Thank you SO much for your reviews, I feel loved now PLEASE keep it up. Now I'm being very mysterious and sneaky in this chapter so I hope you like it :) Disclaimer: My imaginary friend died, my unicorn ran away, my gummy bear is plotting against me and the voices in my head have stopped talking to me. Oh no, I'm going insane. At least I own Vampire Academy ;)
Present time
DPOV
I couldn't believe it. My Roza, taken! And it was all MY fault. I had failed her because I wasn't strong enough. I promised her when we were back at the academy, that I would never let anything happen to her, and not a day later, I get taken by Strigoi. Though not my fault, it had still hurt her.
But this time was different, this time I could have done something about it. I could have stopped it! But I didn't. Instead, I did what I was told and went to protect Lissa, and now my Roza was gone. I had of course gone to look for her right away but I was too late, all traces of them and her were gone.
So here I was, sitting in my apartment clueless as to what to do next.
Suddenly my front door burst open and in walked Lissa, followed by Christian and a handful of guards. I wasn't surprised by either of her followers. After such a brutal attack, there was no way that Christian was letting her out of his sight and the guards were always there, they had just doubled in number and were looking around the place like I had a Strigoi under my bed.
"Did you find anything?" Lissa asked in a rushed voice.
"No." I hung my head in shame again. "I was out all night and most of today and there's no trace of them or her," I barely choked out that last word. It hurt so much to think she might be lost. Not my beautiful, sweet, strong Roza.
"We can't give up hope yet," Lissa said with all the authority of the monarch she is.
"We all know how tough and stubborn Rose is, she's a survivor and she will make it through this!"
There is such conviction in her voice that it stirred the little ember of hope deep within me.
"So besides looking for her," which I had just spend the better part of the day and night doing, "what's our strategy?" I asked Lissa though Christian looked like he wanted to add something.
"The important thing is to think positive, we didn't see them kill or turn her so there's a good chance that she's still alive and or escaped," she said with a look of determination on her face.
"So since we don't know where she is or what time she's running on, I've asked Adrian to try to dream walk with her. That will give us a better picture to work with."
I nodded. Though Adrian and I had a bad start and an even worse finish to our relationship due to Rose loving me and choosing me over him, we have come to respect each other and now that he is with Sydney, he's a new and better man. And as weird as it sounds, we have actually come to be good friends.
"That sounds like a good start but what do we do in the mean time?" I really meant what do I do. I can't just sit here and catch up on some missed sleep. I had to do something otherwise I would go mad with worry. Worry for my Roza. Was she ok? Was she hurt? Was she even alive or was she...something worse?
"We need to find out how such an attack was even possible and on such a large scale. I think its obvious what everyone it thinking."
"Sabotage. We were betrayed by one of our own. And you want me to find out who?"
"Well, word around court is yours truly," said Christian.
I turned to him surprised. Were people really saying things like that?
"What? That's ridiculous!" I exclaimed.
"Well sure, I know that and you know that, but do they know that? He said sarcastically.
Because Christian parents willingly becoming Strigoi, everyone was always assuming that he was evil and waiting for him to turn. And what happened with Tasha didn't help matters.
Lissa nodded and with a scowl on her face she said, "Idiots the lot of them, but that doesn't change anything. We still need to secure the court before we can start a rescue. The plans could leak out to the Strigoi and our people would be walking into a massacre."
She's right, if I can't do anything right now to help my Roza then I could at least help make court a safe place to launch her rescue from.
"Do we have any leads?"
"Only that it was a coordinated attack and that the wards were broken all over," she said not looking too hopeful.
So nothing I didn't know already but I would look in to it, otherwise I would go insane. I nodded as answer to her statement. She know this was only to keep me busy until we could shed some light on where those filthy monsters where keeping my Roza. But it still needed to be looked at.
"I have to go now but I will update you the moment we have news."
I just nodded solemnly. Then Lissa walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a big hug.
"It will be ok Dimitri, we will find her, you'll see."
I didn't know if I believed her but right now, it didn't matter. I needed to believe her. The alternative was to painful to think about.
RPOV
I woke up and I immediately wanted to go back to sleep because my head was pounding and hurts so much. And so does my neck. Huh, I wonder why...
Then it hit me. I had be bitten! But I hadn't been turned, at least not yet. So why bother keeping me? To snack on later? To use as a bargaining chip against Lissa? I didn't know and I wasn't about to stay long enough to find out.
I opened up my eyes fully and looked around. I was in a dark place that I suspect is made of metal and I can hear a faint humming noise in the back ground, like an engine being run. Did that mean that I was being moved? I kept looking around me in hopes of finding a way to escape, or at least a weapon but that's when I realized that I wasn't alone.
"So you finally decided to come to,huh?" said a faintly accented voice that I couldn't quite place with my head spinning so much. But that I knew without a doubt belonged to a Strigoi. My eyes were adjusting to the dark so I could start to make out his features. He was very tall so most likely a Moroi before he was turned. And he was young, at least he looked young. There was no way of knowing how old he really was until I fought him. He had short blond hair and was kind of cute in a boyish kind of way.
"Yeah I finally came to and I'm ready to pound your ass," I said with as much bravo as I could in this situation. I was about to get up and make good on my threat when I realized I couldn't. I was tied to a chair, and the person who did the tying really didn't want me to escape. There were more knots around me than I had birthdays.
The Strigoi just laughed at my reaction. "Ha you can struggle all you want love, it ain't gonna make a difference."
"Where am I? Why have you taken me?" I demanded.
"Well why we've taken you is a bit of a surprise, and as for where? Well, you will find out soon."
"And what the hell is that suppose to mean?
"Only that I happen to know that the boss has some very special plans in store for you."
"Oh well THAT answers everything now doesn't it?"
"You had better watch your mouth princess, or it will get you into trouble."
"Ah I've been kidnapped by my worst enemy, I'm tied up, and I'm headed to who knows where for someone that I'm pretty sure I hate, to do who knows what to me. I think that I'm well and truly past my mouth getting me in trouble, don't you?"
"Yep that about sums it up. But believe me, you can always end up in even more trouble where you're heading so I would shut up and behave if I were you. "
And with that he turned and walked away. Great, now what?
At least now I knew that I was in fact being moved, but by what? It was too big for a car so I immediately ruled that out. Besides, what car has doors to its back seat or trunk? A train maybe? That would explain the door and why I seemed to be surrounded by metal. And the humming noise... I looked around me to see if I could get a clue as to where I was and that's when I noticed it. A line of parachutes. And next to them were a line of life jackets.
I was on a plane. And planes only carried parachutes and life jackets if they were going over water. How long was I out for? How far had they taken me from court? From Lissa. From DIMITRI!
I sat up as straight as I could in the chair I was tied to. Oh no, had he seen me get bitten? Did he know that I was taken? Did he think I was turned? And was he even ok himself? My poor Dimitri, he must be going through hell right now.
I remember what it's like, waiting for news. If the one you love has either been killed or turned. And actually hoping for being killed because if they were turned then you had to go out and stake them yourself. It's a sacred promise that we made to each other back at the academy and one I knew he would honor. But that was before we know what spirit could do.
Would he get Lissa or maybe Adrian to track me down with a spirit induced stake? I think he would. After all, that's what I did for him. But I wasn't turned. At least not yet. So the only other option was to escape before they could do whatever they were planning to do. But the question was still how do I get out of this chair? Not to mention how do I escape off of an airplane? And how long was the flight going to be?
Before I had an answer to any of my questions the Strigoi from before walked in then door.
"Bad news I'm afraid," he said with a grin. I silently pledged to myself that I would find some way to wipe that grin off his face.
"Apparently you're a bit of a legend around here." I didn't like where this was going.
"And the boss said that it's too dangerous to keep you awake until we land so it's good night princess." And with that I was hit in the head again and plunged back into unconsciousness.
When I woke up later I knew we had landed. It was too quiet. I opened up my eyes yet again to see the grinning Strigoi. I was really starting to hate this guy.
"Well good morning sunshine," he said way too happily. "Good news, we've landed and we will be moving you to your new home."
I didn't like the sound of that. "Yeah? And who's to say I'll come along quietly?"
"No one, but if you make a fuss I'll just knock you out again and honestly aren't you tired of that yet?"
Yes, as a matter of fact I was! And if he knocked me out again then I would have a zero chance of escape.
"I thought that you might see it my way," he grinned having seen the decision to be good on my face. I was really going to enjoy staking this guy. He then walks over to me and started untying the ropes around me.
"Now don't go getting any ideas, I can still knock you out and carry you home, but if I did that then you would miss the view and I promise you it's a sight to see."
After he was done untying all but one of the ropes around me, he led me to the door and knocked on it a few times and then waited. And then knocked again but a different way. And then FINALLY after a third and different kind of knocking, the door was opened. Wow, these guys were really paranoid of letting me escape. I knew I was good but I don't think that I'm the one inspiring all of this fear. No, I think it was the 'boss' that Grinner mentioned earlier that was the source of all this fear.
The door opened and I saw three other Strigoi there to escort me out. Yep, definitely afraid of the boss. As they led me down the hall, I realized that this was a cargo plane and that I had been tied up in the hull. We stepped up to the door and and I gasped.
"Welcome home ROZA," Grinner said with snear on my name. At first I didn't know why he called me that. Only Dimitri called me that and it was when he was being affectionate. But then I understood. Roza was my name in Russian and he had a slight accent that I was sure I knew but couldn't place, but was now sure that his accent is Russian. And when I took in all of the lights below in the big city I realized that it was true.
I was indeed back in Russia.
They led me down the ramp and to a car that was waiting for us and Grinner pushed down on my head and shoved me roughly into the backseat. He followed suit along with two other Strigoi, the third one got into the passenger seat in the front. The windows were tinted and I couldn't see much but they still blindfolded me.
"Oh really a blind fold? Could you be any more clichéd?" I asked
"Watch it princess, I can always find another way to keep you quiet for this trip."
As he said that he leaned close to me and breathed the words across my neck and I shivered. Mostly I'm disgusted, but partly (the part of me that apparently hated itself) in remembrance of when Dimitri was Strigoi. A Strigoi bite was better then even a Moroi's. It was the greatest drug in the world and there where some that would absolutely ANYTHING for it.
And I know first hand. I was addicted to Dimitri's bite for a while last time I was in Russia. But even then, his bites always exhilarated me and brought me immense pleasure. Grinner certainly did not have the same affect on me.
"Thanks, but I think I'll manage."
He just chuckled and said, "It's your loss."
No, it really wasn't.
I had no idea of how long we were in the car for but I didn't mind, it gave me more time to plan my escape. There were four Strigoi with me right now. I could normally take four without a problem but right now I was tied up and blindfolded so I didn't like my odds too much. And if I made a fuss then I was sure to get knocked out again, or worse, got bitten again. Then that would be it, no hope of escape. The car stopped and I guess that meant that we had arrived.
The doors opened and I was taken out of the car and led... well I had no idea where I was being lead but I was sure we had gone inside and my theory was confirmed when I heard a door being closed behind me. I was lead up a flight of stairs and one of the Strigoi took off my blindfold. Now I was prepared to be thrown into a cell and forced to face the oh so fearful "boss". But what I wasn't expecting was the luxury suite.
There was a king size bed that looks like you could spend your entire life on and die happy, a fully stock mini bar and what looks like a spa. There was polished wooden furniture and marble counter tops, a big screen TV, comfortable looking couches, smooth floors with a very comfy looking Persian rug and more... it all seemed familiar. Too familiar.
This was wrong. It was just like the last time that I was kidnapped by Strigoi. That had been because Dimitri wanted to keep me to convince me to turn Strigoi. But why this time? There was no reason for it this time, I was their captive. I should be in a cell.
No, this was not my room. Apparently the Boss didn't want to waist his precious time on going down to the cells to see me and asked his henchman to bring me straight to him.
"Make yourself at home sweetheart," Grinner said in a tone that made me want to punch him, but then again, when DIDN'T I want to punch him?
"We were told that you had quite an appetite so we got you an extra large mimi bar and will serve you three meals a day, now isn't that nice of us?"
Wait, WHAT!?
"You mean this room is MINE?!"
"Only the best for you princess," he sneered and then I snapped. My hands may be tied but I that didn't mean that I was out of options. Doing what the Strigoi did to me earlier, I quickly dropped down into a crouch and swung out one of my legs to take his out from under him. The only difference was that mine worked and Grinner fell on his ass. I turned and made a break for it. But they were careful for a reason, the two other Strigoi grabbed me before I made one step.
"Ooh, she's a feisty one ain't she?" one of the other Strigoi said as he held me tight so I wouldn't try that again.
"Yeah I can't wait to see what the boss is going to do with her," said the other as Grinner picked himself up of the floor.
"To answer your question, yes this is your room, do you like it?"
Ok this didn't make sense. Why give me such a good room? Did they want to butter me up and convince me to switch sides? Well they picked the wrong girl because I would NEVER betray Lissa or Dimitri like that. Also the whole drinking blood and no sunlight thing was a bit of a turn off.
"We will leave you to it princess," Grinner just HAD to add before he and the others left me alone.
Well this is weird,and I don't plan on sticking around long enough to see if it got more so. I ran up to the door that they had just walked through. It was made of a heavy steal and had a numerical keypad. Oh no. I looked around the room and just like last time in Russia there was a tinted window. I walked up to it, and yep, just like last time it was deeply embedded into the wall with no hope of opening it or breaking it. I looked down and as I suspected, I was high up so jumping was out of the question. As if I could beak the glass to try.
I knew it was pointless but I went into the bathroom and sure enough the mirror was also deeply embedded in the wall. And just like last time I suspected that it wasn't even a mirror, more like a reflective metal. I looked around to see if they missed something that could be used as weapon but came up empty handed.
This was too weird. Why do this? Kidnap me from court, bring me all the way to Russia, and put me in a room almost identical to the one that I was held in when I was here hunting Dimitri? It just didn't make sense. And then to top it all off a human girl walks into my room carrying, you guessed it, a pepperoni pizza with lots of cheese. And next to it was a large chocolate donut. I couldn't take this any more.
"What do you people want from me!?Why are you doing this? Do you think it's funny? Kidnaping someone and toying with them? Well it's not and if I don't get some answers right NOW? I'm going to start busting some heads!"
The girl just looked at me like she didn't hear me. She just put the food down turned around and left. I covered my face in my hands and groaned. What now? I walked over to the couch and dropped down onto it. What did all of this mean? This was all too much to be a coincidence, everything was the same, right down to the food. And the million dollar question was still why? Last time it had been obvious. Dimitri wanted me and had had enough power to make that happen. But what did this person want? And how did they know so much?
But the better question was what did they hope to achieve? If they knew what Dimitri did, put me in a pent house, give me beautifully jewelry, designer clothes, treat me like royalty, then they had to know that that didn't work on me. I escaped. So what did they hope to achieve by doing the same thing?
"AAHH, it didn't make sense," I shouted and threw a pillow across the room. "What do you want with me?!"
"Because of what you can do for us Roza, and what we can do for you. "
I turned around to face the mysterious speaker... And gasped.
NO...
Ooo another cliffhanger I hope you like it because I have another one waiting for you;) Please review or PM me. I'm good for a chat:)
