Here is the next chapter...sorry I am a slow updater! I read a fic that like emotionally scarred me the other day and I just didn't have it in me to write anything. This one is a little bit longer than normal...most of you guested who the moroi was so go you!

I also had some concerns about how Dimitri wasn't a badass...sorry... I hope this chapter will placate you.

I got a record number of reviews which is totally awesome! Thank you guys soooo much! I promise I will update soon!

No beta and I own nothing...

Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 15

That had never happened before, Dimitri was always aware of his surroundings and was hardly ever taken by surprise, except of course by Rose but that was emotionally, not physically. Dimitri immediately snapped out of the trance he had somehow gotten himself into while talking to Viktoria and immediately snapped into action.

He grabbed one of the dhampir's hands that had been pressing across his throat and abruptly turned it backwards. Dimitri slid his on arm over the man's throat and tightened it quickly shutting off his air supply. The sudden show of strength caught the other dhampir off guard for a fraction of a second and Dimitri used it to us advantage. He used the palm of his hand to thrust up into the guardian's nose as it broke and blood immediately began to spray from the site.

The guardian that Dimitri still had in the headlock finally passed out, leaving Dimitri and the guardian with the broken nose to face off. While the other guardian might be wider, Dimitri was definitely taller and used his height and strength to his advantage. The other guardian got off one swift punch to Dimitri's right eye but Dimitri didn't even flinch. The guardian left his torso wide open when he lifted his hand up and Dimitri took the opportunity to head butt his waist which caused him to lose his sense of balance, falling helplessly on the hard dirt path below them. Before he could retain his feet, Dimitri had grabbed a lose brick off of the floor of the dirty alleyway and hit him over the head, knocking him out cold.

The abundant laugh behind him, caused Dimitri to turn and stare into the face of none other than Mr. Ibrihim Mazur, Rose's father. Abe was lavishly dressed as always in a silk button down shirt that was a dark maroon color and black slacks that screamed money. His signature cashmere scarf was rapped around his neck and the golden earrings in his ear sparkled in the sun. He was very tan for a moroi and seemed to be darker than Dimitri had remembered him.

"Zmey." Dimitri narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him, only wincing slightly at the feeling of his eye already starting to swell. The guardian sure did have one hell of a swing. "To what do I owe this visit?" Dimitri's words clearly displayed his contempt with the moroi man.

At this, Abe started laughing even harder, "Dimitri my boy. How you have grown up yet you still have that control issue I see. I am however impressed with what you just accomplished." Abe looked down at his two unconscious guardians. He had been in some pretty rough places and his guardians had taken down quite a few people without even breaking a sweat. He did know that the task that Dimitri had just completed wasn't something to take lightly. "You and my daughter really are the perfect match. Both of you have a very short temper and I'm not sure if it's bravery or stupidity but you are the only ones who will called me 'Zmey' to my face."

"Where is my sister?" Dimitri stepped up to the moroi, being almost the same height, he wasn't able to intimidate Abe my lurking over him but he could at least give him his most fierce and threatening look.

"Don't worry about Viktoria, she is in the market. I had her escorted in there to do the shopping while I stopped to have a chat."

"Maybe I don't want to chat." Dimitri turned around and started walking down the alley, back towards where is sister was.

"Maybe you don't have a choice." Abe stepped in front of Dimitri to prevent him from leaving. While Dimitri wasn't even remotely scared of the moroi, he could see why this man could be intimidating. He did have a mobster air about him and the threat in he had learned to incorporate in his voice could be very demanding and powerful. Dimitri had been scared of this man at one time but had since grown into a very strong and badass guardian. Threats of broken kneecaps didn't seem to hold the strength over him that they use to, especially not when his own guardians were incapacitated on the ground.

"What do you want Ibrihim?" Dimitri asked using the man's given name. He was still scowling but hoped to move this conversation along so he could check on his sister.

"I would like to discuss the relationship that you have with my daughter."

"What happens between Rose and myself is none of your business."

"Of course it is my business. I am her father."

"Yeah, maybe biologically but Rose didn't even know you till recently and I highly doubt she would listen to your advise on the matter."

"Maybe, maybe not, that's why I am approaching you." Abe took a step towards Dimitri, practically breathing in his face.

"I won't listen to you either, or have you forgot how I don't care what you think?" Dimitri had known Abe most of his life but hadn't really seen him since the day he kicked his father's ass. Abe and his father were friends back then and he figured they were still in touch with each other now. Abe had known about what Dimitri's father was doing to his mother but never did anything to stop it.

Dimitri had looked up to Abe while he was a little boy since he was one of the few men who were around from time to time and Dimitri was usually the only man in a house full of women. Dimitri had gone to Abe to ask for help when he was old enough to understand what his father was doing to his mother but Abe had refused to help and told Dimitri that it was not his place to interfere in a domestic dispute and that he shouldn't get involved either. Dimitri was upset that Abe refused to help and did the only thing he could by dealing with the abuse. One night though, it got to be too much. He had contacted Abe in a final attempt for help in fear that his father was about to kill his mother but Abe once again refused to aid the boy. Dimitri then took matters into his own hands at the tender age of thirteen and beat up his father. That was the last day he had seen Abe or his dad. Later, he heard the stories about Abe's unsavory exploits and began an even bigger grudge against the man who had refused to help his mother. While he was fairly sure that Abe had never beaten up any of his dhampir girlfriends, he had decided that Abe was a man that could not be trusted or treated as a friend. Abe had been so great when he was a child but quickly turned into a man that Dimitri could not stand. Just looking at him now was bringing up memories that Dimitri had long sense forgotten and wanted to keep that way.

Abe had quieted down but only slightly as he looked into Dimitri's eyes. "You really are a brave boy. Lord Ivashkov, while probably a better suitor for Rose, was more of a coward and only nodded when I threatened to disembowel him if he hurt her. You on the other hand, would never take something quite so well." The laughter that had circled Abe's face quickly vanished as he gazed into Dimitri's brown eyes with a sickly grim expression on his face. Taking a step closer, Abe leaned into Dimitri's ear as he whispered, "You hurt her once already. Thankfully you were smart enough to correct that mistake. You hurt her again and you will no longer exist to fix it. Are we clear?"

"The same thing goes for you." Dimitri shot back, just as passionately if not more, "She is my life now and if for some reason you were to ever hurt her, what I did to your bodyguards will look like nothing." A look of hatred crossed Dimitri's features that surpassed the look of pure malice he had given Viktor when he and Rose had gone to his jail cell at court shortly before his trial. He wasn't kidding then and he sure as hell wasn't kidding now, anyone hurt Rose and he would do whatever it took to correct it, even if that meant taking care of her father.

The laugh came back into Abe's eyes as his expression turned to one of amusement. "We shouldn't have a problem then. You should put something on that eye." Abe chuckled and turned away swiftly to walk towards his guardians that were just starting to come around.

"Get up you idiots." Abe commanded as he kicked one of them in the leg where he lay.

Dimitri jogged out of the alleyway and into the story then, scanning the crowd for his youngest sister. He quickly spotted her, thankfully unharmed, in the produce section staring at some potatoes.

Relived, Dimitri walked towards her, "Vika, are you okay?"

"Thank goodness you are okay Dimka. What did Abe want? He told me to come in here and I was so worried. I was going to try to do something but he pushed me into the door and had that man over there watch me." Viktoria visibly relaxed as she saw Dimitri again.

Dimitri looked towards the man in question but only saw the back of him exiting the front door. "It's okay. He just wanted a word with me."

"But your eye, it looks bad."

Dimitri grinned, only to grimace slightly as the muscles in his cheeks rose up to push against his swollen eye. "You should see the two guys outside, this is nothing. Let's get the rest of the stuff on the list and get back home."

Viktoria nodded and then grabbed a steak from the meat counter as they walked by, "maybe this will help you eye." She gently laid the piece of meat in the hand basket she was carrying.

At times like this, Dimitri missed Lissa being around to just heal any cuts and bruises he might get. He hadn't had to deal with an injury since Lissa figured out how to heal things. Even then, he had only gotten hurt once or twice because he was too distracted by the curve of Rose's hips to pay attention to her fist flying towards him. "Thanks."

Dimitri and Viktoria quickly gathered the other things that their mother requested and headed back home. This time, Dimitri was very aware of his surroundings as they walked towards their home. His conversation with Viktoria still wasn't forgotten but he didn't want to think about other things incase someone else popped up.

Upon reaching the house, Olena greeted her children at the door, shock stretching across her face as she eyed Dimitri's right eye. "What on earth happened?"

Dimitri sighed, "It's not as bad as it looks Mama. I'm really okay. I just had a little run in with Ibrihim Mazur."

"Oh dear, is everything alright?"

"Yes, he just wanted to have a chat about Roza. Everything is fine now." Dimitri really didn't want to go into more detail with his mother so he took the bags he was carrying towards the kitchen at the back of the house.

Once everything was unloaded and put away, he grabbed the stead Viktoria had gotten for his eye and then grabbed Viktoria who had tried to sneak away. "We are going to be on the back porch if you need anything."

Olena looked at her children but only nodded and began preparing the rest of supper.

"You knew I wouldn't let you off the hook that quickly Vik. Now start explaining and I mean everything." Dimitri was in a no nonsense mood and after he had just had an altercation with Zmey, Viktoria knew not to provoke him.

She started at the begging and explained the whole situation from how awesome Rose was when she came down and how she felt like they were sisters, to which Dimitri smiled at, to how Rose had had a guardian to drag her away and threaten Rolan to which Dimitri was scowling at.

"Don't worry Dimka, nothing happened." She soothingly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I really owe Rose for helping me. I feel so bad about the things I said to her."

"Next time I talk to her, I will let you speak with her. Does that sound good?" Dimitri asked, trying to keep his anger in check at the thought of his own sister being put in that situation with a moroi. He was proud that Rose had had enough common sense to put an end to it. He would have to ask Rose how she had managed to get scare Rolan off later as Viktoria didn't quite know the whole story about who the man was.

"Thank you." Viktoria smiled at her brother, happy to have him back. She was also relieved that he didn't seem overly upset about the situation. She wasn't sure if that was Rose's doing or the fact that he had already been in one fight today and didn't feel like another.

"Our guests are arriving. Can one of you please answer the door?" Olena called out from the kitchen door. Dimitri could just make out her silhouette against the screen covering the open back door.

"Guests?" He questioned, getting up from his perched position at the edge of the back porch.

"Of course, we are celebrating your homecoming." Olena smiled at her son, still so happy that he had returned.

Only about ten minutes later was their house and back yard completely full of people Dimitri hadn't seen in years. Dimitri should have known that his mother was up to something with the ungodly amount of food she had requested that they get but hadn't thought she would throw a party quite so soon.

Ever since Ivan died, Dimitri had been sort of a recluse and the sheer amount of bodies surrounding him was become overwhelming. Noticing his ill at east look, a red plastic cup was forced into his hand by his mother's neightbor, Mr. Krushkev. Dimitri sniffed the contents, the smell buring his nostrols and leaving an ache in his stomach. He quickly downed the bitter liquid. The familiar burn of the Russian vodka running down his throat was something he hadn't experienced since he had become a full-fledged guardian over seven years ago. He didn't normally drink but the happenings of tonight seemed to demand the reinforcement.

He swiftly grabbed the still full bottle from a table towards the side of the yard and refilled his glass. It was sure to be a long night.

This chaper is probably a little OCC for Dimitri (as most of my chapters are)...if you have a problem with it, lemme know and I will try to get him back to Richelle Mead's awesomeness...Please review :) They make my day!