They all gathered in Molnija and Anastacia's lavish guest house. Molnija made good on her promise of alcohol, and they all relaxed and chatted like old friends.

Dimitri and Molnija told embarrassing stories about each other's childhoods, which all, especially Rose and Anastacia, were amused by. Anastacia told of her time at St. Vladimir's, and both Lissa and Rose were surprised to learn that she was only four years their senior. They started to remember the stories of Stacia Dalca, and Anastacia corrected many of the details of the epics. Rose and Christian bragged about their many encounters with Strigoi, which caused both Anastacia and Molnija to laugh.

"What?" Christian asked defensively. "We took down a lot of Strigoi together!"

Molnija glanced at Anastacia. "Should we show them?" She asked.

Anasatcia grinned widely. "Yours are easier to show off than mine."

Molnija rolled up the sleeve of her right arm, showing a spiral of molnija marks encircling her arm. It went around nearly three times, with two svetzda marks above the spiral. "Natsya has the same marks on her neck. We've gone up against a few of Strigoi ourselves."

Lissa, Christian, and Rose all sat in slack-jawed amazement.

"That's what you were doing in France, wasn't it?" Dimitri asked. "Hunting."

Molnija smiled sheepishly at him. "Yeah, well... We target the old ones, the ones that do a lot of damage. And humans. Because humans don't take kindly to people coming back from the dead."

The tortured look on Dimitri's face said it all.

Molnija went into quick Russian, her words stumbling over each other, too fast for anyone but the native speakers to catch. The look eased, and Molnija's voice took on a sassier edge. Dimitri grinned, finally, and Molnija switched back to English. "Besides, Dimka, if you were a real threat, you wouldn't back down from my challenge."

"What challenge?" Rose asked.

"When I started learning to fight, I challenged Dimitri to battle me. He said he'd do me too much damage and I should wait until I could take down Strigoi first. Well," she said, directing her conversation back to Dimitri, "I've taken down a few. Fight me now."

"You're drunk, Molya."

"I'm sober enough," she responded. She hopped to her feet. "Move the furniture out of the way. Dimka and I are having our battle."

"Molya..."

"Unless you're too scared, Dimka," Molnija teased.

A determined look came into Dimitri's eyes. "Move the furniture. If Molya wants a fight, she'll get it."

Molnija laughed happily, helping move the chairs, couch, and table out of the way. Once everything was moved out of the way, Molnija took of her sweater, heels, and jewelry, standing in dark rinse boot cut jeans and a dark red camisole. She hastily tied back her long black hair.

Dimitri slid his duster off and tied his hair back. He grinned at Milnija. "You sure you don't want to back out of this, Molya?" he asked teasingly.

She responded in Russian, sounding flippant and non-complementary.

Dimitri laughed and responded in like.

Both Molnija and Anastacia laughed. Anastacia leaned over to Rose and the rest of the group. "Nija said she'd back out on a cold night in hell, and Dimitri responded she said the same thing when he found true love."

Rose blushed.

"So, Dimka, we gonna do this? Or are you going to back out because your honor won't let you hurt a lady?" Molnija taunted.

"My honor does permit me from hitting a lady," Dimitri admitted. "So it should be fine, fighting you, little girl."

"Oh, Belikov, it's on," she laughed, launching herself at him.

He easily dodged, catching her about the waist and swinging her to the ground. He easily pinned her there. "And I thought this would be a fight," he said.

Molnija laughed and twisted at the waist, wrapping her legs around his. She pressed her palms flat against his chest and was somehow able to flip him over so he was the one pinned to the ground. "Took the words right out of my mouth," she teased.

He pushed her off of him, jumping back to his feet. They circled each other, Dimitri wary of her strength. "How many of those did you take down alone, Molya?"

"None. Natsya and I teamed on all of them. You think I'm so suicidal I'd try to take down a Strigoi on my own?" She snorted. "Dream on, Dimka."

He grinned. "Good. Nice to see you've matured."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Anastacia laughed. "Or not."

"You hush, Natsya, or you're next."

"You can't take me, Neej."

"Wanna bet, shadow-girl?" Molnija shot back, eyes still glued to Dimitri. Dimitri now had his back to Anastacia.

Anastacia's face split into a grin, and she tackled Dimitri to the ground. While Dimitri struggled with her, Molnija crouched down and pressed a hand to his neck. "Dead, Dimka. I think this means I win."

"I think this means you're a cheat, Molya," Dimitri responded.

"Told you I never took an opponent on my own, Dimka," she responded, laughing.

A little showdown never hurt anyone. Well, there's Molya's nae explained. She certainly lives up to it, doesn't she?