The next morning, all the guardians and myself were in the gym setting up mats and dummies for the novices to use. I looked down at my watch and saw it was about five minutes till five. They all slowly started to file in, all in work-out clothes. It was then I realized that one was missing. I waited until five, giving her time to show up, but she never did.

"Anyone seen Rose?"

"Not since she had a hissy fit last night." Glenn told me. It was hard to look at him with a straight face. His nose was all black and blue, and looked lopsided on his face.

"What happened last night?" Eddie asked. I forgot I hadn't told him.

"It's nothing. You want to get her?" I asked him. He dropped what he was doing and nodded, walking out of the gym.

"Guardian Castille should make her do a shit load of pushups or something." Glenn muttered to one of the kids sitting beside him. The kids chuckled and nodded.

"Or make her run a bunch of laps." The other said.

"Why don't you not worry about Rose, and worry about yourselves?" I said, causing them all to jump. "You've got your own work-outs to worry about soon… don't worry about hers." They all nodded, obviously intimidated. A few minutes later, Eddie came back, shaking his head.

"Her doors locked, and she's not answering. I can hear her alarm clock going off in the room." I just nodded. This was not how I wanted to start my first day.

"Take care of this here… I'll get her." I told him. I walked to my office and grabbed the door keys, heading to the second floor. I beat on her door a few times, but there wasn't a reply. I finally stuck the key in the door, unlocking it and swinging the door open. Her alarm was blaring right next to her bed, but she looked completely unaffected. Jesus Christ, she must have slept like a rock. I walked over and hit the off button.

"Rose?" I tried. There was nothing. She never moved. "Rosemarie Hathaway." Still nothing. Finally I grabbed the blankets wrapped around her, and pulled them off her, tossing them into the floor. I probably should have thought about this before I did it. She was in nothing but a sports bra and shorts. Regardless, I was happy she wore something to bed, or this scene could have ended a lot worse.

"What the hell?" She demanded, sitting up.

"You're late. Get up." I snapped.

"Who the hell do you think you are coming in my room and snatching my blankets off me? You're not my mom, nor are you my mentor." She said. I was having a hard time focusing on her face and what she was saying. Regardless of her attitude problem, Rose had an amazing body… not that I should be noticing things like that.

"You've got five minutes to get ready and be at the gym, or you'll be running till you can't breathe tonight, understood?" I asked, trying to keep my voice hard and focus on her face and not her bare body. She stood up out of the bed, causing me to take a few steps back.

"Whatever." She muttered. I turned and started to walk out, when she called out to me. "Guardian Belikov?"

"Yes?" I asked, turning back to her.

"Next time you decide to come into my room, and pull my blankets off me… remember, my eyes are up here." She said, pointing to her face. It was obvious I'd been caught. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Time starts now, five minutes." I growled, before walking out and slamming her door behind me. I heard her giggle right before the door closed. I was kind of angry at myself for getting caught, but there was nothing I could do. I walked into the gym, and everyone looked up.

"Where is she?"

"I gave her five minutes. She was still asleep. She's coming." I told them, looking at my watch. She had three minutes. The questions told all the novices to warm up, which they did. I watched them for a second, and looked back down at my watch, one minute. I watched my watch, actually counting down seconds, when she walked through the door.

"Thank you, for gracing us with your presence, Rose." Eddie said.

"Oh, you're so welcome." She smarted. Eddie's eyes fell on me, as I walked over to my novice who was stretching on the mat. Eddie was going to have a lot of fun with her. I could see that now.

ROSE'S POV

I walked over to where Eddie instructed me to and sat down, stretching my legs. It was too early in the morning for this crap. I swear, if I wasn't afraid the Russian mauler wouldn't come after me, I'd definitely run from this place too.

"Alright, we we're doing trials today. Seeing how many sits ups, pushups, etc. you can do in a minute. You got it?" He asked. I groaned.

"I don't have a choice, so yes, Guardian Castille, I've got it." I snapped at him. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Alright, we're going to do sit ups first." He told me. I laid down and he placed his knees over my feet.

"Ow, you know… you're not exactly the lightest thing in the world." I snapped, looking up at him. He shook his head at me.

"Will you suck it up… I know you're tougher than that."

"Doesn't matter, my feet are sensitive." I growled at him. He shook his head.

"Are you ready?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I told him. He said go, and started the clock. Sit ups were always probably the easiest exercise for me. I was used to doing them at combat training at the academy and when Lissa and I ran off, I did them often to keep in shape. She'd let me go to the gym every once in awhile, but she was scared we'd get caught there. God, I'd only been gone from her two days, and I missed her. I still was having trouble believing that they separated us. They have no idea how much she needs me, how much I need her. If something happens to her while she's there, and I'm here… I swear, I will end all of their lives.

"Time!" He called. My stomach was definitely burning.

"How many?" I asked.

"Ninety eight." He answered, writing it down on a clip board, and giving me my feet back. I winced and rubbed my shoes.

"Like I said, not the lightest thing in the world." He ignored me this time, obviously becoming annoyed with me. To be quite honest, I found it fun to annoy the shit out of him. His facial expressions were quite priceless. He took a deep breath, and looked down at me.

"Alright, pushups." I nodded and turned around.

"Guy pushups or girls?" I asked.

"What?" He asked.

"There are two kinds of… oh Jesus… Nevermind." I got into position for guy pushups and looked at him. "Ready." I told him. He set his clock, and said go. As I started my pushups, my mind drifted back to Lissa, how much I missed her. I wondered how she was fairing without me. I hoped they realize that just because they sent me here, wasn't going to stop me from seeing her. If I could ever manage to get away from this place to see her, I would, no matter what the cost. I would be her guardian one day, and them separating us wasn't going to stop that. Guardian Castille called time, and wrote something down on his board. "How many?" I asked once again.

"Sixty one." He answered. I just nodded. I stood up, and straightened myself out.

"What next?"

"When the rest of them finish, we're going outside to run the mile. You can rest until then." He informed me. I nodded and walked over to the bench. I caught Guardian Belikov glance my way, and quickly look back down at his novice. I still found humor in his reaction to me catching him earlier. I couldn't say I blamed him. Dhampirs normally had nicer bodies than moroi, but I had a better body than most dhampirs. I wasn't a twig like some of them, but I wasn't big either. I'd been told that I was perfect a few times by guys in the human world, and guys at school. Believe me, I was well aware. After everyone finished, we headed through a back door, and out onto what looked similar to a high school track. They lined us up at the fence and explained to us how this was going to work.

"Each time you come around, you need to stop and get a card. Once you have four cards, you've ran a mile. Remember, you're being timed, so feel free to show off." Guardian Belikov said. I had a feeling that one was directed at me. "On your mark…." Everyone hunkered down, ready to run. I just stood there. "Get set." Everyone was trying to be a step ahead of the other. "Go." He called; everyone took off running as fast as they could. I ran, but it wasn't at full speed. The idiots that just hauled ass from the gate didn't realize that they're going to tire out first and end up walking their last laps because of it. My first lap was pretty quick regardless of my speed. I watched as the rest of the novices each slowed down to a jog, then most of them a walk. I managed to pass most of them, and even over lap a few of them. The beginning of my third lap, I took off, giving it everything I had. I ran a lot back at the academy, and that was one thing I was used to with Lissa, running. It was how we got away from most of the guardians, and kept from getting caught. Well at least for awhile. I was the first to finish, in two minutes and forty-nine seconds. All the guardians seemed to be impressed. I wasn't. I knew I could have run it quicker, but I wasn't worried about that right now. All I was worried about was beating all the little morons that thought they were going to get the best time by taking off at the very beginning. I walked over to the sidewalk and sat down, waiting for the rest to finish. I finally got tired of waiting, and walked over to Guardian Belikov and Castille.

"Are we done for today, because I'd really like to go take a shower." I asked. Guardian Castille looked at Guardian Belikov, who turned to me.

"You can wait, we're almost done here." He said.

"But I'm-."

"It's not going to kill you to wait five minutes, Hathaway. Kind of like you made us all wait for you this morning." He snapped at me. I recoiled a little bit at his harsh tone. It was obvious he was still bitter towards me because of my comment this morning.

"Whatever." I muttered, before walking back to the sidewalk and sat down again. Finally, about five minutes later, everyone finished and we headed back into the gym. We all sat on the bench, and listened to them as they all gave us a little pep talk.

"Tomorrow we start extensive training. There isn't going to be anymore group work like today. It's going to be you and your mentor, and that's the way it's going to be from now on. Eventually, we might let you guys work together again, like combat training at the academy, but we'll have to see how well you do with us first." Guardian Belikov explained. "We'll see you guys bright and early at five p.m. sharp." He said, looking directly at me. I rolled my eyes at him. I had a smart ass retort on my tongue, but I didn't want to say anything in front of the other guardians. Instead, I saluted him sarcastically.

"Aye, Aye captain." I said. He just looked away.

"Get some rest… you'll need it. You guys are dismissed." Everyone got up, and started out of the gym, but I was the first one out, ready to be away from those 'stick up their ass' guardians. I'll admit, not even the guardians at St. Vladimirs were that bad.

DIMITRI'S POV

Once the novices were gone, I turned to Eddie and smiled.

"How was she?"

"She's pretty, but by God she's a smart ass. She's a Hathaway, no doubt." He told me. I laughed and shook my head.

"And just think…. You've got another three months of dealing with that. You'll probably have to go drag her out of bed every morning." I told him. I thought back to how that had gone down this morning, and figured he probably wouldn't mind so much.

"She'll be running till her lungs give out if I do." He told me. I chuckled.

"From the looks of it today, she probably wouldn't have too much trouble." Ryan chimed in.

"You're probably right." Eddie told him. I headed back to my room, showering and propping my feet up with one of my western novels. As it got late, I heard footsteps outside my door, and walked out and into the kitchen, where Rose stood with the fridge door open. She turned and saw me, and jumped, squeaking slightly. I smirked at the sound she'd made.

"Holy shit, you scared me." She told me. "What are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I was hungry." She said, like it was obvious. I guess since I found her in the kitchen, it kind of was. She pulled a block of cheese out of the fridge and cut a few pieces and walked past me.

"Are you going to be on time tomorrow?" I asked her. She laughed, and turned to me, giving me a smart ass smile.

"Why? You afraid you're going to have to come pull me out of bed again, Comrade?" She asked. I knew what she meant. She turned and walked back to her room. I shook my head, and went back to my room, putting my western back on the shelf, and crawling into bed.