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Chapter 2

Rose

"Lissa, I'm home!" I announced as I walked into our apartment. "I even picked up some lunch for you from that sushi place you like so much. God only knows why," I added under my breath. I never understood how people could even stand the sight of that stuff, but Lissa loved it. I wanted to make her happy.

I called for her again, but no reply. Panic coursed through me. "Lissa? Lissa where—

I reached into the bond and felt her pain. She was upset. I felt her feelings through the bond grow stronger as I raced towards her. My heart began beating again when I found her in our room. She was sitting on her bed, staring at the framed photo of her family she usually kept on the window sill. She slowly turned to look at me when she heard me come in from the doorway, her face slightly stained with tears. "There you are," I said. I was so incredibly relieved. It was times like these where I was glad the bond didn't work both ways. I didn't want Lissa seeing all the horrible things that had just surged through my mind, horrified from thinking something had happened to her.

She abruptly began wiping away her tears, trying to shield the fact that was crying from me. "Rose—I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't be sorry," I said as I sat down next to her. She glanced back down at the photo again, pain etched across her features. I put my arm around her shoulders and gently took the frame from her hands, putting it back on her nightstand.

"Rose…I don't want you to see me like this."

"You're right, Liss. How dare you grieve for your family," I smirked, hoping the sarcastic face I was making would make her feel a little bit better. The corner of her mouth feebly curled a bit, but she was still so broken up. Seeing her like this tore my heart out. "What can I do?" I asked.

"You don't have to do anything Rose. You've already done so much." She wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in the crook of my neck. "I'm so grateful I didn't lose you too," she said softly.

"Hey," I whispered, returning her embrace. "You're not going to. I promise." I held her close, running my hands through her hair to calm her.

"You promise me, Rose?"

I pulled back and looked her square in the eye as my hands squeezed her shoulders. "I promise."

My eyes were open in an instant, and I realized where I was. Lissa and I weren't on the run. We weren't even together.

I had that damn dream again.

I let out a groan as I rolled over to my other side. As I did so, I felt something press hard against my arm. "Ow…what the?" I mumbled. It was my bracelet. The chotki Lissa had given me.

I slipped it off my wrist turned the chotki over in my hand as I lay on my bed, my other arm tucked underneath my head. The features of the Dragomir crest glistened in the sunlight that came from the window on my left. My heart lurched. This was the only piece of Lissa I took with me to Russia; a strong and painful reminder of the life I left behind. I tried like hell to give it back to her the day I left the Academy, but she just wouldn't take it. Now I was stuck taking care of it…an ironic resemblance of how I had taken care of Lissa herself for the two years when we were out on the run.

Carrying her chotki around felt like some sort of punishment—throwing in my face the choice I made to do what I needed to for Dimitri and leaving Lissa behind as a result. I thought back to that Christmas Eve dinner last year when she gave the it to me. I was so incredibly touched by it's meaning for Lissa…for us. It was supposed be proudly worn by the next Dragomir Guardian.

That title no longer applied to me.

I sighed heavily in frustration and placed the chotki back on the nightstand next to me, running my fingers through my hair. I reminded myself coming out here was a necessity—there was just no getting around it. I had to find Dimitri and destroy him. It was the only way I could save what was left of his soul.

It was the only way I could begin to move on with my life.

Besides, it wasn't like Lissa really needed me anymore. She claimed she did, but deep down I knew that wasn't true. I remembered the look in her eyes before I walked away from her—the look that seared a piece of my soul right before she said these words:

"You love Dimitri more than me." All those memories…all the things we shared…they hit me like a stake to the chest every time I thought about them.

At this point, I think it was safe to say that she loved Christian more than me. I had fulfilled my duty to Lissa. I kept her alive and well until I couldn't any longer—and I would have done it again if I had to. Putting aside my Guardian derived sense of loyalty to her, she was my best friend. I loved her.

As for the rest, bond or no bond—I just wasn't enough anymore.

It hurt when I realized I was no longer the center of Lissa's world. Part of me knew that one day we would be drawn into our own lives, and that despite being her Guardian we wouldn't be together as much as we had in the past, but I had hoped that time was still a far way off. I thought we had more time to just…be young. Have fun. Spend quality time with one another.

How wrong I was.

Life can really be a bitch that way. One moment all you're worried about is passing Trig and learning how to parallel park—and the next you're faced with the kind of life and death situations and decisions that forever shape your entire future. They're decisions that once you make, you have to live with. There's no turning back.

I was definitely not turning back now, not when I was so close to finding Dimitri. The Strigoi I eliminated had lead me all the way to this point. Even in their last moments before fully staking them, I could see the fear in their eyes when I mentioned Dimitri's name. He had been a god in combat as a Dhampir. I shuttered to imagine what he was like as a Strigoi now.

This little town outside of Novosibirsk had allowed me to lay low for a few days while I collected my thoughts. Nobody had any idea where I was—and I intended to keep it that way. I needed to strategize on how I was going to track Dimitri down. He was here…I could almost feel it in my bones.

In my gut I knew that one day, after I had destroyed him, I would see Dimitri again. The real Dimitri. And when I did, he would smile and thank me for setting him free. It was the right thing to do. Hell, it was the only thing to do.

I'm sorry if this hurts you Liss, but it's my choice.

Lissa would survive without me. She had Christian, along with Eddie, Mia, and Adrian, and had probably been assigned a new Guardian by now.

Besides…I had no idea if I was even coming back. Things were better off this way.

I felt my eyes getting heavy, and decided to let myself rest for awhile. I needed my strength for tonight…for what I had set out to do.

I was going to kill Dimitri.