Dimitri sat up hearing my alarmed voice. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, then holding his finger up to silence me he concentrated on the excited voices we could hear from downstairs. He listened in confusion for a few moments before looking at me and laughing.
"It's my sister Vika," he explained. "When she was younger, she was a little devil and if I overslept she would wake me up by tickling me! She came in here this morning to be nostalgic. She's downstairs telling Mama I have a girl in my room."
"What did your mother say?" I asked.
"She told her not to make up stories," he chuckled. "Come on – let's go downstairs to show Mama you're not a figment of Vika's imagination!"
I was suddenly nervous. What if his family didn't like me?
"You look beautiful," Dimitri assured me as I shimmied into some skinny jeans and pulled a tight sweater on. "Leave your hair out."
When we were both dressed, I let him take me by the hand and lead me down the stairs. We walked into the living room, which was now filled with a group of women, all of who bore a striking resemblance to Dimitri.
"Dimka!" the eldest of the younger women squealed, throwing herself at him. He dropped my hand and embraced the exuberant young woman, letting go only when an older woman I assumed was his mother replaced her. After several moments of this, the girl I'd seen in his room was hugging him, turning and pointing to me and saying something in Russian to her mother.
"Speak English, Vika," Dimitri said. "Rose doesn't understand Russian." He took my hand again and pulled me forward, introducing me to his mother, grandmother, and sisters. Everyone greeted me pleasantly, but I could see Olena was perplexed. She questioned Dimitri in Russian, although he answered in English for my benefit.
"Yes, Mama. This is Rose, the one I trained at St. Vladimir's and one of the three I'll be training for the next six weeks. She's going to sleep with me in my room because… We're in love! Roza is my girl, and we are together." He said it proudly but still looked a little sheepish.
There was shocked silence before his pregnant sister Sonya snorted.
"You're in love with Zmey's daughter!"
Dimitri's mother immediately rebuked her, but I had to laugh. It was pretty funny!
"When you called and said you were coming home and you'd be training Zmey's daughter, I was fearful you'd got yourself into some type of trouble…" Olena commented nervously. "Is everything alright, Dimka? Does he know about you two?"
"He does," I said addressing them for the first time. "And he's ok with it. Dimitri misses you all so much, so when Abe said he'd pay for me and the other Novices to be trained somewhere in Russia and graduate from St. Basil's, I asked him if Dimitri could train us here in Baia so he could see you all."
"Mr. Mazur has only recently discovered Rose is his daughter, Mama. He's going to rent a house in town and will be staying while we're here so he can get to know her better."
"You should invite the snake to dinner," Dimitri's wizened grandmother ordered Olena imperiously, standing up and coming over to stand in front of Dimitri and me. Dimitri obediently leaned down to receive a kiss and a hug from her, before she moved on to me, grabbing me lightly by the chin.
"She is beautiful and full of fire. You've chosen well. She is the one I dreamed about," she said to Dimitri appraisingly. "But you're too skinny – you need to eat more," she said returning her attention to me. "You will call me Babushka," she ordered, releasing my chin and going to sit in an armchair by the fire. Even though it was quite warm inside, she had a cardigan on and prodded the coals of the fire with the fire iron.
"Get some extra quilts for our guests and your room, Dimka. It's going to storm tonight."
I looked out the window at the miles of blue sky above us but decided to say nothing.
The formal introductions over the real task of getting to know Dimitri's family began. After our inauspicious start, Viktoria and I were soon laughing and joking together on the sofa, Dimitri looking on benevolently. While we'd both offered to help Olena in the kitchen, she wouldn't hear of it, instead pushing us out into the living room while she bustled around preparing breakfast.
Dimitri's sisters were all quite different in personality. Viktoria was young and fun, and I could already tell we were going to be great friends. Sonya was quiet, reserved and only opened her mouth to say something sarcastic. Viktoria assured me not to take it personally – apparently she'd been difficult ever since she'd discovered she was pregnant.
Karolina, the eldest, was friendly but not as gregarious as Viktoria. She mostly sat and listened to Viktoria, Dimitri, and I talk, joining in occasionally to ask a question.
Breakfast was in the middle of being brought to the table when I looked up to see Eddie loitering awkwardly in the doorway to the living room. Dimitri went through another round of introductions. That had just finished when a young boy of around ten came down the stairs.
"Uncle Dimka?" he asked excitedly, looking from his mother then back to Dimitri.
"That's right, Paul," she said with a maternal smile. "Your Uncle Dimka is home, and he's brought with him your Auntie Rose."
Paul shot forward, grabbing his uncle in a hug. Dimitri grinned at me over the exuberant young man's head. He'd been right – I'd been accepted into the Belikov family just like that.
We woke Meredith for breakfast, the eleven of us sitting at the Belikov's enormous kitchen table enjoying Olena's delicious spread. I sat next to Dimitri, as close as propriety allowed, letting him feed me various dishes and explaining each to me. Honestly, everything tasted good, but I particularly liked blini and black bread slathered in butter.
"You'll need to start training as soon as possible if you're going to eat like that, Hathaway," Eddie joked.
"Hathaway?! You're not related to Janine Hathaway are you?!" Vika asked, her eyes bulging.
"Um, yeah. She's my Mom," I said nonchalantly.
"No way!" Viktoria exclaimed, looking impressed. "I don't suppose you could help me with a project, can you? We're studying Guardian careers in Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection, and I chose her. We're meant to do look up as much information as we can and present it to the class. Anything you can tell me would help!"
"Yeah, ok," I said, secretly thinking I wasn't sure there was much I could tell her that wasn't in the public domain.
"So how did a well regarded Guardian end up having a child with someone like Zmey?" Sonya asked from where she was sitting opposite me at the table.
"Sonya!" Olena snapped in shock, but I wasn't offended. In fact, I laughed.
"Believe me; I've been wondering about that ever since I met my father," I admitted.
After breakfast, we had a quick tour of the house and garden, and then we unpacked. The house was huge, although a little run down, but I loved it. It felt like a proper home. No one seemed to have a problem with Dimitri and I sharing a room, and Viktoria even cleaned out a drawer in the bathroom for my stuff.
About 11 am Dimitri suggested we walk to the gym he was hoping to use for our training, and Olena asked me to speak with Abe and invite him over for dinner that night, so the four of us set out to town. It was a twenty-minute walk, and Dimitri spent the time pointing out the local attractions to us.
"I can't believe you're holding my hand. In public," I whispered to him as we walked side by side.
"We don't have to hide here," he said, a soft smile on his face.
Once we reached the center of town, Dimitri directed us to stop at the hotel and see whether Abe was there. Thinking back, he hadn't said where he would be staying. I knew the plan was to rent a house, but I didn't know whether he'd had the chance to organize that yet, our departure happening so quickly.
Dimitri led us inside and over to the desk. He said something in Russian which I guess must have been 'do you speak English' because the Dhampir girl behind the desk answered in a heavy accent.
"Of course, how can I help you?"
"I need to know whether Abe Mazur… Zmey… is staying here."
That she looked conflicted and a little alarmed was answer enough.
"I'm sorry I can not give out visitor details," she said stiffly.
"Listen, I know he's here. Can you send someone to tell him his daughter is downstairs?"
"Zmey's daughter?" she gasped, her eyes flicking to Dimitri's for confirmation.
He nodded, an amused smile on his face.
The girl blanched and slipped into a back room. A few minutes later Abe came down the stairs.
"Darling!" he said, greeting me with a kiss on both cheeks. "I hope you slept well and settled in?"
"I have, thank you. I'm here to ask you to dinner. Olena is cooking a big welcome home dinner for Dimitri tonight, and she wondered if you'd be free?"
Abe was momentarily disconcerted but readily agreed.
"I'm taking Rose and the others to the gym now," Dimitri explained. "Would you and Pavel like to join us?"
Abe made a quick call, and moments later Pavel joined us downstairs, and the six of us walked down the main street to the edge of town.
It was amusing watching people's faces as we walked. Baia was indeed a mixed town. At least half of those we passed were Dhampir, and more than once we were stopped by people recognizing Dimitri. That said, Zmey got his fair share of looks, too.
We finally made it to a large timber-framed gym at the edge of the shopping area. It wasn't as large as the gym at St. Vlad's, so I didn't hold high hopes for it, but when we walked inside I was pleasantly surprised. The equipment was old but well maintained, and even at almost midday, there were several Dhampir working out.
"Not everyone chooses to be promised," Dimitri explained as I looked curiously at the young Dhampir men training. "Some choose to live more in the human world and kill Strigoi on their own terms."
My eyes lifted to Dimitri's in confusion.
"In places like Baia, Moroi are not always held in high esteem," Abe explained quietly. "Moroi men, in particular, have a reputation for treating Dhampir women here poorly. It leads some Dhampir to mistrust Moroi, and not want to devote their lives to defending them."
I could read between the lines, as could Eddie and Meredith.
"Will they mind us training here?" Meredith asked a little nervously.
"Not at all," Dimitri replied reassuringly. "Dhampir and humans promised and unpromised mix well here in Baia. There'll be Guardians training here, too. There are several Moroi households in the village and surrounds as well as Guardians accompanying visiting Moroi or on leave seeing their families."
A man who had been working out came over to our group, nodding to Abe and Pavel then addressing Dimitri in Russian. A short conversation ensued, Pavel joining in after a few moments. The three of them gestured to some of the equipment, and after a few more minutes Abe joined the conversation.
I was getting annoyed. They were obviously talking about us, but I had no idea what they were saying.
"Dimitri?" I asked sharply, my hand on my hip.
"Sorry, ангел. We were just discussing the busiest times at the gym so I can plan your schedules. Pavel and I think it would be good for you to practice fighting as many Dhampir as possible, so your father has offered to put on a late lunch, early dinner every Saturday to encourage the local Dhampir to come and fight you."
I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Baia is not a rich town, Roza," he said in an undertone. "And not much goes on here. Some free food and beer, and you'll have every Dhampir in the area lining up for you to fight."
"Do I want that?" I asked apprehensively.
"It'll be great practice," Eddie chimed in, having overheard our conversation.
"And there'll be lots of young Dhampir men," Meredith said under her breath so only I could hear. She'd confessed while we'd been painting one another's nails on the plane that her romance with Geoff was over. While she wasn't looking for anything serious, a bit of flirting and flattery would boost her ego!
"We'll start training tomorrow morning," Dimitri told us Novices decisively, bidding the gym attendant goodbye.
"I'm going to work the three of you hard," Dimitri warned as we walked back to the hotel with Pavel and Abe. "We'll be working out from 7 am each day through to midday. Then home for lunch and some chores, then back out from 3 pm till dusk."
"That's like eight hours training a day," Eddie moaned.
"More as the days get longer," Dimitri agreed with a devilish grin.
"Do we get a day off?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes. You get Sunday off every week, although it will please Mama if you'd all come to church."
"What time is church?" I asked suspiciously.
"10 – 11 am," he said with a laugh catching my dubious look. "And it's not far away. You can sleep in until 9.45," he promised.
"I'm holding you to that, Comrade," I grumbled.
We said goodbye to Abe and Pavel at the hotel, the two of them promising to join us for dinner at 7 pm. Even though it wasn't yet 1 pm, we were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the house – yet another change of time zone had done us in. Breakfast had been so filling none of us needed to eat, sleep being a more pressing concern.
"Go rest, all of you," Olena ordered. "I have everything in hand, here. I'll wake you at six so you have time to get ready for dinner."
None of us needed convincing, so we each headed to our rooms, relieved to get the opportunity to relax.
"Happy?" Dimitri asked, helping me strip off my clothes.
"Very," I sighed, cuddling against him wearing only my underwear. "Does Vika have any other odd bed rituals I need to know about?"
"None involving me," my Russian God laughed, stepping out of my embrace to close the blinds then lock his bedroom door. "Now how about we go to bed?" he suggested, pulling his boxers off and standing naked before me.
"Good idea, Comrade," I said with a small smile, dropping my bra and panties where I stood and slipping beneath the covers on his bed, smiling in satisfaction as my skin met his.
Dimitri's lips were pressed against my neck when I woke. We were spooning, but he was nuzzling my neck, and I could feel his thick manhood pressed against my ass.
"Hmm," I moaned into the pillow, wiggling my backside to let him know I was awake.
His kisses on my neck got firmer, and he slipped an arm around me, finding my breasts and stroking them.
"I like waking up with a sexy, naked woman in my bed," he growled softly into my hair.
"Do you, now?" I teased, rocking my hips against him.
"I do," he confirmed. "I've never shared a bed before, but I think I like it."
I smiled into the pillow. I figured Dimitri hadn't been a virgin – that I hadn't been the first woman he'd been with – but I liked being the first woman he'd brought home to meet his family and the first to share his bed.
"So you've never had sex here before?" I asked.
His lips paused on my neck.
"No. I was waiting to find the right girl."
"Is that so?"
"It is," he growled, running his fingers down from my breasts to my abs and finally through my tight curls to my slit. His fingers stroked my outer lips for a moment before deftly opening my folds, finding my sensitive nub. I couldn't help the small whimper of pleasure that escaped me, the soft excited pants as I knew what he wanted to do with me.
"I want to make you mine, Roza," he crooned, touching me in most intimate of ways. "I want to make you mine in this bed… Would you like that?"
"Yes!" I hissed, opening my legs to give him better access to my folds.
"We'll have to be quiet," he warned, pushing his cock against my ass again. I mewled in understanding, his fingers pleasing me.
"You're so excited," he said in wonder, his fingers dabbling in the proof of my arousal at the entrance to my tight channel.
"Uhha," I agreed.
Withdrawing his hand, the next thing I knew Dimitri had pulled me into a kneeling position, my ass pointed up in the air. He pulled back for a moment, kissing me on my ass cheek before blowing air softly on my slit. I jumped and hissed, the feeling as unexpected as it was welcome. He chuckled softly.
"I want to make you scream," he confessed, "but I don't think my family wants to hear you cum." He reached past me and grabbed the pillows from the head of the bed. Three he piled under my hips, the fourth he left near my head.
"Scream into that," he instructed, slowly pushing me down onto my stomach, the pillows beneath my hips keeping my backside up. I rested one arm on the pillow near my head, my face nestled in the crook of my elbow. My other hand was between legs and the mound pillows, ready to stroke myself when the time came. My ass was poking up in the air still, although with the pillows supporting me, it was surprisingly comfortable.
Dimitri leaned over me, kissing his way along my shoulder, back and down my body until he was positioned behind me, his knees between my ankles. And then he was kissing me there. His tongue was lapping at my hot, wet slit, dipping in and out of my opening and then pleasuring me with long, hot licks that were intended to drive me wild. And it was totally working.
Just when I was about to beg him to take things further and confess he was driving me absolutely crazy, he tore his lips away from my nether regions, kneeling between my legs, the tip of his huge cock poised at my entrance.
"You are mine," he growled, sinking into me oh so slowly, leaning his weight on me and forcing me hard against the mattress until he was sheathed within me. It was different this way. Firstly his weight meant I was completely immobilized. He was so much larger and heavier than me that his body weight alone held me in place. And while I could have felt scared or vulnerable, I didn't. I trusted my Russian God, and I knew he wanted to make this first time in his bed extra special. Something we'd never forget.
After a couple of long, determined strokes, Dimitri rested fully on top of me, his lips beside my ear.
"I've dreamed of having you here for so long," he confessed, his breath on my neck causing shivers down my spine. "I'd imagine taking you in my bed," he crooned as he rocked his hips hard against me, "I'd fantasize about licking you then having you… Hearing you scream when I made you cum…"
Not usually so loquacious when we made love, descriptive, dominant Dimitri was a huge turn on.
"You like the idea of me screaming?" I murmured playfully between my little grunts of pleasure. His pace was quickening, and I had started rubbing my clit as his shaft pistoned in and out of my core.
"Very much," he growled. "I want to hear you lose control and know it's me who brought you that pleasure."
His admission excited me, as did the sound of his skin hitting mine as he penetrated me again and again. He was in charge, here, and there was no mistaking it. The position, the pace – it was all set by him, yet all designed to bring me maximum fulfillment.
I rubbed my clit more firmly, loving the feeling of being completely enveloped; Dimitri's in every conceivable way.
"Yours," I gasped as the pleasure rose in me until it couldn't be denied any longer. His sack brushing against my fingers as I stroked myself, it was impossible to feel any more connected to him than I did at that moment.
"Always yours," I repeated as I teetered right on the edge on blissful abandon.
"I'm forever yours, too," he promised, his voice aching with the strain of holding on.
And then he forced his face into the pillow beside mine, stifling his ecstatic noises as he lost control, his hips pounding against my ass as he plunged into my cunt again and again.
"Roza!" he shouted, the sound muffled by the down and feathers.
"God, yes!" I screamed into the pillow beside him, his release triggering my own.
I felt him as he came inside me, spasming as he spurted his semen into my cleft, my walls grasping at him and teasing every last drop from his throbbing member as we shared our climax.
Already slumped on top of me, I could feel my man relax; kissing and nuzzling my hair. I whimpered when he pulled himself from me, rolling us to one side and pulling me close against his sweaty chest. His heart was still pounding from the exertion of our lovemaking, and I rested my head against his rib cage listening to it beat.
"I meant what I said," Dimitri said seriously, pulling back to look me in the eyes. His chocolate brown orbs were brimming with love and sincerity as he opened his full lips to confess, "I'm just a man, but you have my heart, Roza. I'm forever yours now, ангел."
"Like I'm yours, Comrade" I replied, so readily making the promise that bound myself to him for life.
