Hey loves! I know I left the last chapter off with an angsty cliff hanger, so I decided to post this one fast. Rose is very dark in this.

*WARNING* The first half of this chapter is violent and there's one part that is very cruel (at least I think it is and I have given it a lot of thought). I don't want to spoil it in this note, so all I can say is proceed with caution. It may be triggering.

"Why isn't it working?" Tasha demanded. Seeing Dimitri dead in my arms at the hand of the woman in front of me sparked a fit of dangerous anger inside, ready to erupt at any second.

"Why isn't your blood working!?"

I didn't answer her. I was still staring down at my lover, holding his head with shaking hands.

"This is your fault," she snarled. "He jumped in front of you. It's always your fault, Rose. Do you see the damage you've done? Because of you, he's dead!"

Her words stung, but all I felt was anger. I wasn't going to hold back anymore. With a new sense of vigour, I left Dimitri's side and stormed towards Tasha before she suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs for help. I stopped, confused for a second until I felt one of the worst waves of nausea of my life.

Before I knew it, two strigoi came out of the forest, baring their hungry fangs at me. Tasha's entire pack had been waiting for her call. Slowly, I watched as other strigoi started to come out. I couldn't even count how many there were—ten, twenty, thirty, maybe more. They were all coming out at once and they were here for me. This time, I didn't have anyone to help me. I was on my own.

"You want me?" I sneered. "Come and get me!"

The first two leapt out at me with their arms out, ready to grab me together from both directions. I dodged their attacks at the last second, causing them to slam into each other. The second they were down, I plunged my hands into their backs with a force so strong that I was able to grab onto their hearts, and with another wave of strength, I pulled their hearts out. They dropped to the ground, face planting into the grass. I tossed their hearts aside, watching some of my other attackers hesitate while they plotted their next move. It was obvious that I had surprised them.

Four others came out and I fought every single one of them with ease. I had never fought like this before, but I wasn't holding back. I was letting the monstrous, angry side of me come out and take over.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but the fight was going on forever. Everyone that came out either got staked, got their hearts pulled out, or had their heads ripped off. I was beyond brutal, but I didn't stop. The ground was covered in a bloody pile of bodies and limbs while my skin was splattered from head to toe in crimson. I even drained some people of blood to provide for my energy. I was a mess by the time my last attacker dropped dead and there were so many bodies I couldn't even count them on my hand. There had to be over twenty.

I saw someone crawling on the ground in the corner of my eye and slowly turned around. My eyes landed on Tasha who showed none of the hatred from before. She still had the gun in her hand and started shooting me, but I barely felt the bullets. All they did was make me flinch a little bit, but it felt like getting hit with rocks. There was too much pain in my heart and this felt like nothing. At this point, I probably wouldn't even notice if she set me on fire.

Tasha looked terrified when she realized the bullets weren't working on me. When the gun had nothing left to shoot, she tossed it to the side and crawled away.

"Looks like your little gang here wasn't as good as you thought they were," I observed, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her back down. I kneeled and kept my hand around her throat, and she instinctively clawed at my hand which got her nowhere.

"Avery was right about something," I admitted, not moving an inch as she squirmed. "You don't have to be strigoi to be a monster. Do you know where she is now? A place for people like you—a place where suffering comes to no end. And now, you're going to end up just like her—stuck in an endless world of torment, brought on by your very own guilt."

"Guilt?" she laughed, coughing as I choked her airways. "I'm not guilty. I don't regret anything I've done. I couldn't care less about the people who died."

"But you cared about Dimitri. And you killed him."

Tasha's face fell. "That was an accident. That wasn't my fault."

She was still denying it. Accident or not, she was guilty of that.

"If I'm going to hell, why don't you just kill me already?" she spat. I had considered killing her, but I had something else in mind. I would never wish it on anyone, but Tasha was a different story.

"Oh, I'm not killing you. That would be far too easy. I've seen the other side. I've seen how dark it can get—and now, I'm going to make you spend the rest of your life anxiously awaiting your death."

I flipped Tasha over and pressed my foot down on her back, putting enough pressure to prevent her from crawling away. I was aware of how cruel my next actions were, but I didn't care anymore. I was going to make her pay for what she did.

"Bad people like you need to suffer." I pressed my foot further into her back. "And bad people like you need to be punished." I raised my foot from her body, and without giving it a second thought, I stomped it back down with force, hearing her spine crack. Her shriek of pain invaded my ears before she passed out, and I moved away as I heard sirens in the background. The guardians were almost here.

I rushed back to Dimitri and dropped to my knees again, holding his heavy body in my arms. Every ounce of anger I had before was turning into an unbearable sadness.

The only man I'd ever loved in this world was dead. My lover, my protector, my other half, was dead. He died doing the one thing he wanted most—protecting me. When he said he would protect me with his life, he meant it—and he wasn't afraid. I should have been me instead of him. He deserved the whole world. He deserved to grow old with a loving family. He deserved to have someone by his side, someone who would love him for the rest of his life. He deserved to raise the beautiful child we'd both come to love. He deserved it all...and he wouldn't be able to experience any of it.

"I'm so sorry," I cried, kissing his forehead. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

The sirens got closer and closer, eventually leading to the house where I saw four SUVs pull up. The headlights flashed against me, and I curled in on myself, protecting Dimitri's body with mine. It didn't matter if they were there to help. They came too late, and anybody who dared to come near me or Dimitri was a threat in my mind. Nobody was allowed to touch him.

Everyone got out of their cars, using their flashlights to scan the area. I heard footsteps approaching me and stood up, guarding Dimitri's body in a defensive stance.

"Rose..." My mother stood right in front of me, her mouth gaping open when she saw my bloody form. When she saw Dimitri, she choked on what sounded like tears.

"You're late," I muttered. I saw two guardians approaching, mainly focussed on Dimitri.

"Don't," I growled when they tried to come closer. "If you touch him, I'll kill you. I mean it."

"Rose, we're not going to hurt him. We're here to help you," Mom said cautiously.

"I don't care who you are! If anyone here even goes near him, they will end up in that pile." I pointed towards the dozens of strigoi bodies. Nobody was going to touch Dimitri. I had to protect him.

"I understand you're upset," Mom whispered, not coming any closer. The look in my strigoi eyes was enough to make her scared—and my mother never got scared.

"We have to take him to the hospital—"

"Dimitri is dead! He's been dead for over half an hour because you took too long! You were too late and now he's gone!" I broke down, covering my mouth as helplessness took over. "He's gone, Mom. He's really gone."

I could see tears start to pool in her eyes too, and she came closer, gauging my reaction.

"Please don't take him away. I-I can't...I can't go on w-without him—" I choked on my words and she pulled me into her arms, rubbing my back. I didn't want her to hug me, but the tight hold she had on me didn't allow me to pull away.

"Mom..." I tried to push her away, but she only held me tighter.

"I'm sorry," she said. There was a strange edge to her voice that left me feeling a little confused until I felt something sharp poke my back. I sucked in a breath, gripping my mom's shoulders.

"What the..." A few seconds later, I started to lose consciousness. "What did you do?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated, catching me in her arms as my vision darkened.

I wasn't sure how long I was out for, but my body was beyond worn out and exhausted when I woke up. I was both physically and emotionally drained and for the first time, I wanted nothing more than for someone to drug me again. Being awake was too painful. I wanted to sleep.

I heard voices in the room—two voices—speaking in harsh whispers.

"How is she going to handle this?" That was Mom. Memories started to replay in my head and I felt a mixture of sadness and anger boiling inside. She had been the one to drug me.

"It's not the worst thing. This should make her...happier," Abe responded. Happy? Happy? He thought Dimitri being dead would make me happy? Was he out of his mind?

"I mean, things will obviously be different, but it'll just take some time getting used to," he continued. I wasn't sure if I was angrier at the fact that my father thought I'd be happy without Dimitri, or the fact that my mom drugged me.

"Well, she's been through hell. I'm sure she can get through this too. You're right; things will be different, but she's strong. They're both strong."

What?

"I've never seen her look so monstrous. I knew she was hurting, but did you see how many strigoi she killed?" Mom pointed out.

"26 bodies," Abe announced. "She killed 26 strigoi all by herself."

"That's more than most of us," Mom admitted. "Do you think she broke Tasha's back too?"

"Yes. That kind of injury doesn't just happen from a fall. You know how Rose feels about people hurting someone she loves. If paralyzing Tasha doesn't scream vengeance, I don't know what does."

I wasn't sure whether to feel bad that I had just put Tasha in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. It was cruel and I was well aware of that. I had been so angry that I had let the strigoi side of me control my actions. I would never wish it on anyone and I felt sorry for people who had to go through that.

But Tasha...I couldn't feel sorry for her. Not after what she did. She killed Dimitri.

Dimitri.

I opened my eyes, squinting at the ceiling light before I could adjust. I tried to move my hands, but they didn't budge. I felt cold, hard metal around my wrists and looked down to find them handcuffed to the hospital bed. Holy fuck.

I struggled against them, getting my parents' attention. They were at my side in seconds and tried to calm me down. I did not want to be restrained right now. While I had been willingly tied up before, this was terrifying.

"Let me go!" I screamed, struggling harder. Memories of my past trauma flashed in my mind and I started to panic. "Let. Me. Go!"

"Rose, just calm down," Abe said, holding his hand out. When my mother touched me, I started struggling profusely, going out of control.

"Get Eddie in here," Mom ordered. Eddie was here? Did he fly in while I was out?

Abe left the room, shouting something in the hallway. While my shoulders were held down, I pulled so hard on the cuffs that I broke them from the sides of the bed.

Sure enough, Eddie was here. He ran into the room and gripped my arms before I could attack him. "Rose, stop! If you keep struggling, we'll have to sedate you again."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I roared. "You guys restrained me to this bed! Do you have any idea what that's like for me? I was having a panic attack and nobody listened!"

"We had no choice," Mom said. "We were afraid you'd go out of control."

I broke out of Eddie's hold and grabbed her shirt, pushing her up against the wall. "The love of my life just died, and you expect me to be calm and happy about it? I told you all not to touch him and you drugged me! You took him away from me, damn it! I hate you!"

Eddie slipped his arms around me, pulling me away even as I struggled against him. I kept screaming at my mom, telling her how much I hated her. She couldn't handle my hurtful words and left the room, shutting the door. I loved her, but I hated her. I hated her because I was so angry. I was angry at everything.

Dimitri was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. I was helpless and I desperately wanted him back. Right before we were attacked, we had been kissing. We had been sleeping peacefully together the day before, and now I would never sleep with him again. I'd never get to hold him again, to kiss him again, to tell him how much I loved him. I'd never see him smile again. I'd never get to laugh with him or spend time with him and Nevaeh as a family. I wanted to rewind time, to go back to those precious moments as if nothing happened. I wanted to wake up and believe this was all just a horrible nightmare, but everything here was real. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to him and my heart ached.

Instead of fighting Eddie, I fell to my knees and let all the tears come down. I was so heartbroken. I didn't want Eddie's comfort. I didn't want my parents' help. I didn't want anyone to fix me.

"I just want Dimitri," I said out loud, bursting into another fit of tears when I said his name. I imagined his arms around me, telling me I'd be okay and that he was there for me.

But he wasn't there. I was truly alone now.

Eddie moved to wrap his arms around me, but I jerked away. "Don't touch me. Please." I hated it when people tried to touch me when I was vulnerable, even if they were doing it to comfort me. The only person I ever allowed to hug me when I was like this was Dimitri.

"Okay," Eddie said calmly. He didn't say a word and sat down, watching me break down in front of him. It was so emotionally draining and painful that it physically hurt inside. It was too much to handle and I was seriously considering shutting off my humanity.

"I just want to turn it off," I sobbed.

"What?"

"My humanity," I clarified. "All my emotions. I just want the pain to stop. I can make it go away if I just shut it all off—"

"Rose, don't. Just wait. Let me explain something to you before you do that."

"What difference does it make?" I asked him. "Are you just going to tell me some bullshit about how I'm going to get through this and that you're so sorry for my loss? That I'm going to go on with Dimitri watching over me?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake—"

"Don't you understand? I've been through enough and I can't handle it anymore! The man I loved most in this world is gone! He's gone because of me! Nothing will bring him back!"

Eddie snapped, moving forward and gripping my arms so tightly it hurt. He looked straight into my eyes, yelling in earnest. "Dimitri is alive!"

I blinked, opening my mouth even though no sound came out. Eddie released me and leaned back on his hands, swearing in frustration to himself.

"What?" I asked. "Look, now is really not the time to be joking around."

"I'm not joking," he said seriously. "Why the hell would I lie to you about that?"

"He can't be alive, Eddie. I watched him die in my arms. His body was cold."

"He was dead," Eddie explained. "He didn't have a pulse for several hours. His body was cold and the doctors here were going to do an autopsy on his body, but something strange happened. His body...it started healing. His bullet wound is only a scar now, and every other injury he had before is gone. We've hooked him up to a cardiac monitor and he has a pulse."

This couldn't be real. I watched him die right in front of me. He hadn't been able to swallow my blood when I tried to heal him.

"How?" I asked, still believing it wasn't real.

"The doctors did some digging while you were out," he answered. "Your blood was found in his system, Rose."

"That's impossible. I tried to feed him when he was dying and he couldn't swallow anything."

"Well..." Eddie shook his head. He was at a loss. "The tests don't lie. That's just what they found. Maybe your blood went down his throat? Or...did you ever heal him before that in the last 24 hours?"

"I don't remember..."

Wait. I had fed Dimitri. Just a few hours before the attack, I had forced him to drink my blood so that his back injury could heal.

"Oh my god," I breathed.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"I healed him with my blood a few hours before Tasha came—before he was shot. The day before, we were attacked by a psi hound. Dimitri's back was injured. I made him take some of my blood so that he would heal. It was in his system this whole time."

"Well, that explains things." Eddie's eyes looked hopeful for a moment, but there was something else bugging his mind—and I knew exactly what it was. "Rose, you know what this means, right? He'll be just like you. We need to go to him. We need to see him before—"

"Before he wakes up," I finished for him. This was what Abe meant when he said things would be different. He wasn't talking about Dimitri's death. He was talking about his transition.

"Come," Eddie said, grabbing my hand. I left the room with him, wiping my tears in the process. I had never felt so determined to do something, but I was now. If Dimitri was going to be like me, he was going to need a whole lot of help to get through the transition. I had gone through it on my own and it was one of the hardest changes in my life.

We walked through different hallways and areas of the hospital to get to his room. Eddie knew where he was, and as we got closer, my senses started to waver. It was like I could feel a strange tug—almost like an emotional pull. I already knew exactly where Dimitri was and Eddie hadn't even gotten there yet. I just knew.

Eddie finally found his room after running around all over the place. It was far back and very isolated from the rest of the patients in the hospital. The doctors here had put him there on purpose.

Two guardians stood outside his room. I expected them to block us out, but they seemed to recognize our faces even though I didn't recognize theirs. They stepped aside to let us in and I barged into the room.

The second I saw Dimitri lying in a bed, his chest rising and falling with a steady heartbeat, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. He really was alive. He was okay.

"I hope this isn't just a dream," I whispered, walking over to his side. All of his injuries were gone and the blood on his head had been cleaned up. He didn't wear anything on his face to help him breathe, but he seemed to be doing that just fine on his own. His skin was pale—equally as pale as me now. And he was beautiful. I'd never felt an attachment this strong to someone. Our bond was already affecting me.

With trembling fingers, I touched his hands. His skin wasn't as cold as it had been when he was dead, but it was cold enough to know his body needed blood when he woke up.

"I have to stay here," Eddie told me, bringing a chair up behind me so that I could sit. "I won't disturb you, but I have to stay in case anything happens. He might not be able to control himself when he wakes up."

I nodded gratefully, sitting down in the chair and scooting closer to Dimitri. I looked up at the little tray next to him and saw six blood bags sitting there. The doctors had put them there for him. I thought six was a bit much, but it was hard to predict how much he would need. I had been very thirsty when I first woke up and Dimitri could be the same way.

"Turn the lights off," I said to Eddie. "They'll hurt his eyes when he wakes."

Eddie nodded and flipped the switch down, leaving the room darker except for the lamp next to Dimitri's bed which gave us some light.

I rubbed his hand for the next few hours, never taking my eyes off of him. I had never felt so anxious yet so relieved in my life. I wasn't sure how he was going to react to being different, but he was alive and that was all that mattered. No matter how hard things would be for him, I was going to stay by his side the whole time. He spent every waking moment being the best guardian he could, taking care of me and helping me when I needed him. Now, he needed me.

After another hour, I thought I was about to fall asleep when Dimitri's fingers suddenly twitched against my hand. I gasped, sitting up straight as his fingers stretched out, curling around mine. He was trying to hold my hand.

He made a small noise in his throat, but nothing more came out. He was struggling to wake up.

"Dimitri?" I stood up from my chair, placing a hand on his forehead as his eyes moved behind his eyelids. I was aware that he could burst out at any moment with his body's new instincts, but I was willing to take that risk. He was so vulnerable and I refused to leave him alone like this.

"Dimitri, can you hear me?" I asked him, speaking softly to avoid startling him. Slowly, his eyelids started to open. It was a struggle, but he was trying.

Dimitri's eyes opened fully, and the first thing they landed on was me. Just as I had expected, his eyes were red. It was a strange sight on him, but good lord, he was so...beautiful.

"Roza," he whispered. I cupped his cheek, melting at the sound of his voice saying my nickname. I thought I would never hear him say that again. I hadn't expected him to wake so peacefully, but there he was, gazing up at me like I was the center of his world. His lips tugged up into a smile before he murmured the purest words I'd ever heard him say. "Are you my angel?"

I'm sorry I made the ending so cheesy. I have a thing for doing that. What did you think?

I know what Rose did to Tasha was cruel, but in the end, I thought it would be worse than death. At least that's just what I think. I would never ever wish that on anyone - this is only for the story.