o_18vdqvms01tdp1ck54q91frg17mg2d.pdf

THIRTEEN
PEOPLE STOOD UP AND SHOUTED, everyone wanting their opinion to be heard. As it was,
most of them held the same view: Tasha was wrong. They told her she was crazy. They told her
that in sending out Moroi and dhampirs to fight the Strigoi, she'd be expediting the extinction of
both races. They even had the nerve to suggest that that was Tasha's plan all along—that she
was somehow collaborating with the Strigoi in all of this.
Dimitri stood up, disgust all over his features as he surveyed the chaos. "You might as well
leave. Nothing useful's going to happen now."
Mason and I rose, but he shook his head when I started to follow Dimitri out.
"You go on," said Mason. "I want to check something out."
I glanced at the standing, arguing people. I shrugged. "Good luck."
I couldn't believe it had only been a few days since I'd spoken to Dimitri. Stepping out into the
hall with him, I felt like it'd been years. Being with Mason these last couple of days had been
fantastic, but seeing Dimitri again, all of my old feelings for him came rushing back. Suddenly,
Mason seemed like a child. My distress over the Tasha situation also came back, and stupid
words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"Shouldn't you be in there protecting Tasha?" I asked. "Before the mob gets her? She's going to
get in big trouble for using magic like that."
He raised an eyebrow. "She can take care of herself."
"Yeah, yeah, because she's a badass karate magic user. I get all that. I just figured since you're
going to be her guardian and all…"
"Where did you hear that?"