Hi everyone, I've become so inspired by some of the stories I've read on this site that I decided to try my hand at it. I hope you like it and please please please review/leave comments. Thanks

Chapter 1

Sitting alone in a cell all day is a sure fire way of going stir crazy, something I was experiencing down in the dank underground holding cells of Guardian HQ. I'd been down there two long days, yet it felt like months, with no way of passing the time but the thoughts in my own head. And Lissa's, but I was trying not to go there.

She kept sending me messages through the bond which I was desperately trying to keep closed, to no avail. Don't worry Rose. We won't let anything happen to you Rose. Etc.

As much as I wanted to trust what she said I couldn't. I knew she meant the words, our bond would instantly shed light on any untruths she tried to pass on, but I just couldn't. My situation was near hopeless and I knew it.

My grim attitude wasn't helped by the fact I had no protection down here from spirits side effects. I had been stripped of everything but the clothes on my back upon entering and so any charmed objects I held to keep the darkness at bay had been confiscated. I felt the anger and frustration I was actually feeling being amplified by spirits instability and I knew that this added with the solitary confinement was going to drive me insane a lot faster than the average prisoner.

But then again who was I kidding; I'd be executed within days from what I had picked up from Abe, conversations Lissa had been in and eavesdropping on my Guardian prison wardens. They wanted my trial resolved quickly and the Queens murderer executed as soon as possible to boost morale. Remembering this only added more worry and frustration to my already over flowing mind.

'I'M INNOCENT DAMN IT!' I had taken to yelling angry protests randomly, sometimes while pacing, but the cell was small and I became easily agitated when not able to fully stride out purposefully as the act of pacing requires. Instead I sat against the wall or pounded my fists on the bars, like a caged animal. It could be seen as degrading, but I'd never been one to sit back and do nothing.

Pacing also allowed me to appreciate the cell, for this was not just any cell. This was the cell Dimitri had sat in night after night, although under decidedly different circumstances, we'd both been considered dangerous and there was some small comfort in knowing we shared something. There was an even bigger comfort in knowing he'd been here, touched these walls, and slept on this bed.

Sleeping on that bed it wasn't hard to imagine Dimitri's arms circled around me, whispering comfortingly in Russian in my ear as I drifted off to sleep. In any other situation this would be dangerous territory, but knowing my life may soon come to an end had changed my perspective. Dimitri may not love me the way he once had, or the way I loved him, but I could still remember a time when he had. A time when I'd been truly happy. What harm could it do now that I was all but sentenced to death.

I had no idea what time it was, windowless cells will have that effect, but I figured my drooping eyes signalled I should try and get some sleep before another busy day of counting ceiling cracks and planning doomed attempts at escape.

Because yes, I did have plans to escape, or prove my innocence, not sure which was the more viable option or in fact if either option had any chance for success. But I knew one thing for certain; Rose Hathaway would not go down without a fight.

Some sort of kerfuffle at the door leading upstairs caught my attention as I started climbing into the bed which was either made of lumps of soft rock, or had become so mouldy over the years that it now resembled a cobble stone road. I peered into the dark corridor, lit only by a few dim and often flickering lights.

'You don't have the authority.' I heard a guardian speak who I'd come to recognise as being not exactly the quickest thinker. 'Does he?' I could see the guardians profile now as he turned to one of his colleagues, one of six guardians that were stationed by my cell.

'Not likely, he isn't even a guardian anymore.' The second guardian who I believed to be called Jasper or similar replied, an unsure note quivered in his voice but his face was full of mocking. I made a mental note to kick him if I ever got out of there, hard. I also realised who they were talking about and my heart leaped before I slammed it down. We'd both made our choice.

'Let him in, she can't do much with all of us here watching now can she?' A third guardian and the most superior I assumed by the way he addressed the slow guardian and his pal Jasper. He was also a friend of Dimitri's whom I recognised as one who had found all the questioning of the newly Dhampir Dimitri outside the church that day pointless and amusing. I liked him.

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee must have recognised the authority of Dimitri's friend at that point because they stepped aside (with some mumbling from the first guardian, very unprofessional). Dimitri then walked in, past the other three silent guardians and strode over to my cell, closely followed by none other than Christian Ozera, now this was turning out to be an interesting visit.