"You know, Ash," I said in Russian as I sat down. "You might not want to look at the teacher like you want to eat him."
Ash dropped his gaze to the desk, and Doc took a deep breath, looking relieved.
"You're one to talk," Ash replied in the same language.
It was my turn to blush. Nikolai laughed.
"If the foreign language department is ready, we'll start class," Doc chided, eyes shining with mischief.
"Carry on then," Nikolai replied imperiously in English.
Doc rolled his eyes, but he also laughed. "By the way, class, we have a visitor from Russia with us today. He's a colleague. He'll be shadowing a handful of students for the week, so make him feel welcome."
Nikolai wasn't completely comfortable with the attention, but he nodded politely while the students greeted him.
Class itself was uneventful, but when Doc dismissed us, several of the students came over to talk to Nikolai.
Ash grumbled and left before I could say anything to him, but he was in a couple of my other classes, so I would see him later even if he wasn't actively following us. Of course, I would see Alex later. The thought made me shiver.
Nikolai noticed and put a hand on my shoulder. "All right?"
I nodded.
"What's Russia like?" One of the students surrounding us asked.
"What do I say?" he asked in Russian, sounding desperate.
"Be vague," I replied in the same.
"Cold," he finally replied. "Always cold. Snow everywhere. Buried in it." He grinned, and the student laughed.
He managed to answer a few other questions before Doc chased everyone off.
"Are you two doing okay?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Well, I am anyway."
"Surviving," Nikolai answered.
"You can come with me, if you want, or stay with Sofia. It's up to you."
Nikolai considered both of us before he answered slowly. "She mentioned it might be useful to have me around as protection."
Doc nodded.
"Then, if no objection, I will stay with Sofia."
Doc tightened his lips for a moment before nodding. "If I don't see you before, I'll catch up to you this evening. Try to keep the Russian to a minimum. I'm pretty sure they don't speak your dialect anymore, but there are a few Russian speakers on campus."
"Sofia was merely warning Ash that he looked like he wanted to eat you and that might be considered inappropriate."
Doc's face turned all sorts of red, visible even through his darker skin tone.
Nikolai chuckled.
"Yeah, well, uh, thanks," Doc stammered.
"You do seem to have caught the demon's attention."
Doc shrugged uncomfortably. "Apparently."
"This is a good thing," Nikolai said. "Means he is less inclined to kill us all once we free him."
Doc raised his eyebrows.
"You mentioned that was part of plan."
"Yes, if we can figure out how."
"I will put some thought toward it," Nikolai stated.
The two men shared a glance I couldn't interpret.
"Guys, I need to get to my next class."
"Quite right. Lead on."
We said quick goodbyes and then left the classroom.
Allan caught up to us once we were outside.
"Sofia!"
"Hey!" I hugged him and gave him a quick kiss.
"Hi, Nikolai."
"Allan," the Russian replied.
"How are you two holding up?" Allan glanced at Nikolai.
I took his hand, and we walked together, arms touching.
"We're fine," I answered.
Allan clenched my hand and growled softly. I saw where his attention was and sighed.
"Less fine," I amended.
Alex sauntered toward us. He didn't say anything, just met my eyes deliberately, the sneer on his face a sharp contrast to his short blond curls and sapphire blue eyes. He walked past, as if he didn't have a care in the world, though he did eye Nikolai.
"Quite certain I cannot blast him?" Nikolai whispered once Alex was out of earshot.
"I wish," Allan answered for both of us.
He chuckled, and Allan squeezed my hand.
At least I wasn't facing him alone.
Chapter 8
Sofia
I did end up having to hand Nikolai off to Doc later in the day so he could go meet with some of the administrators. Doc was going to see what options they might have for letting him continue to shadow us for the rest of the semester. It would be a good way to get him used to everything. After that, we would have to see what happened.
Victoria and I were in our dorm room working on homework when my phone chimed that it had a text.
Doc: Nik wants to check the wards on your dorm. Where are you?
Sofia: Conveniently, my dorm.
Doc: We'll be there in a minute.
Sofia: Ok.
"Victoria, Nikolai and Doc are going to sneak up here and check the wards."
"Good."
A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock on the door and got up and opened it.
Nikolai looked annoyed, and Doc had a carefully neutral expression on his face. Uh oh.
Nikolai studied the room for a minute before shaking his head. "You did well enough, but only warding her room makes it fairly obvious where she is."
"I did the best I could," Doc muttered through gritted teeth.
"Yes, yes, of course you did." Nikolai waved his hand dismissively. "Wards are fine. Simply not enough of them. I'll return."
I stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Where are you going?"
"Yes, I must ward entire building. I will be discreet." Nikolai held his hand over his head for a moment, then I saw a faint hint of blue sparkles before he vanished.
"Whoa," Victoria exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Invisibility spell," Nikolai said from the doorway.
Doc stared at the space the mage had occupied before growling.
"He's going get stuck in the elevator or something," Doc muttered, and followed him out into the hallway.
Victoria laughed.
"It's funny, but at the same time, I really do feel sorry for Nikolai. There's a lot to catch up on."
"Yeah, no kidding. I can't even imagine."
Doc came back after a minute. "He took the stairs."
"You okay?" I went over and wrapped my arms around him.
Doc hugged me back, but not with his usual enthusiasm.
"Yes. He's just…" Doc shook his head. "You do realize he's actually the next thing to royalty?"
"I guess I hadn't made that connection."
"He seems to be trying to rein it in, but he's
