Hey All I'm Back! I told you I would be. This was one of two stories I had floating around in my head. I hope you like it. The Prologue is just a little tidbit. Chapter one will explain a little more. If you like it review if you don't… let me know anyways.
Last Sacrifice happened except Rose died instead of being brought back at the end. It is nearly one year later. Bloodlines and everything also happened so Adrian, Jill, Sydney and Eddie are in Palm Springs, but make occasional appearances for holidays and summers and stuff. Adrian and Sydney are in a secret relationship. Jill is no longer a target because Lissa managed to change the law that made her need Jill alive to keep the throne.
I am taking generous liberties with the royal families and such so if things aren't exactly the same don't freak out, they aren't supposed to be for my story to work.
Prologue
RPOV
The last few seconds of my life were stained into my memory. The sights and sounds I heard last haunted me; a gunshot ringing out, a young blond girl's hysterical scream, the love in a man's eyes as he held me while I lay dying. I couldn't remember anything tangible about my life other than those things. I didn't know my name, where I had lived, who that man was and why he was looking at me like that. Everything before I arrived here, where I was now, remained shrouded in mystery.
Everything since I came to be in this place had blended together. I was alone, but I didn't mind because I was happy. I didn't understand how I came to be here or why and most of the time I didn't think much about it. The place where I was wasn't really a place at all. It was just a feeling. I was warm, safe and loved and it felt amazing. I knew in the back of my mind that I had unfinished business, but I couldn't do anything about that now. I couldn't remember what it was or why it was important. It just felt unfinished. I had no physical form here, just a few memories of things that seemed to have happened long ago in a time and place that felt so far away.
Once in a while, I would get flashes of what I thought were the past only to realize that they were in fact happening in the present, just nowhere near where I was, wherever I was. Sometimes I would see flashes of the blond girl. She seemed sad. She had many others around her who seemed to worship her, bowing down, bringing her things and guarding her. She cried a lot at night, when she was alone. She must be important, whoever she was. I almost felt bad for her sometimes. Her feelings were so real to me. It was like I could feel her sadness bleeding through the clouds around me and into my soul.
Sometimes I saw flashes of a red haired woman. She was always fighting. She must be a very angry person. She never smiled. Then there was an older man. He seemed to live in a dark world. The people he kept company with were intimidating, threatening even. His appearance was much like theirs, but for some reason I had only good feelings when I saw him.
Mostly though, I saw the man, the one who had held me as I took my last breath, looking down at me with those beautiful chocolate orbs. He was like the woman with the red hair. He fought a lot, sometimes with other people and sometimes with what I called the monsters. I felt the evil whenever he was in their presence. They seemed to want to harm the blond girl. Maybe he was her protector. Whatever the case, he was sad too. He often sat alone with coffee and a newspaper or in a small dank room, alone with a book. He didn't seem to do much else. Sometimes he would dream. I wasn't privy to his inner thoughts, but they must have upset him. He would wake up, panting and sweating calling out the same name over and over. Roza, he would cry before the tears would come. I wondered who she was and why he dreamt of her so often.
Those were the dozens of questions that kept me occupied for countless hours, days, weeks, who knows maybe even years. Time had no meaning where I was. It was peaceful there, but sometimes my mind wandered. That is when I would get the flashes.
"Rose," I heard someone calling out a name in the distance. I heard it a few more times. The voice seemed familiar. It had been a long time since I'd heard anything at all that I thought maybe I had imagined it. Suddenly, I was yanked from the solitude and serenity of the place I was in. I blinked my eyes as my surroundings slowly came into view. I was in a beautiful meadow. The sun shone bright in the sky nearly blinding me. There was a lake with geese swimming in it. I watched in awe as the ripples that formed in their wake slowly disappeared.
"Is this heaven?" I wondered aloud. My voice echoed frightening me a little as I hadn't heard it in well, I'm not sure how long.
"Is someone there?" I called out, louder this time finding my bearings as I heard rustling in the trees off to my right.
"Don't be afraid," a voice called out as a young man emerged from the foliage. He was tall with striking red hair and freckles.
"Who are you?" I asked backing up uncertain of his intentions.
He looked me over once. "I hate when they do this," he said coming closer.
"Do what?" I asked taking another step back.
"Do you want to know who I am and why you're here?" he asked.
"Ye ye yes," I stammered.
"Then hold still," he commanded. I did as I was told and stared at him wide eyed as he placed his hands on either side of my forehead. A bright white light emanated from him and a barrage of memories swirled around me invading my mind so quickly I fell backwards landing on solid ground.
"Woah there, careful," the man said holding out his hand for me. I winced as he helped me to my feet, the floodgates in my mind still wide open for the deluge that was springing forth. I blinked my eyes several times before scrutinizing his face meticulously.
"Mason?" I gasped my eyes popping open wide with astonishment.
"Glad to see you haven't forgotten me," he said with a small smirk.
"How? Wait, what are you doing here? You're…."
"Dead?" he finished for me.
I nodded, fresh tears welling up in my eyes.
"Rose, think back to the last thing you remember," he said placing his hand in mine leading me over to a large rock next to the lake.
I took a deep breath and focused intently on remembering how I had gotten here. It didn't look like any place I'd ever been before, not even in those silly spirit dreams Adrian had drawn me into.
Flashback
I flinched as I saw Tasha with a gun in her hand. I wasn't in my own body. I was in Lissa's and she was in danger. I snapped back into my own body, springing into action as I ran forward at warp speed. I managed to maneuver myself in front of her just as the shot rang out shielding her body absorbing the bullet with my chest.
I reeled back in shock. "Am I dead too?" I whispered looking my friend in the eye.
"I'm afraid so," he said cradling my cheek in the palm of his hand.
"For how long?" I asked.
"Almost a year now," he said shaking his head sadly.
"A year? What the hell? Why don't I remember being here for a year?" I shouted jumping to my feet.
"Who's taking care of Lissa? What about Dimitri? What happened with Jill?" I rushed out everything that was crowding my mind.
"Dimitri and Christian have been taking care of Lissa," he said. "Just like you would have wanted." Dimitri, oh how my heart ached for him. We had only just found each other again and to lose what we had a second time so soon was just my dumb luck.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "What about the spirit?" I asked trying to take my mind away from the painful memories of Dimitri.
"Shh, Rose, one question at a time," he said chuckling. "You haven't changed a bit," he said ruffling my hair fondly.
"Uh hello in case you haven't noticed, I'm dead," I cried putting my head in my hands.
"Cheer up Rosie, you're about to be given the chance of a lifetime," he said becoming more serious.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's been brought to the attention of the powers that be, that Lissa isn't handling her darkness all that well without you."
"What? Is she okay?" I asked.
"She's okay for now, but the powers feel that it would benefit her to have her bond mate back to take the excess darkness when necessary and since she is a very important figure in history right now, they're willing to send you back to Earth to take care of her."
"Really? I'm going to be alive again?" I asked not quite believing what I was hearing.
"That's the plan," he said.
"Great, can I go now?" I asked hopping down off the rock. I was more than a little anxious to resume my old life, however he was going to pull that off.
"Not so fast," he said clasping my arm.
"There's a catch, ugh, there's always a catch," I said sulking a little. Whatever it was I could live with it. Being back on Earth meant that I would see Dimitri again and Lissa of course. Whatever the powers that be or whoever wanted was a small price and I was happy to pay it.
"There's a stipulation."
"Okay lay it on me,"I said anxious to be on my way back to my family and friends and the love of my life.
"You can't tell them who you are," he stated.
"What?" I asked my jaw dropping.
He shrugged. "That's the deal. If you at anytime attempt to regain the life you once had by telling them who you are or rather who you used to be, you will be taken away and there won't be any going back."
"How in the world am I not supposed to tell them it's me? I mean they're going to be able to see me right? I'm not going back as a ghost am I?" That would be really stupid. I guess I'd still take it because it would be better than nothing, but it would suck if I were invisible.
"Oh they'll be able to see you alright. You just won't look like you," he said.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"You'll figure it out," he said. "Are you ready?"
"What no? Tell me what it means," I said.
"No time. It's imperative that you go now," he said looking off into space as if he had heard something I didn't.
"See you around Rosie," he said kissing my cheek as he and the meadow began to fade into the distance.
"Wait, no, you have to explain," I cried, but it was too late. I had a sudden feeling like I was falling and then nothing.
"Clear, one two three," a loud voice called and the next thing I felt was being shocked back to life.
There you have it. Leave me a review and let me know how you like it so far. I will try to update my usual once a week.