I'm so excited because of you guys' reviews that I just have to keep writing! I also end up writing a little bit more every chapter, which I hope you enjoy. (: Did I mention how much I love your reviews? :) I'm glad you like the story so far. I have very sneaky plans, and I'd love for you guys to try and guess what they are! A lot of people thought the person calling her name was Tomas, a few guessed Alberta, and some people were kinda weary about it being Dimitri, but only one person got it correct! Special congratulations to MadameRozaBelikova who guessed correctly. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter of my version of LS, and keep up the awesome, motivational reviews!


Last Sacrifice
Chapter Three
Alienated.

It wasn't Adrian, but it wasn't someone I'd expected to see, either.

"Hi, mom," I murmured, taking a glance around myself to make sure there was no guardians ready to spring from around a corner. I wouldn't put it past my mom to lure me into a trap after all.

"What the Hell are you doing out here?" She hissed, grabbing my arm and pulling me to a concealed area. Well, at least I was somewhat convinced she wasn't out to get me.

"Nice to see you too, Mom," I growled, ripping my arm from her grip. Last thing I needed was to be under someone else's control. "Look, to keep things short…you can't know I'm out here, alright?"

"Did you break out?"

"Well, I had some help, but more or less…yeah."

She shook her head, "And let me guess, that help was your father?" She sighed with passion, an emotion that I couldn't recognize as admiration or frustration.

"What? No!" I automatically responded. What I was answering wasn't exactly a lie, after all. "But I'm not about to tell you who helped me, either." The rule of secrecy was a must. I just hope it didn't end up getting me killed earlier than my original due date.

Janine rolled her eyes, "I think I have a good guess."

I stared at my mother, refusing the urge to run into her arms and cry. Although my mother and I had never had that close of a relationship (up until sometime last year when I had seen her for the first time and realized she wasn't just a cold hard bitch), she was still my mother, and although I was eighteen, I still felt much like a child wanting to be comforted. I wanted to run into her arms and cry like a little baby, like I was sure I had before I was shipped off to school. I wanted her to run her fingers through my hair and coo that everything was alright. I wanted her to make it alright.

Children had that sort of image about their parents; that they are, in every shape and form of the word, superheroes. Sure, my mom was a badass, ass kicking guardian with years of experience and death of Strigoi under her belt, but that didn't mean she knew the answer to everything. She was still a dhampir, and right now our voices were not being heard very well as far as the court was concerned.

I swallowed a thick lump growing in my throat, trying to fight that overwhelming feeling of letting the tears go. I wasn't sure if I had much left anyway, but the last thing I wanted was for my mother to see me cry. She wasn't very good with emotions besides anger, and I didn't have the desire to start a fight right now.

"Are you going to turn me in?" Flicking my eyes to her, I watched her stare at me as if she were contemplating something hard. I lifted my arms to cross them over my chest and cleared my throat, not allowing her to respond, "Did you even defend me, Mom?"

Her gaze immediately changed and it was like fuel had been scattered across a dying flame. Taking the small steps towards me to close our distance, she stared up into my eyes with the growing fire I had seen, her teeth clenched as she responded, "Of course I have, Rose. Of course I have. But you know as well as I that we, as Guardians, are not allowed very many opportunities to speak and express our opinions, and that makes it very hard to—"

"To what?" I seethed, narrowing my eyes, "Help the damn, egotistical Moroi stick me back in a cell where I don't belong?"

She sighed, "Rose, you have to understand that it is my job, and I promise you that being out here is not helping your case at all. You are only endangering yourself, and making it easier for them to—"

"Kill me?"

Her eyes hardened as she listened to those words. However, she chose to say nothing, as if it didn't matter to her. Instantly that feeling that had once overwhelmed me, the feeling of love and compassion I was sure she felt for me too, turned to ice, and even that fire behind her eyes could not melt it.

"Sometimes I think you forget that you're my mother," I snarled at her, taking steps back. I didn't want to be anywhere near her at the moment.

Her teeth barred, and I was glad that Dhampir did not develop fangs or else she would be even more threatening, "What are you insinuating, Rose?"

I narrowed my eyes and growled, with as much anger and hatred as I could find to put behind my words, "You don't think I'm innocent."

She looked astounded. Her mouth actually dropped and, had I not been so angry that I could light a fuse, I would have reveled in the fact that she was off guard. Her own defense, her crossed arms, fell and she stumbled backwards, as if my words had a literal physical impact on her.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and felt the crumpling of a paper. After a few more gropes at it, I realized what it was and tried not to let the surprise etch its way onto my face. The Queen's Note. I had completely forgotten it in my depressed state.

The realization and remembrance of what exactly this note contained made me kick my gears back into overdrive, and suddenly I decided I no longer had time for this. Going back inside was not an option, and neither was getting captured. I needed to find Adrian as quickly as possible, figure out just what exactly our plan was, and get the Hell out of here, as far away from the court—and Dimitri—as possible.

"I have to go," I spit out, shaking my head to rid myself of any thoughts that would cause me to linger here any longer. I had to put her and anything to do with this place in the backburners until I had everything figured out. If that ever happened, that is. "I'll..." I paused, catching myself as I bit my lip, "Have a good life, Janine."

I rebounded from the ground as fast as I could, using any amount of strength left in me after such an emotional setback. I refused to look back at her. For all I knew, she was currently on her communication device letting the rest of the Guardians know exactly where I was and where I was going. I couldn't afford any more emotional outbursts or emotions in general. I had to focus, when what I wanted to do was fall to the ground and cry. What I needed to do was run like my life depended on it. Which it did, I guess. I just never thought I'd be saying that sentence literally.

As I was running around the large expanse of the medical center, I began to think about my life here and what exactly was to become of it. I had no Earthly idea what Adrian planned to do after I found him, all I knew was that I was out of that dreary place. That and I needed to see Lissa. A small tap into our psychic bond showed me that she was unaware of what was going on, mostly because it was currently day time and she was sleeping…in Christian's bed.

I felt envious that she was living such a peaceful existence. I hungered for that type of life. I hungered for that type of life with Dimitri. I wanted to be able to fight alongside of him, protect the Moroi that didn't value our intelligence together, laugh together, go out to dinner together…but most of all, I wanted to be able to come home to Dimitri. It would be the stress reliever in my day to have his soothing, calloused hands run along my aching muscles while his lips kissed them just to make sure they were okay. It would be Heaven.

A loud screech interrupted my thoughts and I stopped in my tracks just in time to catch a black car coming to a halt in front of me. My instincts began to kick into attack mode and I readied my stance, prepared to fight hordes of Guardians to earn my freedom if I had to.

Luckily the window rolled down enough for me to see Adrian behind the wheel. He was anything but calm, which was a rare sight. Sweat was dripping down his temples and his chest was heaving, something that would have been kind of sexy had I not been in a life threatening situation.

"Don't just stare, come on!" He barked, jerking his head to the side before rolling the window back up.

I didn't wait any longer. Nodding, I ran for the door right as I heard several pairs of feet begin to bang onto the concrete behind me.

"Stop!" The voices called, along with other various things.

"Sorry boys and girls! Looks like Rose has overstayed her welcome. Hope you enjoyed the performance!"

But it wasn't over from there. One Guardian sprang from the side, trying to trap me between his arms before I could get to the door handle. Ducking beneath them, I kicked his legs out from under him, watching in fall to the ground.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," I murmured. I felt a pair of hands try and grab at my back and I dodged just in time. Had my hair been down they would have grabbed onto the long tresses, but luckily staying in "jail" had forced me to always keep it up, lest I like more dirt to grab onto it. I easily elbowed him in the side which caused him to hit the car and tumble to the ground ungracefully.

I was growing tired of the games. Spinning around, I was going to face the last one head on and take him down before he had the chance to surprise me, but Lady Luck was not on my side today. I ended up being more surprised than if they would have sprung on me.

I was facing Dimitri.

"Rose," He spoke in a warning tone, "You need to stop this immediately. You have no idea the amount of trouble you're getting yourself into."

I snorted, "In case you forgot, comrade, they're planning on killing me. You can't get in much more trouble than that."

He narrowed his eyes, and I watched him take a small, miniscule step forward. He thought he was catching me off guard by having chit chat. That was his plan was the talk me into being unguarded long enough so he could capture me.

"This isn't helping your case, Rose."

"Funny, my mother said the same thing. You can see how that would be bad, right?"

He took another step. I heightened my guard.

"So they let you be a Guardian again? How nice."

"You need to go back to the cell, Rose. It's not too late."

"You're not going to catch me off guard. I see what you're doing. You're trying to distract me long enough to get a hold on me, because you're convinced that if you do, you'll have me. You're good, Dimka, but you forget: The student always surpasses the teacher."

I swear I saw a small smile from him then, but I didn't have time to contemplate it. He was just as tired of games as I was, and he charged at me with a speed I could have sworn had grown since the last time I'd fought him as a Dhampir.

He threw his fist at me and I caught it, twisting his arm fast enough to render him useless for a second. Grabbing his other arm, I used them to steady myself and jumped, pounding my feet into his chest before releasing his arms. This sent him backwards, but he caught the fall and simply came at me again, this time going for a simple punch. I blocked it, but he had anticipated that and threw his other fist (which was luckily his weaker arm) at me, successfully landing a blow at my jaw. I heard a small crack, but I paid no attention.

He kicked at me, I blocked. I kicked at him, he blocked. This continued until I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to get anywhere anymore. Growling, I shook my head.

"Give up, Roza! You can't win."

"And neither can you."

"You're making a fool of yourself."

I narrowed my eyes, blocking another hit.

"You know, maybe you have retained a little of the Strigoi in you, but I must say, the Strigoi you was definitely more of a challenge!" I yelled before stopping the guarding and ducking down. This caused him to miss his next hit and I took the opportunity to run around to his backside, the side closest to the limo. But I wasn't just about to run. No, Rose Hathaway went out in more style than that.

I jumped onto the roof of the car and, since he was close enough, jumped off of that and landed on his shoulders. Of course my upper body fell backwards, but that worked to my advantage. Using the strength in my legs, I pulled him backwards with me, sending his body up in the air and my body underneath his. I landed on my stomach, bracing myself with my arms while he, upside down, crashed against the car. Springing up, I ran at him, grabbing his collar of his shirt and dragging him up.

"Fuck you, comrade. Fuck you."

And with that, I threw him towards the other pile of knocked out Guardians.

My hand, after what seemed like miles, finally found the handle to the black car and I threw the door open, not wasting any time also throwing myself inside. I couldn't afford to do anything else. I couldn't think. I had to get out of there before Dimitri had any time to recover.

"Go!" I yelled, and Adrian didn't have to have me say it twice before his foot found the gas and we took off.

I looked out the rearview mirror, unable to help myself, seeing the Guardians who had tried to capture me throw their fists up in anger. This caused me to smirk a little bit, but as soon as I looked to the right a little, it was wiped off my face.

Dimitri stood there, staring after the car with a look of pure hatred.

"You had no other choice," Adrian whispered to me, taking one hand off the wheel and finding mine. I swallowed another lump.

"I know," I whispered, "I know."