Hi Everyone, Sorry for taking so long to update, but I've had more than a week of migranes and bad headaches...
Hopefully they're over with for a while. Anyway, thank you to everyone who had reviewed this story, I'm glad that you all seem to be
enjoying it. I have 48 favourites and 54 alerts and I've had 3,648 hits in 21 days! :-) Woo Hoo!
I'd love some more reviews though... Let me know what you all think, good, bad, average?

Well, on with the story and I'll try to make sure to update sooner.
Sandy


Chapter Seven

The bus pulled up to a stop and for the first time in my life I felt true panic well up inside of me. As I looked down at Dimitri's face as he laid on my lap, I realised that the only sounds I could hear was the thumping of my heart and the pulse of blood in my eardrums. Somewhere in my mind I was aware that my hands clutched at his shirt like it was the only thing between my continued survival or me falling into an abyss of despair...

"Rose..."

I could feel my insides shaking, my breathing had become ragged and my muscles felt like rubber bands that were pulled to their limit; ready to snap at the slightest touch. The memory of the pain of those first few months after his disappearance flooded my mind and gripped my heart... how was I going to let him go again?

"Rose..."

Each second, each breath I took, brought me closer to the inevitable moment that he would wake up in agony and I would have to stand and watch him turn his back to me and run away...to them. I could feel the hand of panic and remembered pain reach down into the pit of my stomach and twist.

"Rose... Rose, you have to let him go..." I didn't mean to, but those words stirred primal instinct to protect what was mine and a growl ripped from my throat without me even thinking of it. I looked up to see Alberta crouched in front of me with her hands up in a sign of surrender.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered. "I..."

"I know Rose. But we have to do this... He needs you to be strong." She said as her hand rested on my fist. Yes... he did. I could feel her fingers slowly working at getting my hands to surrender their grip. "Let go Rose. I won't let anything happen to him again, I give you my word."

Rose... We'll all be there, they won't hurt him ever again; he'll come back to you, I promise. I closed my eyes as I felt a hot tear fall down my cheek. My fingers slowly released and Alberta stood up letting her hands fall to her sides. I put my hands on his face and traced his eyes with my thumbs.

"I can't lose you again, please... please come back to me." I whispered in against his lips before kissing him. I sat up and closed my eyes as I lifted my hands away from his body. When I felt his weight lift away from my lap, I had to use every bit of will power that I possessed not to reach out and grab hold of him again. I slowly counted to ten in my mind before opening my eyes again and I saw Dimitri being held up between Alberta and Eddie. I took a deep breath, wiped my face dry and stood up; slipping on my well practised guardian mask, I followed them outside. The sleeping bodies of the dhampir and human captives lay on the grass around us, surrounded by guardians and Moroi. I stood tall and looked through the thick hedge of trees between us and the houses of the estate in the distance and I wondered if the strigoi would really come back here, somehow I doubted that they'd make it that easy, but I could live in hope...

Not once did I look down at any of the sleeping faces because if I did, I knew that I would search for the one I needed to see the most and if I found that face... my resolve would crumble and I wouldn't be of any help to him...

"Okay Rose. We're going to wake them up now, are you ready?" That question held many meanings... Was I ready for the screaming... for his screaming? Ready to watch him run away? Ready for the fight? Was I ready for any of that? No...

"Yes." I said anyway. I closed my eyes as Lissa put her hand on my shoulder. Through her healing of the darkness that I took from her, we'd realised that she could also calm me down with a little bit of spirit and this is what she was doing now... although it didn't help much when the screaming started. My eyes no longer stayed closed. The captives yelled and writhed on the ground in agony, it almost seemed like it was worse than before... maybe the strigoi had turned up the pain to force them back. One by one, in quick succession the captives got off the ground and started running.

"Give them sixty seconds..." Alberta said to the guardians around us. I looked over to Lissa and Adrian who were surrounded by four guardians, two fire users and two water wielding moroi.

We're fine Rose, don't worry about us alright. Go bring them all home. I nodded to her and then looked into Adrian's eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to her, I promise." He said with his trademark grin. Everyone knew how he felt about me; me included, but after Dimitri... left, he saw my pain and never pushed me.

"Thank you. Stay safe... all of you." I made sure that the guardians and moroi knew I said it to all of them.

"Let's go Rose." I looked back to Alberta and noticed that the tracking guardians had already started to move off. A small number of us were going to track the captives on foot while the others would follow in cars. We would direct them when we crossed through places that cars couldn't and when the captives stopped, the cars would be able to get there before us and start the rescue. With a quick glance to Adrian and Liss, I took off after the other guardians.

We'd been running in silence for nearly two hours now and by the tracking device that Guardian Thomas held, the captives were still on the move. They continued heading east until they hit the heavily timbered forest surrounding Pocono Lake, they were one step closer to the Royal Court... surely the strigoi couldn't be that idiotic to still be on the move to there... Their numbers were obliterated; they had no chance to take on the amount of guardians that occupied the Court... unless they replenished their numbers since the raid... or planned to. Shit!... I lengthened my stride and caught up to Alberta who was leading the pack with Guardian Thomas so that I could tell her my theories. It didn't take her long to agree with the high probability of my thoughts being right on the mark, so the whole group picked up the pace and we were now gaining fast on the captives.

It was only minutes later that the tracking devices stopped moving; they'd arrived to wherever they were meant to get to and we were only minutes behind them.

"Unit two..." Alberta said into her earpiece. "The captives have stopped approximately a quarter mile in on the north side of the I-80, co-ordinates are being sent to you now. You're going to have to go on foot once you get there by the looks of it; I think they may be hold up in a cave or something. Be on the lookout."

"We're two minutes out." We were maybe three or four minutes, so we weren't far behind. I hadn't meant to, but I felt myself push ahead... I had to get there, but it was the longest three or four minutes of my life. Finally I could see where the cars had pulled off the interstate and gone into the cover of the trees.

"Rose, fall back, you don't know where you're going." Alberta's voice came through the earpiece, but I didn't need her tracking device... I could make out the footprints of the guardians from the cars. The closer I got the more focused I became, but with that focus came the all too familiar nausea that raised its ugly head when strigoi were near. I couldn't afford to stuff this up by letting my emotions get the better of me; Dimitri's life was counting on me keeping it together. I came to an area that had thick undergrowth amongst the trees. Vines that grew up the trees and down along the ground grabbed at my legs as I ran, slowing me down a tad and they were definitely getting on my nerves. I could hear the sounds of fighting close by and within seconds saw a guardian stumble out of the opening of a cave. I gave him a quick glance as I passed him and saw that his neck had been broken.

The damp mossy smell of the cave was thick and assaulted my senses as I ran inside. The sounds of fighting reverberated off the stone walls and the nausea that swirled in my stomach suddenly started to lessen... With that realisation I pushed my legs faster, but after a sharp right hand turn I was met with a wall of blackness... cold blackness. I skidded to a stop and looked around, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dark; they did a bit, but not much. I jogged forward, my stake clenched tightly in my hand and ready for anything. A quick memory flashed into my mind...

"Why did you turn off the lights?" I asked Dimitri. My heart started beating madly and I bit my lower lip in anticipation of the answer that I wanted more than anything...

"Training..." Well, that wasn't the answer that I'd wanted to hear.

"Training?"

"Yes Roza..." he whispered against the back of my neck. I spun to face him, but he was no longer there. "Fights aren't always in the light." He was behind me again and dread suddenly fell over me as I realised that he was about to attack... A kick hit the back of my legs and I went down...hard.

"Shit!" I sprang up and instantly went into a defensive crouch. "You could have warned me."

"Strigoi..." to my right... "Don't..." my left... "Warn..." behind... A hard hit to my shoulder had me once more on my back and in pain... Shit... For the next half an hour we fought in darkness. With each hit I received, I relied less and less on my sight. By the end of the fight my sense of hearing had been switched to high and I could track his movements with my eyes closed. I could feel him come up behind me, the soft sound of his footfalls accompanied by the slight movement of the mat beneath my feet told me exactly how far behind me he was. Before he knew what hit him; he was on his back and my mouth was on the soft skin of his neck. His heart thumped like a base drum between our bodies, and me being me had to take every advantage that presented itself... The tip of my tongue touched the soft skin that covered the fast pulsing vein in his neck and I slowly drew it upwards to the corner of his jaw... I smiled as I was rewarded with the rumble of a deep growl...

"I win..." I whispered at his ear.

"That's a matter of opinion..."

I quickly shook my head of the feelings and memories that fogged my brain; I had to keep a clear head. I took a deep breath and concentrated on my hearing, on sensing my surroundings. I moved forwards as fast as I could in the dark and soon became aware of my first opponent; the only problem... was it strigoi or guardian? Soon enough my question would be answered... I would either hit the stone hard body of a strigoi...or not. The first blow hit my cheek, but now I knew where... 'it' was. I heard movement to my left and I ducked to my right as I felt the breeze of another blow go past my face. Twisting to my left I kicked out, landing onto the soft body of a captive... okay...

"Orange..." I said loudly. I waited for the sound of a body to hit the dirt, but it didn't come, instead I was hit with a blow to my ribs. Shit! Why isn't working...? "Orange..." I yelled. Just then a guardian's voice came through the earpiece as I continued to fight...

"You have to knock them out first... the strigoi's control must be too strong to break while they're conscious. Say the word..." The guardian's voice was strained like he was fighting and then disappeared for a few seconds. "...then say it once they're down... they won't... get back up." Okay, knock them out. I focused on my opponent and laid a few hits to his face. Holding the stake in my clenched fist made my punches become small wrecking balls. I had to incapacitate my opponent quickly so I drew the tip of the stake across his arm.

"Argh!" The captive screamed with a hiss. I felt terrible having to hurt him but I knew I didn't have time to fart-ass around; I had to eliminate the strigoi so that we could free their minds. Within a few minutes was able to get him down. "Orange! Now stay down..." I quickly found his pulse at his neck and it wasn't long before I could feel it start to slow... he was sleeping. Once again I stalked forward; I could hear the shouts of the codeword ahead of me and knew that they were having their own problems. As I rounded yet another corner of the cave, flickering light from a small fire showed a mêlée in close quarters. Not good!

Taking a quick glance around I saw fighting between guardians, guardians and humans, and also between guardians and strigoi. Bodies lay on the ground, some dead, some... I didn't know. They were tripping up the feet of the guardians, they had to be moved. As much as I wanted to get into it and help with the fight, I had to move some of the bodies or else we'd all perish. Keeping the stake firmly in my grip, I dragged body after body to the sides of the small clearing. A few times I had to fight off a captive but their attention was taken over by one of the guardians.

"Help her!" I hadn't realised that Alberta was with us, I shouldn't have been surprised though... I wondered just how long the fighting had been going on...

Another guardian helped me clear the few remaining...bodies and then we quickly joined back into the fight. I soon overpowered a human captive and yelled the codeword once she was down and then with a hard shove, she joined the other sleeping forms. Every so often I would feel the nausea drop... and every time, I'd smile just a little knowing there was one less in the world.

With a punch to my chest, I flew backwards and landed hard on my back but before I could get up... I was pinned. Red eyes blazed inches from my face.

"Well now... What do we have here?" The foul metallic breath of the strigoi wafted around my face. "You wouldn't happen to be the infamous Rose Hathaway would you?" I didn't know if I should be flattered that my reputation preceded me or not...

"The one and only..." I said through clenched teeth.

"Really? I don't think so... I've got you pinned and you didn't even get a hit in."

"Mmm, well, you're just lucky I guess..."

"Luck had nothing to do with it. I'm strigoi, I'm better."

"Says you..." I'd had enough with the chit-chat. I brought my knee up right on target and seeing his eyes widen was the opening I needed. I twisted to the left underneath him and brought my legs up; kicking with both feet I sent him stumbling back from me. Being faster than me; he didn't need too much recovery time and I found myself on the defensive as soon as I jumped up onto the balls of my feet. I hate being on the defensive... with a passion, so when the opportunity arose, I dropped down and kicked out. My foot connected with the front of the male strigoi's knee and with a sickening snap, he let out a blood curdling scream. He bared his teeth and hissed in anger...

"You bitch! You'll pay for that." As he reached down to realign his leg, he left his chest unguarded... big mistake... I reached up and plunged my stake deep into his chest. Moving to the side so that he didn't fall on me, I watched as the 'life' faded from his no longer red ringed eyes. Be at peace... I said silently to him as I looked at his face. The sounds of fighting snapped me out of my daze and I looked up to see Dimitri. Oh no... He'd just knocked one of our guardian's out cold...

I jumped up and rushed over to take him out of the fight... I wasn't going to lose him now... As I ran, I tried to think of the best plan of attack; head, body or legs? Legs... Another guardian was now pairing off with him so I'd use that as a distraction. Six feet away from him I dropped and slid on my side with my legs open. I wrapped my legs around the bottom of his and with the momentum of my sliding, I pulled him down. But I didn't call him a God just because of his looks. As he fell, he twisted his body and wrapped his arms around my torso... damn! I made sure that I kept my arms away from my body; otherwise I'd have no way to defend myself.

"Dimitri... Listen to my voice..." I yelled. The other guardian was now laying into him, unfortunately every time Dimitri got hurt, he'd squeeze me harder and harder...

"Ellis. Stop... get him off me." I yelled. I had to get Dimitri's attention, not Ellis. I pulled my arm forward and slammed my elbow into Dimitri's ribs and thankfully his grip on me loosened just as Ellis grabbed Dimitri's shoulders and pulled him backwards. I leapt out of his arms and spun around to face him. Sorry... I pulled my arm back and hit Dimitri's beautiful face with everything in me. I saw his eyes roll, but it wasn't enough to knock him out...

"Orange." Yelled Ellis. Dimitri did relax somewhat, but he didn't sleep... Shit... One more punch and down he went.

"Orange." I said loudly. His face instantly went slack along with the rest of his body. I gave a quick nod to Ellis and then we dragged Dimitri to the side of the room. The nausea in my stomach was almost gone indicating less than five strigoi. This had to end, I couldn't afford any more time fighting with the captives, until the strigoi were dead, the captives would continue to fight. "We need finish this," I said to Ellis. "...we need to get to the strigoi... make a path and I'll follow." With a quick nod to me, he flew towards the strigoi at the back of the clearing. As captives and guardians did their almost choreographed dance in front of us, Ellis would push them aside.

Three strigoi. That's all that was left. I looked to my right and Alberta had just knocked out her opponent, I grabbed her and pulled her along with me.

"Rose!" she yelled in surprise.

"Come on Alberta, this needs to be done with." She saw where I was pulling her and then fell into step. Only seconds later we stood in front of three pissed off, bloodthirsty vampires who had their teeth bared and were crouched into defensive positions.

In a flash they jumped at us, teeth and sharp fingernails bared and ready to strike. My mind was honed into the thing that had to be destroyed, nothing else mattered. I spun to my right as his fist whipped past my face. I braced my arm and rammed my right elbow into his stomach and then finished off with a backhanded right fist to the jaw. The male strigoi went down, but not for long. By the time I completed my turn, he was back on his feet, but I wasn't going to be where he expected me to be. I dropped down and balanced on one hand while I kicked out both legs into his knees. One snapped but the other simply slipped out from underneath him causing him to fall towards me. A fist slammed into my cheekbone causing black and white spots to sparkle in front of my eyes. This was not good! The next thing I knew, a cold hand was wrapped around my throat and was squeezing hard, but strigoi were strong enough to just snap my neck like a twig between his fingers, he was enjoying my suffering.

"What's that dhampir?" He hissed inches from my face. "I can't hear you; you're going to have to speak up." His grip got tighter and I knew I was only seconds before passing out... think Rose, think! Pulling my hand away from his hands, I reached down to my leg and pulled a stake out of my boot. It wasn't the normal sized one, it wasn't as thick and it wasn't round, I'd had it specially made to fit into my fighting boots but it was just as deadly to Strigoi. I pulled it out and with the last of my strength; I rammed it upwards through his ribcage and into his cold, dead heart. His mouth opened in shock and his eyes became vacant as whatever 'life' resided in this body, went to wherever it went to. I coughed and spluttered as beautiful sweet oxygen flooded into my burning, starving lungs. I pushed his heavy body off mine and rolled to my side. My eyes squeezed shut as I rubbed my aching neck and tried to get as much air into me as possible. As I wheezed, I opened my eyes to a horror that I never thought I'd see...

The strigoi beside me had Alberta in his arms and his teeth in her neck. He was killing her.

"NO!"