Vulnerable.

Chapter Thirteen

Rose's point of view.

I was taken back. "What? What do you mean you can't do it?" I asked, surprised at her words.

"I just can't." she said, her composure slowly breaking.

"Why the hell not?" I never spoke to her like this before and I suppose I surprised myself a little.

"Rose, just think." she said, throwing her arms in the air. "When I heal someone, the effects go to you! Everything associated with healing them, my darkness, gets transfered to you. It makes you crazy, and that's only if I heal someone. Think of what bringing someone back to life, Shadow Kissed would cause you!" she cried. "I seen what it does to you... Just my healing.... I mean, I can't bring someone back to life with the thought of knowing your going to be hurt... Really hurt." she said sadly.

"I won't be hurt." I protested. "A few minutes of insanity will be worth having him back in my life, Liss. Please."

She shook her head. "Rose, I can't." she said, regretfully. "What if it's not just a few minutes of the darkness?" she asked.

I sighed, closing my eyes. "Lissa, I don't care about what it'll do to me. It'll go away in time. Dimitri is what I care about. I love him and I will love him until I hit my death bed and I can be with him in the spirit world. I need him. You need him.He's supposed to protect you, too. If we both have a special connection to you, we can protect you even more." I was groveling and I knew it, sadly.

"Rose, I can't put your life in danger to save Dimitri... I just can't." she said, tears brewing in her eyes.

"Your not putting my life in danger!" I retaliated.

"I could be!"

"You don't know that!'

"Neither do you!"

I sighed, "This isn't fair." I spat as I turned all my attention back to Dimitri, making a lump form in my throat.

His perfect features still shone though even in the spell of death. He was pale, just like a Moroi and cold to the touch, but he was still him and his spirit still lurked in the shadows of the world. However, it was only for 40 days... at the most.

Lissa frowned and came over, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Rose."

"No, no you're not! Because if you were, you would do this one, simple thing for me!" Tears were rolling down my cheeks. "I don't care about myself. I care about Dimitri!"

"Rose, you don't know what you're saying!" She said frantically.

"Yes, I do, actually. I love him, Lissa. Wouldn't you do anything to help Christian?"

She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off, "You would." I answered for her. "You love Christian and I love Dimitri, meaning we'd both do anything for the one we love."

"But this is your life we're talking about!?"

"It's Dimitri's too." I stated. "And you don't know how this would affect me."

"But there's a chance of anything happening!" she said, evening the score.

I sighed, "Whatever."

She rubbed my back gently. "I'm sorry." she said before turning on her heel and walking away. Probably back to Christian, I though, spitefully.

I looked down at Dimitri. His lifeless body laying motionless on the brown grass beneath him. His eyes were open, but the deep brown colouring that used to make me melt wasn't visible. His eyes were all white, giving him a fierce edge. In a way, I was glad I didn't have to fight him. I don't think I'd be able to look into those hungry, red eyes he would've had and seen every detail of his face and still drive that stake through his heart, evil, or not. I shivered at the images racing through my mind. It made the tears come easier. It made my body shake and shiver and sob. I trailled my fingers down his arm. He was cold. Real cold.

"Rose!" I heard a voice yell, relievedly, that broke my daze, tearing me from my thoughts.

I recognized the voice immediately and I seen Adrian run over, egulfing me into his arms. The tears still came, my body sobbing even harder, even in his prescence.

"Adrian..." I said, burying my face into his shoulder, soaking his polo with warm, salty tears.

"It's okay, Rose. Oh fuck... It's okay."

"How did you find me here?" I asked, weakly.

"Lissa got me." he said, rubbing my back.

I smiled. At least she knew me enough to know what... who I need, and when.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling back to observe my face.

I shook my head, unable to look him in the eye. "No..." I said weakly. "I'm just... Ugh, yes, I'm okay. I'm just... taken back. For god sake, Adrian, Lissa wouldn't heal him!" I said, pointing to him, swallowing, hard.

He nodded, hugging me again. "She told me the story and honestly, Rose, she's right. I mean... what if she does and maybe nothing happens to you. But just think if that happens and then another battle comes, and something happens, making you lose him again. Can you really go through this from the start all over again?"

I sighed, "Just stop being rational. Please."

He chuckled. "Rose, come on. Let's go."

I raised a brow. "Where?"

"Away from here..." he said, kissing my forehead.

"Why?" I asked softly.

"You don't need this."

I nodded, although, I knew I'd go back soon. "Alright." I said as I went over once more, taking his cold, pale hand in mind and kissed his cheek. "I love you," I said softly, whispering it in his ear. "I'll always love you." I felt more tears come and then, I took Adrian's outstretched hand and he helped me up, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as I leaned into him and we walked back to the academy.

"You know... You don't always have to pick me up when I fall, so to speak." I murmured when I calmed down a little more.

"I like doing it." he said, smiling down at me.

"Can I ask why?"

"Rose, you know I have feelings for you..." he said, trailing off in spite of the moment.

I just nodded, not quite understanding why he did. I mean, I loved Dimitri and I didn't think that would ever change. Though, here now, like this, I realized that maybe, just maybe he could be more then just a friend. No, I wasn't ready to marry him or anything like that, but his sweet, kindred being shone brightly now that he gave up the witty remarks about seeing me naked, sleeping with me, the drinking, and those repulsive clover cigarettes. The attack changed him too, I realized. He was a different person. No, he didn't give up completely on some of his comments, but, if he did, he wouldn't be Adrian anymore at all and I liked him now, just the way he was.

He let his arm drop from my shoulder and feeling bold, I supposed, trailed his fingers down my arm, intertwining my fingers with his. "Rose, I know you still love Dimitri. I'm not blind. I know you're feelings for Dimitri won't fade anytime soon, -maybe ever. But, I want you to know how I feel. I want to put myself out there... Let you know your options."

I nodded again. "Yeah," I said softly. "I understand." I then stopped walking and when he realized it, he turned to face me, our bodies only about a foot apart, our fingers intertwined.

"What's wrong?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I just... I want to try something." I stated boldly.

Confusion filled his features but he nodded. "Okay, what is it?"

I took a deep breath in. "Kiss me."

"What?" he instantly replied.

"Kiss me." I repeated.

"Why, Rose?"

"Just do it."

I wanted to see what it felt like, truly felt like to feel Adrian's lips on mine. I wanted to see if anything could ever amount to us being together. I wanted to try, just this once to see if I could move on... Have a life again and stop my grieving... No, finish my grieving over Dimitri's demise. He had been taken down. Something he wanted. Something I promise him I would do. Right now, I knew if I had done it or not wasn't the issue. The thing was that he was put to rest, forever. His soul was let free of that dead, sick state.

Adrian was confused, I could easy tell that. But even through uncertainty, he moved his hand up, cupping my cheek. He hesitated for a brief moment and then, finally, leaned down, enclosing the distance between us, his lips gently brushing against mine.

--

Hey everyone ! Sorry for not updating in forever, but I've been extremely busy!

I have and read Blood Promise and it's definitely the best book in the VA series. I promise to keep this story my own, however and no spoilers are going to be revealed and none of this story will be based off BP, it wasn't supposed to be my version of BP, anyways.

Once again, my blog is -

h t t p : // d r a m a t i c f i e l d . b l o g s p o t . c o m /

[without the spaces.]

ALSO:

I've gotten a new youtube account for fan fiction purposes-

h t t p : // w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / u s e r / D r a m a t i c F i e l d 1 0 0

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I've got 2 videos I need to upload onto the account and I'll be doing that in the next few days. There's one 'VA Cast' Video, of who I think should play the characters in VA, and, theres a 'teaser trailer' for this story, [Vulnerable] that needs to be posted. :]

The teaser trailer is up on my actual account and the link is -

h t t p : // w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = C x J Z y c T J m g k & f e a t u r e = c h a n n e l _ p a g e

[without spaces.]

But I'm also putting it on my new account.

They aren't exactly that good, but the teaser trailer was made on Movie Maker.

I'm currently learning how to use Sony Vegas and that's what I used for the cast video.

Go check it out! :)

~ DramaticField

~ Becca