I was feeling extremely content, more than I have ever been in a long time. I was curled up next to the love of my life and it was like we couldn't get any closer. Literally, it was skin on skin contact. We had just finished making love and a post sex glow was written all over my face and I was smiling like the Cheshire cat. Or at least that's how I thought I looked. I unconsciously cuddled closer, wanting to feel the warmth of Dimitri's body since I had a bit of a chill remembering where we were. In Tasha's cabin. My mind flew back to just a couple hours ago…

Christian, Eddie, Adrian and I were having lunch in the cafeteria. Lissa had told me earlier that she would join us later because she had something to do. She wouldn't tell me what, so I tried snooping, pushing past the mental barriers she put up between our bond. I guess she finally learned how to do it since this was a new development.

I suddenly got this burst of pain through my arm via my skull. It was twisting at odd angles and hurting so badly I wanted to cry out. And that was saying something because Rose Hathaway did not cry out for anything, no matter how petty it was. The only time I can remember breaking down was right after Spokane, which that was pure emotionally. I mean come on; I just watched one of my best friend's become paralyzed.

Off to the back of my mind I faintly heard Adrian call out my name. It must have been serious because he said Rose instead of lil' dhampir. I didn't register any of it because of the excruciating burning sensation that seemed to consume me. It must have gone on for a couple minutes, then all I felt was rage and anger. In my mind, black coils of darkness were surrounding my brain, tightening like a leash on a dog. I was aware of hands on my shoulders, shaking violently, like they were trying to wake me up from whatever nightmare I seemed to be having.

I felt this anger with an intensity coming from the bond. Dark magic coming from Lissa's end. I tried pushing through, making my head like there was no tomorrow. I was enraged with what I saw.

Jesse and his goons were laughing and taunting Lissa on, while Ralf burned her with his elemental fire magic. That woke me up like a cold splash of water to the face, and pulled me out of her head. I was disoriented for a couple of seconds and didn't remember where I was. When I finally snapped out of it, I looked up to see three faces looking down on me. Apparently I must have fallen off of the cafeteria bench in my fit.

"Get out of my way, now!" I yelled at the closest person to me which happened to be Christian. He stayed frozen, looking down at me with a concerned look on his face. Until I screamed, "something's wrong with Lissa, get out of my way now, Pyro."

His face instantly contorted into a look of worry and out of the corner of my right eye, I could see Eddie looking panicked and to the left Adrian looking at me weirdly. I had no time for his antics, but I was going to find out later.

Using Christian, I pulled myself up, and in the process making him stumble forward. I raced out of the cafeteria trying to remember where Lissa was because there was no chance I was risking going back in her head. Once I remembered, I raced to the courtyard. Lissa was standing with Jesse and Ralf on the ground, twisting and rolling in pain and feared looks on their faces. I approached Lissa quickly but calmly.

Once I reached her, she didn't sound like herself when she spoke to me. "They're seeing their worst fears. Haunting them to the point where it hurts so much they can't breathe."

"Liss, stop it. This isn't you," I said calmly, trying to get her to release her magic.

"Oh, but Rose, isn't it me? It's just a side I kept hidden for a very long time. No one knew it was there. They're paying, for torturing me. See the whole point of this 'meeting' I had to go to was an invitation to a group called the Mana. You had to be able to resist torture with just speaking. You had to be able to tell your torturers to stop," Lissa looked at the boys on the ground.

"It was compulsion all along. You had to compel them to stop. I guess this makes me their new leader after all." She laughed hysterically and a look of malevolence was written all over her usually angelic face.

"The things they did to me. You wouldn't believe it."

I think I could, honey, I was in your head right there with you, I thought to myself.

"They need to pay. They need to feel how I felt!" Lissa screamed.

Time to save the day. I focused on the darkness swirling around in Lissa's head and imagined myself as a vacuum cleaner, sucking it all out.

Then it was in me.

I could feel it getting blacker and blacker, darker and darker. Suddenly I turned on Jesse and used some magic of my own. I started beating the shit out of him, using him as my personal punching bag. And then I felt two strong big muscled arms wrap around me and pull me away from assaulting Jesse.

"Let me go! I have to kill him. He has to pay for what he did to Lissa!" The two arms hoisted me up and pulled me over his shoulder. I started pounding on his back. When I finally realized it wouldn't make him put me down I relented. Sensing the change, he put me down on a bed and I looked into the eyes of my mentor.

"Roza fight through this. You can fight it. You're strong Roza, fight it!" I was sobbing uncontrollably and finally it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

"Roza, you are so so strong. I knew you could fight it. It's one of the many reasons why I love you," I looked up at Dimitri. And I knew I shouldn't be saying what I'm saying next but I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

"Oh my God Dimitri. It was so scary. I…I didn't know what was happening to me. I just felt this uncontrollable force take over my body. I…I…I was only able to get through this because you were with me. I love you too and it's just…just so much it makes it hard to breathe. Sometimes it feels like I'm being smothered," I said while the sobs racked through my body, Dimitri never letting me go.

"And…," he cut me off with a fierce kiss. A kiss that said love you back, and I'm never going to let you go. He pressed his soft as silk lips against mine in a display of love and passion. Lips moved in sync and when I reached my tongue out and traced it along the seam of his lips, begging for entrance into his mouth. He gladly answered and the fight for dominance began.

I wasn't giving up easily. I started placing butterfly kisses to the skin of his neck while one hand held firmly the nape of his neck and the other one dug into his shoulder.

"Roza, we can't…" he didn't sound too sure of himself.

"I know."

All the hidden pent up emotions, ached for a release. Nothing more was said as he slid his hands underneath my top and started to draw patterns on my stomach applying the faintest amount of pressure with his fingertips. Once or twice his fingers brushed the bottom of my bra and he looked up at me as a sign of confirmation that I really wanted to do what was going to happen. I nodded yes and he pulled off my top in one swift motion. Soon the rest of my clothes and his joined the heap on the floor as we began kissing furiously again. Dimitri gently laid us down on the bed and gave me a complete once over.

"You are so beautiful. So beautiful that it hurts me," he said with as much emotion as he could muster in his voice.

I cried out in ecstasy as when the moment of truth came. I wrapped my legs around his waist causing him to go deeper. We both reached our peaks at the same time and it was pure bliss. He collapsed beside me with his face in the crook of my neck. My hand stroked his soft as feather hair and the other traced patterns into his arm.

This moment was absolutely perfect and it felt as if nothing could ruin it. I was just dreading the time when I knew we had to get up, go our ways and pretend this didn't happen. I decided I wouldn't let those thoughts interrupt what precious time we had together, in this moment.

Just when I thought the moment couldn't get any better I heard Dimitri whisper, "I love you Roza. Much more than I ever thought I would." It was just so sweet and I swear a stray tear leaked from my eye. I couldn't help but say it back.

"I love you too Dimitri. More than I've ever loved anyone else. You were my first and I want you to be my last and everything," I said in the loudest voice I dared say it in. Dimitri's eyes met mine and spoke emotions for miles.

"Roza I'm so honored I was your first. I want to be your last and everything and so much more. Just like I hope you'll be mine."

And now we were here, laying in this perfect dream of ours, which I hoped would live on for eternity. But I knew nothing this perfect always goes according to plan.

We were soon interrupted by the ringing of Dimitri's phone. He reached over to the bedside table to retrieve it. Answering it, he put it on speaker phone on so I could hear. I just realized he thought of me now as his equal, if he ever did. He trusted me now with this part of his life. What we had just done had brought us closer in more ways than one, and nothing would ever be a kept secret between us.

I was so lucky to have found him, or rather he found me.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the caller whom I recognized as Alberta, say, "Belikov, we need you to report to headquarters. There's an urgent matter at hand. A discovery has just been made."

Her voice was hard, indicating that something wasn't right, and some serious shit was about to go down. I just hope it wasn't us.