I saw the glint in Mia's eyes. I saw it, and I knew what it meant. I couldn't let someone get hurt worse than they already were. I didn't think that Christian would ever recover if Tasha got hurt. This was difficult enough as it was for him already. I couldn't let Mia get hurt either, she was my friend.
"Tasha, please don't -" I cried as I sprang forward trying to do something, trying to avert the danger from Mia.
Tasha's weapon was no longer pointed at Mia. When I realised what she was going to do, it was already to late. I saw the gunfire, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the bullets to hit me. Except they didn't.
Someone had jumped between me and the bullets.
Someone I cared for, more than anything in this world.
Someone who had saved me so many times, saved my life so many times.
Someone who had fed me her blood.
Someone who now had given me the last sacrifice.
She had saved me so many times, I had feared for her life so many times. I always thought that a strigoi would get to her some day. I never expected it to be a bullet that killed her. Especially not a bullet fired from one of our allies, one of our friends. A bullet fired from Tasha's gun.
What had we done to make her hate us so much? What could a person possibly do to make somebody hate anyone so much that they killed them? Why Rose? Why not me? Why had she been so brave, so stupidly brave, to jump between me and that obnoxious bullet?
I saw Rose lying there on the ground in a pool of her own blood.
"Rose!" I screamed.
I could still feel her life pulse inside me. Someone else was screaming her name as well, someone with a Russian accent. He knelt opposite me, so Rose was lying between us. She had gone so pale. Her eyes were still open, and she opened her mouth as if she was trying to say something. I could hear the words in my head.
"Protect her, Dimitri. You have to protect her now." I didn't even realise that I said the words out loud.
"Help!" he screamed. "Someone, please, help her! Help us!"
I pressed my hand to the wound in her chest to stop the bleeding. But it was already too late. I could feel the bond weaken and her life fading inside me. I tried to push spirit into her, heal her, but I could tell that it was too late. She was already leaving this world.
"No! Rose, fight!" I said. "Come on, you have never given up before. Don't give up on me now!"
"Is she..." Dimitri couldn't finish the sentence.
I shook my head and saw the hope ignite in his eyes.
Then a wave of incredible pain raced through me. It felt like someone was taking a hot iron and burning holes in my chest. My head arched back as I tried to breathe through the pain. I was inside her. I was inside Rose.
"Lissa?" Dimitri's voice was filled with fear. Something I had never heard in his voice before. I couldn't answer because the pain was embracing my whole being. Three words were floating in my mind. Three words and then nothing. They come first.
"No!" I screamed as the emptiness filled me and began to do CPR on her, trying to revive her. Dimitri pushed my hands aside and began to do CPR himself. His face was determined, he was not going to let her die.
I once again touched her hand and tried to call upon spirit so I could bring her back to me again, but spirit wouldn't come. I felt empty. Empty of spirit, empty of her.
"She's gone. She's gone." I whispered, the emptiness still filling me.
Someone put their arms around me and tried to drag me from her side.
"No!" I screamed. "Leave me alone! Rose, no! Don't leave me Rose, don't do this to me! Rose please!"
I tried to struggle against the arms but they were stronger than me.
"Lissa. Lissa! She's gone. Rose is gone. I'm so sorry Lissa, but she's gone. It's over, babe, it's over." Christian whispered in my ear as he was trying to calm me down.
I saw Janine and Abe run towards her, towards us. They held hands as they knelt before their dead daughter. Janine's face was wet from tears. She closed her eyes and took a ragged breath.
At the same time, the EMTs finally arrived. They took Rose's pulse, and then pushed Dimitri's hands aside as they got her on a backboard and carried her away. Dimitri tried to follow them, but the guardians, who had kept a respectful distance until now, stopped him.
He looked me in the eyes and begged me to help him as they dragged him away from the pool of Rose's blood. He cried her name as they almost carried him away. I freed my hands from Christian's grip and ran to the ambulance to ride with her. Before I could get there, Abe took one of my hands.
"Do you still... You know... Is she...?" He asked.
I shook my head and went to go into the ambulance with Janine.
But before I could get there, two guardians stopped me and dragged me away in the opposite direction of Dimitri. I too screamed Rose's name as they forced me away.