Okay, I could give you all my reasons about why this is so late, but seriously, I don't have the time, energy, or computer space to do so. What's important is that it is here. And I really hope you like it, because it was hard to write.

I'd finished my Western Novel, so I decided that 5 hours ought to be enough time for Rose to wake up. I slowly made my way up to her room, listening that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. I reached her door to find that Nathan was there, with his little human buddy, even I had to feel sorry for him, he may be annoying, but she made him look like a downright saint. Her flirting was outrageous. Thankfully (for her) she shut up when I arrived.

"I see Galina told you of our arrangement."

"Yes, I'm just waiting for Marlen, he's out hunting."

"Has she tried to escape?"

"Yes, she has been around the entire room, probably trying to look for a weapon, or some way out. What a waste of time"

"Ah, well, at least she hasn't completely forgotten her training."

I pinned in the code for the first door.

And for some reason I stopped when I got to door two. It felt like a physical force literally made me stop in my tracks, my legs stopped moving. I took a deep breath and tried walking again, thankfully, my legs moved. Whatever.

I pinned in the code for the second door, not exactly sure what I should expect, Rose on the lounge? Rose on the ground? Rose at the window?

No, Rose charging at me with a chair. The legs hit my chest, and I pushed her back. How irritating. If it irritates you then it will irritate Nathan. I thought to myself.

She charged at me again, with less force than before, I was barely aware of the legs as they collided into my chest, instead, I grabbed the chair and flung it to the my side, it hit the wall, and I hoped it wouldn't make a hole in the wall.

She paused again, as though she was weighing her chances. I saw in her eyes she knew that her attack would be yet another lost cause. But she was also unable to stand here and surrender, so of course, she threw an efficient kick into my stomach, which I promptly block, she then tried to sock me in the jaw, I blocked that too.

By about her fourth or fifth offensive move I had to tell her to knock it off, as good as this "never back down" quality was, it was also annoying.

"Rose" I said, deflecting one of her kicks

"You're wasting time. Stop." I think the words had an effect on her, because her next attempt at a kick was half hearted. Then, without much warning at all, she turned and ran the few feet to the wall, where the DVD player was. She lifted it up, ripping the cords, making some sort of horrible battle cry. In any other circumstances, the battle cry would've been comical, but it wasn't, she was still fighting me, and I'd once told her about these noises, another lesson she'd forgotten.

With all her might, she threw the DVD played towards me, and I could tell that even though she was only Dhampir, she'd thrown that with a fair amount of force, it would hurt a little if it hit me. It didn't though, I caught it mid air and threw it to the ground, the force smashed it into pieces. I grabbed a hold of both her arms before she could launch another failed attempt at incapacitating me.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I reasoned "Roza, please stop." I looked her straight in the eyes when I said this to her, not compulsion, that would damage my long term plan, but I set my expression into one of reason and coercion, it didn't work, her expression was one of bitchy defiance and a strong love.

Without any other real options she started to kick out with her legs, but without her body weight or balance, the movements were awkward and had no real force behind them, they were, therefore, useless. I'd thought that by pinning her arms, it would prevent her from launching anymore attacks, yet, in true Rose style, she was proving me wrong. I was never wrong. That was something she had to understand.

I flipped her around and pinned her up against the wall, surely that would be enough for her to realize there was nothing she could do. She continued to try and thrash, but I had her pinned so hard she could hardly move, she might just need a little more convincing.

"Stop fighting me" I whispered in her ear, breathing down on her neck "I'm not going to hurt you"

She gave another shove, it did nothing, she was tired, maybe injured and fighting a lost cause, surely she realised this.

"You'll have to understand if I have a hard time believing that" She said, resignation was clear in her voice

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead" I said simply." Now, if you're going to keep fighting, I'll have to tie you up. If you stop, I'll let you stay unrestrained."

"Aren't you afraid I'll escape?"

"No." I spoke, my voice calm "I am not" I held her like that, pinned against the wall for almost a minute, and I could see her mind wiring.

"Okay." She finally replied, I heard the resignation in her tone, and felt it in her muscles, but could she be trusted? Yes she could. I released her from the wall, taking a step back. I looked at her up and down, still the same as I left her, great body, dark eyes, that brown hair. Then I really did look, I felt my headache start up again, but its dull throbbing was overshadowed by another feeling, one that hurt so much I felt like I wanted to double over and cry. Warmth. It was all there, everything my former self had fallen in love with, all laid out for me to look at, but look at only.

"Why did you come here?" I asked, and for a fleeting second, I really wished she hadn't. But then, something inside her clicked, and out came her never-ending supply of bitchy defiance.

"Because you hit me on the head and dragged me here." Inside me, my conscience cracked a smile, Still my Roza he thought. On the outside, I remained impassive; I wouldn't show anymore unnecessary emotion in front of her.

"That is not what I mean, and you know it. Why are you here?"

"In Siberia? I came to find you" huh. Figures.

"I came here to get away from you" She looked at me like the notion was impossible.

"Why? Because I might kill you?" She asked, true curiosity in her voice. Her kill me? Now that is ridiculous.

"No, so we wouldn't be in this situation, but now we are, and the choice is inevitable" that had been one of the reasons I'd come back to my homeland. I'd wanted better hunting, and I knew Galina would get me far, and I had wanted to avoid a confrontation. But had there been more to it than that? Why had I wanted to avoid this so much? The voice inside answered before I could investigate any further, I came to get away from her, to save her he thought, a hint of bitterness in his tone. My tone? I don't know.

"Well you can let me go if you want to avoid it." I thought about that. Could I? Should I? No, Roza would help me get what I wanted, that was the most important thing, the plan was the most important thing.

"Not possible anymore. Not after seeing you now..." I crossed the living room and sat on a chair and I studied her again, then suddenly, selfishly, I didn't want her to leave, I couldn't let her go, she was here. She was beautiful. She was alive.

"You're still as beautiful as I remember, Roza. Not that I should've expected anything different" I tilted my head to the side, to stud her more, she was still definitely beautiful. I imagined how beautiful she could be, her eyes a piercing red, standing out from her alabaster skin. NO!!!! Part of me shouted. That was one thing that couldn't happen. She could not suffer the same fate as me. What? My conscience was awfully present today. To distract myself, I asked her another question. "You can sit down"

"I'm fine over here"

"Is there anything else you want?"

"For you to let me go?" The answer was so Rose. My conscience almost laughed.

"No, Roza. I meant do you need anything here? Different food? Books? Entertainment?" She gave me an incredulous look.

"You make it sound like some sort of luxury hotel!"

"It is, to a certain extent. I can speak to Galina, and she'll get you anything you wish."

"Galina?" I smiled, Galina had no idea what was coming for her.

"Galina is my old instructor, back from when I was in school."

"She's strigoi?"

"Yes. She was awakened several years ago, in a fight in Prague. She's relatively young for a strigoi, but she's risen in power. All of this is hers." I gestured around the room.

"And you live with her?" she asked, a tone of curiosity, and maybe I was imagining it, jealousy? I guess it wouldn't be the first time teacher and student had gotten together.

"I work for her. She was another reason I returned here when I was awakened. I knew she was Strigoi. I wanted her guidance."

"And you wanted to get away from me. That was the other reason, right?" I nodded, the last thing I needed was to start that particular chain of thought again.

"Where are we? We're far from Novosibirsk, right?" She was trying to get information from me, I was sure of it. I humoured her regardless

"Yes, Galina's estate is outside the city"

"How far?" I smiled even more.

"I know what you're doing, and I'm not going to give you that sort of information." That would be unwise.

"Then what are you doing?" she demanded, her anger suddenly rearing. "Why are you holding me here? Kill me, or let me go. And if you're going to just lock me up and torture me with mind games or whatever, then I really would rather you kill me." Her delivery was passionate, slightly haughty, but I saw through it. Now she had her shields up, beneath that, I knew she didn't want to die.

"Brave words." I stood up and began pacing, just for something to do. "I almost believe you."

"They're true. I came here to kill you. And if I can't do that then I'd rather die." She said it with her usual defiant bravado. I didn't really have a reply.

"You failed, you know. On the street." I told her, no doubt she'd be kicking herself for it now, but in the long run, she would notice it as one of the best choices she ever made. Or the worst my inner voice said.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that out when I woke up here." She still had the same tone of voice as she did with everything else, but there was more desperation in it, as if she wished she was still in school, waking up in the clinic, like she cold just go back tomorrow and right the mistakes she made. She had always taken comfort in that. The fact that she could make mistakes. If something went wrong, on the rare occasion that she did make a mistake, she shook it off, telling herself that it would be okay, everyone else makes mistakes. She'd say it as though it were a justification for her actions.

Then suddenly, I was sick of it. Sick of all her attempts to overpower me. Sick of her attempts to pin point my motivation. Sick of her attempts of chivalry and defiance. Why would she do such things when there was an option on the table that would make her strong and powerful? I spun around toward her, quickly closing the distance between us.

"I'm a little disappointed. You're so good, Rose. So very, very good. You and your friends going around and taking down Strigoi caused quite a stir, you know. Some strigoi were even afraid."

"But not you?"

"When I heard it was you......hmm." I thought about it. Had I been afraid? No. "No, I was Curious. Wary. If anyone could've killed me, it would have been you. But like I said, you hesitated. It was your ultimate test of my lessons, and you failed." I expected a reaction, more kicking and screaming, but her face remained blank.

"I won't hesitate next time." She said. Sounding like a guardian. I almost smiled.

"There won't be a next time, and anyway, as disappointed as I am in you, I'm still glad to be alive of course." She looked at me as though I was dirty, like I'd said something so wrong and horrible.

"You aren't alive." She said through gritted teeth. "You're dead, unnatural. You told me a long time ago you'd rather die than be like this. That's why I'm going to kill you." I had once said that. And now she'd mentioned it, I was completely torn. Part of me, my conscience no doubt, was glad she'd remembered, glad she was here to free me of this awful state, but also wishing someone else had come to do it. But another part of me, the smarter part, knew I hadn't known any better back then. Neither did she.

"You're only saying that because you don't know any better. I didn't either back then." I saw her face, her eyes widened slightly. Then, without warning, my arm was moving, my finger connecting with the side of her face, touching, no, caressing her. She gasped so did I? It had caught me by surprise, because honestly, I don't even know how my hand got up there, but then, I felt her lean into my hand slightly, and I knew I had her, a few of the right words, and she's be strigoi by sunrise.

"Killing you. . . Well, it's not that simple," I made my voice drop slightly to speak the next words "There's a third option. I could awaken you."

I know, cliffie. Given my teachers don't give me any homework tomorrow I should have the next chapter up, but then again, this could be one of those 'Famous last words' Situations.

Hate it? Love it? Want to abuse me for being so late? Can't say I blame you. Comment?

xxx