I love writing battle scenes, they're the best. Does anyone want to be a beta? Leave me a Private Message if you're interested and I'll look into your stories to see how the grammar looks like. I need someone who will send it to me as soon as I send it to them. I'll give you a two months as a practice run.

Previously: "I guess. Hey, why do you need novices anyway? Aren't the guardians technically protecting you? Because I haven't seen any."

"You wouldn't see any guardians around here Rose, Didn't anyone fill you in?"

"Apparently not."

"Well the Guardians are acting as Strigoi and they'll attack sometimes." On the word 'attack' I went into Guardian mode. There were two entrances and a lot of people.

"Would they attack in front of humans?"

"Yup; humans mostly think the guardians are just muggers or something." She barely able to finish her sentence before a bald guardian attacked me.

"Shit!" I yelled as I pushed Steph behind me and turned to face my opposer.

Chapter 11: Dates

"Stay behind me!" I yelled at Steph as I tried to get my stake out of my bag. The guardian tried to grab my arm but I jumped out of the way. He grabbed my leg though but I had finally gotten to my bag. I quickley got it out of the side pocket and used it to scrap the guardians arm.

He quickley let go and rubbed his arm. I thrust my stake toward him but didn't hit his heart. I heard Stephanie scream and saw 2 other guardians running in the store. I rammed the guardian in front of me into the wall and quickely 'staked' him. He immediately backed off and ran out the store.

"Someone, stop him!" I heard a human yell. I'd forgotten about the bystanders. They were all standing around, looking at me in horror and fascination or running after the other guardian. I turned back to the other Guardians, one was tall and blonde and I hadn't seen her before and the other was a short and bulky guy. I rammed into the guy, catching him off guard and staking him.

I jumped toward the other guardian aiming a kick to her stomach, I hit her and she stumbled but regained her balance. She grabbed me and shoved me into a rack of clothes. It hurt.

The guardian ran toward me and punched the side of my head while I kicked her hip. We both fell and I hurt myself even more when I landed on a wood bench. I heard a punching sound and looked up to see Jacob Soles(the guy i fought in combat class) staking the guardian I was fighting.

Jacob was a hell of a lot hotter when he was staking someone. His eyes were completely focused on the kill and he had a stern look on his face. The guardians immediately ran out of the store and I heard a lot of bystanders who were watching cheering. Stephanie was the loudest one and ran over to me.

"Congrats on the staking Hathaway." Jacob grabbed one of my hands and helped me up. "It was amazing to see you in action like that. You were just... amazing."

"Thanks," I grinned at his praise, "But you helped me out on the last one."

"Only after you had her all bruised up."

"Well, i'm definately all bruised up. My body is going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow."

"Rose! You were fantastic." Stephanie had made it over to us. "You beat up almost three Guardians, while you're still a novice. You freaking great!"

"Thanks," I felt myself smile really big, "But when will I get my feedback on this whole 'staking' thing?"

"They'll give it to you at the Academy, I'm going to go pay for the stuff we got." She left me and Jake alone, winking at me when Jake wasn't looking. What the hell?

"So how you liking Seattle so far?" Jake said to me.

"It's neat, I like the uh, buildings." Jake laughed and I smiled.

"Yeah, those are great. The food here is great too."

"Damn, I haven't eaten since I got here 2 hours ago. Steph is very relentless when it comes to clothes." Just then a group of Moroi girls walked in. The humans in the store looked at their designer bags and tiny waists in envy.

"Well maybe we could go eat in a great Mexican place I know?" I didn't get to answer because I was interrupted.

"Oh my God, Its Rose! Hi Rose!" One of the blonds yelled, I met her in one of my classes a couple of days ago, Alisa was her name. Her group of friends just stared at me and whispered to one another. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey guys," I waved back.

"What are you doing here alone? Where's Stephanie?" She obviously didn't notice Jake standing 2 feet away from me.

"Actually," I gestured towards Jake. "I'm not alone and Stephanie's paying."

"Oh, sorry. Hey Jake! Didn't see you and -Steph! Hey!" Stephanie was walking toward me with a big yellow plastic bag.

"Alisa, hey sweetie pie." They hugged and Alisa suggested they go shopping together.

"Oh, sure. As long as Rose is okay with it?" She looked at me hopefully. I wanted to hang out with Steph but I didn't feel like running into anymore stores with out any food in me. I thought back to Jakes offer. Technically If I accepted It would be considered a date. Was the food worth possibly leading him on? Of course it was.

"I was actually going to go eat some Mexican with Jake. Is that okay? I mean, won't you need a guardian?"

"No, Betty over here is novice, she'll take care of us. I'll text you later than. If it takes too long remember to be on the bus by 11." She turned back to Alisa and her group. "Come on, we got to go before all the good stores close."

"Well," I said after they left, "You can go ahead and show me the way."

"Right, come on." He grabbed my hand and I jerked back. He blinked.

"Sorry, I was just startled."

"How can a badass guardian like you be scared of physical affection?"

"It's a lot easier than it sounds. You just got to go through what I've been through."

"Like what? Serial killer boyfriend? Abducted by aliens?"

"I wouldn't joke." I smirked "Your a hell of a lot closer than you think you are."

"Right. Well it's this way." He starting walking toward one of the exits and I grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. It was dark outside and It looked gorgeous. Their were lights everywhere and the streets were filled with people in fancy looking clothes. Jake saw me just standing there and laughed.

"What's wrong? You star struck Hathaway?" I felt shivers go up my spine. That sounded like something Mason would say. It hurt, I know I should already be over it. But Mason's death was the most emotional thing I'd ever been through. I hated being tied down by it. But not even Mason's ghost was good enough to help me get over it. It was a weakness I had to overcome.

"No," I gasped, not even realizing I held my breath.

"Okay, lets go." Jake dragged me toward a restaurant on one of the busy streets. We sat down and Jake ordered us tacos and we talked. It was awkward at first but we played twenty questions and It helped. He told me about his family, he had two sisters and his mom was a guardian. Then he told me about an old dog he'd had.

Then the tacos came and he paid the guy at the counter and brought one to me. It was so spicy I choked as I swallowed my first bite. Jake made fun of me while inhaling one of his tacos.

"How the hell do you do that?" I asked him while he swallowed down his third one without drinking anything.

"I'm immune, my mom's a big spice freak."

"No fair, I've never even tasted my moms cooking." I tried another bite and drank half my bottle of soda. After I stubbornly finished eating the rest of my plate, he ordered a really juicy cake with fruit in the middle. It was possibly the best thing I've ever eaten. Why couldn't I be half Mexican instead of Scottish? All Scottish people do is drink on St. Patrick's day and look for the Loch Ness monster.

"What time is it?" I asked him after laughing at one of his stories.

"10:40, We should probably get going or we'll miss our bus."

"Already? We've seriously been here almost two hours?" I stood up putting my sweater on. "Let's go."

We got to the bus just in time. There was a line entering the bus and Jake turned me. He looked a little nervous and took a step closer.

"Well I better do this before I get cold feet." He told me. I looked at him suspicously.

"Do what?" Then Jake leaned in and kissed me. I was shocked and couldn't move.

"Why, why did you do that?" I said after he pulled away. I looked around making sure no one saw and I'm glad to say no one noticed.

"Well, when I like someone, I tend to do that type of thing." He smiled at me and got on the bus. Not letting me get a word out. I immediately followed him and worked my way to my seat next to Steph. Jake sat 2 seats behing me and I turned around and met his eye. "We need to talk." I mouthed

"Later." He said back and I turned to Steph.

"Why were you kissing Jake?" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"Shit, you noticed and the question is why did Jake kiss me?"

"Because he likes you!" She yelled out and I shushed her. At least the bus was really loud.

"Shut up, someone will hear you. He can't like me. I'm taken." I immediately regretted saying that because of two reasons. One, I had forgotten about Dimitri and I's... breakup and Two, Stephanie shrieked.

"I told you to be quiet. I'll tell you everything on your way home."

"Fine, but you will give me every detail." At the moment, Steph wasn't my favorite person in the world. The entire way home, Steph told me about the stuff she bought for herself and for me.

"You didn't have to buy me anything."

"Yeah but it was so much fun shopping for you. Your skin tone is so much more different from mine and It was fun experimenting with things that I've always wanted to work with but never had the chance."

I was tired when we finally got to the academy. I walked up the three flights of stairs and into my room. I noticed the door was not closed all the way. I got my stake and quietly crept in. It was dark so I turned on the light and became instantly pale. There was a man in my room. His hair was now short, his muscles were bigger and he had a smirk on his face.

"Hello Roza." Dimitri was here.

How was THAT for a cliffhanger? I love writing cliffy's. You may have already noticed though. ;D

A.N. Again, if you are interested in maybe becoming a beta, PM me.

P.S. Reviews get Previews. :)