Chapter 4:

RPOV

To say I was anxious was an understatement. I had to remind myself all this stress wasn't good for the babies. Adrian was due back from Alaska this afternoon. He hadn't contacted us to say if he succeeded or not.

After class I waited in front of his room. I must have waited for more than an hour before he showed up. He looked tired. He took a look at me and a small smile was at his lips. If it was a smile of success or pity I could not decipher.

"Come on little Dhampir, let's talk inside."

I followed him. I sat on his bed and he was still standing.

"Okay the bad news is, Victor seems to be a lot smarter than we thought. Once I told him we were trying to find his brother, he immediately knew I was asking for you and not myself."

I held my breath. Victor could be a vindictive person. If he knew I was benefiting from this information he will try very hard not to give it to me. After all I am partly responsible for putting him in jail.

"But he did tell me where to find Robert, after I threatened to split his skull open if he didn't tell me."

I was ecstatic, we were one step closer to getting Dimitri back. For the first time since Mark had told me about Robert I actually thought we could do this.

"Rose, he also knew why we wanted to talk to Robert. He knows Robert restored a Strigoi once. Meaning this isn't all a fairy tale. This could actually be true."

I could not hide the biggest smile on my face. This was going to work. I placed my hand on my stomach. This was important for them too. I hugged Adrian and I stayed in his embrace. But after a moment or two he pulled back. He sat down on the bed and I sat next to him. He signed, something lying heavy on his heart.

"Rose, he told me that I shouldn't tell you, so you don't know how to bring Dimitri back, and I am ashamed to admit it, but for a moment I thought about it. I know that once you have him back, there will be no question of who you choose. I want you to be happy, but I had hoped you could be happy with me. I am sorry"

"Adrian, I…"

I really didn't know what to say. I knew he cared for me. But I didn't know he loved me this much.

"Why did you tell me? You could have kept it for yourself."

He sighed again. He looked at me and he cupped my cheek.

"Because I believe the twins deserve their real father, or that this is the best way of making sure Dimitri isn't a threat to you anymore. But I also know that dead or alive your heart belongs to him. I am not the one you went to Russia for. I am not the one you nearly tried to kill yourself for. I will always be there for you Rose. You are my friend, but to you that is all I will ever be. So what kind of man would I be if I denied the women I love the one chance of happiness. I love you enough to let you go. I just needed a little time to understand that. I will find someone who will love me as much as you love Dimitri."

Wow. I didn't know Adrian could be this serious. But I was glad. He seemed to understand something I figured out a while ago. Even if he did love me, he didn't understand me like Dimitri did. And I didn't understand him like I did Dimitri. It was the fact that Dimitri and I are such a like and balance each other out that created the strong bond between us. That was lacking in Adrian and I. I knew that there was a girl out there for him that did that for him. And when he would find her, he would know the difference. I can only imagine what kind of girl that would be. She would be something special. Well I guess he can't get any more controversial then a runaway lowborn Dhampir, can he?

I hugged him again and we fell together on the bed. I had been sleeping with Adrian a lot lately. I was wondering now if that was a mistake. If it made it that much harder for him. It was selfish of me to cling to him like this, just because I didn't want to be alone. I was about to get up and leave when he tightened his grip on me.

"Stay, little Dhampir. Just because I need to get over you, doesn't mean I can't do that with you still here. "

I smiled and relaxed again in his arms.

"Besides, when we do get Dimitri back, I can totally torture him with this. I had his women in my bed for quite a while."

I looked at him and he was wiggling his eyebrows. There he was. The Adrian I knew. I giggled and playfully slapped him on his chest.

"Please don't. He will have a hard enough time as it is, knowing the world thinks you're the father of his children."

I saw him think about that. Although we all knew it was in the twins best interest to be ordinary Dhampirs sired by a Dhampir mother and a Moroi father, and I would imagine Dimitri sharing that sentiment, we hadn't considered how he would react to that particular piece of information. I knew Dimitri was jealous of Adrian before he was turned. I don't think this would make it any better. Funny, seeing as Adrian was mostly jealous of Dimitri.

"So where is Robert anyway?"

"Well the Gods have smiled upon us this day. Because Robert is in the one city where I can go to and nobody will think twice about it. I mean where else would I get more booze and women to slake my lust then Las Vegas."

Las Vegas. Robert was in Las Vegas. Adrian was right. We could easily device a ruze about going to Las Vegas. Lissa, I and Adrian celebrating graduating, for me having one more crazy weekend before becoming a full fledge guardian. We would have to wait until graduation though, but that was only five weeks away.

Four and half weeks, 5 love/threat letters and a whole lot training sessions with Alberta later, I was in my final training session with Alberta before the final exam tomorrow.

The last few weeks I had been slightly more relaxed. We were getting somewhere. Dimitri couldn't get to me on campus no matter how much he might want to or wrote about it in his letters. We were planning the Vegas trip for after graduation. There was a Moroi owned hotel in Las Vegas, the witching hour, and it was heavily protected. We would be staying there and would find Robert Doru from there.

"Good Rose, let's call it a day. You don't want to exert yourself before tomorrow."

I nodded at Alberta and grabbed my water bottle. Alberta walked up to me.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine tomorrow, just protect yourself from direct impact on your stomach. Although I don't think they will be hurt too much. They are strong just like their parents."

Parents, as in plural?

"I know I can take a punch, but Adrian is a big wuss, I don't hope they get any of his genes."

Alberta looked straight at me.

"Rose, we both know they aren't in danger of inheriting anything from Adrian."

I gawked at her. All this time. Two months and she didn't say a word. She knew. I looked at her panicked. If she knew how many more people knew? I was starting to hyperventilate.

"Rose calm down. Nobody else knows and they will never hear it from me. I understand why Adrian claimed the twins, if someone found out the twins were conceived by two Dhampirs they would have a field day with that. But I can't believe you two would be together before graduation. I guess you should be grateful for showing so little for almost five months pregnant with twins."

Five months. She thought I was pregnant for five months. But I was three and half months. She thought I got pregnant from Dimitri here at the academy, when he was alive. Probably thinking me being shadow-kissed had something to do with it. And although it was closer to the truth than any other theory she might have had, and we did sleep together the night before he died, she was wrong. Would I correct her?

"Alberta, Yes Dimitri is their father, but it didn't happen here at the academy. It happened in Russia almost four months ago."

She was looking at me confused. Then she was looking at me shocked. Then there was something else on her face I couldn't quite describe.

"Well then, I guess they are even in less danger of getting hurt tomorrow, aren't they."

She smiled at me. No judgement, no lectures, no curiosity of the how, why, what. She just accepted the fact for what is was. I smiled back and hugged her. I needed her to know I was grateful for everything she had done for me, not only the last couple of months but my entire life. And here she was protecting me again.