Hey everyone!!!

So i know it's been like a bazillion years since i updated, but i had time!

So here's chapter 4.

as always. i own nothing, and I would like it if you reviewed.

~Rose

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Chapter 4

Rose couldn't believe that her mother was sanding at the front of the class. Janine Hathaway didn't even acknowledge her own daughter. That made me slightly mad. Why would anyone ignore their own fresh and blood?

Stan introduced the guardians at the front of the room and explained that they would be sharing real-life experiences with the class. A tense excitement filled the class. The students knew that there would be no work today, only listening to stories from seasoned guardians.

When Stan announced Guardian Hathaway, some students in the back nudged on another and pointed to Rose. She didn't notice; she was too fixed on glaring at her mother.

As the Guardians told their stories, I noticed that Rose was listening intently to all of them--but her mother. When her mother got up to talk, Rose's turned to a scowl. She was obviously not happy about anything that involved her mother.

I wondered if anyone else looked at Rose the way I did. I mean, they all saw her beauty, no doubt, but did any of them actually understand her the way I did? Did they see how much she wanted to prove herself to others? To make up for what she and Lissa had done two years ago?

As Guardian Hathaway ended her story, eyes bulged, and mouths dropped open. Rose looked around in disgust. The class began to pepper Guardian Hathaway with questions. Was she scared? What techniques did she use?

It surprised me when Rose raised her hand.

"So, Guardian Hathaway," she said, "Why didn't you guys just secure the place?"

Rose's mother frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rose shrugged and nonchalantly sat back in her chair. "I don't know. It seems to me like you guys messed up. Why didn't you scope out the place and make sure it was clear of Strigoi in the first place? Seems like you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble."

Everyone turned to look at Rose, like they couldn't believe she would challenge the great Guardian Hathaway. Well, what did they expect? It was Rose afterall.

"If we hadn't gone through all that 'trouble,' there'd be seven more Strigoi walking the world, and those Moroi would be dead or turned by now." Guardian Hathaway was looking a little miffed at Rose.

"Yeah, yeah. I get how you guys saved the day and all that, but I'm going back to principles here. I mean, this is a theory class, right?" Rose looked at Stan. Stan was looking at Rose with an expression that could only be explained as hidden hate. "So I just want to figure out what went wrong in the beginning."

Janine Hathaway had a lot of patience. Her face was calm, but there was something about the set of her lips that made me think that Rose was pissing her off just a bit.

"It's not that simple. The venue had an extremely complex layout. We went in through it initially and found nothing. It's believed that the Strigoi came in after the festivities had started--or that there might have been passages and hidden rooms we hadn't been aware of."

"So what you're saying is that you guys either failed to detect them during your first sweep, or they broke through the 'security' you set up during the party. Seems like someone messed up either way.

She had a point. The guardians on duty did mess up. Or maybe Rose was just twisting her mother's words.

Guardian Hathaway's voice grew colder. "We did the best we could with an unusual situation. I can see how someone at your level might not be able to grasp the intricacies of what I'm describing, but once you've actually learned enough to go beyond theory, you'll see how different it is when you're actually out there and lives are in your hands."

"No doubt," Rose agreed. "Who am I to question your methods? I mean, whatever gets you the molnija marks, right?"

I winced internally. She'd gone too far. As usual.

"Miss Hathaway, please take your things and wait outside for the remainder of the class," Stan said.

Rose looked at him in surprise. "Are you serious? Since when is there anything wrong with asking questions?"

"Your attitude is what's wrong." He pointed at the door. "Go."

I let out a silent sigh. Where was all the control she was supposed to be learning?
Rose picked up her stuff and left the class.

When the door closed, Stan turned back to Guardian Hathaway shaking his head. "Please continue."

The class kept asking questions. I wanted to go out and talk to Rose. Explain to her that what she said was wrong, and she needed to watch it. But I couldn't. I was powerless to guide her here. When her mother left to go out to the hall five minutes later, I had to restrain myself from following.

When Rose's afternoon practice session came around, she was on time for once. She ran up to the dummy and slapped it's chest slightly to the left, but mostly in the center.

"There. The heart is there, and the sternum and ribs are in the way. Can I have the stake now?"

She crossed her arms and glanced up at me triumphantly. I realized she expected me to praise hr. Instead I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"And how do you get through the sternum and the ribs?" I asked her.

She sighed.

I mentally sighed. She didn't know.

We spent a large part of the class, going over the correct way to use the stake.

When I extended it to her, she didn't take it. It surprised me.

"You're giving it to me?"

I held back a smile. "I can't believe you're holding back. I figured you'd have taken it and run by now."

"Aren't you always teaching me to hold back?" she asked.

"Not on everything."

"But on some things."

I heard the double meaning in her statement, but I ignored it.

"Of course. It's like everything else. Balance. Know which things to run forward with--and know which to leave alone." I knew she'd get the meaning out of that.

A moment of electricity passed between us as out eyes met. I was reminded of how this as the girl that knew me best. She somehow understood me.

She hesitantly took the stake. "What should I do first?"

I covered the basics first. Going over the lesson. I hoped to her it looked like I was ignoring what had happened, but I couldn't. The whole time I was fixed on her. the way she moved, her smell, her hair in it's ponytail.

When practice ended, I took the stake back and nodded at her. "Good. Very good."

She glanced at me in surprise. "Really?"

"You do it like you've been doing it for years."

She smiled a little. we started to leave the practice room when she saw a dummy that looked like her mother with the red surly hair.

"Can I stake that one next time?"

I picked up my coat and put it on. "I don't think that's be healthy."

"It'd be better than me actually doing it to her." It made me want to laugh.

"Violence isn't the answer to your problem."

"She's the one with the problem. And I thought the whole point of my education was that violence is the answer."

"Only to those who bring it to you first. Your mother isn't assaulting you. You two are just too much alike."

She stopped walking. "I'm not anything like her! I mean...we kind of have the same eyes. But I'm a lot taller. And my hair is completely different." She pointed to her ponytail to indicate the hair differences.

"I'm not talking about your appearance and you know it."

"You think I'm jealous?"

"Are you? If so, what are you jealous of exactly?"

She looked at me. "I don't know. Maybe I'm jealous of her reputation. Maybe I'm jealous because she's put more time into her reputation than into me. I don't know."

"You don't think what she did was great?" I asked.

"Yes. No. I don't know. It just sounded like such a...I don't know...like she was bragging. Like she did it for the glory." She grimaced she was sorry about that. "For the marks."

"You think facing down Strigoi is worth a few marks? I thought you'd learned something at the Badica house." I studied her intently.

"That's not what I--"

"Come on." She needed to see something.

She stopped walking again. "What?"

I nodded my head in the opposite direction of where we'd been going. "I want to show you something."

"What is it?"

"That not all marks are a badge of honor." I turned and let her toward the forest.

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Oh, no. the other woman is about to enter.

Will Dimitri see the jealousy radiating off Rose?

and OMG!!! was anyone else totally disappointed by Blood Promise? Or was it just me?