Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 6 In the air

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice stunned.

"I'm coming with you to Russia," I said softly, walking towards him.

He stared for a moment before he understood what I was saying. "No. It's too dangerous in Russia for you. I don't even understand how you left the Academy."

"I have my ways," I said simply as he took my hand.

"But you should go back," he whispered, looking around the airport. "It's not safe for you to be outside the Academy's wards! Even though you'll be in huge trouble already for venturing out…"

"No, I'm not going to return to the Academy," I said. "I told you, I'm coming with you to Russia."

"But…you don't have a ticket-"

I reached into my hoodie pocket and held up my ticket triumphantly. "Two way ticket from Russia and back, Comrade."

He took the ticket and examined the dates before handing it back to me. "And just where did you get tickets so fast on short notice? I didn't even mention the airport or the dates to you."

Oh geez. This was where I'd have to mention Adrian's involvement. "Well…Adrian was near Alberta's office, and he overheard you guys talking about the trip. And he booked a ticket online when he returned to guest housing."

Dimitri actually looked a little jealous for a moment, but when I looked at him again, it wasn't there. "Adrian did this for you?"

"He said that he knows I'll be unhappy without you," I muttered, looking at the ground. Why did I have to say that?

Silence stretched between us for a moment. I bit my lip as I waited for him to say something.

I looked up at him. His dark eyes were a little distant. "Adrian….he cares much more than I would've believed," he murmured.

I was starting to get worried about what he was saying. "Dimitri?"

He turned to me, and I was surprised to see there was some conflict in his gorgeous face. "Sometimes I wonder if Adrian is the better one for you after all," he said at last.

My mouth nearly hung open. "Dimitri, why would you say something like that?"

"If you were with Adrian, you wouldn't face the same condemnation with him as you would with me once our relationship is out," Dimitri whispered, pain in his voice. "Moroi-dhampir relationships aren't condemned the way ours would be. Adrian is a good man and would treat you well. You'd also…be able to have a baby if you chose."

I knew to a certain degree, Dimitri was right. Moroi and dhampir could have children, and the children were dhampirs. For some reason, dhampirs couldn't have children with each other. If I chose to have a relationship with Adrian…

I shook it off. No. Although I liked Adrian as a friend, and he was good to me, and he showed that he loved me, I couldn't be with him. I didn't feel like I was perfectly in sync with him the way I was with Dimitri. We were so in sync with each other it felt like we were two halves of the same whole.

"I wouldn't choose Adrian over you," I said, hugging him fiercely. "Even if he did give me what I want most-to spend time with you." I had to admit, I was a little surprised that Dimitri could be insecure about me. He always seemed so confident and sure of himself.

He hugged me back. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here in America and wait for me to come back?" I could tell that no matter how tough a face he put on, he did want me to come with him.

"Nope," I said, smirking. "I'm coming along. Besides, my chauffeur already went back home so unless you want me to camp out in the airport for awhile…"

He interrupted me by giving me a fierce passionate kiss. We stood there kissing for a few moments before I had the strength to pull away.

"Comrade, you do realize we're in the middle of the airport making out right?" I asked, trying to raise my eyebrows at him but failing miserably. Damn, I wonder how he could do that.

"Yes, I realize that," Dimitri said, sounding amused. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine again, his hand sliding up under my hoodie.

We kissed for a few more minutes, losing track of time, until we decided to sit down. I could imagine we were putting on quite a show for everyone else in the airport.

I snuggled up into him, and closed my eyes. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon, and I really wanted to sleep.

"You can sleep on the plane," Dimitri murmured to me, wrapping his arms tightly around me.

I yawned. "But…how much time do we have until the plane takes off?" My question was punctuated with a few yawns in between.

Dimitri turned around. "Forty-five minutes."

"I don't think I can stay awake much longer," I mumbled, yawning hugely at the end. I just wanted to fall into a nice, warm bed and sleep till tomorrow.

"Fine, you can sleep until we need to board the plane," Dimitri relented. I could tell he was smiling when he spoke.

"Night," I murmured, closing my eyes and drifting off into dreams.

I was walking with Dimitri on a warm, sunny beach. The sand was a pristine white, and the waves that lapped at our feet were a clear crystal blue.

I looked up at Dimitri, my dark hair falling down my back. "It's a nice day to be on the beach."

Dimitri nodded in agreement. I suddenly realized that he was shirtless, and all he was wearing were swimming trunks.

"You look amazing," he whispered in my ear.

I looked down at myself. I was wearing a small white bikini that stood in nice contrast against my tanned skin. When I looked up again, Dimitri's eyes were lingering on all of my exposed skin.

"Whoa there, Comrade, I didn't know you liked looking at this, or I'd show it more often," I joked, leaning back to enjoy the sun.

"You should," he said, and there was a deep sensual note to his voice.

I stepped into the waves, letting them lap around my legs. Dimitri came in after me.

Our eyes met and we started kissing deeply. His hands slid up to my back, exposed by my bikini.

He kissed my shoulder, and then made his way up to my neck-

"Roza, wake up!"

I woke up with a start, blinking sleepily. The sun was blazing onto my face. "W-what?"

"Come on, we're boarding our plane," Dimitri said, pulling me up and picking up my suitcase.

I got to my feet with a groan. They seemed to have fallen asleep too as I got up. "My legs are stiff, and I still want to sleep."

"Sleep on the plane," he said as he led me to the boarding area.

We got on the plane in a few minutes, and to my surprise, we were seated in first-class accommodations. "Dimitri, since when did you have this type of money?" I asked.

He laughed. "Guardian secrets. I'm surprised Adrian heard enough to book a seat next to me."

We sat down in very luxurious leather seats with plenty of leg room. "So you would've been sitting alone?"

"Unless there was an overflow in economy," Dimitri noted as he buckled up.

I buckled up too, and examined our surroundings. All around us were people settling into leather seats. Some didn't look too thrilled about being on a plane. Flight attendants were rushing around and assisting people with luggage.

I set my suitcase down at my feet and yawned. "Now I can go to sleep?"

Dimitri chuckled. "After you listen to the safety video."

I yawned again. "That...t-takes forever."

He smiled and kissed my cheek. "It won't, I promise. There's probably around five minutes before we start taxiing around the runways."

To my surprise, he was right. The plane promptly started to taxi around five minutes later, and the flight attendants were called to their seats.

Within ten minutes, we were lining up to take off. The plane started going faster and faster, and soon we were in the air. My heart leapt. We were on our way to Russia!

"Wake me up when there's food," I told Dimitri as I rested my head on his shoulder.

He laughed and pulled me closer. "The only thing that'll get you up is food."

"That's not true," I protested as I fell asleep. When I fell asleep I slipped into Lissa's head.

Lissa's POV

"Where is she?" Lissa yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "Rose is missing and none of us know where she is!"

I realized that Adrian hadn't told anyone of his involvement in my trip to Russia. Hell, they didn't even know I was headed for Russia. Through Lissa's eyes, I realized that we were in her room, and Christian, Adrian, and Eddie were all there.

Christian put his arm around her. "Calm down a little Liss," he said soothingly. I noted that she must've found him in the end. "I'm sure Rose can take care of herself."

"Yeah, but why didn't she tell me where she was going?" Lissa was concerned for me, and a little hurt I hadn't told her where I was going.

He shrugged. "Maybe it's personal. But Rose will come back when she's done with…whatever she's doing." At least I could count on Christian to look after Lissa while I was gone, although I thought I did the best job of protecting her.

Lissa paced, her footsteps purposeful. "Do you think we need to tell the authorities?"

"No, they already know." This came from Adrian, who was lounging in a corner. His stylishly messed hair was just messy now, and he looked weary.

Lissa sighed and stared off into space. "I just hope Rose is okay."

I felt someone nudging me and I blinked sleepily.

"Breakfast," Dimitri murmured into my ear.

"How long was I asleep?" I murmured, stretching a little.

"For three hours," he said, amused. "It's eleven or so, and it's breakfast time."

I sat up straight and studied the menu sitting on the table. "I'll have an omelette with lots of bacon, and I'd like to have pancakes and waffles," I told the flight attendant as she came by.

Dimitri ordered bacon, fried eggs, and sausage. I looked out past him at the window. Outside was nothing but perfect blue sky, and fluffy white clouds. I kind of wished I could reach out and touch the clouds.

"How much longer will it take to fly to Russia?" I asked, looking at Dimitri now.

He shrugged. "Seven hours or so."

"Where are we even landing?" I asked as the flight attendant pushed by with a cart and gave us our food.

He looked at me in exasperation. "Do you ever look at anything? We're landing in Ob."

"Then how will we get to your hometown?" I couldn't remember Dimitri's hometown, but I was pretty sure it wasn't Ob.

"We'll rent a car and drive there. It's about two hours away from Ob."

I sighed. A ten hour flight and a two hour car drive. Fantastic.

"It's going to be after midnight when we arrive," Dimitri added, his tone serious as he forked some food into his mouth. "So you need to be on high alert once we come near Baia."

"Are there lots of Strigoi out there?" I asked as I rapidly scarfed down my breakfast. For airplane food, it actually tasted fantastic.

Dimitri shook his head. "Not from when I was still there, but Strigoi do come by once in awhile."

We finished off our breakfasts and the flight attendant collected our plates. I didn't feel sleepy after eating so much. I reached down to my suitcase, and yanked out one of my fashion magazines.

"Really, Rose?" Dimitri asked, raising his eyebrow at my selection. "Teen Vogue?"

"What?" I demanded, holding the magazine away from him. "It was in case I didn't have anything to do on the flight!"

Dimitri shook his head in amusement but fished out a Western. "And you're one to talk, with your book choices, Comrade," I teased him as I started flipping through the magazine pages.

He pretended to be offended. "Does it bother you?"

"Not at all," I said as I turned back to my magazine.

A few minutes later, he looked over at the magazine page I was on. "That would look gorgeous on you, Roza."

He was talking about a dress I was now eyeing. It was a fiery red color, made of silk, with tiny rosebuds decorating the edge of the skirt, and had two straps. The skirt was short and hung about two inches above the knees, and the back was cut daringly low to expose quite a bit of skin. The model displaying the dress was around the same height as me, and had pale skin and brunette hair.

I sighed in envy. "I would love this dress, except it's expensive, and it's probably at the mall. You know we can't leave the Academy for a shopping spree."

Dimitri nodded. "If we ever see this dress in Russia, I'll buy it for you."

My mouth nearly dropped. "But…it's expensive…"

"Not when you've been saving up payroll for a while," he said, almost smiling. A guardian's payroll wasn't huge, but if you saved up for awhile, you could live comfortably on it.

"Thank you," I murmured, touched. I twirled the promise ring on my finger.

Dimitri looked at the ring. "So you wore it."

"Do you have your own?" I asked, curious.

He rummaged through his bag, and pulled an identical ring out of a small pocket. It was the twin to my own.

I ran my fingers over it, and Dimitri put it on his own finger. We held hands for a moment, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I lay my head on his shoulder, and Dimitri kissed me softly. I closed my eyes as he held me, and soon I'd drifted off into more dreams.

When I woke up a few hours later, it was pitch-black outside the windows. "W-where are we?"

Dimitri turned to me. "We're about four hours away from Ob," he said.

I tried to calculate when I'd fallen asleep. Damn. I'd only wanted an hour long power nap. I'd been asleep for basically nine hours or more. And now it was "day" for us.

For the rest of the flight, I read through my magazines and talked to Dimitri. Since it was now dark, and the humans didn't have good night vision like us…we started to kiss a little. We couldn't get much further than that, and some of the humans were awake.

We landed in Ob at ten, and we quickly disembarked. Dimitri confidently strode through the airport, navigating the huge crowds. The signs were in Russian, but they all looked Cyrillic to me.

We arrived in the parking lot, and stopped in a car rental office. Dimitri spoke to the man at the desk, speaking rapidly in fluent Russian. I couldn't help but wonder what he was saying.

The man at the desk handed some keys to him, and Dimitri nodded and said something that must've been "thank you." We walked out to the parking lot.

"So, Comrade, what car did we get?" I asked as we passed a few cars.

"A Honda Civic," Dimitri responded as we stopped in front of a silver car. It looked relatively new and well-cared for.

"A Civic?" I exclaimed. "Why couldn't you have gotten something fast?"

Dimitri laughed as he helped me with my luggage but didn't say anything else. We got into the car and started driving for Baia.

About two and a half hours later, we finally drove into a small town that had a small-village feel. It wasn't a huge town by any standards, but it wasn't a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

I looked around us, my mouth practically gaping. I had never expected Dimitri's hometown to look like this. In the distance, I thought I could see mountains. When daytime came, I'd see it better.

Dimitri smiled as we drove past a few stores that were still open at this time. "Welcome to Baia."