We went back to the ceremony, and found Valerie. I apologized for running out and told her I just needed a moment to myself. I took a seat in the back row, by where Dimitri was standing. As the rest of his family spoke, and said a few more things, Dimitri stepped behind me, and placed a hand on my shoulder. It shocked me, but I leaned into his touch. I then started thinking about all the people that could be looking, but soon realized that to them… it was just a friendly gesture towards me. He was helping me. They'd never think anything more of it. When it was over, Valerie came over and found me, tears leaking down her face. I smiled slightly at her.

"Thank you so much for coming, Rose."

"Thank you for inviting me. It was so good to meet you." I told her. She nodded.

"We'll keep in touch?" She asked.

"Of course. If you ever need me, just get a hold of Dimitri. I'm never too far away." She smiled and hugged me again. She then turned to Dimitri.

"Thank you so much for allowing her to come."

"It wasn't a problem." Dimitri said nodding. We headed outside and towards the van where we found Guardian Young talking with some people. He bid his goodbyes and got into the van with us. When I got into the backseat, I pulled Landon's journal into my lap, and laid my head against the window. I saw Dimitri look up into the rearview mirror a couple times, but no one ever spoke. Guardian Young stayed silent. Regardless of where my mind had been back at the funeral home, I'd seen him shed a tear or two. We pulled over at a rest stop at the halfway mark. I was ready to be back at the estate and in bed, and definitely out of this dress. I sat down on a bench and stared off into the sky. It was late… really late, atleast for the moroi world. The humans maneuvered around normally, as if we weren't even there. I got a few stares from teenage boys, but other than that we didn't get much attention. Dimitri sat down beside me, but he didn't say anything. I sighed and stood up.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." I said, before walking away. He didn't say anything. I went to the bathroom, and pulled my hair up into a bun. I splashed water on my face, getting off all the dried tears. I then started back towards the van. I heard someone whistle, and of course I turned around. When I did, there was a teenage boy standing against the wall. I raised an eyebrow at him, and then kept walking.

"So, where are you from?"

"Out-of-your-league." I said, as I continued walking.

"Awe, come on. Don't be like that, now." He said. I heard his footfalls behind me. He was human. I could take him if I needed to.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You're gorgeous." He said.

"And you're a genius, cause that didn't answer my question." I stopped and turned around, causing him to halt. "Leave me alone… I don't want anything to do with you. You're not…my type." I smirked.

"Well, what is your type then? I'll be whatever you want me to-." I cut him off when I turned and started walking away. He grabbed my wrist, not in the gentle way Dimitri did when I tried to walk away from him, but in the possessive way, as in I was going to have to hurt him.

"I suggest you let go of me if you want to keep that arm." I snarled. He released me the moment Dimitri came around the corner. His eyes narrowed as he took in the scene before him.

"Everything alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, pops… everything's fine. Move along-." The boy said, shooing Dimitri away. Dimitri's eyes fell on me.

"Are you alright, babe?" He asked me. I knew what game he was playing, but it caught me off guard nonetheless. It made me smirk hearing him call me that. I liked it more than I should have.

"Who's this?" The boy asked me.

"Her boyfriend… you've got about five seconds to get out of here, before I break you in half." Dimitri said, his voice hard. The boy's eyes got big, before he ran off. I stared up and Dimitri and laughed once he was out of ear shot.

"That was amazing." I said, smiling. He gave me the warmest smile.

"I've missed that."

"Missed what?" I asked, confused. He looked down.

"The sound of your laugh. I feel like I haven't heard it in forever." He said. I smiled.

"I guess it has been awhile, huh?" I asked. He nodded once. "I guess there wasn't been much to laugh about recently."

"I guess not. It was good to hear you laugh though." He said. I nodded.

"Thank you… that kid was a prick." I said, motioning to where he'd disappeared. He shrugged.

"It wasn't a problem, babe." He said, winking at me. I smirked. "Come on… we need to be getting home." He started towards the van, and I followed. As I walked behind him, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like a person, and when I turned, I realized it looked a lot like Landon. My body froze, and I narrowed my eyes, trying to see. I blinked once and when I looked back he was gone. Dimitri turned to find me stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What is it?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing… I just-." I stopped. "Nothing." I followed him back to the van, and got in. The rest of the drive was pretty silent. I leaned my head over against the window, and took a short nap. I woke up when we were about five minutes away from the estate. Dimitri looked like he was about to pass out behind the wheel. Guardian Young was asleep as well.

"Wake up, Comrade. We're almost there." I said, patting his shoulder. He opened his eyes wider, and nodded.

"I'm tired."

"Me too. Sorry I fell asleep." I told him. He shook his head.

"Don't apologize. I'd wager you haven't slept much recently." He said, looking up at me.

"I haven't." I admitted. He nodded. When we finally reached the estate, he woke Guardian Young up and we all went inside. Everyone was still sleeping at this time. I carried myself and Landon's journal upstairs with me. I laid his journal on my night stand, and pulled my dress off over my head. I slipped on a pair of shorts and a sports bra, and went downstairs to get a drink. I was walking out of the kitchen to go back upstairs when Dimitri walked out of his room. We both kind of froze and stared at each other for a second, although his eyes weren't on my face.

"Sorry… I thought you'd gone to bed." I admitted. He shook his head.

"It's not a big deal." He said, finally meeting my eyes. I smiled.

"I'm just gonna go now." I said, walking towards the stairs.

"Rose?" He called when I reached the bottom

"Yeah?" I said, turning back to him. He smiled and looked down.

"Goodnight." I smirked.

"Night babe." I muttered, before walking upstairs. I head his soft chuckles follow me up the stairs. I climbed into bed. I picked up Landon's journal with the intentions of reading it, but I passed out before I could open the cover.

When I woke up the next morning, I was hugging Landon's journal to my chest. I sat up, and looked around, taking in my familiar surroundings. I hadn't remembered much from last night. That's how truly tired I was. I laid the journal on my nightstand and groaned as I stretched. I rolled out of bed, and pulled my hair down, shaking it loose. I went into the bathroom, and stood in the mirror for a second. It was then that the day before came back to me piece by piece. The ceremony, meeting Landon's grandparents, me speaking in front of his family, running away, and then… the kiss. I sighed, knowing I'd just fucked up what I'd been working so hard towards. Hiding my feelings for Dimitri wasn't an easy thing to do. Making him believe I didn't love him was tough. Making myself believe I didn't love him was an even harder task. I splashed some cold water on my face, and headed downstairs. When I got downstairs, I realized I hadn't even looked at the clock. When I did, I realized that I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep. I had put myself back on Moroi time, even though I'd been awake all day. I grabbed a bottle of water, and headed back upstairs. I sat down on my bed, and grabbed Landon's journal. I opened it, and began reading. I skipped the first twenty pages, due to the fact I knew they were about him losing his parents. I started reading about his first days back at school, certain things sticking out at me. "People stare at me now. I know all they think when they see me now is 'that's the boy that lost his parents' he must be depressed." I frowned. I flipped a few pages, and stopped reading through. "So, Grandma gave me mom and dad's wedding rings. I cried when she gave them too me. I want to get married with them one day. I'll give it to a special girl. She'll have to be as amazing as my mom was." I felt tears well to my eyes. It was obvious that he loved his parents very much. I wondered what it was like, knowing who BOTH your parents were, and having them both in your life. I'd wager that Landon had a better childhood than I did. I flipped a few more pages. I noticed a girl's name, and smiled. Leah. They'd apparently been together and she'd fucked him over. As I stared down at the pages, I noticed the marks on the page. It was obvious that he'd been crying when he wrote this. The tear stains were quite clear. I shook my head. Any girl that fucked him over was a complete idiot. It was obvious he felt strongly for her by his choice of words. Then, the sentence caught me that made me angry. "I was going to give her my mom's ring. I'd been planning on it for weeks now. I'm so fucking glad I convinced myself to wait. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever find someone to give it too." I smiled. Atleast he knew what it was he was truly looking for in a girl. Most guys just wanted someone to use for sex, and money and stuff… it was obvious to me that Landon had never been that way in his life. He was obviously raised right. He reminded me a lot of Mason Ashford from school. I flipped towards the back, and started going through the pages about me. I flipped a few pages in to find the entry of the night I was drunk. He was obviously amused by my behavior. I smirked slightly, even though this was making me extremely depressed. "I wanted to kiss her so bad. She was drunk, and I knew it… but I wanted to. I was just scared that if she remembered that she'd be angry at me. If she really wanted me to kiss her, she'd say something when she was sober. I'm patient. I can wait." I smiled at how much of a good person he was. It was still hard to believe that such a good soul was missing from the world. I continued flipping. I found the entry he'd wrote after the first night we'd kissed. I found it funny that most of that page was in capital letters. "We kissed tonight… and she wasn't drunk. It was magic. I feel like I've been waiting a century to do that." I shook my head as a tear leaked down my face and fell onto the paper. I wiped the following ones away and composed myself. I took a deep breath, and continued. When I reached the last page, I took a deep breath and began reading. It was his last entry, and it was the night we left on our date.

"We're going on a date tonight, and I'm super excited. I haven't gotten to take her out yet, and she deserves so much. I'm not going to lie, I'm super nervous and I'm not sure why. I've been around her for what seems like ever, but tonight as I get ready, my hands are shaking, and I'm just super nervous. It may have something to do with the fact that I plan on giving her the ring tonight. I'm not asking her to marry me or anything like that, because I know what the answer to that will be. I'm simply giving it to her due to the fact that no one has ever made me feel the way she does. It may not last, or there might not really be anything between us, but I want her to have it, just to show her how much she truly means to me. She's everything to me, and I don't really know how I lived so long without such a woman in my life. Anyway, I better go finish getting ready. I'll write about how it goes later. I'm super excited. I think I might love her.

-Landon.

It was the last entry. I jumped up, leaving the book there on my bed, heading outside. It was still dark, but barely. There was probably a good hour of night left, but the estate was dead quiet. If anything… it was too quiet. I jogged around the track a couple times, just to keep my mind off what I'd just read, although it wasn't really working. As I rounded the corner, heading back towards the gate I slowed to a walk. I had this eerie feeling like someone was watching me, and they were close by. I looked around as I started walking fast towards the gate. My stomach stirred.

"Rose?" I heard from behind me. That voice sounded strangely familiar. I knew I was hearing things. I knew this wasn't happening. I knew I'd seen him a couple times, but now I was hearing him too? I was really losing my mind.

"Get it together, Rose. You're losing it." I whispered, shaking my head as I walked.

"You can't lose something you never had." I heard his soft chuckle, but it sounded different. It wasn't the same. It wasn't as friendly. It wasn't his laugh. It was in this moment, I couldn't help it. I had to turn around. I had to prove to myself that he wasn't really there, that I really was hearing things. I turned slowly, but automatically panic flooded through me. I stood there, face to face with Landon.

"Landon-." I whimpered. This was wrong. He was dead. I blinked hard, sure he was going to disappear, but he didn't. I took a step back as he stepped into the light. It was then that everything clicked. Even from a distance, there wasn't any mistaking the red rim around the light green pupils of his eyes. "No…" I whispered. This wasn't happening. How had this no occurred to me? They'd never found a body? How could I have expected anything less from a monster as evil as a strigoi?

"I've missed you." He said, taking a few steps forward. I stepped back with every step he took towards me.

"Landon… what happened to you?" What was I doing? Why wasn't I running for dear life? He was a strigoi. He was Landon. What was I supposed to do? He was my best friend.

"What do you think happened, Rose?" He asked, voice like ice. Tears were streaming down my face now. I'd done this to him.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." I whispered. He shook his head, and smiled, moving closer.

"I'm not. You have no idea what it's like to be a strigoi. It's amazing. I want… I want you to join me." He said, looking down. Even in his undead state, he was still the same shy boy when it came to me.

"Landon… No." I murmured.

"Come on, Rose. It can be just like it was, but ten times better. You know you want too. You're too strong, too powerful to settle with being a simple dhampir."

"Landon… Don't do this." I begged. I blinked and before I knew it he was right in front of me. I gasped, and tried to step back, but he grabbed me.

"Hey… calm down." He said. "I'm not going to hurt you." The glint in his eyes said different. I watched as his eyes fell on the vein that was probably pulsing ninety to nothing in my neck. I pulled away from his hold, and stepped back. "They're not the same person they were before… remember that." I heard Dimitri's lesson tugging at the back of my mind, but somehow I just couldn't force myself to run. He was still Landon. He didn't look any different here in the dark. He started to walk towards me again, but I continued to back up.

"Landon… just go." I begged.

"Not without you." He snapped, his voice sounding meaner than it ever had.

"I'm not going with you, and I'm not going to become a strigoi."

"Don't make me force you, Rose. You know I don't want to do that. I want you to be with me though." He said. The next words that left my mouth broke my heart, not only because it hurt to say that, but because I knew what it was going to lead to.

"I don't want to be with you." I said. I watched as those red-rimmed eyes filled with pain for a second before the anger kindled there.

"You don't know what you want… I'll show you." He said, lunging for me. I ducted under his attack. I swung and caught him in the face. This just pissed him off ten times more. He lunged at me again, throwing all of his weight. He was stronger and faster now, and I couldn't force his weight away. He took me to the pavement, his fangs bared. I knew what was going to happen, and there wasn't going to be anything I could do to stop it. I hoped he'd spare me, and just kill me. I hoped I'd pissed him off enough. I heard him snarl, and suddenly he disappeared from above me. No.