Dimitri's party turned out to be less of an intimate family gathering and more of a village-wide celebration.
It was late afternoon by the time Alexei and I arrived, and everything was already moving in full force. Those guests that arrived with us each came in tow with their own dish, laying them out on a long plastic table the family had set up.
"It's a village tradition," Alexei said, probably noticing how my eyes dragged the length of the table, planning my attack. "Rather than presents, everyone shows their appreciation of a person with food. Dimitri's somewhat of a legend around here, big hero and all, so people usually bring out their best."
Empty handed, he lead me over to a smaller, but well-stocked, drink table where we found Viktoria.
"Rose," she exclaimed, pulling me into a fierce hug. "I'm so sorry about abandoning you last night, I should've left with you."
"No, no, it's fine. Dimitri just…" What had really brought him at that moment, of all? "Didn't want me around the unpromised, I guess. I should've listened to you and Nikolai, his brother is a fool."
"Still, I felt so bad. My brother has such uncanny timing."
"That's one word for it," Alexei scoffed. I turned towards him as he shoved a plastic cup into my hand. A wary sniff revealed that it smelled more like a medley of the mixers on the table than anything remotely similar to what Viktoria had given me last night. He raised his glass to mine in a fake toast, "Don't underestimate the stuff, kolyuchka. It'll make you spill your secrets and we want a good, long night."
Alexei move towards Ivan and Dimitri, who were sitting around a fire pit with some guys of various ages, mostly dhampir with a few Moroi sprinkled in. I spotted Nikolai amongst them.
Just as Dimitri seemed to feel my gaze on him, turning to meet my eyes, Viktoria captured my attention again. She grabbed my wrist, spinning me around and pulling me towards the home.
There seemed to be just as many people stuffed inside the small home as there were outside. Mostly mothers and older babushkas; Olena milled around the kitchen, chatting in the warmth of the home. She smiled at us as we passed the kitchen and I flashed her a hurried wave as Viktoria, unaltered in her path, towed me further inside and up the stairs to her room.
"There are too many eligible men in Baia not to bring our a-game to every opportunity," she said, pushing me in front of her vanity and handing me some mascara. "Not that you need much to help."
I laughed. "I'm hardly trying to find someone, Viktoria."
"Oh, I know. Especially with my brother around, you don't really have eyes for anyone else."
I groaned, meeting her smug eyes in the mirror. "Considering this is the second time this topic has come up today… my only question is, how obvious is it?"
"Your crush on my brother? It's not painfully obvious, most of the girls in my family can tell, but Dimitri is too stubborn to notice that sort of thing himself. In fact, any time Alexei or I bring it up as a joke on the off chance you're not around, he vehemently denies the possibility."
"You bring it up!?"
With a cackle, she tossed me a simple sweater and jacket to switch my t-shirt out with. Aside from a formal button up I'd worn to church with the Belikov family, I hadn't brought much aside from comfortable t-shirts and workout clothing with me this week. The outfit she'd leant me definitely made me feel more welcome to the celebration downstairs than what I'd arrived in.
Once she'd approved, Viktoria herded me down the stairs again, assuring me that Dimitri would moon over how nice I looked by night's end.
Ivan waved us over to their group and I surreptitiously took a large gulp of the drink in my cup. Thankfully, the mixers did a good job of hiding any of the overwhelming strength of vodka.
He stood, giving up his seat next to Dimitri for me and grabbing another for him and Viktoria. "This is our student, Rose. Dimitri trains her and I teach her the ways of the beautiful Russian language."
"Please accept our most sincere apologies, on behalf of Dima," a dhampir boy across the group joked, causing everyone to erupt into laughter. "Being new to this country and having to work with such a hard-ass must be torture."
"It's not too bad," I half-heartedly defended.
"At least you have Ivan teaching you the language," a tall Moroi man with Ivashkov-green eyes interrupted. "It would be impossible to learn from a man of so few words."
"Oh, he has many more words for her," Alexei said shiftily from the other side of Dimitri.
"I will hit you, Alyosha," Dimitri growled, causing the group to descend into new topics.
Dimitri got into the habit, over the course of the night, of looking down to me every so often to make sure I was following the rapid-fire Russian. Though it stretched my understanding to new lengths, I was getting along pretty well, staying quiet as I tried to attach myself to one of the myriad of topics closest to me.
After the fifth or so instance, I rolled my eyes at him. "Isn't this your party, Dimitri? You're off the clock, stand down."
Ivan laughed softly behind me, "Trust me, Rose. I've tried to get him to loosen up."
As if on command Alexei, who had left for the drink table, sidled back up, accompanied by a whole handle of vodka. "I know just the solution," he said, tipping a heavy pour into all three of our glasses. The entire group roared in delight, passing the bottle among themselves once he'd relinquished control.
I could feel my cheeks getting flushed the more and more I sipped on the drink, far less diluted than it had been when Alexei first mixed it. Looking over at me briefly, I didn't think much of Dimitri leaving for a moment until he returned with a plate piled high with food and delivered it into my lap. Viktoria's earlier leading had made me forget about the spread, but there was no denying my hunger now that the food was staring me in the face.
I would have been embarrassed by the way I squealed in delight as I registered the gift, but I was immediately occupied by its contents. Small, folded up blini smeared with sour cream. Full-sized sausages wrapped up like pigs in a blanket. Fried buns that could have any sort of fruit filling inside.
Enamored with the plate, I swatted a hand away as it reached for one of the sausages.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I apologized, looking up into Dimitri's face. I had been taken over by the monster of dhampir hunger.
"I think you tuned out the part where I said we could share the plate," he joked. Maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I had a vague recollection of that. He moved to stand again, "It's fine, I'll get my own."
"No, no, no. It's fine," I responded, pushing the plate further towards him so that it was resting near my knee. "I just haven't eaten much besides a protein shake after training… I got a little bit of tunnel vision."
He picked up the same sausage he had reached for before.
From behind his head, I saw Olena exiting this house, cake in hand. Ever a guardian, he noticed my shift in demeanor. Dimitri turned his head, but not before his mother had started a chorus of song for his birthday.
It struck me, as Dimitri helped his mom pass out slices of cake to everyone, how odd all of this was. To have so many dhampir all around, with even a few Moroi mixed in, celebrating another.
All too often, especially under the current Moroi school of thought, our birthdays passed unnoticed after elementary school. My friend Mason, whose mother lived in a community not unlike Baia, used to send him small things on his birthday. The Dragomirs, sensing my connection with their daughter, had always sent something like a cake to the school to celebrate mine. But for Eddie, another friend back home who had been left to the academy as an orphan, there was no celebration.
As dhampir, we'd learned not to expect much in the grand scheme of things. They come first.
But, here we were. All celebrating one person, perhaps the strongest man of all of us.
"What's wrong?" I heard Dimitri ask me, obviously having noticed me zone out again. He passed me a slice of cake before taking his seat again.
I shook it off, not willing to deluge him with more of my feelings about dhampir traditions. This was too good a moment to interrupt.
To say the honey cake was heavenly was an understatement. Thin, sweet layers of airy pastry layered with tangy whipped cream frosting. Olena had outdone herself again, a compliment she had simply brushed off as soon as I'd voiced it. Just as I was considering a second slice, I heard Ivan clear his throat from beside me.
"Hey everyone. In an effort to continue my cliché yearly tradition of the toast…" he said, rising to stand and prompting everyone to raise their glass. "I'll try and keep it short this year for all of our arms. Dimitri is my guardian but, as most of you know well by now, he's also my best friend. I could recycle the same tired speech you hear from me every year, but I do in fact have some new things to say, if you could believe it.
"This year has been a strange one for us, to say the least," he said with a dramatic, pointed look around. "We left behind our nomadic lifestyle and became men of academia. Anyone that knows Dimitri knows that he's a creature of habit and structure, and embracing safety rather than the regular tension of regular travel in unknown territory, really challenged him." Laughter filled the group.
"But, all jokes aside, I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you. You've risen to the challenge of mentoring one of the…" Ivan paused, smiling knowingly at me and trying to collect the right words, "Most head-strong and… and-"
"And ill-prepared," I supplemented for him, causing the group to laugh again.
"Yeah, okay, ill-prepared," he conceded. "But you have never given up on Rose and I've watched you mold her into one of the best up-and-coming novices in her class in relatively little time, whilst also allowing yourself the space to lighten up and live a little."
Ivan looked pointedly at Dimitri, clearing his throat and raising his cup, last of everyone. "My hope for you is that, this coming year, you allow yourself to loosen up a little more. For god's sake, just LIGHTEN UP." Ivan laughed at his own hysteric shout, celebrating with one last, "Happy Birthday, Dima."
The group erupted into wild laughter, lifting our drinks and polishing them off in honor of the birthday boy. Once I'd finished, I turned back to Dimitri and our forgotten plate of food, still ripe for the picking. When I caught his eye, however, rather than looking anywhere else, at his friends or family, he was looking at me.
Unwavering, his face didn't give anything away. I gulped under the oddly imitate gaze. Still, Dimitri just looked and looked and looked.
Not long after, I found myself playing with Paul. He'd run over to me, bouncing off the walls from eating more than his fair share of the sugar honey cake, and begged me to play with him. I was more than happy to oblige; since meeting him, I'd grown a large soft spot for entertaining the whims of the younger Belikov. It was like seeing a miniature clone of his uncle.
Besides, from one look at Karolina's exhausted face, I knew it was a worthy sacrifice to give her a moment to breathe.
The party wound down along with Paul's energy.
"Thank you, Rose. You didn't have to," Karolina gushed, scooping the young boy into her arms after he'd curled up on a chair.
"Oh it wasn't an issue," I assured her, Paul was relatively easy to keep occupied and tire out. "I had fun."
"Still, I appreciate it." She disappeared inside the home with a content smile on her face, bound to put her son to bed.
All around me, members of the family were milling, bringing any remaining meals inside, collecting trash. I moved to get in on the action, reaching for a dish next to Alexei only to have my hand slapped away. I feigned offense, mouth gaping, as I met his eyes.
"No, ma'am," he said. "You already took a bullet for all of us, entertaining Paul when he was hyped up on sugar. You've earned the right to relax."
"Dimitri's not allowed to help either," Ivan said, sidling up to the table, the man in question in tow. He smirked slyly. "Why don't you both just get a move on back to the rental? We'll meet you there in… let's say an hour."
"You don't have to tell me twice," I said gathering my things. "Ready to blow this popsicle stand?"
Alexei laughed, choking out a sarcastic, "Please do." Ivan smacked him sharply, rolling his eyes. Oh to be in a country of people that understood my sayings.
We said our goodbyes, slipping out the garden gate and down the street. It was a mirror of the night before, the cool silence of night blanketing us, this time unbroken by conversation. Any time I looked over to say something to Dimitri, he seemed deep in thought, so I figured it was best not to interrupt.
The rental lay in wait and we easily let ourselves in, leaving our shoes and silently stripping our jackets at the front door. Still shrouded in silence, I made my way towards my room, leaving Dimitri to his same quiet mysteries.
"Roza, I have something to say," Dimitri blurted unexpectedly.
I turned at the entrance to my door. Even in the dim light, as he made his way over to me, I could see his eyes boring into me much like they had earlier during Ivan's speech. The same intimacy hung in the air around us, heavier now that it was just the two of us. We leaned against the wall, staring at each other in another mirror of last night.
"Mhmmm?"
His response came out so fast that I almost asked him to repeat it outright, "I – uh… you look really beautiful tonight."
"What?" I breathed, caught off guard. I fought back to urge to pinch myself, maybe the drink had been strong. "It's all Viktoria, once again," I deflected.
"That's not what I meant," Dimitri sighed.
"Oh, so I don't look pretty?" I joked, unsure where it all was going.
Looking younger than ever, Dimitri shook his head quickly. "No, you do! I just…" he paused, drawing inward and looking as if he was planning a whole battle strategy in his head.
I leaned further towards him, brushing his arm gently, nudging him to say more.
"Do you know why I came after you last night?" he asked abruptly.
"Because you thought I was going to get myself in trouble?"
"Somewhat, but not in the way that you assume. It's just- Ivan and Alexei have been telling me for weeks that I need to just open up to someone. Not just someone in particular, at all. Really just one person in particular-"
"You're rambling, Dimitri," I said gently. The butterflies in my stomach were out of control and I needed him to get to the point before I got my hopes up.
"You just," he paused again, but I could see a flame light up behind his eyes, power that wasn't there before. "Do you know how beautiful you are?"
I was shell-shocked, shaking my head in what seemed like the only reaction I could give right now. Dimitri shuffled closer to me, caressing my arms in his hands. They trailed up to my neck, catching my jaw under a gentle brush of his thumb.
"You're so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.
"I couldn't stand the thought of someone dancing with you, touching you in a way I've been holding back from," he admitted, stepping further into my space. I reached out for his hips, meeting them without breaking eye contact. "And it's not just when you're all done up to go out. Or when you have makeup on. It's all the time. When we're sparring. When you pout and bite your lip…"
"Dimitri," I cut him off. "Shut up."
Lissa's will-they-won't-they frustration with Christian had been bleeding into me for weeks, exacerbating my own feelings for Dimitri. I wanted this. I would have even without the added influence.
As effortlessly as I would when training, I shuffled up his body, hoping to close the gap between his insane height and mine by wrapping my legs around his waist. Eyes wide, he caught me by the hips, digging his fingers slightly into my ass.
As if reading his thoughts, I whispered, "You don't have to move your hands."
I brought my lips up, barely brushing his lightly before he surged down, bringing them together. It was gentle. Underscored with an eagerness from both of us.
He turned, bracing my back against the wall behind me. Breaking the kiss for a second, he asked, "Is this okay, Roza?"
"Is this okay?" I mocked, breathless. "Don't stop."
He captured my lips again, pushing me into wall gently. It consumed me, my body felt like it was on fire, like I wanted to speed time up and slow it down all at the same time.
His hands travelled up and down my legs, sending goosebumps throughout my thighs.
I reached out to grab his straining biceps, breaking away from his kiss. "You know what would make this all easier?"
He grunted in response, moving his lips to my neck and whispering my name against my skin like a prayer. Roza, Roza, Roza… I sighed happily.
"What are beds for if not making up for height differences?"
I didn't need to tell him twice. Without losing his grip on me, he kicked open the door, depositing me gently on the bed.
With him on top of me, the kissing picked up, more urgent.
I could stay like this forever, in Dimitri's embrace. His hands ran up and down my torso, his fingers caressing the bare skin where my shirt rode about my pants.
I was no stranger to getting pawed up by boys, especially in my hey-days at the academy. Over the shirt, under the shirt. Usually in the act of making out. Usually by my former favorite Zeklos.
This was completely different. Dimitri was ever the respectful human I'd come to know him as. He would ask whether anything he did was find, avoiding any of the more sensitive areas where, for once, I really wanted to be touched.
He let me set the pace, wrestling with me every so often for control, but letting me take it back just as soon as he'd made any strides forward. I wonder if he was burning for more, just like I was.
It was everything. Until it wasn't.
"Stop stop stop," I said, pushing against Dimitri's chest. Something wasn't sitting right with me, and it wasn't just the incessant fluttering in my stomach.
He fumbled, scooting as far away from me as he could on the bed. His eyes looked horrified, but I caught his arm, rubbing it with what I hoped was a reassuring touch. "Roza, I'm so sorry. I should have-"
"It's not you," I breathed. "It's Lissa."
Author's Note: How are y'all feeling?
