Author's Note:

I'm sorry it has taken so long to update. I wanted to re-listen to the part of the keepers in Last Sacrifice before actually writing this chapter, and I had been on been listening to the end of Shadow Kissed at the time. Yes, I have been listening to them as audiobooks lately. I can still drive and complete so many other tasks while reliving Rose and Dimitri's story.

In the meantime, I posted two real chapters on another Romitri story. I don't exactly recommend that you guys read it though, unless you are into extremely dark themes. The only reason I have brought it up is because after only two real chapters, it has more reviews than this story after seven chapters! Come on guys! ;)

Other reasons this chapter is late in being posted is being so busy this summer. We had my family reunion, immediately after that I had a personal emergency, and then I spent this last weekend with my cousin/closest thing I have to a sister at a horsemanship camp. She did win a belt buckle for being the most improved rider! Although I managed to stay out of the emergency room from my personal emergency, I'm still recovering from my incident. So thank all of you for your patience!

Chapter 8

I was currently sitting in Lissa's meeting room next to Dimitri. Lissa had called for us, supposedly asking a favor of us, and ask us she did. These chairs, I realized, were extremely comfortable. It must be for the times people have been stuck in here for hours due to emergency situations. That or rich people just like to be spoiled. I was thinking about these things because what Lissa had asked dumbfounded me, which was saying a lot. It took quite a bit to catch me off guard. I, Rose Hathaway, was always ready with a witty quip. Well, almost always. It was Dimitri who spoke up.

"The Keepers?" He asked, seemingly confused as I was. Most people within our society didn't even know of their existence. That is how they preferred it, much like the alchemists. Once, not too long ago, Dimitri and I had been on the run. He had broken me out of jail after I had been framed for murdering the previous Queen. It had been an excellent frame job with all the evidence pointing my way. My defense of 'I wouldn't commit murder with so many flaws' hadn't been a very good argument. My friends feared my execution date for treason was fast approaching. Dimitri, with the help of my other friends which no one knew of their involvement, rescued me from that fate. Sydney, an alchemist who owed my father a favor, hid us with the Keepers. The Keepers were a group of Moroi, Dhampirs and humans who all lived together keeping the 'old ways'. They didn't have internet, electricity, or even plumbing. More importantly, they married and reproduced without prejudice. In our 'modern' society, it was unheard of for a Moroi to marry a human, but not among the keepers. They held no such qualms. I had been held, by the keepers, in somewhat in high regards for allegedly killing the Queen. What would they think of me if I ever went back? Not only had I been proven innocent of murdering the last monarch, I was best friend and personal guardian to the current monarch.

"Yes, I want to extend an olive branch out to them. They have been living in what is practically an exile for far too long. When I took my role as Queen, I wanted to do what is right for all my people. In my mind, that means everyone included in our races. It isn't my job to just look after the strong, or the easy, but everyone who is like us. These people are our brethren. They shouldn't be shunned to the outskirts of both our society and human society. They shouldn't be outcasts. It will take a lot of work for their – lifestyle to become accepted, but I believe that we can slip them into our mainstream society. It will take effort on both sides, but I am willing to do my part as long as they are willing to meet me halfway." She said regally, like the Queen she is. Coherent thoughts finally formed into sentences in my mind.

"Liss, you realize they don't like us, right? They consider us 'the tainted'. They condemn our society because we no longer follow the old ways. We don't marry or breed with humans, we no longer fight each other to prove worthiness to marry into each other's families, we no longer have fight to the deaths in order to prove which monarch should be ruling next, and we no longer fight together against Strigoi." I said, naming off only a few of the obvious differences I had seen during my stay with them. Her face paled when I had mentioned fights to the death, but lit back up with the thought of fighting together against Strigoi.

"I'm not saying it will be one society winning against another. We can't completely assuage one, and not the other. There will be compromises. Our society has become too placid in some ways and hostile in others. It may be a lost cause Rose, but I feel like we need to try. They could help us with the movement to teach Moroi how to fight. They could be the key." She started fervently. By looking at my face, she knew I was going to continue fighting, so she pressed on. "Rose, I can't send anyone else but you two. I thought about sending Christian along, but I'm afraid of how they would receive him. They already respect you. We can communicate back and forth using this satellite phone I have procured for you. If they are going to listen to anyone, it would be people they already have respect for. The least we can do is try." She finished. It was Dimitri who responded, beating me to the punch.

"I will go. My life is indebted to you, my Queen." He said stoically. The medieval vow he pledged to Lissa flooded back into my memory. It still left a bad taste in my mouth. We hadn't gotten past this already? Even though I knew it wasn't romantic, it still shot a pang of jealousy through me. At least now he wasn't spurning me like he had in the past. If he understood my current feelings, he didn't show it.

"Well, I can't let him go alone. Those women will swoon all over him. Plus, I was the one who had gained the most respect last time we were there." I finally said, bitterly. Dimitri either didn't notice, or pretended not to.

"That's because you had to fight since you encouraged Joshua, who ended up proposing to you." He said slyly, reminding me of my blunder. Lissa hadn't heard the story, and was suddenly very interested in proposals made to me. My love life was known for being rather complicated, not that Joshua had ever been in the running to become a contender in my love life.

Dimitri regaled Lissa the tale of Joshua's misunderstanding, and the physical fight it caused. Although I had been found worthy to marry Joshua, I did some fast talking to get myself out of such a mess. I internally groaned, realizing I would have to face Joshua again. Afterwards, Lissa took the time to catch us up to speed on her views, and what she wanted portrayed to the Keepers. I knew this was something where I was going to be keeping tight communications with Lissa. Negotiations were not exactly my specialty. After debriefing us, she dismissed us to obtain supplies, paid for by the Royal Court no less. The supplies were being held at Guardian headquarters, and we were to help ourselves to whatever we thought we needed.

Dimitri and I walked over to the guardian building in near silence. I was still perturbed with my Russian demigod boyfriend, and I assumed he was lost in thought. We had still fallen in step with one another. We were rhythmic, in sync. It was natural, like a dance we never stopped performing. We were about to walk inside the building when a mousy voice shattered our silence.

"Dimitri?" The voice was small, but confused and alarmed at the same time. As if still performing our subliminal dance, we turned in unison. It was a petite raven haired beauty, a Dhampir like us.

"Irina?" Dimitri asked, looking like he was seeing a ghost. Well, not exactly. I knew what ghosts looked like, and she certainly held none of the qualifications. Nonetheless, it was difficult to catch Dimitri off guard, and she certainly had. Something sent my senses on high alert. It didn't feel right to me. She was looking at him with a mix of confusion and awe. I was used to women either gawking at Dimitri, or admiring him from afar, but this was something different. There was something familiar in their gazes. She acted like she wanted to take a step forward, but hesitated. "What are you doing here? Last I heard, you were staying in Baia." He finished, drinking in the woman I now knew as Irina. I was right, they knew each other. Not that I should be surprised, it felt like Dimitri had met and had influence over everyone. The look she was giving him though, it was so much more than that. I realized now that amongst those other emotions, adoration was fervently mixed on her face. Her mind was racing.

"You're dead." She whispered, barely audible. Her eyes were unblinking staring up at Dimitri with his rather lofty height. She seemed honestly shocked to see him alive. "After I heard about your death, I rejoined the guardian ranks." She whispered again, her eyes never leaving Dimitri. Although her gaze was caressing his every feature. She was drinking him in, his being, his essence, his living existence. Dimitri on the other had seemed as if he were examining a reality of the past. He was lost at the moment, no longer with me in the present. This only added to my bitter sentiment.

"You never wanted the life of a guardian, protecting Moroi you never knew. You always wanted to settle down at home, raise a family." He commented softly. Yup, they were officially in their own little world. The brash part of my personality wanted to lash out and immediately have them acknowledge my presence. Patience had been a hard won virtue I had learned from Dimitri, one that was increasingly hard to abide by. Still, my curiosity won out. I wanted to see how this played out.

"You can't be here. They told me you died in the attack at St. Vladimir's Academy! I rejoined the ranks because of you! You wouldn't have died if there were more guardian numbers, if people like me were doing our jobs. But – You're not dead!" She was shouting now, and I was surprised when Dimitri closed the gap between them. I was shocked enough to just watch instead of act. He touched her arm in a comforting gesture.

"Do I look dead to you? The power of spirit, the rare fifth element, brought me back to life from a Strigoi state. I'm alive. You shouldn't have joined the guardian ranks just because of me. You need a better reason than that. You need a drive to protect others. It's a commitment. Someone's life is literally in your hand." He said softly. She was surveying his handsome facial features, wearing a look of adoration that I knew so well. She took his words like gospel, believing every word of them without doubt. Not that she should doubt Dimitri. It was the story of a miracle, not everyone believed it could be done.

"I should have been there. I should have your back so you're never left undefended." She whispered, shifting her weight onto her toes, leaning up towards him. That snapped me out of my voyeuristic phase.

"His back is never left undefended anymore, that position has already been filled." I said matter of factly. Her head snapped in my direction, just now noticing me for the first time. Dimitri, realizing what almost happened, took this chance to take a step back from Irina. She was inspecting me from head to toe, and apparently not happy at what she saw.

"And who are you?" She asked in a much colder tone than she used when addressing Dimitri. Dimitri realized he had been rude and not made introductions. While he started the motions of doing so, I interrupted him.

"My name is Rose. Rose Hathaway." I said confidently, taking a step towards both of them. I saw recognition in her eyes. Clearly she had been out of the loop enough to not know Dimitri had been restored, but she had heard of my reputation.

"So" She started, friction in the air. "You work with my Dimitri?" She asked. Both my eyebrows rose. I really wished I could do the cool one eyebrow Dimitri trick. Her Dimitri? I couldn't help but smile. Oh how I was about to bust her bubble. Dimitri tried to interject. I stopped him, raising a hand in his direction.

"No, Comrade, I've got this. You could say that. We have two different assignments, but we work very close together most of the time." I said cooly, eyeing her like a cat eyes its' prey. I couldn't help but drag this out a little, making it worthwhile.

"Dimitri was assigned to the Academy." She simply stated. Her information was outdated, and I was enjoying that. The tension in the air was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife. Dimitri tried to answer, but I cut him off yet again. Part of me thought he knew he was in trouble.

"Not anymore. Although, that's where we met. He was my mentor. He taught me everything he knew, and I do mean everything." I couldn't help but supply her with a subtle wink. "After I helped restore him to a Dhampir, we became coworkers of a sort, and so much more." I said, smiling widely, enjoying teasing my prey. My words were overly sweet, coming out of my mouth smoothly. No one messes with Rose Hathaway – or her boyfriend.

"Irina, I'd like for you to meet Rose, my girlfriend." Said Dimitri, finally being allowed to speak. While talking, he snaked an arm around my waist. I shot him a glare. He intentionally messed up my game. I wanted to allow her to embarrass herself fully before I slammed her with the whole truth. The arm around my waist wasn't the romantic gesture that was projected to Irina, instead it was an action to hold me back from inflicting more verbal damage. She seemed surprised. Her hazel eyes widened, looking between Dimitri and I. "Rose, this is Irina. She was my first love." He said gently, more to me than to her. Irina seemed smug at being acknowledged as such. "We went to school together at St. Basils." He continued.

"Looks like you go for those academy girls." I teased, knowing our student mentor relationship was a sore spot for him. Irina didn't notice the dig, but Dimitri certainly did. He gave me a sidelong glance.

"Not really. He ignored most girls at school, we just happened to have a bond." Irina started. A bond? Why did she have to use that word? "We went to school together, lived in the same community. It wasn't difficult to fall in love." She said, looking up at Dimitri as if she regretted them having broken up. She was obviously still smitten. I could tell he had a soft spot for her, yet I knew it was nothing compared to relationship he has with me. I guess it wasn't easy to forget the first person you ever loved. I surely hadn't. I wasn't appreciative of how she was playing up their relationship though. It was something of the past, no reason to talk about it like it was the love affair of the century.

"Well, Dimitri is pretty easy to fall for. I know we couldn't stop the attraction between us even though we both desperately tried. In the end, we had to face the chemistry boiling between us. No matter the obstacles that have come between us, we have always found one another again." I said, surveying my Russian god, remembering the memories. He was looking at me too. He remembered as well, but I don't think he liked me shoving our relationship in Irina's face. She did start it though.

"So how long have you been together?" She asked curiously. This was a sore spot for me. We loved each other for a long time, but our relationship was complicated. We couldn't display it in front of others since I had been underage and he was my mentor. When he had been turned, that was like an ending point for us, or was it when I had tried to kill him? This was only part of why it was complex. I had started dating Adrian, who was alive instead of undead. Although nearly the entire time I was in a relationship with Adrian, I was working on an attempt to restore Dimitri to his former Dhampir self. After he was restored, it had taken time for Dimitri to really become himself again. At the time, I had still been dating Adrian, and Dimitri had spurned me initially. Of course, all that seemingly changed when I was framed for murdering our previous monarch. Slowly Dimitri and I started unburying his old feelings, even though I thought I had moved on. Complicated was apparently my life theme. In the major scheme of things, Dimitri and I hadn't been officially dating long, so many things had gotten in the way of our relationship.

"We've been attracted to each other a long time, but we have only been dating a few weeks." I said, hating to admit it. She looked smug, and happy. I knew that the limited time frame gave our relationship a weak outlook to someone who didn't know us as a couple. I knew she was wondering if we could wiggle her way in between us. No luck Bitch.

"Rose and I actually have some guardian business to attend to. Will you be staying long at court?" Asked Dimitri, obviously trying to change the topic. This time I was grateful that his arm was still wrapped around me. My gut instinct was telling me there was something worrisome when it came to Irina. That arm showed support when it came to me instead of her. It was a subtle sign of our relationship. At the moment I was glad for such physical ties, although in general I was still annoyed with him. Although no matter how irritated I was with him, he was still my Dimitri.

"I've been assigned here for now, but you know that can change at any time. You go where your orders take you." She paused, taking a moment before continuing. "We should get together sometime and catch up, hopefully before I get reassigned." She finished, flashing him a flirtatious smile. It was nothing like my man-killer megawatt smile, but not everyone had my gorgeous features. Like hell she wanted to just catch up, she wanted a date with my man. My body must have tensed, because Dimitri's arm around me tightened. It was subtle, but I could feel it. It was a small gesture that said a thousand things. I've got you. Trust me. I can handle this.

"Alright. I'm sure we can meet up for a dinner or something. Rose and I could use a night out anyways." He said, intentionally inviting me along. It eased the feeling coiling in my gut. Yes. Dimitri would never let me down. He had my back; he always would. He is my Dimitri, my boyfriend. He bid Irina goodbye, much to her distaste. We headed into the guardian headquarters with his arm still around me.

Sorry for the late update guys. I'll try to do better the rest of the summer : ) I hate letting ya'll down.