Hello everyone! Here's the seventh chapter of, "My version of the last Sacrifice." I hope you all enjoy it and I just wanted to say a huge thanks to 'Raised with Fangs' for the awesome comment and suggestion. And also, thank you again to anyone else who has commented/reviewed. I really appreciate all types of feedback, it helps me a lot!
Anywho, there's only three more chapters to go and I will hopefully have them up very soon :)
Enjoy!

~*~Chapter Seven~*~

EVEN THOUGH I WAS TRAPPED in the complete darkness of my mind, I still couldn't get the haunting image of Christian surrounded by a pool of blood out of my head. It killed me not knowing what was happening, whether he had survived and what kind of condition he was in now. Hopefully Lissa would be able to use her Spirit powers to heal any damage, but if it was too late...

I mentally shuddered at the thought. She'd once brought me back from the dead and because of that, we were bonded. But if Christian was to die to and Lissa brought him back as well, she would become too unstable and loose herself, just like Avery Lazar who was now currently locked away in a mental institution.
I silently hoped that the damage wasn't too bad so that she wouldn't have to make that choice, because I knew that she would bring him back no matter the consequences.

It felt like hours had past when I started to feel a change. The darkness around me began to lift and I could suddenly feel the bond. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I quickly slipped into Lissa mind and looked down to see Christian's smiling face. I sighed in relief, he was alive!

"Thank you," he said as Lissa finished wrapping the white cloth around his shoulder.

"Don't thank me; I should be the one thanking you. You saved my life and could have been killed in the process. So thank you," she said warmly as she softly kissed his cheek. She started to pull back but Christian gently cupped her check and brought his lips to hers.

"It was worth it, besides it's only a scratch," he teased as they broke apart. They had suddenly realised that they were still in the van and decided that it was best to leave the mushy stuff for later.

"Yes, it's a scratch now because I healed you. But the bullet savaged one of your arteries and that is a big deal."

"Yeah man, you've lost a lot of blood. I mean look at the floor!" Eddie said, while pointing to the ground. It was completely covered with blood stains, but the van was already in a pretty bad shape. There were bullet holes everywhere and practically every window had been smashed to pieces.

Well, hopefully the Mastrano's have a feeder at hand that you three can use. You haven't feed in a couple of nights and all need the blood, especially you Christian," Thomas said from the front seat. He was sitting next to Eddie who was currently driving. "We should only be a few minutes away from arriving now."

Lissa sighed as a thought crossed her mind.

"I wish Rose was here," she muttered. "I'm worried about her, I feel like something's wrong. I know the bond only works one way, but I sense that something strange is happening to Rose. I wish I could know if she was alright..."

"Yeah, me to," Adrian agreed, coming into the conversation for the first time. It looked like he had just woken up. "I've been trying to reach her, but something's blocking me." He saw Lissa's worried expression and quickly continued, "But she's definitely still alive, she's just out of reach at the moment. Don't stess Cousin, Rose is tough, she'll be alright."
It must be the endorphins blocking him from contacting me...

"Besides," Christian said while curling his arm around her. "You know what Mia said; the Guardians have a fair idea of where she is and are planning to go get her."

"Yes, but they're mainly going because they think the Stirgoi have us as well! What happens if they realise we're not there and just decide to leave her there to die!" Lissa exclaimed frantically. Adrian just snorted.

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that since Belikov is one of the Guardians apart of the rescue."

I would have been glad to hear that help wasn't too far away, except for the small fact that the Guardians also wanted me dead. The only good thing about it was that I would soon be able see Dimitri.

"He's a Guardian again?" Eddie asked surprised.

"Yeah, since the massacre they've needed all the Guardians they can get and he did give them a lot of useful information about where they could find the Stirgoi. So they decided to trust him again," Thomas said as the van came to a halt in front of an old looking building full of apartments.

"This is it," Eddie informed the others as he began to get out.

"Do you think it's a good idea to leave the van out here in the open like this? If the Stirgoi following us see the van, they're going to know we're inside the building. And I don't want to have to go through another chase; we barely made it out alive last time. If it wasn't for Eddie's mad driving skills then we would all be dead," Christian said sounding serious for once. And I had to agree with him, he did have a good point. But before anyone else could say anything, Thomas spoke.

"Nah, I wouldn't bother. We're not going to be that long and there's hundreds of apartments in this building, so they wouldn't be able to find us anyway."

"Yeah, but Christian's right. We're better off to move the van, it will only take a few seconds anyway," Adrian pointed out.

"But..." Thomas began to argue, but Adrian cut him off.

"Why are you so against this? It's our safest option."

Thomas just stood there expressionless, not knowing what to say. There was something off about him, he didn't seem like himself. I watched him carefully through Lissa eyes as he finally spoke.

"Yeah, you're right, sorry. Guess I'm just being overcautious."

With the group all in agreement, Eddie moved the van into the underground car park and then they all entered the building together.

"The Mastrano's live on the fifth floor in apartment 121," Adrian said as they all climbed into the elevator.

As the lift began to rise, so did Lissa's emotions and I found myself beginning to worry with her. What if her half sibling was a complete jerk and refused to help them? What if they had moved houses or Countries? What if the Stirgoi had reached them first?

"I still think that name sounds familiar. Argh, where have I heard it before," Christian thought aloud as they rounded the corner and came to halt in front of the door that read 121. They all stood there silently, not knowing what to do next.

"Guess I'll just knock on the door then..." Lissa said anxiously. She reached up to the door and knocked three times.

"Oh, yes that's where I've heard it before," Christian said as it finally dawned on him. "But it couldn't be..."

"Why? Who is it Christian?" Lissa asked impatiently. He was just about to answer when the door swung open and everyone gasped. Inside stood a young girl with a tangle of light brown hair and a set of bright green eyes, the exact same colour as Lissa's. I couldn't believe it. It was Jill.

"Hey guys, it's so good to see you all!" She said in her quirky excited voice. Ever since I had first met her, she had always treated us like celebrities. She looked slightly confused as she ushered them all inside. "Not to sound rude, but what are you all doing here?"

"Well, we were just passing through and thought that we'd all come and pay you a visit," Christian said, covering up the real reason why they were here.

"Yeah, I'm sorry it's so sudden. I hope we're not intruding," Lissa said politely, trying to hide her mixed emotions.

"No, it's completely fine. I'm just a little surprised as I heard you were all missing. I was so upset when I heard! Thank goodness the rumours were wrong." She smiled brightly at them all and no-one could help but return it, even Adrian. She almost fainted when she saw this. I mentally laughed; Jill had the biggest crush on him.

"Jill, who's at the door?"

A slim women with straight black hair and deep blue eyes, accompanied with long lushes lashes entered the hallway and froze. "Who's this?" She asked. Her eyes locked with Lissa's and they both gave each other a knowing look.

"Oh, this is Adrian, Christian and Lissa. They are friends from school, but I am not sure who the other two are. Sorry." She looked toward Eddie and Thomas and then back to her mother.

"Yeah, sorry we didn't introduce them before. This is Eddie; he's a friend of ours and was in the same year level as us at the Academy. And this is Thomas; he's a Guardian at the Royal Court and came along to help protect us with Eddie," Lissa said, not once taking her eyes off the women in front of her.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you all. My name is Emily Mastrano, I'm Jill's mother. Would you all like something to eat and drink?" The group nodded and followed Jill and her mother into the lounge room.

"You don't happen to have a feeder on hand do you?" Lissa asked cautiously, not wanting to sound rude. Emily smiled and pointed to a door on the right.

"Yes, her name is Samantha. You are all welcome to go through at one at a time. Just let her know that you are a friend of ours and she'll be happy to help you out."

"Thank you, Christian why don't you go first?"

He looked her in the eyes to see if she would be alright without him and then finally nodded.

"Alright, but I'll be right back." He walked off into the room Emily had pointed out and then every took a seat on the couch.

"I'll go make us some tea," Emily said, excusing herself from the room. Lissa followed behind, offering to help. They both walked into the kitchen and shut the door. Emily switched the kettle on and the turned around.

"You know." It wasn't a question and Lissa knew exactly what she meant.

"Yes, I know about the affair." Lissa's voice was filed with hurt, but she stayed strong. "Does Jill know?"

Emily shook her head.

"We will have to tell her the truth you know?"

Emily sighed. "Yes, I know. But is there any particular reason why you need her to know the truth?"

Lissa twiddled with her thumbs for a moment and then answered, "I need her to come back to Court with me so that I am able to be on the council. Because everyone believes I have no family, I am not allowed to vote nor have my say in the proceedings of things. And if I can't vote, I can't save Rose's life."

Emily eyes lit up at the sound of my name.

"I met Rose once, when we leaving for the holidays. She's a wonderful girl and Jill thinks very highly of her."

Lissa looked at her in surprise.

"So you don't think she murdered the Queen then?"

Jill's mum smiled sincerely.

"No, I don't think Rose would be capable of doing something like that. I've heard she has a temper, but she has too much of caring nature, especially towards you from what I've heard."

Lissa was trying to hold back her tears as thoughts about my safety filled her mind.

"So you will let Jill come back with us then?" She asked; hope filling her voice for the first time in days.

Emily nodded.

"Thank you." Lissa turned to leave but was stopped.

"How are you going to prove that Jill is your half-sibling though?"

Lissa reached into her jacket and pulled out the blue folder.

"With this," She said placing it on the bench. "It's got things like bank statements, and if it gave us enough information to find out what City you lived in, then it should prove that Jill's related to me."

Emily nodded.

"I'm sorry by the way... about the affair." She said as she filled up the cups of tea. "We never wanted to hurt anyone, but we did, so I'm sorry."

Lissa stood there, frozen for a moment as she thought.

"Why did he do it?" She finally asked.

Emily sighed and turned around, leaning against the sink as she spoke.

"I was working at a bar in Las Vegas when we first met. I had recently lost my husband to cancer and I was looking for away to take my mind off things. I was serving drinks when your father entered the bar, and after a couple of drinks we started to talk. He was telling me about how he kept having massive fights with his wife. She was unhappy and expected more from him, but with a demanding job, looking after his children and trying to make his marriage work, the pressure was getting to him.

"I started to share my thoughts with him and told him how he could improve things at home. When it was time to leave, he thanked me and left. I thought that would be the last time I would see him, but a week later, when I was getting ready to leave; he came waltzing back into the bar. He said my advice had worked perfectly and he wanted to take me out for dinner as thanks. Eventually he persuaded me and we had dinner. We talked, laughed and well one thing led to another..." She dropped her head in shame.

"It was just one time, and we had both had a bit too much to drink, not that excuses anything though. But that one time was enough for me to fall pregnant with Jill. I managed to contact him again and he told me that he was sorry, but he couldn't have anything to do with our baby's life. He said he would deposit a large amount of money in my account and then that would be it from him."

Lissa couldn't move. How could he be so...low? Lissa thought.

"He loved you kids and your mother to much to just give it all up," she said, seeing the pain on Lissa's face.

"It still doesn't change the fact that what he did was cowardly and extremely low," she hissed.

"No, it doesn't. Not for either of us."

Lissa couldn't help but feel sorry for the women she had convinced herself that she would hate. It must have been hard to raise a baby all by herself, and to keep the father's identity a secret as well.

"Well, what's done is done," Lissa said. "The best thing to do now is to try and move forward from all this mess. And we should start by telling Jill the truth."

"Tell me what?" Jill asked curiously as she stepped into the kitchen.

Emily's face was filled with worry as she motioned for Jill to follow her as she brought the tea out into the living room. She sat down, took a deep breath and started to tell Jill the entire story.

"Wait, so this means that Lissa and I are half-sisters?" She asked after her mother had finished. Everyone nodded and Jill smiled. "That's so cool! Oh wait, that must sound really inappropriate. I'm sorry Lissa, I don't mean to say that the circumstances aren't horrible, it's just I've always wanted to have a sibling and I think it's awesome that you are my sister." She said, continuing to babble on. Lissa chuckled.

"It's okay Jill, I'm glad that out of everyone in the world that you are my sister."

Jill blushed and then asked, "So what now?"

Now, you've got to go pack your things," Adrian said as he exited the feeder's room."And while Jill's doing that, you should go and feed," he said speaking to Lissa.

"Wouldn't she be too tired now?"

Christian pulled her off the couch and led her to the room. "We both only took small amounts, so she will be fine. Go on."

Lissa nodded, but before she entered the room she turned towards Emily and said, "You're welcome to come back to the Royal Court with us if you want." Emily started to protest, but Eddie cut her off.

"It would actually probably be for the best. The Stirgoi probably know what we're up to and if they find out where you live..." he trailed off, knowing she would understand his warning.

"Alright, I'll come. Thank you."

An hour later, Jill and her mother were packed and ready to go.

"Where's Eddie?" Adrian asked as they all got prepared to leave.

"He went to go see if the coast was clear," Thomas said, standing just outside the door. "Here he comes now."

Eddie came rushing down the hallway, signalling for everyone to get back inside.

"We can't go anywhere," he said as he began to lock the doors. "There's a group of at least six Stirgoi roaming the halls, and with only Thomas and I to protect you all, it's likely someone would get hurt."

"But we can't just sit here and wait for the Stirgoi to come find us; we should at least try to escape. Isn't there a fire exit or something?" Christian asked annoyed.

"Yes, there is fire exit, but it has an alarm on it. But..."

"Oh fantastic," Christian said sarcastically, cutting Emily off. "How else are we going to escape?"

"Well, as I was saying before..." Emily continued. "There's a secret passageway in the spare room we can use. It leads right to the undercover car park." Everyone looked at Emily in surprise.

"Well, I guess that's sorted then," Lissa said. "Let's go."

They all headed towards the spare room in silence.

"Why do you have a secret passageway?" Christian asked curiously.

Emily smiled and said, "I had a feeling that I might need it one day."

They entered the small room and Emily went to the window and pulled the curtain string three times. A crack in the wall appeared and Jill pulled on it to reveal a hidden door. Inside were stone steps heading downwards, towards the car park like Emily had said.

BANG!

The group all jumped at the sound of the door being kicked in.
"Hurry, get inside!" Thomas exclaimed in whisper. Everyone hurried silently through the passageway. I could feel Christian's hand tighten on Lissa's as they ran down the spiralling stairs, not daring to look back.

Argh! It's so frustrating not being able to do anything. Why did I have to be locked up in this stupid cell!

Lissa and Christian were the first to enter the dark, damp underground car park. Eddie came out next, but the others were still struggling on the stairs with Jill and Emily's luggage.

The next thing that happened was a blur. Eddie grabbed Lissa and Christian and pushed them back against the wall as he pulled out his stake. A Stirgoi came lunging forward at him, but was soon on the ground withering in pain from Christian's fire. Eddie struck the Stirgoi in the heart and nodded his thanks to Christian. But it wasn't over yet. Next thing they knew, another one had come up behind them and pulled Lissa from Christian's grasp.

"Lissa!" Christian cried as he set the Stirgoi on fire. It let go of Lissa, but she wasn't done yet. She pulled a stake from her jacket and stabbed it in the chest, twisting it as she went. The male Stirgoi fell to the ground, dead.

Lissa turned around to see Christian and Eddie's mouths opened wide.

"What?" She asked, acting like what she had just done was no big deal.

"Where did you get that?" Eddie asked, still in complete shock.

"I've had it ever since I staked Dimitri."

I couldn't help but feel proud of her. Staking a Stirgoi isn't an easy thing to do, especially for Moroi. Dhampirs are much stronger and quicker, but on the other hand, that Stirgoi definitely hadn't expected Lissa to turn around and stake him. It was a smart move. Stupid and dangerous, but clever.

"Nice move," Christian said as he walked over to where she stood. At that moment the others came running out of the passageway breathless.

"We... got to... keep... moving..." Adrian gasped.

"They're coming, we heard them on the stairs," Thomas said, clearly in much better shape than Adrian.

Eddie ran ahead and hurriedly brought the van back around. Everyone jumped in, not worrying about seatbelts as Eddie hit the accelerator.

"What happened to the van?" Jill asked anxiously.

"Um... well..." Lissa started, not sure what to say exactly. "We've kind of ran into some trouble along the way."

"Oh..." was all Jill could manage to muster as she picked up one of the many bullets that littered the blood stained floor.

"Rose!"

I knew that voice... but where was it coming from?

"Roza, please wake up! Please..." My heart began to was only one person in the entire world who called me Roza, and I instantly wanted to see his face. I gave a fleeting last look at everyone in the van through Lissa eyes, wishing that there was some way I could communicate with them. But there was nothing I could say or do to help them now. They were on their way back to the Royal Court, and all I could do was hope that they all made it back in one piece.

Be safe... I thought as I slipped back into my own mind. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled when I saw the person in front of me.

"Dimitri," I whispered.

He sighed in relief and returned my smile. "Rose, are you okay?"

I nodded, trying to get up.

I felt Dimitri's strong, warm arms wrap around my waist as he helped me to my feet.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, as I rubbed my temple, trying to stop my sudden head ach.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to rescue you of course."

My mind was spinning. Rescue? Why would I need to be rescued?

I looked around, my head pounding as I tried to clear my mind.

I turned around to face Dimitri, trying to keep my expression blank. I knew he would be watching me.

"Rose, what happened to you? Why did the Stirgoi bring you here?"

I hung my head, not wanting nor knowing how to answer his questions. But he wouldn't take no for an answer. He cupped my face in his palm and trapped me with his eyes. "Roza, please tell me. I want to help you, but I can't if you keep me in the dark."

His face was filled with such worry and love; I couldn't stand to lie to him. I tried to keep my voice strong as I whispered, "I don't remember."

That's the end of chapter seven! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Let me know what you think about the story so far :)
Next chapter up soon!