I watched as the bus pulled up in front of the estate. All the guardians had been eager about this day since the last group of novices had left. They all stood in a straight line and watched as the bus pulled up. My head guardian, Eddie Castille walked over to stand next to me.
"You ready for this?" He asked me. I knew he was as excited as the rest of them. When new novices came, that only meant more work for me. Usually I ended up watching, and filling in where necessary, but we lost a guardian a few months ago to a strigoi attack, meaning I would have to fulfill his role as a mentor until a new guardian showed up.
"Yes." I answered simply. We trained guardians here, just like academies did, except this was a place for special novices, people who the headmasters at the academies expected more from, and of course the elite few that had discipline issues that they didn't want to deal with. I'd gotten a list of names of the novices that were coming. There were twelve, but an extra was added just a day ago due to a discipline issue. The bus stopped, and the doors opened, and out poured the dhampirs. Most of them were male. I'd only counted two females on my list, but then again, I didn't know if the one that had been added was male or female. I actually knew nothing about them other than they had ran away with the Dragomir princess. I watched as they all filed out and formed a line. The two girls had gotten off the bus together, giggling as they ogled at the line of guardians before them. Eddie found satisfaction in this obviously, because a small smile crept to his face. I watched as the last person filed off the bus. She was also a female. This must have been our runaway. She was average height for a dhampir. She was maybe seventeen, on the verge of eighteen. Obviously a senior, with a lot of catching up to do seeing as how she'd been gone from the academy for awhile. Regardless, she had long, thick brown hair, and dark eyes. When she stepped off the bus, she stood away from the crowd of novices, off to herself. She set her bags on the ground and placed a hand on her hip. It was very obvious that she was confident in herself, which was definitely a good thing. Eddie had obviously noticed too, because the moment he looked at her, she flashed him an eat-your-heart-out smile. I fought an eye roll as I heard Eddie's breathing catch in his throat. That boy was a sucker for a pretty face.
"Hello, and welcome. I'm Guardian Belikov; head Guardian here, along with Guardian Castille here, who is my assistant." He told them. "I'd like to say congratulations on making it here. It's not a very easy thing to do, of course."
"Unless you're a discipline problem." Eddie chimed in. I heard the dark-haired girl cough slightly. It was quite obvious to me that we were going to have our hands full with her. I wasn't looking forward to that at all.
"We're so glad each and every one of you is here, and we can't wait to train with you. Each of you has a room inside, which will be where you'll be living during your stay here. Guys, you're on the first floor, girls you're on the second, even though there are only three of you. Your names are on the doors. In just a moment, we'll release you to your rooms. Once you get settled in, we want you to all meet us in the gym. It's your first door on the left when you walk in. That'll be where most of your training takes place." I explained. Eddie just nodded in agreement. They all nodded, most of them looking extremely excited, although the dark-haired girl on the left looked bored. "Alright, you guys are dismissed. Meet in the gym in twenty minutes." I told them. They all picked up their bags and disappeared inside. Eddie turned to me, and shook his head.
"So, she's the one that ran away with the Dragomir princess."
"She convinced the Princess to run away, therefore she was a problem." I said. Eddie chuckled.
"She's pretty." He told me. I rolled my eyes.
"I could almost hear you swoon when she smiled at you." I said, shaking my head at him. He growled at me.
"Don't go there, Belikov. I'm a sucker for the pretty ones… what can I say?" He said. I rolled my eyes. I turned to the line of guardians and nodded.
"You guys ready for this?" They all nodded, so we headed into the gym. We waited as they slowly filed in and took their seats on the bench. The dark haired girl was the last one to come in, and she was obviously taking her sweet time about it. I could tell we were going to have fun with her; that was for sure.
"So, since we've all come from different places, and some of you might not know each other, we're going to start with introductions. Just stand up, and say your name, and what Academy you're from? We'll start down here." I said, pointing at the boy on the far right of the bench. They each stood up, and said their names, most of them not sounding familiar. When we got to the dark haired girl, she stood up and placed her hand on her hip.
"I'm Rose Hathaway, and I came here from St. Vladimir's Academy." She said. In that moment, whispers filled the gym, as it was quite obvious that everyone had heard. Finally, one of them, a male spoke up.
"Hey, aren't you the one that kidnapped the Dragomir Princess?" He asked. When she turned her glare on him the phrase 'If looks could kill' ran through my mind.
"Why don't you shut the hell up? You don't know anything." She snapped, obviously very touchy on the subject of her disappearance.
"Alright… Let's calm down. Thank you, Rose… You can sit." I told her. She plopped back down on the bench, crossing her arms over her chest, and glaring at the boy who'd spoken to her. "Like I said before, welcome, we're so glad you all are here. We're going to start out simple. Each one of you is going to be assigned a guardian. They're going to be your mentor/trainer during your stay here. They're going to be your guide and turn you into a high class guardian, just like all of them. You are to train by the schedule the assign you, and follow their instructions perfectly. If you choose not to do so, the punishment will probably be worse than whatever it is you're choosing not to do. Keep that in mind." Eddie handed be the clipboard with the names and their guardians. I started down the list, naming each novice and one of our guardians. I added Rose's name at the bottom, and did the only think I knew to do.
"Rose, Eddie will be your guardian." Eddie looked at her and nodded once, obviously wanting to keep his cool under her full attention. She just looked away.
"Alright, so just to get an idea of where each of you is at, training wise. We're going to have each of you come out to the mat with your guardian and show us what you can do. It'll be just like combat training at the academies… nothing to be scared of." I told them all.
"We have to fight… one of you all."
"Yes? Why?" I asked. He looked genuinely afraid. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was his guardian, and I was a good two feet taller than most of the guardians standing in line.
"In combat at my school, we fought other students." He muttered.
"They're not going to kill us, Jesus Christ, don't be such a baby. What do you think you're going to be fighting when you leave here? Monkeys?" Rose snapped, obviously still not happy with this boy from earlier.
"No one asked for your input, Hathaway." He snapped.
"I'll give you my input when I shove my foot up your ass." She sassed.
"Alright, that's enough. Leon, you're up first." I told them. He got up and walked out to the mat with his guardian. His defense was pretty good, but his offense was horrible. Even when Steven left spots open for him to stage an attack, he didn't do it. It was quite obvious he'd have his work cut out for him. As we called each one up, I found it more and more the same, the girls especially. I felt bad for Dominic and Ryan, who had the first two females. I finally got up with my novice and found that the poor kid had no idea what he was doing. That's why he'd been nervous about fighting me. I hit him twice, kicked his legs out from under him, and he was done. It was obvious I wouldn't get much free time. Then, it was Rose and Eddie's turn. I could see the smug look on Eddie's face. First day introductions were always his favorite part, because most of the time, he got to embarrass some snotty dhampir who thought they knew what they were doing. Rose crouched down into her defensive stance, which was surprisingly decent. Eddie and her circled once, before he threw a kick at her. She deflected. He threw a punch, which she also very skillfully blocked. A smug smile soon spread over her face as well, making it obvious that she was enjoying herself. Eddie and her went back and forth, some of their attacks landing, some of them getting deflected. Eddie lunged at her, hoping to take her down, but she threw out a leg, catching him in the stomach. When he hit the floor, she started to jump on top of him, like she was going to stake him, but he yanked her legs out from under her, catching her off guard, before he pressed his hands to her chest. They were both breathing hard, as he stood up, He offered her a hand, but she got up on her own.
"That was amazing." Eddie told her.
"Thanks." She barked, obviously not happy that she'd lost. Regardless, she'd done very well, which surprised me. I'd been expecting a lot less out of her, so I'd definitely been proven wrong.
"You all did surprisingly well." I lied. "We'll give you the rest of the day off before we start serious training, so everyone is to meet back here bright an early at five p.m." I heard Rose scoff.
"You're kidding right? Please, tell me you're kidding. Five p.m. We don't even get up for school that early." She complained. The rest of the novices faces were saying what Rose was staying out loud. I found it funny that she was the only one that voiced her opinion.
"I'm not kidding. When you're mentored at an Academy, you're up two hours before school, and at training right after. You'll have to get used to the schedule, cause it's the one you're on from now on." I told her simply.
"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered to herself. I smirked slightly.
"Alright everyone, you're dismissed." They all got up, heading back to their rooms. I turned to Eddie to see him watching them as they walked out.
"She was a phenomenal fighter."
"Yeah, I can tell she's also going to be a phenomenal pain in the ass." I muttered.
"She's a Hathaway. Have you ever met Janine? She's a strong willed woman." He told me. I shook my head at him.
"You've got your work cut out for you buddy, that's all I can say." I said, patting his back before heading back to my room to fill out some paper work, and rest up for tomorrow. Novices always thought first days were rough on them. They had no idea what it was like on us. As I sat at my computer, I became curious, and logged onto St. Vladimirs website, looking up Rose's file. Her full name, Rosemarie Hathaway. She was seventeen years old, and was born to Janine Hathaway, father was unknown. She'd been enrolled at St. Vladimirs since age six. She was in all kinds of trouble there; damage of property, fighting, convincing others to get involved in her misbehavior, including her and the princesses disappearance. I shook my head. It was quite obvious to me that they sent her here just because they didn't want to deal with her. It was also quite obvious that they had no idea what kind of fighter they'd sent to me. She might be a pain in the ass, but she was good. Behavior can change quickly with the right discipline, and I think Eddie and I will be able to give it to her.
ROSE POV
As I walked back to my room, I heard someone muttered something about Lissa behind me, so I had no doubt that they were talking about me as well. I turned to find the same guy that had said something in the gym, and a bunch of others standing around him.
"If you're going to run your mouth, learn to do it where other people can hear it." I snapped at him, taking a few steps towards him.
"I'm just explaining to everyone how you kidnapped the princess and hid out in Portland in some strangers home." I could feel my anger start to bubble out of me. This kid had no idea what he was getting himself into. I took a few steps closer, trying to refrain from hitting him, but I knew it was only a matter of time.
"You don't know anything. I didn't kidnap anyone, so before you go running your dick licker, why don't you get your facts straight." I snapped at him. All the guys around him laughed at him, causing him to become angry. I'd embarrassed him. Poor thing. I chuckled to myself.
"So, I heard that you were the princess's feeder while you were away. Is that true? I think you're more suited for a blood whore, and not a guardian." He said. I lost it. I'd gotten close enough now that when I swung, I caught him right in the nose. He stumbled back and grabbed his face.
"I will end you pathetic existence, and trust me… I lived out in the real world. I know how to do it. Keep my name out of your mouth, you understand?" I growled. There was blood pouring from his nose.
"Bitch." He muttered. I started back after him when someone stepped in front of me, stopping me.
"What's going on out here?" A deep voice said, a Russian accent lacing the words. Guardian Belikov.
"Tell the little ass hole over here to quit running his mouth." I growled the boy gave me a smart ass smirk as Dimitri stood before me, holding me back.
"I don't know what was said, but as of now… I want it to stop. Tyler, leave Rose alone."
"I don't need you to tell him to stop picking on me. I'm not in the fifth grade." I growled at him, stepping away from him. He met my gaze for a second.
"You're acting like fifth grader right now. You guys head up to your rooms." He told all of us. I glared at him for a second as the others disappeared. Finally, I walked off, stomping upstairs and to my room, slamming the door behind me, hopefully loud enough that he heard it.