Thank you so much for the huge response on last chapter! Since most of you want a sequel, I guess I'll write one for you! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy

CHAPTER 36

RPOV

Dinner with Dimitri was great. We'd gone to a restaurant a little out of town. It wouldn't have been smart if we'd chosen a restaurant somewhere in town, because then we'd probably run across someone we knew from school. I was graduated now, but only by a day so it was better if nobody saw us together yet. The chance of being seen together outside of town was much smaller.

At first, I felt nervous being in public with Dimitri. Of course I'd been in public with him before, but not as a couple. That's what made me feel a little nervous, I guess. Or maybe I was afraid someone would see us together. But there was nobody at the restaurant looking at us with a horrified expression on their faces so I guess I had nothing to fear. Everyone was just minding their own business and after a while the nerves disappeared and I could enjoy being in Dimitri's company.

Dimitri was sweet to me, like always. I was the only one he was paying attention to the whole evening. Our waitress didn't like that very much. She'd tried more than once to draw his attention, but he hadn't looked at her one time. His eyes had been focused on me, even when he'd ordered our food and drinks.

When Dimitri paid our dinner, she tried one last time to win him over, but it was like he didn't even notice it – or he was just ignoring her. He helped me into my jacket and wrapped his arm around my waist as we made our way toward the exit. I could see the waitress glaring at me from behind the bar. As soon as we were outside, I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"What's so funny?" Dimitri asked as we walked back toward the car.

"Didn't you notice that our waitress has a thing for you?" I said, giggling. "She was trying so hard to get you to notice her. I almost feel sorry for her."

"What? That's ridiculous," he said.

"No, it's true!" I said, looking up at him. "She was practically showing you her cleavage when she bent to put our drinks on the table. Don't tell me you didn't notice that," I said, glaring at him.

I knew he hadn't noticed it – he'd been oblivious to the waitress's attempt to flirt all night – but I wanted to tease him.

"I didn't!" Dimitri said, suddenly flustered. "I was looking at you! Why would I look at the waitress when I'm with you? Roza, I wouldn't-"

I started to laugh again. "Jeez, relax, comrade. I was just teasing you."

He came to a halt and frowned. "That's not funny."

I stopped, too. "What? I was just joking around, comrade." He started walking again without saying another word. I followed him. "Are you mad now? Seriously?"

Dimitri suddenly stopped walking and I almost bumped into him. He turned around and grinned. "No, I was joking around, too," he said.

I stared at him for a second and then slapped his arm. "You're so not funny!"

"And you are?" he countered, raising his eyebrow.

I stuck my tongue out and he laughed. Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. We walked toward the car hand in hand. Dimitri held the door open for me and then walked to the other side of the car and got in.

We drove home in comfortable silence. All the while I kept my eyes on Dimitri as he drove. A small smile twisted at his lips as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I smiled and leaned closer to him, kissing him on the cheek. The smile he was trying to hold back, broke out on his face. I kissed his cheek again before settling back into my seat.

"Thank you for taking me out for dinner tonight," I said as we exited the car. Dimitri took my hand in mine as we crossed the street. "I really had a nice time."

"Me too, Roza," he said as he smiled down at me.

"You shouldn't have paid for everything, though," I muttered.

"Don't start again," Dimitri said sighing. "We were out celebrating your graduation. It was my treat." He pushed me gently against the wall of his apartment building and held my face in his hands. Slowly, he stroked my cheek with his thumb. "Okay?"

I looked up into his eyes and said softly, "Okay."

Smiling, he leaned in and kissed me. It was soft and sweet at first, but then the kiss grew more passionate. He pushed me into the wall as his lips continued to assault mine. A soft moan escaped my lips as his lips moved to my neck.

"Have I told you yet how beautiful you look tonight?" Dimitri breathed in my ear.

I was unable to response. So instead, I closed my eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. His lips found mine again. His hands moved to my hips and gripped them firmly as we continued to make out. I completely forgot that we were still outside where everybody could see us, but it was dark now. I didn't think anyone would recognize us. At least, I thought that until I heard a voice.

"Get your hands off of her!"

My heart nearly stopped beating when I recognized that voice. Dimitri pulled away from me, a confused look on his face when he saw the fear in my eyes. Slowly, he turned around to look at the intruder.

"Step away from her."

Dimitri didn't move. He just stared at the figure in the dark, trying to figure out who it was.

"Didn't you hear what I said? Step away from her!"

"Jesse, what…what are you doing?" I stammered as he started to approach us.

Jesse stepped into the light of the street lamp, a few feet away from us. Dimitri turned his gaze to me, a shocked look on his face. His arm wrapped around me protectively and he pulled me against his side.

Jesse clenched his fists. "I said, let her go!"

"What are you doing?" I repeated. "Why are you here?"

Finally, he looked at me. "What do you think?" he snapped.

I frowned. "Jesse, I don't… I don't understand."

What the hell was going on? I thought he was over me? I thought he was with Camille? What was he doing here? Why was he so angry?

"I can't believe this," he hissed. "I can't believe you went back to him! I warned you so many times." He shook his head and sighed. "Why? Why didn't you just listen to me?"

"What…what do you mean?" I said in a tight voice.

"I told you to break up with him!" he yelled. "You promised me you would and here you are! Making out with him on the fucking street like a whore."

I gasped as realization dawned on me. My hand flew to my mouth as I stared at him, shocked. I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It couldn't be…

Dimitri realized it too. "It was you?" he said, outraged. "You were the one harassing Rose? You put notes in her locker and kept calling her? You threatened her?!"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear you," Jesse growled. His face was starting to get red with anger. "You poisoned her mind and turned her against me."

Oh my God… Was he crazy? Had he gone mad?

"Roza, get inside," Dimitri said, nudging me toward the door.

I looked up at him and shook my head. "No, I'm not going anywhere-"

"Now is not the time to argue with me, Roza," he interrupted.

"Rose's not going anywhere!" Jesse growled. "Not without me. She's going home with me."

"I swear, if you lay a hand on her…" Dimitri said, threatening, as he moved in front of me.

Jesse laughed. "You won't do anything. That stunt you pulled on me last time… You won't do it again. I know you won't."

"If you don't leave right now, I'll call the cops," Dimitri said, clenching his jaw. "I'll tell them everything. About the notes, about your calls. I'll make sure you'll get thrown into jail."

Jesse looked smug as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh yeah? Then I guess I should save a spot for you, too. I wonder what the cops will do when they find out you've been fooling around with a minor for several months now. I don't think Janine will be happy when she finds out the truth."

"Jesse, don't do this," I pleaded.

I moved away from Dimitri and took a step closer to Jesse, but Dimitri grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

I ignored him and looked back at Jesse. "Don't you want me to be happy?" I asked softly.

He hesitated for a few moments, but then answered, "Yes. But he can't make you happy. Only I can!"

"You know that's not true," I said. "You know how bad things ended between us. Besides, don't you love Camille now?"

"Camille?!" he said, his eyes bugging out. "No! Never. I only love you, Rose. And I know you love me, too."

I knew this was only going to anger him, but I had to say it. "No, Jesse. I don't. Not anymore."

He gritted his teeth. "Don't say that! You're lying. I hate it when you lie to me."

"I'm not-"

"Quiet!" he yelled.

I shut up, afraid he might snap if I'd say something more. This was going from bad to worse. I didn't know what to do or say to end this situation. I knew I had to end this, though. And quickly, before someone got hurt.

"Please stop this," I pleaded again. "Jesse, you have to stop this. You have to let me go."

"I can't let you go," he said through clenched teeth. "You're mine."

"I'm not yours. You don't own me," I said, trying to keep my cool.

Dimitri found my hand and squeezed it gently. "Go inside," he whispered.

I ignored him. I wasn't going to leave the two of them outside. Who knew what would happen then?! And I didn't trust Jesse. I didn't know what he was up to - except for taking me home with him, apparently. Plus, I needed to find out more about all this. I needed to know how he'd arranged everything. The notes, the calls, the pictures… I wanted to know how he'd found us tonight. I wanted to know everything.

Jesse had started to pace and was mumbling things to himself. It made me nervous, seeing him like this. He was acting crazy. Or maybe he just was. I didn't know what he was capable of and that scared me.

"Why, Rose? Why?" he kept saying over and over again. He stopped pacing and turned back to me. "Why did you do this to me? Why did you go to him?" His eyes flicked to Dimitri and his look darkened. "Why did you betray me?"

He started to get angry again and kicked a trash can. I cringed and moved closer to Dimitri's side. I started to shake, but it was not from the cold. Dimitri wrapped his arm around me again and pressed his lips against my temple.

"It'll be okay," he whispered.

Jesse looked frantic. "What did I tell you? Let her go! Now!"

"Just do it, Dimitri," I whispered, suddenly terrified. "Do what he says."

"Roza-"

"Please," I begged.

Dimitri let go of me, but didn't move away. Jesse calmed down a little bit . He stared at me as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

"I warned you so many times, Rose," he said at last. "So many times. I thought it would be enough if I told the principal. I thought he would make a stop to what was happening between the two of you, but he didn't. He did nothing about it!" He clenched his fists again. "So I had to take matters in my own hand. But that didn't help either."

"How did you do it?" I asked quietly. "The notes? How were you able to put them in my locker when you didn't even go to school there?"

He smiled his creepy smile. "That's where Camille comes in."

"Camille?" I said in disbelief.

"Yes. Why do you think I was dating her?" he snapped. "She hated you so that made her the perfect person to help me."

"So she knows about Dimitri and me?"

"Yes. Of course she does. She read the notes after all," he responded, shrugging. "But she promised me she'd keep it a secret. I didn't want her to tell her silly friends. Not everyone needs to know you were fooling around with your teacher." He spat the words like it was venom. "It's none of their business, anyway. This is between you and me."

I chose to ignore the last part. "And she didn't mind you were just using her?"

"She didn't know I was using her. She thought I loved her." He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Stupid girl."

"You pretended this whole time to love her and she never figured it out?" I said in disbelief.

He looked smug again. "No, she didn't figure it out. I was very persuasive, I guess. Besides, I needed to pretend. I needed you to think I was over you. I needed to be close to you again without you getting suspicious."

I'd been so stupid. After Eddie had told me Jesse had been in the hallway when I'd had that fight with Dimitri… That's when I should've realized Jesse had called the principal. I should've known Jesse was behind the notes and the calls. Who else would do something crazy like this?! Something else suddenly came to my mind.

"Were you working with someone else, too?" I asked.

"What?"

"Was there someone else besides Camille? Did a woman named Tasha help you?" I asked.

Dimitri stiffened and he looked down at me. "Rose…"

"What? She was trying to break into my locker!" I turned back to Jesse. "Do you know Tasha V-"

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Jesse interrupted me. "I was only working with Camille."

"And the calls?" I'd never recongized his voice whenever he'd called. He really must've used a voice changer. "Why did you do that? Weren't the notes enough?"

"No," he hissed. "Apparently not. You wouldn't listen to me so I had to think of something else."

Tears sprung in my eyes as I suddenly realized it was him who'd been watching me. "You were spying on me this whole time! How could you do that?" I exclaimed. "You moved away! What did you do? Come back every day to watch me?"

"I had to keep an eye on you," Jesse said. "I had to make sure you'd break up with him. When I gave you the picture, you assured me you would break up with him. You lied." Once again, he started pacing. "I trusted you. I believed you would do what you'd promised me. But you lied!" He stopped again and turned to me, his eyes blazing. "You. Lied. To. Me. When I saw you at graduation yesterday, talking to him, I knew you'd lied to me."

"Jesse, I…"

"How could you?" he yelled.

That's when I lost it. I couldn't stay calm anymore. Not when I had to hear how he'd tried to ruin my life over and over again. "Me? What about you? How could you do this to me? Do you hate me that much? Do you want to ruin my life so badly?"

Jesse stared at me in disbelief. "Hate you?" he said. "I could never hate you. I love you."

"You don't know what love is," I snapped. "All those times you tried to scare me! All those time you hurt me! That's not love!"

"Roza, calm down," Dimitri whispered.

"I'm sorry about that," Jesse told me. "But it's really your fault I behaved that way. If you hadn't flirted with all those guys, I wouldn't have acted that way. You needed to realize that you belong to me."

"You're sick," I said, my voice trembling. "You're insane." I turned to Dimitri, tears streaming down my face, and said, "Get me out of here, Dimitri. Please."

Dimitri nodded and wrapped his arm around me again. I couldn't believe I hadn't listened to him the first time he'd told me to go inside. I still had some questions, like how Jesse had pulled it off to watch me the whole time without me noticing him, but it wasn't worth it to stay here, listening to his crazy, obsessive words. It didn't really matter anymore how he'd done it. I just wanted to go inside and call the police.

"It's your word against ours, you know, if you're telling the school officials," he said to Jesse, his voice cold. "You can show them your pictures, but you won't prove anything with it. Yeah, sure, you'll be able to prove that there's something going on between Rose and me. But that is all. You won't be able to prove when it's happened. It could've happened before graduation or after. Nobody will know for sure. So be smart and leave it alone. If you don't, I'll go to the police and ask for a restraining order. What's it going to be?"

Jesse clenched his fists again as he stared at Dimitri angrily. "I don't care what you'll do. I just came to take Rose back and you're not going to stop me."

He was really starting to scare me. The way he talked about me, like I belonged to him… It frightened me.

"Fine. Then I'll just call the police," Dimitri said, taking out his cellphone. "Rose, please go inside now and wait for me there."

I nodded and turned to the door. I didn't make it far, though. Jesse had his hands on me in a matter of seconds. But Dimitri was fast, too, and he pulled Jesse away from me. I let out a scream of pain when Jesse's hands started to pull at my hair, still trying to hold on to me. I managed to turn around and kneed him in the stomach.

"Roza, go inside and call the police!" Dimitri ordered as he tried to restrain Jesse.

Jesse was kicking around violently, like some wild animal. He was out of control and kept yelling my name and how I was going to pay for this. I sprinted toward the door and jerked it open. But before I went in, I looked over my shoulder. Jesse was still struggling to get free. Dimitri noticed me standing in the doorway and said, "Go!"

I was about to turn away and do as I was told, but then something caught my eye. I stood there frozen as I realized what it was that I'd seen in Jesse's hand.

"Dimitri, watch out!" I screeched.

I shouldn't have yelled. I'd only distracted him by calling his name. If I'd just gone inside, he would have seen. He would have seen the pocket knife Jesse was holding. But he didn't. Because of me. Because he'd been focused on me.

It all happened so fast. Dimitri looked up at me as he still tried to control Jesse. He was distracted, though, and didn't pay attention to what Jesse was doing. I did. I wanted to scream again, but I couldn't find my voice. Instead, I just stared as Jesse thrust his knife into Dimitri's stomach.

Dimitri's eyes widened in shock. It was only briefly, though. As if nothing had happened, he pushed Jesse off of him and punched him in the jaw. Twice. Jesse stumbled backwards and fell down on the ground, the knife still in his hand.

I ran back to Dimitri. He was leaning against the wall now, his hand on his stomach. Slowly, he sank down against the wall. I crouched down beside him and pulled his hand away from his stomach. His fingers were covered in blood. Slowly, the blood spread across his shirt. I looked back up at his face. His eyes were closed as he leaned his head back against the wall.

I turned around to Jesse. He scrambled to his feet and stared at the bloody knife in his hands.

"What did you do?" I cried.

He looked up at me, a confused look on his face. "I… I didn't mean to – I just wanted to…"

He closed his mouth, looked back down at the knife and then threw it on the ground. He looked at me one last time before he sprinted away. I didn't care. I just wanted Dimitri to be okay. I turned back to him and put my hands on his stomach and pressed against the wound. Dimitri groaned, but didn't open his eyes.

Suddenly, the door opened and a woman walked outside. She'd probably heard the commotion. She gasped when she saw us.

"Please call 911!" I said. "He's been stabbed. He needs to get to the hospital."

The woman ran back inside. I hoped it wouldn't take long for the ambulance to get here. I didn't know how long Dimitri would last until – Don't think about that, Rose!

"Dimitri?" I said.

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice wavering. "I'm so sorry. I should've gone inside when you said so. It's my fault-"

"Shh, it's okay, Roza," Dimitri said.

I started to cry. "No, it's not. You're not okay."

"Roza, don't cry," he said, gritting his teeth as he tried to suppress the pain. "It's going to be okay. I'll be okay."

"I don't want to lose you," I choked out.

"Roza, look at me," Dimitri said. He put his hand against my cheek and said, "You won't lose me. I promise."

I tried to control my sobs. "I love you," I managed to say.

Dimitri smiled slightly and wiped the tears from my face. "I know you do. I love you, too."

The door opened again and the woman came running outside. This time she had others with her. I didn't pay any attention to them, though. I just looked at the woman, hoping she'd tell me they were coming to get Dimitri and bring him to the hospital.

"They're coming," she said. "They would be here in a few minutes, they said."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you."

More people gathered around us. I wanted to yell at them to either help us or just leave. I realized, though, that there was nothing they could do. We could only wait for help.

It seemed like an eternity before the ambulance arrived. By now, Dimitri's shirt was soaked in blood. He'd closed his eyes again and his face looked pale.

"Dimitri, they're here," I said, shaking his shoulder gently.

He didn't open his eyes.

"Dimitri?" I shook his shoulder again, but he still didn't react. Oh my God. Could it be that he was… No! No, no, no. You promised me I wouldn't lose you. "Dimitri! Dimitri, wake up!"

"Miss, you have to step aside," someone said, just as someone else grabbed my shoulders and started to pull me away from Dimitri.

"He isn't waking up!" I exclaimed. "Why isn't he waking up?"

Nobody answered me. A few paramedics were gathered around Dimitri, checking his pulse. After a few moments, they put him on a gurney and wheeled him over to the ambulance. I tried to follow them, but one of the paramedics was still holding me.

"Miss, I need to check if you have any wounds. Can you please-"

"I don't have any wounds!" I interrupted as I struggled to get free. "I need to go to Dimitri. I need to know if he's okay."

"You can't go there now, miss," the paramedic said.

"But I have to-"

"You can't help him now. You have to wait-"

"Let go!" I yelled. "Let go of me! I need to go to Dimitri."

I trashed against the man, trying to break free from his hold on me, and called for Dimitri over and over again.

"Dimitri!" I cried out one last time as the ambulance drove away.

The paramedic finally let me go and I collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down my face. The man sat down beside me, put his arm around me and let me cry on his shoulder. After a few minutes, a couple of other paramedics walked over to us. They all helped me up and brought me back to the second ambulance. I sat down on the gurney, still crying. After a while, I stopped crying and just sat there as they examined me, praying Dimitri was still alive.

Whew! Long chapter. Before you all start to panic, let me remind you that there will be a sequel so you know your favorite Russian will survive this ;)
So, Jesse is behind it all! And Camille helped him. I think most of you figured it out. But what about Tasha then? If she wasn't working with Jesse and Camille, why was she trying to break into Rose's locker?

Anyway, I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as possible! And please leave a review on your way out ;)

Have a nice day/evening! :)