Chapter 1 - Strigoi

Rose was pushing herself through a sarong of sweaty bodies trying to get to the bar at the far back of the club without killing anyone on the way. She was sick and tired of the week she'd had. All work, work, work and no play. Even now, in the hottest night club on the east coast, while Rose was surrounded by dancing and drinking and fun, she was still technically working.

Lissa, again, tried to convince her to let loose a little and have some fun, "Just this once".

"I can't do that, Liss", Rose said discreetly into her ear piece/mic for what felt like the hundredth time. "I take a break, people die".

At that exact moment Rose spotted him. The most gorgeous man she'd ever seen, not to mention the tallest. Even leaning back against the bar, he was still taller by at least six inches than any other man in the club. When she finally reached the bar, Rose noticed that tall, dark and steamy was eyeing her up and down as though he were mesmerized. That wasn't surprising considering Rose held the attention of every male in the room, not to mention some of the women, with her radiant beauty.

Maybe I can take a tiny break, Rose thought. The guy looked like he was about 230 pounds of pure muscle. Just her type.

As he approached Rose, he held himself with confidence yet he still seemed a bit shy. Rose wondered for a moment if it was real or a ploy to appear more endearing.

He gave Rose a small smile before leaning in a bit to her ear so she could hear over the music. "Hi", he said in a low accented voice.

Rose answered with a smile. By his mere presence Rose could tell there was something different about this guy.

"I'm Dimitri", he held out his hand to her. Rose licked her lips. There was just something about a man with an accent that did things to her.

"Rose", she shook his hand. His hand was so large it nearly engulfed her own small one completely. Rose was surprised by the spark she felt when their skin touched. Even more surprising was that Dimitri felt it too. Rose could tell by the 'whoa' that escaped his lips and the way his eye widened as he held her hand for a little too long to just be a casual hand shake. She leaned up on her tip toes and purred "By me a drink, comrade". Rose wasn't supposed to drink, but really what was the harm? It wouldn't effect her that much and it didn't really seem like she'd actually be hunting or slaying tonight.

Dimitri swallowed hard and ordered two shots of Russian vodka.

After downing them, Rose and Dimitri talked for a bit. In addition to his god like good looks, Dimitri, aka Dr. Belikov, was also starting a residency at Mt. Sinai, where he'd finished hi internship not long ago. He enjoyed playing sports and running and he recently got out of a long relationship.

Dimitri wasn't usually so talkative, but something about Rose was so inviting to him, like he'd answer anything she asked him just for batting her eyelashes at him. As much as Dimitri disclosed about himself, Rose held back. She wasn't allowed to discuss any specifics. She'd already slipped up by revealing her real name. All she told him was that the only family she had were her adoptive sisters and that she worked in law enforcement.

"Really?" Dimitri asked, "Law enforcement?" Dimitri hardly ever judged a book by it's cover, but Rose was petite compared to him. He shuddered to think of the danger she was constantly in.

Rose nodded. "I work for a privately funded and very discreet agency".

Dimitri got the hint that Rose probably wasn't allowed to discuss matters any further. He still had to ask, "What is it that you do, at this agency?"

Rose smirked, "We guard you while you sleep", she answered cryptically. "Technically, I'm working right now, but it's a slow night", she smiled.

Dimitri didn't quite know if she was serious or not, but thought it better to let it slide for now.

"Dance with me?" Rose lent out her hand to him. Dimitri took it without hesitation. There was that elusive spark again.

The more they danced the closer they got. Two songs in and they were completely wrapped in each other. Dimitri had a hand around Rose's waist and another on her hip. Rose had a grip on one of Dimitri's biceps while the other hand was playing with the collar of his shirt. By the third song, they were pressed so tightly against each other, Rose wasn't sure were she ended and he began as they swayed to the music.

Despite the dirty dancing, Dimitri never did anything disrespectful, never pawed at her, never grabbed at her. Slowly his hand traveled up her body until his fingers twisted in her hair.

Rose was turned on beyond belief. She'd never felt anything like the pull she felt towards Dimitri. It seem beyond natural and she wasn't sure how much longer she could contain herself.

As she was trying to convince herself that she was still on duty and couldn't go home with the hunk of a man, or drag him to the nearest flat surface, Dimitri tilted her her head up and leaned in. They were a hairs breath away when Rose heard a loud scream in her head. "Rose!"

She gasped and pulled away from Dimitri. "Shit", she murmured.

"We found one, he's taking a girl towards the exit to the back alley. Hurry!", Lissa and her perfect timing.

Rose turned her face back up to Dimitri, "I'm sorry, I have to go".

Dimitri looked crushed, he was sure she felt the connection as well. "What's wrong? Was it something I did?"

Rose smiled. "I wasn't lying when I said that I'm working tonight. And I have to go before someone gets hurt". She pulled Dimitri down and kissed his cheek before disappearing into the crowd leaving him stunned.

"I'm on my way Liss", Rose informed the voice in her head.

"Glad you could join us", Rose heard Sydney add in the ear piece.

Rose practically jumped into the alley. Immediately she spotted it - a strigoi backed a scared young woman into a corner. The bastard was toying with her.

By this time, Lissa and Sydney made their way to the alley from the street.

"Hey!", Rose called out. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Now the strigoi was much more interested in her. "Well, well", he sniffed the air. "What do we have here? A slayer?"

Once the strigoi's attention was on Rose, Lissa and Sydney made sure the young woman got of there.

The strigoi attacked Rose, but he wasn't expecting Rose to be so fast. She managed to side step every one of his attempted blows, plus she got a few good hits on him. She had already pulled out her silver stake.

In the meanwhile, Dimitri realized he never even got Rose's number. He couldn't let her be the one that got away. After getting his coat, he made his way to the back exit where he saw Rose disappear to. He hoped he could catch up with her and that he wouldn't interfere.

Nothing could have prepared Dimitri for what he saw when he stepped out to the alley. To anyone else it would have looked like two blurs colliding with each other over and over. But Dimitri did in fact see Rose in a grunge match against a male who was twice her size!

"Rose!" he called without thinking about it. And he got her attention.

The mistake was fatal. The small distraction was all the strigoi needed to slam Rose into the wall behind her, making her drop her stake. The stake, Rose's only salvation, rolled away from her and landed at Dimitri's feet.

The strigoi had Rose pressed against the wall by her neck, his fangs inching towards her flesh.

That's when Lissa did something stupid. She charged at the strigoi hoping it would distract him enough for Rose to break free. It didn't and Lissa ended up flying back and landing in a heap on the ground, barely holding on to consciousness.

Sydney ran to her and was relieved to find her still breathing. During all of this, Dimitri was frozen still. Sydney yelled at him to get the stake and use it. But the sentiment was lost on Dimitri who was in a complete state of shock.

Rose was gasping for air trying to push herself off the wall. As she was struggling she felt one of the bricks jiggle against her hand. With all her might, she yanked the brick out and smashed it into the strigoi's skull. That was enough to make him drop Rose. Rose hit him again with enough force to knock him to the ground. But she wasn't nearly done with him.

She straddled him and bashed his head over and over and over again. His blood splattered all over her and the alley. His head was almost unrecognizable as that of a humanoid. But the job wasn't finished yet.

She dismounted the strigoi, tried unsuccessfully to wipe her hands clean on her dress and turned towards Dimitri. She walked up to him, kneeled before him and retrieved her stake. In the corner of her eye she saw a twitch. Rose turned back to the strigoi and staked him through the heart.

Rose's first priority was her injured team mate.

Sydney nodded at her. "She's gonna be fine".

Rose sagged in relief.

Sydney couldn't get over how useless Dimitri had been during the whole altercation. She marched right up to all six foot seven of him, jabbing her finger in his chest while berating him for his weak performance. "What is the matter with you?! Rose could have been killed! Lissa could have been killed. That soon to be pile of ash was fully engaged, all you had to do was pick up the stake and ram it through his heart!"

"Leave him alone!", Rose rolled her eyes and tried to stop Sydney, but she was like a dog with a bone. No reasoning with her when it came to the wellbeing of her adoptive sisters.

"Seriously?!" Syd continued her rant. "What kind of a dhampir are you?!"

Rose gasped. Not because news of Dimitri being a dhampir surprised her, but because she didn't think Sydney would have picked up on it so soon. Rose should have known better, Syd was a genius.

Dimitri was clueless as to what was being said around him, yet somehow he still had the presence of mind to ask, "What's a dhampir?"

Sydney looked at him, puzzled.

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's the kind of dhampir that doesn't know what a dhampir is, Sydney. He grew up human. He's a doctor, for crying out loud".

The declaration that Dimitri was a doctor finally brought Dimitri back to himself. For the time being he ignored the dead body that he wasn't entirely sure was human (it was the fangs and red eyes that did it) and walked over to Lissa. He made sure she was alright with a very brief field examination of sorts. She just had the wind knocked out of her and a bruise was forming on her shoulder. Other than that, she'd be fine. Then he took another long look at Rose.

"Rose, you're hurt". Dimitri was referring to the nasty gash she had down her arm.

Rose glimpsed at the cut and shrugged. "I'll live".

"That's really deep. You're losing a lot of blood, you need stitches".

"Don't worry about it", Rose said. Knowing Lissa would be in no shape to heal her any time soon, she added, "Sydney can stitch it up for me in the van." She glanced at Sydney who slightly shook her head disapprovingly at Rose. "She does it all the time". Rose tried to shrug. Syd did it once. And it just barely saved Rose's life. But no one was looking forward to a repeat of that.

Dimitri sighed. "Rose, you need a hospital, not some dingy van".

"Hey!" Sydney cried out. No one calls her van dingy.

"No hospitals", Rose answered with a finality that said there was no arguing with her.

"Is Sydney a doctor?" Dimitri was answered with head shakes all around. "A nurse?" again the shaking heads answer. "A medical professional of any kind?"

"No", Rose replied.

"Well, then at least let me stitch that for you", Dimitri was instant.

"That's a great idea", Sydney chimed in. "Why don't you help Lissa to the van and Rose and I will be there in a minute. We have a loose end to tie up her", she motioned to the strigoi.

Dimitri nodded in agreement. He really didn't want to know what they were doing and was just glad he would be the one to treat Rose's wound. That way he would know for sure that she was properly taken care of.

Before he left with Lissa, Dimitri pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around Rose's wounded arm to keep pressure on it. "Don't be long", he told Rose with a burning in his eyes.

Dimitri and Lissa walked off. "I'm Lissa, by the way", She introduced herself.

"Dimitri Belikov". He answered politely.

As soon as Dimitri and Lissa were out of earshot, Rose turned on Sydney, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"We need to bring him in. Alberta should meet him". Sydney answered as she poured a dissolving solution on the strigoi.

"Absolutely not!" Rose whisper yelled.

"He's a dhampir. He has a sacred duty. He needs to come with us!" Sydney answered vehemently.

"It's not his sacred duty if he does know anything about it! He didn't grow up like we did. He has a good, normal life and we can't take that from him". Rose answered sadly.

"I'm not so sure he'll be able to go back to his so called good, normal life. Not after what he saw tonight." Sydney answered sagely. "Besides, don't you think it should be his decision to make?" When Rose didn't answer, Sydney continued. "Male dhampirs are few and far apart. We need him, Rose. You need him".

Rose didn't have a comeback. But she knew she didn't want to drag Dimitri into her lifestyle. She may not have had a choice, but he does.

When the strigoi turned into a puddle of goo, the two left and headed for the van, where Rose would no doubt have to answer some very difficult questions.

In the van Dimitri skillfully stitched up Rose's arm. Luckily, Sydney kept the van fully equipped with medical supplies. The only thing missing was a anesthetic. But Rose said she could handle the pain.

As Dimitri thread the needle, he whispered, "This is really going to hurt. I'm sorry".

After a few stitches he mustered some courage. "So, you want to tell me what the hell that was back there?" Dimitri's eyes were focused on his work.

"That was a strigoi", Sydney answered. "A vampire. An evil blood sucking creature of the night".

As if on cue, Rose and Lissa rolled there eyes in synch.

"Vampires aren't real", Dimitri answered with an almost childlike innocence.

Sydney snorted. "Tell that to the very real gash on Rose's arm. Or the piece of shit pile of ash we left back in the alley".

Rose watched Dimitri's face intently as he continued to stitch her arm. His expression never changed, always calm, unreadable.

"So if vampires are real, why doesn't the public know about them?"

"Ignorance is bliss", Rose said weakly. Yes she was a slayer, and yes she'd been injured far worse. But stitching without any anesthetic while she was awake and trying not to scream was taking it's toll on her.

At the tone of her voice Dimitri looked up into Rose's eyes. "I'm almost done. Just a few more to go". He said apologetically. He had no idea how she hadn't pass out from the pain and the blood loss yet.

"There." Dimitri declared. "All done. 36 stitches".

Rose nodded her thanks.

As soon as Dimitri was done Sydney started driving. "We shouldn't stay in one place for too long. The smell of blood could attract more of them".

After driving for a few blocks, Dimitri swallowed hard and braved the next question. "What's a dhampir?"

Rose shook her head at him, begging him not to go there.

Again it was Sydney who handled the situation. "Are you sure you want to know?" Dimitri nodded. "Do you want to know more about what happened tonight?" Again Dimitri nodded. "Come with us and we'll show you".

"Sydney, no", Rose tried to stop what was inevitable.

Despite Rose's obvious reluctance, Dimitri needed to know. "Alright. Where are we going?"

"Home", Lissa answered.

In her own head, Sydney did a victory dance as she added, "We're taking you to the Sisterhood".

Hi All!

This is my new story! I hope you like it.

I'm not making any promises as to the frequency of updates, but i have been slaving over the first few chapters, so those'll probably be updated quickly :)

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Happy holidays!

Kooki