A/N: I am having so much fun writing this story. This is my third chapter of the day. I'm going to be busy the next few days so I won't have time to update as often, but I'll keep writing as much as I can. Enjoy the chapter… it's an exciting one. And review, please!

Chapter 7

I felt really terrible about yelling at Lissa—really, really terrible. I felt like a failure of a guardian. We were supposed to keep our Moroi safe at all costs. We were supposed to ensure that they were happy and healthy. We most certainly weren't supposed to make them cry.

For the next day, Lissa acted like she was walking on eggshells around me. She barely spoke to me. Christian and Adrian barely spoke to me either, but both of them shot glares at me whenever they had the chance. Why couldn't they see that I was concerned for their safety?

When Lissa and Adrian started talking about the spirit dreams again, I didn't say anything. I had my doubts that anything would actually happen anyway. If Rose still could see through Lissa due to the bond, then she ought to already have known that they were trying to contact her through spirit dreams. And if she wanted to show up, then she'd show up. If not, well then maybe the bond was already destroyed and we could go back to the academy. And I could get on with my mission of destroying Rose.

Due to their mutual anger with me, no doubt, Christian and Adrian were actually being civil to one another. That night, they all planned to stay in Lissa's room in order to attempt the spirit dream.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep, Belikov?" Adrian asked. We guardians hadn't typically been staying with our charges while they slept, because since it was light outside the danger was minimal. But that wasn't the case tonight.

"Not a chance," I replied. They failed to realize that I could stay awake for thirty-six hours without missing a beat—even longer, if need be. There was no way I was leaving the three of them alone tonight. Adrian scoffed and Christian and Lissa ignored me.

Christian was planning on staying awake to watch while Lissa and Adrian both slept. But he drew the line at allowing Lissa and Adrian to both sleep in her bed. Therefore, they concluded that Adrian would sleep on the loveseat. But they wanted to move it closer to Lissa's bed so that Christian could watch them both more easily.

I watched Christian struggle to slide the loveseat a few inches, before stopping. It was a heavy looking sofa, and the thick carpet certainly didn't make it easy to slide. I had to help.

"Let me get that," I said, stepping in. I effortlessly slid the loveseat over to the foot of Lissa's bed.

"Show off," Christian muttered under his breath.

"Thank you, Dimitri," said Lissa timidly, ever the polite one. I nodded.

"You're welcome." There was an uncomfortable amount of tension in the room, but I didn't know how to fix it, so I kept my distance and observed.

Lissa went to change into pajamas, and Adrian arranged a few of her excess throw pillows on the loveseat, trying to make it a more comfortable place to sleep. He stretched out, shifting uncomfortably.

"I hope I can sleep on this thing," he remarked to Christian. His legs from the knees down were hanging over the armrest.

"You'd better, because you're not sleeping with my girlfriend." Christian tried to use a joking tone of voice, but I could tell there was a serious undertone. I did feel bad that he was so insecure about Lissa and Adrian. It was obvious to me that he and Lissa were in love. They had the same sort of relationship that Rose and I had. It also seemed completely apparent to me that there was no attraction between Lissa and Adrian whatsoever. They were much more like a brother and sister, or cousins, as they often put it.

Lissa returned, dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a ratty t-shirt that was too big for her. I recognized it as one of Rose's and wondered why she had it, but I didn't say anything. She climbed onto her bed and slid under the covers.

"Alright, let's do this," she said confidently.

"All we need to do is fall asleep," said Adrian. "Although that could be easier said than done." Christian turned out the overhead light and sat down on an armchair. I stood near him, arms folded. This was going to be a long, uneventful night.

"Lissa? Adrian?" I said.

"Yeah?" they both replied.

"Please be careful."

"I will, Dimitri," said Lissa.

"Gotcha, Belikov," replied Adrian. Somehow the tension in the room seemed to lessen. I think it was because I was actually allowing them to go ahead with their plan. The room fell silent. I stood, completely still, patiently waiting for the night to come to an end. Christian, however, couldn't stop fidgeting.

"I don't see how you can just stay still like this all the time," he whispered to me quietly.

"I've had plenty of practice," I whispered back. It was true. For every hour of battling we ever got to do as guardians, we'd probably spent a thousand hours doing absolutely nothing but observing. The key was to be ready for anything at any given second.

"Do you think they're going to find her?" he whispered to me. He sounded concerned, almost scared.

"I doubt it," I replied. "But I guess it's possible." Christian drew in a deep breath.

"Anything's possible. Especially with Rose. We all know that." He was right.

The hours passed by uneventfully. Lissa and Adrian were both sound asleep. Christian, despite his best effort to stay alert, had dozed off, his head resting against the back of the armchair. The room was silent. In three more hours, everyone would be awake again and I could go make myself some coffee.

Lissa shifted in her sleep. My eyes were on her instantly. It's nothing, I told myself. People toss around in their sleep all the time. She didn't move again for the next thirty-eight minutes. Then, she tossed again. This time, she kept tossing. First, it just seemed like normal tossing and turning. But after a few minutes, she began thrashing more violently, kicking her feet and flailing her arms. I was at her bedside in an instant.

"Lissa!" I shouted, not caring who I woke up. "LISSA!" I had to give Christian credit. He had awoken, leapt from the chair, and bolted to the other side of her bed in a matter of seconds. "LISSA!" we shouted again in unison, shaking her.

When her eyes shot open, they were blood red, gleaming. Her whole body leaned forwards, practically sitting up. I almost didn't believe what I was seeing. But the words that followed confirmed my worries.

"I WILL FIND YOU, DIMITRI! YOU WILL BE MINE!" The voice that escaped Lissa's lips wasn't hers. I would know that voice anywhere, no matter how twisted it sounded. Rose. Lissa's body collapsed back onto the bed. I was frozen in shock. Christian must've been, too.

A second later, Lissa began shrieking violently. It was really her this time. I could see her green eyes. She was screaming incoherently and crying. As soon as she realized Christian was there, she clung to him. In the meanwhile, Adrian had jolted awake and was sitting at the foot of Lissa's bed. Lissa was still shrieking. It was heart-wrenching. Christian tried desperately to console her.

Adrian looked at me coolly. "Looks like we were right, Belikov." I simply glared at him. I had to tend to the other five guardians who had stormed into the room in response to the screams.

I quickly told them that everything was alright, and that the princess had simply had a particularly bad nightmare. I told them we were staying with her because she'd confided in me that she'd been feeling particularly frightened lately. They didn't question my explanation, and soon left to resume whatever they'd been doing. Christian had helped Lissa to the bathroom, where I could now hear her choking as she vomited. I glanced at Adrian.

"You had better tell me everything that happened," I insisted sternly. He didn't object.

"Well, first I created a completely blank, white room, with absolutely nothing in it," he said. "Then I got Lissa. We waited, for a really long time, and nothing happened. I didn't think Rose was going to come. And then, out of nowhere, she was there. There was so much blackness around her… so much blackness. And in like a fraction of a second, she forced a whole lot of the blackness into Lissa. I couldn't do anything to stop it. It was like she forced herself into Lissa… and, well, that's when you heard her scream. The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds. I dissolved the dream as soon as I possibly could. But the bond's still there. It's definitely still there." Adrian was obviously shaken. He looked paler than usual. I was actually worried that he might start throwing up too. There were a million thoughts flying through my mind, but I had to ignore them and tend to Lissa.

I entered the bathroom. Lissa was sitting on the floor next to the toilet, barely conscious, leaning on Christian. He was wiping her face with a wet washcloth. She looked so pale and fragile. I knelt down in front of her.

"I'm okay," she managed quietly.

"I think she needs to get to a feeder," said Christian. "She's really, really weak."

"I'll carry her," I said, leaning forward to pick her up. Christian looked like he wanted to protest, but he said nothing.

"Alice is normally awake during daylight," said Adrian. "She prefers it to night time." We found Alice in the living room, watching television. She looked alarmed when she saw Lissa, and immediately exposed her neck for a feeding. Lissa gained some color afterward, and seemed a little less weak. Alice kept asking me if Lissa was okay. Even after the bite, she seemed unreasonably concerned. I assured her that Lissa would be fine, and thanked her for her help.

I took Lissa back to bed. She was going to need a lot of rest to recover, I feared. Christian crawled into bed next to her, holding her. I didn't object, because I knew they weren't doing anything inappropriate. I resumed standing in my spot against the wall. Adrian stood with me, awkwardly, not saying much. I think he was actually scared. And he had good reason.

Our suspicions were confirmed. Rose was a Strigoi. The bond still existed. And Rose was hunting me.

Now I had to find a way to stop her.