February 9, 2011

Sorry it took me so long to post another chapter but I was using this post as a reward to myself for finishing another chapter of So What Now I have finished chapter 59 and sent it to my wonderful Beta, Rangarose. This is my treat; I get to post this chapter. For those who have complained about the chapters being too short this one is a bit longer.

I do not own VA but that which comes from my nutty mind and the voices within it, I happily share with you. OOOh by the way my crazy voices have me working on yet another story in my Alternate timeline series. When I have about 50 pages written then I will begin to post.

Chapter 7: Meeting Annemarie

I have so many questions and I need answers. I decided to go to Alberta. On the wall between Rose's Office and Alberta's is a large Chart showing the class schedules and guard shifts of every guardian. Right now Alberta was teaching a Moroi self defense class with Christian Ozera. Damn that isn't going to work. I searched the board for someone who might be willing to talk to me. Edison Castel was on duty walking the perimeter.

I jogged out to and began running along the wards. I didn't find Guardian Castel instead I was cut off by the last person I really wanted to see; Adrian Ivashkov. I doubt he would tell me anything but I can give it a try.

"Dimitri have you seen Eddie Castel? I am supposed to give him a message from Rosemarie."

"No I haven't. Adrian, can I ask you something?"

"You can ask brother. I might or might not be able to answer you." Brother? Does he know? I will save that question for another day.

"I was just in a meeting with Rose, first she was on the phone talking about hunting packs. Then a guardian walked in with a box of bracelets. He called her Huntress. It looked like she had a conversation with him in her head. Like the Princess used to do with her. What's going on?"

"I am not allowed to talk about the work she is doing for my Aunt; but if Rosemarie let that all go on in front of you then I would just pay attention to the little things. As for the conversations in her head; again pay attention to the little things. You might find that she has transformed into something quite amazing. In fact I think it would be best if you not ask her or anyone else anything about her. Make observations and eventually you will find the answers to your questions. At some point when you have figured out all the biggest questions; come back to me and I will fill in the blanks."

Though his face had been serious all through our conversation; it got a bit sadder.

"Dimitri, it's probably best if you try to think of her as Rosemarie and not Rose or Roza. She associates both Rose and especially Roza with who she was back then; to her that girl is dead."

"Understood, I will try to keep it in mind. Thank you for talking to me, you're the first person to call me by my first name since I got here. I better get going classes are about to start."

"Before you go I want to say that I am glad you are here. Perhaps working together with Annemarie will be a healing experience for both of you." He reached out and touched my shoulder. Then he let it fall and walked away.

I observed in Annemarie's classes as usual. This time I counted every time she had a tantrum. I was formulating a way for me to teach her patience. I left her third hour class twenty minutes early so that I could get set up for our training session. I set out the mats and a dummy then headed the locker room to change.

There was no sign of my student so sat down on the mat and began to meditate. I had just gotten into a state of relaxation when I felt her near me. (After all of these years I can still feel Rose's presence.) I stayed in my meditative state for a few more minutes. When I opened my eyes I saw both Annemarie and Rose…. Rosemarie sitting with their eyes closed in meditation. I couldn't help the sigh that escaped me. I felt whole and content; this is how it could have been if I never left.

Rosemarie opened her eyes and gave me a very small sad smile before letting her mask fall into place. This time she left some expression in her face. Her eyes rested on Annemarie. The child's eyes opened and looked first to Rose then to me and back again. She gave me a skeptical, quizzical look. Rose actually gave a laugh and shook her head. The way that Rose looked at Annemarie was full of love and warmth. After a few more moments of silent exchange Rose spoke.

"Guardian Belikov this is Annemarie. She promises to behave herself for you. Annemarie this is Guardian Dimitri Belikov and he is going to be your mentor. Listen to him and he will have a lot to teach you."

Annemarie gave her a hug and said something that I didn't understand at first. Then I realized that they were speaking Turkish. I remember from when I used to teach Rose that her father is Turkish but he lives in Russia most of the time. Other than that I knew nothing about him.

"Birlikte bugün öğle olabilir?" Rose shook her head sadly.

"Ben paketi ile görüşmek zorunda. Ama ben önce eğitim sonra almak olacaktır." Rose kissed her forehead before walking away.

Ivan Zeklos was my best friend and first charge. He was from Greece and he had a thing for learning languages, among other things. Since I was the only person who could keep up with him academically, I was his study partner so I learned to speak fairly well in Greek, Italian, Turkish, French and Romanian; along with Klingon but that was just for fun. English we learned at the academy since the court was in the United States. I didn't understand everything they said but what I did understand Annemarie asked Rose if they were eating lunch together. Rose said that she had a meeting. It's been a long time since I last spoke Turkish but I think I might brush up on it.

"Ok Annemarie how many laps do you usually do for Guardian Hathaway?" I knew that the number for an 11 yr old should be about 10 but I wanted to know if she would be honest.

"If I behave myself it is 12 laps but if I have been naughty she makes me do 2 more. I think you are going to have me running a lot more." She gave me a scowl

"Well here is the thing. I have noticed that you don't like to wait your turn in line or in other classes. So every time you don't wait your turn that is going to cost you a lap. Every time you throw a tantrum and try to hurt a classmate that will cost you two laps. For this morning you would owe me six extra laps but I am going to be nice and only make you do three extra." Her scowl darkened.

"Now if you are good all week and you don't have the extra laps then I promise to give you a fun work out on Friday. Does that sound fair to you?" She mumbled something under her breath before answering.

"Sigh… Ok … Fine."

"Now let's go run your laps." She gave me a look of surprise as we jogged out to the track

"Guardian Alto doesn't run with me when he subs for my m... mentor Guardian Hathaway."

"Stan Alto is your sub? No wonder they asked me to come here to mentor you." She laughed so hard that she slowed down. "Pick it up Donnelley!" She scowled again but picked up her pace.

"I hate that last name. It isn't really my last name. They have me using it but it isn't mine and I hate it. Bridget Donnelley was a great woman but I'm not her and I don't want to be like her. I don't want my life to be all about hunting."

"Who's Bridget Donnelley?" I let my guardian mask down and when she looked at me I let my curiosity show though my smile. She looked up at me with a frustrated look on her face.

"She was like… this super guardian. I guess you can say she is my great, great, great, great, great, great, Great Grandmother. I'm not supposed to talk about it." She sounded frustrated and sad.

"Ok well if you aren't supposed to talk about it maybe we can talk about something else while we run. Or if you would rather not talk at all that is ok too."

"Let's just run for a while I guess." I nodded and continued to jog alongside her. For an eleven year old she was small; so her full out run was a fast jog for me.

"Annemarie you don't have to run at full speed the whole time. We are going for endurance and distance; if you start out at full speed you are going to wear out too fast."

"I know that. I won't go full speed till the last lap."

"Ok then. I will let you set the pace." We continued on and at the last lap she shot out much faster than I would have expected her little legs capable of. Once we were done I had her do some core strengthening exercises then ten minutes of sparing. Her technique is good. I could see that Rosemarie had to have trained her because I recognized my own techniques; but I could tell that she has also been learning something very different.

"Annemarie how is the regular novice training different from the techniques that Guardian Hathaway has taught you?"

"I'm not supposed to talk about it too much." She gave me the same frustrated look she had earlier.

"If you are not supposed to talk about it; then that is ok." We continued to spar but she got a funny look on her face.

"Pretend to be a Strigoi and I will show you."

She backed away from me for a moment and closed her eyes. I waited for a few minutes but she kept her eyes closed. I lunged at her but even with her eyes closed she sidestepped. I attacked again and again. She blocked and spared with me but instead of trying to keep me away from her while looking for the opening to 'stake' me; she kept me relatively close. She was good and thought I was a bit easy on her she was still giving me a bit of a hard time. At a moment when I thought I had her; she reached out and pressed her hand against my chest. It wasn't directly at my heart but I felt a small charge and fell back out of surprise. It didn't hurt but I could imagine that if there was more power in the charge it could have.

"Oh I am sorry!" She rushed up to me with worry and fear on her face. "I didn't mean to do that for real; I am sorry. Did I hurt you? Please don't tell on me."

"I'm ok. Don't worry I won't tell anyone. But maybe we should stick to traditional training." I gave her a smile and looked at the clock. "Why don't you go change and I will walk you to your lunch?"

"Ok" We both ran off to the locker rooms to change. When I was done she still wasn't out so I took out my book and waited for her.

"What are you reading? I like to read too."

"The title of this one is called Brimstone; it is a story about the old west."

"I'm starting on the Little House series." I put my book away and listened to her chatter on about the book she was reading and the ones that she has read. Half way to the commons Mikhail came up to us.

"I was just about to get you. So Marie how was your first training with Guardian Belikov?"

"Really good; he didn't yell at me like Alto does."

"That's good, though you know Stan is just a grouch but he loves you. I have to talk to Guardian Belikov for a moment. Have a good lunch sweetie." I expected her to walk away but she just stepped a few feet away then waited while I spoke with Guardian Tanner.

"Hey Belikov I have to go finish up with something. Can you guard her for maybe 30 minutes?"

"Sure Mikhail, do what you need to do. I will take care of her you go ahead and take the whole lunch hour." He gave me a nod and a small a smile, before running off to the guardian building.

I expected Annemarie to walk off ahead like most kids would and do her own thing. Instead she kept her stride alongside me. She kept talking with me while she gathered a tray of food.

"Guardian Belikov, aren't you going to get something to eat?"

"I am guarding you right now." She rolled her eyes.

"We are in an academy and because I am here; believe me the wards are well maintained. They even have more magic than Court, so you can relax a little and get some lunch." She handed me a tray and began to put food on it.

"Hang on princess, I can choose my own food." She giggled when I called her princess. It was nice to see her smile. One thing I had noticed during my observations was that she is often sad and serious.

"Darn I was hoping for a chocolate doughnut." She looked over at the small tray of left over pastries from this morning.

"Did you know that Guardian Hathaway likes Chocolate Doughnuts?" Annemarie gave me a funny face when I said this.

"She used to but she only eats them once a year. She says that it is because they are bad for you but I know it is because they remind her of someone. It hurts her to think about him so she avoids things that remind her of him... I don't want to talk about it anymore."

It gave me another pang of guilt to hear that Rose no longer enjoys the food she once loved and it is because of me that she no longer does. When we would go camping I always made sure that I packed half dozen doughnuts for our breakfast. Annemarie looked at me and when she did I felt like she was trying to read me. I set my thoughts of Rose aside and let Annemarie choose the table; she went to a quiet corner. We ate in comfortable silence. It was a bit strange watching her eat. She had refined table manners for the most part but she ate more than any kid her size would normally eat. She also finished it quicker than I thought she would. In that way she reminded me so much of my Roza.

I noticed something strange on the arm of her sweater. With my free hand I pulled it off. She watched as I gave it a quizzical look.

"Cat hair; don't bother trying to get it all off. Everything I own is full of it. I am always getting scolded for letting the cat sleep in my drawers. But it is Mocha's favorite place to sleep when I am not home."

"You have a cat?" I couldn't hide the disbelief from my voice. Animals hate Dhampirs. The last time I was near a cat it hissed at me from across the street.

"They are my m…..Mentor's cats. I mean they are Guardian Hathaway's cats. We have two. Their names are Misty and Mocha Latte. Misty is a Russian Blue and Mocha Latte is a lilac point Siamese."

"Animals don't like Dhampirs?"

"They like m…me and Guardian Hathaway." I noticed that though she has never shown the tendency to stutter before she has stuttered three times already today. I wonder if I make her nervous.

"Do you mind if I work on my homework?"

"Feel free to." I took her tray and mine giving her room to spread out. She pulled out her math book. I continued to sit with her since she seemed to expect me to but instead of relaxing I stayed on guard.

"Guardian Belikov, do you think you could help me with this? Math is my worst subject. I don't see why they are making me take it anyway. It's not like a guardian needs it."

I think math was the only subject that I ever struggled with. Ivan and I were the smartest kids in our grade, I was his friend and study partner from 4th grade on. We both finished our academic work two years before any of our class. His father had to arrange for us to begin collage courses while still at St Basil's so that I could finish my training for Guardianship. I was smart but when it came to advanced math he was the only one who could make me understand it. I chuckled to myself. I seem to remember Rose hated math as well. I used to tutor her like Ivan had tutored me.

"Sure I can help you. I used to help my best friend when we were in school. (Ok so it was the other way around, but the end result is that I am quite good now.) Do you realize that guardians use math all the time especially in a fight. Let's see what you're working on and maybe I can help you understand what I mean."

We became engrossed in the math lesson at first she had a bit of trouble understanding the concept but when I started changing the example into guardian terms it clicked.

"Ok so there is a Strigoi 400 yards away, if it takes him 5 seconds to cross 100 yards how many seconds do you have to prepare for the attack?"

"I would have 20 seconds but I only need 3 so I can spend 17 seconds getting my Moroi to safety." She sounded just as cocky as Roza did.

"Very good but that is an easy one. Ok so you are now battling with the Strigoi. He is about to punch you in your stomach. He is 2 feet away from you. His hits are about 80 miles per hour. How much time do you have to block?"

"Belikov don't you think that is a bit hard?" Even though there was almost no emotion in her words hers was the sweetest voice. I turned around and as I did, Annemarie jumped up and hugged Rose. They had a silent exchange, the way that Rose's eyes warmed when looking into Annemarie's eyes made me think of the way she and I would look at each other during quiet moments.

"She wanted me to have lunch with her but I had a meeting with some collogues. Thank you for staying with her and helping her with math." Her voice was a little warmer when she spoke to me.

"It was my pleasure. I can see why people love her the way they do." I smiled at Annemarie. She blushed and smiled back at me.

POP QUIZ

1. Do you think Adrian really had to deliver a message to Eddie or do you think he intentionally sought out Dimitri? If so Why?

2. Ok I will tell you that Rosemarie and Annemarie were having a conversation telepathically. What do you think Annemarie said that made Rosemarie laugh?

3. What do you think of Dimitri's Plan to modify Annemarie's behavior with the Fun workout day? What do you think he has in mind for the fun days? (The only minor Dimitri ever had any interest in was Rose so please don't go there.) Do you think the extra laps V/S Fun workouts will work?

4. Annemarie knows her last name is not Donnelley. What do you think it is? Do you think Annemarie knows what her real last name is?

5. Why does Annemarie not want to be like Bridget Donnelley?

6. What the blank happened when she showed Dimitri how her training with Rose differs from regular novice training? This is a So what now answer, if you have not read that it's ok. Take a guess

7. Three times Annemarie stammers while talking with Dimitri, why do you think that is?

8. Rose has cats. Why do animals like her now when they hated her before? Sorry this is a So What Now answer.

9. What do you think of the interaction between Rosemarie and Annemarie?

Sorry the pop quiz is so long. I guess I have to say that this is a favorite chapter for me because it is the first time we get all three of them together. PLEASE PLEASE review and let me know what you think. I am hopelessly addicted to Reviews like a feeder is to the endorphin high. Please feed my addiction.

Suzanna