Author's note: This is the longest chapter yet. Thank you for your interest in this story. I have no idea how long this story will be, I hope you all are enjoying the ride. I'm busy with work for the next few weeks, so I dont know how many chapters I will be able to write.

Chapter 8

I stayed in my room for the next two days. Lissa checked on me twice a day, bringing food. I had no taste for food and no desire to see anyone from the outside world

I finally decided to leave my accomodation in search of much needed sustenance in the form of chocolate donuts when I almost walked into Jesse Zeklos and Ralph. I prayed that Jesse was still afraid of me after I beat the crap out of him, but I wasn't in luck.

"Hathaway, turns out you aren't as pure as you wanted me to think" Jesse said.

"Yeah, to think your mentor was giving it to you when you were at school." Ralph said. He stepped forward to touch me, I grabbed his hand and twisted, locking his wrist. He dropped to the ground, attempting to relieve the pressure.

I leant down to his ear and growled "You are proof that evolution can go in reverse. Don't ever touch me."

I turned to Jesse, "I don't really give a shit what you think Zeklos. I think someone is jealous that I never let them touch me, and I never will." I placed my other arm on my hip and glared at him.

"This is coming from someone who has an all night fuck fest with your mentor. Clearly you like it rough if you go for former strigoi's. I remember what you like, I can give that to you"

I could feel my temper and the darkness trying to take hold. When was this arsehole going to get that I was never going to be interested in him again. I still wanted to slap my younger self for letting him touch me.

I kept Ralph on his knees, my grip never slacking on his wrist. I was starting to draw a crowd, which was the last thing I needed. However, never to shy away from a confrontation I was determined to put this arsehole in his place.

"Fuck off Zeklos, I have high requirements for my sexual partner, and you don't make the cut in numerous areas. Firstly, looks, stamina, girth.. oh and you are an arsehole who makes my skin crawl." I let Ralph go and he dropped to the floor clutching his arm.

I could sense his presence before my eyes spotted Dimitri.

He stood in front of me and growled "I thought I warned you to stay away from Rose".

"Actually you warned me about male and female interactions at school." He paused and exaggerated a thinking motion. "Isn't that where you two started your interactions, Guardian Belikov".

I clenched my fist ready to swing, Dimitri calmly placed an arm on mine, he stepped forward to the two moroi and he kept his voice very low and calm. "If I ever hear that you have touched, looked at or spoken to or about Rose, I will find you and snap you both in half."

Ralph looked shocked, but Jesse maintained his cocky attitude "I'm a royal Moroi and you are two disgraced dhampir's, you cant touch me Guardian Belikov"

"And being royal doesn't mean that you can touch anyone that you want. You do not touch anyone without their permission. I am not a guardian anymore, but I have connections high and low and I no longer fear of being fired. I have the skills to locate you and permanently injure you without witnesses. So stay the fuck away from her"

Dimitri stared at them until they left. Then he placed a hand at the small of my back and walked me home. I allowed him to do so as it felt nice to be shielded by him from the many stares and comments.

Love fades, I thought. I looked at him, trying to read his emotions on his face.

"Um thanks"

He nodded in response and kept walking with me.

I couldn't figure this him out. Did he have feelings? His words from that morning reverberated in my head. Why would he defend me?

I got my answer when we reached my door, my parents were waiting for me.

"He's what?" I asked. Abe had just announced to me that he had hired Dimitri as my guardian. They had to be fucking joking.

"Why are you doing this old man?"

"Rosemarie, we are trying to do damage control here. We thought, if it appeared that you were in a committed relationship with Mr Belikov, then it wouldn't look so bad" Mum explained. She said his name with scorn, clearly she hadn't finished being angry with him. Join the club

"But we aren't a couple and my name is ROSE" I screeched.

I couldn't believe this, they wanted him to spend more time with me. Maybe I should check for a fever. Are they high? Did they both inhale toxic fumes?

"Put it this way, everyone in court knows that you have been intimate and this one will keep anyone else away from you" Abe grinned at me and they walked off.

"No-one but my own flesh and blood could make me go into a murderous rage"

Dimitri raises a single eyebrow with a mischievous gleam in his eye, knowing that if he said anything he would get a broken nose.

"What do you have to say about this?" I turned towards Dimitri. He looked delectable in jeans and a fitted black top. I tried to push that thought out of my mind.

"I'm not being reinstated as a guardian and after everything I did to you, the least I could do was help preserve your reputation, You don't deserve this". Dimitri said to me.

I felt like I was slapped in the face, he didn't do this because he had feelings, he did it because of his sense of duty.

Fine, if he was going to be my guardian/fake boyfriend, I was going to treat him as one. I was going to make him look like the most whipped man in history.

"It's a little late for that… Fine, take me to breakfast tomorrow".

He nodded and left while I thought about how to use this situation to my amusement.

I heard a knock on my door and opened it to see a bloodshot Adrian. crap

"Hello Adrian, would you like to come in." I said politely. He walked in and paced around the room for a few minutes until he spoke.

"I knew you didn't really mean it". He said quietly, he sounded so sad. It felt like a gut punch. I knew that I had hurt him, and I never really gave him or our relationship a chance. I felt like a major bitch on reflection of everything that I did to him.

I loved him, as a friend and cared about him, but I never could put him first. Not while Dimitri owned all of my heart.

Loves fades..

It didn't matter that my heart was broken, it wasn't fair on Adrian to get him to pick up the pieces. Not when I kept breaking his heart.

"I'm really sorry, I can't even start to describe how awful I am, how unfair I was to you"

"You know what hurts the most, I knew it. I could see in your aura that you weren't over him, you couldn't stop yourself being drawn to him. But as soon as you saw me, you went to him and didn't even stop for a second to go after him again"

I dropped my head in shame, that was exactly what I did.

Adrian ran a hand through his hair. "Really, it's my fault. It was there. A hundred times there. How often did I see it? I knew. It kept happening. Over and over, you'd say you were through with him … and over and over, I'd believe it … no matter what my eyes showed me. No matter what my heart told me. My. Fault."

"I loved you!" he yelled. He jumped up out of his chair so quickly I never saw it coming. "I loved you, and you destroyed me. You took my heart and ripped it up. You might as well have staked me!" The change in his features also caught me by surprise. His voice filled the room. So much grief, so much anger. So unlike the usual Adrian. He strode toward me, hand clasped over his chest. "I. Loved. You. And you used me the whole time."

"Adrian, what do you want me to say? I can apologize forever, but there's nothing else I can do here. I never wanted to hurt you; I can't say that enough. I do love you."

He scoffed at me

"No," I said. "I think you're amazing. I think you're strong. But I don't think you've realized it—or learned how to use any of that." And we don't bring out the best in each other

Adrian rested his hand on the doorknob and gave me a rueful look. "Rose, I'm an addict with no work ethic who's likely going to go insane. I'm not like you. I'm not a superhero."

"Not yet," I said.

He scoffed, shook his head, and opened the door. Just before leaving, he gave me one more backward glance.

"The contract's null and void, by the way. Oh and I told your mother about cradle robber"

I felt like I'd been slapped in the face. And in one of those rare moments, Rose Hathaway was rendered speechless. I had no witty quips, no elaborate explanations, and no profound insight.

I felt sick to my stomach over the whole experience and the damage that I caused,

Adrian left, and I wondered if I'd ever see him again.

Well, that explains why mum gave Dimitri the black eye.

Dimtiri showed up at my door at 9am. I had a terrible nights sleep after Adrian came over, I felt fatigue and out of sorts and I looked like I had aged 20 years.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"I had a visit from Adrian yesterday, it didn't go well. Come in, this is going to take a while before I am presentable to be seen in public"

I realised I was wearing one of his old sweatshirts that i took from his room at St Vladimir's. I quickly got dressed, hoping he wouldn't notice.

I picked my favourite blue jeans that fit just right and a high neck top that hugged my curves, showing off my features without trying to look slutty.

As I started my eye make-up, I called out to him.

"What exactly did my father say to you?"

"He asked that I fix the mess that I created. He wanted me to defend you honour by being a devoted boyfriend and protect you from more ridicule".

Hmmm, he has to play the role was a devoted boyfriend… I grinned to myself, he might have shattered my heart, but today I was going to have some fun with him.

I stopped by my father's rooms first, asking Dimitri to wait outside.

"Old man, you have a lot of nerve hiring my ex-boyfriend without talking to me first"

"Rose, I had to deal with your raging mother for the last few days. I'm trying to help both of us by doing this. Besides, I have heard a lot of nasty things about you over the past few days and this is the best thing to shut people up"

"Violence is a pretty good plan"

"That is also where Belikov comes in, he is mighty protective of people he considers family"

"I'm not his family, besides i'm only playing along so I can piss him off"

"All the better to make your mother happier"

"Also, regarding the thing Sydney spoke to me about. There is something I would like to investigate and I think I will need her help. I also wouldn't mind leaving here for a while, so I can get away from everyone"

"That can be arranged, where would you like to go?" He asked

I thought for a second. I hadn't really been anywhere, except for Lissa's vacation homes and Russia, for an entirely unpleasant reason.

"New York would be cool, but I hear its expensive" I looked down at my feet. I didn't have much money, and Lissa was giving me an allowance to cover basic necessities. Being on suspension and not getting an assignment meant my wage was barely minimum wage.

Abe pulled an envelope out from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. "I'd been meaning to give this to you yesterday. Consider this back payment for 18 years of allowance, birthdays and Christmases. Would I be able to accompany you on this trip?"

I looked at the envelop to see bank statements, a passport and a credit card. Holy shit, I have enough to rival Lissa's trust fund

I didn't know what to say, so I gave him a hug. "Yes, that would be nice".

Also, it made my plans with Dimitri so much better.

As soon as we left Abe's apartments, Dimitri wrapped his arm around my waist and I put a fake smile on my face.

When I saw a large enough crowd watching us I turned to him "Comrade, can you please carry my bag".

I had picked a pink frilly bag specifically, I got Lissa to bring it over last night, before Adrian had come around.

Dimitri stared at me for a second before he took the bag and kissed my hand. My smile became real for a second.

When we got to the cafe he pulled out my chair for me and held my hand when he sat down.

The waitress arrived to take our order, I could see her eyeing Dimitri like he was her own personal eye-candy.

"Rose, how lovely to see you. You look really nice, in this lighting"

I turned my head to see Camille Conta, clearly this bitch had an agenda.

"Camille, thank you, I like your dress, it almost fits you right"

"Its so lovely to see you two together" She smiled sweetly.

She leant forward and gestured to both of us "You can tell me, how long was this going on? I didn't think the Russian god would have been interested in his students, I am sure there were better options available if you had known."

I gave her a filthy look and Dimitri stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

She turned to Dimitri and flipped her hair over her shoulder, giving him a megawatt smile.

"Dimitri, i'm eligible to get a personal guardian this year, clearly you are fit for the job." I ground my teeth so hard that I thought I was going to break my jaw.

"He's also not interested"

"Maybe he can answer for himself"

"I'm not looking for an allocation at this point" He responded politely yet resolutely. I was glad that he didn't tell her that he was currently assigned to me, that would have been more embarrassing.

"You know Rose, I have barely seen you since you dropped out. Everyone thought you left to have a baby. There was even a pool going to see whose it was."

"Well as you can see, they were false rumours"

I flushed uncomfortably, I didn't like being reminded of that time in Russia. Nor did I like her not so subtle dig at the rumours that went around about me at school.

"Camille, may I remind you of the compromising position I found you in the janitor's closet with Mr Drosdov. Perhaps those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". Dimitri said with a pleasant tone and a neutral face. "In fact, isn't he your second cousin?"

I coughed into my hand to hide my grin and Camille's face paled and she walked off in a huff.

I started to chuckle when I saw her walk off. I looked down at our intwined hands and it felt like the day that he was turned when we walked through the trees, discussing his plan to finally be together.

Love fades…

I abruptly removed my hand and excused myself to the bathroom. I sat down in a stall and started to cry.

I cried over losing my Dimitri and how nothing had been right ever since. After all of our struggle and it felt like we were practically strangers.

Did he even love me at all? I just wanted to know that I meant something to him.

I heard a knock on the door. "Rose"

I got out of the stall and found Dimitri standing outside

"You know this is the ladies bathroom"

"I do, but I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine"

He looked at me and raised his brow, like he could smell my bullshit a mile away. "I wanted to apologise to you. It seems like all I have done to you is cause you pain and push you away. I'm sorry that i'm not the man I used to be."

"Yeah I know, I just have to get used to it"

"Come on Rose, lets continue lunch, i'm pretty sure that you have a lot more things you want to do to torture me today"

I looked up at him in shock "What?"

"I had 3 sisters remember, you don't think I don't know when a girl is trying to punish me. You do remember the first few months where you kept trying to get a rise out of me. And then once you knew how I felt, you kept trying to get a rise out of me in a different way."

I forgot how much he knew me, how in sync we used to be. "You knew?"

He smiled at me, i felt my heart start to defrost a little. "This is classic Rose Hathaway. I always know what you are thinking, and I knew that if you agreed to this, you would have something planned."

"I still do, we're going shopping"

I took him to an exclusive lingerie store and kept grabbing more things to ask my 'Pookie bear" which ones he thought would suit me better. I felt the satisfaction of victory when I picked a particularly racy red see-through number, his face flushed and he mumbled 'The red one".

When I asked about crotchless underwear, his face turned beetroot red as the sales assistant showed me options.

I then brought him to the counter with a pile of garments in his arms. I was about to pull out my new credit card when he said "I've got this".

The walls surrounding my heart melted a little, but I tried to keep my face neutral "If you insist Pookie". I was rewarded with an exasperated eye roll which made me smirk.

As we stepped out of the shop and I spot Tasha. Dimitri was holding my hand, still carrying my handbag and new purchases.

"Dimitri, Rose" She said my name like she was spitting it out of her mouth.

"Tasha" Dimitri responded warily.

"Are you really carrying on with this child?"

I felt the darkness swirl and I remembered how I felt last Christmas, when Dimitri and I were fighting and she was offering him things I couldn't give him. I wasn't going to let her put me down.

"Tasha, I'm not a child, I'm just younger and more fuckable. Trust me, you couldn't handle him, this one is a wildcat in the sack". I slapped him on his fine behind to emphasise my point.

Tasha looked like I slapped her and Dimitri turned and looked at me shocked.

I pulled myself against him and nestled under his arm. "He's so shy, isn't it cute. We just stopped at the lingerie store because this one has a habit of leaving mine in scraps."

Tasha had a thunderous look on her face and she left in a huff.

"Roza!" He looked down at me with a frown.

I looked back at him in surprise, it was the first time he called me Roza since his restoration. I felt warm on my cheeks and I managed to piss him off. Mission accomplished

Please tell me what you thought, I really enjoyed coming up the the plot for this chapter. did it hit?

Story recommendation: Cop an attitude by Ms Belikov. I think it is hilarious and I try to bring humour into my story.

Always happy to hear about your favourite story.