Ok, Set after Shadow kiss. Contains spoilers. I only own Jake. Please review, i want to know what you think.

"Hey Lissa?" I asked into the expensive hotel's phone.

I hadn't spoken to her in the past 3 weeks. Yeah, it's not very long to kill the man you loved who turned into a monster. A Strigoi to be exact.

"Rose?" Lissa said, sounding a bit shaken. I quickly let the wall down I had been able to built to block out Lissa's feelings. It revealed she was relieved it was me, but in shock I was calling.

"Yeah, Lis. It's me." I said with a small smile on my lips. Something I hadn't done in a while.

"Oh my God! Rose! I can't believe it! I missed you so much; I thought you were going to be gone so much longer! Where are you? Are you coming back? Please say you are! Everyone is miserable without you! Even Christian seems down. Please tell me you're coming back. I need you. We only have like 2 weeks left of school. If you come back, you can still be my guardian as soon as we graduate." Her babbling was giving me a headache, but I didn't care. I missed her so much.

"Wow, Lissa, slow down. I've missed you too. So, so much. I'm sorry I left you like that. I feel so terrible! I'm on my way back to St Vlads don't worry. Really? My little pain in the ass misses me? Well I'm going to have to rub that in his face when I get back." I said, laughing lightly, another rare act lately. I heard Lissa laugh too. "But Lis, we can't get ahead of ourselves. I don't think I'll get to be your guardian straight after graduation. But don't worry, I'm going to fight to be it."

"Oh, Rose. Please hurry back. I can't wait." Lissa said, I could feel and hear how excited she was that I was coming back. "Don't worry, you will be my guardian. We'll figure it out." She said, still excited but determination in her voice.

"I will." I looked over at the little clock on the light pine bedside table. It said it was 3:30 am. "I'll be there about midday. Ohh, and please don't tell anyone, not even Christian, that I'm coming back. I want to make it a surprise." I said, smiling a small smile again.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you soon." I could hear she had a massive smile in her voice.

"Ok, bye. Love you, see you soon." I said then put the phone down.

I went over to the double bed and sat on the puffy white quilt. I looked around at the room. It wasn't a luxury suite, but it was nice and cosy. White walls, bright, greyish carpet. A living room with a T.V., a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a dining room – a table for only 2.

I picked up my duffel bag off the bed and walked out the door. I turned right and went down the hall to the elevators. I pressed down and waited for the elevator.

I noticed my reflection in the silver elevator doors. I was definitely a lot skinnier then I used to be. I mean, I was never fat, but I was never this skinny. My eyes didn't seem to have that little sparkle in them anymore. They were just plain old brown now. In my black tank top, I could see a couple of bruises on my arms. The worst of it was on my shoulder – I had a massive bruise covering my whole right shoulder. I probably look like I've been bashed. Well, that is partially true, just not in the way they probably think.

I could still remember how this bruise happened. I could still feel the pain of crashing into that brick wall so hard a few bricks went loose. I could still remember that red ring around those gorgeous brown irises.

Wow. Rose, seriously, stop right there! I thought to myself.

Just then the elevator dinged and opened. No one was in there. I pushed the L button which stood for lobby. I was scared of the way people would react to my bruises, so I grabbed my black hoodie that had Adidas written across the front in silver writing. I was luckily wearing long, skinny-legged jeans so I didn't need to worry about people seeing the bruises on there.

I put on the jacket and zipped it up just as the elevator started slowing down. We were still on level 11 so someone must have been getting in. Just then, the elevator went ding and the doors opened.

A guy with long, surfy blonde hair stepped into the elevator. He was wearing a pair of loose jeans and a white Slazenger shirt on that was tight enough to show off the abs and biceps he had.

I didn't even realise I was staring, but he looked up, and when he saw me, he smiled and said, "Heyy," in a tone that could only be described as sexy.

"Heyy, yourself." I said, returning the smile. These smiles were becoming more and more frequent.

"What's a girl like you doing out this early?" He asked as his hand hovered over the L button but then realised I'd already pressed it so dropped by his side. He turned around so he had his back to the wall on the right side of the elevator so he was facing me. He leaned against the wall, pulling one foot up so the sole leaned on the wall.

"A girl like me?" I asked, frustrated but put on a seductive tone and smiled one of my famous Rose man-eating smiles.

"Yeah. A girl like you. Because a girl as pretty as you is bound to get into trouble at 3:30 in the morning if she's planning on going to walk the streets." He replied with a small shrug, his tone suggesting that it was that simple.

"Was that suppose to be flattering?"

"Did it flatter you?" He asked, leaning his head down but not taking his gorgeous blue eyes off me.

"No not really." I said, shrugging like he did before.

"Really? Most girls like to be called pretty." He said in a voce that was partially curious.

"Well, it's not that part that didn't flatter me. It's the part where you think I can't handle myself. Because I'm more then capable of that." I said, now looking at the level we were on. Level 6.

"Oh really? Don't worry, I won't hurt you. But block this." He said as his leg came up to kick me in the stomach. I simple grabbed his leg and twisted it, causing him to fall over onto his stomach, me still holding his leg.

I released his leg and held my hand out. "Still think I can't handle myself?" I asked as I pulled him up.

"Jumped to the wrong judgement. Sorry." He said, slightly wincing as he leaned on the wall again.

"Oh, are you ok? I didn't even hurt you that bad. That move is suppose to just make them fall over, not hurt them." I said, walking over to him and feeling him stomach. He wince.

"Nah it's ok, I just think I got a bruise."

"Oh, then you'll live. I got a million of them." I said, instantly covering my mouth with my hand as soon as it came out. I wasn't suppose to day that. I quickly looked at the level we were on. It just changed to L and the elevator went ding and the doors opened.

I picked up my duffel bag then half-ran to the checkout desk and paid the money I owed.

I basically ran out the door to and sat on the chair outside. The streets were abandoned. I got my cell phone out of my jeans pocket and called the cabs number.

"Hello, how may I help you?" A friendly lady answered.

"Hi. I need a taxi. I'm at the-" My phone was snatched out of my hand. "Hey!" I instantly jumped up and reached down to my boot where my silver stake was. I looked up and saw elevator-guy. "Oh, it's only you." I said, standing up straight again.

"Oh, thanks for the welcoming. I didn't catch your name" He said.

"Rose." I said stubbornly. I was hoping if I was stubborn to him, he might leave me alone and not ask about the bruises comment because I seriously had no idea of a lie for that.

"Well I'm Jake. Nice to meet you." He said, extending his hand towards me.

I took it and mumbled, "Yeah, you too."

"Hey, what did I do? You're acting a bit bi… weirder then before." He said, quickly changing his ending as if he was scared of my reaction.

"It's ok, you can call me a bitch. I've been called worse."

"Like?" he asked, curious.

"Blood whore." Fuck! Major slip up!

"How do you know about that term?" He said then looked at my neck. He must of seen my tattoos because he said, "Oh, sorry. Didn't know you were a guardian. Where's your promise mark?"

I was so relieved. "Don't have one. I'm technically till a novice." I said flatly.

"Then how do you have 2 Molnija marks?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Actually, they owe me 29 more." I said, acting a little smug.

"What the fuck?! Why?" He said, obviously not believing me.

"Because I've killed 29 more Strigoi since I left St Vlads 3 weeks ago."

"Oh, I know who you are now. You're the famous Rosemarie Hathaway. Daughter of Janine Hathaway." He said, a little less tense now. "But still, how is it 29?"

"Because I fucking killed 29 Strigoi hunting down Dimitri. You got it now?" I basically yelled. My head was starting to kill me because of the ghosts.

"Jeez, I was just asking." He said, stepping back abit. He was obviously still a little scared if me.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just these ghosts are getting to me and I ha…" Fuck. Now he's going to call me crazy.

"Ghosts?"

"Yeah, look. I'm shadow-kissed. It means I was brought back from the dead and am now connected to it. Look, can you please just leave it? I really need to get to St Vlads soon." I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Well today's your lucky day, I'm heading there now. Want a lift?"

"Sure."

Ok yehh, sudden ending. sorry about that. Did you like it?