l was on patrol doing my mandatory rounds here at St. Basil's, as I was walking in the forest near the high school campus I heard some strange sounds. Curiosity getting the best of me, I quietly walked in the direction it was coming from. As I got closer to the sounds I was able to identify them, there was some heavy breathing and maybe some...moaning?
And that's when I spotted them up against a large oak tree hidden in the shadows of the night. Two students making out. Finally, my night just got a little less boring.
As quiet as I possibly could, I tiptoed over to where they were standing. Thankfully they didn't hear me approaching. Damn hormonal teenagers. I snuck up right behind them and jumped out from my hiding spot.
"Ah ha! I caught you little bastards!" I shouted.
They sprung apart immediately and looked at me with wide frightened eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Do you know the rules of female and male interaction?" I demanded.
Although I appeared angry, it was my job to, I was laughing internally because this situation reminded me of one back at St. Vladimir's when Dimitri caught me in a similar compromising position.
"Yes Guardian Hathaway." the male said since the female appeared frozen with shock. Ironically, when I got a closer look at this kid, he looked a lot like Jesse Zelkos.
"Alright then, I assume you know the punishment?" He nodded.
"What's you name sir?" I asked. I loved scaring the crap out of these kids.
"Aaron, Aaron Zelkos ma'am." He stumbled out nervously. A zelkos. figures. Must be a distant cousin of Jesse or something like that. Pigs.
"Mr. Zelkos don't let me catch you like this again. Understand? If I do, I will be the one to punish you, and it will hurt, a lot." I used the same exact words Dimitri used on Jesse back at the academy. It was hilarious.
"Yes, of course guardian Hathaway." Aaron said.
"Alright now get out of here. Both of you!"
They both took off as fast as they could.
"And keep it in your pants next time big boy!" I shouted after them.
I grabbed the keys from my coat pocket inserting them into the hole and unlocking the door. I walked inside the house and I was horrified as I took in the sight in front of me. There underneath the dining room table stood Snowball. Shit.
I gasped and backed up against the wall.
"Dominic!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Silence.
"Dominic!" I screamed again, if possible, louder.
Approximately two seconds later he came rushing down the stairs ready for battle. I nearly laughed when he tripped over his own feet and tumbled down the remaining stairs.
With Strigoi speed he was on his feet and in the kitchen in a flash, silver stake in hand. Dominic scanned the area for danger while I remained paralyzed with fear against the wall.
"Rose, what is it?" He asked. He was all business now.
I pointed to the demon lying under the dinner table.
He leaned down searching for the source of the problem. Once he spotted Snowball his head snapped up and he gave me an incredulous look.
I shrugged.
Dominic snatched Snowball up who didn't struggle under his hold. I was flabbergasted. How could she stand Dominic handling her, but when she lyed eyes on me she wanted to shred me to pieces? I didn't get it.
Dominic quickly placed Snowball in Lissa and Christian's room and shut the door.
"Rose, you nearly gave me a heart attack, what was the meaning of that? He asked. I noticed he was slightly irritated.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." I whispered looking down at the ground.
"I just got really scared when I saw her."
I looked up to Dominic, his angry expression vanished and was soon replaced with a sympathetic one. He strode over to where I was standing and wrapped his strong arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"No I am the one that should be sorry Angel, I didn't realize how upset you were, it just scared the hell out of me when I heard you scream, I thought you were in danger."
"I was." I whispered. He chuckled.
"I suppose you were meine liebe."
He pulled back and looked into my eyes. He smiled and brushed a few pieces of stray hair behind my ear.
"You're so beautiful." He whispered. I continued to stare in the endless depths of his ocean blue eyes.
"You're so beautiful, it takes my breath away."
Slowly, so slowly he leaned forward and pressed his warm lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he placed his hands on my hips, pulling my body closer to his. We kissed sweetly and softly at first, but it soon turned hungry and deep. I moaned when he captured my bottom lip between his teeth.
"Hey, get a room you two!" Adrian yelled from somewhere behind us.
I smiled against Dominic's lips and without stopping the kiss I gave Adrian the finger.
I kissed my fiance one, two, three more times before pulling away.
I rolled my eyes at Adrian and Eddie who were making gagging noises.
"Alright so are we all ready to head out?" I asked.
There was a chorus of "yeah's" and "uh huh's" I nodded and together we all headed out towards the SUV's. Once we were all loaded in and secure, I drove out of St. Basil's huge iron gates and towards the nearest mall.
There was a total of seven of us not including Lissa's royal guards. Adrian, Eddie, Dominic, and two royal guards rode in the SUV I was driving. Lissa, Christian, Andrea, and the rest of the guards rode in the other.
Lissa had phoned me while I was at work to inform me that we were all go shopping at the mall. I was reluctant at first considering the Strigoi attack the other night, but Lissa assured me she was bringing extra protection, and Christian promised me he'd be on high alert. Plus were were going during daylight hours and if everything went according to plan, we all would be back in the safety of the wards before nightfall, not to mention how rare Strigoi attacks were.
Honk, beep, honk, beep.
"Hey, Fuck off asshole!" I screamed to a green car that just cut me off. How dare that jerkoff honk his horn at me.
"Told you we shouldn't have let her drive." Eddie mumbled from the back seat. I glared at him through the rear view mirror.
"Yeah, well it would be helpful if she used both hands to drive." Adrian took a sip of his silver flask. He was referring to Dominic and I holding hands.
"Nobody asked your opinion." I retorted.
It was silent for a few minutes.
"So Rose have anything planned for your birthday?" Eddie asked.
I squealed and everyone in the car looked at me amused. I couldn't believe I nearly forgot my 22 birthday. "No I almost forgot it was my birthday in two days."
I did a little happy dance as best I could while driving. I know, not the safest thing to do.
"So Little dhampir, anything special you want for your birthday?" Adrian asked.
I shook my head. When I was younger I liked materialistic things, but now those kind of things didn't matter to me as much.
"Hmm, maybe some Chinese takeout? I would really love that." I smiled at Adrian in the rear view mirror who smiled back.
"Your wish is my command, Little dhampir." He said with a wink. Dominic shot daggers at him.
About an hour later we arrived at our destination and walking through some giant Russian mall whose name I could not pronounce. It was absolutely beautiful though, I'd never seen anything like it before.
Countless hours of shopping, tons of bags, and one cranky Rose later, we were finally ready to head back home. Luckily it was still sunny outside.
Lissa had gotten loads of nursery stuff, a crib, swing, diapers, paint, and clothes. Most of them were unisex color since we wouldn't know the sex until the baby is born. I admired Lissa's choice of yellow, I really liked it. Lissa had also updated on her wardrobe, buying everything you could think of: pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, shoes etc. She's not the queen for nothing. She also got me a few things, one thing in particular I loved, a silky blood red knee length dress that hugged body perfectly. When I tried it on and modeled it for the gang I laughed at Dominic's gaping mouth.
All in all it was a good mall trip and it felt good to get out of St. Basil's for once. The only problem we had all day is when Adrian bought me a silver rose necklace as an early birthday present. I gave it back to Adrian and demanded he return it because of its price but he refused. So reluctantly I stuffed the velvet box into my purse and thanked him. Dominic looked extremely upset about the whole situation.
Pulling into our driveway and getting out we all said our good nights and went our seperate ways. Adrian and Eddie headed towards guest housing while the rest of us headed home going to our rooms. Thankfully, I didn't have a run in with Snowball.
I kicked off my shoes and jeans and collapsed onto our comfy bed. I heard Dominic come out of the bathroom and I watched as he stripped down to his boxers, he walked over and lyed down on the bed next to me. I could tell something was bothering him.
"Whats wrong babe?" I asked concerned. He shook his head.
"Come on, I know some thing's bothering you." I caressed his cheek.
He leaned into my touch, closed his eyes, and sighed.
"It's nothing really." Dominic said.
"It has to do with Adrian, doesn't it?"
He nodded.
"What's with the two of you anyways?" I asked. Dominic took a deep breath.
"We used to be friends. Pretty good friends actually." He said. Wait what?
"Huh? I'm sorry, what did you say?" Dominic chuckled at my dumbfounded expression.
"I said we used to be friends. Do you need to get your ears checked?" he joked.
"No, I know what you said. I just don't get it."
"Well, back in high school we used to be good friends, I was actually assigned to be his guardian." He said.
"Well, what happened?"
"What happened is we liked the same girl, A beautiful Moroi named Lilly. Adrian and I both went after her and when she chose me, Adrian's whole demeanor changed, it was jealousy I presume. And once I started dating Lilly we completely stopped hanging out. She was the first girl I fell in love with you know." Dominic had a far away look in his eyes and a small smile on his lips. I couldn't help but feel that little pang of jealousy.
"Anyway, he's just always had this underlying resentment towards me. And it doesn't help that I'm engaged to you, I guess I've always gotten the girls he wanted." He chuckled. I felt a little sorry for Adrian, he could never seem to find the right girl.
"Why did you and Lilly brake up?" I asked. Even I noticed the bitterness in my voice.
"Well I was graduating and Moroi/Dhampir relationships were frowned upon back then." he shrugged.
"Oh, okay." I said.
"Is that what's bothering you?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I guess I'm some what envious of Adrian too. When I see you with him you look so happy, and it drives me crazy knowing he can give you things I can't. Money, a family..." I cut him off with a finger to his lips.
"I love you." I said.
"I know that, it's just that he could give you everything you've ever dreamed of. I can't."
"Listen Dominic, I love you. only you." I said and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. He smiled breathtakingly and nodded.
Dominic and I chatted about random things the rest of the night until we both fell asleep from exhaustion.
The next morning after showering and getting dressed into my usual attire, jeans and a white button up blouse. I headed out the door for work, today we had another OMP field test and I was quite excited to watch all the action go down. I headed towards the administrative building and when I opened the door and stepped inside I saw something that made my heart stop.
Apparently someone had come back from vacation early.
Dimitri.
And he was holding Tasha's hand.
