Hellllloooo! This is my new amazing story, Destiny Awaits :D It won't be like other Dimitri-leave-Rose-for-Bitch (oops I meant Tasha) stories because those are just lame. Am I right? I usually am ;) Anyway, hope you likeys!

Chapter One

God. There was absolutely nothing worse than waking up from those horrid nightmares, the ones that left me sweating and waking up to my own tears and sobs.

"Wait! Dimitri! Wait!"

I ran faster than I'd ever run in my life. Faster than during any of those laps Dimitri had made me run. Faster than when Lissa had found the rabbit in her bathroom all those months ago. Faster than when the Strigoi attacked campus.

But it wasn't fast enough. Tears poured down my face as I watched the plane take off.

It had all happened nearly six years ago, but I remembered it as clear as though it had happened only yesterday.

I wiped the tears away and patted my hair back. Lissa was probably busy making breakfast downstairs and Christian was probably pretending to read the newspaper while actually admiring Lissa's ass while she cooked. Typical.

I dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt, my usual apparel. It had been a long time since I'd last cared about what I looked like. A long time. I saw the familiar sorrow and dullness in my dark eyes as I looked at myself in the mirror. How long had that been there? So long I couldn't really remember.

"Mommy!" Sofiya cried.

I smiled as my four-year-old daughter - almost five - ran over and hugged me. I picked her up and hugged her close to me. She was the only thing that could make me smile anymore because I could barely find a reason to smile in life. Sofiya was my only happiness.

I put Sofiya on my hip and she smiled at me. "Auntie Lissa says people are going to come over soon."

I glanced at Lissa. As I expected, she was busy making pancakes on the stove and Christian was indeed trying (and failing) to discreetly check out her ass. "Who's coming over?" We didn't have visitors too often - only Adrian, Mia, Eddie, and occasionally my mother and father. My father and Sofiya had an especially close bond.

"Christian's Aunt Tasha and Dimitri are coming to visit," she said happily, flipping a pancake. "For Zak's birthday and the wedding."

Did you hear that sound? Yeah, that was the last little bit of my heart breaking.

I almost dropped Sofiya in my shock. My hands began to tremble and I suspected I was extremely fail. "W-what? B-but the wedding isn't for three months. Why now?" No, why ever? Because I was sure I'd kill them both if I saw either of them.

"Didn't I just say? They want to be here for Zak's birthday. They've never even met him yet," Lissa reminded me. "You should be happy. It's been nearly six years since you've last seen the person who made you into a badass."

Normally Lissa was pretty good about picking up emotions but she clearly had no idea what I was going through. I was shaking and I could feel beads of sweat beginning to form on my forehead. To say I was freaking out just then would be a complete understatement.

"You okay, Mommy?" Sofiya asked. Her brown eyes - the same color as Dimitri's - showed extreme concern. She was more empathetic than Lissa was. Having two dhampirs for parents had made her extemely strange, as it should. She was almost like a spirit-user. She was so intune with energy that she could manipulate it and she was hyperaware of emotions. Physically, the odd parentage had also given her tiny fangs that were useless because she didn't need blood but they were still razor sharp.

Aside from all the strange but amazing things about her, I knew she would grow up to be a beautiful woman. She'd gotten my sunkissed-skin, facial features, and even some of my facial expressions, but she'd gotten her father's straight hair, hair color, and eye color. She smiled just like he did and even the way she moved reminded me of him - graceful and perfect. As for personality, well, she'd gotten the perfect mix. She could control her temper well, concentrate, and be polite just like Dimitri, but she was a quick-thinker, had a great sense of humor, and fought for what she thought was right, just like me.

Oh, and she loved Western books and sometimes liked to think she was a cowgirl. She always wore a cowgirl hat and matching boots. It was hilarious.

Sofiya leaned forward and put her small arms around my neck in a comforting hug. She could tell I definitely was not alright and she wanted to fix that. Indeed, her hug made me feel ten times better.

"Thank you, Sofi," I whispered to my daughter, kissing her cheek. She giggled and leaned away to smile at me. She was too perfect. All this just barely gave me the strength to ask, "When?"

"Next week," she answered. "But they might come sooner."

"Uncle Adrian!" Sofiya cried as the door opened, revealing a tidy Adrian Ivashkov. He grinned back at my daughter.

"Little princess!" he said back, using the nickname he'd given her. "Come give your favorite uncle a hug!"

Sofiya jumped out of my arms and ran into Adrian's while Christian scoffed. Meanwhile, I was preoccupied and found myself clutching the small silver heart necklace I'd worn every day for almost six years. I could remember the inscription on it exactly.

I love you, Roza

A lie so carefully concealed for far too long.

Adrian noticed this and turned uneasily to Lissa. Unlike the rest of my friends, only he knew the reason I'd been so upset since that day. Yeah, I've kept it a secret for this long and planned on keeping it that way.

"You broke the news to her?" he asked nervously.

"You mean about Dimitri and Tasha coming?" Adrian and I winced but Lissa didn't notice. "Yeah. Isn't that awesome?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," he muttered. "Um, is Zak awake yet? I haven't seen my little bud around yet."

"He's still sleeping," Christian informed him. "He was awake pretty late last night."

"Rose and I will go wake him up," Adrian told them, glancing at me. "We'll be right back."

Adrian was pulling me up the stairs of Christian and Lissa's house before I could even protest. Zak's room was right next to Sofiya's which was right next to mine. I actually lived with them, but that was because guardian pay was so low I couldn't afford one close enough to them. Mostly because they were so rich money might as well have been growing on the trees in their yard.

"You gonna be okay?" Adrian murmured when we were inside of Zak's room.

"Yeah," I lied. "I'll be fine. How long have you known?"

Adrian gave me the look that told me he knew well that I was lying but he wasn't going to call me out on it. "Only a few days. I wasn't sure how'd you react."

"I'll be fine," I repeated. I was trying to reassure myself more than Adrian.

Adrian approached the three-year-old's bed and lightly shook him. "Come on, little buddy. Wakey wakey."

I rolled my eyes as the little boy woke up. He glared at Adrian with pale green eyes and reached out and smacked him on the cheek. I stifled a laugh. Adrian glared back.

"I see how it is, little buddy," he mumbled, rubbing his cheek. "Come on. Mom and Dad are waiting for you."

"I don't wanna get up!" Zak cried. God, he was so much like Christian. If I hadn't watched Lissa give birth to him - ugh - than I would've thought that Christian had cheated on her. The only Lissa that shined through his cute toddler face was his ability to make people do whatever he wanted, and not from compulsion. Apparently it was a Dragomir thing.

"Come on, Zakary," I sighed. "There's pancakes downstairs."

That certainly got his attention. Like a bullet, the boy was racing down the stairs in an effort to get to the pancakes first. The kid loved his food and Sofiya could relate. Soon she was sitting right beside Zak waiting impatiently for her serving. The two kids were best friends, like just Lissa and I.

I sat down next to Adrian across from Lissa and Christian at the table as we ate our breakfast. Surprisingly, Christian was the real cook of the two but he preferred to make lunch and dinner, and as much as I hated to admit it he was a really awesome chef. A lot better than Lissa.

"So have you figured out who's all invited to the wedding, cousin?" Adrian asked Lissa. Surprisingly, Christian had chosen Adrian as one of the groomsmen (though it was even more surprising that he'd chosen my infamous father, Abe Mazur as one too). Eddie was going to be the best man, however. I was the maid of honor while the bridesmaids were Mia and my mother (another surprise). Mia was almost as excited as Lissa.

"Not really," Lissa admitted, blushing like she did every time her wedding was mentioned. "We haven't really thought about it much yet. I mean, we still have three months to plan it and all and - "

"You're rambling, cousin," Adrian interrupted with a chuckle.

Lissa's face heated up more. "Um, right. Anyway, um, we're inviting you guys, of course, Rose's parents. Your parents, if they want. Dimitri and Tasha. Mia's dad. Well, really anybody at Court that wants to go but we're sending personal invitations to them."

I winced. I already knew Dimitri and Tasha would be at the wedding but I still hated to think about it...even though there was a little part of me that was excited to see him again. Did he look the same? Did he still have his accent? Did he - ?

Stop it, Rose! I mentally chastised myself. He hurt me and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I was still very much in love with him. Yeah, I wasn't going to deny it, but I wasn't going to let him know it. I wasn't going to let him know that he'd tricked me and scarred me deeply.

"So what's the plan for today?" I asked, trying to distract my mind and take it away from the topic of my once-upon-a-time lover.

"Well the queen needs to see me at ten today," Lissa informed me.

"Why?" I'd never really liked Queen Tatiana but she's needed Lissa more and more recently. I wondered why. Hopefully she wasn't going to try to sell her off to Adrian again, especially because she's getting married now. Actually, she's been nicer to me too. Weird.

"Not sure, but she said it's important," she replied.

"Alright. Well it's eight-thirty right now. Christian will need to be at work soon so I'll go drop Sofiya and Zak off at the daycare." Christian worked at one of the cafes as a chef. Yeah, surprising. "Don't you have somewhere to be, Adrian?"

He shrugged and grinned. "Wherever you are, little dhampir, is where I need to be."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Even after all these years he still couldn't give up his "love" for me, even though our relationship was more of a sibling one now. And really, I wasn't seventeen anymore, I was twenty-three. He couldn't really call me "little" dhampir anymore.

"Kitty!" Sofiya suddenly cried as a small white ball of fur jumped onto her lap. It made a cute little mew sound and rubbed against Sofiya.

Yes, this was an animal house. I didn't like animals - mostly because they didn't like me - and Christian wasn't particularly fond of them but Lissa and the kids absolutely adored them. I knew there were two other cats - a black one named Guardian because it acted like one and a tabby named Scurry - lazing around the house somewhere and Christian had probably locked the three dogs - a German Shepherd named Alex, a Gold Lab named Ditto, and a small Beagle named Kitten - outside. It was pretty easy to tell which animals I'd named.

Oh, and Kitty was the small white kitten that I'd gotten Sofiya a few weeks ago when she begged me for one of her own. Kitty actually liked me - well, no. She tolerated me, but that was good enough. She loved Sofiya, a trait of her dhampir-dhampir parentage. Animals adored her.

"No animals at the table," Christian scolded Sofiya.

Sofiya looked up at him with the most adorable puppy eyes. "But...but Uncle Chrissie - "

Christian totally caved. He liked to act manly and tough but no one could resist Sofiya's puppy eyes. "Alright, fine. She can stay."

Lissa frowned when she heard none of the dogs. "Christian? Did you leave the dogs outside again?"

He looked way too innocent to actually be innocent. "Of course not, Liss. Now why on Earth would I do that?"

She rolled her eyes in return. "Go get them, Christian."

Christian sighed and mumbled profanities under his breath as he left to go unlock the door. I smiled a little at the scene and got up to put my plate in the sink. "Guess I better get Sofiya and Zak to the daycare."

Lissa nodded. "I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?"

I watched Sofiya give Kitty a tearful goodbye and then we left, me holding the toddlers' hands. The Court didn't use to have a daycare but when Zak was born Lissa begged the queen to build one. Eventually, she did. Before it didn't seem like there was a use for one until everybody realized just how much people actually needed their services. The owner of the daycare was a nice Moroi lady named Christina. She was a mother herself and absolutely amazing with kids.

"It's good to see you again, Rose," she greeted me. "And you guys, too."

"Hi Christina," Sofiya and Zak said at the same time. They liked her as much as I did.

"I'll see you guys later," I said. "Love you."

"Love you Mommy!" Sofiya called.

"Love you Auntie Rose!"

I left with a small smile on my face.

What's up my amazing people? Did you like the story? Stupid Dimitri ruined Rose's life. Like what the hell was he thinking? :P So REVIEW FOR AMAZINGNESS! :D