Nobody in there senses would come up to her room without it being official business and when Dmitri walked in with her plate of warm food she felt her protective cloak fall off, wrapping her legs under the thick blue covers of her bed she settled down as Dmitri sat down close to her. Handing her the plate, she began to eat slowly thinking careful of what her father had just told her.
“You miss him?” It wasn’t rare that Dmitri would ask her questions, he always had a sense of how she was feeling. Even though he or she didn’t show the knowledge they had on each other.
“Yes I do, he’s my father, apart from Uncle Roland he is my last living relative.”
Roland preferred a more Mediterranean air than the Northern air unlike his brother, he liked to visit around six times a year to check on his favorite and only niece. He wasn’t at all like Nicholas but he did understand the family business and he was an ambassador which gave him connections. Two faces of the same coin, Catherine remembered clearly what her father always stated whenever he talked to his brother. Roland would always take that as a tease and ended up joking around. Maybe as the years progressed brotherhood never died. Especially as the men got older, there jokes became a lot more lame. Roland loved Catherine, almost as a daughter and he wasn’t too bad with a gun which made them both eager for target practice.
The only other relative she would be able to have was her mother. Catherine never really thought about the mother she never had. She hardly remembered her, and the only image she had of her was one of the photograph his father had showed her when she was eleven years old and had finally wounded up the courage to talk about her.
She was a truly extraordinary woman. I remember her, she is identical to you. If she wasn’t your mother she could’ve been your sister. Her father had said that as he had pulled out a Polaroid from his jacket pocket and showed him the image of a woman. Standing proud and tall smiling at the camera as she sniffed a white rose. Sapphire blue eyes, just like Catherine’s, but she was a blonde. The only difference between them. Catherine had inherited her father’s brown hair, she left it long and made sure it was well kept, no split ends, no dried out hair. All natural.
“You don’t think about her a lot do you?” Dmitri noticed the look Catherine got whenever she thought about something that wasn’t common in her mind.
“It’s better that way, that’s what Father says.” She shrugged nonchalantly but Dmitri knew what was really going on. Of course she wanted a mother. Catherine never really had a girlfriend to talk or a female in the house. The cook left the food warm in the oven and the laundry was sent away.
“Yeah probably,” Dmitri settled down next to her trying to seem as casual as possible, just to lighten up her mood, “I mean, you have me, what could possibly be better than that?” nudging her with his elbow she smiled,
“Oh anything is better than that,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.
“I can make you change your mind, “ she set her plate down on the bedside table and was suddenly being pinned down by Dmitri on her bed. Catherine blushed and quieted, her heart thudding as she felt his body press against hers.
“Highly doubt that, get off me you pathetic excuse of a guy.” Smiling at her joking around, he kissed her cheek and got off her. Sitting up, “If you couldn’t do it five years ago, you can’t do it now.” They sat back down in the original position they had been in, but now their elbows were touching.
“Yeah, you were so cute back then. What happened to you?” she nudged him with her elbow hard, and started thinking about the night they had met.
Nicholas had been saying good night to Catherine and even though she was sixteen years old, he always enjoyed tucking her then singing with her a Russian lullaby he had learned when she was a baby and was unable to sleep. They never expected any guests, and this had been during the time her father hadn’t set up any cameras around the perimeter of the house. The doorbell that was barely used rang and her father reached for the gun that was permanently nestled on his waist band. He smiled as his daughter reached for the small gray Glock nestled in the safety of her bed side table.
Once as they were going downstairs, all the men either bare chested and wearing pajama bottoms or standing just there in their boxers. They all held guns, Catherine stayed by the stair case where to men were already standing in front of her, she had scowled at her father but obliged as he went to the front door and opened it just a crack so he could see who was outside but not enough for the visitor to enter the house. And even if he did enter the house uninvited, he would be dead in seconds. Then Catherine remembered hearing the phrase that could only mean one thing, he knew about the organization and wanted to join.
“Stars shine bright,” her father had been the one responsible to answer but before Catherine had stopped herself, she had answered
“In your darkest night.” There eyes met for a second that night, but it was enough for Catherine and Dmitri to have a special connection. She had slept in her father’s room, not hers and when she had woken up, she found out that Dmitri would be her tutor and her caretaker when her father did one of his major trips.
Catherine had gone into the immense library and once she had picked up the book she had been reading the day before she felt someone behind her. Immediately she turned to defend herself, but someone was holding the wrist where she had aimed at his face. Then she saw his eyes, the dark mysterious almost black eyes.
Good, next time don’t aim for my face. It’s too predictable, feeling the challenge Catherine bent and made him fall. She had smiled and looked down at him,
Next time, don’t touch me. You’ll lose a limb, Dmitri responded to her smile and managed to sit back up
You are your father’s daughter, Dmitri. He held his hand out to her, she had shaken it confidently liking the way his hand felt over hers.
Ekaterina; Catherine Romanov. Then he had taken her book at talked to her about it. Catherine always remembered that day, and she enjoyed it. Dmitri was her friend, her constant companion apart from her father. She enjoyed his company, especially now where she felt lonely.
“C’mon Cat, you’re tired. Try to rest, we’ll go out tomorrow. Dancing and a bit of Vodka drinking.” She smiled and leaned her head against his chest, her cheek pressed gently against the smoothness of his shirt. She knew he wasn’t going to stay, but she wanted him here right now.
“I told you already not to call me Cat,” he smiled stroking her hair softly,
“I told you, I will only call you Cat in private.” She slapped him gently and closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat to be able to calm down, until finally her eyes closed and she was in deep sleep.
Catherine usually dreamt about being alone in a lone field but this time, she say Dmitri there. This wasn’t surprising she had dreams of Dmitri, this time it wasn’t just Dmitri, Jonathan was there. And they were standing there like in an awkwardly made triangle.
Catherine’s lungs burned, but she continued to push her legs as fast as they could go. Her brown and face had a fresh sheen of sweat covering it. She didn’t bother to stop and catch her breath, out here alone she felt the strongest. Nobody was faster than her, not even the most agile and quick of the men could ever outrun her. And many had already tried, but she always beat them out.
Circling the property she followed the path that had been marked out by the years she and her father had gone running together until her father decided to not stay as much in shape anymore. She passed by the woods that acted as a shield to the manor and stood by a large nondescript tree to regain her breath. She heard the crack of the twig before she could even turn her head and was ready to make the firs hit when she saw that Jonathan had his hands up in surrender before they had even started.
“Easy Ms. Catherine, I’m not going to harm you. I had enough yesterday and I’d rather let these ribs heal before I break them again.” Catherine loosened her position and look up still panting.
“Sorry, it’s just. I’m not usually bothered when running.” He hadn’t been running but walking, she must’ve been really far away from the property if he had followed her. He looked pale, and was having a hard time breathing.
“I apologize actually I was just looking around, checking perimeter. I didn’t know you ran.” The way he spoke to her, it was respectful yet intimate.
“It’s better exercise than staying in doors all day and hitting a punching bag.” He smiled as he continued to look around, “You can relax here Jonathan, if there was someone out there we would’ve known already. There is a reason we are secluded. My father is a smart man, he wouldn’t have picked out this place without putting up precautions. Entrances, exits, driveways, they are all covered by cameras. Nobody could come in here uninvited and come out alive or semi alive.” They both smiled as if it was an inside joke and they decided to head on walking. Jonathan kept his distance from her.
“Don’t get me wrong Ms. Catherine, but your father sends men to beat you up?” She snorted before she could stop herself but he didn’t seem to mind.
“It’s mostly me that beats them up. My father developed a theory. Each man has a weakness, and to most of these men. Women are their weakness. But before they even enter this job, they don’t consider the fact that a woman can be probably the most innocent beautiful person out there and be a true fighter.” Catherine wasn’t sure if she heard next was right or not but she continued to walk,
“No, that’s you already.” Jonathan mumbled to himself, then cleared his throat.
“How did you learn to be so good?” Catherine didn’t answer but she remembered when she turned 13, and her father had finally decided she was going to learn more than simple self-defense. She was ready for Rukopashka.
“My father had always thought I was strong; I wasn’t part of the business yet. But as I grew up and became more of a woman, my father saw potential, real potential. He had finally come up with an idea on how I could help around. I was willing to become. Of course, I had no other choice. I wanted to and I had to. So I just joined.”
Jonathan was listening intently, trying to decipher her out as they walked at a leisure pace. She was reserved, very guarded; he found out that as much as he didn’t want to think of her Catherine was already in his mind. He tried the night before focusing on Lorraine but instead of being with Lorraine in his dreams, Catherine was there. And Lorraine looked like she had been giving him permission. But he listened intently to her, while she was thinking about her first session.
It had been around late morning until finally her father and she had been standing in front of each other. She had been hesitant but her father was willing to have her defend herself.
“Do it Ekaterina! Keep your center of gravity low. Do not dare to hesitate!” She tried to get a couple of good hits on each other. Catherine wasn’t really focusing, she was more hesitant. And her father wasn’t harming her, but she hadn’t been prepared for this.
“You are thirteen years old! Do you want to let a man take advantage of you?!” Catherine fell to the floor panting; she had been holding the tears back but now she let them flow. Her father immediately stopped and remembered, that this wasn’t any of his men. This was his daughter, he knelt down on the floor, sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. Soothing her as she relieved the stress she had never felt before.
“I want to do it, daddy. I really do, but I’m not strong enough.” He had brushed his hands in her hair, softly.
“No, my Ekaterina. You are stronger than anyone, you have mental quickness, agility and speed. All you have to do is coordinate it. Never in life will you be not strong enough. You are my daughter, Ekaterina Romanov, never shall you let someone bring you down.”
“Daddy…” she had hesitated again,
“No, Ekaterina. Your strength is not in your muscles or limbs. It is in your mind and in your heart. You would never disappoint me would you?” She had shaken her head, and started to breathe normally, seeing this Nicholas had kissed her head then gotten up, with his usual joking tone spoke again, “That’s my girl, C’mon get a good hit on your father.”
Catherine had brushed under her eyes and finally managed to being fighting, her father’s words had stayed in here heart and mind since that day. By the end of the day, she still wasn’t good enough to beat her father. But throughout the course of the year and before she turned fourteen she could take a full-grown male and take him down in less than ten minutes. That’s when her father saw her true potential and was more proud of his daughter.
“You enjoy what you do?” Jonathan asked bringing Catherine back to the present, instead of eight years ago.
“It’s probably not the right thing to do, but it’s what my family does. I enjoy it,” he nodded at her response. They continued walking in silence. “What made you decide to join? It couldn’t have been easy. This is not a walk in the park.”
Jonathan flabbergasted by her question swallowed and looked ahead, trying to look deep in thought.
“Lorraine used to be my wife, she was everything to me. Then one night, she was driving back from her job. Drunk driver killed her in seconds. I was already at home, waiting for her.” Jonathan swallowed back the tears that were threatening to escape, “I disappeared after her death, I didn’t want the pity or the misery. It took me a while to realize that I couldn’t shut myself out. But I could put myself out there and fight for something. I couldn’t fight for Lorraine anymore, but I could just fight.” Catherine had stopped walking, Jonathan watched her and looked into her sapphire blue eyes again. She wasn’t sorry, she was sympathetic. Her hand touched his arm, and they were both surprised when they felt a warmth between them.
“ Zhiznʹ ne izmenit•sya , yesli ne izmenitʹ sebe.” It was the first time Catherine had spoken Russian to anyone but her father. She didn’t understand why she felt the connection with Jonathan but she did.
“I’m sorry Ms. Catherine I never really paid attention in Russia one-oh-one,” she smiled and gave a small laugh, letting go of his arm.
“Life is not going to change unless you change yourself.” She turned back to walk, Jonathan followed. Making sense of how true her words were, but he couldn’t help look after her as she walked. “Don’t call me Miss, just Catherine.” Then she headed for the house, going straight up to her room, to wash off the sweat from her hair.
Dmitri again didn’t bother knocking and walked in with Catherine getting dressed, she stood there with her wet hair around her, jeans and her bra. He looked at her, and she smiled and put her blouse on.
“You saw something you liked?” she gave a low growl and came towards her, pulling her waist close to his. She stayed there for a minute, but then shoved him away. “Do you need anything?” Dmitri looked at her, not hiding the hunger in his eyes.
“Actually, just making sure you were alright. Your father called to say he will be taking a flight tomorrow to come here. We’ll be going out tonight?” she smiled and walked out, her hand brushing his chest.
“Probably. If you behave,” Catherine disappeared downstairs to the library, leaving Dmitri speechless which wasn’t unusual. She spent her entire morning and afternoon studying.
Catherine and her father had decided it was better for her to not be part of regular education, but she would still be provided with an even better education. She never kept a tutor for more than two months. By the time she turned ten, her father was her tutor. Spending hours learning various languages, trigonometry, algebra, calculus, physics, anything that her father was able to find in books. Sometimes she would spend her time reading books that weren’t related to any of her studies. She had gone through Tolstoy and even Austen, she liked it. It helped distract her from the world she lived in.
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