[[A/N: Here is another shameless self-promotional bit. Check out the first chapter of my JaninexAbe fanfiction on my profile. Don't be fooled by the quick summary and go read the full one on the first chapter.]]

[[2nd A/N: READ THIS: This. Dun Dun. Will be my last chapter for a while. It is not the end of the story! DUN DUN DUN! I'll end it on a cliffhanger to keep you guys "happy," but for now, I'm going to be turning my attention to my other stories. Thanks for all the super awesome support!]]

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How to sneak an escaped a nutjob into a classy penthouse sweet 101.

1. Don't let him anywhere near the very pompous bellhop waiting outside the lobby.

2. Just don't let him near the lobby in general.

3. Use the very convenient back door.

4. Actually, scratch that. Just use the fire escape.

And so that's how we did it. Yes, that meant climbing up twenty-five floors of the hotel to the penthouse escape.

Twenty. Five. Luckily, Robert Doru seemed plenty happy to ride piggyback on me. He didn't struggle, but the mumbled laughing became a real pain. I was definitely out of breath by the time I reached the penthouse window.

I had only knocked twice when Christian swung the window open.

"Get in here!" he hissed, ushering us into the hotel room quickly. I stumbled uneasily through the narrow window, hitting Robert's head on the window frame as I entered. Although in retrospect, a concussion probably wouldn't have affected him that much.

Dimitri was still on the floor, and to my great relief, his chest was still barely rising and falling in labored breath. On one side of the room, Mischa sat with her stake squeezed between her two hands. Her eyes glinted dangerously as she stared at Tasha, sitting casually on the vanity on the other side of the room. The air between them was almost crackling with the evident tension.

"Are you the mediator or something?" I asked Christian wryly.

"Unfortunately, yes. It's an awkward situation I'm in," he confessed.

"I can't believe you left me here with this bitch," Mischa snarled at me.

"You aren't exactly a daisy either," Tasha snapped.

I snorted. "Hopefully, we can get this done and over with and you guys won't have to even see each other anymore."

I walked over to Dimitri's body and carefully set Robert Doru's on the ground beside him. The crazy Moroi stared blankly at Dimitri.

"Can you save him?" I asked impatiently, pointing.

Robert shrugged. "Maybe I can. Maybe I can't."

"Look, if you don't—"

"No use getting angry at him, Rose."

I glared at Tasha. "What do you mean?"

"He's obviously insane," Tasha speculated. "Think of it like riding a bike. You never forget how, but if you don't do it in a long time, often times you need someone to push you along for momentum. In this case, it's like riding a bike on grass…it'll take a very large jumpstart."

"So he needs motivation?"

"He needs magic." Tasha pointed at Lissa and Adrian and the cowering Moroi who was still in the corner (I hadn't even noticed him). "He needs their magic."

"How do you know that?" I demanded. "Even if I'm supposed to trust you, how am I supposed to know feeding him Spirit is going to make him do the ceremony?"

"Well, this is what I have," Tasha said flatly. "You can either take the advice or not."

I struggled inside myself for a moment. Believe her? Or not believe her? I really wanted to. It seemed so easy to trust that familiar face of her. But she had proven that her actions were for her benefit alone.

"You should trust her," Adrian told me, placing both hands on my shoulders. He pulled me into his chest, his lips right next to my ears.

"Really?" I whispered, feeling numb to the core.

"Her aura is white."

"Is that code for she's being sincere?"

"Yah."

I looked at Lissa apologetically. "Do you think you'll be able to do it?"

"I can try." Her gaze flickered to the anonymous Moroi in the corner.

"What's his name?" I asked Tasha.

"Alba."

I nodded. Pulling reluctantly away from Adrian, I crossed the room to Alba.

He didn't look up at me. His hands covered his face in a fearful cowl. He shook and whimpered like a sick dog. It was pathetic. I shuddered at what Dimitri had done to the poor man to make him become such a crushed state.

"Alba," I said, trying to get a soothing nature to my stressed, worn voice. "Look at me."

He didn't move.

"Alba, look at me in the eyes," I urged, touching his shoulder. Instantly, his body jerked under my touch. He looked slowly up at me, shivering. His face was wrinkled and bruised. By the looks of it, I guessed that Alba was a common Moroi, possibly in his seventies.

"Look at my eyes," I told him. "See. Brown. Not red. I'm a Dhampir."

"You're not a Strigoi," he said with wonder.

"No, my name is Rose. I'm a Guardian and I'm here to help you."

Alba smiled thinly…or grimaced. His face didn't seem to quite obey him just yet. "Who said I needed saving?"

"My common sense," I told him sarcastically. "But I need your help too."

Alba breathed in deeply and coughed. His throat was scratchy with phlegm. "I'm in your debt."

"I need you to help Robert turn Dimitri back into a Guardian."

Alba's eyes suddenly lit with a fiery anger. "I won't do anything to help him." I could understand his fury. Dimitri treated Alba like a dog.

"But Dimitri isn't like that," I told him, feeling slightly offended. "If you help Robert turn him back, you'll see."

Alba took my hands in his frail palms. They shook gently with exhaustion. He looked me directly in the eyes. "You are too young to be anything but naive," he told me frankly. "What makes you think your life can ever go back to the way it was?"

"I—"

Alba shook his head. "Dimitri has killed people." His voice rang with confidence, despite it cracking from disuse. His thin, feverish face filled with passion and sympathy. "Even if this works, it does not pardon him for his deeds. He…he has killed so many."

I felt Mischa's silent eyes on my back. I knew that Dimitri had killed people. He killed her mother. Mischa would never see her again…and most likely would never forgive Dimitri, even if he was de-Strigoi-ed.

"I know," I whispered. I was scared, honestly. That badass Rose Hathaway that had stepped out of St. Vladimir's with a purpose and confidence was gone. I was what replaced her…I was the new Rose. And I knew that Alba was right. But still…I had to try. "Please, Alba."

Alba sighed, looking reluctant. "I suppose I can't refuse when I'm in debt," he remarked. "Now help me up. I'm not as young as I used to be." I laughed, supporting Alba with my shoulder as he pulled himself up. He stumbled, trying to walk with me as his crutch over to Dimitri and Robert.

As we approached, Robert's eyes widened. His eyes sparkled with a familiarity. "We are one," he voiced. There was a certain unusual clarity to his words.

Alba tilted his head. His thin white hair swayed down his back. "He's a Spirit user, isn't he? And a powerful one."

I nodded, beckoning for Lissa and Adrian to join me. They quickly rushed to my side.

"Now what?" I asked Tasha, who was still sitting contentedly on the sidelines.

"Now you listen to him," she told me. "He's the best person to direct you from this point."

I groaned. "Okay…" I looked at Robert. "So what do we do now?"

"Circle…Circle…In a circle." Was I getting so tired that I actually understood what he was saying?

Lissa and Adrian seemed to understand it as well. They rushed around to the other side of Dimitri. I helped Alba hobble over, making a lopsided circle around Dimitri's body.

I stepped back from the group, looking at them.

"No…not right." Doru murmured, looking frustrated. "NO! NO! NO!"

"What's wrong now?" I demanded.

Mischa suddenly spoke up. "He seemed happier when you were there."

"Oh…alright." I went back to stand by Robert. He smiled when he saw me push into the circle next to him.

"Kissed," he said brightly. "You're Kissed."

"I'm Shadow Kissed," I confirmed tentatively. Was that why he needed me?

"You are?!" Alba exclaimed in surprise. "You…but you're…you're sane!"

"I think anyone would look sane in comparison to this guy," I said sarcastically, nudging Robert.

"Yes, but—"

"Hands…hands!" Robert cut in. He held out his hands into the middle of the circle. His fingers were squeezed together but touching the ones on the other hands; it was like he was diving.

We all mimicked him. I looked everyone. What a group we were. Four Moroi Spirit users and a Shadow Kissed partner.

"No….Not right." Robert exclaimed. He broke the circle of hands, pointing at Dimitri. "Touch life."

I frowned. I slowly bent down to my knees. Robert nodded, filling in the gap I had left. "Hands." Robert urged. His voice was so…sane now. Not compared to the hazy voice of the mental patient I had carried up twenty some flights of stairs. The hands above me formed a star like pattern above my head.

I touched the stake lodged in Dimitri's chest. It seemed to be squeezing itself out of his chest. The regeneration was slowly but surely healing the forces of the stake.

"Hands," Robert repeated quickly.

"Oh. Right." One hand on the stake, I reached up with my other hand and touched it to the center of fingers.

"So do we start feeding him power now?" Adrian asked cautiously.

"I guess so."

Just like before, I could feel the vibrations in the air as Lissa, Adrian, and Alba began to draw upon their Spirit and send it through their hands and into Doru. Whether it was another Shadow Kissed ability or not, I was unsure, but the coursing power then began to get shoved into me.

I gasped aloud in surprise. It was painful. Like someone was ripping apart the muscles in my arm. I hissed, biting my lip in pain. The pain spread slowly and surely into my chest, swirling around my chest. It was unbearable. I wanted to cry, but I refused to let out a noise. Everyone seemed to focused, I didn't want to bother them. And just like that, the pain subsided a bit. Not a lot, but enough for me to handle. The Spirit power that had flowed into Doru, been magnified with his own power, and shoved into my arm was now flowing into the stake.

Dimitri began to stir, but he remained asleep. His eyes began to roll around in their sockets, like a person in a dream.

Lissa cringed above me. Through our bond, I could tell she was beginning to feel the dark edges of Spirit begin to eat at her. I quickly began to open my heart to hers, allowing the negative emotions to flood into me instead of her. But this only increased the flow of Spirit.

"Ugh," I cringed, as my whole body began to tingle with burning fire.

Robert laughed crazily. "YES! YES!"

I glared at him. Dimitri didn't look any better than he had when Mischa staked him in the first place.

Suddenly the magic cut off. Robert had removed his hands. "Wait—"I said, feeling unfinished. The magic still fluttered within my stomach, and I didn't think it had actually accomplished anything concrete. Dimitri still looked like a Strigoi.

"Rose…"

I glared at Adrian. "What?" I said frustratedly. Working with someone who had half a brain or less really didn't give me the best mood. My aching muscles didn't help the matter either.

"I didn't say anything," Adrian said, raising his hands in innocence.

"You didn't? I could've sworn—"

"Rose…"

I froze. Slowly, not wanting to believe it, I turned to Dimitri.

His eyes were open. He looked at me tiredly and in pain. "Rose…"

I didn't want to believe it. Looking at his face…I didn't want to believe it. Those blood red eyes were different now. They were brown.

"Oh my god," I cried, collapsing onto all fours with disbelief. My emotions were raging from bliss to shock to relief.

Robert tapped me on the back, bringing me back to Earth. I opened my mouth to thank him. I wanted to kiss the man. I was in his debt.

Robert shook his head slowly, his face emotionless. I frowned. Even though he wasn't sane, something told me what he had to say would be just barely coherent enough for me to understand.

"What?" I asked.

Smiling sleepily, he took my hands and looked me deep in the eyes. "There is no forever."

[[A/N: Last chapter for a while! I'll continue it again once I get far enough into or finish my JaninexAbe fanfiction. Thanks for all the support again! Please watch out for the next chapters of this story. I hopefully won't be putting it on the shelf for so long.]]