Happy holidays, the promised next chapter is here! Thanks for all your comments.

I know some of you still aren't happy with Rose and think she's selfish etc., and I know some of you won't be happy with this chapter either. Please remember that I am writing this story for my own enjoyment – I write whatever ideas come to me and whatever inspires me. I know it may upset some of you but these scenes are important to my plan for this story and I will always make it work out in the end.

Enjoy :)

DPOV

I sat with my head in my hands, contemplating the mess that had become my life. How quickly life could change; one second you're getting married – you think the world of that person, you think nothing can ever change to make you stop feeling this way. You're so blinded by the happiness that you forget that it can all change in the blink of an eye. In one moment everything you ever thought about a person can come crashing down around you.

I trusted Rose. I trusted her and she betrayed me. She betrayed me in the most public way imaginable, and even the memory of it made my heart feel like it was being split in two. Like it was slowly and torturously being pried open and left to bleed.

"Dimitri..." my body stiffened at the sound of her voice. I didn't expect her to find me so quickly. I was supposed to have more time.

I didn't want to see her. Not now. The memory was too raw.

"Dimitri please..." he voice was getting closer and I squeezed my eyes shut, willing her to leave me in peace.

"Just go," I whispered, praying that she would listen. I didn't have the energy right now. There was nothing I had to say to her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Please, can we talk? I need to explain."

"Explain what?" I exclaimed, raising my head to meet her gaze. "You lied to me!" She jumped back at the loudness of my voice as it echoed around the empty church.

"I'm s-sorry," she stuttered, sounding weaker than I'd ever heard her sound. "I have no excuse... I was a coward. I was afraid of how you'd react and I was certain that you would try to stop me. Can you seriously tell me that you would have let me go to that meeting if you had known?"

Every word she spoke seemed to fan the flame of the anger burning inside of me.

"That doesn't change the fact that you kept this from me," I said, working to keep my voice cool. "We are supposed to be partners."

"I'm sorry!" she repeated, her eyes frantic as she inched closer towards me. She flinched as I moved back in the pew, creating distance between us. "Please," she begged, "I was just scared. But I have to do this Dimitri. I was just afraid that if I told you and saw how scared you were that I would never be able to go through with it. But you understand, don't you? The Strigoi are growing, we need to fight back. This was the only way I could think of to make that happen. I was to save us all, Dimitri. I want to create a better world for our children."

I pinched the bridge of his nose, working to control my anger. Our children? How could she bring this up now, with no warning? I didn't even know she was thinking of that – she had never discussed it with me.

But what children can we have if you're dead?

I took a long moment to respond; working on controlling my breathing so much that my voice came out as barely a whisper.

"Guess what, Rose – I am scared. More than that... you let me beg in front of a room full of people and you still refused me. How do you think that makes me feel?"

She started crying, heavy sobs breaking through the deafening silence. I looked away, focusing on the wall and the steady sound of my breathing.

In...Out...One...Two...Three...

At breath fifteen she spoke.

"I'm so sorry!" she begged again. "I really, really am. I kept meaning to tell you, I really did. But then you took finding out about that night so terribly. You made me quit work, Dimitri–"

I scoffed, "Don't you dare blame this on me."

"I'm not..." She said, her hands reaching up to pull her hair as she stood to pace in front of me. "Vlad, I'm not saying this right. I'm trying to explain myself. I know it's not a good enough excuse. I know that I hurt you. I was scared... I didn't see any other way - my judgement was clouded. I knew you would quite literally drag me out of that meeting if you had to. And the closer we got to the meeting, the harder it got to tell you."

Silence hung heavy in the air between us. When it became excruciating I finally spoke.

"I don't know what to say, Rose," I said slowly, focusing on enunciating every word. "Honestly, I don't. How can you expect me to be okay with this? Not only did you lie to me... but on top of that, you're risking your life. You're risking your soul. Can you even begin to imagine how that makes me feel? Did you even think for a second about how much pain that would cause me?"

She let out another loud sob, dropping to her knees in front of me.

"I did." She cried. "I'm so, so sorry. I can't imagine how this must feel for you. But I'll be okay. I promise I'll be okay. Remember what Yeva said when I was in hospital? You don't have to worry about me. I'm going to live a long life."

I shook my head in agitation. Is she serious? That is ludicrous, even for Rose.

"That doesn't mean you can go around throwing yourself into the path of danger!" I rose to my feet, staring down at her. "Don't tempt fate, Rose." I paused, my chest rising and falling in anger as she stared at me, tears streaming down her face. For once her tears did nothing to dissipate my anger. "God," I continued, "I've always known you were impulsive and that you didn't think things through, but I thought you grew up! I thought I had a real partner now."

"I am your partner," She cried between sobs. "I'm so sorry if I haven't acted like it. I love you more than anything. But I need to do this. I can't explain it, but I just feel like it's right. I think this could be a turning point. If we succeed we'll change our world for the better. Do you trust me?"

"Trust you?" I shook my head, turning away from her. "How could I trust you after this?"

She followed after me on her knees, her loud cries echoing throughout the otherwise silent church.

"If I could turn it all back I would tell you the second the idea came to me," she said. "Please believe that. I would discuss it with you from the first moment it popped into my head. I was scared, and I did a stupid thing. I let my worry get the best of me. But can you really tell me you would have even entertained the idea, even for a second?"

Of course I wouldn't!

"No, Rose. I never would have been okay with this. You're talking about risking your life for our world - a world that has done nothing but use and belittle us. How could that ever be right?"

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with so much sadness.

"Sometimes there's a difference between what is right and what is easy," she said after a long moment of heavy silence. "We've been stuck in this pattern for centuries, never having the strength to change it. All it takes is one person to have the courage to change the course of history."

We stood, our gazed interlocked as those heavy words circled around us.

After a long moment, I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

I didn't know how to feel; I didn't know what was right or how a person was meant to react to something like this. I just knew how I felt. I felt betrayed. I felt hurt. I felt angry. Never in my life had I thought it would be possible to feel this way towards Rose.

"I don't know, Rose," I said eventually, working to control my face into its practised neutral mask. It was easier this way – to hide behind the mask. Just as when Ivan had died, just as when my Strigoi memories had haunted me; it was easier to be a perfect guardian than it was to feel pain like this. "I need time to think."

"Please..." Rose choked, leaning towards me to grab at my shirt.

I pulled away and I saw her flinch, real fear in her eyes as she looked up to see the all too familiar expressionless mask.

"I said I need time to think," I said coolly, watching impassively as I took a step back and she crumpled to the floor.

I knocked on the door, working to adjust my bag strap on my shoulder.

A few seconds later Adrian opened the door, immediately handing me a glass of clear liquid.

I muttered my thanks as I grabbed it from him, sculling the cool liquid before I'd even stepped through the threshold. It was Russian vodka, of course.

I stepped into their apartment, dumping my bag onto the couch that had been set up for me as a makeshift bed.

"Where are Sydney and Declan?" I asked, dropping onto the couch with a loud thud.

"Declan's with my mum," Adrian explained slowly. When I waited for him to go on he sighed. "And Sydney... she's gone to see Rose. I hope that's okay," he added quickly. "I didn't agree, but Sydney thinks she could use a friend right now."

I shrugged my shoulders, working to keep my expression completely neutral.

Adrian gave a small smile, one that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"You can't fool me, cousin." He said, taking a seat opposite me. "That face says you're anything but okay."

"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered. "I want to get really, really drunk."

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly surprised.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?"

"No," I said, giving a humourless laugh. "I honestly have no idea what to think. I just know how I feel. And I don't feel good, Adrian. I don't feel good at all."

Wordlessly he reached over to the cart behind him and pulled out a bottle. In the next second my glass was filled to the rim and he was plonking a couple of ice cubes into each of our glasses.

"To love," he said sarcastically, raising his glass to clink mine. "Ain't it a bitch."

I made a noise in the back of my throat as I lifted the glass to my lips, tipping it all the way back in one smooth motion. I welcomed the burn; prayed for the numbness that would follow.

We repeated this ritual for a long time. Silently filling our glasses, clinking them together and knocking them back. When the familiar warmth began to caress my body I finally spoke.

"I just can't believe she did this to me," I whispered, staring at the bottom of my glass as if it held all the answers.

"I can't believe she did that either..." he said, studying his glass as he clinked the ice cubes loudly against one another. "Actually I can," he said after a long pause. "She did lie to me for our entire relationship about being over you." He gave a small laugh, "You see, Rose puts off the difficult conversations with people she cares about. I guess she didn't want to hurt me... but, quite ironically, she just ended up making everything so much more painful."

"I'm sorry," I said, looking away guiltily. No matter how much time passed, no matter how happy Adrian was, that guilt never left me. "I never should have done that to you."

"Old news cousin," he said with a wave of his hand. "As much as I hate to admit it, it worked out for the best. It's exactly what needed to happen. I needed to feel that pain to grow and become the man I needed to be to meet Sydney. Feeling that pain... taking that journey... it took me exactly where I needed to be."

"So the pain was a good thing?" I asked, my voice doubtful.

"I know it doesn't feel that way right now," he said, leaning forward to pour me another shot. "But that pain was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Do you think I should leave her?" I asked, looking up to meet his gaze. The words tasted strange in my mouth. They weren't words I had ever thought I would hear myself think, let alone utter.

Adrian regarded me coolly, giving nothing away in his calm watch. After a long moment, he finally spoke, leaning forward to force me to meet his gaze.

"I can't answer that for you, cousin. What I can tell you though, is how much Rose loves you. She made a mistake, but I know she loves you. She loves you so much that she turned the world upside down to save you. And even when you turned her away, she still didn't stop loving you. Even with a man as painfully handsome as me offering her the world, she held on to that love." I let out a little laugh, meeting his gaze as he gave me a sad smile. "Just as I know how much you love her." He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "I can't tell you what to do, or how to feel, but I think you owe it to her to at least try to move past this."

"I don't know if I can trust her again," I said, feeling some of the weight dissipate as I finally got this off my chest. "It's the betrayal that hurts more than anything."

"I know," Adrian said, his voice a million miles away. "I know..."

I hope that most of you are still enjoying the story!

This is all leading to something really important. I know it seems sad but this development is leading towards to the conclusion to this story I always wanted to tell and I think you will all be really happy with the ending.

Have a fantastic Christmas/holiday period.

Don't forget to review