Hey, hey, hey!!! Kate here and I just wanted to thank you all about your awesome reviews. You all are my inspiration; keep up reviewing and hope I could finish the story. If you like Rose Hathaway, please read Georgina Kincaid series – pretty much love it by our one and only Richelle Mead.

I smiled and nodded at the couturier as Abe – my father, unfortunately – would put it. I was going to act like I knew Abe was my father all along; I wasn't so surprised, remembering his reaction back at the cafeteria door I had suspected. I didn't want this "couturier" to doubt something about me and Abe's relationship. I put on my best daddy's girl smile and act.

"Yes, daddy just said that a couturier was coming here a while ago – to take my measurements." I shivered mentally at calling Abe as a daddy – I was not used to this. It would have been better if Abe and I were only siblings from another time if he hadn't done this very congenial gift for me – if you would call it a gift. A masquerade ball was hardly a gift.

"My name is Andrea Jacobs, Ms Mazur," I spaced out when she called me mini Mazur. I was half-conscious listening to her say, "…your dad's personal tailor…" Geat, all of Abe's clothes were custom- made. I was getting the impression that Andrea was a loud-mouth – she talked too much for my liking. "I didn't know that Mr. Mazur had a daughter before but he told me today that his daughter needed me and I all but eagerly agreed." She looked at me from head to toe.

"Rose, had anyone told you how gorgeous and sexy you look?" she asked, wrinkling her nose when she saw what I was wearing. "But you cover yourself up with too much layers of clothing." Andrea frowned. We were inside my room now and she was holding a tape measure, a notebook and a pen. "Strip down your clothes, Ms Mazur. Don't want your dress to be big for you." She said and I stripped down my clothes in front of her and that left me with my underwear and bra. She started measuring my waist, hips, bust and almost every inch of me. She was taking notes, too.

"What's my bust size?" I asked for the hell of it all.

"Um…" Andrea but her pen on her chin and looked at her notes. "36 D."

That cut me off to silence. Yeah, I knew that I had big boobs but not that big. I touched them almost self-consciously when I heard Andrea giggle. For an old woman – well, not really old – she acted and sounded like a child. I looked at her sharply, putting as much Abe as possible on my face.

She pretended to cough. "I'm sorry, Ms Mazur," she bustled on the measuring tape and started to measure again – pursing her lips. "It's really good to have…large breasts." Ah, I got it. It was her way of making me feel better. If that's the case, I wasn't really impressed. "You should be proud of them – only so few of women get to have breasts like yours." I dropped my hands from my boobs and looked at Andrea.

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." I told her and gave her a smile. Her face scrunched up, reading the sarcasm on my voice even though it was compressed. She was a good one at detecting them. I wondered how many years she has been with the sardonic Abe Mazur; she could read my face easily.

She rummaged at something from her cute Fendi spy bag and held out a drawing book. Before I could take it out of her hands, she snatched it back and pointed at the pile of my clothes on the floor. "Better of you put on your clothes first." I wore my clothes and she held the worn-out drawing book to me again. "I'd been drawing these since Mr. Mazur took me and my sister Aleksandra as his personal tailor three years ago. I thought that maybe you wanted to pick a dress there." Andrea told me as I flipped the drawing book open and was amazed at how good they were. They were runway-worthy clothes, mostly halters and maxi dresses. Some of her works were vintage ball gowns which were incredible but only one dress caught my attention. It was a long, bubbly strapless ball gown. Even without a color on the drawing I could imagine that red for it would be great. Its top was like a strapless bustier with dark embroideries of vine-like patterns. Its lower part was consisted of many messy but elegant folds of fabric that flowed from behind. The dress had a vintage edge to it but it still managed to be sexy at the same time with its back with many triangles, showing the back's skin. The dress – drawing – was marvelous; no one would know it was me wearing because they would all expect me to wear something trashy. I imagined myself wearing that dress and mask and…Dimitri.

"You like that, don't you?" Andrea cut off my day dream.

"It's beautiful." I whispered more to myself than her.

"It is." She said, looking smug. "So far, that's the best I've designed. Do you like to wear that on the ball?" she asked me, her face lighting up.

"Yes."

"That's great!" she half-shouted in delight. She grasped her hands together as her cute blonde bob jerked back and forth. "Aleksandra and I already started buying the cloth for this one! We already started to take measure for it but let's just hop it will fit you – which will happen because you're like a model!" giddy Andrea said – she was like a little girl despite her age.

"Okay," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes and then exhaled loudly and opened her eyes. "Do you like the embroidery? Or do you wanna change it?" she asked.

I thought about that, cocking my head to the side. "Can you change them into roses?"

"Yes, I will!" Andrea looked overly happy about this. I mentally rolled my eyes at her.

"And – oh – can I pretty please do your make-up?" she asked when she was about to leave. I raised a brow at her.

"Do we still need to wear make-up? I thought we were wearing all masks."

She shook her head and smiled. "You still have to wear make-up but not too much. You don't want people to know you." She wiggled her fingers at me and finally made her exit. I should admit, for a thirty year old woman, Andrea acted like a kid. I lay down on my bed; wondering what might happen during the ball.

~*xXx*~

I was hearing this weird song that made my skin crawl. The songs were just like at the movies when people follow something mysterious or on some strange fairies. It scared the hell out of me but when the place suddenly came to light, I didn't know where I was. I was sure that I hadn't been in this place before but it still looked familiar.

I was in front of a very big portico just like in the palaces – which was it. I was at the middle of the stone steps. I looked around me but it was dark except for the Victorian torches that illuminated the stairs. The only light despite the torches was the one on top of the stone steps. I started to climb up the steps but was stop at the burden of what I was wearing. I looked a down to see a blood-red dress styled like in the Victorian era. It was strapless and tight – hugging my waist. I didn't know why this dress felt so familiar but I just did. The skirt was thick with its several folds of red fabric and it didn't make me move quite right. I took hold of the skirt and raised it so I could take a step to the dirty white steps of marble stone. When I was at the top of the stairs, I was speechless. The place looked so… beautiful in a classical way. The wide open arched door looked aged but it still held its former power in my eyes. The floor inside was shiny marble with etched with vintage drawings of flowers. In the entrance, I could see an elegant grand staircase styled in the Baroque era. As I stepped inside the palace, it pretty much flooded up with golden lights from antique chandeliers and there was a grand staircase in front of me – colored blood-red like my dress. The place was extraordinary. The music still continued playing but it wasn't scary now when the place around me was flooded with so much light. I shivered then and there; I felt a presence. And then I saw something move from the side of my peripheral vision.

At the center of the floor was a man in a tuxedo with tails. He was tall about six feet three with a lanky stature. He was wearing a mask that covered half his face – the mask was frowning with a tear on its eye. He had dark hair, I saw, as he stood broodingly at the middle of the marble floor, holding out a hand to me. I started to walk toward him when he started slowly backing up to another room, still holding out his hand.

"Wait," I called. He entered in an open door at the side and I followed him. I saw myself standing under ivory vaults and I could see the man's dark figure moving into an open wall. I followed him and climbed two flights of stairs just where he had been. I was standing in front of a balcony now and he was there with his back to me.

"Hello?" I called and he turned around, facing me. I noticed that the song was Memories sung by Within Temptation. He had a brilliant color of sea glass green eyes and the look on his face was a bit heartbreaking – he looked lonely especially with that mask. He held out a hand to me; beckoning me to near him. I hesitated – I didn't know why, though but I just had that feeling. When I didn't move, he raised his hand to his mask and slowly took it off.

I gasped; I was shocked to see his face. There was a long red scar there from the side of his forehead then cutting through his eyebrow to his cheek. And then he faded away, so did everything else.

~*xXx*~

I sat bolt right up my bed. I was breathing very hard and my heart was pounding so hard it almost hurt. I didn't what was the reason but I knew it was about a dream – of course, I was sleeping. I tried to remember what it was but all the traces of the dream were gone. It only left me breathing hard and a little bit shaken. I didn't know why.

I looked at the clock beside my bed and cursed. It was already four thirty in the afternoon. Time for training with Dimitri and Stas. I quickly changed into my practice clothes and ran to the gym. Dimitri was there, starting up his laps. I joined him a while later when I'd done my stretches.

"You're late," he said not so accusingly.

"No 'hellos' or anything? Just 'you're late'?" I snapped at him. I had forgotten to take my meds a while ago from my hurry so my nerves frayed in just a minor annoyance. "And who died and made you God?"

"Have you taken your meds lately?" he asked instead. Ouch, that hurt.

"Yes, I did." I lied and clamped my mouth shut. We jogged a few laps silently. When we got inside, I caught his wrist and said, "I'm sorry." Dimitri looked at the hand on his wrist like it held all the power in the world.

"What are you sorry for?" Dimitri asked, looking amused and curious. Oh, come on!

"I lied." That was the only thing I said. "I didn't take my medication." Well, this was technically true.

He half-way smiled. "It's alright, Rose. I shouldn't have snapped at you earlier." And now he blamed himself?

I wanted to act defiant. "No, it's me. I shouldn't have –" he silenced me by brushing his lips against mine. And then things got into a blur.

Guys!!! Like it? Make sure you read Georgina Kincaid series, ok? I promise, it's good! Well, its Richelle Mead's work so it really good.

Please leave a REVIEW!

XOXO

skyluvstark09