Here's another chapter. I hope you like it. I'm really getting into this story!!

The queens protégée

Ch 2

Dimitri

Two years. We managed to stay hidden for two years and now we're on a private jet headed to St Vladimir's academy in Montana. I thought for sure we would be headed back to St Basils. I missed my family and wanted more than anything to see them.

We've been living in Portland for the past two years. Having no contact with anyone the whole time. We were very lucky not to see any strigoi. I was a good novice, top of my class even, but I don't know what we would have done if we'd run into any.

Looking around the plane, all the pieces of what my Babushka had told me two years ago were coming to fruition. She was the one that told me to take Christian and run. And when Yeva tells you to do something you do it no questions asked. Why? Because she had visions, some of the future, some of the present. I never understood how or why she had them. She just did and they were always true.

I still remember the night she told me to leave, like it was yesterday.

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Me and Christian were both at home since the school was closed following the attack. He was living with us when we weren't at school because his aunt Tasha had recently died. She was the one that raised him when his parents turned. My mom had taken him in after she died. Treating him like her own son.

It was nighttime and I was downstairs getting a drink of water before going to bed. We were due to return to school in the morning. Yeva was sitting in her chair knitting away. She motioned for me to come and sit by her.

"I need you to listen to me. You must take Christian and leave and not return to school."

" Babushka, why? What's going on?"

"I don't have time to explain, you both need to leave tonight. Christian is not safe here. You need to go to Omsk then take the first train out. Take this, but don't open it till you are on the train. "

She handed me an envelope and some money.

"I don't understand why do we have to leave. How are we getting Omsk? It's in the middle of the night and it's not safe to travel!" I argued with her not understanding why we had to leave right now. She smacked me on the back of the head.

"Stop asking questions, just do as I tell you! Now get Christian, get your bags, and go"

I didn't argue and went upstairs to our room. I woke Christian up and told him Yeva said we needed to leave. He never asked why, knowing you never questioned an order from Yeva.

We quietly got our bags and went downstairs where she met us at the door. She went to Christian and placed her hand on his chest.

"You have a fire in here, but you allow it to simmer. One day you will meet someone that will ignite that fire in your soul." She turned to me.

"You my boy." She reached out and grabbed a box. A box that I knew it's contents, but have never been allowed to touch. She handed the box to me.

"Will need these to keep him safe."

They were her stakes from when she was a guardian. She kept them safely in a box, only getting them out to have them renewed and sharpened. Me and my sisters have only seen them a handful of times.

It now became very real what we were doing and how dangerous it was. I know to trust Yeva, but I was scared I wouldn't be able to protect him.

I put the box in my bag and pulled it over my shoulder. She grabbed me into a hug and whispered in my ear.

"Trust your instincts, don't hesitate, and remember you are stronger than you give yourself credit for."

She let me go and opened the door to where I saw a car waiting for us. We walked out toward the car and I turned back to her.

"Tell mama I love her."

She nodded and shut the door behind us. I opened the door to the car to see that it was being driven by a family friend Mark. He's a Dhampir, he and his wife, a Moiri moved here a couple of years ago to get away from court.

"I'm guessing you are taking us to Omsk?"

"Yes. Yeva told me I needed to drive you two there and then keep it a secret."

We got in the car and I closed the door.

"Ready?" He asked.

Me and Christian both nodded. We weren't really ready, who would be in our shoes?

Mark started to drive and like that we were off to our new life.

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I still have the note she wrote me. I kept it in my duster pocket. She had told us to go to Portland, Oregon. Thankfully Christian's aunt had taught him the art of compulsion or we would have never made it to America or even hid out as long as we have. Yeva said we would know our time was up when we found a snake in the grass. That snake happened to be in the form of a man named Abe Mazer. It was his team of Guardians that found us. They were led by Guardian Janine Hathawy. She was a legend amongst female Guardians. I could see she wasn't one of Abe's personal guardians, she was wearing the standard Guardian black and whites. His Guardians had their own uniforms with a M for Mazer on the pocket. Which made her involvement here a mystery. I did hear her talking to him about a daughter that was here at the academy.

The man in question got up and walked over to us.

"Yeva is a woman to be reckoned with." He handed me an envelope.

"She told me to give this to you. Said it will explain everything. " I took it from his hands. He was known in our little town by the name Zmey, which meant snake. Because he was a con artist, mobster, and had his hand in many things. He traded in money and secrets. I was always told never to make a deal with him. Which is why Yeva being involved with him surprised me.

"That she is." I responded. He smirked and headed back to his seat. I opened the envelope to read one short sentence.

Your real journey starts now.

"What does it say?" Christian asked while he peeked over my shoulder. I showed him sighing.

"Vague as always that old bat." He rolled his eyes and laughed. They may butt heads, but he loved that woman dearly.

"Yeah." I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, took a deep breath and tried to clear my mind. I asked myself what was in store for us?

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We landed on the academy's private airstrip. I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect. Once we exited the jet we were met by a female Guardian she looked to be in her forties. She greeted the Guardians first then came over to us.

"Welcome to St Vladimir's academy. I'm Guardian Petrov, the head Guardian here at the academy. I know you've had a long day of travel, but we are to meet with headmistress Kirova immediately." She shook both our hands. We just smiled and nodded. Both not having much to say.

We piled in a van and headed towards the academy. It was a quiet ride, neither Christian nor I had anything to say. We were too nervous to talk, seeing as how we haven't been at an academy for two years. We still went to high school in Portland to keep up with our studies.

I needed to keep up with what training I had so we joined a gym for a place for me to work out. We both took some martial arts classes. Christian also practiced his fire magic whenever he could. We had to be prepared for anything.

Once we got to the school we were immediately taken to the headmistress office. Abe followed us with his closest personal Guardian, I think his name was Pavel. Also joining us was Guardian Hathaway. She and Guardian Petrov were making small talk while we walked. Guardian Petrov opened the door and motioned for us to come in. Headmistress Kirova didn't look happy that we were there. She kinda looked like a vulture.

"Boys, please have a seat." She pointed to two seats in front of her desk. We slowly sat down and waited for the lecture we were about to get.

"I don't care why you left St. Basils. I don't even care what you two have been doing the past couple of years. You are here at my school now and will abide by the rules or you both will be out with no hope of ever graduating from an academy. You are lucky Mr. Mazer here pleaded your case because no other academy wanted you."

I swallowed hard and looked at Christian who put his head down ashamed. I wanted to scream at her that she didn't understand what was going on. We didn't leave for fun, Christian's life and all those around him were in danger.

"We understand." I said looking her in the eyes.

"Good, now here are your schedules. You will start classes immediately. You both are on probation. When you aren't in class you will be in your rooms. Mr. Belikov you also will have training sessions with Guardian Petrov."

She handed us each our schedules and a map of the school and we nodded our heads.

"That will be all. Guardian Smith, will you please escort them to class?"

We got up and hurriedly left her office. Guardian Petrov stopped me right outside the door.

"Belikov, meet me in the Dhampir gym after your last class for our first training session."

"I will and thank you."

I turned around to see if I could find Abe, but he and Guardian Hathaway were still inside Kirovas office. I took a deep breath and looked at the Guardian who was escorting us to class. He gave us a small smile and motioned for us to follow him.

"So what's your schedule look like?" Christian asked. I held mine up to his so we could compare. Of course we didn't have any classes together. They must really want us to stay away from each other.

"Well, it looks like I won't see you unless we are eating."

"Yep, and I'm sure we won't be rooming together either." I said I was nervous that I would be away from him, we had not been apart from one another for two years. We had always looked out for one another. After his parents turned and his aunt died we had become more than friends, we were brothers.

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After dropping Christian off at his class and saying our goodbyes. We walked the opposite direction towards mine. It was calculus, which I was pretty good at, we were actually in advanced calculus at our old school. I followed behind Guardian Smith and when we walked in all eyes turned to me. He briefly talked to the teacher before leaving and giving me a pat on the shoulder.

"Alright Belikov, go have a seat we are taking a test today." The teacher handed me a pencil.

"Here's a pencil you might as well join us."

I took the pencil and went to take a seat in an empty chair in the front row. I had no doubt I could do this. I looked it over and laughed to myself, yep easy. I started right away breezing through it. I finished in no time and got up to go turn it in.

I handed him my test and he grabbed it out of my hand and reached for a pen.

"Well Belikov let's take a look and see how you did" I started to walk off to go sit back down.

"Stay, you can wait here till I'm finished grading."

I knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to humiliate me in front of everyone. It wasn't going to work because I knew I aced that test. So I just stood there quietly waiting.

Then someone interrupted him to turn in their test. They put their test on mine covering it purposely. I looked up to see who it was. When I did, I saw the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on. She had the most gorgeous dark brown, almost black hair. It hung halfway down her back in loose curls.

"Here you go Mr. A" She said and stood there waiting. He took her test off mine and put it on the stack with the others and glared at her.

"Is there a reason you're still standing there Hathaway?"

Hathaway? I'm wondering if this is Guardian Hathaway's daughter. If it is, she looks absolutely nothing like her.

"Yep, just waiting for you to grade my test." He didn't even look up at her and told her to go sit down. She didn't and responded back with a snarky comment. I knew she was trying to get his focus away from me. Which I appreciated, but didn't need. I had a feeling she would keep going and get herself in trouble. I didn't want her to do that for me. So I looked into her brown eyes and tried to tell her without words to stop. I could see she was trying really hard not to say something back, but composed herself and gave me a slight nod.

"Now if there will be no more interruptions I'd like to finish."

"No Mr. A I'll leave you to it." She said back to him, her voice filled with sarcasm. As she walked back to her seat I couldn't help myself from staring at her. She was curvy like most Dhampirs, very fit, had a nice round ass, and amazing bre…

"I don't know how, but you managed to pass Belikov." The teacher said, bringing me out of my haze.

"You can go back to your seat now." He waved me off. I chuckled of course I passed. As I walked back I looked up to where she was sitting. She was looking at me and gave me a small smile. The rest of class was boring seeing as how I've already taken it at a human school.

I spent it thinking about that girl. There was just something about her that I couldn't get out of my mind. Soon enough the bell rang to end class. I walked out to the hallway and pulled my schedule out and a map they had given me. I had absolutely no clue where I was going.

"Hey, do you need some help?" I looked up to see her standing there pointing to my schedule. I gladly accepted and she reached out to take my schedule and her hand brushed mine. When it did I felt a spark, she jumped back a little so I knew she felt the same thing. She looked right up at me to see if I felt it, but I quickly put a mask on my emotions. She looked a bit disappointed, but took my schedule and looked it over.

"Looks like we have the same schedule." She said and handed it back to me and I put it in my duster pocket. I nodded and tried not to smile like a fool, to let on how excited I was to have all my classes with her. She asked if she could take me to our next class and of course I said yes. I reached out my hand to properly introduce myself and this time when our hands met I didn't let go. I felt the same spark as last time. We stood there for a couple of seconds holding hands, staring into each other's eyes. She slowly pulled her hand away from mine.

"Rose Hathaway, nice to meet you as well."

She adjusted her bag and started to walk away. I promptly followed her.

"As in Guardian Hathaway?" I asked. As soon as those words left my mouth I saw her tense up. I felt even worse when I told Rose that Guardian Hathaway was here. She stopped dead in her tracks and completely lost it. I had no idea that Rose didn't know she was here. It was her mom, what mom didn't tell her child she was visiting. She sounded as though they didn't have a good relationship. It made me sad to think they didn't get along. In our world life can be very short. I loved my mom and wished she could be here right now.

After she calmed down a bit she apologized for going off. I told her it was ok and I knew it wasn't directed towards me.

We made it to our next class, which happened to be biology. I had already passed it at our human school. When we walked in, all eyes were on us, well me. Of course they were talking about me, the new kid that ran away from his last school. I have no idea what they had heard about us. Quite frankly I didn't care what they said about me, it was Christian I was worried about. He had blamed himself for what happened at St Basils and carried that guilt everyday. I could see Rose was getting angry and looked ready to fight. She spotted a petite Moroi girl with platinum blonde hair and seemed to calm down. We quickly walked over to her and sat down.

The blonde reached over Rose to shake my hand.

"Hi I'm Lissa Dragomir."

I reached out to shake hers and introduced myself. We managed to keep up with some of what was happening in the Moroi world. So I knew who she was and had heard the story of how she lost her entire family in a car accident. Making her the last of her Royal line.

"How are you holding up?" She asked, genuinely concerned if I was ok. I told her that I was more worried about how Christian was doing. She had assured me he was doing ok, tired, but other than that ok. He was in Lissa's last class and she had talked to him. She also said to ask her if we needed anything. I was genuinely shocked that a Royal had been so nice and actually talked to Christain and even offered help. I said thank you and that Christian could really use a Moroi friend right now, especially one that was a Royal. Most Royal Moroi tended to shun him, they acted like he was going to turn strigoi at any moment. I didn't really want to go into details of why he needed a friend or even what happened.

Rose started to talk to Lissa and asked if she knew who had brought us here. Lissa answered her and Rose practically shouted out it was her mom. Everyone in the class turned to look at her. I looked over to Rose and saw that Lissa had grabbed her hand and paused for a second. Rose then spoke again, seeming to answer a question that Lissa never asked out loud. It was weird to watch them talk. Lissa wouldn't say anything and Rose would seemingly answer her back. It reminded me a lot of Mark and his wife Oksanna. They would have what looked like one sided conversations. In reality, she was talking in her head to him. She had a rare element called spirit and Mark was bonded to her; it was called being shadow kissed. I watched the two of them interact and then it hit me. Lissa was a spirit user and the two were bonded. Which meant at some point Rose had died.

The teacher got our attention and started class. Rose got out her book and put it in between us so we could share. I honestly didn't pay any attention in class. I was too busy sneaking looks at Rose. I wondered what it would be like to run my fingers through her hair.

The bell rang ending class too soon. We got up and Rose said goodbye to Lissa having another one sided conversation. We headed out the door only to be stopped by Guardian Hathaway. I politely said hi to her while Rose stood there with a scowl on her face. She definitely was not happy to see her mom. Guardian Hathaway asked if she could speak with Rose alone. I looked to Rose to make sure she was ok. She gave me a slight nod letting me know it was ok to leave them alone. I told her I would see her later. She said goodbye then gave me directions to where our next class was. I hurried away because I didn't want to be anywhere near those two.

I made it to my next class with no problem thanks to her directions. I still got stared at though when I walked in the door. I wondered how long I was going to be gawked at for being the run away novice. I took my seat hoping Rose would be quick and I would see her again before the end of the day. I never did.

The school day ended and I was off to the gym to meet Guardian Petrov. I checked the map to see where the dhampir gym was. It looked to be on the other side of campus from where I was. So I walked that way. I got to the gym and opened the door and could hear someone going at a punching bag. I expected it to be Guardian Petrov, but instead was surprised to see it was Rose. She was dressed in leggings and a sports bra and was wailing on the bag.

She didn't hear me come in so I just stood there and watched. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She moved her body with grace and looked like a goddess.

"Looks like Guardian Hathaway found her." Guardian Petrov said, scaring me. I was so focused on Rose that I never heard her come in.

I nodded and she handed me a bag of clothes.

"Here is a change of clothes for you. The boys locker room is that way. I'll meet you back out here on the mats."

"Thank you Guardian Petrov." I grabbed the bag from her.

"Please no formalities just call me Alberta."

"Ok, thank you Alberta." I said as I walked off towards the locker room. Passing Rose on the way, she didn't even notice me walk past her.