Intuition

Here is the next chapter. Thank you so much for all your reviews. It does me good to know that I have dedicated readers and that you are enjoying this story.

Richelle Mead owns all original VA.

I thought I would have no problem getting back to the gym as many times as I had walked the path from the track to the gym. man, was I wrong. I stumbled, ran into a few trees and ended up going the wrong way a few times.

EJ grabbed my shoulders. "Isn't this the blind leading the blind?" I asked out of breath.

"It is, but I know where I am and what direction I am going. Now, stand still and listen. Shift all your energy into your ears. What do you hear?"

I stood there quietly. After a few minutes I spoke. "Leaves, there is a tree to my right."

"Good, now, expand it further, what else?" EJ said quietly, hands still on my shoulders. I strained to hear in all different directions.

"Behind me, I heard a door open and…" I paused and listened again. "Tasha's voice, the gym. I'm going the wrong way."

"Very good." EJ complemented me. He turned me around then let go of me. I could hear my shoes making contact with the stone walk I was on. Someone walked passed me with strong perfume on. The sound of the fabric reminded me of silk rubbing against itself. I wondered if it was Tatiana. She was fond of silk. But I kept walking. I could hear Lissa grunting as she punched a dummy. Just then EJ stopped me. "Now, what do you smell?"

"Sweat, I'm assuming from the gym," I paused and concentrated harder. "Jasmine, lavender. It grows on the trellis with the ivy at the side of the gym. Its on my right side. I can hear the bush at my left. There's something rustling." I smiled, pleased with myself.

"Very good. And it's a squirrel that is rustling in the bush. Now let's head inside."

We walked into the gym and everyone went silent. "Okay." EJ said. "Let's see how you handle fighting Alberta. Remember, use your senses."

"I am five feet in front of you. Shall we begin?" Alberta said. I nodded and crouched. I heard her advance on me, but her fist made contact with my shoulder. I concentrated harder and realized I could tell she raised her foot. I felt the pressure in the air shift and I had a feeling her foot was going to make contact. I ducked then struck out with my fist and made contact with Alberta's thigh. I heard cheers from the bleachers and I knew I did well. Suddenly I could actually see where she was going, what she was doing. I could feel and hear all he changed as well. It was as if my intuition was showing me what was happening. Then another feeling came over me, it wasn't only my intuition. Someone was showing me what I could do and it wasn't Lissa, she wasn't here.

"Adrian." I sighed. Everyone went silent, all movement stopped.

"I'm here." I heard a whisper blow in my mind. I knew no one else could hear it, and they were confused as to why I had said his name. When his soul moved on, his spirit stayed and gave me a power I needed so much. I could do this, I would do this. And Adrian would help me.

I ended up "staking" Alberta, then EJ, Dimitri, and Tasha came up. In my minds eye I could see what they were doing. Tasha was using her magic as EJ and Dimitri were fighting me. I ended up being able to deflect all of them and take them all down.

I noticed through the bond that Eddie had brought Lissa in and she was so proud. EJ stood up and I took my mask off. "You did wonderful. I have never taught someone that picked this up so quickly. How did you do it?"

"A girl never gives all her secrets away. I have my secrets." I said to my friends snickering behind me.

"Well, whatever it is, it was awesome. You are definitely talented. We will continue with this training along with the rest." EJ said smiling.

"Well, why don't we all take tomorrow off? You all still need to run, but no combat. We leave for Russia in three weeks. We will be gone quite a while. We will be taking one to two days off a week until we leave. Get your personal affairs taken care of and be ready. See you all the day after tomorrow." Abe explained. Sometimes I couldn't believe this man was a dangerous man and my father. He always seemed do together. That so wasn't me and that didn't really fit the personality of a pirate-thug in my mind. But I loved him and I respected him. He always seemed to know what was needed. He also seemed to know exactly what I needed to become a better person and fighter. It was pretty cool.

The weeks passed with things just getting better. Lissa, Mia and Jill got better at punching, Lissa could hit pretty hard. Their running and endurance was great. My training got harder as the days went by, but my intuition helped wonderfully. I was able to deflect all the magic and beat all the guardian's almost all of the time.

The day to leave arrived and I was just getting the last of my belongings from my room when Tatiana came in. "Rose, I am going to miss you. I hope when you return you will consider teaching. I know you will carry out the journey and be successful. When you come back we will be able to rebuild the ranks and you will be an asset." She said.

"Well, let me finish this, and when I come back I'll let you know." If I come back, I added in my head. "Thank you for all you have done. You have no idea what you have done for me." I walked over to my nightstand and picked up the picture of Adrian and me. "Do you mind if I take this with me?" I asked.

"Of course dear. I wouldn't have it any other way. Please be careful and stay in touch. Keep me updated. If there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask. You have all the resources you need." She offered.

I went to take my ring off but she stopped me. "Please keep it with you. Adrian would want it that way."

"Thank you again Tatiana." I put the picture in my carry on and went to hug her. "Thank you for everything." I said as I hugged her. I never thought I would ever be hugging the queen.

"Anytime Rose. Your room will be here waiting for you when you return." She kissed my forehead and I walked out of my room towards the car waiting to take me to the plane.

When I got to the car Lissa was waiting. We had to stop at guest housing to pick Dimitri, Eddie, Elli and Kori up. Another car was getting Mia and Jill and Abe had picked up Tasha, EJ and Alberta. I wondered how many people we would have joining us when we got to Russia.

Abe had a private jet that was very luxurious. All the seats were like first class, there was a huge screen that would play movies, and we each had individual screens at our seats and Internet hookups. We had about a twenty-hour flight so we would have three meals and anything you wanted to drink, you could have. The chairs lay down almost as flat as a bed so sleeping would be easier too. We were all excited to be flying in these kinds of accommodations.

Lissa was sitting with me to begin with and we were talking about Russia. She had been there twice before with Dimitri to visit his family and was telling me how much I was going to like it. We were meeting up with his family for a while. Supposedly his grandmother was some kind of witch or psychic and has some information for us. Also one of his sisters was joining us for the journey. I was nervous to meet them, but excited just the same.

We talked for quite a while then she went to sit with Dimitri and Tasha came to sit with me. "I won't keep you long, I am sure you want to rest. But I wanted to see how you're holding up."

"I'm okay. I'm nervous; I mean everyone is depending on me. What if I can't do it?" I was starting to worry about all of this.

"I have no doubt that you will succeed. And we will have plenty of time to prepare. That I promise you. We will not head into the lions den until we are all fully prepared." She assured me.

"When will we be meeting your nephew?" I wanted to change the subject. I wasn't planning on being in Russia for an extended amount of time, but it was starting to sound like this was going to take quite a while.

"Well, actually he will be meeting us at the Belikov house. He should be there now. He and one of Dimitri's sisters went to school together. He is a year older than you, and he and Sonya have been very good friends for quite a few years."

"Are they together?" I hated thinking I may be separating a couple, possibly killing one of them.

"No, they are more like family. Anyway, he'll be there when we get there. We will resume training in a few days. We all need to be able to work together like a will oiled machine."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." It wasn't really a lie, I was looking forward to meeting everyone, but is was nervous at the same time. I looked at Lissa and noticed she and Dimitri were both asleep.

"Well Rose, I'll let you sleep." Tasha said and leaned her chair back and closed her eyes. I did the same and fell asleep quickly. I slept for about eight hours and woke up surprisingly refreshed. The stewardess brought us all breakfast, French toast and bacon, and we all ate happily.

I looked around at all my friends and everyone seemed oddly at ease. Maybe they were putting on a show. I hoped so. I didn't want to be the only one who had butterflies thinking about being in a foreign country and meeting new people who potentially may not like me. I was terrified.

The flight went smoothly and finally the pilot came across the speakers and said we were beginning our descent, it would be about ten minutes until we landed, then about an hour drive to the Belikov household. With thirteen people we needed two SUV's and thinking about that brought some anxiety. It brought up memories from the night Adrian died. I knew it had to be done, but I was not pleased. Couldn't they use a van or something else?

Lissa must have sensed my unease because Dimitri came back and sat with me, putting his hand on mine. "It will be fine. We will be on the road in daylight and my mom's house is heavily warded. They always put up wards when Lissa comes to visit." Of course they would seeing as she is the last Dragomir. The whole sunlight thing put me at ease some, but that nervousness was still there. "It will be fine Rose. Calm down." Dimitri said with a soft laugh.

The plane landed and we all stepped out into a beautiful sunny day. I closed my eyes taking a deep breath. The air was so crisp and fresh here looking around I could see sprawling fields of green, trees off to the side like a small forest, the small airport on the other side. The blue sky seemed to go on forever and in the distance, very far away I could see a mountain range. I wondered if that was where we would be headed.

"Hey, there's Uncle Maks." Dimitri said pointing to the SUV's with a tall, dark haired dhampir standing next to the first one. Dimitri walked up to me with Lissa. "That's my mom's brother. He'll e driving one car and his wife, Aunt Anna, should be driving the other. They are both very respected guardians."

Sure enough a woman stepped out of the other SUV and she was a sight. She had long flowing red hair, she was tall, not quite as tall as Maks, and she was beautiful.

We all piled into the SUV's and headed towards Dimitri's home. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I say when we finally arrived took my breath away.

I hope you liked it. I will be introducing Christian in the next chapter as well as Dimitri's family. Please let me know what you think.

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