Chapter 7: A Long Day

RPOV

I woke up when I felt something in the bed moving and it took me a few seconds to realize where I was and everything that had happened. I opened my eyes and saw Dimitri getting out of bed.

"Sorry to wake you Roza, I was just getting up to get ready, Alberta should be here in an hour. I am going to take a quick shower, but you can sleep for another half hour and then I will wake you up."

"Okay" I said as I moved into the area he just vacated as it was still warm and smelled of Dimitri and I quickly fell back to sleep. The next thing I felt was my hair being pushed away from my face. I heard Dimitri say "Hey Sleeping Beauty, it's time to get up, Alberta will be here in about 30 minutes."

I turned over on my stomach, put my face in the pillow and grumbled. I am not a morning person. I felt Dimitri get off the bed and tap me on my butt saying "Out of bed Roza before I drag you out."

I responded with "You know that doesn't sound like the threat that I think you mean it to be."

Dimitri laughed "Up Roza" as he walked out of the bedroom. I got up off the bed and walked out into the unit where Dimitri was cooking breakfast and Celeste was drinking her coffee at the table both in their guardian outfits.

"Smells good Comrade"

"Morning Rose" Celeste said.

"Morning Celeste" I said as I crossed into the other bedroom to get dressed. I wasn't sure what the plan was for today so I decided to put on workout clothes and I put my hair up into a high ponytail. I came back out to the table where Dimitri had made breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad and juice. "Oh my God Comrade, this is so good."

"Wait till I make you some Russian food." Dimitri said.

"You would cook me Russian food?" I asked.

"Of course Roza" Dimitri replied.

"I love you Comrade!" I said before my brain could think. I covered my mouth in shock that I had said it out loud in front of Celeste. But Dimitri calmed me down, he said "Don't worry Roza, Celeste knows what we feel for each other."

I looked over to Celeste and she nodded. We ate breakfast together talking about gossip around campus and avoiding what was going on with my life. Which right now was a nice break for me to not have to concentrate on the fact that my father was coming because of his enemies and the fact that Tasha, Jesse and maybe Ralf had it in for me as well.

Alberta showed up as we were finishing breakfast. As she came through the door into the kitchen area she asked "Hey Rose, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay" I answered.

"Dimitri, Celeste, how are you doing?" Alberta asked.

"I'm good, thanks for asking" Celeste said.

"Alberta, would you like some breakfast or coffee" Dimitri asked.

"I would love some coffee" Alberta stated.

Dimitri gave Alberta a cup of coffee as well as getting another cup for himself. I walked over to the couches and sat down on one. Alberta and Celeste sat down across from me and Dimitri sat down next to me and handed me a hot chocolate.

"Thanks, Comrade"

Alberta looked at us all and asked "Okay, so where are we?"

After a pause, Dimitri spoke up "well, after I left your office last night, I sat down with Rose and we talked about what happened. Rose is aware of the surveillance outside her room and that last night Tasha and Jesse showed up. I discussed with Rose what I knew about her parents coming tomorrow and the potential threats against her. And I updated Celeste this morning."

Alberta thought for a minute and then asked Rose "How are you dealing with all that you have been through? Also do you have any questions for me?"

I thought for a little bit and said "I am a little shocked about finding that Tasha and Jesse were working together to do something to me. I am not sure how I feel about going to classes today and seeing Jesse and potentially seeing Tasha."

Alberta responded "I think it would be a good idea maybe to stay here for the day, maybe if you want to work out separately with Dimitri and Celeste, we can work out a time so you can have the gym to yourselves."

"I think that would be good at least to work out today" I said as I looked at Dimitri. He nodded and looked at Alberta and asked "I think that 10pm the gym is free, we could use it for an hour."

"That works, the gym will be empty. Rose I will let your other teachers know of your absences today. Tomorrow your parents are arriving in the morning and will be staying at the guest accommodations. Once they are settled, we will call you to come over to see them. Does that sound okay to you?" Alberta asked.

I thought about it and said "I think that is fine, do you know him?"

Alberta said "No, I have only spoke to him a few times."

Dimitri spoke up "I was thinking is there a guest room near them that we can use so that if Rose needs a break during their meeting she can go there?"

"Yes, we can set up a room near them for Rose, does that sound good to you Rose?"

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea, I just don't know what to expect from my father."

"Well, what I know from your mother, your father wants nothing more than to be in your life and he has been vigilant in protecting your wellbeing, but he will be better to explain that than I can. But I know we are going to have to discuss how to continue your schooling and how to protect you, but that you will have a voice in the decision. Plus Dimitri and I will be there for you as well."

"Okay, thanks Alberta."

"Now Dimitri had discussed about the Princess and Lord Ivashkov coming over to see what they know about spirit helping break any compulsion"

"Yes, I think it is best to start with Adrian, I don't want to put Lissa in a weird position because of her relationship with Christian. Maybe he can come over after our work out and lunch?"

"Okay, that sounds good, I will inform him were you are and to come around 1am?"

"Thanks, Alberta."

Alberta stood up and came over to me and gave me a hug and said "Try not to worry we are here for you and we are going to protect you and the Princess is well protected. We are still going to let you go shopping with the Princess, we will have enough guardians with your father being here. I think shopping would be a nice break for you. But it will be up to you if you want to go and what you want to tell the Princess what is going on."

"Thank you Alberta." I said as I hugged her back "for everything."

"And I know Dimitri will treat you well, but don't worry I have already threatened him if he breaks your heart." Alberta said as she pulled back from the hug. I laughed and looked at Dimitri who has a slight blush on his face.

Alberta started for the door and said "Call me if you need anything. And let me know if you find out anything with Lord Ivashkov."

"Okay, thanks Alberta." I said as she walked out the door.

Dimitri stood up from the couch and said "It's almost 9 am, how about we run the track for an hour before we do some conditioning and sparring. Celeste you can either run with Rose or guard while I run with Rose, but I would like you and Rose to spar."

"Either way is fine by me, I can guard if you want to run with Rose."

"Thanks Celeste, I think I'd like to run with Rose so if you can guard that would be great. Alright, let's get changed "Dimitri said.

I was already in workout clothes so I waited as Dimitri and Celeste got changed. Pretty soon both Celeste and Dimitri were ready and before we walked out of the door he stopped me to say "Rose, if we run into any of your friends or classmates and they ask why you are not in class, just tell then that Alberta set up an assessment by me and Celeste since you were gone. And if we run into Tasha, just let me handle her. Okay?" Dimitri asked.

"Okay"

The three of us walked across the campus to the track, thankfully most of the students were in class, there were a few students who stared at me walking with Celeste and Dimitri, but no one approached me. We got to the track and Celeste stood back in a guarding stance and Dimitri and I started to stretch.

"How are you feeling this morning, did you have any dreams or nightmares, I didn't get a chance to ask"

"I'm okay, I didn't dream at all that I remembered, so that was good. It is a little overwhelming with the Tasha and Jesse issue and the fact that I am meeting my father and hearing about people who want to kill me because of my father." I said.

Dimitri stopped stretching and looked around and pulled me up and put his hands on my shoulders. "Roza, I will do whatever needs to be done to protect you even if I die in the process."

Tears started forming in my eyes "But I don't want you to die for me."

Dimitri looked around again and then wiped the tears from my face and said "I hope it won't come to that. Why don't we run and concentrate on training and we can take your mind off everything."

"Okay". We started running side by side in comfortable silence. At about 20 minutes into our run I heard Dimitri say "b'lyad" which I am pretty sure is a swear word in Russian that he refuses to teach me. I look around and the first thing I see is Celeste coming closer to Dimitri and me, then Dimitri puts his arm in front of me to stop me from running and then I see Tasha.

Dimitri says "Rose stay here". Dimitri starts walking towards Tasha as Celeste comes to my side but I am still close enough to hear his conversation. Celeste stands in front of me because we both know I am within reach of a fireball as I have been on a few of Christian's "near misses" as he calls them, however I am sure Tasha will not miss if she tried to throw one.

"Hi Dimka, I was just coming to run some laps. I am so excited you're here maybe you can teach me some fighting moves." Tasha said.

"I am sorry Tasha the track and the gym are off limits until 11pm as Guardian Mathews and I are testing Novice Hathaway." Dimitri responded with his most guardian authoritative way.

Tasha responded by rubbing his arm up and down and saying "Oh, okay, but what about after 11pm do you think we could workout then?"

"I am sorry, Tasha, Guardian Petrov has me rostered to guard after I finish with Novice Hathaway. So if you will excuse me and please leave the track area I would appreciate that."

"No problem, Dimka, I will call you later, maybe we can do that dinner tonight." Tasha replied sweetly.

"Good bye Tasha." Dimitri said as he turned back around and came back to Celeste and me. "Thanks Celeste."

"No problem Dimitri, she doesn't give up does she?"

"No, she doesn't but Alberta doesn't want me to push her away too much or push the issue that I am not interested in her, so that we can figure out what her plan with Rose was. Rose are you okay to keep running." Dimitri asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. Dimitri and I started running and Celeste went back to her guarding position. Dimitri and I ran in silence again but he kept sneaking glances at me while we ran. After 45 minutes of running, Celeste and Dimitri switched, so Celeste could run and warm up for our conditioning and sparring. It was different running with Celeste, she had me laughing hysterically as we ran. Since she was Dimitri guarding partner she has seen Tasha's antics towards Dimitri. So Celeste was giving me her impression of Tasha talking to Dimitri. Celeste was so funny I thought I was going to trip while we were running. At 10pm after we finished our hour of running and then we went into the gym.

Dimitri asked "What were you two laughing about?" Before I could say anything, Celeste said "Just girl stuff." Dimitri lifted one eyebrow at me and I just shrugged his shoulders at him. He walked in behind me shaking his head at us.

Celeste, Dimitri, and I did a workout that Dimitri had planned out for me. Then I spent 15 minutes sparring with Dimitri and I did better than our last sparring session when I was so distracted, I was able to get some good hits in. Even though Dimitri took me down 4 times, I made him work for it. I then sparred with Celeste which was so much different. I wasn't used to her height and she much quicker than Dimitri. It was good to fight with her because I wasn't used to her style and I couldn't anticipate her moves like I could with Dimitri. I was able to take her down twice and then she took me down twice. Dimitri watched us closely and would point out if I missed a potential hit or he would praise me if I got a good hit in or when I pinned her down.

The three of us walked back to the unit and the amount of students around were still low, so we did not run into anyone on our way back to the dorm. Once there Dimitri took a shower first, then Celeste and then me. By the time I finished my shower and get dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and I left my hair down to air dry, Dimitri had made lunch for us consisting of sandwiches and salads. Dimitri and his healthy eating. "Comrade, no potato chips?"

"No, sorry Rose." He smirked at me. But then he turned serious and said "I spoke to Alberta and I let her know about the Tasha incident, so she wants us to stay in today and then when we discuss things tomorrow with your father's guardians, we will discuss about how to handle the Tasha situation. Lord Ivashkov should be coming over shortly and Alberta also told the Princess that you are being tested on your skills for the day to explain your absence."

"Oh, okay, she has asked me through the bond a few times where I was." I responded.

Dimitri just nodded his head at me but Celeste asked me how the bond works, so while we were eating I explained how the bond worked. I could tell that Dimitri didn't realize how much the bond affected me and especially when my barriers were down when I was sleeping and I can get pulled into her head. I have seen way more of Christian than I ever wanted to and Celeste and Dimitri laughed at that aspect.

Someone knocked at the door and Dimitri went to open the door but first asked who it was and the person responded "It's Adrian, I was told Rose was in here". Dimitri opened the door and Adrian walked thru and said "Belikov, Hello Gaurdian Mathews Little Dhampir, what's going on? What's with the cloak and dagger."

Dimitri spoke first "Lord Ivashkov have a seat." Adrian sat down, I got up and sat on the opposite couch and Dimitri sat down next to me as Celeste cleaned up from lunch. Dimitri started for me "We asked you here because we believe that Tasha Ozera has used compulsion on Rose and we are wondering if you know anything about Spirit undoing the compulsion?"

Adrian just stared at the two of us for a moment and then said "Well from what I have read, Spirit users' ability to use compulsion is stronger than Moroi, though I have not tested that theory myself. So what happened."

I look at Dimitri and he gave me a look that said it was up to me to tell Adrian what happened. So I started "So, the day that you found me under the bed, the night before apparently Tasha and Jesse showed up to my room. There was a surveillance camera outside of my room and it appeared like Tasha was compelling me and then they both came into my room and I just remember sort of waking up and hour later and Jesse was on top of me kissing. I pushed him off and that's when he punched me and then I pushed him out of the room and then that is when I went under the bed".

Adrian jumped up "What the fuck Belikov, why have you not pounded Jesse into the ground, I saw him walking around today acting cocky. Why are you so calm?"

"Adrian" I said "Please calm down, we are hoping you can help with breaking the compulsion, so I can remember more and then we can go after him, but right now Alberta said he can only get in trouble for being out after curfew and then for hitting me, but we want to find out more before we let him know what we know."

Adrian said "still why are you so calm about this Belikov?"

Dimitri answered "Believe me I want nothing more than to teach him a lesson, but we need to see if Rose can remember more plus she needs protecting."

"Apparently, you can't keep her protected from a moroi student, maybe Rose needs to come to court with me. I can protect her there" Adrian spit out at Dimitri.

I felt Dimitri bristle next to me. "Adrian this isn't helping and there is more to the story. Do you think you can reverse the compulsion?"

Adrian thought about it for a minute, then said "Okay Rose, let's try this." I got up and walked over to the couch and sat down next to Adrian. He took both may hands and looked into my eyes and said in that compulsion way and said "Rose you are going to remember everything that Tasha and Jesse said to you and did to you and you will not be able to be compelled by Tasha and Jesse again."

After Adrian said that my brain played back at fast speed the last week and all that Tasha had said to me and I hated to cry in front of Adrian, Celeste and Dimitri, but remembering the words that Tasha had said, tears started rolling down my face. I looked around between Adrian and Dimitri and my breathing started to pick up and I didn't know what to do. Dimitri came to me and pulled me up and said "excuse us for a minute Lord Ivashkov" and Dimitri guided me to his room and closed the door. There was a comfortable chair in the corner where Dimitri sat and he pulled me into his lap and held me and rubbed my back and kissed my hair and again spoke softly to me in Russian.

Once my breathing and crying subsided, Dimitri asked "What did she say Roza"

"She said that you didn't like me and could not stand being my mentor and that you said I was a blood whore the two years I was gone."

Dimitri turned my head to face him and looked me in the eye and said "Roza you know none of that is true, I am so in love with you, it hurts me some times. I love being your mentor and I want you in every way a man wants a woman and I don't think you were a blood whore. Okay?"

"Okay"

"What else happened with Jesse?"

"Well, she came to the door and she would say all those things about you not liking me and then she started telling me how much I liked Jesse and how much I wanted to kiss him. I kept telling her no I didn't believe her, but I guess at some point I must have believed her to let Jesse kiss me. I am sorry that I kissed Jesse I didn't want to."

"I know Roza, I think that is why you have been so distracted lately, you have been trying to fight off her compulsion. And I know you didn't kiss Jesse. I am so sorry Tasha did this to you. It's my fault that she did this to you, I thought I made my feelings clear to her but apparently I did not explain them clear enough."

Dimitri continued "Do you think you can go back out to Adrian?"

"Yeah, we should go back out."

I got up off of Dimitri's lap and stood up and he stood up and grab my hand and pulled me into a big bear hug as he kissed the top of my head. And then his hands cupped my face and he gave me the sweetest and softest kiss on my lips. Then he guided me back towards the door. When we came back into the room, Adrian and Celeste were on the couch talking about spirit.

Adrian asked "Rose, are you doing okay?"

"Yes, Adrian thank you." Dimitri and I sat down on the same couch. I figured I would let Adrian in on what was going on, he already suspected Dimitri and I were interested in each other. "I remember Tasha telling me that Dimitri didn't like me and thought I was a blood whore and how I wanted to be with Jesse. But you can't tell Lissa or Christian yet, until we figure out what we are doing about them."

Adrian said "Fine, but are you going to be okay?" as he looked between me and Dimitri.

I took a deep breath and said "I think so, but um, my father is coming here tomorrow."

"Oh my God." Adrian responded.

"Yeah and apparently he is coming because my life is being threatened by his business enemies."

"What! Who is he?"

"Abe Mazur"

"Fuck"

To be cont'd…..