Yay! Chapter nine! So…ENJOY! And review!

DISCLAIMER:

Lissa: Meg, can I do the disclaimer?

Abe: No, I want to do the disclaimer!

Me: How about you both do it?

Lissa: Not fair! I asked first!

Abe: Well, I'm the main character's father!

*Lissa and Abe start fighting*

Meg: *whispers* I don't own Vampire Academy nor its characters.

I woke up to the smell of bacon. Oh!, it smelled so good.

I sat up and stretched. My stomach gurgled. Boy was I hungry. In less then a minute, I had jumped out of bed and pulled on pair of dark gray jogging pants over my underwear and one of Dimitri's shirts that reached up to my knees.

Yawning, I headed downstairs where the fresh aroma of food came closer.

Everyone was sitting at the table; about five different conversations going on.

Olena was scrambling around the kitchen piling the table high with Russian food I had never seen before.

I kissed Dimitri good-morning and greeted everyone; including Tasha.

I sat down in the chair between Paul and Dimitri and looked at all my selections. There was bacon, but there were much more things that looked good. Like a little round, white cake that had a slice of butter on top and parsley.

Dimitri noticed me staring and leaned to my ear. "That's drachona. It tastes sort of like normal American cake but more fancy."

I shrugged and took one. I sliced a little piece off and placed it in my mouth. It melted in my mouth as my taste-buds took in the warm and sweet delicacy.

"So?", Dimitri asked.

I blinked a few times. "I didn't know Russia made food like this."

He raised on eyebrow.

I shook my head. "No, I thought that this country had those cold foods to match the theme. Remember? Winter waste-land."

Dimitri chuckled. "You mean like fish and ice and ice-coffee."

"Nope. But there was a fish-head in a cup full of soup or something in this movie I saw with Lissa. Explain that, comrade."

He smiled again. "That's called ukha. It's better then it looks you know. Remind me that one day, I'll have to force you to try it."

I made a face. Raw fish parts traveling down my throat? No thank you. "What do you mean by force?"

Dimitri took a bite of the drachona and swallowed it. "I know that you'll say no by just looking at it."

"Oh?" I tried to do that one-eyebrow lift but failed miserably. "How do you know that?"

He shook his head. "Don't judge a book by its cover."

Great, another Zen lesson. "Since when did books get into this?", I joked.

I then noticed that all conversation had stopped in the room and everyone was listening to our playful argument and laughing.

After twenty minutes of talking, we all cleaned up our plates and headed upstairs.

Tasha, who was dressed already, headed for the front door.

"Where are you going?", Dimitri asked.

Tasha replied but didn't turn around. "General store. I need to get some things."

With that last note, she waved at us and left.

Perfect.

As soon as the door shut, I turned to Dimitri. "Viktoria and I have to go too."

"You're going to leave me here all alone?"

I smirked. "Yes I am. Why don't you make some more bread to keep you busy, Little Miss Muffit."

Dimitri grinned sheepishly at me. "Where are you two going, anyway?"

"I don't know. To the mall, I guess. I want to see what's new in Siberia fashion. Maybe a seven layer coat instead of the usual five."

We both laughed.

Dimitri pulled me forward and planted a kiss on top of my head. "Get dressed first. You don't want to freeze to death outside.", he said sarcastically.

I looked out at the window. There was no sun shining but it was sort of cloudy. No snow though.

I headed upstairs and put on whatever I found first. A purple hoodie with black skinny jeans and converse.

Stage 1 complete.

Now for stage 2.

Viktoria and I had agreed to meet in front of the house at 10:00 AM, human time. It was 9:58.

I dashed downstairs. Gave Dimitri and lustful kiss and went out the door to meet a waiting Viktoria.

"Where is she?", I asked.

Viktoria motioned with her head down the road. "She's about halfway down the road."

So we walked a bit, just until her house was out of sight.

I took out my cell phone. Luckily, I had Tasha's number.

I clicked the edit button and put *67 before her number.

Then, I pressed call.

"Hello?", she said.

I took a breath and put on my best Lissa impression. Adrian said I was really good at imitating her.

"Tasha? It's Lissa."

"Lissa! How are you?"

"I'm good.", I answered into the phone.

"Why isn't there any caller ID? I thought I had you in my contacts…"

Oh crap!

"Uh—I'm calling from one of the phones at Court."

I silently prayed she would believe it.

"OH! Okay, so what's up?"

I smiled. "Some guy—I forgot his name—called Christian and said that they need you back at where you work. He said it was urgent."

I heard Tasha sigh. "That must be Marc. If he says it's urgent, it must be really important. When did he say I should go back?"

"As soon as possible. He said he already sent a jet to take you back. It arrives at the airport in two hours."

Yes, hehe. The plane that would take her far, far away from Russia. Dimitri and I would probably be at Court already by the time she comes back. I knew this was a childish prank, but I just hated her so much.

She paused for a brief second. "Okay, thank you for warning me. I'll go back to the Belikov's and start packing."

"'Kay. Bye!" I immediately hung up the phone as Viktoria and I fell to the ground with laughter.

"Nice voice, Rose", Viktoria commented.

I grinned. "Practice makes perfect."

Jus then, catching me by surprise, strong and cold hand grabbed me by the waist. Viktoria stopped laughing.

Nausea swept over me. My head filled with pain that I couldn't take.

I couldn't move from being caught by surprise and how much it hurt.

This meant only one thing.

Cold hands. Nausea.

Strigoi.

Ooh! Cliff-hanger! I'd luv to hear ur comments! What do you think will happen next?