I unfortunately don't own anything it all belongs to Richelle Mead! - Please enjoy and R&R. Many thanks Erika Jayne.

Chapter one:

Rose,

Remember these rules:

Trust no one on the outside, they cannot know who and what you really are.

Protect the Princess until your dying breath

They come first!

Keep moving, do not forget that.

Use cash as often as possible.

Believe in yourself.

And finally Rose, do not fight Strigoi. Just run!

Be safe,

Sonya.

"Lissa" I whispered as we crouched behind a large bush. "We need a room and from what I can see from here, no sign of Guardians"

"Right, so what do we do?" Lissa voice was quite and uncertain.

"Umm, go compel him to give us a room."

"Rose I don't know if I can do that, I mean I'm not meant to use.."

"Liss we aren't at the academy any more we can do what we want. I mean that obviously within reason but we need a room. Do you want to be taken back to St Vlads?"

"Of course not Rose but," Lissa picked at leaves on the bush. "Fine I'll do it"

Lissa ran her delicate hands through her long platinum blonde hair and took a deep breath; I silently prayed that the compulsion would work. Lissa walked across the forecourt to the small booth. The older gentleman very quickly got a dreamy look on his face, I knew that the compulsion was working, he slowly turned around and picked a key up off the rack and handed it to Lissa. Lissa started to walk towards the large metal staircase to the left of the booth. After a few steps she turned and looked at me and waved the key. She had a large smile on her face but she looked tired. I made my way quickly across the forecourt and followed Lissa to our room.

When we entered the room we breathed a sigh of relief. The room was very basic with a large double bed in the middle of the room, the bathroom opposite the large motel style window. Opposite the bed was a small television, I went over and turned it on, the television crackled and popped to life. I sat on the edge of the bed and watched the news reader.

"Rose." Lissa asked as she sat down beside me.

"Yes Lissa"

"How long do you think we can hide from them?"

"For as long as we need to." I stated. "We have no choice here, we needed to go so we went."

"I know and I am sorry I made you do this" Lissa folded her hands in her lap. I could feel how guilty she felt and how tired she was.

"Lissa listen to me." My voice came out harsher than I intended. "You did not make me do anything. I am your Guardian and it is my job to keep you safe. So I will keep you safe. Anyway we managed to get to Laurel okay, so tomorrow we move on to somewhere else."

"What if they find us Rose?"

"They won't, not even their best Guardian will be able to find us" I smirked and Lissa smiled.

One thing that always surprised me when I arrived at an academy, was that each academy looked practically the same. The same almost church-like architecture with stone carvings, the dark and gothic atmosphere. I smile to myself as I think I could quite easily be standing in my Academy in Sibera rather than boring Montana USA. As soon as I park my car I was greeted by two Guardians, a tall, broad blonde haired woman and a stocky man. The woman was the only one who spoke.

"I am Alberta Petrov, head of the Guardians here and this is Stan Alto. If you could follow us" They both then promptly turned on their heels, I grabbed my long "duster" coat out of the car and followed them. We walked silently though the maze of corridors and large wooden doors. Finally we came upon a set of large wooden doors that had a gold plaque across it stating in large capital letter's 'ELLEN KIROVA – HEADMISTRESS'. The doors were swung open and all three of us silently stepped inside. I found myself standing in-between the two guardian's who had lead me to this office. I clasped my hands behind my back and waited to be address. A few moments passed and no-one spoke or moved. My eyes scanned the room, there was a large antique desk that sat in-front of the large window. To my left was a painting of St Vladimir and to my right was a small door. The door slowly opened an in walked a small, birdlike woman with greying hair and small blue eyes. She sat behind the desk and shuffled several loose papers before she fixed her small eyes on me.

"Do you know why you are here Guardian?" Her voice was scratchy and tired.

"I have no idea." I stated flatly for it was the truth. I was traveling through Montana when I received a call saying that I must attend St Vladimir's immediately.

"Two students escaped from the school today" She looked at her watch "They escaped roughly four hours ago."

"And you called me here because?" I questioned it was not the job of a Guardian to return students to school.

"Because one of the students is very important." She stared at me. "Every one leave." Her voice was suddenly strong and you could not help but obey it. Every one except me left the room. I stood still with my hands clasped behind my back. "Guardian the two students that have left are Dhampir Rosemarie Hathaway and Princess Vasilisa Dragomir."

"Was the Princess kidnapped by this Hathaway girl?" My voice stayed flat as I tried to gain all the information I could.

"No they are best friends, have been since they were five. Rose was there when the accident happened that killed all the Dragomir's bar Vasilisa."

"Right. So what so far has been done to recover her?"

"Several Guardians followed them but we lost them in Lewistown. We believe them to still be there."

"What resources do I have at my disposal?" I asked, as my mind was already working through possibilities and what I would do if I was them.

"You can have as many Guardians as we can spare, also unlimited funding" Ellen Kirova stood walked towards me. She strained her neck to look up at me, I mean she must be about 5 foot if that and I am 6 foot 7. That is a long way to look up. Her voice was very quite as she said "It is vital that the Princess is recovered soon and with as little trouble as possible."

"I understand" I stated. "I will start immediately."

"Thank you." Ellen Kirova turned towards her desk and then stopped mid-step. "I am sorry for the loss of your Moroi Guardian Belikov"

"Thank you." I bowed my head out of respect. "I shall contact you when I have news. Also I would like to take two other Guardians on my initial search."

"Of course speak to Alberta and she will give you the Guardian power you require. Please take this file" Elen turned to the desk and picked up a paper folder and handed it to me. "This is every thing we have on record for them, it may help you work out what their next move is"

"Thank you" With that I turned and left the room, my mind was still reeling. I could not firstly understand why two students would want to leave the Academy and secondly why a Princess would stupid as to go with the Dhampir. As I walked down the corridor I flicked through the folder. My eyes scanned a picture of Princess Dragomir, her jade green eyes seemed to leap out of the picture to me. As I studied her eyes I could see the sadness hidden within them. I then continued to flick through the folder, everything I scan read about Vasilisa seemed normal enough. Then I came to a picture of Miss Rosemarie Hathaway, the first thing I noticed was her big dark brown eyes, her hair was a shade or two darker than my own. As I looked into her eyes I knew that I was not going to have an easy time finding them.