I woke up to complete darkness, minus the glow from the numbers on the alarm clock. I looked over to see the time. 10 minutes before the alarm would go off. I sighed and leaned into Dimitri, his arms still around me like they were last night. I snuggled into them, feeling his warmth. He stirred, but didn't wake up. I kept my head in his chest until the beeping of the alarm clock woke him. I propped myself up on my elbow to look at him.

"Good morning".

"Good morning".

We kissed softly until we pulled away, annoyed from the alarm. I reached over to shut it off and went back to him.

"We have to get ready for the trial, Rose".

"I know..".

We slowly got up, stretching when we got up on our feet.

"You can go ahead and shower, I don't need it".

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm very sure of it".

"Okay".

I grabbed my clothes and a towel, and walked to the bathroom. I undressed and got in to the shower.

After I was finished, I got ready and gave Dimitri one last kiss. We went to Lissa and Christian's room, but they were already ready and gone, so we walked hand in hand to the Courtroom. When we walked in, they were sitting down, so we hurried to our places to the left and right of them.

After about 20 minutes, they finally started up.

"Welcome to the Courthouse. Your Queen Vasilisa Dragomir and Christian Ozera, you may be seated". The victims/witnesses sat while Lissa went through her papers.

"Please stand, Mr. Warrensly". A man in a plain black suit stood up, as did his attorney. They went through a bunch of questions, half had half-assed answers, so they announced him guilty to his crimes and we were finished.

At the same time, Dimitri and I had walked towards Christian and Lissa.

"You were great, Liss".

"Well done on your first trial".

"Thank you guys, so much".

"Want to celebrate?" Adrian had walked up, I didn't even see that Adrian had been in the room.

"No thanks, we aren't heavy drinkers like you".

"Doesn't mean you can't have a good time half drunk while i'm full out drunk".

While Christian, Dimitri and Adrian were arguing, I was focused on Lissa's emotions. She was too stressed to celebrate, and too nervous to say no to us. I stood close to her so I could whisper in her ear to her.

"Go ahead and do your job, say no. I understand and I know they will understand also".

"I know, but they're all up for celebrating and I'm burried in work and can't do it".

"We can celebrate now, and come get you later. Promise".

"But it won't be the same".

"Liss, your job is WAY more important than celebrating with us. Being Queen comes first. Us later".

"I know..".

"Then go do your job, we'll catch up later".

After that, we both were quiet and the boys finished their conversation.

"We decided not to drink, but we'll go out for dinner later. Sound good?"

"Yeah it does. Liss has work to do anyways, it works for all of us".

We all smiled. After brief goodbyes, we all departed. Dimitri and I decided to go back to our room and just hangout. We walked together quietly, hand in hand.

"I saw you talking to Lissa, what was up?"

"Oh, she was worrying over stuff so I spoke to her about them and we argued over the whole work and celebrating thing".

"Oh, okay".

I looked up at him and smiled, but it faltered when I saw a red tint to his eyes.

"What?"

"Your eyes...".

We walked over to a mirror to look. When we looked, the red was gone.

"Are you okay Rose?"

"Yeah, but I could've sworn I saw red in your eyes".

"You need sleep, lets hurry to our room".

When we got in the room, I got in to my pajamas and layed under the covers. Dimitri got under with me and wrapped his arms around me tight.

"Will you be alright, if I go help Lissa while you sleep?"

"No I don't mind".

"Okay".

He kissed me and left for Lissa's room. I quickly fell into a deep sleep.

I was in the woods in the middle of the night. I had pains in my stomach, nausea. Strigoi were near. I felt all my pockets, no weapons.

"Shit".

I hid behind a tree, waiting. I don't know what I was waiting for, but I'd know when it came. The nausea got bad. I got up quickly.

"Hello, Roza".

I spun around quick. It was Dimitri. I froze, why was he Strigoi? I backed up slowly, but he continued to walk towards me, closing up the space between us.

"Why are you running from me? Don't you love me Roza?"

"I do, but you're a monster. A Strigoi".

He laughed, "You'll always love me. Undead, alive, dead, sick, hurt, on my deathbed. No matter what".

"You kill innocent people, I can't love you".

"Yes you can. You love me right now, but you're fighting it off because you know how bad I am".

He closed in on me, pinning me to a tree.

"You've loved me from the moment you saw me. There's no way you'll stop loving me".

"I can't love a monster, Dimitri", I tried getting away, but it was no use. His brown eyes, ringed with red, bored in to me.

"You'll always love me, Roza. Always. I must awaken you now, so we'll be together forever".

"No, I'd rather be dead. I don't want to be Strigoi".

"You have no choice Roza".

"Please Dimitir, please".

"Why? We can love each other forever", He exposed perfect white fangs. I tried squeezing out, but it didn't work. He bit right into my neck. I screamed.

I jerked right out of my sleep, sitting up. I was drenched in sweat, breathing fast. It was just a dream, I told myself. Just a dream.

"Are you okay?"

I screamed and hid under the covers.

"Rose?"

I took a deep breath and looked up from under the covers at Dimitri. No red rings around his eyes. I took another deep breath.

"Are you okay Rose?"

"Yeah. It was just...a dream".

He sat beside, putting his arms around me, "Tell me about it".

"Okay...You were Strigoi again, and I was in the woods in the middle of the night. I was completely defenseless, no stake no nothing. We were talking, you wanted to turn me Strigoi and after a while you did. You bit right in to my neck".

"Well...it was just a dream. I'm not Strigoi, as you can see".

I smiled at the bad joke, "Thank you, Dimitri".

"Of course. Ready for dinner?"

"Oh, yeah. Do I have time to get ready?"

"Yes. You have an hour".

"Good".

He left so I could get ready. I figured he went to go to Lissa's room. I wet down my hair, drying it and trying to do something presentable with it. I put on some makeup and a red dress Lissa bought me after we came to the Court. I slipped on black flats and put perfume on. I grabbed my purse and went to find Dimitri.

"Well you look lovely, Rose".

"Thank you", I smiled up at him. "You look great too".

He grabbed my hand, and we went to the restaraunt. We quickly got a table and ordered our food.

"So how was your nap, Rose?", Lissa smiled at me.

"It was okay".

The look in her eyes told me that she knew that something was wrong and we'd talk about it later whether I liked it or not. I nodded briefly.

Conversation was light, which was surprising since we were celebrating. Dimitri rubbed my leg and leaned down.

"Are you alright? You're tense".

"Yeah, that dream really shook me I guess".

He gave me a look, one like Lissa's. I again nodded and we went back to everyone else.

After we ate, we all said our goodbyes and walked back to our rooms. Dimitri took my hand and we walked to the room.

"Tell me what shook you so much".

"It just scared me to see you like that again. I hated it".

"I know, but I can promise you I'll never be like that again".

"Okay..".

We got into our pajamas and layed in bed. He wrapped his arms around me.

"You need some sleep".

"But I just slept".

"But you just had a nightmare. You have to be tired".

"I am but..".

"No buts, you're sleeping".

"Okay...".

He kissed my head and we closed our eyes. Strigoi Dimitri was marked into my eyelids. I saw that image all night.