Hey people :D So this is the 4th part of my ALS series, so if you haven't read the others, go back and do that first :) There's more DPOV in this one, so enjoy ;)

And to everyone who has Twitter; FOLLOW WEINSTEIN COMPANY right now! They're going to release the trailer soon if people follow, or something like that. I don't have twitter, so if anything interesting happens, please PM and tell me! I'll keep looking for as much as I can without an account and will update with news if I find anything myself. We have to work together on this, people!

Anyway, enough of that. On with the story :D

This story is dedicated to my best friend Vicky (YueShadow), for reading these drafts, convincing me that I am actually funny and have stories worth reading, fangirling with me, and showing me fanfiction in the first place. And putting up with my insanity :P You go, girl. Adrian loves you too ;)

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead, all rights go to her.

RPOV

"Okay, we are leaving in 10 minutes." Dimitri shouted up the stairs

"If you aren't there, we'll leave ahead of you!" Christian added.

We all exchanged hurried glances, and finished stuffing the rest of our stuff into the final suitcase. This one contained all our toiletries and hair products that we hadn't been able to put in the car the night before, as we had needed to use them this morning. All the rest were already in the car.

We were going on a camping trip, Lissa, Christian, Mia, Eddie, Sydney, Adrian, Dimitri and I. We were escaping court for a week, because in the 6 months Lissa had been Queen she had been in non-stop meetings. She had wanted to get away for a while, but her first priority had been to change the age law. Thankfully, novices had to be 18 again before they graduated, and Moroi now had the option to take offensive magic and basic combat classes at school. It hadn't solved the problem entirely, but it had sure lessened it.

Lissa wasn't entirely supposed to leave court, it was too dangerous to leave the wards and people might have thought she was slacking off. But we had a plan to make it look like she had never left. Christian, and by default Dimitri, were supposed to be having a top-secret meeting with a fire-using Moroi in Romania, to share skills. That was total bullshit.

To replace her, Lissa had recently discovered how to make a Spirit copy of herself, something she called a 'golden shadow'. It walked and talked like Lissa, and if need be Lissa could control it from afar by sending her consciousness into it, much like I had done with the bond, but with the power to control the body, not just watch. For the duration Lissa's illicit 10 day break, she would spend 3 days in 'meetings' with Sonya discussing Spirit and practicing, after which she would be very tired and would stay in her room for a few days, recovering. Then, she would walk around like normal, but since she would still be 'under the weather', she would have no hard meetings.

Yes, a few people would talk, and say that is she had to have 'time off' then she was not fit to rule. But spending a couple of days at home was better than the admitting that she was taking a 10 day holiday, because the stress of ruling really was wearing her out. The darkness had begun to show itself a bit over the last few weeks, so we hoped that by blowing off a bit of steam in the great outdoors she could keep it at bay.

For the first part of the trip, the 8 of us would split into 2 cars, boys and girls. We were to have a road-trip type race to the campground, where we would be met by more Guardians. Lissa and Adrian had figured out how to do group Spirit charms without using too much magic. It was called a 'glamour zone'.

That meant that to anyone who was present at the time of the charm would be under it, until it was lifted. It was basically like a giant Spirit disguise, but everyone who was under it would be able to see each other clearly, but others outside of it, even other spirit users and those who suspected a charm, would not be able to see through it, unless they were present at the time of casting. It was something to do with a super-strong mix of Compulsion, disguising and Earth magic- Lissa and Adrian had teamed up to cast it, with the other Moroi in our group teaming up to help add their small amount of Earth magic to the mix.

So now, we were all set to go. It was a race to the campground, and naturally we were not relying on fair play to get us there first, especially not with Dimitri driving the other car. Each of us had contributed a few dirty tricks to ensure that our dignity remained intact, as whoever won this challenge would be able to make the following week hell for the other team

DPOV

I closed the door behind Eddie and Adrian before going over to the stairs and shouting;
"Okay, we are leaving in 10 minutes." I hoped they didn't come down just yet, though knowing Rose; they would push the deadline up to the last second.

"If you aren't there, we'll leave ahead of you!" Christian added.

I panicked for a moment. I wanted to say goodbye to Roza before we left, I wouldn't see her again for 2 days, and when I did, she wouldn't be happy to see me, as we would have undoubtedly got to the campsite first.

I needn't have worried. I heard the bedroom door open a couple of minutes later, just as Eddie and Adrian came in through the back door. They gave me a thumbs up .I nodded, and turned to smile at Roza as she came down the stairs. Before she reached the bottom, I held out my hand, and she took it.

When she stepped down onto the floor, I pulled her into my arms.
"Stay safe, Roza. No crazy driving."

She looked at me incredulously.
"Coming from you? Who drives like the bad guy in a crazy cop movie?" I just smiled.

"Only when we're running for our lives. I wouldn't want to risk crashing, and having to admit defeat."

"Well, I hope you have your speech planned, because that's exactly what you will be doing" Before I could think of a comeback, she reached up and kissed me. I gave up and kissed her back, trying to commit to memory the way her soft skin felt against mine, the feeling of electricity coursing through us wherever our skin touched, the inexplicable completion I felt when we were pressed together. We may have started off on different sides of the world, but something had brought together that was greater than distance, and it would take more than that to keep us apart ever again. In that moment, I didn't care who won or lost the race to the campsite, I just wanted for us both to be there as soon as possible, as every second apart was a second that I wished I was wherever she was.

We broke apart as someone cleared their throat behind us.
I turned to see Christian and Adrian standing there, tapping their feet on the floor impatiently, and Eddie and Mia came over to pull Roza and me apart. I kept hold of her hand for as long as possible, until just our fingertips were touching before the connection was broken and I was left feeling as though a part of me was missing.

"Come on, Cradle Robber. Drop the girl." Adrian said in a tired voice.

"Yeah, don't hog the cradle. We need her now." Mia added.

"Bitch please. You're hardly one to talk about older guys, are you?" Rose asked rhetorically. Mia looked down, embarrassed. I'd have to find out about that later.

"The sooner we leave, the sooner you'll see each other again. All of us." Lissa said, instantly dissolving the tension.

Roza picked up the last bag, and as we all walked through the door, I stole one last quick kiss, loving the feeling of light that spread throughout my body at the briefest touch, though all too soon it was gone.

Just as I got into the driver's seat, I heard saw Roza hug Eddie, then Adrian. I wasn't surprised at the first 2, but when she did the same to Christian, I knew something was up. I looked closer at her, and saw that her hands had a small amount of powder on them, the rest of which was smeared over Adrian and Christian's necks. I caught her eye and raised one eyebrow. She laughed and winked, then blew me a kiss before getting into the driver's seat of her own car.

With every second that passed, I felt more uneasy. Sure, the guys had set up a few things to annoy the girls and make their trip hell, but I was sure that whatever we could think of, Roza could do worse. She might have even thought of ways to slow us down.

I turned in my seat as I heard a commotion outside the car. The other guys were apparently fighting about who got shotgun.
"But I called it!" Whined Christian.

"What the hell? I ain't sitting next to pretty boy for the next 48 hours! His man-perfume is choking me already!" Eddie shouted back.

"I'm Moroi! It's 10 times worse for me!"

"I don't care! You can just heat up the air and make the smell go in the other direction or something." Eddie fired back.

"Good idea... but not the point. I want to ride shotgun with Dimitri! Our girlfriends have known each other longest, therefore we should stick together."

"Now you're just clutching at straws. Let's just keep the Guardians together in the front, and bloodsuckers in the back. Then we have something in common we can talk about."

"Really? Am I that bad?" Adrian asked in mock hurt.

I heard the engine of the car in front of us start as the girls began to pull away. I waited for the others to notice, but they didn't. I sighed.
"Listen, we can sort this out later or you can swap seats half way. The girls have already left, get in the car, we need to go." I said; in my best instructors voice that Roza always hated.

They stopped bickering, simultaneously turning to look at the space where the other car just was. In an almost comical way, they all scrambled for the nearest door. Eddie, with his faster reflexes, was able to get into the passenger side, leaving Christian to get reluctantly into the back next to Adrian.
As soon as they were in, I put my foot down and we were off.

RPOV

After I had hugged Adrian and Christian, I saw Dimitri looking at me suspiciously. He had seen me rub the itching powder onto them. I winked at him, and turned away, smiling at the sight of the rapidly growing apprehension in his eyes. I hadn't actually put any itching powder on him, or Eddie, it was more rewarding to let the power of the mind trick itself. In this case, at least. I opened the door and climbed into the car and shut the door, turning to the girls already inside.

"OK, Lissa, Mia, do your thing." The 2 Moroi smiled, and closed their eyes. Mia then turned, and waved her hand out the window. The guys it would look like a goodbye gesture, but we knew better. The rainwater that had been artfully bent around a certain patch of paint on the car slipped off, leaving behind the image of a certain part of the male anatomy, with the words 'I love' in front of it. The white paint we had used was reflective and glow in the dark as well as a total contrast to the black paint of the SUV. This was going to be fun.

As we drove away, I took one last look in the rear-view mirror, just catching Dimitri's eyes as he watched us go, before leaning out the window to yell at the guys for being such douche bags. Well, probably not exactly that, but whatever. Once I heard the car behind us start up, I picked up the in-car radio, and pressed the button.

"So long, sukkas. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat the Bitchmobile."

Whatever, Rose. You just remember this confidence you once had when you're admitting your defeat at the campsite. Christian's voice came through tinny. Yuck.

"You have that wrong, my fiery little friend. We won't be admitting defeat, you'll be begging for it."

We all cackled evilly, before signing off.

So there's the first chapter, hope you liked it. Remember, go follow the Weinstein company on twitter if you haven't already. Fangirl army, go! ;D

Review and get to road trip with Dimitri :)