ROSE POV

We were sitting in a fairly lavish suit at the Luxor hotel. I sat in one of the armchairs, with Adrian and Christian sitting on the couch across from me. Christian chewed on his thumbnail, a nervous tic that accompanied his distant look. Adrian seemed focused but he kept reaching towards his pocket, as if searching for a flask despite the drink in front of him on the coffee table. Eddie paced back and forth behind the sofa and Dimitri stood off to my side. While everyone else seemed nervous and unsure, he seemed completely emotionless. He was almost too calm. I felt concerned as to what was bubbling under the surface.

"So..." I broke the awkward silence. "Moroi. What's a Moroi?"

Everyone looked at one another, but it was Adrian who finally started explaining.

"There is more out there than you can imagine Rose. Our society is kept fairly secret from the general population, though it wasn't always that way. These days, most humans have no clue beyond what they hear in legends or in the moview, but we have been around for as long as anyone can remember. Moroi are...vampires."

I laughed. It was so ridiculous that it had to be some sort of joke. "So I am some sort of bodyguard to a vampire princess?"

My laughter died as I noticed that nobody else was amused as I was.

"No." All my previous humor was suddenly gone and replaced with desperation as I protested the idea. "Vampires aren't real. They're pale, red-eyed demons from nightmares. Nothing more."

I looked towards Dimitri for confirmation. I didn't understand why, but I felt like I was already relying on him to support me during this madness. He wasn't looking at me though. He was looking towards Eddie a bit surprised.

"Those are the Strigoi," Eddie replied. "Have you seen them before?"

"Like I said...nightmares." I bit my lip, ashamed at what I'd just admitted.

"There are two types of vampires," Adrian continued. "What you described are Strigoi. They're undead, immortal, soul-less. They're much more like the Dracula type vampires that most people tend to envision. They kill most of their victims and turn others to be like them. Then you have the Moroi, like Christian and I. We grow, age, and die just like you. We don't kill those we feed from. We have some power over one of the five elements."

"Wait," I interrupted. "You are a vampire?"

Adrian nodded.

"You drink blood?"

Again he nodded, though he added. "But we never kill them."

"So...you have...fangs?"

Adrian and Christian chuckled at the insane question before they each offered me a grin wider than I had ever seen from either of them up until this point. It took me a second to notice, but as soon as I saw the pointed teeth, I jumped and pressed my back as far as I could into the chair in a frantic attempt to create some distance between us.

My fear was obviously not the desired – nor anticipated – reaction. Dimitri was immediately crouching in front of me, hiding the others from my view as he took my hands and tried to calm my rapid breathing.

"They're...they are..." I couldn't finish my thoughts as I started hyperventilating.

"Rose. Roza. Look at me." I felt his hand brush my cheek as he forced my eyes to lock with his. "Breathe Roza. They won't hurt you. None of us will hurt you."

Looking at him, I saw this complete sincerity and even though I didn't know why, I knew I could trust him. Still, overwhelmed and confused at what I was being told, I felt the need for stability. I needed a rock to cling to in this storm. Before I could think about what I was doing, I launched myself forward and into his arms. My face pressed into his neck, taking in the oddly comforting scent of his aftershave.

He stiffened for a moment, caught off guard by my sudden affection. However, I soon felt his arms wrap around me and hold me close as I shook. Vaguely, I could feel his fingers tangle in my hair as he whispered in an unknown language. It had a strange calming effect on me that I didn't understand or question.

As my frayed nerves began to rest I heard Dimitri switch to English. "It's okay my Roza. I'm here. I'll always be here. I'll never let anything hurt you. I promise. Never again."

I closed my eyes and pressed closer to him, allowing his words to wash over me. I believed him completely.

After a few minutes, we had pulled apart to realize that the others had given us some privacy and a chance to calm down. Well, I was the only one in need of calming, but they understood. A half hour or so later, several pizzas arrived to the room and we reconvened in the sitting area. It was the first time that I saw Adrian and Christian again, and this time, they sat in the two arm chairs while I sat on the sofa with Dimitri and Eddie on either side.

Though Adrian and Christian – the Moroi Vampires, I guess – were respectfully trying to keep a healthy distance, it was the space between me and Dimitri that seemed to span miles. I could reach out and touch him if I wished, but the sudden lack of contact made me feel suddenly alone.

We all ate in silence for a while before I built up the resolve to speak again.

"So, you're vampires..."

"Yes." Christian spoke slowly, carefully, as if handling fragile glass.

"And what about you?" I looked towards Eddie, too afraid to ask this of Dimitri. "Are you a vampire too?"

"No." His smile was friendly, and relaxed me a little. "At least not completely. We're sort of a cross breed if you will; half human and half Moroi. We get some of benefits of both races. We have a stronger endurance like a human, but a better immunity like the Moroi. We also inherit their increased senses, but don't have to deal with drinking blood."

I winced at how casually he mentioned something like that, but tried to press forward.

"So...if you aren't human, and you aren't Moroi, what are you?"

"We're called dhampirs." He said it so normally, like this fact wasn't completely otherworldly. It was just a fact for him.

"You and Dimitri are dhampirs."

Eddie glanced at Dimitri over my shoulder, and I could see that he was debating on saying something else. Instead, it was Dimitri who spoke.

"Not just us, Rose. You are a dhampir too."

I could feel the earlier tension building up in me, the part of me that wanted to scream and run from the room telling them that they were crazy and had the wrong girl. Instead, I fought the urge to break down again.

"Oh," I replied stupidly, staring at the ground as I tried to take it in. Nobody spoke for a while, but I could feel their stares on me as they waited for me to react. "Do I control an element?"

"What?"

I looked up, glancing at one face after another. Everyone seemed confused as to what I meant, but I focused on Christian who had spoken up. "Earlier, Adrian said the Moroi control an element. Do I?"

"No," he replied. "Only Moroi do. Strigoi are undead and don't have access to magic anymore. Dhampirs simply never had it in the first place."

"So what do you control?"

Christian hesitated and looked at the others before snapping his fingers. A small flame appeared above his fingertips, flickering softly before dying as he waved his hand.

I stared in wonder, more intrigued than frightened this time. "Wow. That's...insane." I looked towards Adrian. "Can you do that too?"

"No. My magic is a bit more subtle I'm afraid. I control Spirit. It's not as popular as the four other elements: fire, water, earth, and air. There are only a handful of Spirit users that we know of. Lissa is one of them as well."

"So, what does Spirit entail?" I could get a vague idea of what the other elements could do, but Spirit was a bit harder to understand.

"Personally, I see auras and can visit people in their dreams if I wish. However, every user seems to have a unique specialty. Lissa can heal people. She's even brought someone back to life from the world of the dead."

I sat up, completely enthralled at what I was hearing. "Really? She brought someone back to life?"

"Actually, she brought you back."

I didn't have time to react before he continued.

"When you were fourteen, you were with her in a car accident. Her entire family perished, but somehow she saved you. You guys didn't know it at the time, but it created a bond. You both are now tied to each other in a way that is completely unique. You can even read her thoughts or get pulled completely into her mind if she is feeling a particularly strong emotion. I'm willing to bet that those strange daydreams you've had over the years were occurrences of that phenomenon."

I thought back to the daydreams that I remembered and could see how each one was tied to emotion. Some were sad, like the funeral. Others were happy, like watching Christian propose. I had seen anger, guilt, frustration, worry, elation. Could it really be that I was experiencing moments of her life, through her mind? They had always felt so real, as if I was truly there.

"I think you might be right," I admitted.

– DIMITRI –

Rose seemed to be taking things extremely well considering the fact that we had turned her world upside down in more ways than one. Still, our conversation shifted from her directly and into more general realms. Adrian told her about life at Court. Christian told her about St. Vladimir's. Eddie spoke about guardian training. I stayed silent for the most part. The only thing I felt qualified to talk to her about was too personal to discuss in front of others.

Adrian asked about her new life and how she came to be in Las Vegas. I listened to how she spent the first few weeks working with doctors, councilors, and social workers as they tried to piece things together. She joked about how odd it was to choose things like her name and birthday. She told us about meeting Marie and how essential she had been to staying afloat those first couple of months. Not only had she taken her in, but she had also helped her find her first job as a waitress. It was Marie that had come down to Las Vegas, and Rose had followed. She told us how she discovered her unique fighting abilities when several men had started harassing her. She told us about discovering dance in Spokane and how she had accidentally fell into dancing at Wonderland.

After several hours of discussion, the night started to get late. The last thing that I wanted to do was let Rose out of my sight again, but she insisted that she had another shift at the club. The thought of her dancing again tonight sparked that jealous urge in me, but I bit it back knowing that she had spent the past several years taking care of herself and I had no right to interfere in that. At least not where her new life was concerned.

As the others gathered their things, I pulled Rose aside. There was one thing, despite how uncomfortable it may be, that we needed to discuss and with us leaving tomorrow, time was running out.

"Rose."

She turned, already acknowledging the name as her own.

"Thank you for talking to us. I know this has to be overwhelming."

She nodded. "The past 24 hours just seems...unreal." She looked exhausted, just out of sheer information overload.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, in a vain attempt to lend her some of my own strength.

"I know it's been hard Rose, but I want to let you know that I'm here for you. We all are," I quickly amended. "There's a whole group of people who care about you. They've missed you every day since we lost you. I know they'll be thrilled to hear you're okay."

She wasn't looking at me, but it seemed as though the thought brought a smile to her face.

"I..." how do I ask this? How do I handle it if she says no? "I'd like to ask you to come back with us."

I think it took a moment for her to register what I had just said. A second later, she snapped her head up to meet my eyes, questions filling hers.

"I know it's last minute, but our flight leaves tomorrow at noon. We'll be flying to Pennsylvania, to Court. I'd be happy to help you pack, we can pick you up, we'll take care of the flight, housing, everything. Just please, consider coming with us. At least for a little while." I was promising a lot, but I knew that our little group would move heaven and earth to get her back. I loved her, but I wasn't the only one who loved her.

The silence seemed to last forever.

"Let me talk to a few people, and I'll give you a call tomorrow morning." Then she just walked away.

Well, at least it wasn't a no.

Author's Note

What do you think guys? Is Rose going to go with them or is Dimitri and the gang gonna have to drag her kicking and screaming back to Court? And did you guys like that little Romitri moment?

For those of you who haven't had the chance to check it out yet, Shadow Kiss; Dimitri's Point of View has officially gone live. You can find that and the first two DPOV books on my profile. Thank you to everyone who has been such a loyal reader of mine. It is always SO good to see your reviews and listen to your thoughts on each chapter and each story.

Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting, and sharing. You guys are the BEST! See you next week!