Chapter 7: Becoming Adrian

So sorry for the cliffhanger, but it really is more fun that way! Hope you like how it turns out=)

LPOV

"I can't believe she left us here," I cried as Rose ordered Dimitri to take us and run.
"She's supposed to protect me."

In truth I wasn't angry that she had left me in Dimtiri's capable care, but that she had put him before herself and dove head first into a fight yet again. I was at my wits end when she'd jumped in front of me and had gotten shot. They wouldn't even let me near enough to her to heal her. I didn't hear anything on her condition for almost twenty-four hours as they had the entire royal court on lockdown. It was by far the worst day of my life. I'd thought when I'd lost my parents that I had nothing left to lose, but I did. Rose was closer than blood, she was my bond mate. Losing her would have been far worse.

Although the bond had been broken, I still felt a connection to her. If she died I would lose my mind. As it is I haven't been doing as well with the darkness as I'd like everyone to think. I'd tried to lay off using spirit as much as possible, but it hadn't been easy and I'd since taken to keeping a flask of Russian Vodka under my bed. I was slowly becoming Adrian.

"She is protecting you. Now let's go," Dimitri commanded in a calm, but firm voice.

"Come on Liss it's Rose, she can handle herself," Christian tried comforting me, but my mind just kept seeing her lying there covering in her own blood.

We left the restaurant with Dimitri and Christian flanking me on either side. We were nearly at the cars when Dimitri stiffened.

"Stand in front of her and light up anything that moves," he ordered. Christian dutifully put me between the car and himself. I was beginning to freak out.

"Well well if it isn't her majesty the Queen. Won't it be nice to wipe out the Dragomir line and the Queen in one quick bite," a rather burly Strigoi said advancing towards us rapidly. I guess word hadn't spread among the Strigoi about Jill yet. I guess I was thankful for that at least for now.

Dimitri didn't hesitate as he jumped the Strigoi. They grappled, but eventually Dimitri was able to overpower him, but before he could get safely to the car another Strigoi ambushed him from behind. I shrieked loudly as the Strigoi dug his claws into Dimitri's shoulder. I heard him roar in pain.

"Do something," I hissed at Christian as Dimitri fell to his knees. I couldn't let him die, not after what we'd all gone through to get him back. Rose would lose it. Christian lit the Strigioi's head on fire in one quick flick of his wrist and Dimitri managed to rise to his feet and stake the Strigoi despite the blood pouring out of his back and shoulder.

"Get in the car," he growled his voice strained as he made his way over to us.

"Christian you drive." He handed over the keys and Christian got into the car and started it without hesitation.

"Get in the back with me," I told him as he struggled to hop into the car.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"You're not and Rose will kill me if I let you bleed to death in her car," I tried hoping mentioning Rose would convince him to let me heal his shoulder.

"Only until the wound closes," he acquiesced closing his eyes. I wasn't great at reading auras, but I could tell that he was in a lot of pain. When I'd mentioned Rose his aura showed fear for her life. I'd always hated how calm and collected guardian's seemed to be when on the inside they were a bundle of raw nerves.

I quickly got to work. The joy of spirit flowed through me as I placed my hand over his wounded shoulder. It felt so right when I was doing it, but after was always a let down. It felt strange dealing with the darkness myself now since Rose had been taking it from me for so long. I'm glad she was finally free of it though. I'd always felt so guilty about causing her so much suffering. I looked down and I had blood all over my hands and all over my dress and new Louboutin's, but I didn't care. We were safe and the only thing that mattered was Rose coming back in one piece as well.

"That's enough," he said gently removing my hand.

"Are you sure? You don't want it to get infected."

"There's a first aid kit in the back seat," Christian reminded me. I reached for the kit and began taking out antiseptic wipes and bandages.

"I'll do it," Dimitri said.

"It's fine I can do it," I argued.

"You're the Queen." Oh brother is this how it's always going to be? I'm Queen, but I'm still me. I thought to myself shaking my head.

"That's right and I'm commanding you to stand down and let me bandage you." I loved asserting my power when I could. He and Christian both let out nervous laughs, but he finally agreed to stay put while I tended to him. Men could be so damn stubborn sometimes.

When we reached the dorms Dimitri did a quick sweep of the land before letting us out of the car. We went straight back to my room and waited.

Dimitri was pacing and Christian was holding me, but he was tapping his fingers on the night stand impatiently.

"Did you try calling her?" I asked Dimitri.

"My cell is gone. I think I lost it in the fight." He did not sound happy and I knew he was really worried about Rose. I was too.

In all the confusion I'd left my purse at the restaurant. My phone was in there too along with Christian's. He'd asked me to hold it for him earlier.

"Too bad they didn't think to put a phone in the room," I mused. It had become nearly obsolete to hook up a land line in every dorm room since most students had access to cell phones. They only did it upon request now. That was the first item on my agenda tomorrow.

"We also need to phone in the attack to the royal court," Dimitri said. I think he was trying to keep his mind off Rose. He was usually completely stoic, but right now I could see worry lines forming around his eyes and forehead.

"Hey like Christian said it's Rose, she'll be fine." I was really trying to convince myself as I said that.

RPOV

Eddie drove as fast as he could back to campus. Phillips had come to in the back of the SUV and Watson was treating his cuts and bruises with the first aid kit.

"Have you called the royal court yet?" Eddie asked. I was sitting in the front seat with him willing him to drive faster. He was already breaking the speed limit by fifteen miles.

"No. I need to be able to tell them that Lissa is safe or…," I couldn't finish the rest of the sentence. They had gotten away. The car had been gone. The head of one of the Strigoi had been charred indicating Christian had fought. Surely they had made it out of there alive. The only problem was none of them were answering their cells. I sighed in frustration as I was sent straight to voicemail for the hundredth time.

Then something dawned on me that struck fear that I'd never felt before. What if they hadn't been the ones to drive the car? What if they'd been abducted? My mind was going all kinds of places I didn't want to be when I felt Eddie shaking me.

"Rose we're back. I scanned the lot looking for the car, but I didn't see it. I ran blindly as fast as my broken ankle and ribs could carry me. I didn't bother waiting for the elevator running up all six flights of stairs with Eddie hot on my trail.

"Slow down you'll kill yourself," he called after me, but I was a woman on a mission. I couldn't and wouldn't stop until I knew Lissa and Dimitri were safe.

I made it to the top out of breath with blood dripping from God knows where and thrust open the door to our room. No sooner had I opened the door than Lissa had me in her arms.
"Thank God you're alright," she sobbed. I could feel her hot tears on my neck. She pulled back and surveyed my sorry state. "Oh Rose what did they do to you?" she gasped.

"It's nothing," I told her shrugging it off. I'd had worse.

"Roza," Dimitri was at my side in seconds after Lissa let me go.

"Why the hell didn't you answer your phones?" I cried pounding on his hard chest.

"Left them at the restaurant," he said sheepishly pulling my hands away. I was in pain so I let him.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked leading me towards the desk chair and forcing me to sit down.

"I'm fine," I lied. "Nothing hurts."

He gave me a look I knew too well. He didn't believe me. Why was he such a good lie detector?

"So if I were to punch you right here it wouldn't hurt?" he asked using his large hand to press directly on the ribs I knew were broken. His touch was light, but hurt like hell. I winced in pain.

"I thought as much," he said lifting up my shirt to check out the damage.

"She broke some ribs and probably her ankle," Eddie said ratting me out. I shot him a death glare.

"Let me heal you," Lissa said stepping forward eagerly.

"No," I told her firmly. "I'm really fine. I'll be good as new in a day or so." She pouted, but went to get the first aid kit and stood by as Dimitri and Eddie taped up my ribs.

"This is going to hurt," Dimitri whispered. I braced myself as Eddie handed me a washcloth to bite down on. Lissa held one of my hands and Christian the other.

I tried to keep my cries to a minimum as Dimitri set the bones in my ankle back to their normal position before wrapping it in a large ace bandage.

"I phoned the royal court. They are upping your number of guardians to eight," Eddie reported.

Lissa groaned. "Anything that will keep Rose and I safe," she said softly. I shot her a look.
"I'm supposed to keep you safe. I can take care of me."

She just gave me the I'm the Queen so shut your mouth look that I'd been getting a lot of lately and turned back to Christian.

"It's been a long night. Why don't we get some sleep? Reinforcements will be here in twenty minutes. They're sending them by chopper," Dimitri informed us.

"I guess this ruins us having hot sex on our first date," I joked as Dimitri helped me get out of my clothes and slip on one of his long t-shirts. I inhaled deeply it smelled like him.

"Damn and here I thought you'd play hard to get," he said with a smile.

I snuggled into his warm embrace and he pulled the covers over us.

"Thanks for backing me up in there. I know it wasn't easy," I told him. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he spoke.

"You're right Roza. It wasn't easy letting you go, just promise you'll always come back to me."

"I promise," I agreed kissing his soft lips.

LPOV

As I lay that night wrapped in Christian's arms I couldn't sleep. I'd used spirit to heal Dimitri and it felt wonderful to use my magic. I was eager to do it again despite the consequences. I wiggled out from under Christian's arm, grabbed my robe and snuck out into the hallway.

"What are you doing out here?" Eddie asked. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine. I just want to talk to Rose for a minute." He nodded as I walked over to the room where Rose and Dimitri were fast asleep and slipped inside.

Dimitri was awake and prepared to strike as soon as I walked through the door. I'm glad he was so alert all the time, but not right now.

"Lissa what are you doing in here? Is everything alright?" he asked clicking on the desk lamp once he realized it was me and not a Strigoi.

"Everything is fine. I just want to heal Rose," I told him. "I couldn't sleep knowing she's in pain," I admitted.

"She won't like it," he warned but didn't move to stop me.

I shrugged and lay my hands over her ribs first and then her ankle. She stirred briefly, but didn't wake.

"I gave her some painkillers," Dimitri told me. "She probably won't wake until the morning."

"Good," I said and then padded back to my room. I could feel the darkness swirling around in my head. I had no idea how Rose managed this for so long or how Adrian did. Well I did know how Adrian managed, I thought as I grabbed the vodka from under my bed and took a huge swig. I felt slightly calmer, but took another one just to make sure. I slipped the flask back into the boot I was keeping it in under the bed and climbed back beneath Christian's arm falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

So not too much going on in this chapter, but I'm a little worried about Lissa. Are you? Next up more Adrian and Sydney. Please review and I will give some of you what you were missing in Last Sacrifice. If you want to find out what it is you'll review=)