Lemon it is! I have an atypical lemon coming up next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own VA, Richelle Mead does. Im taking events and some dialogue from LS.

Chapter 10

I woke up to my phone going off. I grabbed the phone from the bedside and answered while half asleep.

"Hello"

"Where are you? Abe's voice snapped me alert. Then I noticed a warm arm around my waist, I slowly turned to see Dimitri starting to stir. Fuck me

"Um, I overslept. We will be there in twenty"

"We?"

"Yeah, my guardian remember, the one you hired." At this point Dimitri and I were staring at each other.

"Yes, I remember that one" Abe continued in a casual voice, which meant that he was fishing. "Where is Belikov?"

"Probably waiting for me to get him on the way" I snapped. "Apparently i'm late, I'll see you soon"

Not wanting to deal with the present Dimitri situation, I got up and started throwing my clothes on. He did the same and I tried, and failed, to avert my eyes at him. His body is a work of art.

"If you still want to come to New York you better be packed in 10 minutes. I'll meet you out the front"

I ran around the room stuffing things into my bag, while he quickly left.

When I got onto the plane, I caught my reflection on a pane of glass. I had a 'I just got laid hair' and a flush to my cheeks and I turned to see Dimitri had rumpled clothes.

Trying to smooth my hair quickly, I could see Abe give me a bemused look and then a scowl in Dimitri's direction.

I noticed a familiar blonde head in a seat facing Abe.

"Sydney"

"Hey, Rose," she said, a rueful smile playing on her lips.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be in New Orleans?"

"Abe wanted me to help out for your search."

"That makes sense given the recent alchemist archives break in"

"Abe has filled me in, the deceased moroi queen passed a letter on to you suggesting that your friend Vasilissa Dragomir has a secret sibling."

"Yes, and when we were in Vegas, a patron mentioned Lissa's father liked the ladies, suggesting that he might have been unfaithful."

"When we get an internet connection I can investigate it."

"Thanks Sydney"

She inserted her headphones in her ears, effectively ending our conversation. Abe kept giving me a shit-eating grin over the top of his paper.

His guardians sat behind us and next to me was Dimitri, who was deliberately avoiding my eyes.

I sat back trying to sleep, but my mind kept going back to earlier.

After we sparred, Dimitri and I walked back to the accommodation. I could feel the heat between us and the last time he pinned me, I could feel his rock solid length press against my core.

People were still staring at us while we walked through court clasping hands and Dimitri pulled me closer and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He gave the onlookers a hard stare until they looked away.

He walked me to my door and neither of us let go. His scent was more prominent after sparing and I lent in and took a sniff of him. We leant closer and closer into each other. I turned to look at him and he reached out to move a lock of hair from my face.

I studied him, the determined dark eyes and expression softened by the brown hair that had escaped its ponytail holder. It hung around his face now, just barely touching mine.

He looked like my Dimitri, the man I loved from the cabin.

I didn't think, I just acted. I went on my tip toes to kiss him and he started kissing me back. I yanked him into my room forcefully. He pulled me tightly to him and I could feel his manhood pressing up against me. I pushed back and I ground my front against him.

He lifted me up by grabbing my cheeks while giving them a squeeze and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He moved me towards my bed with quick strides.

I started pulling his shirt over his head and raked my hands across his back. He buried his face in the cleavage of my top and squeezed my arse cheeks while he thrust his hips into mine. I let out a moan.

He threw me onto the bed and climbed on top of me. I started to undo his pants and brushed his hard member with the back of my hand. Dimitri groaned in appreciation and looked at me with desire.

He slid out of his pants and boxers freeing his turgid member and he pulled my shirt over my head. I grabbed his length and started to stroke him, I could see the tip of his cock leaking in anticipation. He started kneading my breasts and bent down to lick between them.

He slipped his hand into my shorts and I gave him a cheeky grin when he realised I wasn't wearing underwear. He slipped my shorts off in a single motion and started at my cunt hungrily. He started kissing along my thigh, deliberately skipping my centre as he placed kisses up my other thigh.

He brought my knees up and opened my thighs as wide as they would allow. I could feel my juices dripping from my pussy, and he stroked a hand along my seam to catch the excess juices.

He put his finger to his mouth to taste my nectar. "Mmmm"

He bent down and started working into the apex of my folds. I'd never had a man do this before, we didn't have time in the cabin and last time was just animalistic fucking.

I grabbed his hair and pulled as he worked laboriously on my pussy. Then he slipped one finger in, followed by another one. I could feel the heat building in my core and my moans got louder and louder in response.

I gave out a scream as I climaxed, thrusting my pelvis into his face. He lapped up my juices and sucked at my clit, riding out my orgasm. Milking my juices with his fingers and then lapping it up with his tongue. As the aftershocks ran through me, he worked his way kissing up my body.

He sucked on my left nipple and bit down hard and I let out a loud moan. He then repeated the action with the right. He roughly squeezed by breasts which rewarded his with another moan. I raked my nails hard along the grooves of his abdomen.

I pulled him up to me and I could see his eyes darken and become intense. He flipped us over so I was on top of him. He sat up on the edge of the bed and I straddled his lap.

I started grinding my sodden core over his length and then positioned his length to enter my slit and I pushed down hard, feeling him fill me. He paused and waited for me to adjust to his impressive width.

I got started, initially moving slowly and looked into his deep brown eyes. I felt like I could see into his soul. He gently stroked his hands along my back and hips as I rose and then slid down his length.

We didn't talk, we just kept looking into each others eyes. It felt so intimate, so close together for the first time since the cabin. We didn't say a word, just stared in each others eyes as we made love. We picked up our pace, and he lifted his hips to thrust deep inside me.

I couldn't stop looking at him, nor him at me, I didn't want this moment to end.

For this beautiful moment, I felt like we were back in synch with each other. His eyes told me what he wanted and mine told him in kind. I felt the connection that we once had during that moment.

My movements came erratic as I started to reach my peak and I could see the ecstasy in his beautiful face. He grabbed my hips and thrust his own to plunge deep inside of me. I could feel my walls clench his length tightly which set off his release.

My climax was so powerful, so intense. I felt electricity shooting up and down my body and my head felt so light and wonderful at the same time. I slumped against his chest while he remained inside me and then we fell backwards onto the bed. We stayed like that for a full minute, holding each other tightly

I briefly got up clean myself up and then fell asleep cuddled against his chest.

It left me wondering, what were we?

We were no longer mentor and novice, we were equals.

I would give anything to know what was going on inside his head.

We landed at La Guardia Airport and got into private SUV's, which took us to the Langham hotel. Abe booked the Empire state presidential suite for me and Sydney and he took the penthouse suite.

"I'll leave it to you to figure out the sleeping arrangements with your guardian." He said as he walked off with a smirk. "I'll be back in an hour to take you sight seeing."

Dimitri and I were avoiding eye contact. The man was messing my head in the worst way. If his love faded then why couldn't he keep his hands off me? Why-

"I took the smaller room, you two are going to have to share." Sydney said, interrupting my thoughts as she sat down at the table with her laptop. Dimitri sat down across from her, moving slowly as not to alarm her. "Are you sure that this note is real? The alchemist have no records of Eric Dragomir having any other children."

"Obviously, this is a secret," I said. "A big one. One that people have apparently wanted to cover up—enough that they'd try to steal records about it and keep the Dragomirs out of power." Someone had broken into an Alchemist building and taken papers indicating Eric Dragomir had indeed been funding a mystery woman.

I pointed out to my companions that it seemed very likely to me this woman was the mother of his love child.

"You could look into that case some more." Those last words were spoken toward Sydney. Maybe she didn't care about another Dragomir, but the Alchemists still wanted to know who had stolen from them.

"If your theory's right—and it's kind of a leap—we still have no idea who this mistress is. The stolen documents didn't say."

"Are there other records that tie into the stolen ones? Or could you investigate the bank he was sending money to?" The Alchemists' initial concern had simply been that someone had stolen hard copies of their records.

Her colleagues had discovered which items were taken but hadn't given much thought to the content. I was willing to bet they hadn't searched for any other documents related to the same topic. She affirmed as much.

"You really have no idea how 'researching records' works, do you? It's not that easy and it requires patience" she said. "It could take a while."

"And that is why we are going to sight-see while you research"

Sydney frowned at me in response. "Sure thing Rose"

Wanting to avoid talking to Dimitri, in the half hour before Abe had arranged to go out, I checked on Lissa through the bond.

I had spoken to Lissa about talking to Ambrose. He had been the queens lover and would have seen a rare side to her that others would not, a terrifying perspective if you asked me.

Lissa, Christian and Eddie met up with Ambrose in his private quarters.

"Hi Ambrose, How are you?" Lissa said, while looking at him with concern. She knew Ambrose had a strange relationship with the queen.

"I'm fine" He replied, looking anything but fine.

"We, uh, wanted to talk to you about …" Lissa hesitated. Talking about investigations and interrogations was one thing. Carrying them out was another. "About Tatiana's murder."

Ambrose's eyebrows rose. "Ah. I see."

"Look, we're just trying to find out who really killed the queen. You were close to her. If there's anything—anything—at all you've got that can help us, we'd appreciate it. We need it."

"I'll do the best that I can" Ambrose replied.

"We think that the killer had an issue with both Rose and the queen. I know the people that Rose knows, so if there was a common link, it might help clear Rose from suspicion." Lissa explained "Who else were you seeing, other than Tatiana?"

"No one who'd kill her," said Ambrose sternly. "I'm not giving you names. I'm entitled to some privacy—so are they."

"Not if one of them was jealous and killed my aunt," growled Adrian.

"No-one would have killed Tatiana for being involved with me and I refuse to give you their names. I'm telling you, look for someone with political motives. Not romantic ones."

Lissa had her doubts that the murder wasn't was free of jealousy and sex, but she didn't want to push too hard.

Lissa pushed on "Do you know of any who had a political issue with her?

"People were angry with her for the age law and others were angry for her not being forceful enough. She was actually open to lots of other options. She wanted to explore spirit. She approved of Moroi learning to fight."

"She wasn't publicly" Argued adrian

"Not publicly," agreed Ambrose. "Not even privately. Only a few people knew. She was having a small group of Moroi trained in secret—men and women, different ages. She wanted to see how well Moroi could learn. If it was possible for them to defend themselves. But she knew people'd be upset about it, so she made the group and their trainer keep quiet." Adrian gave no response to this, and I could see his thoughts had turned inward.

"Who were they? The Moroi being trained?"

"I don't know," said Ambrose. "Tatiana was quiet about it. I never found out their names, just their instructor."

"Who was … ?" prompted Christian.

"Grant."

Christian and Lissa exchanged startled looks. "My Grant?" she asked. "The one Tatiana assigned to me?"

Ambrose nodded. "That's why she gave him to you. She trusted him."

Lissa said nothing, but I heard her thoughts loud and clear. She was honoured that her majesty went to such lengths to keep her safe. She also wasn't surprised that Grant and Serena had helped teach her to stake given this information, they were progressives.

"Okay," she said reluctantly. "Thank you. Thank you for helping us."

Ambrose seemed surprised at her politeness, and his face softened. "I'll see if I can dig up anything to help you. They're keeping her rooms and possessions locked down, but I might still be able to get in there. I'll let you know."

Lissa smiled, genuinely grateful. "Thank you. That'd be great."

Lissa was accompanied by Christian as they walked back to her apartments. They ran into his aunt Tasha, who looked tired and wild eyed.

"Hey Christian and Lissa" she put on a bright smile when she saw them. "Lovely to see you together".

Lissa let Christian carry the conversation and observed Tasha, she looked off. Lissa summoned a small amount of spirit to view her aura. Lissa was not as good as Adrian, but she noted the shakey appearance of her aura. Her aura had a weak, almost watery quality to it. It didn't burn like a flame. The other colours were equally frail, flickering in and out.

"Where's Dimitri" Tasha asked Lissa. Lissa noted a pink/red flush through her aura. Rose had told Lissa about the events of Christmas, so she knew Tasha had made what Lissa considered 'An indecent proposal' to the guardian.

Lissa watched carefully through aura vision as she replied "He went on a trip with Rose". She saw dark colours (Green, red and black) swirl in response to hearing Rose's name.

Very interesting

I could feel a touch on my arm that brought be back to the hotel suite. Abe was in the room and Dimitri was standing over me.

We went to Washington Square park, the MET and The Shakespeare garden in central park. I could see that Abe was having a blast showing us around.

He took us shopping along Maddison Avenue, buying everything that I even glanced at. I saw him talking to a tailor and they were eyeing Dimitri and his dimensions. I still hadn't spoken to Dimitri. I was sick of chasing him, so I left it alone for now.

We returned to the hotel and I said "Let's go back to Sydney and see if she found out anything … although, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's unlikely."

"I know."

"She probably gave up and started playing Minesweeper."

We found Sydney bent over her laptop at the dining table, with a barely eaten Danish and a fresh cup of coffee. We slid into seats beside her. "How′s it—hey! You are playing Minesweeper!"

I tried to peer closer at her screen, but she turned it from me. "You're supposed to be finding a connection to Eric's mistress."

"I already did," she said simply.

Dimitri and I exchanged astonished looks."But I don't know how useful it'll be."

"Anything'll be useful," I proclaimed. "What did you find?"

"After trying to track down all those bank records and transactions—and let me tell you, that is not fun at all—I finally found a small piece of info. The bank account we have now is a newer one. It was moved from another bank about five years ago. The old account was still a Jane Doe, but it did have a next-of-kin reference in the event something happened to the account holder."

I could hardly breathe. Financial transactions were lost on me, but we were about to get something solid. "A real name?"

Sydney nodded. "Sonya Karp."

Dun dun Dunnnnnn

We already knew that. I'm still trying to figure out whether I want Lissa to be queen or not in this story. Happy to hear opinions on plot points. It can be more fun to diverge off from cannon.

I cant believe I havent mentioned "Swimming the same deep waters" amazing author, so many good stories. Her Alpha is an Alpha/omega/beta story, which is a trope that I like.

I went for a more intense love scene, I removed dialogue deliberately.

Thank you for the reviews, they are a wonderful motivation.