Okay, so I am trying my hardest to save up some money to get our subscription to Norton Security renewed. I do little odd jobs around the house and my mom gives me money. Not only that, we have a candle making business and the more candles I make, the more money I make. I've almost got enough! So, let's hope I can get it renewed soon so you can read all these chapters!

I had broken off from the group. We really weren't supposed to do that, and considering the last fight I had with a strigoi by myself, it wasn't a good idea. But I didn't have a choice. It was my job to keep the moroi safe – not to mention Maya – and that meant taking on strigoi by myself.

I was walking through the garden, keeping a lookout for any strigoi. There was an entrance to the auditorium just on the other side of the garden, and I wanted to make sure there were no strigoi trying to get in.

I made it to the end of the garden and rounded the corner of the building to the auditorium door…and ran smack into someone. I automatically went into guardian mode and pushed them away from me.

"Ow. Rose, why did you do that?" Adrian said.

"Adrian? What are you doing out here? Don't you know there is a strigoi attack going on? Come with me, I'll get you out of here." I grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't budge. Instead, he pulled me to him.

"Rose, I've missed you." he whispered. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"You're drunk, and now is not the time for this!" I hissed.

He laughed. "The attack is over, Rose. I've been watching the strigoi retreat to the woods, one by one. Now, come here!" He jerked me closer to him. Our bodies were touching. He grabbed my face and pulled it to his. He kissed me, long and hard.

I pulled away and slapped him hard across the face. "How dare you kiss me! You know that I am with Dimitri, and that we have a child together!"

Adrian put a hand to his cheek and stepped closer. "Rose, you know that if you left him, we could have as many children as we want. We wouldn't have to worry about any of this! Our children would be normal. They wouldn't have blood that the strigoi wanted! I can't stand this anymore. I need you, Rose! I…I love you." He whispered the last part.

I was about to reply when I heard fast footsteps and something grabbed Adrian. I thought it was a strigoi at first, but when it didn't bite him and just started punching him instead, I knew it wasn't. It was Dimitri. He had heard everything. I didn't know if he saw the kiss or not, but Adrian's speech was enough to make him want to beat the crap out of Adrian.

Dimitri pushed Adrian up against a wall and punched him in the face. He went to do it again, but Adrian ducked that time and punched Dimitri in the gut. Dimitri brought his arms down and pounded Adrian's back with two hands. Adrian fell to the ground.

I stood there, shocked and unable to say anything while Adrian grabbed one of Dimitri's legs and pulled it out from under him. They were both on the ground then, and they were rolling over one another. I couldn't tell who was getting the better of the other.

Movement out of the corner of my eye got my attention. Luckily, I had been standing right next to a tree that was blocking me from being seen by the strigoi. It was crouched and sneaking up on Adrian and Dimitri. They were so involved in each other that they didn't even notice. I waited until it was almost on them to strike.

I didn't need any more training to know exactly where and how to stake a strigoi. The stake went clean through its skin, bones, and organs to finally rest in its heart. With a yell, the strigoi went down and was still.

Adrian and Dimitri got up. "You stay away from my wife!" Dimitri yelled at Adrian.

"She isn't your wife. Just because you have a kid together doesn't mean that she's your wife!" Adrian snarled.

Dimitri smiled. "Oh, but she will be."

Okay, so technically, Dimitri hadn't said that we had plans to get married, but he implied it. That made Adrian's face fall into complete sadness. Devastation, even. I felt bad, but I also felt good hearing Dimitri call me his wife. Adrian turned and went into the auditorium.

Dimitri and I stood there for a moment before he walked over and got down on one knee. I gasped because I was completely speechless.

"I know that this isn't ideal; I mean, we're both a mess because of the battle, but I had planned on doing this tonight. I was going to take you out to dinner, and have a real date, but since the cat is already out of the bag… Well, I've had the ring in my pocket all day, and I would really like it if I could see it on your finger. I'm mumbling now. I'm sorry. I'm just so nervous, and the way this all panned out…"

"Shush." I said. "Just…ask me."

He chuckled and pulled out a little box from his pocket. "Rosemarie Hathaway, I love you more than you could ever know. Ever since I met you, you have captivated me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

I felt a tear slip down my cheek. I was holding my breath the entire time, and it felt as if I wouldn't be able to release it now to say yes. Before I could, the alarm went off again, signaling that the battle was over. Dimitri and I laughed as we waited for it to end. When it finally did, I yelled, "Yes! Yes!"

He jumped up off his knee and picked me up. He squeezed me to his body and kissed me all over my neck and face. He put me down, grabbed my left hand, and put the ring on my finger. It wasn't anything huge. In fact, it fit me well, in more ways than one. It didn't have anything on it that would get in my way of fighting strigoi. It was a silver band, that had the exact same marks on it that my stake did.

"It's beautiful." I whispered.

Dimitri grabbed my hand and started leading me back to the garden. "Why don't we go check up on our daughter and acknowledge your engagement ring in better light?"

[BREAK]

I laughed as Dimitri did his impression of a strigoi. He had a permanent angry face on and he was saying things like, "I'm so tough, I always look like I'm smelling something gross." I didn't get to see this side of Dimitri very often, so I was enjoying it.

We were almost to the room, and we were so high on happiness that we almost passed it up. We were still laughing as we opened the door. Lissa and Christian were sitting on the couch. They looked up sharply when we came in. Lissa looked like she was about to cry, and Christian didn't look very happy either. I automatically stopped laughing and started freaking out on the inside.

"Oh my God, what's wrong? What happened?" I shrieked.

Lissa ran into my arms and hugged me hard. She hugged me so hard that I started to see stars. When the stars went away, I saw Dimitri grab Christian's shoulders and say, "Where's Maya?"

Lissa pulled away then to look at the both of us. "Oh, I'm so sorry. No, Maya is okay. She's sleeping in her crib." She pointed at the room.

Dimitri and I ran into the room and went to the crib. There she was, sleeping like a little angel. I let out a sigh of relief and Dimitri grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to his side. He kissed the top of my head and breathed, "She's alright."

We watched her for another minute or two before walking back into the living room. Lissa was in Christian's arms. She was shaking. "What's wrong?" Dimitri asked.

Christian turned his head to look at us, still holding Lissa. "We were worried about you. It's been ten minutes since the alarm went off for the guardians to come back in. They told all of us before we left the auditorium that they were going to take account of the…fatalities and put up a list for us to look at." Lissa sobbed harder when he said "fatalities".

"Oh, no, we're fine." Dimitri replied.

"Better than fine, actually." I added, looking down at my hand.

Lissa peeked over Christian's shoulder before walking over to us. "Are you sure? I mean, what took you so long to get back here?"

Dimitri and I smiled and looked at each other before looking back at them. I held out my left hand. Lissa let out a shriek and grabbed the both of us. After that, we got hugs from the both of them and Christian went to the kitchen to get some champagne we got from my mom after she found out about Maya.

We had a great time celebrating. Maya cried once, and I had to go feed her, but we continued to celebrate even after that. I had two glasses of champagne before someone knocked at our door.

"I'll get it." I said, and went to the door. I opened it to see Adrian. I pushed him and shut the door behind me. "Adrian, what are you doing here?"

"I had to make sure that everyone was okay. Look, I'm sorry about…earlier." His eye was already turning purple. "I don't know why I…did what I did. Anyways, I came by to –"

He stopped talking, and I was about to ask him what it was, when I noticed that he was looking at something hard. I followed his eyes straight down to the ring on my finger. I looked back up to his face, scared of what I would see there, and found him looking back at me with narrowed eyes.

"Adrian –" I was cut off by him saying, "They need Lissa in the infirmary to heal the wounded. I can't do it by myself." Then, he walked way.

I stood there for a moment, stunned. Once the shock wore off, I went back into the living room.

"Who was that?" Dimitri asked.

I knew I had to lie. Dimitri would flip out if he knew Adrian had been here. "It was a guardian." Best to play it safe by saying it was someone he didn't know and not naming anyone so he couldn't find them. "Lissa, they need you in the infirmary. We have some wounded that you need to heal. But promise me that you won't do too much healing."

Lissa promised, and she and Christian left. A few of the guardians in the room left with them, but two stayed to help us protect Maya. I sat down on the couch and Dimitri let me rest my head on his shoulder.

"We got more training than we intended today, huh?" I joked.

I felt his chest bounce as he chuckled. "Yeah, we did." There was a moment of silence before he said, "That was Adrian, wasn't it?"

Nothing ever got past him. "How did you know?"

"Well, I could tell that you were lying when you said that it was a guardian, so I just assumed that it was Adrian, and apparently I was right." he answered.

I looked up at him. "And you aren't mad?"

He shook his head. "As long as he didn't try anything again." I shook my head. "Okay then. I'm going to go check and see if they need any help with the injured. I had meant to do that before we got caught up in our engagement celebration."

He got up and left, while I made my way to the kitchen to get something to eat. We didn't get the chance to eat lunch, and that mixed with the alcohol made me really hungry. I looked through the cabinets for something to eat. I was just about to take down some spaghetti and sauce, when there was a loud crash.

I would regret that next moment for the rest of my life. I stood there in shock, telling myself that I hadn't heard anything, when I knew that I had. I dropped the spaghetti and sauce and ran to the bedroom.

It was as if I was back in the cabin, reliving the first time I had ever really worried about my daughter. A strigoi stood right next to the crib. The only difference from the first time I had walked in to see this was that he was holding Maya, instead of just looking at her. I started to run at him, but he saw me and jumped right back out the window he had broken to get in.

"No!" I screamed as I jumped right out the window after him. The jagged glass left in the window scraped my skin, but it didn't faze me at all. I pumped my arms as fast as they would go, and my feet followed suit. I made my way into the trees after the strigoi. Thank God I had forgotten to take my stake out of my shoe after the attack.

It felt like I had ran forever, trailing behind the strigoi. I finally saw how badly I needed to start training again. I couldn't breathe. I was running way faster than I had earlier in the gym. But I wouldn't stop. No matter what, I had to get my daughter back.

Why did this keep happening to me? It seemed like my life had been filled with constant danger. On top of it all, the danger seemed to come at the worst of times. Dimitri had just left when the strigoi broke into the room and taken Maya. If he had been there, he could have probably caught the strigoi by now. He was much faster than me, and in more shape.

My entire body was on fire. I felt like I could fall at any moment; that my legs would turn to jelly and no longer work. Branches and twigs kept poking at my skin. But luck kicked in for me. I got a massive adrenaline rush, and it helped me to go faster.

The strigoi was only five, maybe six feet in front of me. I only needed a couple of more minutes to catch up to him. I only hoped that the adrenaline would last. At three feet, I pushed myself harder than I ever had before. I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach was doing flips just knowing that I was about to catch this bastard and get my daughter back.

I reached out and grazed the back of his shirt. I was almost there. I could taste victory.

And then…I tripped.

I went down face first, and tasted the dirt that went in my mouth. Thorns went into my ankles, and I scraped up my hands and knees. I spit the dirt out and looked up. The strigoi was still running away. I tried to get up, but slipped and fell back down. I looked at the strigoi one more time to see that he was pretty far away. I tried to get up again and finally made it. It hurt like hell – because of the scrapes – but I managed.

The strigoi turned right, and I went to do the same, but there were too many trees that way. We had been following a path, and apparently it turned where he was. I followed the path for what seemed like hours, and finally found the turn.

But when I looked down it, I saw nothing but trees and vegetation. "No." I whispered as I ran into the path. I ran and ran, looking all around me as I did. There was nothing. I wanted to cry, but I knew that if I started crying, I would totally break down. So, I kept running.

I don't know how long I ran like that. I made some turns when I ran, and I could've been running in circles for all I knew. I tripped two more times, but always made it back on my feet. Finally, I saw an opening in the path. I saw hope in that opening. Hope that it would be where the strigoi had taken my daughter. I knew that it would be hard to get her back if that was the strigoi's hideout, but it didn't matter. I do whatever I had to do to get her back.

I burst through the path…and right into the quad at Court.

I stopped in my tracks. I had been going the complete opposite way. I ran in a complete circle. The tears that had been threatening to make their escape finally did. I went down to my knees. My hands covered my face as I sobbed.

I stayed like that for a long time. I knew that I looked like a mess: my hair was tangled, my arms and legs were scratched up, and there was snot coming out of my nose and all down my face. I sat there thinking about what a bad mother I was and what Dimitri would think of me. He would probably leave me.

And then I thought, Wait a minute. What am I doing? My daughter was just taken by evil creatures who are going to drink her blood so that they can come out in the daytime and hunt moroi every single moment of forever. I can't let that happen. I am Rosemarie Hathaway. I have defeated…well, too many strigoi to count. I have overcome many obstacles that I never thought I would in a million years. Why am I sitting here, crying, and feeling sorry for myself?

I wiped my face with the back of my hand – and then flicked it because, well…ew – and got to my feet. I could feel the steel reforming inside me. It was time to take action. Although I felt like I was about to pass out from all the running, but it didn't matter. I ran into the building and started making my way to the queen's quarters. I knew that action would be taken faster if I went to her first.

I ran all the way there, getting weird stares from everyone I passed.

"I need to see the queen!" I yelled at the guardian who was stationed at the front of the queen's hallway. You had to sign a sheet when you went to visit the queen, and you had to have clearance from her and a guardian to get to her room.

"What is your business with the queen?" he asked me.

"Tell her that my daughter has been taken." I told him. I was practically bouncing, I was so ready to run in her room.

"Your Majesty, Rose Hathaway is here. She says –"

He was cut off by the queen telling him to let me in on the other end of the intercom. He gave me a pat down, and I gave him my stake. When he said it was okay for me to go, I sprinted to her room. I didn't even knock, I just burst through the door.

"Rose? What's going on?" Tatiana said, sitting on her couch, waiting for me.

"It's Maya. A strigoi got a hold of her. I went after him, but I tripped and he got away. I need help." I said as fast as I could. I was glad that Tatiana had practice listening to me talk really fast.

She automatically got up and went to her table. She picked something up and said into it, "Get a group of guardians together. I need at least twenty, maybe thirty. Guardian Hathaway – Rose, not Janine – and Guardian Belikov will be leading them. Hurry!"

And with that, we got ready to go get my little girl.