The Rescue

We were on the plane heading to Spokane to rescue Rose and the others from the Strigoi. Even though the plane ride was only an hour, time seemed to crawl by. Adrian hadn't been able to contact Rose again in her dreams so we didn't have any new information on their situation. The uncertainty of the situation weighed on my mind.

I was the one who told Rose about the Strigoi's in Spokane. Rose and I were fighting about Tasha because Rose had found out about her offer for me to become Tasha's Guardian and much more. She was jealous and hurt by it, thinking I had already accepted Tasha's offer. I wasn't sure who told Rose but I didn't feel comfortable talking about my relationship with Tasha to Rose. So I brought up the Strigoi trying to change the subject and stop our fighting. I was majorly regretting that decision right about now. If anything happened to Rose, I would never forgive myself. The one person who understood me, the one person I came to love, would be dead because of me.

I shook my head shaking the thought of Rose dying, not wanting to accept it was an option. Alberta scolded me when I told her that I had told Rose about the Strigoi. But she tossed it aside for the moment, wanting to get to Spokane as fast as possible. We were about to land at the Spokane Airport where black suburban's waited to take us to the Strigoi house.

We were finally on our way, the house just a few minutes away. The only thing on my mind was Please let Rose be alright. Arriving at the cul-de-sac, we turned the corner. Three people were outside the house standing in the street. As we got closer I could tell it was Eddie, Christian, and Mia standing in the road. Oh no, Where's Rose. My heart began to race as terror gripped me. I jumped out of the vehicle running to where they were. Christian and Mia didn't seem to be physically hurt in any way but Eddie had hurt his leg and was leaning on Christian for support.

"Where are Rose and Mason?" I asked trying not to let panic show in my voice. Mia looked at me, her face soaked from tears.

"She's still inside with Mason." Mia said struggling to get the words out of her mouth. "Mason was killed and Rose refused to leave him. Rose killed the two Strigoi that were here but more could be returning at any moment."

I didn't wait to hear another word. I was off heading towards the house with the other Guardians right on my heels. As I entered the house, I was stunned by what I saw. There was blood everywhere, on the floor, on the walls. Two Strigoi lay dead on the floor both of them missing their heads. I turned my gaze to Rose in the middle of the floor. She was holding Mason in her lap, gripping a sword in one of her hands. Her head was down on Mason's chest as she rocked back and forth. Seeing Rose in so much pain devastated me. All I wanted to do was run to her, wrap her in my arms, tell her everything would be fine taking away her pain. As I started walking towards her, Rose jerked up with a wild look in her eye pointing the sword in her hand at me. She was in shock not able to register who I was. She only saw me as a threat.

"Stay Back." She warned, "Stay away from him." I slowly continued to move towards her not wanting to cause her to panic hoping she would see I wasn't a threat.

"Stay back," She shrieked causing the other Guardians to stop but I kept slowly inching my way forward. In a soft soothing voice I said,

"Rose, Drop the sword."

"Get away from us." Rose said terror in her eyes

"Rose," I said again trying to get her to realize it was me. Seeing Rose like this filled my heart with sorrow. I was starting to wonder if Rose would ever be able to get over this.

"Rose, it's me, Dimitri," with that I saw the fog lift from her eyes slowly coming back to her senses, becoming aware of what was going on.

"It's Okay," I said, "Everything's going to be okay. You can let go of the sword."

"I can't. I can't leave him alone. I have to protect him." Rose said not wanting to accept that he was dead. Her hands started to shake as the adrenaline and shock started to fade from her body.

"You have," I said in a soft soothing tone.

Suddenly she broke, the sword fell from her hands landing with a loud clatter and she collapsed on all fours, the weight of the situation collapsing in on her like a ton of bricks. I went over to her putting my arms around her helping her off the floor. The other Guardians that were with me started to spread out making sure there were no other threats lurking around.

I looked down at Rose and smoothed her hair out of her face. Her face was almost unrecognizable increasing the grief I felt for her. She had no color to her face besides the splatter of blood smeared on her cheeks with a blank stare in her eyes. Oh Roza, I'm so sorry. Alberta standing behind me told me to get Rose out of there.

I started leading here to the door. So nobody could understand what I was saying, I whispered in here ear in Russian, "Rose, I never loved anybody as much as I love you and I will never leave you. Please be able to come thru this." As we were leaving, I heard one of the Guardians say in disbelief.

"She did that? Both of them? The sword hasn't been sharpened in years," filling me with pride that Rose actually learned something from our training. Beheading a Strigoi was the hardest way to kill them and required a lot of strength, to do it with a dull sword just made it that much harder. I took Rose back to the vehicle and helped her get in then I went back in the house helping the other Guardians wrap things up and take care of Mason's body.

When we got on the plane, I put Rose in one of the seats. She hadn't said a word since she had broken down at the house. She just stared out the window looking lost. I wished I could help ease the grief Rose was feeling but she was the only one who could do that. I just hoped she would be able to get pass the grief and not let it destroy her. I decided to go up front to listen to Christian, Mia, and Eddie tell Alberta the reason they went to the Strigoi house.

Mia was the one who told what happened. She said that Mason had come to her after fighting with Rose upset and told Mia about the Strigoi being in Spokane, the same ones that had killed Mia's parents. Mia still saddened by their death convinced Mason and Eddie to go with her to get payback against the Strigoi. She kept going saying that Rose and Christian caught up with them later in Spokane. While Rose and Christian were trying to convince the others to go back to the resort they were ambushed and taken hostage by the Strigoi. The Strigoi brought them to the house and tying them up in the basement. Then they starved Mia and Christian of blood wanting them to kill Rose, Eddie, and Mason knowing when Christian and Mia got hungry enough they wouldn't be able to stop themselves. Then Rose came up with a plan to use Christian's fire magic to free her hands by melting the plastic ties that bound them. While the Strigoi's human servants were the only ones watching them, Rose sprang into action catching the servants by surprised easily taking them down. They didn't run into the Strigoi until they were about to leave. Rose distracted the Strigoi allowing the others to escape. Mason went back in for Rose and ended up dying saving Rose's life. That's when Mia said something broke in Rose and she got the sword off the wall beheading both the Strigoi.

After hearing what happened, I realized how lucky I was that Rose was still alive and I owed everything to Mason. If Mason wouldn't have gone back for Rose, it would have been Rose laying there dead on the floor instead of Mason. I felt bad that Mason was dead but I couldn't help feeling grateful that it was him and not My Roza. I also realized it was going to be really hard for Rose to get pass this. Knowing Rose the way I did, I knew she would blame herself for Mason's death. I just hoped after she grieved, she would be able to move pass it.