A/N: I WON'T ALWAYS WRITE THE CHAPTERS IN BOTH ROSE AND DIMITRI POV, BUT I THOUGHT I SHOULD HAVE THEM MEETING FROM BOTH OF THEIR POV'S, JUST SO YOU CAN SEE EACH OTHER'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS; THE REST WILL BE IN DIMITRI POV, UNLESS THERE'SSOMETHING I WANT TO BE IN SOMEONE ELSE'S POV.

Chapter 2

I threw another stone at the window and a guy—a very hot guy, I might add—looked out the window. And let me tell you, I was relieved. He was a dhampir. I had finally got the right window; I'd already gone for all the other guy dorms. After this one, I was going to give up.

I walked to round to the front of the apartment; I had to double check it was Sparky's apartment. I couldn't be completely certain, since he wasn't the one to check out the window.

Now, should I knock, or bang and yell…? Bang and yell, I decided. I banged and heard someone moving around inside. I banged again when no one answered, and said, "Open the fucking door, or I'll break it down!" Okay, so I yelled loud enough for the whole school to hear me, so what? But I had no doubts that I could if I wan—

"Hey, lady, keep it down," a guy whispered, sticking his head out his door. When he saw me, his eyes widened, but I paid no attention.

I gave him a sickly sweet smile. "I'm sorry but would you like to fuck off before I break your neck?" I said in a psychotic tone. He looked terrified, but then the door opened. "About fucking time." I complained, walking in. it's a pretty cool place my old Sparky's got here.

I turned around and the guy who had answered the door, and the window, clenched his fists—he looked as though he was going to fight me—or should I say try. I'm one of the best guardians there is nowadays, and I'm not even being stuck up. I have killed over thirty Strigoi in the last year. Crazy, I know, but it's true.

"Don't even try it. I know what you're thinking, and there's no point. Yes, I am a guardian, and yes, I did come to take you back to school, but if you would just listen to what I'm about to say, you would probably think so, too." (A/N: I noticed as I was writing this chapter that that line doesn't make much sense. What Rose means is that he would probably think there was no point in fighting her.)

"I still think I could take you," he said stubbornly. Yup, I got the right apartment. Dimitri Belikov. Never backs down from a fight. "I mean how old are you, for a start? There's no way you're a guardian." Wrong again, buddy.

"I'm eighteen and, no, you couldn't take me." I turned and showed him my tattoos. I have a promise mark, two molnija's and a battle star. I killed around thirty Strigoi in that battle. "I graduated last semester." I explained turning back around again; I turned just in time to see the look on his face—he'd never seen so many kills, before. Most people haven't. "Hey, Sparky!" I said as he walked into the kitchen where we were talking.

"Rose?" he asked. Hehe, he looks terrified, but I know why. He thinks I'm here for Lissa; he wasn't listening to our conversation, obviously.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to plead her case. But you do need to come back with me." I sat down at the kitchen table, and Christian quickly followed suit.

"So, what's been going on since we left?" he asked.

"Well, I graduated, and that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." And then, as I was about to launch into my story, he interrupted me…of course.

"Wait—you say you graduated? How is that possible? I didn't think Stan would let you graduate!" he exclaimed. I almost laughed at his expression; his eyes were popping out of the sockets.

"Yeah, well, it's true. And I graduated top of my class. And that's kinda why I'm here. I need to talk to you about it." I paused, waiting for the interruption that didn't come; I realised that Dimitri had sat down next to me. "The week before the final trials, the school was attacked by Strigoi. I killed more than thirty Strigoi by myself, so they decided there was no point in giving me a trial, and I graduated right after, see?" I turned and lifted my hair, like I did with Dimitri, and he had the same expression Dimitri had worn. Ha ha.

"But—but—" he sputtered. This was getting better and better.

"Yes, Christian, last time you saw me I didn't have the marks from Spokane, and now I do, now would you listen?" I asked in my scary voice. This time, I couldn't hold back a grin at his expression; he gulped and looked absolutely terrified. "At least twenty-five or so got away, even though the other guardians got at least thirty between them, and they took Moroi with them," I look at Chris, and saw his concern for Lissa, and answered his unasked question, "Don't worry, Lissa wasn't one of them. Eddie was bitten again. And, then last week, I thought if you two'd've been there, it'd have been an easier fight." I turned toward Dimitri, giving him the first proper view of my face. "You don't know me, but I read your file, and I know why you were transferred to St Vlad's. So I hacked into a few high school databases until I found Christian Ozera and Dimitri Belikov at Portland High. Rose Hathaway, pleased to meet you!" I introduced myself, extending a hand for him to shake. He took it warily.

"Dimitri Belikov." He mumbled; Christian and I laughed at his expression.

"Now let's get going. School starts in less than twenty-four hours, and I've still got to convince Kirova and Stan to let you back."

"Why Stan?" Oh, Sparky, you really are as clueless as you look, aren't you?

"Because he hated me as much as he hated Rose. He probably threw a party when we left." Oh, my god. A guy who actually understood something! Wait—how does he know Stan hated me? Hmm…oh, well. Probably Christian's doing.

"No, he still hates you. It's something about good students, I think. You were inly there a week, and he already hated you. He still hates me because he didn't want me to graduate. And now he's pissed mat me more than he was before, which means he will do anything to stop me getting my way." I explained. It didn't seem to shock him. No sooner than I had had that thought when a strange look crossed over his face. He seemed…confused.

"Do the school know you're here?" that shocked him more than the fact that Stan hates him after being away from him for five months.

"No," Good ol' Sparky. He knows me so well. We said it at the same time, and Dimitri gave us a strange look. "Like I said," I continued, "Stan does everything he can to stop me doing what I want, so Liss made the pilot bring me here. Now let's go." I commanded them. I stood up and made a sweeping gesture towards the door.

Dimitri stood up, but Firecrotch sat there and asked warily, "Is Lissa with you?" ooh, yay. I should've known he was going to say something like that.

"No, but she is still in school, and you can't avoid her forever…" Did I want to tell him or not? Eh, it's his love life anyway, and it'd come out sooner or later. "She still loves you, you know."

"Oh, really? So, tell me, what is she doing right now?" I slipped into her head easily.

She was with Adrian. He touched the plant, and for the first time ever, it sprang up straight away. They high-fived and hugged; Adrian went for a cigarette, and Lissa went to go get another plant to try on. He's getting good. But the only thing on her mind was—"She's with him, isn't she?"

Christian. She wants me to hurry up and bring Christian back to her so she can explain.

"They only practise magic, Christian, it's not like anything's happened, and she's been gutted since you left." It was true; there has not been a single hour to go by yet where she has not had a thought about him.

"It didn't seem like they were practising magic when she had her tongue down his throat," his eyes started to water; he looked at me and swallowed, his eyes drying up, gaining control over his eyes. I gave Dimitri a sidelong glance; he seemed to know what he was talking about.

"No, but they were both drunk, and she was upset because you'd had an argument and I can tell you that right now she is wishing that I'd hurry up and bring you back so she can see you again." I left out the part about her wanting to explain, because Christian would only have some smartass comment to come back with if I did tell him. "And if you remember, you were the one who broke up with her. It was only five months ago; you can't be that retarded now, can you, Sparky?"

He gave me a lop-sided smile, then the two boys walked to the bedroom to pack.

I walked to the refrigerator and opened the door. I smell pizza, but I can't see it. They have a well-stocked fridge. I rummaged a bit, until—"Aha!" I took a bite and then looked and realised the guys were staring at me. "Oh, sorry." I looked and noticed another humungous slice. I reached for it and offered it to them. "You want some?"

Dimitri shook his head impatiently. "Are we going then?" I shrugged, shut the refrigerator door, and walked out of the apartment, munching on my pizza. Well-stocked fridge, maybe, but there was not a doughnut in sight. Typical.

The guys followed behind me; Dimitri carrying both bags. It was probably best that I was in front, though, since I would probably have been side-tracked by something else…like Dimitri's butt. Don't judge; I am eighteen years old, and he is smokin'. He was also about six-foot-seven-ish, and had a sexy Russian accent. Not to mention his gorgeous face; I mean, that's just totally unfair! I bet he's one of those people who looks amazing no matter what kind of state they're in. I hate those people.

After about a minute, I finished my pizza and grabbed the smaller suitcase…and it turns out it wasn't so small; it just looked small since he's freakishly tall. Not that I'm complaining; he probably has one massive—Dammit. Stupid pavement.

I showed them the way to the SUV and shoved the suitcase in the trunk. I climbed into the front seat and Christian sat shotgun. We talked the whole way there. About everything that had been going on since he left.

Everything but Lissa.

I drove to the airport in no time; if I was with anyone else, they wouldn't have let me drive. No one ever does—even though I can get us anywhere twice as fast as Alberta can.

"Chris, you go sit over there; I want to talk to Dimitri." I said as I motioned to the other side of the plane. He gave me a funny look, but did as I asked.

"Sure." I sat down.

"Why did you run away? Or do I not need to ask?"

"No I don't think you do."

"Liss?" I asked, just to clarify. He nodded. "But you'd only known Christian, what, five days when you left? Were you not afraid he'd burn you up?" I teased.

"Well, that doesn't matter, does it? You know, they come first and all that?"

"S'pose so."

He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Why are you still at the school?"

"I'm set to be Lissa's guardian when she graduated. It's what her parents wanted and then—" I cut myself off. "Did Sparky tell you about the bond?"

"The basics." He said. It was obviously still a foreign concept to him. I decided to explain.

"Well, basically, in the car crash that killed her parents, I technically died, as well, and Lissa brought me back, so we have a bond, and now I get to be her guardian, more or less no matter what." I grinned. We were like sisters, and we get to stay together after graduation. That's quite a rare occurrence. "And so I'm staying to teach this next year and also, I'll be mentoring you, if they let you stay. But if you hadn't left, I'd be doing that anyway. So you think you could take me?" I smiled darkly at the thought. I knew he couldn't, but it's hard to tell, since I've never seen him fight before.

"Well, it's hard to say. If you only consider that you've killed more than thirty Strigoi, I'd say no, but considering that I'm more than a foot taller than you, and probably stronger, I'd say yes, but seeing that I haven't trained in five months…I think no." he seemed nervous. He was babbling. I laughed.

"Well, we'll see about that later."

"If they let us back, that is."

"When they let you back." I corrected. I looked up at him, and seeing his confusion, I explained. "I'll ask Lissa if there's anything she can do—wink-wink; nudge-nudge." I said, nudging him as I spoke.

"Ah." He said; I cleared up the confusion.

I left to see Christian.

"Is it true that you blanked a girl, just because she had blond hair and green eyes?" I asked incredulously, remembering what he'd said earlier.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" he said in his trademark snarky tone. I punched his arm, lightly. We bantered for a little while longer, and I soon fell asleep.