Okay, so this is chapter 9. I know you all got angry when i made Dimka go to sleep, but i needed to. But hear me out, i couldn't kill Dimitri off if i tried! I'd never stop crying if he died a second time, the entire reason i wrote this fanfic was so that i could have hope that he would come back in the fourth book...and to put an end to the constant flow of tears whenever i see/hear/think of his names.

I'd liek to say WELLDONE to Freddy, cause' you got halfway there with your guess ^^ can't say which bit, though. I'm not giving out any spoilers :]

This is where you start hating meee....I probably won't be able to post anything again until thursday/friday and i might not be able to during the weekend either! I'm so very sorry, but if i fail this term my mum said she'd BBQ my head and save a turkey for Christmas. I'm so very very very sorry, but i promise i'll make ip up to you somehow!

Now, just quickly before i let you go on and read, i have a question for Skylar.

What sort of Christmas story would you like? I think writing a Christmas story might be fun, so tell me how, when, and where you want it and i'll see what i can do :]

Okay, i'll shut up and let you read now.

Enjoy! xxx


"Shit." I muttered, instantly ending whatever conversation the others had been having. I heard a few gasps.

If you don't help me, I'll make you pay. Those words ran through my head like a record getting stuck on a word. If you don't help me, I'll make you pay. Ghosts. But how? They couldn't have…the wards keep them out with the strigoi. But what else would be out to get me? I had a vengeful ghost or to and a world of strigoi, but they'd checked the wards and they were fine, so there was no way they could have done it.

Plus it was daylight.

"Rose!" Mia's hand slapped into my cheek. "Snap out of it!" she cried, shacking my shoulders. Snap out of what?

"Huh?" was all I could mutter. I strolled over to the box, picking it up and carting it over to one of the tables.

"Are you seriously going to open that?" Christian voice was panicked. "What if its like a bomb or something?"

"Christian." I said, turning to face him. "I don't know a single person that would want me dead that would kill me with a bomb. They'd use some sort of torture, but not a bomb." They already were using torture. They'd harmed Dimitri, and this was my only way of finding out who they were. "If you're scared get lost," I muttered, sticking my fingers under the lid.

"I was just saying…" he muttered, stepping closer to get a better look. "Open it already." Hah! He was trying for his tough guy act again.

I snorted. "Loving the whole tough-guy thing." I opened the box lid and peeked in. there was a large brown envelope, another smaller box and a photo. I snatched the photo and shoved it down my top.

"What the hell was that?" Christian asked, staring at my chest.

"Eyes of the merchandise, just cause Lissa's out doesn't mean you gotta take the next best thing." I poked my tongue out in a very childish matter and he blushed. Oh…my…god…Christian just blushed. "I'd kill for a camera right now," I chuckled, examining the blush. "You pop a blood vessel or what?"

"Shut up and open them!" he growled, jabbing a finger at the contents of the box.

I chuckled again, lifting the envelope out of the box. It was kind of heavy, but other then that it looked normal. That and the fact my name was written on it in dried blood. I opened it up, dumping the contents on the table. Two sheets of paper, another photo and a CD dropped out.

Instinctively, I ripped the photo off the table to examine it, and again shoved it down my top.

"Would you stop shoving the clues down your top?" Christian scolded. "What's on the photo's that we can't see?" he glared at me, searching my eyes for answers.

I ignored him, picking up one of the sheets of paper. It had written:

Dearest Rose.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you've broken out
of your little zombie stupor over lover boy now, eh? If not, then
this isn't Rose, and I'd like the following message to be delivered
to her as soon as she's capable of speech. If that seems to be
taking a little longer then you'd like, just tell her that It'll help
Dimitri and I'm sure you'll get a response out of her. Anyway,
getting back to the assumption that this is Rose.

Yes, what's happened is indeed your fault young one. You've
made enemies far and wide among out world because of your
little quest to save your precious Dimka. Don't you think you
were acting irrationally? I mean come on! He was your first time
child, and he's much too old for you. Think of how disappointed
your mother would be?

I'll stop babbling on and get to the point, as I assume your ill-
temper's kicking in and you're getting a little pissed off, because
I mentioned something that could help Dimitri. That's a very simple
question with a very simple answer: YOU. Why, you ask. Because
you my dear a Rose Hathaway! THE Rose Hathaway. Have you any
idea how many Moroi I could trade for your life? Of course that's
another issue. You've probably noticed most of your school is
missing. I assure you they are all fine, for now. We will release them
in return for you. But, to make this interesting, when you hand
yourself over – and yes, I am quite positive that you WILL hand
yourself over, - I'm going to make you choose. You can save the
man you think you love, or stick to the code and save the Moroi.

Pick wisely young guardian. Mistress Nicole.

"Why would they threaten you with Dimitri?" Mia mumbled, peering at the paper over my shoulder. "The man you…holy shit! You've got the hots for your mentor?"

Oh for fuck stakes! Was it possible for this day to get any worse!? "No fucking way. That would be…" she was giving me that I'm-not-as-stupid-as-I-look glare. "Ugh! I swear Mia, and Eddie and Christian for that matter. If any of you tell a soul, and I swear I'll rip you all limb from limb. Do we have an understanding?"

They nodded obediently as I retrieved the second piece of paper. All this one said was:

If you find yourself in need of a DVD player for that
little movie of mine, then open that box. You'll see
that even being even I have some sort of dead,
frozen heart. ENJOY!

Ugh. What was going to be on that disc? Better not take any chances. "Alright boys." I turned to Eddie and Christian. "You two go search the rest of the HQ, it's still possible that there's others left. Mia, you can watch the DVD I guess…" Mia grinned, but Christian and Eddie headed off for the door, grumbling something about girls being sexist.

"Alright," I grabbed the box that supposedly contained a mini DVD player. Opening it up I pulled out a small black portable DVD player. Cool, I could keep it afterwards…getting back on track I stuck the disc in and hit play.

The screen went blue, and then went into one of those old '3, 2, 1' countdowns; compete with the fake radar thing. Once the countdown was over, an ancient strigoi appeared on the screen, sitting on a chair. Ancient she may have been, but she looked about fifteenish. She was smiling and staring straight at the camera like we were all going to be best friend for eternity.

"Mistress Nicole," I muttered, taking a guess at her identity.

"Greetings young one." She began, standing up and walking over to a light blue door. "This little home movie is simply to show you that we aren't lying about your peer's safety. Well, of course they aren't safe, but they haven't been harmed." She pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The door opened into what looked like some sort of hall, the walls of which were lined with strigoi. Filling every other space available were the kidnapped students from the academy and all the missing guardians. The guardians looked pretty pissed off about being helpless, along with the novices. And the Moroi…well, most of the Moroi were bawling there eyes out.

"You see?" her face looked amused, which pissed me right off. "They're all fine. And we will release every single one of them if you choose them, or you could pick Dimitri. And all you have to do is give yourself to me. There will be a phone number at the end of this video, call it for further instructions. If you don't come alone we'll slaughter every last one of them. Let that be your warning.

She walked off then, leaving to camera man to survey each and every individual captive they had. I recognized most of them, which made it hurt that much more. At the end of the video the number showed up as she'd promised, and I hit the pause button.

"Well…I guess I know what I have to do." I glanced around the room looking for a phone. Nothing…

"Rose," Mia said, picking up a small cell phone out of the box and tossing it to me.

"Thanks," I smiled at her before turning back to the screen. I dialed in the number and waited for an answer. She answered on thesecond ring.

"You're up! I didn't expect you too wake up for another couple of days, truly amazing!" her voice was enthusiastic in a mega-creepy way. "I trust you've made your decision then?"

Shit…well, what should I do? A voice at the back on my voice was screaming out Dimitri's name, but at the front of my mind it was Dimitri's voice that won out. I could just imagine how furious he'd be if I picked him over them. "I wish to save…the captives you took," it killed me to say it, and tears started to swell up in my eyes. Dimitri…

"As I knew you would!" she giggled. "Okay Rose. We'll let them go one we have you, so hears what you've got to do," she started blabbing out a location that they'd pick me up from and how long I had to get there. I had to really concentrate to hear her. "I'll see you soon then Rose!" she hung up.

"Good bye Mia," I said, sticking the phone in my pocket and storming off towards the schools front gates. If I was giving Dimitri up for the well being of my school, then at least I'd share the same fate as him, and we could be together once again, with nothing to hold us back.

DIMITRI POV

Waking up my muscles screamed in protest as I jumped to my feet, taking in my surroundings.

I was in the school gym, surrounded by bodies. A few students were rushing around between the bodies, swatting sweat from foreheads and fluffing pillows. Alberta was the only guardian in sight.

"Dimitri!" her voice was relieved as she started towards me. "Thank god you're awake. I need the help."

"What happened here?" I asked, searching for her face among the bodies.

"There was an attack against the school, almost everyone is gone. Including the guardians. Those of us who are left are either unconscious or confused,"

Everyone's gone? No! "How?" my voice grew hard as my searching became anxious.

"Hathaway's not here anymore…" she said. How…

"What makes you think I'm looking for her?" I felt my heart tearing itself apart, but manage not to give anything away.

"We all know now Dimitri, she had to tell us. The attackers left her a package with instructions. She had to pick between your life and the schools, she choose the schools. Which…how are you alive then?" she frowned, looking back at the past.

"She did what?" I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice, there was too much to contain…

"She's giving herself to them in order to have the captives released, there was nothing more any of us could do."

Roza. My Roza gone, given herself up to the fouls hands of the strigoi in order to help others. And these people stood by and let her, after al of the sacrifices she's made for them, they just let her walk into the hands of death. "Do you have a location?"

She shook her head. "All we know is that they are being kept in a hall of some sort. There was a DVD-"

"Where is the DVD?" I demanded, cutting her off. She gestured for me to follow her and lead me to a small desk that had a little portable DVD player on it. I watched the movie, waiting impatiently for some information. "Mistress Nicole," I hissed. That bitch… I hit the pause button, glaring at the faded walls of the room. Balashov community hall.

That's all I needed.

ROSE POV

Dimitri…

I couldn't believe I was just going to let him die…"Mistress Nicole. She wants your head on a platter for all of the damaged you've caused in our society." Fucking strigoi.

I finally get Dimitri back, get Lissa and all of my friends back and get given a sister. School gets cool, the guardians respect me and now this. Happiness was always just out of reach, and whenever I caught it it'd slip straight through my butter coated fingers, smashing into millions of fragile pieces. Why did this world have to be so fucking cruel?

Why did they have to use Dimitri to get to me? Why did they have to get to me?

I pulled into the parking lot and steeped out of the car. Looking at my wrist watch I checked the time. One more minute, let's see if they're late. Or early…

A shiny black van pulled up beside me and the door slid open. I didn't ask questions as I jumped in, closing the door behind me.

"Guess the whole selfless guardian thing was true." A male strigoi with sandy blonde hair said to a female strigoi with long straight brown hair. "Didn't even wait for us to tell her to get in."

"She's just stupid. Any other guardian would've tried to figure out some way to get them all back, they'd rely on something other then the word of their enemies. Guess she just got lucky. I still can't believe Mistress Nicole's gonna let them all go." She looked over at me and smirked. "Sure as hell must suck to be you."

I ignored her and continued glaring out the window. Yeah, it sure as hell did suck being me. But nothing was going to change that. I'd be dead soon, and hopefully I'd be able to stay with Dimitri when I got to heaven…if I even made it to heaven.

"Not very talkative, huh?" the male jabbed my knee with his foot. It probably would have hurt if I had any feelings left.

"She looks like some freaky zombie girl. So depressed. Guilt and helplessness is forming an aura around how, how pitiful." The female snickered, glaring at me. "The big tough Rose Hathaway, your tale's gonna be told around campfires for the next fifty years. Might make some history books, too. Well, at least you'll die famous."

I continued to say nothing, and this seemed to annoy her.

"Fucking hell say something you freak!" she growled, standing up off her chair.

"Temper, Jess. Watch your temper. Are they going to kill her? I thought the Mistress was going to trade her in to Alex for forty good Moroi feeders and a few dhampires." The male said.

Jess sat down again, her face relaxing. "That Alex guy is such a freak. As if you'd trade that much blood for a girl that he's just going to turn into a house pet." She sighed, shaking her head in frustration. "Sure she's pretty. But there's definitely better looking girls out there. And he could have any of them for free. So whys he want this one?"

"Cause she's famous. And cause she's lethal. He'll keep her a few years, train her up and then change her. If she's this tough now, imagine how deadly she's gonna be when she's got super strength."

"Yeah whatever. I still think he's ripping himself off." The female looked at me and snorted. "What a waste of blood…" she muttered.

I got sick of listening to their babbling after a while, and found myself asleep.

And then Adrian showed up.

"I knew it." He's voice was riddled with accusation.

"Knew what?"

He glared at me. "When they let us go, straight away all of us knew that you did it. Gave yourself up so we could all go free. You're and idiot."

Oh. "What else was I supposed to do? Sure I wanted to pick Dimitri, but even if I did I'd still be giving myself to them. It's better this way, bad things follow me everywhere. The academy doesn't need my bad luck."

"Damn it Rose!" he growled, fading away into black.

"Wake up." The female strigoi was shaking my shoulder roughly. "About time." She grumbled, grabbing my arm a pulling me out of the van.

"Finally! It's so good to finally meet you, Rosemarie!" a creepy strigoi guy ran up to my side, sticking his cold hand on my shoulder.

I stayed quiet and still. Ignoring all of them but listening nonetheless.

"She's been like that since she got in the van," Jess huffed, bowing her head at the creepy guy.

"Oh well. I suppose a silent pet will do just as fine as a chatter box would. Put her in the car, Felix. I wish to get her back to the mansion before sunrise." He smiled at me and walked over to the female strigoi I knew as Mistress Nicole.

"Come on," a tall male strigoi with brown hair so dark it looked black said, pulling me along side him towards a very expensive looking car.

DIMITRI POV

We burst through the hall doors, ready to kill every strigoi in sight. Except there were none. Nor was there any Moroi, novices or guardians.

We were too late. They had been freed because of my Roza.

I collapsed to the ground, feeling weak and ashamed. I'd been to slow. To slow to save the girl that had saved me time and time again.

And now she was gone.

No. No matter what fate she was suffering, she was not gone. Alina could bring her back from both death and strigoi-ism. If she was not enduring either of these fates, then I would find her.

I will save my Roza, as she has saved me.

ROSE POV

"A month has passed yet you still remain as silent as the first night we met. Why is this?" Alex asked, stroking the ringlet's flowing down my back. "Is it because you are grieving? Do you miss your friends and family?" I had no clue why he was still bothering with asking me questions. Surely he knew by now that I would never respond.

Would never see, feel, or talk again.

"It's Dimitri, isn't it?" I flinched at his name. His name…the only thing that could suck any mild reaction out of my cold, dead, broken heart. "You feel guilt for letting him die, do you not?" as I would every now and then just to shut him up, I nodded, just the twitch of my head in an up and down motion. "He would be proud of you. Even I think you did the right thing, and I'm the one who seems to have forced you to choose."

He was right. I'd kill for a stake. Anything to make him suffer the way I have for the past month. I felt like a zombie. Eating when told, sleeping when told, waking when told. And that was it. Never before would I have obeyed orders from anyone other then the guardians. Never would I have obeyed the creatures I hunted, the creatures I was destine to destroy. Yet here I was, living in a house full of them. Dressing in pretty dresses and doing as they said.

"I would say that he is not suffering, but that would be a harsh lie." Is not suffering. I hated the way he spoke of Dimitri, as if he was still suffering from whatever cause of death he faced. "Sorry child." He stood up, tapping my shoulder. The shoulder tap: a silent order to stand and follow. As they had said, they trained me like a pet.

I stood, following him along the corridors to the main room. As we entered they bowed their heads in the usual manner. In the room strigoi both male and female mingled, all elegantly dressed and sipping blood out of wine glasses. It was disturbing to see, but it mattered not. I was used to it by now.

"Entertain them, mingle." Alex ordered, ushering me off towards the crowd. I did as he said and walked into the middle of them, sitting on the chair I usually did.

As usual they came to look at me. And as usual I stared straight ahead, the only movement I gave off was the occasional blink and my chest rising and falling just barely as I sucked in air. I never talked to them, but I always nodded or shook my head at their offers and questions. A few of the still-single strigoi men living here would come and kiss my forehead, sending a shudder down my spine.

I would talk no doubt if ordered. But not once had Alex ever done so. I don't know if he did it out of respect or pity, but I didn't care. I was just thankful I wouldn't have to converse with these creatures.

"Sweet Rose. Will you stay silent still, today?" Jeremy, one of the freaks that liked to kiss my forehead asked. I nodded once, allowing my head to turn towards him. "Do you not like me?" I nodded once more and he laughed. "So honest." He chuckled, sipping some more 'wine' from his glass. "Is there anyway any of us could make you talk?" I nodded again, thinking back to the Alex-ordering-me-to-talk thing.

"How does she do it?" Stephanie, a single Strigoi women murmured, staring at me with fascinated eyes. "She shows no emotions, says not a word, stays almost as still as a statue. Such discipline, it's amazing."

Discipline! I wanted to scoff, but as usual could not find my voice. Discipline had nothing to do with my lack of emotion and speech. To display emotion you needed to feel emotion, and to speak you needed to have a voice. As for me, I had neither.

"She obeys…hey, that gives me an idea. Keep her here, Jeremy. I need to fetch Master Alex." She disappeared off in the direction Alex had gone. Like Jeremy needed to keep me here, where else would I go?

"Stay," Jeremy ordered, grinning as I straightened up and stared forward once more.

Alex and Stephanie appeared in front of me, and I nodded once in Alex's direction.

"Rose, talk." Alex's voice was firm…that was an order. Shit…so maybe he hadn't thought of it, but Stephanie clearly had.

"Yes Master." My voice surprised me. It sounded much sweeter then I remember, like the chime of a bell.

And just like that all eyes were on me. Whispers broke out; they all started questioning if it were actually me that had just spoken.

"Silence," Alex's voice was firm, yet another order. He turned back to me, confusion plastered to his face. "That's all it took?" he asked, his voice incredulous.

"Yes Master." Holy shit did it feel weird calling a strigoi Master.

"Rose, I want you to have a drink." He said, picking up a glass of blood and holding it out for me. He'd never asked me to do anything this sick before. I was a dhampire! I didn't drink blood! "That's an order."

I swallowed as the room fell silent. I dared to peek up at Alex's cam face. Yes. He really meant it. Swallowing once more, I reached out and took the glass, holding it in front of my face, glaring at it.

"Drink." He commanded, and the glass met my lips.

It took all of my will power to force my lips open, everything about this was so wrong. Breathing in through my mouth I could taste the blood, and I felt my throat ache. What caused that ache? I hungered not for blood, I was not a strigoi nor a Moroi. I should not hunger for blood.

Yet I did. I hungered for it so bad that tilting the glass and letting the blood flow down into my mouth and throat was easier then simply opening my lips had been. I finished the glass, and handed it back to him empty.

That taste…

"Very good, Rose. Now stand, you must mingle." Alex disappeared once more, and I stood up. What just happened to me? I just drank a glass of blood, and enjoyed it…was I getting sick? Was being a strigoi contagious?

Maybe since I was half vampire it was natural to like the taste. Maybe dhampire's enjoyed the taste, but didn't need it. Yes. That would make perfect sense.

"Hello Rosemarie." Charles, a powerful and wealthy strigoi man said, raising his glass and nodding his head.

"Hello." It felt wrong to use my voice. It made me feel…I wasn't sure anymore. But I wassure it wasn't pleasant.

I had a feeling, a feeling other then pain.

DIMITRI POV

"You'll tell me where this Alex is hiding or you will die!" I roared, smashing the pathetic strigoi I held back into the cliff face.

He smirked a little. "You'll kill me anyway. You reputation is still far behind hers, but its high enough for me to know that you'll kill me no matter what I do or don't say."

I stabbed my stake into his heart, then pulled it out and dropped his body. I thought what Rose had done was reckless, going out on her own to hunt me down.

Yet here I was, doing exactly the same thing.

It killed me to know that she was out there, alive with a beating heart. Alive with a beating heart, but without me.

It was a selfish thing to do, hunting her down like this. She could be happy where she is now, happy and safe. And I was here, hunting her down. Threatening that happiness she may have. But it seemed so unlikely for her to find happiness when she was surely surrounded by strigoi.

I gripped my stake tighter as I found the path I'd been following into Poland, waiting for the next strigoi to find me.

What if I was too late? What if she pissed one of them off with her attitude and they killed her? Or worse, what if they changed her?

I could get Alina, I suppose. But that would surely be risking her life. And that would make my deeds even more selfish.

Roza, I will find you. I love you.

ROSE POV

Another month had passed, and still nearly nothing had changed. Except for now I had to talk with these creatures, and Alex made me drink one or two glasses of blood a day, along with my usual meals.

Drinking the blood wasn't really a bad thing, but it made me feel sick inside for many different reason. The main one being that I knew it was the blood of the people I was born and raised to protect.

Falling asleep, I saw someone I hadn't seen for a very long time.

"ROSE!" he screamed, wrapping his arms around me in a vice tight hug. "Have you not slept in a two months? I thought you must have died!"

Not slept in two months? What was he talking about? I slept every night, didn't I? Did I? I thought I did… "What do you mean I haven't slept for two months?"

"What happened to your voice?" he raised his eyebrows, staring at me.

"Nothing happened to my voice." I said in the same toneless voice I used with all of the strigoi.

"Rose, what did they do to you?" he's eye were sad, and his voice was full of sorrow.

"I'm nothing but a house pet now. I take orders from Master Alex, I eat, sleep, and bathe. I'm living out my life, just not the way I'd imagined."

"House pet? Taking orders from Master Alex? Since when do you take orders?

"Since two months ago."

He grimaced. "You look…dead. Like, there's no life in your eyes, no life in your skin. If your eyes were read, I'd start calling you a strigoi."

"I am dead, Adrian. In all ways that count." It was true. I was dead, but my heart kept on beating.

"Why don't you break out of there? I know you could." He frowned.

Of course I could. "None of the strigoi among the world will touch anyone from Saint Vladimir's academy if I stay. They promised, and they've come through."

He shook his head. "Still looking out for us all, even know its killing you. It's killing Lissa, too."

I couldn't really feel Lissa anymore. I knew she was there…but no matter whose emotions they were, my body just seemed to be incapable of feeling emotions. "She has Christian."

"Rosemarie. It is time for you to wake up." Alex's calm voice pulled me from Adrian.

"Yes Master."