Hey guys, this might be a short chapter. A lot of things are happening to Rose, without further adoo CHAPTER 8!

Disclaimer: Richelle Mead own Vampire Academy...but Dimitri can be mine. Uh-oh, Rose just gave me a dirty look. Why is she running towards me? AHHHHHHHH!


Chapter 8

The next day Rose didn't look absolutely fine but she did look okay. I saw, {okay looked}, for her throughout the day and her face was blank. She walked through the halls, ignoring everyone and everything. A weird feeling consumed me when she walked into practice later that day, I wanted to hold her, to console her, do anything to make her feel better. Damn, I was screwed.

The next day, Rose and I had our before school practice. After our running, I led her through an offensive exercise. During the exercise, her eyes filled with rage. She managed to hit me, at times, but she was always the one that staggered back from the impact. As we carried the equipment back, I looked down at her, or rather her hands.

"Your hands," I said. "Damn." I swore in Russian. "Where are your gloves?" I asked her.

She looked down at her battered, bruised hands. They looked horrible; I don't know how she didn't feel it.

"Don't have any. Never needed then in Portland."

"Damn." I swore again. Again, that feeling, consumed me. I took her to a chair and took out a First-Aid kit. I wiped away some of the blood on her hands. I tried to ignore my beating heart as I stroked her small fingers.

"We'll get you some." I said, making sure to scold Kirova for not giving her damn students gloves.

"This is only the start, isn't it?" she asked

"Of what?"

"Me. Turning into Alberta. Her...and the other female guardians. They're all leathery and stuff. Fighting and training and always being outdoors-they aren't pretty anymore. This...this life. It destroys them. Their looks I mean."

I didn't know what to say. I looked at her, her dark hair that looked like silk, her large dark brown eyes, and those sexy full lips. I really shouldn't be thinking like this, especially the last comment.

"I won't happen to you. You're too..." I paused again, I hadn't meant for it to come out. Now my mind was filling with substitutes to finish my sentence. Sexy, beautiful, gorgeous. I needed to stop, so I slipped back into guardian mode.

"It won't happen to you." I finished. To hide my face, I concentrated on her hands.

"It happened to my mom. She used to be beautiful. I guess she still is, sort of. But not the way she used to be. Haven't seen her in a while. She could look completely different for all I know." She said bitterly. I sensed anger toward her mother.

"You don't like your mother?" I asked

"You noticed that, huh?" she said, sarcastically.

"You barely know her."

"That's the point," Rose argued, "She abandoned me. She left me to be raised by the Academy." I began rubbing salve on her hands. I felt a tingle as I rubbed her hands on mine. This doesn't mean anything though...at least I hope it doesn't.

"You say that...but what else should she have done? I know you want to be a guardian. I know how much it means to you. Do you think she felt any differently? Do you think she should have quit raising you when you'd spend most of your life here anyway?"

Rose gave me a look when I finished.

"Are you saying I'm a hypocrite?" she asked.

"I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't be so hard on her. She's a very respectful dhampir woman. She's set you on the path to be the same."

"It wouldn't kill her to visit more. But I guess you're right. A little. It could have been worse, I suppose. I could have been raised with blood whores." Rose said. Fleeting anger filled my mind. Blood whores. I had dealt with that word my whole life.

"I was raised in a dhampir commune. They aren't as bad as you think."

"Oh." Rose said, blush filling her cheeks. "I didn't mean-"

"It's all right." I said, interrupting her.

"So, did you, like, have family there? Grow up with them?"

"My mother, 3 sisters, and grandmother. I didn't see them much after I went to school, but we still keep in touch." I felt a familiar pang in my heart that happens whenever I talk about my family. "Mostly those communities are about family, there's a lot of love there, no matter what stories you've heard."

Rose glanced down and I wondered what she was thinking. "Yeah, but...isn't it weird? Aren't there a lot of Moroi men visiting to, you know...?

"Sometimes." I said, remembering the horrible man that I used to call my father.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something bad..."

"Actually...you probably wouldn't think it's bad." I hesitated, wondering if I should tell Rose about my father. "You don't know your father, do you?"

"No." she said, "All I know is that he must have had wicked cool hair."

Yeah, dark brown hair that probably felt like silk.

"Yes, he must have." I said, "I knew mine."

"Really?" she squeaked. "Most Moroi men don't stay-I mean, some do, but you know, usually they just-"

"Well, he liked my mother." Yeah liked. "And he visited her a lot. He's my sister's father too. But when he came...well, he didn't treat my mother very well. He did some horrible things."

The screams filled my mind and I immediately pushed them back.

"Like...Blood-whore things?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"Like beating-her-up kinds of things." I said. I had finished with the bandages, but her small hands were still enveloped in mines.

"Oh God." she said, squeezing my hands. "That's horrible. And she...she just let it happen?"

"She did, but I didn't."

"Tell me; tell me you beat the crap out of him." Rose said, excitedly.

I smiled a bit, "I did."

"Wow, you beat up your dad. I mean, that's really horrible...what happened. But, wow. You really are a God."

A God?

"What?" I said, she thought...she thought, I was a God. Now why did this thrill me? If Lissa had said I was a God I would have been flattered, but nowhere as thrilled as when Rose had said it.

"Uh nothing. How old were you?" Rose asked.

"Thirteen." I replied. A God?

"You beat up your dad when you were thirteen?" The smile on Rose's face grew broadly.

"It wasn't that hard. I was stronger than he was, almost as tall. I couldn't let him keep doing that. He had to learn that being royal and Moroi doesn't mean you can do anything you want to other people-even blood whores."

Rose stared at me for a moment, probably putting together her thoughts.

"I'm sorry." she finally said.

"It's all right."

"That's why you got so upset about Jesse, isn't it? He was another royal, trying to take advantage of a dhamipir girl."

I averted my eyes when I answered. "I got upset over that for a lot of reasons. After all you were breaking the rules, and..." I looked right into those smoldering brown eyes. And because I'm starting to have feelings for you but, I don't know it's all so confusing, all I know is that I don't want you with that scumbag Jesse...I want you with me. In my mind I tried to scramble back into guardian mode.

Rose looked down. "I know you heard what people are saying, that I-"

"I know it's not true." I interrupted.

"Yeah, but how do you-"

"Because I know you, I know your character. I know you're going to be a great guardian."

"I'm glad someone does. Everyone else thinks I'm totally irresponsible." she said

"With the way you worry more about Lissa than yourself." I shook my head, "No. You understand your responsibilities better than guardians twice your age. You'll do what you have to do."

Rose thought about what I said for a while. "I don't know if I can do everything I have to do."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't want to cut my hair." she said.

"You don't have to cut your hair. It's not required."

"All the other guardian women do. They show off their tattoos."

I almost smiled. One of the best things that I like physically about Rose was her hair. That smooth dark brown hair which I'm sure probably felt like silk. Then, all of a sudden, my hands seemed to work on their own. I reached forward, and held a lock of Rose's hair. My mind was screaming obscenities at me, but I was too far gone...her hair did feel like silk. I felt her stiffen under my touch and knew immediately that I went a step to far. She probably thought I was some creepy pedophile. I let go.

"Don't cut it." I said.

"But no one will see my tattoos if I don't."

I walked toward the door, trying to slow my racing heart from touching her hair. I smiled a bit.

"Wear it up."


Okay guys, so the next chapters are going to have a lot more R&D action. Promise!

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-Brittany