I ran as fast as I could towards the exit and into the crisp air. My group was clustered by the opening. The sun was nearly gone. The nausea still left me on guard for lingering Strigoi that we had not been able to kill. My mother and her party came tearing down the hall with fewer numbers. We lost some more people but we were so, so close to safety.

Everything happened in disoriented flashes. Three Strigoi that were waiting for them. One of the Strigoi grabbed Celeste, his mouth and fangs going for her cheek. One of the Strigoi went for Ms. Carmack but my mother got to her first. There were screams everywhere.

The third Strigoi grabbed Dimitri.

It was the blond Strigoi that had spoken to me in the battle as the school.

Everything around me seemed to disappear around the three of us as he grabbed Dimitri and pulled him to the ground, fighting one another just before he sank his fangs into Dimitri's neck. The red eyes flicked up

and made contact with my own. "She's next," He growled at me.

I heard another scream-this time, it was my own but I wasn't near the caves anymore. I was in my bed. Sweat caked my face and neck and my breathing was heavy. I sat up from my bed and tried to calm myself down.

"It was just a dream, Rose. Just a dream," I told myself out loud between breaths.

I jumped abruptly to the sound of someone at my door. It only took me a second to know who it was. Lissa. She had heard my scream and I could feel her worrying about me though our bond.

"One minuet Liss" I called to her as I looked to the alarm clock on my desk. Shit! It was supposed to meet her and Christian for lunch but when I had come back to my dorm room to gather my thoughts, something I did a lot lately since the attack on the school, I guess I had fallen asleep.

Lately I had been feeling really tired. It was probably from the large amounts of stress that I've been dealing with these past few months. I walked to the door and opened it to see Lissa with a look on her face that mimicked the way she was feeling. "Where were you at lunch? We were looking for you everywhere." She stormed in the room and sat on the bed that has been unmade for so long I could not remember the last time I cared to fix it. I could feel a little bit of anger stir up in her once she realized that I wasn't injured or looked sick.

"I'm sorry. I guess I just dosed off."

Okay, dosed off was an understatement. I had fully passed out and had missed the rest of the school day. Not that it would have mattered much. The attack had happened during our field experience and though the school gave us a few days off to grieve for the fallen Moroi and guardians it seemed like the school was bouncing back to its normal routine. I on the other hand was still on half shift with guarding Christian so most of my time was spent in my dorm or training with Dimitri whenever he had the time away from his shifts of pretending to be a Strigoi.

Dimitri pretending to be a Strigoi. Whenever I thought about this my heart gave a sign of relief. I almost lost him. I had gone with the group of guardians, and some brave fire using Moroi teachers, on a rescue mission to save some of the students that had been taken by Strigoi during the attack on the school. The mission was dangerous as it was never heard of that so many Strigoi could be gathering together. A lot of people were lost during the battle but I almost lost the most important one to me. I could still see the Strigoi as clearly now as I did that day, with his blonde hair and red ringed eyes.

We were running down the hall of the cave and I heard my mother saying something about a curve and that were almost there. Sticking close to Dimitri, I followed the group and could start to see the light from the outside. I felt the nausea again. Telling me that there were Strigoi close by. Then seven of them jumped at us. One guardian, Alan, never saw it coming. A Strigoi grabbed him and snapped his neck so quickly that it looked effortless. It probably was. It was such a mirror to what had happened to Mason that I came to a standstill. Dimitri saw my hesitation and grabbed my arm, not letting go as we moved through.

We were in a narrow part of the tunnel, and not all of us could get through to the Strigoi. Because I hesitated Dimitri and I were now in the middle of the fight. I tried to stay as close to him as possible while we fought off the Strigoi. I lost sight of the others who kept running to the exit of the cave when they were unable to get to the fight. My mother had just killed the last of the Strigoi that had jumped at us and we all made a dash to the bright light as the end of the tunnel only there were more of them. Three Strigoi lay in wait in one of the alcoves. It all happened so fast. I heard a scream from someone to my left and then I was slammed into the ground by one of the Strigoi. I wrestled with him on the ground but was too shocked to get enough force into my hits to gain freedom from him. It was him. The same blonde Strigoi that I had seen earlier. The one who threatened me. I had met him go by accident and now Karma was coming back at me. I knew I could not take this monster on. He was larger and stronger than me and he had his hands wrapped around my neck. I knew I was going to die. I just hoped that Dimitri had gotten out alive.

I closed my eyes in wait for my end but it didn't come. Instead I felt the full weight of the Strigoi slump down on me, knocking whatever air I still had from my lungs, Then, just like that, he was being pushed off my body. Still keeping my eyes shut I took a few deep breaths. Then I felt his hand on my face and the faint smell of his aftershave that was heavily mixed with sweat from the battle. I knew I was safe the moment that hand touched my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw the worried look on his starring wide back at me. It was too close of a call I had just had. We both knew it. I looked over to the body of the Strigoi. He laid on his back with Dimitri's Stake wedged through his ribcage. I could not help but think about the countless times he made me show him where to stab a Strigoi to get access to its heart. I turned to see that the remaining Strigoi were either killed off or had fled the scene and the rest of the group started to head back to the school. With everyone else well ahead of us, Dimitri and I were the last to arrive and before we crossed the border in to the school grounds he stopped me and pulled me towards a tree to give us a little bit of coverage from everyone's sight.

"Roza. I..." He looked like he either could not find the words or that he was still shook from my near death experience. I thought he was going to say something about not hesitating being the first lesson he taught me and how I failed at it today. Instead what he did was even better than words could describe. He pulled me into his arms and for a second I worried that someone would be able to see us thought the thin tree trunk. The look in his eyes told me that even if they did it would not matter.

"I love you Roza." He cupped his hands over my face and brought his lips to mine. They were warm on mine and made the cold air around us fade. Kissing him, I thought back to the cabin where we made love. It seemed like so much time had passed since then but I could remember every detail about it. He pulled away and I could not help but look to see if anyone noticed us. It seemed like they were preoccupied with more pressing matters though. I was just so relived that I was alive and in Dimitri's arms once again.

Despite the one way connection we had, Lissa could tell what I was feeling sometimes. The small amount of anger she had in her had gone away when she saw the change in my face. "You're thinking about it again, aren't you?" She gave me a concerned look. When the group had made their way back to the campus grounds the day of the battle, Lissa's life has changed drastically. Everyone now knew of her Spirit abilities as she had healed a lot of the injured students and staff. At first I didn't want to talk about what had happened at the caves. I knew she was stressed enough without me telling her that I had almost died and that the love of my life had saved me. I hated keeping things from her but she wasn't ready to deal with my issues just yet. So instead I told just told her that the loss of so many people and dealing with the death of Mason was too much for me. I guess it's not a total lie because I really was at my limit with bad things happening to me right now.

"Rose, everything will be okay." She said as she puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I know. It's just," I let out a sign. "After everything that has happened I don't know how much more I can take, you know?"

Lissa didn't say anything but her thoughts gave her away. She thought that I was holding onto this too much and I should try to move past it. Easier said then done when you've seen things first hand. That's something that she can't seem to understand. I saw things. Things that people my age should not see even in our supernatural world.

"Don't worry Liss. I'm okay." She gave me a small smile before looking at the time.

"I'm supposed to meet up with Adrian in a little bit," Lissa said as she sat up from the bed. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

I have her a nod, "Yes, I'll be fine. Have fun with Adrian." As she walked through the door I took a step forward. "Only not too much fun, okay. Christian is worried about you two enough as it is."

"Nothing is going on between me and Adrian," she said, shaking her head.

"I know that Liss. But Christian doesn't seem to get that sometimes."

"I'll be on my best behavior. Promise." She turned and headed down the hallway as I shut the door behind her. I looked in the mirror. Yikes! My hair was a mess. I gave it a quick brush and pulled it into a high ponytail before heading out in search for Dimitri. After all that has been running though my head lately I just really wanted to see him now.