Ok, I know it has been quite some time since I have written and posted anything. I'm SOOOO SORRY! DON'T KILL ME! You know, please? I still have my whole acting career in front of me. Things have been…crazy and when it wasn't I couldn't figure out what to write. But I'm back now! I won't be updating on any set schedule, but I'll try to get stuff UD in a timely manner.

So this is a new story, but I'm on the verge of an UD for Demonic Unit 653. On the other hand, I'm most likely going to take down Retrieving Love. Not completely positive on that though. Anyways… Enjoy my new story!

Chapter 1

It was Saturday evening (morning for humans) and I was walking down the empty hallways on my way to watch Lissa and Adrian's spirit practice. The glow of the electric lights off of the old stone of the academy was oddly soothing, the quiet only interrupted by the rhythmic clicking of the boots I had chosen to wear. Most of the student body had headed back to their dorm rooms or the community rooms on the bottom floor of the dorms to hang out until curfew. Of course, my group of friends had chosen this time to practice their element with out fear of anyone overhearing anything.

I was just about to turn down the hallway leading to Ms. Carmack's classroom when I hear one of my least favorite people call my name.

I stopped, let out a long sigh, and turned around. "Can I help you, Guardian Alto?"

"Come with me," Stan replied coldly. I rolled my eyes and followed.

"You know, I didn't do whatever it is that you think I did." At least not this time, I added silently. After all, I had been the one to put a silly-string-and-paint-filled-balloon-trap over his classroom door in the middle of the night when I was a freshman. Stan didn't respond, instead he just kept on leading me to Alberta's office.

I quickly took into account the others that were in the small office. Alberta, Stan, Dimitri, Yuri, two guardians I didn't recognize—and my mother. I froze in the doorway. "Mom. I didn't know you were still here." I'd been under the impression that she had gone back to guarding her charge just after my molnija ceremony.

"Have a seat, Rose," she said and I settled in the one chair in front of Alberta's desk.

"Am I being interrogated? Because seriously, I didn't do anything."

"We know that. Your not in trouble, Rose," Alberta said with a small smile. "Actually, you're here because we need your help with something." She sat down on her desk and one of the guardians that I didn't recognize took over.

"Now normally we don't go after strigoi, but this is a large group and after some things that have happened—" I flinched at the reminder of the Badica massacre and Spokane, "—this large grouping is very unnerving, and the fact that the group is so close to the royal court."

There was a long silence. "What does this have to do with me?" No-name-guardian eyed me.

"The strigoi in question have taken over management of a club. We have been given orders to infiltrate the club and seeing as you have experience with both real strigoi and know how to look very inconspicuous in clubs, we need you to be our 'inside man'."

I crossed my arms and looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of club?" I saw Dimitri quickly stiffen out of my peripheral vision.

"A strip club."

"Wait a minute!" Mom exclaimed. "You failed to mention that part. She's only seventeen!"

"Yeah, and I'm so not taking my clothes off for strange human men and strigoi," I quickly added. Stan smirked and I turned to glare at him. "I'm not the whore that everyone seems to think I am."

"We are perfectly aware of that, Rose, but they need someone who will be able to blend into the environment well and look human enough," Alberta said to me and the she turned to my mom. "Janine, we are aware that she is only seventeen, but no danger will come to her. Please, she's the best one for the job."

"Hey, topic of conversation over here! And I haven't even agreed to any of this yet!" I swear I could almost hear Dimitri rolling his eyes. "Now, explain exactly what it is you want me to do."

"We give you a fake identity and you go in pretending to be an unsuspecting human and get a job there. You wear an earpiece, a mic, and a camera if possible. We get an idea of what the strigoi are up to and find a way to take them out. You're just there to get us the information we need."

"Wait, your sending me in unarmed?"

"Well, we kind of have to. There's not exactly a way for you to conceal a stake," Stan said.

No-name-guardian #2 spoke up. "The best position in the club would be a pole dancer. It would allow you to view the whole club."

I bit my lip and slunk down in my seat. Dimitri's sharp intake of breath cut through the silence. Damn, that man knows me way too well. "Rose…"

"It was Lissa's idea. She wanted to take the class for fun," I muttered in defense. I chanced a peek up at all the people in the room. Mom looked like she was in shock, Dimitri was trying not to laugh and failing, Stan and Alberta were rolling their eyes, and the other two guardians looked indifferent.

When Lissa and I had been on the run, Lissa had decided that we should take a pole dancing class just for fun. It had been kinda funny watching women who really weren't capable trying to do some of the simpler moves while I could do most of the intricate flips and moves. Even Lissa managed to master sliding down the pole before some of the other women could even figure out how they wanted to get up high enough on the pole to do any of the other things besides grinding and dancing around it. Neither Lissa nor I had ever really thought that it would come in handy later.

Back in Alberta's dinky office, I swallowed my momentary embarrassment and straightened up. I put on my thinking face and asked, "When would you need me? And for approximately how long?"

"You'd need to be there in four days and would be there somewhere around two to three weeks, maybe more, maybe less, depending on how much information you get and how quickly," answered NNG#1.

"Two more questions. What do I tell Lissa to explain why I'll be gone?"

By the look on most of their faces, only Dimitri and Alberta had really thought of that. "It's alright for you to tell her as long as she doesn't get all the details and as long as she won't tell anyone," Alberta replied.

I tilted my head to the side and raised my eyebrows as I looked at her. "She'd tell Christian whether it's on purpose or by accident and the rest of my little group of friends is going to wonder also…although it wouldn't surprise me if Adrian already knows about all of this."

"They can know also."

I smiled. "Last question. Do I get to keep my tips?"

So there you have it! Review? Please? I'll post again soon! Promise! I already have basic drafts for a few more chapters written, but the reviews boost my enthusiasm for writing!