Here you go, Thanks for all the reviews and messages, made me smile.

Chapter 3

The next morning as usual I was up at 4.30am, I tried to get my run in early before it got too hot. Owen met me in the kitchen.

"Morning sweet cheeks. Ready to get all sweaty with me?" He winked as he passed me a bottle of water. I laughed as we set off. Neither of us spoke but then we didn't always feel the need to fill the silences with conversation, that reminded me of someone else, but I couldn't go there, he was in my past. I was only looking forward now.

We were running the perimeter a week or so after movie night when Owen spoke up out of the blue. "You want to go an adventure with me today?"

"Adventure?" I scoffed. "That could mean anything."

"Come on flower. I heard you had a reputation for adventures." He asked his eyes full of mischief.

"Fine," I spoke after narrowing my eyes, "but if I get into trouble, I'm blaming you." He laughed at me.

"We'll cut our work out short today. Go get changed into something other than sweats. Oh, and bring your swim suit." He eyed my clothes. Hmmm, I suppose I had been wearing workout clothes a lot.

I ran to my room and had a shower. I entered my wardrobe. One thing Abe liked to do was to spend money. Lots of money.
When I arrived he made me shop, which he topped up almost weekly but my heart hadn't been in it. Now when I looked through my clothes, I felt like I was looking at things I hadn't seen before.

My eyes found a red skater dress, it had a white flower design all over it, reminding me of beaches and hiloudays. I put that on over the top of my bikini then I put my thigh holster on putting my stake straight into place. Some tanned sandals and I was finished. I let my ponytail out placing the band around my wrist. I always like to have at least one on me, you never knew when you would need it. I picked up my shoulder bag, placing my second stake into its pouch. And Done.

I walked into the kitchen planning on getting a glass of water but Owen was stood there in the way, he was dressed in camo boardie's and a black t-shirt. He turned to me and smiled.

"Beautiful as ever baby girl." He grabbed my hand pulling me with him. In minutes we were outside where he showed me to an SUV.

"So, where are we going?" I asked as he drove through streets I'd never been down before.

"It's a surprise." His eyes never left the road, "But it's a bit of a drive. Get comfortable because it's a 6 hour drive."

"Owen? Are you kidnapping me?" I asked with a small smile. His laugh sounding like velvet as it filled the car made me smile wider.

"Definitely. But I promise to handle you with care." The time flew past quickly, Owen had put some music on low while we spoke. As it turned out Owen had a soft spot for metal and rock music, which actually sounded good. There hadn't been one song that I hadn't liked.

"Who is this?" The song sounded magical, like I should be in Scotland or something. The woman's voice had to be classically trained and with the rock music behind her it was a startling combination.

"They're called Nightwish." He answered easily. We'd been driving for a few hours when my stomach began to growl loud enough for Owen to hear.

'We hungry Kitten?" Owen said with a smile before he pulled over somewhere quiet, he opened the boot to return with the most glorious sight. Food. He gave me a bottle of juice and a bag which had some pastries and fruit in it.

"Thanks." I said with a smile.

"What's your favourite breakfast?"

"Used to be chocolate glazed donuts, but this is nice." I said about the croissants.

"Yes well, I didn't make them, I'm a terrible cook."

"Yeah I'm not great either, I had do pancakes just about." I thought back to when Lissa and I had been on the run.

We arrived at the destination around midday. It looked amazing. Columns were submerged in clear blue water, it was stunning.

"Cleopatra's pool. I looked it up a few days ago, so figured would come for a swim." I looked into the pool, there was parts of a ruin temple in the water. It was remarkable. There weren't many people around, there no one was in the pool at all.

Owen pulled me towards the water. I took my dress and shoes off, placing my stake and holster under my clothes. Owen took his t-shirt and shoes off revealing his tattoo; clocking it I was stood awestruck even knowing I was gawking at it. It covered his left peck, rising to his left shoulder and down to his left elbow. He noticed that I was staring.

"It's Samoan kinda. Daniel and I spent 6 months in a village helping build a new school. In theory we aren't allowed the malofie as we aren't from their culture, but we lived as one of them, the chief gave the tufuga permission to give us one of these." He turned showing me his tattoo that had covered the back of his left shoulder blade. It was very striking. It was full of sharp lines, I found it hard to describe it. The moment I thought about touching it my fingers were tracing the lines. He shivered under my touch bringing me back to coherent thought.

"Sorry, I've never seen anything like it. It's beautiful." I said knowing I was blushing. I shook my head and put my hair up. He entered the water with me close behind. The water was warm against my skin. It wasn't very deep but it was very pleasant. We moved over to one of the fallen columns.

"So we spoke about my family, what about yours." He asked after we'd gotten comfortable.

"There's not much to talk about. You met my dad, obviously, I didn't even know who he was until 6 months ago and my mother? Well what can I say about the great Janine Hathaway? I don't really know her. I was taken the academy when I was four. That's where I grew up. I met Lissa and we became sisters, her family kinda adopted me during the holidays. When they died in a car crash Lissa and I grew closer, I mean bringing someone back from the dead can do that to a person." He gasped.

"You died?" I nodded.

"Yeah, Lissa, me, her brother Andre and her parents were in a car crash. Everyone except Lissa died, but unknowingly to her she specialised in spirit and brought me back. I'm shadow kissed." I shrugged.

"What does that mean?"

"I can sense strigoi, see ghosts if I don't keep my mental barriers up. When Lissa uses her powers she creates darkness, in a way she starts to go crazy, which seeps into me. So I can be suddenly angry for no reason. I almost killed someone at the academy before I got pulled off." That was such a dark day in many ways.

"Wow, so you're useful to have around then. Ghost girl. What about your friends?" I thought for a moment. How to describe my adoptive family.

"Well there's Lissa, who is the complete opposite of me, she sees the good in everyone. She's kind and compassionate, who wants to heal the world. Which you can tell by the whole bringing me back from the dead thing.
And Christian, Lissa's boyfriend, who is as sarcastic as me and so brave, you know he roasted a strigoi who was about to sink its teeth in my neck?
Then there's Adrian who is as impulsive as me. He drinks a lot to help with his spirit but all it does is make others underestimate him. He's so intelligent and artistic, kind and brave and funny. Finally, there's Eddie who used to be so light hearted and funny. He became more serious after we lost our friend Mason. But every now and then you can see that glint behind his eyes." I sighed. "That's my biggest regret, that I couldn't save Mason. Mason was so brave and selfless. And so funny he'd have Ed and me in stitches for hours. He saved my life, twice. One of those times he was already dead. I miss him every day."

I felt tears on my cheeks. I turned away from Owen not wanting him to see me cry. He moved forward embracing me. He held me for a few minutes. Making sure I knew he was there. Through my hair he asks me something that knocks the wind out of me.

"Which one broke your heart?" I pulled back.

"I don't know what you mean." I tell him. How did he know? He cups my face in his hands, his face inches from mine.

"Baby girl." He didn't need to say anything else, he could tell I was lying.

"It's none of them." He kissed me on the head. He settled in the water next to me, his arm around me, giving me comfort. "His name is Dimitri, we fell in love whilst I was at the academy. He was my mentor. I know we shouldn't have, we tried to stay away from each other but over the months, it became impossible. We finally gave into each other when the school was attacked." His hand slightly became tighter.

"The st. Vlads attack!?" He'd heard about it. His hand resting on my side, his hand splayed across my side.

I nodded. "He was taken and changed; I managed to hunt him down. Well he found me, in Russia. He kept me prisoner, I escaped. I thought I'd killed him, but he hunted me down stateside. After some crazy stuff me and Lissa found a cure, she staked him with a spirit stake. He's Dhampir again." His hand rose to my neck as he traced my marks. I shivered under his touch.

"He told me he couldn't, no. He said he didn't love me anymore. He's guarding Lissa now, I needed to get away. I can't guard Lissa while he's there. I'd get one of us hurt."

We sat in silence for a while, I took in my surroundings. It felt good to get it out, to tell someone about it. My head rested on his shoulder.

"Come on little dove, let's get some food." He pulled me up where we waded to the edge and hauled ourselves out of the water. We ate a picnic of mostly fruits. We spoke about his family some more, each telling stories about our childhood. We were so busy laughing that we forgot he time. When we did look we realised we would be back after dark.

"Come pumpkin, let's get back before it gets even later." We packed up and started back.

We were nearly home when the sun started setting the view was amazing, stunning. I'd never seen something so beautiful before. We stopped by the side of the road, Owen jumped onto the front of the car, helping me up. We sat there facing the sunset over the Marmara Sea. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, the pinks and purples along with blue, oranges and reds. The warm breeze blowing my hair behind me. I never wanted to forget this moment.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I took a picture of the view, Owen grabbing my phone pulled in close to me taking a selfie of us on the car. He giggled jumping down to the ground, pulling me with him. He turned his back to the view again pulling me in close; he held the camera up in front of us making sure we and the sunset were in view. He took a picture. Soon we were back in the car on the way home.

We were about 20 minutes from our front door when the familiar feeling came over me.

"Owen, strigoi are close." He automatically became tense. I appreciated that he didn't question me but trusted that what I was saying was the truth. Now we were in a predicament. Do we drive on? They could ignore us, we didn't know how many there was. Or do we stop and try our luck?

We didn't get a chance to make that decision. Two strigoi were suddenly in our path. Not wanting to total the car Owen made an emergency stop. Within seconds I had my bag stake in hand and Owen had his out. We jumped out of the car and into action. I saw 4 Strigoi, the two that were in front and two that were behind us. They looked startled they obviously hadn't been expecting Dhampirs let alone Guardians out here. We moved away from the car moving into a back to back position.

They surrounded us, trying to close us in. One on my side lunged towards us, I called Owen causing us both to duck, making the Strigoi fly over us. I pushed up when he went over me making him face plant the floor in front of Owen, who seized the moment and staked him through the back.

Another one made a swipe at my legs. I jumped it, kicking his face in return. He growled at me turning back towards me. I could feel Owen fighting behind me. While my Strigoi tried to punch me again another Strigoi, a woman, made a thrust for my stomach. I took the hit to my side bringing the stake in my hand up into the females jaw. She screamed as I managed to pull my other stake out of my thigh and stake her heart. I pulled both my stakes out of her ready to take the next one on.

I felt Owen fall behind me knocking me forward a step. My strigoi using that moment of distraction to plunge his fingers into my neck, making me scream. I used all my strength to push him away as he tried to gain access to my neck with his teeth. I used my forearm on his neck to keep him away. I needed leverage but I couldn't gain any. I stepped back falling over a body the Strigoi falling with me, I managed to pull my stake in front of me as he fell. Thankfully it was in the right spot. I got up surveying the area. Owen was on the ground unconscious, I'd fallen over his feet, his Strigoi about to take a chunk out of his neck. I rammed my stake into his back, making him scream. He slumped over Owen.

I pulled him off Owen checking for a pulse. Owen was knocked out. I grabbed my phone calling the house, I told them what had happened, I then called the alchemists, they needed to come sort out the bodies. I surveyed Owen for his injuries. He had a cut to his head and arm, the Strigoi had managed a slight cut on his neck. It looked like that was all. I placed my jacket under his head. His vitals were fine, I just needed to wait for him to wake up. Within minutes he was stirring.

"How you feeling?" I asked him placing my hand on his shoulder so he didn't sit up.

"Like I was hit by a train." He groaned, his hand going to his head. I checked his head, noting a little bump. I heard cars pulling up. I looked behind me to see Abe and Pavel marching towards us, surrounded by Guardians. Abe stopped by me pulling me up and into his arms. He held me tight for a minute.

"Are you ok?" He asked pulling me back so he could look me up and down.

"I'm fine old man, a few cuts and bruises. Nothing exciting. You should see the other guy, well guys." I said indicating to the bodies on the ground, with a smirk. One of the Guardians was checking Owen over.

"Reid? How are you?" Owen looked at my father.

"She makes it look so easy. Three of these are hers." He said looking around. I blushed. I was glad it was so dark. Pavel helped Owen up.

"Where were you? I've been trying you for hours." I looked at my phone properly now, sure enough I had phone calls, messages and voicemails.

"Sorry Mr Mazur, I took Rose to Pumukkale. We lost track of time. I should have left a note." He looked at Owen with a curious gaze.

"You took Rose out?"

"Yes, we went to Cleopatra's Pool." I added in defence, was he annoyed? Abe nodded at his guardian.

"Very good. Let's get you home." He pulled me into his car leaving a couple guardians with Owen in the other car.

Within 15 minutes we were home. Abe told me he made a quick surprise visit home to see me on the way to another country, he told me the alchemists would log the Strigoi and who took them down. I sat at the kitchen counter with baba waiting for the other car to arrive. In 10 minutes it arrived with an unexpected surprise inside.

"Sydney?!" I asked in shock at the blonde.

I moved forward but stopped in front of her. Do we hug? She looked good, her blonde hair was growing out of its short style.

She smiled at how I stopped but moved into my space to give me a pat on the arm.

"You just couldn't keep yourself out of trouble could you?" She teased me.

I laughed at her. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Russia?"

"Yeah I was reassigned to Turkey, so here I am. What are you doing here, I thought you went home?" I looked around and noticed we were alone.

"It's a long story. You want a drink?" I gave Sydney a bottle of water and sat at the island. I told her what had happened.

"I'm sorry Rose." She placed a hand on my back. It was stiff but I appreciated the gesture.

"It's ok, not the outcome I was thinking about, but the main thing is, is that he isn't Strigoi or dead. So it could be worse. What about you? Why did you get reassigned?"

"I don't know, I got moved in September, so here I am." She shrugged. Hmmmm good timing if you ask me. I had a feeling Zmey had a hand to play in this. "Right down to business. I know you aren't a sanctioned guardian but it's a good idea to fill the forms out on the attack. You'll need to send it to the court and they'll send them to us." I nodded. I took the paperwork from Sydney. "It's nice you'll get to do this yourself. In Russia I had to keep doing these for you. It got annoying." She smiled at me.

"Thanks."

Soon after she left giving me her personal and work number and her address. I sat doing the paperwork, it was pretty straightforward. It covered the basics of who, what, why, when and where. I finished quickly, scanning it into the laptop and sending it to the court while putting the hard copy in an envelope ready to send. Owen came in adding his on top of mine.

"You ok Princess?"

"The question is, are you ok?" He smiled.

"Thanks to you I am." He smiled. "Thank you sugar."

After the attack Owen and I made it our mission to learn each others fight rhythms. By the middle of December we knew each other's moves inside out. We fought against each other and against other guardians, when we were able. We became fluid not needing to talk to know other ones moves.

When baba was home, we became his favourite entertainment. He would watch as we sparred against his guardians, usually winning. I saw him videoing us often on his phone, he looked so proud.

"Come on chocolate thunder, make me sweat." I spoke with a smirk.

We'd been sparring for a good twenty minutes, neither of us able to take the upper hand but neither of us able to give up.

"You want to sweat baby girl? I can think of more interesting things." He winked at me as he made to move into an attack position. But before he could pull it off I'd swept him off his feet and onto his back. My hand over his heart but feeling an electric tingle through my body, even as I felt his hand rested in between my breasts. We drew, yet again.

"If you wanted me on my back, sweet pea. All you had to do was ask." His face inches from mine. His eyes made me want to melt right here on top of him. We heard clapping, breaking us out of our trance.

"Well done! That was impressive." My father stood and offered us a bottle of water. We laughed and made our way over. I took a drink but noticed only the one bottle so offered Owen some of mine. My father watched us interact. Over the months, Owen and I had become really close. We spent all our time together we'd spar and workout every day, we'd take trips to see the beauty of Turkey. We spent hours talking and laughing playing board games and cards. We played pranks on each other and sometimes on the other guardians. I particularly liked it when we got Steve James, who was in his 40's, he was so easy to wind up. We went clubbing together, Owen and I even started venturing in earning to cook. All and all we had a lot of fun together.

I know everyone thought we were sleeping together, but it wasn't like that with Owen. We really and truly had this amazing, super close relationship that wasn't based around sex.