Chapter 26

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a few days! Time for some NEW shout outs!

Twilighternproud

D. Kelly

Blood Drinking Dark Emo Angel

3 love you guys! And here is you go, Chapter 26…

I figured Adrian would be staying with his parents. I took my time getting there though, not wanting to rush to do anything. I felt sluggish, like I was stepping through jello. I let my vision blue a bit. Still sharp to sense danger, but I didn't want to take in the ugly sights that lay just a few feet from me. I got within sight of Adrian's Parents home. 2 guardians stood out front, arms crossed, eyes sharp, like they should be. I approached.

"I need to talk to Adrian is he staying here?" I asked one of them I knew well. Aaron, he was a good friend of Dimitri's.

He eyed me up and down like I was a complete stranger. A felt a few drops of rain hit me and walked closer to the house. "He is, but instructed us to not let you in at the time."

"Well doesn't control Adrian now does she? Can you just get him for me?" I crossed my arms over my chest tightly. The other guardian I wasn't familiar with shook his head sternly.

"No. You should be packing now anyways and saying goodbyes." His eyes were cold as he spoke.

"You act like I'm not coming back! I am."

"Don't be so sure." He shot back. Aaron looked at him through the side of his eye.

", please, just go."

"It's guardian Hathaway!" I yelled angrily. "Not Ms., Guardian!"

"Not for long." The other guardian said in a low dangerous tone.

"What the hell is that mean?" I screamed louder than I'd meant to. And like on queue Adrian walked out. The guardians put their arms defensively across him.

"She dangerous, she attracts Strigoi."

Adrian's still looked a little paler than his usual moroi, but had some of his smug self back. "I wouldn't go that far, now let me through. I need to talk to her." They nodded complying with the oh so royal Adrian walked forward and grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me to the nearest building.

"Hey Little Dhampir. How are you feeling after the…er…attack" He whispered in my ear, not really affectionately, but loving, caring, worried almost.

"Alright..." I said looking down at the tile floor of the building we'd walked into. "But that's not why I'm here. I guess, I wanted to say goodbye."

"What?" he asked and caught the attention of some passing mori.

"They're taking me off the court, afraid I'll attract more strigoi. Like…." I choked on my words "last night, it was all my fault. You could have gotten killed, and it was…my fault."

"The attack was not, at all, in any dam way your fault Rose!" His voice grew angry, not at me though. The fact he'd switched back to Rose meant he wasn't kidding around. "And they can't do that! They can't take you away from the safest place. They already got new wards up, your safe here. And Lissa needs you here too."

"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter if I'm safe! Royals live here, I'm just, just one dhampir. I'm just one guardian, they'll find Lissa another" Adrian grabbed my hand and squeezed.

"No. I'll…fix this, I will!" he said sternly. But I pulled away and gave him a quick hug.

"I just wanted to say goodbye. I didn't come here to tangle you up in this." I repeated and that turned and ran away. I didn't want to think about the fact he cared about me. The fact that even though I'd broken his heart, he still cared about me. Wanted me to be happy. I just wanted to curl up and cry. I just wanted to cry so hard that I couldn't breathe. I ran back to our house, Dimitri was waiting by the door. Out in the rain for me, soaked to the bone. His arms instantly wrapped around me.

"Roza." He whispered. I snuggled in closer to his wet body. "Roza we need to go get you packed quick, then we can spend time…together." He kissed my cheek. I savored the warmth of his lips against my skin. I trailed my fingers across his cheek. I felt Goosebumps on his strong arms. I smiled, so my touch did the same thing to him as his did to me. "Roza…" he whispered. He almost never called me that. "I can't lose you. Not…again." His face was scared.

"You won't. I promise." I had no right to promise this though.

He kissed the top of my head.

"Let get in out of this rain." He whispered

He pulled me by my hand up to our bedroom. He opened the door to my closet and walked out with a suitcase and a few pairs of jeans. I grabbed a few t-shirts.

"How long will I be gone?" I asked picking at our comforter to distract myself.

"I don't know Roza."

I watched him slip in a thick envelope and box into before zipping it up and setting at the end of the bed. He lay down next to me putting his hands behind his head. I inched over and layed my head on his chest and snuggled tightly up to his body. I wanted to take in every inch of him. His smell, his feeling, him…Because I didn't know when I'd be back. If I'd be back…

"I hate this" I whisper. He pulls his arms around me and pulls me onto his chest so I'm on top of him.

"So do I Roza." He says kissing me lightly.

I hear a hard knock coming from all the downstairs. "It can't be noon already."

Dimitri checks his watch and shakes his head but picks me up and sets me next to the bed and hurries down stair to answer the door.

Dimitri's POV

I headed down the stairs of Rose follows until she's half way down, then she sit and waits. I careful open the door to find a few royal guardians. I instantly react. "You said you'd give her until noon. It's 11:03. She has 57 minutes." I say putting on my guardian mask.

"Things have changed Guardian Belikov. If she is packed and ready we need to leave now." His voice was hard, unwavering.

"She's not ready."

"Has she packed?"

"Yes."

"Well then she is ready as she'll ever be." He took a step towards the door.

"Noon." I repeated "You gave her until noon, it's not noon." Now my strong voice was cracking a little.

"I'm fully aware that it's not noon, but we have to leave now."

"Why?"

"Don't question me."

"I will question you if I like." I spat back at him. Rose appeared next to me with her suitcase.

"Give me 5 minutes."

"Not a second longer." The man said and left promptly.

The door slammed and Rose flinched, and looked at me painfully. She crumbled into my arms falling to the floor tears streaking her face. I picked her up and sat us on the couch and I let a few tears slip down my cheek, but quickly wiped them away. I needed to be strong for m Roza. I hugged her tight, her small body in my arms.

"I'm going to miss you so much Roza. But I'll see you soon. "

"I, I can't do this." She choked out "I can't do it without you. I'm…so scarred."

"Shhh, and it won't be long. The moment you leave I'll talk to Lissa about getting you back here."

She smothered her face tighter into my chest. I tipped her chin up and smothered my lips against hers. Tasting them, the sweetness of them, the way they felt. I didn't know how I would leave with her for an amount of time. We sat there, together, I wished so hard it could last forever. But I heard the knock and gave her one last deep kiss and they took her. Walking her through the pouring rain, leading my Roza away from all the safety in the world.

Just to warn you the next chapters are going to be intense, you buckle up and get ready for the ride. Plus this was a shorter chapter, because I'm already working on hard on the final chapter of Forever & Always… kinda…It will be the last chapter of Forever & always. But Beyond tomorrow is The next book in the Forever & Always series is coming next! I just feel that 27 chapters is enough for Forever & Always, but the plot will continue onto Beyond Tomorrow, because as you know, I like to leave chapters cliffy. So the ending of the book will to be cliffy…MWHAHAH!

-ThatEmmyGal 3