Okay... Well I finally finished the next chapter... I've been so busy with work, children, horses and skating,
but I've finally got it done... Hopefully I haven't missed any spelling errors... I'm as tired as anything...atm.
Anyhoo... enough of my babble...

Enjoy!

Twenty

The next morning I got up and went to Alberta's office... this should be interesting. I knocked on the door and waited, hoping that she wasn't in there and I could feign ignorance all day and avoid what was coming. "Come in." She called from the other side of the door. My stomach flipped at her voice, my skin felt clammy... even Strigoi didn't do this to me. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Alberta was going through some papers but quickly looked up under her brow to see who I was. She stopped what she was doing and tried to hide a smile.

"Good morning Rose. Have a seat." She pointed to the one opposite her.

"Morning Alberta." She finished writing whatever she was doing when I came in and then put the paperwork to the side. She took a deep breath and just looked at me without saying anything. If she didn't say something soon I was going to have a stroke...my blood pressure was so high I could hear the whooshing of it in my ears.

"So I gather this is something that you have both thought about?" I wasn't about to act like I didn't know what she meant, I wasn't ashamed of what I felt for Dimitri.

"Yes."

"I'm not going to say that you shouldn't have feelings for him, the heart wants what the heart wants. I just know what you're going to go through, our lives are not our own...as much as we'd like them to be, our society....isn't that forgiving. Are you both ready for that? And if so, graduation is only just over two months away, what then?" I looked down and swallowed.

"I know what you're saying; I never thought in a million years that I would ever have this in my life. Lissa and I have been joined by hip since we were like four years old and then after the accident....well, we'll always be joined, so this is something that was completely not on my radar... But I..." I looked up into her eyes and felt like I needed to get through to her exactly what I felt. "I love him. I tried not to, I pushed him away, I ignored what I felt, but when he's near me, it's like...."

"Like you're complete." I looked at her in shock. "I've been there Rose, I know that sort of love." I was confused...if she knew what I was talking about, why was she here? I wanted to ask, but I also didn't want to pry. "He was killed. Only he was Moroi and I was his guardian. We'd been together for five years and I was pregnant, I wasn't with him when he died, he was away on business and because of my condition he had two other guardians. When I lost him....I lost our child too." I don't know how I stopped the tears from falling, but now I could see why she could be so unemotional, after losing the two people she loved the most....nothing could hurt more than that. "Anyway, enough of that. Does the princess know?"

"Yes. She knew my feeling for him before I did." She laughed at that.

"Well if she has no problem with it, then no-one can say anything after he graduates. But, if it gets out beforehand, then there will be an issue for you here. I personally don't see a problem, you're both adults...practically the same age, but technically you're a teacher, he's a student..." I nodded in understanding. "Did you talk to him about the attack?"

"Yeah, a lot actually. He has a strong belief in what he's doing. He knows that these were once Moroi, Dhampirs...Humans, and as much as he doesn't like having to kill, he knows that they died a long time ago; the things he's actually killing now aren't actually them and by doing what he's doing, he's freeing their souls and saving the people they would otherwise be killing. He takes this more seriously than some Guardian's twice his age. He has such a strong and solid belief in being a guardian."

"I can't believe the difference in him since you brought him back. I've spoken personally to his teachers at his former school, and they paint a very different picture of Dimitri Belikov. They've told me how many fights he used to get into, the trouble he'd cause....and they said that he was angry all of the time; he'd blame everyone else for things that didn't go right in his life. In fact, there were some that were glad to see the back end of both him and Ozera when they left. I noticed a difference in Belikov almost instantly after he arrived, but Ozera is only just calming down." I couldn't help but snicker at that... and of course she picked up on it. "What? What do you know about Ozera?"

"Well, he's sort of smitten with Lissa at the moment."

"Oh really? Huh, didn't see that one coming... Do you think it's something serious?"

"Well if these feelings that I'm getting from her are anything to go by, then yeah...it's pretty serious." Alberta just smiled and shook her head.

"Well it's about time she opened her heart to someone, it's been too long."

"Yes, it has."

"Well, I have to get going, but I thought I'd let you know that steps have been taken to place wards along the road coming here from the main highway, so we should avoid another incident like yesterday. And on another subject...tonight's the dance and I'm dying to see that dress you bought; should turn a few heads I would imagine..."

"You know me..."

"Yes, very well actually... It's time for your training with Belikov, so I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks Alberta."

"You're very welcome Rose. Be careful." I nodded and then went to the gym to wait for Dimitri. He wasn't due to be here for another half hour but that would give me time to set up, I had plans on using the structure that I'd built last week only this time I was going to be throwing things at him while he climbed. I walked into the gym and looked to the left at the structure and planned what I was going to do but when I turned around I was surprised to see I wasn't alone.

"Hello Christian. What are you doing here at this time of morning?" He'd been sitting at my desk on the other side of the gym, but as I spoke he got up and started walking towards me with a smile.

"Good morning Guardian Hathaway. I'm here to give you this." I looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and I suddenly felt like a schoolgirl getting a break up letter from her boyfriend's best friend. What if he'd thought about things and didn't want to continue to see me...now that he'd had me? I took the note not really wanting to read it in front of him but by the look on his face, he wasn't going anywhere so I opened the note and my forehead creased in confusion.

"What's this mean?" I asked him.

"It means exactly what it says. I told you that Dimitri wasn't the only one who can fight Guardian Hathaway." I looked back down to the note and re-read it again. I couldn't believe that Kirova actually okayed this.

"Why Christian?"

"You know that over the last couple of years, Strigoi have been banding together and attacking more regularly. Even being out on our own we were still aware of this fact." That surprised me actually... They would have had to have been in contact with either Moroi or Guardians to know this. He must have known what I was thinking. "My aunt told me."

"Who's your aunt?"

"Tasha Ozera, she's only a year older than me, people think we're more brother and sister because we look so much alike. After my parents murder, she was taken in by the queen. She too is 'quite the accomplished fighter'." He said bringing my own words back to me. Liss and I had been to see the queen a few times over the last couple of years and thinking about it now, I had often wondered who the girl with the queen was. I remember thinking she was stunningly beautiful with her black hair and ice blue eyes. "The queen highly regards Tasha's opinions and over the last few years with all the attacks...the queen is listening to Tasha's views on Moroi fighting."

Ah...So, it was all starting to make sense now. This is why Kirova had that meeting about adding some new defence classes for next term; they were going to be for the Moroi. "So how long have you been training?"

"Since my parents died. Tasha and I only survived because we fought out of instinct. When the strigoi attacked...my parents didn't fight, their guardians were killed...but both Tash and I are fire users and we fought back. We survived... but I vowed that I'll never feel that helpless again." I'd heard about what had happened to his parents, they were attacked and turned against their will, but there were only four strigoi, two of them had fought the family's two guardians while the other two had drained and turned Christian's parents, but Tasha had said that she'd killed the two strigoi that killed the guardians with fire, there had been no mention of Christian helping.

"I'm sorry for what happened, but I'm not going fight you Christian." I said.

"Why? You have permission. I want to keep training. Why won't you fight me?"

"Because you're Moroi, and I will hurt you."

"And strigoi won't?" Well he had me there. I was tossing up what to do and he saw my indecision... "If you won't willingly, I'll just make you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He lifted a hand and a small flame appeared on his middle finger. I looked at him confused. Then he smiled and put the middle finger with the flame and his thumb together and flicked the flame at my arm. "OW!" I yelled at him. "What the hell?"

"Fight me!" He said lowering himself into an attack position.

"No Christian." I said determined. He sighed in frustration and lifted his hand again and flicked another flame at me.

"Piss off you little shit! Don't you dare flick another one or..."

"Or what? You'll hit me? I dare ya..." I was using every ounce of self control not to go rip off his head at the moment... I couldn't believe what he was doing... I went to turn around and walk away from him when I felt little stings all over my arms and legs. I turned around and he was standing there with all eight fingers alight. "I can flick these in really fast succession... Just ask Dimitri. Are you pissed enough yet?"

"I'm getting there." I growled between my teeth... I took a deep breath and turned away again, but I knew he wasn't going to stop...and he didn't disappoint. With the stings of more flames being flung at me, I spun and flew at him before he even knew what had hit him. I had only been less than six feet away from him when he kept burning me so it didn't take me long to pounce on him. I used the heel of my palm to his shoulder, knocking him off balance and then dropped to the floor spinning my legs out and kicked his legs out from underneath him. He landed with a thud on the mats, knocking the wind out of his lungs. I stood up and looked down at him. "And I'm not even as fast as strigoi."

"I know..." he said looking up at me. "That's why I want you to teach me to fight. Using my element tires me too quickly, I need to be able to fight physically and only use fire when absolutely necessary. I've watched Dimitri train in those group classes, and his abilities are far more advanced since you've been training him." He stood up and made me look up at him. He wasn't as tall as Dimitri, but not far off. I looked at the clock on the far wall and saw that Dimitri would be here in about ten minutes and then I thought of a plan.

"Okay, Dimitri will be here soon for training, I'll go check with Kirova to make sure you didn't fake this note and if it's true then all three of us will train. Although you may not like my training methods." He nodded and went to wait outside the gym doors. I pulled out my phone and dialled Kirova's number.

"Kirova." She said simply.

"Headmistress...Rose here. Did you give me permission for me to train Christian Ozera?"

"Yes I did. I got a phone call from the queen herself. Apparently she wants to see if he can do it, and I couldn't think of anyone better than you to push him to his limits." A snort of laughter came out before I realised.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure before I hit him." I heard a slight giggle on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, you have a 'get out of jail' card Rose; just don't do too much damage alright."

"I'll try not to. Bye,"

"Bye Rose." Then the line went dead... Okay.... this should be fun. Now I had to go outside to where Dimitri would be waiting for me... As I got to the door I could hear Christian and Dimitri laughing....

"I can't believe you really want to do this man..." said Dimitri.

"You know I can fight."

"Yeah, to a point. The stuff we used to do is nothing compared to what she's going to do to you." He said laughing. He knew me so well... "Christian, she's the real deal. She's tough, and she hurts. Being hit by her is like being hit by a Mac Truck! Are you sure this is what you want?" There was a moment's pause before Christian spoke again.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I have to Dimitri... I need to know how to protect myself and...."

"And...?"

"I really like Lissa, Dimitri. I know we haven't been a 'couple' very long, but... she's....amazing." I smiled listening to him talk about Liss like this. I knew how she felt about him, but knowing those feelings were returned made me happy for her. I took a deep breath and pushed the doors open. Even knowing he was here beforehand didn't change my reaction to him. My breath caught and I started to feel my face warming... as my mind and body remembered last night. Maybe Christian wouldn't notice....

"Hi Dimitri." I said as detached as I could...

"Rose." He nodded back, his face showed nothing, but his eyes said everything. I looked between Christian and Dimitri and made up my mind.

"Alright, I'll train you, but if you want to do this, know that I won't take it easy with you. I expect you to work just as hard as Dimitri." He nodded and I couldn't help the grin that pulled at my mouth. "Okay... Dimitri, show him how to warm up and then do your laps." I looked back to Christian then. "Dimitri does fifteen laps in ten minutes; see how many you can do." I looked back over to Dimitri and smiled before turning my back and going over to the desk. I pulled out my IPod and sat down to listen to my music for the next fifteen minutes.

A few minutes later I yawned slightly as I sat with my eyes closed, but I smiled as I smelt Dimitri's aftershave waft around me. I opened my eyes to see that he had his hands rested on the desk and his face was only a foot away from mine. "If you're tired then you should make sure you go to bed earlier Guardian Hathaway?" he said smiling. I quickly glanced around him to see Christian walking out the doors for the track.

"Hmm, good advice. I may have to remember that." I said with my guardian mask on. He didn't really know how to take what I had just said; I could see the confusion in his eyes. "You have seven minutes left. I'd start running if I was you or else the Moroi is going to beat you." He eyed me cautiously and then took off out the door. I felt mean being so short with him, but this was training... I may have relented about my feelings for him, but that only made me more determined to teach him how to survive. I'd watched them run for a bit and I was actually surprised by how well Christian ran, if this was him untrained then he could end up really good. I stood in the middle of the gym waiting for them to return and when the both came in through the doors they were laughing.

"Only just, Russian!"

"Well how about we start at the same time next time hey... then see how you go Prickles." I couldn't help but laugh at the nickname; I'll have to ask about that later. I raised my eyebrows but they thought I was enquiring about whatever they were laughing about. "He did eleven laps, I did fourteen." Dimitri said.

"Oh really? You may have to make that up later." The instant it was out of my mouth I wanted to stuff it back in, and yes...I blushed again. I turned and walked away making out that I was thinking about what we were going to do. I was facing the structure from the other day and thought of something that I could make Christian do on that, but for now I wanted to see if his ability was as good as his mouth. "Alright then..." I said with my back to them. "I want to see what you can do, not with magic...just you." I turned to face them once the flushed feeling left me. "Have a seat Dimitri." He smiled and sat against the wall to watch.

Christian lowered into an attack stance as did I and I waited for him to make the first move. I would be on the defensive for now...then I would attack. He jumped and came at me with speed that I wasn't really expecting from him, though not fast enough. I ducked away to the left and elbowed him in the back as he went past me. He cringed a little and then came back for more. It was only a few minutes later that I realised that there were more than just the three of us in the room now and he really was doing remarkably well. But now he needed to learn something from me... When he came at me again, I dropped my shoulder and rammed it into his stomach, as I did this I put my hands to the ground, lifted my legs up and clasped my ankles around his neck. I pulled him backwards with the momentum and just as he landed I let go and sprung up on my feet and then onto his chest in one swift move.

"You have to learn to use all of your body, otherwise you will get killed." I got off him and stood up and looked into all the stunned faces of my friends. "What?" I asked them as I offered Christian my hand to get up.

"What are you doing?" Mason asked horrified. I turned to Christian and winked at him and then back to my friends.

"Beating up a Moroi, what's it look like?" By the looks on their faces, that wasn't the answer they were expecting... but it was hilarious. Dimitri, Christian and I all burst out laughing at their expressions... "You fight really well Christian..." I said after I stopped laughing. "but I'll make you lethal." And he grinned from ear to ear.