Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!

Chapter Two

If I didn't hate Dimitri Beli-whatever before, it was now official. On the way to the airport and onto the Academy's private jet, he'd taken one look at the two of us whispering and ordered us apart immediately.

"Don't let them talk to each other," he had warned the guardians who escorted me and Lissa to the plane. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan."

I had given him my trade mark 'bitch face' as Lissa called it and stormed off down the aisle, perceiving his plans to keep us apart. Never mind the fact we had been planning escape. At least Lissa managed to heal the bite before we were put into solitary confinement. Though she was smug and slightly teasing about it, as if she was trying to dispel the tension building in my body. Too bad I could feel her anxiety coming off her in waves.

Told you I should of healed it, but no, your way to stubborn and look where it got us. But hey, he believes it would only take us five minutes to think up a way to escape from more than ten high profile guardians. There's got to be a compliment in there somewhere.

I smiled at that but once we were in the air, our odds of escape however dropped even further, and what little bit of pride I did feel thanks to the somewhat back-handed compliment had left me. Even supposing a miracle occurred and I did manage to take out all ten guardians now I was healed and the Moroi saliva was out of my system, how the hell would we get off the plane? I figured they might have parachutes aboard somewhere, but in the unlikely event I'd be able to figure out how the bloody thing would work, we would probably land in the middle of nowhere. And flying the plane was out. Who the hell knows how to fly a plane? I certainly don't, although...I guess we could threaten the pilot...nah. Wouldn't work. I'd have no idea if he was flying the right way or not. And even if we got away the silver stakes I had stolen from the academy were still hidden in my suitcase so if we were to come across any strigoi we were dead anyway. I usually always keep one on me but in my haze I had completely forgotten about it. I guess I was too stubborn.

No, we weren't getting off this plane until it landed in backwoods Montana. I'd have to think of something then, something that involved getting past the Academy's magical wards, ten times as many guardians and with a new stake in hand. Yeah. No problem at all. But we did it before, we can do it again. Plus we have spirit and the darkness to help this time.

I leant forward holding my head in my hands. Lissa's fear sang back to me from where she sat at the front of the plane with the Russian giant, and it pounded inside my skull like a hammer. My concern for her turned into fury at our captors and I had to reign in the darkness. They couldn't take her back there, not to that place. Oh Lissa, I'm so sorry.

I wondered if Dimitri might have acted differently if he could feel her fear like I did and if he knew what I knew. Probably not.

Her worry and fear then proceeded to grow as we took off into the sky and became so strong that I slipped fully into her mind, looking through her eyes. At times like these I felt like I was Lissa. I could feel every inch of her. I knew how a piece of hair was tickling her and how the aircon, aimed at mid-thigh, was just a bit too cold for her. I knew the intervals in which she tapped her fingers against her leg and how her left foot was falling asleep. It happened sometimes, and without much warning. She'd pull me right into her head. Luckily we managed to avoid that when we were faced with strigoi.

I was about to try and get back into my own head when, in Lissa's line of sight, Dimitri then leaned forward to pick up something, revealing six tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck: Molnija marks. They were the same as the ones I had on my own neck and down my back; being made up of two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One given to him for each Strigoi he'd killed. Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark. That I did not have due to not graduating from the Academy and becoming an 'official' guardian. If they had it their way I would soon have the very same mark decorating my own neck.

Blinking, I fought against the force keeping me in her head and shifted back into my own with a grimace, taking some her darkness away at the same time. I hated it when that happened. Feeling Lissa's emotions was one thing, but slipping into her was something we both despised. She saw it as an invasion of privacy, so I usually didn't tell her when it happened, and it wasn't like either of us could control it. It was another effect of the bond, a bond neither of us fully understood even after discovering all that we had. We did the best we could with it though.

Near the end of the very long (and very boring) flight, Dimitri walked back to where I sat and traded places with the guardian beside me, who I had barely noticed was there to begin with. I turned away, staring out the window and tapping my fingers against the glass in a rhythm Lissa had recently gotten stuck in her head. Several moments of silence passed.

Finally, he said, "Were you really going to attack all of us?"

I didn't answer.

"Doing that…protecting her like that—it was very brave." He paused. "Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

I glanced over at him, brushing my dark hair out of my face so I could look him in the eye."Because I'm her guardian." I say before turning back toward the window and resuming my tapping.

After another quiet moment, he sighed and stood up, going back to the front of the jet.

When we landed, Lissa and I were driven straight to the Academy with Lissa in the first car and me in the one following. Our cars stopped at the gate, and the first driver spoke with the guards who verified we weren't Strigoi about to go off on a killing spree (I didn't need to be a strigoi to have the desire to commit mass murder at the moment though). After a minute, they let us pass on through the wards and up to the school itself.

It looked the same as it was two years ago, sprawling and gothic. The Moroi were big on tradition; nothing ever changed with them. This school wasn't as old as the originals, but it had been built in the same style. The buildings boasted elaborate, almost churchlike architecture, with high peaks, stone carvings and wrought iron gates enclosing small gardens and doorways. There was a huge difference between this school and the ones my and Liss attended during our time with the humans. At least I remembered where everything was...I think.

When we walked into the main part of the upper school I broke from my guard – it wasn't like I could go anywhere – and ran up to Dimitri.

"Hey, Comrade."

He kept walking and wouldn't look at me, only the direction he was headed.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?"

"Headmistress Kirova," he corrected. On the other side of him, Lissa shot me a look but I ignored her. Goody two-shoes that she was.

"Headmistress, ha! Like that makes all the difference. She's still a self-righteous old bit—"

My words faded as I figured out the path we were to take — straight into the commons. I sighed. Perfect.

Were these people really so cruel? There had to be at least a dozen ways to get to Kirova's office, and they were taking us right through the centre of the commons. At breakfast time. Everyone would be there and I was still in my pajamas.

When we entered, the loud buzz of conversation stopped instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. Hundreds of eyes turned toward us.

I returned the stares of my former classmates with a large grin, as if revelling in the attention, while trying to pick out familiar faces and subtly making sure my tattoos where covered. I managed to spot a few people who looked the same, Lissa's ex-boyfriend Aaron for one. Poor thing, you could tell by just looking at him that he wasn't over Liss. It was a pity as she'd gone out with him simply because it seemed like the expected thing to do. Hey, wait a sec. There was a girl holding his hand. Apparently he found a way to pass the time without her. However, if I didn't know any better I would of taken Aaron's new girl for a child with her plump little cheeks and blond ringlets. The very pissed off look she shot Lissa and the way she gripped his hand tightly when we passed shocked me as well. What the hell was that all about? She was no one I knew. Just a jealous girlfriend, I guessed. I'd be pissed too if my guy was watching someone like Aaron was looking at Lissa. Not that I could blame him. Lissa always looks like an angel.

Our walk of shame mercifully ended, though our new setting—Kirova's office—didn't exactly improve our situation. The old witch looked exactly like I remembered, hook-nosed and gray-haired. She was tall and slim, like most Moroi, and had always reminded me of a vulture. I'd spent a lot of time in her office before we left and wasn't looking forward to being back.

Most of our escorts left us once Lissa and I were seated in front of her desk, and I felt a little less like a prisoner. Only Alberta (who met up with us outside the office), the captain of the school's guardians and one of the only people at this school I genuinely liked, and Dimitri stayed. They took up positions along the wall, looking stoic and terrifying, just as their job description required.

Kirova fixed her angry eyes on us from where she stood behind her desk and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session. However a familiar, gentle voice stopped her.

"Vasilisa."

Startled, I realized who the other person was. I had known that there was someone else in the room with us, I just never bothered to look to see who it was. Lissa obviously hadn't seen him either but still jumped up automatically and ran to him, helping Prince Victor Dashkov raise from his chair before hugging his frail body.

"Uncle," she whispered. She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her grip. She had missed him while we were away and often dreamed of seeing him again. Although not technically her uncle—the Moroi used family terms very loosely, especially the royals—he was a part of what little family she had left and had been there for her when her parents and brother had died.

With a small smile, he gently patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He looked toward me as an afterthought. "And you too, Rose."

I nodded back, trying to hide how shocked I was at his state. He'd been sick when we left, but this—this was horrible. He was about forty or so, but he looked twice his age. My heart broke watching him. With all the horrible people in the world, it didn't seem fair that this guy should get a disease that was going to kill him young and ultimately keep him from becoming king. He'd surely do a better job than the evil bitch we have ruling now.

Kirova let them have a few more moments before getting Lissa back to her seat.

Time for the lecture.

It was a good one, one of Kirova's best, which was saying something. She was a master at them. I swear that was the only reason she'd gone into school administration, because I had yet to see any evidence of her actually liking kids. The rant covered the usual topics and I immediately found myself spacing out, alternatively pondering the logistics of escaping through the window in her office. Luckily it wasn't bared so that increased my chances greatly.

But when the tirade shifted directly to me and I had to tune back in.

"Miss Hathaway, you broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you broke by selfishly taking the princess away. The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs; you nearly enabled them to do it."

"Rose didn't kidnap me." Lissa interrupted, "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."

Ms. Kirova rolled her eyes. "Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still her responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone – anyone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."

I snapped out of my silence, darkness rising in my veins.

"I did do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair, causing it to crash to the floor with a loud bang. Dimitri and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone. Yet. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do!"

Through the bond, I felt Lissa trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of me. Too late.

Kirova stared at me, her face blank. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

I bit my lip. Lissa didn't want anyone to know and I couldn't betray her trust.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you two left—aside from the sheer novelty of it, no doubt knowing you—was to avoid the consequences of that destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"No, that's not—"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. Of course, as a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away from here as soon as possible."

My anger dried up as shock invaded my system."What?"

Lissa stood up beside me. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents—"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is and always will be expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

I stared at Kirova, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Where are you going to send me? To my mother, wherever the Hell she is? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my father?" Her eyes narrowed at the hate I placed in that last word. When I spoke again, my voice was so cold, I barely recognized it. "Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day." And we would.

"Miss Hathaway," she hissed, "you are out of line."

Ha, says the woman who called me 'expendable.'

"They have a bond." Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned towards were he stood by the door. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't. His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his. He looked only at me, not Lissa, with his dark eyes staring straight through me. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"

I at least had the satisfaction of seeing Kirova caught off guard as she glanced between us and Dimitri.

"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious," he said. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them."

Neither Lissa nor I responded, and I averted my eyes from his. I couldn't give anything away.

"That is a gift," murmured Victor from his corner."A rare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," added Dimitri."In the stories."

Kirova's outrage returned. "Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

He shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but she has potential—"

"Wild and disrespectful?"I interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Kirova."Her sanctioned guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?"

That was pretty mean of me to say, particularly since most Moroi and their guardians were of Russian or Romanian descent. And it wasn't like I was one to talk. I might have been raised in the U.S. but my parents were foreign-born. My dhampir mother was Scottish—red-haired, with a completely ridiculous accent—and I'd been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black. The only thing I inherited that I didn't like was my mother's short stature. In other words, I was the complete opposite of Lissa with her pale skin, angelic features, platinum blond hair and model height. We made a striking pair.

Kirova threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to him. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," I argued but no one listened to me.

"Then give her extra training sessions," he said.

They continued on while the rest of us watched the exchange like it was a Ping-Pong game. My pride was still hurt over the ease with which Dimitri had beaten me earlier, but it occurred to me that he might very well be the only one able to keep me here with Lissa. Better to stay at this hellhole than be without her. Through our bond, I could feel her trickle of hope.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" demanded Kirova."You?"

Dimitri's argument came to an abrupt stop. "Well, that's not what I—"

Kirova crossed her arms with satisfaction. "See. That's what I thought."

Clearly at a loss, he frowned. His eyes flicked toward Lissa and me, and I wondered what he saw. Two pathetic girls, looking at him with big, pleading eyes? Or two runaways who'd broken out of a high-security school and swiped a lot of Lissa's inheritance for a joy ride? Not that we used it all the time. Only in emergencies. The money we often found in the pockets of the strigoi I staked could usually keep us going for quite some time.

He finally made up his mind. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" retorted Kirova angrily. "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," answered Dimitri. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular."

His unspoken words made me shudder, reminding me of my earlier statement about 'blood whores.' Few dhampir girls became guardians anymore.

Victor suddenly spoke up from his corner. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a real waste of talent." And he didn't even know about the marks decorating my back.

Ms. Kirova stared out her window for a while before turning back around. This enabled Lissa to meet her eyes and let a trickle of spirit filter into her words. "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay."

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be," She starts, breaking eye contact with Lissa and turning to me. "Your continued enrolment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have—before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent away."

I gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" I looked toward Lissa. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her thin lips tightened into a straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I started to say it wasn't generous at all (especially as I wasn't the one to blame for that incident), but then I caught Dimitri's gaze. It was hard to read. He might have been telling me he believed in me or he might have been telling me I was an idiot to keep fighting. I didn't know.

What I did know was that Lissa wanted me to take this deal, so that is what I'd do. It was the only way to keep on protecting her. At long last, I exhaled and glanced back up at the headmistress.

"Fine. I accept."