Chapter 7:

Present Day:

Without even thinking, I jumped and tackled the Strigoi off of Guardian Thomas, immediately scraping its face with the stake to temporarily incapacitate it. I heard the bitten guardian gasping for breath, as she began bleeding out across the ground. The white snow soon was turning a deep red and I wanted desperately to help her.

Standing up, I gave a swift kick to the Strigoi in the shoulder, followed by a punch to the face. The Strigoi fought back hard with great strength, as a result of its recent feast from Guardian Thomas. I took a hit, immediately feeling pain ripple across my face, as I clutched the side of it. Ouch, that was going to leave a mark.

As the Strigoi rounded for another attack, I narrowly dodged its blow, nearly losing my stake. Within a few more combinations of kicks and hits, I managed to get the Strigoi pinned to the ground. As I swiftly ended the Strigoi's life, I stood up and glanced at Guardian Thomas, who was still alive and attempting to cover her wound. Yanking off my scarf, I ran over to her and quickly moved her hand away to apply pressure to the wound. It was the best I could do right now.

"It's okay, you'll be okay. Hang in there, help is on the way," I said to her, trying to be as calm as possible. I placed her hand over my scarf that was holding down the wound, seeing the fear in her eyes. I pushed back any emotion, trying to remain confident that she would be okay. If I was being honest with myself, she was far from okay.

"Rose look out," shouted Dimitri's voice, immediately throwing me to the ground. I hadn't even noticed that a Strigoi was approaching behind me, when I was attending to Guardian Thomas. How many were there?

I quickly regained my composition and looked around for my stake that flew out of my hand. Quickly observing that there were no Strigoi approaching, I scooted towards where my stake laid and snatched it. I stood to join Dimitri in the fight and grabbed the Strigoi behind, holding his arms behind him. "Now!" I shrieked at Dimitri, but he was already one step ahead and on it. As I shouted to him, his stake hit the Strigoi's heart and I quickly let go of her, watching her slow descent to the ground.

We made eye contact briefly, both relieved that getting two Strigoi down wasn't too hard of a challenge. Assessing the other guardians, I saw that one was staking their Strigoi and the other was already done and trailing off to see if there were any more lurking. My nausea was still high, but I figured it was a mix of adrenaline and anxiety, not necessarily Strigoi. I made my way back over to Guardian Thomas, who was half way passed out. I knew there was no way that she would make it.

I could see the fear running through her eyes as she was slipping into death. Not knowing what to do, I sat down and gently moved her head into my lap. Dimitri stood close by, gazing down at the fallen guardian. She was young and looked to be around Dimitri's age. This could have been any of us. Once again there was another guardian gone too soon.

Tears were running down her face and I gazed down at her, stroking her hair and soothing her. "It's okay, Guardian Thomas, we will take care of Jill. Everything will be okay, you deserve peace from everything you have sacrificed as a guardian," I whispered to her.

She gave me a slight nod and I could see in her eyes, that death quickly approached. "I need to tell you something," She said slowly, taking a raspy breath in between each word. "Hans Croft is - "

That was all she said, before her body succumbed to death. I couldn't fight back the tears that were forming from my eyes and I quickly wiped them away, before looking up at Dimitri. He appeared to hear the name as well and gave me a confused gaze, wondering why the guardian would mention Hans Croft.

I slowly moved Guardian Thomas's head to the ground and stood up, brushing off the bit of snow that had stuck to my pants. But then, another wave of nausea hit me and I knew that there was another Strigoi lurking by.

"Dimitri!" I shrieked, seeing the Strigoi approaching him. The Strigoi appeared young and naïve, as if it had just turned and looking for some fresh blood.

He instinctively sensed the Strigoi and turned around to immediately stake it and catching it completely off guard.

Letting out the breath I had unintentionally held, I leaned against the car taking deep breaths, as the naïve Strigoi dropped to the ground. That was strongly reminiscent of the one time I saw him falter; the one time he lost the battle. I ran my hands through my hair and closed my eyes to regain my composition.

"Rose, are you okay?" Dimitri said softly. I gently opened up my eyes to maintain my straight guardian like face, but saw the concern written across his face.

"Yeah," I said, knowing that I was lying to him. Too much had happened in this short moment of time.

Before he could say another word, I heard shouts from Alberta approaching the gate. She was out of breath from her sprint and I saw her eye the scene carefully, gasping at Guardian Thomas's lifeless body. "What happened?" She demanded, looking at me first.

Of course, I was always the first to blame. Some things never change. "Guardian Belikov and I were taking a walk around campus and we heard a scream. As we approached the scene there were at least five Strigoi at the scene, with a sixth one lurking in the distance. Guardian Thomas was already bitten and dying by the time we got to her. The other guardians were too busy fending off Strigoi to seek immediate attention."

"Was she able to communicate anything to you?"

"No," I stated, lying to Alberta. I saw Dimitri's eyebrows furrow, knowing that I had lied to the head guardian at the Academy. I temporarily changed my gaze towards Dimitri, trying to communicate with him not to say anything to Alberta. The last thing I needed was to be caught in a lie.

Alberta gave me a long look, before turning around to one of the guardians that was on gate duty. I mouthed "thank you" to Dimitri, in which he gave me a nod, but also returned a look that we needed to talk.

"Guardian Petrova, I'm calling the alchemists," I said, in which she nodded to me. I needed to get away from this event temporarily, mostly because I didn't want to see Guardian Thomas's lifeless body. There was something about a fallen Moroi and Dhampir's body that I hated to see.

Walking back through the gate into the Academy, I grabbed my phone out of my coat pocket. There were a few missed texts from Lissa and Adrian, that I knew I would get back to soon. Instead of calling the usual alchemist number, I dialed up my own "personal" alchemist that I had met on my travels to Russia: Sydney Sage.

After I no longer needed her in Russia, she had decided to come to America and travel. Her goal was to visit every state, while still continuing her "spectacular" job of Strigoi clean up. I never knew why that job would appeal to anyone, unless you were supernatural enthusiast. Although after all of the alchemists that I had met, Sydney definitely didn't strike me as one.

She answered on the second ring. "Rose, never thought I would hear from you again."

I gave her a light laugh. "Yeah, I know, but actually just wanted to call in a few dead Strigoi."

"I'm not near Court and you know that there is the main number to call for a nearby Alchemist," She dryly stated. Same old Sydney.

"I'm at the Academy actually. Just came to pick up Jill and we ran into some trouble. You know I consider you my personal alchemist, especially after our fun in Russia."

I could picture her rolling her eyes and scoffing through the short silence. "You're in luck because I'm in Montana, actually. Wanted to get to see the true Montana winter you always talked about."

"Does it meet your expectations?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know why you went on about that one local burger place at the city closest to the Academy. I tried it and it was very unappetizing."

"Sydney, you have to actually eat more than a few bites of the food," I said, rolling my eyes.

Sydney blatantly ignored my comment, knowing that she was touchy about the subject of food. "I'll be there to clean up in an hour. Also, I'm not your personal alchemist. Just be lucky that I'm nearby."

"You're the best," I said in a song like voice, then hung up before she could respond.

As I pocketed the phone, I saw Alberta walking up to me giving me a look. Did she catch on that I lied to her? "Guardian Petrova, did you get the story from the guardians in the car and the gate guardian?" I asked casually, not wanting to hint towards my little lie.

She nodded, not looking pleased with what she heard. "I think this was a planned attack," Alberta whispered, just loud enough so I could hear. "It appeared that they were waiting for the car and purposefully targeted Guardian Thomas first."

"You think it has something to do with Jill's status?" I replied.

Alberta gave me a soft nod in return. "The Strigoi must have someone who is feeding them this information, someone with insight. I will alert Guardian Steele right away to let him know. Did you call the alchemists?"

I nodded and she thanked me, before walking away. As soon as she was out of sight, I saw Dimitri lurking in the distance. I knew that he wanted to talk with me about my lie to Alberta; I couldn't completely avoid him.

We continued to stare at each other and my mind quickly flashed back to him being grabbed back in the cave and then what happened moments ago. Why didn't he learn his lesson? Too much was racing through my mind and before I knew it I briskly walked over to him. My fists were clenched, as I got obnoxiously close to him.

"Why the fuck haven't you learned to watch your back when we are outside wards?" I yelled. I could tell I was too close for his comfort, since he appeared shocked and tense at my outburst. Even though I was much shorter than him, I still was able to scare people. Maybe, I inherited that trait from Mom.

"I'm not foolish, Rose. I heard the twig snap behind me and knew that the Strigoi was approaching. I was planning on catching her off guard, so it would be an easy kill."

I shook my head in disbelief, taking a few steps back from him. Running my hands through my hair, I could tell that I was shaking. "You don't fucking do that to me again. Promise me?" I shouted.

He looked alarmed at my outburst again, then quickly realized that I was being brought back to my post-traumatic stress. Dimitri walked towards me slowly, then slowly outreached his hand to lightly place it on my shoulder. I didn't attempt to resist it, but instead stood there staring up at him. "I won't do that again, I promise."

I started crying, letting every tear flow down my face. If my mind wasn't fixated on that trigger, then I would have kicked myself for crying in front of him. I had sworn to myself that I would never let Dimitri see me cry after what he did to me. I had to remain strong and not show him that he still could make me weak, but I couldn't help it. The anxiety had gone into overdrive and I couldn't calm down. Thank God Adrian wasn't around to comment about my aura. I was certain it was darker than usual.

"Roza, calm down. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about that," Dimitri said, trying to comfort me. He reached up one of his big hands and started wiping away the tears from my face, but they kept flowing.

"I thought you were going to be gone again, for good," I whispered. "I can't go through that again, I just can't."

Dimitri looked at me alarmingly and didn't respond. Instead, he pulled me into a hug that I didn't resist. The last hug I ever received from him was right when he told me he would get assigned to someone at Court, so we could be together. That was over two years ago; amazing how quickly things could change in your life. As I stood there in his embrace, I couldn't help but feel at ease. I hated myself for it. Regardless of what this moment meant, I let a few more tears flow down my face and took in the moment regardless of our past.

"Wow, looks like you have been through hell and back," commented Eddie, joining me in the guardian's lounge.

I had been sent to immediately fill out my portion of the paperwork regarding the attack, so it would be in before I left the Academy. Alberta had already informed me that my molnija would be given to me back at Court and that they would still take us back to Court tonight.

Finishing up my thought on the paperwork, I placed my pen down and gave a long stretch. "How much did you hear?"

"I heard the premise of it. Do you think it is safe to assume that Guardian Thomas being targeted was a result of her being Jill's second temporary guardian?"

"Yes," I stated slowly, making eye contact with him. I saw a trace of fear in his expression, since he knew that he was very likely to be the next target. If the Strigoi actually somehow knew of Jill's royal status then he would be next. "Court will be safe and I doubt they will let Jill or you outside of the wards. Don't worry about anything right now, other than getting Jill to Court."

Eddie nodded silently. When we were raised to be guardians we were always taught that the Moroi come first and there was always a possibility of death when we protect them. We accepted that when we were given our promise mark, but the thought of death could never escape our innermost fear –especially when we were so young.

We sat there in silence taking in the situation. The clock was ticking on the wall and I could hear footsteps walking down the hallway, as well as the playful chatter outside from the students. The majority would be leaving late in the Moroi night to go home for the holidays, with a lot of the Dhampirs staying here. Many people would expect that staying at school for the holidays was lame, but I personally never thought that. It was always fun to have the campus to yourself, especially when it was just you and a few of your friends. It was a way to actually enjoy yourself on campus when it didn't involve school or intense training.

"Well I better go turn these into Alberta. See you at the runway?" I said, with Eddie giving me a nod in return. I stood up and quickly stepped out of the lounge, making my way down the corridor. It was the routine quiet that filled the guardians' quarters, mostly because they were usually scattered about doing their duties.

As I approached Alberta's door, I noticed it was closed and she was talking to someone. Knowing that the conversation wouldn't be too long, I leaned against the wall across from her office. I attempted focusing my thoughts on what I was going to do with Lissa and my other friends back at Court, but instead I kept thinking back to Dimitri earlier. God, why did he still make me feel so weak?

"Well Guardian Belikov, I'm very happy that you were willing to change your plans last minute," said Alberta, as she opened up the door. Dimitri exited the door nodding his head and giving her a warm smile. "Hathaway, did you finish the paper work?"

"Yes, I finished my portion. I included everything I noticed," I stated, not meeting Dimitri's eyes. I handed her the papers.

She glanced through them, giving me a curt nod. "Thank you very much for getting these done. Fly is scheduled to depart the same time as before. It was great to see you again Rose, never be a stranger."

As she went back into her office, she shut the door leaving me and Dimitri standing in the hallway. He appeared to be pleasantly surprised to see me outside of Alberta's office, which I didn't understand why he would. Was he actually guilty for what he did to me? Was he trying to make it up to me?

"You didn't tell Alberta about what we heard?" I questioned, raising my one of my brows.

He shook his head. "No, I did not. It is not my information to tell. May I ask why you didn't tell her?"

I shrugged. "There just something that isn't sitting right with me about Hans Croft. The less people involved, the better it is. I think he is alive, but doesn't want to be found."

"You think he is feeding the Strigoi information?" Dimitri suggested.

"Not sure, but it is a possibility. I need to think about it some more, maybe even get more information on the case behind Hans Croft back at Court. I think I could sway Guardian Steele to let me see the files."

"I can help," Dimitri stated.

I gave him a confused look in return, then it suddenly dawned on me. He was going to be Jill's temporary guardian. He was coming to Court, meaning he would still be in my life. The expression on my face told him that he knew he didn't need to say anymore. Instead of saying anything, I started walking away from the hallway slightly angry. Was this some cruel fate?

I fully expected him to follow me down the hallway, instead he didn't. He was finally smart enough to know to let things go and give me my space.

"Wow, I don't think I have ever flown on my own personal airplane," shouted Jill with excitement, as we stepped onto one of the Court's private airplanes. It definitely was luxurious, but not the best one I had ever step foot on. The one that I would occasionally fly on with Lissa was even nicer.

Jill quickly found one of the comfy leather chairs by the window and claimed it, with much enthusiasm. Eddie and I smiled at her, knowing that she felt that this was the best Christmas vacation of her life. I sometimes wondered if it was best for Jill to remain oblivious to her true relations with the Dragomir family. Wouldn't it be best if she knew what she would be in for the rest of her life? Why hadn't she even questioned it?

Meredith soon joined Eddie, Jill, and I in the section of the plane gushing about how she had an amazing trip. I had nearly forgotten that Meredith joined me for this transfer, considering she had been absent from the Strigoi attack and my consistent run ins with Dimitri. Then again, she still had a lot of Novice friends, as well as being scheduled for duties at different time points than me. I could tell that she had a great time.

"Did you hear how Guardian Belikov is coming with us now because of the attack?" She said, clicking her seatbelt into place. Eddie and Jill looked surprised, with Eddie shooting me a look. I just looked away, not wanting to respond to that comment. I was still bitter.

"Really?" stated Eddie. "Doesn't he have a student he needs to mentor? Last I heard she was staying there for the holidays."

"Not sure, but I know he is coming. Are you excited about continuing to catch up with your old mentor, Rose?" asked Meredith.

There was a dropping sensation in my stomach. I had forgotten that Meredith remained unaware of everything that had happened between me and Dimitri. Luckily for me and my reputation, not many people knew the true extent of me and Dimitri's past. A lot knew about the falling out we had after he was restored, but not many knew about why the falling out occurred and how much we used to be in love.

I didn't respond, but instead gave her a fake small smile and nod. What else was there to say? Saying something negative would leave me with a lot of explaining to do and I really wanted to simper down my emotions.

Dimitri soon walked on the plane, greeting the captain and the group of us. I didn't know if he was going to attempt to talk to us, but instead he sat near the back of the plane and took out one of his beloved Western novels. Of course, some things never change with him.

I rolled my eyes and took out my phone, sending something to Lissa that I would be there in a few hours. I could feel through the bond that she was missing me and had lots to tell me about her latest meeting with Tatiana, as well as lending me a dress for the annual Christmas ball at Court. I hadn't told anyone back at Court that Dimitri would be returning with us. I couldn't even imagine the reactions from my friends, especially Adrian. Even though me and him were strictly just friends with benefits, he still got very defensive over me. God knows what he would do when he saw Dimitri.

I pushed away those unhappy thoughts and instead focused on my friends. Jill was asking about retelling my favorite memories at St. Vlad's, so I quickly dove into them. As I was telling her the story of the huge scavenger hunt my senior year, purposefully leaving Dimitri out of it, I saw him give a small smile towards me before returning back to his book.

This holiday season was going to be interesting.

Author's Note: Well there you have it! I even added in a little Dimitri and Rose moment for you guys. :P

I mentioned to one reviewer this, but I personally am not going to rush anything super romantically with Dimitri and Rose. After everything that they have been through emotionally in the past and present I feel that it wouldn't make sense for them to get back to each other so quickly. They have a lot to process and and I want it to be more "realistic" in that sense. That being said, I will not drag the whole "will they or won't they" idea until the last chapter. I want a great build up before anything happens. Also, we can't rule out the past flashbacks for a little bit of action. :P

Anyways, drop a review if you want and I hope everyone is having a great week. :)

Also let me know what you would like to see in the Christmas chapter. Woo woo!