Last chapter left many of you folks confused. Well, that was the intention!
Without any delay, let's get on with the next chapter. You might find it similar to the one in the shadow kissed. Ready to see the Dimitri, who possibly hadn't held a wash cloth to save his life, do the cleaning work in the church? Here you go!
ENJOY!
With so many moroi tracing their roots back to Eastern Europe, Orthodox Christianity was the dominant religion on campus. Other religions were represented too, but only half of the student body attended any sort of services regularly. Lissa was such one student. She went to church every Sunday because she believed. Christian did too, well up to some extent. When Rose wasn't sleeping in, she showed up at church for the social aspect. They usually hung around and did something fun afterward, so church made a good meeting spot. If God minded Rose using his chapel as a way to further her social life, he hadn't let her know. Either that or he was bidding his time before punishing her.
When the services ended that Sunday, Rose had to stick around the chapel, because that was where her community service was going to happen. When the place had cleared out, she was surprised to see one person still lingered around with her – Dimitri.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"First of all, I had to give you these," he said handing her a small brown paper bag. She peered inside to see the contents and grinned.
"You are playing your cards right Comrade," she beamed. He scrunched up his face at the weird nick name but didn't say anything.
"Secondly, I had to give you these," he said producing a bunch of blue peonies from behind his back.
"Whoa Comrade! Flowers, Donuts. What's the special occasion?" Rose said entirely perplexed by his courteous behavior.
"Well, I thought you might need some help. I heard the Priest wants to do some cleaning today," he said stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
"Yeah, but you're not the one being punished here," she said monotonously.
"But it's my fault you're being punished, isn't it? And besides, what else would I do today?"
"I could think of a hundred things – everything better than this. And you probably have some John Wayne movie to watch?" she grinned at the tall moroi, having recently learnt his obsession with the Wild West. Her over active imagination had led her day dreaming many times as to how Dimitri would look as a cowboy (the man wore a duster, for god's sake!). She would gladly be some naughty saloon girl…..
She admonished the thoughts as soon as they made home in her mind. Though not thoroughly religious, she knew having lustful thoughts in a chapel was a sin. Not that she minded, but she didn't want to get hot and bothered while she had chores to do.
"No, there isn't. I've seen them all. And spending time with you is always a plus. Look – the priest is waiting for us."
Rose turned around. Sure enough. Father Andrew was standing at the front, looking at them expectantly. He had taken off his rich robes and was standing in a plain white button down shirt and black slacks.
Dimitri guided Rose, placing his hands on the small of her back. She stifled a smile and started walking towards the priest.
"Thank you for volunteering to help me," Father Andrew smiled at the pair. Rose almost scoffed at the 'volunteering' reference. "We aren't doing anything particularly complex today. A bit on the boring side actually – We'll have to do the regular cleaning and then I want you to fetch some boxes up in the attic to the Elementary campus."
The priest showed them to the mop and dusting clothes and instructed them to get started. Rose sighed –oh how she wished she was in Lissa's dormitory enjoying the warmth of her bed and watching back to back movies!
Dimitri eyed the dusting cloth, a bit warily. He hadn't really thought about the consequences when he volunteered to help Rose. It's officially true – Love makes you do stupid things!
Yes, he accepted it there. He was in love. Head over heels in love with Rose! He had heard the concept of love at first sight but never believed in the stupid theory. Well until, a gorgeous Dhampir brunette barged into his life and turned his world upside down.
They had spent possibly every waking moment, last week together. They sat together in the classes, ate together in the cafeteria, did assignments together. Hell, he had already replaced Lissa as her private calculus tutor. The more time he spent with this crazy girl, the more he fell for her. She was wild, crazy, insubordinate, illogical girl had grown on him.
"So Comrade," Rose said, in an attempt to make a small talk with him, seeing as they were stuck in the chapel for some time. Hey? Take advantage of every opportunity you get!
"Don't call me that," Dimitri scowled picking up the dusting wand, trying to mimic his servants, he had seen back at home. Rose grinned. Nicknames are always good, but they are even better if the bearer doesn't like them.
"And why not?" she picked up the mop and getting on with cleaning the floors.
Dimitri scoffed. "You don't even know what you're talking about."
"Oh I do know! We had to do a project on the R.S.S.R last year." She looked smug, proud of the information she had managed to remember.
This time, Dimitri let out a hearty laugh. "Oh sure you do! And its U.S.S.R by the way, not whatever R.S.S you said." He let out with a chuckle. It was Rose who scowled this time. She just wanted to make good of the boring time and here he was, making fun of her! She huffed. Getting ridiculed by a big bad Russian vampire is not a good feeling.
She picked up her apparatus, ready to move to the last pews, in order to avoid his horrendous company. Jeez! Horrendous? When did such a word make place in her vocabulary anyway?
"Hey Roza, wait!" Dimitri called out, seeing she was getting away from him. Damn! He hadn't wanted to upset her. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Dimitri!
Rose stifled a smile, hearing the edge on his voice. Torture him a bit more? Of course! And therefore, ignoring his call completely, she made her way to the last pews.
"Roza? You can't possibly be angry with me for something such trivial!" He was right. She wasn't! But he didn't need to know that.
"Hey...Hey," he said catching her elbow, pulling her a little. It took everything inside her to maintain a straight face. She deliberately avoided looking into his eyes giving the expression of being hurt, which in reality was to hide her mirth.
"Roza," Dimitri said softly, placing a hand on her cheek and pulling her a little closer. All the mirth left Rose's mind as her breath hitched being in such a close proximity to him. She bit the corner of her lip and looked up at his face, his extremely handsome face.
It would be fair to say that she was falling for him. All the policies of never making an acquaintance with a royal moroi and never crossing the limits got thrown out of the window as soon as Dimitri Belikov entered in her life. It's true that they have known each other for just a week properly, but still there were some feelings, she couldn't ignore whenever he was close. She hadn't felt it with any person – this was some special form of connection and she didn't know how to acknowledge that.
"I'm sorry," he said looking at her, a small smile playing in his lips. He knew the effect he had on her. She had one on him too. Standing there, in the academy chapel with the woman of his dreams in his arms, was probably one of his wildest dreams come true. All he wanted now was to kiss her.
She felt the need too and leaned up towards him. He dipped his head, all the lessons of his mother to maintain the proper decorum in the holy place already forgotten. Rose was breathing hard now. She just wanted to taste his lips and get lost in the warmth of his arms around her. He was so close, that he could feel her warmth breath fanning his face. He closed his eyes, ready to make the dip and claim her lips….
"Ahem. Ahem."
They both jumped a feet apart, mortified to death at the sudden interruption. Dimitri whipped his head to see Father Andrew standing in the front with a book in his hand, with a smile on his face, clearing his throat subtly. His face flamed red and he picked up the fallen dusting cloth, hastily starting with his chore. Rose too, picked up her mop starting to clean the opposite pew.
When the cleaning was done (Rose taking up on Dimitri's chore seeing his inability to dust a thing without sneezing up a storm – much to his embarrassment!), Father Andrew had them haul box after box from the attic and into the store room in the back of the chapel. Dimitri had already visited the place once, but Rose had come up there for the first time, though she knew Lissa hung out there regularly.
"Come children, I want you to carry these old scripts to the elementary campus," Father Andrew said, indicating the pile of boxes they had just brought down.
It took two trips for both Rose and Dimitri to deliver those scripts to Ms. Davis, a moroi teacher. After getting over the awkward tension, they had resorted to their usual banter, working side by side.
"We've reached our destination; this is the middle school dorm. But where's Ms. Davis?" Rose mused out loud.
"Let me go and check," Dimitri offered placing his stack on the ground and turning to find the said lady. Rose too placed her stack besides his, giving her hands some rest.
"You are Rose Hathaway, right?"
What Rose failed to notice was that she wasn't alone. Some guardian I will be, she mocked herself. Turning her attention back to the source of the sound, she noticed it was a girl leaning against the wall, staring at her in awe. She was like any other moroi, tall, slim, and pale with super model like features. She had a dark shade of tangled blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. She was pretty.
"You know me?" Rose asked curiously.
"Of course I know you. Everybody knows you. You are the best novice of St. Vladimir. How can I not know you? And you're so hot too. You know, Brandon and Robbie and snuck out to the senior Dhampir dorms three times to get a glimpse of you. They were caught by the matron of course! You can't even imagine what Ms. Lei…"
"Whoa kid, stop. Take a breath." Rose chuckled at the girl's nervous excitement. And she didn't know she was this popular for good reasons.
"Sorry," the girls chuckled softly.
"What's your name?" Rose asked waving her apology.
"Jillian – Jill. I mean Jillian but you can call me Jill."
"So Jill..."
"Was that Dimitri Belikov with you earlier," Jill asked eyes wide.
Here it comes! A new Dimitri Belikov fan!
"Yes, it was Lord Belikov," Rose smiled amusedly at Jill. It was clear from her expression that she had some sort of crush on him. Come on, who doesn't? But the image of few elementary campus girls sneaking to the male moroi dorms to get a glimpse of Dimitri wasn't too appealing.
"He's so big!" Rose slapped her mind on making the dirty intuition of the girl's innocent words.
"Yes. He is." Rise chuckled.
"He learns to fight, doesn't he?" Jill was awed.
"Yes. He does. You want to do it too?" Rose asked seeing her bustled excitement.
"Yes! I do. But I've to wait until I get to the Senoirs." Jill said. "Hey can you teach me how to punch?"
Rose's eyes bugged out of her socket. "Why?"
"I want to punch Brandon. He's the most annoying pain in the butt. He always teases me and calls me low life." Jill said quietly at the end. Rose had a feeling that she wasn't royal, but she had no idea what her parents did. But still, teaching a fourteen year old girl to lay a punch was not a good idea.
"Brandon? Brandon who?" Rose asked.
"Brandon Ozera," Jill replied. Hah! She knew it. Seems like all the Ozera's are a major pain in the ass.
"Well Jill, I could tea.."
"Roza, Ms. Davis is here," Dimitri said approaching the girls. Jill took a sharp intake of breath as he neared them, much to Rose's amusement.
"Dimitri, Meet Jill. Jill, this is Dimitri Belikov," Rose introduced.
Dimitri was a little surprised seeing they had a company, but extended his hands, "Hello Jill, It's nice to meet you."
Jill looked like she was going to faint. She eyed his hands twice and finally took it. Colour filled her pale features as he shook her hand, smiling at her.
"I…I..ha..I..no..yes..I should go," and then she took off.
Seeing her reaction, Rose burst out laughing. Oh lord! Dimitri was still a little puzzled at Jill's behavior.
"Ooh! Comrade!" Rose laughed clutching her belly. Eventually her laughter died down, by the arrival of Ms. Davis. Completing their tasks – both Dimitri and Rose were left off hook.
As always, Dimitri offered to walk her to her dorm and she complied. They deliberately took the longer route and small steps to delay their time. They were silent as they strolled down the pathway, basking in each other's presence. Neither of them had forgotten their almost kiss at the chapel earlier, but didn't feel like to bring it up.
Suddenly, a chuckle escaped Rose's lips. "What?" Dimitri asked.
"I was thinking of poor Jill right now. You almost gave the poor girl a heart attack!" she laughed.
"I didn't do anything. It's probably the first time, any girl has run away from me!" he chuckled along with her.
"Didn't do anything? You gave her your 'heart – stopping' smiles. You don't even know what it's capable of doing to a girl," the words escaped Rose's lips before she could even think about it. She bit her lip and chastised her mind on being so out of sync with her mouth today.
This seemed to catch Dimitri's attention and he stopped. Rose saw they were near the entrance of her dorms. She made a move to get inside, but Dimitri's hands at her wrist stopped her. He pulled her toward himself firmly, so she was leaning against his chest. She gasped, just like Jill had when she took his hands.
Rose had her one hand captured by one of Dimitri's and one placed on his chest to steady her. Dimitri's other hand had made its way to her waist, as he held her against him. His cologne filling her senses made her feel a bit dizzy and not to mention his close proximity. Her breathing hitched as he pushed her back on the walls of the dorm building, still holding her.
"What does my smile do to you, Roza?" he asked huskily looking down at her eyes. He was thoroughly enjoying the feel of her body pressed up against him. God! He loved her so much!
"Dimitri. I think I should…" Rose started but finished with a gasp when Dimitri pushed her into the wall, a little harder, pressing himself close.
"Answer me, Rose. Is it enough to make a girl swoon?" he asked.
"Yes," she said breathlessly as he flashed her a smile.
"Is it enough to make someone lose their control of thoughts?" he asked.
"Yes," she said like she was under some kind of spell. A Dimitri spell.
"Is it enough to make a girl kiss me?"
This time Rose opened her mouth to answer, not by words but by action. She rose to her tip toes and placed a hot, open mouth kiss to the corner of his lips. His mouth fell open in anticipation. No one had ever kissed him there. Girls usually targeted his lips – but corner of the lips, no one. He waited for her to move one centimeter right capture his lips, but it never came.
Instead Rose slipped from his arms, seeing as his hold had loosened around her and moved to the lobby door, leaving Dimitri surprised.
"Good night, comrade. Have sweet dreams!" she said smiling cheekily at him.
His mouth open and closed, his mind was still reeling at what just happened. One moment, she was in his arms, ready to kiss him and the next moment in front of the lobby.
Rose winked at him and ran inside, laughing. She heard Dimitri shout something in Russian and doubled over (though she didn't understand one single word).
"Ты будешь моей смертью, моя любовь!"
…there you people go.
How did you like the chapter? Lot of Romitri and almost kisses. Don't worry, a real, scorching, heart stopping kiss is one the way and will be delivered to you all soon.
Ready for the drama to hit in the next chapter? I'll post it as soon as possible.
Shout out to Swimming in the same deep waters for being an amazing inspiration and an awesome reader.
Liked it? Loved it? Hated it?
Please leave me a review!
Love,
Lara.