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Lucia....You're good for my soul....! Thank you to Alyssa, Shizara, Elly, Andrea, Sexybitch007, November21 & reglasses for your constant reviews..... I race to the computer eager to see what you all think.

VA Chapter 26

Dimitri left to go take a shower and get changed. We'd meet shortly for our training session. Plus he had a package to get delivered. I got showered and changed and thought I'd go start my running and be ready when he arrived. As I walked down to leave the building, the guard from last night looked up at me with a disapproving look.

"Guardian Belikov told me about the package you received last night."

I stopped in my tracks. I couldn't believe he told! No words would form in my mind; I didn't know what to say.... But I must have had a panicked looked on my face, because he back peddled really fast.

"Oh, I'm so sorry....I didn't mean to upset you any further. I'm sure that he'll get to the bottom of finding whoever sent it. I don't understand why people think it's funny to try and frighten people like that. Please know that I will be more aware next time and keep my eye open for things like that."

"Ah, thanks." I didn't know what Dimitri had told him, but the guard obviously thought it was something upsetting and that's why Dimitri had stayed with me last night, probably to calm me after finding the box and its contents...... I decided that I needed to leave now and go run...before I opened my big mouth and said something to counter what he'd been told.

On the way to the track I thought I'd pop in to check on Lissa. It was an easy thing to do now and I found her in her room getting ready for the school day. She was on the phone....to Adrian.

"You sent her a what?" Said Lissa.

"A negligee."

"Why on earth would you do that Adrian? She'll think it's from Dimitri, you know that don't you?"

"Yeah, probably, but if she does and then he sees that I'm sending her things like this, he might get angry and cause some friction between them. That's all I need, just a little distance and then I might be able to catch her eye."

"Adrian, why are you doing this to yourself? You know how much...."

"Hang on," said Adrian, "There's someone at the door." I heard the door click and then there was silence.

"Adrian, are you still there?" said Lissa.

"Yeah, I just got a delivery." My heart sped up. I wondered how he would take it.

"Oh really?" said Lissa. "From a secret admirer maybe?"

"Ah, no.....more than likely not. It's the box I sent the negligee in to Rose. She's obviously sent it back."

"Did she open it?"

"Hang on, I'll see." My heart was racing now....waiting.....

"Well, did she open it?" Blurted out Lissa.

"Yeah, she opened it." His voice changed. I felt a range of emotions, fear because I didn't want to hurt him, happiness that I could get a little revenge, regret for hearing the hurt in his voice.....why couldn't he just give up, so I wouldn't have to see him hurt. "And by the looks of it, she liked it."

"What.....what does that mean? How can you tell if she liked it?"

"Well, they'd like a black one next time....." I nearly laughed when I heard that, I may very well have, I didn't know if I expressed emotions when I was with Lissa.

Then the penny dropped for Lissa. "What? Oh! Oh Adrian.....why are you doing this to yourself? Are you a masochist or something?"

"Mmm, must be. I have to go Liss; I'll see you later on right?"

"Yeah, okay. See you then Adrian. Adrian? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have to think....that's all. Talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye Adrian." I could feel Lissa's worry. She, along with everyone else knew Adrian's feelings for me. Just then arms came around her/our waist. Christian was there. He kissed her neck.

"What's wrong with the drunk?" he asked.

"He sent Rose a negligee and didn't say it was from him. Dimitri sent it back saying they wanted a black one next time...." Christian burst out laughing. "Don't laugh, he's hurt. He loves her and he's trying to win her heart."

"Huh...don't like his chances. Though I must give him credit... he's putting himself out there hey!"

"Yeah, he is. That's what worries me. As a spirit user, his emotions run to the extremes, I know that from personal experience. If he starts feeling down, it could be disastrous for him, and Eddie. His drinking has been nearly non-existent since he bonded with Eddie, he hasn't needed to. I've tried to talk to him about stepping away from Rose, she did warn him."

"Are you sure she warned him?"

"Yes, Adrian told me that she did before we saved Dimitri. He said she was very upfront about it, but afterwards he found he just couldn't walk away like he thought he would be able to."

"Maybe Rose needs to talk to him again. Or I could.... I could make him see reason." Lissa smiled at him then.

"I'm sure you could my Love, I'm sure your point would be burned into his memory."

His blue eyes sparkled at the thought of 'making a point' to Adrian. The truce between them was only tentative. "Oh, you know me so well my Princess." Then he hit her butt and walked to the door. "Come on, we'll be late for class."

"Yeah. I need to talk to Rose though."

"Well, talk to her, she hears you doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she does. I'll talk to her before lunch. So we may be late, alright?"

"No worries." Then they walked out into the hallway. I left Lissa then but when I opened my eyes, I looked into the faces of Viktoria and Dimitri.

"Hi..." I said with an embarrassed look on my face.

"Where were you? I was so worried about you. I've been trying to wake you for ages. Dimka heard me calling you and he just got here and told me you'd be okay. What happened?" I looked to Dimitri and I swear he got better looking every day....

"I'm sorry Viktoria. I was with Lissa." Seeing the confused look on her face, she'd obviously not been told about the workings of my bond with Lissa. "Ah, you know that I'm bonded to Lissa, don't you?" She nodded yes.... "Well, we're psychically linked, and as a result, I can 'mentally' go into Lissa's mind. I can see, hear and feel everything she sees, hears and feels. I can find her anywhere and that's where I was just now. I occasionally go into her mind to see if she's okay." She'd obviously not had much to do with Oksana and Mark if she was unfamiliar with the abilities of bonded people.

She looked at me with her mouth open and then looked to Dimitri and he just shrugged his shoulders. She looked back to me and closed her mouth. "Well then, that could be.....distracting." I softly huffed to myself; she was so much like her brother. "Come on, let's run." She said.

"Ah, before you go, I just need to talk to Rose. You have laps to make up anyway Rodimy." She leant forward and kissed him on the cheek and then started her laps.

"Rodimy?" I asked.

"It means 'sweetheart' when talking to family."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry about last night.'

Then he lifted an eyebrow and smiled wickedly. "I'm not. I never regret a single moment when I'm with you. I just wish I'd thought of it first."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to throw your money away like that.... after all; I think they're meant to last longer than a single use."

"Huh, yeah well, I'd be a little more delicate with the ones that I bought." He smiled. "I'll be in the gym waiting once you're done running, don't be long, Maya Krasaveetsa!" Then he turned and walked away.

"What's that mean?" I yelled, but he just giggled and kept walking. He knew what it did to me when he spoke Russian to me, it not only made me feel special, but it also drove me crazy until I found out what it all meant. He still hadn't told me all the swear words....

Viktoria was just coming around the track to where I was standing so I waited for her and joined her for the rest of my laps. "Viktoria, what does Maya Krasaveetsa mean?"

She smiled and said, "It means 'my beauty'." I think that was now my favourite saying..... "Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you something." I looked at her waiting... "What was that about yesterday on the grass? That thing that was burnt into the ground?"

"Ah, long story." But looking at her I knew that like her brother, she was not going to give up until she had her answer. We were at the back of the track, near the line of trees, so we stopped and started to walk. "Well, Adrian has always had a 'thing' for me. And even though your brother has always been foremost in my mind, I liked being around Adrian as a friend. When I thought I'd lost Dimitri forever, my heart was shattered; I didn't think I'd feel anything for anyone ever again. The pain engulfed me, and it hurt so much I didn't want to face it anymore, so I tried to block it out by letting myself feel something for Adrian." I looked over to see what her reaction was, but she was as good as her brother for masking her thoughts. So I continued.

"When I was in Russia, I came to free Dimitri, did you know that?" she nodded yes, "Well, I thought I'd accomplished that, but when I got back here, a package arrived with the stake I'd used and a note from your brother. He was coming here, for me. I didn't know if I would be able to save him, I didn't want to have that hope, so I kept ignoring my pain by masking it with Adrian. We both started to feel something for each other, but my plan to save Dimitri was starting to take shape. I tried to get Adrian to realise that if my plan worked, there was no denying that I would choose Dimitri; he was the other half of me and always would be. But Adrian can't let go. He wants me to choose him, so he's trying to do everything he can think of, to make that happen."

"Do you love Adrian?"

"Before I got Dimitri back, the feelings I had probably would have developed into a relationship, they were there, but nothing like what I felt for your brother. I still love Adrian in a way, I don't want to see him hurt anymore and I'd love to see him fall for someone else because he deserves that, but my heart belongs to Dimitri, it always has and always will."

"That's nice to know." Said Viktoria. With that we started running again and it wasn't long before we started back to the gym.