AN: WOW! When I originally started this fic I had NO CLUE how long it was going to be!! I had a fun time writing this one but I have a weird writing method. I put myself in the characters head and make myself feel those emotions so I can write about them... I was like FURIOUS when writing the Victor parts to the point of a racing heart and almost shaking. I thought this was extremely over the top but RoseBelikov18 assured me that the writing is worth it in the end.

Hope you like it!

[Standard Disclaimers Apply]

I had spent a good portion of the afternoon looking up Rose's symptoms in medical dictionaries in the extensive library at Court. I had mulled over numerous books and even tried finding them online. They all seemed to point to a migraine but I knew it had to be something else. At one point I found reference to a brain tumor and almost lost my sanity. I was determined to get Rose to a doctor and had to calm myself down enough to continue to look into other options.

I gave up after a few hours and returned to my room feeling slightly defeated. What was I supposed to do to help Rose when she didn't trust me enough to confide in me?

There was a knock on my door and I as I opened it and saw who it was, I was hit with the rush of deja vu. Rose was standing in front of me looking concerned and I instantly remembered the last time she stood at my door. Victor had placed a lust charm on the rose necklace around her neck and we had both acted… inappropriately. Knowing Victor was in the area (all be it in a cell), I was wary of the person standing in front of me.

"I have to talk to you." She said, completely serious.

I opened the door wider allowing her inside, yet still keeping a safe distance. She shoved a note in my hand and I looked down at it, confused.

Rose,

I was so happy to hear about your arrival. I'm sure it'll make tomorrow's proceedings that much more entertaining, I've been curious for quite some time about how Vasilisa is doing, and your romantic escapades are always an amusing diversion. I can't wait to share them in the courtroom tomorrow.

Best,

V.D.

I read the note again just to make sure it was true. That son of a bitch. He was locked up and still making threats. I felt rage rise from some place I didn't even know I had, and glared at the paper. He had used us as a diversion as well as some sick joke. He was lucky I hadn't gotten to him before. He wouldn't be so lucky tomorrow in court.

"V.D.-"

"Yeah, I know," I said, cutting her off. I handed the note back to her and sighed. "Victor Dashkov."

"What are we going to do? I mean, we talked about this, but now he really is saying he's going to sell us out." Rose looked like she was fighting the urge to wring her hands in her nervousness.

I thought quickly about our options. I could kill him, which sounded pretty good right about now. Or we could just deny it, they wouldn't believe his lies anyway. Or… I could kill him. In the end I decided face to face conversation would be the best choice in a situation such as this. He had to want something, otherwise he wouldn't have told Rose of his intentions at all. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and turned to Rose, "Give me a moment." I dialed the number quickly and spoke to one of the guards in the holding area of the Court. I was told they would try and get me fifteen minutes with Victor and that they would call me with a time. I hung up and Rose pounced.

"What's going on?"

"I'll let you know soon. For now, we have to wait."

"Great." She didn't actually roll her eyes, but I could hear it in her tone. "My favorite thing to do."

I dragged an armchair over to where she sat on the couch, and sat down in it. I tried to focus on something else but I couldn't. Victor Dashkov was proving to be a real pain in the ass. He had some hidden agenda for giving Rose that note, and I wanted to know what it was.

"Why do you read these?" Rose asked, breaking through my thoughts. She was holding one of my western novels in her hand.

"Some people read books for fun."

"Hey, watch the dig. And I do read books. I read them to solve mysteries that threaten my best friend's life and sanity. I don't think reading this cowboy stuff is really saving the world like I do."

I took the book from her and turned it over in my hand, looking at the cover. "Like any book, it's and escape. And there's something…mmm. I don't know. Something appealing about the Old West. No rules. Everyone just lives by their own code. You don't have to be tied down by others' ideas of right and wrong in order to bring justice." I thought about the Moroi court as I said this. And how if it had been the old west, Dashkov would have been hung for his crimes. In the middle of the town square with an audience of his peers. The law was harsher then, but somehow it seemed more just.

"Wait," Rose laughed. "I thought I was the one who wanted to break rules."

"I didn't say I wanted to. Just that I can see the appeal," I said slightly amused.

"You can't fool me, comrade. You want to put on a cowboy hat and keep lawless bank robbers in line."

"No time. I have enough trouble keeping you in line."

We both smiled and I felt the same comforting atmosphere that we had shared that day in the church. Neither of us was on edge at this very moment. We were just happy to be in each other's company. I missed these moments with Rose and I knew we had been having them less and less as of late. And when we were together something would happen to ruin those moments.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"For what? Reading cheesy novels?"

"For not being able to get you here. I feel like I let you down. " I was afraid I might have lost something important with her. Some respect and some of her admiration. I also felt that Adrian has gained it in my place. I didn't want to lose Rose any more than I had since Spokane.

She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time in years. The love and admiration showed in her face. I knew she believed me to be invincible and able to do anything. To her, I was more than a man, I was more than a teacher… I was a superhero to this girl.

"You didn't," she said, sheepishly. "I acted like a brat. You've never let me down before. You didn't let me down with this."

I wanted to tell her how much I loved her in that moment. How thankful I was that I had been sent to that school to guard her best friend. How thankful I was to be any part of her life. My cell phone rang and I quickly answered it. After being told that we had fifteen minutes to speak with Victor at that moment, I hung up and looked at Rose. "All right, let's go," I said, standing up.

"Where?"

"To see Victor Dashkov."

"Why are we doing this? Rose whispered as we made our way down the hall toward Dashkov's cell. She was looking curiously down the hall most likely expecting some medieval dungeon. "You think we can talk him out of it?"

I shook my head stiffly. "If Victor wanted to take revenge on us, he'd just do it without any warning. He doesn't do things without a reason. The fact that he told you first means he wants something, and now we're going to find out what it is."

We reached Dashkov's cell and I felt the earlier rage bubbling up from deep inside. How dare he sit there looking completely content. How dare he sit there looking healthy after what he did to some poor defenseless student. That sick bastard looked like he was waiting for a casual appointment, not his trial. He didn't seem effected by the knowledge that in hours someone was going to be deciding his fate. His apathy had me choking on that ugly monster inside of my that wanted to rip him apart in the most literal sense.

He looked up at our approach and smiled that disgustingly charming smile when he saw who it was. "Oh my. This is a treat. Lovely Rosemarie, practically an adult now." He glanced at me quickly. "Of course, some have been treating you that way for quite a while."

I wanted to do things to him that I haven't ever even thought to do to the worst Strigoi. Compared to the man in front of me, the undead were mere humans. This man was a different brand of evil. A type of evil so vile that he didn't even deserve to live. I would have been first in line to end his pathetic existence if it were possible.

Rose pressed her face to the bars. "Stop screwing with us, you son of a bitch. What do you want?"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and felt a bit hypocritical as I said, "Easy, Rose."

She took a deep breath and a few steps back, trying to compose herself. She hadn't had the years I had had practicing self control in the face of enemies. Victor sat up in his chair and laughed, clearly amused by her reaction.

"After all this time, your cub still hasn't learned any control. But then, maybe you never really wanted her to."

"We aren't here to banter." I was surprised by the calmness of my voice. Damn, I was better than I thought. "You wanted to lure Rose over, and now we need to know why."

"Does there have to be some sinister reason? I just wanted to know how she was doing, and something tells me we aren't going to have a chance for any friendly chats tomorrow." My stomach turned at the sight of that sick smile on his face that never seemed to waver.

"We're not going to have a friendly chat now." I almost didn't recognize her voice. It wasn't a tone, it was a fierce growl.

"You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I really do want to know how you're doing. You've always been a fascinating subject to me, Rosemarie. The only shadow-kissed person we know of. I told you before, that isn't the kind of thing you walk away from unscathed. There's no way you can quietly sink into the regimented routine of academic life. People like you aren't meant to blend in."

I sat there silently contemplating his words. Getting more and more angry at the fact that he only wanted her around to poke at her under a goddamn microscope. It was sick on a number of levels.

"I'm not some kind of science experiment," Rose said slightly shocked.

"What's it been like? What have you noticed?" He was acting as if she hadn't spoken at all.

"There's no time for this. If you don't get to the point," I warned, voice still calm, "we're going to leave."

Rose smiled at Victor coldly and I fought the urge to shiver. It was a smile I never wanted to see meet her lips as long as I lived. "There's no way they'll let you off tomorrow. I hope you enjoy prison. I bet it'll be great once you get sick again-and you will, you know." Jesus, that was… amazing.

Victor wasn't affected though, he kept his gaze with her, that smug look still on his face. "All things die, Rose. Well, except for you, I suppose. Or maybe you are dead. I don't know. Those who visit the world of the dead can probably never fully shake their connection to it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rose grow reserved, as if something he had said made sense. Something flashed in her eyes and Victor Dashkov spoke next. "Yes? There's something you'd like to say?"

Her whole attitude changed. She became inquisitive more than interrogatory. "What is the world of the dead? Is it heaven or hell?"

"Neither."

"What lives there?" She was getting worked up, desperate for some answers to a question I was unsure of. "Ghosts? Will I go back? Do things come out of it?" Ghosts? What the hell?

Victor was taking great pleasure in Rose's switch in focus. He was saying what he knew she wanted him to say. I had no idea what was going on, but he was lying.

"Well, clearly some things come out of it, because here you stand before us."

"He's baiting you," I said to Rose. "Let it go."

The man glared at me for an instant. "I'm helping her." He turned his attention back to Rose, determined to ignore my presence. "Honestly? I don't know that much about it. You're the one who has been there, Rose. Not me. Not yet. Someday, you'll probably be the one educating me. I'm sure the more you deal death out, the closer you'll become to it." Was that a threat?

"Enough," I said sharply. I was done with his bull and Rose didn't need to hear any more of it either. "We're going."

"Wait, wait," Victor said, sounding amiable. "You haven't told me about Vasilisa yet."

Rose moved toward the cell again. "Stay away from her. She doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Seeing as I'm locked away here, I have no choice but to stay away from her, my dear. And you're wrong- Vasilisa had everything to do with everything." Oh, that son of a bitch! He tricked us into coming here.

"That's it," Rose said, the answer dawning on her as well. "That's why you sent the note. You wanted me here because you wanted to know about her, and you knew there was no way she'd come talk to you herself. You had nothing to blackmail her with."

"Blackmail's an ugly word."

"There's no way you're going to see her- at least outside of the courtroom. She's never going to heal you. I told you: You're going to get sick again, and you're going to die. You're going to be the one sending me postcards from the other side."

"You think that's what this is about? You think my needs are that petty?" His playful tone was gone and he seemed to have taken on a semi-crazed look. The weight of jail was showing on him for the first time and I was glad. I hoped it ate at his sanity every day of his damn life. "You've forgotten everything, why I did what I did," he continued. "You've been so caught up in your own shortsightedness that you missed the big picture I was looking at."

He was referring to the uprising he wanted to stage in order to eliminate the Strigoi race. He was… insane.

"You wanted to stage a revolution-still want to. That's crazy. It's not going to happen." Rose was repeating my thoughts out loud.

"It's already happening. Do you think I don't know what's going on out in the world? I still have contacts. People can be bought off-how do you think I was able to send you that message? I know about the unrest-I know about Natasha Ozera's movement to get Moroi to fight with guardians. You stand by her and vilify me, Rosemarie, but I pushed for the very same thing last fall. Yet, somehow, you don't seem to regard her in the same way."

"Tasha Ozera is working on her cause a bit differently that you did," I said holding back pure contempt for the man sitting in front of me. I would not let him speak about Tasha at all right now when it was already taking all of my control not to kill him for talking to Rose.

"And that's why she's getting nowhere," he said with a sneer. "Tatiana and her council are being held back by centuries of archaic traditions, So long as that sort of power rules us, nothing will change. We will never learn to fight. Non-royal Moroi will never have a voice. Dhampirs like you will continually be sent out to battle."

"It's what we dedicate out lives to." I felt my control slipping. I was not about to be talked down to about my race by some monster with an important name.

"And it's what you lose your lives for. You're all but enslaved and don't even realize it. And for what? Why do you protect us?"

"Because… we need you," Rose said. "For our race to survive."

"You don't need to throw yourselves into battle for that. Making children isn't really that difficult."

"And," Rose continued, "because the Moroi… the Moroi and their magic are important. They can do amazing things."

Victor threw his hands up, exasperated. "We used to do amazing things. Humans used to revere us as gods, but over time, we grew lazy. The advent of technology made our magic more and more obsolete. Now, all we do is parlor tricks."

"If you have so many ideas," I said, barley able to control the sickening rage that was overwhelming, "Then do something useful in prison and write a manifesto."

"And what's this have to do with Lissa anyway?" Rose asked.

"Because Vasilisa is a vehicle for change."

We were both shocked but Rose recovered first. "You think she's going to lead your revolution?"

"Well, I'd prefer that I lead it-someday. But, regardless, I think that she's going to be part of it. I've heard about her too. She's a rising star-still young, certainly, but people are taking notice. All royals aren't created equal, you know." Clearly. "The Dragomir symbol is a dragon, the king of the beasts. Likewise, the Dragomir blood has always been powerful-that's why the Strigoi have targeted them so consistently. A Dragomir returning to power is no small thing-particularly one such as her. My impression from the reports is that she must have mastered her magic. If that's so-with her gifts-there's no telling what she could do. People are drawn to her with almost no effort on her part. And when she actually tries to influence them…well, they'll do anything she wants." The power hungry look in his eyes made my stomach turn.

"Unbelievable," Rose said, in awe. "First you wanted to hide her away to keep you alive. Now you actually want her out in the world to use her compulsion for your own psycho plans."

I was growing tired of this conversation. It was pointless and I could tell that Victor Dashkov had gotten what he wanted. Information on Lissa and getting Rose riled up. I was having a hard time containing my anger and knew a trip to the gym would be in order after this. I only needed to keep my temper in check for a few more moments.

"I told you, she's a force for change. And like you being shadow-kissed, she's the only one of her kind that we know about. That makes her dangerous-and very valuable."

He obviously wasn't aware of Adrian Ivashkov's spirit use, and his own unique abilities. We had that to be thankful for at least.

"Lissa will never do it," Rose said with a glare. "She's not going to abuse her powers."

"And Victor's not going to say anything about us," I said finally fed up. I tugged on Rose's arm indicating it was really time to go. "He's achieved his goal. He brought you here because he wanted to know about Lissa."

"He didn't find out much."

"You'd be surprised," Victor said. He looked at me and grinned a grin that almost sent me over the edge. "And what makes you so certain I won't enlighten the world about your romantic indiscretions?"

Now it was my turn with him. "Because it won't save you from prison. And if you ruin Rose, you'll destroy whatever weak chance you had of Lissa helping you with your warped fantasy." He flinched and I stepped closer, dropping my voice to show him just how serious I was about my next words. "And it'll all be pointless anyway, because you won't stay alive long enough in prison to stage your grand plans. You aren't the only one with connections." I was so angry I could only hear the sound of my heart thudding in my chest, and I could feel the air conditioning on every hair on my body. I was breathing a little heavier than I had meant, but I knew my point had been made. I didn't need to look behind me to know that Rose was a little frightened.

Victor looked completely composed. He glanced between the two of us and said, "you two are a match made in heaven. Or somewhere."

"See you in court." Rose said.

As we left I thanked the guard at the door and worked on calming myself down. I tried taking deep breaths and as we stepped into the cold I was thankful for the chilly air.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"Yes." Talking wasn't good right now.

"You sure?"

"As okay as I can be," I said honestly.

"Do you think he'll tell everyone about us?"

"No."

Silence fell between us, but I knew the questions were far from over. Rose was thinking about what I had said to Victor Dashkov. Hell, I was thinking about what I had said to him. I meant what I said, but I had never wanted Rose to see me that way. It was impossible to teach her control when I couldn't keep it, myself.

"Did you mean it… that if Victor did tell… that you'd…" She let the words die away.

"I don't have much influence in the upper levels of Moroi royalty, but I have plenty among the guardians who handle the dirty work in our world."

"You didn't answer the question. If you'd really do it."

"I'd do a lot of things to protect you, Roza." I felt a little bad that she even had to ask after all that we had been through.

"It wouldn't exactly be protecting me. It'd be after the fact-cold blooded. You don't to that kind of thing. Revenge is more my thing. I'll have to kill him."

It was supposed to be a joke but it was not amusing at all. The thought of her having to be near Victor Dashkov for longer than the court hearing made me start shaking slightly again with anger. "Don't talk like that. And anyway, it doesn't matter. Victor's not going to say anything." We finally got inside and I left Rose to head to my room to change into different clothes before heading to the gym.

My mind was reeling with everything that had been discussed in front of Victor's cell and I found myself curious about the conversation about Rose being shadow-kissed. Something he had said had caused Rose to switch from angry to curious, then to almost pleading. And why was she asking about ghosts?