Twelve years later . . .

Jade, panting and blood rushing out of wounds she had on her body, slammed the door open. I dropped whatever it was what I had been holding and ran to her. I hugged her tightly and pulled the door shut, locking the door as I did.

Jade sobbed in my arms. "Rose! He's back! Both of them are back! And they are back for you, Rose!"

"Who?"

"Stan and Dimitri. They are not dhampir anymore—they are Strigoi. They attacked me. They're here. Outside your door."

I was so thankful Adrian had taken the kids to his parents house. Grabbing Jade's hand, I went to get the phone from the couch. I wanted to call Adrian in case anything happened to me. He answered on the first ring.

"Adrian . . ."

"Babe?"

"I want you to call as many guardians as you can to your parent's house. Don't let the kids out of your site for anything!"

"Why, Rose? What's happening?"

"Dimitri and Stan are back as Strigoi. They're here for me."

"Rose . . ." There was pain in his voice. "Rose, promise me you'll be safe."

My control faltered. My voice cracked. "I can't promise you that . . . . You promise me you'll take care of our kids if anything happens to me."

"You'll know I will do it, but I promise."

"Okay, then." Jade's eyes were streaming down tears. "I love you . . ."

"Don't you even think of dying on me, Rose! You'll make it. You're strong. You never give up! You can take both of them down!"

"Adrian . . . I love you. Take care of yourself . . ."

"Rose—I love you with all my heart. And I will continue loving you no matter what."

I felt detached when I hung up the phone.

I looked over at Jade. "Come with me."

She stood up, gripped to my hand. Adrian had built the house that had a basement made of steel. All around it were wards to fend off Strigoi. It was the "Secret Room." If ever a situation where a Strigoi were near our house, we would go down there and hide until the Strigoi left. I was going to hide Jade in there so that I could fight them off. The steel door was nothing a Strigoi could touch because the door was induced with Spirit.

I turned on Jade. "Jade, I want you to hide here so that I can take care of those bastards. Okay? The sun is almost out. And if I'm not back by then, you go look for help and get to safety as fast as you can? All right?"

"Yes, Rose." I went over the case that held all my stakes that were filled with magic. Before I left, she hugged me tight. "Take care, sister."

I threw a spare phone at her. "Call extra guardians in case of an emergency."

She nodded and let me leave.

I ran out the door. Okay. It was only a few hours away till the sun came out. Before I could do anything though, something slammed into my head and I passed out.

When I woke up, a sack was pulled off my head, my hands were tied behind my back. I struggled against them but the chains on my wrists were hard to break. I was also blindfolded and without my eyes able to see, I was vulnerable. I felt cold, chilly breath on my neck. Lips running down the side of my neck.

"Rose, my lovely, why weren't you ever mine?"

His voice sent chills down my spine. It made me feel cold. There was duct tape over my mouth so I could not say a word.

"I am going to let you go . . . but you're going to have play our game. The death race. Every room you enter, you have to face a challenge and if you pass you succeed to the next door. Each door will bring you closer to Exit Door." I felt fangs brush at my skin. "If you get to the door before the sun comes up, we'll let you go. But if you don't get to the door, we'll kill you. You'll be our snack. Or you'll be our Strigoi partner." Dimitri whispered in my ear. "Take the chance, Rose. I'm being nice today."

I felt cold hands undoing the chains on my wrists. "The game starts now . . ."

I stretched my hands, undoing the blindfold and taking off the duct tape off my mouth. I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on. I was stiff. Then, I noticed a door. I went to it and opened it. My first challenge. The challenges became harder as I passed up the doors. Some consisted of mine fields while I battled two or three Strigoi. You had to be extra careful with the mines because one step on them and they blew your head off. When I finally came to the last door, I faced Dimitri and Stan. I was tired though. I knew I couldn't kill them without dying myself.

They stood there with cruel smiles on both their faces. I had once chance to do this. Once chance to eliminate both of them. I had to take the chance now. I went towards Stan first. I slammed my stake into his heart and left it there, while I grabbed another stake from my inside my boot. I tried staking Dimitri but he was too fast and too good for me. I had been one of the best from my class but I had stopped training when I married Adrian.

That didn't mean I was going to stop trying. Dimitri had power over me and I knew he knew it too.

"Just stop, Rose. You'll know I'll win anyways . . ."

No. I refused to stop. If I was going to die here, it better have been for something good like Dimitri's death. I didn't want my children and husband living in fear the rest of their lives. Dimitri was going to die. And it was going to be right now.

"I never give up!"

He attacked me. I had not expected that. When he saw I was on the ground, he randomly threw a pocket knife on me. It landed on my side. I screamed out in pain. I was losing blood and getting weak. What the hell was I going to do now?

Give up. Never.

Just die? Never.

Try. Always.

I pretended like I was hurt and too weak to move. Exactly like I planned, Dimitri came near me and kneeled down. I didn't move as his lips reached for my neck. I reached inside my other boot, and pulled out my other stake. Dimitri was focused on my blood not on what I was doing.

I stuck my stake into his heart.

There.

That was it.

He was dead or at least was dying.

"So you had guts after all . . ."

"You never underestimate, Rose Hathaway."

He chuckled and coughed up blood. "I'm proud of you, Rose."

Those were his last words.

I forgot about him and focused on me. I was so dying tonight. I felt empty. All I wanted was to close my eyes and let myself go to whatever wanted to take me. Before I was gone, I felt warm tears dripping on my face.

"Rose, baby, I'm here for you."

I opened my eyes, slightly. "It hurts, Adrian." It was like déjà vu. What was happening right now, had happened the first time we ever met, the real first time, except the situation was reversed. Adrian had been dying then, I was dying now. "I am not going to survive this. Promise me that you'll live for me."

"Don't say goodbye, yet. People will come and help you." Adrian whispered.

"I love you . . ." It wasn't the first time I had said those words but I was sure they were going to be the last . . .

I knew I was dreaming, but I could not make myself wake up. It was a horrible nightmare, but this nightmare had happened to me. I had already lived through the horribleness of it. It seemed wrong to go through it again. But here I was dreaming of it again, like I had dreamt of this every night ever since that night that happened ten years ago.

A hand went to my forehead and miraculously, I woke up.

"Baby, are you alright?"

I snuggled into Adrian. "Oh, my God. I had that dream again."

"I know, baby. I heard you gasping and panting. I freaked out when you weren't waking up."

"What would I do without you?" I kissed his neck. "I hope I never find out."

He kissed me tenderly.

"Daddy!" Our nine year old daughter shouted from the door way, running and jumping on the bed to hug her dad.

"Zara, baby girl!"

Adrian had just come back from a business trip. I had been the only one who had waited till he came home.

I saw Zara shut her mouth tightly. She had just gotten braces and was embarrassed to smile.

"Ah . . . where's daddy smile? Come on. Smile for daddy."

Zara was my surprise baby. I hadn't known I was pregnant until I gave birth to her in the bathtub. I had had horrible pains all over throughout the whole day. I went inside the bathtub, hoping the warm water would ease some of my pain. But no. The pain became worse as each seconds ticked by. Then I had felt this horrible desire to just push. And when I finished pushing, Zara was out. The doctors said it was a miracle she had survived. Unlike Maya, Zara looked like me. She had my brown eyes and brown hair. And unlike Maya, Zara actually smiled, real smiles, not like the smiles Maya gave when she hurt someone.

"Come on, baby. Just one smile."

Zara shook her head.

"Not even a small smile?"

Zara shook her head again.

Adrian began singing the song "Sara Smile" but he substituted "Sara" to "Zara."

"Zara, Zara . . . smile. Ohh . . . You know how it makes me feel to see you smiling."

I laughed. "Adrian, you're scaring our baby. Can you please be quiet?"

That got a smile out of Zara. She shut her lips tight again. But Adrian had seen. "Aww, baby, they don't look bad."

"Really?"

"You look beautiful, like always."

Zara smiled once more, showing a full smile of braces. "Thanks, daddy." She threw her arms around him. "I love you." Zara was more of "daddy's girl" and Maya was more like a bitch. Mommy's twin bitch.

I looked over at the clock. "Time to make breakfast." I looked at the time again. "Never mind. It's time to make you guys lunch." I shot out of bed, walking to the bathroom. "You should have woken me up so that I could have fed you guys."

"It's okay, mommy. Grandma fed us."

"That's great, honey."

I took a quick shower because last night I had worked out and didn't shower. Gross. When I got out, I went to the kitchen. During lunch, the kids ate whatever so feeding them was easy. I stuck home fish sticks and French fries in the oven. I did an Itilian meal for Adrian and me. When I was finished cooking, I called out to the kids and to Adrian.

When none of my kids arrived, I went to go look for them.

Dante was in his room, talking on the phone. Adrian had talked to him earlier this week and Dante had confessed he had a little "girl friend." Dante was now thirteen years old. Where did the time go? I looked around Dante's room. It was all dark colors. He was a rock 'n' roll fan. He had posters of Avenged Sevenfold, Guns & Roses, Fallout Boy, Blink 182, Linkin Park, Green Day, Skillet, Muse, and a whole lot more. All the posters were signed by the each member of the band. Dante reminded me a lot of my dad. Powerful, yet at the same time, caring. He loved the idea of being a guardian and that was his career goal in life. He had a picture with the most badass guardian out there Shane Kovalinan on his wall. And he always wore a gold necklace that my mother had given him. My mother was his idol and every weekend they would train together.

"Baby?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"Lunch is ready."

"I'll go right now."

Next room to visit was Maya's.

Maya was eleven, almost twelve years old. Like Dante, Maya had dark colors in her room. Her room was green and black and had a huge bed because she had wanted it like that. Maya was a bit rebellious and didn't care about anything except winning. Even though Maya was wild, she had a huge interest in country music. Like Dante, she had posters all signed by her favorite artists. Her "Country Wall" was the wall where she had all her posters and stuff like that. She posters of Lady Antebellum, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Billy Currington, and many more country singers. She had a huge crush on Dierks Bentley. Also not to be missed in her room were her cowboy boots. When she was six and Zara was three, I had entered then in a pageant. She won "Little Miss Princess" which was the best you could get. Then, she said she didn't want to compete anymore because "pageants were for losers like Zara." Secretly, she was my favorite daughter.

"Zara!" I called out because she had her eyes closed and had her stereo blasted.

"Yes, mom?"

"Daddy's home. And lunch is ready. Get your cowgirl butt downstairs." She smiled at the term "cowgirl."

"Whatever you say, mom."

The first-born twin was next. Cade Adam Ivashkov's room was a disaster. Like always. He was more like Adrian. Wild, lazy, and didn't really care about anything. He had a strong passion for guitars and a stronger passion for soccer. Cade was almost eleven. His room was black and white, guitars of every kind all over his room. His dream was to start a band, but bigger than that dream was the dream of him becoming a soccer player. Cade was like his father. Like to be babied, didn't fight unless he had to, didn't like school at all, he slacked a lot more than his siblings. He also looked like his father. Light brown hair, gorgeous green eyes. He had a picture of himself and Adrian on Halloween, where they both were making funny faces. I loved that picture to death. And I loved this boy to death.

"Cade—"

"Yes, mom. I know. I heard you yelling at Maya."

That was easy. I crossed the hallway to my other son's room, the other twin. Kyle Sebastian was throwing a soccer ball in the air when I walked in his room. Like his twin brother, he shared the strong passion for soccer. He was a mixture of both Adrian and me. He had medium brown hair, my brown eyes. Kyle was messy like his father. He was the nicest son I had but he had a bit of an edge like Adrian. Kyle hated when people talked about his family. One day, we were at the store and a rude kid had called Maya boy. Maya could take care of herself but Kyle defended her. He threw the boy against the wall and told him not to mess with his family. I felt so proud of him that day. Him and Maya were the best of buds. He also had a picture that I loved. Him and Cade were both holding guitars as if they were guitar players. And there was that picture of him and Maya where they both held water guns and shot at one another. Yup, that was Maya. Always doing the things females shouldn't do.

"Your dad's here, Kyle. Lunch time."

He nodded. And headed downstairs.

Next was the baby of the family. Zara Sophia Ivashkov was babied too much. She had deep brown eyes, light brown, wavy hair like Adrian's. She hated doing things by herself. Ever since she was three year, she competed in every pageant there was. She had won over three hundred pageants. Shelves after shelves were filled with crowns, trophies, sashes, medals, and a whole lot of other things. Her room was pink and purple, kind of obvious for a daddy's girl. Polka dots of many colors also adorned her room. There was a picture of her and Maya when they had first entered their first pageant. Such a cute picture. There were all sorts of pictures of her as a baby on her wall as well. She loved her baby self.

"Honey-bear, time to eat. Daddy's waiting for some family time downstairs."

"Okay, mommy." She left the room and I began to think to myself.

Where did the time go?

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

"Baby, there you are."

"Yes. I always love the twilight breeze out here on the balcony."

I walked over to join Adrian and sat next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and thought about life lately.

Lissa and Christian had gotten married and they had three kids. Eddie and Sydney stayed married but continued their jobs as alchemists and guardians. Jade and Jon had also had had five kids like Adrian and I had. We all had happy lives.

"Remember the day we met?" Adrian asked.

"How could I ever forget?" I sighed. "Since then I loved you, and from now, I love you. Forever . . . my love you'll have."

"I love you more." Adrian whispered, our foreheads pressed against each other.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" I asked leaning closer. He nodded. "Then prove it."

"How?" He asked.

"Kiss me."

And he did.

After, he just wrapped his arms around me, and let the night take over us—us, who were the lovers, friends, and soul mates of the century.

Soul mates are meant to be . . . just look at Adrian and me, the happy lovers of the century . . .

The End

Aww . . . I am soo sad that this story is over? Who's sad too? I love this story! The best I have ever written! Well…thanks a gazillion!

Lots of love . . .

-Mel