It wasn't just a shock that Adrian conjured enough spirit to save Jill in that gruel matter that happened in court. No what was the shock that Dimitri Belikov just walked back into our lives. Walked back into Adrian's nightmare, telling Adrian to forget about his past was way over my head. I couldn't tell Dimitri to leave and go back to Pennsylvania in the Moroi court. He'd obviously is here for a reason. A reason Abe set him up on. Maybe to torture poor Adrian and make him realize that Rose had moved on, so should he. To say Adrian was in shock was an understatement. He was completely frozen. He just stared down the man that once was a Strigoi and stole his girlfriend. Adrian told me that Rose was crazy about Dimitri from the beginning, maybe Adrian set himself up for the hurt. He knew Rose was in love with Dimitri. Why did he bother? Because he loves her, a voice in my head spoke. That could be true. Rose was beautiful, I could see how men would come out of their way just to fight over her and fight to protect her.
Silence grew louder and louder, I really wish I was at my dorm right now. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Dimitri's facial expression showed other wise. He shown condolence and sadness, his eyes held so much more. Like, he regrets taking Rose away from him. Well he's going to be dealing with a whole lot more then just feeling sorry. Adrian was in college downtown and Dimitri was sent here on mission, meaning we'll be seeing a whole lot of Dimitri. Adrian would be rooming with him; I couldn't help but feel jealous that Dimitri get's assigned to my mission to keep Jill safe, but also gets to go to college. Life is really unfair. I wasn't the only one that noticed the Awkwardness to this situation. Eddie saw and felt it. Abe had a sly smile to his face saying 'good things are going as plan.' Well that's Abe for you. Never knowing what he will do next. Eddie looked like he wanted to say something, but thought otherwise. That was until Jill walked in and saw Dimitri standing there. Her eyes glazed with excitement and happiness. Seeing Dimitri standing there made her feel safe from anyone. What shocked us is that Jill ran over to him and hugged him.
"You're here" she whispered into his shirt.
Dimitri had a small smile playing on his lips. Last I saw him he was smiling all the time. He cracked jokes and made jokes towards us Alchemists. Not that I was offended some of the stuff he said was true.
"Hey Jill, good to see you again" he spoke and hugged her back.
That was one thing about Dimitri, his actions surprised you. He was always so strict that he wouldn't budge to a hug and now seeing him. He was full of life, some regret, but that had nothing to do with the fact that he was once Strigoi.
"H-how is everything back at court?" She stepped away from the hug and looked at him.
He shrugged. "Lissa is worried about you. Every guardian is on duty all of the time. Prosecuting the Moroi in court, I was surprised that they chose me out of all the guardians to come here and help out."
She looked like she was in a daze and was confused. "What do you mean? You're staying?" She was trying not to get excited over this, but she was practically bouncing.
He only nodded. There was that silence again. I suppressed a groan.
Adrian threw his arms up in exasperation. "Oh you got to be kidding me?" He looked like he was about to break. "It's one thing you stole my girlfriend Belikov, but it's another when you come onto an assignment that's not your burden to bear"
Dimitri was caught by surprised and looked at Adrian. "Do you think I wanted Jill to be in harms way?"
Adrian looked at him. "Well you sure enough helped with that, seeing that you needed Jill to give Lissa the throne?"
"That wasn't my call. I had no knowledge of it until Rose told me, that there was another Dragomir child. I was on board with Jill's mother to keep her away. But Rose insisted that it'll be life changing."
Adrian muttered, "Well it seems like its changing"
Dimitri sighed in defeat. He looked like he didn't want to do this. But it was for the protection of Jill. Dimitri looked at Adrian. "I'll be your partner in crime until things settle down."
"I don't want you here." Adrian spat, venom dripping from every word.
Finally making my presence known I gasped at Adrian. He never sounded so dangerous, I was kind of afraid of him now. Just a few moments ago he called me beautiful because of my eyes. Now I feel icky, because he was just using me to get Rose out of his mind and he now looked like the vampire I once feared when I met him.
"Okay, you two better stop bickering over my daughter" Abe said. "She made her decision" His last comment was towards Adrian.
"Well she chose wrong" Adrian said and sat on the chair.
"Okay enough, I've had it with you two. Adrian you are going to have to deal with living with Dimitri. And Dimitri, just ignore him." I said. Yeah it was lame but it was the only thing I could think of, more of being a mother to add.
I being the reason of voice again, Adrian looked at me and smiled. "Well I guess Belikov and I would be living here huh?"
I nodded.
"Well Belikov let me show you to your room" Adrian looked at him trying his best not to deal with the fact that Dimitri would be here.
Dimitri felt uneasy and followed Adrian towards the back of the apartment.
I looked around and sighed I sagged down onto the floor in exhaustion. Jill came besides me and put a reassuring arm around me. She may still be a vampire and I'm not very keen on them, but I do enjoy having her around. She was actually like Zoe. Just in vampire form. She was beautiful and graceful. As hard as it may be to believe but I liked that about Jill. She had a caring nature that made me feel safe around these crazy vampires.
Abe had told us that he was leaving to call court and tell them that Dimitri had made in. I had noticed Sonya; the spirit user had come with Dimitri. I was about to ask if Dimitri had died and that she brought him back to life, but I was suddenly tired and didn't feel up to talking.
A few moments later Dimitri and Adrian came running out of the room like made men and Adrian was surprisingly hiding behind Dimitri.
"What is wrong with you two?" I asked irritated.
"There's something in the room" Adrian spoke shaking.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "something in the room?"
He only nodded.
Dimitri spoke up. "I think it was our shadows. But it moved too quickly for me to notice"
I started to laugh and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "So let me get this straight? You fight Strigoi; protect the Moroi from all types of danger. And you're afraid of your own shadow, am I correct?"
Dimitri sighed and cracked a smiled. "Sorry I'm a bit paranoid." He looked at Sonya and she nodded. What was that about?
"Look maybe we did over react. But I think there is something in that room" Adrian said.
I sighed and looked at him. "Do you want me to go into Dimitri's bedroom and check to see if there are no monsters under his bed?"
Dimitri smiled and chuckled. "Yes please"
"You'd expect being 24 years old, he wouldn't be afraid of the monsters under his bed" I said to myself walking down the hall towards Dimitri's room. As I entered the room I felt a bit of a chill like something rushed threw me. I just brushed it off. I searched the perimeters of the bedroom and got nothing. I soon heard movement from the closet. I gulped and opened the door looking around in there and saw 6 baby mice and a mouse. I guess it was the mother. I couldn't help but awe and look at them. I found a show box that was left in the closet and made a bed for the mice and gently placed them in there. I smiled and brought the box out to the living room. Adrian was still hiding behind Dimitri.
"What's that?" Adrian asked.
I looked at the box. "Dimitri's monsters" I gently placed it on the floor and everyone looked inside. The women awed and Adrian had a funny voice coming up his throat. "What's wrong Ivashkov? Afraid of mice"
He nodded and looked at the box. "I had bad encounters with mice. I was attacked"
"By Mice," Dimitri spoke and looked at him.
Adrian only nodded.
"Of Mice and Men" I said looking down at the mice.
"Good book" Dimitri spoke. "Jack London right?" He looked at me, his brown eyes glistening.
I nodded "Right" something in his eyes told me that he wanted to have fun with Adrian and the mice. I expected he was going to keep them and name them. "Well I only see one man. Adrian you remind me of old cartoons with women who stand on chairs in kitchens and hike up their skirts, screeching to get it out."
"You have a skirt that I can borrow and reenact it for you?" He smirked.
I nodded and looked at him. "In my magical bag of elixirs"
"You do?" Dimitri looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was the weird one. They acted so normal and I act so rash and harsh about their lives. I mean I have no knowledge to judge them. I know they are vampires and have crazy laws. But they were after all living breathing and have feelings.
I shrugged. "You may never know when you have to jam" I said quoting a movie.
"Breakfast Club, Sage? Really, out of all movies, you picked the breakfast club" Adrian smiled at me.
"What, I'm sorry I had a fair share of my 80s movies." I smiled back at him. I had grown close to Adrian after the Lee incident. He was so crazy over power that he wanted to kill to become a Strigoi, again. Also Keith being crazy, I never knew Abe took his eye for a payback. What did Keith do that made Abe take an eyeball?
"Yet, you don't know what 21 Jump Street is?" He smirked.
I shrugged. "I never heard of it"
"It's a Johnny Depp film, well TV series. He played an undercover cop at a School. He was a student protecting people." Dimitri spoke.
"Whoa Russia knows his American films" Adrian chuckled. I'm guessing Russia was a new nickname.
"Russia?" Dimitri rose an eyebrow.
"It's better then Cradle Robber" Jill piped up.
"Cradle Robber?" I asked confused.
Dimitri sighed. "It was my nickname from him because I was dating Rose when she was 17 years old and still in high school."
"How old were you?" I asked.
"24" He spoke.
"How old are you now?" I asked again.
"24"
"How long have you been 24?" Jill spoke.
"Since last year? My birthday hasn't come up yet, so I'm still 24." He looked scandalized.
"What's your sign?" I asked.
"Virgo" He looked at the mice. He looked like he wanted to pet them.
"Ah, sign of the Virgin." Adrian now had a cigarette in his hand.
"I'm not a virgin" Dimitri said.
"How do we know that?" Adrian was testing him.
Jill giggled quietly and looked at her hands. "I know he's not?"
"Did he sleep with you too Jailbait?" Adrian inhaled.
"No, I just know because when we were in that hotel in Michigan Sonya had taken me out for Ice cream. We came back and our room was next to Rose and Dimitri's. And well we heard."
"Oh my god" Dimitri stood up and walked out of the room. Everyone by now was laughing hard. I mean it was mean. I never had sex so I shouldn't laugh. But it was funny that Dimitri had gotten embarrassed and walked out of the room.
This was hilarious, we had ordered pizzas and we started to act like we were a big family. Dimitri our new addition, he was adopted from Russia from our parent that is why he was so tall and tan. While the rest of us looked pale in comparison. We cracked jokes. I was surprised to see Adrian and Dimitri getting along. I knew that they had to put on the façade for Jill's benefit. But it was working out fine. I had to give them kudos. They all were acting, well human. Sonya was our aunt that lived in Los Angeles and we were allowed to visit her whenever. I couldn't help but to notice a longing in Dimitri's eyes. I knew that look; I saw it when we were on the run. He longed to touch Rose and to kiss her. But he couldn't right now. He was across the country. It was like it pained him to be away from her. Adrian saw Dimitri's face and knew exactly what was happening. He actually looked concerned for him.
"You miss her don't you?" He spoke quietly.
Dimitri nodded. "I'm that noticeable huh?"
Adrian shrugged. "I just know that look. You wore it a lot in court after you weren't convicted of being a Strigoi. You miss touching her. Her smell and her voice" Adrian had too longed for her. But she didn't belong to him anymore.
Dimitri nodded and sighed. "We all can't get what we want"
"Speak for yourself" Adrian took a sip of orange juice. Surprise no alcohol was in it.
Dimitri shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't want this to happen."
"Well it happened all right" Adrian grew sadder. "Did you think it wouldn't hurt me? I have feelings you know. I'm not some soulless creature you can just mess around with" I use to say that they were soulless creatures and had no meaning in this world. But they are why we alchemists have a job. Without them, we'd be useless.
"I didn't do anything. It was all rose. I told her I was not going to take her away from you. But she had other plans; Rose goes by what she says. I didn't tell her to cheat on you. I didn't tell her to leave you. I was the voice of reason. I told her no, but like I said she jumped in without thinking." Dimitri said calmly.
"So sleeping with another mans girl was okay for you?" Adrian looked fumigated but was very calm about it.
"Yes I slept with her. Many times, but that was the spur of the moment. She just killed a man and she wanted a human touch. You weren't there to give that to her. I was." Dimitri had raised his voice just a little.
"I was trying to clear her name" Adrian spoke in distain.
"You were doing an excellent job." Dimitri said crossing his arms over his chest. His muscles seeped through his white t-shirt. It was unbelievable how masculine he was. No wonder Rose picked him over Adrian. All though Adrian was hot. Dimitri was hotter. I couldn't believe the words I was thinking. Calling a Dhampir and Moroi hot, I was kind of scared now.
"Oh and you were?" Adrian scoffed. "Last I remember screwing your ex girlfriend wasn't in the plans of keeping her safe"
"I didn't screw her for fun" Dimitri looked like he didn't care at this point if he talked about his sex life. "I did it to save her from herself. Do you know what she's like when she absorbs too much of Spirit's darkness" he looked at Jill making sure she knew what she was getting herself into. "It killed her. It killed her body, she started hurting herself. Making herself bleed, she started going crazy. Not that ghost type of crazy, the crazy where you just wanted to kill and keep killing and keep killing. It scared me to see her like that. It was like the night back at the academy when Jesse tortured Lissa. She absorbed so much darkness. She wanted to kill Jesse." He had spoken with so much Admiration of Rose. That he was a loss at word.
"So you helped her. That's all you did was help her from herself" Adrian interjected.
Dimitri nodded. "She told me it couldn't happen again. I was sad that we couldn't but then your name popped up and I felt like slim and all guilt. I didn't want that to happen. But it did."
The night was less awkward about why Dimitri has sex with Rose and why Adrian was so interested. There was no shock to Dimitri when he found out that Adrian had never slept with her. Maybe this was a little confusing to me. But thank god no one else was assigned to this matter. They would probably be in a hole right now trying to get away. That's where I wanted to be. But I loved this, getting to know the Dhampir's and the Moroi spectacles of life, I kind of thought of them as human. Key word: Kind of. I would have to deal with this until next year. Ugh! School year just begun. This crazy life. Just getting started.
