A/n: Ahhh wonderful reviews you guys! You guys have been begging for more, and I know its been taking me a while. Well, here it is!
Disclaimer: Do you really think I'm Richelle Mead? Pah. I know she writes ffs sometimes, but I'm not that good!! I don't own anything except the events that happen I guess.
It took a lot of convincing, but they let me out; Lissa walked with me to the lunch room, trying to pry some information out of me. The sound of running footsteps caught my attention. A boy ran in front of me and looked into my face.
"Rose! I'm so glad you're okay!" he exclaimed, letting out a long breath.
"Hey Eddie." I laughed.
"So what happened?" he asked, walking at my side.
"Good luck. I've been trying to pump her for info all day." Lissa laughed, shaking her head.
"Honestly Ed, I don't know."
"Everyone's buzzing with it, and no one will go near Belikov."
"You've seen him?" I asked, stopping.
"Yeah, he's in the cafeteria now." he motioned to the door.
I looked at Liss, and and she smiled. "Go."
"Thank you!" I cried, and started to run. When I got inside, I looked around.
"Hey Rose." someone called from behind me. I turned and looked at him, folding my was not the voice I was hoping to hear right now, or ever for that matter.
"Damn it, Jesse. Just when I know I'm having a good day." Well, it was okay.
"You lookin' for Belikov?" he asked, leaning on the wall.
"He's going to be lookin' for you if you don't leave. Now." I snapped harshly. I was proud of myself; I hadn't used a good threat in awhile.
"Its so good to see you back at the academy Rose."
"Yeah right."
"Seriously! Everything has gone awry lately. Kirova was about to resign, Christian's aunt was here bawling her eyes out, and Alto was trying to settle everything down. We missed you." he tried to reassure me.
"You really think I'm going to believe that you missed me Jesse?" I asked, turning.
He rolled his eyes. "Well, not me."
I left without another word. What would I give to have a psychic bond with Dimitri right now...
"Rose!" Lissa waved me over.
He was standing two feet across from her, as beautiful as ever. His stare burned something inside of me. I needed to touch him. Immediately. In a second, I was standing two inches away from him. "Dimitri." I hid my smile, 'accidentally' bumping into his arm. I was trying to mature about this.
"Roza..." he whispered, confused. There it was. The sweet luster of his voice caught me off guard. He was yearning to touch me too. To drag me off to his room and touch me everywhere.
"There's Christan... Eddie...?" Lissa smiled.
"Coming." he smiled back at her before shooting me a wink.
I wasn't aware of the people that were accumulating around us. Only he mattered now. "I missed you." I broke my maturity right there, hugging him.
He didn't seem at all worried about the onlookers; he hugged me back, just as tight. "Roza..." he whispered again. He didn't have to utter another word. It was a million tied into one. The way it rolled off his tongue, and the way it made him stagger for breath as he said it, was simply breathtaking.
I kissed his neck softly. We had barely said two words to each other yet, but we didn't need to. We just knew. He rolled over on the bed and looked me in the eyes.
"Roza," he said for the hundredth time tonight. "I want you to come to the court with me."
I looked into his eyes. "I'd go anywhere with you."
He closed them. "This is a serious thing, Roza. I need you to testify."
I sat up. "I have to tell them how I did it?" I couldn't do it.
"I don't remember anything. It has to be you." he whispered, sitting up too.
"But neither do I!"
"You don't?"
"The only thing I remember is attacking you, basically missing, and bleeding." I counted it off on my fingers.
"About that... I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You weren't yourself." I shook my head.
"That's just it. I wasn't the one doing it, but I was inside. I watched everything I did, and I still don't remember." he looked down and then back at me, brushing some hairs from my face in the process.
"Wait... I do remember one thing. After you hit me, you whispered my name."
His eyes widened. "I did?"
"Yes; in Russian."
He looked down and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He sat there for a minute, deep in thought. "That isn't possible. If I was Strigoi, I wouldn't remember you."
"Then how did you know to bring me there?"
"I would have remembered your name and the fact that you were coming for me, but I wouldn't remember loving you. Or the fact that I call you Roza." he shook his head.
"What is it then?"
"Maybe when you hit me, I came back somehow? I wonder if it had something to do with you being shadow-kissed..."
That was one thing. I had a connection with the world of the dead. Maybe, in a way, it wasn't his time? "This is weird."
"You've got that right. I don't think anyone has been shadow-kissed since Anna. That would explain our lack of knowledge." he shook his head again.
A thought popped in my head, and I turned to look at him. "Why don't we read through some of those books in the church about St. Vlad? They have some stuff on Anna."
"Good idea. Lets make it quick so we aren't late." he nodded, standing up. He kissed me once on the forehead and quickly changed his clothes.
We searched through hundreds of books, maybe even thousands.
"I don't think we'll find anything." Dimitri let out, following a large sigh.
I skimmed through the last book, when something caught my eye. "Dimitri, listen to this. Some say that Vladamir had secret ways or changing his enemy's minds, but personally, I think it was Anna." I paused, looking up at him. "We know that Anna was 'shadow-kissed' but what does that entail? My guess, is that with this ability, she could bring back the souls of lost beings." I looked back up at him.
"Okay, 'bring back the souls of lost beings'. That's something. When you become Strigoi, you lose your soul." he stroked his chin.
"Lets talk about this hypothetically." I suggested. "So she encounters a Strigoi."
"She searches the world of the dead for their soul?" Dimitri guessed.
"Or someone handed it to her." I looked into his eyes.
"A ghost could do that."
"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts." I smiled, breaking the serious mood.
He smiled too. "Maybe someone that had to do with the person becoming a Strigoi?"
I looked down. "If they killed someone yes, but what if you were turned Strigoi?"
"An attack victim, old relative?" he threw out.
"That would make sense."
"I guess it could be a good thing that were getting out of here. Maybe I could find someone to talk to on the way there that could tell me about all this."
"Good idea, but we better get going." he stood up.
We cleaned up the books and headed out front.
"Ah ah. Miss Hathaway, what are you doing?" Kirova asked as we walked outside.
"I'm going to the hearing ma'am."
"No you're not."
"Hey, I killed him! Don't you think I have a say in this?" I asked, trying to raise an eyebrow. I gave up another failed attempt.
She let out a mumble and waved it off. "Hurry! We don't want you to be late! Your plane takes off in thirty minutes!"
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Rose, have you seen Lissa?" Christian asked me.
"Hold on." I closed my eyes. She was trying blocking me out.
"Whatever she's doing, she won't let me know." I shook my head.
"I haven't seen her all morning." he frowned, a look of worry on his face.
"I'm sure she'll turn up." I smiled, and you know Eddie has to be with her. "Oh, I'm really sorry about bailing on the field experience."
"Nah its okay. Eddie took on both posts wonderfully." he nodded, rolling his eyes.
"That's Eddie for you."
"I'll see you later Rose." he waved, turning to leave.
"Hey Christian?" I called, "Thanks for taking care of her."
"No problem Rose. She's worth it." he shouted back.
"Rose, we're ready to leave." Dimitri called, putting his arm around my back, guiding me.
When I got settled in my seat, I turned around to see who all was going. One girl caught my eye though. She had her face covered with a scarf, but he movements were very closed and insecure. I told Dimitri I would be back, and went to sat next to her. "Are you okay?" I asked her.
"I'm fine." she whispered, eyes sparkling. I was convinced, and stood up.
When I was free of her gaze, I stopped walking. She had just used compulsion on me. I turned around and folded my arms. "Lissa!" I shouted angrily, removing the scarf from her face. She looked at me for a brief second, and started to cry.