I have to apologize that this isn't as long as I had hoped (or as nearly dramatic) but I had a deadline since I'll be leaving for two weeks for a summer program. I won't be able to add a chapter as quickly since I'll be staying at the academy overnight. If worse comes, I won't even be able to update at all. I hope this satisfies you guys for a while though I am starting the next chapter right now. To hell with sleep.~

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the Vampire Academy series. The only one I own is Elspeth.

Chapter Three.

I woke up with a start, not sure why I was gasping for breath. There was a chance I had a bad dream but I had no recollection of it. When I closed my eyes I could see the images starting to form. Before I could grasp it, they shattered. After ten or so minutes of trying, I gave up. I had a serious headache.

Gazing over at the clock, I realized it was eleven in the morning. We had arrived in New York at midnight, having going straight to bed afterward to switch from our nocturnal schedule. Nine hours of sleep was what I received but I felt like I had only gotten an hour or two. I swallowed the dry lump I had in my throat, coughing slightly. God, why did I feel like a train wreck? I shook it off, running my hand through my hair. It was a mess, as it usually was after sleep.

Lissa stepped out of the bathroom already dressed. I wasn't all too surprised she was ready before I was. She smiled over to me, moving towards the full length mirror on the wall to adjust her small tiara on her head. Of course, in the human world, she wouldn't get away with walking around wearing a crown on her head as if she were the queen of England of something. So instead she carried a small tiara which blended in since some girls enjoyed doing so sometimes (despite wearing tight, short dresses and holding balloons that suggested it was their 21st birthday).

Wordlessly I made my way to the bathroom, groaning at the sight of my disheveled hair. Sometimes it was a wonder Dimitri kisses me in the morning and remarks how beautiful I was. Not with this rats nest I have in the morning. Sighing, I got on with the tedious task of combing my hair, getting ready as quickly as possible for Lissa's sake. I ended up wearing something casual as opposed to the stuffy guardian outfit I'd seen others wear. With humans, there was only so much we could do before we started standing out. Blending in was what we were taught to do.

We met up in the dining area of the hotel, which was as posh as the rest of the hotel. There were chandeliers hanging in the ceiling, a beautiful mosaic painted on the walls of the entire room. The tables were either round or rectangular depending on its position in the room. We took a long rectangular table so we can all sit and eat (after the Moroi had their blood of course). I ate quickly, even picking at Lissa's plate since she didn't eat nearly as much as I did. The conversation was light as it always was with us. I avoided Adrian's eyes the entire time.

A dhampir arrived around the time we had finished eating our breakfast. At first glance he appeared to be one of those guys who belonged in Sons of Anarchy but when he took off his glasses, he had the stern look of a guardian. He looked familiar. He seemed to recognize me as well, nodded in my direction. Even though I nodded back, I still couldn't put my finger on where I'd seen him before.

"I'll lead you to where he is," he said curtly and turned to leave. I shared a glance at Elspeth who seemed tense and on edge all of a sudden. I swallowed. Maybe this guy was something to be worried about. This time I was near guard along with Dimitri and Eddie. Elspeth took far guard though Adrian decided to hang back with her. I was aware that they were talking amongst themselves. I paid no mind to them both.

The dhampir's back was to us the entire time. When he opened the doors, it was then that I realized where he was from. He was the guardian that was there when I was in Russia. He had dragged Viktoria out of the blood whorehouse if i remembered correctly. The memory was suddenly so vivid. My lips suddenly turned dry as I tried to grasp what his name was. "…Pavel?" He nodded at me as if to confirm what I just realized.

"Welcome Queen Vasilisa," Abe Mazur said with a snarky tone in his voice. I could almost kick myself. I knew this meeting was going to be different and scandalous. I fucking knew it. Abe Mazur was my Moroi father and a Turkish mobster of some sorts. Though I knew most of his business was illegal and important (to him anyways) I was sure he had no business dragging Lissa out to New York for whatever reason he wanted- which probably wasn't even a good one to begin with.

I glared at him, moving through Eddie and Lissa, pointing my finger at him. Rage and fury entered me at once- though it was just my normal short temper rather than my temper from sucking the darkness out of Lissa. Let me tell you, the rage that comes from that is no joke.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He merely smiled at me as if I posed no threat. True, I was his daughter and he could easily dispose of me with the help of his guardians but not with three others in the room plus a two Moroi who have training in offensive magic.

"Nice to see you too Rose. How have you been?" That annoying condescending smirk adorned his face. He might have been my father but god he really got under my skin sometimes. Never mind that he and my mother were sort of hooking up again. I wasn't against it but it just threw a new splash of awkward whenever they were both together ganging up on me for some stupid antic I pulled.

"Shut it old man," I snarled. He tsked softly, waggling his finger. "That's no way to speak to your father."

Oh, how I wanted to punch him.

Dimitri sensed my fury building up. He put his strong hand on my shoulder, calming me within seconds. Sometimes I was amazed by how he had that type of power but then again Dimitri was just a badass- a badass I fell head over heels for.

"Rose it right, Zmey," Dimitri said. If I wasn't so ticked off with my father at the moment, I would have found amusement in this. Despite that Abe was my father and Dimitri was my boyfriend, he never bothered with formalities. It doesn't help that Dimitri doesn't really trust my father. I first found that out when he was Strigoi and we were- No. I will not think back to those times. Not right now. I've managed to forget about that. Why dig it up now?

My father, being the wrongly carefree man he was, just shrugged as if none of that matters. Never mind he was a non royal calling the attention of the queen- not that any of that mattered now since Lissa called for equality but some royals were still biased- but he was a mobster non royal calling Lissa's attention. The fact that he was my father didn't make this situation any better than it was.

"I just thought you would be interesting with the riding Strigoi threat," he said with a careless toss of his hand as if Strigoi become a greater threat than they already were wasn't a big deal. My glare deepened but before I could say anything, Elspeth beat my to the punch.

"What Strigoi threat? What could be any worse than them using humans to aid them?" she shot back readily. She seemed just as annoyed with his presence as I was. He smiled though it held no trace of kindness or fondness. Or anything close to a warm and loving emotion for that matter.

"Them using humans and manipulating Court with royal Moroi."

I paled. I remember back to the time when we had just found out that they were using humans. Now they were using Moroi. No, this wasn't just bad. Or even horrible. This could destroy our entire race. No one was safe, no one can be trusted.

Fanfuckingtastic.