The gym was deserted which was unheard of given that it was first period. Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques was supposed to being place now and I was supposed to be the one running the session. My reputation as a hard nosed bitch with a major attitude problem meant that seventy percent of the other novices should have been here early, my recent acquired molnija marks which I had been planning to unveil to the rest of the class today meant that the other thirty percent of novices should have been here by now. The other novices were in two minds; the either feared my inner bitch or they awed at my outer beauty.

"Little dhampir," a whispered voice called out to me from nearby.

Slowly I turned around to see Adrian Ivashkov; leaning against the gymnasium wall looking like he owned the place. A cheeky grin was plastered across his face, "What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice trickling with contempt. I wasn't entirely sure what annoyed me more, being stood up by the other novices or having to look at the arrogant Moroi Prince.

"The question is, what are you doing here?" His grin widened and a wicked glint appeared in his deep emerald coloured eyes.

And that's when it dawned on me; this wasn't happening it was only a dream. "Dream stalking me again, Ivashkov?" I shook my head with disgust and turned my back on him. My eyes quickly scanned over my work out clothes which consisted of low riding blue denim jeans and a white strappy top which left little to the imagination. Obviously it was a dream, I would have hardly come to practice dressed in casuals…maybe to my one on one sessions with my guardian, whom wouldn't appreciate the view until after the lesson because that wasn't professional. Now wasn't the time to get think about him, I needed to stay angry not deliriously happy. "For the past week you've been around Lissa like a bad smell," it was of course to my dismay and to her Lissa's boyfriend, Christian's, "and now you're dream stalking me…" I turned back around to face him but was caught off guard by his sudden closeness. He had moved away from the wall and was standing less than a foot away from me, his eyes boring into mine. "Tell me, if I give you a black eye in dream world do you have one in the real one too?"

"I don't know," he admitted, his grin dropping ever so slightly.

"Well, why don't we test that theory…I mean it's not like there are any witnesses…" I grinned up at his six two stature and curled my hand into a fist, preparing myself. I was almost fifty one perfect certain that I wouldn't have done anything…but he didn't give me the chance to act.

His dark eyes dazzled me before he leaned forward, his hot breath pressing against my ear. "I have a better way to test that theory…a test which I think you'll like." The compulsion spell was set and I couldn't move, but my body waited with anticipation to see what he would do. I didn't have to wait long as he stepped around my body, his cool hand trailing up my bare arm, over my shoulder to my neck. Pushing my long deep chestnut coloured hair to one side he moved his face closer to my neck.

"Don't," I whispered, but my voice was as weak as my will. My body was abruptly consumed with desire, I wanted him to touch me, I wanted his mouth to graze my skin and his fangs to pierce my neck. Somewhere deep inside of me I knew it was wrong to want this, but at this very moment all I could think about was his perfectly sculpted fangs.

His hot and heavy breath struck my skin again, "You don't mean that," It was true, I didn't. Suddenly without warning his fangs perforated my skin and he bit down on my neck. The pain seared through me before being replaced with pure and utter ecstasy. I closed my eyes and extended my head further back taking in his vampire kiss. "Dimitri…" His named slipped through as I lost consciousness.

--

His body pressed deeply into mine as his pinned my hands down against the work out mat. My heart rate passed the healthy; 'this is a normal workout and your mentor is kicking your ass stage' into a dangerous 'I wouldn't mind too much if we got down and dirty right here, right now.' Of course I knew it was impossible, Dimitri kept our workouts strictly professional. He never acknowledged his attraction to me during our twice daily practices, unlike me. If my mind wasn't trying to anticipate his next attack, it was drifting away into our past stolen kisses and moments. It had been two weeks since we had restarted our sessions, two weeks since he had told me that he had declined Tasha's offer, two weeks since he had kissed me. I was understandably growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of physicality in our, well, relationship. I tilted my head slightly, it was thirty two minutes past the hour which meant that our session had technically ended. "Our session finished two minutes ago," I informed him hoping that this news would somehow take control of him and he would give in to passion.

A half smile appeared on his face, "And you're telling me this because?" His Russian accent was almost unnoticeable.

"Well I was hoping that you would take advantage of the situation, you know…" I looked down at our bodies pressed together and then back up into his warm watching eyes with suggestive eyes. "Some might call you a tease…pinning a girl down and not kissing her."

"Ah, Roza…" And there it was. His Russian accent more pronounced as he said my name. He pulled his body back slightly as if were about to get up. Well if he wasn't going to take advantage of the situation, then I certainly was. Wrapping my legs around his waist and using the better part of my strength, I rolled us over so that he was the one pressed against the mat. My hands quickly took a hold of his wrists and pinned them against the workout mat.

"Finally the novice scores a point." I grinned down at him victoriously. Okay so my motive for this move wasn't strictly professional. Sure it was nice to finally have pinned my super badass mentor down but it was even better to be the one in control. "You know you really shouldn't get distracted, comrade…someone could easily take advantage."

And that was when he broke free of my grasp and in turn rolled me back over the on mat and once again pinned me down. "And you shouldn't be so overconfident," He freed one of my wrists and tucked a loose strand behind my ear. Okay, so maybe he was acknowledging our session was over. As his face moved closer to mine, I closed my eyes readying myself and took in a deep breath – my senses being completely overloaded by his aftershave. I felt his lips at my ear, "Not here Rose…" His nose skimmed the side of my jaw before he pulled back and like that he was gone.

Opening my eyes, I watched as he stood up and walked across the gymnasium. I wanted to scream…how could he frustrate me so easily. "Seriously?" I called out after him as I flipped myself up off of the mat. My hands ran over my shorts and straightened them out and then found their way to my heaving cleavage to right myself in my work out top. "That's it?"

He didn't bother to turn his head to look back at me, he continued to clean up the gymnasium by putting the practice dummies back in their original positions.

Of course I knew all the rational reasons for his decision but it didn't make it hurt any less. I was a sexually frustrated, angry teenage girl. Walking across the gymnasium, lessening the space between us I walked up behind him. "It's been two weeks since you last kissed me, we've had moments, we've had chances and every time you don't take them. Why?" I frowned, "And please don't give me that Zen professional crap, cause we bypassed that two weeks ago." I paused and spoke my niggling doubts out loud. "Then again maybe you've changed your mind…I'm a big girl, if you don't want me anymore just say so."

He turned instantly and looked at me – his brow deepening into a frown, his eyes angry. "Don't be ridiculous, Roza..." A flare of frustration seeped out from his eyes and I instantly knew that he still wanted me, he just wanted me somewhere that wasn't here.

"Are we ever going to have a chance to be alone?" I asked looking up at him, knowing that he wouldn't have the answer to my question. I stepped closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist, burying my face into his chest. "I just…" I sighed into him, "I need to be with you."

His hand reached down, his index and middle finger lifting my chin so I could look into his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something just as the door opened.

And like an electric shock I jumped away from him, so that we were standing at least a foot apart. I turned my head slowly and stared over at the gymnasium door, watching as other novices started to pile into the practice room, completely unaware of the intense atmosphere between Dimitri and I.

"Yo Hathaway! You're leading today's session right?" I looked over to Milo, the guy who had been my practice partner for the past couple of weeks.

"That's right, Milo…and if you piss me off, you'll be my punching dummy." The other novices laughed, I turned and looked up at Dimitri who just shook his head with disapproval as he made his way out of the gymnasium. He wasn't particularly fond of my often cussing and the way I spoke to my fellow novices.

--

My session was a success. Alberta had been the designated guardian to watch over today's session, she had complimented me on my warm up skills which consisted of doing ten laps around the circuit outside to my well co-ordinated group defence techniques in the practice room.

"You're going to be quite the guardian someday, Miss Hathaway." She broke guardian 101: never get personal and show you have emotions, with a smile. "I can see a lot of Belikov in you…"And she was gone.

Was Dimitri's influence over me really so noticeable. Mason had commented on my newly found respect for following rules and being a goody twos a few months back. Mason…I sighed. He had been one of my closest friends and he had died right in front of me. A part of me still blamed myself but I knew it was senseless to do so.

"Little Dhampir…"

I looked up from the floor to see Adrian Ivashkov leaning against the wall of the gymnasium wall, just as he did so in my dream. My hand quickly reached up and brushed the side of my neck where in my dream he had bitten me. My neck was smooth, there was no unbroken skin. "You've got a lot of nerve, Ivashkov…"

"I just wanted to come and see my favourite dhampir," He grinned stepping away from the wall, unfolding his arms. He took deliberate slow steps across the gymnasium towards me. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, what would make you think that?" I asked, my voice ringing with sarcasm. "Take one more step towards me and I will break your face." I frowned, not wanting him to be any closer to me. I wasn't entirely sure how well his compulsion would work on me out of our dream state and I sure as hell didn't want to find out. "That's not a threat, it's a promise." I warned him.

"So much anger for such a young person…" He continued to take small steps towards me. His grin spread across his face as looked me up and down, appreciating the view. "You look …mouth watering."

"You know what, screw Kirova…" I said referring to the Principal whom had stated on my arrival back into the academy that I was to strictly follow the school rules. "You're getting a black eye for thinking about me like that…"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm your personal blood whore…"

"That's not what I was thinking…"

The door swung open and in walked Lissa, Mia and Christian.

Lissa looked at Adrian and then to me, raising her brow. She had been questioning the tension between the two of us for the past couple of weeks. Deep down inside she thought that there was some underlying sexual tension, she thought that I had actually wanted to sleep with the delusional Moroi prince. She wandered whether they had just walked in on a lovers quarrel.

I shot her a lethal glare. "No," I answered her question. It annoyed her that I could feel her emotions and on occasion accidentally slip into her subconscious ness. I picked up my workout bag and stalked across the gymnasium, "Tell you're little cousin to stop dream stalking me, otherwise one morning he'll wake up to find himself one ball less…" My angry tone wasn't meant to be directed at her but I hoped she thought that at least a part of it was directed at her. She had been spending practically every waking moment with Adrian these past couple of weeks that I barely recognised the beautiful blonde who walked through the door. Though I wasn't in the right mood to have that conversation with her, "I've got body guard theory…I'll see you guys later."

.

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