I should've known better than to think that Dimitri would delay revving up our schedule until after the break. Though, I suppose that was a good thing.
We now spent an additional two hours of practice together, split before and after school. He had taken his intensity up a notch, allowing me to see more of the reason for his godlike, or bozhyectvo, reputation around here. He was good. Even while holding back, I could see that he had earned his six molnija marks in as many years, and I burned to have him guide me to that level.
Today, Dimitri was wearing a t-shirt and running pants that were quite… accentuating. More than the experience I was gaining, I looked forward to my extra practices because, ignoring the fact that we spent so much time together while he translated in my classes – something becoming less and less frequent the more I learned – I was happy to spend more time with him.
Rose Hathaway Mazur had a crush. In other circumstances, say at St Vladimir's, I probably could've had that person in a heartbeat. But this was different, and that much more frustrating. I punched myself internally, calm down, Rose.
We stood facing each other on the mat. "What's the first problem you'll encounter when up against a Strigoi?"
"Immortality, maybe."
"Bolye prostoy." (More basic)
More basic than their near-inability to die? "They're probably bigger, stronger than me," I guessed in Russian.
Dimitri had said so himself, in preparing me for how rigorous these trainings would get. If I wanted to protect Lissa from the undead, I was going to have to train hard to make up the innate learning curve we already faced as well as overcome the one I set upon myself in losing the last few years of training.
"So it's difficult, but not impossible. As long as you're self-aware and quick thinking, you can usually use someone's height and weight against them."
I was willing to bet that Alexei and Dimitri sparring together was a sight to behold, Alexei trying to use Dimitri's height against him while Dimitri tried to leverage the other's weight.
"Remind me to check out you and Alexei in action someday," I mentioned offhandedly to him, watching Dimitri demonstrate how to use my shorter stance to my advantage. It was funny to see him act as though it were physically possible for him to encounter anyone taller than him. That person would have to be a mountain.
He seemed to consider it. "It'll be a good demonstration for you," he conceded. "We'll set it up at home."
For the remainder of the practice, I went through the motions with him, allowing him to adjust my stance and techniques as needed. Dimitri would have me mimic each technique over a dozen times, always with perfect form, before he allowed me to move on to the next just so he could enforce it into my muscle memory. I absorbed them pretty quickly, if I did say so myself, understanding which each new move what was allowing my classmates to get the upper hand in practice. While I was simply flailing my body out, they were practiced, calculated. Soon, I hoped, I'd get the drop on someone.
As the end of our training neared, he let me test the work out.
"Udari menya." (Hit me)
Though we'd practiced more than enough in my group classes, I'd never actually had any skills to back myself up, so he didn't have to tell me twice.
I lunged forward, hoping to land a blow on his shoulder. Like usual, I was blocked and knocked to the mat, the wind knocked out of me. Rather than give him the satisfaction of helping me, I sprang up, hoping my quick recovery would surprise him. Not a chance.
Several ill-fated attempts followed. I dropped my hands in frustration, chest heaving as I pulled back. "What am I doing wrong?"
"Nothing."
I scoffed. "Considering you've blocked nearly every single my hits, there has to be something."
"Your moves are correct and your form is good, maybe a bit tired, but this is your first time using them. I've been doing this for years."
"Horosho, dyedushka. Let's keep going. " (Okay, grandpa)
"We'll have plenty of time to practice over break," he smirked. It hardly surprised me that he was going to expect me to continue our training while on break, so I didn't give him the satisfaction of my frustration, simply rolling my eyes. "Anyway, you should probably go pack if we're going to leave after dinner."
"How do you know I haven't already packed?"
Dimitri snorted. "I've known you for a month by now, Rose. I know you."
Something about the way he said that made my stomach twist. Stupid crush.
He turned to walk off, over to where our jackets and bags were set on the wall. With his back exposed, I suddenly felt the opportunity of a lifetime.
Using what we'd just practiced, I leaped at him. I figured Dimitri was mentally prepared for practice to be over, so I had the element of surprise; he wouldn't even expect it.
Maybe he had mentally prepared for practice to be over, but his reflexes were always working round the clock. Before I could even get within a foot of him, he spun around at time-defying speed. In one fluid motion, he had me on the ground, pinning me down by the torso and wrists.
"That was perfect," I groaned.
He looked down to my face, lightly pushing my wrists into the mat. During most practices, he operated like some sort of drill sergeant – likely why I was always trying to make him laugh with witty commentary – but now he had softened. He gave me a soft smile.
"Try it without the battle cry next time."
"You probably would have reacted just a quickly without it."
He chuckled, that golden light radiating from him. "Surely."
Dimitri was the best case scenario for any mentor I could have gotten, what with the entire student population believing he was an undefeatable god. His skills went beyond the good foot of height and considerable weight he had on me. He was strong, hard but lean, completely unlike how Alexei presented to the world. If, by some chance in the world, I could ever rise up to beat him, I might just become invincible.
It occurred to me that he was still holding me down. His fingers caressing my wrists, pressing them into the mat with a warm, gentle weight. His face hovered just above my own, smiling down at me where I was caught under him, caged by the long length of his torso and legs.
He blinked slowly, as if he were noticing me for the first time. Really noticing me.
Dimitri had taken his hair out of its low bun while walking over to the mats and it now hung around his face. If he were just a bit closer, just a bit lower, it would tickle my face.
Suddenly aware of just the position we were in, my breathing grew shallow. Damn he smelled good.
What were we doing? What was he thinking?
Several times since I had sat down and told him about the bond, I had noticed Dimitri looking at me with this… unreadable expression. Almost as if he was studying me. Or admiring me.
Never in our training sessions; he was always regimented with those. But sometimes, when he looked over at me in class to check if I needed an explanation on anything, or when we were just walking in the hallways, or when we were all sat at lunch, while I was mid banter with Alexei, I would notice. He'd let his guard down. Let one of those golden laughs free. Or better yet, he would smile at me.
Dimitri smiling was a sight to behold. Most frequently, he'd give only a half, a quirk of the right side of his mouth. But when he truly smiled… well "gorgeous" was too diminutive to describe him in those moments.
I tried to calm my breathing, grasping for something to say. "Anything else you need to show me?"
He looked shocked for a moment then gaped, like he was looking for something to say to me. Then, he shoved his full, stoic guardian mask on, shoving any previous emotion aside. He rolled to the side of me, reaching to pull me up with him.
"Bring your bags to dinner, we're leaving straight from there."
Baia was only a few hours away from St Basil's, but it was a journey best traveled during the daylight, or at least the remnants of it as the nights got longer this time of year.
While the town itself was pretty safe, the roads leading away from the larger city of Omsk were notorious hunting grounds for Strigoi. Baia, like many human towns with secret dhampir subpopulations, ran on a regular human daylight schedule. It made sense through and through for us to leave after dinner, arrive sometime around lunch, and force ourselves to adjust to the schedule.
Dimitri drove, something Alexei didn't argue with as he quickly fell asleep on the other side of the backseat. Viktoria, a saint, had taken the middle seat.
Outside of the academy, Dimitri and Alexei were going to fall into traditional guarding techniques, with one working while the other wasn't. Complicated by his training schedule with me, Dimitri had taken the daytime shift, and Ivan would accompany us to our practices, or else occupy himself by learning more about spirit with Mark and Oksana.
I was antsy to meet the pair of them. They could hold so many secrets for helping Lissa, no matter how far away I was. In particular, I was looking forward to speaking to Mark about that.
I couldn't check in with Lissa, she would barely be waking up at this point in her day, so I decided to rest until we got to town. Hopefully, my exhaustion from extra practices would allow me to force myself into the new schedule like Alexei was attempting.
I slept on and off most of the ride, usually interrupted by Ivan and Dimitri talking in hushed voices from the front of the car. Usually, I wouldn't be above eavesdropping, but I really needed to make this rest last for something.
The home the boys rented in Baia was just around the corner from the actual Belikov residence. We arrived just before lunch and Viktoria made quick work of grabbing her suitcase and disappearing down the street, bound for home.
"They have enough room at home that it makes sense for her to stay there," Dimitri said as I watched her hook down a street, disappearing past a small home. In the daylight, there was nothing to worry about. He passed me my duffel bag and closed the trunk in one fluid motion. "There's space but the three of us are always a lot more than we want to impose on them."
"They have enough room that you could stay there too, if you wanted," Ivan said from the front of the house, where he was helping Alexei get inside. "We just figured, with your training schedule, you'd want to be near Dimitri."
"For all the surprise drills he's going to pull on you," Alexei shouted.
I paled, looking to Dimitri in horror. He just laughed. "He was just joking."
The house itself was one story, compact and homey. Ivan stayed on the porch, illuminated in the mid-day sun while Alexei stepped into the kitchen, keeping his eye on their charge, and Dimitri made his way down a hallway with four doors. I watched as they dipped into each room, taking stock of each and moving onto the next.
The first was a simple bathroom. The rest, three bedrooms with large beds. I watched as Dimitri flitted around the second one, checking up the bed and into the closet before deeming it safe to exit.
I stood next to its doorway, watching him repeat the process in the final bedroom.
"All clear, Ivan," Dimitri yelled as he finished his sweep, less than a minute after Alexei had confirmed the same for the rest of the small cottage. I turned to see Ivan striding in, bag in tow. "You can take Alyosha's usual room. It's the one you're standing in."
"Oh I don't want to take his room," I reasoned. "I can just sleep on the couch, or maybe I could just stay with your family."
"It's no problem, we'll be switching off guarding duty anyway. We'll never be asleep at the same time."
"Baia is safe enough," Ivan said, coming down the hallway with Alexei hot on his heels. He took the room at the end of the hall, a larger master suite fit for a royal Moroi. "But we still don't take any precautions."
"Besides," Alexei said as he emerged from the first room, having slung his bag down next to Dimitri's. "No one is going to ask you to spend more time with Yeva Belikova that you need to."
"Is this your psychic babushka?" The two Belikovs had told plenty of stories about their family since I'd arrived a few months ago, though Dimitri had usually done so only with Viktoria's lead. They had only become more frequent since I'd agreed to stay with them over the break.
He nodded. "She's not that bad. You'll see."
