Author's Note: Hello everyone! This story is going up a couple days earlier than I planned, so I hope those of you waiting for part two are happy! I'm excited for this story because this is my first shot at horror, AND my first attempt to write a true smut scene. If you don't want to read the rated M portion, skip from "28th - saturday - dimitri's birthday" to "after". For those who do want to read it, let me know what you think! Shoutout to the wonderful author Swimming the Same Deep Waters who was kind enough to read it over and critique it for me (THANK YOU).

Chapter 1 of this story is part of the VA 10th anniversary project, a compilation of themed stories written by amazing authors. The link to their page is on my profile, so go check out the other stories/authors!

If you enjoy the story please follow/favorite/review! - thefangirldiaries

25th - wednesday.

Dimitri and I sat in a semi-private corner of the guardian's lounge as we ate our lunch. As the weather cooled down for the year, more and more guardians filled up the lounge around lunchtime. Despite Dimitri and I not being able to talk freely with so many ears around, I enjoyed our time together. Right before we were about to leave, my friend Meredith from St. Vlad's walked in and pushed past the other guardians to target us.

She placed both fists on the table in front of us like she was interrogating us, "Have you seen the mass email yet?" Dimitri and I glanced at each other and shook our heads.

Meredith sighed, "Of course you haven't. Anyway, there's a halloween party on Tuesday for the guardians in the small ballroom. It's starts at 6pm and goes till midnight." I was about to say something but Meredith held up her hand, "I already checked your schedules and neither of you are working, so I'd better see you there."

I looked over to Dimitri, but he wasn't paying attention to us. He was looking at Jovan. Jovan lived and grew up in Moscow, but he's been staying at court for a few weeks while he waits for a new assignment. Jovan's last charge had been brutally killed by Strigoi. I'd seen him frequently at the gym after my shifts, and he always talked my ear off until I made up an excuse to leave. I think he was desperate for friends. I'd only seen Dimitri and Jovan in the same room a few times, but every time I got the feeling Dimitri was scrutinizing him.

Meredith snapped her fingers until Dimitri looked at her. "I'll see you at the party," Meredith commanded. She walked away with a dramatic flip of her hair.

"Don't you think it's weird that we're having a party less than a month after a guardian went missing near the ward lines?" Dimitri asked in a low voice. I shrugged, "That hasn't stopped us from throwing parties in the past. Hey, what's with you and Jovan?"

Now it was Dimitri's turn to shrug, "He just reminds me of this guy I went to St. Basil's with. He got arrested senior year for trying to murder a teacher."

"Shit…" I couldn't hide my shock, I leaned in to keep others from overhearing. "What happened?"

"His name was Alexei. He was in my grade. We were never told the details, but he broke into our history teacher's room during the day and tried strangling her."

"That's insane," I shook my head, "But you can't hate Jovan just because he looks like a guy you used to know."

"I don't hate him, Rose. But the resemblance is uncanny. I'll find a picture and show you."

"Maybe you can dress up as him for the party!"

He groaned. "You're really going to make me go, aren't you?" Dimitri asked forlornly. I kicked his leg under the table, "Of course! We have six days to get good costumes, that's plenty of time. I already know what I want to be."

"What are you going to be?"

"You'll see at the party, until then it's a surprise."

26th - thursday.

The gym was crowded tonight, and Dimitri and I had a hard time finding two pieces of equipment next to each other. We had to split up for most of the workout, which sucked, because this was our date night. We tossed our bags on the floor next to everyone else's. The guardian's used the code of honor, which meant the royal budget didn't want to pay for a locker room, and we had to trust that our colleagues wouldn't steal our things at the gym.

I put on headphones and pretended not to notice the people who came up to me to ask me to spar with them. The only person in the gym besides Dimitri that I didn't ignore was Eddie. I grinned when I saw him walking up to me. "Come to get your ass kicked again?" I asked. Eddie rolled his eyes, "I think anyone here would agree that sparring with you is not about winning, because that's impossible. It's about the experience."

I followed him to the ring, which was currently being used, so we had to wait our turn. I could see that it was Jovan and a guardian whose name I didn't know in the ring, and it looked like Jovan was about to win. Eddie nudged my shoulder, "You know, I think that guy has a crush on you."

I whipped my head to Eddie. "Who?" I demanded.

"What'shisname, Jovi. He was here two nights ago and cornered me at the free weights. Kept asking me questions about you and Belikov." I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Dimitri already didn't like the guy, and it seemed like he would be around for a while longer.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glanced over my shoulder to make sure nobody, particularly Dimitri, could hear us. "What kind of questions?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Whether you two lived together, I told him yes. If you two fight a lot, I told him no… He also asked the best time to catch you at the gym, and I told him to fuck off."

I laughed and patted his shoulder, "I don't know what I would do without you, Edison. Hey…" I lowered my voice, "could you not mention this to Dimitri?"

Eddie flicked his eyes toward me, "Too late, Rose. I just did reps with him and told him what I told you."

"Great," I mumbled sarcastically. "Hey, look, it's our turn for the ring!" Eddie dragged me in. Just like any other time I fought in the ring, I noticed people watching the fight. This time, though, I was acutely aware of Jovan watching me.

27th - friday.

Lissa pulled a maroon skirt off the rack. "This one would work!" she exclaimed hopefully. I nodded over my shoulder, "I'll try it on with the brown vest."

She was upset with me earlier for sleeping in and missing most of the time she was free to spend with me, but apparently she was over that now. She even snapped at me, but I wrote that off as stress. She'd had a lot of closed door meetings recently that even I wasn't allowed in, and I would have to wait for her outside the meetings.

I didn't share her stress. I'd been sleeping like a baby for the past week, and I didn't know why, but it's not like I'm going to complain that I'm sleeping well.

This year, Lissa had to experience Halloween vicariously through me, since it would be too dangerous and too improper for the queen to go to a kegger style party. So she kept busy hunting for my halloween costume, and I was busy in the adult section hunting for Dimitri's birthday present. He was turning 29 tomorrow, and I procrastinated in getting him an actual gift.

"So Dimitri doesn't know what your costume is?"

"Nope! And I don't know what he's going as either. We have to find each other at the party, and we can't cheat and tell each other where we are because he lost his phone yesterday."

"Ooh, mysterious and sexy," Lissa giggled under her breath.

I hummed, "I hope so. What do you think of this one?" I held up a blue sheer nightie. Lissa scrunched up her nose, "Blue isn't really your color. What color does Dimitri like?"

"I think as long as I'm not wearing that much he won't care what color it is," I said as I shoved the blue piece back on the rack, thinking the answer was red, red is Dimitri's favorite color on me, but I wanted to keep that to myself for some reason.

We searched for a good hour before my party costume was fully assembled. It was nowhere near as revealing as the lingerie, but it was still sexy in it's own way. I was going as a "steampunk girl", but I looked like a steampunk prostitute. The white lace fringe shirt covered my chest entirely, but the vest pushed up my boobs so much that it didn't matter that they were covered. The shirt came up around the neck and tied in the back to resemble a choker. The brown leather vest had little gears sewn into the fabric like buttons, and had even more lace fringe on the sides and on the shoulders. The deep maroon skirt stopped mid thigh, showing off the fishnet stockings covering my legs down to the brown boots. We found matching earrings with gears dangling down and a miniature top hat to complete the look.

"Damn, Rose. You look like a cowboy's wet dream…" Lissa gasped, "You're wearing this because it's Dimitri's sex fantasy, isn't it!"

I smacked her arm, "Shut up!" I glanced around to make sure no one heard her say that.

"You're blushing! It is!" Lissa accused. I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and help me find some lingerie."

It didn't take long. I found the perfect outfit. It was white lace, and there wasn't a lot of it. Even wearing it I would be considered naked. Both of the outfits I bought made me feel incredibly sexy, and I wondered if I could wait until Dimitri's birthday tomorrow to try the outfit on for him.

28th - saturday - dimitri's birthday.

I smoothed down the lace covering my stomach. The tops of my breasts were completely exposed, the small size made my breasts strain against the fabric. My calves were covered by the creamy stockings, with lace bows that clipped to the bottom of my underwear. My thighs were completely exposed, as was the bottom half of my ass and my shoulders. I flipped my hair over my shoulders so that Dimitri would have a clear view of my near naked chest.

Dimitri had complained that he was exhausted and didn't want to do anything for his birthday, but I insisted. He was currently watching a rerun of some fantasy show, since I told him I was putting my makeup on for the dinner reservation.

He'd seen me in sexy outfits so much recently that I needed to kick it up a notch if this time was going to be memorable for the both of us. He probably expected the lingerie at this point. I wanted to provoke him and play with him, and I knew exactly what to do.

I put on cream colored heels and went to the door while keeping myself out of sight.

"Comrade! I have my Halloween costume on. Do you want a sneak peak?" I called out.

He muted the TV. "I thought it was supposed to be a surprise," he said curiously.

"It is. Surprise!" I walked into the living room like I was strutting down a catwalk. I registered the shock on his face before I did a twirl for him. "What do you think?" I asked in a sweet voice. When I faced him again I was pleased to see that he clenched his fist in frustration. He sat there, frozen with a dark expression on his face. I tilted my head and furrowed my brows in mock confusion. "Don't you think my costume looks nice, darling?" I could tell at this point he could see through my facade, but he played along anyway.

"You're not wearing that to the party, milaya," he stated with a sly grin, standing up and taking two steps toward me. I took one step back and resisted the urge to grin from excitement that my plan was working. I planned to keep it up as long as I could. Dimitri always rushed in the heat of the moment, but today I was determined to torture him slowly.

I pouted, "Why not? I think it's cute."

He took two more steps my way. "It is. That's why you're not wearing it. I don't want other people thinking about you the way I'm think about you."

"And in exactly what kind of way are you thinking of me?"

He ran his hands through his hair as if I were giving him the biggest headache he'd ever had, but a small smile was peaking through. "Do you have any idea what goes through a man's head when you wear things like that?"

I casually leaned against his desk and spread my hands out across the surface. "Well I can't speak for the general population but I think I know what's going through your mind right now."

"I'm thinking that you should take that costume off. Right here. Right now."

I bit my lip to suppress a gasp as my stomach did a backflip. Still, I didn't move away as he got closer and closer to me. "Well, maybe I should get a second opinion." I jerked my thumb to the front door. "I'll go ask Jovan!" I joked.

Mentioning Jovan was apparently a big mistake. Dimitri's playful side disappeared and his features clouded in real anger. I realized then how much Dimitri disliked Jovan, despite his feigning indifference around others. If I'd said I was going to Eddie or even Ambrose, Dimitri would have laughed. "You're not going anywhere near him dressed like that."

Fuck! I thought. I needed to change the mood in here real quick. I closed the space between us and placed a hand on his chest. "You're right, comrade. He wouldn't know what to do with me if he saw this."

And then it didn't matter how angry he was with me, I knew I had succeeded in turning him on. He reached for me at the same time I reached for him. Before his lips even met mine he was lifting me up and backing me into the wall. "I can't believe you're wearing white, it's almost bridal." he mumbled in between kisses. I laughed at the not-so-subtle jab at how long it took me to come around and marry him.

"Shut up and take me to the bedroom," I ordered. He didn't waste any time in following through. He carried me with my legs wrapped firmly around him.

He left the bedroom door open, and I was about to scold him before I remembered we hadn't given anyone keys to our new place. Nobody could walk in on us anymore.

I pulled hard on his hair to let him feel how aroused I was, making him groan into my mouth. In response his grip on my back and shoulders got stronger. I was already worked up from teasing him, and his rough handling of me was only turning me on more.

He laid me on the bed with my heels still on and took a step back to lean over me, keeping his eyes trained on my chest. He studied me there, his hands lazily trailed the exposed skin of my legs and thighs. A shiver ran through me as his hands inched higher and higher on my thigh.

He met my gaze with hooded eyes. "I really like your costume, Roza," he said softly.

"Good," I breathed. "But the underwear is uncomfortable. Maybe you can adjust it for me?"

He grinned devilishly down at me. "You know I can't say no to you."

He leaned down and his lips were on mine... and his hand had finally found its goal. He started rubbing me in a motion that only he knew I loved, getting a loud but involuntary response from me. Like always, there was a moment where I forgot how to breathe as he lightly touched my most sensitive areas. He moved my underwear to one side and slid his fingers along me, coating me in my own wetness.

"Is that better?" He asked suggestively.

"Yes," I hissed, arching my back into his touch.

As if his hands weren't driving me crazy enough, his mouth moved down to my chest, sucking and kissing my nipples through the fabric of the lingerie. With his free hand he grabbed my hand and brought it down to the bulge in his jeans.

I squeezed- lightly- until he gasped against my skin. He lifted his face to be level with mine. "You're going to pay for that," he warned happily. I squirmed against his fingers on me. "What are you going to do to me, sir?" I asked innocently.

He smirked, and before he could come up with a good response, I started rubbing his erection through his jeans.

"Yoptel Mopsel," he grunted and lifted himself off of me to get his jeans off. I leaned up to lift his shirt, and he lifted his arms to let me undress him. Once he was fully naked, he climbed on top of me again, and pulled at the hem of my lingerie. I grabbed his hand and shook my head. He let me switch our positions so I was laying on top.

I placed one hand on Dimitri's shoulder and the other on his thigh behind me and grinded my hips into his growing erection. His hands gripped my hips and tried controlling my movements, but I stubbornly set a slower speed than he wanted. When he started moaning my name I stopped my grinding and got off the bed to stand before him. I pulled on his arm to guide him to the edge of the bed.

I kneeled in front of him, putting my face even with his cock. "Just sit back and enjoy the view, lyubov moya." I took him into my mouth. Well, some of him. Dimitri had been going down on me since we started dating, claiming he enjoyed it, but I was more hesitant and had only started reciprocating recently, so I was still fairly new at giving blowjobs.

I couldn't take all of him in my mouth without gagging, so I wrapped one hand around his cock and the other messaged his balls. Every time I went down on him, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I loved pleasing him, especially when he was focused on what I was doing to him, instead of him being distracted by pleasing me.

Dimitri tangled his hands in my hair, guiding my head as I bobbed on his cock.

I worked my way up and down for a long time, his groans urging me on. I hummed as I tried each time to put more of him in my mouth, until I didn't need my hand to rub him. When I could feel he was close to cumming, I tried to get off him, but his grip on my head kept him deep inside me. I glared at him as best as I could in my position. He looked down on me with a mischievous smile. "May I?" he asked.

I couldn't answer verbally so I showed my consent by going deeper on his cock. Dimitri swore and jerked his hips several times before cumming. I tried to swallow it, but some got on the corner of my mouth when he pulled his dick out. He rubbed his thumb on my mouth to wipe his cum off. "Thank you for my birthday present," he said softly, relaxed after his release.

He pulled me up on the bed with him and we layed down next to each other.

after.

"Actually," I said, kicking off my heels, "we really do have a dinner reservation, but we've got time for a nap." I was actually tired and wanted to sleep, despite still being aroused.

Dimitri, who was still high from his orgasm, didn't even notice or care that I still hadn't gotten off, but I forgave him. I knew he would be willing and ready if I asked. He grinned and kissed my forehead. "A nap sounds perfect."

I had just snuggled into a position next to Dimitri when I saw a blinking light through the doorway in the living room.

I bolted into an upright position. "What's wrong?" Dimitri asked, squeezing my hand. I bit my lips as I kept my eyes trained on the living room door. My guardian instincts were on high alert.

"Rose?" Dimitri asked again. "It's nothing, comrade. I just thought I saw something."

I left his embrace to see if there was anything in the living room. I tossed on a robe and walked around the house several times, checking behind doors and curtains. As casually as I could manage, I went back to my half-asleep husband. "Happy birthday, Dimitri," I mumbled as I lay next to him, but I couldn't relax.

Instead, I got back out of bed. I put on clothes and stepped out into our backyard and called Karolina. I wanted to see a copy of a St. Basil's yearbook, and if any one of Dimitri's family knew more about Alexei, it would be her.

29th - sunday.

I had to cancel the dinner reservation last night after I couldn't wake Dimitri up from his nap for the life of me. I desperately needed to talk to him, but I couldn't inside the house.

In a stroke of luck, Lissa's daytime meeting with the Alchemists was cancelled, so I was relieved of duty during the vampiric night and would get to sleep in my own bed tonight. It was the rare weekend that I hadn't been separated from my husband at all for work.

I even had time to go to the gym. The gym wasn't all that crowded tonight, as many guardians went to church on Sunday. The downside was that Jovan didn't go to church. He showed up a little after me and followed me around the gym every time I chose a new piece of equipment to work with, he even grabbed my water bottle and phone before I could and carried it for me.

He tried to start conversation multiple times, but it was hard to keep up a conversation when I had my headphones turned all the way up and had no intention of taking them off to talk to him. I escaped him for five minutes by going to the bathroom, but he was actually waiting for me when I went back into the main room.

Still, I was in a great mood when I got home, looking forward to round two with Dimitri behind closed doors, and I mixed together the ingredients for black bread. I couldn't cook a full meal, but I could at least make our favorite snack.

Dimitri, however, was not in the same mood. He slammed the front door when he came in and rushed to the kitchen. I already knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Why did Clara just tell me Jovan was all over you at the gym today?" His jaw was locked and his arms were crossed over his chest.

I suppressed a sigh. "Hello. Welcome home, honey. It's nice to see you too."

"Don't try to be funny, Rose."

I picked up the already mixed bowl and started mixing again to keep my hands busy. "Jovan was… being nice." I tried explaining optimistically.

"I don't want you talking to him, ever. I don't want you alone with him or anywhere near him."

"What the hell? I can't avoid him when he lives at court with us."

"Roza," his anger melted into something softer, but underneath that he was still explosive. "He's Alexei. Remember that St. Basil's student I told you about? Jovan is him." Dimitri sat in the chair opposite me and squeezed my hand tightly.

My breath caught in my throat. Dimitri was going to get us in a lot of trouble if I didn't get him to stop talking right now. I put the mixing bowl down and fixed Dimitri with a glare. "Dimitri you don't know what you're saying. Let's not talk about this now." Or here.

"Rose, it's gotta be him!" He shouted. I shook my head and scoffed, "You're just saying this because you're jealous." I hated myself for saying it, but I couldn't take it back.

"This has nothing to do with jealousy," he said condescendingly. He grabbed my water bottle and took a swig from it while he thought of what to say next. "I grew up with this man, I would know if it was him."

"They have different names!" I shouted. "They're from different parts of Russia! And It's been more than a decade since you've seen Alexei!"

Dimitri stood up again, pulling on his hair. "Don't be stupid, he could have made all of that stuff up!" he yelled. "Rose, he tried to kill our teacher for no reason! He told the guardians who captured him that he wanted to see if he could do it. He's a sociopath."

I chose to ignore the stupid comment, for now. "But Jovan is not Alexei! Alexei is in jail. Even if he broke out of jail why would he come to court, of all places. Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"

"Not as crazy as half the shit we've been through, Rose."

I rolled my head back and waved my hand in defeat. "Then go tell Hans. Do it!"

Dimitri threw up his hands and stormed out of the house. I put my head down on the table and counted to 15. Once I gave him a head start I ran to catch up with him and explain everything before I could let this come between my marriage.

30th - monday.

I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. I was prepared for a lot of things, but not this. I thought of how well both Dimitri and I had been sleeping recently, even though I have trouble falling asleep and Dimitri can't stay asleep. I thought of how he went to bed last night after our fight, no tossing or turning.

The gym was closing in ten minutes and dhampirs were rushing to grab their things and leave. Jovan had gone to the bathroom and left his duffle bag out by a bench.

Maybe it was because I felt a need to prove either Dimitri or myself wrong, but I didn't resist the urge to look through Jovan's bag. My stomach turned over, but it's not like what I was seeing was illegal. I shoved the items back into the bag and zipped it closed. I left before Jovan could come back and see me near his stuff.

This was all the proof I needed. Dimitri and I were right.

Alexei walked up to me. "Are you okay, Rose?" he smiled kindly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm fine, Jovan. Really."