Well, here's the next chapter... I'm posting this a little early as I have an early start tomorrow morning and I may not be able to update!! Oh! But I will update as I did last time....Every morning at the same time... (Here in Australia)...

Disclaimer.... Ms Mead owns nearly all characters other than the ones I've made up!! Thanks for your reviews guys... You all make me smile!

Chapter Two.

Truth Be Known.

Dimitri's Point Of View.

I looked out of the car window even though it was fairly dark. Even with my eyes I could only just make out that we were in a heavily treed area. I didn't know what to make of what happened on the plane with Rose and the blood. How could she smell it? And even if that could be explained easily, why did it smell like that to her? Blood had a rusty, metallic smell, not sweet and certainly not like cookie dough. Everything about this pregnancy was out of the ordinary. Just then Rose moaned and closed her eyes, she leant forward and I only had enough time to realise that she was feeling sick when my whole world turned upside down.... The car was screeching to a halt, and then it veered off to the side of the road.... I saw a flash of something on my right hand side out of the windows. A person? Then the car hit the embankment and started to roll. I tried to hold onto Rose but none of us had seatbelts on and we were thrown forward in the car. I've never been in a washing machine, but I would think that it was something like what happened next.

There was crunching and smashing of glass.... the girls were screaming. I felt stinging in my arm and then my head hit against the inside of the car somewhere. The car finally stopped but I was so dazed.... I tried to open my eyes, but all I could see were stars before me, I tried to get up, but I kept falling back to the ground, I could tell that the car was upside down and we were all now on the roof...my head was pounding and I could feel something running down my arm, I wiped my hand on it and I knew instantly it was blood, I could smell it. Suddenly my vision started to clear a bit and I found Christian lying in front of me, he was moaning but starting to come around. Next I found Pavel; he was in pretty much the same condition as me. Then just ahead of me, I heard a windows smashing. I looked up to see Rose and Lissa being pulled out of the broken door windows. I crawled as fast as I could while yelling at Rose, she was totally unconscious, so I yelled at Pavel to help. I grabbed onto an arm each of Rose and Lissa and waited for Pavel to get here, but whoever had them was way too strong. They were pulled out of my grip.

"PAVEL! HELP.... Go through the window... quick, they're being taken." Pavel dove through the open window that Lissa had been dragged through and I went through the other one. I looked up to see Strigoi, lots of them. They hadn't taken them away yet so it didn't take long for Pavel and me to be on them. Something snapped in me, everyone seemed to be getting slower, I could see the shoulder movements of the strigoi before their arms moved so I was ready for them, I blocked each punch, each strike or kick... Even though I was 'officially' on vacation and not guarding, I still had my stake. I never went anywhere without it, after what happened to Ivan Zeklos, my first charge, I vowed never to be unprepared again. I grabbed the stake from its holder and thrust it into the strigoi's heart.

I could see there were a lot of Strigoi and the ones who had the girls were off and running, everything in me wanted to run after them but the other strigoi were keeping us occupied. I then saw one pulling Christian out of the car, so I ran over and jumped onto him and staked him through his back. Christian was now awake and he came out of the car with flames in his hands. He looked to where the strigoi had taken Rose and Lissa, but they were too far away for either one of us to catch them, I could only just make out their bodies in the darkness. The look in his eyes was murderous and for the first time in my life, I was actually scared of the power of a Moroi. I've seen Christian in action before, but it was nothing like this. Fire flew from his hands with such force I had to fall backwards or get burnt. Within seconds all the remaining strigoi burst into flames, there were about ten or fifteen. He went to run off after the girls but I had to pull him back.

"No Christian. We can't..."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" He yelled. "You expect me to just stand here while they take off with my wife, with Rose? You're just going to let them go? I never expected you to be the coward Dimitri." I winced at that, but I knew there was no way we would ever catch them. We couldn't even follow them, we had no way to.

"How do you expect to follow them Christian? Tell me how..... Tell me and I will gladly lead the way. Do you know where they're heading? Because I don't, they could be anywhere by now and you know it. We have to get help, help from those who know this area, those who may know exactly where they're heading." He stared at me with his forehead knotted up and then turned to face the woods were the loves of our lives had been taken.

"I can't lose them Dimitri." He said with so much pain. "I'll die if anything happens to them."

"I know Christian, I know." Just then Pavel came up behind me.

"Belikov, the other car will be here in a minute and I've got in touch with Abe and the French Moroi council. They're sending out a task force of Guardians and they'll meet us at the resort. Abe said he's on his way with Guardian Hathaway."

I nodded to him but looked back to where they'd taken Rose. I didn't know if I was strong enough to leave, everything in me wanted to run after her, maybe I'd get lucky and be able to pick up a trail.

"Belikov! We have to go. There's nothing we can do here." I turned to face him and saw that the other car had already arrived and Christian was just getting in so I walked over and went to get in beside him but before I left I looked back and made a silent promise. I'll find you Rose, no matter what I will never stop.

We got to the resort and as I walked into the foyer I felt a stab to my chest, Rose would have absolutely loved it here. Just then my cell phone rang, so I answered it as we walked into a large conference room.

"Hello?"

"Dimka? It's Oksana. Abe just told me what happened. Mark and I are coming with him and Janine, also some other guardians from the academy, Adrian & Viktoria too. Is it alright for Viktoria to come, she's rather insistent."

"Yeah, its fine with me but you might want to ask my mother. Oksana, can you go to Rose, can you see where she is?"

"Yeah, hang on," she said and then it was quiet. I knew I had to wait for her to come back, but the silence from her was killing me. "She's still alive but she's in pain, it's her shoulder again. She's in a large room, stone walls, no windows." My heart fell, there was no way for her to see where she was, and no way we could get a position. "It's cold.....really cold. There's stairs leading upwards, so she's maybe in a basement. She's chained to a wall......" not good... if Rose was chained to a wall then she wouldn't be able to get away very easily. Then Oksana started to whisper like she was Rose....... "Lissa? Lissa are you alright? Wake up Liss, Liss.... Lissa! She's scared that something's wrong with the princess. Hang on, someone's coming." My heart skipped a beat waiting to see what was going to happen. "She's faking being out to it still. She has her eyes shut, I can't see if it's someone that I know." Then there was silence.

"What is it Oksana?" but she said nothing. "Oksana, tell me what's wrong."

"He's telling her that he knows she's awake. She's looking up......No!" she whispered.

"What? Oksana... what?"

"Viktor! He's still alive, he didn't die, and he's got them." She said. Chills went down my spine......Viktor? How in the hell did he get out of that house?

"If you find out anything else Oksana, please ring me back. The others have arrived and I need to talk to them." She said she would so I hung up to talk to the people who'd just come in.

"Guardian Belikov?" I nodded to him; he was not what I expected. He wasn't overly large, maybe 5' 10" tall and was in his late 30's if not early 40's. But I could tell he was a tough man. "My name is Pierre Montague." I was shaking his hand as Christian came around the corner.

"Do you know where they might have taken them?" Christian asked.

"There are a few places that we know of Lord Ozera that Strigoi frequent, but we need to get enough guardians together so that we can check them all out. They have a habit of knowing when we raid and then alerting other covens. Please know that we are doing everything that we can to get Queen consort Vasilisa back." I couldn't believe he didn't mention Rose.....

"She's not alone Guardian Montague, you know that don't you? She has her bond mate with her." He looked at me confused. "Guardian Rose Hathaway is her bond mate and they were both taken."

"Then she is most likely already killed or turned if she is Dhampir." He said matter-of-factly.

"No, she's not." I said. Those within earshot turned to look at me. "Do you know of Moroi who have bonded with others?"

"Yes, I have heard of this, but it happened a long time ago."

"No, it happens more than most think. Rose is bonded to Lissa, sorry Vasilisa. They are both pregnant as well." He was very shocked to hear this. "We have another two spirit users coming as well, one also has a bond mate."

"Spirit users?"

"It's too hard to explain right now, just know that we don't have a lot of time and I know that Rose and Lissa are both alive, for now. So we need to get the rescue plan up and running soon." He looked between me and Christian as if to ask who was actually in charge.

"Didn't you hear him Guardian? Guardian Belikov is in charge here, you'll need to co-ordinate with him and then when the others get here you'll have more than enough people to help." We had to wait for the sun to rise anyway, so we got to planning.

* * * * *

Rose's Point Of View

I started to become aware, my head felt like it was going to explode..... My arms ached and I could feel they were above me. My shoulders ached too, my right one especially and I was cold, so cold my body shivered. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a stone room with no windows....damn... the ceilings had beams of wood crossing over it and there was a staircase leading up to another floor. It was so cold down here and it smelt damp. I looked over to my right and saw Lissa on a makeshift bed, she didn't look too hurt other than some scratches and bruises that were just starting to come out.

"Lissa? Lissa are you alright?" I whispered, "Wake up Liss, Liss.... Lissa!" I stared at her but she wasn't moving.... I really started to panic now, I watched closely to see if she was breathing and she was. I looked to see if she was bleeding further down, if anything had happened to the twins, there'd be a lot of blood, but there wasn't so I was hopeful. Just then I heard the door above the staircase open so I slumped down off my feet and dangled by my chained arms..... Shit, my shoulder hurt! Hopefully whoever it was would think I was still out to it and come close enough that I could get hold of him. I could feel my heart beat faster and my nauseas increase as my captor came closer. I was dealing with strigoi.....again! Whoever it was walked very quietly as I couldn't tell how far away from me they were.

"Rosemarie," That voice.... I knew that voice. Oh God!!! Viktor..... "I know you're awake. Unconscious people's heart rates don't accelerate when they are approached." I swallowed as I opened my eyes and stood up to face the bane of my existence. To see him standing there in front of me filled me with so much fury I didn't know if I was going to be able to contain it. How in the hell did he survive? "What? Not happy to see me? Well that's disappointing, I'm very happy to see you. Especially considering you brought my lovely niece with you."

"Come a little closer you prick and I'll show you just how happy I am to see you."

The evil laugh that came from him would normally have sent chills down my spine, but I was so angry at the moment it just served to fuel my murderous intent. "Oh Rosemarie. I've so missed your wicked tongue. You know.......I may have to keep you around a little longer just so I can have my....fill....of you, wit and all. You're probably wondering how I'm still here... Well, your mother certainly pushed her stake in far enough; it just missed its mark. You Hathaway's have a habit of doing that, don't you? Missing the heart......maybe you should both do some retraining with the stake."

"Give me one and I'll start my lessons with you." He smiled, then he started to walk closer to me and I was about to lift my legs to pull him down when I noticed that they were also chained to the wall. He came to me and put his face right at my neck and took a deep breath.

"What's different about you Rose, you smell different. Ah!.........You're carrying another life..... Well then, who's been a naughty girl? I thought you were madly in love with Belikov? I take it you've changed your mind and decided on Ivashkov instead."

"What if I said yes?"

"Well then, not only do I get you, but I get my lovely niece and a couple of children too. But I don't know if I'll just wait till the babies are born to turn her or if I'll just.....cut it out now....."

"YOU BASTARD! LEAVE HER ALONE!" I screamed at him. Obviously it was loud enough to stir her as she started to moan. "Leave her alone Viktor or so help me God you'll pray you were never born...."

"And which birth would you be talking about Rose, the first one or the second?" The smirk on his face was making me madder and madder, but stuck here; there was nothing I could do about it. I just stared at him as I spoke to Lissa through the bond; hopefully she was conscious enough to hear me.

Lissa, can you hear me? Don't move, we were taken by Strigoi after the car accident and there's one here with us at the moment but he's not interested in you yet, so don't move. I need you to stay still and I'll let you know when he leaves. Lissa, don't be scared but the strigoi is Viktor.... Please, don't move... can you hear me?

Viktor has us? Oh God Rose......I thought he was dead?

Yeah well, it seems that he's proving to be a little hard to kill. But at the first opportunity, I will rectify that.

"Not so talkative now Rosemarie?" he snarled. "So, you never said why you chose Ivashkov, was it his money and stature?"

"Who said Adrian is the father?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise and then cocked his head to the side and his red ringed eyes lowered over my body....

"Well, that is weird." Then he looked into my eyes again with confusion. "Why are you carrying someone else's baby?" I had no idea what he meant by that but it just got me angrier.

"I'm not! This is my baby." His eyes narrowed as he looked back down to my stomach.

"I don't think so Rosemarie. Not unless you've suddenly changed into a Moroi." What was he going on about?

"What? You're even crazier now than when you were alive."

"Rosemarie, this child you're carrying, it's not Dhampir......its Moroi." Now was my turn to be utterly speechless.