It was weird that the Academy was so calm, usually there was a new rumour going around, or the sound of children and teens moving about, chatting with friends, but the whole Academy was calm, too calm one would say.

It was a type of calm that would make one anxious and that was what all Guardians were, anxious that something bad would happen, they knew it wasn't the strigoi for they could not step out into the sun without burning to a pile of ashes.

It had been a few hours since the branding of Katherine and the event with Princess Lissa and as the sun shun brightly across the whole Academy, it looked less haunted, less mysterious and actually quite a nice location.

The tainted windows prevented the sun from peaking inside and waking the nocturnal residents, allowing them to replenish their energy for the possible busy night ahead. Not a soul moved about unless it was the day Guard.

And everyone knows that the quietness, especially the eerie one never brings out the good things in the end. But as day turned into night, the beautiful features of campus turned haunting and gothically scary, the still and quietness that had been surrounding the school during the day turned into loud and noisy sound, resembling, at least to those Guardians that had left school grounds, a city in rush hour.

In each section of the school, you could hear chatter and squeals, laughter and loud remarks, the feeling of safety returned to the grounds, but only to the grounds and the students and teachers, not to the Guardians, who like they had done all during daylight, were on high alert.

No one suspected anything, no student felt like the air was heavier or that the Guardian's were on high alert. To the Guardians it was only a normal night, and perhaps they did have every right to do so, they had every right to be calm, to enjoy the night, the coldness but simultaneous warmth. The puddles on the ground, the sudden fall of semi-defrosted snow and a sudden gush of the evening breeze.

The bells rang and people walked in and out of classes, in and out of the gym, in and out of the feeders and the cafeteria, it was just another night and even though Kate had only been at the Academy for nearly a week she could agree that it had begun to grow on her and that there was a sense of familiarity.

The chatting with Lissa and Natalie during breakfast and lunch, the teasing and challenging Mason, checking in on Lissa when they were apart, messing with Christian when she caught him staring at the blonde Princess, it felt as if she had been doing it from the moment she knew how to breathe.

And it was during training that it clicked, one look at her mentor's face as he watched over the class training the reality dawned on her, a distraction that landed her on her back for the first time since she arrived, bringing Dimitri's eyes to her, along with Alberta who had been standing by his side talking to him quietly.

The air left her lungs as her back and head connected with the mattress, but the realization prevented her from feeling any pain, "I knew the day that I was going to take you down was coming but I never expected it to be so soon." the boy she had been sparring with chuckled as he walked towards her, his hand extended down for her to grab so he could hoist her up.

But she kept her eyes on the Guardians, "Michael, you know she was going easy on you right?" Mason laughed in reply, from where he stood.

"She goes easy on everyone and yet I'm the one to get her on the floor." Michael replied.

Knowing that if she stayed on the ground much longer it would raise suspicion and with Alberta looking at her with a raised brow, a silent burning question that she understood completely, Kate placed her hands in Michael's and allowed him to use his strength to hoist her back up to her feet, "I thought I saw a spider." she lied to him, shifting her green eyes to meet Michael's hazel ones, "And I don't like them."

A teasing laugh escaped Michael as he shook his head, a blush growing on his cheeks as she gave him a half-smile.

Lust.

Embarrassment.

Two emotions on his face as he looked down, reminding Kate that her hands were still in his, she pulled them back and rubbed them on the fabric that covered her legs, walking over to Mason and looking at him with wide and astonished eyes causing him to snicker at her. "Donna, your turn against the winner, Michael." The ginger called out.

Kate peered over her shoulder back at the two Guardian's, catching Dimitri's eyes on her with his lips in a thin line, silently telling her that he wasn't pleased with the fact that she had lost a sparring match with someone that although more skilled and trained, less deadly than her.

Alberta had a smile on her face though, whether she thought Kate had lost on purpose or had actually gotten distracted had her liking the girl even more, it reminded her that the newly branded Novice was still a child. A child thrust into a world of violence and death.

"Are you really scared of spiders?" Mason questioned her, snapping her out of her staring and making her turn her head to him, his blue eyes shining with curiosity and mischief.

"Don't even think about doing anything about it." She replied, smacking his arm rather lightly.

"I'm not," Mason laughed, but as he saw her glare at him he continued "Much."

A low groan left the novice's lips as she turned her body completely to face him, turning her back on the Guardians that were watching them "Mason you do anything and I will bury you so deep that no one will be able to hear you screaming and no psy-hound can smell you out." her words were deadly and final and caused Mason to lift his arms up in surrender.

"Can you please just explain why you are scared of them?" He pleaded, lowering his arms as she stopped glaring at him, Kate crossed her arms and shivered slightly, the thought of the creepy crawlies making her want to bathe in holy water and set herself on fire simultaneously.

"They've got 8 legs," she began, lifting up 8 fingers to prove her point, "A crap ton of eyes, a stinger on their ass and fangs that can secrete venom if they bite you, or sting you."

"And did you know that most of them can actually swim, and they can, they can, they can camouflage." Kate finished exasperatedly, scratching her arms as if said crawlies were on them.

"I actually didn't know the last two ones." Mason muttered, now slightly understanding her fear.

"And the eggs, and the webs, and them standing in the corner staring at you...." she drawled out, whimpering slightly as she thought about it.

"Okay, okay!" Mason cut her off, "But didn't you say you watched Harry Potter?"

Kate looked at him like he was a complete idiot, "And where do you think the fear stems from, and don't get me started on the bitch from the Lord of the Rings." her words were firm but Mason could tell that she was shaken up by the thought of them.

The ginger nodded at her and turned back to the sparring session, prompting the brunette girl to do the same, fighting off the thoughts of spiders and the feeling that she had gotten from Dimitri and Alberta. Both of them a hard feat considering that the more she attempted to keep it from her mind the more it came up.

However, it wasn't until uneasiness flooded her bond with Lissa, a tinge of fear in the mix, that her own uneasy feeling that she got from the Guardians kicked into full mode, leaving her to call the Princess name under her breath and dash out the door, narrow and miraculously avoiding being socked in the face by other sparring students, no one really paying her much attention other than Mason and the two Guardians.

Lissa Dragomir knew better than to let her emotions run completely through the bond, she knew that she could not count on Kate to rescue her every time someone displeased her, but in this case she allowed it to happen due to the scene before her, a figure holding onto a young child, clearly still in primary school.

The child was crying and the figure was holding them tightly, Maxwell Costa was the child and the figure holding him was his own mother, a woman who she had recently learned, via Natalie, had become a Strigoi.

Her class had been outside that day, despite the cold because her teacher remembered so, the reason behind it was truly a mystery, but now all of them stood there in shock as Elaine held Maxwell to her chest by his neck, her blood-red eyes locked with the Morois before her silently debating whether or not they were worth it.

They weren't alone tho, a group of Guardians were with them, their stakes out and ready to charge towards the woman, but they didn't want to risk the young boy who was weeping in terror.

Natalie held onto Lissa while Lissa held onto Christian's shoulder and arm, her hand firmly clasped in his, the boy in question glaring at the Strigoi, somewhat lost in his own memories of his parents in that state, attempting to kidnap him to turn him, and he knew what they child would endure from the moment that he escaped his mother, if he lived that was.

Natalie's Guardian was in front of them, more for Lissa and Natalie than for Christian himself, he too despising the boy, but like some of his fellow marked Guardians, he had no Monlija marks, meaning he had never killed a Strigoi before and while that was completely fine, it meant that this was his first real experience with them, which had him scared.

No alarm had been released, meaning most if not all of the Guardians with the exception of the ones there and the ones in the campus meant for the younger Morois and Dhampirs knew of the situation, more so as to not cause more panic, especially considering the fact that they didn't know if Elaine was the only one that had breached or if she had brought company.

And students filled with fear made very easy prey.

"Elaine..." Kirova's voice sounded, soothing and calm, so unlike her it actually shocked the students as she appeared out of thin air, Elaine's eyes did flash to the older Moroi, her intoxicating blood making her hungry, "Let Max go." Kirova pleaded, stopping a few feet before her, safe enough.

"He's mine...." Elaine countered, glaring at the older woman, "I birthed him." her voice was hoarse and deeper than it should have been, "Mine Ellen, you can't take him from me!"

It was a scene sore to see and hear, a mother wanting to stay with her child, but she could not, for if she did her child would be the very first thing that she would feast upon and no one wanted that.

Max's cries grew louder by the second, his mother's hold on him tightening as she spoke, anger coursing through her and evident on her face, "You've never had a child! You don't know how it feels." Elaine continued, taking a step backwards, "To feel like your child might be ripped from you at any second. To feel powerless at the mere thought of it." her voice becoming strong with each word, her vibrant crimson eyes shinning more.

"You don't understand how it feel to crave the power to save your child from death."

Everyone could only watch helplessly as Elaine brought her son's head to the side, exposing his pearly skin to the cold night, her arm holding his body still so he wouldn't move so much.

The sight was horrifying, bone shivering, to see a mother so crazed and a child so helpless, and even though it was a scene that the Humans knew all too well, Moroi's were for the most part oblivious to these acts, the only other act that would come to mind was Christian's situation, which happened not so long ago.

"And that's what I'm going to do!" Elaine continued, slowly crouching down to meet her son's neck, her red eyes never leaving Kirova's brown ones, "I'm going to protect him from death..." her mouth opened wide, allowing her teeth and fangs to be in perfect view of everyone, prompting them all to suck in a breath.

Max's whimpering;

Elaine's low growling;

The gentle breeze;

The almost silence became deafening to everyone, until by some god sent, Rose Hathaway influence stupidity a loud "Wait!" broke it.