If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.

So, an interesting question came up in the reviews: How are they going to survive that fall? An excellent question, which will receive an – what I hope to be – an equally excellent answer. Well, the answer you will eventually read in this chapter. Either way, I hope it satisfies the situation. Also, try not to be too judgmental about it – it may not make sense but it keeps the story going.

Here's the chapter:

Rose's POV

Falling out of the sky: Not something everybody does – unless that person is a professional sky-diver, then they don't qualify in this situation. I've never in my life – or undead life – gone sky-diving, let alone thought about doing it. And I'm 99% sure Dimitri hasn't done it either. How did I guess? He looked completely and utterly freaked out, matching my feelings exactly. And he didn't have this hands tied on the way down. It was hard enough to reach around for my pocket knife; trying to do it while flipping around in the air as just ridiculous in so many ways.

Eventually, I got the cuffs off and ditched them, deciding the pocket knife would be safer wedged tightly between my teeth. I managed to regain my composure and steadied my body so it stopped flipping like a leaf in the wind. I searched frantically for Dimitri and seen him trying to steady himself still. He wasn't too far below me, so angled my body toward him, keeping in mind that it would be that much more difficult if I couldn't stop him and we were to tumble to our deaths anyway. That didn't sound too appealing to me, so my hope was that the second part of the plan would get here, like, now!

I reached for him and managed to snag his leg, which thankfully stopped his tumbling and he righted himself. Except he was now hurdling toward the ground with his back leading the way.

He looked up at me and I could see the question in his eyes: Are you okay?

I nodded and motioned toward the ground, trying to make a point on how close it was getting. Thankfully, it was a second later I heard other objects closing in on us from above. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed it: our rides were here. And – what do you know? – they're professional divers. I don't know how Dimitri managed it, but this was part two of plan "Escape-With-Whats-Left-Of-Our-Lives-And-Hopefully-Not-Get-Killed". That's right; people were coming to save us from falling to our deaths in the sky. I'm not sure if we approached the plan the way we were supposed to, but we had to be in the sky at a certain point, to meet these guys at the "check-point", and we had obviously cut it close with our timing.

One of the three men floating along-side us and gave me a thumbs up – I returned it. He nodded and dove closer to Dimitri. Another one tapped my shoulder and I resisted the urge to break that hand. Surprising a flustered Strigoi was not the best idea in the world.

I glanced at him and nodded, letting him wrap his arms around my waist and rest it tightly against his. Dimitri and the first guy I seen were already heading quickly away from us, Dimitri wrapped up in his arms as they descended more quickly toward the ground. Me and my guy did the same. At the right altitude, Dimitri and suicide diver number one opened their parachute. I didn't see Dimitri's face but I'm sure the sudden halt took him off guard a little. What I did notice was that my guy didn't open his chute; at least not when he was supposed to. We shot past Dimitri and diver number one, who obviously wasn't happy with him not opening his chute either.

Then I felt his hand reach up and grip my neck.

What the hell? Did he have a death wish?

I pulled the pocket knife from my mouth and flipped it open. I twisted in his grip and just as I was about to turn and swipe at him, his grip fell slack altogether. That bastard actually let me go! He however had opened his chute and was now drifting, rather than approaching ground at a continuously fast rate like I was.

"Rose!" I heard Dimitri's voice, sounding just as surprised as I was. Somewhere inside me, I was glad it was me hurdling toward the ground at an alarming rate – granted, the dumbass that dropped me had actually slowed me down at one point. If it was him heading for the ground, I would have put my body in the way of his anyway, knowing that I could take that kind of impact better than he could.

I couldn't have been more than 50 feet in the air at that point. And I never realized how quickly 50 feet can pass by, almost making it seem like it was only 10 feet. Bracing myself for impact, I hit the ground with a sickening thud. Sure, if I was still a Guardian that would have broken my back of something, but my enhanced muscles and strength stopped at least that from happening. I started rolling, tumbling head over heels. Dirt and dust flew around me, blocking my vision. The fall itself hurt like a bitch, but I was more worried about suddenly feeling a throbbing pain in my leg. I stopped rolling after a while, trying to get some air back in my lungs from having the wind literally knocked out of me. My head ached and every muscle in my body screamed at me, although I did mentally yell back that it wasn't my fault – just to make myself feel better. I coughed and sputtered, trying to get back up and find that no-good, double-crossing jerk.

Then I realized what caused the pain in my leg. Looking down, there was my pocket knife – which must have been silver because it was burning intensely – deep in my right thigh.

I howled in pain, not quite recognizing my own voice. I heard the others touch down somewhere close-by, but that wasn't my primary focus right now.

Dimitri was there almost instantly. "Rose? Are you okay?"

I groaned, trying not to touch my leg because any movement hurt like a bitch. "That…bastard tried to kill me…! He…gripped my neck and…ugh! He dropped me before he even opened the chute!" I ground out, fury building in me as I struggled to keep that bad side of me down. I was so mad at him! What the hell did I do to deserve this? I'm 100% sure I didn't know him – these people are strangers to me.

"I'm sorry," I heard him say; tough the look on his face told me he didn't quite mean it. He had short, spiked grown hair and blue-grey eyes, his goggles placed roughly on top of his head. "I didn't like you being that close to my neck and… She swung at me and I let her go. I thought I was protecting myself."

"Someone give the man a metal…" I groaned, trying to cheer myself up with a joke. It failed.

"You said you could handle it, Jake," the man that hadn't caught neither Dimitri nor I – the third diver – and I assumed him as dive leader.

"Let's get out of the open," Dimitri said, gathering me as gently as he could in his arms. "Head for that barn over there." At that point all of my other pains had gone away, but the silver in my leg was like torture and I couldn't move my own body to pull it out. I finally took in my surroundings and saw we had landed in a field that wasn't yet prepped for growing season, which wasn't much of a bonus on our part. All five of us ran for the nearest barn, the doors closing behind us. Dimitri set me on a couple bales of hay – or straw, which ever.

"Get this damn thing out of my leg!" I wailed, tired if my skin trying to heal around the burn of the silver. "Get it out!"

I'm pretty sure my voice startled the crap out of the divers, because they completely backed off, leaving Dimitri kneeling neck to me.

His gentle hands rested on my leg, carefully touching the flesh on my thigh. "Okay, hold still, Roza. I'm going to pull it out." I nodded, and didn't even have time to brace myself for the pull. He did it before I could react, and I gasped in relief when the burning was gone.

Anger and pure adrenaline from the fall flowed fast and hard through my veins, fueling my next move. With the silver in my leg gone, I was up, on my feet, and in the guy's face before anyone could blink. We weren't exactly eye level, but I glared so hard at him I imagined his head exploding.

"You shouldn't have done that," I growled, still fighting for control.

The guy's blue-grey eyes widened to dinner plates, realizing how close I had gotten so fast. I'm sure the ring of red in my eyes did a number on his sanity as well. My body practically vibrated, fighting for that control that I needed. The…tests the Moroi scientists did on me were based off of this – if I could control myself. Normally they'd try meaningless taunts and threats on my life. Physical attack was never attempted, so I was glad this wasn't a test, otherwise I'd already be dead-dead.

Two strong arms wrapped around me and dragged me away from the guy. I was about to struggle when I got a whiff of familiar aftershave. I stopped, focusing on the fact that if I struggled and went in for the "kill", I was going to hurt Dimitri. I closed my eyes, forcing that shadow in my heart back down. I took a deep breath and let all of my muscles relax.

"She…she really is a Strigoi," the leader guy gasped, all of them taking another step back. "How…are you still alive?" That question was directed toward Dimitri, but he ignored it.

"Get out of here." His voice was that sexy order-you-around voice that I loved so much. "Your money will be distributed as specified. Your jobs are done here. Leave. Now."

With a few hesitated glances in our direction, they slowly made their way out the large barn door. I could still hear the footsteps, even after several minutes of silence between Dimitri and I.

"Are you okay?" he asked, breathe soft against my ear.

I nodded. "I'm in control." I tried to budge his grip, but he wouldn't move. Even as a Strigoi, I could easily move his arms away without a problem. But seeing as though I could break him, I avoided the super-human strength. "Dimitri, I'm fine."

After another second or two, his grip slipped from around my arms and fell to his sides. We didn't move for a second, the both of us trying to control our breathing and heart rate. Even standing a few feet from him, I could hear his heart beat if I focused solely on the rythmatic tempo.

"We need to get to the next check-point," he said at last. "There isn't much time before the sun rises and they send Guardians after us."

"I don't think I said it before, but I'll say it now." I turned to face him. "Go back."

"What?" He looked genuinely surprised.

"I want you to go back. You will not risk your life for a dead end job Lissa's put you on. You all have risked too much as it is and you have to go back." I sighed, having said all that in one breath – strangely enough, it didn't feel like I was out of breath like I thought I should be. "Stick to the compulsion idea. They'll think you're telling the truth if Adrian and Lissa say so, seeing as though they are the only Spirit users we know."

The look that suddenly appeared in his eyes told me he pieced it all together. "You did that on purpose, and without telling Lissa why." I looked up at him guiltily but didn't deny it. "You must have figured they'd believe the compulsion idea, because they had never tested it. You put up a secret plan on our secret plan. You put a lie over a lie."

"Why are you so surprised if it's coming from a monster like me?"

"That's not what I said, Rose."

"You didn't have to. I can read you, Dimitri. I know your movements and speech like I know my left arm." I tapped my left arm in order to make my point. I also noticed there was something there that hadn't been there before. I looked down and seen a rather simple black, leather watch. "Well…that's new." My eyes were back on him, but he had that Guardian mask on.

"It's how we'll communicate. There's a wireless, untraceable signal that transmits from the watch to that speaker in your ear."

I looked from the watch to him a few times. "Why?" His gaze didn't falter. I continued. "Why are you doing this?"

He stepped closer, so our bodies were almost touching. His gaze was so intense I thought I'd melt under it. I couldn't read what he was feeling because of that stupid mask, but I could feel…something radiating from him like he was a heat source.

"Because the Princess asked me to. And because you mean too much to her to lose." Not the answer I was hoping for.

"That's why you're doing this? Because you know it will keep Lissa happy. And what if I died tonight, Dimitri? Would your mission be a failure? Would you hate my memory for what I was and because I couldn't keep your promise to Lissa?" I scuffed, taking a step away from him, suddenly not wanting to be close to him. "This is ridiculous. You're ridiculous! I can't believe you wouldn't do this simply because it's me."

He raised a brow, but every part of his demeanor told me my words stung. "Which is it? Are you upset because I didn't come in spite of you, or that I came in the first place?"

I considered it. "Both. I don't want you here, but if you're going to insist on being here, I'd be considerate of you to not think about your duty to the Princess, because it's just as much as a betrayal to me as your flirting with Anita Jandura."

Knife left forgotten on the ground – though it might as well as been shoved violently into my chest – I made a point of walking completely around him to follow the divers' path out of the large barn doors. He may be smart, but that was the dumbest thing he could have ever done: assume that I was incompetent when it came to feeling.

Lissa's POV (A week later…)

"I don't like this. They'll catch us if we meet in open places."

Christian sighed. "No one likes it, Liss. But if we're going to find…Dimitri, we need to do it." Christian was about to say them, as in Rose and Dimitri both. We decided that Rose's name was too dangerous to bring up. So, we used Dimitri's rescue as an excuse to keep the Court distracted.

"If he's even alive," Adrian commented, taking a drink from his whiskey.

Christian glared. "That's not helping, Adrian. Why don't you take your smell in a different room if you're not going to be supportive?"

Adrian continued to lounge lazily against the mini bar in the dining hall. "Hey, I am being supportive. To have an accurate look on your situation, you need a balanced opposition. Which, in this case, would be Dimitri's death. So, I'm helping the opposition."

"You understand that made no sense what-so-ever, right?" Eddie asked, shaking his head.

"It didn't have to. All I care about is-"

"Yourself," Christian finished for him.

Adrian's smirk tipped into a frown, his eyes matching Christian's glare.

"Guys, stop." Mia walked up, holding the paperwork we were waiting for. "If we're going to find him, we need to stick together. And that means not fighting around Lissa. She has Elections coming up and she'll need your support more than anything."

I smiled a gratefully. "Thanks, Mia."

She winked. "You need to keep a tighter leash on your men."

"Hey! She's only got one man," Christian argued.

"And yet all of her Guardians are male."

That shut them up. Hopefully it would stay that way.

"Okay." I broke the silence, turning once again to Mia. "So, I take it you found what we were looking for?"

Mia nodded. "I did. And more."

"Is it good or bad?" Eddie asked, voicing my own thoughts.

"Well, both, actually." She flipped open the first folder, showing Dimitri's last report before the plane incident. "His last report says he wasn't planning on retirement until necessary."

"Does it really say that?" Adrian asked, that smirk returning.

"Well, in summarization, yes. He didn't state in these files why, but he repeatedly said that Rose was an 'innocent victim'" – she used air quotes – "and that she should have the right to regain her trust. That would look like he'd want to go with her and help her escape."

"But the plane event looked like an accident," Eddie said, his voice making it sound like that's exactly what her hoped it looked like. Eddie and Adrian were a part of the plan all along, but that was little to Rose's knowledge at the time. It was like what she said to me through the bond that night: The little you know, the better.

"Don't worry, Eddie. That's what it looked like, but the compulsion detail gives them another twist to consider, making him look innocent as well."

"Point to Rose," Christian said with a surprised yet approving look on his face.

Mia continued: "He also stated why he believed Lissa is the right person to take the thrown. He made great points supporting her and her ideas for our race."

"That's great and all, but that's not what we sent you for," Christian pointed out.

"And you said hints to where Dimitri could be wasn't stated in the report," I added. "I guess it really is a dead end."

Her smile, however, grew. "I said that information wasn't listed in these files. That's why I said I found what we were looking for and more."

I took the file she held out to me, and I skimmed over the words. A smile touched my lips. Hope surged through me, igniting the force under my next words: "We need to send these papers to the council. Then maybe this will promote the search for Dimitri."

"Or his body," Adrian said, pushing off against the bar to read over my shoulder. "Although, I will admit this could help turn their views to see the situation how we see it."

I smiled wider, actually happy that he was seeing things in a different light too.

"Aren't we supposed to be keeping them hidden?" Eddie asked, taking the file from my and reading it over. "This information will lead Court right to them. All it takes is one phone call and every Guardian in Russia will be all over the place, and on high alert."

I smirked this time. "That's the idea."

End.

Yes, you read that right. That's the end of the chapter. It's a little longer than the others, and I'm a little surprised I was able to get it up so quickly. But, hey! Shit happens! Lol

I hope you all liked. You got a glimpse of Rose's control (or lack there-of), Dimitri's confusing reasoning for helping Rose, and Lissa's plan to hide her friends from the government she is to take control over soon enough. The next chapter will continue where this one left off a week after their escape but it will be back to Rose's POV.

Well, the next one should be up soon, but hang in there until then.

Thanks For Reading! R&R

-Aly