Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or anything surrounding it (but I do own this plot :D)

RPOV

This was not in the slightest bit good. My peers seconded me on that when I rounded them up and told them the bad news.

The Ivashkov's were among the most powerful families in the city. Fuck that, they were the most powerful family in the whole bloody country. The sheer mass of them made their numbers impossible to compete with and they always got their way. The name held so much title and power it was a wonder that there wasn't a church named after them.

And Tatiana was their leader.

Everyone knew about the Ivashkov's; every family for miles around had at least one conversation a month about how they were doing and how many of them there were. I think it was more for personal safety rather than casual dinnertime convo. Anyway, Tatiana Ivashkov was the eldest member of the family and thus the ruler. She may as well have been crowned. Whilst her frail and pale figure wouldn't function all that well in a physical fight, the fights of the political world only ever had one winner.

She held such dominion over all in her presence, and was so feared by those who did not know her, that she could simply wave her hand and nations would bow in submission. The thought of how much power she had made me shudder; I may hate my job but no way did I want to face the corrupt and vile temperament of what power did to people. It drove them to a new level of insanity.

Unfortunately, my personal experience with the Ivashkov family did not reflect the general prejudice that society held of them.

Adrian Ivashkov, the great-nephew of Tatiana, was among my closest friends and to be brutally honest, he wasn't all that scary. Party-loving, light-hearted Adrian could not hurt a mouse let alone make a dent in the formidable kingdom that was this world. He had more interest in a bottle of vodka than the political world and he could not hold down any job. His father, Nathan, had him working in part of the big, power-thirsty Moroi Enterprises with him but Adrian couldn't care less.

Despite only being friends for a short while, Adrian and I were close and he had once confided in me that he wanted to be an artist. He could never tell his father this as he, his father, was the prized jewel of the political and power world so to see that his successor was staggering intoxicated to the world of canvases and acrylic, was not a good thing for public image.

"How the hell did this happen!?" Christian brought me out of my daze. "What on earth have we been buying to get that much in debt?"

"It is not like there have been any improvements to the place…" Sydney said nervously looking around at the pretty much empty pit that was the Shadow Kiss Inn. Only a few customers had come in for lunch, but there was so little life in them, I wondered if they had been sent from the land of the dead to pity the Inn.

"Amen to that." I said sullenly returning my gaze back to the group.

"Look, I think we should all calm down a second." Lissa said soothing whilst gently stroking Christian's hair as his head rested in her lap. "I mean, we have Adrian with-"

"Bastard!"

"I don't think we have an Adrian." I stated as the devil himself angrily stormed into the room. He ignored our little group crowded around a table and went straight for the bar. Once satisfied with his cocktail, he noisily tugged over a chair and sank down next to me. A particularly annoyed diner gave us all an evil glare so I sneered back which made him promptly get up and leave, without paying.

"That fucking bastard!" Adrian grumbled again.

"Care to share?" Mia inquired and Adrian gave her a dark look.

"Viktor Dashkov…" he began and I groaned. I knew what had happened now and it was just our luck. "Yeah I know! He has the audacity to fire me on the basis that I 'annoy' him and that my report was apparently not 'good enough for such a high standard company'. So, I have lost my income and better yet, my dad is going to fucking murder me so I am fucking great." He declared and all but inhaled his liquor.

There was a long and uncomfortable pause which had everyone twitching so I decided to continue the conversation.

"So I don't think Adrian is up for helping out…"

"Rose!" Lissa chastised and Adrian took a deep breath and shook his head.

"I'll always help you Little Disaster." He winked - sounding like himself - and I rolled my eyes, secretly thankful that the current Adrian wasn't too upset.

"Yes, well, as I was saying," Lissa continued quickly, "I'm sure Adrian will ask his family for some aid and I'll defiantly donate to the fund which just leaves some extra cash that could be raised in charity funding…" she suggested.

"A charity fund!? Lis, we have three months and $4million to make!" I exclaimed.

"Well have you got any ideas!?" she countered and then sighed, "sorry, I am a little stressed just now with, well, everything."

"It's okay Lissa," Jill cooed and Lissa nodded appreciatively. Christian looked up at her from her lap and gave her a look filled with such love that her problems seemed to melt away which in turn made me feel a little warmer inside.

"Oh. My. God." Mia's eyes were so wide it was a wonder they didn't pop out. Her outburst had caused the romantics to stop and Christian to raise his head to see what she was looking at. Sydney and Jill also looked like they'd seen a ghost but I eventually caught their gazes and could not help the gasp that escaped my mouth.

There, having just walked into the pub was a man that could only be described as a god. He was six-six, six-seven maybe, in height and he had shoulder-length brown hair that was tied neatly to the back of his neck. His eyes were a deep brown and his body looked as though it had been sculpted. He was truly gorgeous and I could not stop gaping.

"What's going on?" Mason whispered into my ear whilst carrying Eddie on his tail.

"Hot-topic." Adrian answered for me.

"Oh come on, even you have to admit-"

"Hathaway!" Stan barked and I peeled my eyes off the man who had sat down at one of the isolated tables.

I groaned and pulled myself from the chair and scuffed my way to where Stan was impatiently tapping his foot.

"Yes oh lord and master?" I bowed overdramatically and he just glared at me.

"There is a gentleman in your quadrant and instead of serving him; you are making goggly-eyes at him." He hissed. "Get over there and serve him. Ozera! Kitchen! Rinaldi! Sage! Over here now!" he yelled and I grabbed my notebook from the bar counter and all but ran over to the man whilst Mia, Sydney and Christian shuffled into the backroom.

"Hello my name is Rose, I will be your waitress-" my voice caught at the end. My God, he was even better looking up close. He glanced coldly up from his paperwork and his pupils dilated a little as he roamed my own body. Without sounding too vein, I knew that I looked good and most of the guys I met made it known but I never realised how good it felt to be admired by someone I liked in return.

As quickly as his eyes widened, they contorted back to the emotionless expression they bore before. He clenched his jaw and went to look back at his papers.

"Can I get you anything?" I asked, a little too impatiently.

He glanced up again but much more menacingly than before. "Let me make this clear, Rose, was it?" A faint Russian accent laced his words but my only response was a glare. "I am currently in a very bad mood and will be for the next couple of months. I am working on something very important and will be coming in here on a daily basis as my office is simply not an option. I would kindly ask you to be as quite and as least annoying as you can manage. If that is at all possible." He didn't even smile.

I gritted my teeth and held back a whole array of vile and harsh names that had conveniently filled my vocabulary. Composing myself, I bit my tongue and smiled sickly at him. "Just water then." I sneered and before he could respond, I was storming back into the kitchen and not looking back.