My chest was aching as I stared into my best friends lifeless face. I just sobbed, and took his hand in mine.
"Adrian." I whispered. I knew it was useless. I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. His body was starting to get cold. I just sobbed.
"Please." I whimpered. I heard footsteps behind me, and then heard Dimitri's voice. It sounded distant. I could hear anything over the pounding in my head.
"Roza, come on. We have to get inside, there could be more." Dimitri said. Atleast, that's what I think he said.
"I can't. I can't leave him." I whispered.
"Mommy." Bailey whimpered. Not even my daughters pain filled voice could pull me from the stupor I was in. I heard Bailey's feet hit the ground, and her get down on her knee's and crawl over to me.
"Mommy, please." She whispered. I looked at her and back at Adrian. Bailey turned and looked at Adrian's face. She knew he was dead, but I could tell she didn't want to except it. I didn't either. She sobbed and wiped her nose. She touched his arm.
"Mommy… is he?" She started. She turned to me, and I nodded.
"Yeah baby… He is." I said. My voice broke, and a sob escaped my throat.
"But he can't… he can't be." Dimitri was still behind us.
"Girls, we should be inside, there could be more." I nodded.
"Your right. Take Bailey… Get inside." I said.
"No. Your coming with us Roza." He said, harshly. I shook my head.
"I can't leave him here." I whispered. I turned back to see Bailey slide her ring off her finger. It was the one Adrian had charmed for her. She slid it onto his pinky finger, as she cried. She then leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. A few of the tears that were running down her face were now on Adrian's cheek. As her lips lingered on Adrian's cheek, I watched his chest move. No… That couldn't be right. I squeezed his hand in mine, but then, my hand was squeezed in return. My breath caught in my throat.
"Adrian." I whispered. Bailey's eyes were wide as she sat there, staring at him. He looked like his color had returned. His eyes fluttered and opened.
"Adrian!" I breathed. Dimitri was by Adrian's other side now, knelt down next to him. I leaned down and wrapped my arms around him.
"God… I thought I lost you." I cried. He moved his hand and placed it on my back.
"Shhh… Its okay." He croaked. I just sobbed. Then, when I pulled away, I looked at Bailey.
"Bailey, how did-?" I cut myself off.
"You… You healed him." I said. She just stared at me, wide eyed.
"Are you okay?" I asked, touching her cheek. She nodded.
"I'm… I'm f-fine." She stuttered.
"How did you do that?" I asked. She shrugged.
"I.. I don't know." She whispered.
"Your…you're a dhampir, only moroi…" Dimitri was smiling.
"She's special. We've always known that." Dimitri said. I just stared down at Adrian. He was looking up at Bailey.
"Congrats kid. You've mastered in your element." He said. He slowly sat up, propping himself up on his elbows.
"We should get you to the infirmary." I said. He shook his head.
"I'm fine." He said.
"Adrian, you just-" I cut myself off. Something hit me.
"Adrian… Your shadow-kissed now." I whispered. He looked over at me, and shook his head.
"That's impossible. She's a dhampir." He said. I shook my head.
"She brought you back. Your shadow-kissed when you die, and someone wielding spirit brings you back." I said. He tried to maneuver his way into a sitting position, but he couldn't.
"Dimitri, can you carry him?" I asked. Then, he noticed my arm, where I'd been scratched earlier. It was still bleeding, but not as much as before.
"Roza, your arm…" He said. I shrugged.
"I'm fine." I said.
"Rose." Adrian said, looking at it.
"I'll be fine. We're going to the infirmary anyway." I said. He shook his head.
"Let Bailey." Adrian said. I shook my head.
"No.. We've put her through enough today." I said. It sounded kind of harsh.
"I want to Mommy, but I don't know how." She whispered. I shook my head.
"You don't have too." I said. She nodded. She laid her hand on my arm, over the scratches and closed her eyes. I felt her magic, just the way I felt it when Adrian or Lissa healed me. It was insane. She was a dhampir, and had mastered an element. Why wasn't anything the way it was supposed to be anymore. The wound closed, and the blood stopped. I just stared at her. She opened her eyes and looked at me. She smiled.
"All better." She whispered. I tackled her to the ground in a hug. She giggled. I then remembered Adrian had just died. I stood up, pulling her with me. "Dimitri, can you carry him?" I asked. He nodded. He wrapped his arms around Adrian and picked him up. Adrian moaned as Dimitri carried him into the building and to the infirmary. The red-headed nurse came in.
"What happened?" She asked. I looked at him.
"He died. Someone healed him, but I want you to check him out… please." I said. She nodded, but looked really confused.
"What WAS wrong?" She asked.
"His neck was broken." I said. Her eyes got wide, but she nodded. She went to checking Adrian out, making sure his neck wasn't broken, and there wasn't any real damage.
"We may need to do an X-ray." The nurse said.
"No." Adrian complained.
"Do it." I said, glaring at him. "You may not be completely healed. We need to make sure." I snapped at him. He rolled his eyes and nodded. We stepped outside and sat down. I pulled Bailey onto my lap.
"Are you okay?" I whispered. She nodded. Dimitri scooted his chair closer to me, and laid his head on my shoulder.
"Dimitri, are you okay?" I asked. He nodded.
"I'm fine." He said. It didn't sound like it, but I just nodded. The nurse came out and smiled.
"He's fine." She said. "He'll just need to take aspirin for the pain… but he'll be fine." Adrian came walking out then. He smiled.
"See… I'm fine." He said. I nodded.
"Come on… Lets get you to your room." I said. I wrapped my arm around his waist and helped him to his room. Once he was in his room, I smiled. He turned to look at me. I was glaring at first. I wanted to yell and scream at him for almost taking himself away from me, but he'd done it to protect my daughter. He started to say something, but before he could, I just started crying and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Thank you so much Adrian." I whispered. He just kind of stood there for a second before hugging me back.
"For what?" He asked.
"You know I love you and didn't want you to die, but you did what you did to protect Bailey and I'm so thankful. If you wouldn't have done what you did, it would have been Bailey." I cried. He nodded.
"I know. That's why I did it." He said. Bailey walked slowly over to Adrian and smiled up at him. He picked her up and held her close.
"Thank you so much for what you did for me." He whispered. He slid her ring off his pinky and handed it back to her. She smiled.
"I love you uncle Adrian." She whispered. He smiled.
"Love you too honey." He said. He sat her down, and she went back to Dimitri. He picked her up in his arms, and held her. I knew how scared he was that she was going to get hurt. I hugged Adrian again.
"Are you going to be okay alone?" I asked. He nodded.
"Rose… I'll be fine." He said. I nodded.
"I'll come check on you in the morning." I said. He rolled his eyes, but nodded. I turned back to Dimitri.
"Come on… Lets get her home." I said. Bailey was already passed out in Dimitri's arms. We walked back down the hall and too our room. I took Bailey from him, and took her to her room. Once I tucked Baileys sleeping body into her bed. I walked back to our room, to find Dimitri changing clothes, but he was covered in blood scratched.
"Dimitri…" I whispered. His chest was covered in them, as were his shoulders.
"Its nothing." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Dimitri… that's not nothing." I said, walking towards him. He stepped back, away from me.
"Dimitri… don't. Your hurt.." He shook his head. He kept trying to back up, but he couldn't go any further. I stepped closer to him, and touched his chest. He winced.
"See." I whispered. I looked up at his face, and a tear leaked down his cheek.
"Dimitri… what? Whats wrong?" I asked, wiping it away.
"I'm so sorry Roza." He murmured.
"For what?" I asked. I was scared.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect her. I was trying. I was trying so hard, but I couldn't." He said.
"No… Don't you even think that for a second. You tried. You were protecting her." I said. He shook his head.
"It wasn't good enough. She could have been killed."
"And that wasn't your fault. She wasn't killed and that's all that matters… Now, we need to take care of this." I said, motioning to his chest. I went into the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of peroxide, some gauze, a wash cloth, and a bowl of cool water. He groaned.
"Lay down on the bed." He shook his head. I walked over to him, and pressed my lips to his.
"Please?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes at me, and nodded. I went over and sat next to him. I dipped the rag in the water, and rang it out before wiping some of the blood off his chest. Dimitri was tough and I knew that, but he still winced.
"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I wasn't worried about me." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Dimitri…" I groaned.
"I'm sorry." He finally said. I smiled. I continued wiping the blood off his chest. Once the blood was gone, it didn't look so bad, but the slashes were deep, and looked like they'd get infected easily. I took a piece of gauze and poured peroxide on it.
"You ready?" I asked. He took a deep breath and nodded. I wiped the piece of gauze over the first slash, he made tight fists. I frowned.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. He shook his head.
"Not your fault." He said. I did the next one, and so on until they were all done. I then taped pieces of gauze over each of the slashes.
"All better." I whispered. He sat up, and snaked a hand around the back of my head, pulling my face to his. He kissed me sweetly at first, but it became a desperate kiss in second. When he pulled away, I smiled.
"You failed one of your lessons today." I said. He raised an eyebrow as he pressed a kiss to my neck.
"How?" He asked.
"You hesitated when I told you to run." I whispered.
"I was scared to leave you. You should have left with Bailey. I should have stayed to fight." He said. I shook my head.
"No. If anything... You and Bailey had to be safe." I whispered. He shook his head.
"Roza." He murmured. I smiled, and kissed him.
"Don't argue. Just hush, and go to sleep." I said, getting up, to put the stuff back in the bathroom. When I came back, he was standing by the bathroom door. He caught me in his arms, and pulled me against him.
"I'd rather die than live knowing you were dead. I couldn't go on without you." He whispered.
"You'd have to… For Bailey." He knew it was true, but he didn't like it. He frowned.
"Its okay. There's a simple solution… We just wont die… Okay?" He smirked and nodded, bringing my mouth to his. We both changed and crawled in bed, slowly falling asleep.