AN: Howdy, guys! Hope you enjoy this first chapter. I thought I should make sure everyone is clear on a few basic things before you read. One: this is a Rose/Lissa femslash story. Two: takes place in Frostbite. Three: it will be fairly similar to the plot of Frostbite in the beginning. Four: Rose and Dimitri (though I like him when he isn't being a major jerk-face) have no feelings beyond friendship for each other.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plotline. So go away you creepy douche lawyers!

Chapter 1

Rose

I didn't think my day could get any worse until my best friend told me she might be going crazy. Again.

"I… what did you say?"

I stood in the lobby of her dorm, leaning over one of my boots adjusting it. Jerking my head up, I peered at her through the tangle of dark hair covering half my face. I'd fallen asleep after school and had skipped using a hairbrush in order to make it out the door on time. Lissa's platinum blonde hair was smooth and perfect, as always, hanging over her shoulders like a bridal veil as she watched me with amusement.

"I said I think my pills might not be working as well anymore."

Ah, the pills. I straightened up and pulled the hair out of my face. She was talking about the pills she'd been given to keep spirit, the element she wielded, away.

Spirit was a powerful element, but it was bittersweet. Those who used it could do incredible things, like bring people back from the dead, walk through dreams, and use very powerful vampire mind control known as compulsion. But it also filled them with darkness, which messed with their thoughts and moods. Lissa and I had first-hand experience with that. Before we figured it out, Lissa's moods could get so low that she'd cut herself. Thankfully, we'd also found a way to lessen Spirit's effects. I, as Lissa's shadow-kissed bondmate, could take the darkness out of her and into myself. Of course, that presented its own problems. If I took the darkness, I got all the bad effects. I didn't get depressed so much as homicidally angry. So we were in a real bind until I also learned that I could transfer the darkness I took from Lissa into a silver object, enhancing the properties of that object.

Back to the pills. I didn't see the need for them. The school insisted that she take them and completely cut herself off from her powers. I would have intervened, but to do so and tell them what I knew would bring up questions I didn't want to answer.

"Are your powers back?" I asked.

She shook her head, and I saw a small flash of regret in her eyes. "No… I feel closer to the magic, but I still can't use it. Mostly what I'm noticing lately is a little of the other stuff, you know.… I'm getting more depressed now and then. Nothing even close to what it used to be," she said. She was referring to what it used to be before my…"brief" absence as it were.

"What about the other things you used to get? Anxiety? Delusional thinking?"

Lissa laughed, not taking any of this as seriously as I was. "You sound like you've been reading psychiatry textbooks."

I had read a lot of textbooks a long time ago, and since then I've practically been an expert. But she didn't need to know that. "I'm just worried about you. If the damn pills aren't working, I want to be ready to take the darkness out of you. I still have the dagger in my room." We'd used an old dagger of mine that I'd had for years, one of my only possessions from… Anyway, it was silver and with all the darkness infused in it, it was a hell of a handy tool in the fights we occasionally had with Strigoi while we were on the run.

"No, no," she said hastily. "I'm fine, really. They're still working… just not quite as much. I don't think we should panic yet. Especially you—not today at least."

Her change in subject actually worked. I'd found out an hour ago that I would be taking my Qualifier today. It was an exam—or rather, an interview—all novice guardians were required to pass junior year at St. Vladimir's Academy. Since I'd been off hiding Lissa, I'd missed mine. Not that I needed it. I touched the concealed promise mark on the back of my neck and the battle mark below it. I had already taken the Qualifier with Arthur Schoenberg years ago, but that was not something anyone needed to know, not even Lissa. Today I'd be going off campus to see a guardian who would administer the test to me. Thanks for the notice, guys.

"Don't worry about me," Lissa repeated, smiling. "I'll let you know if it gets worse."

"Okay," I said reluctantly.

Just to be safe, though, I opened my senses and allowed myself to truly feel her through our psychic bond. She had been telling the truth. She was calm and happy this morning, nothing to worry about. But, far back in her mind, I sensed a knot of dark, uneasy feelings. It wasn't consuming her or anything, but it had the same feel as the bouts of anger and depression she used to get. It was only a trickle, but I didn't like it. If I booked it, I could get the dagger before I had to leave.

She pointed to the clock. "You better get moving."

"Damn it," I swore. She was right. I gave her a quick hug. "See you later!"

"Good luck!" She called.

I hurried off across campus and found my friend and mentor, Dimitri Belikov, waiting beside a Honda Pilot. "I know, I know," I said, seeing his face. "Sorry I'm late." Dimitri stood there, looking like the lovably intimidating big bear he was. I loved my Dimka like a big brother. The massive, brick building cast long shadows over us, looming like some great beast in the dusky predawn light. Around us, snow was just beginning to fall. I watched the light, crystalline flakes drift gently down, reminding me of another life, a happier one… but I brushed those thoughts aside.

"Who else is going?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Just you and me."

I nodded. It didn't really matter to me whether it was the two of us or a mini army, though the mini army might dispel any awkwardness between us. You see, awhile back me and Dimitri had a little, uh, situation. A lust charm was cast upon us by Victor Dashkov, a total douche who kidnapped Lissa, tortured her, to make her heal him so he could be king. Anyway, the magic made us attack each other sexually. Since then, it's been very difficult to do anything together without bad thoughts and blushing.

We got into the car and were on our way. I decided to use the time to focus on the Qualifier.

It wasn't the kind of thing you could study for. You either passed it or you didn't. High-up guardians visited novices during their junior year and met individually to discuss students' commitment to being guardians. I vaguely remember what I was asked the first time around. It was mainly an assessment of character and dedication. Most novices passed, but some had been deemed unfit to continue down the guardian path.

"Don't they usually come to the Academy?" I asked Dimitri. "I mean, I'm all for a field trip, but why are we going to them?"

"Actually, you're just going to a him, not a them." A light Russian accent laced Dimitri's words, the only indication of where he'd grown up. "Since this is a special case and he's doing us the favor, we're the ones making the trip."

"Who is he?" I asked as I lifted a water bottle to my lips.

"Arthur Schoenberg."

It was cliché, but I spewed water onto the windshield. "What?" I squeaked. Arthur was a legend everywhere. Ev-ery-where. He was lethal, even in his later days. His exploits were part of Academy curriculum. What startled me wasn't that I was going to be tested by a legend. It was that I was going to him. As I said, I had taken with him the first time, and it was a hell of a coincidence to be doing it again.

I could see Dimitri hiding a smile. "You'll be fine. Besides, if Art approves of you, that's a great recommendation to have on your record." Silence fell in the car as I tried to shake off the feeling of déjà vu I was experiencing. "You'll do fine," he repeated. "Relax."

"Fine, but ya know what would help?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"If you turned off this crap music and put on something that came out after the Berlin Wall went down."

Dimitri laughed. "Your worst class is history, yet somehow, you know everything about Eastern Europe."

"Hey, gotta have material for my jokes, Comrade."

Still smiling, he turned the radio dial. To a country station.

"Hey! This isn't what I had in mind," I exclaimed.

I could tell he was on the verge of laughing again. "Pick. It's one or the other."

I sighed. "Go back to the 1980s stuff."

He flipped the dial, and I crossed my arms over my chest as some vaguely European-sounding band sang about how video killed the radio star. I wish someone would kill this radio.

The Arthur I knew was head of the Guardian council—the group who assigned guardians to Moroi and whatnot—and living at Court. The Arthur I was about to meet protected a small group of Badicas in a small town along I-90, not far from Billings. Moroi were split on where to live. Some believed that the crowds of cities would allow vampires to get lost in crowds. Yet others, like this family, felt that with fewer people to notice you, the less you would be noticed. The house was built in a rambler style, all one level with gray-stained wood siding and big bay windows—tinted to block sunlight, of course. It looked new and expensive, and even out in the middle of nowhere, it was about what I expected for members of a royal family.

I jumped down from the car, my boots sinking through an inch of smooth snow and crunching on the gravel of the driveway. The day was still and silent, save for the occasional breath of wind. Dimitri and I walked up to the house, following a river rock sidewalk that cut through the front yard.

Then suddenly, my guardian sixth sense was tingling. I stopped walking and so did Dimitri. In almost perfect synchronization, we turned our heads to scan the broad, white plains surrounding us before settling back on the house. We watched it for a full minute, studying for signs of… anything unusual.

Cautiously, we approached the front door. It wasn't open, but it wasn't entirely shut either. It looked like it had been closed in haste, not sealing. Further examination showed scuffs along the door's edge, as though it had been forced at some point. The slightest nudge would open it. When Dimitri touched the door handle, it jiggled a little like it had been broken.

Finally, he said quietly, "Rose, go wait in the car."

I was about to tell him to go fuck himself in a businesslike way when he gave me a look to kill.

"Go," he said.

I went back to the car and watched him very carefully enter the house. I counted to ten before getting out of the car. I circled around the right side of the house through foot-deep snow. I kept walking until my foot hit something. I brushed the snow away with foot. It was a silver stake. It had been driven into the ground. A shiver ran down my spine, and it wasn't from the cold. There was only one reason to drive a valuable silver stake into the ground around a house of Moroi.

I kept moving until I reached a patio. A window had been broken in order to unlock the door. I opened it, praying it didn't squeak. It was eerily silent as I entered. I gripped the stake firmly and tiptoed into the next room.

The room with a body in it. It was a woman. She lay in front of the TV, her dark hair spilling out from her and her throat torn out. I turned my head to find a second corpse, a man killed the same way. Another body was slumped on the couch, that of a child. Grief filled me at the sight of this carnage, grief over all the wasted life. I knelt by the woman and put my fingers to her eyelids. I drew them shut and whispered a simple blessing for the dead I learned a long time ago.

I stood and moved to the next room. Dimitri was in the basement I believe. I was in the kitchen, and the only body was one of another young woman who couldn't have been older than 30. I shut her eyes and whispered the blessing. My foot creaked on the wood panels.

Then there was a sharp cry. I leapt up, quietly of course, stake in hand. I listened again, and sure enough there was another softer whimper. It was coming from inside the wall. I ran my hand over the wall, tapping the wood. There was small, rectangular section that seemed to be hollow. Dimitri was coming in, and I hastily motioned for him to be quiet. He silently came up behind me while I felt for a latch or something that would help me get into the hollow area. When I found it, I yanked, and it opened.

Inside… was a baby. Wrapped in a cutesy blanket with fire trucks on it, a little baby boy stared up at us, tiny tears down his face, cooing. Without a second thought, I stuck the stake in my belt and reached inside. I lifted him into my arms, holding him close.

"Shh, little one," I crooned. Dimitri backed up as I turned around. The look we shared was one of equal amounts of shock and sadness. I looked back at the child. "Hey there, little guy. Don't cry now. It's gonna be okay." To Dimitri, I said, "Call for help if you haven't already. I need to check him for injuries. We need to get him out of here safely and back to the Academy."

He nodded, face set, and moved to the phone. I set the little fella on the kitchen table and unwrapped the blankets. He was in his pajamas, blue stripes with Thomas the Train Engine or whatever on the front. He didn't seem to be harmed, which brought me to the conclusion that he had been hidden before the Strigoi could get him. I looked at the woman on the floor. He had her eyes.

I bowed my head again in respect for the fallen mother whose final act was saving her child's life.

AN: Okay, guys, this is chapter one. You see that hyperlink that says Review this Chapter? It's pretty, right? Why don't you click it and see what happens? Please no flames about the little baby. I have a reason for it.