Everything was good, no better than good everything was great. After everything that had happened everything was finally going well. Lissa and Christian are happy, Adrian met Sydney and are madly in love, Lissa is queen and I am her personal guardian and I have Dimitri. Why does it all have to end?

Today Lissa, Adrian and I (with a bunch of guardians of course) were going outside the wards to go shopping for a royal party they had to attend and therefore were dragging me along not that I was particularly complaining. I was quite excited as I had always been particularly fan of shopping but I was going there as a guardian and not a friend. My duty and my charge was Queen Vasilisa Dragomir and they (as in the strigoi) will be particularly excited to attack the queen as she is rarely not protected in court by a series of wards which are now also spirit charmed and unable to break unless by a spirit user but the strigoi haven't figured that out yet.

As the blare from my alarm broke my peaceful slumber I rolled over and looked into the most beautiful big brown eyes and smiled subconsciously. Well how couldn't you when you see someone that gorgeous. He returned my smile with one of his full ones that are usuasely quite rare but recently he has been full smile unless he wears that stupid guardian mask.

"Well hello comrade?" I say in a sweetly voice.

"Well aren't you a happy one this morning. "he says chuckling lightly.

"Same old same old except only one thing missing." And before he could ask any questions I silenced him with a kiss. It was pure bliss, sweet and kindness poured into it as our lips touched but before I could make it more passionate I pull away leaving him with a faint pout on his expression showing how much that kiss effected him too.

"Sorry comrade but I got to get this fine ass to work"

"Roza..." he growls but before he can do anything I dart into the bathroom to have a shower. I have a quick one and get dressed in guardian casual so I can still fight without drawing too much attention to myself in the mall.

As I go back into the bedroom I notice Dimitri has gone and I follow the scent of food into the kitchen to see him cooking eggs and bacon. Ah he knows me so well and plus the fact I can't cook I rely on him to keep my large appetite sated. I wolf down 3 eggs and a bucket load of sausages and bacon while Dimitri just stands there with a slight smirk on his face.

"Have you got a problem with a girl eating?" I say.

"No I just have never seen anyone eat that much in such a short space of time"

"I'll just take that as a compliment."

"Anyway off I go..." I say as I race out of the door into the van with Lissa and Adrian. As we leave the wards I put my mental blocks up which has become harder recently.

Lissa has recently been struggling with fighting the darkness of spirit as a recent string of strigoi attacks has made her use her powers of heeling and wards. Even though I'm not bonded I am still shadow kissed and still know my best friend better than anyone and I can see he black circles under her eyes and the pain in her eyes.

I turn to snooze as we start our 2 hour journey to the closest mall.

I wake up suddenly as the van comes to a halt and bang my head on the seat.

"Mother of Fuck, why is this seat in the way of my head." I say clutching my head dramatically, it wasn't that bad but combined with my shadow induced headache it was a bit of an effort.

Lissa looks at me wide-eyed but starts laughing at my outburst. "Anyway we're here so hurry up we need to shop for Lehigh. I need to make sure you look extra sexy when we go there."

I just laugh as she drags me out of the car. She takes in my appearance, dark jeans with a light tank top and a leather jacket. Classic Hathaway badass style. Not that that's a thing. She just smirks and tries to pull me into the shop but as soon as we are out of the car I turn into a guardian and stand up straight and take in my surroundings. It's daylight so no strigoi but you can never be too careful with humans helping. I scan the abandoned alley we have parked in near the woods. Some movement there sparks my attention and I snap to face it. I scan the woods but nothing, I must have imagined it as I have had this dreading feeling and I am sort of on edge.

I take up my position as near guard and follow Lissa and Adrian into the mall. We shop for hours with their unlimited budget and even without me trying anything on Lissa buys me a lot of stuff too. As we near the end with them and even some of the guardians carrying bags (which I must say seeing huge burley men carrying a victoria's secret bag is quite funny) we go to get some food as the sun sets.

"Queen Dragomir and Lord Ivashkov, if you do not mind but the sun is setting and with you being high risk targets to the strigoi I must advise you to hurry so that we can leave."

"Of course Guardian Hathaway" Lissa says as she scowls at me for using her formal title.

We surround them as daylight ends and I shuffle them into the car but as I touch them both something happens and I am frozen. It's like I am sucking them out and putting them into me. I feel the familiar feeling of darkness swirl within me and I black out.