After reading 'O Christmas Tree' by Samwysesr, I thought it would be fun to count-down to Christmas with a series of VA one-shots inspired by some classic Christmas Carols.

There will be 6-7 episodes in total - one for each book in the VA series + maybe a post-VA finale. I'll keep them short & sweet (2000 words or less), and aim to post one each day.

Merry Nearly Christmas!

1. Deck the Halls

(Vampire Academy)

Knock-knock.

I groaned, not even bothering to lift my head and look at the door. This afternoon's training session with Dimitri had been brutal and all I wanted to do was lie here - sprawled flat on my face across the bed - and not move again until I smelt breakfast being served in the cafeteria.

Knock-knock.

I frowned at the door. It wouldn't be Dimitri - we had to cut our training session short today because Alberta needed his help with some secret guardian business... And it definitely wouldn't be Lissa - seeing as she wasn't talking to me since I made her tell Dr Olendzki that she'd been cutting again. Apart from Dimitri and Lissa, I'd only consider opening the door for Chris Hemsworth, and the chance of it being him was pretty slim.

I pulled my pillow over my head, hoping the mystery knocker would give up and leave.

Knock-knock, knock-knock.

This had better be important! I rolled limply off the mattress and stalked over to see who was at the door.

Dammit.

'Hi Natalie,' I faked a smile, opening the door a little wider. 'What's going on? It's past curfew. How did you get past the dorm matron?'

'Rose! You're still awake!' she was way too excited, as always. 'I've got a late-pass from Headmistress Kirova. I'm working on a special project and there's something I need help with. Do you think you could come down to the Commons and give me a hand?'

'Umm... I'm pretty shattered from...'

'It'll only take five minutes - ten minutes tops!' she batted her eyelids pleadingly.

'I'm not sure if...' I tried again.

'Guardian Belikov will be there,' she wiggled her eyebrows.

The excuse I was about to make died on my lips.

'Two seconds,' I closed the door quickly and grabbed a fresh hoodie to chuck over my stale work-out gear.

I was honestly exhausted, but there was no way I could turn down the opportunity to break curfew and hang out with my sexy Russian mentor in the same night - even if it did mean helping Natalie with her 'special project' - whatever that was.

'So... What do you think?'

Natalie peeled her hands away from my eyes and I blinked around me.

So this was Natalie's special project. The Commons was normally just a big, brown box of a room, but Natalie and her moroi minions had transformed it into a twinkling winter paradise - ready for this weekend's school dance.

Long tables had been set along one wall, covered in gauzy white tablecloths and scattered with tiny gold stars and silver snowflakes. The dancefloor was decorated with a border of artificial trees - their bare, winter branches lit up with fairy lights - and the entire ceiling was draped with strands of hanging lights that looked like icicles. Christmas had come early to St Vladimir's.

'Wow. It's very... sparkly,' I offered, personally thinking it was way over the top.

'I knew you'd love it!' Natalie clapped her hands gleefully. 'No! Not there!' she took off suddenly like a dog after a squirrel - snatching a holly-and-ivy themed centrepiece from one of her helpers and placing it on a different table, then hurrying back to me. 'You wouldn't believe what I've gone through getting this together,' she sighed dramatically. 'I swear, I must be the only one here with creative vision!'

I nodded in sympathy, but I wasn't really listening to her. My eyes were on the tall guardian who'd just entered through a side-door, carrying a massive box over one shoulder. Dimitri Sex-on-Legs Belikov. He'd ditched his duster, and right now his shirt was clinging to his biceps and lats in a very yummy way. I wasn't the only one who'd noticed that fact, and a few of Natalie's slaves stopped from their decorating to admire the view.

'You train with that?' a pretty moroi girl sidled over to me, ogling Dimitri's body while he got stuck listening to a stream of instructions from Natalie.

I felt annoyed with her at first but then grinned.

'I get to touch that every day!' I answered smugly, then walked casually across the room to stand next to Natalie and my super-hot mentor who I absolutely didn't have a crush on. (Cough, cough.)

'Hey, dudes. What's in the box?' I asked.

Natalie's eyes lit up at my interest. 'Only the pièce de résistance!' she announced grandly, indicating for Dimitri to set the box down and show me what was inside - which turned out to be a HUGE disco mirror-ball.

'Woah...,' I did a double take. It was the size of a small planet. 'How are you going to get that thing up on the ceiling? I mean, I know you're tall, Dimitri, but...' I looked up with a frown.

Even standing on a ladder there was no way he'd be able to safely balance that monstrosity and reach for the hook that was suspended above the dancefloor.

'That's why I got you to help!' Natalie looked proud of herself.

'Okay...' I wasn't sure where she was going with this. 'Even if I hold the ladder, he still won't be able to...'

'You're not going to hold the ladder, silly,' she shook her head with a giggle. 'You're going to hold the ball... and Guardian Belikov is going to hold you!'

I looked to Dimitri, assuming there was no way he'd go along with something as crazy as this, but he was surprisingly relaxed.

'I'm game if you are,' he raised an eyebrow.

Of course I was game.

All the girls in the room stopped their work and clustered around us to watch the proceedings.

'Piggy back?' I asked Dimitri, but he had a different idea.

Stepping behind me, he gripped my waist and easily lifted me up over his head so I was sitting on his shoulders.

Okay. That works too.

'Now stand up,' he instructed.

Easier said than done.

I wobbled a few times, grabbing onto his hands at first, and then using his head for balance as I eased myself up into a crouched position.

'Steady,' he warned, his fingers wrapped lightly but firmly around my ankles.

'Its okay. I'm good,' I announced, feeling his shoulders warm and solid under my bare feet. 'Now, somebody pass me the ball.'

The moroi girls looked at one another blankly for a few seconds then two of them managed to hoist the disco-ball up to me.

'That's it, Rose,' Dimitri encouraged me as I did the world's slowest squat - gradually stretching my legs out until I was standing upright and got comfortable with my balance.

'Good to go,' I called down to him - all business on the outside, while secretly pretending we were world-famous circus performers playing for a packed-out audience. 'Take me up, comrade!'

One rung. Two rungs.

'I can nearly reach it... one more.'

Three rungs and my face was in line with the hook on the ceiling.

'Perfect... Dimitriiiiii!'

I clung to the ball and bent my knees to brace myself as he wobbled beneath me.

'Just testing your core strength,' he looked up at me with a sly expression.

'I'll get you for that, Belikov!' my eyes widened in indignation.

'You're welcome to try, Hathaway... but after you hang the mirror-ball,' he answered serenely.

I had an urge to drop the ball on his head, but decided we could settle the score later. Preferably when we were someplace alone. Maybe sweaty. With not so many clothes on.

I nearly overbalanced at the thought, and felt Dimitri's hands steading me.

'You okay?' the teasing note in his voice was gone - replaced by genuine concern.

'K,' I nodded, focusing my mind back on the task and feeling a surge of relief when the glittering sphere settled securely on its hook.

'Heading down,' Dimitri descended the ladder carefully, and as soon as he was safely on the ground I took a bow for my adoring fans.

'That was amazing!' Natalie gushed, while the other moroi girls applauded - I assume for Dimitri, not for me.

'We do what we can,' I declared from my lofty pedestal. 'Anything to help our moroi-'

The guardian below me lurched suddenly - I'm pretty sure on purpose - and the next second I felt myself falling.

I was convinced I was headed for the floor, but at the last moment, Dimitri stuck his arms out and caught me.

'We'll have to keep working on that balance, Novice Hathaway,' his eyes were laughing as he lowered me to the ground, but I felt his fingers squeeze my waist and I knew he was proud of me.

'Whatever you say, comrade,' I patted his chest condescendingly but let my hand linger there for a few seconds, and it was my turn to smile when I saw the change in his eyes.

I thought I'd seen it a few times before, but now I was pretty much certain. I might have a thing for my mentor... but he had a thing for me too!

.

Author's Note:

There you go. Light and fluffy like Rose's feelings for Dimitri in the 1st VA book. See you tomorrow for Frostbite!