Hi Everyone, Since writing my short story of 'He's Gone', I've had a number of people asking for more... It wasn't until this morning while I was
cleaning my horses stables, that a continuation, of sorts... popped into my head.

This new chapter is what I think may have happened to Dimitri after he was turned and he returned to his homeland.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you thought I captured what I think is his 'calculating' nature in 'Blood Promise'. Also, if after reading this, you
all would like me to continue from Dimitri's POV, I'll write what happens in ... "The Room..." :-D

Thanks everyone, and happy reading...

Dimitri's New World.

"You need to do something about this Dimitri. I don't want this to go on any further. You know the others won't stand for anymore of her... interference." I looked away from the cold, empty fireplace into the eyes of my former mentor.

I'd left her God damn it... left her so this wouldn't happen but she had to follow didn't she...

"I know. What do you want me to do?" Her cold eyes bore into mine and I could almost see the many scenario's of Rose's demise playing out in her head.

"What do you think we should do Dimitri?"

"She's valuable, no doubt about that. She's only eighteen, still unpromised and she's already lethal. As a strigoi..." I knew I had to play on Galina's one weakness, her drive to build the largest and strongest coven, one big enough for her to climb the ladder in our society.

"Yes. But that could also go against her. She could become too much of a threat, too powerful."

I could see what she meant, Rose would be strong as one of us but something inside of me, something selfish wanted to claim her again; to keep her for eternity... something that was barred from me in my former life. But now... now I was completely able to take what I wanted, when I wanted and I wanted Rose... now.

"I can control her. I was the... am... the only one who has ever been able to control her."

"You want to... keep her?"

"Yes. She is exactly what you need in your coven."

Just then the door to the library flung open and the snivelling little poonce Marlen slunk into the room.

"Do I have to remind you how to knock Marlen?" Galina growled.

"No Ma'am. I... I..." Within a second Galina had said poonce by the throat and hard against the wall; feet dangling a foot off the ground.

"Am I known for my patience Marlen?"

"N...No Ma'am. I was... hunting and came across... her." My attention was now firmly fixed on the snivelling little shit.

"And...? Is she dead?"

I could tell by the look on his face that she was very much alive. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep the laugh from bubbling up inside of me. If he'd met Rose and both of them walked away alive... that meant only one thing. He was MY message, my message from Rose.

"No..." he whispered.

"No...? Well, if she's alive and you're... here, then what in the hell happened Marlen?"

"She wanted me to..."his eyes flicked over to me. Yup! I felt a smile pull at my mouth.

"MARLEN!" Galina growled.

"She wanted me to give him a message." The pressure on his throat never changed as Galina's gaze shifted to me. "She said, and I quote, 'Go tell Dimitri that Rose Hathaway is looking for him'. She made me repeat it so I wouldn't forget it... Like I..."

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as Galina's grip got tighter. Her lip twitched and her eyes narrowed as she looked back at him.

"You're her... errand boy now? You had her in your grip and not only did you let her live but you became her errand boy?" Her voice got more and more menacing with each word she spoke, yet it never raised one octave... I could only hope that she'd finally get rid of this 'joke' and tear him limb from limb.

"No... She was... she had others with her. I couldn't..."

"You're pathetic." Galina's hand released the snivelling lump of shit and he landed heavily, almost stumbling and rubbing his throat. "Get out of my sight. Don't leave the mansion until I see fit."

I was a little disappointed to not see his demise but I knew how Galina punished those who upset her, I would have to make do until she saw fit to get rid of him. Marlen was out of the room in an instant and without as much as a nod in acquiescence. He knew just how lucky he had just been.

"You still think you can control her Dimitri?"

"Yes."

Galina stood a few feet in front of the empty fireplace. She was trying to make out that she was considering her options, but we both knew she could see that bring Rose into our ranks was the right thing to do. As the leader though, she had to make a show...

"Alright, go and get her."

"Can I ask one thing Galina?"

"That depends on what you ask Dimitri."

"I know Rose, intimately, and we need to have her turn willingly. If we do it... how it's normally done, she will rebel and then she'll be useless to us. Give me some time to... convince her that being one of us is the right thing to do."

She turned from the fireplace and stared at me.

"I'll give you one week. After that, you either turn her forcefully or kill her, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Galina, one week. Where do I put her when I bring her back?" One of her eyebrows lifted and I knew what she thought... 'Cocky bastard!'... Many had gone up against Rose and never lived to tell the tale, but I had reason to think the way I did, I taught Rose everything she knew, I'd bring her back alright.

"The room on the fourth floor of course, she's too dangerous to be left anywhere else." I gave a curt nod and left the room.

As I walked towards the front door of the mansion, I saw Marlen standing against the far wall of the lounge room.

"You need any help?" He said smugly, making me snort incredulously.

"If I did, I most certainly wouldn't be asking you. You've already shown how capable you are where Rose is concerned." His lips lifted in a growl as I shook my head in disgust. Once I find Rose and open her eyes to my world, I would finally have someone worthy to stand at my side instead of these fuckwits.

I looked up into the black sky, knowing I'd have to run at top speed to get back into the city before the sun came out. As it was, I only just made it inside our city 'hideout'. I made my way into one of the darkened rooms and layed on the bed to wait out the burning rays of our one real weakness. Soon, I would start my own hunt and I'll be even more damned if I'm going to come away empty handed.

The part of me that remembered Rose as something other than food had made a conscious decision to leave the US, to remove myself from the temptation of killing or turning her for my own pleasure, but she was the stupid one who followed me... For what reason I couldn't fathom, but if she wanted to be with me that bad, who was I to argue. I would find her, turn her and keep her... for the rest of eternity.

-x-

I stood in front of the window watching the last inches of the sun sink below the horizon, my strigoi eyes seeing straight through the small imperfections of the black paint. To anyone else's eyes, the window would be totally covered, but not to me...

Not long now Roza. I'm coming for you. I thought to myself with eagerness.

The instant the last rays of the sun disappeared from my view, I ran down the stairs and out of the deserted, derelict apartment. I would need to quench my thirst before trying to find my target, I knew she'd be too much of a temptation for me not to fill up beforehand, so I walked as humanly slow as I could in search of a meal... or three. It didn't take long; the pickings were easy if you knew where to look. The almost fresh meat that paraded themselves out in full view were just coming out for their nightly prowl. Their smell was almost enough to turn us off sometimes, bathing for them was probably a luxury and after they'd seen a few customers, they really did start to reek. But food was food after all...

There were so many in this part of the city, we could afford to be a bit picky, well... I could anyway. I passed a few that tried to drape themselves over me so that I would pick them, but one look from me and they soon scurried away like the vermin they were. I walked around the corner and that's when I saw the one I wanted. Not too tall, slim build, long brown hair... close enough.

I walked up behind her and bent down to her ear.

"Follow me." I said as nicely as I could before turning away, after all, I had no need to use compulsion on her, girls like her would follow anyone, anywhere. She jumped a little in surprise, not having heard me approach her, but I could hear her footsteps behind me as I walked across the road and into an alley for a bit of privacy.

I stood stock still; my back was all my approaching meal could see, waiting for her to get far enough into the darkened alley so that I could take her. With each step she took, my mouth pooled with more and more saliva and my heartbeat increased.

"It's twenty for oral, fifty for everything." She said flatly.

If you only knew...

I could feel her body heat radiate behind me and I turned myself over to the beast that coveted her life-force. In the blink of an eye, I'd turned to face her, pushed her against the bricks of the building at her back and pulled her head to one side to expose all she had to offer. As I buried my teeth into the flimsy covering of her neck, my hand left her head and covered her mouth; silencing the scream that was about to leave her body.

My body hummed as I pulled her life-force into my mouth, her warm, sweet liquid slipped effortlessly down my throat, warming my body as it went.

I smiled as I felt her body relax, my hand leaving her mouth to grab her under her arms in expectancy of the collapse that I knew would soon follow. I felt her body weaken with each suck I took, her knees buckled as she moaned in ignorant bliss of her impending demise. My smile increased wider and wider with each lengthening pause between the beats of her mortal heart. Then it stopped... I pulled away from her neck, licking my lips as I watched the light go out in her eyes. What a beautiful thing to watch...

I looked to my right, to the end of the dank alleyway and found what I was after. Here in this part of the city, one had endless piles of rotting human waste in which to dump the remains of our meals. Rarely were they found, and even when they were... no-one really worried about them. They were just one less nameless hooker in the world.

I took two more before I went out in search of Rose. From what I knew of her hunting parties previous movements, they prowled the nightclubs in search of their prey and now... so was I.

I made my way up to the top floor of the first club I went to, standing in the shadows while looking down into the throngs of bodies dancing below. Her face was etched into my mind, but I couldn't help but relish the thought of seeing her in the flesh... mmm... again. I waited there for a while and soon gave up when I'd made sure that no strigoi were here. I knew that Rose would rely on her... alarm, and once she knew the place was strigoi free, she'd move the hunting party to somewhere else.

I went to three more places before I found myself in a club occupied by two other strigoi. Perfect cover for me to combat Rose's warning system, should she be here. I soon saw two Dhampirs that had that 'guardian' look on their faces, walk into the club. It was an unmistakable look when you'd seen it before. One look at their necks told me they were unpromised so I waited to see if anymore followed.

It was only a matter of minutes before I saw two more dhampirs enter and meet with the others; a male and female. My heart rate jumped when I saw the female from behind, she was Rose's height, build and her hair was up in a ponytail, it was when I saw that she bore no molnija marks that I realised it wasn't Rose. I glanced at the other two strigoi but they were too occupied playing with their food to realise who'd just walked in, that sort of ignorance was what would get them killed tonight. I was close enough to hear their conversation if I concentrated...

"Where is she?" The tall blonde guy asked.

"She's coming, something about 'getting a feel outside first'..." The brunette female was obviously Russian but what she said made me fairly sure I was about to see Rose again for the first time in more than a month.

"Is she ever going to tell us how she does it?" A fairly stocky one said, this one would have made a brilliant guardian by the look of him, he was built like a tank and his shaved head finished off his look.

"I wouldn't count on it Artur." The blonde guy said. That's when I heard her voice.

"Neither would I... When you all start acting like guardians I might treat you like guardians and tell you all about my secret weapon."

God she was stunning. The memory of her taken from my previous Dhampir eyes was nothing compared to what I saw now. She was absolutely beautiful; I quickly made my way closer to one of the other strigoi, lowering myself below the height of the crowd as I moved into the shadows behind him, I couldn't have her see me just yet.

I saw her slowly bring her eyes to where we now stood, she knew we were here, she could feel us and I saw her give silent commands to the others with her. The change in all of their demeanours was incredible; obviously her leadership of them had done wonders. They worked with finesse as they moved closer to us and I couldn't help but grin. She was exactly as good as I knew she'd always be... she made my mouth water, literally.

I looked around and saw an exit not far from where I stood, so I quickly made my way outside. I knew she wouldn't try to take the strigoi down inside, she'd wait for him to leave and then pounce. I wanted to watch, savour her for a little while longer, so I climbed to the roof of the next building. I knew that if anyone in this world was capable of taking me out, it would be Rose, so I had to see if she'd acquired any new...skills since I'd seen her last.

She didn't disappoint. She was like poetry in motion, she'd certainly improved a lot in the last month and a bit and the stories I'd heard lately, the stories of how many strigoi she'd killed since coming to Russia suddenly didn't seem so farfetched. She was a force to be reckoned with and I couldn't wait to have her stand by my side for the rest of eternity, Rose and I would rule with iron fists and no-one would even dare to take us on, her and I together... we'd be unstoppable.

Over the next week I watched her and her posse from afar, learning her moves, new and old. I watched where she went to sleep, listened to her conversations, their plans, and I learned her comings and goings. I knew that Galina wouldn't take me being gone for too much longer so I had to make my move soon before she sent someone after me.

My opportunity arose before I thought it would, I'd heard the blonde one I'd come to know as Denis tell Rose that they had to go and walk the female, Tamara, home from where she worked. It wasn't until Rose had told the other two that they didn't need to come with them that I knew now was the time; it was about time too, I'd started to grow tired of watching.

When I'd followed them back to the other females house that first night, I'd commandeered a house across the street so that I could keep a closer eye on them, the old man living here at the time wouldn't need it for too much longer anyway, so I hastened his journey to the 'other side' for him. Plus, I was hungry... Watching Rose had whetted my appetite a little...

Over the last few days, I'd learned the distance I needed to stay away from her before her 'alarm bells' were set off. It didn't cause much of an issue really, not with capabilities of my eyes. I'd thought about taking out her companion on their journey to pick up the other girl but Rose was too fast and too good, by the time I got rid of the boy, she'd be over her shock and I'd be dead. I'd made up my mind to wait a little longer, they'd arrived at the office building the girl worked at. Then there were three...

They soon started to make their way back to the house and I was more than ready to make my move. I just had to get them away from her somehow... As they walked she told them about the hunting plans for the night and it made me smile, her leadership skills had improved greatly. Then a thought hit me... I'd seen a crazy old woman walk the streets around the house Rose was staying at, she'd be perfect... I took off so that I could make it back before them, but I didn't think I'd have a problem with the speed at which they were walking at.

I soon found the woman in question and brought her to the street where Rose lived. I needed to compel her to do something that would tug at Rose's one weakness... her inane need to help someone in that she thought was in trouble. I knew the others well enough now to know they had no such weakness.

I watched as Rose and the other two approached their house and saw the old woman flailing around and wailing like a banshee on the sidewalk, she really was putting on quite a display. I was getting a little hungry too so I made it a point to come back for her before heading back to Galina's estate.

"Good God, it's that crazy woman again." Rose said shaking her head. "Is she hurt?"

"Nope. Just crazy." Denis replied impassively. I watched my plan play out as he and Tamara walked back to the house and I let out a small growl in pleasure as I counted the seconds until I could claim her once again.

"I'll be right in." Rose called to them just before their front door closed. She jogged across the street towards the mad woman and I saw her face crinkle before she held out a hand to help the old woman up. I couldn't help but let out a snort when Rose backed away when the old woman tried to hug her.

Madam Crazy was happily reliving the old days of dancing with her long dead husband when Rose informed her that she had to go, I had to take my chance now, before she got too close to the house and could alert the others. I may be one of the strongest, but after a week of watching Rose's gang, I knew that I wouldn't stand a chance against them and then I'd lose the element of surprise. It was now or never.

I quickly came out from my hiding spot, Rose had her back to me and my mouthed salivated at the thought that I'd soon have her in my arms again. What I didn't count on was Madam Crazy surface slightly from my compulsion and then recognising what I was. She made me think of Babushka...

Rose's alarm kicked in at almost the same time and she quickly spun around to face me, pulling her stake out at the same time. Even though I'd seen her do it countless times over the last week, her speed still surprised me somewhat.

"No..." she said breathlessly.

Her now familiar scent was so much stronger now that I was so close to her. I smiled at the scenes playing out in my mind, me drinking from her, kissing her, taking her, turning her... hunting with her. I could see the disbelief of what she was seeing before her in her eyes, she was taking everything about me into her mind. It pleased me that even as a strigoi; I was still able to have an effect on her, it would make things so much easier that way. Her stake was in perfect alignment to strike me but she didn't, she hesitated like I knew she would. I was going to make her mine...

"Roza. You forgot my first lesson; don't hesitate." With lightning speed, I lifted my fist and knocked her unconscious, her stake dropping to the sidewalk. I held her in my arms and looked down at her beautiful face. I leant forward, burying my nose in her hair and closed my eyes as I breathed in her scent; the scent that would be gone once I turned her. I wanted to remember this smell for the rest of my existence.

I quickly glanced back to the house to make sure that no-one had heard us and noticed the old woman had disappeared too. I took her to the house I'd stayed in a few doors up and walked her into the lounge room laying her on the sofa. Her heartbeat was strong and steady and I knew from experience that I had a few hours before she'd come to. I just wanted a few minutes alone with her, quiet minutes that I could take her in before I'd have to fight her. That thought made me smile though, it was something that I was looking forward to, something I missed.

I touched her hair; it was softer than I remember. Her skin glowed and was covered in fine layer of sweat. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to pick it up, but I could and it made her scent even more arousing, more delectable. I quickly went outside and picked up the scent of Madam Crazy, I'd need a top up before I had to have Rose so close to my mouth on the run back.

"Вы дьявол! Уйти от меня." (You are the devil! Be gone from me.) She yelled. I laughed as she crossed herself, thinking it would save her... Nothing was going to save her now. Before she even registered my movement, her blood filled my mouth. I could taste the sickly sweet flavour of the Vodka that mingled with it, but that was something that no longer affected me.

-x-

It hadn't taken me long to return to Galina's estate and who should be the first one I'd see? The snivelling poonce otherwise known as Marlen. His face was a mixture of surprise, disbelief and fury when he saw an unconscious Rose in my arms.

"Took you long enough." He said snidely.

"Now, which one of us was the one she tortured?" I replied feigning confusion. "Oh yes, that would be you... Shut the fuck up you useless excuse for a strigoi, unlike you, I don't underestimate my opponents."

He may have been an idiot in a lot of ways, but he knew not to challenge me, he knew damned well he'd be extinguished before he even lifted his arm to strike me. I walked straight up to the fourth floor as he slunk back into the corner he now occupied, obviously as his punishment for his failure in killing Rose and being captured by her. I looked back down at her face and smiled... she was amazing.

I placed her on the bed, in the room where she would eventually join me in forever and then went to the sofa to wait for her to awake. I wasn't long before I heard the approaching footsteps in the hall outside and knew it was Galina. She never went to anyone; they went to her, so obviously she'd been told of my arrival and wanted to come see Rose for herself.

"You're back." She said as she walked into the room.

"So it would seem." I said without taking my eyes away from the book I was reading.

"Don't be smart Dimitri, it doesn't suit you." I put the book down as I stood up and turned to face her. "This is what all the fuss is over?" She said nodding her head towards the prostrate body on the bed.

"Yes. Don't underestimate her Galina. Since being promised, only two people have taken me in a fight, Alberta Petrov... and Rose." Her eyebrow rose as she looked back to me.

"Well then, I can't wait to see what she can do once you turn her."

"Me?" I thought that she'd want to do that herself.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No." I said quickly. Once again saliva pooled in my mouth at the thought of Rose's life-force flowing into my body. It took everything in me to stand where I was and not turn her immediately. "Not at all."

"How long has she been out of it?" She said pulling me out of my musings.

"A few hours. She should wake soon."

"Mmm. Well, until then I have something I want you to take care of."

I walked to the door and glanced back to Rose, swallowing the saliva in my mouth and followed Galina out of the room. As we walked down the last flight of stairs, one of the humans that worked for us stopped with her head down.

"Make sure there is food in her room before she wakes." I ordered the girl. She gave a quick nod and scurried off to the kitchen.

"Why bother with all of this Dimitri? Just turn her and get it over with. I never thought that you were one for the dramatics."

"I'll turn her, don't worry about that. But with Rose, it will be better, easier for us all if she does it willingly."

"Not to mention more fun for you in the mean time."

"You know me so well Galina." I said with a grin. I was most certainly looking forward to the fun of the next week...