Chapter three:

The night was long and taunting for three people and only one person was there for them, Christian Ozera. Adrian, Lissa and Rose all fell into unconsciousness before they were ready to shut out the world, the previous day floated in front of them just out of reach as they dreamt of ways they could have made things better. Adrian saw his love shout with hatred at him and then fall to the ground injured beyond repair; Princess Vasalissa watched as her best friend suffered immeasurable pain that she couldn't deal with, Rosemarie had the worst of it.

She did not know where she was and unconsciousness was not welcomed, in her dreams the moon shone down and she was lost somewhere in the woods with a screen in front of her replaying events she hoped had not happened but knew they had – Her lover being turned strigoi, her mentor telling her that she should kill Lissa, Herself plunging the stake into his heart, her best friend watching in despair as she screamed and shouted and Adrian, forced to extremes and using compulsion.

The ironic part was that of the three of them, Rose was the only one who wasn't reliving it all yet it was worse. She could touch that screen but nothing would happen, she could reach out for Dimitri as he fell but nothing happened and she could shout at herself to change what she was doing, to not make the same mistakes, unfortunately for Rose nothing would change. Being stuck in the middle of a dark forest was, at least, unmemorable. She didn't see her room full of memories or her friends faces as they looked at what had become of Rosemarie Hathaway, which was a great relief.

If you looked down at Rose curled on the floor of her bathroom, shivering and crying in sleep you would think she was completely alone. But nobody is ever truly alone. Lissa and Adrian slept in guest housing, both clutching the sheets of Adrian's bed for dear life. Adrian didn't know Lissa was fast asleep beside him and Lissa didn't know that she had fallen asleep there. However a silent figure stood by the window in Adrian Ivashkov's room, looking down on Rose, Lissa and Adrian, knowing what they did not. Christian watched as Adrian moaned in his sleep, tossing and turning, thinking that he shouldn't care that his girlfriend is sleeping with another guy because it was Adrian. The problem was however that it was Adrian, he had a reputation Christian couldn't forget when he saw them together.

Christian did not spy on Rose. But he knew where she was, he didn't have special powers that allowed him to see through walls but he did have friends. The dhampir girls all had the same key for their bathrooms, meaning each girl could get into every dhampir girl's bathroom. This was not a problem because who steals shampoo? But in this case it was very helpful that they shared a key, it was also helpful that Rose had a reputation of her own.

All it had taken was a text message to one of his old friends from before he met Lissa. She was a quiet girl so nobody suspected anything when they saw her walk out of her room in the night and down the hall to Rose's bathroom. She unlocked the door and gently eased it open to find Rose.

She smiled to herself and texted Christian back saying that she was asleep on the floor. Christian had told her that Rose was drunk and could she please check if Rose had gotten to her room okay? The girl was nice enough so she did. Sure, this would probably spread to a few other people but it wasn't big news. Rose got drunk and partied quite a lot before Lissa and Rose had run away.

If you were Christian what would you do? One might ask themselves. He could do nothing for Rose, not that he had any ideas. He didn't know it but he'd ensured she wasn't alone. The girl he had sent had been kind and didn't want to leave Rose like that, so she'd gotten a wet cloth and put it on Rose's forehead and she's folded a towel into a pillow and put it under Rose's head. The girl was still with Rose now, while everyone slept, laying a bathrobe over her and brushing her hair gently. It seems that everyone has their own reasons tonight. The girl although kind, could not sleep and owed Rose. She had nothing better to do and this seemed like a good way to repay the girl who had punched Mia Rinaldi and the girl who she had spread so many rumours about. She didn't like Mia because she had once been her best friend before Mia decided to become popular and ditched her. She had not started any rumours about Rose but she'd helped spread a lot of them.

So the girl stayed with Rose but nobody would ever know. Christian had his own reasons when he gently shook Adrian's shoulder knowing that he did need sleep but he wasn't getting the kind of sleep that helps anyone. Adrian opened his eyes slowly and sat up, looking around,

"Christian, I didn't know Lissa was there, honestly, did I touch her or something? Because I was asleep, really..."

"No, it's fine, sorry to wake you. Come sit down on the couch." Christian interrupted.

Adrian looked bewildered but got up and moved to the couch, he didn't know what Christian was doing. Christian on the other hand was not confused; he moved purposefully to Adrian's mini bar and poured a glass of Vodka before joining Adrian on the couch.

"You were tossing and turning, I figured it was a bad dream, so I woke you up." Christian explained.

"Are you telling me this wasn't about Lissa, lover-boy?" Adrian asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I have some news about Rose, It's not much but it should help you sleep. Well, that and this vodka." He said handing Adrian the drink.

"What news about Rose?" He said pushing the vodka away, "I shouldn't drink, it messes with my powers."

Christian couldn't believe Adrian cared this much about Rose but he knew he was being sincere.

"Rose is fine. I have a friend whose dorm is down the hall from Rose's and she snuck into Rose's bathroom. Rose was there, asleep. My friend made sure she was okay. This will be out of your system by morning and it'll help you sleep. Just don't have any more than this." Christian said passing Adrian the glass again; Adrian took a sip and thought this through.

"Thank you, Christian. I thought she might have done something terrible. Do you think we could sneak down to Rose?"

Christian shook his head, "Nah, there are guardians in the stairway, Lissa and I shouldn't even be here. But Rose is okay so that's something."

Adrian nodded and drunk the rest of the vodka. Christian smiled at him and wondered how he could stand the stuff. But after 5 minutes of sitting there staring out the window Adrian fell asleep and Christian went over to sit by Lissa's side.

The rest of the night was uneventful for Christian. His friend text messaged him again saying good night and he sat in silence watching Lissa's chest rise and fall as she slept. It was rhythmic, soothing. He had helped Adrian and Rose in a way but Rose and Lissa were both still struggling with nightmares, not knowing that someone that cared for them was by their side all the while.

Maybe nobody was alone that night but the four of them felt more alone than ever. Everybody has a motive, a reason. Lissa was Rose's reason for killing her lover. Rose was Lissa's reason for staying sane. Lissa was Adrian's reason for not spending the night alone. Rose was Adrian's reason for not getting drunk. We are each other's reasons.

A/N: I had fun with that style of writing, but it was a little crazy. I would say I'll never do it again, but it was just so... fun. So yes, you'll probably see more of this strange third person recount. I know it was strange but I hope you can look past that because there's only one person who can watch from above, Christian Ozera. Lol. Please review.

REVIEW.

Xx Girl on sunshine.