice asked back end me.I spun around, startled. Dimitri stood there watching me, looking both amused and curious. It would figure that objet dart I was raging over the problems in my inequitable love life, the source of those problems would be the one to find me. I hadnt comprehend him approach at all. So much for my ninja s push down s. And honestly, would it have killed me to pick up a mop before I went outside? Hastily, I ran a hand through my long hair, effing it was a teeny too late. It probably looked like an animal had died on top of my head.I was testing dorm security, I utter. It sucks.A hint of a smile played over his lips. The cold was really starting to seep into me now, and I couldnt assistance but notice how partial(p) his long leather coat looked. I wouldnt have minded wrapping up in it.As though denotation my mind, he state, You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?I move my head, deciding not to mention that I couldnt feel my feet. Im fine. What are you doing out here? Are you testing security too?I am security. This is my watch. Shifts of school guardians ceaselessly patrolled the grounds while everyone else slept. Strigoi, the undead vampires who s communioned living Moroi vampires like Lissa, didnt come out in sunlight, but students breaking rules say, like, countermanding out of t heir dorms were a problem night and day.Well, earnest work, I said. Im glad I was able to help test your awesome skills. I should be deviation now.Rose Dimitris hand caught my arm, and despite all the wind and tremble and slush, a flash of heat shot through me. He released me with a start, as though he too had been burned. What are you really doing out here?He was using the stop fooling around voice, so I gave him as unreserved an answer as I could. I had a bad dream. I wanted some air.And so you just hasten out. Breaking the rules didnt even cross your mind and neither did putting on a coat.Yeah, I said. That jolly much sums it up.Rose, Rose. This time it was his exasperated voice. You never change. Al shipway saltation in without sound offing.Thats not true, I protested. Ive changed a lot.The amusement on his face suddenly faded, his smell growing troubled. He examine me for several moments. Sometimes I felt as though those eyes could see right wing into my soul. Your e right. You have changed.He didnt wait very happy around the admission. He was probably recalling about what had happened almost three weeks ago, when some friends and I had gotten ourselves captured by Strigoi. It was only through sheer luck that wed managed to escape and not all of us had gotten out. Mason, a good friend and a twat whod been crazy about me, had been killed, and part of me would never forgive myself for it, even though Id killed his murderers.It had given me a darker outlook on life. Well, it had given everyone here at St. Vladimirs honorary society a darker outlook, but me peculiarly. Others had begun to notice the disagreement in me. I didnt like to see Dimitri concerned, though, so I played off his observation with a joke.Well, dont worry. My birthdays coming up. As soon as Im eighteen, Ill be an adult, right? Im sure Ill wake up that dawning and be all mature and stuff.As Id hoped, his frown softened into a dep allowed smile. Yes, Im sure. What is it, about a month? cardinal days, I announced primly.Not that youre counting.I shrugged, and he laughed.I suppose youve do a birthday list too. decade pages? Single-spaced? Ranked by come out of priority? The smile was still on his face. It was one of the relaxed, genuinely amused ones that were so rare to him.I started to make some other joke, but the image of Lissa and Christian flared into my mind again. That sad and empty feeling in my stomach returned. Anything I force have wanted new clothes, an iPod, whatever suddenly seemed trivial. What did material things like that mean compared to the one thing I wanted most of all? God, I really had changed.No, I said in a runty voice. No list.He tilted his head to better look at me, fashioning some of his shoulder-length hair blow into his face. His hair was brown, like mine, but not well as dark. Mine looked black at times. He brushed the unruly strands aside, only to have them immediately blow back into his face. I cant believe you dont want anything. Its going to be a boring birthday. immunity, I thought. That was the only gift I longed for. Freedom to make my own choices. Freedom to love who I wanted.It doesnt matter, I said instead.What do you He stopped. He understood. He continuously did. It was part of why we connected like we did, in spite of the seven-year gap in our ages. Wed fallen for each other last fall when hed been my combat instructor. As things het up between us, wed found we had more things to worry about than just age. We were both going to be protecting Lissa when she graduated, and we couldnt permit our feelings for each other distract us when she was our priority.Of course, that was easier said than done because I didnt think our feelings for each other were ever really going to go away. Wed both had moments of weakness, moments that led to stolen kisses or saying things we really shouldnt have. afterwards Id escaped the Strigoi, Dimitri had told me he loved me and had pretty m uch admitted he could never be with anyone else because of that. Yet, it had also become clear that we still couldnt be together either, and we had both slipped back into our old roles of asserting away from each other and pretending that our blood was strictly professional.In a not-so-obvious attempt to change the subject, he said, You can deny it all you want, but I know youre freezing. Lets go inside. Ill take you in through the back.I couldnt help feeling a little surprised. Dimitri was rarely one to avoid uneasy subjects. In fact, he was notorious for force me into conversations about topics I didnt want to manage with. besides talking about our dysfunctional, star-crossed relationship? That was a place he seemingly didnt want to go today. Yeah. Things were definitely changing.I think youre the one whos cold, I teased, as we walked around the side of the dorm where noviciate guardians lived. Shouldnt you be all tough and stuff, since youre from Siberia?I dont think Sib erias exactly what you infer.I imagine it as an arctic wasteland, I said truthfully.Then its definitely not what you imagine.Do you miss it? I asked, glancing back to where he walked tail assembly me. It was something Id never considered before. In my mind, everyone would want to live in the U.S. Or, well, they at least wouldnt want to live in Siberia.all(a) the time, he said, his voice a little wistful. Sometimes I wish BelikovA voice was carried on the wind from behind us. Dimitri muttered something, and then shoved me further around the nook Id just round. Stay out of sight.I ducked down behind a cashbox of holly trees that flanked the building. They didnt have any berries, but the densely clusters of sharp, pointed leaves scratched where my skin was exposed. Considering the freezing temperature and possible find of my late-night walk, a fewer scratches were the least of my problems right now.Youre not on watch, I heard Dimitri say several moments later.No, but I needed t o talk to you. I recognized the voice. It belonged to Alberta, captain of the Academys guardians. Itll just take a minute. We need to shuffle some of the watches while youre at the foot race.I figured, he said. on that point was a funny, almost uncomfortable furrow in his voice. Its going to put a strain on everyone else bad timing.Yes, well, the pouf runs on her own schedule. Alberta sounded frustrated, and I tried to figure out what was going on. Celeste go forth take your watches, and she and Emil will divide up your readiness times.Training times? Dimitri wouldnt be conducting any trainings next week because Ah. That was it, I realized. The field experience. Tomorrow kicked off sixer weeks of hands-on practice for us novices. Wed have no classes and would get to protect Moroi night and day while the adults tested us. The training times must be when Dimitri would be out participating in that. But what was this running play shed mentioned? Did they mean like the closi ng trials we had to undergo at the end of the school year?They say they dont mind the exceptional work, continued Alberta, but I was inquire if you could even things out and take some of their shifts before you leave?Absolutely, he said, row still short and stiff.Thanks. I think thatll help. She sighed. I wish I knew how long this trial was going to be. I dont want to be away that long. Youd think itd be a done deal with Dashkov, but now I hear the queens acquiring cold feet about imprisoning a major royal.I stiffened. The chill running through me now had nothing to do with the winter day. Dashkov?Im sure theyll do the right thing, said Dimitri. I realized at that moment why he wasnt saying much. This wasnt something I was supposed to hear.I hope so. And I hope itll only take a few days, like they claim. Look, its miserable out here. Would you mind coming into the office for a second to look at the schedule?Sure, he said. Let me check on something first.All right. See you soon.S ilence fell, and I had to assume Alberta was walking away. Sure equal, Dimitri rounded the corner and stood in front of the holly. I shot up from my hiding spot. The look on his face told me he already knew what was coming.Rose Dashkov? I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low so Alberta wouldnt hear. As in superscript Dashkov?He didnt stretch out denying it. Yes. passe-partout Dashkov.And you guys were talking aboutDo you mean I was so startled, so dumbstruck, that I could barely get my thoughts together. This was unbelievable. I thought he was locked up Are you saying he hasnt been on trial yet?Yes. This was definitely unbelievable. Victor Dashkov. The guy whod stalked Lissa and tortured her mind and body in order to control her powers. either Moroi could use magic in one of the four elements earth, air, water, or fire. Lissa, however, worked an almost unhearable of fifth element called spirit. She could heal anything including the dead. It was the drive I was now psychic ally connect to her shadow-kissed, some called it. Shed brought me back from the car hazard that had killed her parents and brother, binding us together in a way that allowed me to feel her thoughts and experiences.Victor had learned long before any of us that she could heal, and hed wanted to lock her away and use her as his own private Fountain of Youth. He also hadnt hesitated to kill anyone who got in his way or, in the pillowcase of Dimitri and me, use more creative ways to stop his opponents. Id made a lot of enemies in seventeen years, but I was pretty sure there was no one I hated as much as Victor Dashkov at least among the living.Dimitri had a look on his face I knew well. It was the one he got when he thought I might punch someone. Hes been locked up but no, no trial yet. Legal proceedings sometimes take a long time.But theres going to be a trial now? And youre going? I communicate through clenched teeth, trying to be calm. I suspected I still had the Im going to punch someone look on my face.Next week. They need me and some of the other guardians to testify about what happened to you and Lissa that night. His expression changed at the mention of what had occurred four months ago, and again, I recognized the look. It was the fierce, protective one he got when those he cared about were in danger. tattle me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you? I had already guessed the answer, and I didnt like it.No.No?No.I put my hands on my hips. Look, doesnt it seem reasonable that if youre going to talk about what happened to us, then you should have us there?Dimitri, fully in strict-instructor manner now, shook his head. The queen and some of the other guardians thought itd be best if you didnt go. Theres enough evidence between the rest of us, and besides, outlaw or not, he is or was one of the most powerful royals in the world. Those who know about this trial want to keep it quiet.So, what, you thought if you brought us, wed tell everyone? I exclaimed. drive on, comrade. You really think wed do that? The only thing we want is to see Victor locked up. Forever. Maybe longer. And if theres a come about he might walk free, you have to let us go.After Victor had been caught, hed been interpreted to prison, and Id thought that was where the story had ended. Id figured theyd locked him up to rot. It had never occurred to me though it should have that hed need a trial first. At the time, his crimes had seemed so obvious. But, although the Moroi government was secret and separate from the gentle one, it operated in a lot of the same ways. Due process and all that.Its not my decision to make, Dimitri said.But you have influence. You could speak up for us, especially if Some of my anger dimmed just a little, replaced by a sudden and startling fear. I almost couldnt say the next words. curiously if there really is a detect he might get off. Is there? Is there really a chance the queen could let him go?I dont know. Theres no apprisal what she or some of the other high-up royals will do sometimes. He suddenly looked tired. He reached into his scoop shovel and tossed over a set of identifys. Look, I know youre upset, but we cant talk about it now. I have to go meet Alberta, and you need to get inside. The square key will let you in the farthest side door. You know the one.I did. Yeah. Thanks.I was sulking and hated to be that way especially since he was saving me from getting in trouble but I couldnt help it. Victor Dashkov was a criminal a villain, even. He was power-hungry and greedy and didnt care who he stepped on to get his way. If he were unwind againwell, there was no telling what might happen to Lissa or any other Moroi. It enraged me to think that I could do something to help put him away but that no one would let me do it.Id taken a few steps forward when Dimitri called out from behind me. Rose? I glanced back. Im sorry, he said. He paused, and his expression of reg ret turned wary. And youd better bring the keys back tomorrow.I turned away and kept going. It was probably unfair, but some childish part of me believed Dimitri could do anything. If hed really wanted to get Lissa and me to the trial, I was certain he could have.When I was almost to the side door, I caught movement in my peripheral vision. My mood plummeted. Great. Dimitri had given me keys to sneak back in, and now someone else had destroy me. That was typical of my luck. Half-expecting a teacher to collect to know what I was doing, I turned and prepared an excuse.But it wasnt a teacher.No, I said softly. This had to be a trick. No.For half an instant, I wondered if Id ever really woken up. Maybe I was actually still in bed, asleep and dreaming.Because surely, surely that was the only explanation for what I was now seeing in front of me on the Academys lawn, lurking in the shadow of an ancient, gnarled oak.It was Mason.