Okay, I've done it again. I've moved on from my fanfiction and lost interest. Sigh. Well, I'm now putting up the last chapters that I've written and hoping you don't come after me with pitchforks. Enjoyzles!

Oh, and if anything doesn't make sense, I didn't read over it before loading it up, so tell me and I'll edit it. Thanks :)

Recap:

I wrenched myself out of the novices' hands and stormed out of the cafeteria. I had no doubt that Kirova would banish me from St Vlad's after that, so I left to go pack my bags.

Chapter 10

"What you did was inexcusable, Rosemarie Hathaway." Headmistress Kirova growled at me. "Attacking a student -a moroi student no less- is enough to ban you from St Vladimir's Academy permanently." She sighed, "But, as you were a former student, the ban will not be permanent. As of tomorrow, you will not be allowed to step foot on this property until the next royal ascends to the thrown. You will be gone by sun-up tomorrow."

I nodded and stood up, walking out of her office. As I walked through the school, eyes followed my every move, novices stopping their sparring and moroi looking up from their books to see me through the windows. I kept my eyes straight ahead, ignoring the whispers I heard staring up around me. I made my way past the classrooms, the hospital, the moroi dorms, the cafeteria and the dhampir dorms. I turned into the lounge area of the guest dorms and made my way to my room.

I stopped to look at my nails before unlocking my door. The sky blue colour still mocked me from the ends of my fingers. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open my door and walked inside, slamming it behind me. I'd already packed my things, so I just sat on the bed, staring at the plain wall in front of me. Thoughts randomly rushed through my head, things that didn't make sense, but these weird thoughts were different from the thoughts I usually had and were a welcome distraction. I thought about why the chicken crossed the road, what a cat-dog hybrid would look like and how people came up with the idea for getting milk. If that were a guess and check thing, that would be highly disturbing.

I eventually ran out of things to think about and picked up the book Adrian had been looking at this morning. The blurb said it was about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. I only bought it because I wanted to see how far the author was from the truth about vampires; the part were it said golden eyes told me they were just guessing. But I wanted to read it anyway -I needed something to take my mind off everything.

I was thirty seven pages in when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, I dog-eared the page and went to see who was at the door. I smiled and immediately opened the door when I saw Adrian waiting for me. He embraced me in a hug and closed the door behind him. I breathed in his scent and was slightly surprised when I couldn't smell clove cigarettes. "Have you stopped smoking?" I asked.

"Surprise," he whispered in my ear. I pulled back and kissed him; he gave no resistance. We started kissing deeper and soon found ourselves on the bed again. Adrian lay on his back while I crouched above him, managing to keep our lips attached. His arms reached up and wrapped around my back, pulling me down to his side. We tangled together perfectly, forgetting everything about the outside world. Our fingers twisted in each other's hair, pulling closer to one another. One of Adrian's hands started trailing down my back, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

And when it wasn't morning sickness interrupting us, it was someone knocking on the door. I groaned angrily as Adrian detached his lips from mine, smirking. I got up and stalked over to the door, opening it just enough for the person to see my face. "What?"

A guardian I've never seen before stood in front of me with an envelope in his hand. He flinched at the icicles in my voice. "Rose Hathaway?" He asked after he composed his features. I nodded slowly, still angry. He handed me the note; it had my name on it. "It came in from outside the wards with your name on it."

"Uh . . . thanks." He nodded and walked away. I shook my head and closed the door, way to destroy a mood. Adrian kissed my cheek when I sat back down and waited for me to open it. It had Rosemarie Hathawaywritten on the front. I opened it, the first word on the page made my blood run cold.

Roza

I heard you were back at the academy after just a week of searching for me. Well, I can say you are closer to me now than you were then. I just hope you decide to stick around; I'd like to see how you fare against all of us. I can't wait to see you again. And just so you know, I've been watching you. I can't wait to make you watch as I choke the life from Ivashkov. But you'll be one of us soon and then we can be together.

Forever.

Your beloved Dimitri

The paper started shaking and it took me a minute to figure out it was me shaking. Adrian's arms wrapped around me and I let go of the letter, turning my head into his chest. Dimitri knew I was here, and he was close enough to see I was spending my time with Adrian. I didn't cry, I just let Adrian hold me in his arms. I've wanted to get rid of a lot of problems in my life these past few weeks, and this wasn't helping.

After a few minutes, we agreed that we should go today, instead of tomorrow. We would be safer at the court. There were wards and guardians everywhere, and now that we'd gotten this, I was certain we were in danger. Adrian went to his room to back the last of his bags and I went to do the same.

We met up in the cafeteria where everyone was having lunch. Everyone turned to stare at us as we made our way to Lissa's table. We paid them no mind and sat down, waiting for the conversation to start up around us again. When it did, we all visibly relaxed.

"So," I started. "Did Jesse show up for classes today?" A hint of a smile played across Lissa's face.

"No. I heard he passed out in the hospital. How hard did you hit him, Rose?" She chuckled, I shrugged.

I felt Adrian's hand on my shoulder and sighed. "Liss, we're leaving today. Here," I gave her the note. Her eyes widened the more she read. When she finished, she looked at me, then the letter, then at me again. She handed the letter to Christian and Eddie read over his shoulder. They handed it back to me when they finished with grave faces.

"I guess you do have to leave." Lissa whispered afterwards. We all nodded and I took the chance to grab a hamburger. When I got back, my friends were talking quietly. Sighing quietly in relief, I sat down next to Adrian again.

"Hey little dhampir." He whispered in my ear. "My arms were getting cold without you." He wrapped his arms around me to prove his point. I rolled my eyes, but leant back in his arms nonetheless. I was able to finish off my hamburger before they had to go. We hugged and said our good-byes before they left for their classes.

"See you, Lissa. Just a few months and you'll be at the court." She nodded and we part ways, both of us holding back small tears.

Adrian's hand in mine, we walked to Kirova's office.

Chapter 11

Once the jet took off, my headache started up and shadows flickered down the aisle. I groaned and Adrian took my hand. I leant into his side and fell asleep, suddenly tired. I guess being tired was something that was new. Great. My sleep wasn't interrupted by dreams. What felt like a mere second after falling asleep, I was waking up.

My head lay on Adrian's shoulder and his hand was in mine. I reached up and kissed his cheek, telling him I was awake, and sat up. Looking around the jet, I saw most of the people onboard had gone to sleep. What I didn't expect was for my mother to be behind me. She had a calculating look on her face as she watched me and Adrian. "Hey mum," I whispered. She barely nodded. I sighed and turned back around.

Adrian soon fell asleep and I turned back to my mother. "Rose," she whisper-shouted, "I told you not to get involved with Lord Ivashkov. And what do you do? God, I wouldn't be surprised if you said you'd slept with him." She leant back in her seat, a slight glare on her face. I groaned quietly.

"No, mum. I haven't slept with him. He was just helping me through some . . . rough spots. And plus, he's really sweet. If you'd just get to know him-"

"I do know him, Rose! Do you know how many women he's been through? If you'd just listened to me . . ." she trailed off.

"What?" I asked, getting mad. "What would have happened if I'd listened to you? Well, right now Lissa would probably be mentally unstable, or on pills, you choose. I'd probably still be in Russia and-" she cut me off again.

"What were you doing in Russia?" My mother looked about ready to punch someone, I was glad for the thick layer of seat backing between us.

"I was trying to hunt down a strigoi. I'm sure you met Dimitri Belikov when he was still a dhampir." I was amazing myself at how I could say his name without breaking down. I guess the letter gave me proof that he wasn't the same Dimitri. This Dimitri was evil.

"But I thought you had to have a relationship with them before you tracked them down. Well, mentor-student is a relationship, but I didn't think they'd send a student to hunt down their mentor." She frowned in confusion.

"We made a promise to each other. If one of us was turned strigoi, the other would come after us. I was honouring that promise." It was then that I, idiotically, put my hand over the head rest. My mother's eyes widened.

"What's with your nails?" she asked.

Luckily, I'm good at thinking up a lie right on the spot. "Technique I picked up in Russia." I said quickly. "I saw some girls walking around with their nails like this, decided I'd give it a try." I turned back around before mum could ask why I came back.

I looked over at Adrian and saw his eyelids flicker slightly. "Adrian, I know you're awake." He sighed in defeat and opened his eyes. Taking my hand again, he started to trace circles on my palm. "You heard, huh." It wasn't a question; we both knew he'd heard everything.

"Yup,"

I sighed. "So uh, why is my mum here?" I asked, hoping he could get some answers.

"Sleep, little dhampir. Maybe your dreams will tell you." I frowned for a second, then I got the hint. He wants to tell me in our dream, not two feet from my mother. It didn't take much for me to fall asleep after that, I really needed to work on this tiredness thing.

My eyes opened to a beach; golden sand, blue water, clear skies. It was beautiful. Then I looked down at myself and rolled my eyes, typical Adrian. I wore a black bikini -black boy leg bikini bottoms with a black bikini top that had a gold loop in the middle. Like I said, typical Adrian. I called for him, but I started to get slightly worried when he didn't show up.

I sat down in the sand, running the sand through my fingers for a few minutes. "Adrian!" I called again.

"Right here," came a reply right behind me. I jumped and turned around to see him standing behind me wearing dark blue board shorts. He sat down where he was. "Sorry I'm late. Your mother felt the need to talk to me just as I was about to join you." He smiled at me.

I laughed. "What'd she say?"

"Oh, something along the lines of 'if you hurt my daughter, being a moroi won't save you from me'. You know, typical threat." His eyes softened. "Your mum really does love you. She just doesn't know how to express it right." I shrugged; I'd pretty much figured that out on the flight back from Spokane.

He took my hand and started tracing circles again. I moved and sat next to him. "I hope this doesn't become a habit." I teased.

"Why?" He asked, "Is it bothering you?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I guess it's because if people see my hands, they'll most likely see my nails and ask questions. I don't like questions." I pouted. "So, why was my mum there in the first place?"

He sighed. "Ever since you ran off, she's given away her position as Lord Szelsky's guardian and started teaching at the academy, waiting for you to return. I'm surprised you didn't see her before we left. She was one of the guardians selected to accompany us to the court."

I thought about that for a minute. "You have no idea how worried I was about you, Rose. When Lissa told me why you left, I accepted that. And then when you told me you were sleeping in some stranger's car, well, I was worried sick. The next time I saw you, you had something wrong with your nails. But when you started crying and I had no idea why, I feared the worst." He buried his face in my hair.

"Oh Adrian," I wrapped my arms around him. "Don't worry about me. I'm here, I'm safe, your here, your safe. And that's not going to change, not on my watch."

He sighed and kissed my temple, I let go of him. "I love you Rose. You may not feel the same, but that's how I feel about you." I couldn't remember if he'd said that before, but a smile spread across my face anyway.

"I-I think I love you too." As soon as the words left my mouth, Adrian's lips crashed down on mine. His hand came up to my face and pulled me closer to him. His chest was more muscled than I thought it would be. I pulled back. "Adrian, have you been working out? Or is this something your imagination conjured up?" I raised my eyebrows, then laughed at his vacant expression. It took him a while to respond.

"Huh?"

I chuckled. "I said 'have you been working out'" Normally moroi aren't very muscled unless they've been training.

Adrian smiled. "Anything to make you happy Rose." I rolled my eyes. He reached out for me but a familiar blurring started to take place. I leant forward and kissed him quickly before my eyes opened to the real world.

Chapter 12

I woke up slowly to Adrian's voice in my ear. "Unless you want to stay on the jet, little dhampir, I suggest you wake up so we can go." I opened my eyes and looked around; only me, Adrian, my mother and two other guardians were still onboard, everyone else had left. I hastily unbuckled my belt and got up out of my seat.

Adrian was at my side as we made our way off the jet. "Why did you have to pull away before? I was enjoying that." He whispered. I turned to him and he was pouting slightly. I smiled.

"Looks like I'm just going to have to make up for it, won't I?" I whispered back. A guardian met us at the gates.

"Ms Hathaway? Lord Ivashkov?" We nodded. "Your bags are in your rooms. When you get inside, a guardian will escort you to your rooms." We thanked him and walked onwards. "Ms Hathaway?" I almost turned around, but then I realised he was addressing my mum. "Mr Dirston? Mr Thirshwood? Your bags are in your rooms. . ." His voice faded out as we moved further away. We walked into the entrance room and two guardians -a man and a woman- met us in front of the main desk.

"Hello," said the woman. "I am guardian Silverstone, this is guardian Kurrel. We're here to escort you to your rooms and your chosen guardians for your stay." Guardian Silverstone took my arm and led me away as guardian Kurrel took Adrian in the opposite direction. I sighed. I decided to pay attention to where we were going. We walked right to the end of a long corridor, left at the end of that, through a cafeteria, third door to the left at the end of the next hallway and seventeenth door to the right.

We walked into a room similar to the one I was in almost two months ago, but this room had more space and a minibar that seemed slightly out of place. Everything else fit perfectly though. Guardian Silverstone gave me the room keys and said she was in the room to the left if there were any troubles. As soon as she was gone, I flopped down on the bed.

Just as I was nodding off, my favourite song came on so suddenly that I jumped. I looked to were the sound was coming from and saw my bags in a corner. Cautiously, I walked over to my bags and opened the top one. It was a red flip phone. I picked it up and flipped it, putting it to my ear. "H-hello?" This was way freaky.

"Hello Roza," came Dimitri's voice, cold as ice. My whole body went rigid and I nearly dropped the phone. "I'm actually quite glad you decided to leave the academy. I love this compulsion thing, it was so easy to make the person in control of jet luggage put this in your bag." Even if I was shit scared, I managed to make it to the door. I opened it and quickly knocked on guardian Silverstone's door. She came out almost immediately.

"Roza," Dimitri's voice made me jump and her eyes widened. "Don't start depending on others for protection now; I trained you better than that." I walked stiffly back into my room and guardian Silverstone followed, closing the door behind her.

"W-what do you want, Dimitri?" Guardian Silverstone frowned in confusion. I mouthed 'strigoi' and she nodded, paying extra attention to what I had to say.

"You know what I want Rose." He purred, it made me sick to my stomach. "I will get you, no amount of wards and guardians can protect you from me." I was starting to shake. I was almost certain what he said was true.

"You're wrong," I said shakily. "No strigoi's ever broken the court wards before. And you're not going to be the first." My heart pounded and my hands shook; of course he would. If any strigoi would able to break the court wards, it was Dimitri. It was then that I noticed guardian Silverstone was a mobile of her own, calling someone to come to my room.

"We'll see. Good-bye Roza." The call disconnected. I stood in shock for a few moments before I was able to move. My fingers slowly let go of the phone and it hit the carpet with a dull thud. My knees gave out and I fell, guardian Silverstone just managed to stop me from hitting the floor. Two guardians came in the door and helped her lift me onto the bed.

"I think she's in shock." She told them. "I'm not asking her anything til she calms down." She picked up the phone. "Make sure you find the number of the phone he called from." They nodded and left with the phone. I started thinking about what Dimitri had said, 'you know what I want Rose.' I started shaking again as I remembered what he'd said in the note. Sitting up slowly, I took the note from my pocket.

I can't wait to make you watch as I choke the life from Ivashkov. But you'll be one of us soon and then we can be together.

My head snapped up almost painfully as my door opened slowly. Adrian poked his head inside and, seeing me, walked right on in. He sat down next to me and held me comfortingly; something that had been happening too much for my liking. "You must be tired of comforting me," I commented in barely a whisper. "I certainly think this is getting old."

"Well, it would be easier if I knew what was going on. I just heard guardians were coming to your room and got worried." He brushed the hair out of my eyes and I saw guardian Silverstone leave the room along with another guardian who'd come with Adrian. They were probably just gonna be outside the door though.

"Dimitri used compulsion to get one of the airport staff to put a new mobile in my bag. He just called, saying he was going to get past the wards and guardians. He said I knew what he wanted, and I do, Adrian. He wants to kill you and turn me." I turned my head into his chest. "I'm scared, Adrian." I mumbled, "Hunting and being hunted are very different things."

"He won't get you," he whispered.

"What?"

"I said he won't get you." He held me face in his hands, making me look at him instead of cowering into his chest like a baby. "If he magically managed to break the wards without alerting anyone, he'd then have to take down hundreds of guardians before even getting close to the court. After that, he'd have to actually find you, take down more guardians, and then be fit enough to take you down. And, if you ask me, that is positively impossible." He kissed my forehead and I sighed; he was right.

"Ok," I pecked him on the lips and stood up.

"Hey, what about making up for before?" He asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Later," I replied. "I'm hungry." He groaned and got up, taking my hand.

"You're impossible, you know that?" I laughed.

"Just one of the reasons you love me," I kissed his cheek. We exited the room and I locked it behind me. What? If you'd gotten a note and a phone call from someone who wants to kill your boyfriend and destroy the rest of your life, you'd be a bit paranoid too.

Chapter 13

I clenched and unclenched my fists as I waited to see Tatiana. The phone call yesterday had scared the shit out of me and being yelled at now wasn't going to help, but it was unavoidable. Adrian stood by my side; he had refused to let me go in alone.

The doors opened and my breath caught in my throat. Adrian stepped forward and I followed him mechanically. Tatiana sat on a red couch with Priscilla standing near by. Adrian sat down on a blue couch opposite her while I stayed standing awkwardly. Reminding myself that I was Rose Hathaway, I bowed slightly and sat down next to Adrian. Tatiana groaned.

"I thought I talked to you about this, Ms Hathaway." She said coldly. For a second I didn't know what she was talking about, and then I remembered when I was here last. She'd told me to stay away from Adrian. Of course, I'd scoffed at that idea then, but now was a very different situation.

"Actually that's not what we came here to talk about, your Highness." I took a deep breath.

"We wanted to know if you knew anything about a certain story." Adrian cut in. "According to a nurse Rose met while away from the academy, you should have some files here about it." Tatiana raised her eyebrows. Adrian picked up my hand and showed Tatiana my nails; she gasped.

"Priscilla, get the files for the story with the blue nails." She nodded and walked out of the room, get the files. She came back a minute later, interrupting an awkward silence as the doors swung open.

She handed a manila folder about an inch thick to Tatiana, who automatically opened it and began rapidly reading its contents. "I have a sudden urge to become a fortune teller," I whispered to Adrian.

"Why?" He chuckled.

"Because your Aunt's going to ask me who the father is, I'll tell her, there'll be gasps all round and everyone will stare at me. Then she's going to start yelling, you'll yell back at her with me feeling really self-conscious, then there'll be an awkward silence and when we walk out of here, I'm going to say 'I told you so'." I shrunk back into the couch as Tatiana's piercing eyes flashed up to me and back down again.

Adrian put an arm around my shoulders and Tatiana stopped reading. I bit my lip as her eyes flared up in anger. She slowly closed the folder and handed it back to Priscilla, who just stood there, as Tatiana chewed over her words.

"It seems that the story about dhampir soul mates-" she spat the word, "-reproducing is true. Tell us Rose, who would the father be? If this is true, he should be your dhampir soul mate, right?" She glared at me with such hate that I gulped. This wasn't fair, it wasn't my fault.

I took a deep breath. "Dimitri Belikov. He's the one who called me yesterday. The one who was turned strigoi." Saying the words made my eyes water and I wiped them away as I heard gasps from almost everyone in the room. I felt their eyes on me and put my head in my hands. Just as I said, a silence followed before Tatiana's booming voice made me flinch.

"You slut!" She jumped up, waving her hands in the air. "You slept with your mentor?! Do you have any idea how wrong that is? If this had gotten out, you would have destroyed his reputation and had a whole population frowning on the both of you! This could have put lives in danger! You do realise that something like that is unforgivable." I felt Adrian's hand clench -he was still holding onto my hand- and looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"Victor's comment was true, wasn't it?" Tatiana hissed. "I should banish you from my court; send you out for him to find you. I always knew you'd dishonour everything you stand for." Adrian jumped up at this and started yelling at her.

"How can you blame Rose for this? She had no idea what would happen, most people won't ever have a clue about this! She's been going through hell because at the time she was oblivious to the consequences! And don't start yelling at her about how wrong it is -you have your own secrets too. Rose met Ambrose last time she was here. You wouldn't cast him out would you? Rose has done nothing wrong, so don't act like she's dishonoured anything." He hissed the last sentence and sat back down.

No-one said anything for an immeasurable moment. I felt tears sliding down my cheeks but made no movement to wipe them away. We sat in an awkward silence for at least five minutes before I decided I couldn't stand it anymore. Getting up slowly, I wiped away my tears and walked out the open doors. I managed to get around the corner before breaking down.

I slid down one of the walls, covering my face with my arms. I heard low conversation starting back up in there, but payed no attention to it. The dream from a few nights ago flashed behind my eyelids and Dimitri's red eyes gleamed at me. The blood running from my baby's neck onto the soft blue blankets it was wrapped in. The lifeless look in Lissa's eyes.

Trying to find something else to think about, I got Dimitri's not from my back pocket. Make you watch as I choke the life from Ivashkov, you'll be one of us soon, I've been watching you. These were all threats, and if Dimitri was as evil now as he seemed, I had no doubt he would act these out soon. I hated how he remembered everything and mocked me with it. The way he called me Roza and signed it as Your beloved Dimitri just made me sick to my stomach.

Soon after, Adrian found my and walked me to my room, telling me not to fear his Aunt. Well, I had a long time, might as well get used to it.