AN/ Hey :)

I've rated this story T for now but it'll deal with some addiction and sex later on so let me know if you think I should bump the rating up.

The Vampire Academy Series is the Property of Richelle Mead. I'm just playing with her characters.

Leave me some feedback :)

MJ

Xxx

Janine Hathaway was famous for being the most ruthless and lethal guardian of her time. She was a fierce defender of her charge and a common visitor to the tattooist's chair. Her skin was painted with the tiny marks that numbered her kills. She was an idol, a hero, seemingly immortal.

Until she disappeared.

People assumed she was finally killed in the line of battle, that the immortal enemy had finally taken down the great Janine Hathaway. But they didn't know the truth.

The truth was Janine met Abe, an immoral Moroi who had more than his fair share of illegal partnerships. She thought it was love whereas he saw it as sex. And an easy way top up his blood need. He left her a broken bloodwhore. And he left her with me.

Rosemarie Hathaway.

My mother raised me in a dhampir commune and I had a happy life. There were several other fatherless children in the area and we grew up together. Men frequented the area leaving behind scarred necks and blissful women. I knew that the majority of the world frowned upon the idea of taking blood during sex but the way I'd seen it if it was consensual on both parts then what was the problem? No one was hurt and both parties got what they wanted.

"Rosemarie, are you ready?"

My mom appeared at the foot of the stairs just as I was coming down. She was short like me but her hair was auburn and curled tightly whereas mine waved gently and fell to my waist in a brown wave. Her eyes regarded me with the keenness of the guardian in her that had never really left and I could tell by the shrewd expression on her face that she was becoming edgy. It had been over a week since her last bite.

"Ready for what?" I asked as I descended the stairs. Our house was a small two-story with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a communal kitchen-living area. It was home.

"Training. Get changed."

My mother might have let go of her guardian life but she still wanted me to be ready for any impending attacks and so she started training me from the time I could walk. Sixteen and a half years later and I was on the track to become a great guardian. Or so my mother told me.

I sighed and trooped back upstairs to change into some jogger shorts and a tank top. I swung my hair I into a tight braid to keep it out of the way and donned some sneakers before jogging down the stairs. My mom was sitting at the kitchen table with her feet resting on a chair and a cup of tea resting in front of her. I raised my eyebrows and gave her a questioning look.

"I never said I saw joining you. You need to run. Follow the five mile track. We'll spar when you get back."

I scowled at her but she ignored me and flipped open a magazine, the picture of ease. I huffed and pulled open the front door before stepping out into the warm Californian night air. The dhampir commune was located on the edge of Yosemite National Park which allowed us relative privacy while allowing us access to the more populous areas of California when we needed to. It also protected us from Strigoi as very few resided in such a sunny area. I took off at a light jog to warm up and followed the path through the trees behind our house. It weaved sharply to the left about a mile in and created a steep drop to the right that could be dangerous if you didn't know it was there. It wasn't uncommon to hear about people becoming trapped at the bottom of the slope with twisted ankles or broken bones.

I dug my iPod out of my pocket and flipped through my playlists, coming to rest on The Black Eyed Peas Pump It. The violent beat caused me to pick up my pace and I was soon running faster through the twist and turns of the forest, dodging roots and pots holes that I had well memorised from past runs.

Half way through the circuit I reached the creak and a slow grin spread across my face when I realised I wasn't alone. Eddie Castile, my long time best friend was lounging by the water's edge, an arm thrown haphazardly over his eyes to shield them from the sun's glare. Using the noise of the running water to cover my approach I crept towards him until I was less than a foot away. The gentle rise and fall of his chest made him look like he was sleeping.

"Shouldn't you be running?"

I shrieked as one of his arms shot out and wrapped around my ankle and pulled me to the ground. I landed with and oomph in the dust as Eddie cracked up laughing.

"You bastard!" I yelled and pelted him with any small stone I could find within my reach. He sat up and shielded himself from my attack all the while still laughing.

"It's not funny!" I fumed. "You could have given me a heart attack!"

"And you weren't trying to give me one? Honestly Hathaway your sneak attack needs some work." He grinned as I scowled and flicked some water towards him.

"Shut up," I told him. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

His grin fell and he rolled onto his stomach, avoiding my eyes.

"My dad's back," he muttered and turned so away from me to skim a stone across the water. It jumped twice before sinking to the murky depths with a plunk.

I understood at once. Unlike mine, Eddie's dad was a reoccurring feature in his and his mom's life. He had little interest in his son but that didn't stop him coming back to see Cecilia. I didn't see anything wrong with this but Eddie had spent the first five years of his life in the human world and his views on the 'bloodwhores' were very different from mine. It made him extremely uncomfortable to think of his mom that way and I also knew it hurt Eddie that his father was around so much and yet never wanted to see him.

"How long's he staying for?" I asked softly.

Eddie turned towards me and raised an eyebrow, his face twisted in disgust.

"How long does he ever stay for? He'll be gone before sunrise after he's got what he came for." He turned away from me again and threw another stone more forcefully into the creek. I reached out a hand and stroked his hair in what I hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Maybe he'll stay to see you this time," I prodded.

His snort echoed around the clearing.

"I highly doubt that," he spat. "He didn't even say hello to me this morning before he asked mom if she could get 'the kid' out of the house for the day."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

He turned towards me and shrugged causing my arm to fall from his hair.

"It's not your fault," he reassured me with a small smile. "Anyway." He jumped to his feet and offered me his hand. "I figured you'd be running through here today and thought I might join you. We better get going before your mom comes after me. I want to go out later and that might be difficult if I'm dead."

"Oh?" I asked with a grin as he pulled me to my feet and we set off again. "Got a hot date lined up?"

Eddie's ears turned pink and he stared resolutely ahead, causing my grin to widen.

"You do!" I exclaimed. "Who is it? Let me guess. Vanessa? I think you two would be cute together." Vanessa was a pretty girl with dark hair but wasn't sappy and soft like a lot of dhampir's in the commune. She could hold her own in a fight and she was one of the few girls I actually got along with.

He shook his head and glanced at me, a small smile playing around his lips.

"Layla? I know you two used to have a thing." She was an irritating, busty, brunette who I despised but Eddie seemed to like. Probably because of the boobs.

"God no," he snorted. "There's no way I'm going there again. Once was enough." He mock shuddered causing him to miss a step and stumble into a pot hole.

I laughed as he blushed and mentally checked off all the girls Eddie had a past with, which wasn't that many in the grand scheme of things.

"I know you don't like blondes so that rules out Sarah and Hannah. They're too sluty for you anyway." He snorted and rolled his eyes before speeding up. I matched his pace easily and took another guess.

"The redhead over on Sunrise Avenue? What's her name? Addison?" I looked at him hopefully. I didn't have much interaction with Addison as she was fairly soft in nature but she was nice enough.

"Nope," he quipped, popping the 'p.' "You're way off."

"Oh come on!" I huffed. "There aren't that many girls here. Oh wait! Is it that new girl? The one with the black hair, her family just moved here. What's her name? Molly? Maisy?" I frowned, trying to put a name to the blurry face in my memory.

"It's Maddy," he muttered before turning bright red and I laughed. We slowed our pace as we broke through the trees back into town.

"Yes, that's it! It's her isn't it? I hope she's nice or I'll have to go all Hathaway on her ass to knock her into shape."

I expected him to laugh but he didn't. Instead he froze in his tracks and his face drained of colour.

"Umm I was joking," I said and nudged his shoulder gently with mine. He didn't respond and I frowned at him.

"Eddie? What's wrong?" He was unnaturally pale and his eyes were huge. All playfulness was gone now as I looked around as for the source of his horror. There was nothing in the area but small, boxy buildings and dry tarmac.

"Eddie?" I tried again.

"Did you hear that?" He whispered.

"Hear what? Eddie, what?" I demanded feeling my frustration and fear rise.

"Someone screamed. I heard it."

I frowned again. I hadn't heard anything.

"Are you sure? I mean Miss Connor just had twins. She lives not far from here-"

"I know what I heard!" He shouted, momentarily stunning me with his anger before he took off at a run. I followed him without hesitation, my senses on high alert just in case. We pounded across the deserted roads without another sound and I felt myself calm minutely. I was just relaxing when we neared the town centre I heard it; a terrified drawn out cry that was abruptly cut off.

"Oh God, Eddie!" I screamed as fear rose again in tenfold and I increased my pace. I was panting and my legs were screaming in protest but the adrenaline in my system kept me going.

"I know!" He bellowed before moving his legs faster so he was keeping pace with me. As we came closer to home the number of screeches increased as did my heartbeat.

"Please no," I sobbed, fear spiking my system. I knew what was going on I just didn't want to think it. It couldn't be happening, not here, not now.

Except it was. We rounded the corner to our street only to both come to a dead stop as horror consumed us. Four bodies lay in the street, their empty eyes staring impassively towards us, their skin deathly pale due to the lack of blood running through their veins. Miss Mackenzie, her daughter Kimberly and Eddie's parents.

"No!"

The cry was echoed from two directions. To my left from my best friend beside me who screamed it in denial and to my right from my mother who was in front of our house fighting two of the Strigoi I knew would be there, but wished with all my being weren't.

"Rose!" She screamed her eyes locking with mine and growing wild with panic. "Run! Get out of here now!"

I wasn't known for obeying my mom's orders but the desperation in her voice had me turning before I was conscious of the action. I grabbed Eddie's wrist and pulled him along with me. I think it was only his own shock that allowed me to move him and soon I had us stumbling along the path I had travelled down just half an hour earlier. When my world was complete and my mom...

Eddie seemed to suddenly realise what was happening and picked up the pace so he was dragging me along. I could hear his laboured breaths and knew the tears on his checks mirrored my own. We reached the mile mark and before I could remind him we both plummeted down the steep gorge in a mass of blood, sweat and tears. We landed crumpled in a heap at the bottom and I cursed violently when I felt the muscle in my ankle twist. Eddie clamped a hand over my mouth and I shut up as we huddled together in the dark listening to the distant screams as the dawn slowly broke and the silence came.

"They're all dead aren't they?" I whimpered as the sun's first rays touched us.

Eddie's muffled sob was the only conformation I needed and I sagged, feeling the shock and horror overcome me. I wanted to cry like my best friend, to have some sort of release but I couldn't. Instead I grew numb as we rocked together in our safe haven.

"What happens now?" I whispered as Eddie grew silent and the midday sun beat down on us. I was tired, so, so tired and I felt my eyelids drift shut as the adrenaline in my system finally burnt it's self out. My body ached but I ignored it as I leant against the rocky back wall and shut my eyes.

"I don't know Rose. I don't know."