A/N: wahoo! new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 6: Caught Off Guard

Kirill groaned from the pain in his right side as he awoke laying on it. He struggled to roll onto his back and stretched out his left arm to encircle Lily in it…but Lily wasn't there. Frowning, he opened his eyes and turned to see her side of the bed empty, making him slowly sit up, still frowning at the spot.

"Dobroe utro, Kirill." (Good morning, Kirill)

He shut his eyes in silent frustration before opening them again as he turned his head to the door to see a frightened Lily staring at him with wide, scared emerald eyes as a huge hand was clamped over her mouth, the huge hand belonging to the huge, white-haired Russian behind her, holding a gun to her head with the other hand. She was trembling, and there were tears forming at the corners of her eyes. It made his stomach flip and twist in nausea.

"Otpusti yee," (Let her go) Kirill ground out, but the man only pulled Lily closer, making her whimper and Kirill instantly shoved his hand under the pillow for his gun. He came up empty. The man holding Lily waved the gun at him before placing it back on Lily's temple.

"Vy, slovno svet, Kirill," (You were out like a light, Kirill) the man taunted with an evil smirk. "Ya hotel by byt´ nacheku vse vremya, yesli ya byla krasivaya devushka, kak eto so mnoĭ." (I would be on guard all the time if I had a pretty girl like this with me)

"Chto vy hotite?" (What do you want?) Kirill snapped.

The man glanced at Lily and gave a devious smirk to Kirill before nuzzling his nose into her hair, making her whimper again. Kirill pulled his hand into a fist next to him as he watched Lily's eyes shoot open and the emeralds orbs were filled with urgency at him. Her eyes flicked to her side of the bed before looking back at him as she felt her captor nibbling at the nape of her neck. Kirill gave a small frown but soon remembered that she'd shoved her gun under the mattress, and apparently it was still there. The man would have only checked for one gun.

"Vzyat yee," (Take her) Kirill shrugged, shooting the man's gaze at him in wonder as Lily gave a small frown, unable to understand him or why he was suddenly so calm. "Ona dlya menya nichego." (She means nothing to me)

The man raised a brow at him before spinning around and shoving Lily against the door, his hand still over her mouth as her eyes widened in terror.

"Tak chto vy ne budete vozrazhat´ yesli ya vzyat yee pryamo zdes´, chto li?" (So you won't if I take her here, then?) he grinned evilly at Lily, but spoke to Kirill.

"Net," he replied, emotionlessly.

The man gave a breathy chuckle as he peeled off his jacket, pulling his hand away from Lily's mouth to do so, allowing her to speak.

"Kirill…" she called, still looking at the man in front of her.

"Play along," he said, assuming the man didn't speak English and he was right because he didn't take his eyes from Lily. "Trust me. I won't let him hurt you."

"Vy odin bol´noĭ ublyudok, Kirill," (You are one sick bastard, Kirill) the man smirked before attacking Lily's mouth with his. She squeaked and began struggling but he shoved the gun he still held to her head again. She groaned in despair before his mouth trailed to her neck and she whimpered when his other hand moved down her body, her eyes shut tight.

"Vy tak dumaete?" (You think so?) Kirill replied from behind him, a gun to his head.

Before the man could say anything as he lifted his head next to Lily's, Kirill pulled the trigger, making Lily scream at the shot and the blood that sprayed onto her face as the man jerked against her and fell to her feet, dead. She stared down at the body as Kirill grabbed his gun from the dead hand and shoved it into his pocket. He grabbed her arm and moved her away to open the door and drag her up the stairs. She was still trembling but said nothing.

Kirill stopped at the door and pushed her against the wall at the hinge of the door, holding a finger over his lips to tell her to be silent. She nodded as she began wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve and he turned to slowly open the door, peeking out of the crack he made. The club was empty and dimly lit, but as far as he could see, it was safe. He grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her through the door with him.

She gave a gasp when she saw the bartender slumped over the bar with a bullet hole between his eyes, but he didn't stop their march to the door. She let out a small scream when she noticed Nikolai lying in a pool of his own blood off to the side and when they reached the door Kirill pulled her in front of him, gently setting her against the wall as his gaze bored into hers.

"This is what will happen if you stay with me," he warned again. "At least it will be until we get out of the country, perhaps not even then." He stroked a hand over her cheek before setting it on her shoulder and murmuring, "Can you handle it, malen´kaya?"

Lily only stared at him for a moment, trembling as her gaze shifted around the room. He could tell she was weighing her options. Then again, she could have been in shock, but he waited for her answer. She looked down at herself and started pulling off the jacket she still wore that was his. He frowned at her in wonder but she only pushed it against his chest.

"You'll need this more than I do," she murmured as he still frowned at her, but took it in one hand anyway. "You can get me a warmer jacket on our way to the airport."

Their gazes met and she gave a tired smile before taking the gun from his hand and shoving it in one of her sweater pockets. She gave a small sniffle as she straightened out her sweater, flipping her hair from her face before she looked up at him again. His hand came up to her face again to wipe away a tear that had trickled down her cheek and mixed with blood with his thumb, his gaze lowering to her lips.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, making her frown as her scanned over his face. "He didn't…hurt you, did he?"

She shook her head, licking her lips before replying, "He just…creeped me out…a lot."

"I'm sorry," he whispered again. "But I needed a diversion."

"I understand," she murmured with a slight nod. "I knew you wouldn't let him get too far."

"I won't let it happen again, Lily," he assured her and she shot her gaze to his, her heart skipping when he said her name. "I promise."

She only nodded and he glanced around the room in thought, pulling on his jacket.

"We need more cash," he murmured to himself.

His gaze fell to Nikolai's body and with sudden lightening speed he was kneeling next to the body, careful not to step in the blood around him and rummaging through his pockets. Lily turned her gaze away from the scene, understanding the need for it but half of her not believing he was searching the dead body of his 'useful acquaintance.'

She caught Kirill standing and looked at him to see him toss Nikolai's wallet onto the body, shoving the cash that was in it into his pocket. He stepped toward her without a word and took her hand in his, opening the door to peek outside, before opening it completely and marching into the freezing morning air. He pulled Lily under his arm as his gaze darted around the street, his hearing on everything else.

The goon hadn't come alone. His partner or partners had to be somewhere. He suddenly caught the soft squeal of breaks and slow crunching of snow under tires. He'd heard it so many times, it was unmistakable. They were in a car, following them.

"Get ready to run," he murmured, his hand slipping from Lily's shoulder to grip her hand as he kept his eyes on the alley they were coming up on. "As soon as we turn into that alley."

"Da," Lily nodded slightly, gripping his hand a little tighter.

Kirill started breathing slowly, steadily preparing for the chase. He knew the car wouldn't fit through the alley, and if he could just get them to the other side of it without a hitch, they would be fine. But he wasn't sure how many men were in the car, or how many were armed, if any of them were at all. It was a big chance, and the odds were against him, but he'd have to risk it.

"Stay ahead of me," he murmured to Lily. "Run as fast as you can and don't look back, no matter what you hear. When you get to the end, turn left and stay there. Whatever happens, don't stop."

"But-"

"Don't stop," he repeated as they came to the alley, the crunching of snow still sounding behind them. They both turned into the alley and he shoved her ahead of him, shouting, "Run!"

They both took off down the alley and he heard the revving of the car engine before the squeal of the breaks as he concentrated on his breathing, seeing Lily ahead of him, like he told her. The pains in his ankle and side were ignored as he kept Lily in his sights, not failing to notice that she was way ahead of him.

Good, he thought. If they start shooting they'll hit me and not her.

As if reading his mind gunshots rang out making Lily gave a small scream and throw her arms over her head, but she kept running. More shots rang out and a bullet hit Kirill in the left shoulder, making him shout in pain and grab his shoulder but he continued running as best he could, the wounds he'd already sustained screaming in pain.

He heard squealing tires ahead of them and shot his gaze to the exit of the alley, shoving a hand in his pocket for his gun at the sight of a car stopped in front of Lily.

"Brosit´ shuruproverty vokrug i poluchit´ svoyu zadnitsu v mashinu!" (Quit screwing around and get your ass in the car!)

Kirill frowned at the familiar feminine voice for a moment before a few more shots rang out and brought him back to reality. Lily was frozen in confusion next to the car when Kirill ran up and grabbed her arm to pull her the car, open the door and shove her in before getting in himself.

"Idti!" (Go!) Kirill shouted at the blonde girl in the driver's seat and she shifted gears before slamming a foot onto the gas and skidding off down the street,

"Poluchila v sebe glubokie de´mo, ty, Kirill?" (Got yourself into some deep shit, did you, Kirill?) the blonde smirked as they sped down the street.

"Tol´ko obychnye," (Only the usual) he replied, looking out the back window as Lily frowned between the two.

"Obychnye, ne ostavit´ Nikolaĭ mertvym na polu kluba." (The usual doesn't leave Nikolai dead on the club floor)

Kirill turned his gaze to the rear view mirror where he saw the girl's pale blue eyes glance at him before turning her attention ahead again.

"Gotovy skazat´ pravdu?" (Ready to tell me the truth?)

He looked at Lily as she frowned at him before he looked behind them again.

"Ya zavinchivayushchyĭsya rabotu. Moĭ boss nahodit·sya v tyur´me. Poschitaĭte." (I screwed a job. My boss is in jail. Do the math)

"Kirill, what's going on?" Lily murmured, drawing his attention to her. She was frightened as well as confused and when her gaze fell to his shoulder more fear glazed over her eyes. "You're hit!"

"Where are you headed, Kirill?" the blonde in the driver's seat suddenly asked English as Lily started to pull the jacket off of Kirill's shoulder where he'd been shot.

"The airport," he replied then growled in pain when Lily pressed on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"We're not going to the airport yet," she corrected, not looking from his shoulder. "We need to stop at a drug store for a first aid kit."

"O chem ona? Vashu lichnuyu medsestru?" (What is she? Your personal nurse?) the blonde chuckled, turning down a street and Kirill glared at her.

"Prosto privestu nas v apteku, Sasha," (Just get us to a drug store, Sasha) he ground out.

"I'm Sasha Molotkoff," the blonde smiled into the rearview mirror. "What's your name?"

"Lily Kendall," she replied, but didn't look away from Kirill's shoulder as she took her sleeve and began sapping up the blood. "How do you know Kirill?"

"I work – well worked at the club," Sasha replied, stopping the car. "So, seeing as you both have blood all over yourselves now, I'm going be nice and get the stuff for you. First aid kit, right?"

"Right," Lily nodded, still not looking from Kirill's shoulder. "I have money-"

"I'll do it," Kirill groaned, shoving a hand into his jacket pocket and pulling out some money to hand it to Sasha,

"Spasibo," she nodded and turned off the engine before getting out.

"So, she didn't seem too upset that she no longer has a job at the club," Lily observed, still dabbing her sleeve on his shoulder.

"That's the job to her," Kirill growled in pain against her touch. "She'll be fine."

Lily nodded silently as she examined his wound and he stared down at her.

"Looks like the bullet went straight through," she noticed. "At least I won't have to pull anything out."

"How can you be so calm around bloody wounds?" he couldn't help but wonder. His tone of awe and sincere interest made her look up at him with a small smile.

"Like firearms, I've been around wounds before," she replied.

"How?" he blurted. "You're so…"

"Innocent?" she guessed when he trailed off and he gave a small nod. "My dad had a job that had him coming home with plenty of battle scars."

"What job was that?" Kirill wondered, honestly interested.

"Construction," she shrugged, slightly.

"Why didn't he go to a doctor?"

"We couldn't afford insurance. So, I studied up on advanced first aid."

"And the guns?" he wondered.

"We didn't live in the best of neighborhoods," she explained, leaning her head on the seat. "Dad couldn't be there all the time to protect me, so he taught me how to protect myself. He used to be military, so he knew a lot about guns."

"You keep using the past tense," he noticed. "Is he…?" Lily nodded when he trailed off, knowing what he'd realized. "How?"

"Work accident," she murmured. "He dropped a nail gun just right and…" She made a humming sound through her teeth as one of her hands came up to tap her index finger between her eyes. Kirill gave a frown as she lowered her hand. "The most safety-oriented guy on the planet goes out like that. Kind of ironic, I guess."

"You're so…calm about it," he noticed.

"Well, it's been almost five years," she replied. "I've made my peace with it. It does hurt, but not as much as those first few months without him."

Kirill nodded in understanding before wondering, "If you had money problems, how did you end up here?"

"I had to get a job," she shrugged. "I squirreled away enough money to get myself a ticket here and any school supplies I needed."

"How old are you?" he suddenly blurted, making Lily giggle.

"Twenty-one," she grinned. "I seem younger, right? I get that all the time."

"No," Kirill replied, shaking his head slightly. "Twenty-one sounds about right."

The car jostled when Sasha got back into the car, handing a white box to Lily.

"Change," Kirill demanded, holding a hand to her as she clipped on her seat belt and started the car.

"I'm keeping it," she replied as Lily opened the box to see what was inside that she could use. "You cost me my job with your 'usual' crap. Plus I have to drive you to the airport. I'm keeping your change."

"Suka," (Bitch) Kirill muttered as the car started down the street.

"Vy hotite menya lyubym drugim putem?" (Would you want me any other way?) she smirked into the rearview mirror.

He only glared at her for a moment before Lily gently pushed him to sit back against the seat and mercilessly poured disinfectant over his gunshot wound. He growled in pain as he looked at her but she didn't look back at him as she started unpackaging a huge bandage. He frowned in wonder at her for a moment, taking in her expression and movements.

Her jaw was set, her eyes not meeting his as she concentrated on what she doing and her hands were moving deliberately. She had been docile and sweet a moment ago, but now she was being a little harsh to say the least. Kirill could see it clear as day and it made him smirk as he held back from scoffing.

Hearing him talk to Sasha made Lily jealous.

A/N: little background on Lily. figured it was time. reviews?