What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was the end of the first week of the 'training' exercise and nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but my favourite day must have been when Dimitri and I had to guard Stan's junior class. He couldn't believe that I was standing up against the wall in his classroom, acting every bit the guardian. I think it also really bugged him to see me carrying silver; I was glad though that he never got close enough to see that they were personalised. Some of the students were emboldened by my presence; mine and Stan's verbal sparring sessions were legendary. I felt like a proud parent. I could see a little smirk on Dimitri's lips as he watched the class toy with Guardian Alto.

During the week some wise ass moroi, obviously at Jesse's insistence, asked why I was always patrolling with Guardian Belikov. Dimitri informed them that, if they had a problem with rosters they should take it up with Head Guardian Petrov, which they had the nerve to do. Alberta stated that all novices had a guide for this exercise and as my mentor, Guardian Belikov wanted to continue my training in other guardian procedures himself, and that seemed to be the end of it but I knew life was never that simple.

Today was our day off; I had been working on the mountain of homework the Moroi teachers had lumped on us due to not attending class. They really shouldn't be allowed to be so cruel. I think they all took exception to us all being let off classes for two weeks so they gave us homework equivalent of a month. Married to Mr Organised appears to have had an effect on me though, as I have managed to spread the work out, allowing enough time on each subject without skimping. I was just finishing up a particularly beastly paper on calculus when I felt Dimitri's arms snake around my waist.

"You nearly finished Milaya?" he said as he kissed my neck.

"I hope so because there is no way I can concentrate now" I said with a giggle.

I tried to tidy up my work but I was finding it more and more difficult as Dimitri continued to lavish me with kisses. I lifted my head to allow better access to my neck and jawline but as my eyes alighted to the window, they were met by the smug grin of Jesse Zeklos.

I gasped and Dimitri halted and looked in the direction I was. When I heard him curse in Russian I knew he had seen Jesse at the window. We both got up and went to the door to look to see his direction when I felt a wave of nausea pass over me.

"Comrade, Strigoi!"

We both had our stakes out in a flash. Our house was close to the wards on the north side of the grounds so it was possible they were outside them, however, we knew we had to check, especially with Jesse out here, even if he is a pain in the neck.

We made our way around the side of the house, staying to the shadows. In the distance we saw movement, not the methodical movements of a patrol guardian or even the less practiced gait of a novice but a menacing purposeful movement; the movement of a strigoi. I indicated to Dimitri what I could see and he returned the indication. Without a word, we fell into formation side by side, inching towards our quarry. As we were coming up on the ward boundary something caught my attention, a boundary stake lying on the ground. It had been purposefully up rooted and left, effectively rendering the wards in this area ineffective. Were the strigoi expecting to get in tonight? Had someone done this because it was planned? Many questions were running through my head. Who could have done this if that was the case? No time to contemplate that now, we had a job to do.

We could see two strigoi from our spot under the trees in the shadows but that didn't mean to say there weren't more. We inched closer until there was no more cover, and then sprang at the invaders.