Thank you to sunayna4sho, Big J Ivashkov, Kris Ivashkov25, yerkey, Ashes2Dust18 and megpie93 for the reviews and favourites!

This chapter was a lot easier to write than previous chapter but I got a little bit carried away,so it was also my longest.

Hope you guys like and remember to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

I woke up at about ten the next morning. Still wrapped in Adrian's arms, but with our legs tangled up, his hand on my thigh, a little too high up on my thigh. I tried to wriggle free without waking him up but that didn't quite work. Adrian was already awake.

"You know what, little dhampir, I could wake up like this every day." He smirked, with a massive grin on his face.

"Whatever, Ivashkov. Just let me get up." I carried on trying to get out of bed but he wasn't having any of it. "Adrian." I warned, I tried to keep my voice and expression stern, but I couldn't quite manage it.

"Rose." He mimicked.

"Let me go."

"What's the magic word?" he teased. Wow he could annoying sometimes, it's a good job it isn't too early in the morning and I was on vacation.

"Please?"

"Actually the magic word was abracadabra. So I guess you'll have to stay here."

"Seriously? Could you be anymore childish? I need to get ready." I tried to free myself again, unsuccessfully.

He wasn't having any of it. "For that, you need punishing." I laughed, a playful glint in his eyes.

"No. Don't you dare." I warned. He flipped us over so he was on top of me and tickled me on my stomach.

I screamed at him playfully, laughing uncontrollably as I tried to crawl away but he grabbed me around the waist and pulled he back, flipping over again so I straddled his waist. I couldn't help but notice, Adrian was a little bit more excited than he should be. I turned me on a little bit. I leaned forward, my face hovering above his. I was inched from his lips...when the door burst open and Lissa, Christian and Jill walked in.

"Shit." I moved quickly off the bed completely while Adrian sat up.

"Morning all!" he said brightly, apparently oblivious to the shocked but slightly amused expressions on their faces.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you had a guest." Lissa said, she sounded a little pissed, the bond showed she was annoyed that I had spent the night with Adrian. But then Lissa thought I should be with Mason.

"Yeah, um, we just started talking and Adrian decided to stay." I said, looking at the floor, my checks a bright red.

"Right. Well I suppose we'll leave you to get dressed then." Jill said, dragging Lissa and Christian out of the room.

I noticed Lissa wasn't in her dress from last night so must have clothes at Christian's room just like he did here.

I heard the door shut and I quickly went to get some clothes out of my wardrobe and get showered before Adrian had a chance to comment on what had just happened.

How could I not have checked the bond? How could I have been so stupid? I know nothing happened and Jill and Lissa would probably believe me, it was Christian I was worried about. He would have a field day.

After, showering, changing and gathering enough courage to face Adrian, I walked out of the bathroom...to discover he wasn't there, but he'd left a note on my pillow.

Little Dhampir, it read,

I know you were embarrassed about what happened so I thought I'd give you some time to yourself for a bit. We will meet up today though; I'll meet you in the coffee shop near the ski slopes at 1? If you don't turn up I'll just come and get you anyway. You have been warned!

Love, Adrian x

Well that wasn't too bad. I could meet Adrian at one. But I'll bring Lissa, Christian and Jill with me, the note never said I couldn't. I laughed to myself. I reached out into the bond to find my Moroi friends in Tasha's room. They were spending a lot of time there recently; I decided to find out why.

Tasha's room was, ironically, in the Ivashkov wing of the lodge, so I made my way there. It was still fairly cold so I shivered slightly in my big parka as I walked to Tasha's room. It reminded me of last night. How concerned Adrian had been about me getting cold, and made me wish that he was here.

Last night had been a real eye opener for me. It made me see what a genuine guy Adrian was and made me re-evaluate things. Don't get me wrong, I loved Dimitri, but was that enough to just love someone? I knew very little about Dimitri really. I knew he had been raised in Siberia, he had three sisters, he was a dedicated guardian but then that was information that anyone could find by looking at his record.

However, with Adrian, I knew his favourite film was Die Hard. I knew he had always wanted to visit New York. He loved chocolate, but hated caramel. He cried at Titanic, I teased about being a wimp when he told me that. He loved art and the only reason he dropped out of his art course at college was because his father had pressured him to "learn the family business" as he'd put it. That was a real connection right there.

What did I have with Dimitri? A few stolen kisses in the gym and one night of passion because of a lust charm. It didn't really compare, did it? But then, Adrian and I would part ways in a week, me back to school and Adrian doing whatever the hell he did. I would probably never see him again and I would become "the girl he met at the ski lodge one Christmas". I wasn't sure how I felt about that. The big question was, did I love Dimitri, or was I in love with the idea of the 'forbidden fruit'?

I reached Tasha's door and knocked loudly, hoping whatever they were doing could distract me from my relationship confusions.

"Hey, there sleepy head." Christian smirked.

"Is Lissa here?" I asked, pushing straight passed him not waiting for an answer.

I saw Lissa and Jill sitting on the bed and Tasha sitting in an arm chair close by. I went and sat with Lissa, ignoring her constant questions about Adrian through the bond.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Bad things. You'll approve." Jill laughed as Christian closed the door and stood near the bed with Tasha standing opposite him.

"Bad things?"

"Ok, so it is all well and good killing a Strigoi, but that uses a lot of energy which makes you weak, making you an easy target." Tasha said. "Which is why this next spell is just as important. It won't kill a Strigoi, but it will distract them. Like so." Tasha's arm whipped out a thick rope of flames headed straight for Christian, missing his face by inches. This I definitely approved of, I'd never seen offensive magic practised before. This would be interesting.

"Wow. I have to learn how to do that." Christian said excitedly.

"You need to concentrate. More so with me than with a Strigoi because it doesn't really matter if you burn their faces but I would rather you didn't do that to me." she laughed, and began to explain the intricacies of the spell. I tuned this bit out and started to talk to Lissa and Jill.

Thankfully, I managed to keep the subject off Adrian; this wasn't a conversation I wanted to have with Tasha and Christian in the room. Occasionally I'd feel a rush of heat move past us when Christian attempted a spell, Tasha had to try and keep the flames away from us sometimes but you could still feel it. This would definitely distract a Strigoi possibly enough for a guardian to stake them. Why Moroi couldn't do this with guardians I didn't know, It could help ease numbers of guardian deaths in the long run.

I looked at the time a while later to see that I had twenty minutes before Adrian was expecting me. I invited the others, apart from Tasha, along but she still managed to worm her way in.

Lunch was nice despite Tasha. We all chatted easily regardless of Lissa's slight disapproval of Adrian and Christian's sexual innuendos. Tasha left when we all decided we were going to go skiing so we all said our goodbyes and headed off in different directions. Skiing was so much more fun with Mason and Eddie, I'd decided. I had to go at a snail's pace to keep up with the Moroi and we stopped after only skiing for not even an hour.

We headed back up to the lodge to put our equipment back. Adrian had just invited us all to a party that evening when we heard the news. There had been another Strigoi attack. Mason and Eddie had found us and gave us the news that a Drozdov clan had been wiped out by what they suspected was the same group that got the Badica's.

The lodge was in a frenzy. Moroi leaving thinking they'd be safer elsewhere, others trying to find their families to keep them close, why I didn't understand why Strigoi were not just gonna appear out of nowhere and attack, especially here.

Everyone but Adrian decided that they wanted to find out more information and so we headed to find one of two people who would help. My mother or Dimitri. Not that I wanted to see either. I went into the guardian wing and found my mother's room had been made into a sort of headquarters. She was leaning over a table that was littered with papers with other guardians while others hovered on the sidelines. I could see Dimitri but he was talking to a guardian I didn't recognise.

"Mom." I said, moving towards her. I had to find out something.

"Rosemarie. What are you doing here?" she said, reluctantly stepping away from the table and towards me.

"Is there a list of the dead at the Drozdov house?" I asked. I could feel Lissa's confusion at my request thorough the bond.

"Yes, it's here." She said, handing me the paper. I scanned it quickly and my heart sank.

"Thanks." I said handing it back to her and making my way out.

"Why did you want to see that?" Lissa asked. I could feel everyone looking at me, waiting for my response.

"Mia Rinaldi's mom worked for the Drozdovs." I told them gravely. "Her name was on the list."

I heard gasps of shock from them. None of us liked Mia, but we wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Dimitri came out then and made his way over to us.

"Are you all ok?" he asked, concerned, he only looked at me.

"Yeah, Guardian Belikov. We just heard about Mia's mom." Jill said.

"Yes, it is an awful loss of both Moroi and dhampir lives. There is a meeting in an hour about what we should do next. I think you should go; this could affect your futures. More so you three." He pointed at Mason, Eddie and I.

"How?" Eddie asked.

"You'll find out at the meeting." He turned and walked back into my mother's room, with a slight smile on his face. We all stared after him confused.

"Hey comrade." I called after him; everyone else said they were going to their rooms, so I walked to where Dimitri had stopped. "It's getting worse isn't it? They're going after royals."

"No. Moroi regardless of whether they're royal or not." He replied, gravely.

"Oh." I said, this definitely wasn't good.

"We have an advantage though. The humans who were working with the Strigoi were careless. They left a trail; they're hiding out somewhere in Spokane."

"Spokane? Spokane? Who makes they're hide out Spokane?" I'd have chosen somewhere hot like Miami or something.

"Apparently Strigoi do. There is evidence to suggest they're hiding underground at a shopping plaza." He said, not finding my attempt at humour funny.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I think you're responsible enough to know and to keep it to yourself."

"Thanks." It was nice to hear that Dimitri finally thought I was responsible. "You should get back in there or find Tasha; she is your charge after all." I said, it was a low blow but I needed to know whether he planned to take her offer. It might make things easier for me to deal with Adrian if Dimitri wasn't on the scene. But then if Dimitri left my guardian training would suffer and I wanted to be the best guardian for Lissa.

"I'm sure she's fine." He said, and raised an eyebrow with a confused look on his face.

"Well, you're her guardian." I said simply.

"How do you know about that?"

"I have my sources." Namely my mother.

"I haven't accepted yet." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"You should. This is a once in a lifetime thing. You could have a family. Most dhampir guys don't get that oppourtunity."

"This isn't relevant right now." He said, I looked up at him and saw hurt in his eyes but only briefly before his guardian mask appeared. How strange.

"I should probably go." I turned to leave,

"Little dhampir!" I heard the voice from behind me and I couldn't help but smile.

Dimitri's expression hardened. "Adrian." I said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and leaning his chin on my shoulder. He was so doing this to piss of Dimitri.

"Remember what I said, Rose. And just watch yourself." He said. I know he was referring to Adrian. "Lord Ivashkov." He said respectfully and walked back into my mother's room.

"That was so unnecessary Adrian." I pulled away from him and walked towards my room.

"Yeah it was but it was fun." He smirked. "So your mentor is a cradle snatcher."

"Adrian! You can't say things like that!" I knew it was true that Dimitri had feelings for me but that was out of line.

"It's true! It was all over his face that he has some very inappropriate feelings for you. I could see it." I so wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

"Whatever. You're just jealous you might have competition."

"There is no competition. I know I'm far too sexy and brilliant for you to turn me down."

"Arrogant bastard." I muttered and he chuckled.

"You all coming tonight?" he asked, putting his arm around my waist.

"I think so. Mine and Lissa's room is a meeting place, we're meeting up about six."

"Alright then. I must love you and leave you now, little dhampir. See you at six and bring a swimsuit." He kissed the top of my head and walked away.

I headed back to my room with a smile on my face.

So, what do you think? The more I write the more I love Adrian! The next chapter is the pool/spa party and get ready for some Rose/Adrian/Mason action!

Remember to review!