A Guardian's Promise

Chapter 4 - Strange Noises

(DIMITRI'S PERSPECTIVE)
"Rose stay back." I say cautiously. She looks at me in disbelief.
"No. I am coming with you." She says with determination. I look her over. I know she is capable of I can do, but I don't want to see her hurt. Our apartment was right near the wards, and the noises outside was not comforting.
"Fine." There was no point arguing with Rose when she was right. There was no way I could go alone when we had no idea what was out there. I grab a set of keys, and we make our way into the lobby. When we finally got out, it was pitch black.
"We should have turned the lights on first." Rose says from behind me.
Without looking back, I respond. "Yes. I am glad you got at least one thing out of my training."
"Hey! I got plenty of things out of your training and you know it." She protests.
I laugh, despite the situation. "I know you have Rose. I was testing you and your reactions."
"That's not fair. I already graduated, I don't need any more lessons and testing." She whines. A smile creeps across my face. Until a small noise catches my attention and it disappears. The grip I held on my stake tightens.
"Rose stay close." I growl with authority. From behind me, I could tell she had picked up her pace to be right behind me. I silently breathe a sigh of relief that she had refrained from some remark about taking care of herself. The wards were technically right in front of me, though invisible. A crashing noise rings out from behind me and Rose jumps around, moving towards where it had come from. I survey the surroundings and determining it safe, I follow Rose. She was wandering around the building cautiously. I grab her arm gently to let her know it was just me. We round the next corner and Rose tenses. Before us, there was a male figure with his back to us. The building cast a shadow from the moonlight, making it visibly impossible, even for our dhampir eyes to make out features. Rose creeps up on him quietly, stake ready. I follow right behind her but then my eyes adjust to the dark a little better, and the figure registers as familiar.
"Rose stop!" I grab her arm. My words frighten the man, and he turns around.
"Christian! What are you doing?" Rose exclaims. He looks between us and frowns casually.
"I needed to get some fresh night air." He shrugs. Rose tenses again, and I hold her back from jumping Christian.
"Do you know how 'just getting fresh air' isn't safe? You could have gotten killed!" Rose says, trying to escape my hold. To help me, O use my other arm and pull backwards into me.
"Rose calm down." I say softly. "Christian we need to talk to you. Inside." With my talking, Rose managed to get out of my hold. She leaps toward Christian, but I grab her arm for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight.
"Am I the only one who sees how bad this is? If Christian had gotten killed, you would be responsible for it, so I have no idea how you of all people aren't trying to kill him!" Rose exclaims with disbelief.
"Rose you just need to calm down. Go and get Lissa. We will meet you in the lobby." I toss her the keys, and let go of her arm. She storms off. She was right in a way, but they way she went about it wasn't. Christian and I walk back to the apartment building in silence, taking seats in the lobby.
"He told me he was going to ask Dimitri something!" I hear Lissa say. I look over at Christian and he was looking down at his feet.
"Can't spirit tell you when someone is lying?" Rose asks Lissa as they enter the room. "There they are." Rose points to us. Lissa hadn't heard what Rose had said however, because she had already stormed of towards Christian.
"Lissa wait. Don't go off at him just yet." I say, motioning for her to sit down. She does and I follow suit as Rose comes over and joins us. I smile at her, hoping she had calmed down, but her face stays hard. I could tell she had plenty of things to inform Christian, but she seemed tired, and I hoped that would keep her from doing anything rash. On top of that, she got two tattoos today, and despite years of physical pain we have endured as guardians, tattoos hurt. I watch her cautiously as she takes a seat. She throws me a pained expression and sighs.

We let Christian go just after midnight, and Rose and I walk backup to our room in silence. I stop walking and wait for a tired Rose, who was lagging behind, to catch up. She smiles at me weakly and I pick her up.
Rose laughs. "Aww Comrade, I was fine walking."
I scoff. "Yeah sure." I say sarcastically, shaking my head. "You are tired. Way more than I am, so I am carrying you. Deal with it." She laughs.
"Thank you." She says when I set her down on the bed. She looks to be deep in thought, then her face lights up and she springs off the bed over to the desk in the corner where we keep all our paperwork and notes. I watch her flip through several of her notebooks. I start to become baffled, until she breathes in sharply, producing two plane tickets from in between two pages. I raise my eyebrow in suspicion.
"Don't question me for once." Rose says fiercely. She comes back over and sits down next to me. "It is all sorted. I talked to all the guardians and everything. By myself. No Lissa to use compulsion." I laugh, but look at her. I had so many questions. But she could tell. "We are going to Baia!" She says excitedly.
I couldn't see my face, but I could tell my expression conveyed some sort of astonishment. "Really?" I ask. Rose smiles and nods her head. I fling my arms around her. "Thank you Roza." I whisper, fighting back happy tears.
Rose pulls away. "I know this is exciting and all, but the last time your family..." She reconsiders her words. "...your town knew about you, you were strigoi." I look down. That did present a huge challenge. "But lucky for you, I thought of something."
Now don't get me wrong. I loved Roza to pieces, but sometimes here plans weren't the best in the way of actually working out properly. I begin to say something along those lines, but instead it came out as: "Okay let's hear it."

"You know what? I think that may be the best plan I have heard from you Rose." I smile.
"Why thank you Guardian Belikov." She says formally, followed by a laugh.
"So when are we leaving?" I ask. Tomorrow I would start packing, even if it was weeks away. Rose looks down at her feet.
"I should have told you earlier, but I couldn't find a good time. We are leaving tomorrow."

Word Count: 1213