CHAPTER 9

All of us novices were waiting in the gym to find out our charge for the field experience. I already knew mine. Since I came back, people regarded me like a star. When I walked, people would clear the way for me. Even the queen bitches and jerks. Of course, Ben and Terrence didn't really care but now, they have been lying low.

Alberta was calling names. She was giving small packages to everyone whose names were already called upon. "Mikael Castile" she announced. "Sarafina Dragomir" she eyed me carefully. Well, everyone did. I wasn't really going to make a scene and I already knew that was going to happen since I too have a guardian who happens to be Daniel...

For my field experience though, Daniel would help me guard some moroi. "Sophia Hathaway" Alberta announced. "Valerie Drozdov" I was thankful since it was Val and not some stuck- ups like Ben or Luna. I got up and took the package from her. "Remember, you'll have help" she whispered and I nodded a yes.

I made my way to the cafeteria and found my friends already sitting there. "Hey, Who'd you get?" asked Mikael. "Valerie" I replied. Valerie and Sara squealed. They were so happy that their guardian novice were from our own clique. Soon after, Daniel arrived. He stood at the walls of the cafeteria and waited for me and Valerie. The only reason I actually got to participate was because I had a real guardian to help me.  Of course, the real reason I was awfully happy for a few days was because I got to see Daniel more. He still trained me in the mornings though. Even with molnija marks, he wanted to teach me more and make me more, quote 'invincible' unquote. Show off, much?

The students cleared up the cafeteria. We headed to the moroi dorms. Val and Sara were talking while Mikael walked in front of them, observing for any threat skillfully. I was trailing behind them with Daniel following me.

At the hallway leading to Valerie's room, there was a group of students crowding the area. Val walked forward and pushed through the crowd. I followed her. I couldn't find Daniel and that meant I had to protect her myself. Soon, Sara and Mikael were beside us.

Stan and two other guardians were fighting Ben's guardian. He was good but he was struggling a little. I caught Mikael's attention and motioned for him to protect Valerie too. I sprang into the battle. I stood in between Stan and another guardian/ strigoi. That gave the novice plenty of time to fight the other guardian. They were circling me. I didn't budge. I stood there anticipating any move they were going to make. The younger guardian attacked. I carefully dodged and hit him back. Stan took this chance and knocked my feet. I fell backwards but managed to regain my balance and punched his stomach. I turned and in a second, I kicked the other guardian's stomach. They both fell but Stan got up quickly.

I took out the practice stake from my pocket and held it up hoping for a chance to hit Stan. The other guardian got up and tried to punch me but I dodged, making him hit Stan instead.

The crowd screamed and cheered but I stayed calm. I took that opportunity and hit his heart with the stake playfully. The other guardian carried me up and pinned me down. I moved a little and shifted to face him. I slowly pushed the stake up and hit the targeted spot.

Once I got up, I realized that the guardians were gone. The crowd had dispersed and I caught Daniel leaning by the wall. I scowled and walked over to him, panting and sweating. "You didn't help me" I accused.

"I couldn't" he smirked.

"What do you mean?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"It already isn't fair that I'm helping you and you have the specialization and I still have to help you?" he shook his head.

"Oh, come on!" I complained and pouted. He chuckled.

Valerie and the others walked towards me. They were grinning and Sara's eyes showed so much happiness and she was proud. I grinned at her. " That was awesome, Soph!" Val squealed and hugged me. I just nodded.

"You should have seen it. You were like all serious and no play" Sara added.

"I wonder what would it be like if you had to fight your mom, Dimitri, Daniel, my dad, Mikhail and your grandmother together with Stan and Alberta at once . . ." he said grinning.

"Watch it, Mikael. Don't curse me!" I threatened.

"Umm" he held his hand up, surrendering.

We all broke into laughter. Joseph came running to us. "Sorry, guys. Traffic jam. There was another battle" he said, panting.

"Who's fighting?" I asked, curiously.

 "Cora Badica's guardian" he answered.

"Who's the guardian?" Mikael asked excitedly.

"That's the problem . . . Dimitri and Janine"

My grin vanished. I gulped and stared at Mikael. Everyone stopped smiling too. Daniel straightened up. "Mikael . . . I kind of hate you right now" I growled. He nodded and dragged Sara away.

"What was that about?" Jo asked clueless.

"Come on. I'll tell ya later" Valerie dragged him to her room.

I started walking back. The guardians made sure I lived in the moroi dorm beside Valerie's room for a while. I walked in and threw my bag onto the floor. I plopped on the bed and closed my eyes. "What are they doing here?" I asked Daniel, knowing perfectly well he was there. "Who? Me?" Dimi's voice made me get up.

I looked at him and nodded. "It's alright. I know you weren't expecting us" I smiled looking for mom. "She's not here. She's talking to Alberta" he informed.

"Is Lissa and Christian here?" I asked.

"No. They decided on a vacation and sent us away too. We decided to come here instead."

"Oh. Why's grandma here?"

"Abe's here. He wants to talk some business stuff with Headmistress Kirova."

"Oh. So, I heard about your fight. How was it?"

"That novice was lazy and didn't really pay attention" he commented.  

"Oh. Okay" I said awkwardly.

"How was yours?" he questioned.

"Okay, I guess. They weren't really using full strength . . ."

"Oh. Anyway, it's late. I should go. See you in a while. Good night" he said.

"Ok. Nite" I smiled.

He walked out and closed the door. I got up and took some clothes out of the dresser. I started stripping off my clothes when I heard the door open and close. I covered myself nervously. Daniel stood frozen with his eyes wide open. I ran into the bathroom and closed the door.

Once I put on my pyjamas, I walked back into the room. "Sorry" he whispered. I nodded and got into my bed. I wished Daniel good night and went to sleep. Again, I did not have visions.

                                                 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We were all heading to court for the weekend. The SUVs weren't enough for everyone so some of us actually had to walk. They included the guardians. I was now getting really bored of court. Normally, I would freak that I got to leave the school but the recent travelling for our field experience wasn't fun at all. Especially if your secret love is beside you and all you want to do is snuggle up beside him and kiss him again and again.

Over the six weeks, Daniel and I got closer than ever. Whenever he was around, I didn't have any visions which I found real strange but couldn't care less about it. I also got a good amount of sleep because sometimes, we would have stolen kisses or end up hugging each other. Mikael also gave me a tip that a huge battle among novice and guardians were coming soon for the last week of field experience. Daniel no longer trained me. He always told me that I was ready whenever I asked nut I think he secretly wanted more sleep. But I still believed him.

I shifted uneasily on the seat. Daniel faced me. He raised an eyebrow, already guessing something is up. I shook my head no and leaned back on the car seat. I felt really tired so I dozed off. But who knew it was because of another vision. This time, the sight made me angry. My mother went all the way to Russia, skipped senior year and killed so many strigoi to find Dimitri and all he says is "Love fades. Mine has" I clenched my fists. How dare he hurt her that bad? But, they still managed to get back together in the end. With the exception of breaking Adrian's heart along the way.

Looking at the memory play in front of me, I started to have doubts about how me and Daniel's relationship at first but cooled off about it. But the thing is, I was . . . I don't really know what but he was a dhampir and my guardian. Not many dhampirs experience this and this makes it worse knowing he's an Ivashkov.

Someone woke me up. I fluttered my eyes open. Daniel was smiling at me. I yawned and returned him that warm smile. Once I got out of the car, he helped me carry my luggage along with his and brought them into the house. We had to share a room since we were still having our field experience but my mom wasn't too happy about it.

Everyone else went to their own houses while Daniel and I got settled in my room. "I've been meaning to ask . . . why don't you put these books at your dorm in St. Vlads?"

"Huh? Oh. I've actually read every single one of them at least twice so . . . but my favorite is the Evernight series by Claudia Gray" I answered.

"Oh. These ones?" he asked pointing to the books. I nodded. "What's it about?" I blushed but I told him everything I knew about it. How Bianca and Lucas loved each other. How many times they'd have to go through so much trouble for their love. How forbidden it was for her since she was a vampire and he a vampire hunter. How they had to lie to each other to keep their secrets from hurting one another. How she sacrificed herself to spare him from living an eternity without her, how they'd never get to kiss each other again and most importantly, how they had to hide their love from everyone. Their lives were constantly at risk and they were torn between love and family.

The funny thing was, Lucas was a lot like him and I told him that but he just laughed it off. When I showed him the page Bianca described him, he shut up but only after saying that he didn't have blonde hair and that his hair was brownish.

"Sophie, their lives are a lot like ours. Do you realize that?" he questioned.

"I did. Every time I came back since the kiss, I've read it a few times."

"I never meant for us to ever have this kind of life, understood? If ever, I will be the one sacrificing. Not you" he said firmly.

"Bu- but if something happens to you, I could never forgive myself" I answered softly.

"I know, Sofiya. I know." He whispered, embracing me in a warm hug.

"Sofiya! Get down here! And bring Danil with you!" Dimitri hollered.

"Coming!" I hollered back. "We should go get some lunch. I'm starved" I blushed when he chuckled and hit his arm playfully.

We had black bread, the Russian delicacy everyone loved. Clearly, Daniel enjoyed and missed it as much since he actually beat me to eating six to five pieces. Once I finished, I cleared all the plates. That's right! I did my chores. Usually, I would be in a happy mood when I did it and sometimes, I would do it because I want something. When this happens, I would usually talk to Dimi about it in Russian to prevent my mom from ever finding out and she would get real angry and irritated about it. There were times she was so annoyed that she locked both Dimi and I outside.

I remembered a memory when she locked us outside and it started to rain. We were drenched so we decided to play a trick on her. We made our way to Lissa's house and told them our plan. She got so worried that when she found us, she wouldn't stop pampering us like hell. I grinned at the memory.

"What's so funny?" asked Daniel.

"Nothing" I said smiling.

"Sofiya , pochemu ty vdrug delat' dela?" Dimi asked.

"(Sofiya, why are you suddenly doing chores?")

I smiled innocently and replied "ya chuvstvuyu, chto delayu eto , Dimku . ya na samom dele. eto prosto, chto ya nakhozhus' v khoroshem nastroyenii."  Daniel stared at me in shock. "For the record, you're supposed to be on duty" I laughed. Dimitri raised an eyebrow and chuckled with me.

"I didn't know you speak Russian?" he asked, still stunned.

"I made sure I taught her that when she was a kid" Dimi answered proudly.

My mom announced that she was going to Lissa's to check her and Dimitri's timetable so that left the three of us sitting in the backyard enjoying the view. Once my mom was gone, he Dimitri asked "What's going on between the two of you?" I froze. Shit! He found out. I was internally panicking. Daniel tensed a little but showed no emotion.

"Nothing, Guardian Belikov. She's just my student, charge and friend" Daniel

replied calm and smoothly.

Dimitri shook his head and chuckled. "I know it when someone's in love. You two clearly are. Don't worry. I won't tell on you. I know how it feels." He said. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "But . . . if you ever break her heart, I'll hunt you down and make your life a living hell" he added. Daniel nodded and smiled a forced smile. I giggled. Both of them stared at me and I blushed and looked away.

"Like you did with mom . . ." I muttered. "And what grandpa told you . . ." I added softly. Both of them looked at me questioningly. I grinned to cover the slip up but Dimitri still caught on and raised an eyebrow.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"You told me" I lied. "And so did mom"

He nodded and I sighed, relieved that he bought it.