Chapter 3 Revision
There was one text on my phone when we landed.
Tracker's in place. I may not be able to update for some time. There's been a major prison break and that is taking priority at Court for the moment. -&
The fact that there was anything trumping Vasilisa's disappearance was surprising, honestly. I spared a single thought for who could have possibly escaped one of the high-security prisons to make Court forget arguably the most valuable Royal besides the Queen herself. It was an achievement worthy of some praise to be honest, but I couldn't be bothered with more than a moment of recognition before my own goal took precedent.
We still had yet to get eyes on Adrian and the others, but we did have a location thanks to the tracker. He was, in fact, positioned in Las Vegas. The Luxor hotel to be exact.
While Las Vegas had near blindingly bright days that would make it almost impossible for Moroi to walk around (much less Strigoi) it was actually made for a fairly good haven. As long as one could get to the Strip, you could travel from place to place without ever actually seeing the sun. Nearly all the hotels were connected to one another and those that weren't had the monorail to help. Plus, the Moroi world had created hidden underground access tunnels from the Bellagio, Wynn, and Venetian – all leading to a place called The Witching Hour; a lounge specifically designed for Moroi visitors. As for travel to and from the plane? Well, a call into one of the dozens of limo services made that as easy as a blood whore looking for her next fix.
We stood in the Casino, spread out through the twisting paths of slot machines and hidden passageways between shopping stalls and information desks. There was no way for our small team to keep total visual coverage of the two public entertainment and gambling areas, so we sectioned off corners and patrolled them as best we could in hopes of seeing one of our targets.
We had been there for hours, long enough that a hostess offering drinks to gamblers had made a point of trying to catch my eye every time she passed by. I was starting to debate whether or not I had enough time to slip her into one of the restrooms and indulge myself when I felt a buzz in my pocket. It wasn't a text this time, but a call.
"I think I found them, Sir."
"Where?" Emilia was decent at her job, but I didn't want her closing in on the group alone.
"First level, near the coffee shop and elevator three." Of course. It was on the opposite side of the floor. I could easily send Luka, who was closer, but I was eager to see her with my own eyes. "They're in one of the alcoves just outside the meeting rooms. It looks to be it just her and Adrian at the moment but they also appear to be arguing."
"Send me a picture but keep your distance. You don't want to tip her off that we are nearby."
The phone buzzed again a moment later with a picture. They did seem to be having quite a heated argument. Adrian's hand was thrown to the side, finger pointing to something beyond the sight of the camera while he shouted at her. For her part, Rose looked both frustrated and somewhat ashamed, but her arms were stubbornly crossed in front of her. I could recognize that look from miles away: she wasn't going to budge, even if she knew she was in the wrong.
The line had been quiet while I studied the image, but was quickly broken when I heard the urgent shouts through the speaker.
"They're moving! Opposites directions! She's heading towards elevator 4 and he's moving towards the center of the casino."
I gave the command for her to follow Adrian but not to approach under any circumstances while I tried to spot my Roza. With so many people around, it was nearly impossible to spot her among the horde of tourists. I tried to study every square foot of the casino while simultaneously making sure to not focus too long in one spot and risk losing her.
There. I caught her hair moving briskly, alone, through a grouping of roulette tables. Pushing my way through the main gambling area rather than the designated pathways was slightly more difficult but most naturally moved out of my way; their survival instinct kicking in that told them to run from anything larger and more dangerous then themselves. Those that were too distracted or drunk to do so were quickly shoved aside.
"Hey!" A man hit one of the chairs beside him as I force him out of the way. In his slightly inebriated state, he seemed willing for a fight until he actually looked up at me. A single glare quieted his protest instantly.
That half a second though nearly cost me my goal, though, as I tried to relocate Rose.
When I was within one hundred feet, I realized something wasn't quite right about her. Her hair wasn't the intensely dark brown I was used to. It was black. She had the same tanned skin and was the right height. Her build was similar too, even if those softer curves hinted at some less rigorous training. It was that hair though. It was off.
Part of me wanted to still get closer so that I could be 100% sure. People could dye their hair and if she knew that I was going to be looking for her, perhaps she'd do exactly that. That's when she turned towards the connection access between this hotel and Excalibur. It suddenly became crystal clear that her hair wasn't the only thing that was totally wrong about the woman I had been tracking.
I cursed my stupidity, making the person next to me jump as my fist slammed their machine. The two women didn't look anything alike and if I had been paying more attention rather than letting my vendetta get the best of me I would have noticed that her clothing was nothing like what I had just seen in the picture, either.
By now, she was probably long gone. I knew that wouldn't be my last chance to find her, but missing her due to my own foolishness was more upsetting than not finding her at all.
I called Emilia back, growling out my orders. "You still have Adrian in sight?"
"Yes, looks like he's sitting down to some poker."
"Keep eyes on him. Do not let him out of your sight. If he moves to an elevator, let me know immediately."
Keeping track of him on the casino floor would be significantly easier than trying to figure out where the others might be. I could easily assume that Rose was hiding with the them in one of the rooms and we didn't have near the man power to check every room on every floor. All we could hope for is that Rose or the others would come back down to find him.
Sometime later, and with a few extra chips in his pockets, Adrian moved from his table. When he did, it was straight towards the elevators. Slipping in to see what floor he was one would be easy if we had a human working with us. It would've also been fairly easy if he was in one of the glass elevators that could be seen from the casino floor. But we were short on both counts. He was using the East Tower elevator; one of the secluded elevators that made it impossible to follow. While his tracer was accurate, it was only accurate within about five hundred feet on a single plane, leaving us with virtually no way to find him in one of the over four thousand rooms.
She apparently had luck on her side, but the unfortunate thing about luck – as any of these gambling addicts could tell you – was that it eventually ran out.
BREAK
I made yet another sweep of the casino feeling my patience stretching to its breaking point as I was met with no success, yet again. We had left Gregory in the hallway near the elevator, but he had yet to give us any news. It was almost as if she was taunting me!
With a growl under my breath, I turned to begin another circuit. A buzz in my pocket stopped me short.
"What?" I snarled into the phone.
Luka took a moment to respond to my harshness, and while it showed that he still had the good sense not to get on my bad side, his delay wasn't helping him stay in my good graces at the moment. "We've located them. They're sitting at the cafe."
My tension eased instantly. I had her.
She was less than one hundred yards away, sitting in the Pyramid Cafe. It was a casual place centered in the middle of the gambling floor, with plenty of sight lines and escape routes. Even now, Eddie was doing a quick visual sweep around the area, causing me slip back behind one of the random western themed slot machines. After his eyes passed over me, I stepped forward for a closer look.
Rose, Vasilisa, Adrian, and Eddie were all together, but there were also two more (very unexpected) men sitting with them at the table. Victor Dashkov sat beside a worn down man that almost made Dashkov look healthy...or at least stable. It certainly answered the question about who had broken out of prison and caused such a stir at Court.
I couldn't deny that his presence didn't stir something inside me. He had hurt Rose before. While I had no delusions that Rose would suddenly be joining me in immortality, she was still mine. From the moment she hesitated in killing me, her life was firmly set in my hands. I chose what happened to her, whether she lived or dies, and I wasn't ready to allow a man like Dashkov lay a hand on her.
Perhaps though, what surprised me more was the fact that Rose would allow that man within ten feet of Vasilisa. Dashkov had tortured Rose by proxy but the princess had received the full brunt of his abuse. Their meeting intrigued me, especially since there still seemed tension surrounding them like a quilt. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too close without setting Rose shadow-kissed senses off, so all I had to go off of with speculations.
The meeting was thankfully short lived before they moved as a group towards the same elevators we had seen Adrian used before. Unwilling to lose her twice, I ordered Gregory and Emilia into position and reveled in the anticipation of meeting her again.
Her steps slowed just as she entered the hallway. "No..."
She had been too late in detecting us and she knew it. Her failure had been the same as mine: focusing on one aspect and losing the whole. "Stop!"
The others stopped immediately at her command, mostly looking at her in confusion except for Eddie, who had the good wits and training to recognize a potential danger.
I didn't have to give the word to my team. Once the element of surprise was gone, speed was our friend. Emilia took on Rose while Gregory went for Eddie. Both of them were well trained, but so were the young guardians. While Rose had been the one I had primarily trained, I had also spent more than a few hours with Eddie, especially after Mason's death. I knew that he would be a decent opponent as well.
Emilia, however, was no challence at all for my Roza. She didn't even have a chance to touch her before Rose drove a stake through her heart.
"I told you," I stepped towards her as she moved over Emilia's body towards me. "I told you that I'd find you."
"Yeah, I got the memos." There was a breathlessness in her voice. Not from excursion or arousal, but from worry. Nerves maybe? Or panic? She was afraid of me or the situation, despite her bravado. It was amusing how some things never change, including the way she always tried to put on a brave face despite knowing I could see right through it.
I reached quickly for her stake hand, hoping to catch her wrist and disable her quickly. With her weapon gone, our footing would be even. Out battles were always ten times more enjoyable when we had no advantages over one another. It was pure skill and raw strength.
She dodged though, her speed actually rivaling my own as she blocked and let the length of her stake run along my forearm while I hissed at the contact and pushed back.
"Yet here you are," I grinned, despite the sting of her stake. "Foolishly stepping outside when you should have stayed inside the safety of Court."
She said nothing, not even registering a hint of surprise. She had seen her share of people working with Strigoi; Moroi, human, and maybe even dhampir. It probably didn't phase her at all to think that I had eyes on her at all time, both inside Court and surrounding it. I knew her every move.
She attacked again but I easily sidestepped it, recognizing her set up to the strike. She did the same for me when I moved to counter.
"And strangest of all," I continued, unable to keep the laugh from my comment, "you didn't come alone. You brought Moroi. You've always taken risks with your own life, but I didn't expect you to be so hasty with theirs."
There was the reaction I was hoping for. Fear, true and complete fear.
"Lissa!" she yelled, her eyes trying to pull away towards her friend but knowing the fatal results if she did so. "Get the hell out of here! Get them all out of here."
I didn't have the same issues as my opponent. While Rose's back was towards the rest of the group, I was still able to see them from the corner of my eye wall still keeping Roza front and center. If Rose was afraid, Vasilisa was well and truly terrified. Horror seemed to paralyze her, and Adrian didn't look much better as he tried to gently block her from possible injury. As if that useless drunk had the ability to fight off anything stronger than a hangover.
Eventually, Rose's worry for Vasilisa overcame her instincts for self-preservation. As long as she remained in the self-induced slavery of the guardian system, she would make the same mistake. They would always come first. The moment she faltered to check on her charge was the moment I struck.
I reached for her wrist again, this time successfully disarming her before pressing her against the wall with her arms over her head. I had held her in this position so many times in the Estate, pressing my body into hers until she begged for her own release. Now I would have to make due with a whole new form of torture.
"Roza . . ." I hummed, unable to resist the urge to trace my cheek against hers and feel her body shudder once more against mine. Despite the drive to kill one another, we would be attracted to one another as well. "Why? Why did you have to be so difficult? We could have spent eternity together . . ."
"Sorry," she bit out, regaining her composure and struggling against me in earnest again. "My eternity doesn't involve being part of the undead mafia."
"I know." It really was a pity. "Eternity will be lonely without you."
An earsplitting shriek sounded in the hall, echoing tenfold against the bare walls and marble floors. Someone had finally gone through the emergency exit and the alarm was painful to us all. Through the door, a strip of light warmed the thin fabric of my pant leg; the only barrier between me and the acid like burn of the sun. Her struggle intensified, perhaps hoping that she, too, could escape with the others, but I was ready to put an end to this. My mouth came down to taste her sweet release of death right before something much worse than the sun blazed through me.
A stake. Eddie's stake.
He must have stayed behind after taking care of Gregory rather than following the others into the safety of daylight. At least Rose could always pride herself on the loyalty of the men in her life. Too bad they all died in their dedication.
I turned on him, giving Rose a hard shove into the wall in hopes of incapacitating her for at least a short while. His face was hard and ready for battle - the picture of a trained and accomplished guardian. He didn't seem to even register that I was someone he had known before. To say that was an accomplishment, especially for someone so new, was an understatement.
Even fighting him was a challenge, but not one that proved too difficult. He wasn't as prepared to fight me as Rose. She had known every one of my moves and could anticipate them. Eddie had to work from intuition and skill alone. While he held his own admirable, his ability wouldn't stand the test of time. He managed to tear my shirt with a fairly close strike towards my chest, but he also barely lucked out on a move that would have crushed his skull against the wall. It had still hurt him significantly and pulled much of his strength away.
He didn't give up the fight though. He rushed me, feigning a kick to my knee and jarring my balance in an attempt to grapple me towards the ground. I wouldn't typically recommend something like that, but I knew ground work was a particular specialty of his and I had to carefully sidestep him to keep him from taking me down. It was clear that he was ready to fight to kill or fight to die. It would have been easy to give him his wish, but a strike to the back of my head divided my attention between two agressors.
Where fighting one would have been a challenge I knew I would eventually win, fighting both Rose and Eddie was one that I was much more concerned about. They were both undeniably skilled. Between her speed and his strength, they could be a deadly team. However, one didn't seem to have the heart in her to win and that was a weakness that I could use. I was her weakness. Each one of her moves seemed to be more in defense of herself and Eddie rather than in offense towards me.
I struck out towards Eddie, my hand coming hard enough down towards his neck to break his collarbone, while he tried to move out of my strike zone. Rose was there in an instant, blocking my strike with her stake against her forearm. Instead of the crack of bone, I felt the burn of silver. She never countered though, despite having the perfect opportunity to do so. Eddie didn't have the same hesitations.
I could see the kill shot in his eyes. He was just waiting for his opening. He might have found one too, if Roza hadn't let her stake slice a long cut through my face – from the bridge of my nose to my jaw – and intentionally shoved them both towards the open doorway.
She doubted their ability to beat me. Rightly so.
He looked shocked but didn't protest as he started to pull them towards the exit, but not so fast that I couldn't grab her myself. She cried out as I pulled her back, nearly pulling her shoulder from its socket. I wasn't going to let her get away again. I didn't care if anyone else went free. I didn't care if everyone else died. I would have my Roza at my feet and the taste of her blood if I had to spend the rest of eternity fighting to do so.
They pulled together, fighting me like they had in battle just two minutes before and slowly made progress. I was strong but they were working against me. As a hustle of feet started approaching, I was able to get a second hand on her and pulled her back with more surety.
"Security." Eddie gave another tug, grunting as he did so.
Rose cursed, against his words or against the pain I'm not sure.
"You can't win." She never would. She knew it. We both did. As long as we were both here, we would be hunting the other, and there was only one way it would end.
"Oh yeah?" she gritted, still pulling but making no advancement. "We're about to have the entire Luxor Attack Squad here."
I smirked when she looked back. "We're about to have a pile of bodies here. Humans."
There was a small look of horror as my words registered before she glanced over my shoulder to where there must have been a dozen or more security guards witnessing our struggle. Her training and duty demanded she put their lives first, but she had gone against that code before. I could see her planning to do so now, already feeling regret.
As much as I hated to admit it, I would have to let her go to deal with this new nuisance. They wouldn't allow me to pull an obviously unwilling girl away, much less stand by as I kill her. And oh, I wanted to kill her – slowly and painfully. It would prompt a full attack and I would lose her either way. At least for now. The security team was already shouting for us to 'stop' and 'put our hands up' as if that would suddenly pacify the scene before them. I released her, turning to face the wall of humans who unwittingly ran headfirst into their own death and listened to the heavy metal door opened wide enough to let Eddie and Rose pass through completely into the safety of daylight.
"It's not over, Roza." I called out, "Do you really think there's anywhere you can go in this world where I can't find you?"
There was no answer, but I knew she had heard me.
That silence was echoed now in the men before me. Where they had been so quick to shout orders before, they now stared at me in fearful wonder. Some hazarded looks at the two dead bodies at the ground, but they all had guns trained on me with fingers ready to pull the trigger.
"Get down on the ground!"
The apparent leader gestured slightly towards the floor, but the slight shake in both his hands and voice were easy to detect.
"No...I don't think I will."
I took a step forward, and then another, before the first shot fired. It hit its mark but it barely slowed my journey. On my third step, they open fired. Bullets peppered my body, some causing me to wince or shudder back a small bit, but none kept me from advancing on them. Some started cursing when they realized that they're weapons were useless, one even decided to abandon the cause, and several froze as their guns offered their last bullet.
The brave commander – so brave but so foolish – swung his gun at me in desperation when I was in striking distance, but that was even less effective than the bullets. All it did was cause the blood on my face from Roza's stake to smear across my cheek.
My hands on his neck though, well that was very effective. I lifted him by his throat until he was raised high above me, kicking and gasping while he pulled at my hands in a desperate attempt to get away. Eventually, his body fell limp and I tossed him towards another one of the guards who fell and scampered to get away.
In the end, there were several bodies lying dead and bleeding on the sand-colored marble. The faux pyramid was their deathbed and I was able to leave through one of the back alleys with nothing more than a quick call to Luka.
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