Vampire Academy – Book 1

Dimitri's Perspective

Hey this is my first book so please be understanding – Disclaimer!! These characters don't belong to me but to the wonderful Richelle Mead and no intended copyright infringement. Let me know what you think and I'll be sure to be working on it! Thanks! –Val

By the way thanks everyone for the reviews it really helps when you guys encourage and I don't mind critiques either it helps.

I noticed Rose was suddenly doing that thing again that she did on the plane –she was somewhere else and completely out of it. I tried to call her attention. "Rose, Rose?" I was gripping her shoulders now and shaking her. We had stopped walking and I began to get worried.

She finally snapped out of it then. "Are you all right?" I asked.

"I…yeah. I was… I was with Lissa…" she said as she put her hand on her forehead –that would take some getting used to, "I was in her head."

"Her…head?" I asked, a bit puzzled, I didn't really know much about being bonded.

"Yeah, it's part of the bond," she answered simply, without details.

"Is she all right?" I asked warily.

"Yeah she's…" she hesitated before continuing, "coasting through the middle. She's not in danger," she said, with a doubting tone.

"Can you keep going?" I asked quite concerned. She looked at me then, really looked –that way she had in Stan's class –stirring up all these emotions in me I didn't quite understand. Rose really was too beautiful for her own good –or maybe my own good.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she answered, snapping me back to reality. I had to stop doing that.

She then proceeded to go to the gym's dressing room and change to workout clothes. When she came out she actually suggested I let her off this time.

I laughed then.

"Why is that funny?" she asked not amused.

I'd have to be tough with her, "Oh," my smile fading, "You were serious."

"Of course I was!" she replied, gaining an attitude, "Look, I've technically been awake for two days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to be. It's just one hour."

Now she actually sounded whiny, how was she supposed to ever learn to be a Guardian if she didn't push herself?

I crossed my arms and looked at her, all hint of humor gone from my visage, "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?" I asked her.

"I hurt like hell," she replied honesty.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow," maybe reasoning with her would help, though I doubted it.

"So?" she asked, not getting my point.

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel… not as bad."

"What kind of logic is that?" she retorted.

I just led her into the weight room, showing her the weights and reps I wanted her to do. While she performed this I sat in a corner and read one of my favorite Western novels. The book was quite beaten down after hundreds of readings. When she finished, I stood beside her and demonstrated her some cool down stretches.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian? You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school," she asked, I hesitated, not wanting to relay my failure. It wasn't a subject I found easy to converse about. At the same time, I realized she seemed like the persistent type anyway –so I decided to answer part of her question.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia."

"Whoa." She paused, "That's got to be the only worse place than Montana."

That amused me, "After I graduated," I continued, "I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently," I continued, smile now gone from my face. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

She pondered what I said for a moment, finally speaking, "Did this lord die on your watch?"

This wasn't something I usually felt comfortable talking about, but in the strangest way it was easy with Rose and almost…relieving. Rose may be a lot of things –but she definitely takes guarding Lissa seriously. "No. He was with his other guardian. I was away," I told her.

We were silent then for a moment, both of us thinking about this. I still felt guilty that he died –I'd been on legitimate leave, I hadn't taken a vacation in a long time and had actually denied vacation time –Lord Zeklos told me to go though I couldn't help be torment, if I'd been there, he'd probably still be alive today.

"Hey," Rose said suddenly, "did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

That caught me off guard and brought me back, I arched an eyebrow at her curiously, "You're complimenting me on that?" I asked her. I didn't think that she liked me because of that –after I forced her to come back to the Academy.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

"Last one?" I asked, this was actually the first time that we found the girls.

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

That worried me, "This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

She then sat up from her stretches and crossed her legs, "Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else would have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no you told you about it."

"Maybe," I responded though I didn't think so because it would have been on the files –besides the fact that the Academy wouldn't send psi-hounds, the point was to keep them from danger not bring it to them.

After Rose left to her room in the novice building, I went to mine, still a little shaken about the psi-hounds thing. I went to look at the files and it said nothing about psi-hounds or finding them before. I knew the Academy wouldn't do that.

That night I lay in bed, recalling the day and for some reason, not being able to get Rose out of my head. She worried me, amused me, angered me, puzzled me… and yet I couldn't help but like her. I've always sort of kept to myself. You can't really have many friends when you're a guardian because you will never see them. No distractions –that's what's best. I did get lonely from time to time, but that was the price to pay for saving someone's life.

Now, Rose seemed to fill that gap. She had so much potential, if only I could teach her some self-control –then we'd be on to something.

There was something else about her too though that I couldn't shake off –I cared about her. I think it was hard not to, she was beautiful and dedicated. She was an adventure every time. The more I spent time with her, however, the moreI confused myself. I wasn't sure if I was crossing the line between mentor and student. I already considered her my friend –but sometimes, she'd look at me and I just felt blown away. She was so beautiful –she was sort of driving me crazy. I shouldn't have those feelings for her. She's my student –I tried to tell myself. I tormented myself about it for the rest of the night –trying to find a way to not think about her in that way.

The next day Rose and I had a before school practice. It looked like she was pretty sore –but I pushed her on, I knew I couldn't coddle her when her life might depend on her one day.