See, told you I'd update today :D
The course with my mom was good. I learned A LOT.
ANd now I've pretty dead set on getting a book published. Once I manage to finish a book that is.
Anywho, I think I left this chapter at a bad spot but my butt was getting kind fo numb so I'll probably post another chapter later today if time allows.
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead and therefore do not own Vampire Academy or any characters in the story.

I felt an annoying shake on my shoulder and groaned, trying to swat it away. It went away, thank god. I was so tired. Damn it, there was is again. "ROSE!" My name, yelled in my ear, shook me more effectively out my dreamy state but I just looked up and gave the gorgeous man a don't-mess-with-me glare and closed my eyes again. "Rose, get up. It's already quarter after eight. You need to get up." Ha! Reasonable never got Rose Hathaway awake. I hadn't been up that early since I did early practice. And that of course was in a totally different time zone… when I hadn't been up till five thinking and constantly fighting against temptation in wrapping my arms around the man who slept, oblivious, a foot away from me. It would have been so easy to just snuggle up to him, accidently-on-purpose…

The ground suddenly came up to meet my face and I felt the sting of carpet on my palms and cheek. If I laid there long enough, I would start to get numb and it would be comfortable… ish. Right then, I really didn't care. "Rose. I will throw you into the cold shower if you don't get up. I'm very serious." Mmm, to be wrapped in his warm, strong arms. Even for just a moment. And of course, when that moment ended I would be met with the unforgiving coldness of water in the morning. Maybe not worth it. Especially if I was going in clothed, alone.

"I'll go if you go." I felt him walk up beside me and reach down. I peeked through one eye and saw an annoyed Russian glaring at me. "Okay, okay!" Grudgingly, I pushed myself up with a loud groan and fixed Dimitri with another glare. "I am so not ready for the world right now." I just wanted to slip back into the bliss of nonsense dreams. I'd had a very short, but extremely vivid one, of a man with a hot accent breathing my name into my ear and lightly caressing my arm, placing a light kiss on my cheek. I really didn't want to forget that one since it was probably the closest I'd get to having him touch me that way again.

"Well, the worlds ready for you and it doesn't wait for anyone. Get your ass moving." Whoa, grouchy much?

I snorted and stood up, giving Dimitri a clear view of my laced pantied butt in the process. I sauntered into the bathroom and closed the door without a backwards glance.

XXX

After having a quick shower, by quick I mean forty-five minutes, and doing a haphazard hair dry that took at total of an hour with the little crap hair dryer they had, I had about half an hour to eat the "complimentary" breakfast of no name cereals until Dimitri swatted me into the car and we were off again. Of course, he had been ready by the time he'd woken me up so he had just sat there, staring at me. At first, I was a happy, thinking my outfit of a strapless tank top and skinny jeans was actually getting him to "look" at me again and then it just got unnerving. Like, he never looked away. Just a constant stare that made me eat faster so he would stop. And I guessed that was the point. Once we were in the car I asked, "What was with all the staring, Comrade?"

"You've had a piece of corn flake on your chin for the past forty five minutes." Oh god. I quickly wiped my chin, blushing brilliantly, and sure enough, a soggy piece of cereal came off in my hand. Yeah, that always makes guys look at you, just not for the desired reasons.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me before?"

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice." Ha, a smile!

"Oh, gee. Thank you. Way to kick a girl when she's down, why don't you." As much as I loved the man, he could be such an ass. But at least I got a smile.

He only chuckled and kept driving. We were about two hours away from his family's house so I decided that now was as good as ever to slip into Lissa's head.

"Christian, I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about her! If they find her, they've given permission to kill her on the spot." Woah. Woah, woah, woah. Why didn't Adrian mention that last night? Probably because I pissed him off before he could…

"I know, Lissa. But there is nothing you can do until they find your sister or brother or whatever." He wrapped his arms around my, er, her waist and hugged her close, resting his chin on her shoulder as she clutched his back fiercely, doing whatever she could to hold herself together, for me. All of this was for me. She'd gotten as much sleep as I had last night, but instead of guy issues keeping her up she was worrying about me and what would happen if I was sighted or, god forbid, caught. She wanted to call me, to tell me to just put all my efforts to hiding away with Dimitri, who was now labelled as my partner in crime, and forget about the "mission" the Queen had given me. Apparently, I wasn't worth sacrificing. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to do it anyway.

"I want to do something though. So badly. I just can't keep thinking about what will happen if they- if they-," she let out a sob, pressing her face into his shirt. She just couldn't stand the idea. She was able to deal with being away from me as long as she knew I was safe. Alive. That's all she cared about now and it was going to get her in trouble. Oh, so much trouble. She, the last of the Dragomirs, could not be crying over the biggest criminal, the Queen's murderer. It just wouldn't look good. Though it did make me feel a little better knowing she cared so much.

He pulled back a bit, tilting her chin up to look at him. "I know," he said softly. "I know what you mean. I love Rose as much as you do but I don't want her dead. And me having that feeling, I can only fathom how strong it must be for you. But right now, you can't do anything for her. You have to do what you can for yourself and the people around you. You need to help keep the Moroi world from crumbling from lack of order and leadership."

She sniffed, giving him a shaky smile. "I know. I'll try," she said, her voice getting stronger.

"Good girl." He lowered her head towards hers and lightly pressed his lips to hers. "You'll do great things." Lissa brought her hand up into his hair and pulled him back down, giving me my cue to leave. Honestly, they were worse than rabbits.

I came back into my head to find Dimitri staring at me. "Everything okay over there?" Of course, he'd show some concern over Lissa.

"Yeah," I said, my voice deadpan and rolling my eyes. "Just peachy. Seriously, look at the road. It's not safe to not have even one eye on the road."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "It's a stretch of nothingness for a good hour. I don't have to worry about hitting anything." Still, he turned back to look at the road. "Now, seriously, whats going on over there?"

"Well, Lissa's having a breakdown of worry over me, all the Guardians have been given permission to kill us on the spot if found and Christians helping her through it all. Like always." I smiled. If I could count on anyone to help Lissa, it would be Christian. As much as I didn't care about him, he had his uses.

"And Adrian?" I saw his jaw clench at the word but he showed nothing else to suggest his dislike.

"Oh, I don't know. I pissed him off last night so all I got out of him was that the court is in uproar before he left."

His mouth twitched, from me and Adrian fighting or the fact that we created an uproar, I wasn't sure. "Is that so?" he said softly. Once again, I was very confused.

We drove in silence until we came across the small community where Dimitri had grown up and I had resided on my way to kill him. It was nice, seeing the place where I'd actually felt like I belonged again. Except this time, I felt disconnected, knowing that my place wasn't actually here. Especially when the one person who actually tied me to the family I loved here no longer loved me. I didn't belong anywhere anymore.

I rolled down my window, breathing in the warm Russian air and watching the walking Dhampirs and humans, intermingling at stores. The kids here seemed to just be getting out of schools if the big mass of kids in front of the buildings was any indication. I tried to pick out Viktoria but every face was lost within the crowd. I looked at Dimitri's face instead and watched as all the hard lines softened and his eyes pick up that glow I rarely ever saw except for when he was truly, utterly happy. They reminded me of the night in the cabin… I menatally slapped myself and instead I smiled, glad that his hometown could still bring out the love that he always had for it. It was nice to know that not all the things he had loved before being a strigoi had been lost. We pulled up to his house and he, honest to god, looked like a kid who had just been told he was moving to Disneyland. Now, if only I could get him to feel that way about me…

We climbed out and stretched, my joints giving a little popping noise after sitting for so long. "Um, Dimitri," I said, stopping him before he tapped on the door, "I think maybe I should talk to them before you go barging in there, you being a Dhampir risen from the dead and all…" He nodded, but I could tell he felt sad that he couldn't even see his family without the possibility of them killing him. He stepped back, allowing me to knock on the door instead. I shooed him back a bit and knocked.

My knock was met with a scrambling inside the house, a bang and a Russian word that was said in a tone that made me think it was a swear. The door swung open and a smiling Olena opened the door. When she saw me, her face brightened considerably and she pulled me into a spine-crunching hug. "Rose! It's been so long!" She let go of me and held me at arms length so she could take in how I looked, probably concluding that I was too skinny, even though I ate like a starving elephant. She frowned, "You left without warning last time. I'd thought something must have happened but then Viktoria told me you'd run off, that Zmey had sent you off to Neverland or something. I really didn't take you as a girl who be intimidated so I wasn't sure if I should have believed her or not." She smiled again, "But no matter! You're here now and that's what matters. Come in and I'll make you those sandwiches that you love so much." She turned to move inside but I stopped her.

"Wait! I-I need to tell you something first." She turned back to me, surprised by my nervous tone.

"What is it, Rose? Did Abe really threaten you?"

I shook my head, "No, no. Abe can't do something like that. He's my father." I waved at her to stop her from exclaiming at that fact. "Yeah, yeah. But let me tell you what I need to tell you first." I took at deep shaky breath and continued. "You know how last time I was here, I told you that I had come to tell you that Dimitri had turned Strigoi?" She flinched as pain crossed her face but she nodded for me to continue. "Well, I'd actually come through here to find him. To kill him if possible. That was my goal. Well, I found him and tried to kill him. But I failed and continued back home, weak from blood loss and exhaustion." Olena looked ready to interrupt again but I held my hand up. "Please, let me continue. While I was here, I learned of a man who had turned a Strigoi back into the man he used to be. As in returned his soul to his body. It was said to just be a tale to unreasonably raise someone's hopes, and raise my hopes it did. I spend a long time, went to extreme lengths, to find the man who did such a thing and got all the information I could from him. I did all the steps and well, it worked. It wasn't easy by a long shot but it truly worked." I paused, letting her take it all in. She said nothing, speechless. I dropped my voice to a whisper. "He's alive again, Olena. Alive. A Dhampir."

She shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "It's not possible. He will be forever dead."

"No, Olena. Many people thought it was impossible but I promise you. He. Is. Alive. And here."

Fear crossed her face. "What? You brought a Strigoi to my home?" She went to quickly run inside but I grabbed her, forcing her to look at me.

"Olena! I wouldn't tell you this if it wasn't true. I can prove it to you. We used Spirit, healed his soul. Let me show you." I looked at her pleadingly. "Please."

Eventually, she nodded and I waved for Dimitri to come from around the car. He stood there, looking at his mom with an expression of both sadness and complete happiness. The moment she saw his face, despite the fears and disbeliefs she had earlier, she broke from me and ran towards him, taking him into her arms and crying. She sobbed into his chest about how much she had missed him, how heartbroken she had been when he had left. He lightly brushed her hair saying soothing words. She looked up into his eyes and placed her hand on his cheek. "You really are back, aren't you?" He nodded.

"Yes, mother. I'm back and here to stay. For a while."

Review, review, review! Anything you want to see happen in the story? Just ask and you might see it!

xoxo Darla