I should go I said thickly. Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks for...talking.I started to turn then I heard him say abruptly No.I glanced back. WhatHe held my gaze and something warm and wonderful and powerful shot between us.No he repeated. I told her no.I... I shut my mouth before my jaw hit the floor. But...why That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You could have had a baby. And she...she was you know into you...The ghost of a smile flickered on his face. Yes she was. Is. And thats why I had to say no. I couldnt return that...couldnt give her what she wanted. Not when... He took a few steps toward me. Not when my heart is somewhere else.

Ill find you. There is no place in this world you can hide from me. Im watching.Love Dimitri

She was right about something else too Dimitri said after a long pause. My back was to him but there was a strange quality to his voice that made me turn around.Whats that I asked.That I do still love you.With that one sentence everything in the universe changed.

Stop fighting me he said trying to pull on the arm he held.He was in a precarious position himself straddling the rail as he tried to lean over far enough to get me and actually hold onto me.Let go of me I yelled back.But he was too strong and managed to haul most of me over the rail enough so that I wasnt in total danger of falling again.See heres the thing. In that moment before I let go I really had been contemplating my death. Id come to terms with it and accepted it. I also however had known Dimitri might do something exactly like this. He was just that fast and that good. That was why I was holding my stake in the hand that was dangling free.I looked him in the eye. I will always love you.Then I plunged the stake into his chest.It wasnt as precise a blow as I would have liked not with the skilled way he was dodging. I struggled to get the stake in deep enough to his heart unsure if I could do it from this angle. Then his struggles stopped. His eyes stared at me stunned and his lips parted almost into a smile albeit a grisly and pained one.Thats what I was supposed to say. . . he gasped out.Those were his last words.