Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from 'Vampire Academy' – they all belong to Richelle Mead.

This story continues from when the Strigoi are attacked in the caves – where Dimitri is originally caught and turned Strigoi.

Rose POV

As I turned to look back into the cave, I saw the blonde Strigoi bite into Dimitri's neck. I shouted for him to stop and tried to run back into the cave, only to be stopped by Stan.

"Move!" I shouted. "We have to save him!" I pointed to Dimitri.

Stan didn't even follow my hand to see where I was pointing, he simply held me back, stopping me from moving towards the love of my life.

I continued pulling away from Stan, trying to get free. Then I heard the footsteps of more dhampirs running from the cave. I looked around to see who was missing. I couldn't see my mother anywhere, or the group that she had taken in. There were a couple of other guardians missing, but I presumed that some had been killed.

I looked back to the cave to see my mothers group running towards the exit. When they reached the dim rays of sunlight, they slowed down. They were all panting from running.

Stan released me and stepped over to my mother to see if she was alright. I think that I saw him smile in her direction, a 'more than friends' smile. Without bothering to check it out, I took my only opportunity and sprinted back into the cave. I must have been quiet because I heard no shouting and no footsteps following me back in.

When I reached the point where Dimitri had been, I saw two Strigoi come out from behind me. I jumped around and tried to drive the stake through the first Strigoi's heart. He dodged my attempt and punched me in the stomach. It knocked the wind out of me, distracting me for a moment. This was all the time they needed for the second to grab both of my arms behind my back. I shouted in defence.

"Get of me!" I knew that they wouldn't, but I was hoping to get some attention from outside. When I glanced up to the entrance of the cave, I saw Stan leaning in to a hug with my mother. She turned her head in the direction of the shout and saw me, held in place by two large Strigoi's. The look of pain on her face was obvious. Without even thinking, she ran into the cave, bumping into three more Strigoi before reaching me.

I kicked the Strigoi who was holding my arms. They seemed surprised, but didn't loosen their grip. I felt something hit my head really hard, and then everything went blank.

My head hurt, a lot. When I began to hear sounds around me, I knew that I was regaining consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, but all that I could see was a small flicker of light from the very corner of my eye. I looked towards it and saw a little lamp. It shone off the surrounding walls showing me that the room was square, and not very big. There were no windows and the only door was big and metal. There was no way I could escape, at least not on my own.

Then I began to wonder where I was, and where everybody else was.

"Hello?" I called out. It was only quiet, but I knew that if anybody was going to hear me, they would have. I heard groans of pain scattered across the room.

I lifted my head and reached out for the lamp. When I moved my arm, I felt a sharp pain shoot through it. It must have been broken. I continued to reach out for the lap, this time with my other arm. I felt the same pain as before, but worse. My arm hurt so much that I jumped and fell onto my back. I heard an unsettling click and felt another staggering pain, only this time it short up my back, hitting the back of my neck. The room went blank.

This time, when I woke up, I heard voices. They were strong and confident sounding, and they were close. I opened my eyes to see where I was. It seemed exactly the same as the last room, but there was a small window at the opposite end. There were cold looking metal bars across the window, stopping anybody from breaking the clouded glass. The window brought in more light than before, so I could see the bodies scattered across the room. Most of them were still, but I could see and hear their hearts beating, so I knew they were still alive.

"What about this one?" One of the voices asked. The saw a tall figure, male, walk over towards me, but stop at the young looking person in front of me. They were small and delicate looking, and female. The light was reflecting off of her face, enabling me to see her expression. She looked scared. Her face was full of panic, which I presumed mine was too.

"She looks pale, I want someone fresh!"

I then realised that they were Strigoi, and that they were deciding who to eat for their breakfast, or lunch, or dinner – I had no clue! The window only showed me that there was a little light outside, but it was summer and most of the day was sunny.

The man walked over to the small girl in front of me and picked her up by her arms. She looked like she was in great pain.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. We'll leave her for the others, later on." The Strigoi dropped her, and I heard her bash against the cold, hard stone floor.

The Strigoi continued walking in my direction and it wasn't until he picked my up, that I realised what he was doing.

"How about this one? She looks nice."

"Back off!" I growled back.

The Strigoi looked at me, with a look of astonishment on his face.

"She can talk?" he asked the other.

"Of course I can talk, idiot!" I said, getting quieter towards the end.

The Strigoi, who I could now see was a man, looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Three days of no food, water, or communication and she still has the energy to speak. Maybe she should stay in here for a little longer, let her feel the pain that she deserves." He announced cruelly.

He dropped me onto the hard floor.

"Ow!" I yelled at him. "Watch it!" he looked angry at me. I pushed myself back and he continued looking at me until the other Strigoi said "Well, someone seems a little temperamental." I growled at him, unaware that I was doing it until he walked over to me and slapped me across the face – and it hurt, a lot!

Using all the energy I had, I stood up and threw the best punch I could directly at his face. I decided that if I was going to go down, I wouldn't without putting up a fight. The Strigoi caught my arm and twisted my wrist until it clicked. Wow, it seemed as if everything about me was breaking. I stopped trying to attack and sat down again, only to be lifted up by the Strigoi and carried out, being uncomfortably dragged by my sore wrist.

He pulled me across a dark corridor, and stopped by another metal door.

"Okay, here's how it is, little dhampir." I sobbed as I remembered Adrian calling me little dhampir.

"If you can't behave in there, we'll put you in with someone more suited to your habits. He'll definitely give you something to do before . . ." he stopped.

I felt him lift me up by the arms again, as he unlocked the door and threw me in. I was beginning to grow tired of being thrown around. I heard the door lock again behind me. Damn, no chance of him forgetting.

I looked around me and saw the shadow of a person in the corner of the room. They stood up and started walking towards me.

"Trust you to be the one locked up in here with me, Roza" I heard in a familiar Russian accent.