Rose Revenge

Chapter 4

“Rose I forgot to tell you, you have a dhampir that needs private training.

Like what Dimitri was to you, a mentor. Lissa speaks through the bond. I nod and then a boy comes in. He has blonde hair with bright blue eyes. He’s wearing tracksuit bottoms and a loose grey shirt.

“I’m Amaris, but call me Am. I’m looking for Rosemarie Hathaway.” He shyly mutters.

“That’s me, call me Rose are you here for the training?” I smile.

“Yes,” His eyes light up a bit.

“So, how much do you know about training?” I start with.

“Um... I know how to defend myself but I do not know how to kill a Strigoi, take care of a Moroi and I know the basics of defence and that’s it.” I whip out a whiteboard marker and make my way over to the whiteboard. I write a list of the things Am can do.

Can- Defend himself, knock out a dhampir and human

Can’t- Kill a Strigoi, Look after a Moroi, know advanced defence skills, keep up a sprint time of 5 minutes.

I step away from the board.

“We’ll start with defence so I know what you can do.” I suggest, aware of the gang watching us. He runs towards me but I see his arm striking out and grab it, pulling him to a stop. “Your arm was the first mistake, wait until the last moment before moving.” Am runs at me again and I wait for him. He lashes out with his arm but I duck it and use my arm as an anchor and throw him to the floor. “You could have kicked me in the stomach there and got up.” I comment and watch him come again. Am decides to try and kick me in the stomach but he’s slow so I grab his leg as she swings it. “The swing has to be quicker, I could break your leg in this position.” I indicate a twisting motion. “Last try.” He runs at me again, and uses his leg to try and pull my feet from me but I simply jump over his leg and go to punch him, he has no defence so I stop my hand resting it on his cheek. “Defence Am!” My eyes soften. “Don’t worry, lets improve your stamina. I lead him to a treadmill and move the speed to 8 which is about a slow sprint. Within seconds, his face is turning pale and he is struggling to keep up. Instinctively, I move it down to 4, just over a jogging pace but his legs seem to fail him. I slam my hand down on the emergency stop button and pull him off it. I let him catch his breath. “Are you alright?” I place a hand on his shoulder.

 “Yes, sorry.”

“Its just something we need to work on, as a guardian if someone attacks you, you need to be able to run for about half an hour sprinting-at the most. You scared me then,”

“I’m sorry, really I am.”

“Stop apologizing ok?” Am guiltily nods his head.

“What makes you motivated?” I ask curiously.

“Music, I love dancing to it. I feel like all my emotions fade away...” His voice fades away as I remember those words Dimitri told me years ago. ‘Love Fades’ he said.

“Rose!” Am shakes me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry, just thinking about something.” Lissa catches my eye and I shake my head. “So, with your music, what kind do you listen to?”

“I like dance song so like, El Tango De Roxanne from Moulin Rouge. And songs from movies like Step Up and Centre Stage.” He walks over to the speakers on the table and finds a song from centre stage: turn it up and finds the song for the last dance and I watch as he jumps, twists, spins, cartwheels and stretches his leg up to the song.

“What does dance do to your body condition?”

“It does nothing bad, it tones my legs and stomach. My mother who was a dhampir, when she danced it was like compulsion but stronger. That’s my favourite song because she defeated an group of Strigoi just dancing with my human father. I’ve never stopped dancing since. Once, when an Moroi found me, I compulsed them into leaving me alone and... to my surprise they did.” I nod and let him go to his next lesson, thinking about another way to defeat the Striogi.

“You alright Rose?” Lissa asks.

“I think we have just found a new way to defeat the Strigoi. At least partly.”