Chapter 2: Buria - Storm

The afternoon sun was slowly falling into the horizon and the sky was a delicate purple. The building was overwhelming and old but in a good way. This was to be my new home, St Vladimir's.

The whole story was explained to me about the Moroi, the vampires, the dhamphirs and even the Strigoi, it was all taking it's time to sink in, Aunt Trina had explained everything slowly and thoroughly the night it was revealed to me. Trina was never my real aunt but a close friend of my mother's who knew about the vampires. She had told me no human was to know about the vampire world but she was the only exception, I had no idea what to think of it all, I just hoped for the best.

She explained to me about the dhamphirs and what they were. I was one of them; I've been living in an all human society while really I was half human and half vampire. Incredible. However, this was where things got complicated. I was a special dhamphir apparently not that I even noticed there was anything amazing about me, but Aunt Trina never said why I was special.

Now I'm meant to start at St Vladimir's to learn how to be a dhamphir. That's where life becomes a million times harder, a lot of the learning is physical but that really doesn't bother me. I've always been the sporty type, so keeping in shape was fine with me.

The hard bit was living with vampires, the bloodsuckers. That's a very unfriendly word the term 'bloodsucker' so I won't be using it much. Luckily I never got the bloodsucking gene. I used the word again, I'm going to get in trouble if I say it aloud. Carrying on, I'm going to meet my mother for the first time which I don't really give a shit about, mind my language. Families will always be families like I always say, she left me alone in the world without anyone to guide me, no one who shared the same blood as me.

A lady named Alberta Petrov was showing me around; she seemed seriously tough and rough for her age. She led me into the building which was my dorm where I was to stay for a long length of time I was guessing, I was going to be starting school first thing tomorrow, no time to rest and put my feet up.

"This is where you will be staying Miss Hathaway" She opened up the room and I was confronted with a decent sized room, not luxurious and exotic but boring and dull. However with some Rose magic this could be turned into a palace fit for a queen, I mean teenager.

"Why with the formalities Alberta? Just call me Rose" She gave me a stern look and spoke, "you are going to be a hand full Miss Hathaway I can sense it" that's no way to welcome a student by telling them they are going to be a handful, people need to learn some manners. I put down my luggage which really wasn't much except tops, trousers, shoes and the normal essentials.

"You will be guided around the school by Mr Ashford who is another dhamphir"

"First name please" I was getting impatient from these formalities.

"His name is Mason, now you may go get prepared for tomorrow" I wondered how many rules and restrictions they had in place, but maybe I'd get to meet some hot guys. I knew for certain that I would stay away from the vampires; they must be pale dead looking beings with blood dripping from their lips. Uuuughhh. Stereotypical me.

As Alberta left I closed the door and flopped onto the bed, it was comfy but not comfy enough. Taking a deep breath I pulled myself together and looked in the mirror, there staring back was a girl with dark eyes and dark brown hair and lightly tan skin with a curvy body. Aunt Trina had always said I looked like an exotic princess. I am soo going to blow away those guys tomorrow with the Rose charm.

"You need to entertain yourself in this dump, I know lets go out exploring" talking to yourself is the first sign of madness; I mentally noted that in my head.

Leaving everything behind I closed the door and rushed down the hallway, there sat one of those dorm monitors, they can't stop me from going out…can they? Whatever.

"Excuse me, where are you going?"

"I'm new, just exploring" I put on my best Rose smile, and the guy just nodded. I guess that means I can go. I was hit with coldness as I stepped out, I needed to get used to this weather because I was to live here for a few years. I looked around and what caught my eye was the woody area. That is the best place to start my adventure; I ran in the direction of the trees and headed straight through.

Leaves crunched beneath my feet, and the trees stopped most of the afternoon light from getting through. I trudged slowly and carefully hopefully not to step on any animals or insects, even though I eat meat I do not support animal cruelty, that's a fact. In the corner of my eyes I saw a figure blur in my vision, it seemed to be moving at great speed, and I whipped around quickly in the direction that the figure went. Without a second warning something grabbed me around the neck and sharply pushed me up against the tree.

I felt the thing's body crush against my body, I tried to push hard but the amount of force used to pin me down was inhuman, supernatural. My attacker picked up his head and looked straight into my eyes, what I saw looking back was a pair of red eyes staring back. This is totally freaky.

"What are you doing to me you loser, go get a life and get your filthy hands of me" amusement flashed in its eyes and a grin spread over his face in a nasty way. There was no point in talking to the being it didn't seem to get the message. However in that moment the things face scrunched up in agony, his grip loosened only a little bit but in a split second his body jerked into attack mode pulling me along with him. I slowly assessed the thing, it was a man, but how can anyone he be so strong and have red eyes. Contact lenses? I thought.

The man seemed to have been slashed in the back with a knife but he didn't seem like he was going through excruciating pain. My eyes finally met the person who had slashed him and sort of rescued me, there stood a tall man wearing a long leather duster the sort of coats you see in cowboy movies but he looked good in it. He had chin length brown hair but I couldn't make out his eye colour, I'd check on that later.

I couldn't really register my thoughts because both guys' started to throw themselves at each other. They were fighting very professionally, the moves looked choreographed and sharp. Then thud! My attacker fell and he looked…dead. Without warning more red eyed monsters came out.

"Run!" The guy with the leather duster shouted, then I realised that my attacker was dead and I was free to run. Without looking back I was about to start running when the leather duster guy called out.

"Tell Alberta, Buria" did the guy just say Bui…what.

"Go tell her Buria now!" Now I started running…fast. Joining the running club has actually coming in handy.

As I came to the clearing I headed for the administration building, well I thought it was. When I ran into the building there were a few pupils there and when I saw Alberta talking with someone I rushed up to her without stopping. People were staring but I really didn't care.

"Alberta" I sort of shouted.

"Rose" She gave me a weird look.

"Leather…duster…man…said…to tell you…Buria" before I could fully catch my breath everyone was in action, Alberta started shouting. I took a deep breath in and fell to the ground. My legs were aching and I was exhausted. I didn't understand what was happening, I put my hand on my neck and realised there was blood on my shoulder, my attackers nails had gouged into my flesh bringing blood out.

I steadily got up, there were a lot of instructions shouted and no one was really paying attention to me, so I trekked to a seat in the corner where no one would see me and slumped down on it. I watched as everything unfolded in front of my eyes, being the new girl wasn't really fun. I was sitting here whining when something serious was happening out there.

Then everything clicked into place, my attacker was a Strigoi, Aunt Trina had said they had red eyes. I had just faced a Strigoi on the first few hours of my arrival. Wow. I was running out of reactions for this place. I thought carefully for a second and then it occurred to me that I should go and help. I didn't know how I would do it but something inside was telling me to go and help.

The front entrance was filled with people and I wouldn't be allowed to go out.

"So the window it is" I told myself aloud.

I pulled open the nearest window and climbed out, I came out on the side of the building, looking around I could see that there was no one out here. I started running towards where the action had started; there was people fighting and dead people everywhere. This was a first, coming to this school means having to encounter dead bodies.

I stood just outside of the action, no one saw me, and they were too busy fighting. My eyes quickly scanned the whole area, and there to my surprise was a megaphone abandoned by the tree. If those red eyed monsters weren't going to play nice I had to knock some sense into them by talking. I picked up the megaphone and put it to my lips, I gathered my strength. Here goes…

"Everyone, just stooooopppppppp!" I lengthened the word stop and actually everyone came to an abrupt stop. Now this time Alberta screamed.

"Get away Rose…NOW!"

"I am not moving" I said crossing my arms over my chest, I had always been a stubborn kid, but this was for a good cause.

One of the Strigoi's stepped forward and started to laugh. Everyone was staring at me which was nerve wrecking, everyone seemed frozen to the spot not able to move.

"Don't you dare laugh at me?" the Strigoi that had just stepped forward laughing at me was smirking which I didn't like.

"Have you seen yourself little girl, trying to look all tough" the clearing was quiet and no one moved, many people had come out of the building to see why everything had quietened down. People that were in a fight had stopped and were staring not taking notice of each other. I was getting humiliated in front of people I could be going to school with tomorrow and I really didn't want to look stupid. So I came up with something Rose Hathaway would say.

"Your one to talk, you should have taken a look in the mirror before you came out to fight. Red is soo last year" I saw no emotion come to the Strigoi's face and he started laughing again. Now I was getting mad, I mean furious. My blood was boiling and I felt heat spread through my body. It was a new feeling, nothing I had experienced before. At that moment my fingers started to tingle, my hands seemed to be on fire, I picked them up and before I could make any observation, fire shot out of my fingers straight towards the Strigoi that had laughed at me, I felt a burning sensation go through my body and in a millisecond the Strigoi went up in flames, literally. I gasped and looked at my hands. Did I just do that?

I was in trouble, than the fight went into full swing.

A/N: Please REVIEW, REVIEW AND REVIEW PLEASE! Thanks for reading.

Question: Who Should Rose Be With?