Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

Us dhampirs spend a lot of time preparing for our future lives as guardians. For years we spend our time in the academy learning to spare, use stakes and watch over our precious moroi. Basically, we learn everything there is to know about being a guardian.

Everything but one thing.

There are only three ways to kill strigoi. You either chop their head off, burn them or drive a stake through their heart. Therefore we mostly only use stakes as weapons. But there are occasions where stakes aren't enough - especially if your charge is the queen and has plenty of enemies that aren't strigoi.

Since I'd never learned how to use a gun (which I still firmly believe is cheating) I would have to do it as soon as possible. So today, a very rare occasion when both Dimitri and I had the day off, I would learn how to properly use a gun.

The training center we were in was empty - most dhampirs went to the gym to practice fighting instead. Shooting targets while standing still? That wasn't an effective way of preparing for eventual strigoi attacks.

The main room we were in had several booths with identical targets hanging on a wall a couple of feet away. Otherwise there wasn't much to see. The ceiling lamp was covered in dust and wouldn't stop flickering, creating a scenery you could probably find in a horror movie.

Dimitri led me to the weapon room through a door on my left. Inside the walls were filled with different guns - everything from small guns you could easily fit in your purse to big shotguns.

I quickly laid my eyes on an AK-47 - the only gun I actually knew the name of. But Dimitri had other plans.

"I think this one will be good to start with." He grabbed a small, boring looking gun and tried to hand it to me. Crossing my arms over my chest I gave him a long look. Out of all the guns he had definitely chosen the lamest one for me.

"What is this? A gun for an old lady?" I questioned.

"Rose, this is a SIG-Sauer 226 - it's easy to handle and perfect for practising with." I opened my mouth to start protesting, but he quickly cut me off. "It's almost the same model as the one the cops use."

"But why not the AK-47?" I gestured to the weapon hanging on the wall. "I mean, it's freaking badass! Plus, it's russian." Behind my back, I was crossing my fingers, hoping he would give in.

Dimitri didn't bulge. Instead, he handed me the old lady gun again. I guess I should have expected it - he had after all been a stern mentor at the academy.

"You can try it later when you've gotten more used to it. But for now, you will use this one." I let out an annoyed moan but still took the gun out of his hand. At least he gave me a gun immediately and didn't force me to learn safety and other boring stuff before.

We walked back to the main room and approached one of the shooting booths. The target, which was a human-sized paper figure with different colored areas, was hanging on a wall about 30 feet away.

The first ten minutes were the worst. Since Dimitri had given me the gun immediately I had thought I wouldn't have to do anything else but shoot the target. I was wrong.

Dimitri asked me to show him how I would hold the gun if I was about to shoot somebody, so I held the gun in one hand and aimed at the target. Shaking his head, Dimitri fixed my stance and made me hold the gun with both of my hands instead. Then, he also taught me how the safety worked.

Just when he was about to let me try to shoot the figure, his phone started ringing.

"Who is it?" I asked. Dimitri let out a quiet sigh.

"It's Hans." He said and lifted the phone to his ear.

I considered shooting the target while Dimitri was one the phone, but he gave me a warning look like he knew exactly what I was planning.

"Yes, I'll be there soon." He said after a while and hung up. "They need someone to fill in for guardian Lyzlov."

"And it has to be you?"

"Rose-"

"No, I understand." I said. "I'll just… practice shooting while you're gone. You've already taught me the basics, right?" He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off again. "I'll be fine."

Amused, Dimitri shook his head at me."I'll call Greg on my way there and tell him to teach you." He approached me and grabbed my face gently with his hands. "Don't do anything until he's here."

I gave out a frustrated sigh. "Fine."

"I'll see you soon, Roza."

Dimitri gave me a quick kiss before he left through the door. Behind the door, the sound of his footsteps slowly faded into silence. When I was sure he wasn't coming back, I bolted to the armory. I refused to shoot with the small gun, and now when Dimitri was gone I had a chance to switch to another gun.

I already knew Greg wouldn't stop me from using another weapon. The man was an old, retired guardian who held a lot of respect for Dimitri - if I told him it was Dimitri's idea he would most definitely respect Dimitri's judgement and not do anything about it.

When Greg arrived a few minutes later, I was standing in the main room holding the AK-47.

"Guardian Belikov called me and-" His eyes widened when he saw the gun I was holding. "Guardian Hathaway, I'm not sure it's a good idea to use such a big weapon to-"

"Guardian Belikov's order - can I shoot now?" I asked. Greg looked reluctant, but didn't protest just like I had predicted.

"Um, yeah… sure."

I walked to the booth again and held up the gun. I quickly realized I couldn't hold it like the small gun, but still managed to get in a stance that didn't feel too complicated to shoot in. Greg had a very disturbed look over his face when I aimed at the target. Still, he didn't stop me.

My arms were slightly shaking from the weight of the gun making me think I probably was holding it completely wrong. Still, I aimed at the paper figure's head and pulled the trigger. The gun made a loud noise and recoiled painfully in my arms.

But I hadn't hit the target. The bullet hole was located several inches away from the figure.

Greg helped me fix my stance, grip and everything else that I did wrong. Then I fired the gun again… and didn't hit the target. And again. And again. Even though my new grip kept my arms from shaking, I couldn't hit the target.

"Wow, you're actually really bad at this." Greg said with a puzzled look on his face.

"Shut up, Greg." I muttered before I fired off another shot. After firing another ten bullets I still hadn't even touched the paper around the figure. To be honest, I was better at cooking than shooting the target. I could even hit moving targets with books, but shooting something with a gun? I was embarrassingly bad at it.

"Maybe you need glasses?" He joked.

I was so frustrated over not being able to hit the target that I finally snapped. Turning towards him with the gun still in my hands I started yelling.

"Damn it, Greg! I told you to shut up!"

Accidentally I pulled the trigger and fired off another bullet. Greg had thankfully already started laying down on the floor after I'd turned towards him, so the bullet flew right over his head and hit the lamp in the ceiling instead. The glass shattered loudly, startling both of us, and the room went dark.

Neither one of us said anything for a few seconds. Instead we just stared at each other with equally shocked expressions.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and carefully laid the gun on the floor. Then I started walking, past Greg and towards the front door.

When I reached the door, I turned back towards him.

"If you tell Dimitri, I'll kill you." I threatened before I opened the door and left him alone in the darkness.

I hope you enjoyed this one shot! I probably won't update this story frequently since I'm working on another story at the moment, though.

I would also like to thank everyone that favorited/reviewed my last one shot (the previous chapter). You guys truly made my day! :)

Please leave a review and tell me what you think ^^