Yay! Another chapter! Sorry that it took so long to upload, but computers are hard to come by over here, let alone finding internet. The hotel's computer is "Out of Order". Damn luck.

Lissa's POV

I stumbled down the stairs sleepily, my body still half asleep. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, trying to keep awake. For some reason, my mind hadn't agreed to a peaceful night's sleep, and because of that I had spent most of the night awake counting the cracks in my ceiling.

I got to the bottom floor and leant against the wall, still a little drowzy. The wonderful smell of eggs and bacon wafted past my nose, and I inhaled deeply. Breakfast. The only reason I could find to drag myself from the warm covers of my bed to the cavernous cold halls of the court.

But, as sleep wouldn't come anyway, I might have as well gone down to eat breakfast. Which didn't matter either way, because I was hungry.

"Morning Lissa," Rose said pleasantly as I made my was into the dining hall, my feet still dragging behind me somewhat reluctantly. It was probably because they were jealous. It wasn't like they could eat my food or anything. All they could do was walk along the floor and smell bad. They didn't even serve any purpose, other than providing a little balance. I mean, if I had to balance on stumps at the end of my legs...

Ah, the ravings of a young, sleep deprived vampire.

"Morning Rose," I yawned, covering my mouth. Through the fog of sleeplessness, it looked like Rose had an annoyed look on her face. Wonder what under her skin.

"Wait a minute," Rose said, staring down at her watch. I saw her move her mouth to form silent words in time with the ticking of her watch.

"Good afternoon Lissa," Rose looked up at me again, holding out her watch. It said exactly twelve o'clock.

"Good afternoon Rose," I replied again, trying to figure out what the look on my friend's face meant. "Are you feeling alright? You look kinda... different."

"If by different you mean pissed," she said, "and if by kind of you meant a lot of, then yes. I am really pissed."

It took a few minutes for her mood to register with my mind. And when it did, my brain became wide awake. The mist of morning left me, and I was as alert as ever. My mind snapped to attention, and I finally really understood the look on her face.

"What's wrong Rose?" I asked, feeling a sudden wave of sadness. What kind of a best friend didn't even notice when their counterpart was pissed, let alone why they were pissed. "Was it because of your meeting this morning?"

"No, the meeting went fine, thanks for asking," Roses voice was full of hostility. "My question is, What the hell do you think you are doing inviting Dimitri into your room in the middle of the night?"

Shouldn't your question be why he agreed? I thought silently, but decided not to outrage Rose further and instead raised my shoulders into a shrug. "We had a game going, remember?"

Which should mean you should go after Adrian now, Rose

"I know that," Rose said crossly, "But how far do you plan on taking this game?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"No, I mean I want you to take it seriously."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Rose slammed her fist down onto the table in agitation. A few Moroi late risers looked at her with mild curiousity, but quickly turned away when they saw the glare on her face.

"Do you think this is some kind of joke? Asking Dimitri out like that," Rose continued angrily with her voice barely above a whisper, though still full of emotion. The attention shifted away from us, as people noticed the atmosphere around us.

"No, it's not meant to be a joke. And why does it matter to you so much what Dimitri and I do together in our spare time?" I countered, starting to get a little ticked off myself. What was the big deal, anyway? She was meant to start going out with Adrian, not get angry with me for going with Guardian Belikov. That was the plan. She was meant to fall for Adrian and Guardian Belikov was just a small pawn in the game.

"I thought tha- Wait, from when did you call Dimtri Dimitri?" Roses voice went from aggressive to confused.

"Since his name was Dimitri?" I tried my hand at sarcasm.

"Lissa! You know that's not what I mean! You always say 'Guardian Belikov' this and 'Guardian Belikov' that, and just now you said 'Dimitri' and me?"

"Dimitri and I," I corrected automatically. "And if you really want to know, it's because saying 'Guardian Belikov' all the time is just too long, and because were getting to know each other better, I thought it would be easier to be on a first name basis. More convenient and time saving."

Just like you should be getting to know Adrian better. Or has that not occurred to you yet?

My thoughts determinedly stayed on the same thought pattern, trying not to think too deeply into it. It was meant to be just a game, a little game, after all, and what Rose was turning it into was just outrageous. Why fight over a stupid little game?

"Getting to know each other better?" Rose twitched, "What about Christian? What about Christian?"

Rose's comment struck home, just as she knew it would. I felt my temper flare up, all my negative emotions bubbling to the surface. My fight to stay calm and collected failed, and I just gave up. If it was a fight she was looking for, a fight she will get.

"What about Christian?" I repeated coldly, daring her to continue.

"He's your boyfriend, isn't he? Oh, sorry, was your boyfriend." She challenged.

I lost control and exploded. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WAS? HE IS MY BOYFRIEND AND I ALWAYS KEEP HIS BEST INTERESTS AT HEART! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO THICK TO HAVE A CLUE ABOUT WHATS GOING ON RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE THAT YOU MUST MISINTERPRATE EVER THING I DO!"

I slammed both my clenched fists onto the wooden dining table below me, splintering it slightly. That had to have proved my point, although my hands hurt a little. It didn't matter though, what with all the sudden adrenaline running through my system. I was now sure that I had the full and undivided attention of every Moroi and Dhampir in the whole room, screw that, the whole court, and had at least seventy pairs of eyes staring at me. Silence hung heavily in the air after my words had gone, and I could see everyone waiting for Rose's reaction.

She looked quite shocked, her face ashen and pale. Her mouth was trying to form words, but no sound came except small gasps of air. Good. Now the tables were turned. I was no longer the one who was blamed for something that was insignificant, not that what she did was. She knew that she shouldn't have mentioned Christian, yet she did. I felt anger surge through my veins, and felt satisfaction at the effect I must have had on her through the bond as well as to her face.

I was no longer the prey – I was the predator.

A small voice in the back of my head told me to stop arguing, stop being so angry, and to try to be rational, but I ignored it. If Rose wouldn't play fair, why should I?

"Lissa," she whispered, her voice barely audible. I could hear the apologetic regret etched deeply into her voice, but my irrational temper that she had activated refused to allow me to forgive her.

"DON'T YOU 'LISSA' ME!" I shouted back at her, making her almost jump out of her skin. She thought that she could make this whole argument better, an argument that she started, by just saying sorry? No, scratch that, by just saying my name, not even apologizing?

I turned to stalk my way out of the room, food completely swept from my mind. Too many emotions to name were flowing through me at an alarming rate, and I knew that for some strange reason if I stayed, that I may cry.

And I would not give Rose that satisfaction.

I lifted my head high as I made my grand exit, and stomped right into someone who was standing in the shadows right out side the door.

"Lissa," the voice said calmly, and it took me a second to recognize the familiar voice.

"What do you want, Adrian?" I replied icily, wanting to make my escape quickly. I was not in the mood for his games.

"First, I want you to calm down." He started, his arms lifted in a soothing way.

"Well, I can't do that right now, so if you would like to leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as possible." I turned away and started to tromp up the stairs, but felt his sturdy hands catch the back of my shirt and pull me back.

"First, I want you to calm down," He said again, his eyes burning holes into mine. I looked away stubbornly, knowing that how I was acting was childish.

"Will you tell me exactly what went on in there?" Adrian jerked his head towards the now closed doors of the dining hall, "I saw your aura flashing like crazy with the most unLissa like emotions there are. I don't like seeing my cousin and my little Dhampir so upset like that. The only thing that should ever make your emotions go out of control is me."

I refused to smile at his pathetic attempt at a joke. I grimaced instead, as if it somehow had offended me. His own grin dropped, and he finally let go of my shirt.

"Fine then, if that's how you want to act, so be it. When you feel good enough to tell me anything, you know where I'll be." He stared at me intently, so full of anger with underlying sympathy that I nearly decided to break down then and there, get into his arms and cry about what had happened. Adrian would stroke my hair, and tell me that everything would be alright, and it would be. He would fix it up in his own Adrian type ways.

Just the thought of that brought my mind back to Christian and how it should be him holding me and reassuring me. It reminded me of how much I missed him, and wanted to be with him, which thrust my mind back to the argument I had with Rose. My resolve stiffened, and I turned my back on Adrian.

I stalked up the steps, and this time he didn't stop me. I journeyed the labyrinth of corridors to my room without meeting another soul, and fumbled getting my key out of my pocket. I yanked the door open, and saw that the cleaning lady had taken advantage of my absence to clean my room.

One look at the storm clouds inhabiting my face made her quickly gather her things and leave without a word. I slammed the door shut behind her, and then threw myself down onto my bed in a fit of hysteria. Tears were pouring down my face, and the only things I could think of was Christian and sleep.

Finding that the latter was easier to achieve, I let myself fall into sleeps deep embrace.

Adrian's POV

I shrunk back into the shadows as I watched Lissa make her way up the stairs. Judging by what I could see from her aura, I guessed that it was 'that time of month' for her. The usually golden colours were tinged with dark reds and blacks, and was bouncing all over the place. Definitely agitated. Rose's aura, on the other hand, was blacker then black. As in, darker than her usual dark. As in...

I'm not very good at explaining myself, am I?

The door banged open at that second, and the little dhampir herself came hurtling through. Her eyes were watery and she looked shaken.

"Rose," I said softly, stepping out of the shadows. I saw her jump in surprise, before turning to face me.

"What do you want?" She spat, and I could tell that her vehemence was just covering up her confusion and sadness. It was such a Rose like thing to do, to cover up weak emotions with strong ones.

"First, I want you to calm down," I said, trying to stop the smile from forming on my lips. I let sympathy flow into my voice, as well as calmness. My guess was that Rose and Lissa had a fight, but I couldn't be too sure because the doors to the room were big and heavy. Not to mention nearly sound proof.

"Then what?" Rose asked resignedly, her face relaxing slowly. She no longer looked agitated, as if she were only keeping up the act until she had a reason not to. I hadn't expected her to give in that easily, and I was sure that surprise was written all over my face.

"Then, I want you to tell me exactly what happened in there," I continued, already knowing in my heart that she wouldn't tell me. Knowing her, she would probably run off crying to Dimitri, leaving me behind. But it was still worth trying, and my heart was already used to rejection from her.

"Oh, Adrian," she cried, and I watched as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She looked up at me with large, puppy dog eyes, and I just couldn't over come the urge to go and comfort her.

So I did.

I wrapped my arms around her shaking body, stroking her hair softly. For once, she didn't pull away, or make some snarky comment about me. She just stood there, allowing herself to be comforted.

We stood there for a few minutes, just enjoying the silence. Somehow, I never imagined that when I could finally hold her like she was mine that it would be like this. And, somehow, I knew that the only reason she let me do this was because her emotions were too confused to care.

Or maybe that Dimitri bastard did something to hurt her.

Probably the latter.

It didn't matter to me though. The only thing that mattered was the task at hand.

I started to lead her up the stairs, but she resisted. I felt her pushing me towards the shadows behind the door, where coincidently there was a small bench. It's not like I always came here, though, and that I had put the bench there. Pure coincidence.

We sat down carefully, her head buried in my shoulder and my arms still hugging her to me.

"It all started last night..." Rose began, turning her head up to face me. I held her closer to me, and listened to her tale.

Well, I know what some of you are thinking. Rose and Lissa, fighting? Well, they need to be pissed at each other for the story to work. So try not to be to harsh on them (or me), please? And with the Rose Adrian scene... (Hides behind shield)

Most of you have voted Rose Dimitri, and I will do that unless the tables somehow turn. But you might have to suffer a bit of Rose Adrian first though... ^^"

Anyway, I'm not quite sure when the next time I update will be, or next time I can even use the internet. So, until then, you can occupy yourself with pressing that little green button.

Just kidding,
~Hope