A hidden past. (A Vampire Academy fanfiction)

Qualifying

RPOV

"We are doing a Macca's run right?" I asked the second we hit a main road. "You know my appetite. And how my attitude is affected by it."

"Yes, my Roza. We'll do a Macca's run." My Dimka answered.

"Yay!" My mood had already picked up at the thought of food. But any improvement was quashed when Dimitri turned the radio on. To a 1980's station. "Dimitri!" I groaned.

"Pick. It's '80's, Country or nothing."

"Nothing. I like the sound of your breathing better."

"I shoulda known." He chuckled, turned the radio off and grabbed my hand. "I like the sound of your breathing better too," he whispered huskily and his hand shifted to my knee. I couldn't help it, I moaned.

"You have no clue what you do to me, my Dimka."

"Straight back at you, my Roza."

"I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes. But I love you more."

"We aren't going into that argument. Not now, not ever. It'll never end if we start it."

"You've got a point, my love." My heart skipped a beat and I forgot how to breathe.

"You!" I teasingly chastised once I recovered. "Oh, never mind."

"You're reaction was adorable. You are beautiful my dear. So, so beautiful it hurts."

"I've made you melt again."

"I never har- Roza! You and your innuendo lead in!" He teased.

"Sorry Dimka! You put your foot in it this time." I giggled and blushed. About two hours later we made a Macca's stop, then a gas stop an hour after that.

It was about five am when we arrived at the Badica's house. I could hear children playing excitedly from inside the house and the smell of home cooking wafted through the chilly beginning-of-winter air. Snow had only just started falling but Schoenberg was outside clearing it as he did, what I assumed to be, a perimeter and ward check. He was possibly also waiting for us to arrive because his head snapped up and his eyes homed in on our car the second we entered the driveway. Okay, now the nerves truly set in. How was I meant to compare to him? How was I meant to impress him?

Dimitri interrupted my thoughts when he opened my door and, like the gentleman he was, offered me his hand. "Roza. Calm. You can do this."

"I hope you're right. Or your ass is mine when I'm allowed back in the gym, properly." I grabbed his hand and stepped out of the car. He shut the door behind me and used the remote locking, his hand that held mine never letting go.

"You will be fine. Just give him the speech that left me in tears."

"Not funny!" I swatted him playfully and winced as one of my injuries complained. "It's not like I wrote it."

"That's exactly the point. It came from your heart. You know it's essence. You can repeat it because you know what sets you apart, you know that this," he reached around and lightly touched the bandaged tattoo, "isn't what it's all about. You know that it's not about protecting just the body but the being. You comprehend guarding better than I do. You understand what isn't remembered, what isn't taught. You know it, understand it and process it because of who you are, what you've been through. I've got five more kills, but I don't have the experience you do. You've been through so much more in the two-almost-three years since the crash. You understand how life-and-death and good-and-evil interplay. You can do this."