Chapter 2

Pavel and I stood outside Adrian's house stretching. We had a routine for our daily exercise and language lessons. If it hadn't been for him, I never would have learned to speak Turkish or Russian.

"Ready arkadaş?" he asked using the Turkish word for friend.

"Сообщите об этом" (bring it on) I replied in Russian. Pavel's mouth dropped. "Is it him?" I whispered. I took his silence as a yes and took off at a brisk jog with Pavel coming up on my right.

"That was close" he said as we left the houses and found the path along the fence.

"I am not ready to face him" I sighed. Pavel understood my feelings about Dimitri. After what he said to me that day in the church, I avoided him at all costs. It was the reason I came the day of Adrian's wedding and left later.

"I understand" he replied. Pavel's face twisted with a cringe of pain. I knew that face. He too had been in love once. He was only nineteen at the time, she left him for a royal moroi. Told him that she didn't want him, that he wasn't good enough for her. I hated her with a passion the same way that Pavel now hated Dimitri. We confided our secrets one day during a sparring match. Pavel and I tried to date but our hearts were in other places. My father had been disappointed when he learned that we wouldn't be together.

We continued on in silence. Tomorrow I would be at an all girl party, no chance of seeing him there. Saturday was the wedding. I would see him, but I could avoid him. Lissa had asked me to be her maid of honor. I couldn't say no to my best friend. She had my dress and everything.

"Don't worry" Pavel said, "we are only here for a week."

"A week?" I thought we were only going to be here for two days. "Damn it!"

"Just kick his ass and get it over with" Pavel laughed, "that's what you usually do." It was true, I went on dates all the time. Unfortunately, upon learning my name, they always wanted to spar. I couldn't seriously date a guy weaker than me. If he can't kick my ass then it's over. I had never beat Dimitri. He was the one who trained me.

"I can't" I admitted, "he was my mentor. I was never able to beat him." Pavel and I thrived on an honest relationship. We didn't judge each other, but instead gave our support to the other. We never cried or anything, just honest talk.

"Are you in need of a beating?" he teased in Turkish.

"You think you can handle getting your ass handed to you?" I countered.

"Not much to handle" he took off running. I passed him soon and yelled something to him in Russian along the lines of 'eat my dust.' We completed our five mile run and headed to the Guardian Headquarters. "We are Abe Mazur's guards" he told the guardian at the front desk, "we request to use your gym during our stay here." We were approved and given passes for a week.

The gym looked exactly as I remembered it. We did a good hour of weight training before enjoying a couple of cups of water. We took a fifteen minute breather before hitting the sparing mat.

"Rosemarie Hathaway?" a familiar voice called from the edge of the mat. I turned to see Eddie Castile smiling.

"Hey Eddie" I said momentarily distracted. Pavel's fist made contact with my chest, knocking me to the mat. I swept my leg into the back of his knees bringing him down onto the mat.

"Ateşkes" (truce) Pavel called out breathless. We shook on it and rose to our feet.

"Eddie this is Pavel, my partner" I introduced him, "this is Eddie, an old friend from school." They shook hands and mumbled their hellos.

"How have you been?" Eddie asked.

"Busy" I replied with a forced smile, "and you?"

"Great" he said shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I'm married" he said and then added "to Mia."

"Congratulations" I replied. We talked for a while before Eddie requested to spar with me. "Are you sure?" I asked him. He insisted, so I looked to Pavel for help. He simply shrugged and took a seat on the bench. "Alright" I agreed.

We stood on the mat ready. A few guardians entered the gym and approached the scene. I waited and let Eddie attack first. He punched and I blocked. He kicked and I blocked. So we continued on. "Come on Rose" Eddie was frustrated. "Hit me." I continued to block him. It was so easy.

"If you put forth more effort" I teased, "then I would." He came at me with some decent force. I swept kicked him, kicked him in the side, and pinned him to the ground. "Sorry."

Eddie's face was flushed. Pure embarrassment. The other guardians chuckled. "Beat by a girl" one guardian made a tisk-tisk noise, "for shame little bro." It took me a moment to recognize him. Charles Castile was a good four inches taller than his brother and at least three years older. "Let a real man show you how it's done."

"I didn't come here to challenge anyone" I said. They simply stared. "Not that I don't mind, but you have to bring your A-game."

Charles rolled his eyes and walked onto the mat. Eddie sat next to Pavel on the bench, still red in the face. Charles came at me, ready to punch. I dropped to the floor and kicked. He leaped over my leg. I grabbed his feet and flipped him onto his back. Pinned in less than twenty seconds. An applause erupted from the growing crowd.

"So that's how a man does it" Eddie chuckled.

Charles sat next to his brother and another guardian came at me. I smashed my left arm into his pelvis and used my right to flip him over onto his stomach. Pinned him in ten seconds.

Pavel got up on the mat before the others could. 'Thanks' I mouthed. "Take on someone your own level" he smiled. "You know that guardians eat doughnuts and sit in their comfortable wards." Then he got into position and added, "don't hold back."

What the hell? Did he want a spectacle? He came at me and I spun, sending him right past me. I heard gasps from some of the guardians. I turned to see him smiling with his Yatagan out. It's what we carried instead of a stake. The reason being that it did more damage than a stake could. He and I were use to sparing with swords. I have a scar on my hip from our first match. He has one on his left leg from our last one.

"Do you really want to go there?" I pulled out my yatagan slowly.

"How is your hip?" he snickered.

"Healed" I replied as we began to circle, "how is your leg?"

"Healed" he said as he advanced on me. "First one to draw blood wins." I nodded in agreement.

He aimed for my right leg, I jumped back and blocked him with my sword. The clang of metal ended the chatter in the room. I pulled back and attacked, the swords hit again and again. The crowd in the gym grew larger. Our swords were locked and I kicked. He stumbled and recovered. It went on like that for quite some time. We were almost equal. ALMOST! I was growing tired and ready for a nap. Our swords met again, I twisted mine around his and flipped it into the air. I caught it by the hilt and kicked him in the chest. He flew backwards and smacked into the wall. I was on him in less than a second. Two swords crossed his neck.

"Do I have to spill it?" I asked firmly.

"No" he replied, "you win."

The crowd applauded. I handed him his yatagan, and placed mine back in the sheath. We shook hands and headed out. Eddie caught up with a few others.

"That was amazing Rose!" he exclaimed.

"What?" I turned around. "Pavel and I spar all the time. We know each other's moves and had to result to weapons just to make it more interesting."

"You guys kick ass!" a young guardian shouted.

"Uh…thanks" what else do I say? "Look if you don't mind, I need some rest."

"Let me help you" Pavel said with a sudden burst of energy. He scooped me up and carried me laughing back to Adrian's house. I knew that he had to be nearby.

I checked on my father while Pavel showered. Then we switched. I let the hot water run over my entire body. My muscles began to relax. When I was done, I braided my hair into two long braids. I took the first shift so that Pavel could rest. My father slept until the end of my shift, at which time I crashed onto the bed.