Love You More: A Rose and Adrian Love Story

The Cave

When we got into Abe's car, a black 2016 Cadillac Escalade, he turned to me as I was the one in the front seat.

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" He eyed me cautiously, like I was going to snap. I probably looked like I was going to rip his head off, based on the fact that I felt like a tornado just flew through my insides. I took a couple deep breaths before I answered, to make sure I could trust that what I said sounded sincere.

"Of course. It's not like I have to do the work." I said flippantly. Abe rolled his eyes.

"I meant are you ready for him to be back in your life, Rose." He said sternly. I stared at his face for as long as I could before I broke and had to look away. He knew I wasn't ready for it. I don't think I ever would be. But right now it's not about me. It's about Dimitri. It's about saving my his soul. I can think about myself later.

As we exited Lissa's driveway and got on to the main road, I got a text from Lissa. It read two simple words. "Be Safe." I smiled at that and closed my eyes.

***

I must have fallen asleep, because before I knew it, someone was shaking my shoulder and telling me we were here. Wherever 'here' was. I didn't recognize the place at all. We were completely surrounded my forrest on all sides and there was a large cave to the left side of the small clearing we were in. I looked around and noticed that we were also surrounded my several other cars identical to the one I was in. As we climbed out of the car, I saw that there was already an impressive huddle of Dhampire guardians and a few fire users beside one of the SUV's. As we approach them, the conversation stopped and they eyed me warily. Was I really that much of a mess? I snuck a peek of my reflection in the window of the car and was stunned to see my appearance. My hair looked like a haystack on top of my head. My eyes had the frantic look of a wild animal to them. I was fuming at the fact that nobody told me how bad I looked before we walked up to a group of highly respected guardians.

"Will you excuse me for one minute?" I asked and stomped away before anyone could answer. After I fixed my hair and calmed my heart, I joined them once again. Apparently the plan was already set in stone and all I had to do was protect Adrian. We were just going to storm in to a cave full of god knows how many strigoi! Brilliant! These people were going to get me killed. Respectable my ass!

" How about instead of charging in there like madmen and potentially getting every single one of us killed, we go in as teams." I split us up into groups of four. With a fire user in each team. I was actually surprised that they listened to me so easily.

"Everybody ready?" Christian asked. We all nodded. I have the signal for the first group to go in, and the second group, composed of me, Christian, Adrian, and another guardian, followed.

As we entered the cave we noticed that there was not a single strigoi in there. Traveling a little further back, I saw a small opening in the side of the cave. I motioned for everyone to come over to me.

"Do you think it's safe?" Adrian asked me.

"No." I said plainly, peering into the entrance.

"Are you going to do it anyway?" He asked as if he didn't already know the answer.

"Yes." I said, entering through the opening.