Woot! Suspense must be killing you guys LOL. I hate to say it but although this answers many questions it will just mount the suspense. Anyways let me know what you think and review! I am not posting what happens until I get a bunch of reviews! Hehehe I'm evil aren't I?

Anyways only one way to solve the mystery - review!

Love,

Catherine

All of the heads in the room turned to snap at Robert Doru. What does he mean? Surely I am not strigoi after all here I am alive – but that was the part that he was debating; was I alive? I mean strigoi could only be killed three ways does that mean I could only be killed three ways too? But no I have been hurt badly other ways. Well I suppose that I won't ever get my thoughts aloud unless I speak them.

"What do you mean? I am not a strigoi surely."

"No but I never said that you were a strigoi just undead."

"But that's what being undead is!"

I saw that everyone was watching our conversation –including Dimtri. I cast a glance at my mother and as quick as lighting she connected her stake with his head bringing him unconscious.

"No, being undead means having your soul separated from your body. When you died your soul went up to heaven or down to hell; depending on your life anyways it is separated from your body. When someone brought you back," Robert looked around the room of spirit users curiously. That's when Lissa pointed towards herself. "When she brought you back your soul and body merged as one again. With a strigoi it is quite different you see since your body never really dies your soul does not leave your body but instead becomes trapped in your heart." Well that made sense, since Dimitri was always lonely. "With a strigoi your body and soul never merge as one again – since the only way to free the soul is to kill the body. But still in both consequences your soul has been separated from your body although in a strigoi's case the soul and body have not been merged again – or ever."

I looked down at my feet sadly. The only way to free the soul is to kill the body. "So it's true then?" I asked him. "There is no other way I can save him?"

"Don't give up yet child there is a way actually but it is very dangerous."

I looked over at Dimitri's unconscious face; he almost looked like his old self without the eyes and the pale skin. If I just closed my eyes I could see him perfectly the way he used to be, the way when he contacted me through my dreams.

"What do I have to do?" I breathed.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Adrian interrupted. "I want to know why their auras are the same, I mean I know they are both undead and yadda yadda but why are they purple and in the shadows? I mean Rose's soul and body are together now so why is it still dark?"

"Rose is still dark because even if part of her soul is in her body and allows her to live the other half is in the shadows allowing her to have a connection with the rest of the undead and the dead. This allows some of the shadow kissed to see ghosts and contact strigoi souls although I doubt that you have been experiencing either."

"I have actually," I exclaimed and had the pleasure of seeing Robert's eyebrows jump. "Why am I here?" Robert said in a sudden mysterious voice. "Why are we all here? We should all be apart or together but not like this, end this war and fight for peace."

I looked over at Robert curiously afraid that I was getting my leg pulled, what was going on? He hadn't seemed crazy at first but maybe this was all about to change. He reminded me of Adrian when he was at the ski lodge that one time could it just be a random result in spirit? I watched Robert warily until he came to his senses.

"Anyways where was I?" he asked. I started at him in shock surely he remembered what just happened?

"I-I can see ghosts and strigoi souls," I managed to utter.

"Oh right well when you do this you forge a greater bond between you and the dead as well as the undead, if this bond becomes too big you could easily get sucked in and become separated from your soul forever. So if you want my advice? Stop contacting them."

That had been Mark's advice too but I couldn't stop. They warned off strigoi and let me reach Dimitri. I couldn't not talk to him; soul Dimitri was all I had left to keep me going.

"Anyways how do I save the strigoi?"

"Wait a minute why do you even care?" Robert asked warily.

"My ... lover was turned." I managed to stutter out. "What's it to you? I thought you were going to help me."

Lissa placed a calming hand on my shoulder and reassured me.

He his helping Rose. Remember he doesn't know anything about you yet he was probably just – well actually I don't know why he was telling you ever little bit of information he knew.

"I will help you," Robert said. "But I don't know why yet. You see all I know now –or before- was that you were shadow kissed and I was intrigued by that but now I understand. Don't bite my head off."

I had to laugh at that, this crazy man was practically telling me not to bite his head off. It was pretty hilarious in my own mind and soon I was choking out tears. Now everyone was looking at me like I was crazy and that just made me laugh more. I laughed with tears streaming down the sides of my face.

"Sorry," I chuckled. "That just ... reminded me of something." I excused myself.

"Thank you Robert! You don't know how much this means to me, I can't live without him." I managed.

"So how do you know each other I mean surely I could have the pleasure of hearing your story?"

His request surprised me but of course I did not refuse, after all this was a one shot deal.

"He brought me back to the academy," I started. "Lissa and I had run away because scary things kept happening with spirit and she didn't know what was going on. Anyways we left the academy and lived with humans. That is until he brought us back. Lissa hadn't fed for a couple of days so that was what we were doing when they came. I saw him outside and the cat shied away so immediately we tried to run for it. Of course with me being so weak I couldn't run at my full strength and they got us easily." I paused for a moment.

"Wow," Robert said admiringly. "You let your friend feed off you and risked your career for her?"

I shrugged. "That's what friends do right? I mean if I'm sure that if it were me she would do the same."

"I've just never seen a friendship so strong before – or a friendship at all. I lived with my grand-mother until I was twenty two when she died and then I went to live with Victor. Since being at Victor's he kept me prisoner pretty much always using my spirit. At the time I thought he was a friend in need but of course now I see him differently. All he wanted was power and eventually he got it. He even managed to get me to get him out of jail."

As he said that last sentence outrage filled me. "How could you? Do you know what this he did to Lissa?" I growled at him, my temper flaring.

"I'm sorry but I regret that decision every day and if I could go back in time I would. He had put me under his spell and threatened me, I had to do it."

I sighed trying to release my anger at him.

"Anyways I am just shocked that you are so close, please continue," he said nodding to me.

"The school was going to send me away but then he said that he would mentor me and I got to stay. Our friendship grew and eventually it was stolen kisses and such. We tried to deny our relationship between us and others but eventually we decided that we couldn't stop this love we both had. One night we decided that we were going to give up fighting our own urges and would announce it at graduation, we had everything settled. Then strigoi attacked the academy and he got captured by a strigoi; we had thought they were all gone but this one had been hiding in the bushes. Anyways I saw him then getting gripped. I screamed for him but I was held back," I didn't bother mentioning my mother's name since it would probably only bring guilt. "Then he was turned."

I hadn't realized that my voice had grown as quiet as just my breath but he had obviously heard everything. Enhanced vampire senses remember?

"That's tragic," Robert said solemnly. "But hopefully we can get him back."

I smiled at him. "Your helping us?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed joyously. "I already said that didn't I?"

I nodded at him.

"Anyways the concept is quite simple all you have to do is merge the soul and body together again."

Right easy; that is if I had any idea how to do that, after all I was guessing that spirit wouldn't work hear but then again maybe it would.

"So how do you do that?" I probed.

"Well as I told you earlier the soul is captured right?"

I nodded.

"So first of all we need to puncture his heart – with a stake of course but we cannot allow it to kill the body otherwise he will die."

"So we don't stick it in very far?"

"No! Just as far as you would if you were trying to kill him because if not it won't completely free him and he will always be strigoi, we will need him to be healing at the same time with spirit."

Robert looked into the faces of those surrounding us.

"I don't think we will have any problem with that though."

I smiled at him and nodded to continue.

"Anyways once the soul is free, darkness will still be encasing his body and if we don't get rid of that it will never allow us to send the soul back in."

"Darkness?" I questioned. "What do you mean?"

"The darkness is similar to what spirit users get from the use of spirit, what the shadow-kissed take from them. Actually it is the same except strigoi have way more than that. It is pure evil and I would say it is a thousand times worse than the worse a spirit user could get."

He looked towards me. "This is where you come in. The darkness must be sucked away – like how you take it from Lissa. It could be too much for you to manage and you may end up-"

I interrupted him. "Becoming a strigoi?" I guessed.

"No, your soul will not be captured so you will not become a strigoi. You may end up dying, end up in a coma or go crazy. Of course there is a slight change that none of these things will happen to you. Slight but there."

I nodded. I would do whatever it takes to have my Dimitri back besides being a strigoi was worse than any of the above I would have to risk it for Dimitri. He would do it for me, that I was positive.

"Okay, what else?"

"Well now that the soul is free we need to get it back in there. This is where I come in. I have a power that is similar to what the shadow kissed can do but I can manipulate the souls. I could make them do my bidding or make them move where ever I want. It takes a lot out of me but if Dimitri doesn't get too far away before I get to him and you suck the darkness out then I should be able to do it."

"Okay so kill him, heal him, suck the darkness out and send his soul into his body, am I right?" I said sarcastically.

"Close but no, you can't kill him – you have to save him."

"But if I have to punch in the stake all the way how do I do that?"

"The spirit users will have to be healing before you stake him just holding on to his life a little. If not it's all over."

"Okay when do we do this?"

"Actually I forgot one thing we have to do this tonight."

"Why?"

"Because it is a sun eclipse tonight and the only way that we can save him is if we have enough light possible."

So it was a one shot deal then. One single try and if there were any mistakes it was all over.

"Okay," I said trying to keep my composure. "We should tell the others."