Incomplete (A VA Fanfic One-Shots & Shorts Collection)

Fearsome family

Katya'sPOV

I was on my way out of my room when my path was blocked by my cousin. "Zoya!" I teased. She was a St Vlad's Senior and I was St Vlad's Sophomore, though sometimes it felt like I was the senior.

"Katya!" She laughed back before pulling me into a hug. If you didn't know better you would say we were sisters. Thanks to the Belikov gene I looked like my father. Height included. I was lucky to get my mother's curls and curves.

"Cuz- it's only been a day!" We were on the annual Christmas Ski-Trip and I'd been in training all day. Thank you Mom! Thank you Dad!

"Your parents are kill-joys."

"Watch it Zo," I warned, "they're your uncle and aunt too. The only reason you're out here and allowed to become a full-fledged guardian." We'd basically adopted her when she was eight, she had her heart set on becoming a guardian like Mom. She loved my parents so much she actually called them 'Mom' and 'Dad' frequently, and Aunt Karo didn't mind- she was still 'Mama' to Zo. "And they're not that bad. It's just this time of year."

The crappy begging of their relationship, Mase Ashford's death and Mom's first kills all rotate around Christmas and it takes it's toll. On the two of them, as well as my two little brothers and three little sisters, as well as me.

"Yeah. It is. And it's understandable. I wouldn't be ready to go through all that at this age. Sorry Kat."

"All good Zo. Now, where are we heading?"

"Dinner!"

"With?"

"Ivashkov-Sage and Dragomir-Ozera."

"The parents or the kids?"

"Both."

"And badass Belikov's?"

"Off duty, so Mom and Dad will be there."

Ew! Off duty around Christmas always translates into extreme lovey dovey. And another sibling more often than not. How they hid that passion and love when Mom was still in school I'll never know. I knew the story- from everyone's side (bar Tasha's, naturally)- but it was still glaringly obvious they were made for each other. "Ew! You know what that usually translates to."

"Which is worse? On duty and unapproachable, or off duty and likely ending up with another baby in the family?"

"Immediately? On duty. Long term? Another baby. Nine months of a mother from hell, followed by a permanent addition to the badass Belikov bunch." Okay. That's not totally fair. Dad keeps an overly-hormonal Mom in check, and both love us to bits. And, unlike her mother and father when she was our age, she's around for all of us- as is Dad. They shouldn't be able to have children so they treasure and spoil us.

"You know you actually like having a big family Kat. You know you're meant to be impossible and that each extra baby makes the Strigoi scared."

"Hmm. Zo. Do you always have to be right?!" I teased.

"Yes. Because you're too tough on Mom and Dad."

The Strigoi quaked every time the word of another Rose and Dimitri Belikov offspring spread. Both of my parents had personal enemies in the ranks, as a result of their past involvement and of their hunting. Dad still hadn't 'dealt with' 'destroying' his past contacts and their contacts. Each year, around Mom's birthday, they went hunting. It still worried me, they were the best out there and both had 'immunity' against being turned but that wasn't what worried me. It was their mental states. They looked after each other's but I had to wonder just how tough it was on them to go after those who wanted them dead, wanted their children dead.