Sorry it took me so long. This chapter was fun to write, but I wasn't very happy with certain parts so I redid most of it. Enjoy. Ps. Review, I only got seven reviews last time.

I walked out of the bathroom, my hair all done up and feeling as lethal as ever. One a few things were going through my mind at this point; I'm a vampire. I am strong. I will show no mercy.

As wrong as it is to say this: the strigoi need to pay. They need to know that enough is enough, and we will show them who is the better race; us.

I glanced around the gym and realized it was vacant, except for Dimitri. His back was to me and he was pacing, as if he was nervous. I couldn't blame him. I am too.

"Dimitri, where is everyone?" I asked in English.

He immediately turned to me. I guess he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts and didn't hear me come in.

"Dimitri, are you okay?" His face showed anxiety, and I wondered why. His eyebrows made a small V shape, and I wanted to kiss it and smooth it away. I quickened my pace to him and stopped when I was three feet in front of him.

He went into Guardian form: back straight, shoulders back, legs shoulder length apart. Okay…what am I missing? "Is the attack happening? I was only in there for eight minutes." It took me forever to get my hair done. You think I would have it up in three minutes flat with all my experience doing it day after day.

"No." His eyes roamed over me, and I saw admiration in them. "You look vigorously beautiful."

I smiled and spun around once so he could get a good look at me. "Do I look fit for battle?"

He walked over to me, grabbed my hand and yanked me to him so that I was hard against his chest. He leaned his head down, making his lips barely graze mine. "Like you wouldn't believe." There was something odd in his voice. Yes, desire was in it, but something else. It sounded like he was worried, but there was a hell of a lot more to it. Worried sounded like an understatement when I looked into his eyes.

Then he kissed me. Hard. There was more to the kiss than just sweet admiration and love. He was putting everything he felt; worry, anxious, nervous, and even vengeance. He too thought the strigoi have gone too far this time. And I couldn't agree more. But the more he kissed me, the more I had a problem. I didn't want to leave.

He sucked my bottom lip and my knees gave out. He caught me, making me lean more into his chest; so hard, I swear I could feel his heartbeat- which was beating rather fast.

"Dimitri." I warned against his lips, though it was very weak and unwilling to let go.

"Mmm. Nem hum." He mumbled as answer between my bottom lip. We slowly backed up against the wall, his hands on my waist. My hands slid up his arms and held onto the back of his neck. We really needed to stop, people were going to die- okay, people were going to die period, but a lot more people were going to die if we doing get our butts out there and warn everyone.

Therefore, unwillingly, my hands unhooked themselves from the back of his neck and slid down his chest and gently pushed him away. I looked up at him and found desire in his eyes.

My eyes dropped to the floor. Damn, damn damn. That is not what I need right now. I swallowed, then said, "Dimitri, we need to get-"

"I know."His hands balled up into fists. "We need to act now."

But I didn't want to either. We could lose our lives out there tonight. I wanted to be with him before all hell breaks loose. We deserve a little bit of heaven before then, didn't we?

There is a private room towards the back of the building that nobody ever uses except for business private meetings….

I grabbed his hand ran with me, knowing my though and decision. How tight he held my hand told me he agreed with me. The others could run things just fine, the Queen probably already knew strigoi were on their way- Hans would have went to her the moment Mikhail told him what was going on.

I hardly noticed we stepped in. The room was dark, but it was perfect for us. Two people in love, about to give love to one another before all hell comes swinging our way.

Dimitri pulled me to his chest and lifted me up, and quickly (it has become a reflex now) wrapped my legs around his waist; his hands held me the back of my thigh, his fingers digging in. If there was pain, it just turned me on more. My arms wrapped around his neck and I attacked his mouth.

I was rewarded with a moan. He turned, walking into the room and kicked the door shut with his heel. He headed somewhere in the room- I wasn't sure where. As he claimed my mouth, I balanced my weight and then slid my hands down his chest until I reached the edge of his shirt.

I quickly pulled it off, then wrapped my arms around his neck again, kissing him more passionately than before.

"Я люблю Вас" (I love you; sounds like: la-lub-lubvous ) I said in-between kisses. He moved his lips from mine to my nose and then forehead. He pulled back and looked me in the eyes. As always when we were in a heated moment like this, his eyes shinned with love and gentleness.

"И я люблю Вас, Roza." (And I love you; sounds like: ela-lub-lubvous.) "Всегда и навсегда" (Always and forever; sounds like: sig-dEn-of-sig-da).

Beginning of lemon

His mouth claimed mine as he lowered me down some place. The place where I was laying on was soft and comfortable, but it was too short to be a bed, because my back pressed against cushions. He quickly pulled my jacket, shirt and bra off. While worked getting my clothes off, I got his pants and boxers off. I felt his gaze on me as I took his pants and boxers off.

Before I could look up at him, his lips were at the base of my throat, slowly working their way downwards. He stopped and went to one breast, sucked and gently swirled his tongue around my nipple.

I moaned.

He went over to my other breast and repeated, but this time, he gently nibbled it after I moaned from him swirling his tongue over my nipple. Then he went down my stomach and up again until he came back to my lips.

His hands went to my waist and inched my pants down as fast as he could, along with my underwear. I moved my lips over to his ear and nibbled on his earlobe. I ran my nose against the side of his face, breathing in his scent. But I gasped as two of his fingers slid inside me and started moving in and out.

I moaned as he picked up speed. I arched my back as I came and yelled. Dimitri pulled out his fingers, and he came inside and started moving in rhythm. I wrapped my arms around his back, keeping him closer than usual. I ran my index and middle finger down his spine and his thrusts became faster, harder.

He moaned loudly and I started thrusted faster. I wasn't in the mood to hear just moaning. I slid my hands from the small of his back up to his abs. I slid my hands over them, loving the feel of his rock hard body. I slid my hands upwards to his upper chest to the back of his neck. I reached up and captured his lips. He seemed to be feeling the same way I did.

We were both scared for each other. But heaven help me, I will protect him tonight. I won't let anything happen to him. I won't let what happened to him in the caves happen to him again. I love him so much, my heart is swelling so big that it feels like it's going to explode.

His breath was becoming heavy as mine. He had to leave my mouth to breath in more deeply, but that is when I finally heard him scream my name. He met my thrusts, and inexplicably, he went even faster.

And at the same time, we both came.

When it was over, he laid on top of me, his head resting on my chest as we tried to ketch our breaths. His arms were wrapped around my waist, somehow, and he was still inside me, and was still hard. I picked my right hand up, which was resting on his back, the other one his shoulder, and ran my fingers through his silk hair. We stayed silent for a few moments.

We were still breathing heavily, but I still managed to speak. "That…was…intense."

He laughed and picked his head up. "You were amazing."

I gave him my man-eating smile and his lips crashed down on mine, his tongue quickly slipping into my mouth and claiming dominance. I moaned and wrapped my legs around his waist. He pulled back and lifted his torso up, his arms straight up by my side.

He started thrusting again, and I matched them, all the while not breathing the kiss. The thrusts were fast and demanding, and I was more than willing to oblige. I arched my back, coming again. He dipped his head and sucked my left breast. My breath caught and my right hand that was still in his hair added pressure there, holding him there.

He moaned, hitting his orgasm. My legs tightened around his torso and I thrusted harder and faster, a few more times before he it again, but this time, we hit it together.

He slowed down and went to pull out of me, but I was having none of that. I pulled him to me, having him lay his head down on my chest. I wrapped my arms and legs more tightly around him.

End of Lemon

He laughed. "Roza, we can't…" I knew what he saying as he trailed off, unable to speak or think a coherent thought.

I took a deep breath. "Just a few more moments."

He didn't say anything, but he started kissing my chest, my throat, my face and eventually my lips. He claimed me, just like he did when we were making love to each other. But this time, he was trying to make the most of it, trying to say "I love you. Be careful. I'm worried. We have to go," into the kiss.

It made me melt, but at the same time it made want to scream out of fear. In a way, it felt like a 'good bye, wish me luck' kiss. We continued to kiss for a little while longer, then I pulled away and held him close, needing air.

"Dimitri, promise me you will be careful." I said, as he laid his head on my chest.

"I promise to look after you."

"NO!" I nearly shouted, my right arm tightening around his back, and my left around his neck. "You will do no such thing! My family-"

He cut me off; his tone light and gentle. "And I am part of your family now, Roza." He lifted his head up and wiggled his eyebrows, his unshaven chin rubbed back and forth on my chest. "And you're just going to have to get use to it."

I laughed. "Oh, I can get use to it faster than you think possible."

He got up, using his arms and pulled out of me. I arched my back and we both moaned in pleasure, but he still hovered over me.

He brought his lips down on mine again, but only briefly. "Then marry me." He grazed his lips over mine by shaking his head.

I chuckled. "I already said yes." I kissed his lips lightly.

He pulled back, lifting up so that he could gaze down at me. "No. I mean now."

I thought about what he just said. I want to marry him, but is now the right time?

"Think about it Roza." He stared at me intently, but gently and seriously. His hair was messy; a little something us Americans call sex hair. He still looked like a god…a sexy Russian god.

"I am," I answered, "but why now? Why right before the war?" I was slightly startled that he wanted to do it now. We made love, so hasn't that taken enough time as it was?

He smiled down gently at me. "Why not?" He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

I chuckled again. "So, you want to be impulsive before we die?"

His eyes narrowed, but those dark brown eyes remained light with love. "No. I want to claim you before we go to war. I want to do the one thing that I have wanted to do since I knew I was in love with you, and I want to do it before we go to war. I want to protect my wife, not my girlfriend, not my fiancé. My wife."

I smiled and laughed inside. "This is so not the Dimitri Belikov I knew."

He laughed. "Is that a yes?"

My other hand slid over his back and down his chest. "But what about our wedding? Don't you want your family to be there when you sign yourself off to a lifetime of damnation?"

He laughed. "Oh, Roza!" He chuckled again. "No, we will have a formal wedding. White dress, tuxedo, flowers and the whole shebang. We will make it official then, but right now I want you to be mine, and for me to be yours. Husband and wife, fighting side by side."

Now who was the dreamer?

But I absolutely loved the sound of that. What did I have to lose? I will be protecting my whole family, starting with my new husband.

Husband. My insides went queasy, making my heart laughed and swelled at the thought.

I was eager to agree. "You are making that face, my sweet Roza."

I giggled. GIGGLED! Rose Hathaway never giggles. "On one condition."

He arched an eyebrow up seductively. "And what is the condition, my sinful fiancé?"

I couldn't glare at him in the slightest; my heart was glowing too much for that. "We get everyone prepared and aware of what is going on."

He nodded, seeing my logic. "Alright. But right after, you, me and two other witnesses are going straight up to the church."

"Then?" I asked, grazing my lips across the side of his face, all the way down to his cheek.

"Then I am going to kiss you like a real husband."

I laughed in pure excitement. "Then we better get dressed." My excitement faded. "We have a lot to do. We need to see Tatiana first, then Gideon and then get every guardian geared up."

"No. We will see the Queen first and get things sorted out. We need to make a plan. Have so many guardians sanctioned in certain places."

"What about the Moroi?"

"They have been recruiting the moroi. That is your mother's, father's and Mikhail's task."

"But I sent Mikhail-"

He interrupted. "Yes, Roza. I know. And he is doing that too. I told the Cobra's what was happening. I gave them orders to split in half. Four of them will be recruiting moroi, getting them out within a two hour period. The gate will be closed within an hour and a half since you changed. The other four, which is including Eddie and your father, will be getting the guardians informed and ready. We, as in you and I, are to report to the queen and Guardian Kingston."

"Gideon is going to want to use the explosives as soon as he can, but Mason told me to hold off until he gives me the signal."

"I don't follow."

"I guess the way to put the term is 'spies' for the ghosts. Mason is going to give me the signal to give to Gideon or whoever has the trigger to the C4, to hit it at a certain time."

"Then who is going to lead the Guardians?"

I looked up at him. "You."

He froze, but quickly regained his posture. "Rose I'm-"

"King Cobra." I winked at him and ducked under his arms to get out of bed. I knew this was going to be one intense and very possibly, ugly, conversation. I picked up my clothes and quickly put them on. Dimitri's shirt was next to my pants, so I threw it on him, hiding his…manly pride.

"Rose. No."

I picked up my new sword and pointed the pointy of the blade on the ground and leaned against it. I remained deadpan. I needed to be the chief. Just like Tamara, Dimitri needs to be shown his place. He needs to understand. "Dimitri, you are the only one capable-"

"You are too."

"Yes, I admit that I am also capable, but I am too busy watching and waiting for Mason's signal." I paused for a second, letting that sink into that big Russian head of his. "Dimitri, you are the only one that the Cobra's listen to. You are…King." I smiled at that. "The Cobra's need a leader. Yes, I will be leading for the most part, but when Mason gives me that signal, all hell is going to be leached and I won't be able to direct the Cobra's for very long. I will be too busy taking orders from Mason." I had a whole other plan. A plan the others wouldn't know about. Yes, I was still going to fight, but I had a whole other plan.

"Rose-"

"This is what you are to do, Dimitri." God, I hated being so hard-headed. "Queen's orders."

"You haven't even talked to Queen Tatiana yet."

I snorted. "I was talking about Queen Cobra's orders."

He scowled and got dressed faster than I did. "But I am watching your back. You are, after all, my queen."

I gave him my man-eater's smile. "Of course."

"And we are getting married. Tonight."

And when he put things that way, I hated it. My whole life, things have been rushed. Rushed to save Lissa, rushed to get better grades, rush to graduate, rush to save Dimitri. Rush to do anything. I am always rushing through things; rushing through life. For once, I wanted things to be planned out, taken slow.

"Are you sure you want to marry me tonight?"

He looked taken back, but his tone was like I asked the most ridiculous question. "Of course."

"You don't want to take things slow? Don't you want a bachelor party?"

"Rose, we have already been through this. We are getting married to night, but we will make it official later."

The more I thought about that, the more I was unsure about the decision. I wanted it to be traditional. "I don't know, Dimitri."

He was picking up his sword when I said that, and froze, turning his head to look at me. "You. Don't. Know."

I looked at him, begging him to see my perception as he straightened up his body posture. "Dimitri, everything in my life has always been rushed. For once, I want something, like our wedding, to be planned out. I only get one shot at this, and I want to do it right."

He had on his arguing face. "Rose-"

"And then your mother would love to see you standing up there. She thought that her son would have never of gotten married, but now he is! Don't deny her the right to see her son get married. Or how about denying my father's right for walking me down the aisle and giving me to you, the man I love? Let's not forget about Lissa and her being the maid of honor! Dimitri, please, do this for me. I want to do this the right way.

He walked up to me, a ghost of a smile on his face, but it seemed sad. "So, Rose Hathaway finally wants to abide by the rules this time."

I gave him a wry smile. "This just so happens to mean a lot to me, Dimitri. I admit, it sounds great when you say 'husband and wife fighting side by side,' but it only sounds great when we do this wedding right. And I want this wedding to be right. No strings attached.

He had on a calculating look, then smiled. "How do you feel about loopholes?"

I arched an eyebrow as he took steps towards me. "Depends on if they are against me or not."

"Then marry me by being my only partner on the battle field. Warriors use to do it back in the seventh century. Be my warrior bride."

Warrior bride? I never heard of such thing.

"Don't worry, I'm not making this up."

I nodded. "Yes, we can do that. But just as long as I give my loyalties to both you and the rest of the Cobra's."

He smiled, finally getting what he wanted. He leaned down and kissed my lips lightly and pulled back. "Alright, we better leave."

As we walked down the hallway, I gave him another order. "You are to plan out this five minute wedding of ours."

"Yes, my Queen."

I chuckled as we were arriving the end of the hallway. When we exited the building, the sun was still high up in the sky, but that still meant that we had less time to prepare.

"Let me do most of the talking." I told Dimitri. We were in Tatiana's palace, and she was already in a meeting with the Guardian Elders and Hand, and when I mean Elders, I mean Gideon as well. I knocked on the door.

"Agreed." He stood right beside me. His tall height can be very intimidating.

The door opened and a male guardian I didn't know with red hair and blue eyes stood there. "State your title and business." He was tall like and a little older than Dimitri, but Dimitri was freakishly tall and was still taller than this redhead.

"I'm Rose Hathaway." I said with authority. "And this," I gestured by waving my hand over to Dimitri, "is Dimitri Belikov. We are here with great ergency to speak to the queen. It is an emergency and we must speak in private. We do not have much time."

"You said your name is Rose Hathaway?"

I nodded, getting impatient. We didn't have much time and this guy wasn't helping. He stepped aside, realization was in his eyes. "Of course, Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov. The Queen has been waiting for you. Let me remove-"

I shook my head. "That's not necessary." I didn't want the Elders to know about this. They may still be bewitched, and I wasn't taking the chance.

"You mean here," he pointed to the ground. "Now?"

I nodded. "I don't have much time for all these questions, Guardian…" I left it off, waiting to hear his name.

"Kevor. Guardian Kevor."

"It is a pleasure, Guardian Kevor, but I need to speak with her now. No more delay."

He nodded and closed the door, seconds later Tatiana came out. "Rose, what is going on?" She more a green silk dress, that flowed down her body like a waterfall. The color of the dress reminded me of Lissa's eyes.

"We need to speak privately. Now."

She nodded. And led us down the hall. She had pure white glass on the walls to mark lightening. I wanted to say they were Tiffany, but I wasn't sure. The carpet was a rich green, the doors are a dark cherry oak (what is with all the wood being cherry oak?). She opened up a door that was five doors down, and on the left (the conference room the elders are at is on the right). She opened the door and ushered us in, closing the door behind us.

"I heard you were deaf. I suppose Lissa healed you?"

I shook my head. "The dead could only heal me, because they made me deaf. They felt that I had to go through a few more tasks before I was ready for the war."

She nodded. "What is it that is so ergent to talk to me about?"

I looked to Dimitri. His was in his guardian stance. He is all business now. I looked back at the Queen, who was waiting patiently for a change. "We are going to be under attack in less than two hours. We need to battle up the guardians and get ready. They will be here very soon."

Tatiana's face immediately paled. "It would take longer to get the guardians aware-"

"My family has been warning everyone that we can, and recruiting as much moroi away from here was we can. We will stop recruiting them within an hour and a half, because by then the road would be dangerous to travel on."

"Gideon kindly told me that he delivered the grenades in private."

I nodded. "He called me as soon as it was finished. I also wanted to thank you for the grenades you generously gave to us."

She smiled kindly at me. It was one of those smiles you just had to return, and I did. "It is the least I could have done. You will get more, though, because Gideon set aside two for each of the Cobra's." So, our new name got to her now. I couldn't help but another smile. I wondered what she would think of Dimitir's and I's 'names.'

Then, that overprotective 'Rose Hathaway' side popped up. "Your majesty, I want you to leave immediately for your own safety. I will see to it that you are safely transported to your safe house."

"When you mean safely, do you mean one of the Cobra's will be escorting me?"

"It depends on where your safe house is."

"There states away."

"If it wasn't for the situation here, I would say yes, but I am afraid not. I need them here to fight."

"The royal guard will be protecting me then. "

I nodded in agreement. "Would you mind taking Adrian, Sydney Sage, Vasilisa, Christian Ozera and Mia Renaldi?"

She shook her head. "They are my loyal subjects. It is an honor to take them with me. When do you want me to leave?"

"The sooner the better, but time wise, I want you off of Court soil in twenty minutes to a half hour. I'm not exactly sure what direction the strigoi are coming from right now, but right now it is vital that you and a bunch of moroi leave Court Soil and get somewhere safe."

She nodded.

"Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, stay with the royal guard at all times; even going to the bathroom, until give the okay. Remember, they are after complete annihilation of our races. If you think something is fishy, say something, take no chances."

"Okay." She straightened up her body posture. "I am going to tell the Elders what you told me-"

"Tell them nothing about the C4 or grenades. I think they are under compulsion."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I doubt they are under compulsion. They are not acting like zombies nor have that la-la look in their eyes.

"Strigoi are powerful, your majesty. Please, take what I say into consideration. I want to talk to Gideon and Hans. Are they in the conference room? And did the Council set up the wards inside and outside of Court's walls?"

She nodded. "Yes they did, shortly after the meeting and dispute between you and Gideon. I won't say anything to the Council about the weapons, and I will get Guardian Hans and Kingston for you."

"Thank you. And please," I said, taking a step up to her. I suddenly felt protective of her. She really wasn't all that nasty as I thought. In fact, she was quite compassionate "Be careful."

She smiled. "Ambrose will be with me, Rose. He may be a servant, but that doesn't mean he doesn't practice in his spare time. Besides, he is like a son to me."

I smiled back at her. "That's a very good thing."

"It is." Her face went back into business mode. "I will call an end to the meeting, forcing the Council to take action. Is there any proof that I can say to them to make their buts move any faster?"

I nodded. "There was an attempt to break in already. That is why it is so imperative for you to leave. That was a warning, majesty. Please, leave with haste. I also have to see Ronda, Ambrose's Aunt, to get something for Mia before you leave."

She nodded. "Then do that after you talk to Gideon and Hans." With that, she turned and left, but paused at the door. "I will have them come in this room." Then she left.

It wasn't even two minutes after Tatiana left that Guardian Hans and Guardian Kingston walked into the room.

"Guardian Hathaway," they nodded and said in unison. They were both in formal guardian attire; black pants and white shirt.

I nodded to each of them, "Guardian Kingston, Guardian Hans." I waved my hand over to Dimitri. "You remember Guardian Belikov."

They nodded.

"Did Queen Tatiana mention that there was already an attempt of a strigoi to break into Court?"

Both Hans and Gideon shook their heads, but Hans spoke. "Guardian Tanner already came to me with the news. I didn't mention it to the Council. Ms. Ranaldi and Guardian Tanner are helping the"

"I already explained to Guardian Hans about what we talked about in my office. He had agreed with our observations that they are under compulsion." Gideon explained.

"What is it that you wanted to speak to us about?"

"Strigoi will be here in less than two hours." Both men went tense. Their shoulders and back went as straight and stiff as 2x4. I continued. "We need to get everyone ready. My family is already recruiting moroi and making other guardians aware, but we need help. Court is very big, and there is only a few of us."

"On it." Gideon started moving. He took out his cell phone from black pants pocket and started going through his contacts and making calls. I respected his privacy and went to Hans; he looked at me expectantly. I was starting to wonder why everyone suddenly waited for commands from me.

"Start getting guardians and moroi prepared and aware. Shut and lock the gate in an hour. I don't want anyone coming in or going out."

He nodded. "I will gather all guardians and tell them. You should make a speech, since you are so good at it."

"Okay. Let me know the location where you are at with the guardians. Do you still have your grenades?"

"Yes, I still have them. From what direction are they going to attack?"

"I don't know yet, but I will tell you as soon as I can. I have to go now. Do what you can. Gideon has my number, get it from him. Alert me and Guardian Belikov when you have all the guardians in Court aware and gathered. I have business to attend to right now."

Dimitri and I quickly left the building and went to Ronda's room. I knocked and she let us in. The place was still as red as I remembered.

"Hello Rose and Dimitri. It's been a while." She smiled warmly at us.

"Hello ma'am." Dimitri nodding but not smiling.

"Ronda, I need something."

She turned to the side of the door, letting us in. "How can I help you?"

"Do you have any water necklaces?"

She gave me a smile. "Yes I do." She went to a wooden treasure chest that was as tall as Dimitri and looked tough and very heavy. It wasn't cherry oak, but I could smell that it was pine wood. She spun a black dial around on the door, putting in the password. She opened the door and took out red wooden box. It was around two feet long and one foot wide.

She opened up the box and pulled out a beautiful water necklace (A/N: on profile). The chain was three thick black ribbon laced together to form a braid. The water container was clearly a thin blue glass, and was a little bit bigger than a quarter. The necklace was perfect, and I knew Mia would love it.

"Ronda, Mia's going to love it!" She smiled. "I also have a bracelet."

I nodded. "Let's see it."

She pulled out a water blue bracelet. (A/N: on profile) Most of the water blue beads are very small. Then there are two big, point and oval shape white cream and baby blue stripped water beads and two circular but smaller ones. There are also two dark blue (the darker than the water blue small beads) that big and circular. Then there was one bead that was shaped as an curved rectangle with stripes of dark blue, light blue and a cream blue.

I could tell immediately that this was a different kind of weapon. I wondered what that curved rectangle bead was for.

"These water accessories are very powerful."

"What do you mean by that?" Dimitri asked. I was curious too.

"Young Mia will never have to refill them. These jewelry are ancient weapons that the moroi used to fight with in battle. They instantly refill themselves by a spell a water moroi put in it. Mia can take out as much as she wishes and never have to worry about running out."

"What about the break in the glass?" I didn't feel like drowning.

"It will instantly repair itself. An earth moroi put a spell on the glass to repair itself as soon as the water moroi took out how much water he or she wanted."

Yeah. Mia is definitely going to love this. I gave Ronda a huge smile. "How much-"

"And as weird as it gets, I have something for Vasilisa and Christian."

Now I was definitely interested. She took out a ring that was as black as midnight. "This is called a midnight coal." I could see why. "This is for Christian. I believe it is a perfect size for his right thumb. And it has to be on his thumb, because that is where a strong vain goes through, which doubles his magic."

"Wait, you are saying that this ring double's a fire-using moroi's magic?" I asked in excitement. Ooohh! Christian is going to love this!

Ronda smiled, showing her pearly white teeth. "Yes, and this," she pulled out a long, gold chained necklace with a white clouded rock, swinging in the middle, towards the ground. The rock was polished and circular, and as big and round as Mia's water jeweled necklace, except the gold chain on this once was longer than the black ribbon. "is a healing crystal. Only a spirit-using moroi can operate it."

"What does it do?"

"For one thing, it will help expand healing powers, helping the moroi retain his or her energy, so that they can keep healing or a longer period of time. If they wear this, then their healing powers grow and their energy is retained."

"So this is kind of like Gatorade?"

She laughed. "Yes and no. Vasilisa is channeling her magic into the crystal, which is doubling or even tripling- depending on how powerful the moroi is in healing- her power, then sending it back to the moroi so they can heal the victim faster and move on to the next."

An idea slammed into my head. "Is it possible the moroi can heal two victims at one time?"

Ronda tiled her head to the side. "I don't know. I have never seen this in action before, nor heard of such a thing. This crystal took centuries grow with earth using moroi speeding the process up.

Whao. Talk about a revelation. "Thanks Ronda."

She smiled at me. "My pleasure."

I handed her two, one hundred dollar bills when she handed me a bag. "I gave a ring to your father," she winked. "He is going to be asking for one, so don't give it to him until he asks." I chuckled. " Then I put in a healing crystal for Adrian as well. Vasilisa, Mia and Adrian will be staying in Court, despite your protest."

I had a feeling Lissa and Adrian would stay and heal the wounded. It was in their nature, and I couldn't fight that. I thanked her again and left. As soon as we exited the building I called Mia. I noticed it was almost twilight.

"Hey Rose, I had a feeling you would be calling any second. We are all gathered at the fairgrounds. Every guardian in court is here. Gideon knows a lot of people." She sounded amazed.

"Alright, we will be there as soon as we can."

"Okay. Guardian Kingston is informing everyone right now that there was already an attempt of a strigoi sneaking in." Mia's voice squeaked a little bit, but I knew it was out of fear.

I immediately picked up my pace, practically jogging the two miles to the Court's fairgrounds.

"Mia." I said in a gentle tone. "It's going to be okay. We will protect you, I will protect you. Okay? I promise."

I literally heard her swallow through the phone and I immediately started thinking of things to calm her down.

"Um, I have a surprise for you!" I said in a little bit more lighter tone.

"Oh?" her voice shook, but she was trying to get the attack off her mind.

"Yes, and you are going to love it. In fact, you will feel more relaxed."

"Yeah, well, I doubt it. My nerves are on end right now, Rose."

"I know Mia, I can hear them." I took a deep breath. "I will let you go. Give Dimitri and me a few minutes. We are almost there."

"Okay. Oh, I forgot to mention, Denis, Larisa, Tammy and Zena are recruiting the moroi. They will be back in forty-five minutes."

"Okay." Just as long as they are no longer than an hour. They would have trouble getting in. "Lev, Gabe, Tamara and Eddie are here at the fairgrounds and are helping getting everyone prepared. Lissa and Adrian are here. Denis came out and admitted he spoke English so that they didn't have to spend the time and hunt down a translator."

I knew that boy had a brain!

"Alright. Wait, what do you mean, help prepare?"

"Making sure everyone has the grenades and other weapons, then they are assigning places for them to be."

"Okay, sounds like a solid plan. See you soon." I hung up, put it in my pocket and bolted for the fairgrounds with Dimitri running by my side.

It seemed to take forever to get there, but all that I had in my mind was to lower Mia's anxiety. She hasn't dealt with strigoi since Spokane, and I wished she wouldn't. Mia, I have learned, is a good person, and I would be sad to see her get killed. Hopefully though, she would adapt to these weapons that I got from Ronda.

My eyes roamed the camp site as we ran up to it. It was like a real battle camp, like from Narnia; a true warrior camp site. Big and small green military tents were set up, along with several bomb fires to sit around and warm up from the nights chill, though it was twilight, it was getting cold.

Tables were lined up near the edge of tents with weapons on tables. Snacks and drinks were on others.

Dimitri and I ran up to the camp with many people talking to others. Some watched Dimitri and I run up to the camp at full speed. I wasn't sure how fast I was running, but I knew it was pretty fast. Mia saw us coming, and ran up to meet us at the gate. She was easy to spot, since she was wearing workout clothes instead of guardian attire.

"Rose!" She came practically jumped on me when I skidded to a halt in front of her. Her arms were around my neck as she gave me a huge hug. I wrapped my arms around her upper back, returning the hug. I wouldn't lose her either. God, I hope she hurries up and leaves Court soon. I don't want her here when the war erupts.

"I'm here." I whispered, squeezing lightly. She seemed to relax a little bit afterwards. After a few tense moments, I loosened my hold on her back and she dropped her hands, then I dropped my hands off her back.

I withdrew the bag that I put in my coat pocket and handed her the water necklace.

"Oh my gosh! Rose, this is stunning!" Her eyes lit up and I smiled.

"Oh, you haven't heard the best part." Dimitri said, a twinkle in his eye.

Mia looked at him and he proceeded to tell her exactly what Ronda said to us. "Oh wow! You have got to be kidding me! Unlimited supply! Damn, I am going to drown them all!" She seemed relieved beyond belief, and my nerves and body relaxed, even though all three of us knew that you couldn't drown a strigoi.

I handed her the bracelet. "This bead," I said, pointing to the rectangle one, "is different than the others. We don't know what it does, or if it does anything, but I would suggest using it when in dire need."

She nodded and her eyes went to the black hand bag in my hands. "I suppose you have some for the others."

I nodded. She turned and headed to a small tent. As we entered, there were furniture inside. One Queen size bed, a fridge, wooden table with chairs, and two small couches. My whole family and friends were inside. Including the Belikov's.

They all looked up as we entered. Everyone said hello, but Lissa got up and gave me a hug. Her face shinned with worry, but the bond nearly knocked me off my feet with anxiety and relief. "God Rose! Stop making me worry!"

I laughed. "Sorry Liss." I took her hand and walked her to where Adrian and Christian were sitting on the couch. Some Cobra's were sitting on the floor and bed. I had Lissa sit between the two moroi men.

"As for you three," I have them a smile, "I have gifts…or, well, weapons."

"Your father already gave us special knives."

I raised my eyebrow. Special? Christian rolled his eyes and leaned forward, taking a miniature sword out of a holster. The sword was just like mine, except miniature and had a green jewel at the hilt.

"Holy cow!" I exclaimed in excitement.

"That is what I said." Eddie said with amusement, walking through the door of the tent, parting a piece the tent's flat out of his way. "Your father was kind enough to get me one too." His eyes twinkled. "I admit, I have never been this excited over weapons."

I laughed. "that is cool."

Christian nodded, then put the knife back into the holster and leaned back, drapping his arm over Lissa.

"Well, I got weapons that are even more amazing than those knives."

Adrian lifted an eyebrow. "Really now?"

I nodded, and pulled out Christian's ring.

"A lump of junk?" Christian said, snickering.

I kicked his shins.

"Ow." He rubbed his shin, and glared at me. "I was just stating the obvious."

"Well then," I smirked at him, "this 'lump of junk' is going to be your best friend, Lord Ozera. Give me your dominant thumb."

Christian immediately gave me his dominant thumb and I stuck the ring on it. As soon as I put it on, Christian gasped.

"Now, what do you feel?"

He looked at me in amazement. "I feel like I got several boosts of energy."

I nodded. "Make a small fireball, Flameboy."

He rolled his eyes at the nickname, but did as I commanded. And right before my eyes a good size fireball. His eyes widened. "Holy shit!" My gang got up and gathered around, wanting to see what the excitement was about. Dimitri started talking to them in Russian, telling them what was going on.

"Hey, that stuff goes in the toilet!" Adrian commented with amusement.

My gang busted out laughing. My lips twitched.

"This enhances your power and keeps you from getting drained of energy so fast."

"This is awesome," he took his eyes off of the ring, "thanks Rose."

I smiled at him and nodded, then turned to the two spirit users. I dipped my hand in the bag and pulled out the two crystals necklaces.

"Wow, Rose, those are beautiful."

I looked at her. "Wait until you see what they can do." I put one of the necklaces over Lissa's head, and the other over Adrian's head.

Both of them let out a big, energetic breath. "Wow, I can feel the power." Not to mention I could too. It felt like a sudden burst of energy, like I could run another five miles and can take on an army.

"How does this one function?" Adrian asked.

"You send your healing power into it, and the crystal doubles it, then sends it back to you, so that you can heal the victim faster and have more energy to heal the next." I said.

"Can I heal two people at once?" Adrian asked, holding the smooth crystal, rubbing his thumb across the smooth top and not taking his eyes off it.

"I don't know. Let me know if you can."

I looked around and saw a trash can near the entrance. I looked at everyone and started talking. "I am going to see Guardian Kingston and Guardian Hans. You guys can come." I said in Russian, then quickly turned to tell the others.

I turned around and headed for the door, dropping the bag inside the trash-bin. And walked out, slightly getting blinded by the sun.

I walked up to the biggest tent, thinking Gideon and Hans were there, and they were. They were talking to a big group of Guardians. I stayed a distance away from them, and waited for them to finish giving orders. When they were done, I walked up and nodded to them.

"Is everything set?"

"Just about. All we need to do is know what direction the strigoi are coming from."

"I'm finding out very soon. How did the Elders take this?" We started walking towards the north end of camp.

"They think we are insane." He looked down at me, "but I think you are telling the truth, Guardian Hathaway. I am sorry I doubted you."

I gave him a half smile. "No apology needed. I couldn't blame you. How many guardians are here?"

"A little bit over five thousand, but more are on their way. We have several spots that the guardians will be in." I nodded. "They are all geared up for war. Several knives were given to each guardian, along with the grenades." He frowned at that. "I still don't like the idea of the bombs. Someone is going to get hurt."

I knew that was a big possibility, but we are going to need the upper hand weapon.

"Do you have a map of Court?"

He took a paper that was circled up, out of his belt and handed it to me.

"Thank you. Give me a couple minutes and I will give it back." I took off without a word, the others following behind.

Gabe walked beside me, then spoke. "Denis just called, he just entered Court grounds. He said he got all the moroi he could out."

I nodded. "Go find him, then bring him here."

"He is meeting me at the front gate."

"Good." I smiled at him, putting my arm on his shoulder, squeezed it, then let go and entered the tent.

I let my walls down, the headache that was nearly crushing my skull came, and in popped Mason.

His arms were crossed and he shook his head, as if saying I was late. "Sorry Mase. Now, can you tell me where the strigoi are going to attack?"

He nodded as I unfolded and laid out the map. I felt everyone stare at me, making me feel like an insane moron.

Mason's fingers went to the Compass Rose, and both of his index fingers pointed to the north and south.

Well, that was an unexpected turn of advents. They are coming at both ends of Court.

"Mason, I am going to need a number of how many are coming our way."

He gave me on nod and his face became impassive.

"Fifty?"

He jerked his thumb up higher, indicating the number was bigger.

"One hundred?"

Thumb up again.

"Five hundred?"

Thumb up again.

"One thousand?"

Thumb up again. I turned my head to look at Dimitri and his eyes had a glimmer of fear in them at the numbers I started saying. We had a total of five thousand guardians here in Court. I turned back to Mason.

"Five thousand?"

Thumb up, and that made my fear spike up high.

"Oh god. Mason, just flash me the numbers."

He held up eight fingers. I swallowed hard. "Eight thousand?"

He nodded, but looked unconcerned.

"Mason, we need help!"

He nodded in understanding. Like he understood! He was dead!

"How many Tribes gathered?"

"he flashed both of his hands three times."

"Thirty?"

He nodded. Dear god! We needed a miracle. I turned to Lissa, Adrian and Mia.

"You need to leave now."

Fear shinned in all of their eyes, but all of them straightened up and shook their heads.

"We stay to fight, Rose."

Suddenly, Ronda's words came back to me. "Vasilisa, Mia and Adrian will be staying in Court, despite your protest." Why does she have to be at seeing the future?

Before I could say another word, Gideon came in with Dimitri behind him. Dimitri must have said a few words to him before he entered. "Did you find out which direction yet?"

I gazed into his eyes and his jaw clenched shut. "Yes." I answered, knowing he could see it in my eyes.

He walked over and gazed down at the map as I pointed to the compass rose. "The north and the south walls."

"Ah, shit."

"Yeah, that is what I said."

"how…"

"You won't believe me if I told you."

I looked at him and he gave me that 'try me' look again.

"Try eight thousand."

His lips parted in astonishment. "That's-"

"Thirty tribes came together. Together, they formed eight thousand."

"It's close to sunset and Courts gates have been sealed shut, and believe me when I say that strigoi can't come through. They will need to blow it up in order to get in."

I nodded. I couldn't speak. My nerves were running wild. I knew it was going to be a lot, but eight thousand strigoi…?

That's a massacre.

"We need to agitate the guardians now. Get them to want to destroy the strigoi." Dimitri said beside me.

"I will talk first, then you Dimitri can talk if he wishes." For the first time, Gideon recognizes Dimitri's presents.

"My grandson would be honored to speak." Yeva said, making Dimitri make a speech. To my surprise, Dimitri had on a half smile.

"I will." He agreed. And with that, everyone left the tent. We walked up to the podium that allowed even me to tower over taller people (I was thinking three or four feet high off the ground). All the guardians were standing and waiting for us, it seems. Dimitri, Gideon and I got up on stage.

Dimitri whistled to get everyone's attention for Gideon. Everyone immediately shut up and looked at us on stage. I was in the middle, between Gideon and Dimitri. Gideon took a microphone from the stand that was near the edge of the podium.

"This is it people." Gideon started. "This is where we are tested. This is the moment we have all been waiting for. Our training has finally met its match. We are to give it our very best. Give it all we have in order to win."

Gideon looked into the crowed. "As my friend, Queen Tatiana said; 'this is a test we must pass.' Don't let these strigoi get you down. Show them no mercy, as they show you no mercy. But most importantly, help your teammates out."

He turned to me and Dimitri. "We have an interesting ceremony going on today. Today, you are all witnessing two warriors marrying each other."

Guardians turned to look at each other in question, but looked back up when Gideon started talking again.

"These two" he gestured with his free arm, "are promising to look after each other in battle. They are promising to one another to never run when one is in need of their help, to always strengthen the others weakness.

"This ceremony has been forgotten for thousands of years, and was hardly ever tought in schools. However, this has only happened between men, because women were never warriors. They were always aids."

Gideon took a step towards us. "I am going to be doing this completely different than what we use to do back six or seventh century. Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov, face each other and hold each other's hands.

At the same time, Dimitri and I turned to face each other and extended our hands out to each other.

"Repeat after me in Russian. I, Dimitri Belikov, promise to look after my partner's back in battle and to never run when she needs me, nor lie to her when in danger. I will strengthen her weakness, as she strengthens mine."

Dimitri repeated in Russian. I could hear Zena cheering us on. I suppressed a smile.

Gideon turned to me. "I, Rosemarie Hathaway, promise to look after my partner's back in battle and to never run when he needs me, nor lie to him when in danger. I will strengthen his weakness, as he strengthens mine."

I repeated in Russian.

"Now, back in the six or seventh century, they would slap or punch each other in the face, but since this is between a man and a woman, this will be similar to a real wedding. Dimitri, you may kiss your warrior bride."

There was definitely a lot of cheering, and I couldn't help but smiling against Dimitri's lips. It was a quick, but sweet hiss. But in that split moment before we kissed, Dimitri's eyes were warm and happy. If he was like this when we got married as battle buddies, I wonder what he will be like on our real wedding day.

Now, it was our turn to make a speech.

First off, what did you think of my idea of the 'warrior bride?' Kinda cool? It reminded me of The Princess Bride! Dude, I love that movie! I like making fun of certain parts, but I just love that movie anyway. Then, what do you think about the jewelry for the moroi? I thought it was a kick-ass idea!

Now, what do you think Rose and Dimitri should say?

PS- Dimika's Chick, I miss reading your reviews. :( where are you? Along with many other reviews, I have noticed a lot of people stopped reviewing. Makes me wonder if you started hating my story. I only got seven reviews last time too.

REVIEW PLZ