Author's Note: really 1000000 times sorry for the delay. First it was my English assignment and I thought I would update this in the holidays but I didn't and then I went back to school and yeah.

Just remembered that Richelle Mead posted the cover for Last Sacrifice, it is posted on her livejournal and on her site if you want to see it. Thoughts? Do you like it?

I looked at my profile the other day and I noticed the number of reviews this fanfic has gotten. HOLY CRAP! 99 REVIEWS! Lol quick be my hundredth reviewer :D. I kind of feel like a twat for not replying to all of your reviews. I will try to even if it is just a thank you. Seriously guys, you mean so much to me and I always get excited when I open my email and it says Review Alert and I jump up and down like a prat :D

Last Sacrifice = 122 Days

Adrian relaxed and leaned back into the plane seat. He took a sip from his glass as he looked out the window. He watched as Rose walked onto the landing strip, luggage in hand. He frowned when he saw her running over to Belikov with the biggest smile on her face. Adrian rolled his eyes and looked away.

"There's Rose," Eddie said to Lissa, pointing out the window. "She took her time didn't she?" Adrian didn't remember asking Queen Tatiana to let Eddie come along but he just shrugged and went with it.

Christian stepped into the cabin and smiled when he saw Lissa. Eddie moved to the seat in front to let Christian sit next to her. A moment later, Rose entered through the same door Christian had.

"Little dhampir! About time you got here," Adrian called to her. He waved as she turned to face him with an annoyed expression. He watched as she deliberately sat in seat away from him. He smiled as he put down his drink and moved to the seat in front of her. Not going to get away that easy.

He turned in his seat, constantly talking and flirting with her. She seemed more annoyed than usual but he kept the conversation flowing.

"We're going to court," he said. "Aren't you excited about it?"

She closed her eyes rubbing her temples with her hands. "About which one? The royal one or the legal one?"

"The royal one. Did you bring a dress?"

"Nobody told me to."

"So… that's a 'no'."

"Yes."

"Yes? I thought you meant no," he replied teasing her.

She opened one eye to glare at him. "I did mean no, and you know it. No, I did not bring a dress."

"We'll get you one," he said loftily.

"You're going to take me shopping? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they won't consider you a reliable chaperone."

"Shopping? As if. There are tailors that live there. We'll get you something custom-made."

"We're not staying that long. And do I really need a dress for what we're doing there?"

"No, I'd just kind of like to see you in one."

She sighed as she leaned her head against the window pain. He watched as her eyes widened and she looked to the window and frowned.

"Something black," he continued. "Satin I think…maybe with a lace trim. Do you like lace? Some women think it itches."

"Adrian."

"You could get a nice velvet trim too, though. That wouldn't itch."

"Adrian."

"And then a slit up the side to show off what great legs you have. It could go nearly to the hip and have this cute little bow-"

"Adrian!" Rose snapped. "Will you shut the hell up for five seconds?" she yelled. Adrian just looked at her, shocked; not at her outburst but at her aura. He felt idiotic for not noticing it before. He thought he had seen it all but right at that moment…it was terrifying. The shadows surrounding her seemed to press down on her, sucking away any other colour that was in her aura before. He thought he saw shapes in her aura as well but they vanished the moment he saw them.

Alberta, sitting across the aisle from Adrian, shot up in her seat. "Rose," she exclaimed. "What's going on?"

Rose gritted her teeth and rubbed her forehead. "I have the worst fucking headache in the world, and he won't shut up." She looked frightened for a split second before covering her eyes. "God, why won't it go away?"

"She hasn't eaten today. She was really hungry earlier," Christen said.

She opened her eyes. Adrian saw the hint of fear in her eyes which she blinked away. Can she see the shapes as well?

He watched as Alberta turned to one of the flight attendants.

"Can you get her something to eat? And find a painkiller?"

Dimitri was standing with her, his focus on Rose.

"Where's it at?" Dimitri asked Rose. "The pain?"

"It's a headache…I'm sure it'll go away…" She pointed to the centre of her forehead. "It's like something pushing on my skull. And there's pain kind of behind my eyes. I keep feeling like…well, it's like I've got something in my eye. I think I'm seeing a shadow or something. Then I blink and it's gone." If I only I could blink away your shadows.

"Ah," said Alberta. "That's a migraine symptom –having vision problems." Adrian had seen people's auras with migraines. This was definitely not a migraine. "It's called an aura. People sometimes get it before the headache sets in."

"An aura?" Rose asked, startled. She glanced at Adrian.

"Not that kind," he said, a small smile turning up his lips. "Same name. Like Court and court. Migraine auras are images and light you see when a migraine's coming on. They have nothing to do with the auras around people I see. But I tell you…the aura I can see…the one around you…wow."

"Black?"'

"And then some. It's obvious even after all the drinks I've had. Never seen anything like it."

Rose looked thoughtful as the flight attendant returned with a banana, a granola bar, and some ibuprofen. Adrian turned around and let her eat in peace.

He looked back when he saw Lissa sit in the seat next to Rose. Rose's eyes filled with brief terror which caused her to flinch.

"You're still in pain?" asked Lissa, peering at Rose. She blinked and began to relax again.

"Yeah, I –oh no," Rose replied. "Don't do it. Don't waste it on me."

"It's easy," she said. "It hardly fazes me."

"Yeah, but the more you use it…the more it hurts you in the long run. Even if it's easy now."

"I'll worry about that later. Here."

She clasped Rose's hand between hers and closed her eyes. Adrian saw the magic in Lissa as it reached out to Rose…but it didn't touch her. Lissa's eyelids fluttered open.

"Wh –what happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," Rose said. "The headache's still going strong."

"But I…" Lissa started, confused. "I had it. I felt the magic. It worked."

"I don't know Liss. It's okay, really. You haven't been off the meds that long, you know."

"Yeah, but I healed Eddie the other day without any problems. And Adrian," she added dryly.

"Those were scrapes," Rose said. "This is a five-alarm migraine we're walking about. Maybe you've got to build back up."

Lissa bit her lower lip. "You don't think the pills permanently hurt my magic, do you?"

"Nah," said Adrian, head tilted to the side. "You lit up like a supernova when you were summoning it. You had magic. I just don't think it had any effect on her."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Maybe she's got something you can't heal." He tried to hide the fear he felt from his on words.

"A headache?" Rose asked in disbelief.

He shrugged. "What do I look like, a doctor? I don't know. Just telling you what I saw."

She sighed and a placed a hand on her forehead. "Well, I appreciate the help, Liss, and I appreciate your annoying commentary Adrian. But I think sleep might be the best thing for now. Maybe it's stress or something. Probably can't heal that."

"Maybe," Lissa said.

"It's okay," she said soothingly. "You're just getting your stride back. Once you're up to full power, I'll go crack a rib or something so we can test it."

She groaned. "The horrible part is that I don't think you're joking." Lissa stood up. "Sleep well."

Adrian didn't turn around in his seat completely until he saw her aura soften with sleep.

Author's Note: just a heads up, I have no idea when I will update this next. I have a fanfiction challenge deadline coming up which I want to get finished early so I can have time to update this again. The deadline is the 5th of September just so you know. I will probably update late September because my trial exams are mid-September and I have at least 5 assignments before that O_O