Eta Carinae1 noticed I mispelled soap for soup in the second chapter. That way, Dimitri bathed himself in soup! I couldn't stop laughing when I read that! Probably the funniest thing in the chapter and I didn't even mean it.

The disclaimer remains. Good reading ;)

He'd been staring at her for the past fifteen minutes. I was about to demand if there was any problem with the guy when I remembered one thing and noticed another. One: Rose still had me cuffed. Two: she was staring back at him.

I couldn't believe it when they told me they needed new clothes. For two girls running out of money, I'd think food was a more impending matter, but no. They needed new clothes. Teenagers.

Rose decided we should go inside the store with our arms linked so that nobody would notice my cuffs. That decided, she released one of my hands and locked the free cuff around her own wrist. I grimaced at first, realizing the only way of my escaping was dragging her along.

That was how Rose and I, arms linked and hidden by my duster, plus the princess, entered the store. Vasilisa didn't waste any time and started looking for skirts and dresses and... Oh, well. At least, Rose was behaving by my side, never trying anything on and doing no more than offering her opinion to her friend. Until I noticed the guy looking at her.

He had this hungry expression on his face and I could tell he was undressing her with his eyes. I felt my blood start to boil and my will was to go to his face and teach him what the punishment for pedophiles was. I mean, he was so much older than her it made me sick. He was probably in his early twenties... which made him younger than me. My stomach lurched at the thought. Ok, maybe he wasn't that much older. But he was still a sick bastard that couldn't respect accompanied ladies. She was clearly with me, all but glued to my side. Well, not exactly with me, but that was the impression we were trying to give off. Summarizing, the guy was a jerk. He shouldn't be looking at her. Period.

Then I noticed that Rose was staring back at him. If she had something that loosely resembled a disgusted face, I think I could have gotten away with that, but Rose being Rose, that was not the case. She was actually smiling at him. I was seriously pissed now. Sure, he was good-looking with his brown, messy hair and his green – way too green for my taste – eyes, but I was taller. That had to count for something. Surprisingly, he was a Moroi and was unaccompanied by a guardian. The man grinned back at her and made a movement toward us, but I didn't wait. I grabbed her arm tightly and jerked her to the other side of the store, where the princess was examining some dresses.

"You do remember you are the hostage, don't you?"

I groaned internally, but didn't say a word. She might think of herself as a powerful woman, but I knew better. She was just a girl and I, as the oldest and wiser adult, had to guide her steps. The fact she had kidnapped me was just a detail and I was convinced we'd get over it. I frowned at that, realizing how out of my mind I sounded even to myself.

"Aren't you going to try anything on, Rose?" Vasilisa asked with an excited glint in her eyes.

Rose glanced at me so fast I would have lost it if I hadn't been paying attention. She shook her head.

"Sorry, Liss, I'm guarding you. Not to mention the fact we barely have money to afford a place to sleep." She looked at me again, but this time deliberately, a lazy smile spreading through her lips. "Besides, I think it would be kind of complicated to try anything on since I'm stuck with this big boy over here. Not that I would mind the trouble."

I rolled my eyes, but if I was going to be honest with myself, I found her witty remarks pretty amusing. I would die before I let her know that, of course. I opted for my annoyed face, rather than the guardian mask this time.

But I caught something in Rose's words and subtle actions that surprised me. It wasn't only the fact she was more mature than I'd given her credit for; it was also that she cared about my opinion. Almost as if she wanted my approval. I restrained a smile, feeling my insides warm up.

There I go, getting all cheesy again. I'd beat myself up if I weren't in public and cuffed to a goddess.

Wait. I didn't think that.

Sometime during my internal ramblings, jerk guy made another appearance. I didn't notice him until he was all over the girls, wrapping them up with his sweet talk.

"Really, girls, I don't mind. Feel free to model your lingerie to me if you need some outsider's opinion."

"I can model your nose to the shape of my fist, if you wish," Rose said I and felt my chest inflate with pride. Until I looked at her and saw that, despite her snarky comeback, she looked sort of amused.

"I say we shape our bodies to one another, what do you think?"

Vasilisa laughed, but it was Rose who irritated me. She rolled her eyes, only there was a smile tugging at her lips.

"We should go," I said sternly. "Unless you have money to pay for the entire store, you'd better stop here, princess Vasilisa."

"It's Lissa," the princes stated, a little embarrassed by her shopping compulsion.

"Well, well, you never told me you had a tower as a body guard," the jerk commented and I had to gather all my control not to punch him on the face.

Rose tightened her hold on our linked arms and winked at him.

"I like them big."

The boy's eyebrows shot up at his hairline as he looked at her with an incredulous face and the princess tried to control a fit of coughs.

"Why, little dhampir, aren't you straight to the point."

I was too pissed to be embarrassed. I kept glaring at him with my worse face that would give children nightmares, but he paid no attention to me. He only had eyes for Rose.

"We should get going, Rose. We still need to find a place for the night," Vasilisa said, still recovering.

"Rose," jerk boy said, as if tasting the word on the tip of his tongue. "I'm Adrian Ivashkov. Delighted to meet you." He'd better watch it or he wouldn't be so happy to meet my fist.

"Can't say the same," Rose said, but she was trying to refrain a smile.

That was enough. I jerked Rose along, but Ivashkov grabbed her arm. He slipped a card into her free hand and gave it a quick peck before letting go.

"I'll be waiting eagerly for our next meeting," he said and I growled. They all seemed surprised by it, but I took the opportunity and pulled the girls out of the store with me. Vasilisa didn't even get the chance to take her clothes with us. She'd survive and we'd have more money, not to mention the plus of getting hid of the bastard.

I nearly ran down the street, jerking Rose along and forcing the princess to half-run after us.

"What is your problem?" Rose nearly shouted.

"Don't you see he wanted to take advantage of you?" I hissed. "That's Adrian Ivashkov! He has quite the reputation, in case you haven't heard!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I have quite the reputation as well."

Vasilisa was running out of breath, but she finally managed to catch up with us when we stopped at a traffic light.

"Thank... you," she said, out of breath.

I looked at her confused.

"What for?"

She looked at me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"For not telling on us, of course. He was a Moroi. You could very well have warned him about us having kidnapped you and you didn't. So thank you."

Oh. I hadn't even thought of that. The only thing that mattered was to get Rose – to get them – out of his claws' reach. It occurred to me I'd been barely thinking of the princess all this time.

Rose eyed me with a knowing look. She knew. Rose always knew.

...

Our new room had a double bed and a single bed. The arrangements seemed fairly simple at first: the girls would share the bigger bed and I'd be cuffed to the smaller one. That was exactly the problem, though: the smaller bed wouldn't fit me. But neither Rose nor I wanted to hear about it. The princess tried to argue with us that, since Rose was the shorter, she should share the double bed with me, but she backed down when Rose and I shot her our best death glares.

I'd been sitting on the single bed for two hours, listening to the girls discuss their financial problems. The princess was utterly resentful with the fact she couldn't use her own money. It was unreachable, blocked in her account. Due to some of fate's irony, our little motel was located right in front of a bank. The two of them had spent the last hours looking mournfully out the window, longing for it. I had lost count of how many sighs they had already given.

Rose finally got tired and came to sit by my side.

"Bored much?" she asked, trying to raise one single brow and failing miserably. It was actually cute.

"Not at all, I'm having the time of my life here."

She smiled and stretched out her long legs and arms, giving me a full view of all of her curves and all the places her tight jeans and top clung to her body. I had to divert my eyes for fear she'd see the hunger in them. I was no better than the Ivashkov jerk, really. This wasn't right. Rose deserved more respect than that.

As if she had heard my thoughts, she spoke:

"There's always the Ivashkov guy, Liss," she called out her friend. "We could ask for a loan; I'm sure he wouldn't deny us."

"You only met him today," I pointed out, somewhat annoyed.

"I only met him today and he already likes me."

I sighed, so not willing to start that conversation.

"He's right, Rose," Vasilisa said and I was sure God heard some of my prayers. "Besides, he wouldn't be crazy to the point of helping two runaways. Outlaws, even," she frowned.

"Not if he didn't know who we are."

Vasilisa and I simply stared at her, showing our total lack of support.

"Fine," Rose said, contradicted. "I was hoping things wouldn't get to this. But you leave me no other choice."

I narrowed my eyes at her, a hundred percent sure I would not want to hear whatever she had to say.

"What choice?" the princess asked, hesitantly.

Rose looked out the window, thoughtful.

"You're not going to like it."

I was losing my patience here. I was sure I wouldn't like it, but it wouldn't stop her from doing whatever evil scheme she had on her mind.

"Say it," I demanded.

Rose looked at me and I felt chills run down my spine.

"You see the bank in front of the motel?"

I nodded.

"We are going to rob it."

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