Note: This chapter is dedicated to Samwysesr. Since she gave me the idea. :D Thank you, Sam! If you haven't checked out her VA fanfics yet you soooo should. They are AWESOME XD

I was tired. Frankly, I wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. But, I'd seen the spark in Lissa's eye. God help me. Dimitri laughed seeing the expression on my face when my dress got there.

"This looks like a deathtrap..." I said.

He looked at me smirking, "I think it'll be flattering on your figure."

"There's so much lace and satin..." I muttered.

He laughed again.

"Where's your costume?" I asked, instantly curious.

Halloween was tomorrow and I still had no clue what he was going as. He didn't answer. And I put my costume in the closet turning back to look at him. And by god Dimitri was BLUSHING!

"Are you blushing?" I asked incredulously.

"No." he replied instantly.

"Yes, you are!" I exclaimed, "Why are you blushing? Are you going as something cheesy, comrade?"

I looked up at him playfully. He pulled me close and kissed me. I knew he was just trying to make me forget my question. And really? I didn't care. His hands on me were enough to distract me for the moment.

His hands moved lower from my waist to cup my ass. Yeah, this might have started out as a way to distract me, but my badass Russian god was getting just as turned on as I was. I wound my arms around his neck and he moved his hands down to my thighs. I took that as my initiative to hop up and wrap my legs around his waist. Dimitri's mouth moved to my neck and a moan escaped my lips as he moved up toward the bedroom.

*Knock. Knock.*

I groaned, "Ignore it."

Dimitri was more than happy to oblige. We were both off the clock. He laid me down on the bed and I pulled him down with me rolling over so I was on top of him.

"ROSE, CAN YOU AND DIMITRI STOP SCREWING EACH OTHER'S BRAINS OUT LONG ENOUGH TO OPEN THE DOOR?" Christian's voice rang loud and clear.

I groaned. I knew this was over as soon as Dimitri heard his charge's voice. Sometimes I want to wring Christian's neck.

I rolled off Dimitri and he got to his feet. I groaned again just as the door opened.

"Did I interrupt something?" Christian said with his trademark smirk.

"Yeah, I was just telling Dimitri how I was going to stick my foot up your ass." I replied getting off the bed and walking toward them.

Mia giggled into her boyfriend's, Cole a dhampir and Guardian, arm. Angeline stood beside them smiling.

"Lissa's looking for you, Rose. And you're supposed to bring Angeline and Mia with you." Christian announced.

"And where does you coming here come into play?" I asked.

"I'm going into town and I was coming to get my Guardian."

I rolled my eyes. I grabbed my leather jacket and Dimitri's duster. I handed it to him and he held my stake out to me. I pulled it out of his hand as our lips touched for a brief kiss. I secured my stake and gun in my holster. I put on my jacket.

"I'll see you at the party." I said before walking away.

I had to admit. As lame as I thought this party was going to be it did look pretty amazing. The Ball Room in the palace had been decorated to look like a 17th century ball room.
It was amazing. Everything glittered, gold and crème. Then there were the Halloween directions. They were hardcore. The smoke machine gave the floor this cool graveyard effect like in the movies. Cob webs and chandler lights gave the room a creepy feel.

I stood at the entrance of the room talking with Hans about security. I looked out to see Christian, dressed as Prince Charming wearing a red swirly mask that reminded me of fire. Beside him, stood Lissa. She looked beautiful and regal. She had on a simple off-white gown with capped sleeves. It had a square neckline and a gathered bodice with the prettiest satin sash. It had a brown polka dot pattern with a beautiful floral embroidery at the bottom. She looked like any other respectable young woman from the late 17, early 1800's. Her mask reminded me of a golden crown. Jill stood beside her in an olive-green halter ball gown, with a full corset bodice. Her mask was similar to Lissa's just not as elaborate.

I could just make out Sydney, in a simple long black gown with a gold bow. No doubt an addition paid for by Adrian. I smiled as I looked at Adrian beside her. His arm was around her waist and again it shocked me how good he looked in a tux.

I wandered around, continuously looking back to make sure that no one stood on my ball gown. Yes, I Rose Hathaway was wearing a deep royal purple ball gown. The black lace trimming was slightly itchy, but other than that I felt gorgeous and elegant. I actually had my hair up in a cascading side sweep, my purple and black butterfly mask firmly in place.

"Howdy, Ma'am, my I have this dress?" a familiar voice said from behind me.

I had to hold back a laugh as I turned to look at my boyfriend. There he was, all 6'7 of him...dressed as a cowboy.

"I think you're in the wrong time era, cowboy." I said with a smirk.

"So is Mia." he said with a slight tease.

Mia had come dressed as a barmaid, if you could call her outfit a dress...it was more like a piece of material. I laughed and got on my tippy toes to kiss him.

"I was kind of hoping you'd dress up as prince charming."

"Not my style, Roza." he murmured in my ear as he took me in his arms to dance.

"I prefer you like this." I said back, as we glided around the dance floor.

Yes, my boyfriend knew how to ballroom dance.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I like you all ruggedly handsome and trying to keep bad men in check."

He laughed.

"Though I can't believe you've managed to bring your duster. I think that's why you dressed up as a cowboy. You couldn't bring your security blanket along if you didn't." I teased.

He laughed, "I don't have a security blanket, Roza."

I smirked, "I doubt that."

We glided around the ballroom when the lights began to flicker.

I looked up at the lights, knowing Dimitri was doing the same. Dimitri and I instantly went into Guardian mode. I gathered the material of my gown up so I could reach my girdle. I pulled out my stake and I knew Dmitri was doing the same thing beside me. A scream filled the room as everything went black. Everyone reacted, panicked by what was going on. My ear piece went off instantly.

"Hathaway?" Hans's voice rang through.

"Yeah?" I said pressing down on it.

"We secured the queen. The princess is missing."

Shit, Jill. "All right, Belikov, Castile, and I got it."

The lights came back on then and I instantly grabbed Angeline and Eddie who looked like they'd been flirting before everything happened. Angeline's costume really didn't leave much to the imagination. She came as a stripper. Eddie stood there eyes wide in his usual guardian uniform.

I could hear Lissa calming everyone down telling them it had all been a joke. There was no reason to freak out the masses. Dimitri and I made sure not to look like something was going on. We didn't need our body language or our expressions giving us away.

"What's going on?" he asked instantly forgetting about Angeline.

"Jill's missing." Dimitri said.

"What?" he replied, I could just see the fear in his eyes. It was a manic fear...something I recognized.

We took off together out into the hall.

"Angeline, you and Eddie search the grounds. Dimitri and I will search in here."

Angeline and Eddie nodded heading outside. Dimitri and I went in two different directions. We searched the entire place, but there was no sigh of Jill.

"They couldn't have gotten that..." I began, but a sound caught my attention.

We all stopped and turned. A few men's voices and...Jill's! We all took off at a run, Eddie in the lead. We stopped just around the corner from a separate building. We watched as they forced Jill up from a hidden cellar.

"How are we going to do this?" Angeline asked, looking at me.

I could see Eddie simply wanted to charge in, but I knew he wouldn't move until Dimitri and I said something.

"Roza, you, Eddie, and I will charge in and take them down. Angeline, you need to grab Jill." Dimitri commanded.

And with that we were in motion. I called in for back-up as we took down the dhampirs and Moroi around us. Finally I turned my attention to Angeline. She was being held down by a dhampir and Moroi had a gun to Jill's head. Jill whimpered.

"Put the gun down." Dimitri said pointing his gun at the Moroi, "This isn't worth it. This place with be crawling with guardians in a few seconds."

"That's why you're going to leave us alone." The man said.

"We can't do that." Dimitri replied.

"You need her. If I kill her.."

"You don't get what you want either." I said stepping forward.

"The queen won't have a quorum. She can't be queen then."

"She can be."

The guy's eyes went wide. I could see his hand relaxing.

"She and the council signed a treaty this morning..."

With that Eddie took off at a full charge. The gun in the man's hand's went off just as Eddie tackled him to the ground. Eddie punched the man in the face as he fell back to the ground. Eddie rolled off the guy.

"EDDIE!" Jill cried out.

She fell to her knees beside him and a dark stain appeared on her gown. Guardians appeared. One picked up Jill and ran her inside. I could hear her yelling and sobbing for Eddie. I hurried over to the med-clinic. Dimitri had taken him there. Now, all we could do was wait.

One Year Later:

Dimitri and I snuggled on the couch as Eddie held Jill in his lap. We were waiting for Christian and Lissa. Adrian and Sydney were fighting about something trivial and sharing little kisses here and there. I smiled, glad to see Adrian so happy.

"At least we're going out this Halloween."

"Yeah, a Haunted Hay Ride sounds a lot safer than another party at Court." Eddie said with a laugh.

"It would have been nice to see you all dressed up in that dress though, Roza." Dimitri murmured in my ear.

I laughed and pecked his neck.

"Yuck, do you two ever stop?" Christian said, stepping into the room.

"Hey, I had to watch you to be all disgustingly cute. Paybacks a bitch." I remarked with a smirk.

Lissa laughed carrying a huge bag of candy.

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"