For one of the first times I could remember, I woke before Dimitri. The bed had been so comfortable; I'd been out like a light as soon as we cuddled together. And now we were lying facing each other, my man still asleep.
I wondered what time it was. I rolled over, looking for a clock, but there wasn't one. Ok – first on the list of things to buy? An alarm clock!
Rolling back to face my love, I mentally went back over the cottage, thinking of what else we might need. I hadn't had a chance to check out the kitchen thoroughly, but we'd need a coffee machine, so if there weren't one of those here already, we'd get one. We'd need summer and winter linen for this bed and quite a few sets. An unfortunate side effect of our ardor was the need to change the base sheet pretty much every day. So a few sets of whatever we bought would be good. Which reminded me, I needed to check out the laundry!
We'd also need linen for the double bed in the other room – if only to keep up appearances. Dimitri and I had decided to play us as an item here by ear. We hadn't chatted about practicalities, yet, but I'd speak with him about the idea of setting the second bedroom up as a study with a fold out sofa once we were openly a couple.
There'd been a large flatscreen in the sitting room, but I couldn't remember seeing a speaker setup, and then there'd be all the usual things we'd need in a house – like coat hangers, a mop, an iron and all that. It would have been utterly overwhelming if it hadn't been for Baba's over the top gift card. It was a VISA gift card, so we could spend it anywhere, which would be helpful. So rather than panicking, I was somewhat looking forward to a trip to furnish our new place!
I thought I might buy some new workout gear, too. While I'd planned to buy it with my first paycheck, I wanted to go to our first class looking good, and everything I had was worn. Dimitri probably needed a couple of new sets, too. I knew he would be funny about me buying him stuff, but he was still sending the bulk of his wage home, so I would find a way to insist. We'd both need new trainers, too. When we were training, we typically wore a couple of pairs a day – some for running, others for gym work. We were both used to cheap pairs, but this time I was determined to get fitted and buy quality. We deserved it!
Dimitri was stirring. It took me a moment to appreciate he was searching for me in his sleep. I moved closer, curling up close to him, his face nuzzled against my breasts. He immediately settled, resting his head on my bosom.
We lay there, me stroking Dimitri's hair as he slumbered. It was the most peaceful we'd probably ever been. Here, in our own space, curled up on our bed napping with no immediate commitments. I was busy contemplating our new life together when I became aware my Russian God was waking. He'd started snuffling at my breasts, almost like an infant. Looping an arm around my waist, he closed the distance between us. Eyes still shut, he rubbed his face against one of my breasts – finding a nipple and capturing it in his mouth.
"Hmm," I groaned in enjoyment, lightly raking my nails across his scalp. "That feels good!"
"Uh ha," Dimitri agreed, without relinquishing my nipple.
I stretched out, pushing myself against my man. Hmm – looked like all of Dimitri was awake…
Wrapping my hand around his erection, I started stroking Dimitri the way he'd taught me, pulling his foreskin firmly up over the head before pulling it back down again. My Russian God groaned, intensifying the suckling at my chest. With his lips tight around my nipple, he was using his tongue to tease the tightly puckered nub before sucking hard.
Releasing my nipple with an audible pop, he shifted his attention to my other breast, repeating his actions.
It was dark in the bedroom. With the doors shut and the curtains closed, the only light came from that which peeked around the side of the drapes. But it was enough.
"I want to lick you," Dimitri groaned.
I smirked in the darkness, not really surprised. Dimitri loved going down on me. It wasn't something we did all the time, mostly due to time constraints and the fact I could get a little noisy when he did it. But oh Vlad - the things that man could do with his tongue!
I scooted down the bed, preparing to roll onto my back.
"Nah ah. Kneel over my face, Roza," Dimitri suggested, his voice husky, giving me a sexy look as he moved into the middle of the bed.
Oh! This was new. Usually, he'd have me on my back, and I'd play with his hair as he pleasured me. But kneeling could be good, too.
"Face the wall," he directed as I moved up the bed, carefully positioning one knee on either side of his head.
I was a little embarrassed. Somehow this seemed more intimate than when we did it the other way. Not that Dimitri seemed to mind. As soon as I lowered myself to him, he attacked me with a growl, setting upon his task with relish, his hands on the outside of my thighs and butt, moving me to exactly where he wanted me. His head was right at the top of the bed, so I closed my eyes, leaning my forearms against the wall and resting my head on them. It felt different. He wasn't using his fingers like he usually did, but he could penetrate me deeper with his tongue this way. I could feel my body responding – my nether regions swelling as he teased me with his lips and tongue.
The build-up was slow, Dimitri's long licks running the length of my slit, finding my clit and teasing me there with feather-light licks. But just as it started getting really good, he stopped - moving back to lick at my entrance, thrusting his tongue in and out.
I was unbelievably wet, and it wasn't Dimitri's saliva. This constant teasing was making me extraordinarily excited – a fact evidenced by my jubilant panting. I couldn't get enough of this tantalizing torture.
I felt Dimitri take a hand off my butt. I turned to look over my shoulder, and he'd wrapped it around himself, stroking his cock as he licked me. And, if anything, that made me even more excited! I loved watching Dimitri pleasure himself. He was a bit embarrassed by it, so didn't do it in front of me often, but seeing him touch himself was a major turn on.
We continued like this, my cries of pleasure matched by Dimitri's enthusiastic moans.
I started rocking my hips slightly, the motion putting his tongue in all the places I needed it to be. I could feel my abundant juices on my love's lips and tongue, his hand increasing in speed as he touched himself. I was close to cumming, and Dimitri knew it. Focusing all his attention on my quivering nub, he was lapping and sucking at me as though his life depended on it.
He was close, too. He was growling in the back of his throat, his hips rocking in time as he beat off.
I was teetering on the edge, viscous excitement teeming from my channel and onto my lover's face when he nipped at my clit before penetrating me with his tongue. The two very distinct feelings were enough - and rather than falling I leaped into the abyss, the room echoing with my ragged squeals as I came all over Dimitri's face.
Slumped against the wall, I was drawing long shaky breaths, letting myself come back down to earth from wherever my release had jettisoned me. Dimitri was nuzzling at my inner thigh while his hand pumped furiously at his groin. Bracing myself against the wall, I moved off him, making my way down to his throbbing manhood.
His eyes opened for a moment, looking as I crouched beside him, ready to take his cock between my lips. A look of relief, love, lust and absolute abandon appeared on his countenance, and I only just got my lips around him before he let go with a mighty bellow, his seed pumping into my mouth.
He threw his head back into the pillows, his eyes shut firmly, wetness from my excitement all over his lips and cheeks. His hand fell from his manhood, slack onto the bed beside him, and he groaned through his climax; sexy, deep-throated noises that were almost animalistic.
I swallowed, stroking his oversensitive flesh once or twice before sucking the very last of what he had to give me. Licking my lips as he opened his eyes to watch me, I smiled.
"That was a nice way to wake up, Comrade!"
I lay beside him on the bed, waiting for him to say something. But he didn't. He just rolled me onto my back and started kissing me passionately. I could taste both of us in the kiss, and before I knew it, we were on to round two!
"I still can't believe we're here in our own place," I said as Dimitri went through the kitchen cupboards, calling out things for me to add to our shopping list. After finishing our lovemaking, we'd showered again and then spent a couple of hours unpacking and familiarizing ourselves with our new place.
They'd done a great job of it – all the basics we needed were here, but there were enough bits and pieces left to buy that we could put our own stamp on things.
I'd sold Dimitri on the idea of new workout gear by suggesting we should go for a uniform, of sorts. I'd argued we needed to look the part if we were going to convince these kids to respect us, and that buying workout wear in the Guardian colors of black and white would help them get used to seeing Guardians dressed that way. He'd even given in when I'd gently suggested we purchase him some additional casual wear. Fashion had never been of interest to him, so I was looking forward to making a few key selections, and retiring some of his older pieces.
By the time 6 pm approached we were both feeling hungry. While I would have loved to stay in our love bower for another meal, we both knew we should go to the Lodge for dinner.
I wasn't sure what they wore around here. Felicity had been in a skirt and top, and the other dude we'd seen had been in cargo shorts and a polo. The weather was warm, but Dimitri didn't have any suitable shorts, so he was wearing jeans and a button up, his hair tied neatly at his nape. I'd decided on a skirt and a nice shirt, my hair up in a high ponytail. With a bit of lip-gloss and mascara, hopefully, I wouldn't be over or underdressed.
Strapping my thigh-holster on for my stake, at 6.00 pm on the dot we closed the curtains, checked the doors were locked, switched on the porch light and started walking up to the Lodge. We walked side by side, keeping our conversation to neutral topics. There were a couple of kids walking in front of us, but they hadn't yet realized they were being followed.
I tsked lightly. Human hearing and senses really were less than those of Dhampir. Any Novice at St. Vlad's would have been able to hear us and would have turned to see who was behind them.
We were halfway to the Lodge when I heard others come out of the dorms behind us, following us up to dinner.
"That must be them!"
"Oh my God – he's huge!"
"She looks alright. Do you think she goes for humans?"
"Even if she does, I doubt she'd go for you, Tim."
"I've heard Guardians are little better than barbarians. Mindless thugs. I hope they know their table manners. I don't want to see them eating with their hands."
"I wouldn't let him hear you say that. Can you see those muscles? The guy is built!"
"I'm more interested in the way she's built."
It was typical fifteen-year-old male banter, and I couldn't suppress a smile. They had no idea our hearing was much more acute than theirs, so we could hear every word they were saying.
"It's just like back at St. Vlad's," I muttered quietly to Dimitri.
"Yep. And once again I can't flatten the guys saying it because they're my students."
I giggled.
"You never wanted to flatten any of the guys at the Academy for looking at me, did you, Comrade?"
"Looking. Flirting. Commenting. Breathing," he said a little petulantly.
"You never told me that," I commented.
Dimitri shrugged.
"I'd just bust the more blatant ones for other things and send them around the oval thirty or forty times," he said, sounding rather pleased with himself. Guess that's why Shane Reyes still had a very healthy respect for Dimitri!
"Come on – let's do this," I said as we approached the stairs. "And remember your table manners, ok? No eating with your hands!"
"I'll do my best to remember," he replied dryly.
We walked in side by side looking at the tables. Most of them were filled with teens, but there were a couple of tables off to the side with slightly older people. The staff tables, by the look of it. I wouldn't say everyone in the room stopped talking when they saw us, but there was a definite pause in many conversations when we appeared.
A head at one of the staff tables turned, and I was relieved to see Felicity. She put up her hand and waved us over.
"Oh good, you're here. I wasn't sure if you'd be dining with us or not."
"We thought we'd come down and say hello. Thanks for the lasagna and salad, by the way. It was really kind of you, and they were delicious," I said.
"I'm glad you liked," she replied with a kindly smile. "Let me introduce you to the other staff. Do you prefer titles and surnames or given names?"
"Um. What do you guys do?"
"Staff use first names for each other in private, titles and surnames in front of summer students and agents in training. With graduated agents, we'd usually use either first or surnames."
"That's similar to how we do it," I said, pleased to find more common ground. I was starting to think part of this mission would be showing them how much we already had in common as much as educating them on the differences. "My proper first name is Rosemarie, but I hate it. Everyone calls me Rose."
She nodded, gesturing around the table, introducing four or five field agents as well those with the titles librarian, technician, and engineer. It was the first hint the Alchemists worked in more than one role, but I suppose it made sense.
"So I'd call you Engineer McMahon in front of the students, and Angela when it's just other staff around, is that right?" I checked after the introductions had been made, asking a pretty woman in her early twenties. She was looking the least shocked of those at the table after Felicity, hence my question.
"Yes, that's right. And we'd call you Guardian Hathaway in front of others, but otherwise Rose?"
I nodded shyly.
"The food line is over there. Why don't you get something to eat and join us?" Felicity suggested.
Dimitri politely gestured for me to lead, and together we walked over to the servery area. There was a wide variety of food there, and I was pleased to see it looked to be of a high standard. A human server in her forties was standing behind the bain-marie dolling out serves of what each person indicated. She jumped back in surprise when she saw us, and it was apparent we made her very nervous.
"Oh! They didn't tell me you'd be here for dinner! I've only got what's here, but if you can't eat that, I can have a look out back and see what else we've got."
Dimitri smiled, turning on the charm.
"I assure you what is here looks delicious. In fact, I can guarantee we'll come back for seconds and maybe even thirds," he said looking at the dinner plates. They were on the smaller side. "Our metabolisms are a little different to yours, so we eat at least double what you would," he explained gently.
The server smiled uncertainly, taking in my admittedly trim figure. Guessing her thoughts, Dimitri laughed.
"And don't let her exterior fool you, Guardian Hathaway here puts away more than I do!"
I glared at him.
"So what if I do! There's no need to tell everyone!" I said, rolling my eyes.
Dimitri chuckled, knowing I wasn't really upset.
"I have some larger plates if that would help?" The lady said, relaxing a little. "Might save you one trip back?"
"That's probably a good idea. We're trying to fit in, and coming up for thirds might stand out a little."
The woman gave him a knowing smile and disappeared out the back, returning in a moment with a couple of much larger plates. I wouldn't go quite so far as to call them platters, but it was a close thing.
Dimitri and I then pointed to what we wanted. There was a huge variety of foods on offer, but we both liked the look of the roast, so we walked back to the table with plates piled high with sliced meat, baked vegetables, peas, beans, cornbread and lots of gravy.
I noticed a few odd looks as we sat back at the staff table, but no one commented. I sat beside Felicity, Dimitri on my other side at the end of the table.
"Um – Dhampir metabolisms are a lot faster than human ones, and we tend to exercise a lot as well, so we eat a lot."
"And you can eat regular food?" one of the engineers asked. Pete, I think.
Felicity shot him a look.
"Yeah. Well, Dimitri likes quinoa, so I don't know if that's normal. Give me a Big Mac any day," I joked, trying to put them at their ease. "But yeah we eat normal stuff. Dimitri's from Russia, so he eats lots of things from over there. I was brought up in Montana, so I'm more used to American stuff."
The guy nodded, but I could see I still hadn't fully answered his question.
"And we don't consume blood," Dimitri said, guessing his unspoken question.
"Ugh," I said screwing up my face. "Yeah. No blood. We eat just like you guys, just more of it."
"Ok, that's good to know," Felicity said with a meaningful look at the others. "If there's anything you particularly like, just tell us, and we can stock it."
My eyes lit up, and Dimitri rolled his.
"Rose loves chocolate donuts," he explained. "For breakfast."
"The choc-iced type?" Angela asked.
"Yep!" I said with a grin.
"That's ok. We have those," she replied.
"You might want to double the supply," Dimitri teased.
"Not double," I replied. "These days I limit myself to three. Sometimes four…"
"In a week?" Felicity checked.
"No. Everyday as part of breakfast."
Felicity looked at me incredulously, and Dimitri smirked, nodding in confirmation.
"I'll get Heidi to order an extra four for breakfast for you," she said, pulling out her phone and making a note.
The initial disquiet at our appearance had settled down, but it was still amusing listening to the comments and speculation about the two of us from the students and even the other table of staff members. More than one female was checking out my Russian God, although I was getting my fair share of attention. I was finishing my first plate when Dimitri asked about the meals.
"You said staff eat here or in their quarters?"
"Yes. Most of us eat breakfast here, and due to time constraints, we almost always have lunch here. For supervision purposes, there's a roster for staff to eat here. It works out to once a week, 6.00 – 8.00 pm, just so there are staff on hand if needed. But if you don't want to…"
"That's fine. Put us on the roster. It's probably easiest if you roster us together," I suggested politely.
"Ok, shall do," Felicity said with a smile. "We were told your weekends were your own, so I'll make it a weeknight."
"Yeah. They want us to fly out once a month on a Friday afternoon to Court, and we might have other things on the weekends," I said evasively, "but an evening Monday through Thursday should be fine."
"You're welcome to eat here other nights, too. Some of us eat here every night, or we'll grab a plate and head back to our quarters, but sometimes we'll cook back at the dorms, or someone will head into Meredith and pick up pizza."
"Are there any limitations about food or bringing things in from Meredith we need to know about?" I asked.
"Strictly no buying alcohol for underage students," she said. "And we have a very strict no students in staff accommodations rule. Sometimes we bend that one a bit as some of us have younger siblings here over summer or in training, but if you feel the need to have a student in the cottage, please clear it with me first. In terms of what you consume in your cottage, that's your business, but we'd prefer no one is obviously inebriated in front of students – even on your time off."
Dimitri gave her a reassuring nod.
"We have the same rules for Guardians at our Academies."
Talk turned to the cottage and Felicity was interested to know whether we liked it.
"I love it," I said honestly. "It's beautiful."
She smiled.
"It was the campmaster's quarters back when this was a summer camp. We didn't need it, so it hasn't been used in years. When we found out you guys were coming, we had it completely redone."
"Well, you did a brilliant job. It's perfect!" I grinned. "I hope our lot have put Sydney and…?"
"Tristan," Angela helpfully supplied.
"That's right. I hope they've put them up somewhere nice!"
"They have," Felicity confirmed. "They're in a house of their own at Court. Sydney said it's like a palace!"
"You know Sydney?" I asked. "I mean – we met her and Tristan the day before we left."
"Yeah – she's my cousin," Felicity explained. "Well - second cousin. Like I said – there's a lot of intermarrying, so a lot of us are related!"
"Cool. Well, we'll be meeting once a month when we go back to Court."
"Don't do it over a meal," Angela teased.
I looked at her quizzically.
"Sydney barely eats, and is funny about other people eating," she explained.
"She's not that bad," Felicity said loyally, glaring at Angela.
"It's ok. Dhampir eat a lot, so I can see it could be off-putting. We appreciate the heads up," I said lightly, smoothing over the moment between Angela and Felicity.
"Speaking of food – you ready for seconds?" I asked Dimitri, seeing his plate was clear, just like mine.
"I am if you are," he said lightly.
We were walking back to the food line when I heard one of the staff at the table comment, "Shit. They really do put it away!"
The next morning, we joined the team for breakfast, getting the low down on the best places to go shopping. Felicity directed us to Manchester, a few minutes south of Concord where we'd landed.
As I thought, we were on the south side of Meredith. Pete explained there was a shortcut through to the I-93 that would cut fifteen minutes off our journey, but parts of it were on private roads.
"They're fine to travel. But you need to know they're there. I can program your GPS if you'd like?"
Dimitri and I readily agreed, so Pete trailed us to the SUV.
"Woah! That's some serious wheels!" he said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I know!" I smirked. "And I might even get to drive it sometime this century…"
"Doubtful," Dimitri said, half under his breath, but loud enough for Pete and I to hear.
"I heard that," I joked.
Once we had everything programmed, we set off, continuing south on the road we'd arrived on, before taking a series of turns down single lane roads. But as Pete had promised, after maybe ten minutes on the unmarked roads we were turning onto the I-93 and a lot closer to Concord that I'd expected.
Once we were in the mall, we quickly headed to Macy's. Felicity had insisted we buy our bed linen there and charge it to their account. We walked through the bedding section, but everything looked so formal and not really 'us.' I knew they expected us to buy stuff here, but it seemed silly to buy something we didn't like just for the sake of spending money because we were expected to!
"Oh! I like that," I said, pointing to a sofa similar to those in our house decorated with some cushions and a soft ombre throw.
"We have sofas," Dimitri teased, knowing I meant the throw and cushions.
"And you'll be sleeping there if you don't shut up," I said, taking the sting from my words by squeezing his hand.
I checked the prices, and while it seemed like a lot, it wasn't really that dear.
I picked up the cushions and throw, taking them across to the service counter. I quickly explained we were here buying on an account and asked whether individual descriptions came up.
The lady was perplexed, so I spelled out our dilemma – the expectation we buy linen, and how there was nothing to our taste. She was happy to oblige, writing our cushion and throw purchases up as 'linen.'
"It is just sheets, Roza," Dimitri argued. "Surely we can find something here?"
It was the first item on a rather lengthy list, and if I couldn't find what I wanted, he feared it was going to be a very long day.
"Can we go to Target?" I checked. "It's just around the corner, and I think they'll have most of what we need."
Wanting to just get on with things, he readily agreed, and we took our cushions and throw back out to the car, putting them on the backseat before driving to Target.
"This is more like it!" I said with a grin as we walked into Target five minutes later. We moved into the bedding section, and there, in the middle of the space, was the perfect bedding! Set up on one of the display beds, we both stopped and admired it.
"I can see that in the room," Dimitri said, actually showing interest in how we decorated the space.
"Me too. Let's get it."
The price was half that of some of the ones we'd considered at Macy's, so I was unconcerned when I grabbed two king quilt covers. The matching sheet sets were also well priced and looked good with the quilt, so I grabbed two of those, too.
"Two?" Dimitri asked. We didn't do laundry every day.
I grabbed another two sets, and he nodded. Neither of us liked sleeping on the dried remnants of our passion.
After that, we piled the trolley with a winter and a summer weight comforter, four pillows, some throw cushions, a blanket for when it was really chilly as well as a decorative throw for the end of the bed. Then we did the same for the second bedroom. It all added up, but I had ten-thousand to burn thanks to Abe.
Bedlinen selected, we went to the kitchen section, buying a few fry pans, baking tins, a couple of platters, serving tongs and the essential coffee machine. Dimitri was on his phone researching, trying to decide on the perfect model. There was one he kept eyeing wistfully, but in the end, he recommended another.
"Why not that one?" I asked, pointing to the one he'd been looking at.
"It's three times the price!"
His words said one thing, but his body language was saying something else.
"Good. If Abe can afford to dish out gift cards to everyone allocated at the same time as me, he can fork out for a decent coffee machine for us," I said, getting the box and loading it into our second trolley.
By the time we'd visited the active wear section, and electrical, plus picked up a few other bits and pieces that appealed, we had two overflowing shopping carts, and even I was starting to flag!
"Let's ring this up and then we can go back," Dimitri said with a sigh.
"We can't go home, yet," I exclaimed, looking at our list. "We still need shoes, and you need some more casual wear."
Dimitri sighed the tortured sigh of a man on a long shopping trip.
"It's lucky I love you," Dimitri grumbled, resigning himself to another couple of hours traipsing around the mall. Finding an open register, he steered his trolley toward it.
"I know," I said with a shit-eating grin. I was the luckiest woman in the world!