"God dammit, open the door." I yelled as I pounded my fist against Dimitri's dorm door. It flung open and I pushed straight in, saying nothing.

"Rose, what's wrong?" he said in surprise and slight annoyance.

"Read this."

I handed him the large book that Lissa and I had found in the church attic. It belongs to neither Vladimir nor Anna. Dimitri frowned, "You pounded on my door for this?"

"Dimitri please," I pleaded, shoving the short passage in his face. He gently took it from me and I watched as his eyes scanned the page, slowly becoming more frantic and then confused.

"... although drinking blood is a common factor of Moroi life, it is unheard of for a dhampir. As they do not require or crave the liquid..." Dimitri skimmed through and only read key parts. "However there are two known dhampirs, banished from society after tasting each others' blood." His eyes shot up to mine in confusion and I urged him to keep reading. Dimitri turned the page, "Mishka often complained to me about her lover's mood swings and nagging thoughts. At first, I didn't know what she meant..."

Dimitri's eyes skimmed through again, shook his head and handed me the book, "I don't want to read anymore of this."

I looked at him with pleading eyes. He looked away and I snatched the book from him, continuing where he left off. "Mishka called it a blood bond—"

"Rose, I don't need this right now." Dimitri growled.

I raised my voice, "She could feel every emotion and hear every thought. It is similar to what Vladimir and his guardian Anna share, but not quite. Mishka could never word her feelings perfectly and once let slip that she and Lukas had drank each others' blood. 'Tis forbidden in our world."

"Rose please..." he was now pleading for me to stop.

"Why Dimitri? Huh?" I cried, throwing the book on the ground, angry tears filling my eyes. I don't know where the sudden flare of emotion came from but I decided to roll with it. "What if..." I trailed off and stared at the ground, tears blurring my vision.

"Rose? Are you alright?"

"I'm sorry," I said in defeat, shoulders slumped. "I freaked out. This is just too much to take in. We were only supposed to study about Anna, but then this book showed up and I just..."

"Hey," he said, softly interrupting me. "It's okay. Maybe you should get some rest." Dimitri placed his hands on my upper arms and pulled me close.

I allowed him to tug me over to the bed and we both lie there together. No words were said and I subconsciously trailed my fingers up and down the artery in his neck. My thoughts travelled to Mishka and Lukas. They had both been dhampirs who drank each others' blood during sex. Merely a day later they were bonded in the most intimate way. Their thoughts and emotions could be projected to each other and over a period of time their love for each other intensified.

Someone must have told on them though, because they were banished from Moroi society and were outcasts of the Moroi world. The last entry from the mystery writer was a note about Mishka and Lukas' marriage. All entries drop off about them and return to more normal things.

I wonder what happened to them and if they lived a long and happy life.

"Dimitri?" I murmured, looking up at him.

"Mm?"

"I love you."

He looked down at me, lips inches away from my own. "I love you too, Roza."

Our mouths met in a passionate kiss. It started out soft and sweet, projecting our love for each other. It was then that I realised how badly I wished to be connected to Dimitri like Lukas and Mishka were. We would have no secrets and could be together always.

I hadn't realised that Dimitri pulled me on top of him until I was straddling his waist. Our kiss had grown in intensity and Dimitri's grip on my hips had tightened. We haven't slept together since the cabin and no matter how badly I yearned for that experience again I knew it wouldn't happen. Or at least not until after graduation. Dimitri is too responsible for his own good.

Every time a sweet peck during training turned into a make out session he would pull away, before we got to the point of no return. His self control is miraculous and I knew that I would never be able to measure up to it. I would always be about impulse control and pushing the boundaries that Dimitri set so long ago and still remain today.

I opened my eyes and pulled out of our heart racing kiss. Dimitri's needy lips trailed down my neck and his teeth grazed the very sensitive skin there. My excitement suddenly shot up past ecstatic and I pressed myself into him harder. He froze and his hands tightened around me to the point that it almost hurt.

It took my mind a moment to realise that we had gone too far. Dimitri no longer denied our relationship, but the most contact he ever allows is just kissing. I nuzzled my face into Dimitri's neck in embarrassment. He relaxed slightly and ran his fingers through my hair.

"It's late," I mumbled, pulling away from him completely. "I should go back to my room before curfew."

Dimitri sat up after me and gripped my arm. "Rose..."

Reluctantly, I turned back around to face him. He stared up at me and slowly pulled me back on to the bed with him. I straddled his lap and our lips met in another kiss. This time it was filled with hunger rather than just love. "Dimitri—"

"Stay," he whispered against my cheek, placing feather light kisses there. "Please."

He pulled back so that I could look into his eyes. Slowly, I nodded. "Okay."

Despite Dimitri's tight hold, I managed to pull away a bit. "You said you would stay."

"Can you at least let me have a shower?" I laughed.

He allowed me to walk into the bathroom, but he wasn't too far behind me. I didn't question his motives and tried to ignore his presence as I took off my shirt and jeans. The shower was running and steam rose off the hot water. Just as I was about to remove my remaining garments of clothing, Dimitri grabbed me and lifted me on to the bathroom counter.

Our mouths met in a searing kiss. I couldn't help but moan into his mouth as I felt his hands roam over my bare skin. Dimitri pulled back just enough so that he could pull off his shirt. Our eyes met briefly, filled with so much hunger and desire. As we kissed and groped, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to taste Dimitri's blood.

Surely it would be warm, sweet, thick, refreshing and most importantly, his. I imagined it slowly oozing down my throat and satisfying a hunger I never knew I had. The crimson liquid smeared around my lips and dripping down his neck. Something about the thought was hungry and... Erotic.

A stunning sensation tickled my mouth and then there was pain. I groaned, still kissing Dimitri. He must have thought that I needed air because he pulled back a little and started to kiss down my neck. It was somewhere I wanted to travel on him but the dim pain in my mouth distracted me from any erotic thoughts I had.

I licked my lips and was stunned when I realised my canine teeth had grown a considerable few millimetres. They were about as long as Lissa's, Christian's, or any other Moroi.

"Dimitri," I whispered. But before I could stop myself, the overwhelming desire for his blood came back and Dimitri cried out as my newly acclaimed fangs pierced his skin. We both moaned simultaneously in pleasure. It tasted as good as I first thought, if not better. Nothing in the world could ever compare to drinking Dimitri's blood. It was warm, thick and tasted vaguely like honey.

When I felt satisfied, I pulled back and licked all the blood away from his neck. Dimitri's forehead was resting on my shoulder and he looked to be in a slightly blissful state. He straightened up and looked at me. His lazy fingers pushed my lips apart so that he could see my fangs.

"You... you have..." Dimitri was at a loss for words. His face was an inch from mine and one simple touch of my hand to his shoulder convinced him to continue in our heated make-out session. Dimitri's blood was smeared around my lips and the moment he tasted it, he moaned. Warm wet kisses were trailed down my neck again and I almost screamed in pleasure when the most wonderful sensation spread from my neck.

It took a moment to recover from my blissful haze. Dimitri's mouth was on my neck, suckling. He is drinking my blood, a sober part of me realised. The moment Dimitri's mouth left the wound over my artery, all the bliss left. I was slightly fatigued from blood loss but still incredibly turned on. What we just done was extremely erotic and left a pleasurable throb between my legs. Dimitri's bite was nothing like a Moroi bite. Moroi endorphins usually kept you blissed out for hours on end, but this was more of a 'in the moment' thing. The second he bites me, I feel complete bliss, but the moment he pulls away, his endorphins have already left my body and I'm left tired and drowsy.

Dimitri pulled me tight against his body and made sure that my legs were wrapped around his waist. I looked at him and noticed that he had also developed small fangs. They were a faint tint of red and blood was smeared on his mouth and my neck. I smiled and pulled him into yet another kiss. I could taste my own blood. It had a different taste to Dimitri's. Instead of the sweet, thick and warm honey flavour—mine was more of a, thick, warm and tangy maple syrup flavour. It turned me on nonetheless.

During my revelry of thoughts, I hadn't realised that Dimitri was undressing me. I was completely naked and I helped him out of his boxers. My lover carried me into the shower and we stood under the hot water, kissing and washing the blood away. He growled when our most intimate places accidentally brushed together.

I was hot, wet and aching for him. Dimitri obviously felt it because he effortlessly slid his hardness into me and started to thrust. I was slightly shocked by the fact that we are now having sex. Dimitri would probably regret this later, but right now we are both together and that's all that matters.

This time was different to what happened in the cabin. It seemed more intimate, passionate and less apprehensive. Our release wasn't the only thing that grew closer by the second. It was our love and proximity. I had a feeling that after tonight I won't be able to stay away from Dimitri much longer. Dimitri came before me, but the feel of his warm release was enough to make me let go.

I called out in pure ecstasy. Dimitri kissed my slightly swollen lips gently and set me down on my own feet. We both washed ourselves properly with soap, before getting dressed into the same clothes as before and crawling into bed.

"I love you, Roza." Dimitri murmured. "What do you think will happen now?"

I suddenly jolted up as there was a small pop in my mouth. My tongue inspected the cause and I realised that my fangs had popped back to their usual size in less than a second. My wide eyes found Dimitri's. His lips were slightly parted and he watched me with curiosity. I could see his canine teeth were still longer than normal, until they suddenly popped up like mine had. Dimitri had frozen in shock at the funny sensation.

I laughed and lied back down beside him. "That was strange," He murmured in disbelief.

"I love you," I told him with a gentle kiss. We fell asleep in each others' embrace for the first time in our lives.