Chapter 30: Adrian Dream Walks
"Adrian" I spit out. "What do you want?"
"I want to talk with you, you hung on me" Adrian said.
"No, my father hung up on you, he didn't like what you said." I said hastily.
"I'm sorry Rose, you are right, I took it too far. I am just concerned for you. Please look me in the eyes." Adrian said sweetly.
"No, Adrian, I will not look in your eyes, I don't know if you can compel me in a dream." I said looking down at my feet.
"Rose, I would never compel you" Adrian said in his sickly-sweet voice. "I just need to know where you are, so I can come get you and protect you. I can protect you better than your father, your mother and Dimitri combined."
I could hear Adrian walking towards me. When he got to me his feet were about an inch from mine.
"Rose, little dhampir, please look at me. I don't want to tell you how I feel about you when you are looking at your feet." Adrian said.
I just continued to look at my feet.
"Fine, I'll tell you looking at the top of your head." Adrian huffed out. "I am in love with you Rose, I want you to come to Court so I can protect you. I have so much money, you will never have to work as a guardian. You can do whatever you want, you can buy whatever you want. You can redecorate the Ivashkov wing at the Palace if you want."
"Adrian, I am sorry but I am not in love with you. And I don't need your money, if I want money, I can ask my father for it." I said.
Suddenly Adrian grabbed my upper arms and started shaking me violently back and forth. "Rose, look at me." Adrian screamed at me. I closed my eyes as he shook me and my head was forced back and forth.
"Rose, look at me! Open your fucking eyes!" Adrian screamed.
Adrian stopped shaking me but his hands still tightly gripped my upper arms. His voice got very low and very quiet and he said "Rose if you don't open your eyes and give me what I want, I will visit your dreams every night, until you give me what I want."
I didn't reply to Adrian, instead I was trying to wake myself up. I was angry enough, but I was unable to end the dream. The next thing I realized Adrian was trying to kiss me. I was trying to push him off of me but he was stronger. Dam dream, if I was awake, I would be able to kick Adrian's ass.
"Adrian, stop it, this isn't you." I yelled as I continued to try to push him off of me. I still had my eyes closed and I kept trying to turn my heads to the side.
Adrian swept my feet out from under me and I fell to the ground hard. Unfortunately, Adrian came with me. I kept trying to push Adrian off me, but now I was fighting gravity as well.
"Get the fuck off of me Adrian" I screamed at him. My head was to the side so Adrian was kissing my neck.
I heard the most beautiful word and voice ever "Roza".
God, Dimitri, get me out of this dream. I concentrated on his voice and then I could smell him. Adrian was trying to say something to me but I couldn't figure out what he was saying.
"Roza" I heard Dimitri say and his scent was getting stronger and I could feel him shaking my shoulders.
Finally, I made it out of my dream.
"Roza! Roza! Wake up!" I heard Dimitri say.
I stopped fighting and opened my eyes "Comrade?" I asked. I noticed that Dimitri was above me sitting on his knees with his hands on my shoulders trying to wake me up.
I started crying and Dimitri shifted and pulled me into his arms and said "Your safe Milaya" as he brushed my hair out of my face.
He started whispering to me in Russian and running his finger through my hair helping to calm me down. It was working and once he felt me relax into him and I had stopped crying, he kissed my forehead.
"Did you have another dream about Tasha and Jesse?" Dimitri asked.
"No" I said "Um, do you think we could make some hot chocolate and talk in the living room?"
"Of course" Dimitri said with a little hesitation. We both got out of bed and I put on a pair of leggings and Dimitri handed me one of his shirts. He knew that his scent was the best way for me to stay calm. Dimitri put on pj bottoms and a t-shirt. We walked out to the kitchen, Dimitri put the kettle on to heat the water as I grabbed two mugs. Dimitri grabbed four packets of hot chocolate mix and put two packets in each mug.
While we were waiting for the water to heat, Dimitri pulled me to his chest and rested his cheek on the top of my head.
"You know I love you, right" Dimitri asked as he rubbed my back.
"Yeah" I said but I held back my thoughts.
"Why do I feel like there is a but coming?" Dimitri questioned.
"Because there is and I am afraid you are going to be mad at me. And I don't want you to leave me" I cried into his chest.
Dimitri pulled back a little and cupped my face in both hands and tilted my head up to look at him "Roza, that will never happen" he said as he wiped away the tears that silently streamed down my face.
The tea kettle whistled and Dimitri let go of me to fill both the mugs. Once he stirred the mix, he went to the refrigerator to get the whip cream to top off the hot chocolate. Dimitri gave me one of the mugs and I headed for the couch as he followed me. I sat down in one of the corners of the U-shaped couch and Dimitri sat next to me.
"What's going on Roza? You know you can tell me anything." Dimitri asked.
I took a deep breath and said "I have something to tell you and I probably should have told you sooner but I know it is a sore subject with you."
Dimitri gave me a confused look. I told myself just say it quick like ripping off a band aid. Dimitri put his mug down and took my mug and placed it on the table next to him. He grabbed my hands with both of his and said "Roza, whatever it is we will get through it. Plus, you are probably making it worse in your head than it really is."
"Okay" I said "So you know how Adrian is a spirit user like Lissa and Oksana. But like Oksana he has different abilities than Lissa, like seeing auras."
Dimitri cautiously nodded for me to continue.
"And Adrian doesn't have a bond with anyone, like Lissa has me to take away the darkness, which is why he drinks and smokes."
"Okay, I am with you so far" Dimitri said as he rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand to give me strength to tell him and it was working.
"One of Adrian's spirit abilities is dream walking. So, when you are asleep, he will basically show up and set the scene of the dream."
I saw Dimitri get a little tense at what I told him and he asked "Do you mind if I ask some questions about it?"
"Yes" I said enthusiastically "I never want there to be secrets between us, I just didn't know how to tell you."
Dimitri nodded and brought my hand up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of my hand. "When did he start dream walking with you?"
"When I met him at the ski lodge" I said.
I could tell Dimitri was trying to remain calm, but I knew that Adrian was a sore spot with Dimitri and now he knew Adrian was flirting with me at the lodge when I was awake and when I was sleeping.
"What do these dreams consist of?"
"Well Adrian usually picks the location like a beach or at a house in the middle of nowhere. And he usually picks what outfit I am wearing." I explained and I knew Dimitri would not like the part about Adrian picking my outfits.
"Do you have any control over the dreams? Can you get out of the dream if you wanted" Dimitri questioned.
"Adrian says that if someone is angry enough, they can wake themselves up, therefore ending the dream. That is what I usually do, because I am usually pissed that he is interfering with my sleep" I explained and now for the worst part I thought. "But this last time I could not wake myself up no matter how angry I was and how hard I tried." I paused to let Dimitri process what I told him.
"So, what happened in the dream" Dimitri asked while he rubbed my back.
I took a deep breath and said "He wanted me to look into his eyes, but I didn't because I didn't know if he could compel me in his dream."
"Good thinking Roza" Dimitri said.
"He came up to me and I just kept looking at my feet. He told me he loved me and he wanted to be with me. I told him I didn't love him. He said I wouldn't have to work as a guardian ever because he had money. I told him that it didn't matter because Baba had money". I paused because I knew Dimitri was not going to like the last part.
"Go on, Roza, it's okay, no secrets." Dimitri said lovingly.
"He grabbed my arms and starting yelling at me to look at him, and he said if I didn't give him what he wanted he would visit me every night." I said gathering my courage for the next part. "Then he started kissing me and he swept my legs out from underneath me and I hit the ground and then he landed on top of me. It was weird that he was stronger than me in the dream. And I was trying to get myself out of the dream and even though I was so angry, I couldn't wake up,"
I could feel the anger rising in Dimitri, but I could also tell he was trying to calm himself down for my benefit. He didn't say anything for about five minutes so I said "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want you to think that I wanted Adrian when I really wanted you."
"Thank you Roza for letting me know." He said as he pulled me onto his lap and I rested my head on his chest. "But please know there isn't anything that you can't tell me, okay?"
"Okay" I responded.
"So why do you think you could not wake yourself up this time? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?" Dimitri asked.
"I don't know, it just seemed like he was a darker, meaner version of himself. Normally he just wants to talk, but this time he was yelling at me and being really aggressive."
"Do you think it was because of his drinking or do you think the darkness is building up in him?" Dimitri asked as he rubbed my back and kissed me on the top of my head in an effort to comfort me.
"I don't know, it was just different" I said as Dimitri pulled me closer to his chest and wrapping his arms around me.
"Let's talk with Abe tomorrow and at lunch time we can call Mark and Oksana to see if there is a way to prevent Adrian from dream-walking you".
"That sounds good, but I don't want to fall asleep and deal with Adrian again" I said sadly.
"Well I can think of something we could do in bed that has nothing to do with sleep." Dimitri whispered.
"Comrade, I like the way you think." I said as Dimitri stood up with me still in his arms and he carried me down the hall to our bedroom.
Dimitri made love to me and then we sat in bed talking, which led to another round of love making. Dimitri fell asleep shortly after that, but I was still nervous to fall back to sleep. So, I went into the office and looked over what schoolwork I needed to get done.
I could hear someone in the kitchen and I thought I heard the distinct sound of someone crying.
I left the office and walked into the kitchen, where I found Vika crying. I went over to her and hugged her and she hugged me back but she kept on crying.
"Vika, what happened? Did Matt do something?" I asked hoping this did not involve him.
Vika shook her head no "No it wasn't anything to do with Matt." And almost as if on cue, Matt walked upstairs and saw Vika and me in the kitchen.
"Hey guys what's up?" He started but when he saw Vika, he rushed to her side and said "Vika what's wrong why are you crying?"
Vika just cried harder in my arms and Matt started rubbing her back. He looked at me and asked "Do you know what is going on?"
"No, I just came out here." I said and I knew we were making enough noise that Dimitri would hear us.
"Matt, take Vika to sit on the couch and I will make hot chocolate." I said as Dimitri came down the hallway.
"What's happening?" Dimitri asked looking from me to Vika and to Matt.
"I don't know, I was doing some homework and I heard someone in the kitchen crying. I came out here and saw it was Vika, then Matt came up from downstairs and then you came out."
Dimitri took one last look at Vika, noticing that Matt was calming her down and so he helped me make the hot chocolates. We walked over to the couch and gave them their drinks and I sat down beside Vika and Dimitri was behind me.
"What's wrong Vika?" Dimitri asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I was dreaming and there was this person who looked like Adrian, but then not. I know this doesn't make any sense" Vika said with tears falling down her face. I wiped her tears and I was happy to see the way Matt was comforting her. He really is a good guy and I hope things will work out between them.
I felt Dimitri stiffen behind me. It was obvious that Adrian had dream walked Vika and probably the same thing that happened to me happened to her.
"I'm sorry Vika, it's my fault. I didn't tell anyone that Adrian can dream walk until it happened tonight and I told Dimitri about it" I told her feeling guilty I hadn't shared this information earlier.
"What happened to you" Vika said as she was still quietly sobbing.
"When Adrian dream walks, he creates the dream from where you are to what you are wearing. He normally would just talk to me. But tonight, he was angry and mean and he was yelling at me to tell him where I was and then he started kissing me, which is when I started fighting him and Dimitri woke me up finally"
"What happened Vika?" Dimitri reached around me and grabbed Vika's hand.
"I was at St Basil's and I felt like someone was chasing me, so I ran into the gym where I knew the novices and guardians would be training. Everyone looked up at me and then Adrian came in behind me and he just started yelling at me as to where was Rose. But the guardians and novices didn't try to stop him". Vika said as I watched her relax into Matt a little bit.
"Did he try to kiss you or anything like that?" Dimitri asked. I could tell Dimitri was trying to be as calm as possible for Vika.
"No, he didn't do anything other than yelling at me and grabbing me by the shoulders" Vika said. I felt Dimitri let out a breath he had been holding in.
"I'm sorry Vika, I didn't know he would try to go after anybody else but me." I said as I started crying.
Dimitri let go of Vika's hand and then he wrapped his arms around me comforting me.
"It's okay Rose, it just freaked me out. I thought at first, I was just dreaming because of what you told us happened on Sunday night. But it just seemed so real." Vika told me.
I nodded at her and hugged her letting her know I understand.
Dimitri spoke up "Well it is 4:30 am and I have a feeling that none us are going to get any sleep, so let's get dressed and start working out early and maybe we will take the afternoon off."
The four of us walked into the gym and Dimitri pulled me to the side and told us to be quiet. I looked where Dimitri was looking and we saw Pavel sparing with two guardians. I was impressed at his skill level.
I have been watching Dimitri fight and everyone always thought he was a god, but Pavel was better than Dimitri. Pavel moved so fast and he has so much strength behind his hits. We stood there watching Pavel spar and we were all in awe of what we were seeing.
After fifteen minutes, Pavel finished sparring and shook hands with the guardians he was sparring with. He got his water and a towel and then started walking over to us.
"Well, if the four of you are here at this hour, something must be up" Pavel said.
Dimitri started "Roza informed me that Adrian can dream walk and he dreamed walked both Roza and Vika last night and Adrian was pretty aggressive."
"Dream walks?" Pavel asked. As Dimitri explained to Pavel about dream walking, I watched as Vika leaned into Matt and he put an arm around her waist to comfort her. It made my heart happy to see them together.
"Alright, I think Oksana mentioned charming silver to help with spirit issues. I will call them later to see if she can make something to prevent Adrian from dream walking anyone." Pavel stated.
"My plan for today was to do training this morning and take the afternoon off and maybe take a walk and have lunch in town. This way we can see how this team works together." Dimitri explained.
"Sounds good, let me make some phone calls and speak with Abe. I will meet everyone at Rose's suite at 11:30am." Pavel said as he excused himself.
We started with a 10-mile run, Dimitri said he wanted to increase our endurance. I matched Dimitri's pace as Vika matched Matt's pace. Once we finished, I gulped down half a bottle of water and then half a bottle of Gatorade.
All of us went into a stretching routine and we helped each other to increase our flexibility when needed. I knew that Dimitri particularly loved helping me stretch my ham strings, since I was on my back and it exposed my core to him. But I also loved toying with him by saying "Oh, Comrade, I'm good, I don't need any stretching." Watching a 6 ft 7in man pout was hysterical in the end I let him, because I always loved how close he got to me.
Vika and I started on a yoga routine and Dimitri and Matt were participating unless they saw a mistake and then Vika and I were corrected or guided into the move better.
After, that we started doing weights, Vika and I spotted each other and Dimitri and Matt spotted each other.
Dimitri set up two dummies for Vika and I, he wanted us to practice boxing on the dummies. While it is not as effective on a strigoi, Dimitri said it would come in handy with moroi and human attacks. At the academy, they taught us how to jab, cross, hook and upper cut. Dimitri had Vika and I hit the dummy with these punches and he and Matt would correct our stance or technique.
I'm not sure how or why, but I just started hitting the dummy over and over. I was grunting with each hit and I could here Dimitri in the background, but I was to far gone in a rage fueled fight.
The next thing I knew, two strong arms grabbed me from behind immobilizing me and pulling me onto the floor. As this happened, I let out a blood curdling scream.
"Roza, Roza, calm down" I heard. I was starting to hyperventilate and I could see Vika and Matt in front of me talking but I couldn't hear a word they were saying.
I could hear Dimitri's voice behind me saying "Roza, calm down, take a few deep breaths, you are hyperventilating. Milaya, you're safe, relax, you are okay, I got you."
I relaxed into the body behind me and was rewarded with the smell of Dimitri's aftershave. "Comrade?" I asked.
"Yes Roza, it's me, your safe." Dimitri said.
Once my breathing slowed down, Dimitri asked "Roza, what happened, did you take some darkness from Lissa?"
I shook my head "No, I don't know what happened. I just got so angry and it felt good to hit the dummy." Tears started running down my face and Dimitri wiped them away as they fell.
"Come on, let's take showers and get ready to meet Pavel and to go have lunch in town." Dimitri said.
I stood up as I realized for the first time I was standing in Dimitri's lap. I gave him a hand to help him up. I turned around to Vika and Matt and said "I'm sorry you guys had to see that."
"Rose, it's okay, it's understandable with everything that has happened. Come on let's get ready. I love the café that we are going to for lunch"
"Thanks, Vika" I said. We all walked back to get ready. Once we reached the third floor, it seemed eerily quiet, because usually at this hour, Olena, Karo and Sonya would be busy making lunch.
We showered and Dimitri chose dark jeans and a knit sweater. He was leaving his duster home, because daytime temperatures were starting to get warmer. He put his stakes in his jeans, one on either side. I chose to wear black skinny jeans with a dark red long-sleeved shirt and a black leather jacket and a pair of boots.
"You look pretty milaya" Dimitri said.
"Thanks Comrade, you look pretty hot yourself." I looked him up and down suggestively and I saw him gulp under my gaze. "The things I can do to you when we come back" I said with my man-eating smile.
"Milaya, don't talk like that or I will take you right here right now" Dimitri said.
Right then there was a knock on the door, Dimitri walked over with his hand on the stake and asked "Who is it?"
"Pavel with Mr. Mazur" I heard Pavel say.
Dimitri gave me a look I had never seen before and I could only describe as being petrified. I thought back to his last comment and I knew he was worried that they might have overheard his last comment. Dimitri quickly put his guardian mask and went to open the door as I dropped onto the bed in a fit of giggles.
"Kiz? What are you finding so amusing?" Baba asked as he and Pavel walked into the bedroom.
Dimitri shot me a panicked look from behind Pavel and Baba.
"Lissa called me to see if she could keep her emotions down while I was in her head. She told Christian to scare her and he tried to be scary by having his fangs out and everything. But instead of being scared Lissa was hysterically laughing, which caused me to laugh as well and then I heard the knock on the door and got out of her head." I said wiping the tears that were falling down my cheeks.
Dimitri mouthed "Thank you" from behind Pavel and Baba.
"Well, we spoke with Oksana and Mark and she charmed some objects for the two of you and Vika and Matt." Baba said. "Necklaces for the girls and dog tags for the guys. You can change the jewelry later, but this is what we could do on such short noticed."
"Thank you, Baba, they look great" I said.
"Yes, thank you Abe, please pass our gratitude to Oksana" Dimitri said.
Baba handed me the necklace for Vika which was the same as mine. It was silver and a single infinity sign that hung from the necklace. The dog tag for Matt was the same as the one Dimitri had.
"Alright, Kiz, have a great time in town. I called ahead and let them know that you are coming with a large guarding team. Everything is paid for in advance and before you start arguing, I go there often when I am in Baia, so they are used to it." Baba said.
"Thank you, Baba," I said as I gave him a hug.
Pavel said "Any problems arise, Rose hit your panic button and we will be there in 2 minutes."
Pavel and Baba left and we headed into the living area and Matt and Vika were talking to each other on the couch. I gave Vika the necklace and Matt the dog tags and explained that this was just a quick solution and if they wanted any other jewelry then we could have it charmed.
There were a few guardians in the living room but I suspected that the rest of them were waiting outside. Dimitri asked if everyone was ready and everyone answered yes. We walked down the stairs and found the rest of the guardians outside.
Dimitri said he chose to take all the guardians so he could evaluate them as a group. Dimitri said he felt with so many threats, that this group needed to be tight.
Once outside Dimitri gave directions "Guardian Mathews and Guardian Yuri will be in front of us walking into town and will eat outside on the patio. Vika and Guardian Logan will walk with us and eat at a table outside with us as well."
"Guardian Cooper and Guardian Volkov will walk behind us and eat inside the café. Guardian O'Brien and Guardian Ellis will drive down and park on the opposite side of the square. Should any trouble happen Guardian Ellis will get out of the car and assist, but O'Brien will stay in the car." Dimitri stated.
"Guardian Andreev and Guardian Sokolov will drive down and you will park on the street closest to the café. Sokolov will drive and stay in the car and Andreev will assist if there is an attack. Andreev your main concern is getting Rose and Vika into the car and get them back to the compound." Dimitri said with an authoritative tone.
Guardian Andreev nodded to Dimitri to let him know he accepted his role.
"Guardian Ludwig, Guardian Zimmerman and Guardian Walker will drive down in the third SUV and park and the three of you will be outside the café. Mr. Mazur says he has taken care of meals, for the four of you that are staying in the car, a café worker will discretely bring you food" Dimitri said.
"Any questions?" Dimitri asked. No one answered. "Okay, I believe we should be free from the threat from strigoi as it is in the middle of the day. But they can still linger about in dark areas. Everyone should have received the folder with the latest threats?" Dimitri asked.
Everyone nodded yes, I thought wtf, how come I didn't get one that contained information on the threats. I will be speaking to Dimitri about that tonight.
"Be on alert for Tasha Ozera and Guardian Andrew as we know that they are here in Baia. Also be on the lookout for Adrian Ivashkov, while I don't believe he has left Court, keep an eye out for him and the Royal Guardians that will accompany him." Dimitri informed everyone.
Everyone nodded and guardians got into three of the SUVs and drove down to the town square. Celeste and Yuri started walking and Dimitri turned to me and asked "Ready?"
I nodded and Dimitri took my hand and kissed it and then laced his fingers through mine and we started to walk into town. I was in heaven the whole time with Dimitri holding my hand in public and nobody cared.
While on the quick walk, Matt and I became spectators of a sibling fight as Vika and Dimitri went at it about what occurred as they grew up. I was laughing so hard, my stomach hurt. Lissa and her brother Andre never had this type of relationship.
As we reached the center of town, I looked around at all the shops that lined the streets surrounding the town square. I couldn't tell what kind of shops they were, but I could make out a few of them based on the picture on their signs.
A disturbance on the opposite side of the square caught all of our attention. I recognized the Royal Guardians and Adrian was right in front of them looking at me from across the square.
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