FINALLY! Chapter 1 of SK. I know you guys were ready to stone me alive if i didn't get this up soon. Well, i love you all enough that i worked hard and here it is. I hope you all enjoy it. This is going to be a fun one to write...especially near the end!!! So, if you want me to keep getting these up fast. You better read, enjoy and REVIEW. I expect everyone to review hahaha..j/k but it would be nice.

Anyways, i will only be updating regularly for the next week because come the 14th i am leaving the country! Yup that's right my friends. I am going to MEXICO. But do not fret, i will try and get some writing done while on the cruise and update as soon as I get back. But i hope to get a few chapters up before then. Now enough babble from me. Go read, be happy and don't forget to review.

Remember, i dont own any of this. The awesome Richelle Mead does!

Chapter 1-

It was the middle of the night and I was on duty. This definitely was not the shift anyone wants. It's quiet and lonely and dreadfully boring. Usually I loved being alone, but lately, it wasn't good for me. A few weeks ago Rose and I had basically come clean and told her I loved her. We agreed that we were not yet both Lissa's guardians, but we also needed to cool things off after that. Even though we were not her guardian Rose was not eighteen and if our relationship was discovered it would ruin both of our careers. So until her birthday, no more hot make out sessions in the supply closet.

I was rounding the Dhampir dorm when I heard someone around the corner. I reached into my coat and grabbed the hilt of my stake. I was pretty sure that it was not a Strigoi since they would be burned alive from the sun that was shining down on me, but we couldn't be too careful. I slowly snuck around the side of the building and smiled when I saw Rose standing there. She was wearing her pajamas with a robe and slippers. Her hair looked like she had gotten in a fight with a raccoon and it won, but I wasn't about to tell her that. I just smiled. "Are you sleep walking?" I asked coming up behind her. She spun around and I had to hold back a laugh. I was however, curious as to why she was outside in the freezing cold wearing what she was. She just looked back at me for a moment and tried to fix her hair, but to no avail. "I was testing dorm security," she said. "It sucks."

I was trying my damndest not to smile, but it was really hard when Rose was around. She looked like she was freezing and I could see her eyeing my coat. "You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?" She shook her head. "I'm fine." She was a really bad liar and I had to hold back from rolling my eyes at her stubbornness. "What are you doing out here," she asked. "Are you testing security too?"

"I am security," I told her. "This is my watch." Rose looked a little embarrassed, but in true Rose form she didn't let that get the best of her. "Well, good work," she said. "I'm glad I was able to help test your awesome skills. I should be going now."

"Rose," I said as she turned to leave. Reaching out I grabbed her arm and was startled to feel electricity flow between the two of us. I was never going to get used to that. "What are you really doing out here?"

Rose sighed and I was terrified that she was having nightmares again. "I had a bad dream," she said. "I wanted some air." She wasn't exactly lying, but I could tell she wasn't telling me everything.

"And so you just rushed out. Breaking the rules didn't even cross your mind-and neither did putting on a coat."

"Yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

"Rose, Rose." I did not know what I was going to do with her. She was going to be one of the best guardians with a killer reputation soon, but if she couldn't learn to follow a few simple rules it could cause a lot of problems for her in the future. "You never change. Always jumping in without thinking."

Narrowing her eyes Rose looked up at me. "That's not true. I've changed a lot."

I sighed and nodded. She really had. "You're right. You have changed." I wasn't exactly happy about all of the changes I saw in Rose. Since the Spokane incident she didn't smile nearly as much and she took life a lot more serious. It was good to take life serious, especially in our job, but she wasn't a guardian yet. She was a novice and she needed to spend her last few months as one having some fun. I knew she still blamed herself for Masons death and I suppose she always would, but she wouldn't talk about it or open up and I knew it was eating her up inside. If she didn't let it out soon and start accepting it and dealing with it she was going to break and I don't know if there would be repairing it. So yes, I was worried about her.

"Well, don't worry," she said. "My birthday's coming up. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'll be an adult, right? I'm sure I'll wake up that morning and be all mature and stuff." I looked into her beautiful eyes and gave a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure. What is it, about a month?"

"Thirty one days," she said with a grin.

"Not that your counting."

She shrugged and I couldn't help but laugh. She was so beautiful even in her disheveled look. "I suppose you've made a birthday list too. Ten pages? Single spaced? Ranked in priority?" I grinned over at her hoping she would tell me something she might want. I needed ideas. I wanted to get her what she wanted the most.

I saw something flash in Roses eyes and all joking went out the door. I didn't know if she was thinking about Mason and feeling guilty for wanting to have fun on her birthday or if there was something else she wasn't telling me, but her smiled faded she looked down. "No," she said in a small voice. "No list." I didn't believe her for a minute. Just a second ago she had how many days till her birthday down to the minute I'm sure and now nothing. I tilted my head a little. "I can't believe you don't want anything. It's going to be a boring birthday." I was hoping she would smile and be happy again. She looked back up at me. "It doesn't matter." I shook my head. I knew it mattered. "What do you-"I stopped what I was saying realizing what it was she wanted. She wanted me. She wanted to love me and be with me with no repercussions. It was something that we both wanted. When she turned eighteen legally we could be together, but it didn't mean that we wouldn't catch hell for it. It was something we both knew, but never talked about. In fact we didn't talk about us anymore because of the fact she wasn't legal yet, but we both thought about it a lot. Well, I know I did. And when she talked like this, I knew she did too.

"You can deny it all you want, but I know you're freezing." I said hoping to change the subject. "Lets go inside. I'll take you through the back." I really didn't want to get into our crazy relationship problems even though right now all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss her without reserve.

"I think you're the one who's cold," she teased as we walked around to the back of the dorm. "Shouldn't you be all tough and stuff, since you're from Siberia?" I shook my head. "I don't think Siberia's exactly what you imagine."

"I imagine it's an arctic wasteland," she said scrunching her face.

"Then it's definitely not what you imagine."

"Do you miss it?" she asked looking back at me.

I felt my heart tighten. "All the time." I missed it more than I let anyone know. My family was extremely close and I know it killed my mom and sisters when I came to America. None of us knew when I would be able to get back and I didn't get to talk to them as often as I would like. "Sometimes I wish-"

"Belikov!" Great Alberta, just what I needed. I shoved Rose around the side of the building. "Stay out of sight," I told her as I turned around to meet Alberta.

"You're not on watch," I told her confused to her presence here. I was actually a little freaked that someone had seen Rose and I and informed Alberta. I knew she knew about my feelings towards Rose, but it was not a subject either of us talked about, Ever.

"No, but I needed to talk to you. It'll just take a minute. We need to shuffle some of the watches while you're at the trial."

Crap, this was not the conversation I needed to have with her here when Rose was hiding around the corner. I could only wish that she was out of ear shot, but I knew that was unlikely. "I figured," I said nodding. "It's going to put a strain on everyone else-bad timing." I was trying to be as vague as possible hoping Rose wouldn't pick up on the fact we were talking about the trial of Victor Dashkov. The Victor Dashkov that had kidnapped Lissa and tortured her, in turn torturing Rose through the psychic bond they share.

"Yes, well, the queen runs on her own schedule," Alberta said. I could tell she was frustrated at the fact that it would take place during the field experience. "Celeste will take your watches and she and Emil will divide up your training times." I was a little sad that I would miss a few days of the experience to be at the trial. I really wanted to see all the work I had done with Rose put to use, and it was a lot of fun. It was a chance for not only the kids to get back at us for past grievances without getting into trouble, but for us to smack the crap out of them for putting us through hell the past four years. Really, it was fun for all.

"They say they don't mind the extra work, but I was wondering if you could even things out and take some extra shifts before you leave?"

"Absolutely," I said. I hoped giving short answers would make it harder for Rose to catch on to what we were saying if she was listening. I really hope that Alberta didn't think I was being rude; I just didn't want Rose to find out about this trial. If she did she would flip. Especially when she found out she was not attending.

"Thanks. I think that'll help. I wish I knew how long this trial was going to be. I don't want to be away that long. You'd think it'd be a done deal with Dashkov, but now I hear the queens getting cold feet about imprisoning a major royal."

I stiffened, now I was sure if Rose had heard, and I knew she had, what we were really talking about. "I'm sure they'll do the right thing," I told her.

"I hope so. And I hope it'll only take a few days, like they claim. Look, it's miserable out here. Would you mind coming to the office for a second to look at the schedule?"

I nodded. "Sure, let me check on something first."

"All right. See you soon."

I held my breath as she turned and walked away waiting for wrath of Rose Hathaway to be unleashed. This was not going to be fun.

Once Albert was out of my sight I turned and walked around the corner to where I had shoved Rose. "Rose-"

"Dashkov?" she yelled in a whisper. "As in Victor Dashkov?"

I looked at Rose straight in the eyes. "Yes, Victor Dashkov."

"And you guys were talking about…Do you mean…"

I could see Rose trying to put it all together. She was fighting with herself trying to figure out how he could have not had a trial yet. I mean I was obvious he had done it. It should have been over with, but like it was said earlier, the queen was getting cold feet.

"I thought he was locked up! Are you saying he hasn't been on trial yet?"

I was a little worried about how worked up Rose was getting. When she got like this she tended to hit things or people. "He's been locked up," I told her. "But no, no trial yet. Legal proceedings sometimes take a long time."

"But there's going to be a trial now? And you're going?" She was clenching her teeth and I couldn't help but hope that when I got her back into the dorm that she would not run into anyone on her way back to her room, for their sake. "Next week. They need me and some of the other guardians to testify about what happened to you and Lissa that night." It pained me to think back to her screaming in pain as Lissa was being tortured and the pointless loss of life.

"Call me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you?"

"No."

"No?"

"No." This was getting very repetitive. Did she not understand the meaning of the word?

Rose put her hand on her hip which meant it was time to cop an attitude and that was not something I wanted to deal with. "Look, doesn't it seem reasonable that if you're going to talk about what happened to us, then you should have us there?"

She had a point, but really there was nothing I could do about it. If it was up to me, if they wanted to go they would be allowed. Of course, I didn't make the rules, I just followed them.

"The queen and some of the other guardians thought it'd be best if you didn't go. There's enough evidence between the rest of us, and besides, criminal or not, he is- or was- one of the most powerful royals in the world. Those who know about this trial want to keep it quiet."

"So, what, you thought if you brought us, we'd tell everyone? Come on, comrade. You really think we'd do that? The only thing we want is to see Victor locked up forever. Maybe longer. And if there's a chance he might walk free, you have to let us go."

I frowned. "It's not my decision to make."

"But you have influence," Rose said almost begging. "You could speak up for us; especially if…especially if there really is a chance he might get off." I could tell that she was a little scared that could happen, but in no way was it going to. "Is there? Is there really a chance the queen could let him go?"

"I don't know. There's no telling what she or some of the other high – up royals will do sometimes." I was all the sudden tired and just wanted to not talk about this. As much as I loved Rose, this was not something I wanted to argue about. Victor was not getting away with this. I would protect Rose and Lissa at all cost. He would pay one way or another.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to her. "Look, I know you're upset, but we can't talk about it now. I have to meet Alberta, and you need to get inside. The square key will let you in the far side door. You know the one." I gave her a small smile.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Rose turned and started walking towards the doors. I sighed. "Rose?" She turned and looked at me with a look of fear and sadness. "I'm sorry." I really did feel bad that she couldn't come. "And you better bring the keys back tomorrow." I gave her a look telling her I knew what she could try and pull, but I would know it was her if I didn't get the keys.

I turned back and walked the way I had come hoping that Rose would just drop the subject, but I knew better. I would hear about it again and again and then probably hear it from Lissa when she found out and I had no doubt that she would indeed find out.