Guns & Roses

Tatiana

I was running up the stairs as fast as my injured leg could take me. Reaching the rooftop, I heard someone yell from the distance.

“Hurry up Ti! Grab my hand!” Anton said, reaching out with one hand and the other tightly gripping the metal handle on the side of the chopper.

But before I got the chance to grab his, a loud Bang was heard.

Waking up sweaty and confused, I sat up the bed and heard another pound behind the door.

In a matter of seconds, Viktor entered my room like a ball of sunshine. Not.

“Rise and shine sweetheart! We have training to do” Viktor announced happily.

Getting under the covers, snuggling closer to the bed, I tried to pretend Viktor wasn’t here, but the covers were suddenly thrown off me.

“What the hell Viktor?! the sun’s not even up yet!” I yelled at him.

“So? What’s your point?” He countered.

“Us normal people need sleep, sleep Viktor, do you know that?”

“We’re not exactly normal people are we?” the idiot smirked. “and technically, you aren’t either so get a move on!” Viktor replied, going through the walk-in closet.

I knew we were far from what you call ‘normal’ but doesn’t mean I don’t strive for some sense of normalcy. But fate and me doesn’t seem to be on the same page.

Viktor came out of the closet, I mean, literally walked out throwing some gym wear, a matching set of blank and pink sports bra and leggings. He also handed me a pair of nike shoes and socks.

“Hurry up and change sweetheart, training starts in 10” Viktor said and walked out of the room.

With all the motivation I could muster at 4:30 in the morning, I grudgingly took the clothes and went to the bathroom. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and tied my hair up in a tight ponytail.

Walking out of the room, I opted to walk down the stairs to the fourth floor as my warm up. Viktor didn’t tell me what we we’re training for so I walked through the hallway looking through the glass panels admiring I meant observing muscled men doing various training. There were a few women, but it’s quite obvious that men dominate the mafia.

Some were training with staffs, guns, boxing, taekwondo, judo, and other forms of training, I knew some men glanced my way but I didn’t pay attention, I felt like I was going through the boy’s lockers. As I walked through some more, I saw Viktor waving like a lunatic from the other side.

He walked through the door and suddenly stilled.

“Get back to your stations now!” Dimitri’s voice sounded so powerful and dangerous that the little hairs on my back stood up. Apparently, my presence have spiked their curiosity and there were men peering from their respective training rooms.

At Dimitri’s command, the men quickly scattered and went back to their training. Dimitri walked towards us and I can’t help but remember our little escapade.

“Good morning Boss, slept well?” Viktor asked from behind me.

“Very much so” Dimitri replied huskily.

When I looked up to meet his eyes, the bastard even had the nerve to wink at me. I was so sure that my whole face was as red as a tomato. Thankfully, Viktor had already went inside the training room and didn’t see the whole exchange.

From the looks of it, this training room was for knives and blades. Throwing boards filled with punctures lined the walls of the room. From the corner of my eye, I saw the twins battling it out on an elevated platform, sort of like a makeshift fighting rink and Anton battling it out with another man from the other corner.

An unfamiliar man was circling the twins, supervising the whole fight. He looked older, even older than Dimitri. Judging by the peppered hair he’s sporting and the air of maturity he had, I assumed he really was older. Even so, he was still a looker, prominent jaw, a well-trimmed beard, huge body but no taller than Dimitri.

“When blocking put your other foot behind, Alexei! Don’t rely on your arm strength only, you’ll balance yourself more that way.”

I immediately recognized the voice from last night, it was Boris, the man who interrupted mine and Dimitri’s heated moment. Although I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining? He did prevent me from committing potentially regretful actions.

As if having sex with him was far more sinful than murder. I rolled my eyes at that thought.

“Andrei! How many times do I have to remind you, don’t put all the force on your upper body or else-”

Boris’s voice was cut off when Alexei managed to successfully block his brother, and in the process shoving him off making Andrei fall to the ground.

“Or else you’ll fall right on your ass” Boris finished.

“Don’t worry lil bro, you’ll get me next time” Alexei teased, offering Andrei a hand.

“By 10 fucking seconds, ‘lil’ my ass, Oh, and you bet I will” Andrei replied, taking Alexei’s hand and pulling himself up.

“Boris, this is Tatiana Romanov” Dimitri introduced.

“Nice to meet you Tatiana, My name’s Boris Orlov, I supervise all the training” he said as he offered a hand.

“Likewise” Shaking his hand.

“Are we training solo or partner for today?” I asked Boris,

“Both, the morning session is partners and the afternoon is the individual practices. I need to assess your abilities before we could strengthen whatever needs to be improved, and a battle is one way of finding out” he explained.

Although I prefer training by myself, what he said actually makes a lot of sense, we did something like that back in the agency but since my team was far more advanced, we trained individually.

“So who am I partnering with?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Me, sweetheart” Viktor said as he walked off to the table filled with different types of knives. I shrugged and followed him to the table.

“Choose whatever you’re comfortable with” Viktor said as he picked out a trailing point knife, it was short in the shape of an elf’s shoe. Going for something similar so we could have a fair fight, I took hold of the clip point knife, which was also short and straight from the handle and ends in a curve, plus ridges on the blade near the handle.

We took our places in the rink and went to position.

“Alright, Rules!” Boris said out loud. “This is a real fight, dodge and attack but refrain from wounding your opponent. You could use your arms and feet, but no other weapons apart from the knives. The fight stops only when one of you is cornered.”

We both nodded and I could see a few people were already gathered around the rink. Even Dimitri and Boris’s stance were serious, arms crossed and eyes directly on us.

“Just a fair warning sweetheart, knives are my specialty” Viktor taunted.

I faked a gasp “Shocker” I rolled my eyes at him. Positioning myself as did Viktor, Boris’s go signal started off the fight. I admit, knives weren’t exactly my strong point, but I’ll have to think of something to defeat Viktor.

Circling each other, I remained eye contact with him and anticipating his move. I was waiting for him to attack first so I could size him up. Within a flash, Viktor striked aiming for my neck but I was quick enough to dodge him, moving my body just an inch.

“You’re fast sweetheart” Viktor teased

Striking again, I raised my knife to block his, and after seconds of trying to pin one another down, we both backed away catching our breath. I noticed he was always using his left foot in advancing and I smiled internally at my plan of attack.

I was the next one to attack first, rotating the knife so its blade is pointing backwards, I attacked him at full speed, knowing quite well that he’ll easily block my attack. By pointing the knife backwards, I’ll have more control and force in pushing him down. Executing my plan, I hooked my right foot to his, effectively bringing him down as he was focusing all his strength in his upper body trying to pin me down.

With a thud, Viktor fell on the ground and quickly rolled himself before I could even pin him down.

I immediately backed away preparing myself for Viktor’s attack. I put both of my hands up ready to strike as he lunged himself at me. His knifeless hand was trying to pin my other hand so my blocking would decrease in strength. With twists and grunts, body entangled, our knifeless hands were locked together. Seizing the opportunity, I reached out my knife towards his left at the same time he reached out his towards my right. Both of us were looking eye to eye in anticipation, both knives literally on each other’s necks.

The whole training room was so quiet, no doubt engaged in our fight. Dimitri’s voice boomed, breaking the silence.

“Enough!”

Both of us let the knives down as cheers erupted from the room. Whistles and shouting were heard. I took a deep breath and laid my hands on my knees trying to calm down my erratic breathing.

Viktor had a huge smile as he patted my head.

“Good job sweetheart! Nobody’s ever been close to defeating me, excluding Dimitri of course” Viktor chuckled.

“Nice to know” I smirked.

“That was intense – awesome!” the twins said simultaneously.

I managed a small smile and muttered a small thanks in their direction. I saw Anton from the sides shaking his head while smiling as he turned around and resumed on training like the rest. I almost wanted to go to him and brag like the good old days but our friendship was kind of non-existent right now.

When I glanced at Dimitri he has on a serious face, what’s his problem?

“Good job” His tone was clipped and he turned his back and walked out of the training room.

I was looking at him confused at his sudden cold persona when a hand landed on my shoulder.

“You were great Tatiana! As expected” Boris said happily.

“Thanks, though I didn’t even win?” I asked.

“Viktor’s the best of the best here when it comes to knives. Nobody has beaten him except Dimitri, but aside from you, nobody lasted there for more than a minute” He explained.

After consulting with me on what to exercise and focus on, Boris left me to train by myself. I used the farthest corner away from the others, leaving me to my thoughts about a particular temperamental blue eyed hottie.