Hi guys, so this is my first attempt at a long story that isn't a collection of short stories! I have always really loved dpov stories, and so I thought I would do the books from his point of view! Let me know what you think and how I could improve!

I'm going to try and do a weekly update, with one or two chapters in each update depending on length, but once lockdown ends and I start having more things to do it might have to go to updating once every two weeks!

Chapter 1

Today was the day. We were due to board the plane in an hour, and I could already feel the tension humming through my bones. I had forced myself to eat a large breakfast in preparation, and now I was laid on my bed, attempting to read to calm me down. I wasn't necessarily nervous, I was anxious that we only had one shot at this, but I was also exited as I hadn't had any real challenge since I had joined the academy a couple of months ago, and whilst I knew this job was just as important, it was much less exiting than the danger the world outside wards promised. A danger that I thrived on.

I looked over at the clock, and decided I might as well give up reading and head over to the runway, if I walked slowly then I wouldn't be too early. I stood up, and went to the mirror to pull my hair up. It was in in rather desperate need of a cut, and hung down to my shoulders, as opposed to the normal chin-length I preferred it at. I pulled it back into a tight ponytail at the nape of my neck, one which revealed my molnija marks, pulled on my duster, and set off out of my room.

The sun was just beginning to set and I briefly paused to admire the red sky. We had chosen to make our move on the girls in the night, figuring that they would be on a human schedule, and so we would hopefully be able to go in and take them from their housing without much of a scene. This, and the darkness gave us cover from any watching humans.

I saw Alberta a couple of strides ahead of me, and so I lengthened my stride to reach her. 'Good morning guardian Petrov' I said formally. I liked and respected Alberta, and she had been very kind to me since I had joined the academy. 'Morning Dimitri' she replied. 'I was just going to meet you all at the runway and give you some last pointers on Rose Hathaway'. Alberta had been essential in helping us understand how the runaway dhampir's mind worked, which had eventually allowed us to locate them. She wasn't on the team today however. The team consisted of me and another guardian from the academy, and a number of reinforcements sent from court. They hadn't wanted to take any guardians away from the academy. I just hoped they had sent seasoned guardians, rather than novices waiting on assignments.

My hopes died as we neared the runway and I saw a number of young faces staring back at me excitedly. They had done exactly what I had feared. 'Everyone, gather round' Alberta called as we reached the tarmac. 'My main advice for today is to stay hidden until absolutely necessary. Rose is clever, and will be able to spot you guys, and if she is allowed to escape there's no telling where she will go. This is the first time we have found them in a year, and if we have to wait another year to find them again, we will have missed our window of opportunity.' The young guardians looked slightly less exited now, as the seriousness of the situation dawned on them. 'Equally, we can't be absolutely sure that the girls have been working on their own to evade us, so be prepared for anything. Some people believe that it would have been impossible for an untrained novice to have pulled this off for so long, so evaluate the situation carefully before going in for the extraction'. Alberta continued but I tuned out a little, already knowing all this information from the planning of this operation.

We eventually boarded the aeroplane and I sat in a window seat towards the front, ready to chill out on this flight and prepare myself for the events that were to follow. I was startled however, when a young guardian slid into the seat in front of me, and began chatting excitedly. 'Are you Dimitri Belikov?' he asked. I nodded. 'I'm Laurence, a new guardian from St. Basils'. His accent was definitely Russian I noticed, but not from the area I am from, but he rushed on before I could comment on this. 'I've heard all about you Guardian Belikov, your trial scores are legendary at St. Basils and it was your distance running record that everyone wants to beat!' I felt pleasure that it hadn't been beaten yet. 'I only got there through hard work Laurence' I told him.

'Are you exited for today?' he asked me.

'No' I lied. 'I'm just focusing on the job that needs to be done, emotions will get in the way of our judgement' I said, a little sterner that I should have said it. Laurence got the idea, and turned away, picking up a magazine that was next to his seat.

The rest of the plane journey was uneventful, and we arrived ahead of schedule, which allowed us to travel to the location and get into place early. This meant that we could watch the building for a bit before going in, allowing us to get a better idea of the people inside. I stood in place by a tree, watching through a window in the house that the girls were living in. I was snapped to attention by movement in the house. The dhampir girl (I knew it was her from her dark hair) had just rushed into the room I was watching, and leaned knelt down. I couldn't quite see what she was doing, but a moment later I saw the princess. She must have been asleep, and was now sat up and in my line of sight. I just stared at the girls, amazed that I had actually found them.

I noticed the dhampir girl brush her hair away from her neck, revealing it fully. The princess then leaned closer hesitantly. Surely, she was not going to do what I thought she was. But she did. The dhampir's features filled with bliss as the princess bit down. I seriously hoped things weren't going to get kinky as that would be a bitch to write into the report, but after a few seconds the princess pulled away, and stood up and left the room. The dhampir just sat on the bed smiling. Anger filled me, at seeing a young female novice wasting her talent, before that anger was quickly washed away by admiration as I realised what they had done. The dhampir was feeding the princess, and that was why we had never got results when questioning local moroi feeders. We had always wondered how the princess had fed.

I was startled out of my thoughts by movement, and I jumped into an attack stance, only to be met by Laurence. 'What are you doing' I spat out. He might have compromised my position.

'Comms are down' he whispered loudly, tapping his earpiece. I rolled my eyes, and focused on the window again. There was a cat watching us now, and with the cat, was the dhampir, her eyes wide and knowing. 'Gavno' I muttered under my breath as she ran from the room. I tore away from my hiding place, needing to make it out of the yard and over the fences surrounding it before the girls came out of the house. I managed, and joined the other guardians who had seen the events that had happened. We slunk back into the shadows, waiting for the girls to come past.

I heard footsteps running towards us, and just hoped it was the girls and not the guardian we had sent to chase them towards this area. The girls came into view, the princess half carrying the dhampir who was clearly weak from blood loss, and I stepped out of my hiding place. The dhampir snapped to attention, pulling the princess behind her and taking on a defensive position. I put my hands up and began to step forward saying 'I'm not going to…' but she attacked me. The move was sloppy and slow, and I quickly blocked it. My block sent her flying. I had forgotten to account for her weakened state and I saw her falling in a bad position. My hand shot out and grabbed her arm, steadying her, and making her hair fall from her neck, revealing the bite. I stared in shock, no judgement, just amazement at how far this girl took looking after the princess. She pulled away, covering her neck in embarrassment, and readying to attack me again. This time however, the princess caught her hand, and said something softly. The dhampir girls' shoulders sagged, signalling defeat, and guardians quickly went in to speak to the princess. I just stood and stared at the dhampir. So, this was Rose Hathaway. There was no one else involved in their escape I could tell. Just this devoted, incredible girl, who took her responsibilities more seriously than anyone else I knew. Her hair was long and dark, her eyes quick and calculating, and she was beautiful and wild and unpredictable. I made myself snap out of it. 'My name is Dimitri Belikov' I said. 'I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's academy'.

Chapter 2

We loaded the girls in the car quickly, after sending two guardians to pack up their belongings in the house they had lived in, and call the alchemists to deal with the humans in that house. I figured we wouldn't need the full team now anyway. We quickly moved onto the plane once we arrived at the airport, seating the girls separately on Alberta's recommendation much to the dhampir's displeasure. The journey back to the academy was uneventful. I noticed that the princess was scared with me sitting next to her, and so I moved away once I decided that she was not going to go anywhere, and chose to go and sit next to the dhampir.

I couldn't stop thinking about her devotion to the princess and I kept having to resist asking her about it. I eventually gave up and said 'Were you really going to attack all of us?'. She paused, clearly deciding whether to reply to me or not, and tightened her lips in response. Something inside me clenched as she did so. I didn't know why, but I wanted this girl to like me. 'Doing that…protecting her like that- it was very brave'. I paused, evaluating her decisions. 'Stupid, but brave. Why did you even try it?' She looked over at me and stared me in the eyes. 'Because I'm her guardian' she replied slowly and carefully, and turned away from me. This was not the Rose Hathaway I had been told about. Alberta had said she was impulsive and reckless. Sure, I had seen the reckless behaviour in protecting the princess, but this Rose was smart and calculating, thinking everything through before speaking. Nothing like what I had been told.

I got up and moved towards the front of the plane, discussing how we would take the girls into the academy. Apparently, headmistress Kirova had demanded that they be walked through the main hall where breakfast would now be taking place. I thought this was too cruel, but I couldn't argue against direct orders, and so once we had all disembarked, we set off in that direction, one guardian each walking with the girls and me leading the way in front. Rose ran up to me. 'Hey Comrade' she said once she reached my side. However much I admired her, I still couldn't be seen being friendly with the girl, as she had taken the princess away and could have gotten her killed, or worse, by Strigoi. I kept my eyes trained on the courtyard we were walking through. 'You want to talk now?' I replied.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?"

"Headmistress Kirova" I corrected her, noticing that we were almost in the canteen. I felt bad for what I was about to do.

"Headmistress, whatever." Rose began. I cringed, opening the door. "She's still a self-righteous old bit…" She stopped abruptly as we entered the hall, and all students eating turned around and stared as we made our way through. I saw her look around in horror, before a smug smile was put on her face. I could see through it however, and saw the insecurity in her eyes.

She didn't speak again, and we reached the headmistress' office. I took my position against the wall next to Alberta who was already there, and the other guardians left. The girls sat down and I tuned out, having completed my job. I was rather tired as it had been 24 hours since I had slept. I kept my watchful eye on everything as the girls greeted Victor Dashkov and the headmistress began lecturing them, but really my thoughts were whirling around Rose Hathaway, and her personality that was so unlike anything I had met before.

"I did do my duty." I flinched, pulled away from my thoughts by Rose standing up and shouting. I noticed Alberta's hand flinch, as if she was ready to leap over and pin Rose down. I hoped it wouldn't come to that. Her chances of staying at the school were already slim. I listened as the headmistress began to tell Rose that she was no longer able to be a student here, and my heart fell. She would have made an incredible guardian. "They have a bond" I said suddenly. I had noticed it since we had first sat them apart, and Rose always seemed to be one step ahead of where Lissa was going to be. I had only heard of legends, and wasn't absolutely sure it was the case, but if it gave her a chance to stay then I would risk saying it even if they didn't have a bond. The look in the girl's eyes was shocked, and it confirmed my suspicions.

"Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling, don't you" I prompted, praying that Rose would understand what I was trying to do. Kirova tried to argue against me.

"No, that's impossible" she said. "That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious" I countered. "I noticed as soon as I started watching them". That wasn't entirely true, it had taken me a while to figure it out, but she didn't need to know that, and I could see Kirova thinking about what this would mean for Rose's future.

"Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay in the academy after everything she's done?" I wasn't quite sure what everything entailed, I knew there were some events that happened before they left, and at this moment I was glad I didn't know about them. "She may be wild and disrespectful, but she has potential" I began.

"Wild and disrespectful?" Rose exclaimed. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" I realised I hadn't properly explained to her why I was the one to come and bring them back, but Kirova beat me to it.

"Guardian Belikov is the princess' guardian now, her sanctioned guardian." I didn't like how she added the last bit on. Rose may not be a guardian yet, but there was no reason to mock her devotion to the princess.

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" Rose bit back. From anyone else I would have been mad, but I could tell this girl was just mad, and trying to lash out at anyone in an attempt to have control over the situation. As it was, I felt incredibly sorry for her.

"You see?" Said Kirova, throwing her hands in the air. "Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian." I actually agreed with her on this. Very strongly. But if Rose really did want to give life to Vasilisa, then I imagined she would do anything to become her guardian.

"So, teach her discipline" I said, thinking the words over in my head carefully. "Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again".

"Impossible" Kirova countered. "She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't" Rose butted in, but Kirova and I were too deep in argument to notice, and it seemed that she could see what I was trying to do for her.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" Demanded Kirova, once I had suggested putting her in extra sessions. "You?" I suddenly stopped. This was not what I had thought, I had barely any free time as it was.

"That's not what I…"

"Yes. That's what I thought." Said Kirova, satisfaction filling her features. I frowned and inwardly groaned. I couldn't let this girl's talent and dedication go to waste, and something in me was making me want to help her.

"Yes" I sighed. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones". This was going to take up almost all of my free time.

I tuned out again as they began to discuss punishment for Rose, but I was pleased that she would be allowed to stay at the academy.

She began to argue against the punishments that Kirova was outlining. They sounded harsh, but she was right that Rose should be punished for what she did. It would help her education. I caught her eye and gently shook my head, hoping it would be enough to keep her quiet. Her dark eyes clashed with mine, arguing, but eventually she pursed her lips and nodded back. "Fine, I accept". I felt a flood of relief with the words, knowing that she would be safe within the academy, and I could mould her into one of the best guardians there was. It might sound cocky, but I had learnt how to tame my anger and undisciplined talent. It maybe wasn't as wild as Rose, but I knew that she would make an extraordinary guardian someday.

Please review with any tips or what you thought so far, and thank you for reading!