This story was adopted from TheDeadlyEscape. Chapters 1, 4, 5 and 6 were mostly written by her, excluding any characters' POV apart from Rose. However, I have edited her pre-written chapters, adding on to them to give more detail, editing any small mistakes and I have also made some minor/semi-major changes to the plot.

Disclaimer- Vampire Academy does not belong to me, it was written and created by the ever-talented Richelle Mead. Unfortunately, that means I don't own sexy Dimitri Belikov either. Seriously, I totally wouldn't mind that. If I could I would.

Disclaimer- The title of all chapters belong to Linkin Park. I did not create the songs nor did I have any influence over them.

I backed up, the sting of those words hitting me hard as it he'd slapped me. Something shifted in his features, like maybe he knew how much he'd hurt me. I didn't stick around to see. Instead, I pushed my way out of the aisle and ran out the doors in the back, afraid that if I stayed any longer, everyone in the church would see me cry.

Richelle Mead, Spirit Bound

"I wanna run away,
Never say goodbye.
I wanna know the truth,
Instead of wondering why."
Runaway, Linkin Park.

RPOV

I heard the beginning notes of the song Talk Dirty To Me start up as I walked out on the stage. I had memorised all the choreography so I just had to try to clear my mind. It's like when that song that you haven't heard in years comes on the radio, and you know every single word until you actually start thinking about it, then your mind goes completely blank.

That's how I was with dance. I didn't think about the steps, I just went with it. Sure, I thought plenty when I was learning them, but I never forgot them.

I did the first few moves, then my two back-up dancers came on stage. It was brighter up here, so the audience was blurry, which was just the way I liked it. When you start concentrating on the audience rather than the dance, that's when you mess up. Believe me, I learnt it the hard way, back when I was an amateur.

I worked at a club called The Red Door. When you walked in, the bar was farther up on the right side and on the left was an elevated tiled platform, the dance floor. You could take a few steps forward and then take a left to go up stairs where the V.I.P sat. It was more secluded.

On the upper right, way past the bar and even past the restrooms, was a small room where you could go if you wanted to see the strippers. Of course, there were a lot of cameras and security guards back there. The only part of the room you could see from the bar was the door. It was a glass door, but the glare kept you from seeing what was inside.

Farther to the upper left was a glass wall with one glass door. Inside was where I was. This room was where everyone performed. Most people danced hip-hop, although occasionally they would hire a singer. It had a decent sized stage that was elevated about waist-height from the audience. The lighting in here was adjusted differently so you could see the performers better.

After Dimitri had given me the whole 'love fades, mine has' speech four years ago, I couldn't take it. Being near him, even living at Court with the possibility of running into him was him was too much for me. I packed a bag and left. Luckily for me, two of my co-workers here and my new best friends let me share an apartment with them and we split the rent.

I stopped dancing and stood there, not even breathing hard as people cheered. Dancing required the same amount of stamina as being a Guardian did, and while I was away I had improved greatly at both jobs. In fact, I also had a job at this club as the highest Guardian working here. Alex, one of my roommates, did an elaborate bow. My other roommate, Jessie just stood with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. I had warned her the cigarettes would take away her breath. She was a Moroi, therefore not made for exercise like Alex and I, not to mention the impact of cigarettes on her overall health.

"Good night?" Derek asked, walking up to me. I nodded and stripped off my gold crop-top and tight black shorts. It might seem weird, but Derek was cool with me changing in front of him. We had a friends with benefits relationship, so why would it matter? I put on pair of black ¾ leggings and a tight green shirt that went just past my bra but had a high neck, barely showing my collar bones. Glancing in the mirror, I came to my conclusions. I look sexy as hell. Well, that's not much different from the usual.

"I guess," I muttered, grinning at my own thoughts and running a brush through my hair. I looked over and took in Derek's appearance. Gray sweat pants and a black T-shirt. The sweat pants were a great match to his storm-cloud eyes. Derek's sandy blonde hair was styled to look messy, harshly reminding me of someone I left back at Court. Derek and I always did the dances together that were, well, sexual.

The next song started to play so Derek and I quickly jogged on the stage and started. This one was a little more complicated, but I tried to clear my mind.

This time, Derek had to get close to me and we had to dance, well, together. One moment we would be dancing, the next he would throw me between his legs, and a second later he would throw me on his shoulders. The shoulders part was the best.

He grabbed my arm and I had to use a little momentum to get myself up there on his shoulders. The hard thing was that he didn't hold my legs or anything. I had to latch my feet around his sides. Then he danced. It was kind of techno where he had to do the jerky movements. My arms copied what his did, though I couldn't move my legs. Then I had to do a back-flip off and when I landed, he would swipe me off my feet and on the floor, laying on top of me and moving his hips. Then I playfully push his chest and it would make him go up on his feet. I don't know how he did it without even bending his knees. When the song was over, we were in an compromising position with him standing and holding me. I had my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck and he had his hands on my thighs.

The crowd clapped and he gently dropped me. As always, I heard the few wolf-whistles that would follow. Then I looked around at the ever-increasing crowd and saw something I never wanted to see, let alone thought I would see.

Sitting at a large table and looking at me curiously was none other than Christian Ozera. He shared the table with three others. Adrian to his left, Eddie to his right and a dhampir that I had yet to meet next to Eddie. Adrian's face was a surprise—he looked happy, but something about him seemed . . . Off. Confusion, realisation, surprise, or a mixture of all three. I really wasn't sure. Fuck. Of course, he would have noticed something with my aura and me thinking about it would probably make it more obvious. Shit. I just can't win tonight. Against my own will, I instinctively glanced around. Strange, isn't Dimitri supposed to be Sparky's Guardian?

"Rose," Derek prompted me, motioning back stage. I nodded and quickly walked off the stage to where Alex and Jessie were laughing about something, already dressed in the next outfit.

Alex stopped when she noticed the surprised expression on my face, mixed with a bit of anxiousness. She shot me a look, to which I shook my head. Not now, I mouthed, later.

"Get dressed," Jessie ordered me as soon as she saw me, oblivious to my conversation with Alex.. I stuck my tongue out at her and changed into the outfit that Jessie chucked at me as soon as I was off stage. We were all dressed the same now. Tight black shorts and a loose shirt that once again came just a couple of inches below my bra. It was tight enough to not fly up to flash anyone, but still loose.

"Ready?" I asked, tying on my red Vans to match the shirt. They both smiles and we all walked on stage for the final time tonight. It was a Ne-Yo song; Beautiful Monster. The song was a personal request of mine, I loved him. In fact, I had completely choreographed this dance by myself, with no help from anyone. I was in the centre as usual, with Alex on my right and Jessie on my left. I cleared my face of emotion as I started to move.

This song contained a lot of suggestive moving. At one point all of us had to drop to the ground and roll our hips a few times, grinding the shiny, waxed floor. I barely thought of it anymore, especially today when I had to work to get any thoughts of them out of my head.

She's a monster
Beautiful monster
Beautiful monster
But I don't mind
And I need her
Said I need her
Beautiful monster
But I don't mind

I jumped off the floor and jerked my head to the left. This was a move that was already planned, but today as I whipped my head from the left to the right rapidly, there was more power in my gaze. I think I actually gave a sigh of relief, but that's when I saw him. Over in the corner, next to the door, was a man in a brown leather. From my vantage point on the stage I couldn't make out the face of the man in the dark corner, but it had to be him. No one else in the world would have that long dark haircut, a tall 6"7 frame and could wear a duster and still look hot. Stop, you can't do this to yourself now. Dance now, think about the Russian God later. And shit, stop calling him a God.

Even as I spoke to myself, I couldn't pull my gaze away. Squinting, I almost tripped in shock at where that leg-quivering gaze he had was directed- Me. This was one of the few times that I was infinitely glad for those blinding spotlights. There was definitely no way that he—or any of them, thankfully—had recognised me though. As far as they knew, I had absolutely no interest in dancing. As far as they knew, I only wanted to be a guardian for Lissa. I guess that image of me was shattered when I left the Court though.

In her eyes
There's love and fire
In my heart
She's burning through
But I don't mind
In fact I like it
Though I'm terrified
I'm turned on but scared of you

Throw my hair, one hand on my hip, roll my hips . . . Unknowingly, I was working harder to put on a show, make him jealous and guilty for his loss. Shame he couldn't see through those damned spotlights, maybe he would feel a bit of the pain that he had caused me.

Suddenly, my nausea swelled up and a suspicious figure in my peripheral vision caught my attention. The only thing my eyes focused on were his own red-rimmed eyes. How could one have gotten in? It was impossible, yet as my mind considered it, there were probably quite a few distractions that could've gotten him through the Guardians. Even the 3 Guardians in this room were more focused on me than the crowd. If there was one, there could be more . . .

DPOV

Walking through the glass door that was on the upper-left side of the packed club, I instinctively glanced around to gather my bearings. In front of me was an elevated platform, a stage. To regular people, it would be waist-height. To me? It barely reached my thighs, if that. The stage was fairly big, enough to comfortably fit 6 dancers without having them feel cramped for space. The room itself was spacious, and off to my right were 8 or so tables. I spotted an empty table, which surprised me because the was room was already filling up fast. I motioned to Eddie Castile and Callum Finnigan, the two other Dhampir Guardians on duty, to bring Christian and Adrian over to the abandoned table. There were enough chairs to fit all 5 of us, but I chose to stand in the darkened corner next to the door. The lighting in here was different than the rest of the club, but it just added to the benefit of keeping me concealed. Surely people would get suspicious of a 6"7 man in a leather duster, which was obviously not appropriate attire for clubbing.

As a catchy beat started playing, the crowd all simultaneously turned their heads toward the stage, trying to get a glimpse over the person standing in front of them. I must've been the only person not looking at the stage, as it was my duty to watch both Christian and scan the crowd for potential threats. The song was okay, but it wasn't really my thing.

I sensed three figures enter the stage, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed their tight gold and black attire. That was all I allowed myself, just a peek so I wouldn't get distracted from the real task at hand. Keeping Christian safe was my highest priority, no matter how entrancing the dancers were.

The song ended, and I couldn't help but notice the dancers stood on the stage. One even did an eleborate bow, one was breathing heavily, and the other . . . The middle girl looked like she'd just nothing, maybe a short jog at most. That kind of stamina would have made her a great Guardian, had she decided to follow that career. Was she even a Dhampir? When I went to glance again, the three women had already disappeared over to the side of the stage.

As the next beat thumped through the sound system, I betrayed myself and looked at the stage in hopes that the women would reappear. Luckily, she did, but she was followed shortly by a muscled Dhampir with sandy blonde hair.

The two danced well together, but the dance was too, for lack of a better word, sexual. With some of the daring moves they performed, I felt scandalised. They were never more than 3 inches apart, and at one stage she was on his shoulders, both dancing in such a way that they could've been one person. She back-flipped off of him, again reminding me of her skill, and I noticed she was a Dhampir. In fact, when she flipped her head, there seemed to be black on her neck . . . Was she a promised Guardian? With that skill, why would she have any reason to leave her job?

The song ended, and for some reason I felt regret watching her walk off the stage. Hopefully she would come back on for more, so I could investigate her more.

Granting my wishes, she returned a few minutes later, dressed in a bright red mid-riff top and those tight black shorts. She had on red Vans, and the outfit was matching to the other two girls who walked on the stage as well. One was a Moroi with black hair that came just below the shoulders, and the other a Dhampir with tan skin and long blonde hair. Through the spotlights, I wasn't able to see much more in terms of appearances. I could only see their hair and bodies, their faces all faded into the bright light. The middle Dhampir, the one that caught my eye, was much more skilled than the others. She had tan skin, and her hair . . . It reminded me far too much of my Roza's hair. It was a deep shade of brown, and maybe a few inches longer than Rose's was last time I had seen her, four years ago. It hurt too much to think about, I should've never said those words. Snap out of it, Dimitri. Focus.

Unfortunately, the song lyrics were not doing too much to help me, either.

She's a monster
Beautiful monster
Beautiful monster
But I don't mind
And I need her
Said I need her
Beautiful monster
But I don't mind

In her eyes
There's love and fire
In my heart
She's burning through
But I don't mind
In fact I like it
Though I'm terrified
I'm turned on but scared of you

That was exactly how I felt about Rose. I think she would've liked this song. No one knew where she was, let alone if she was still alive. All this pain was because of me, and I felt unconditional guilt. She's still alive. You'll find her one day. For now, get back to your job.

I tried to focus, I really did, but the girls' moves were too captivating. For some reason, my eyes kept coming back to the centre girl. Her hips, her height, her skin, her hair . . . No. It can't be. It's impossible. Rose doesn't even like dancing, why would she work here? You've seen her moves, you know she's terrible. Plus, this girl is way more toned than Rose is. Yet as I told myself these things, it all began to fit together.

As the girl swung her head rapidly from side to side, it suddenly stopped, and I knew where her gaze was placed—me. I think I was just hallucinating, but I swear I finally broke through that blinding spotlight, and it was like my Roza's gorgeous eyes were staring back at me. No. Stop kidding yourself. It's not her. I'll give you a thousand reasons why it's not her.

I sighed, accepting defeat from myself. If only it were her, I might get a chance to apologise for all that I've done. It won't be enough, it'll never be enough. No, this girl was coordinated at dancing, and had plenty more muscle than Rose had. Rose still had a bit of puppy fat, this lady was fully grown and had absolutely no fat more than was needed. If only...

I was shocked out of my own thoughts by the scene opening in front of me—the Rose look-alike had stopped suddenly. One of the other dancers was confused, but the other, the blonde-haired Dhampir, looked like she was catching onto the brunette Dhampir's thoughts.

Her face. The dancer's face. It wasn't filled with fear, or anxiety. It was filled with something else, and as the spotlights were shut off, I realised what that was, and that perhaps scared me more than any other emotion.

Determination. Determination to kill.

Make sure to donate to the Frostbite project on IndieGoGo!

How did you like it? I originally hadn't planned for the Strigoi but I don't know, I just thought of it and I couldn't help myself, oops. Anyway, please review! Don't hesitate to provide healthy criticism and please point out if I've made a mistake! If you have any thoughts of what to include or where this should go, feel free to share with me! Also go check out TheDeadlyEscape's account, the amazing person who let me adopt this story and even completely change the outcome.

Thank you guys, and stayed tuned for more! xx

Check my profile for links to my VA Facebook page, Twitter, Tumblr, Ask. fm and personal Instagram!