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

RPOV

"Oh I know that look…" Adrian grinned as he slumped into his usual seat at the bar. I had spent the best part of an hour at the receiving end of a Lissa rant. You'd think, what with my being her best friend since forever, that I would have gotten used to these. Nope. I don't think it possible to develop any sort of immunity to the effect of Lissa's chastisement – not even Christian was spared from it.

And so, she ranted. Mostly about how worried she had been and ordering me to never do it again. I had tried to sound sincere in my apology but I wasn't particularly sorry. It was not that I didn't feel tremendously guilty for hiding away from Lissa, don't get me wrong, but I did not regret any of it because of one small, tiny, insignificant action at the end:

The kiss.

In all honesty, I had not expected to have had such a reaction to it. My desperate mind just thought it would be a good way to remain hidden as public shows of affection would make even the most indifferent person uncomfortable. In fairness, there were other options available and said options would have spared me from the longing sensation that was consuming my body. Just thinking about it – or him – brought back that warm and tender feeling that made my heart swell and my knees to turn to goop.

Thankfully, I managed to divert the conversation so that Lissa wouldn't notice my goofy high. Liss told me that Christian had taken her baring his child remarkably well. Well, he had frozen in shock initially and ask "are you sure you're not just getting fat?" but after a quick slap round the face from his fiancée, he was good to go.

It made me smile how happy she was. I guess it is another best-friend-bond: when one is happy, the other is too. Truth be told, it wasn't just Lissa's happiness that was rubbing off on me. A certain Russian had been also evoking such contented bliss recently…

No matter how many times I chanted: it was just a kiss…he doesn't like you like that… it was just a kiss… I still had trouble not thinking about him. It was all wrong really – he was seven years older than me; he worked in a place of corporate evil and something told me he was not a virgin – but I was still obsessing over him like a fourteen year old girl.

Even when Stan had forcefully flung me behind the bar and told me to stay there for the rest of the day, I could not wipe the thought of Dimitri from my mind. He was like my very own brand of cannabis and I was addicted. Very addicted.

"What look?" I asked, brushing aside the thoughts of my comrade. Adrian just gave me a 'really' look.

"That look on your face." He attempted to clarify, pointing at my face.

"Well if it is on my face I can't see it, can I?" Genius.

He sighed but the grin remained there. "Rosemarie Hathaway, you are wearing an 'I-just-got-laid-real-good' look." He said gesturing for some alcohol.

I blushed. "I am not."

"Mhmm." He said reaching for the glass but I pulled it away.

"You, mister, are doing a parachute jump in less than 24 hours, no alcohol." I ordered to which he actually pouted. He had spent the past couple of days in training camps preparing to be thrown out of a plane 3000ft above sea level and his main worry was that he couldn't take any alcohol with him. "And I do not have a 'look'! I have not just slept with a guy, it just a kiss- you know what? I am not talking to you about this." I exhaled in an attempt to calm myself before turning away from Adrian and put the bottle of scotch back where it came from.

Adrian just laughed behind me. "Lissa is going to flip when she finds out you are kissing a guy."

I groaned and turned to face him. I couldn't really think of a comeback but his smug smile was just asking to be beaten so I did what any rational person would in this situation… "So Adrian, how is Sydney?" I asked innocently.

His smile turned to a scowl. "That was a low blow, Little D." he said and it was my turn to smile smugly. My victory was short lived as the triumphant smile faded when I saw who came through the door.

"Kill me now." I grumbled. Adrian slowly turned his head and chuckled.

"You know, she isn't that bad." He said and I glowered at him.

"Rose! Adrian! How lovely to see you guys again." Tasha beamed, strutting up to the bar.

"Hello Ms. Ozera and might I say how ravishing you look today." Adrian greeted with a smile and took her hand and placed it to his lips.

"Oh, stop it!" she giggled taking her hand back. "I didn't even try today." She explained and I had to resist the urge to snort.

Picking up on this, Adrian decided to continue talking. "What may we help your ladyship with?" he grinned and she sat down next to him.

"Oh, I am just looking for Christian. He said that he had something 'important' to tell me." She said putting quote marks around the word important. Yes, his fiancée is pregnant with his child: it is important! "Anyway." She sighed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I managed to gather a little something from work." She said pulling out an envelope from her pocket. Adrian snatched it before I could even move and opened it.

"How many zeros!?" he exclaimed after a moment and I took it from him.

"It is just a little something." Tasha explained as my jaw hit the floor.

"10 grand is not little." Adrian said and I swept over the check to make sure a) I had read it correctly and b) that it was legit.

"Phft, there is plenty more where that came from." She waved it off and sighed, twiddling her hair thoughtfully. I knew very much what she was doing but considering she had just given the pub $10,000, I allowed her this moment.

"Gee, Tasha, what is up?" I said: my acting appalling but she took it anyway.

"Oh, nothing really, just guy troubles." She said, continuing to twiddle.

Adrian sighed and joined in with the same enthusiasm. "Oh how we would love to help. Is there anything we can do?"

"Maybe there is… Okay then," she stopped twiddling and devoted her attention to the two of us, "there is this guy that I like, a lot, but he just doesn't seem too willing to give us a shot, you know?" Adrian and I nodded sympathetically. Not for her, for the guy. "We met at a club and instantly clocked each other across the crowded dance-floor…" by that she meant that she had spotted him in the mists of her drunken state and stalked him until he talked to her "…we then went back to his place for an amazing night, oh, he was magnificent. I don't think I have ever-"

"Umm, Tasha, could we reign back on the details, just a little." Adrian said cringing whilst I sniggered behind him.

Tasha seemed oblivious but complied. "Sorry, it was just so good. Anyway, I got his number, we kept in touch and we are now shockingly working together! I mean, what a coincidence!" Adrian had stopped cringing and raised a cool eyebrow. Yeah right. "He was surprised at first but now he has all closed up on me in the workplace and I just don't really know what to do. Adrian, you're the expert at sex and seduction, what should I do?"

I bit my lip in an attempt to bite back a laugh and turned to Adrian who was resisting the urge to punch Tasha in the face for that comment. "It seems to me that this guy is not ignoring you in the workplace, rather, focusing on his job." Adrian pointed out, his casual act faltering a little. Tasha's eyes twitched at the comment but she maintained her 'I-am-better-than-thou' conduct.

"Yeah, he is a huge work-a-holic, but he could be a little warmer to me." She sighed. "He just doesn't know what I could do for him; we'd be perfect together…" she drifted off again. Despite having given us 10 grand, she really knew how to piss us off. Honestly, I felt bad for the guy. Tasha's past record with men always seemed to follow the same pattern:

1 – find someone hot

2 – pressure them into going on a date

3 – immediately call it a relationship and flaunt it in everyone's face

4 – dump the guy when someone more attractive comes along.

You see? Adrian and I had turned it into a little game, ticking off each point as it reached that particular transition in the 'relationship'.

"You know, you're right Adrian." Tasha said so suddenly that it caused me to drop the glass in my hand. "Thank you so much." She pulled him in for a hug before wandering into the kitchen to find her nephew.

"You're welcome…" Adrian said frowning before looking over the bar to see me cleaning the glass that had smashed on the floor. "How you doing down there, Little Disaster?" he grinned and I growled up at him before throwing the dish-towel at his face.

DPOV

I wasn't entirely certain just how many people were telling me to stop, but I wasn't giving them any attention.

I had to find Ivan.

How this big a crowd had so rapidly formed in a darkened alley outside a night clubs – Vlad's I realised on closer inspection – was beyond me but all it was doing was making it more difficult for me to push my way through. I barged my way through – getting some very dodgy looks – only to be stopped by a rather plump policeman.

"He is my friend!" I yelled in his face but he seemed unaffected. A surge of anger leapt through my body like a violent flame and I was all too ready to smack this guy in his face when a familiar voice stopped me.

"Are you Dimitri Belikov?" I snapped my head round to see a pale, mid-thirty year-old woman with fiery red hair and a creased forehead staring inquisitively at me. I released my fists and nodded slowly. She smiled softly before giving the policeman a curt nod. "He comes with me." The man obeyed and let me past, though I was glaring at him in the process. "I am Sonya Karp, police detective." She held out her hand to distract me from shooting daggers at an innocent officer.

I took her small had in my own and composed myself. "Dimitri Belikov, Ivan's best friend." I thought that that would be the most appropriate way to introduce myself.

She took it and nodded curtly again before gesturing for me to follow her. "I am not the most conventional of detectives because I like to keep one person from the victim's family completely in the loop. As I say, it is normally family, but Ivan doesn't appear to have any, correct?"

"Yeah." I said shakily as we approached another police barrier.

"So, we took his phone and saw most frequent calls to you Dimitri so I figured that you would be important in his life." She explained and I nodded at the logic. I hadn't had many run ins with the police force but I did know that they liked to take their goddamned time over things. Sonya seemed different - more astute and decisive - and for that, I was grateful. She then proceeded to tell me a whole heap of information about how they found him and the extent of his injurers. I didn't really care; my only concern was knowing that he was okay and by the look of the blood smeared cobble and shattered bottles, let's say my optimism was dwindling.

"Detective Karp?" I interrupted her little relay of details.

"Please, Sonya, and yes Dimitri?" she said tenderly and inclined her head a little.

"Is Ivan okay?" I asked apprehensively. Her face softened and she offered a condoling smile.

"He has been taken into hospital. The owner of the club found him unconscious when he went for his cigarette break at…" she pulled out her notebook and flipped through the many pages that held extensive and detailed notes, "14:23pm."

"What happened?" I asked casting my gaze away from the smashed up bottles and blood stains that covered the back-alley like bombs in a minefield.

Sonya smile remorsefully and flipped her way through her notebook. "We are using evidence from the scene, video footage and witness reports to put together a picture of what happened. So far, we know that Ivan arrived at the club in quite a rush. He quickly made his way to the bar but did not order, instead looked around for a bit before making a call. Five men approached Ivan and all of them went outside into the alley. We do not know the specifics of what happened out here but, well, we know how it ended." She explained looking back at me.

I swallowed my grief and nervously looked back up at her. "You didn't tell me if he was okay." I pointed out and she sighed a little.

"The doctors are unsure whether he will make it or not but they are doing everything possible for your friend." I didn't hear anything after the first four words. Anguish exploded through my body and I started to shake. "Dimitri." Sonya's voice was soft and I unsteadily opened my eyes, my hands trembling by my sides. "We will do everything we can to help him." She reassured placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I couldn't lose him. After everything: my father, Viktor, Nathan – he had been the one to keep me going. He was the one that urged me to "grow a pair" and pursue Rose. In fact, he had made me promise him and I never broke my promises. I did a lot of shitty things in my time but break a promise, never. Ivan was the only part of my past I had to hold onto and I couldn't lose him. I couldn't lose him.

I nodded towards Sonya, said a quick prayer in Russian and calmed myself enough to speak again. "When can I see him?"