"See, here’s the thing. In that moment before I let go, I really had been contemplating my death. I’d 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."
When Rose sets her mind to kill herself, she knows that Dimitri will stop at nothing to prevent it. She works through death in her head and commits. This is why she holds a stake in her free hand, so that he could never stop her.
“If your eyes weren't open, you wouldn't know the difference between dreaming and waking.”
Running around in a world of fantastic adventures and creatures, Rose is understandably lost. Her outside reality is so bizarre that it almost makes sense that it would be the actually dream. She struggles to know whether any of what she's experiencing is real or a dream.
“You kill me, Rose," he said melodramatically. "Every day is agony without you. Empty. Alone. I pine for you, wondering if you're even still alive.”
Dimitri is a romantic sap. When he meets Rose, he abandons all semblance of sanity and begins to throw himself at her. Although she likes him, Rose can't stand the way he acts. All in all his approach is ineffective. Perhaps he would've benefitted from taking his advances more seriously because his life depends on it in the end.
“Yet, it had been Dimitri’s gentleness and thoughtfulness mixed with that deadliness that made him so wonderful. The same hands that wielded stakes with such precision would carefully brush the hair out of my face. The eyes that could astutely spot any danger in the area would regard me wonderingly and worshipfully, like I was the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world.”
Rose is attracted to Dimitri because of his classic bad-boy game. He's a vampire, so menacing violence and brutality are second nature to him. At the same time, however, he treats her with tenderness, worshipping her. This is an appealing concept because Rose subconsciously wants to be taken care of by the most imposing man around. The danger is alluring to her.
