Dimitri's Point of View in Vampire Academy (VA fans) (Book 1)

Part 4

Chapter 4:

After I left Rose I headed in the direction of the gym. I didn't like to take time off of work. And as I neared the tall gothic building I could see the campus' guardian's roaming around it, others shared similar beliefs.

Beliefs that taking time off of work is obsurd when it comes to protecting Moroi. And once a guardian faces a Strigoi they tend to stay glued to the gym.

I ran into Alberta in the buildings massive wooden doors. She had short pixie cut hair with a promise mark that all guardians possessed and molnija marks up and down her skinny neck. She gave me a wide smile.

"Belikov, never able to take time away from work like always I see." She said as we closed the heavy doors. Like I had guessed guardians like me were training and building their bodies.

I glanced away from my peers to gaze into Alberta's blue eyes. I didn't smile back. "I can't see why someone would take time off except for sleeping and eating." I meant that, Strigoi were stronger than we ever would be. That meant that we had to train even harder to kill them.

She looked at me questioningly like I was joking, but my stone expression told her I was nowhere close to it. She didn't say anymore and stalked off to one of the many rooms that the gym held.

Sighing I went over to the fake dummies that were placed on the opposite side of the gym. I laid a hand over the stake that was holstered in my belt. Touching the cool surface always brought back memories. Memories I'd rather avoid. Killing was never easy, Strigoi or not. The first kill in a guardian's life will always be the hardest no matter how tough the guardian is.

Death is not an easy thing, like most people assumed. I had fought Strigoi, defending the Moroi from them and protecting others from the dangers the undead caused. Holding the stake, I was reminded of all the deaths it had committed and the hearts it had pierced.

As I said before, killing was never easy.

After lunch I continued my routine of going to classes and guarding the unprotected Moroi students. When the final class had ended I followed all the other guardians and students. The students were buzzing with excitement, eager to fit in social time before curfew. The Guardians shared the same excitement I did, to get to their next shift.

A normal person would think being excited over more work was absurd. But standing in the back of a classroom listening to lectures that didn't apply to you was harder than it sounded.

I walked back towards the gym. Rose and I would be working on the basics today, building up her stamina and muscle before we got to the difficult stuff. So as I made my way to the weight room the plan started to form in my head. Twenty minutes had passed before I started to become curious. Rose shouldn't be this long; it would normally take ten minutes to come over here. And knowing her reckless nature she most likely decided to skip our session.

With a sigh I got up and decided walking back through the school would be a start. I should have known Rose would do this to me, but I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I saw potential in Rose the night we found her. The way her eyes glowed with determination and self-sacrifice was hard to miss.

I made my way through the school's busy campus, looking for someone who could give me information on where Rose was. I asked the people I saw her with in first period. Mason didn't know, and neither did the other novices. Friends from Stan's class reported the same thing.

Worried I walked towards the building my last class had been in. The headmistress walked by me just then. I caught her attention when I pulled her aside from lingering students. "What is it Belikov? I have work to do."