Hiya :D

From now on, my aim is to post a chapter every week until I finish the story. Don't kill me if I don't coz of school and everythinnng :D

Thanks for any reviews and future reviews :P

I own no rights to this story, even if I wish I did -.-

Chapter two

Watching the two girls speek to each other breifly and how Rose had gone from normal Guardian defense stance to a resignated young woman who had obviously talked her out of it. Of course, they hadn't spoken during that time so it made me even more suspicious. I smiled slightly as I remembered something I had read in a book a long time ago. Spirt users... Shadow Kissed.

I called Austin over as me, Rose, Vasilisa and a few other guards boarded the private jet that the academy had. "do not let them talk to each other," I warned Austin, who then nodded briefly and took Rose to the back of the plane. "Five minutes together and they'll come up with an escape plan." Rose looked at me haughtily and stormed to the back of the plan with a brief look of anger over her shoulder.

I suppressed a laugh and escorted Vasilisa to the front of the plane, settaling myself for an annoingly long journey. Vasilisa sat ridgedly the whole flight, gripping a bottle of water. Leaning forward to pick up the current western novel I was reading, I felt an overwhelming sense of being watched.

Which of course I was, by Vasilisa who had been staring at the back of my neck. "You've killed six Strigoi?" Vasilisa asked, her voice sounding intrested. I leaned back to my chair and turned to her. "Yes, Princess Dragomir, I have" I answered, feeling like she had looked at me in awe. She probaly had never seen a Strigoi, yet alone killed one and probably never would.

Nearing the end of our flight, I thought back to the fight. How Rose had planned to fight us all, with no thougt to what the outcome would be, was incredible. Raw potential shining through. Curiosity won be over and I ended up switching places with Austin who raised an eyebrow but went to sit next to Vasilisa. I sat down next to Rosmarie who turned her whole body to face the window.

"Were you really going to attack us?" I asked, trying to hide the brillance I felt to her about it. She kept her mouth closed and turned her body even more toward the window. I decided to continue, hoping that she was allowing me to. "Doing that.. protecting her like that- It was very brave." I paused, trying to carefully pick my words. "Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?" Rose glaced at me, brushing her black hair away from her face, wafting a smell towards my nose.

Due to my heigtened senses, I smelt it straight away. Gorgeous. "Because I'm her guardian." She said, turning back to the window. Right. Typical guardian answer but it seemed more genuine when it came to Rose. Glancing at her again, I went back to the front and changed with Austin again. "Asked your desparate question, Belikov?" Austin teaste. I glared at him and he dissapeared quietly from sight. As we arrived back at the Academy, Austin with Rose but another guardian had taken over the charge of Vasilisa, I walked infront of the parade back. "Hey Comrade." Rose asked, sidaling up near me and trying to fall into step. I looked straight ahead, trying to ignore her. "You want to talk now?" I answered, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. "Are you taking us to Kirova?" Rose asked, no panic what so ever in her voice.

"Headmistress Kirova" I corrected her. I had been given orders over the phone to take the girls straight to the head mistress who would then dismiss me off of this assignment. "Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-rightous old bit-" Rose said vemonatly. I tried not to smile as her words died on her lips. I had decided to take the... scenic route. Straight through the common room. All heads turned towards us, taking in the sight of the returning runaways. We arrived at the office where most of the guardians left apart from me and Alberta who was over seeing this.

We entered the office with me and Alberta taking places along the back to make sure the girls did not make an unfounded escape. "Vasilisa." A weak voice spoke up from the corner of the room. The voice came from the corner of the room when a frail man sat on a chair. Vasilisa ran up to the old man, hugging him tightly. "Uncle," Vasilisa whispered, her voice sad and quiet. Prince Victor Dashkov, who I had heard had a uncurable illness.

Victor patted Vasilisa gently on the back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He said then looked towards Rose. "And you too, Rose." Rose nodded her head in acknowledgement and sat staring at him for a few seconds more. Headmistress Kirova allowed them a few more minutes before taking Vasilisa back to her seat. She then started a lecture on the girls with a speech that would rival one of a royals.

Vasilisa had been sitting in shamefull silence until Headmistress Kirova turned her attention on Rose and she became more tensed. "You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred pormised among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs; you nearly enabled them to do it."

Ouch, even I thought that was harsh. Looking at the girls, you could clearly see Rose wouldn't even think of hurting Vasilisa. "Rose did not kidnap me" Vasilisa spoke, her face calm and devoid of all emotions. "I wanted to go, don't blame her". Headmistress Kirova tsked to herself, got up and started pacing the office.

"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still her responsibility to make sure you did not carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe". Rose exploded from her seat, the chair teetering on the edge of falling over. Headmistress Kirova and I flinched.

"I did my duty!" Rose spat angrily, glaring at both of us. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you" she spat, pausing to sweep an arm around the room "Could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to." Rose's anger seemed to seeth out of every pore in her body; Vasilisa looked intently at her with a small sparkle in her eye.

Headmistress Kirova stared at Rose without the slightest hint of emotion. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?" Rose looked shiftily over to Vasilisa whilst biting her lip anxious.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left- aside from the novelty of it, no doubt- was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance." Headmistress Kirova said, her face devoid of emotion but her voice had a slight taunting tone to it. "No, that's not-" Rose stammered. "And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible" She replied curtly, the mocking in her voice evident but her face still devoid of all emotion. Rose seemed too shocked to speak. "I...what?" She stammered, her confidence drying us in an instant as she looked towards Headmistress Kirova. Vasilisa stood up slowly, a direct contrast to Rose, and looked directly towards the Headmistress. "You can't do that! She's my guardian!" She said, anger sizzling beneath her skin unlike Rose who showed it openly. "She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice"

"But my parents-"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave". Rose stared at Headmistress Kirova, disbelief covering her face. It was obvious she did not care what happened to her as long as she did not have Vasilisa to protect. "Where are you going to send me? To my mum in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my father?" She glared at the Headmistress, challenge twinkling in her eyes. The Headmistress's eyes narrowed angrily before Rose spoke again in a cold and emotionless voice, looking scarily like The Headmistress had a few minutes ago. "Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that and we'll be gone by the end of the day" Her words shocked the whole room into silence, mainly mine at the feeble knowledge this novice knew but a bond like this was sacred. I knew only two other cases in the past hundreds of years. "Miss Hathaway, you are out of line" The Headmistress hissed angrily. I had to do something. "They have a bond" I spoke up quietly from the edge of the room, my voice sounding strange in the silent room. Everyone within the room turned to me but all I saw was the probing eyes of Rose, powerful emotions showing through her eyes that could not just be her own. Now we were locked in a gaze, I had to admit she was extremely beautiful but right at this moment, I had to concentrate on making sure Headmistress Kirova kept her here. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't make a fool out of myself by it not being true. The Headmistress stole a shocked glance between Rose and myself before speaking. "No... that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious," I said. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them." Vasilisa and Rose remained silent but she averted her eyes from mine. I reluctantly looked back over to The Headmistress and the frail man that sat in the corner. "This is a gift," murmured Prince Victor from the corner. " A rare and wonderful thing"

"The best guardians always had that bond" I added. "In the stories" The Headmistress turned to me, her anger suddenly flaring us again with a passion."Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?" I sighed internally at the stubbornness of this woman.

I shrugged, non-committed. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she had potential-"

"Wild and disrespectful?" Rose burst out, interupting me with venom. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" She yelled. I felt like laughing at this. I had years far beyone what she had, yet I was being treated at an immigrant. "Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," Said The Headmistress. "Her sanctioned guardian"

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" Rose burst out, the face contorting horribly. I restrained myself from physically recoiling from her words. Instead, I mearly shook my head slightly with an exasperated sigh. This novice knew nothing of my past, why was I even trying to help her?

Headmistress Kirova through up her hands in disgust and turned to me angrily. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian"

This was not going the way I wanted it too and Rose just wasn't helping her own case. "So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again"

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers" The Headmistress exclaimed, shaking her head, unconvinced.

"No I won't," Rose argued, not seeing that most of this argument was done to her, although we all seemed to ignore her.

"Then give her extra training sessions" I suggested, not even giving a thought to anything practical, just getting this strangely compelling young girl to stay. For what seemed like hours, we argued on any compromise we could come to in regards to the situation but it seemed we were both as stubborn as each other.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" The Headmistress demanded. "You?" My argument stopped in its tracks before it became verbal. Why should I give my time to a girl who seems unwilling to listen to anyone and thinks she is untouchable.

"Yes. That's what I thought" Headmistress Kirova smiled, folding her arms with satisfaction. I do not know if, on that day, it was just the look of her face or because these girls looked like they needed someone to watch over them, I had to help them. With a look of satisfaction lingering behind my stern glare, I turned to Headmistress Kirova.

"Yes," I said, struggling not to smile at her expression. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" Headmistress Kirova retorted. "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," I answered, shrugging my shoulders slightly. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular" I hoped to trigger, by my words, thoughts of 'blood whores' and where she may ultimately end up if she was not trained correctly. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Rose shudder slightly.

"I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent" Victor spoke up from the corner, his frail voice barely audible in the small, shabby room. Headmistress Kirova stared out of her window contemplatively, although she may not see much of the outside. Guardians barely saw the daylight because of the nocturnal schedules of our assignments. She turned back slowly, taking in the surrounding scene as if she had just woken from a rather unpleasant dream.

"Please, Ms Kirova. Let Rose stay" Lissa pleaded directly to the Headmistress. Rose looked at her friend warily but seemed satisfied that she did not need to intervene this time. Headmistress Kirova sighed heartily and turned to face Rose.

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be. Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for Novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have-before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this and you will be sent... away." As always, Headmistress Kirova was harsh but fair but it still all seemed a little extreme. Even I could see, she was doing a good job with Vasilisa.

Rose barked, her laughter harsh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep up apart?" Rose looked over to Vasilisa who seemed to be praying Rose said nothing untoward. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot of make up for" Her lips straightened into a thin line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I turned sharply to Rose as she went to open her mouth to object. I had a feeling Headmistress Kirova's patience was running thin and one more word from this headstrong novice and young lady. If they even thought once about running away, well this brave idiot that sat near me now would become a brave idiot without training or a job. Rose's eyes met mine in an furiously hopeful glance as did Vasilisa's. Rose looked down at the floor suddenly before her head creeped up again and glared at The Headmistress.

"Fine, I accept"