He woke up with a sour taste in his mouth and a massive headache. What the hell had he done last night? The last thing he remembered clearly was waiting for Belikov to show up. Apparently, the Russian had backed out on their agreement. Typical.

Rolling over, he reached for the cigarettes he kept on his nightstand. They were missing, a bottle of water and two Tylenol occupying the space where his pack and ashtray normally lay waiting. Propped up beside them, leaning against the lamp was a note.

Dry swallowing the pills—the thought of drinking water right now made his stomach roll dangerously—he grabbed the note, frowning when he saw the signature. Apparently Belikov hadn't been the one to welsh on their deal.

Ivashkov—

Headmistress Kirova insisted upon your immediate eviction from campus due to your impromptu concert last night. I convinced her your behavior was due to side effects from the spirit element as opposed to being alcohol induced. After much discussion, I earned you a reprieve. Try not to let it happen again.

D. Belikov

P.S. Next time you feel the need to serenade Rose with Billy Joel tunes in the middle of the night, I suggest you make sure you have the right building. I would further recommend you refrain from doing so in front of Guardian Alto—known to you, apparently, as Guardian 'Dick'.

DB

The events of the prior evening came back to him in a rush. He could feel an embarrassed flush spreading across his naturally pale cheeks as he remembered the lyrics he'd been singing—the altered version that involved Rose, Belikov and an extremely fucked up Ivashkov. Hell. If Rose heard about it, she'd be beyond pissed. She'd be absolutely homicidal. God, he hoped Belikov would keep quiet about it. He glanced over at the clock, realizing he was running behind—not that he had a schedule to keep, but he'd been trying to get himself into a routine of sorts. He headed for the shower, hoping he'd 'accidentally' run into Rose while it was still early in the day. If she'd heard about last night, he'd tell her that the entire event had been an elaborate hoax perpetrated by someone who wanted to sully the Ivashkov name. Not that she'd believe it.

An hour later he was making a lap around the campus when the sound of a distraught young man attracted his attention. The boy sounded almost as if he were about to have a breakdown. He altered his course, his curiosity roused.

"Okay, okay. Whatever. Please, stop it," he said. The voice wavered. "You're scaring her."

"I'd be scared too, if my life was in your hands." Shit. That was Rose. What the hell was she up to now?

He tossed down his cigarette, picking up the pace as they came into sight. Rose had a pretty Moroi girl—he thought her name was something like Claudia or Camilla—pinned up against the wall, an arm pressing down on her throat. The girls eyes were wide and terrified, and Adrian didn't blame her. The look on Rose's face was… terrifying.

The darkness in her aura almost completely overshadowed the colors that constantly flickered against it, but he didn't need to see her aura to know what she was feeling. She was wearing the same expression he had seen in Belikov's head when the Russian had dreamed of what had awaited him in Spokane. She was in huntress mode, her face full of raw fury. To make matters worse, a small crowd was gathering around them. He needed to defuse the situation, before Rose got her gorgeous ass expelled for harming a Moroi.

"This is fascinating," He drawled, trying to sound calm and collected. "But I think you've made your point."

"I don't know," She responded. The tone of her voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It sounded surprisingly sweet, but lurking underneath the light, friendly modulation was a hard edge of intense menace. "I still don't think Ryan gets it."

"For God's sake, Rose! I get it," cried the dhampir—apparently Ryan was his name. "Just let her go."

Adrian moved quickly, positioning himself as close to the scared girl as possible. His intention had been to insert himself between Rose and her… victim, but the two girls were pressed so closely together that he was forced to change tactics. He leaned close, attempting to lock gazes with his little dhampire, trying to maintain his normal smirk so Rose wouldn't catch on—if she realized what he was doing, she'd get even angrier. Channeling Belikov, he tried to make his face match the blank expression that the other man wore, not wanting to give anything away.

"Yes, little dhampir. Let her go. You're done here." He spoke softly, his words and mind trying to bend her will, to make it match his own. He hated doing it, but it was for her own good.

She hesitated, and he knew she was fighting the compulsion. Damn it, why did everything about her have to be so difficult?

"Let her go," he repeated.

Her eyes widened, slightly glassy as she stared at him, locked in the depths of his dark green gaze. He had her. She moved her arm and stepped away. The girl made a small noise as she darted away, hiding behind the dhampir boy who must be playing her Guardian. Her large eyes were full of tears, and she buried her face in his back, stunned by her narrow escape. The boy looked flabbergasted.

Adrian straightened up and waved his hand in their general direction. "I'd get out of here—before you really annoy Rose."

Slowly they began to back away, staring at his Rosebud as if she were a rabid dog. The expressions on their faces pissed him off. He knew, all too well, what it was like to be lost inside your own darkness. The last thing Rose needed when she regained her wits was to have them all staring at her as if she were a circus freak. He slid his arm around her shoulders, steering her towards the library. He took a moment to drop his head down and smell the clean, sweet scent of her hair. God, it felt so right, having his arm around her. Her warm body was cuddled up against his side as he protected her from—

She shoved him away, jerking out from under his arm, startling him out of his romantic daydream.

"You just used compulsion on me!" She growled. "You made me let her go."

"Someone needed to. You looked like you were seconds away from strangling her." His arm was twitching slightly, as if it had a mind of its own. All he wanted to do was pull her close and kiss the shadows from her eyes. But she wouldn't let him.

"I wasn't. And I wouldn't have." She slammed through the door to the library, her voice furious. "You had no right to do that to me. No right at all."

"And you had no right to tackle some poor girl in the hall just to soothe your own hurt pride." He frowned, irritated by her attitude. Was it too much to expect her to express a little gratitude? He'd just saved her ass, after all.

"Ryan had no right to say those things."

"I don't even know what 'those things' are, but unless I've misjudged your age, you're too old to be throwing a tantrum over idle gossip." The words were out before he could stop himself. Shit. He was starting to sound like Belikov. He pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally cursing himself.

"Throwing a—" She broke off as they reached the table where Lissa was sitting. God, there was going to be trouble, judging by the murderous expression on Lissa's normally happy face.

Rose slid into the chair opposite Lissa, her anger apparently dissolving the instant she saw how upset her friend was.

"Hey."

Lissa looked at Rose, sighing before returning her attention to the book spread open in front of her. "I wondered when you'd turn up," she said. "Did you get suspended?"

Lissa's aura was all over the place. Her words sounded perfectly normal, but that was far from the way she was feeling. She was pissed off. Adrian wondered what exactly it was that he'd wandered smack dab in the middle of.

"Not this time," Rose answered. "Just got stuck with community service."

Lissa arched a pale eyebrow, not responding. The tension in the air felt as thick as a heavy fog. If he was going to be stuck dealing with raging teenage hormones, he might be forced to turn to illegal substances to even out the moodswings.

Rose sighed, a pained expression on her face. "Okay, talk to me, Liss. I know you're mad."

Adrian glanced between the girls, wondering if he should just leave them to it. Unfortunately, the pull of Rose was too much of a temptation for him to turn tail and run. "I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Oh, great," Rose rolled her eyes, smirking. "You went and busted up my fight and didn't even know what it was about."

"Fight?" asked Lissa, confusion joining her anger.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Rose nodded to the other girl. "Go ahead, tell him."

"Rose got tested earlier and refused to protect Christian." She shook her head, exasperated, and glared at Rose. "I can't believe you're seriously still mad enough to do something like that to him. It's childish."

Rose's heavy sigh spoke volumes. She was frustrated and tired of the accusations. Now that she had calmed down, it was easier for him to see her natural aura—the darkness had receded, somewhat. "I didn't do it on purpose! I just sat through a whole hearing on this crap and told them the same thing."

"Then what happened?" she demanded. "Why did you do it?"

Rose sat staring into space for so long that Adrian reached towards her, planning on giving her a gentle shake. She snapped out of her daze before he touched her.

"I froze. It's stupid. I'd been so cocky about being able to take out anyone, and then Stan …" She shrugged. "I don't know. I just couldn't react. It… it's really embarrassing. And him of all people."

Lissa studied her face, as if she thought it was a lie "I wish I could read your mind," she mused.

"Come on," Rose said. "You know me. Do you really think I'd do this? Abandon Christian and make myself look stupid on purpose just to get back at my teachers?"

"No," she said finally. "You'd probably do it in a way where you wouldn't get caught."

"Dimitri said the same thing," She grumbled. "I'm glad everyone has so much faith in me."

"We do," she countered. "That's why all of this is so weird."

It was weird. Rose didn't seem like the type who'd flake out over a fake strigoi. Hell, she'd killed two real ones a few weeks before. He narrowed his eyes, studying the air around her. She was hiding something, but he couldn't tell what. There was a faint hint of fear dancing around her that troubled him.

"Even I make mistakes. I know it's hard to believe—kind of surprises me myself—but I guess it has to happen. It's probably some kind of karmic way to balance out the universe. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to have one person so full of awesomeness." She tried to smile, and failed miserably.

He watched them, trying to take in both auras at once. What was he missing? There was something… off, he just couldn't grasp what it was.

"My loyal bodyguard returns," Christian's voice pulled him out of his speculations, The boy glanced at Lissa. "Are you done yet?"

"Done with what?" she asked.

He inclined his head toward Rose. "Giving her a hard time about how she threw me into the deadly clutches of Alto."

Lissa blushed. "We were just talking about it, that's all."

The tension was still lingering, and he simply couldn't stand it any longer. It pressed against him, filling him with unease, bringing back the dark thoughts that his drinking had vanquished last night. He had to get rid of it. Immediately.

Yawning, he slouched back in the chair. "Actually, I think I've figured it all out. This was a scam, wasn't it? A scam to scare me off since I'm always talking about you being my guardian. You thought if you pretended to be a bad guardian, I wouldn't want you. Well, it's not going to work, so there's no point in risking anyone else's life."

If she only realized how serious he was. If she only realized… how much he cared.