Hello again so, here is chapter 10. I can't believe how this story is coming together and I am so excited. Don't forget to review or comment or message me please.

The music I listened to while writing this was:

Your Hands (together) – The New Pornographers

Lenin – The Arcade Fire

You are the Blood – Sufjan Stevens

The Black Keys – Next Girl (They are my favourite band ever! I have loved them for years, wayyyy before Eclipse)

Lissa was asleep next to Christian with her head on his shoulder. Adrian was sat on the seat in front staring at me. I smiled at him weakly but his expression didn't change, I sat next to him and took his hand. He turned to look at me once more and leant forward, better to whisper in my ear. 'Please don't make a fool of me Rose' was all he said. He had heard everything Dimitri had said and he knew how I still felt about Dimitri and as much as I tried that wasn't going away. What we Dimitri and I had once had was so pure and natural and magnetic and right. For me there was no denying it and I knew once for Dimitri there had been no denying it either, we were meant for each other. But his soul was irreparably altered and there was nothing I could do. Waiting for him would only cause me more pain because he wasn't willing to try. And plus, I had chosen Adrian and I wouldn't break that promise again. I kissed him on the cheek and whispered 'never' before leaning my head on his shoulder and drifting off to sleep.

I awoke to a barren landscape; the middle of the desert in the mid afternoon sun looked completely uninviting. The AC was cranked as high as it could possibly go. Midsummer in Nevada was not the greatest place for Moroi who had an aversion to sunlight and preferred cooler climates. My hand was still entwined with Adrian's as he slept with his forehead pressed against the blacked out window. Lissa and Mia were awake on the back seat playing snap on the back seat but still looking pretty out of it. Christian was in the front with Dimitri devouring a bag of chips he must have been hiding somewhere. I leant forward and snatched them out of his hand and before pointing out the horizon. 'Nearly there' I said, I was the only one who seemed excited about having reached our destination.

It was then that I realised why everyone was so sluggish, except Dimitri and me who were alert as usual. The Moroi hadn't eaten for at least two days, and when I meant eaten I meant drank blood. It was then that I hoped Lissa's spirit rings were coming along ok because it seemed we were going to have to break into the Witching Hour. I said as much to the group and was greeted by incredulous stares. 'Look, Dimitri and me won't be able to go anywhere with Dhampirs and Moroi, he's 6ft 7 and kind of infamous now, not to mention I'm a wanted fugitive. Lissa and Adrian are all over the news so they'll be recognised immediately. Christian could be recognised, who knows? He is royal after all. But Mia should be fine. No offense Mia' I added hastily, the last thing I wanted to do was upset Mia after all she'd done for me. 'None taken' she said without batting an eye, she was focused on our mission and taking offense wouldn't be getting in her way. 'But what do you propose?' she asked.

'We need to get you all into the Witching Hour.' I said matter-of-factly, it was the only Moroi owned casino in Vegas and so, as far as I knew, the only one with on hand feeders. 'How are those disguising rings coming along?' I called to Lissa in the back. She nodded and held up ten or so rings that she and Adrian had been working on. Picking one out and giving them to each of us she slipped the others into a plastic baggy and into her jeans pocket. 'Ok, so, Rose, yours is going to make you blonde, pale and freckly again and still Dhampir. Dimitri, you'll still be Dhampir, you'll appear shorter and middle eastern looking with a shaved head.' Dimitri gave a swift nod, his eyes never swerving from the road. Everyone else this should alter your eye colour, hair colour. Christian you'll have a long nose, Adrian and I's hair will darken to the same colour as Christians and we'll both age to about 45, Mia your hair will be the same colour again but you'll appear only fourteen or fifteen. We'll appear as a family. Also Adrian and I will wear glasses.' She finally took a deep breath and looked around the group to make sure we all understood. 'Also, there is some compulsion in each of them to stop people from looking at us too closely or trying to have a conversation. Now put them on and we'll check to make sure they work. We all did as she asked and I had to stop myself on choking with laughter when I looked at Christian's nose. Lissa beamed and it was infectious, I was so proud of her yet I still worried that all of this magic was going to come at a price. At least Adrian had been able to do this sort of magic as well and the responsibility wasn't all on her.

We reached Las Vegas about twenty minutes later and it was just like I remembered, even down to the butterflies in my stomach. We'd worked so hard to get away from our world and now we were going straight into the belly of the beast. We agreed not to stay at the Witching Hour, far too dangerous and instead booked into Caesar's Palace, hoping we'd blend in with the mass amount of tourists crowding the lobby. We got a suite and left an imprint of one of Abe's credit cards at the desks before depositing our bags and coming up with a plan. The Moroi decided they could wait until morning to feed and so didn't have to worry about acting on our plan before sundown. There was an abundance of Strigoi in a place like Vegas, something we knew all too well.

'Ok' I said, 'does anyone know where the feeders are in the Witching Hour? Asking for directions is going to draw more attention to us than is necessary' I said before Adrian popped up, of course he knew. 'They're near that bar that we drank at last time, a little unmarked side door, and they take names down when you enter' He said. It was becoming obvious that having Adrian on this leg of the journey was invaluable. No one knew Vegas like Adrian Ivashkov, but now we had the problem of coming up with alias's. 'No non royal family would have more than one guardian' said Christian 'and even then they'd have to be pretty well to do, not every royal family has even one.' That was true and Christian knew all too well. 'We'll have to look the part' Adrian added and we all listened. Well to do royals who frequented Casinos and such were his area of expertise. 'What do you suggest?' I asked knowing where this was going. 'We're going to need clothes; designer and Lissa will have to wear diamonds. The people on the door are trained to spot those things; the more wealthy you appear the more you'll look like you fit in.' I felt Lissa through the bond, her excitement lifting noticeably and was evident from the grin spreading across her face. 'We need to go shopping!'