[She dared to glance at him when he mentioned an Academy, this only too familiar to Rose but it was once more something that seemed too easy for her to dismiss. Surely there had to be more than one, perhaps one in Russia while she had obviously been at one in America, this female Dhampir wanting to believe, really and truly wanting to but she'd convinced herself in the months that had followed her arrival that she had to start new, that whatever life she had lived before this world no longer mattered.

If that were true however. What exactly was she doing here.?]

What...

[Confusion turned to shock and this time she did snatch her hand away, shaking her head at him as she took a step back.

It was the one thing she had kept to herself, hadn't even told the people she'd been with in Chicago, in part because she hadn't known how they would respond but more than that, because it was the key to who she was, Rose had been sure of that somehow and yet this man whom she could have sworn was a stranger not too long ago not only knew of it, but had... helped her?]

No – That... that's not. This isn't possible.

[She turned from him, as if she might walk away, running fingers back through her hair as she tried to clear her head from all its confusion.]

You... [Moving back to him, her hand moving out to grip his arm as she stared into his eyes, looking for something that she couldn't explain even though she wanted to.]

There was a funeral.... and explosions and... [She shook her hair again, trying to make the memory clear.] How can you know – how... [Her face a mix of confusion and frustration as she gripped his arm tighter.]

I didn't do it. They were going to kill me but... I didn't do what they said I did.