RPOV

The temperature drops as the world welcomes me on the porch.

It isn't cold but it isn't warm either. Had the sky always been that big? I almost miss the bottom step but right myself so I don't fall into Lissa and knock us both over. I let her guide me down the stone path, her grip holding me to the ground and keeping the anxiety at bay. I hadn't had this much freedom in weeks, this much freedom ever.

There are trees beyond the fence in Victor's private garden and one tall oak within but none of those compared to giants that lined the other side of the drive. They could whisper to the stars, the stars that lived in an endless sky.

There's a flashing as one of the Guardian cars wakes. Ben approaches the animal and climbs into the driver's seat. I expect Lissa to get into the one beside him but she opens the rear door and we climb in. I feel a bit like I'm dreaming or remembering a dream. I put my seat belt on as Ben brings the inside of the car to life. Music starts playing, banging drums and an electronic strumming.

"All buckled up?" Ben says over his shoulder as the car begins to purr.

"Yes." Lissa sings back.

"Yo, you on?" Ben says and I notice he has his earpiece in. There's a quiet hum as someone replies and I wonder who it is. I imagine having Dimitri being directly in my ear. A tingle runs down my spine and I roll my shoulders.

"You okay?" Lissa says as the car begins to move, throwing my heart back against my ribs. I nod and she grins. "You're going to love this."

"Hell, I'm going to love this." Ben grins.

I take Lissa's hand again as the cars gets further away from the house. I'd been asleep on the way here but it seems I hadn't missed a lot. The car eats up a road that's well lit on either side but beyond the lights is a wall of trees and black shadows. I try not to think about what could be in them. Upfront in the middle of the dashboard is a screen lit up green with a pulse emitting from the middle that grows out as a circle until it disappears off screen. Another pulse is born.

"Are we still in the ward boundaries?" I say to no one in particular, I didn't even mean to say it aloud.

"Yup." Lissa replies quietly.

"For about thirty more seconds." Ben adds.

Lissa takes a sharp breath and I immediately loosen my grip. "Sorry."

"That's okay."

Up ahead the light's cut off and I try not to crush Lissa's end as we speed toward it. We pass between the last sentry lights and for a moment the world is dark and unknowable. Then the car pulls left and a road opens up. There's a concrete barrier on the right, separating us from a car going in the opposite direction, it was speeding away from the collection of concrete and lights and we were speeding toward it.

"Missoula." I repeat with Dimitri's voice in my ears.

Ben hums from the front seat and the rest of the drive is quiet bar the music playing. I zone out as I follow the singer's voice and let the song paint pictures in my head.

"Store or burgers first?" Ben asks and I realize we're on the brink of entering the city. I let go of Lissa's hand to lean over and look out.

"Whatever's easier for you." Lissa replies.

"Store it is."

People start to appear on the streets. Not a lot of them and I remember humans slept through the night. What were these ones doing here? More begin to appear as we drive and then a building on a corner of a street is lit up with people inside drinking, eating, talking.

The car veers away and my nose bangs against the window.

Lissa is grinning at me and I'm not even embarrassed, there isn't time to be as the car enters a huge lot with a store. It's as big as house, windows lit up and showcasing everything inside, including people.

Lissa and Ben unsnap their seatbelt and numbly I do the same.

Ben turns in his seat, his brown eyes kind. "Ready?"

I stare back at him. "You won't leave me?"

"Couldn't get rid of me if you tried, kid."

And in the ocean of numbness excitement breaks through. I grin and that's their cue to get out. I take a deep breath as I open my own door and hop out. Lissa's by my side in an instant and Ben waits for us is few steps away, his eyes now alert and scanning the parking lot. Lissa leads the way to the front doors and Ben follows behind.

It is amazingly bright inside, almost too bright but it doesn't matter because there is so much of everything. Lissa's hand keeps me anchored and I try to drink it all in. She picks up a basket and leads us past lanes lined with shelves. I try to read the labels and my heart skips when I recognise things we had at home. I had ordered them! I had ordered things from a place like this and they'd ended up in our kitchen. Bread, flowers, packaged fruit, jars and cans and-

We turn into an aisle filled with colour. Lissa's stride slows and I read some of the labels.

"Hersheys." I utter, brown, cream and white packaging waving the same label at me. Cookies and cream? How could that be compacted together? How –

"A must." Lissa says, dropping my hand to grab two of every packet. She throws it into the basket. "Get whatever you want or what grabs your attention. You're not allergic to anything are you?"

"Oranges." I say promptly, remembering the uncomfortable itchiness that ruled my mouth for two days.

There's a rustle and we both look down at the basket where a bag of marshmallows have appeared.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were talking to me." Ben says airily but there was a gleam in his eye.

"I was talking to both of you." Lissa says and shakes her head as Ben holds out a green bill. "Do you think the others want anything?"

"Victor has to keep his sugar levels in check and Spiridon hyper would end in homicide."

"What about Dimitri?"

"Oh, he's very particular." Ben says vaguely, shooting me a wink as he moves past Lissa.

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't like American chocolate." I say, scanning the shelves for the purple packaging. I couldn't see any.

"The fiend." Ben says over his shoulder.

Lissa looks between us both and I get the idea I'm on the inside of something for once. "Oookay."

Ben and I exchange a grin then I go back to investigating the shelves. Peanutbutter and chocolate? Yes. I pick up the orange packet and self-consciously I put it into Lissa's basket. She gives me an encouraging smile and holds up a white jar. "Do you like marshamallows?"

"I don't know."

"Well we'll find out." She says and puts the jar of fluff into the basket. It's almost half full.

"Do you want me to carry that?"

"Nah, I got it. Go look for stuff. We need to achieve sugar coma and I-never-want-to-eat-anything-again levels."

Well that's not something I thought I'd ever be told. I investigate the packets of M&M's and then freeze as a stranger comes into the aisle, a human. I glance at Ben who gives the person a once over and then takes a subtle step closer to Lissa, a small step, and other than that he looks unperturbed.

The boy is older than me and Lissa and wearing a blue shirt with the stores logo on it. He looks tired and completely uninterested in us. He doesn't even notice I'm staring at him. I stiffen as he passes, my chest brushing against the rack. A weird smell takes over my nose and I grimace.

"Do you think he's being sponsored to wear that cologne or it's a personal choice?" Ben asks quietly.

"That...smelt terrible." I say, my nose trying to straighten itself out.

"That was a teenage boy. You haven't missed out on that much."

Young master Ozera hadn't smelled like that.

I go back to the shelves and pick up things that sound too good to be true, like cake flavoured oreos. We move up the aisle where the packets change from chocolate to chips. I'm reading the different flavours and trying to decide what ultimately will taste good but everything sounds good. BBQ rib, cheese, sour cream and onion (that I was curious about), flaming hot (hot was flavour?), steak, buffalo, salted…

Lissa grabs the huge bag of sour cream and onion. "These are so good."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah." She appraises the bag. "Thinking about it, it sounds nasty but it's not."

"I trust you."

She grins. "Good. Now you choose."

I grab the steak flavour. I'd never had steak. The basket is almost full and Ben offers to carry it. Lissa refuses again but he takes it from her anyway. I pick up a caramel bar.

We reach the end of the aisle and along the nearly empty back shelves are packaged baked goods. I make a beeline to them and don't catch what Ben says.

Cookies, chocolate muffins and maple pecan plaits. My mouth fills with salvia.

Lissa makes an unsatisfied noise as she comes up beside me. "Not a lot left seeing it's four am."

I make my tongue work. "Can we… can I…"

Lissa cuts me off with a simple, "Course." She picks up the last packet of cookies, white chocolate and macadamia nuts, two maple pecan packets and one box of muffins.

My fingers itch to rip it open but instead I take the cookies so they don't topple off her stack.

Oh my god I can smell them.

I feel faint.

"Can you think of anything else?" Lissa says, pushing her purse strap up onto her shoulder.

"A diet soda?" Ben suggests. "I think you have enough to feed an army of Dhampirs."

"Oh we both know that is not true." Lissa says. "You guys need trucks."

"Okay so maybe one Dhampir and a Moroi…and maybe their Guardian escort could get thrown a little something."

"Maybe." I say before I can help it.

Lissa laughs and Ben makes a weird pouting face.

We make our way toward a low counter where an older woman sits, looking border than the boy before. A man gets to her before we do and puts down his items. The surface of the counter moves and I miss a step. The woman starts making the items beep and pushing them toward the other end.

"$15.95" The woman sighs. The man hands over green bills and a part of the counter pops open. She puts in the money and takes out coins to hands back. It hits me.

"I don't have any." I say, my heart falling through my body and descending to the centre of earth.

"Any what?" Lissa asks, taking out her wallet as Ben starts unloading the basket.

I shift anxiously as the beeping starts. I was going to have to put it all back. "Money. I don't have…"

Lissa waves her hand. "I got this."

"But it's not fair."

"It's my treat Rose, I got it."

"I'm supposed to, I mean Victor said about, about wages but I don't have –"

"Rose." Lissa says halting my tirade. She slots a plastic card into small machine, like Dimitri had in Keith's office. "I got it. You can pay me back by enjoying it."

Well that seemed too easy. I run around Lissa to take one of the bags Ben has loaded before he can. He raises an eyebrow and I dare him to try and take it. We walk out of the too-bright store and into the softness of the very early morning.

Ben opens the back of the car up and I resent having to let go of the bag. I almost make the argument that they might tip over back there but the storage bit of the car has small metal compartments erected on the floor to one side. They really thought of everything. The floor back here is velt and I notice in the corner a bit is raised…it could lift I realize.

"Watch out." Ben warns as he starts pulling down the door.

"What do you keep stored in there?" I ask, trying to keep my voice light.

Ben leans down and I resist the urge to move. "Weapons of mass destruction."

"Like guns?"

"Cooler." He winks and then nods his head signalling I should get into the car.

I slide back in beside Lissa who is playing with her phone, she looks annoyed.

"Are you okay?"

"Aaron." She sighs. "He's texting me gibberish, clearly he's had too much to drink. I hope he doesn't make an idiot out of himself in front of my parents."

"Couldn't…couldn't Natalie ask him to behave? She's hard to argue with."

"That's true." Lissa says, grinning a little. "I'll text her now. I don't think she knows I've left."

How many people were at this party that Natalie wouldn't have noticed Lissa was gone? And the party is at her house.

"Do your parents know you're gone?"

Lissa hums as she types. "A Guardian will let them know."

I look out at the passing buildings and sit up straighter when I take in the pillar of light, a blazing sign against the inky sky with an arrow to lead us. Ben drives toward it, getting extremely close until we're coasting beside its walls. There's a buzz as his window lowers and the cars stops.

I move to unbuckle my sit belt when a voice makes me jump. "Welcome to Hogs and Hooters, what can I get ya'll?"

I lean over to see past Ben but there was nobody there.

"Hi. I'll take one Beef and Bird meal with a large vanilla shake. A cheeseburger, a grilled cheese and special fries. Actually just give me another shake on top of that, small though." Ben turns to us in the backseat. "What do you guys want?"

I stare back at him trying to process what's happening whilst Lissa laughs.

"Is that all sir?" The voice says and I see its coming out of a box.

What the hell, it's a huge telephone.

"Two seconds." Ben replies.

"You okay with salad and stuff?" Lissa asks me and I merely nod, still staring at the box. Lissa sits forward. "We'll take two cheese burger meals with large fries. I'll take coke and Rose do you want a shake or soda?"

Ben's relaying her words to the box.

"What's a shake?"

"Like an Ice-cream you drink."

"I want one of those." I say quickly and Ben chuckles.

"Vanilla, chocolate or strawberry?" He asks.

"Chocolate."

He tells the box that too and the car starts rolling forward. A window appears outside Ben's with a boy sitting on the other side. The seatbelt is cutting into my chest.

"That's $32.80." He tells Ben who's dug out green bills from his back pocket.

"Ben." Lissa says holding out one with '20' stamped on its corners. He waves it away. Again I have nothing to offer.

The car rolls forward to another window and a girl starts passing Ben bags out and a tray of drinks. He puts them into the passengers chair and passes Lissa the drink tray to hold.

The smell hits me and I wave of dizziness comes over me.

"You two okay eating in the car?" Ben asks we roll over to where other cars are parked.

"As long as you don't mind your car smelling like burgers." Lissa replies.

"I personally like the new burger smell. Just don't get any ketchup on the seats."

The car stops and I'm practically vibrating. Lissa hands me a large cup and the cold surprises me, it shouldn't it's ice-cream after all. An ice-cream drink.

I swallow hard as my mouth pools with much saliva.

Lissa hands me a straw as Ben rifles through the bags that are omitting the smell of beef, melted cheese and what can only be described as the smell of fried food, the oil smell that promises something will taste so good.

I stab the drink with the straw, forgetting to be polite or say thank you. At first nothing happens and my lips hurt with effort at sucking at the blocked pipe. Ben is passing back boxes and French fries to Lissa who's used one of the bags as a place mat for our meal.

"No gold kid?" Ben grins. I pout at him. Who needs a damned lid?

"Here." Lissa pumps the straw up and down a few times. "Now try."

I ignore both her and Ben's eye as I try again. It seemed a bit silly, trying to eat ice-cream through a straw-

OH.

"Chin chin." Ben says, holding up his own cup.

It's magical. It's better than anything ever. It's what dreams are made of. It's what the stars must taste like.

"Rose, slow down." Lissa says, tugging the cup down so the straw leaves my lips. I almost bat her away. "You have other things to try."

I lift my chin and beef, onions and cheese smell dances around my head. I take notice of what Lissa has been arranging between us.

I put the shake between my thighs. "Is… that for me?"

"Yup." Lissa grins, popping a french fry into her mouth. "Those too."

I assess the burger. It looked different than it did on TV or in pictures. Squished with escaping cheese between patty and bun. It is a mess. It's glorious. There's a pocket of French fries that Lissa isn't touching which must be mine too.

"Eat up. Can't hang out here all night." Ben says from the front. I watch him fold over half a grilled cheese and shove it all in his mouth. I exchange a look with Lissa, which might have been timed better as she is trying to get her mouth around her burger. She starts giggling into it which means she's stuck because she's already bit into it but she's laughing and can't swallow. That makes it funnier.

I stop laughing at her laughing to pick up a French fry and nibble on it.

It's over. It was all over. I'm sunk.

I'm going to have to live forever on fries and shakes. I'm not just picking up one but as many as I can put in my mouth without dropping them or looking like an animal. Which might be okay, I'd look like I was in Ben's herd.

"Shunk yoer eyes into da sheke. Ver gud." The pack leader says from the front.

"Uh, pardon?" Lissa asks, licking cheese off her finger.

Ben swallows and his cheeks go back to normal size. "I said, dunk your fries into your shake. It's good."

"How do you not have heart disease?" Lissa laughs.

"I'm a Dhampir, practically indestructible. Well, from acquiring a gut and catching a cold."

"It tastes like sweet pastry." I conclude, having done as he said. "It's good."

"I am wise in many things."

"Culinary expert of fast-food chains." Lissa adds nodding.

Ben waves a French fry around in a regal wave making us both laugh. I pick up my burger, handling it like the precious mess it is.

I'm about to bring it to my mouth when I stop. "Please don't watch me."

"You watched me." Lissa argues, wiping ketchup off her chin. If she couldn't eat it graciously there's no hope for me.

"It's a big moment." Ben says, casting a glance to his green screen which is still on.

Defiantly I turn toward the window and try and get my mouth around it. It's a bit nerve wrecking, the bottom is in danger of falling out, it's so messy, the light sheen of grease made me worry it's going to slip out of my hands and yet… it was the best thing ever.

The burger locked in my jaws means I couldn't speak so my body finds another way to voice appreciation. I moan loudly, catastrophically loud to my own ears, and I'm so buried in the taste that I don't even care. I don't even care for Ben's chuckle or whatever Lissa says. I don't care about anything but the food. I enter a trance and I only come out of it when it's nearly all gone and my stomach to protest.

Somehow, Ben is finished before the both of us.

"That'll be an hour around the lake tomorrow with Belikov." He says under his breath.

"Two." Lissa corrects and then puffs, "I can't eat anymore."

She puts down the last of her burger in defeat. I debate asking her for it. Instead I put the straw back in my mouth. My stomach is close to bursting but I figure ice-cream is okay because it's liquid and liquid fits into all the small spaces.

Lissa passes all the trash to Ben and he gets out of the car to take it to the garbage can.

"Better than pizza?" Lissa says, dabbing a napkin around her mouth. I point to my chin to indicate the splodge of ketchup she's missed. "Still there?" I nod and she sticks out her tongue trying to reach it. A vang gleams under her lip.

It hits me in a wave, a bout of vertigo, how surreal my life has become. Sitting in the back of a Guardian's car with a Moroi who made me laugh by acting like a total goon and it felt right.

"Have I got it?" Lissa says through her giggle, still wiping at her chin.

I push away from the path my mind wants to go down. "You got it."

"I think Ben's fallen victim to that woman's desire." Lissa points out the window.

I follow her line of sight and see Ben's been cornered at the trashcan by a woman in very tight clothes. Her top and short skirt are a second skin, the only indication that she isn't naked ia the skirt was black and shiny and her thin top was the brightest shade of pink. She is also wearing shoes taller than Lissa's had been, they're chunky and looked like they could be used as a weapon.

"Her shoes look dangerous. Is he safe?"

"Oh I don't know. Drunk girl see's hot guy, they can get pretty determined." Lissa contemplates wickedly. "But I think Ben can hold his own. I mean, he does date Miss Karp on top of being a Guardian so."

"Miss Karp?"

"Yeah, she's a teacher at my school." Lissa explains, grinning as she watches Ben's growing discomfort. "She's a bit…eccentric."

I mull that over. "Is her forename Sonya?"

Lissa looks away from the window. "Yeah, how'd you know that?"

I pick at my PJ bottoms and hope it doesn't sound like I'm a nosy eavesdropper…even though that's the case. "He was talking to Dimitri about her."

Lissa looks interested. "What about?"

Now I was a little uncomfortable. "Um, children I think."

"Wow. I didn't think they were that serious." She says. "Kids…I wonder will he stop working for Uncle Victor then."

I didn't know why I was being pulled into this when I felt funny about it but I liked knowing things nobody else did for once. "He doesn't want to leave and that's what they were fighting about."

Lissa hums. "He has a really good job. Lots of Guardian's would kill for it."

"There are more women."

Lissa looks out at the small group that have cornered Ben. He's pressed up against the trashcan and it's clear he's trying to negotiate, taking small steps to the side to get around them. They're talking and laughing loudly but I have no idea what they were saying.

"We might have to call for reinforcements." Lissa muses. "I wonder how Dimitri would handle himself. Alcohol would definitely be in their favour."

Ben now seems to be laughing with them, his expression plastic as he slowly detangles himself. I wonder should I get out and help. How could I help? They're very loud.

"What do you mean?"

"He's gorgeous but he has that scary as hell resting face down to a T."

I laugh and Lissa's head whips around. "What?"

"Natalie thinks he's scary too."

"You don't?"

I shrug. "He can look like it but he's not when you speak to him."

He isn't scary in ways I can explain to Lissa or to myself.

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Lissa says. "You can tell when your speaking to him he's...a fair person. Uncle Victor's always been good at reading people." She smiles and I'm about to disagree with her on the grounds Spiridon is like a six-year-old with a smart mouth and killer skills but she's keeps going. "I suppose being in his line of work it's a good thing to look scary. It might have helped him accomplish as much as he has and it's not like it puts the ladies off."

I shove Spiridon out of my mind. "What do you mean?"

"Ben and Sonya." Lissa says, weighing them together in a way I understand and then she tips the scale by adding. "Dimitri and Natasha."

I blink. "What?"

Lissa opens her mouth to explain the riddles she's talking in when there's a movement on the screen up front. A little box has popped up.

'Nest exterminated in Estonia. 18. Evidence of Circle activity. Zmey is on the move. Get back immediately.

-S.'