Adrian's POV

Victoria started reading the chapter, but my mind was on something I've been operating for a few days. I'm very worries about this thing. I've always hated seeing people's aura, but I'm glad I can now though, because it seems like my Little Dhampir needs help. So when everyone focused on the story, I opened my aura vision to scrutinize everything.

A COUPLE WEEKS PASSED AFTER that, and I soon forgot about the Anna thing as life at the Academy wrapped around me. The shock of our return had worn off a little, and we began to fall into a semi-comfortable routine. My days revolved around church, lunch with Lissa, and whatever sort of social life I could scrape together outside of that.

"Which was still non existent." Eddie said smiling. Rose gave her trademark puppy eyes and nodded. She is simply amusing. You can never get bored of observing her.

Denied any real free time, I didn't have too hard a time staying out of the spotlight, although I did manage to steal a little attention here and there, despite my noble speech to her about 'coasting through the middle.' I couldn't help it. I liked flirting, I liked groups, and I liked making smartass comments in class.

"You wouldn't be you without that Rosie." said Christian in a sing-song voice making all of us chuckle and Rose narrow her eyes at the name.

Her new, incognito role attracted attention simply because it was so different than before we'd left, back when she'd been so active with the royals.

I couldn't help but make smart-ass remark at that, "You don't even know how wrong that sounded Lil Dhampir." she chuckled and nodded probably realizing the same thing.

Most people soon let that go, accepting that the Dragomir princess was fading off the social radar and content to run with Natalie and her group. Natalie's rambling still made me want to beat my head against a wall sometimes,

"Who didn't?" Lissa rolled her eyes at that.

but she was really nice—nicer than almost any of the other royals—and I enjoyed hanging around her most of the time.

"Or so I thought." murmured Rose. I could see anger in her aura. Which made sense, considering what Natalie and her pathetic excuse of a father did to them.

And, just as Kirova had warned, I was indeed training and working out all the time. But as more time passed, my body stopped hating me.

"Aren't you just soo lovable." Christian said sarcasm dripping from his words. For which he got the smack he so dearly deserved from Lissa.

My muscles grew tougher, and my stamina increased. I still got my ass kicked in practice but not quite as badly as I used to, which was something. The biggest toll now seemed to be on my skin. Being outside in the cold so much was chapping my face,and only Lissa's constant supply of skin-care lotions kept me from aging before my time.

Everyone chucked at this.

She couldn't do much for the blisters on my hands and feet.

A routine also developed with Dimitri and me. Mason had been right about him being antisocial. Dimitri didn't hang out much with the other guardians,

"Much? Try never. There were only two sides of Dimitri, either on duty or locked in his room with his who-knows-what hobbies." said Eddie. Rose smirked but before she could open her mouth to no doubt share some interesting thoughts on this, Belikov warned,"Rose one word out and you'll seriously regret it." And for first time in our entire lives, we saw Rosemarie Hathaway shudder and seal her mouth. Everyone looked at them with gaping mouths, even her mom looked shocked. Come on, you would be too if you saw Rose silenced without violence, and actually listening to someone.

though it was clear they all respected him. And the more I worked with him, the more I respected him too, though I didn't really understand his training methods. They didn't seem very badass.

This brought everyone out of their shock and made them laugh.

We always started by stretching in the gym, and lately he'd been sending me outside to run, braving the increasingly cold Montana autumn.

Three weeks after my return to the Academy, I walked into the gym before gi one day and found him sprawled on a mat, reading a Louis L'Amour book.

"Seriously? Dimitri I didn't know you were that type." said Lissa earning confused and questioning glances. She shrugged, "I never thought his hobby would include reading Westerns. I never took him for that type of guy, I took him to have more of an action loving personality."

After some weird glances by us, Victoria started reading.

Someone had brought in a portable CD player, and while that cheered me up at first, the song coming from it did not: "When Doves Cry" by Prince. It was embarrassing to know the title,

We all laughed out loud. But when Janine said, "I love that song." Rose made some gagging noises. We all looked sick at this.

but one of our former housemates had been obsessed with the '80s.

"Whoa, Dimitri," I said, tossing my bag on the floor. "I realize this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"

"Was it really going to matter? You weren't even going to listen to them. Because of your routine." said Janine.

Only his eyes flicked toward me; the rest of his posture remained the same. "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

"You have a point there man." said Flame Boy.

I made a face as I set my foot up on one of the bars and stretched my hamstrings. All things considered, Dimitri had a good-natured tolerance for my snarkiness.

"So what's your secret belikov? Don't be rude and keep it from us." Eddie wiggled his eyebrows at him. Belikov just shrugged.

So long as I didn't slack in my training, he didn't mind my running commentary.

"Hey," I asked, moving on to the next set of stretches, "what's with all the running, anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

"Maybe you should hit harder," he replied drily.

We all laughed at this.

"I'm serious.

"Hard to tell the difference." said Sydney and Mia, making us chuckle.

"Hard to tell the difference."

"It's scary how you think like him..." said Rose.

He set the book down but didn't move from his sprawl. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?"

My Little Sunflower rolled her eyes at this. I gave her a small peck on cheek.

"Yup."

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at will you do?"

"Depends on what store we're in."

"Rose!" groaned Janine.

He looked at me.

"Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake."

Dimitri sat up now, crossing his long legs in one fluid motion. I still couldn't figure out how someone so tall could be so graceful.

"It comes with practice." said Belikov.

It hurts me to say this but, I really admired the guy. He is perfect for Rose, he keeps her grounded. The happiest aura that I've found around the whole of Court is Rose's when she's around him. I can see what Sonya described. Their auras are in sync with each other like I've never seen before.

"He is graceful now, but you should've seen him in his early teenage years Roza. It was like he woke up one day all tall and awkward, bumping into things, I can't even count how many times he bumped his head into walls or doors." Olena laughed, Rose looked up at her very very amused. Then started laughing probably imagining him like Olena described. While Belikov got red cheeks. Everyone was laughing now.

"Oh?" He raised his dark eyebrows. "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

"Belikov: 1 Hathaway: 0," laughed Eddie.

I dragged my eyes away from his body and scowled.

"Rose is there any time you don't eye fuck him?" asked Mia laughing. Rose shrugged. While everyone chuckled, a certain Russian got embarrassed.

Made with elemental magic, silver stakes were a guardian's deadliest weapon. Stabbing a Strigoi through the heart with one meant instant death. The blades were also lethal to Moroi, so they weren't given out lightly to novices. My classmates had just started learning how to use them. I'd trained with a gun before, but no one would let me near a stake yet. Fortunately, there were two other ways to kill a Strigoi.

"Okay. I'll cut his head off."

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you?"

"Belikov: 2 Hathaway: 0," cheered Eddie.

I straightened up from touching my toes, annoyed. "Fine, then I'll set him on fire."

"Again, with what?"

"Sparky," answered Rose like it was world's stupidest question. Even Belikov laughed at this.

"All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

"You run." said Rose's mom, like she was stating that a day has 24 hours.

He looked at me and didn't blink. "You run."

"What, is this a thing all guardians have drilled into their heads? " asked jill. The four guardians present shrugged.

"And with that ladies and gentlemen, we have the final results of the verbal spat that we just witnessed. Belikov: 3 Hathaway: 0. And I'm very pleased to announce to you that our very own Guardian Belikov wins with outstanding performance." Clapped Eddie. We all laughed at Eddie's antics. It was the first time since Mason's death I'd seen him this relaxed.

I repressed the urge to throw something at him. When I finished my stretches, he told me he'd run with me. That was a first. Maybe running would give me some insight into his killer reputation.

"It wasn't sarcasm," said Rose.

We set out into the chilly October evening. Being back on a vampiric schedule still felt weird to me. With school about to start in an hour, I expected the sun to be coming up, not down. But it was sinking on the western horizon, lighting up the snow-capped mountains with an orange glow.

Beside me Sydney muttered something offensive it vaguely sounded like, "Damn vampires and their schedules." I shook my head and laughed silently.

It didn't really warm things up, and I soon felt the cold pierce my lungs as my need for oxygen deepened. We didn't speak. He slowed his pace to match mine, so we stayed together.

Something about that bothered me; I suddenly very much wanted his approval.

That's when I saw it happening, Rose's aura connected with Belikov's, not like forming a bond but something else. Like his aura pulled hers towards his own. Then suddenly it was gone. I'd seen the same thing happening yesterday with Lissa and Mia as well.

It was a good thing my aunt was Queen back in the day, it gave me certain privileges. One being that I had access to moroi archives. That is what helped me when my magic was first developing.

I spent one whole month in those archives finding anything and everything I could. But I knew I wouldn't have those privileges forever, so I had scanned the books that had anything on auras. They have helped me get through all the confusing things that have happened to me.

So when I saw this unusual behaviour of Rose's aura, I started searching for anything I could find. Though I'm still looking for the reason or any kind of explanation.

So when Victoria started reading again I opened the password protected documents in my phone and started browsing through it.

Rose's pov

As Vika started reading again I got up and went to snuggle with my comrade. He happily put his arms around me, and I couldn't help the sigh of content that left my mouth at this.

So I picked up my own pace, working my lungs and muscles harder. Twelve laps around the track made three miles; we had nine more to go.

All the moroi shuddered. I hated that because of the system, our moroi are so vulnerable and weak.

When we reached the third-to-last loop, a couple of other novices passed by, preparing to go to the group practice I'd soon be at as well. Seeing me, Mason cheered. "Good form, Rose!"

I smiled and waved back.

"You're slowing down," Dimitri snapped, jerking my gaze from the boys. The harshness in his voice startled me.

"Jealous?" I asked Dimitri. He shrugged, giving me my answer. This brought a smile to my face, and I snuggled closer to him.

"Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

Embarrassed, I increased my speed once more, despite the fact that my body started screaming obscenities at me.

"More evidence that you're crazy." said Christian dryly. I gave him an equally dry look.

We finished the twelve laps, and when he checked, he found we'd shaved two minutes off my best time.

"Not bad, huh?" I crowed when we headed back inside for cool-down stretches. "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

"If she was with you, she'd be okay."

I looked up in surprise. It was the first real compliment he'd paid me since I started training with him. His brown eyes watched me, both approving and amused.

Dimitri looked down at me with the same approving and amused look her given me that day, "I've always approved of you Roza." I was so happy that I could've grown wings and flown away at that moment.

And that's when it happened.

I felt like someone had shot me.

Gasps came from Sydney, Mia and Jill. Girls, I swear.

Sharp and biting, terror exploded in my body and in my head. Small razors of pain. My vision blurred, and for a moment, I wasn't standing there. I was running down a flight of stairs, scared and desperate, needing to get out of there, needing to find…me.

"Was it the bond?" asked Karolina wide eyed. I nodded solemnly, not wanting to remember it.

My vision cleared, leaving me back on the track and out of Lissa's head. Without a word to Dimitri, I tore off, running as fast as I could toward the Moroi dorm.

"Did I thank you for leaving me hanging? No? Well thank you." Dimitri joked.

All of us looked at him shocked, "Did you... Did you just attempt a sarcastic, teasing AND mocking sentence with tone?" I asked surprised.

He looked around, "Was that bad? I was just trying to lighten the situation." Dimitri said.

We all looked at him, when Eddie said, "Dude, being with Rose is rubbing off on you isn't it? I can't believe the antisocial, stoic God Dimitri Belikov actually made a joke!"

He shrugged like it was no big deal.

Getting over our shocks we asked Vika to continue reading.

It didn't matter that I'd just put my legs through a mini-marathon. They ran hard and fast, like they were shiny and new. Distantly, I was aware of Dimitri catching up to me, asking me what was wrong. But I couldn't answer him. I had one task and one alone: get to the dorm.

Its looming, ivy-covered form was just coming into view when Lissa met up with us, her face streaked with tears. I came to a jarring stop, my lungs ready to burst.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I demanded, clutching her arms, forcing her to look into my eyes.

Every one looked sympathetically at Lissa. She buried her face in Christian's chest.

But she couldn't answer. She just flung her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. I held her there, stroking her sleek, silky hair while I told her it was going to be all right—whatever 'it' was. And honestly, I didn't care what it was just then. She was here, and she was safe, which was all that mattered. Dimitri hovered over us, alert and ready for any threat, his body coiled to attack. I felt safe with him beside us.

Dimitri kissed my head at this. I smiled.

A half hour later, we were crammed inside Lissa's dorm room with three other guardians, Ms. Kirova, and the hall matron. This was the first time I'd seen Lissa's room. Natalie had indeed managed to get her as a roommate, and the two sides of the room were a study in contrasts. Natalie's looked lived in, with pictures on the wall and a frilly bedspread that wasn't dorm-issue. Lissa had as few possessions as I did, making her half noticeably bare. She did have one picture taped to the wall, a picture taken from last Halloween, when we'd dressed up like fairies, complete with wings and glittery makeup.

"You've always been my angel fairy." Dimitri whispered.

I kissed his chest and smiled up at him, "And you've always been my guardian angel and a safe place. "

Seeing that picture and remembering how things used to be made a dull pain form in my chest.

With all the excitement, no one seemed to remember that I wasn't supposed to be in there. Outside in the hall, other Moroi girls crowded together, trying to figure out what was going on.

Pathetic high school girls.

Natalie pushed her way through them, wondering what the commotion in her room was. When she discovered it,

Or rediscovered it. I thought to my self.

she came to a screeching halt.

By now everyone was listening intently not making a sound.

Shock and disgust showed on almost everyone's faces as we stared at Lissa's bed. There was a fox on the pillow. Its coat was reddish-orange, tinged in white. It looked so soft and cuddly that it could have been a pet, perhaps a cat, something you'd hold in your arms and snuggle with.

Sydney and Jill awed. While Mia knew exactly what was coming.

Aside from the fact that its throat had been slit.

Everyone had shocked faces at this.

The inside of the throat looked pink and jellylike. Blood stained that soft coat and had run down onto the yellow bedspread, forming a dark pool that spread across the fabric. The fox's eyes stared upward, glazed, over with a sort of shocked look about them, like the fox couldn't believe this was happening.

Some made gagging sound while Christian complained, "Rose did you really have to explain it in such graphic detail?"

Nausea built up in my stomach, but I forced myself to keep looking. I couldn't afford to be squeamish. I'd be killing Strigoi someday. If I couldn't handle a fox, I'd never survive major kills.

Mom looked at me, "That is not true, Rose. You should've looked away."

I nodded, "I know mom."

What had happened to the fox was sick and twisted, obviously done by someone too fucked up for words.

Everyone seemed to agree with this.

Lissa stared at it, her face death-pale, and took a few steps toward it, hand involuntarily reaching out. This gross act hit her hard, I knew, digging at her love of animals. She loved them, they loved her. While on our own, she'd often begged me for a pet, but I'd always refused and reminded her we couldn't take care of one when we might have to flee at a moment's notice. Plus, they hated me. So she'd contented herself with helping and patching up strays she found and making friends with other people's pets, like Oscar the cat.

"Who really hated me," I said dryly.

"I told you, nobody loves you Rose," said Christian in mock seriousness. I poked my tongue out at him, and he did the same back.

Yeah really mature chrissy, I thought.

She couldn't patch this fox up, though. There was no coming back for it, but I saw in her face she wanted to help it, like she helped everything. I took her hand and steered her away, suddenly recalling a conversation from two years ago.

"What is that? Is it a crow?"

"Too big. It's a raven."

"Is it dead?"

"Yeah. Definitely dead. Don't touch it."

She hadn't listened to me back then. I hoped she would now.

"By the way, what was it about?" asked Jill.

I said calmly,"It'll probably be in the book, so just keep listening."

"It was still alive when I got back," Lissa whispered to me, clutching my arm. "Barely. Oh God, it was twitching. It must have suffered so much."

Again sympathetic glances from everyone.

I felt bile rise in my throat now. Under no circumstances would I throw up. "Did you—?"

"No. I wanted to…I started to…"

"Then forget about it," I said sharply. "It's stupid. Somebody's stupid joke. They'll clean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want."

"Forget about what?" asked Sydney.

I replied irritated, "It'll be in the book, so just suck it up and listen. Don't ruin the suspense. "

She turned to me, eyes almost wild. "Rose…do you remember…that one time…"

"Stop it," I said. "Forget about it. This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows?…"

I tightened my grip on her arm, digging my nails in to get her attention. She flinched.

Christian narrowed his eyes at me but Lissa murmured something in his ear, he relaxed after that.

"No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?" I could feel both Natalie and Dimitri's eyes on us. "It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Not looking like she believed me at all, Lissa nodded.

"I knew something was bound to happen sooner or later." Lissa murmured sadly. The only people who heard her were Sparky, Dimitri and I.

"Get this cleaned up," Kirova snapped to the matron. "And find out if anyone saw anything."

Someone finally realized I was there and ordered Dimitri to take me away, no matter how much I begged them to let me stay with Lissa.

"Rose begging? This I need to see!" smirked Adrian. It was then I noticed he hadn't actually paid attention to what was going around him.

He walked me back to the novices' dorm. He didn't speak until we were almost there. "You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

This time I nodded at him. He chuckled and whispered in my ear, "You are incredibly adorable sometimes."

I suddenly became very shy, I know Rose Hathaway? Shy? But this man has the power to make me feel all warm even when it's freezing outside.

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."

"Do you have any idea. Who would do it? Or why?"

I again nodded at him. He rolled his eyes when I made big googly eyes at him.

I considered this. Before we'd left, it could have been any number of people. That was the way it was when you were popular. People loved you, people hated you. But now? Lissa had faded off to a certain extent. The only person who really and truly despised her was Mia, but Mia seemed to fight her battles with words, not actions.

"Damn straight, I do. And it's not a surprise that I was the first guess." said Mia rolling her eyes.

And even if she did decide to do something more aggressive, why do this? She didn't seem like the type. There were a million other ways to get back at a person. "No," I told him. "No clue."

"Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

I spun around, taking my anger over the fox out on him.

"Rose you don't take out your anger out on your instructor." Mom said in exasperation.

"Yeah, it is serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! Teach me how to fight. I already know how to run away."

I didn't realize until that moment how badly I did want to learn, how I wanted to prove myself to him, to Lissa, and to everyone else. The fox incident had made me feel powerless, and I didn't like that. I wanted to do something, anything.

"It wasn't in your control Kiz." Abe said looking at me levelly. I nodded telling him that I understood.

Dimitri watched my outburst calmly, with no change in his expression. When I finished, he simply beckoned me forward like I hadn't said anything. "Come on. You're late for practice."

"So, it's the end of chapter. Who wants to read next?" asked Vika

My mom replied, "I will." Vika passed the book to her.

"Guys, I'm going to get some snacks and coffee for everyone. Let's take a break first." said Sparky.

Meanwhile Adrian stood up and walked over to me, "Lil Dhampir, can I talk to you privately?" I nodded, following him out. One look at his face and I knew it was serious.

Author's note : I know I know guys, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. But as a bonus today you guys have my first edited chapter. so lets have a big round of applause for Ginervra Annabeth Herondale (a.k.a Anne ) for editing this chapter.

Message for those who showed me concern about the bond. THE BOND IS NOT REFORMING , I REPEAT THE BOND WON'T BE REFORMING.

Any Fifty shades fan here. Omg did you see the second trailer of fifty shades of grey movie? I saw it in the break btw my classes and I drooled, Jamie dornan always make me drool, he is one fine specimen. The trailer left all hot and bothered, and you won't believe I was soo damn flustered that too in whole 2 hours of my chemistry class. Damn Jamie. If this is what happened to me just by trailer I don't know how I will survive the whole movie.*cue dreamy eyes*

So guys on a more serious note, my next update will be a little delayed bc I have to go out of town to meet my neurologist, all the tests required to be done, and many many visits to hospital will take roughly a week. So I will apologise in advance. Thank you all for your love, I'm loving the reviews I'm receiving for this story.

Keep reviewing, reviews are appreciated and enjoyed. If you give me ideas for the story I'll try to incorporate them.

So stay safe, stay healthy guys.

Lots of love.

Anvi.