AN: Hello! Thank you to everyone for the reviews, favourites and follows xo here's chapter eight, enjoy! :D

RPOV

"Thank you for coming."

"No need to thank us Rose, if the roles were reversed you would do the same for us."

My eyes ran over each person standing in my living room. I had finally gotten around to calling in reinforcements and they had dropped what they were doing to be here. I was extremely fortunate to have the connections that I do. Dimitri, Abe, Pavel and Hans were here as usual and I watched them briefly introduce themselves to the newcomers.

When I had been stationed in Chicago I had met a group of six dhampirs who were promised guardians but didn't abide by the usual guardian rules. They weren't limited to following a moroi around everyday instead they formed their own group where they actively hunted strigoi with the help of their moroi who would help with their abilities. I knew this idea would make Hans uncomfortable with his loyalty to tradition but he didn't show it.

The group was led by a man named-Petar-he was a little older than Hans but his age certainly didn't slow him down. He was one of the best fighters I had seen. During one my missions, I had saved a few of their moroi while they were ambushed by a group of strigoi and while they didn't know what I really was, they didn't hesitate in helping me when I called. I immediately launched into explaining the events of the past few days and they all listened attentively taking in everything and nodding along.

"We know for certain that moroi are involved in this group, the burn marks on the victim's bodies and Guardian Voss suffocated by a water-user."

Hans stepped in. "We're concerned that the killings will escalate and we now know that they are nowhere near done. They're still here and probably right under our noses."

"Interrogations of every court guardian has been completed," said Dimitri. "We've found nothing so far with them and interviews with everyone else isn't easy considering the amount of people but we have guardians working on it."

Petar nodded his head as they spoke. "We need to hunt them down before they attack again."

"Exactly, we just don't know where to start. We don't have much to go by and we need to get this sorted immediately.

Eight bodies. That's how many bodies we had found since I was given this mission and I didn't want to stumble upon more. I was letting this situation get out of control and I needed to get my shit together if I was going to solve this mission. I hadn't even told Dimitri about what we had found in Tatiana's files. As they continued their discussion I scrambled to form a plan in my head, one that would be effective and help with closing in on this group. An idea came to me and Dimitri must have been watching me because he moved to my side.

"What is it?" he asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I slowly started to picture how we would go about this plan. "We have to lure them to us."

"How do we do that?"

"Call every person in Court to the Council Hall and we'll send a message to this group. At least one of the members will be there to hear what we have to say."

"And what do we intend on telling them?" Dimitri questioned.

By this point, the others had stopped talking and were listening to our conversation.

I thought over my words carefully. "We tell them that we know exactly who is behind these murders and we tell the people that we've already arrested them. It's doubtful that all the members will be there but all we need is one or two of them."

"So the members that are there will think that we've arrested the others who aren't at the meeting," finished Petar.

"That's the plan. I want every single one of you there to keep an eye out for anyone that seems suspicious enough for us to arrest and question. Majority of the people in attendance will feel relieved at the good news but it's important that we look for anyone who seems panicked."

Abe frowned. "How exactly will this help us?"

"It's a long shot but thinking that they've been caught will mean that they'll slip up and that gives us a chance to figure out who they are. All we need is one of them to break into telling us everything."

Hans stood up and straightened his clothes out. "I'm going to make an announcement for the meeting tonight and inform the guardians on our plan, we could use the extra help."

"Good. Abe and Pavel I need you to fill in Lissa, Christian and Eddie."

They nodded and the three of them left leaving Dimitri and I with the others. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to draw out the map of the council hall to explain where our positions would be stationed and exit strategies in case something went wrong. It would be impossible for every person to fit inside the hall, which was why we would be leaving the doors open and having guardians positioned in the hallways.

If we were going to catch someone we wanted to do it discreetly without drawing too much attention. I felt a surge of doubt rising in me thinking that it was unlikely that we would be able to pick one person out of an entire crowd but we had to try. Pushing my worries aside, I began assigning positions and listened to their inputs to strengthen our plan. Within thirty minutes everything was sorted and I had received a message from Hans letting me know that he had done his part. We still had some time before the meeting and before Petar could leave I pulled him aside remembering the promise I had made to Eddie.

"I need another favour," I said timidly.

"Just name it Rose."

"My friend Eddie is a guardian and he's worried about the safety of two of our friends. Is there any way that you could get two of your guys to keep an eye on them, they don't need to be with them all the time but maybe they could check in from time to time? I'm worried about them too especially with this group out there."

Petar gave me a warm smile. "Of course I can do that, just tell me who they are and I'll have Geoff and Dane on it."

"Vasilisa Dragomir and Christian Ozera, you'll meet them and Eddie at the meeting tonight."

"The last Dragomir? Hell I would be worried too," he commented.

I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. "Way to make me feel better."

Petar chuckled and followed the others as they left our room. As soon as the door closed behind them I threw myself onto the couch and snuggled against Dimitri as he pulled me closer to him. As much as I wanted to relax I remembered that I still needed to tell Dimitri about Tatiana's files. Adjusting myself into a comfortable position, I lifted my head to look up at him.

"I need to tell you something about what we found from the files that we stole."

Dimitri's head snapped towards me. "Anything useful?"

I grimaced. "We found motive to why this group would kill her and trust me it's not pretty."

He waited for me to continue and I buried my face in his chest. "She was making plans to take dhampir children away from their families and put them into a program called Templa to train them into guardians."

Dimitri's body stiffened and I moved away slightly to look at him. As expected his eyes had darkened and his jaw was clenched.

"She was paving the way to lowering the age decree for novices to graduate as guardians," I murmured.

His grip on me loosened and I felt saddened watching Dimitri react to the bad news. "That is outrageous and knowing that the royal members of the council would agree to it makes me sick."

"You and me both."

"Do you think that's why she was murdered?" he asked, trying to breathe evenly.

"Possibly but wouldn't that mean this group's intention and the message they're trying to send is not as bad as we thought?"

Dimitri glanced at me. "There are better ways to send a message than to murder people, regardless of whether or not their intentions are pure."

He had a point. "Maybe that's why Andrew Drozdov was killed, he could have been in on this with Tatiana. Priscilla too."

"We need to know who else might have been on it, they could be this group's next targets."

"I didn't find anything else in the files so I might have to sneak back into her office and do a more thorough check. We could ask his guardian, the one that was on vacation, there's a chance that he would know something."

"Good thinking Roza."

I fell silent as I realised something. "If Adrian knew…"

Dimitri's eyes softened. "Maybe it would be best if we keep him out of this. He still needs time to mourn the death of his aunt."

"Yeah I guess," I mumbled.

Adrian was already dealing with a lot and the last thing I wanted was to make it even harder on him. Dimitri still wasn't over what I had just told him and I couldn't blame him since I was still feeling sick to my stomach about the idea of kidnapping children and ruining their lives. Our conversation ended there and we started preparing for tonight, changing into more suitable clothes and making sure that I had my stake on me this time. I refused to let anything go wrong tonight.


My back was pressed against the cool wall and I welcomed it as the air in the hall became warmer and warmer as people arrived. It seemed everyone at Court had turned up eager to hear the news on our progress of capturing this group of people even though we actually hadn't made any. I nodded at Eddie as he walked in with Lissa and Christian, noticing Geoff and Dane standing a few feet behind them.

Eddie was also helping with looking out for anyone suspicious and I scanned the hall to see just about every Court guardian all dressed in black and white pressed against the wall. Hans was standing at the front preparing to give his brief talk and I could see that there were people crowded all the way outside of the hall.

There were hardly any events at Court that would call this many people into one place but with a bunch of killers out there, it would hardly take that much persuasion. Hans cleared his throat into the microphone gaining everyone's attention and I looked over the crowd recognising a few people here and there. I crossed my arms over my chest as I half listened to what Hans was saying and half watching over the mass of people.

"We understand that all of you have been concerned about your safety and the safety of your loved ones as the attacks have increased since Queen Tatiana's death, may she rest in peace. However, we have called you all here tonight to assure you that these people who have been behind these kills have been arrested."

The room filled with murmurs and sighs of relief and I ignored the horrible feeling of tricking these people into thinking that there was no longer a threat. My eyes darted across the room and I could see the guardians doing the same in their subtle way. Looking for someone within this group was going to be difficult and I made the quick decision to tune all the noise out and focus on the sound of everyone's heartbeat.

There were steady heartbeats with a few that were beating faster than others but I was listening out for any that were elevated. I pushed myself off the wall and began walking through the crowd slowly hoping to get closer to finding this person. Nobody paid attention to me as they continued to talk amongst themselves and listen to the rest of Hans' talk.

Suddenly, it hit me like a wave and I spun around in the direction that I had heard their thumping heartbeat. I felt like I was hunting them and I was on the prowl closing in on them as their heart was beating faster than anyone else in the hall. I could almost feel them and I could faintly hear the sound of their heavy breathing. They were on the move. My footsteps quickened as they moved further and further away out into the hall. I pushed my way through the crowd not caring about the complaints or who I was elbowing aside. By now I was out in the hall, it was still crowded but I had a good hold on this person I just needed to see what they looked like.

Come on Rose, focus.

My eyes were skimming through the faces trying to connect it with their pounding heartbeat when I finally saw the person I was looking for. She was hurriedly making her way through the crowd and the sound of heavy breathing and a heart beating rapidly connected to her. I picked up the pace and saw her disappear outside blending in with the darkness.

Once I was finally away from the hall I used my speed to catch up to her and it only took me a matter of seconds. I came to a sudden stop in front of her blocking her path and scaring her as she let out a shriek and stumbled back. She fell to the ground and I took that as my chance to quickly study her.

She was a dhampir, and looked to be in her mid-twenties, whether or not she was a guardian I wasn't too sure. I didn't recognise her though. With lightening speed I grabbed her by her shirt and slammed her against the brick wall of the building. A look of horror passed through her eyes and I pressed my arm against her throat.

"You're one of them aren't you?" I asked darkly.

The fear in her eyes were now gone and was replaced with anger as her lips tightened showing me that she wasn't going to tell me anything.

"Being open and honest with me will make this a whole lot easier."

She growled and attempted to push me off of her but I pushed back harder this time.

"Fine, I guess I'll just have to torture it out of you."

Using my arm, I pressed down on her throat and waited until I saw her eyes roll back and she passed out. Her refusal to answer my question was enough for me to think that she knew something about this group and was most likely a part of it too.

I had no intention of torturing her but she didn't know that. It was a good thing I had strength in compulsion. I placed her arm around my shoulder and held onto her waist as I dragged her back inside towards guardian headquarters to throw her into a cell. It was going to be a long night.

AN: If any of you have suggestions on where I could take this story or what you would like to see, send me a message because I would love to hear them. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter thank you so much for reading xoxo