I only own the plot, dialogue, and any added characters. Everything else belongs to Richelle Mead.
First Fic. Please tell me what you think.
You should know that this is an all-human fic. I got the best idea ever while watching TV. Sot= this is taking place in the dark and dangerous world of lies, dirtiness, crime and all of that fun stuff. I don't want to give too much away. But if you like Rose and Dimitri then I think that you should give it a try. I had to change a few personality traits for the story and also so I don't drive myself mad. I suppose I'll let you see so I don't ruin the surprise. Enjoy.
~ Evey
BAM!
"Asshole!" I swear as I stumbled backwards. I glare at the back of the guy's head as he walked away.
"Did you see that? He didn't hold the damn door for me! My god, Liss, these jerks get worse and worse every year. What the hell happened to chivalry? And what a great way to start our first day at this damned office!" I grumble as Lissa giggles at another one of my characteristic outbursts.
"Oh, Rose... Two years away from an office building and you haven't changed a bit," she laughed.
"How could I change? This place is hell with florescent lighting and cubicles. And why wouldn't I be angry? I can't believe we have to go into this dump," I complain. My sister is a saint for putting up with me.
I glance at Lissa. She's wearing a peach sundress and brown sandals that lace up her calves. She has her favorite white bag hanging from one of her slender arms and her other arm is clutching her white notebook. Her perfect hair has two sections pulled back to the sides of her head. Her makeup was barely visible and added to her perfect looks. She looks like a model or an angel or something.
Why did I even bother this morning? No one will see me next to her. I look down at my red and gray v-neck top and black ruffled skirt with red tights that disappear into my black pumps. I know my makeup and hair are okay from the reflection I saw when the door hit me. I may have a great body and all, but next to my best friend, I feel like an extra in a movie. I readjust the strap to my black leather messenger bag with pins all over it and then tug at the silver heart pendant of the choker around my neck. Then I mess with my phone… several times. None of this escapes Lissa's notice.
"Marie, why on earth are you fidgeting?" This makes me laugh because Liss says "fidgeting" like it's a bad word.
Just to annoy her, I reply, "Because I'm fidgety." I turn to flash my cheeky smile at her but it melts into a frown instead at the look she gives me.
"Fine, fine. I'm just… nervous," I answer honestly. These new assignments always make the butterflies in my tummy go crazy.
"You too?" she sighs.
At this point we reach the front office. Lissa drags me inside to fill out paperwork and collect our "New Employee" cards.
"You two are twins?" the old secretary asks, "I just don't see it."
"We're fraternal twins," Lissa and I state in unison. This, apparently, was funny to the now chuckling secretary. She waves us out the door to join our new coworkers in the madness. Welcome to Fawner Root, one of the biggest software manufacturers in the world and also the secret headquarters of the Mȃnă, an underground society of Russians that do really, really bad stuff. It's graphic, really.
Outside the front office, we compare cover assignments and test out the new equipment one last time. The new link between our minds was installed two days ago and it was still very strange to us. The agency we work for gave each of us specialized gadgets, unique to each of us. They figure that the link would allow us to share information and tools and whatnot. I think that they were just lazy and didn't want to do twice the amount of work.
Alas, Lissa basically has a supercomputer in her head with all of this information – none of which is useful in the field, in my opinion. I, on the other hand, have lots of important things like strategies, hacking abilities, knowledge of transportation and weaponry, and such. Basically, she's the brains, and I'm the brawn. Lovely.
I'm not sure what else she has, since I haven't seen her since we were first assigned on this extraction and observation mission. But I know what those bastards did to me. They made me do more insane training. I was nearly worked to death several times. Liss says that I'm just whining but she didn't have to run until the soles of her shoes were worn down.
After a few minutes of discussing the next few steps, Liss decided that we might as well get started. In order to procrastinate, I convinced Lissa that it's really important to check out the building first, so that we know what we're dealing with, even though she showed the image of the map to me through the link. Defense purposes, I insisted. The layout was simple and the security was not very secure – just as we'd expected. Now we must get to work, according to Lissa. Oh, joy! Desk jobs make me shudder.
We walk around the building in silence, our strides perfectly matched as we take in our surroundings. When we turn the corner, I am hit by another hard surface for the second time today.
"Fuck me!" I say while the brick wall I ran into steadies me with large strong hands.
"You okay there?" a deep voice with a trace of a sexy Russian accent asks me. I look into the deepest pair of eyes I've ever seen, hypnotized by their intensity. The eyes are set deep in a sculpted face that was framed by dark shoulder-length hair.
"Yes" I respond breathlessly "didn't see you there" I add, trying to hide my embarrassment. He is beautiful. I can't think. I'm trapped. I feel his big warm hands slide down my arms as he releases me. I miss the feeling.
"Sorry about that. Marie is a space case" Lissa says, snapping me back into reality. "Oh and I'm Lila. It's our first day." I break out of that freaky trance and look at Liss. They shake hands. His name is Dimitri. He looks like a Dimitri. God bless that girl for her quick thinking. Now where's a cheeky retort when I need one?
"Ugh… yeah… My bad. I need to open my eyes more often" I spit out lamely. Why did I wake up this morning? I should know that mornings and I don't get along very well. Oh. That's right. Lissa made me. I'm going to cut that girl. I glare at Lissa before looking back up at this beautiful stranger.
"Well… Sorry. I hate to end this awkward moment, but we have to run" I say. Yes! My smart-ass cocky self is back in business! Sexy Russian smirks at me. I think my legs just turned to jelly.
"Well I guess I'll just see you around then, Marie." He walks on while still smirking at me over his shoulder. I watch him until I can't see him anymore. The smug bastard must know what I think of him. He knows that he's the first guy I've been affected by in forever! Buttface. I refuse to be affected by this Russian ever again. Lissa yanks my arm to tell me to walk. I tell myself not to think.
Lissa opens up the link and sends me a stream of thoughts. Maybe the supercomputer was useful after all. At least I didn't have to memorize every file.
"Rose, that was Dimitri Belikov. We have to keep tabs on him and a few of his associates. I've given you his file. He's an expert fighter and torturer. They call him Picasso because they say that his 'work' is like art. He's a freelancer so I'll leave him to you. By the looks of it, he knows who we are. He plays dirty so be careful."
Oh, shit. Of course I'm attracted to the really, really bad guy that can hurt me very nicely. Of course everything just got a hell of a lot more dangerous. I should've known something like this would happen. Just another day in the miserable life of Rosemarie Hathaway.
We enter our new "manager's" office. I had to read up on this guy since we knew we'd be dealing with him. Christian Ozera. One of the seven Mȃnă lords and the ringleader of this freak show. He is smart, tricky, and clever so he's Lissa's assignment. She's acting as the inside girl for the St. Vlads, our agency. I'm working with the more straightforward but lethal people.
"H-hi, I'm Li-Lila Monty and this is my sister Marie. It's our first day." Whoa. What? Lissa does not stutter. What is this? This is madness! Time for some link action.
"What the hell, Liss!"
"I didn't know he'd be so attractive! I thought the Russian mafia ringleader would be some creepy old guy! I wasn't expecting 'Mr. Sexy'."
"Yeah? Well now you know how I feel about Picasso!"
I turn to look at this guy. He had tall and lean body and he was really handsome. He had inky black hair that hung just above his icy blue eyes, giving him a dark look. He looks like a Russian mafia kind of guy. Totally Lissa's type too. At least I won't be alone in my suffering.
