Vampire Academy: Last Sacrifice (Dimitri's POV)

Chapter 10

The rest of the night was just as boring as any other night. I watched the room carefully. Sydney never stirred and I envied her having a full night's sleep. I was getting exhausted now. When I woke up Rose for her shift, she seemed alert and ready, so I slipped into the bed gratefully and closed my eyes. I was out within seconds. I wondered if any spirit dreams and sincerely hoped not. I didn't fancy seeing however Rose had been with. Her cheerful mood had probably been triggered by yet another spirit dream with Adrian that I hadn't seen, and I certainly didn't want the after-effects of that. He gloated enough as it was.

Thankfully, I managed to get some rest that night. Spirit dreams had always made me feel even more tired than I was before, so my dreams were invited gladly. They were usually just dots of colour and small visions of my family, friends and Rose. I tried to chase that last one away but my subconscious just kept bringing it back up. I guess I really wouldn't ever get over her. Stupid idiot, Dimka, my mother's voice chastised. If you had been more careful then you could've been spending this summer together happily. Maybe you'd get the chance to be a guardian. That was another thing to worry me. If we managed to get back to Court and prove our innocence, I doubted we'd get to be guardians again, especially me. We'd probably end up filing or cleaning the courtyards. Great. I often found myself having nightmares about being Strigoi that made me fidget and moan. Sleep wasn't always the best for me.

There was a sudden touched to my shoulder and I jerked awake, scanning the room. Rose was smiling at my face.

"Easy," she murmured. "Just a wake-up call. Sounds like our red-neck friends are getting up."

I stretched and clambered out of the bed. Sydney rolled over and squinted at the light.

"What time is it?" she mumbled.

"Not sure. Probably past midday. Maybe three? Four?" The sun streaming in from the window was a pretty big clue. She sat up sharply.

"In the afternoon? Damn you guys and your unholy schedule."

"Did you just say 'damn'?" Rose teased. "Isn't that against Alchemist rules?"

"Sometimes it's necessary. I guess we need a plan."

"We have one. Find Lissa's sibling."

"I never entirely agreed to that. And you guys keep thinking I can just magically type away like some movie hacker to find all your answers."

"Well at least it's a place to- Crap. Your laptop won't even work out here."

"It's got a satellite modem, but it's the battery we have to worry about. I need a coffee shop or something."

"I think I saw one in a cave down the road," Rose joked. I smiled.

"There's got to be some town close by where I could use my laptop."

"But it's probably not a good idea to take the car out anywhere in this state," I pointed out, speaking for the first time. "Just in case someone at the motel got your license plate number."

"I know. I was thinking about that too." There was a knock at the door and we all swivelled around to see Sarah smiling at us.

"Oh good," she said. "You're all awake. We're getting breakfast ready if you want to join us." I could smell the delicious scent of bacon and eggs wafting through the doorway and my stomach rumbled. The bread had been nice, but I could really do with a full-on breakfast. We trudged into the main room where everybody was busy doing something. Raymond was cooking the bacon over the fire. He grinned when we walked in.

"Good morning," he greeted us. "I hope you're all hungry."

"Do you think that's, like, real bacon?" Rose whispered to us. "And not, like, squirrel or something."