"Rose, it's okay. I promise, don't even worry. I'll be okay." My best friend, Vaslisa Dragomir assured me. She had woken me up from my deep slumber by screaming over an apparent nightmare.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it Lissa?" I asked, worried about her. She shook her head, not just to tell me no, but also trying to shake the dream out of her head.
"I'm fine. I do need a drink though, do you mind?" She asked shyly. Lissa is what you would call a Moroi. A vampire more or less. I was what we would call a Dhampir, half human, half vampire. Us, the Dhampir's were guardians for the Moroi. We kept them safe in case of attacks from Strigoi. They were dead vampires, they didn't feel, have a heartbeat, have any emotions other than rage, and they fed just to kill. Moroi had to have blood, but not much. They fed to stay alive, not to kill, unless they wanted to turn Strigoi.
I shook my head and tossed my long dark hair over my left shoulder leaving the right side open to Lissa. I wasn't a blood whore by any means, but I had to let Lissa drink from me to keep her alive. She was the last of her line, and a royal at that. Ever since we ran away from the Academy 2 years ago we were all each other had. 3 years ago, Lissa's family died in a car accident which i should have died too, but some miracle kept me alive. Ever since then, Lissa had been having nightmares, and they weren't pretty.
I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder, and tried not to let the endorphin from Lissa's venom get to me too bad. The endorphin that get into your bloodstream when a Moroi feed on you, essentially get you high. It's a better high than doing most any kind of drug, but if you get addicted you would be in bad shape. People who get addicted to Moroi bites are usually Dhampir women, they live off of the high of the bite. Most who are addicted, trade the bite for sex, earning the name Blood Whore.
"Alright I'm done Rose." Lissa murmered when she was done. I cautiously stood up, and ventured to the window of the little townhouse we were staying in for the moment. I caught a glimpse of a shadow under a Pine tree across the street. My alerts automatically went up.
"Lissa! We have to go, now!" I shouted to her. We both grabbed what little belongings we had, and ran down the stairs out the back door. The cheap car we bought was just a block away, so we had to be fast. We took off running, and when our car was visible is when the bodies emerged around us. They weren't Strigoi, they were guardians sent from St. Vladimir's. They finally found us, and now they're going to take us back.
"Relax, we're not going to hurt you. We were sent from St. Vladimir to find, and take you back to the Academy. If you don't try to run, or fight us everything should be just fine, so please don't make this more complicated than it needs to be." A man, who if wasn't trying to make us leave I would have thought to have been very attractive. He was really tall, and had long dark brown hair that was tied up at the nape of his neck with a few spare pieces falling out. His accent seemed foreign, I just couldn't place where. I looked him up and down, wondering if I could take him and the other Eight surrounding us by myself.
"Rose, please don't." LIssa pleaded, it was like she had read my mind. I slumped over slightly because I would have tried to take them if it wasn't for her.
"Come on." The guy said, leading us to 2 SUV's around the corner with the Academy plates on it. They placed Lissa in the passenger seat, with the Foreign guy in the drivers side, with me in the back with 2 others. I huffed in defeat, after all of this time, running we had gotten caught.
A couple of hours later, on the plane, the foreign guy plopped down beside me. They had separated Lissa and I, probably knowing we would plan a way to escape if they had left us together, and they were right.
"Were you really about to take on 9 of us guardians? Did you really think you could have pulled that off?" He asked, angling his body towards me. I was still confused as to what accent he had, but i rolled my eyes at him.
"I would have done my best. If Lissa wouldn't have been there I would have." I answered him as shortly as I could.
"I have to say it would have been brave of you. Very stupid, but brave." He said. I glanced over at him, he was every bit of attractive in the light, as he was the dark.
"Where are you from? You have this distinct accent, but I can't quite place it." I asked him. He looked me slightly confused.
"I was born and raised in Siberia. I came to America a few years ago." He said. I nodded. That was the end of the conversation, and he got up and walked away, leaving me to myself.
3 hours later, we landed at the academy. We all exited the plane, and the guardians led us towards us towards the campus. Great, now I was all for attention, but it was the middle of the Moroi day, meaning everyone would be out and about, bound to see us walk through and the rumors would spark up immediately.
As we neared the campus I held my head high, not regretting leaving, and defiantly not going to let all the murmurs of the student get to me. As soon as we were in sight they started. Princess Dragomir and her delinquent best friend had returned, had they given up running, and came back, or had the guardians finally caught them?
When we reached the main building, they led us inside and up to the headmistress' office. I have to say I haven't miss Kirova one bit. I'd spent a fair deal of my previous time at the Academy in her office, and it wasn't the best highlights of my time here.
When we entered she was sitting in her old stiff armchair, just waiting on us. She hadn't changed a bit, she still had that ugly scowl on her face. She wouldn't be ugly if she tried, she was considerably pretty for her age.
"Vaslisa, Rosemarie. Glad to see you've made your way back." She glared at us. I rolled my eyes and plopped myself down in one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of her oak desk.
"Rose." I murmured, not even looking up at her.
"I guess I should get straight to the point here. Vaslisa, We will do our best to get caught up with everything you have missed, and Rosemarie, you will be shipped out immediately in the morning." She said. My head snapped up, and my eyes were wide. She couldn't do this, she couldn't take me away from Lissa!
"What? No! I.. I'm Lissa's guardian, you can't separate us!" I shouted, standing up and slamming my hands down on her desk. I wasn't about to go down without a fight, and Kirova knew that, she knew me too well to know I was just simply going to give up. She sighed and look up at me.
"Rosemarie, we know you and Vaslisa are close, but you were never officially her guardian. We know what her parents wanted, but you failed in keeping her safe." She said in a strangely calm voice. I huffed.
"I sure as hell kept her safe! She's still here isn't she?You can't ship me out! We left to keep her safe, you just don't understand!" I argued with her. She sighed and shook her head.
"My decision is final, you will be shipped out in the morning." She said looking into my eyes.
"They have a bond. That's why they can't be separated " I heard that foreign voice say. I had come to learn his name was Guardian Dimitri Belikov, or to me, Guardian Belikov. Like I would actually follow that rule either.
Her head snapped in his direction, an alarmed expression on her face, almost like she couldn't believe it. She had no reason to, it was unheard of, it hadn't happened in centuries, with St. Vladimir himself.
"No, they can't." She whispered. She shook her head, as if to rid the thoughts from her head.
"It's true, I've been watching them since we've got them. I can tell by the way they are around each other " Belikov said. Why was he helping me? He didn't even know me! Hey, help is help though.
"Even if I was to let her stay, she's so far being in training there would be no way she could catch up with her classmates!" Kirova argued. She was bound and determined to get rid of me, but she should know by now it wasn't that easy.
"Someone could give her extra training. I know one thing for sure, her and Lissa apart wouldn't be good." Belikov said, faltering from where he stood and stepping up closer to the desk.
"Guardian Belikov, I know no one at this school would be willing to give up any spare time to train a student such as Rosemarie, she's not the easiest to deal with. Unless you would like to do it?" She prompted Belikov stayed silent, obviously not wanting me to stay bad enough for him to train me himself.
"That's what I-" She started but was cut off by Belikov.
"I'll do it. I'll train her extra and get her caught up with the others." He finally said.
"I guess it's settled then. Rosemarie will have extra training in addition to regular ones before and after school an hour and a half each with guardian Belikov, starting today after lessons." She said. I smiled and silently thanked Dimitri Belikov for being such a fucking god and saving me.