I smiled to myself in the mirror. I had on the original white dress. It was puffy from the waist down, and there was a corset back. Lissa looked at me in her red maid-of-honor dress. Happiness was flowing off her in waves.

"You look beautiful, Rose. Dimitri won't know what hit him."

I turned and smiled at Lissa, then looked back at the mirror. "I get to be with him. Forever. Without the shame." Tears threatened to fall. Dimitri was standing at the alter, waiting for me.

"And I get to be the nanny." Lissa joked about the small bump forming around my middle.

"Yeah, you'll have your hands full." I smiled back at her, stepping off the stool. She tilted her head at me.

"What do you mean?"

I laughed at her innocence. "Lissa, think about it. A mini me or Dimitri? I was probably gonna be one of the most badass guardians, and Dimitri was. How long do you think it'll take for you to crack?"

She smacked my arm playfully. "Just go out there and marry him first."

We came to the door. The wedding was outside, so there was an arc further out. Mia, and a few other girls from school started walking, each waiting about five seconds before following. Then, finally, Lissa went. I took a deep, calming breath as I counted.

I slowly walked, and stepped through the arc. Everyone was standing up, and I couldn't stop the smile that was splitting my face in half. Everyone was smiling with me. Dimitri was giving me one of his rare smiles. When I got half way through the isle, I realized, a few people in the back rows had sat down. Their clothes started to fade black. Lissa's smiling face slowly turned into a grim one. Adrian was standing up with Dimitri, a look of pity on his face. Stopping, I looked at Dimitri. He was no longer smiling either. The brown in his eyes weakened, and a red color started taking over. A smile slowly crept onto his face, showing his teeth and full length fangs.

A scream woke me up. My throat was sore and realization dawned on me that it had been me screaming. I was in a cold sweat and breathing hard. It had just been a dream. That's it. I looked to the clock to see what time it was.

6:38. About another hour and a half before the sun went down. I felt something in the back of my mind, even through all the chaos in it. My bond with Lissa said she was awake, and upset.

Switching into my best friend roll, and trying to forget about the dream, I put on a robe and some slippers, then walked over to Lissa's room, which was on the other side of campus.

About three guardians saw me, but none stopped me. Knocking on Lissa's door, it swung open so that I almost knocked her forehead. She had tears leaking down her face. She pulled me in before I had the chance to speak.

"What did you dream about?"

She sniffled. "About you, Dimitri, Molly, everyone being strigoi. Christian was coming to turn me. But then, I woke up, just as he bit me."

Her lip was trembling and she broke down in a new round of tears. A few of my own fell into her hair as I comforted her.

"My dream was similar to yours."

She pulled back and looked at me. "How Rose? How? You don't know what I'm dealing with! My friends, guardians, being dead?"

I knew she didn't mean it. She was overflowing with other people's emotions. I knew she was starting to glimpse aura's and sense there feelings.

"Lissa, they're my friends, too."

She didn't stop yet. "Rose, you and Christian could have died! I can understand you wanting to go into the battle, but you let Christian! Christian's my boyfriend! He could have died! My lover could have died!"

I snapped. "Lissa! Yeah, Christian could have died! But if it wasn't for him, I would have died!"

Lissa shocked me. "As long as he was safe I wouldn't care! Rose, you don't know what it's like, having that fear! Knowing that you couldn't do anything!"

My voice was dead cold to start with. "So, I would be saving your ass, and you wouldn't even care?"

What she had said caught on with her. "Rose,-"

"Lissa," my voice was calm, but it was going to rise. "Your boyfriend and lover would have died if it wasn't for me, and your best friend would have died if it wasn't for him. Either way I'm the bad guy. But Christian's alive, isn't he?!" I shouted. "You can choose who you love! I have no choice!"

Lissa winced. "Rose-"

"Listen to me!" Tears flowed from my eyes. "You can love whoever you want! I can't love without putting shame upon me!"

"What do you mean?"

Lissa's voice was barely above a whisper, so I decided to tone it down a little. "Lissa, I'm shamed if I love a moroi, because I would be a 'blood whore.' If I love any other race, I'm shamed because I'm not 'doing my job.' I'm screwed either way." My voice got hard again. "But don't you dare tell me I don't know what your feeling. I'm closer to the guardians than you are. I trained with them. They taught me what I know. And don't tell me I don't know what it feels like to have your lover's life threatened!"

She looked at me, confusion written on her face. I gave a humorless laugh. "Damn, Lissa, you truly are a blonde. My lover didn't only have his life threatened: he had it taken away!"

She winced at my yelling. "Who?"

"Who didn't return? Who was I with, everyday, since we got here? Who carried me to the hospital when I broke my ankle? WHO WAS MY MENTOR?!" I yelled, scaring her.

Her voice was shaky. "You loved Guardian Belikov."

My eyes widened and I through my hands in the air. "Not only did I love him, I HAD SEX WITH HIM! The night before the strigoi attacked! When Victor put that charm into my necklace, it wasn't what you thought." Lissa winced when I said Victor. "Yeah, it made me attack him, but it was a lust spell!"

"Rose, calm down. You scaring me." Lissa was about to burst into tears, and that upset me.

"Lissa, I'm sorry." I sat down on the bed next to her. We collapsed and cried together until it was time for the memorial service. The one where Dimitri's death would be recognized.