What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Chapter 1

I do not own the characters they belong to Richelle Mead.

A/N: This is a revision to the original fanfic I wrote and began to post on another site at the end of December. Unfortunately due to some misunderstandings over assumed permissions the story had to be removed. I have now revised the story removing the character conflicts and expanded the chapters in some areas and I'm posting it here. After these first four chapters, I will try to post a chapter, of which there are 36, every day or at least every two days. I hope you enjoy it.

On another note, I've been told that Russian men don't actually call their significant others Milaya, they choose to use other words but I like the look and sound of the word so I'm going to continue to use it in my writing, like a lot of us on these fanfic sites.

Vampire Academy

What a Difference a Year Makes?

Chapter 1

It has been nearly three months since I saved my friends from the ancients in Spokane. I think we all still get nightmares and appreciate we were lucky to survive. I for one never thought hacking the heads off two strigoi would be so traumatic and I always give a shudder when I think about how the battle lust took me. I think a little darkness was at play there but the fact we all survived makes me think, that time, it was worth it.

A lot has happened since then. It's hard to know where to start. Mother, after being a little affectionate in Spokane, faded back into her life of distancing herself from me. I'm not sure why but I just don't think she can handle motherly duties. However, as one parent departed, another surfaced. My father decided to grace me with his presence. I must admit it was very amusing. He turned up at the Academy a month after Spokane, claiming to be a lawyer acting on behalf of a relative; it turns out he actually is a lawyer. Although I had never heard who my father was, I pegged him from the start. He had my colour eyes and hair, his skin was the same shade as mine and the way he watched and spoke to me, as if being possessive, was all it needed for me to call him out. The mighty mobster moroi, Abe Mazur, rendered speechless by his seventeen year old daughter: Priceless. He was lucky though; it was only witnessed by Alberta, Pavel, my father's Guardian, and Dimitri. Pavel, who knew my father the longest burst out laughing, which was so infectious everyone else followed suit. In the end all of us ended up drinking coffee in guest housing filling in the blanks in both Abe's and my life.

The only one to take exception to my father turning up was Lissa. For some reason she snapped, insinuating I was moving away from her. All I can think is that she is jealous. She, after all, was the one who used to have a happy family and I was the dependant orphan-like friend. It sounds harsh me talking about Lissa like this but since my father arrived on the scene at the beginning of February she has not said a word to me, despite me trying to talk to her, and the bond between us has gone blank. I no longer suffer from her darkness and I don't get sucked into her head anymore. If I want to I can feel her emotions but I don't intrude. She has made her choice. Now I spend most of my time with Eddie, Mason and Dimitri.

Oh Dimitri, what can I say? He is the light that fills my waking times and the thoughts behind my dreams. He was the only one that could calm me from the battle lust in Spokane. I came round to him whispering my name and rocking me in his arms. I hadn't even realised that he had moved me from the strigoi house to a room in the hotel where my friends were being looked after. We were sat on a bed, me cradled in his lap, with his warm, strong arms around me.

"Shhh now Roza. Calm milaya. You are safe, I'm here." He kissed the top of my head, continuing to murmur soothing words to me. I began to calm, my breathing returning to normal. I leaned back to be able to look up into his face. That beautiful face which I dreamed of running my fingertips over. He smiled at me. "There you are Milaya" as he wiped the tears from my face. My eyes locked with his as we both started to lean forward, lips inches apart.