Hello everyone, thank you all so much for your reviews! I hope you're all doing well. I apologize in advance if this chapter is a little slow.

Avery sounded pretty enthusiastic when introducing herself. While I wasn't as enthusiastic as her, I still tried to be nice.

"I'm Rose," I said with a small smile. "Hey, I've never seen you at this academy. And, not to sound cocky or anything, but I know just about everyone here."

Avery laughed, revealing her fangs which looked a little too sharp for a moroi. In fact, they were as sharp as mine when they came out. I shrugged, brushing it off as she spoke. "I was...uh, one of the victims. I'm living in guest housing right now. You probably don't know me, but I remember seeing you. I know you saved us all, and I wanted to sit beside you."

She was one of the victims? I had never seen her before. I recognized all the girls we had pulled out of the brothel but I didn't remember seeing this girl. Maybe she had been hiding at the time.

"I'm so sorry." I didn't know what else to say. Most of the girls were still in their dorms and weren't ready to come out unless they hung out in each other's rooms. I had only seen them a few times to see how they were doing, but they were otherwise quiet and didn't like to talk about what they went through. I had never seen Avery there, so she must have been hiding in her room until now.

"Oh, don't worry about me," she scoffed. "Things happen. I'm totally fine now."

If she was telling the truth, she was recovering fast. I didn't want to talk about anything in a class, so I changed the subject.

"Well, if you want, I have extra notes from our last few classes," I offered.

"Really? Thanks," she said, smiling again.

We both took notes throughout the lecture. I fell asleep at one point, but Dimitri tapped my shoulder from behind me to wake me up. He had done this so many times throughout my time at the academy and even lectured me about it once. I still didn't change, and it was a horrible habit of mine.

After class, Dimitri reminded me of my habit once again. "You know, you really need to stop sleeping in class."

"It was only, like, five minutes," I defended.

"More like half an hour, and only because I woke you up. Otherwise, you would have slept through the entire lecture."

"You can't tell me you find that man's lectures interesting."

Dimitri shrugged. "They're not, but you can't keep falling asleep every time things get boring."

"Rose!"

Dimitri and I skidded to a halt, turning around to face whoever was calling my name. It was Avery, and she was speed walking down the hallway. "Hey! I was going to ask if you wanted to grab something to eat, but if you're busy, I can come back later."

"I don't mind," I told her. I made gestures between her and Dimitri as I introduced the two. "Avery, this is Dimitri."

"I thought your face looked familiar. You're Guardian Belikov, right?" she asked, shaking his hand.

"That's me," he said, forming a tight but friendly smile.

"Wow. I've heard some great things about you," she said excitedly.

"Well, I'm honoured," he said. "I'm Rose's former mentor."

Avery's jaw dropped. "No way," she gasped, turning towards me. "You must be some kind of badass warrior."

"Oh, she is," Dimitri said, making me smile. "Anyways, I'll leave you two alone. I'm going to go see Guardian Petrov. We have a meeting soon. It was nice meeting you, Avery. I'll see you later, Rose."

"See ya." We parted, and I was left alone with Avery.

"Do you like the academy so far?" I asked as we walked towards the cafeteria. The last thing I wanted was awkward silence.

"It's okay, I guess. It's been a while since I've been in school after being in a sex ring, but it's nice to finally have a change."

It made me cringe to hear her talk about such a horrible situation so casually. It didn't seem to bother her at all. Either this girl was emotionally distant or she had been in that situation for so long that it didn't bother her anymore.

When we reached the cafeteria, I spotted my usual friend group—Lissa, Christian, Adrian, and Eddie. All four of them stopped and stared in my direction, but they weren't staring at me. They were staring at Avery. It was rare for this academy to have new students. Seeing her probably sparked their curiosity.

After I introduced her to them, she surprisingly warmed up to the group. Avery wasn't a shy girl. Like me, she was outgoing and talkative. She was particularly talkative with Adrian which surprised me too, but I figured it was just his spark. Adrian could be a real charmer.

I had made plans with the group to practice magic and self-defence today in the secret storage unit, but Adrian wanted to stay behind with Avery to give her company. We wanted to keep our training a secret, so we made excuses to leave them alone. I was still curious about Avery however, and I intended on getting to know her when I had the chance.

After leaving the cafeteria, the rest of us had gone into the abandoned storage room so that Lissa and Christian could practice some defence magic. Eddie and I were starting to teach them some combat as well. We took it slow with them, starting with nothing more than basic technique. We demonstrated all of the fighting techniques Dimitri had taught us and they were both left feeling quite surprised.

After the long private practice, I hung outside in the hallway with Lissa. Eddie and Christian had gone to their dorm to take a shower. I wanted to take one too, but I was starting to get thirsty again.

"Did you guys practice without me?"

Lissa and I turned to find Adrian and Avery walking towards us from down the hallway. His arm was draped around her shoulders and there was a noticeable smirk on her face.

"I would have invited you, but you seemed a little preoccupied," I stated, briefly glancing at Avery.

"What's this practice you guys are talking about?" she asked. I rested my eyes on Adrian.

"You told her?" Lissa asked.

"Hey, I won't tell anyone," Avery said. "I could join if you guys are cool with that. I know some defence skills myself."

"Really? What do you specialize in?" I asked her.

"Air," she replied. "I can teach you guys some of my skills if you'd like. It's a lot of fun." Avery seemed excited about the idea of getting to use her magic as a weapon. Maybe she was just as keen on moroi learning to defend themselves as we were.

"You can join, but you better keep your mouth shut. We could get into a lot of trouble," I warned.

Avery smiled. "Relax, dhampir, I'm no snitch. Plus, I think it'd be fun getting to abuse this guy," she joked, lightly punching Adrian in the stomach. I rolled my eyes, throwing my sweater over my shoulder as I put a hand on Lissa's shoulder to grasp her attention.

"I'm pretty exhausted," I complained.

"Tell me about it," Lissa agreed. "All that exercise made me hungry—and not for food. I think I'm going to go get a drink."

"I can go with you," I suggested, shooting her a wink. Through the bond, I could feel her physically and discovered that she was getting thirsty. She needed a drink just as much as I did.

"I could use some company. Let's go," she said.

"I'll see you all later," I said. Adrian understood, but Avery suddenly had a very careful eye on me. It reminded me of how intensely she had stared at me during our first encounter, and although it was a little unsettling, I tried to ignore any irrational thoughts that came to my head.

"I'm assuming we're going to share a feeder," Lissa said once we were out of earshot.

"Of course. People would suspect something if I went into a cubicle alone," I pointed out.

"Doesn't the staff know?" Lissa asked.

"Yeah, but students don't. I prefer to keep it that way before some crazy novice tries to stake me."

We walked into the feeding department and were greeted by the receptionist. She led us into a cubicle, allowing us to share my feeder. Emily greeted us with an eager smile but was a little surprised to see Lissa there.

"Ah, Lissa. How nice of you to join us," she said.

"Thanks, Emily. Rose and I were both thirsty so we just decided to share. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, please, take whatever you need! That's what I'm here for, after all," she said, tossing her hair behind her. I frowned at how eager she was to have us feed on her. I had some pretty good conversations with her since she first became my feeder, and we even developed somewhat of a friendship. She usually didn't have a care in the world as soon as the endorphins took over, but it was nice to talk to her sometimes.

Lissa and I settled in and took our fair share of blood. Once again, I was overpowered by a feeling of bliss as Emily's blood fulfilled me. I could never get used to how good it felt to drink her blood. It still wasn't as good as Dimitri's blood, but it was enough. For Lissa, this feeling was normal as she was probably drinking blood since the day she was born. For me, things were a little different. The feelings I experienced were a result of being half strigoi. They craved blood more than any other species and cherished every moment of the feeding process. Essentially, it was why they fed until their victim's life was taken. I hated being a part of them, but I reminded myself that that wasn't who I was. I didn't want to kill innocent people. I didn't want to be a monster.

I pulled myself away from Emily's neck and let the nurses take her away. I sat back for a moment, letting the feelings of euphoria cool down. Lissa glanced at me, giving me an odd look.

"You have that look on your face—the same look you had when I used to feed on you."

"Oh." I didn't expect that. "Well, when I feed, I feel like I'm on cloud nine."

"I can't relate," she said, handing me a cloth. "I never even thought you of all people would say that. It's still so weird to see you drinking another person's blood."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I muttered. "Believe me, even after all this time, I'm still adjusting."

"You'll eventually get used to it," she sighed.

"I've been like this for months," I said, frowning. The thrill of feeding and even that small urge to drain the feeder would always be a part of me. Not wanting to kill the mood, I shook my head and stored the thought away. "Whatever. It's probably a strigoi thing."

Lissa looked at me, but this time she was feeling something else. A part of her always felt sorry for me, and as much as she tried to hide it, I was very good at prying deeply into her mind. She cared about me and I loved her for that, but there was nothing either of us could do about my current state. I was supposed to protect her—not the other way around. She couldn't worry about me.

Suddenly, the curtain was pulled back. One of the nurses told us other people were waiting and that we had to leave, so we did. Lissa had five minutes until her last class started, so she quickly signed something at the front desk before heading off to class.

After signing my own page to confirm my feeding session, I turned around and nearly jumped when I almost bumped into Avery. I didn't even hear her come in or sneak up behind me. I was usually able to hear everything, but this girl was quiet.

"You scared me," I gasped. She was eyeing the file I signed, but quickly looked back at me and hid whatever was on her mind with a guilty smile.

"Sorry. I was just here to grab a snack of my own," she said. Cocking her head behind me, she asked, "what's that?"

"Oh, it was for Lissa. I was just letting them know I went in with her. It's good practice for when I become her guardian," I lied. I wouldn't even be a guardian at all especially now that I was the one being guarded, but she didn't need to know that.

"Right," she said, narrowing her eyes. It was almost as if she knew something was wrong, but I didn't give anything else away.

"I'm going to go study. I'll catch up with you later," I said, breaking the painfully awkward silence. I walked away after that, taking one last glance as I walked through the doorway.

I did have some studying to catch up on, but I didn't sit in the library. Instead, I went to the guardian's common room again. Some of the guardians which I assumed were on their breaks greeted me when I walked in. A few years ago, they would have given me odd stares or told me to get out. Now, I had a good relationship with all of them. We all respected each other.

I sat down on the couch and pulled one of my notebooks out from my bag. This one was from my Russian class. I still couldn't understand people who spoke fluently such as Dimitri, but I could catch onto a few words here and there. What made it even harder was the alphabet. It was different from the English alphabet and confused me pretty often.

I sat there for about half an hour until a small swarm of guardians—including Dimitri—walked in. Whoever was in the room before now left as they came in, indicating that they were all switching shifts. Dimitri was talking to Stan and Alberta, and for once, they all seemed to be at ease. They were laughing about something and didn't have that usual uptightness. I smiled at the sight.

Stan cocked his head at me and Dimitri turned around. His face lit up when he saw me.

"Hey," I greeted as he sat down beside me.

"Don't you have class?" he asked.

"They're done for today. I just came here to study," I said. Dimitri looked at my work, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"You're learning Russian," he realized in amusement, skimming his finger over my writing.

"Yeah, well, I suck. I won't be having any conversations with you any time soon."

Dimitri shook his head. "Actually, this is pretty good for someone who's just learning it now. If you need anything, I can help you."

I was about to protest as I didn't want to cause a hassle for him, but I realized that if there was anyone who could help me other than my inconsiderate professor, it was Dimitri. Russian was, after all, his first language.

For the next half hour, he helped me with whatever work I had left and even tested me on some of the vocabulary. I didn't get all of it right, but it still helped to have him keep me on track with everything. When our studying time was over, we relaxed against the couch, our bodies so close that they were touching. I was tempted to throw my legs across his, but I couldn't do that with everyone else here.

Something in the back of my mind was bothering me. It felt uncomfortable, and it had nothing to do with me or Dimitri. Lissa's emotions pulsed through the bond, so I slipped into her head to take a look at what was going on. To my surprise, she was studying in the library with Avery.

"...I feel so sorry for her. What she went through sounds awful," Avery said sympathetically. This was strange. Wasn't she in the same situation as me? Maybe she hadn't told Lissa yet.

"How did you even know about that?" Lissa asked. Avery paused, caught off guard for a second.

"Uh...well, it seems like word gets around here pretty quickly," she said. She wasn't wrong, but I was surprised that even she knew about it since she was new. "I hear what people say about Rose—that she's been different since the whole incident."

Alarms went off in Lissa's head at the mentioning of my name. "Well, what do they say?"

Avery shrugged. "Just that she's different. No one can figure out what it is about her. I've heard mixed things."

"She's been through a lot. It's kind of hard not to when something that repulsive happens to you. Whoever's spreading crap about her is ignorant."

Avery nodded. "I agree. She seems like a nice girl. What other people say about her is ridiculous."

Lissa rolled her eyes in annoyance and slammed her pencil down. "Don't those people have anything better to do? We're in university, and people are still spreading rumours."

Avery was completely unfazed by Lissa's outburst. Looking at her through Lissa's eyes, I could see her perspective on the girl. She thought Avery was sweet and friendly, but I could sense a little bit of awkwardness in there too.

"What else happened to her?" Avery asked, surprising us both. "I mean, I heard she was considered a special case. Not to sound intrusive or anything." Her eyes were locked onto Lissa's, and a rather strange feeling boiled within me. The second I tried to look a little deeper, I was suddenly jerked out of her head. It was abrupt and unexpected, but I figured it was probably just some malfunction with the bond. I shook my head, returning to the present situation. Dimitri was still sitting there, but he was studying me intently now.

"Crap. I'm so sorry," I said apologetically. "I just felt something through the bond earlier. I had to check on Lissa."

"That's alright. Is she okay?" Dimitri asked.

"She's fine," I said, frowning.

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked softly. His hand found mine, and he stroked my knuckles with his thumb. His hand felt so warm and comforting on mine.

"Nothing. The bond just acted a little strange, that's all," I mentioned. "Avery was just talking to Lissa about me. People in the school are spreading rumours again."

"People are still saying things about you?" Dimitri asked, clearly bothered by the rumours.

I sighed, shaking my head in annoyance. "Yeah. I'm not surprised, but it gets annoying after a while. People probably think I'm an unstable mental case."

"You're not—"

"I know, I know. Ever since I was kidnapped, I've had a tendency to overthink everything."

Dimitri's face fell. He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close, and I relaxed in his embrace. "I know," he said. "Believe me, Roza, I don't blame you for that."

I didn't usually like to accept people's comfort, especially when it came to me being a victim, but with Dimitri, I could stay in his arms for hours. He always taught me to be strong, but the deeper, softer side of him was always there to comfort me when I needed it.

"I think you should go to your dorm," Dimitri said. "You need to sleep."

I was getting a little tired. I was still having trouble sleeping which resulted in constantly being tired in school. I debated sleeping in Dimitri's bed tonight, but I remembered I still had to stay with Nevaeh for another day or two.

We quickly picked her up from her campus before heading to the dhampir housing for students. Once we reached the main doors, he gently brushed his thumb against my cheek and kissed my head. I smiled, grabbing the hand that stroked my cheek.

"Goodnight, comrade," I whispered. Dimitri opened the door for me to walk in and I held Nevaeh's hand on my way up the stairs. After walking into my dorm, I found Lissa sitting on the couch, typing something on her laptop.

"Hey," I said. "What are you working on?"

Lissa groaned. "Some essay for moroi studies."

"Essay," I muttered. "We're about to graduate. You should all be learning how to use magic to your advantage at this point."

"You'd think so," Lissa said in an annoyed tone. "It's ridiculous. Even after everything that's happened with all the attacks, people still believe magic should only be used for peace."

"And they wonder why guardian numbers keep declining." I rolled my eyes, becoming more frustrated as I thought about it. I would always protect Lissa even if I wasn't her guardian, but she needed to defend herself too. Although she specialized in spirit, she was okay with using other elements when it came to self-defence.

Nevaeh dropped her bag and climbed onto the couch, diverting Lissa's attention.

"Hey, Nev," she said, pulling her into a hug.

"That's a lot of words," Nevaeh remarked, pointing to Lissa's screen. "Are you writing a book?"

I laughed at Nevaeh's curiosity before briefly looking out the window. There were some lights on in guest housing and it made me wonder if the girls were still up. I hadn't checked on them in almost a week and a part of me wanted to see how they were doing.

"Liss," I began, grabbing my key card for the dorms, "do you mind watching her for a bit? I just wanted to check on the girls. I won't be too long."

"Oh, of course. I don't mind the company," she said, smiling down at Nevaeh.

"Thanks," I said, slipping my boots back on. I left our dorm and started heading to guest housing, trying to avoid the ice on the walkways. It was snowing heavily and I knew my hair was going to be slightly wet.

As soon as I got inside, I stomped my feet on the carpet mat and shrugged the snow off the hood of my coat. The girls were kept on a separate floor from everyone else, so I walked as quietly as I could without waking anyone who might be asleep.

As I rounded a corner, I nearly bumped into someone and gasped. I relaxed a moment later, realizing it was just Kira. She was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, and her black hair was tied up into a bun.

"Rose!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. I hugged her back tightly. I always liked seeing her. She dealt with a lot of the same problems I did, but she seemed to be getting better. Her mood always lightened up when I visited her.

"How are you?" I asked her, pulling back.

"I'm okay. I'm making cookies in the common room. Do you want some?" she asked with a hopeful smile. The thought of making cookies made me feel a little bubbly and it sounded nice in the cold winter.

Smiling at Kira again, I whispered, "I'd love some."

Thank you so much for reading! Again, I know it's a little slow so I apologize. Any feedback or thoughts are appreciated :) Stay safe.