31st - tuesday - halloween.

The party was just what I'd hoped it would be. The room was packed tight with bodies and the lights were dim and scarce for a spooky effect. The fog machine only made it that much harder to see. There was cotton spider webs covering the ceiling and walls, black and orange streamers and white ghosts hanging from the ceiling. The whole room looked like it was decorated by Virginia's best Soccer Moms. The music was loud enough to make it difficult to hear, but not many people were dancing.

Despite the corny decorations, there was no doubt that this was an adults only party. Colleagues that I had come to admire for their professionalism were shotgunning cans of beer. There were plenty of other women dressed just as scantily as me, which made me feel at ease. It's one thing to wear revealing clothing; it's a whole other thing when you're married. I was relieved that the other women also saw Halloween as the exception to that rule.

"Jello shot?" Meredith asked, coming up behind me. She handed me a small plastic cup with green jello. She wore a sexy nurse's uniform with fake blood splattered all over her, dark grey makeup and more blood covering her face. "Just one shot. Sexy zombie nurse?"

"Yep!" She did a twirl for me. "And you're a Western whore?"

I choked on the jello and struggled to reign in my coughing. "That's not what I would call it, but yes." I couldn't wait to tell Lissa was she called me and see her reaction. Meredith grinned; we were standing next to a blacklight so her teeth looked blue. "I've gotta pass out the shots, I'll find you later!" she promised and sauntered off with her tray of jello shots.

I walked around the ballroom, searching for Dimitri through the crowd. It shouldn't have been difficult with his height, but there were so many hanging pieces of decoration that it was hard to see anyone beyond five people in front of you. I couldn't find Dimitri, but I saw Eddie dip out to the bathrooms, wearing a pirate getup just like he said he would.

I gave up on finding Dimitri, telling myself he would find me, and went to the punch table. The snacks laid out all looked like various insects or body parts. The punch bowl had ping pong balls painted to look like eyes floating in it. I had to admit that I loved every cheesy detail.

Ambrose was standing near the photo booth, looking like a Greek god with a white bedsheet wrapped around him and a golden wreath on his head. He saw me and grinned, making a wild motion that I interpreted as him asking for punch. I grabbed an extra cup and pushed my way through the bodies toward him.

"Great costume!" he shouted in my ear when I got over to him. We were closer to the speakers over here. "Thank you!" we clinked our glasses together and drank. Ambrose made a face, "You grabbed me the non-alcoholic stuff, Rose." I laughed at him, "Sorry, but if you go over by Guardian Gonzales and Jones, I think they're going to do a chugging contest."

That perked his attention. Ambrose stood up straighter to look over people's heads, "Really? Where?" I jerked my head to my right, "Follow me." I led him over to the competition and even stayed with him for a while, cheering for him as he joined in the chugging contests, but never drinking myself.

While enjoying the drinking games, I found my husband. Or, rather, he found me. He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. "If I'd known this was your costume, I would have had you wear this for me on my birthday," he murmured in my ear.

I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me as I turned in his embrace to face him. He was wearing black slacks, dress shoes, a white button down shirt, and his fucking duster. I hit his chest with my fist, "You're not wearing a costume!" I accused.

He raised one eyebrow at me, "On the contrary, my dear. I'm a detective." He pulled a small notepad and pen out of his pocket and waved it at me. "It seemed fitting, with all the sleuthing we did."

I rolled my eyes and pulled him down for a light kiss. "Okay, you're forgiven."

"And you're sexy." I hit him again, lighter this time.

We walked around the party and mingled for a bit. I relished the feeling of showing off my incredible husband. Our jobs frowned upon too much PDA, and I knew it made Dimitri uncomfortable, but tonight was an exception. I couldn't get enough of the simple touches on each others arms and backs that we did casually in front of our colleagues. I also knew that Dimitri felt bad for our fight the other day and was trying to be extra sweet to me.

When Dimitri was listening to a story from Ambrose that I'd heard before, I checked my phone for notifications.

Dimitri: I found my phone! It was under the couch cushion.

The message was sent at 8:19, and it was only 8:25. I peeked at my husband, who was engrossed in Ambrose's, and obviously didn't text me 6 minutes ago when I'd been with him the whole time. I chewed on my lip and texted back.

Me: Great! Why aren't you at the party?

Dimitri: Didn't want to be there... Come home and spend the rest of the night with me?

I pinched Dimitri's arm. A signal that I needed to talk to him without alerting anyone around us. Once I showed him the texts he grabbed my hand and we searched for Eddie and Hans.

Let me explain.

On Saturday I found the camera in our living room. I wasn't sure how much it recorded, but it probably caught everything that I did to Dimitri on his birthday. I pretended that I didn't see the camera and went about life like normal when I was in the house. I called Karolina to talk about my suspicions. She sent me pictures from Dimitri's yearbooks of Alexei, and sure enough, Jovan was identical to a younger Alexei.

Obviously, with a camera in the house, I couldn't tell Dimitri right there and tip off the person who put the camera there. I had to act like nothing was wrong, which made us fight on Sunday. When I ran after Dimitri and told him everything that had happened, we went straight to Hans. We discovered that "Jovan" doesn't exist. Hans didn't know him by name, and when we looked further there was no record of him coming to court at all.

We wouldn't alert Alexei and make him act out, so we kept up the charades at home. That was before… Yesterday I found Dimitri's phone and sleeping pills in his gym bag.

With the information we had, and our feeling that Alexei was planning something, we had to make a plan of our own, which included telling Eddie and Hans everything. We were certain that Alexei was targeting me, though we didn't know why. Last night, Dimitri made a fake phone call to Christian about leaving Court on Halloween to have a meeting with the Alchemists. We thought if Alexei thought I was alone he would make his move. We were right.

Once we found Eddie dressed as a pirate, he brought us to Hans, who was hiding in the corner of the ballroom. I didn't think he would be at the party at all, let alone dressed as a zombie. His shirt was artfully torn to shreds and smeared with fake blood. I wanted to find the humor in all this, but the situation was weighing down on me.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked between sips from a red Solo cup after we showed him the texts. He wasn't challenging me, but giving me the reins over this. He was trusting me to make the right decision.

I self-consciously brushed my hands down my skirt. "I think I should play along. I should go home and see what he wants."

"Then that's what we'll do. You go in like he wants you to. I'll pull two guardians from the party right now, so Castile, Belikov, myself and two more guards will be on the perimeter of your house should anything go wrong. Are you sure the camera is still in your house?"

"Yes, it's been there for at least four days now."

"Okay. What I'm about to ask you is dangerous, but important. I need you to get him to talk. Get Alexei to confess for the camera and we can use it as evidence."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

later.

I went to unlock the door, but it was already open.

I flipped the switch but nothing happened. I tried again several times to no avail. I took a step out onto the porch to glance at both of my neighbor's houses; their lights were on in several windows. The power had been cut to my house only.

"Comrade?" I called out softly. "I think the power's out."

I heard the click of the gun's hammer before I saw his shadow. "Step into the house and close the door, Rose."

Alexei stepped toward me, his gun aimed at my chest. I lifted up my hands slowly in a sign of surrender. "Jovan," I said. "What are you doing?"

He narrowed his eyes in disgust. "Don't play dumb, Rose. You know who I am." He stepped behind me to close and lock the door, then grabbed my elbow to lead me to the couches. I wanted to fight back, but he had the upper hand at the moment, so I remained docile.

"Alexei," I spoke calmly, "Don't do anything you'll regret, okay?"

"Regret?" he laughed. "I won't regret this." He sat opposite me in an armchair and made himself comfortable. The armchair he was in faced the front door, with his back to the kitchen. He was wearing the typical guardian black and white uniform.

"I've been planning for this, Rose." I knew that Alexei wouldn't be able to help but talk about his master plan. The favor I was doing for Hans wouldn't be hard to accomplish. Someone like Alexei would want to brag.

"Dimitri and I went to school together, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes," I said. "I know that you tried to kill your teacher." The tears streaming down my face were real, but if anyone ever asked I would say I was acting.

"I also killed one of the guardians, but they never found his body, so nobody knew that was me." he grinned. "And the guardian that went missing three weeks ago. He was practice."

I swallowed hard. "Practice for what?"

"For you."

It was silent for a long time. Alexei was studying me, smirking at my powerlessness.

"And you're telling me this because I won't be alive to tell anyone else," I stated.

"Exactly," he smiled indulgently.

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because I've heard the stories about how great you are. 'Rose Hathaway killed countless Strigoi before she even graduated. Rose Hathaway killed the queen and ran away from court. Rose Hathaway didn't kill the queen and returns to court. Rose Hathaway marries the infamous Strigoi-turned-dhampir Dimitri Belikov. Rose Hathway becomes the youngest guardian on the queen's guard.' You're a legend, milaya." He sneered the last part. I ignored the nickname Dimitri uses for me around the house; it only proved that he'd been watching us.

"So you want to kill me because-"

"-because no one has been able to kill you yet. I want to be the one to do that. You see, I've been watching you for a while," he pointed to the red blinking dot next to the TV. There was no point in telling him I already knew all this, I needed the admission to come from his own will. "You've given me some great footage, Rose. Dimitri's birthday might be my favorite home video." I tried not to gag. I had to bite my tongue from lashing out at him. "I've been putting sleeping pills in your water so I could break in during the day," he continued. "Originally I was going to kill you in your sleep, but since it's Halloween, this seemed like more fun."

I wasn't sure what Hans was looking for, but that is a confession if I've ever heard one. He leaned forward so we were mere inches apart and I could feel his breath on my face. "Are you having fun, Rose?"

You would think that living with a zen master for years would help my impulse control, but that's simply not the case.

I punched Alexei in the face while my other hand reached for his wrist. In his shock, he dropped the gun, so I kicked it out of his reach. He leapt up from the seat and tried going for my face, and I had to release my hold on his wrist or get punched.

We danced in the living room for a while in combat. My loose skirt actually made kicking easier, though I'm sure it didn't give off a flattering image. Alexei got the better of me when I tried running for the kitchen to get out the back door. Before I got two steps in, he grabbed my leg and pulled it back so hard I fell forward and hit my head on the corner of the coffee table with all my body weight. I cried out from the impact, my hand going straight to my left temple.

When I pulled my hand away, there was blood. My vision was swimming, and I saw three Alexeis as he loomed over me. I lay sprawled in front of him, too delirious to move. I couldn't even feel my legs, and fearing the head injury had knocked me out for good."Rose Hathaway, murdered in her own home at 23." He chuckled, "Tragic, isn't it?"

My only response was a moan. My eyelids were getting heavier.

He went into the kitchen and brought back a steak knife. "You may be a legend, but you can still be killed like a human."

I looked up, which up for me meant looking into the kitchen upside down, and I prayed that the guardian's outside would get sick of waiting for my signal and take matters into their own hands.

He got on his knees and pressed the knife to my throat, the same way I had done to countless Strigoi with a stake. "I'm going to take my time," he warned excitedly. I knew that my only chance of survival now was to stall him.

"How did you know that Dimitri would be gone tonight?" I slurred, amazed that I could speak when my mind felt so sluggish. My vision was getting darker and darker.

Alexei leaned back slightly and smirked. "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news," he smirked, "but I know you and Dimitri have been fighting about me. You so gallantly came to my defense," he laid a hand over his heart as if he was touched by the fact. "Dimitri is on a business trip with Lord Ozera tonight. I'm sorry he didn't tell you and stood you up at the Halloween party."

He pulled Dimitri's phone out of his pocket and waved it at me triumphantly. "But look how fast you came running back when you thought he wanted to spend time with you." He gave me a pitying look, and I didn't have it in me to come up with a good response.

I didn't have it in me to do anything, really. My breathing was becoming more shallow, and I couldn't think of another question to divert him before the knife was back on my neck. Just then I saw movement in the kitchen behind Alexei. I calmly looked away before I drew his attention to it.

Tears were streaming uncontrollably down my face from the pain in my head; though Alexei probably thought it was from fear. To be fair, I was pretty damned afraid at this point. Alexei pressed the knife deeper into my neck, and I could feel the blood trickle down the side of my neck.

"You know," he whispered like it was a cherished secret. "Last night I was thinking I would have to kill Dimitri just to get to you. I was ready to kill him, too. And I'll be ready to kill him when he comes back home."

"Does that mean you're ready now?" I said, but my throat was clogged by some mystery liquid so it came out more like a gurgle. I subsequently had a coughing fit.

He furrowed his brows at the odd question. "Of course, I'm always ready."

"No, you're not." I argued, my voice more clear this time. He gave me a dirty look so I explained. "You got caught before, you were arrested."

"And obviously that hasn't stopped me. Has it?" He dragged the knife down to my collarbone as punishment for taunting him, and I winced in pain. The cut didn't feel that deep, but there would be a scar.

"If you kill me, Dimitri will kill you," I threatened.

Alexei outright laughed this time. "Dimitri won't be home until tomorrow, and I'll be long gone by then. It's a shame though, that I won't get to see his reaction when he sees your dead body."

"That's because she won't be dead."

Just then Dimitri came out of the kitchen and shot at Alexei. Everything happened so fast and I didn't see where the bullet went, but Alexei slumped over and fell half on me. The knife clattered to the ground next to his limp hand. Dimitri rushed over and pulled Alexei off of me. I heard a soft groan escape Alexei, so he was still alive.

The other guardian's came rushing into the room after Dimitri, immediately sizing up the scene. A feeling of calm came over me as they took Alexei from Dimitri, and called an ambulance for me.

Dimitri sat down and propped my head on his knee. "How do you feel, Roza?" he asked, brushing wet strands of hair out of my face. I shook my head slowly. I was so out of it that I didn't try to respond verbally.

He nodded in understanding. I could see the concern in his eyes, and I was concerned too. I've never lost feeling in my legs from head trauma, but it couldn't be a good thing.

"The ambulance will be here soon, and I already called Sonya," he reassured me. With Adrian and Lissa on meds to keep down Spirit, Sonya was the only active healer in our social group. We always said we wouldn't use her for healings, but we usually ended up calling her in dire situations anyway.

"Alexei will be taken care of, you did great. Don't worry about anything, milaya. You're going to get through this." Dimitri's voice was warm and loving. It would have made me feel better if the physical pain wasn't so strong. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other guardians stop fussing over Alexei and stand up.

"Is he dead?" I asked, the question took all of my energy and concentration to ask it.

"Yes," Hans answered, annoyed. "Belikov, I told you I wanted him alive."

"Sorry," Dimitri said, but he didn't sound sorry at all, "I must've missed his arm and hit his heart." It was a lame excuse and Hans and I knew it. I coughed out a mirthless laugh.

"And comrade?" I asked, even though my eyelids had never been heavier.

"Yeah?" he asked, concern written all over him.

"Next year I'm not letting you off so easy on half-assing the costume." I closed my eyes, and drifted off to the sound of Dimitri's laughter and the ambulance siren in the distance.

And there it is! Fin!

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-thefangirldiaries