Hey Guys!! Here ya go!

Disclaimer: It is all Richelle Mead's. Except the humans!! They're mineeee :)

Chapter 9

He looked at me questioningly and I nodded my head at my car. Mark, Lena, and Hunter had witnessed everything.

"Crap." He muttered, standing up.

He got that right.

"What do we do?" Eddie whispered, his voice slightly panicked.

I stared at the interior of the car, which was completely motionless. Oh boy.

"First, we have to get rid of the bodies." I muttered, looking down at the two lifeless bodies.

We dragged them behind some bushes and Eddie attached a tracker to one of the bodies. This way we'd know where they are so that we could come back later and properly dispose of them.

When we got to the car I stood by the driver's door and gently knocked on the glass. No one in the car moved. I sighed and looked over at Eddie, who was standing on the other side of the car. This was going to be harder than I thought.

"Please open the door you guys." I pleaded gently. "I promise you're safe now."

Very slowly I saw a hand reach out and press the unlock button on the inside of my door. I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding and gently opened my door, Eddie following my lead. I sat down in my seat, closed the door, and put my seatbelt on. Still, no one said anything. I finally found the courage to look back at the friends that I'd probably just lost. They all looked shocked.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." Eddie said to them, obviously not knowing what else to do.

"What the hell was that?" Mark whispered.

"We'll explain everything when we get to my house." I said. "Okay?"

I waited for all of them to nod their heads before turning back to the front. At least they didn't scream and point and call me satan's child. Which was always a positive in my book.

The ride to my house was eerily silent. The whole thing was horrible. I probably just ruined these kid's lives forever. Good going Hathaway.

"Rose?"

I looked at Lena through my rear view mirror. She looked panicked. I was instantly alert.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She pointed at my right arm, which was front and center, where everyone could see it. "You're bleeding." She replied, her voice shaking slightly.

I looked down at my arm and sure enough, the whole thing was a bloody mess. Literally. The gashes that the strigoi had made were much deeper than I had first thought. The bleeding itself had mostly stopped but my entire arm was covered in blood. That wasn't traumatizing at all.

"Oh ya, I guess I am." I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Don't worry about it though, it's not as bad as it looks." I looked back briefly to give her a small, reassuring smile before turning my eyes back to the road. The rest of the ride was completely silent.

When we finally got to the house, we all filed out of the car slowly. My mom must have been watching for us because she instantly opened the door and stood on the porch, a "motherly" smile plastered on her face. She must have noticed all the tension though, because her smile instantly faded.

"Is something wrong?" She asks.

No one answered. Instead we all walked into the house quietly. Lena, Hunter, and Mark all squished onto one of the couches in the living room while Eddie sat on the loveseat. I walked into the kitchen to grab the first aid kit. As I was washing as much blood off as I could, my Mom walked in.

"What's wrong?" She asked in her guardian voice. Before I could reply she gasped and grabbed my arm. "What did you do?"

Why does she assume that it's always my fault? "We ran into some trouble." I muttered, giving her a meaning full look. "Don't worry, no one was hurt." Except me. I interrupted as she opened her mouth to say something.

"Do they know?"

I nodded, my eyes on my arm. I heard her sigh, then she helped me with my arm. We worked in silence, thinking of what to do.

"What now?" I asked her once she finished bandaging my arm. The gash was starting to sting and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

"Follow my lead." Was all she said. She went to the living room and I followed her. The state of the room was pretty much the same. Silent, tense. Guardian Hathaway cleared her throat and everyone looked up at her.

"Hello guys." She said to them, smiling. "I know what you saw today was.... strange."

Before she could say anymore, Hunter interrupted her. "What the hell happened out there?" He demanded, "It was either some sort of twisted joke, or Rose and Eddie actually killed two people tonight." His voice cracked at the end.

"Listen to me!" Janine said. "We have to tell you guys something, something that no one else can know."

Was she actually going to tell them? I panicked and took a step back.

"We're working undercover for the police." Janine stated. Oh man, was she actually going to pull the whole "I'm an FBI agent"?

I looked over at the humans. Waiting for them to deny it and run screaming from the house, yelling "killers! KILLERS!!" Ha, that would have been funny. For about two seconds. Instead they looked relieved, to my surprise. Exhaling loudly and laughing slightly. I looked over at Eddie and saw that he was watching them too, a small smile on his face.

Mark stood up and looked over to where I was standing by the doorway. "You're the police!?!" He laughed, obviously letting out all the tension that had been building up. I nodded my head once and smiled ruefully. Their reaction had been exactly what Janine had anticipated. I looked over at my Mom and she winked at me.

"Wait a minute!" Lena exclaimed, "So, what exactly happened tonight? Did you actually kill two people?" She looked over at me with hope in her eyes, wanting me to deny it. What was I suppose to say to that? Should I deny it, or should I admit that I did kill those "people".

"I...we...."I stuttered. "Well- "

"Not exactly." Eddie interrupted. All heads turned his way. "The reason we have come here is because of all the strange killings in the area."

"What killings?" Hunter asked, sounding more sarcastic than interested.

"The police here are keeping it a secret." Janine replied. "They don't want to scare people away."

Everybody seemed to be thinking this over. It was true though. There have been a few disappearances and such in the area. My mom would know.

"Look, it's late. Why don't you all stay the night and we'll talk more about this later." Mom said.

Everyone nodded their heads and they went to go call their parents. After that we all got ready for bed. Lena and I would be sleeping in my room, and the guys would be sleeping downstairs in the living room. Once my head hit the pillow I was out like a light bulb. Today's events had definitely taken its toll on me. I was ready for some dreamless sleep. Something I couldn't have, apparently.

Suddenly I was on the beach. I looked down at myself and saw that I was in my workout clothes. This was new. I knew immediately where I was, but the more I looked around, the more I realized that this dream felt... different. Almost unstable even.

"Adrian?" I yelled. "Where the hell are you? I want to get some sleep!"

"Rose?"

I turned to the voice and to my surprise I saw... Lissa.

"Oh my god!" I screamed. I ran up to her and crushed her in a giant bear hug. She hugged me just as tight. I pulled away just enough to see her face. She had the biggest smile on her face.

"I did it?" She whispered.

"Very well done, cousin." We turned to the third voice and saw Adrian walking out of the trees. He walked over to us and gave me a hug. I smirked and hugged him back, I hadn't seen either of them for a month.

"I see you've been practicing." I smiled at Lissa.

"Yes! I missed you so much that I was determined to dream-walk." Lissa was practically glowing. "I've been practicing on Christian, but I haven't been able to get into his dreams yet." Her eyebrows drew together as she was deep in thought.

"Hmm. I guess it's because of your bond that you were able to go into Rose's dream so easily." Adrian said. It made sense.

"So how have you been?" Lissa asked, quickly forgetting about not being able to go into Christian's dreams.

I thought about it. How have I been? In truth, I loved the freedom. I was finally living for myself, and it was the best feeling in the world. But how could I tell Lissa that, or anyone, for that matter? All my life I've been told, they come first. I was never very fond of that rule, but if I could protect Lissa, than I could accept it. But what about now? Now that I've finally had a taste of freedom, how could I go back?

As I thought about this, a lump grew in my throat and white-hot anger filled me. I realized that I resented my life. I resented whoever had decided to make dhampirs the slaves of moroi. Who were they to say that they were better than us? That we had to serve them, because they were too weak to protect themselves?

"Rose?"

I broke out of my thoughts to see Lissa and Adrian looking at me with concern. I was breathing deeply and emotionally exhausted, but I forced a smile for their sake and told them about the human world. I told them about my new friends, my teachers, my car.... All the things that I would miss so, so much. Of course, I left out some parts, like what had happened tonight. They didn't need to know, and it would only worry them.

Finally, they left and I could go back to sleep. Real sleep. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and dozed off. Before I was completely out, I heard a faint noise coming from downstairs. I was too tired to find out what it was though. I probably should have.

So what did you think?? I know there wasn't a lot of Lissa and Adrian, but you'll see them again soon! I promise! I wonder what that noise downstairs was...hmm. REVIEW!! Please! Me like :)