Authors Note December 31, 2015:

Hey y'all! Welcome to my story, Alive With the Glory of Love. This story began back in 2011, when I was at at the mere age of 18. I am now about to be 24 years old and yes, it has been a damn long time since I began this story, lol. I love this story so much since I have been in love with the VA series since I was 16. I must confess that after going to college for journalism and learning better grammar, spelling and punctuation than I knew when I was 18, this story is a bit of a mess. I'm proud of it, don't get me wrong. And I've gone back and revised any parts that didn't make sense, modernized it from 2011 to 2015 in some ways like technology and fashion, and I have changed some parts of the story line that upset some people however many years ago.

I recently read all of the VA books for the third or fourth time last month and it made me miss the series and my story so much. I've decided to begin writing again in hopes of being able to spark my creativity. I truly do care for this story and everyone who supports me and read this. To anyone who is new to my story, welcome! Please be aware that the reviews are quite insane and a lot of people are pissed off about a part of my story line that I have since changed, so they may sound a little crazy. Just know that I made some mistakes and have since changed them!

I hope you all truly enjoy it and leave some reviews to show that I'm not just revising, rewriting and starting this story again to have no one read it. I love you all and hope to hear (positive) feedback on this news :) Onto the story!

XOXO,

Erica

My chest burned as I ran through the cold woods, hearing the feet of the guardians crunching against the leaves as they chased me and Liss. I wasn't sure what they'd do to us if we were caught, but I didn't want to find out. I quickly threw the half-full bottle of vodka against a tree, the glass shattering and the expensive liquor splashing everywhere. I heard Lissa squeal as she fell, I turned and saw her getting tackled lightly by a guardian a few feet away from me, causing me to trip over a branch. Gravity really sucks.

My name is Rose Hathaway, full name Rosemarie, but if you call me that you're so dead. I'm seventeen years old and the last in the Hathaway royal line, making me the Princess. My parents died while fighting against a group of Strigoi alongside their guardians. They were the first to attempt to use their powers in combat against Strigoi; they would've succeeded if it wasn't for me. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was eleven years old and I was playing with Lissa at my family's winter cabin not far from the academy when I heard my mom scream. Lissa's parents, who were upstairs, came running down, looking out the window and calling their guardians to assist my parents and our guardians. I didn't know what was happening and with Lissa's parents trying to calm me down my curiosity just grew, I ran towards the door and before they could tell me anything, I was out in the snow. I saw my mom and dad using Fire against the Strigoi along with the guardians and red snow surrounded them, along with bodies of Dhampirs and Strigoi. I cried out and ran towards them, thinking that I could help. My mom turned around, her eyes open wide with fear of my safety, and she screamed out my name, making my dad turn around also, making them completely vulnerable to the Strigoi. That's when they died.

It haunted my dreams almost every night and I don't think I'd ever forgive myself. Lissa's older brother, Andre, came outside in the snow and picked me up, carrying me back into the house as the remaining guardians took the remaining Strigoi out. I clung to him like my life depended on it and I was quiet for weeks, the only one I spoke to was him and Lissa. That made me and Lissa's friendship skyrocket, and since then we have been inseparable, which brings me back to the running-away-from-guardians situation.

With only a few days left before school, Lissa and I decided to go out into the woods with a few other friends and drink, celebrating our last first day of school. The thing is that we had a strict policy against going outside of the protected grounds, which meant that we'd have to sneak out and hope we weren't caught. But there wasn't much we could do about that, so we partied until we were all buzzed and that's when we heard them coming. Everyone ran off in different directions except for me and Lissa, therefore concluding our 'celebration'.

As I sat up in bed I couldn't help but groan, holding my head and looking over at a very handsome, yet intimidating man of 6'4 sitting across my room, staring at me. I let out a small squeal and covered myself with my comforter, looking down to see I only had my bra and panties on.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked without thinking.

He smirked, as if expecting it, and that smirk made my heart skip a beat.

"I'm Dimitri Belikov, you're guardian," he said with a Russian accent. "Headmistress Kirova wants you in her office in 30 minutes, I'll leave you to get dressed but I'll be outside your door. Don't try to pull anything, Princess."

And with that, he was gone. My mouth fell open a little at his abruptness but more at what he had just said. My guardian? I sighed, a pain shooting through my head at all my thinking. I stood up and felt an even larger pain. This is what I get for drinking too much and then falling on my face.

I quickly got into the shower. It always helped calm me down and being covered in dry mud wasn't my idea of a fun time. When I got out, I looked at the clock and saw I had taken a twenty minute shower - great. With my head feeling a little better I got dressed as quickly as I could, slipping on some dark tinted jeans, a cream cashmere sweater and white converse. I slid on a black beanie and then my royal blue coat, walking out with two minutes to go.

"We're going to be late," Guardian Belikov said sternly.

"It's 8:30pm, give a girl a break," I said as I walked faster to keep up with his long stride walk, he really was tall. "Besides, I have questions.. Like why have I gotten assigned a guardian while I'm still at St. Vladimir's?"

"As the last person in line of the Hathaways and your constant stunt-pulling, I have been assigned to you ahead of schedule by Queen Tatiana."

Before I could say anything else we walked into Kirova's office, I was joined by Lissa with another guardian I remembered seeing around, but her name wasn't clicking.

"Rosemarie, nice of you to join us," she said sarcastically with a smile that made her look constipated.

"My pleasure, Kirova," I replied with as much sarcasm.

"Headmistress Kirova," she corrected me. "Ladies, why were the two of you in the woods, drinking alcohol and unaccompanied by guardians at such a late hour?"

"It was a simple celebration, Headmistress," Lissa said quietly and I looked over at her, she looked so freaked out. Even though we were best friends, she stayed out of my worst stunts, and she wasn't used to being in Kirova's office for something wrong.

I felt horrible, so I stood up quickly, "It was my idea, Headmistress Kirova," I sighed and continued. "I bought the liquor and brought it to the woods, I planned our sneak-out route and convinced Lissa that we needed to celebrate our last first day of school."

"Yes, well, I certainly believe you, and I don't know if you girls realize what could've happened if Strigoi had decided that last night was the night to attack the Academy," she stood up and hovered over her desk. "The Hathaway line would've been completely wiped out, Rosemarie. Two royals of the Moroi world would've been gone, and we simply can't afford that. You two would have been a great loss."

Lissa and I looked at each other; somehow, this woman was right. I sat back down, scared of what our punishments could be.

"I have thought about your punishments and I've decided that, along with the Queen's approval, Rose, you will begin training just as the guardians do, along with older Moroi who have Fire as their power to train for combat against Strigoi."

My heart stopped as flashes of my parents fighting Strigoi, Queen Tatiana's approval of Moroi volunteers being able to train to use their powers and fight alongside guardians, and all my nightmares of being killed by Strigoi sped through my brain. I saw Dimitri push himself off of the wall he was leaning against in my peripheral vision and turned to see a confused look on his face.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Headmistress Kirova, you can't be serious. Queen Tatiana specifically said Moroi that volunteered would do it, but none would be forced into it. To make it worse it's a seventeen-year-old girl that you're forcing to do it."

Kirova's hands bunched into fists, "Queen Tatiana approved, I know how much she cares for Rose. I made sure that she was okay with it. She believes Rose has a lot of potential, following her parents. Lissa, although you are slightly innocent in this situation, you will also be assigned a guardian, Guardian Alberta Petrov, who retrieved you from your room this morning. And beginning on the first day of class, you will begin detention for the remainder of the semester."

The headmistress sat back down and folded her hands on her desk in front of her and began to speak again, "Rose, you will begin your training on the first day of school, Guardian Belikov will be your mentor and trainer, and he will decide your schedule. I believe we are done here."

I stood up, my eyes wide with slight fear and shock that this happened. Lissa put her hand on my lower back and we walked out together, our guardians following us. Once we were out of the building Liss turned and hugged me, I hugged back tight and closed my eyes tight. "It'll be okay Rose, I promise. You'll do great."

I nodded slowly, trying to figure out how this situation could be okay. I looked over at the guardians who were scanning the lawn surrounding the building which was covered with snow. And as I looked at Dimitri Belikov, something in me realized that having a mentor/trainer like him could maybe be the one and only 'okay' thing.