disclaimer:
I do not own Vampire Academy or anything that has to do with it. I am just a bored fan who needs an excuse to write a story.
Each character mentioned here belongs to the official author, Richelle Mead.
I dedicate this to her.
He pressed his lips onto my neck gently, and I melted into his touch. He pushed my hair back to make more bare skin, his fingertips just barely touching my skin. He kissed my neck again and I arched up.
Then I stopped. I suddenly became stiff. This was not happening.
I was not Lissa. This was not Dimitri; it was Christian. It couldn't be Dimitri, because that would be impossible, all odds were against us being together.
Yet, when Dimitri murmured my name against my neck, I relaxed under his touch, our entire history coming back to me.
I rolled over on top of him, and I rested my head on his chest. His fingertips lightly scratch down my back and back up, sending chills throughout my entire body. I leaned up to kiss him again, but he shook his head and put his finger to my lips.
"No, Rosa." He said, and I rolled off him and onto my back as he sat up, the blanket to our bed falling a little, revealing his bare chest.
"It's been three weeks sense I got shot Dimitri, I'm fine." When everyone calmed down from Tasha Ozera's imprisonment, Lissa's crowning, Jill's new ancestry, and my shooting; my mother decided that it wasn't healthy for me to be stepping right back into my usual guardian duties, and I was given a month to heal. For damphirs, a month is longer then we need, but my mom pulled some strings, even though I protested against it. My father, Abe Mazur, also had a lot to do with it.
Dimitri had decided, without asking me, that if I was going to be on brake from my guardian duties, I shouldn't be doing any physical activities. Even the ones I enjoyed.
"You and I both know I'm in perfect condition. I could take down an army of strigoi and still be fine." Dimitri relaxed and laid his head back on his pillow, and I snuggled into him, nuzzling his neck.
"The guardians don't seem to think that." He replied, but didn't stop me. I kissed behind his ear lightly, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer, but not completely on top of him.
"Han's judgment is clouded; I think he has a crush on my mom. If anybody else asked him if someone could take a break, he would have been outraged." I murmured against his throat.
"He didn't tell Abe he was outraged." Dimitri countered. I lifted my head to look at his face.
"Would you say no to Abe?" I asked. Dimitri thought for a second, and then shook his head.
"Probably not." He answered, and I laid my head back on his shoulder.
"I think my parents planned this. They knew you wouldn't try anything." I said, sighing.
"Your parents know nothing about your sex life." Dimitri replied, running his fingers through my hair.
"My non-existent sex life you mean. And who knows, you and Abe are best friends now, there's no telling what information you are giving him." I teased. My dad had come by almost two weeks ago to finally have his conversation with Dimitri, and it apparently ended well. Dimitri never told me what they talked about, but now Abe would call and they would go out to the Court bars and have a beer, or just hang out. Dimitri still didn't particularly trust him, and he wasn't comfortable around him, but he also wasn't willing to say no.
"Rose, you're not going to get your way." I glared at him and sat up, getting out of bed. I was wearing a skimpy teal lace and silk nightgown, and it revealed a lot of skin. I knew Dimitri still wanted me, and I knew it was killing him to wait. Desire burned in his eyes, but I chose to ignore it.
We both had our own suit in court, but he usually stayed in mine, because I was there and also because it was in the royal housing and it was a lot nicer than anything he got. It was more like a small apartment than a hotel room, it had a kitchen and a living room, a bathroom and bedroom, and it even had a small dining room.
I headed for the door and Dimitri sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
"Rose, where are you going?" He asked, exasperated. I turned to look at him, standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
"Well, you've made it pretty obvious that you don't really want me, so I've decided to get out of your way. I'm sure I'll find somebody here who's willing to 'let me get my way.'" I turned back around, knowing I got my point across, but before I knew it, Dimitri was behind me. He grabbed my wrist and turned me around, pulling me into him.
"Rose." He said threateningly.
"Comrade." I replied.
"Get back in bed." He ordered. I thought for a second, and then decided to stand my ground.
"No."
"Yes."
"No." Dimitri sighed and released my wrist, wrapping his arm around my waist. I continued to look him in the eye, never faltering.
"I don't want to hurt you." He said. His voice was filled with compassion, but I could tell my threat to go find another guy was still hovering in his head.
"I'm fine." I re-stated.
"It doesn't hurt anymore?" He asked, moving his hand to where the bullet impacted with my skin.
"Not for a while. It comes and it goes." He frowned and I knew immediately I had said the wrong thing.
"But right now it's gone!" I tried to rephrase. "Someone once told me that it's better to jump in early when you don't feel as bad as you could."
"I don't think those were their words exactly." He said. "I think that person was probably talking about different activities. And they probably weren't talking about the kind of pain a bullet would cause."
"It might as well have been. I was in serious pain." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him softly.
"All that training worked though." He protested, but kissed me back anyway, and a little harder than I expected.
"Let me prove it." I suggested, pulling myself closer to him. He considered for a moment, debating his options, than I finally won.
"We have to be careful." He explained.
"Of course." I replied, as I ran my hand down his chest and stomach, stopping at his pajama bottoms.
"I'm serious, Rose." He said, and I nodded in agreement, slipping my thumb under the cotton. Dimitri picked me up, I wrapped my legs around him, and he took me back to our bed.
I ended up falling back asleep, and when I woke up, I was content with myself, even though I had taken advantage of Dimitri. He didn't seem to mind though.
Dimitri was awake and reading a paperback novel about some cowboy, and I laughed.
"How do you keep finding new books to read?" I wondered. He glanced at me, then back at the book and turned a page.
"There are a lot of books that I haven't read yet." He answered.
"Read something to me." I suggested. Dimitri set the book down and looked at me surprisingly.
"Really?" He asked. I considered for a moment, and nodded.
"But not this book, a different one." I picked up the book and flipped through it, unimpressed.
"Which one?" He wondered, taking the book from my hand and putting it on the nightstand next to us.
"One from your mom. In Russia." I answered hesitantly. Dimitri looked pained, but I had to ask eventually. He needed to see his family. More than anything, he needed to do that. I'm not sure if he was ready to talk about Russia without going back into his depressed state, but I needed to talk about it with him almost as much as he needed to see his family.
"I'm not ready, Rosa. I can't." He said. I understood, but I also knew that his family needed to know that he was alive.
"Soon." I replied simply. "But not today. Besides, Lissa wants us to come with her to drop Jill off at St. Vladimir's." Dimitri laughed and glanced at the digital clock next to the bed.
"You should probably put clothes on." He said, sliding his hand down my back to prove his point. I reluctantly got out of bed and went into the bathroom quickly. I brushed my teeth and checked on my injury, noticing that it did in fact feel a little sore, but I wasn't regretting anything. After I brushed my hair and put on a tiny bit of makeup, I went back in the bedroom to put clothes on.
Dimitri had already gotten dressed and he watched me as I dressed. He laughed and kissed my forehead.
"Your beauty never gets old." He said, and walked into the bathroom. I smiled to myself and opened a jewelry box that Lissa had gotten me as a house warming present. I searched for my blue nazar necklace and didn't find it in there, so I checked my drawers and then Dimitri's.
I saw a silver chain and I lifted it out of his drawer and suddenly went stiff. The necklace wasn't my nazar, but it was mine. Dimitri had given it to me a while ago. When he was strigoi.
I never really considered him keeping anything he had. I didn't know what he had with him when he was changed and I never had a chance to ask those kind of questions, but he apparently kept this one item.
It was beautiful. The necklace was one of the simpler ones he got me, but I didn't doubt the expensive prices it most likely came with. The necklace was a simple thin chain, and it had diamonds on it, a heart in the middle, and two roses on each side. It sparkled even in the dark and had a small clasp at the back. I would have loved it, if it weren't for the fact that it disgusted me.
I remembered it because it was the first necklace that had to do with a rose. I usually didn't like those kind of presents, but it was so beautiful, I didn't care. I hadn't cared about a lot of things then. I put it back in his drawer and closed it right as Dimitri came out of the bathroom.
"Are you ready?" He asked. I smiled and nodded, deciding I didn't need a necklace after all.
"Let's go." I said, stepping toward him and grabbing his hand, kissing him lightly.