Chapter Twenty-Two

Then Tasha did something to help him make his decision. She looked around seeing that it was just us, Kirova, Alberta, and Dr. Olendzki had left. She glared at me and said "You better watch your back, you little blood whore. Mark my words I will get him back!" She turned and walked to the back of the clinic where Dr. Olendzki had just gone.

Lissa gasped, Christian looked stunned, Dimitri wrapped a protective arm around me and glared at her retreating figure. I stood there for a minute trying to take it all in. The only thing I could think was…

It's on! The game is so totally on! Come and get me you fucking bitch!

Currently

Everyone was speechless. Finally, Dimitri, being the man he is, broke the silence.

"You guys need to get some sleep. Come on, I'll escort all of you to your dorm," he said, standing up, pulling me with him. I didn't want to move, I was too puzzled with the situation.

I glared at Dimitri. "So... You're just going to ignore the fact that twisted Tasha just fucking threatened me? She just fucking proclaimed that she would get you back!" My voice raised a few octaves; I tried not to shout, but I was really ticked off right now.

"Frankly, I am," Dimitri said calmly. "I've tried to make her stay away from me. I've gotten restraining orders and filed reports, but she just doesn't give up." He closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. "There is something very, very wrong with Tasha right now, and I think she needs help. It's best not to provoke her, or try and start something with her." He looked into my eyes; "Right now, I think that everyone should get some sleep so that we can think about it with a clear head tomorrow," he said, and then leaning in close to my ear he whispered to me in a hot voice: "And don't fret about her getting me back... She never had me in the first place."

That was like music to my ears. I smiled as I leaned into the crook of his neck and placed a kiss there.

"Dimitri's right. Come on, Christian. You need some sleep before you do something irrational," Lissa said calmly, hopping up from her seat to help Christian out of his. He got up at a painfully slow pace. His face held a completely stoic expression; it was as if he had mastered the guardian mask.

We all walked together towards the Moroi dorm, because they always come first. After they were both securely in their rooms, Dimitri started walking me towards the dhampir dorm. He walked me to my floor, and to my room. He stood outside the door, and only then did I get a good look at him. Worry and tiredness was etched onto his beautiful face, although his handsome charms were there as well. I sent him a smile as I guided him in, by pulling his hand. He casually sat down on the empty bed across from mine.

Wow, it's a good thing that I get this room to myself, or there would be no privacy whatsoever with Dimitri hanging around here all the time. Until now, I had always felt alone in my room, and now I was thinking it was for the greater good. I turned and locked my door.

Dimitri's eyes watched me as I pulled off my bloody and ripped shirt and cast it into the trash can. No use keeping it now. I clasped my bra and pulled on a big black T-shirt that Dimitri had once left here. I slid down my jeans and threw them into the hamper. I then padded over to Dimitri and sat down on his lap, straddling him.

Dimitri's arms wound around my waist. I took a good look at him before burying my head into the crook of his warm and intoxicating neck placing a light kiss there. "You don't look so good," I told him honestly, not rudely.

At that, he grunted in amusement. "I don't feel so good. I suppose being around Tasha for too long is enough to me sick. She isn't respecting the restraining order that I set up. I'm going to have to talk to Kirova about it," he mumbled, trailing off. I caressed his soft cheek and his eyes lifted from the ground to meet mine. "I should go. You need to sleep," he said, looking to me for permission to get up.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Are you kidding? You're staying here with me," I told him, pushing him down onto the bed. I hovered above him, smirking at him as I slowly dropped my head to his neck where I started to place seemingly chaste kisses down the crevice of his neck.

"Rose," Dimitri chastised. "You need to get some sleep," he said, resisting me, but his hands caressed the bare skin on my thighs. I knew how much he wanted this; Tasha had foiled our plans for the woods, and he was definitely horny.

"Only if you stay with me," I reasoned with my face in his neck still. "No buts," I quickly added. Dimitri chuckled under me and I felt his smile on my ear.

"Fine," he replied, his hot breath doing things to me that I couldn't even begin to explain. My breath hitched enjoying the sensation. "Just don't be pissed off if you wake up cold," Dimitri explained, and I understood. We were still in the closet about our relationship; though I supposed in the closet wouldn't really be accurate, because if I had the chance to scream to the whole school that I was in love with Dimitri-I wouldn't hesitate.

I rolled off his body and stood up, putting my hand out to him to pull him up. I unbuttoned his flannel and pulled it down his arms, admiring his sexy bare chest. After a few light kisses on his sexy body, I climbed into my bed and pull the covers back for him. Patting my bed with a flirtatious smile I beckoned him to come closer. He smirked and shook his head. I watched as he unbuckled his belt and slid his pants off. He climbed in bed next to me with a smile on his face.

I snuggled into his embrace, falling into a deep sleep quickly after that. It was just so perfect how we fit together; it was almost as if we were two pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. Our legs were intertwined under the covers and our arms around each other as if separation would be the end of the both of us. My head was securely in the crook of his neck whereas his was right above my head, resting on the crown of my head.

I couldn't stop the words from seeping out of my mouth. "I love you," I whispered.

A shiver went through Dimitri, and I knew he felt that electrical connection as he returned my words. "I love you, too," he chuckled. "Now sleep, my beautiful Roza," he instructed, but I could hear the underlying tone of love. I smiled as I took in a deep relaxing breath of Dimitri.

xxx

We got the next couple of days off of school since it was Thanksgiving break. Everyone's parents were arriving from god knows where, and it was like a big family reunion. For me? Not so much. I mean, my mom showed up and gave me a hard time about my dad, and my dad, well…he hasn't taken his hands off of Olena since I saw them yesterday, or at least it appears that way.

Family reunions really weren't ever my thing. I guess you could tell that much.

I spent the morning with Dimitri. He hadn't been in my room when I woke up, much to my disappointment, but he left me a note telling me to meet up with him at his place for breakfast. Walking over the whole campus felt empty. There weren't very many people there since most were off campus with their parents.

"Have you seen Abe?" I asked as we sat at the table.

"Nah," Dimitri grunted, taking a sip of coffee. "Saw my mother, but not him."

I shrugged my shoulders. "That's a change of pace," I said as I took the cup of coffee from Dimitri and took a sip. Dimitri watched me as I did so and chuckled at my response to the disgusting taste of black coffee. "God, how can you digest this crap?" I asked, coughing.

"I suppose I'm used to this... crap," he said, taking the mug back and taking one long drink. "Have you checked the guest housing? They're bound to be in there," Dimitri said, placing it on the table.

I sucked on the inside of my cheek. "Um, I'd rather save myself from the image of their naked entangled bodies, sweaty from the constant activity known as hot, steamy s-"

"Okay Roza. That's enough," Dimitri cut me off, placing a hand to his temple. "Do not give me that idea. You know, it's my mom, too. Not just your father."

"Yeah," I paused to chortle. "Imagine his skinny white ass on your mom's-"

"Roza!" He shouted squeezing his eyes shut as if that could keep the image away.

I barked out laughing uncontrollably. Dimitri crossed his arms over his chest and hung his head, shaking it slightly. I toned my laughing down a bit as I scooted closer to him. "Oh Dimitri..." I cooed as I pat his back. "There's a whole lot more where that came from," I said as he began to whimper.

I chuckled some more as I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. I looked through Dimitri's stash of food in his fridge that consisted of vegetables, fruits, and dairy items. Disappointedly, I slammed the fridge, but shortly there after found some power bars. I grabbed five, I figured that would be enough to satisfy me... for now.

There was a knock on the door, Dimitri turned to me with a puzzled expression. At the same moment, I turned to look at him with questioning eyes, and shrugged at him. Dimitri jumped up and speed walked over to the awaiting door. He opened it with one swing, and his eyes widened considerably.

I ran over to Dimitri, crashing skillfully into his back from his sudden stop and quickly tried to regaining balance. Peeking around his arm I looked to see who was at the door.

Oh shit! It was Abe, Olena, and Janine. It was a little strange seeing my mom tagging along with the new happy couple, she was kind of like the third wheel. She didn't look affected by being with them, however, and that was probably thanks to her guardian mask made to scary perfection.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked as I took a bite of the chocolate flavored power bar.

Abe held his pointing finger to me as he turned to look at Janine. "I told you she would be here," he said in a rather annoyed manner. Olena grabbed his hand and pulled it down to his side, whispering something in his ear. Abe just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. This time, my mother spoke.

"Rose, we need to speak to you about what happened last night," she spoke calmly and clearly as if talking to a four year old. "May we come in where we have more privacy?" she asked stiffly.

I took a deep breath and stepped aside so they could come in. Dimitri closed the door behind them.

"What didn't you hear? I was attacked by that crazy psycho-bitch known as Tasha Ozera," I told them, cocking an eyebrow as I took one more bite.

"No, sweetheart," Olena said softly. "Not that part. We support you one hundred percent; we know that what Tasha did was wrong and that she used compulsion on Ms. Kirova, but..." she trailed off, and her eyes adverted from mine. Abe wrapped his arm around Olena, and I saw my mom stiffen out of the corner of my eye.

"We're talking about the part where Tasha accused you of sneaking out after talking to me to go meet up with Dimitri," my mom said, never the one to beat around the bush and always in a hurry to get to the point.

It was silent for a moment. "Um," Dimitri mumbled besides me. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked, a nervous note in his voice as if he were afraid we would be found out.

I decided to play it off. "What are you talking about?" I asked, chuckling to myself. "Yeah, sure, I went out to meet my mentor to have some good fun together," I said as I winked at her, causing her to squirm angrily.

"Dimka, can you please tell me what you know?" Olena said, taking his hand in hers, and I knew he melted under her gaze. I could see it in his eyes, practically reading him like an open book. This was one of those rare, rare times when he looked totally unsure, totally confused and vulnerable as hell. When his guardian mask had completely failed him.

"Mama... I um," Dimitri muttered. He wouldn't meet his mother's eyes; it was a dead giveaway that he was lying. Damn, I'll have to teach him a thing or two about lying. Dimitri finally looked into his mother's eyes as he began to speak in Russian.

Olena said something that sounded as if she was scolding a child, though in Russian of course, and then the two switched back to English. Abe looked smug the whole time, and it was then that I realized that he understood Russian. My mom, on the other hand, looked pretty damned confused.

Dimitri sighed beside me as he glanced down at me. His lips were pressed together in one line. His tongue dashed out and licked his lips quickly before it reentered his mouth and he took a deep breath.

"There's been a re-occurring factor here," Janine said, and all attention was directed to her. "You told me there was nothing going on between you two," she added.

Then the attention was directed towards me. I gulped as I bit my lower lip. I glanced at everyone's faces; Janine's enraged one, Olena's concerned yet confused look, Abe's smug one and last, but not least, Dimitri's shocked face.

"Well, you know," I chewed on my inner cheek, not sure of what to say. "Um, shit happens."

"Rose!" Janine chastised.

"I'm not going to pry, but I have some advice for the two of you," Olena said to Dimitri and me. He ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. "This is not something to go public with, Rose, you are underage. Not only is it inappropriate, but it is also illegal," she said in a calmed, but also slightly perplexed voice.

"You guys have nothing to worry about. I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to go flaunt the fact that I slept with D-" I stopped mid-sentence, noticing what I just said.

All eyes were on me; big, bulging, crazed eyes watching me.

"What?" my mom shrieked, and boy did she look pissed. Olena looked like she was about to pass out, and Abe on the other hand... Abe... he looked like he was about to piss himself from laughing so hard. I wrinkled my nose in annoyance and Dimitri's hand rested on my shoulder.

"Nice, Rose," he said under his breath.

"She never was very smooth and eloquent," Abe added, wiping a tear from his eye from all the laughter.

I sighed. I could feel my cheeks reddening. "Can you guys go away now? As I was saying, it's not like I was going to go around and tell anybody about this; or as you would say," I paused to glare at my seething mother. "Ruin my reputation! Now could you leave me alone?" I asked, suddenly very annoyed.

"Leave you alone so that he can screw you again!" my mom shouted in outrage. I gasped as I saw Dimitri's eyes go wide.

Before Dimitri could say anything to defend himself, Olena jumped to it. "Excuse me?" Olena asked, turning to Janine. "That's my son you're talking about," she said, taking a step closer to her. Olena was nearly six feet tall, whereas my mom was about five-two.

"Yes, and that's my underage daughter. He obviously took advantage of her while she was in Russia training with him. He did something to her," she finished with clenched teeth.

"Mom! He didn't do anything to me! It was my choice!" I shouted at her.

"Please Guardian Hathaway, I haven't nor would I ever do anything to Rose that's not consensual. I would never do-"

"Save it," my mom cut him off with a death glare. "I don't want her to be trained by him anymore. I'm talking to Kirova; this is wrong," my mother said, more angry than ever.

"Now, Janine, don't you think if you were to talk to Kirova about it, it would only do more harm then good? Such as... Oh, I don't know, notify the authorities?" Abe piped in, of course, with his usual sarcastic tone.

"My point is," Janine practically pushed Olena out of the way so that she could shout at Abe. "I do not want them working together if they share mutual feelings. Plus, Rose is only seventeen. Need I remind you: Rose. Is. Underage," my mom's words were like venom. "What is she doing in your room in the first place?" she continued to pursue, but now to Dimitri.

I didn't want Dimitri stuttering out another failure of a lie, so I spoke for him. "I came to eat breakfast with him," I told her. "Nothing happened, whatsoever," I said, crossing my arms over my chest to indicate I was serious. "Now can you please leave? Just because we did something together doesn't mean we want to jump each other's bones every second we get," I said, and realized how big of a lie that was. Dimitri stiffened beside me, and I knew he thought the same thing. "He's helping me with homework now, so... if you don't mind," I said, making a little head motion to the door.

Janine glared at Dimitri while Olena glared at Janine. Dimitri was staring at his feet, and Abe was glancing at his watch every two seconds. Without another word, Janine turned around and stomped out the door and down the hall. Olena and Abe watched her as she dramatically exited, stage right.

"Um, Mama please, just-" Dimitri switched to Russian like the flip of a switch. The two spoke rapidly in their own native tongue. Abe stood there, listening in to their conversation, while I stood there like a total idiot, not knowing anything about what they were saying.

"Roza, I love you like one of my own," Olena said suddenly to me. "I just think it would be better if you were to wait to share a relationship with my son, who need I remind you is older than you by seven years," she paused to glance at Dimitri, and then at Abe. "Ibrahim and I have other things to attend to, have fun studying Roza," she said as she leaned in to kiss my forehead. She sent me one last pained smile before she turned to leave with my dad. He, on the other hand, just smirked and winked at me.

I watched their retreating figures until they turned the corner at the end of the hall. After that, Dimitri closed the door and sighed in an exasperated manner.

"Yebat!" he shouted, and I had finally learned that that word in Russian had meant something along the lines of 'fuck'. Dimitri turned to me, and crossed his arms over his chest. I stood there kind of awkwardly, my toes played with the carpet as my hand casually scratched the back of my head. "So...?" he said abruptly, hinting off at something.

"Yes, Dimitri?" I asked, batting my long black eyelashes, as if that would help with his bad mood.

"Do you have something to say?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

I tilted my head to the side. "Um," I mumbled, licking my lips nervously. "I slipped up?" I asked with hopeful eyes.

Dimitri chuckled, a humorless laugh. "Right, and that's going to help everything, now is it? Roza, if your mother were to report me, I would be fucked to a point of no return," he said, unclasping his arms and making gestures.

"Dimitri... I-"

"Rose, seriously! You need to learn to control your tongue! You can't just say whatever you feel like saying. Sometimes, as you have just learned, people take the information you say and act on it. Janine is very unpredictable. She may or may not call authorities because of this 'slip up'," he said, using air quotations.

I felt tears sting in my eyes. His words hurt, and it only hurt even more to know that everything he was saying was true; we could get in a lot of trouble for what I just said, and I knew it. "I'm so-"

"God, Roza, it's just sometimes I wonder if you're thinking at all. Here is a word from the wise: think before you speak," he said, crossing his arms once again and glaring at me. Disappointment in me clearly on his face.

An intense sob shook my body as it passed through my lips. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. I felt like such a failure. I looked up from the ground to meet his anger filled eyes, but in the midst of a second, they changed from anger to regret and sadness.

"Roza," he whispered my name softly, so softly in fact that I could barely hear it.

"I'm sorry I'm such a horrible girlfriend!" I blurted out sadly. A blush crossed my cheeks, I was so embarrassed, and my words only added to Dimitri's building guilt.

"No, Roza... Don't say that," he said beseechingly and began to walk towards me to comfort me.

"No!" I shouted, holding my hands out in front of me as if to say 'back off', and Dimitri got the idea. "I don't want your pity," I said as a single tear slid down my cheek. I met Dimitri's eyes once more and they portrayed utter regret. With that, I turned around and swiftly opened the door, and slamming it shut behind me.

I didn't know where I was going to go. As I erupted from the doors that led to the guardian housing, I glanced around with hesitation. It was late November, and a bit of snow was falling from the overcast skies. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. With utter frustration I realized I had no shoes on and no coat on. It was stupid of me to run out of there like that and not grab something to keep me warm, but it hadn't crossed my mind at the time.

My first thought was to go to Lissa, but at the moment I didn't feel too confident entrusting my secrets to her. Things were still a little touchy between the two of us, and I didn't want to rely on her like I did.

As I walked, my foot got caught on something in the snow. I fell, face first into a heap of snow, and something painfully scratched the side of my head, near my temple. I got up, dazed, and felt around for the source of my pain. I picked up a small, maybe the size of an egg-though ragged and sharp, bloody rock. I gasped and felt my forehead for a scratch, but when I pulled my hand away, there was a considerable amount of red, sticky, and warm blood. I got up and took a few steps reluctantly, though I was still too stubborn to turn around to go to the clinic or even Lissa to heal me.

At that point, I didn't know where else to go, so I headed out to the baseball field. Our school was really no different then the norm; we had a football field, soccer field, a track, all the normal stuff. The baseball field was empty, since there was barely anyone on campus, and no one in there right mind would go play a ball game out in this weather. I sat down in the dug out, not really sure what to do with myself.

"You seem sad."

I jumped up stumbling at my attempt to get away, almost tripping over a forgotten bat. I looked at the person standing at the entrance to the dug out, and wow, what a sight for sore eyes. He was tall, obviously a Moroi, with wavy bronze hair. He had mint green eyes and an attractive smile. Really hot!

I snorted flopping back down on the bench. "I am sad," I said, and for some reason I felt okay with spilling my heart out on this guy. "My boyfriend and I just had a fight," I told him vaguely. Hi, yeah, stranger. Um, my mom and dad as well as my boyfriend's mom just showed up and gave us a talk about how we can't be public with each other because I'm underage and he's pretty much my mentor, then I accidentally told them that I fucked him, and everything went downhill from there.

"Psh. That sucks," he said, walking towards me and sitting down next to me. He pulled out a package of cigarettes and offered me one. I shook my head, though at the moment I was slightly tempted to try one. I guess that was just my anger talking. "I don't usually like to get tied down to women," he told me as he chuckled at his little joke.

I turned to him, suddenly engulfed in his amazing cologne. "Well I love him," I said, honest to god. I love him more than anything...

"Maybe it's not worth it," he spoke softly as he lit his cigarette.

I laughed out loud. "Oh, believe me when I say this: It's worth it," I said, still laughing. To say Dimitri wasn't worth it just for one fight was absolutely ridiculous.

He smiled, and then turned to me. "My name is Adrian. Adrian Ivashkov," he said quite smugly. Though, I suppose I would be smug too if I were a close descendant of the Moroi queen.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rose Hathaway," I said with a wide smile as I held my hand out for him to shake.

"Lovely," he said, shaking my hand. He pulled out a flask from his blazer then. He was wearing a cream colored Henley shirt with the first couple buttons unbuttoned, and a grey blazer over that. He had on black skinny jeans that were a little loose on his skinny frame.

"Well, a drinker and smoker. Aren't you a charmer?" I asked as a shiver ran through me. Damn it was cold, I thought as I wrapped my arms around my self, trying to create friction. Adrian noticed this and pulled his blazer off of me and put it around my shoulders.

"Actually, I'm quite the charmer," he said, smiling flirtatiously at me. I could smell his intoxicating cologne mixed with a bit of alcohol and what I guessed was clove cigarettes emanating from his jacket.

"That's... unfortunate," I said and laughed. "It'll kill you one day." I brushed the hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. When I did so, I remembered my fall and the rock, and Adrian gasped at what he saw.

"What happened?" he demanded to know, as he leaned in closer to me to examine my battle wound.

"It's nothing," I lied, but noticing his proximity to me. In actuallity, the cut was starting to hurt a little. He held his hand up to my forehead and touched the wound. I felt a little tingle run through me, though it held no interest to me the way the electric current ran through me as Dimitri touched me. That is nirvana.

"It's not nothing," he objected, looking me in the eye, for once being totally serious with me. "We need to get this checked out," he said, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. His hand was big, soft and warm; it engulfed mine. He sent me a very gentleman like smile before he glanced down at my feet. "Jesus Rose! You don't have any shoes on!"

I bit my lip and looked anywhere but his eyes.

"Did that bastard kick you out with no shoes on?" he asked, a terrifying glint in his eyes becoming very visible. "Answer me, Rose."

"No," I replied. "I left without thinking to put any on," I said, embarrassed. I began to walk past Adrian. His hand tightened over mine. His concern for me was almost brotherly. It calmed me a little.

Adrian began to lead me towards the clinic, but I refused to go. I didn't want to go there yet, I was still a little shaken up about what had happened with Tasha last night.

"Can you take me to my room instead?" I asked, and out of the blue a smirk appeared on his lips.

"No, I'm sorry Rose, but you can't seduce me that easily," he said, laughing at his own little joke once again. I turned red with embarrassment.

"Hey! That's not what I meant!" I shouted. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and began to dial Lissa's number. She picked up on the third ring with a happy note in her voice.

"Helloo?" she asked in high spirits. Christian must be over, I figured.

"Come over to my room, pronto." I said a quick bye before hanging up on her. Adrian and I walked into the dhampir dorm, and there was almost no one in the commons. Nobody really noticed the two of us slip by and hop into the elevator.

I clicked the sixth floor, and the jolt went upward. Finally as we made it onto my floor, we got out and walked down to my door. I opened it; it was almost always unlocked. Adrian followed me into my room. I sat down on my bed and started rubbing my blue feet. They were ice cold! I closed the window and wrapped myself up in my thick black covers. Adrian sat down beside me and pulled out the flask.

I heard pounding footsteps coming down the hall, headed towards my room no doubt. I expected it to be Lissa, but when Dimitri popped in the doorway, I was shocked.

"Roza!" he shouted in concern. His eyes flickered to Adrian, and hurt flooded his features.

"Dimitri?"

"Who is he!"

xxx

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