The New Rose

Chapter 5:

I awoke to the smell of something amazing. I sat up in bed, rubber my eyes and noticed the sun was up. I looked at the clock and it said it was 10am, great I only had five and a half hours sleep. I pulled off the blanket and wandered around to my kitchen, looking up I seen Abe frying up eggs in one pan and bacon in another. He looked up and smiled at me. "Good, I thought the smell of bacon and eggs would wake you up," he said. I smiled up at him, despite the ache I felt along the right side of my face. "Long night? I heard you come in at about 5-5:30, I thought I'd let you sleep before we went shopping."

"Thanks. Yeah, it was a long night. I only found six Strigoi, but they were as good as dead when I seen them," I replied. The side of my face ached when I talked. I pressed my fingers to the side of my face, hoping it'd soothe it but winced at the pain.

Abe removed my hand from my face and tilted my head to the side to get a look at my injuries. He sucked air in between his teeth and it made a whistling noise. "Ouch," he muttered. Dropped his hand and turned to the freezer, taking out a bag of peace. He pressed it against the side of my face and I took them, replacing his hand with mine. "Ice it before we head out. That bruise is going to definitely hurt and get worst tomorrow."

Underneath my hand I could already feel the knot forming along my jawline. "Yeah, I know," I told him. "I met a Dhampir girl last night-Viktoria." He looked at me wary, like he already knew the name. "She already knew of me, apparently I'm famous, just like mum, I didn't even know. But she wants me to train her."

He laughed. "Of course people know of you. Who else your age has killed over 46 Strigoi, and counting, and have a battle mark?" he asked me, grinning.

"You heard of that?" I asked him, confusion swept over my body. How did he know that.

He looked at me as if saying you honestly don't know? "You're mum told me, obviously, she kept me in the loop the whole time. The crash. You running away. Getting caught. Getting abducted. Killing your first Strigoi and decapitating him with a blunt sword. How you do at school. The attack. You slaying more Strigoi than most your teachers." He named nearly every huge milestone in my life.

"Wow, she never told me," I answered honestly, sounding dumbfounded. I didn't know but this whole time, the father I never knew, took this journey with me. Finding out every little detail about me that most people didn't understand, especially my mum. Nobody except Dimitri, Lissa, Christian, Adrian and myself knew that I died in that car accident but Lissa used her Spirit magic to bring me back from death, so now I was her Shadowkissed Guardian, I could feel everything she did, hear her thoughts and on the odd occasion experience what she did. I learned to control it over time but it meant she couldn't keep anything from me. Even if it wasn't for the bond, she still wouldn't be able to because I could read her facial expressions like she was a sister.

"I wanted to come see you after the car accident but your mum thought it'd be best if I stayed away." He looked down ashamed. All I could do was nod my head. My heart felt a pang for the man. He had a heart even if he was some mafia guy. I realized we had some things in common, not just our looks but we were both hard-badasses that even though we didn't seem like it, we still cared for the people we love and care about.

After breakfast I got dressed and we went shopping. I found myself with a unlimited credit card, thanks Abe, and a million new shopping bags. I went from store to store, trying things on, buying things. Buying fancy ball gown dresses because Abe said there'd be a lot of parties I'd be attending, everything was nice and some clothes were for working out, some for fighting, some going out and partying, some for special occasions, some just for during the day, but everything was expensive and something every girl would die for to have in her closet, some of the clothes were just for going out and attending meetings with some of Abe's "clients" and some were just because I "needed" to fill my wardrobe, as Abe said. I had lunch at a fancy restaurant, eating food I couldn't even pronounce, but it tasted good. My phone buzzed on the way home.

Taking it out of my new purse I checked the message, it was from Viktoria.

Viktoria: Hey, was it okay if we met up for a training session now?

Me: Sure, I'm on my way home now. Meet me there in five.

"So, looks like I'll be training that Viktoria girl this afternoon," I told Abe while putting my phone away.

"That's great! I have to go into the office for some business meetings this afternoon anyway. You girls have fun and don't be too hard on her okay?" he replied, giving me a stern look at the end. I just laughed. "No, I'm serious Rose. Not everyone is as talented as you."

I looked up at him with a mocking facial expression. "Yes, dad," was all I replied with and he laughed and ruffled my hair. I could see from the glint in his eyes he liked me calling him dad, not that he'd probably ever admit to that. Abe helped me carry my stuff up to my room, and shortly after Viktoria arrived, he left.

"I didn't know Abe Mazur is your father," she said after he left.

I looked up at her. "Yeah he is, why?" I asked, curious to see if she'd give me ant clues as to what he does.

She shrugged. "Nothing, just curious," she responded to nonchalantly, and I could straight away tell she was lying.

"I'm just going to get changed," I told her, heading into my closet. I got dressed in one of my new workout clothes and headed back out, my new joggers already on. "Okay, I wanna start off running laps."

She groaned. "Why laps?"

I looked at her. "Just as my mentor told me, if you get into a situation you can't get out of, you need to run," I told her. "And how can you do that when you spend all this time developing muscle when you should be developing stamina?"

She groaned again. "You sound just like my brother Dimka."

Dimka, I heard that name before. Oh my god! Dimitri is her older brother! That's who she looks like. The more I look at her the more she does look like Dimitri. Oh god! Those brown eyes. She has his brown eyes I've got lost in over a thousand times. Oh man I lost my virginity to her brother! "Yeah, well he must be a wise man," I said, not letting any of my thoughts show to her.

I led her out the back to where Abe had a track. I didn't like using treadmills for running, it just didn't feel right moving but staying in one place.

"My whole house could fit in just your bedroom," she said, sighing and looking back up at the mansion.

I laughed. "Trust me, I am not used of it," I told her truthfully. "Okay, let's start off with a nice evenly paced jog, then run for a mile, then jog, repeat." I said while stretching. She did the same thing.

I started jogging around the track but about halfway I realise she was much slower than I and she was behind me a good few metres, sprinting to try and keep up, her breathing heavy. I was so used of jogging beside Dimitri and keeping pace with him that I sort of forgot some people weren't as fast as I was, he used to keep pace with me. Now I'll have to keep pace with her. I sighed, slowing to a stop and waited for her to catch up. "Sorry, I'm used of jogging beside my old mentor, I forgot that I'd be much faster."

She breathed heavily, sounding exhausted, like I was when I first started training with Dimitri. "It's okay. Come on, let's go," she said, determined. Man, she's a lot like I was back when I first met Dimitri. Determined, slow and incredibly unfit, except I was a lot more wittier, I thought to myself with a smile. I let my mind wander back to my first training session with Dimitri as I jogged beside her slowly. I was complaining and asking if I could just go to bed and he kept telling me that the more my muscles ached the more they'd strengthen and the worst it'd be tomorrow and I'd have to push past that, in his own way but I just grumbled to myself and him. I took off in a sprint, keeping pace with Viktoria, who was trying really hard to sprint faster, we sprinted for a mile and slowed back to a jog. After ten laps I slowed into a walk. Viktoria's breathing was ragged and she was drenched in sweat. "What next?" she asked, heaving.

I smiled at her, loving her enthusiasm. "Now we develop your technique," I said, walking inside. One of the Guardians was left here to watch the house and as I entered he smiled, handing us a towel each to wipe out sweat off.

"Training someone I see?" he asked. "It's going great from what I can tell."

"What do you want to help?" I quipped back and he laughed.

"No but I'd like to watch," he retorted. It was the same guy from last night that I thought was attractive with his green eyes, blonde hair and a tan. I laughed.

"Fine, but don't get in my way or else I'll have to kick your ass." I grinned at him and he chuckles.

"I don't doubt that you wouldn't." He smiled down at me. His emerald green eyes glistening.

Walking into the gym with the two following me I looked around. There were weights, boxing bags, treadmills, pull-up bars, all sorts of equipment. And climbing poles. They were poles that came up like beams, one started from the ground and went up, stopped and you'd have to jump to the next one, climb up, using all your upper-arm strength, climb until you got to the roof, then back down, or if you were like I was, you'd use them to climb up onto the beams, jump down on unsuspecting classmates and scare the crap out of them while almost breaking their bone or two. I walked to the middle of the room beckoning Viktoria over. She obliged and stood in front of me. "Okay, punch me," I told her. She looked at me nervous and confused. "Show me how you punch someone."

She put her hand into a fist and I seen what she was doing wrong. "Okay stop! You're going to break your thumb like that," I told her. I pulled her thumb out from between the inside of her fingers where they were lodging her fingers, I rested it on the outside of her fingers, near the knuckles. "Now, try." I watched as she adjusted her stance and threw a punch at me, lamely. "Okay, again, but with your other hand." She used her left and she stumbled forward slightly. Completely missing my hand she was meant to be hitting.

She sighed. "I'm horrible at this," she grumbled.

"I'm guessing you don't go to an Academy or else they would have taught you all of this," I stated.

"No, my brother did. But my mum believes women shouldn't fight," she groaned.

"Okay well, that makes a lot of sense, so now we're going back to basics. Something I would've learned my first five years going to the Academy," I told her. She groaned. "Okay don't be upset but once you've got this down, we'll be able to move on quicker because once you know this you'll get the hang of it quicker. Okay so stand shoulder length apart," she obliged. "You don't want your legs too wide because it's harder to move," I spread my legs and showed her how much harder it is doing practically the splits and she giggled. "but you don't want your feet together, because then your opponent can swing his legs up behind yours and trip you," I put my feet together and showed her. "So you want a nice shoulder length distance, that way you're quick on your feet with dodging and blocking," I gave her a demonstration.

"So that's why you got me running as well?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's another added bonus," I told her smiling. "and now you're punch, keep your body angled at your opponent, it's easier this way to begin with but when you develop your skills you can punch your opponent any which way your facing. And you wanna keep your arms up, protecting your face, but you won't always have your arms there, but it's a good way to protect yourself starting off when doing little spars but with a Strigoi you'll be moving to fast, blocking and punching and dodging that you won't really worry about that much." I looked at the Guardian. "What's your name?"

"Reese," he replied shortly.

I turned back to Viktoria. "I'll demonstrate with Reese," I turned to Reese. "The first one to get a fake "stake" over the heart wins."

He grinned and moved towards the centre an Viktoria stepped off to the side. "Sure," he said.

He threw the first punch, which I blocked, he threw another one simultaneously and I dodged it. He tried grabbing me and I stepped back, kicking up and hitting him in the chest, he flew backwards and landed on the wooden floor, I ran over and mimicked a stake over the heart. He grinned. "You're better than I thought you'd be."

I smiled. "And don't you forget it."

"That was so cool!" Viktoria gushed. "Okay so I have a pretty good idea."

"Okay so, show me what you learned," I told her.

I sparred with Viktoria for a while, going easy, and still managed to mimic a stake over the heart. She got up, bushed herself off and said again. So I sparred with her for a good hour and a half until she looked exhausted. "Okay let's do some weights," I told her. "I'll get Reese to spot you and do some myself."

I set up the weights for her until she was at a comfortable weight she could lift for a period of time. I set mine up to the weight I knew I could lift, it was 110kilos, double my weight. So I lied down against the bar and started counting the reps for her. She was breathing heavy and her muscles started shaking by 30. "Okay, we'll put them down five kilos," I said to Reese, putting my weights on the bar above me. Reese started putting them down, as I added an extra five kilos to my weights. I eased back down and started lifting again, counting reps with Viktoria. I counted out another 20 and stopped, giving her a break. "Now we'll work on legs," I told her. She nodded and I lead her over to the pull-down bars that had leg ones on them too. I adjusted my levels, hers and counted out the reps. When we were finished she could barely stand. "Okay, warm down and we'll hit the showers."

"I'm glad I brought a spare set of clothes," she said while doing stretches. I laughed. There were showers in the gym, and they had curtains, so with all the steam, fog and curtains, we couldn't see each other naked, which was good.

Afterwards she left and I got changed in my new bathing suit and sat in the spa, thinking about Dimitri and our training sessions.

I hope you liked it. And review. I wanna know what you think about it now that I've re-written five chapters and what you're thoughts are.