CHAPTER SIX- TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Hey there, this is chapter six of my version of Blood Promise and well, you know how it goes. So in this chapter there's a little hitch to being a guardian so young- as Rose soon will find out. I'm so sorry it took so long to update. Okay, here we go and thanks to everyone who's reviewed my story- I luuuurve y'all and you rock! Okay- here's the story. Really.

I stared at the headmistress in shock. There is no way I could have heard her right. She couldn't have said that.

"Excuse me?" her smile grew to a full grin.

"Rose, I would like you to be a guardian at my academy. If you approve, of course." She added quickly.

"I'm only going to be staying temporarily, headmistress. I don't even know how long I'll be staying. I just had some business here in Siberia I need to take care of." She was offering me a position as a guardian. Holy shit.

"Oh, that's quiet alright, we have guardians come and go all the time. What do you say, Miss Hathaway?" she persisted and I sank down into one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"I'm only eighteen," I mumbled. I don't know why I was turning this down. I've wanted to be a guardian all my life and I was turning down the opportunity.

"I know, but I think it will inspire some of the novices here, all of them, to be honest. You know more than a lot of guardians older than you." The exact same thing had come from Dimitri's mouth more than once. I wanted to be like Dimitri. And I knew he'd be so proud of me if he knew that I had made it to his level. That realization was all I needed to push me over the edge.

"Yes," I raised my chin and declared. "Yes, I can be a guardian here."

"Wonderful!" she said delightfully. "Now, to other matters; since you've accepted the position, I'm going to ask you take on a job. All the other guardians have turned it down." She said wearily, like she was worried I might turn her down as well. My motivation- perfect. A chance to prove myself to people I didn't know. And, anyway, I'm all about first impressions.

"I have a novice here; he doesn't quite like to abide by the rules. He causes a lot of trouble and the teachers have a short tolerance around him. Guardians even have trouble keeping their composure with him around. Would you be willing to take on the responsibility of mentoring him? He's been asked to leave in almost every class so he's very behind." She added. This kid sounded a lot like me…or, well, like I used to be.

"Of course, the same thing was done for me when me and Lissa, I mean, um, Princess Dragamir, got back to the Academy." I said, almost forgetting to use royal terms.

"Wonderful!" she sighed in relief. She was clearing starting to like me more and more. I smiled back at her.

"Guardian Tanner, can you please retrieve Mr Hays from his class?" she said, and it completely shocked me. I spun around to see Mikhail Tanner pull himself from the shadows of the door and grin at me. I grinned back. Guardian Tanner had been at the Academy before Lissa and I had taken our "vacation".

"Mr Hays is deprived of social activities other than classes and church for a recent, um, incident," the headmistress said, uncomfortably.

"I can go with Guardian Tanner, if that's okay?" I added quickly trying not to push anything. I quite liked this headmistress; she was a much nicer improvement to Kirova.

"Oh, of course, thank you, Rosemarie." She sounded grateful, like I'd gotten rid of one of her biggest problems. Maybe I had.

"No problem, you can call me Rose, by the way." I added.

"No, not anymore," she said knowingly before I followed Guardian Tanner out.

"Good to see a familiar face, how are you doing Guardian Tanner?" I said grinning, my spirits now higher.

"Not bad, it's good to see you too, Guardian Hathaway." He said with extra emphasis on the "Guardian Hathaway" part, which only made my grin grow.

"I'm good," I said happily.

"You've made it all the way, kid," he reached over and messed up my hair.

"Hey!" I protested, playfully elbowing him. He just got me in a head-lock and gave me a nugie. If I was worried about him messing up my hair before, it wouldn't matter now- it probably looked like a disaster. Once I wrestled out of his hold, I stuck my tongue out at Mikhail and he grinned back. We came to the front desk of the school and Mikhail smiled politely at the receptionist.

"Excuse me, Kristina, but would you mind telling us what class Dereck Hays is in right now?"

"Of course, Guardian Tanner." She said and immediately began surfing though things on her computer. "Who is this young woman you have with you, Guardian Tanner?" she asked glancing up at me.

"This is Guardian Hathaway; the headmistress just assigned her to the job." Mikhail said proudly. I smiled kindly and nodded.

"You can call me Rose, if you like." I offered and she smiled back at me.

"Ah, here we go; Mr Hays would be in the gym right now for his combat class- first thing in the morning."

"Thank you, Kristina," Mikhail said and began to lead me away to the gym. I tried combing out my hair, but it felt pretty messed up. I flattened it as best as I could, then gave up and pulled up the hood of the sweater the doctor had given me. Mikhail noticed what I did and chuckled as we made our way out onto the quad and to the gym.

"So, Rose, why are you in Siberia?" he said politely, but I could here the curiosity in his voice.

"Why did you leave the Academy?" I retorted.

"None of your business." He said tightly.

"Then mine is none of yours," this was one discussion I didn't want to have, not just with Mikhail, but with anybody who didn't know. So that would be anyone other than Lissa and Adrian, oddly enough. Mikhail groaned.

"Rose…"

"I'm fine and I'm safe, I got the boys here and they are fine. It's all okay and nothing is a problem now, at least not yours." The words were sort of rude, but the way I delivered them: polite and tiredly; made them less harsh. Mikhail stared at me in astonishment, which I didn't really like, so I tried to change the subject. "So this Dereck Hays, he sounds exactly like me. What I used to do, remember?" I grinned.

"Yes, I do remember you taking a certain amusement in challenging all the rules you could- the dress code and curfews were yours favourites." He said drily, then his expression and tone changed…almost hesitant. "But you've changed." Everyone kept saying that about me, even Mai Ronaldi had commented on it. But…they were right, and that's what bothered me.

"I'm still the same old Rose Hathaway," I said playfully, punching Mikhail lightly on the arm. I didn't like it when people worried about me- I could take care of myself. "Just a little altered," I added quietly. Mikhail gave me an odd look and seemed to be pondering what I said as we silently entered the single floor gym building; he held the door open for me. Seriously, I could hold my own, but that didn't appear to be quite so obvious to everyone else- at least to those who knew me. We stopped at the edge of the room and Mikhail seemed to be searching for someone. I hadn't seen the kid before, so I just stuffed my hands in my pockets and observed the room. Mikhail obviously found who he was looking for because he took my elbow and started around the room. We stopped at a pair of two boys in the corner who were fighting, but like everyone else in the room, they had stopped and stared at us. I recognized the one of the boys; it was the boy who tried hitting on me in the cafeteria. The other boy was tall and about two inches taller than me, with dark brown hair and bright excitedly interested green eyes that seemed to be checking me out. Those bright green eyes stopped at my leg and zeroed in on the bandage on it.

"Dereck Hays this is Guardian Hathaway; she will be your new mentor." Mikhail said and I noticed how his voice was guarded. Dereck Hays sneered at me.

"We've met," then his eyes widened as he really processed what Mikhail was saying. "Whoa, back up; she's going to be my new mentor?"

"Yeah, I am, is there a problem?" I said in a falsely polite voice.

"No, your hot and all, but it seems like you've got a fast mouth if I remember right." He said.

"Well, I would hope you'd remember right, unless you have memory loss." I snapped; I didn't appreciate him making a show out of what he thought of me in front of everyone here. All the novices here burst out laughing and Dereck Hays glared at me.

"Guardian Hathaway, mind your mouth." Mikhail snapped at me and I shrugged and turned to him. Even though he was acting like he disapproved, I could tell he was glad that I was teaching this kid a lesson.

"Whoa, wait; back up." Dereck stuttered. "Did you say, Guardian Hathaway?" he asked in a hushed tone. I could see Mikhail was about to answer, but I elbowed him. I didn't want this attention, at least not now, I was super tired.

"Come on, Dereck Hays, lets go for a walk." I said quickly as I practically dragged him away. "If you tell anyone who I am, your ass will be mine when my ribs are healed, got it, Tanner?" I hissed as I passed Mikhail, but he didn't heed my warning, he looked amused but he nodded.

"Are you seriously the Guardian Hathaway." I was going to say 'No, you would be talking about my mother' but he said, "The Rosemarie Hathaway from Montana?" I gave him a sidelong glance to see that he was watching me too.

"Um, yeah, that's me, but please call me Rose." I mumbled. "And, yes, I'm going to be your mentor." I added.

"Wow, I've got the best guardian ever to be my mentor,"

"I'm not the best guardian. Yes, I am Rosemarie Hathaway. Yippee. I'm going to be your mentor, deal with it- and if you go all idol on me, I will tell the headmistress that I cannot be your mentor. Got it?" I crossed my arms, stopped walking and stared at him expectantly.

"A hot badass mentor, sweet," Dereck nodded like he approved and I rolled my eyes, resisted the urge to punch him and kept walking. We made our way to a bench, not talking along the way, both lost in thought.

I sat down and motioned for him to sit beside me. "I've heard some about you, they describe you exactly like they described me at St Vlad's. So what haven't I heard? Give me a background check,"

"What do I start with?" he seemed amused.

"Your full name would be good."

"My name is Dereck Hays, I'm seventeen- eighteen next week." He added smugly. "I'm on suspension-"

"For what?" I interjected.

"Apparently my attitude was wrong in my theory class and I was said to be 'too much of a nuisance' so they suspended me for a week and I'm already on probation and banned from any fun stuff." He seemed really annoyed.

"For what?" I interrupted again.

"For being kicked out too much, mouthing off, breaking rules, not obeying curfews, drinking on campus, take your pick. It's all bullshit." Dereck said calmly and I laughed.

"What?" he asked regarding me curiously as he leaned his head onto the back of the bench.

"This is exactly everything I did while I was at my academy." I chuckled. "And the exact same thing happened. I got a mentor and had to practice with him before and after school- but that was when I got back to the Academy after Lissa and I ran away." I grinned.

"Lissa is Princess Dragamir?" he guessed and I nodded. "So tell me about yourself; what's your full name and how old are you?"

"My name's Rosemarie Hathaway- you can call me Rose- and I'm eighteen."

"Are you serious?" Dereck asked astonished.

"About what? Everything I said was true," now I was confused; what did I say?
"You're the same age as me." he mumbled "How the hell did you manage to become a guardian? Aren't you still supposed to be at your academy?"

"I've done and seen more than you, you won't be able to pull it off. You need experience."

"What have you seen and done?" he challenged sitting up straighter. I fixed him with a stare and he levelled it; I flipped my hair and pointed to the back of my neck.

"The marks on my neck, molnija and the other one, those show what I've seen and done. I am getting six more molnija marks soon and the other mark means that I've been in a battle and killed many Strigoi. And there is other things in my life that you wouldn't even dream of." I said sharply and flicked back my hair. Now Dereck looked at me in a new way- respectfully. Ha. Not even my real first day and I'm shaping him up.

"Why are you getting six more?" he asked, straight-faced.

"We ran into some Strigoi on our journey here and my friend is determined to 'get me the respect I deserve'" I rolled my eyes as I quoted Blake.

"When were you in a battle?"

"My academy was raided; it was during the field experience and I was walking in the forest with my mentor when they attacked. Dimitri told me to run, leave him behind and get help." I flinched, I could remember everything so, so clearly- I was reliving it.

"And so I ran, leaving him to fight the Strigoi alone, I got help, told the other guardians of the attack. Alberta, the head guardian, told me to take care of the other novices…she gave me a real stake." As I said that, I pulled out the stake Alberta had given me. "The other guardians who were guarding the novices told me to watch by the second floor window; they wanted me out of the way.

"Then I found out that my field charge wasn't in his dorm, I couldn't leave him out there unprotected; he was my charge. So I climbed down out through the window and made my way to the chapel because that's where Christian was supposed to be. Half way there, he came out of a bush and the hell out of me, I almost staked the kid.

"Then two Strigoi came on us, I staked the first one and was pinned by the second, but Christian consumed him with fire. Christian convinced to take him into the battle, I could sense Strigoi and he could distract them with fire. We were going hunting.

"Almost all the way to elementary campus, a Strigoi grabbed Christian, he lit up his hair and I staked it. It took under a minute; we could take out a whole ton of Strigoi like that.

"Once we reached the elementary campus, it was really scary to see. There were about twenty Strigoi and half as many guardians. Christian and I didn't waste time; we got right into it and ploughed through them. Then, once there were no more left, Christian and I were ready to keep going but the sun was coming up so they would either be dead or running. My mentor complimented Christian and me- he said we had at least taken half of the Strigoi that were there.

"The school went on lookdown and at lunch that day, I found out that one of my closest friends was taken with the Strigoi. I was so fucking pissed off it wasn't even funny. When we'd been captured in Spokane, another one of my friends came back for me. Mason really liked me so he cam back and the Strigoi had killed him in seconds. That tore me up, seeing him die right before my eyes." I cringed remembering Mason's limp body falling onto the floor.

"The Strigoi had used Eddie to feed off when we were being held, he was so close to dying and I couldn't let anything like that happen to him again. So I purposed a rescue mission and the guardians agreed; I also got my mother to bring up the matter of bringing novices and Moroi- fire users. They agreed to the novices but they only let Moroi teachers come.

"We raided their hide out cave and freed twelve of the thirteen that were captured; they had taken one novice before we got there.

"Some of our party fell, but as we were retreating, a Strigoi grabbed my mentor. Dimitri was running beside me and the Strigoi caught him by surprise. Stan Alto, my least favourite teacher, restrained me when I tried to run back. My mother had to slap me to get me moving again. So I ran, feeling the worst I ever had in my life. I'd always believed that Dimitri was invincible and I hurt to see that…" I let my voice trail off and a tear escaped my eye; I hadn't talked to anyone about what happened that night and I really didn't want to, but I just had even though I hadn't planned on it. We sat in silence for a bit, Dereck watching me and I was looking across to the gym, avoiding his gaze- I didn't really want to see was on his face. I probably scared the kid.

"You loved him." Dereck said suddenly and I whipped my head around to face him. He stared at me, not mockingly, not scared, but completely serious. He actually took me seriously.

"You loved this 'Dimitri'." he repeated and I could see there was no use denying it. Dereck wore an expression that said 'I know I'm right and so do you' expression.

"Yes, I loved Dimitri." I whispered, not meeting his eyes. After a few minutes of quiet, I got off the bench and turned my back to him.

"We can't do hard core training because of my ribs but meet me at the gym tomorrow and hour or so before you first class." I said and started walking away.

"Rose, are you okay?" Dereck called after me, his voice was hesitant.

"I'm fine," I walked stiffly away from him.

How could he know?

I sighed. I had a lot of work ahead of me.

So how did you like it? Review please. The next chapter is going to be sort of boring, but it will build up to the one after that which will have some action. Anyway… sorry again that it took so long to update. I think I'll be updating a chapter a week, one each weekend or maybe more, depending on what's going on. Please review. The button is screaming at you. Hahaha!

P.S

Sorry if I spell things wrong or get scenes from the other books wrong, okay? Like if I spell a name wrong, it isn't a big deal. I'm sorry I don't carry my books around with me all the time so I'm not going to get everything right. Okay? So if you have a huge issue with my little mistakes, go take it up with someone who really cares, because I'm sorry- it's a mistake, everyone makes them.

Anyway, review please.

~Alice~