DISCLAIMER: I don't own Vampire academy!

Janine Hathaway stood nervously in the doorway. It was not like her to be nervous, she was usually firm and strong. She smoothed her skirt, tugging it down a little. Her classmates eyes shone with curiosity as

she walked inside. It wasn't unusual that she would get into a royal gathering, but some people were still surprised that a Dhampir who wasn't on guard would be there. That, despite the fact they're out of high school, people actually kept inviting her to these events.

Her beautiful perfectly curved body was what made Moroi guys - particularly the royals - invite her along to these kind of things in hopes of getting laid. She was used to the attention, the wolf whistles at school. But her reason for being here is what it unusual. Something she didn't expect to do. But she needed to know so badly. She scanned the room.

"Jay!" Someone had called from behind her.

She looked up and smiled happily. Her current boyfriend, Danny Zeklos. Rich and royal. No one was exactly happy about them dating, and the way he showed her off proudly made people raise their eyebrows. "Hey." She replied. He leaned in to kiss her softly and quickly.

"Babe, I didn't think you'd show."

She smiled again nervously, not having the heart to tell him she wasn't there for him. He flung one arm around her waist and dragged her around to socialize with other royals.

She played the girlfriend role well. She laughed at lame jokes, she got along with his friends. She put on her man eater smile. She kissed him with passion. But there was something in their relationship that was lacking. There was no real chemistry between them. She preferred it when they were just friends. Please, was what her mother had told her back when she was growing up in the Dhampir community,as if any of them wanted to be 'just friends' . The words were drilled into her mind, but she shook them off. It was going to be different for her. She knew. She was smarter then her mother.

Maybe Danny isn't the right person. Maybe they will break up and he would move onto marrying another royal Moroi royal. Or maybe against all odds, he would marry her. It was nice to dream that a royal would commit to her even though she knew the chances were slim. Anything was possible, it's not like it didn't happen before.

It was true that she dressed slutty and was flattered by the attention. But she couldn't help her vanity. She liked having people look at her and think she's pretty. To want her. She had viewed Danny as someone to help her pass the time when he first asked her out. But things are becoming serious and slowly she started to fall to him a little, too.

She caught sight of her father and nodded politely at him from across the room. She had known him, yes, not that their relationship was very good. He is royal and wouldn't admit that Janine was his blood in public. But all the same, things have a way of getting out. Even though she knew him and the kind of person he was she still couldn't hate him... No. Whatever happened, he was still her father. Even though he never acted the part.

Danny led her towards the dance floor and swung her around. He was a little drunk, but she didn't mind. His sloppy moves made her burst out laughing. She liked his easy going nature and the fact he didn't mind making a fool of himself. He grinned at her and spun her around. She giggled again, her tight black dress flowing around a little as she turned. When she stopped she almost fell backwards, but luckily Danny grabbed hold of her. "

Take it easy." He said gently, chuckling now himself.

She scoffed. The drunk guy was telling her to take it easy. He led her off the dance floor, thrusting some champagne in her hand. She took a couple of sips. Her eyes flown all around the room. It was a guardian habit. Her eyes suddenly met with someone else's brown eyes.

She stumbled back. She only knew this guy by name and had once seen a picture of him. Yesterday. But in person, he looked completely different. She blushed as she watched him, instantly deciding he's hot. His clothes were expensive, that seemed to scream that he was someone important and rich. His eyes were a rich dark brown colour. He was tanned for a Moroi, this made her raise an eyebrow. His slim, tall figure indicated he was of course a Moroi, but he could've pasted for a Dhampir if he had some more muscles. His hair was a slick black colour that was styled messily on purpose and held up with gel. He had a sparking golden stud in his ear that was a little red due to infection. It looked pretty new, like he had just got it done. He wore a sliver chain around his neck along with a cashmere scarf that was done up sloppily.

Ibrahim Mazur.

Not many non-royals were rich. But Ibrahim was one of the lucky ones. His dad owned some big company, but him himself had some pretty big things going on. He also seemed to know everyone that was royal or rich and be on good terms with them. Many rumours were spread around, but Janine didn't believe it. It was also rare for a non-royal to have a guardian. Janine watched as Abe talked to someone, a dark figure leaning against the wall watched them. Abe excused himself and walked over to refill his drink, the person followed like a shadow. Lingering behind but not disturbing. She frowned. Abe had requested her to be his guardian.

She had gotten one of the tops marks in her class, along with her clean record she was the idol choice for a royal. But when she was told that Abe had requested her she grew confused about this guy. She did some research and apparently the guardian that was shadowing him around belonged to his father. Whom was not far away. But Abe needed his own guardian for whatever reason. Not many people, including royals, had assigned guardians at the court. Unless they were the prince or princess in their families. Or of course, the queen. The guardians usually worked in shift and even though not many of them were needed due to the wards. But this was different. These guardians were hired, not assigned.

Dhampirs for hire. It was the most unusual thing, but apparently it was true. She never heard of such a thing, until yesterday when she has been contacted. Instead of leaving it up to the 'important' people to choose her future, she could choose it for herself. It was a good opportunity, one that not widely known of. She was threatened, that this kind of thing shouldn't get out. She laughed lightly at herself. The Moroi would find a way to sweep the whole situation under the rug if necessary and she knew it.

Danny was talking to some friends once more, not really noticing his girlfriend. She had taken his opportunity to make a run for it to do what she was here for. She couldn't have Danny know she was actually considering this. When she had bought up Ibrahim Mazur to his face yesterday, asking him if he knew him, Danny had choked on his coke. Resulting it in coming out of his nose. She giggled, remembering.

She made her way across the room to him. The guardian raised his eyebrow and took a couple of steps towards her. Anyone innocent could posses danger, they learned. Yet it annoyed her to see that someone was thought she was dangerous, she was obliviously Dhampir. Jeez. Plus what could she do? Pull out a knife in public and stab the guy? She shot the guardian, whom was only a few years older, her famous sweet smile. He nodded in reorganization of her face.

"Guardian Hathaway." He spoke teasingly, testing the name out. She flinched, not still being used to the name. But she liked it.

She looked up at the guardian and titled her head to the side, trying to figure out where she had seen this guy before. But then she quickly shook her head. That's not what she was here for. She nodded politely to the guardian in acknowledgement. She cleared her throat and the Moroi turned around to face her.

"Ibrahim Mazur." She spoke carefully.

He grinned. "Janine Hathaway." He paced around her, eyes searching her face and body. She winced.

"My, my. The rumours are true." He grabbed and kissed her hand. None of this fazed her. She leaned lazily against the wall. She decide to get right down to business, not wasting time with small talk. Ibrahim didn't seem like the guy whom bothered much with it either.

"So I hear you want me for a guardian." Janine says, shrugging. Teasing voice. Man eater smile. Shit, she hoped her boyfriend wasn't watching her flirt freely like this.

"Dunno why that's been going around." He says casually with a wink, sipping his drink.

She tapped her chin in sarcasm. "Oh well... People get jealous when they look at me and stir up all thoughts of things. Y'know, so I don't get away." She batted her eyelashes. He looked amused.

"So I just wanted to see- I mean - met you. Don't want to end up saving an asshole's life."

Abe snorted.

"I want to know what I'm in for." she added, explaining quickly.

"You're not that bad, Hathaway." He commented with a smirk. She flipped my hair over her shoulders and returned his smirk.

"I know."

They talked for a little bit after that. Not about anything really. Just casually. She had wanted to get a sense of what type of a guy this 'Ibrahim Mazur' was. She liked him, she finally decided. But she was still curious to why he wanted her for a guardian. Surely with the price he was offering he could get someone better. Not that she wasn't happy or didn't want the job. She did. But still, she was curious.

Suddenly, a little blonde girl came and linked her arm through Abe's. "Hey." she said huskily to him. He grinned at her in return. For a Moroi, the girl had some slight curves in her body. It was a nice change from the super-model-skinny bodies that Moroi had. But the occasional girl would have a curvier shape to her body (but was still very slim), and the occasional guy was more muscular then slim. Janine had recognized the girl. Renee Szelsky.

Suddenly Janine felt stupid. Of course Abe was the type of guy that had a girlfriend. His flirting meant nothing. He was just humouring her. She mentally slapped herself. Her cheeks were suddenly feeling hot and she scanned the room for her boyfriend, whom for a second she forget she had. But heck, she'd even excuse herself to go talk to her father at that moment. Anything so she could avoid this. Her cheeks start to feel hot. She was foolish - stupid, really -to fall for his stupid act.

Renee shifted her attention over to Janine, as if just noticing she was standing there. Her gaze searched her body before meeting her face again. Not the way guys looked, but to recognize her as Dhampir. "Hey." She said politely, the way she was probably taught to.

"You're that Hathaway girl right? Congratulations! I heard about your marks." Renee beamed at her.

Janine couldn't help but relax a little. Renee was nice, even though Janine knew better. That the second she turned around Renee would probably mimic her or make a cruel joke. But Janine was proud of her marks. She came third in her class, which was better then she could hope for.

"Thanks." Janine said back, smiling. "It's Janine, by the way." She corrected, knowing that Renee didn't give a damn about her name and will forget it a second later. Nevertheless, Renee repeated the name to herself and commented on how pretty it was. Quickly, Janine excused herself from the couple and went to search for her boyfriend. Stupid, she thought to herself.

She glanced back over her shoulder. That charming bastard was smirking. She groaned. He knew he had made her feel this way when she noticed his girlfriend. She had made a complete fool of herself. She cursed her father for not being a normal, overprotected father and pulled her away. He was only standing a couple of feet away, watching the whole thing! He was probably laughing at her too, the daughter whom made an embarrassment out of herself.

She dragged herself to the group of people Danny was with earlier. His royal friends. They had accepted her easily, mostly because she was with Danny. Partly, because it was to steal glimpses at her body. Janine usually finds this amusing. She quickly straightened herself up before reaching them.

"Hiya." She greeted them again. They all grinned and said the same thing back. A handful of girls gave her evil looks that read 'stay away from my boyfriend!' loud and clear.

Janine shrugged at the girls.

"Do you know where Danny went?"She asked. Even though she wasn't originally there for him, she needed his presence not to seem pathetic. Ah, the many benefits to dating a royal. And trust me when I say, there's a lot of them.

One of the guys jerked his thumb towards the door. "He said he was going to get another drink." he said. Janine nodded, she noticed that the tables of drinks were empty now. It made sense. She thanked them and slipped out of the room before anyone could notice.

A/N Okay, let's just get one thing cleared up, I know we're all attached to Abe being this mafia gang leader sort of guy and Janine only sometimes somewhat having a heart but this is they're younger selves and they may act a little different... or a lot ;) until they evolve into their proper personalities. Reviews make me happy, btw, just putting it out there.