If things were tense between us before the Equinox dance, things were suffocating now.

We picked up training two days after our talk, but it was like every step forward we had made disappeared. I tried my best to keep my emotions from rearing their ugly and pitiful head, but they still snuck to the surface. I rarely called him Comrade anymore, and he barely looked me in the eyes.

There was the occasional moment where things between us started to mend, only for the cold snap of reality to crash down on us. Staff and my friends even started to notice the distance between us now. Not that it mattered anyway.

The worst part for me was sometimes we would be sparring, and I would be assaulted with memories of that night. It usually made my guard go down and Dimitri would knock me to the mats, chastising me for not paying attention.

Or maybe it was when I would catch him looking at me when he thought I was preoccupied, only for him to advert his gaze when I turned my attention back to him?

Regardless, I was not looking forward to today.

"You're saying that not only did you spring my Qualifier on me, but now you are moving it up three days?" I huffed as I yanked my hair up into a bun. Alberta sighed and gave me a look, but I could see that she was exhausted and didn't have much fight in her today.

"Rose, there is a massive storm coming in and you have to take your Qualifier before Christmas to graduate," Alberta said, signing off on my absence papers and handing them back to me. I grumbled and stuffed them into my pocket.

"Who's taking me?"

Alberta raised an eyebrow at me, confusion crossing her face. "Guardian Belikov of course. He arranged your Qualifier. From what he said, he pulled a lot of strings to get them to do it."

Great. Fantastic. Absolutely fan-fucking-tastic!

I forced my lips into a tight smile and shoved my hands into my pickpockets, nodding as I rocked back on my heels. Alberta leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, looking every bit of her age as she looked at me.

"Can I ask what happened that made things so icy between you?"

I shrugged. "No idea," I said bluntly. I told him I wasn't going to report things, and I was surprised that he didn't say anything about it himself.

Alberta didn't seem all that pleased with my response, but she dismissed me either way and sent me off to get ready. I grumbled the whole way there and found Lissa standing outside my dorm. I gave her a forced smile as I threw my shoulder against the door, opening it and letting her go in before me.

Lissa gracefully ignored the state of my room and plopped down on my bed, sighing as she laid her head on my pillow.

"Your Qualifier is today?" she asked.

I grunted in response as I flicked through my clothes and tried to determine what would be acceptable for the Qualifier. I needed to look presentable but Guardian like. I found a nice white blouse and a black cardigan and teamed it with the only pair of dark jeans I had with no holes in the knees. I changed quickly and put my hair up when Lissa blurted out the last thing I wanted to hear.

"I don't think my medication is working right."

I paused while shoving my foot into my shoe, looking up at her through the strands of hair that had fallen from the bun.

"What?"

Lissa sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, biting her lip as looked at me. "I don't think it's working. I can't access all of my magic, but I can feel it. It's making me tense," she said as she tucked a strand of platinum hair behind her ear. I finished putting on my shoes and rubbed my hand over my face, groaning quietly.

I didn't need this today too.

Lissa seemed to know my inner turmoil and she popped up off the bed, wrapping her arms around me.

"We can talk it later. I just want you to focus on passing your test," she said softly, hugging me tightly. I returned the hug and rested my head against her shoulder, only to spot the clock on the wall.

"Crap!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to be late!" I said rushing to grab my coat. Lissa nodded and headed for the door, opening it as I rushed past her.

"Good luck!" she called after me. I waved behind me to let her know I heard her and took the stair three at a time, stumbling as I hit the back entrance and bolted for the gates. I turned the corner and slowly to a jog when I saw Dimitri standing next to a car as he spoke with another Guardian. I didn't really want to be alone with him longer than necessary these days, considering my heart would still thump a few extra beats while around him.

Apparently, my heart hadn't caught up with my brain yet.

I came to a stop in front of him and he finished his conversation with the Guardian before turning to me. He gave me a tight smile, which was more than the blank look I had seen on his face in weeks, and he opened the passenger door for me. I nodded and slid in, buckling my seatbelt and took a deep breath as he made his way around the car and got into the driver seat.

"I'm surprised that you made it on time," he said, and I noticed the hint of humour there. I didn't respond verbally, just nodded my head. My head was still reeling at the revelation Lissa dropped on me. He sighed quietly and turned the key in the ignition, driving towards the exit.

"How far away is it?" I asked after we had been driving for twenty minutes. Dimitri took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at me before looking back to the dark tar.

"Five hours or so. We were fortunate that he agreed to do this on short notice. But when I explained that you learned two years of work in less than six months, he made an exception."

My heart plummeted. Five hours!? Along. With Dimitri. I didn't think today could get worse. Despite the pain I felt being around him, I was a masochist for that pain. Because that small piece of me still wanted him.

"He?" I voiced. Usually, the Qualifier took place at the Academy with a group.

"Arthur Schoenberg."

I groaned and slouched down in my seat, my hands covering my face. Arthur Schoenberg was one of the greats of our time, the only person I could think of that came close to Dimitri. He used to be the head of the Guardian Council before retiring to a Badica family. He was lethal and he was in our literature.

Dimitri looked at me again, his eyes meeting mine as I pulled my hands away. This must be a sick joke.

"Was there nobody else?" I squeaked. Dimitri licked his lips as he looked back to the road, turning down the crap country music that was playing on the radio.

"You'll be fine. Besides, if Art approves of you it will look fantastic on your record at allocations."

I bit my lips and furrowed my eyes. There was a very good chance that I could fail. One look at my record would deem me unfit to be a Guardian to a box of soap.

"The good on your record outweighs the bad," he said softly as if he could read my mind. I looked over at him and nodded timidly before resting my head against the window. We didn't speak much after that and we stopped once for gas. I stayed in the car and tried to go over everything I had been taught since we came back. I was going over surveillance techniques when Dimitri got back in the car, a brown paper bag in his hands. I didn't pay much mind to it until he set it in my lap.

I looked at the bag and then back to him, eyebrows raised. My heart shuddered at the gentle smile he gave me and then pointed at the bag.

"Chocolate donut. I thought it might help calm you down. You're sitting so ridged you'd think that someone had tanned your hide."

A small laugh bubbled through my lips and I watch a flicker of something pass through his eyes. Something I hadn't seen since that night. I smiled and opened the bag to find two donuts, still warm. I dug into the bag and pulled one out, breaking it in half and offered a part of the chocolaty goodness to him. He seemed hesitant but took it, his fingers brushing mine softly. I masked my shiver and pulled my hand back, licking the chocolate from my fingers.

They were the best donuts I had had in months!


I was shaken gently, so gently that I thought it was the car moving.

"Rose, we're here."

My eyes snapped open and I straightened out in my seat, rubbing my hand over my face before smoothing down my hair. I hadn't meant to fall asleep.

"Sorry," I said as I got out of the car. Dimitri shook his head at me as we met at the front of the car.

"Don't worry about it. You needed it. Now, are you ready?" he said, turning to face me directly. I looked at him, my eyes meeting his for a moment before nodding my head. I could do this. If he thought I was ready for this then I could do this. We walked together to the house and I could hear the salt crunch under my boots as we approached. But the closer we got to the house, the stranger I felt. Something felt off. I stopped in my tracks, which made Dimitri stop as well, turning to face me.

"Don't get scared on me now, Rose. We are almost there."

I shook my head. "No, something's wrong," I said, pointing to the door. His eyes followed my hand and came to the door. He looked at it carefully before the noise from inside hit us. The sounds of a struggle.

Dimitri pulled out his stake and pushed me behind him. He pressed something cold into my hand and I realized that it was another stake.

"I know we haven't covered this yet, but if anyone comes at you I want you to aim for the throat or the eyes. They are vulnerable and will stun them long enough to get away. Stay outside," he said quickly, his hand squeezing mine tightly as he pulled away from me, and slowly into the house. I stayed in the shadow of the overhang and bounced on the balls of my feet carefully. I didn't like waiting outside when Dimitri could be in danger inside. I leaned forward carefully and looked through the open door, shuddering at the small pool of blood on the floor.

A muffled crying reached my ears and I slowly walked forward, moving the door just enough so that I could get in. The front room was trashed with a table overturned and glass shattered on the floor. I stepped carefully over it and moved as silently as I could through the hall, following the noise. As I passed a closet the noise got louder. The sound was soft but scared. I adjusted my stake in my hand as I opened the door slowly, only to find a small child huddled under the coats, their face red and stained with tears. I gave them a smile and raise my finger to my mouth, telling them that they needed to stay quiet. The child, a little boy as he got up, nodding and scurried quietly to me, hiding behind my leg.

I had one of two options here. Take the kid back outside in the blistering cold or go further into the house. I pulled one of the coats off the hanger and tucked it around the boy, wiping his cheeks with my hands before picking him up. He had to be only three or four years old. He wrapped his arms and legs around me tightly, burrowing his face into my shoulder. I turned around only to find someone blocking my exit.

A Strigoi.

He must have been Moroi before he turned. He was tall and slim with curly black hair. If I had to guess my looks alone, he was a descendant of the Conta line.

"What do we have here?" he said stepping closer to me. I tightened my grip on my stake and shifted my weight into a stable stance. He advanced on me quickly and I stepped back to put more space between us, swiping my stake as he loomed over us. I managed to clip his face and he screamed in pain, clutching it long enough for me to spin and move farther into the house.

It was the only option I had now. I moved quickly through the house and came into a living room, only to find more Strigoi. But there were Guardians too. I pried the boy off of me and set him down, tucking him under the hutch they had there. Hopefully, it would be low enough that the Strigoi would see him. I turned to face the oncoming Strigoi and tried to channel my inner Dimitri as I danced out of the Strigoi's reach, but only managing to just stay out of his grasp. He threw his arm out and I ducked under it, swiping upward at his exposed neck. While I didn't get the hit that I wanted, I made contact. I felt the spray of hot blood over me and I stepped back out of his reach, but I had moved too slow. One of his hands went to his throat, but the other came down and struck me in the face. The impact of the hit spun me, and I was too slow to catch myself as my head came down on the edge of the hutch.

I hit the floor with a moan and my eyes found the little boys before everything went black.


My head hurt. Correction, it ached. I slowly wiggled my fingers and toes and was relieved to find that I could do so. I took a moment to take in my surroundings with my eyes closed. I was warm and I was laying on something soft. I slowly opened my eyes and found that I was in fact in a bed. A big bed with expensive sheets.

I moved my head the slightest bit and felt relief when I found that little boy sitting at the end of it, playing with the strings on my coat. I moved and his head shot up and he hopped off the bed, running for the hallway.

"Art-her!" he called, the name coming from his lips with a slight lisp. I blinked as I sat up, bringing my hand to my head. I hissed as my fingers brushed a tender spot by my temple, but other than that I think that was my only injury. I put my hand down and ran my fingers over the soft blanket before realizing that I was wearing a different shirt. A large grey t-shirt. What?

Two sets of footfalls came towards the room and I pulled myself out of bed as the door opened, but my head spun, and I plummeted back onto the bed. I put my hands down to steady myself as Dimitri and another man stepped into the room. The other man was holding the boy on his hip and I was more than happy to see that the little boy wasn't hurt.

"Glad to see you awake Novice Hathaway," the man said as he set the boy down on the bed beside me. The boy curled up beside me and stuck his thumb into his mouth, laying his head on my leg. I smiled softly and ran my fingers through his hair before looking back up at them.

I noticed Dimitri was watching me carefully, his eyes wide with worry.

"Thank you, Guardian?"

"Schoenberg," he said extending his hand to take mine. My eyes widened to the size of saucers as I looked from Dimitri back to Guardian Schoenberg, my own hand going out to accept him. I shook his hand firmly before pulling away, getting into a more comfortable position.

"First, I would like to thank you for what you did for Andrew," Guardian Schoenberg said gesturing to the boy in my lap. "Lottie was distraught when we could find him after we staked the remaining Strigoi, but when Belikov picked you up, Andrew poked his head out from under the hutch. Thank you for protecting him."

I nodded my head and then grimaced when I realized that hurt my head more. "I found him in the closet in the front room. I intended on taking him outside, but we were stopped by a Strigoi. I figured the hunch would be low enough to conceal him." I explained, running my hands through Andrew's hair again. He was so still I thought he was asleep.

Guardian Schoenberg asked me a series of questions about the attack, about I thought it may have happened and why. I thought that it was a little stupid but then realized that maybe this right here was my Qualifier. I looked to Dimitri slyly and he nodded his head at me subtly.

The series of questioning came to an end and I voiced the question I'd been holding onto since I woke up.

"What happened to my shirt?"

I watched the tips of Dimitri's ears go pink as he looked away from me. I furrowed my brow and Guardian Schoenberg answered the question.

"Despite that your head found was superficial it bled quite a bit. We actually thought it was worse off until we cleaned you up. Your shirt I'm afraid was soaked in it. Ms. Chester, the housekeeper, is trying to get the stain out," he said. I bit my lips and nodded my head carefully when Andrew sat up and jumped off the bed, running out the hall and down the stairs.

"Speaking of, I'm going to go see how Ms. Chester is doing," Guardian Schoenberg said before departing, leaving me and Dimitri along.

I was silent for a moment before blurting out my concern. "Please tell me Guardian Schoenberg didn't change me out of my shirt."

Dimitri tried and failed, to hide his smirk. "No," he said. "I changed your clothes. I figured it would be better than a stranger."

My cheeks flushed. Whether it was out of embarrassment or excitement I didn't know. At least I made the choice of wearing a real bra instead of a sports bra, I thought to myself, but pushing the thought out of my mind. Now his blush made sense. It probably was uncomfortable for him.

"Thanks," I said quietly as I stood up again, brushing my hair out of my face. I moved to follow Guardian Schoenberg, but Dimitri reached out and stopped me, his hand gently wrapping around my wrist. He held it for a moment before tugging me towards him, enveloping me in his arms. I was stunned and tensed up before relaxing against him, returning his embrace. I'd take it when I could.

His embrace felt intimate and I tucked my face against his chest. Don't get me wrong, I was still angry about what happened in the courtyard, but I wanted to feel his comfort anyway. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about encountering my first Strigoi. Dimitri tucked his face into my hair and sighed quietly, making me shiver.

"I thought you were dead," he whispered. I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled closer to him. I was probably pushing it, but I didn't care.

"What do you mean?"

Dimitri was silent for a moment before pulling his head up and I looked up to see his face, waiting for his response. One hand came up and brushed softly over the bandage on my head, his face full of emotion. An emotion that I didn't think I'd see there again.

"You were so still. I thought you weren't breathing, and then I rolled you over and saw all the blood. For a second I thought you were dead. You should have listened to me and stayed outside," he said quietly. I narrowed my eyes at him and opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

"I know that you only came in because you felt like you could help. I just wish you hadn't gotten hurt in the process."

His response mollified me, and my lips quirked up a bit.

I didn't know exactly how to respond to that, so I shrugged and pulled away. He seemed disappointed before his Guardian mask was back in place, and I wish that it had stayed away. I preferred to see him raw and see the emotions he felt.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," I said as I played with the hem of my shirt. He raised a brow at me before looking down at my fingers, his ears going red again.

"Don't worry about him," he said gruffly, clearing his throat. "It wasn't a big deal."

We stood there awkwardly for a moment before a woman appeared in the doorway, holding my shirt.

"I wasn't able to get all of the stains out, but another good wash and it should be ok," the Moroi woman said as she stepped into the room, handing me my shirt. I took it with a smile and thanked her. She nodded and exited as quickly as she came. I set my shirt on the bed and looked at Dimitri, and then back to the shirt.

"I'll be downstairs when you've changed," he said, lingering for a moment as if he wanted to say something else but decided not to. He closed the door softly behind him and I changed quickly, folding the shirt I borrowed and put it on the dresser. I picked up my coat and my shoes that were at the end and carried them with me through the house, finding myself back into the living room.

It didn't look like an attack had happened here only a few hours before, but I was grateful for it. I didn't want a reminder either. A young Moroi woman was standing in the living room speaking to a Moroi man, presumably her husband, before turning her head to me. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and nodded my head to her in greeting. She came closer to me and stopped a few feet in front of me.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did for my son," she said softly, and I smiled in return. It wasn't often royals thanked Guardians for doing their job, but I appreciated the notion. Guardian Schoenberg came out with Dimitri a moment later, explaining that the storm had arrived earlier than anticipated and suggested we head back to the Academy now.

"I will be submitting my formal report in a few hours, Novice Hathaway. You should be proud of yourself. Not may Novices would have done what you did," Guardian Schoenberg commended as he walked us to the door. I silently beamed under his praise.

Getting a compliment from the former Head Guardian was like winning the lottery in my books.


This three-shot is now turning into a four-shot! I have the third chapter one and I am starting on chapter four tomorrow!

Let me know what you think! :)