After two other periods Kate finally earned her lunch escape, her mind was hazy and she walked across campus toward the Commons, until she felt Dimitri fall in step with her, not looking particularly godlik.

"I suppose you want to talk about what happened in Stan's class?" Kate questioned, not bothering with titles, which Dimitri didn't comment, instead answering with a short. 

"Да. (Yes.)"

A moment of silence wrapped the two as they walked, but Dimitri was the first to break it "Do you think you are fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?" Kate looked at him for a split second before answering.

"I know I am, but I also know that having a promise mark on my neck, signs everything and that's why I didn't resist ." her words weren't cold nor distant, instead they were filled with sincerity.

"Your words today were extremely specific, and you move almost like a trained Guardian." Dimitri continued and Kate shrugged, throwing up her mental shield around herself. Seeing that the brunette wasn't going to answer, the older Dhampir continued "You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained and show that you will fight for Vasilisa."

"You don't know my nature Comrade, my mother is dead, my brother is gone, my father left before I was even born. I had nothing to fight for until I met Lissa, so don't think that I won't fight for Lissa. I'll fight you if I must to ensure her safety, and believe me, I'm not talking about gym fighting." Katherine countered, her voice low and deadly, just like she'd used with Kirova when she first arrived at the Academy. A tone that had Dimtri smirking slightly with how much honesty it carried, even if his eyes didn't show it, he was surprised to hear about her family history.

He had to wonder that the Kit that Kate had mentioned to him on the plane was her brother, and there was something in the way that she spoke that had Dimitri wanting to help her.

"You could use the resources of our world to find your past, your mother's family, try to find your father. Use the resources around you. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate." Dimitri told the younger girl, watching as she continued to walk, not looking up at him.

"Lissa, call her Lissa." I corrected, her tone slightly cold, the pale blonde hated her full name, much preferring the Americanized nickname.

Dimitri looked at the brunette once more before turning in another direction and walking away, unfortunately he didn't get that far from the young Dhampir as she called out "Наши кошельки у вас еще есть, товарищ. (You still have our wallets, Comrade.)" 

Her Russian wasn't bad, in fact it was almost perfect, but not as fluent which clearly showed the lack of use in years, but it was enough to have Dimitri smiling to himself at her words, at her accent, at how the language flowed from her tongue. He'd heard many non-Russians speak Russian, but the way Katherine Alistair spoke Russian made him feel like he was stranded out in the cold with only a cup of Sbiten to keep him warm.

A low chuckle was heard coming from the Russian Guardian, as he was able to raise his Guardian mask once more, and soon her wallet went flying through the air in her direction, which she caught perfectly.

Almost everyone else had long since sprinted inside the Commons for lunch, eager to maximize their social time and Kate had almost made it back there herself when a voice under the door's overhang called to her, tired and breathy "Miss Alistair?"

The brunette hesitantly peered in the voice's direction, only to see that it was only Lissa's uncle calling out to her, his kind face smiling at her as he leaned on a cane near the building's wall. His two Guardians stood nearby at a polite distance.

"Lissa's uncle, Prince Dashkov. Good evening." Kate greeted, curtsying instantly out of respect, especially since she was technically still out in the open.

"How was your first day?" he asked, dismissing the brunette's curtsy, although he was glad that respect was not long on the young girl despite her not having been raised in the enviroment and customs that the Academy provided.

"Not over yet." Kate replied with an awkward laugh, as she tried to think of something conversational. "Are you visiting here for a while?"

"I'll be leaving this afternoon after I say hello to Natalie. When I heard Vasilisa had returned, I simply had to come see her." he replied with a small smile, making Kate nod.

"I'm sorry to ask, but it's still confusing to me using day terms and being in a night system." Kate shyly told the older man, making him chuckle in understanding.

"After lunch." Victor explained to the young Dhampir, who instantly nodded in complete understanding.

"I wanted to tell you..." He spoke hesitantly. "I understand the gravity of what you did, but I think Headmistress Kirova failed to acknowledge something, you did keep Vasilisa safe all this time with little to no training, and you've killed for to keep her safe, that is impressive."

There was a compliment somewhere in his words, but Kate didn't feel it reflected in Victor's emotions, there was no happiness, no admiration, no good emotion associated with his words, none other than pure and greedy curiosity.

"Lissa is my best friend, I'd do anything for her, I'd kill anyone to keep her safe." Katherine replied, her words true, a silent threat, a silent promise.

"And have you faced other beings other than Strigoi?" Victor inquired with curiosity, although it wasn't the curiosity that was burning through him.

"No, just Strigois." Kate lied effortlessly, not wanting to divulge any more information about the time that she and Lissa were away from the Academy. Feeling as if she did divulge any information other than the Strigois, it would be used to her disavantage and she couldn't risk anything hurting, maiming or killing Lissa.

Victor seemed disappointed with the information, but even though he looked disappointed, his emotions showed satisfaction, which was not an emotion that one should be feeling when they get these types of news. The sick Moroi stared at Kate for a few more moments before questioning "Tell me dear, since you know that Vasilisa never declared, while she was away did she come any closer to declaring?"

Another spike of curiousity flashed flashed through Kate, but she knew that it came from Victor, and just like with the psi-hounds, Kate would lie and tell him "There's not a lot of places to practice magic in Oregon." 

But as she spoke, an opportunity for her to ask questions in return rose, which allowed her to cross her arms over her chest awkwardly, as if she was a child talking about their first crush with their father, "On the subject of non-declarers, I would like to know why, when Lissa brought up Ms. Karp's name yesterday, you all acted like she had put a porcupine in a hot tub."

Unlike Kate, Victor wasn't privy to feeling Kate's emotions, so he had to read what she displayed on herself, and that was pure curiosity with a hint of innocence.

"Karp has always been a few corpuscles shy of a full artery, she didn't have a Dhampir to look after her and after Lissa left, Karp was a different person." The Prince stated, falling straight into Kate's innocent looks.

The older Moroi started coughing just as he was about to say something else, a great, seizing fit that made his whole body shake. Kate instantly cast an anxious look at his Guardians, not wanting to break protocol by stepping forward to help the sick Moroi, and one of them stepped forward quickly. "Your Highness," he said politely, "You need to go inside. It's too cold out here."

Victor nodded wheezing and said "Yes, yes. And I'm sure Miss Alistair here also wants to eat. Thank you for speaking to me. I can't emphasize how much it means to me that Vasilisa is safe, and that you helped with that. I'd promised her father I'd look after her if anything happened to him, and I felt like quite the failure when she left." Kate nodded and bid her goodbyes while curtsying.

She waited a while, enjoying the cold October air before following in the direction that she'd seen other students head in, but just as she did she felt her Moroi's anxiety spike. That sensation alone forced the brunette Dhampir to walk inside the building faster, her head turning from side to side as she looked around frantically for her blonde best friend, nearly walking into people  until she saw her.

Lissa didn't see her, though, and neither did the people standing with her, Aaron and that little doll girl, along with some of Lissa's old friends so Kate stopped and listened, just catching the end of the conversation. The girl leaned toward Lissa, who seemed more stunned than anything else.

"It looks to me like it came from a garage sale. I thought a precious Dragomir would have standards." Scorn dripped off the word Dragomir that left the little doll girl's lips, as if she had a personal vendetta against anyone with the surname.

But touching Lissa, even it just her backpack was enough for Kate to step out from under the shadows and, from behind the Doll Girl, grabbing her shoulder and jerking her away. The problem, for the Doll ,not for Kate, was that she was so light, she stumbled three feet and nearly fell, she certainly would have had Kate not sent her in the direction of Aaron's arms.

"She does have standards, which is why you're done talking to her. For a meeting with the Princess you make an appointment with me." Kate quipped at the girl with a sweet smile that absolutely did not reach her forest green eyes. She was in front of Lissa, acting as a shield, a barrier, between Lissa and the group that involved Doll Girl, her stance so clearly natural on her, but simultaneously so intimidating that it caught the attention of a few people that were walking by.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Doll Girl, blue eyes wide and sparkling with fury, now that Kate was up close now, she was able to get a better look at her.

She had the same slim build as most Moroi, but not the usual height, which was partly what made her look so young.

"Making sure some psycho chick doesn't touch my Moroi, obviously." she retaliated, crossing her arms across her chest, over her new books. the shriek that escaped the little girl's lips which led to Kate smirking and adding, "Are you lost, little girl? The elementary school's over on west campus." her words seemed to have poisonous honey because Baby Doll took a step back.

A pink flush spread over her cheeks as she did so, but she snarled "Don't you ever touch me again. You screw with me, and I'll screw you right back."

A broad fake smile etched itself on Kate's lips, but it was one that looked so believable, so genuine, so deadly, "Are you sure? Because I don't think you could handle me in bed. I don't screw around gently."

Lissa stifled a laugh while continuing behind Kate and the girl and her friends turned a shade paler, one of the patrolling staff members strolled by right then, casting suspicious eyes at the little meeting, which made Doll Girl backed off, taking Aaron's arm. "Come on babe." she said, her tone shaky.

Watching the group leave, Kate whirled around to face Lissa, worry suddenly cloaking her features as she checked for injuries, "I'm fine, she didn't touch me, well not physically, she's a water bender." Lissa stated, and that's when Kate's eyes met Lissa's face, it had water droplets.

"Any idea who I have to beat up?" Kate then inquired.

"Not a clue." the Princess replied, humming softly Kate uncrossed her arms and hooked one of them with Lissa's as she started to lead her toward the lunch line, but the Princess stayed put and shook her head at her Dhampir.

"Gotta go see the feeders." she stated freely, a funny feeling washed over Kate, she'd gotten so used to being Lissa's primary blood source that the thought of returning to the Moroi's normal routine seemed strange, it almost bothered her and it shouldn't have. Daily feedings were part of a Moroi's life, something Kate hadn't been required to offer her while living on our own.

It had been a convenient situation, one that left Kate weak for a few minutes on feeding days and Lissa strong and powerful on the days in between, and though Kate should have been happy Lissa would get some normalcy, she felt slightly replaced.

"Already? But yesterday? Wasn't it enough?" she rambled lowly and confused.

"I have to keep appearances, though I don't necessarily feel hungry." Lissa whispered back, the feedings that the two used to have, once a week, were usually enough to last the the rest of week and the beginning of the following, the balance between actual food and blood that Kate had established with Lissa having helped with it.

Begrudgingly the two walked into the feeding room, which sat adjacent to the cafeteria, it was set up with small cubicles, dividing the room's space in an effort to offer privacy.

A dark-haired Moroi woman greeted the two at the entrance and glanced down at her clipboard, flipping through the pages, finding what she needed, she made a few notes and then gestured for Lissa to follow, of course, Kate started to follow which earned her a puzzled look, but wasn't stopped from entering.

The woman led the newly returned Princess and her trailing Dhampir to one of the cubicles where a plump, middle-aged woman sat leafing through a magazine, upon hearing the trio approach, she looked up and smiled.

In her eyes, Katherine could see the dreamy, glazed-over look most feeders appeared to have, although the woman probably neared her quota for the day, judging from how high she appeared to be, of course she recognised Lissa straight away, greeting her "Welcome back, Princess." with a wider smile.

The Moroi, who had greeted the two girls, left and Lissa sat down in the chair beside the woman. Kate sensed a feeling of discomfort in her best friend, a little different from her own. She knew that this was weird for her too, it had been a long time, two years since she had needed to feed from a feeder and one year and nine months since she needed to feed regularly.

The feeder, however, had no such reservations, an eager look crossed her face, the look of a junkie about to get her next fix. Disgust poured into Kate, even though she knew that feeders were essential to Moroi life, she couldn't picture herself becoming a daily feeder.

The feeders were Humans who willingly volunteered to be a regular blood source, Humans from the fringes of society who gave their lives over to the secret world of the Moroi, though they were well cared for and given all the comforts they could need, they were drug users, addicts to Moroi saliva and the rush it offered with each bite.

The Moroi and Guardians looked down on this dependency, even though the Moroi couldn't have survived otherwise unless they took victims by force.

The feeder tilted her head, giving Lissa full access to her neck, her skin there was marked with scars from years of daily bites, the infrequent feedings Lissa and Katherine had done had kept her neck clear; her bite marks never lasted more than a day or so, and if they happened to do so, the hickeys that Lissa left, covered them with ease.

Lissa leaned forward, fangs biting into the feeder's yielding flesh, making the woman close her eyes, making a soft sound of pleasure. Kate swallowed and turned around, giving her Moroi her privacy, pulling the barely see through curtain closed.

Her dark green eyes surveying the area, an action she'd grown so used to doing through out her life, even before meeting Lissa.

When Lissa finished, the duo returned to the Commons, moving toward the lunch line, it was short, since there only had fifteen minutes left, and Kate wasted not time tin strolling and beginning to load her plate with french fries and some rounded, bite-size objects that looked vaguely like chicken nuggets while Lissa only grabbed a yogurt, being full from her feeding but still craving the normalcy that she created with Kate while away.

"So how'd classes go?" Kate dared ask as she carried down the line until she could get a drink from the machines available.

Lissa looked away and shrugged, "Alright. Lots of stares. A lot of stares. Lots of questions about where we were. Whispering." she replied, knowing better than to lie to the only person who could slip into her head and see that she's lying.

"I know the feeling." Kate replied, as the attendant checked them out allowing them to walk toward the tables. The silence coming from Lissa resulted in Kate giving her a sidelong glance. "You okay with that? They aren't bothering you, are they?" she then inquired, reading her features, while reading her emotions.

"No! It's fine." the blonde said, although the emotions travelling through the bond contradicted her words, knowing that Kate was reading her emotions, Lissa shook her head and handed Kate her schedule allowing the brunette to look it over.

Her dark greeneyes flashed across the sheet of paper quickly and at the end Kate couldn't help but reply "Nerd," her words brought a small smile to Lissa's lips. 

"If you were in Stupid Math like me, we'd have the same afternoon schedule. Why are you in elemental basics? That's a sophomore class isn't it?" She then inquired confused, a frown settling on her features as she came to a halt, holding her tray, expertly, with one hand and the schedule with the other.

Lissa sighed and stopped as well, looking at her best friend and replying "Because seniors take specialised classes." nodding slowly Kate inquired, trying to avoid, and successfully managing, the awkward silence.

"Is that nice woman still teaching that? What she'd say?"

Lissa smiled once more at the mention of a teacher she quite liked and replied "Yeah she is, she says she's not worried. She thinks it'll come." 

Kate nodded and the two began to move again, "I would love to just kick my feet up, cuddle with a fuzzy blanket, read a nice book or see a movie and sip hot chocolate with marshmallows." Lissa grumbled, the thought of their last Christmas flooding her mind.

"I know, watch Love, Actually or Nightmare on Elm Street." Kate agreed, both girls scanning the tables decided where to sit and ignoring a few pairs of eyes looked up at them with blatant curiosity, when suddenly a nearby voice called out.

"Lissa!"

Glancing over, the duo saw Natalie waving at them, prompting the brunette and the blonde to exchanged looks, Natalie was sort of Lissa's cousin in the way Victor was sort of her uncle, but Lissa had never hung out with her all that much.

The blonde turned towards her cousin, knowing fully well that Kate would follow after her. Natalie's friends eyed the two with a quiet curiosity, but Natalie didn't hold back, she threw her arms around Kate and Lissa, surprising Kate, since she had had no prior contact with the girl. Like Lissa, Natalie had jade-green eyes, but her hair was jet black, like Victor's had been before his disease grayed it, at least from Lissa's memories.

"You're back! I knew you would be! Everyone said you were gone forever, but I never believed that. I knew you couldn't stay away. Why'd you go? There are so many stories about why you left!" Natalie's ramble caused Lissa and Kate to exchange glances.

"Camille said you got pregnant and went off to have an abortion, but I knew that couldn't be true. Someone else said you transferred to a school in Russia, but I figured Ms. Kirova and Daddy wouldn't have been so upset if you'd turned up there. was talking to..."

On and on she chatted, flashing her fangs as she spoke. Kate smiled politely, letting Lissa deal with the onslaught, while she began to eat her lunch until Natalie asked a dangerous question.

"What'd you do for blood, Lissa?"

The table regarded the two questioningly, Lissa froze but to her relief Kate swallowed the food she had nearly spat out and immediately jumped in. The lie, like every other she'd told, dripped effortlessly to her lips. "Oh, it's easy. There are a lot of humans who want to do it." shock etched itself on the girls faces.

"Really?" asked one of Natalie's friends, wide-eyed.

"Yup. You find 'em at parties and stuff. They're all looking for a fix from something, and they don't really get that a vampire's doing it: most are already so wasted they don't remember anyway, our front door neighbour was always throwing them." Kate's almost true details dried up, so she simply shrugged in as cool and confident a way as she could manage, even though the part of their front door neighbour always throwing parties was true, but it wasn't like any of them knew any better.

"Like I said, it's easy. Almost easier than with our own feeders." she added, popping a chicken nugget into her mouth.

Natalie accepted this and than launched into some other topic, while Lissa shot the brunette a grateful look, who winked back at her before turning back to ignoring the conversation again she let her eyes wander around, taking in the faces from Lissa's memories, trying to figure out who was hanging out with whom and how power had shifted within the school.

Mason, sitting with a group of novices, catching her eye, and she smiled, earning a smile in return, near him, a group of Moroi royals sat, laughing over something. Aaron and the blond girl sat there too.

"Hey, Natalie." Kate called said, turning around and cutting the dark haired Moroi off from her ramble, not that she didn't seem to notice or mind. "Who's Aaron's new girlfriend?" she inquired, innocence cloaking her words with led Natalie to smile.

"Oh. Mia Rinaldi." she replied but upon seeing the blank look on her cousin's face, she retorted, "Don't you remember her?"

The silence that followed was all that she needed as an answer, not that Lissa remembered many people, she tended to block the memories that pained her, so names of people were most likely to have long been forgotten.

"She's always been here," said Natalie. "She's only a year younger than us."

A low hum left both girls lips as they looked at each other, Lissa stirring her yogurt while Kate nudged the blonde with her foot, Lissa smiled and Kate looked around once more, her eyes catching a figure walking towards them. The figure belonged to a tall muscular boy, and by the pale skin tone she knew he was Moroi, his hair platinum blonde and a smile that Kate could tell every girl fell for.

"Hey newbie, I'm Jesse Zeklos, Royal Moroi." he said as he stopped at their table, and Kate could tell that the Moroi girls at the table, minus Lissa, were internally dying.

"Kate Alastair, definitely not interested." Kate replied, giving him a fake sweet smile that he didn't seem to notice. 

"What?" he asked confused.

"Not interested, I'm with the sole objective of protecting my Moroi, nothing else." she told him.

It seemed that the whole cafeteria seemed to have gone quiet when they saw the Academy's Moroi bad-boy that everyone wants walk towards the newest Dhampir, shock and confusion etched across the platinum blond haired Moroi and everyone near him could see his brows creasing.

"No offence, I know you're hot and all, it's not you it's me, honestly because I'm only here because of my Moroi, and the second she graduates I'm out of her and so is she." Kate added, throwing her hair over her shoulder knowing that every male student watched her do that.

The look of pure despair on the Moroi's face made the brunette turn down even more comical to the cafeteria, because no one, no one literally turned down the bad-boy Zeklos. The Moroi were gobsmacked, while the Dhampir were actually proud that one of them turned down the opportunity to be with a Moroi.

And the Guardians that were supervising were confused yet proud, most them knew who Lissa used to hang around before the accident, her childhood best friend, Rosemarie Hathaway, with whom Kate some times acted like, but one thing she and the former weren't the same was the fact that Kate only cared about Lissa while Rose was always down to party.

The Moroi started walking away and the table watched him, but not for long because Natalie and her friends stared at Kate in awe, like she was a goddess, which at the moment she was, although not a god in the Dimitri sense, but rather the goddess that can resist temptation.

"Oh my gawd, that was Jesse." exclaimed one girl.

"Yes it would appear it was." Kate shrugged not caring much about the fawning she was going to get, which amused Lissa tremendously.