back."
"Great. And stay up even later."
"Not that late. I'll be back by two."
"Absolutely not. You'll be back by midnight." Olena returned to her knitting. But that had been permission if I'd ever heard it.
Viktoria looked at the clock. It was almost eight thirty. Her face told me she wasn't happy about the curfew, but she apparently decided to take what she could get. Karolina gave us an odd look as we left the room but remained silent. Sonya and Paul, engrossed in TV, barely noticed our departure. I had to find out what was going on.
"Okay," I said once we were heading upstairs, "what gives? I thought you weren't going to Marina's."
Viktoria grinned and beckoned me into her bedroom. I'd recently learned her bedroom used to be Dimitri's, and every time I was in here, I had to resist the urge to go bury myself in the bed, even though I knew the sheets had been washed countless times since those days. Somehow, I could imagine them smelling like Dimitri and feeling warm as though we were both lying there together.
"I'm not." Viktoria began rifling through her closet and pulled out a short, sleeveless red dress with lace around the straps. The fabric was stretchy -the kind that looked like it'd show everything. I was shocked when she began putting it on. It was pretty trashy.
"Is this a joke?"
Nope. Viktoria took off her shirt and jeans and pulled the dress on. She had no trouble with it, but it was every bit as clingy as it had appeared. She wasn't as filled out as I was on top, but in a dress like that, it didn't matter.
"Okay," I said, catching on at last. "What's his name?"
"Rolan," she said. "Oh, Rose. He's amazing. And this is the last night I'll get to see him before school."
I didn't know whether to feel happy for her or sad for Nikolai. This Rolan guy must have been the reason she couldn't give Nikolai the time of day.
She was totally in love with someone else. Still, that dress...
"You must really like him," I observed dryly.
Her eyes widened. "Do you want to meet him?"
"Er, well, I don't want to interfere with your date..."
"You won't. Just stop by and say hi, okay?"
It felt pretty intrusive, yet at the same time... well, I was kind of curious about a guy who could get her to leave the house in that kind of outfit, particularly when she started applying really heavy makeup: extra-dark eyeliner and bright red lipstick. So I agreed to meet Rolan, and we left the house as quietly as we could. Despite wearing a coat over her dress, Viktoria still didn't want to run into her mother.
We headed downtown, following a few twists and turns until we ended up behind what looked like an ordinary warehouse in an abandoned part of town. All was quiet, but a tall, tough-looking dhampir stood by a door leading into the building, his arms crossed in front of him. Viktoria brought us to a halt nearby, saying we had to wait there. A minute later, a group of Moroi men of mixed ages wandered up, chatting and laughing. The dhampir gave them a once-over and then opened the door for them. Light and music spilled out until the door shut-and all went silent again.
"So this is Baia's secret dhampir world," I murmured. She didn't hear me because suddenly, her face lit up.
"There he is!"
She pointed to two approaching guys. Both were Moroi. Well, who knew? Viktoria's secret boyfriend wasn't a dhampir. I guessed that wasn't too shocking, really, though the way she'd dressed tonight still bothered me. She gave him a fierce hug and introduced us. His friend was named Sergey, and he smiled politely before hurrying inside where he was apparently meeting a girl too.
I had to give Viktoria credit: Rolan was hot. His hair was dark auburn, soft and wavy. The green of his eyes reminded me-painfully-of Adrian's.
And when he smiled at Viktoria, it was dazzling. The look on her face was exactly like Nikolai's whenever he was around her.
Rolan took a hold of Viktoria's hands and brought them to his lips, kissing each one. Those green, green eyes gazed at hers, and he murmured something I couldn't hear. She blushed and replied in Russian. I didn't need any translation to know the content was sexy and flirty. Still smiling, he glanced over at me, and although she'd introduced us, it was like he was noticing me for