Welcome to Last Sacrifice: Forever. A few things you need to know before reading:

After graduation, Rose was assigned as Adrian's guardian, and Eddie to Lissa. Christian did not receive a guardian, due to the Ozera name. They moved to live/work at the court. Dimitri's story remains the same. Otherwise, this follows the series correctly.


Chapter One
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"Harder, Hathaway!" Alex's voice yelled out, and Rose came at him in a fury, fists flying left and right. He dodged most of them, but she still managed to catch him with a hard right hook to his jaw. Stumbling backwards, he countered her next attack with a feint to the left, and she fell back, breathing hard as she studied him for any sign of weakness. Just as his left shoulder sagged for his next attack, she was on him, sending them tumbling backwards, her fist aimed at his chest. They landed hard, and as the air went out of his chest, he raised his hands in defeat, her fist pretending to hold a stake to his heart. A bead of sweat dripped from Rose's nose.

"Better," was all he said, and she rolled off of him onto her back, catching her breath. He stayed laying down, and turned his head in her direction, grinning, "Good job, Rose. I thought I had you there." She laughed, "Come on, Alex. Get real." Pushing herself up, she grabbed a towel, dabbing at her forehead and neck. It had been years since someone had challenged her like Alex did - the last time was with someone she refused to think of by name.

'Dimitri..' Her subconscious was quick to supply. Damn it!

Said man had left court 3 years ago, shortly after she was released from prison for a supposed assassination attempt on Queen Tatiana's life. He had fought tooth and nail to protect her from the guardians who had come to take her away, and yet he still pushed her away again after she was free again. And left with Tasha Ozera, to god knows where.

'Damn it!' She thought again, walking towards the locker room. She liked to think she did a pretty good job of forgetting, but every now and again a memory slips through, and its goodbye happy Rose. At least training took her mind of things. Alex Castile, Eddie's oldest brother, was technically her boss, but also her closest match in a sparring partner. After Dimitri had left, she threw herself into training, pushing her body to its limits daily. The result of that was most guardian's keep their distance from her on the sparring mats. Alex was one of the few who liked to try to take her on.

She showered quickly, realizing it was close to dinner. If she hurried, she might catch Lissa before she and Christian get too caught up in each other. She threw on a fresh guardian outfit - black, black, and more black. Working within the court, she was technically working Monday to Friday, so at least she could wear her own clothes on the weekends. Thank god Lissa decided to stay here - Adrian, her Moroi, didn't have a choice other then living at court. Being separated from Lissa, Eddie, and - hell - even Christian would have sucked.

Checking her watch again, she picked up her speed, heading towards the big hall dinner was served in. As she hurried through the corridors, she thought back to the day she graduated, and got Adrian Ivashkov as her charge. It had been a huge shock when Eddie got Lissa, but she got over it fairly quickly. Adrian had been there quite a bit for her, even gave her money so she could go on a trip to Russia, to hunt Dimitri in his strigoi form. They got along fairly well, and although she was pretty sure he was madly in love with her, he kept everything on a friend level. Well, almost everything. There was a small matter she'd been meaning to discuss with him involving dreams and red dresses...

Finally, she reached the hall. She walked in with her shoulders straight, glancing around for the usual table. Lissa gave her a wave, and she made her way over, sitting between her and Adrian.

"What took you so long, Little Dhampir?" Adrian asked, cutting his food delicately. She shrugged, stealing a piece of garlic toast from his plate, "Caught up training. Eddie, your brother almost had me this time." Eddie rolled his eyes, "Yeah right. If that were true the whole court would know by now!" Next to Eddie, Mia giggled, "He's not that bad, Eddie!"

"Sure he is, remember when he and Rose made out after-" Christian started, but was cut off by an elbow from Lissa, who glared, "That was years ago."

"Yeah, fire-boy," Rose offered half-heartedly, rolling her sore shoulders. Adrian absently switched his fork to his left hand, and put his right on her back, rubbing slow, delicious circles on her tired muscles.

"What, Rosemarie doesn't have any comebacks tonight?" Christian mocked. She opened her eyes, and glared at him, not saying a word. 'I'm too tired for this shit.'

"She doesn't!" Eddie grinned, and Adrian stifled a laugh with a cough as she growled, "Watch it, Castile. I'm tired. Unlike you, some of us work all day."

"Hey, just because we aren't learning some crazy ninja stuff, doesn't mean I'm not working!" He protested. Lissa frowned, and said, "Crazy ninja, Rose?"

"Something Queen Naomi asked me to try out," she confirmed quickly, sliding away from Adrian's comfortable touch. The last thing she wanted was to explain why Naomi had upped training lately, especially to Liss. She didn't need to be worrying about rising Strigoi numbers. "Look, I gotta go. I have a shift at the gates later, and I want to get a few hours in first." Adrian stood too, and said, "I'll walk with you."

"Rose, wait, I need to tell you-" Lissa started, but out of the corner of her eye, Rose caught Adrian shake his head quickly. Putting her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes, and said, "What, Liss?"

"Well.." Liss trailed off uncertainly, "Since it's nearly Christmas, we're getting a bunch of visitors from outside of court. You should know-"

"Christian! Lissa!" A happy, feminine voice exclaimed, cutting Lissa off. Rose felt her body freeze, hands still on her hips. The only thing that changed was her eyes, going from narrow to wide open in a split second. Adrian swore lightly under his breath, and Lissa winced, whispering, "I'm sorry, Rose.."

"Hi, Aunt Tasha!" Christian grinned, going over and pulling Tasha in for a big hug. Rose turned slowly, hands still on her hips, as Tasha moved from Christian to Lissa. Lissa pulled from the hug, and grinned, "You look great, Tasha!" She did, Rose though grimly. Tasha's short hair had grown out a bit, framing her delicate cheeks and big, bright eyes. Tasha looked at Rose, and for a second Rose saw the uncertainty as Tasha tried to figure out who she was. It gave her a tiny bit of satisfaction. She had definitly changed in three years - her hair was longer then ever, cascading in waves down her back. She had gotten a bit taller, and her curvy figure was completely toned from pushing herself so hard. It was her face, though, that had changed the most. It had matured, her mother liked to say. Sexified, as Adrian liked to put it. Yeah, just because he was acting properly with her didn't mean he was completely reformed.

"Rose?" Tasha asked, clearly surprised. Rose nodded, "Hey, Tasha." She nearly winced at the defeated tone in her voice.

"God, Rose, you look amazing!" Tasha exclaimed, grabbing her into a tight hug. Her entire body was tense, and she could see Christian and Lissa exchange a look over Tasha's shoulder.

"Where are you staying, Aunt?" Christian asked, trying to distract her from Rose. Tasha grinned, staying next to Rose as she said, "Dimitri and I have a room in the guardian dorms. We'll be here for awhile, I want to see how your Offensive Magic Committee is doing!" Internally, Rose groaned, and felt Adrian's hand on her lower back, "Shall we, Little Dhampir?" Rose nodded, and said, "Well, we have to go.." She started to back away, and Adrian quickly said, "Rose-"

Bump. Strange, there wasn't a wall behind her before. She turned, confused, and looked straight into gorgeous, dark brown eyes.

"Rose," Dimitri's smooth voice said, nodding as he looking down at her. She took one step back, having to look up to him. She almost wanted to laugh - of course Dimitri's hard chest would feel like a wall. Life just hated her that much.

"Guardian Belikov," she nodded curtly, taking another quick step back. Yes, three years had treated her well, but Dimitri looked like a god. Well, more then he used to, she rationalized. His hair was perfectly in place, his face bronzed from the sun. Hell, even his accent sounded sexier. She averted her eyes, but unfortunately, Tasha still stood in her line of sight.

"Maybe you two can train together later, I'm sure you've learned things in the past few years that never came up in your times as his student, Rose!"

"She's working at the gates tonight," Adrian said smoothly. Rose shot him a grateful grin, and forced herself to say, "Nice to see you again, Tasha. See you guys later." She started to walk away, her body stiff from shock. Mumbling a quick thanks to Adrian, he grinned back, "Thats what I'm for, Rosie. You protect me, I protect you. Just.. not physically." She gave him a small smile as they reached the doors, and she heard a suggestive whistle from the right. 'Now what,' she thought, turning to face the culprit. Alex stood there, grinning, "I expect a rematch tomorrow morning, Hathaway. Anyone want to take some bets? I think I know her form well enough now."

"You definitly know her form," Adrian pointed out, as Alex swept his gaze down Rose's body. Adrian folded his arms, raising an eyebrow. Alex mirrored his expression, and said, "Got a problem with me admiring her form, Ivashkov?"

"No, but I think she does," Adrian quipped back immediately, a small grin on his face. Alex turned his eyes to Rose, who was glaring at him, "So not in the mood, Alex. Tomorrow's on. I'll burn off some frustration on you. Though, it really is sad to be beaten by your employee..." At a few laughs, Alex rolled his eyes, still grinning, "Care you make a wager, kid?" Rose raised her chin, waiting to hear his terms. No way was the turning down this fight. After seeing Dimitri and Tasha, she needed something to take her mind of things.

"I win, you accompany me to the international guardian ball at the end of the month," Alex said, nodding to confirm his decision as a good one. Rose nodded back, "And if I win?" Everyone around them was quiet, waiting to hear what their supervisor was going to say.

"Alright. If you win, you get one week off from the gates, paid leave." A few protests were heard in the crowd, but Rose grinned and burst out, "You have yourself a deal, Castile." They shook, and from behind her, Lissa came up and laughed, "What on earth would you do with a week's worth of evenings off, Rose?"

"Adrian's going to take me to the spa," she tossed back, not looking in case she saw them again, but walking to instead Adrian. Adrian laughed, "That I will, Little Dhampir. As long as I get to indulge with you." He kept his hand in hers until they were safely out of the hall, and Rose breathed out a big breath, leaning back against the wall.

"Jesus christ, Adrian, why didn't you tell me?" She hissed, glaring up at him. His handsome face winced, then he shot her a weak smile, "We were waiting for the right moment." Rose blew her bangs from her eyes, and shook her head, "Whatever. It doesn't matter." Adrian raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the matter. They turned towards the living areas, and as they reached the hallway that seperated Moroi from Dhampir, Adrian kissed her hand, and said, "You'll kick ass tomorrow."

"I know," she grinned, "Don't forget, you have a meeting at 8 am. Need a wake up call?" Adrian shot her a brilliant smile, kissing her forehead, "What would I do without my favorite guardian?"

"Sleep in a lot more," Rose said, rolling her eyes as she pushed him away, walking down the Dhampir corridor. She ran a hand through her hair, and as she entered her room, her eyes were trained to a picture on her bedside table. It was of her and Lissa, on graduation day. Opening the back, she took the picture out, flipping it over. Taped to the back was a photo of her and Dimitri, the day she recieved her Battle mark on the back of her neck. Touching it softly, she sighed, "Christ, Dimitri. Why now?" Placing the photo back, she laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Life was going to hell in a hand basket. Yep, she nodded to herself, and she's going to be damned if everything she worked her ass for the last three years is ruined because of him. Closing her eyes, she drifted off, thinking about a tricky maneuver she wanted to try on Alex tomorrow morning...