Run Away
Cypress A. Posthumus

Summary: Dimitri hadn't realized there was a lust spell on Rose's necklace that night. Seven years afterward, the bond was quiet and had been for a painful amount of time. Rose and Dimitri had searched Russia for Lissa to no avail and returned to the academy. Now, Rose is determined to find her best friend, at any cost to herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or any of its characters. All characters, places, and things - unless otherwise stated – are that of Richelle Mead.


II

Rose's sleep was interrupted at 3:00am, by a dream that felt real. She laid in bed still, silent. She could hear her frantic breaths and hear Dimitri's as well. Rose's eyes darted around the room, trying to discover what had made her feel so threatened and scared for her life. As the hour drew on, Rose was fighting off sleep. I can't go back there. What if it happens again? She asked herself. Rose Hathaway was not a timid person and being one at the moment, she felt incredibly weak. She felt as if anyone, even with the most gentle touch, could shatter her into a million little pieces. Rose felt a strong sensation in her stomach that made her nauseous and she could feel the sting of the acid creeping up her throat, but she swallowed it down, making tears of pain prick her eyes. Rose's throat became parched quickly, she tried to shake the feelings she had. She felt like she was in danger and she felt like no one could save her. She was rushed with the sensation of hatred and abandonment, a weakness that was hard to shake on its own. Not to mention, she was weak, she hated herself for abandoning Lissa like that. Even as sleep tried to consume hear once more as the time neared 4:30, she was filled with sorrow and regret. Rose's bottom lip quivered and she cursed aloud at herself.

"You fucking moron," she breathed out, anger evident in her words. "You fucking idiot. How could you let Lissa just... be taken like that? Why didn't you do anything more?" Rose clutched her head as the tears swelling and spilled onto her skin. She pulled at her hair, just inches from the roots. The hairs started to stretch and began to be pulled out of the skin, Rose couldn't help that she was pulling her hair out of her scalp, much as Ms. Karp – Crazy Karp – had done. Hot tears began filling her eyes for several reasons: her headache, pulling on her hair, and most importantly, she hadn't found Lissa yet or even really tried to bring back the bond.

The bond. Rose thought, as she started nodded. She let go of her hair and wiped the moisture from her face. I should recreate the bond. She crouched down and sat on the floor with her legs crossed. The air meeting her skin was cold and sent chills up and down her spine. Rose exhaled a large breath through her mouth and set her hands on her knees.

"I don't know how to meditate!" she said in a loud whisper suddenly. "Do I close my eyes when I meditate? All of the really big Buddha statues had their eyes half closed... how do you half close your eyes?" So without saying much to herself after that, Rose tried her best to meditate; she didn't know if she had reached through the bond, but she started to get a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. Rose ignored the sensation and just kept looking for Lissa. In her mind, there was a long hallway with doors on every side of her. All of them were numbered and locked. Rose went diagonally across the hall trying to open the doors in her mind, but none of them would budge. At a few doors, when she went to reach out for the knob, it disappeared completely and turned into a segment of the wall. This scared her to an extent, but she kept going, kept searching. Maybe the doors were a figment of her imagination, maybe the doors were a concept that Lissa was creating through the bond? If it had been achieved again.

"Lissa, help me." Rose whispered. "Come on, Liss. You know I'm here. Where are you?" Within her mind, Rose went to open one of the doors and it violently flung itself open. It was dark and moist, the air smelled of mildew. She saw something move very quickly. Then it came close, it was a large man, tall and well rounded. He probably would tower of Dimitri, he sure as hell did over Rose, but that wasn't hard.

"What do you want? Who are you?" she asked the man. She never took her eyes off of him.

He began to pace in front of her, it made her nervous, but if he thought that he could intimidate her, she wasn't going to run any longer. Rose knew what she had to do: find Lissa. If the process involved battling a war within herself or a war in the physical world, she was all for it. As long as Lissa was found safely.

"My name is Gazanfer," Gazanfer's voice seemed so harsh and he projected it so well that it made the windows of the room they were in shake. "I want you, Rosemarie. I'll find you, wherever you are. No matter where you go, I'll find you."

Rose did nothing but glare at the man, her lips began to curl into a snarl, but she denied access and looking dead on. The windows shone with the light in the hall, she was still standing in the doorway. "Where's Lissa? I know you know where she is. Now, tell me!"

The man scoffed, "Lissa? I haven't a clue what that is. Is it a dog?"

Rose knew better than to scream at him, but she did so anyway: "What do you mean you don't know who she is! She's Vasilisa Dragomir, the last living Dragomir and she's been missing for seven years!" Rose huffed and added in a threatening voice, "And she is not a dog." If Rose could have seen his face proper, she would have sworn he was laughing at her. Gazanfer pulled a Cuban cigar from his inside pocket and stuffed one end in his mouth.

"Might you own a lighter, Miss?" He asked politely. Rose grunted and huffed in response. "Never mind that." He pulled a lighter from the pocket in his slacks and lit the cigar. It smelled absolutely horrible. The scent invaded Rose's nostrils and only increased her headache.

"I don't have to talk to you. You're nothing. You're just an irrelevant part of my imagination." Rose began to turn on her heel when he suddenly reached out to grab her arm. His hands were worn and calloused, his skin was dark, but it had spots of age. "Don't touch me." Rose jerked her arm away from his grasp, backed into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

It was now 6:00am. Dimitri's eyes were just starting to open. He turned over and went to reach out to Rose, but he saw she wasn't there and panicked. He sat up in his spot and tore the sheets from his body, ran out of bed and to the bathroom, which was passed where Rose was laying. He came back, ready to call the front desk until he realized that she was curled up on the floor, looking extremely cold.

"Oh, Roza," Dimitri said as he picked her up to put her on the bed. "Did I really kick you out of bed?" Dimitri tucked Rose back into bed and ran his hands through his hair, exhaling. Dimitri decided he was going to check all the doors and windows to make sure they were closed, it didn't take him long, but every door was shut and every window was locked with the drapes pulled over. Dimitri thanked whatever God could hear him that no one had broken in and had somehow harmed Rose. He decided to take a shower and forget his worries, it was somewhat difficult. He could only wonder what Rose was doing on the floor.

The door slammed open suddenly and the shower curtains flew away, Rose stood there, frantic and quite insane looking. "I think I know where Lissa is." Dimitri stood under the shower head, water still running, escaping onto Rose's clothed body. Water ran down his face, what was he supposed to say when a woman interrupted him while taking a shower?

"Right. Clean up and pack." Dimitri managed to stumble on his words, as well as hesitate in the beginning. Rose nodded and left the bathroom, the curtain and doors still wide open. Dimitri shut the curtain, so as to not get the floor too wet, and finished washing, shut the water off. He dried and dressed quickly, going to find Rose and he pulled a shirt over himself.

Rose was gathering all of their things, folding them sloppily, and putting them in the suitcase. She was tired, frantic, but she was as alert as she could be. Her mind wouldn't shut off, she made a mantra of the place they were supposed to go to.

"Where are we going?" Dimitri asked. He pulled a brush through his hair a few times and then using a clear rubber band, pulled it back into a pony tail at the nape of his neck. Some of his molnija marks showed, they had faded with age, but it didn't bother him.

"Dimka, should we get carry-on bags?" Rose asked suddenly. "What if they lose our luggage?"

Dimitri looked at her extremely confused, "What do you mean?" As the last word escaped his mouth, he realized how much of a stupid question that was and shook his head side to side. "No. If someone loses our luggage, we'll just buy new clothes." Rose nodded, but she still felt insecure. She felt naked. "Go shower and I'll check out."

Rose showered and Dimitri left to go check out and asked for a shuttle to the airport. By time he had returned, Rose was sitting in the small living room, staring at the walls. Dimitri closed the door and made his way over to the couch, he sat next to Rose and rested his hand on her thigh. She turned to smile at him. Her eyes conveyed messages of love and a new found hope. They shone with a brilliance that Dimitri had only seen in his dreams. He smiled back at her.

"It's good to see your smile again." Dimitri mentioned as they sat on the couch in mostly silence. "I found you on the floor this morning..."

The only thing Rose could think of to say was, "Oh."

"Why were you on the floor?"

"I was trying to get into Lissa's head," Rose shifted in her seat. She felt like she was telling this to the entire world. She knew that Dimitri's silence was because he wanted her to continue, so she did: "I was in a hallway... with a bunch of doors that were locked from the inside. One of them opened and there was an Al Capone-looking guy in there."

"Al Capone was in your head?" Dimitri couldn't help but find this amusing and as he said this, his eyebrows raised to show it. Why would Rose be dreaming up Al Capone? He's been dead for who knows how long, plus he has nothing to do with Strigoi, Dhampirs, or Moroi.

"No, he looked like Al Capone, but taller and rounder." Rose felt uncomfortable saying the next part, "He said he wanted me." Dimitri stared at Rose. What was he supposed to say to that? He couldn't think of anything to say, so he just hummed and gave a slight nod. "He's the one that told me where Lissa might be. He said he name was Garfunkel or Gazanfer or something..."

Dimitri understood now. Gazanfer was a notorious "businessman" in Turkey. He would sell anything that he could and pay his way out of jail, if they even convicted him for the many things he did. Sex trafficking, selling drugs, and selling weak Moroi to Strigoi for entertainment or even just a snack, just to name a few. Dimitri sucked on his teeth and his nostrils flared with anger.

"It might be a trap," Dimitri spoke without looking at Rose. He hid any emotion in his voice. "I know who you're talking about. It might be a trap. It's always a trap with him..."

Rose was surprised, even though she probably shouldn't be. She had known Dimitri for years now and it just seemed like he literally knew everyone there was to know. "It was just a dream, he can't be real!"

"He's real, Rose." Dimitri said, anger clearly evident. She's acting like a naïve child. She should have told me beforehand who it was. "Where are we going?"

"Lake Inle," Rose said cautiously. "In Myanmar."

Dimitri huffed, as if he were a child. Neither of them spoke Burmese and she wanted to go to a small country just to look for Lissa? Dimitri would allow it, but if this escapade didn't finish off how it was supposed to, or if it was a trap, he would be the one making all the decisions.

The two sat for the rest of the time in silence. An airport shuttle came to pick them up at noon and dropped them off at the Billings Logan International Airport. They boarded their flight and flew to the Los Angeles International Airport to wait for their flight to Rangoon, Myanmar.