Well, I'm finally back home again.... Sorry for the delay! I'm off to work tomorrow... busy, busy, busy.... But here's the next chapter, seeing as you were
all such wonderful patient people!!! :-D

Don't forget to review... I love them so much... I will be answering all your reviews when I get home tomorrow... Very tired ATM!!! :-D

Sandy

Chapter Thirty-Four

Peace Treaty

We saw them kissing intensely as we came around a group of trees. They pulled apart and I saw Adrian's face as he stared into her eyes. I didn't need to see aura's to know he loved her, the way he was looking at her told me everything. I glanced up to see Dimitri coming to the same conclusion. We were close enough now that I knew he could hear what they were saying and when a small smile pulled at his lips I couldn't help my curiosity anymore.

"What are they saying?" I whispered. He didn't get the chance to tell me because Adrian looked up at us as Dimitri walked on a stick. Vikki followed his eyes and turned to face us, both looking a little apprehensive, I probably would be feeling the same thing if I were them but I saw Adrian square his shoulders ready for a confrontation.

"Adrian." Dimitri greeted him with a curt nod... I thought he could have been a little nicer but something told me he was playing... "Viktoria..." The air felt a little....charged, so with the hand that was wrapped around his body, I gently dug my fingers into his side telling him to get on with it, but he kept his guardian face on as he continued. "I know what you did, thank you." He looked to Vikki for a few seconds and then looked back to Adrian. "I've been unfair to you Adrian, I know you've tried to help me; in your own way, so I just wanted to say thank you. And....to give you my blessing." Tears escaped Vikki's eyes as she fought to control herself. She took her arm from Adrian's waist and walked to her brother. I looked to Adrian who was staring in disbelief at me. I gave a small shrug of my shoulders and smiled to him.

"Spasiba Dimka, ya tak lyublyu tebya." She said as she kissed his cheek. He smiled back to her and looked up to Adrian.

"Treat her with the utmost respect and I will do the same for you." He said.

"Always Dimitri, of that you have my oath." Adrian said with complete honesty then he glanced over to Vikki and smiled to her.

"We're leaving in ten minutes." I said. "See you back at the car, don't be late." Dimitri nodded to them and we walked away. I quickly glanced back to see Vikki hanging off Adrian's neck, clearly excited. "That was very nice." I said to him.

"Yeah well, I've been known to show that side of myself every now and again." He grinned. We all got back to the apartment building but my father and Christian needed to go to the feeders. They'd used a lot of energy in the clearing and it made me think of how he was handling the energy loss. Apparently, we were going back again in the morning.

"How are you feeling after all that work?"

"I'm fine. It doesn't drain me like it does them. The advantages of not needing to feed." That thought suddenly making my mouth water... I swallowed hard against the memories I got when I thought about blood. "Are you alright?" he asked, obviously seeing my reaction. I nodded as I pulled him to the elevator, we'd called Robert on our way back to tell him of Dimitri's progress and I wanted to iron out a few more details of what would happen when we faced Sonya. We got to his door, which was already open and I smiled as I saw Yelena sitting with Tyler.

It wasn't long before everyone joined us after their feeding and we soon started talking more about Yelena's abilities and life. She had only known about her father for the last twelve months and what he used to be and they still were coming to terms with everything. She liked him well enough, but she was still to think of him as a father figure. I smiled as I thought about how lucky I was that I'd been able to forge a relationship with my father and I hadn't known him for as long as Yelena had known Guardian Beauchamp.

Apart from not only being able to see people's memories and also to show those memories to others, Yelena could heal like Lissa and she could dream walk and see auras like Adrian. But she didn't have to look at someone to use compulsion; she just had to think of their faces to form the connection. She also had the power of telekinesis....she could move things with her mind; but the most striking difference between her and the other spirit users.....she didn't need a bond mate....spirit didn't affect her like it did the others. She gave a little demonstration and Adrian said that looking at her aura, he could see it getting darker like Lissa's when she wielded her powers but when she closed her eyes, the darkness just faded away. She had an appointment later on with the Courts geneticist who was working closely with Dr Olendsky, maybe it would come in handy when our child was born. Apparently Adrian had called for a few pizzas to be delivered and everyone dug in, especially me.... I was starving! I noticed Yelena sitting back watching everyone.

"You better dig in before it's all gone Yelena." I said.

"I don't eat Rose. I survive purely on blood." I was shocked at this. Could that have something to do with my craving for blood all the time? Was I starving my baby of the blood it so obviously needed? I could feel myself panic as I looked up into Lissa's eyes. I was suddenly pulled into her head, but this time it was different... she wasn't there with me. Oh Crap! She's in my head! Just then we both must have snapped back to ourselves....

"WHOA!" exclaimed Lissa. "What in the hell happened then?" she said.

I think we swapped! I said privately to her in amazement. The possibilities that this produced flashed into my head. If I could swap with Lissa and she was somewhere in danger and I happened not to be with her, I could maybe take over her body and defend her....by proxy!

"Do you think?" she asked, obviously knowing my thoughts. "Should we try again?"

"Give it a go" said Robert. We glanced over confused at first and then remembered he could hear us. We looked back to each other and grinned.

You go first Liss then I'll go into your head and see if I can make you move. She nodded and then I saw her eyes go dull. I slipped into her head and smiled as I looked into my own face. I thought about standing up and Lissa's body complied.

"SHIT! It worked!" I said in Lissa's voice. I looked down to look at my...her...our hands and played with my/our fingers... I wondered if our bond still worked...

Can you still hear me? I asked.

Yes, this is SO weird. She said as she stood up and walked over to me.

"I never realised I was so short." I said laughing as I looking down at myself. I quickly glanced around at all the confused faces that were now looking at us. This 'realisation and experiment' came to us rather quickly and we didn't have time to tell everyone what was going on. "I'm in Lissa's body, controlling it and she's in mine."

"How in the hell?" my mother asked. Dimitri looked slightly stunned....

Rose...I know you told me about this thirst, but it's as bad as anything I've experienced, how are you going to control it? I looked at her/me and didn't know what to say. But with the 'thirst' thought in my head I realised that the same feeling was in Lissa's body just not as strong. That probably had something to do with the fact that she'd just fed. Does anyone else know?

I don't know Liss, I honestly don't know. So this is what you experience? I can feel it in you, even now. Let's get back to ourselves shall we? She nodded and we closed our eyes and quietly slipping back into our own heads. I opened my eyes as Lissa rushed at me pulling me into a hug.

"That was awesome. We're going to have to do that one day so I can see myself fight!" I giggled as I thought about it.... A fight.... I thought to myself...

"That's not a bad idea." I said. "Dimitri... how about it?" I didn't think he was going to say yes, so I thought I'd push a little to get the answer I wanted... "If you don't want to, I could always ask Tyler, I'm sure he'd love a re-match." I glanced over to him with a smirk.

"Just say when Rose." He said smiling back.

"Don't get your hopes up Mitchell." He said simply. I smiled on the inside, seeing him jealous did amazing things for my ego... Does that make me bad??? "When do you want to start?"

"Now is as good a time as any.... Lead the way hot stuff." He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"No Rose.... Run!" He said in a growl. Oh Crap! I thought as I took off.... I could hear everyone laughing as I flew out the door and I knew just how fast he was now, I hadn't run this hard in a couple of weeks, add that to the pregnancy and I was in deep shit! I knew where the gym was and I was running as fast as I could, I couldn't hear him but I knew he was behind me. I rounded the corner and saw the gym doors... I knew I wasn't going to make them before he caught up to me, but I didn't know where he was so I just pushed my legs harder. About 50 feet from the doors, I saw a flash to my right...

I was still too far away so I turned to face him. Before I knew it he was in front of me, I only just caught a glance of him as I noticed his arm moving, I ducked away from his fist but I knew a leg would be coming at me any moment so I spun around hoping to avoid it. Wrong! I thought he'd kick up high at me, but he dropped down spinning and caught me behind my heels. I fell backwards landing hard, he tried to pin me but I was already twisting as his body fell onto me. My arm bent and I brought my elbow up hard, I heard the crack as it found its target. Somehow I managed to wriggle out from under him as his arms, legs and hands tried in vain to grab hold. As I came up into a crouched position, I kicked out; my heel landing hard against his chest as he turned on the ground to face where I went. I used the time it took for him to recover to cover the short distance to the gym. I slammed into the doors and ran to the far side behind the stack of mats. I had to slow my breathing as I knew he'd hear it, I couldn't do much about my heartbeat though. I peeked into the gap between two mats and saw him enter the gym. He stood there looking from side to side, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked up from under his eyebrows and smiled; directly at where I was hiding.

"Roza, I know you're here. No use in hiding." He said menacingly.... A chill shot through me as a memory flashed into my head, they were almost the exact same words he used at the trees when I got away from him in Russia. I swallowed hard as I closed my eyes willing the memory to leave.... I quickly looked through the mats again, I had to see his eyes.... he was gone. I slowly crept out from my hiding spot, my heart beating madly in its cage. Where is he? I thought to myself. My eyes darted around the gym, I knew this panic was uncalled for, I knew he wasn't.... I was being ridiculous. Just then I felt him fall behind me.... he'd been in the roof battens... Shit! I didn't look up..... I felt his hands grab my shoulders and that's when it happened. I didn't go into 'that' mode, but adrenaline surged through my body like I really was about to fight a strigoi, I felt more focused than I have been for a while... I spun out from his grip and kicked out backwards in one movement, my foot connecting with the side of his head. As that foot landed, I kept spinning and the other foot came up and my heel drove into his ribs. His arms came up blocking my fists as I lashed out.... I got a few more hits in and so did he... man he was fast. He got me around the neck from behind, I grabbed hold of his arm and kicked backward into his leg. I heard him groan hard as I used his arm as a leaver to pull myself up and over him, effectively swapping positions with him. I pulled my arm tightly around his neck and pulled him backwards, kidney punching him at the same time. He twisted in my arm and pushed me to the ground. His legs now pinned mine, his hands held one wrist each, his body completely covering mine. "Rose... stop! Open your eyes, look at me.... Roza, look at me.... Maya krasaveetsa." Slowly my vision cleared and I looked up into his beautiful brown eyes....brown.... I closed my eyes as I felt them sting up with tears. I turned away from him knowing what had just happened, what I'd just thought... "Rose... what's wrong?"