Summary: Rose and Lissa didn't run away from the academy and Dimitri's charge didn't die. Rose is now a Guardian and on her night off, she meets Dimitri for the first time, what will happen?

Chapter One

It had been two weeks now that I and Lissa had been at Court. It was nothing special really. Apart from the fact that Lissa was training to be the next Queen while Christian got the go ahead to train younger children to fight with their powers.

I'm Rose Hathaway, the last Dragomir's bond mate, Guardian and best friend. I'm Shadow Kissed to her because she brought me back from the dead after the car crash that killed her parents and her brother. Shortly after that she fell for antisocial Christian Ozera, a non-royal whose parents turned and shortly killed.

You see I'm a Dhampir, half human, half vampire or so to put it in our world, half Moroi. There are two kinds of vampires, the good...and the bad. The Moroi are good, mortal, vampires and have one of the five elements as a power; fire, water, earth, air and newly discovered spirit. The bad ones are the Strigois, who feed on Morois, Dhampirs and humans and are immortal. You could easily tell who was a Strigoi because their eyes would be red and their skin as pale as the dead. Us Dhampirs protect the Morois from the undead as we are much more powerful than Morois. But it wasn't always like that, Moroi used to fight the Strigoi too, but then they got too scared.

So your properly wondering what I'm doing on a Sunday night, at a bar with an orange juice and alone. Well tonight's my night off, great. Nothing really to do here at Court expect training in the gym, but it was closed on a Sunday night.

I was sitting at the bar with my orange juice in my hands and just looking at it. The song, 'Love Story' started playing when I finally looked up. I pushed some of my long chocolate brown hair away from my face and looked around. The place was almost empty, there were some people, but it wasn't as busy as a Saturday or Friday night. I sighed and noticed someone at the end of the bar.

He was wearing a long coat – a duster – his dark brown hair – a few shades lighter than mine – was at chin length but was tied at the back of his neck. And his muscles, whoa, I bet every girl at Court would stare at them, they were big but not too big, which was good and handsome. He was looking down at his orange juice like I did not too long ago. He had a thoughtful look on his face which made me want to know what he was thinking.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my upper thigh; I quickly turned to my right to find – George – a royal Moroi and a total playboy. Adrian – who used to be a playboy – was once his best friend, until he got together with Mia and stopped fooling around with girls. Since then they haven't spoken, the only time they did is when Adrian warned him off for me. He was truly a good friend.

"Hey there Hathaway." He said trying to be sexy.

I groaned and said, "What do you want George?"

"You know what I want..." He said as he rubbed his hand up and down my thigh.

I slapped his hand away from me, "Fuck off George." I said.

"Or what, you're get my ex-best friend on me. Come on Rose, it's going to take more than that to get me away from you." He leaned into me.

"Just leave me alone." I said getting out of my sit.

But he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down, "What makes you think I'm going to do that you blood whore." His grip hardened.

"Let. Go. Of. Me." I growled struggling out of his grip.

He was about to say something but then a hand went on his shoulder to stop him. He looked up and looked horrified as he held in his breath. I followed his gaze to see that man from the end of the bar standing there, looking controlled and graceful.

"I will suggest that you do as she says and let go." He said which sounded more like a growl with a soft accent what I couldn't place.

George then tried to play hard man, "Oh yeah, whose going to make me?"

"I will." The man growled again.

When he didn't let go, the man looked like he was about to punch him, if Roland didn't show up.

"George, let go of Guardian Hathaway and get out of my bar or I'll get the Guardian's to throw you out!" He shouted, he was the barman and around in his fifties. We sometimes talked when I came down, normally about random stuff. He would always kick people out for hitting on me when I told them to get lost.

George finally let go and quickly left before the Guardian's at the door got to him. I rubbed my arm that he held, which was going to leave a bruise tomorrow.

"Are you okay Rose?" Roland asked me.

I nodded and smiled to him, "Yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing. Thanks Roland." He nodded and got back to whatever he was doing.

I turned to the man standing next to me and said, "And thank you Stranger." I smiled.

He chuckled which sounded like a soft song and smiled back. "You're welcome." He noticed me continue to rub my arm. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

I laughed and replied, "Yeah it's nothing, it's just a bruise nothing serious."

He smiled again – a breath taking smile – and turned his heel and was about to walk back to his sit.

"I'm Rose!" I blurted out. He turned to me again, "I'm Rose Hathaway." I said as I put my hand out to him.

He took it and as soon as he did I could feel fire and heat between us. "I'm Dimitri Belikov."

"Nice to meet you Dimitri, would you like...to sit with me?" I asked.

"Aren't you waiting for someone?" He asked

I shake my head, "Nope." I push again some of my hair back. "If you don't want to sit with me I'll – "

"I would love to." He cut me off and sat down next to me.

"So Dimitri, where you from? Something in your voice tells me your not from around here." I said.

He laughed, "Russia." Ah, that's where the accent comes from. "But I moved here after my charged died a week ago." Then he started to look sad.

I placed my hand on his to comfort him, "I'm sorry...I don't know what I would do if I lost Lissa."

He smiled again as our hands stayed together. "Well it's a good thing that your bonded to her isn't it."

I smiled as well. "Well it isn't as easy as that."

He looked at me questioning face, "Really? What is it like?"

I told him everything about how me and Lissa bonded, the ghosts that I saw, how I could take away Lissa's darkness and how I could tell that Strigoi were around. He stayed quiet and listened. I never really told anyone this before, the only people who knew were Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Adrian, Mia, Mom and the stupid Queen bitch. It felt good to tell somebody about it... and best of all, I felt like I could trust him.

After that we talked about random stuff. We laughed. Smiled. And most of the time kept holding each other's hands. It felt nice. Like a piece of me that I had been missing all of my life was found. I know it was crazy but I really feel at peace with him.

It wasn't until a while when I asked, "What was his name?" He looked at me with confusion. "Your charge, what was his name?"

He sadly smiled and said, "Ivan." He paused for a moment, "We were best friends before he died, like you and Lissa, but then...I went to visit my family. The next thing I knew I got a call that he was dead." He looked like he was going to cry.

I put my hand on his cheek to make him look at me, "It wasn't your fault."

He nodded, but I knew he didn't quite believe me.

Then suddenly, his soft long fingers traced my long hair.

"I love your hair."

I snorted, "I'm thinking of cutting it soon."

Then he wrapped a bit of it around his finger, "Don't cut it."

Even though I didn't quite agree with him I nodded and smiled, "I won't." I promised.

From then we were just staring at each other, well me getting stuck in his dark, dark brown eyes. God they were dark.

My phone rang ruining the moment. Dam it.

"I'm sorry." I said letting go of his cheek while he let go of my hair. I quickly got my phone out and answered it. "Hathaway."

"Rose! Where the hell are you?" Lissa shouted worried on the other side of the phone.

I blinked, "I'm at the bar, why?"

"You've been there all this time?"

"Yeah why?"

"Rose it's almost three o'clock in the morning." Oh no, "I've been worried sick!"

I sighed and said, "I'm sorry Lis, I'm on my way now, bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and looked back to Dimitri.

"I'm sorry I have to go, Lissa is worried. It was nice talking to you though." I said as I got up from the stool. As I turned away, he grabbed my hand, gently.

"Wait," His Russian accent becoming more noticeable, I turned to him. "Can we meet up again?"

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah I would like that."

We gave each other our phone numbers and I left, with a bright smile on my face.

When I got back to Lissa's house – where I sort of lived – Lissa was waiting in the living room for me. With an angry facial expression.

"And what time do you call this Rosemarie?" She asked with her arms crossed over her chest.

I smirked, "Sorry Mom, I lost track of time." I said as I put the keys on the table.

She frowned, "Firstly, do not ever call me Mom ever again as long as you live." I laughed, "Secondly, you never stay up this late when it's your night off. You say there's nothing to do but go to the bar."

I shrugged, "Well...I met someone."

Her eyes widened, "Whose someone?"

I blushed and bit my lip, "Someone."

She gasped and smiled, "You met a guy!" She squealed.

I smiled, "Yeah... I guess I did."

She jumped up and down, "Ohmigod! Who!"

I shook my head and said, "I'll tell you tomorrow Lis, right now I'm really tired." I said that as I yawned.

She smiled and nodded, "Of course, night." She said as we went to our rooms.

I got changed and went to bed, thinking of Dimitri.