For three hours I paced my cell like a…well…like a caged animal. The only time I had contact with people was when Navishkov brought me my food…which I promptly ignored until he came into the cell and made a show of proving the food wasn't poisoned.

Finally, I took a bite the damning pepperoni pizza (having a major flashback to my captivity in Russia) and after realizing I wasn't dead, I ate everything.

Navishkov sat there on the bed and watched me scarf everything down with slight amusement.

"Dimitri said you liked pepperoni. I don't think I've ever seen someone eat something so fast." He said after I was finished.

I glared at him and sat cross-legged on the floor, making a show of inspecting my fingernails.

"You sure struck fear into the Strigoi with all those stakings last year."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't look up from my nails until he forced me to by jerking my chin up. I didn't even realize he had moved.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." He growled, his red eyes glaring into mine.

"Sorry. I don't associate with sadistic bastards. You know what they teach you in kindergarten…strange danger." Next thing I knew, I was thrown across the room into the wall. I winced as my back made contact, but knew to never scream. Screaming meant that you had lost the fight and that most surely would insure the kill.

"Belikov taught you well." The murderous Strigoi sneered.

"I learned from the best." I grunted, pushing myself up.

Navishkov walked over to me and wiped away a tear that had escaped from my eyes. "Hmm…I won't do anything worse until Belikov shows up. Until then…you live. Once he arrives, I'll kill you. Right. In. Front. Of. Him." With that, he left the cell.

Dimitri's POV

I never cry. The last time I had cried was the time that Lissa turned me back dhampir, but knowing that Rose was in the hands of someone who could murder her any second and knowing that if I had just ignored looking for Jerome, I could have saved her…that was my downfall.

About eight o'clock at night, there was a knock on my door. I roused myself from sleep and opened the door.

"Belikov, you're needed downstairs." Janine said.

I nodded and threw on my guardian apparel and pulled my hair back before running out the door.

"Have the others arrived?" I asked, following Janine down a hallway.

"Alberta and Stan are here. Eddie Castile insisted on coming and helping immediately after Sydney Sage told him what was going on. Believe it or not even Adrian is helping." She said.

"That's it?"

"The small squad that was helping Rose guard Queen Vasilisa."

"This isn't enough to help."

"Dimitri, we'll get enough." She assured.

We arrived at a meeting room and I noticed everyone gathered around.

"Guardian Belikov, it's great to see you again." Alberta said, nodding.

"As I am joyful to see you too." Stan said…although it was more of a sneer.

I nodded at them both and noticed the maps spread out across the table. As I studied them more, I noticed it was a map of the surrounding area and Russia.

"Any ideas?" Eddie asked.

I took the marker next to the maps and began circling places around the mall and in Siberia.

"The Strigoi hideout that I…lived was near the tip of Siberia where there is hardly any sunlight. I remember Navishkov's base being up there whenever we visited too. It was an abandoned warehouse, but I highly doubt they're there right now. I'd suggest that they're somewhere around this area." I said, circling an area in the middle of a forest.

"What gives you that idea?" Alberta asked, leaning next to me.

"Because it's only an hour away from the mall that she was taken at…and that's the general direction they were heading."

That seemed a satisfactory answer and she said, "We'll start there first. I have more guardians arriving in the next few hours. We'll strike as soon as they get here."

I sharply nodded and capped the marker, setting it down next to the maps. "Where is Lissa?" I asked.

Alberta and Janine exchanged glances. "She had a panic attack last night and she's in the infirmary."

"Why wasn't I informed of this immediately?" I demanded.

"Because we knew you were having just as much trouble."

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "We strike as soon as they arrive." I repeated, walking out of the room.

Lissa's POV

"Are you sure you don't want a drink?" Christian asked.

I nodded, resisting the urge to scratch the wrappings around my wrist. Christian put his hand over mine. I looked up at him, tears brimming in my eyes.

"She has to be alright." I whispered.

He wrapped his arms around me as I began sobbing into his chest again. He ran his hand over my hair, whispering that everything would be okay and that Rose would be back soon.

"I don't want her to become Strigoi. I don't want her to die." I sobbed.

"She won't die or become Strigoi. She'll make sure of it."

"I just wish we still had the bond. I could sense that she was still alive."

"She's still alive, Liss. You'd somehow know without the bond that she was dead."

I looked up at him and nodded. "You're right."

He smiled and softly kissed me. "When am I ever wrong?"

I began suddenly feeling tired and I started to fall asleep in his arms.

"Don't leave me." I whispered.

"I won't." He said softly, kissing my forehead.

Rose's POV

After a few more hours of being locked up, I could sense some activity happening as guards began running around and shouting at each other.

"Hey! You!" I yelled at one of them.

They stopped and looked no older than me. "Yes?"

"What's going on?"

"There's been a breech. Don't get any ideas." And with that he was gone.

I had a good feeling as to who was breeching…and what their primary goal was.

I began looking around for something I could pick a lock with…and then I remembered a bobby pin in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked outside the cell for any sign of people before jiggling it inside the lock.

Bingo. I thought when it clicked open.

I scrambled out and then ran down the hallway. Whenever I was halfway down, someone grabbed a hold of me.

"What the f—?" I almost screamed until their hand came around my mouth.

"You never shut up, Rose."

"Eddie! What the hell is your problem?" I stage-whispered.

He grinned and handed me a stake. "You'll need this. Follow me."

"How'd you get in?" I asked as we went through the maze-like halls.

"Sydney cracked the code, Adrian used major compulsion the guards to let us through, and then we breeched."

"How many guardians are here?"

"Mmm…around thirty."

"Where's Dimitri?"

"Looking for Navishkov."

"Damn him. We need to find him."

"I agree."

Dimitri's POV

On the ground I lay, motionless in pain.
I can see my life passing before my eyes.
Did I fall asleep? Is this all a dream?
Wake me up.
I'm living a nightmare.

Leaving Eddie to find Rose, I made my way upstairs to where I knew Jerome was. I sneaked through the halls and passed guards, hoping that my assumptions were correct. I knew as soon as I entered the study at the end of the hall that this was Navishkov's place.

"Belikov, I always knew you were smart, but eventually it will be your downfall." He said as a greeting. He had his back turned…which meant he thought I could do damage.

"I don't think knowledge could be someone's downfall. I do believe knowledge is power."

"Whoever came up with that saying is a fool. Knowledge is not power."

"Then what is power?"

"Power is getting what you want…with your own two hands."

Suddenly, I was thrown against his bookshelf, causing most of it to fall on me.

I will not die. I will survive.

I whipped out my stake and charged for him, diverting his hands almost nonchalantly.

"Even as a dhampir you are quite extraordinary with your fighting abilities."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically.

We fought for what seemed like hours as our hands and feet connected with each other or were deflected. I would do a roundhouse kick or punch and he would block it or vise versa. I hadn't fought Navishkov before, but he was a worthy opponent. The whole time I was fighting him, I thought about all that he had done to Rose and to my family. Everything he has done to the academies and his numerous victims.

Finally, the fighting started to take its toll on me and my movements became weak. That's all he needed.

He whipped out a knife and before I could push it away, it tore through my chest. I gasped and my eyes widened in surprise as I looked down at it. I coughed and blood splattered at my feet. I staggered backwards and then fell in a heap on the ground.

"Goodbye, Belikov. It was an honor to know you." Navishkov whispered before disappearing.

My hand reached up and I jerked the knife out, convulsing at the pain and spitting blood out onto the floor. Darkness began shrouding my vision and when I was about to give in…Rose flashed across my eyes.

"No." I gasped, forcing myself to hang on until she arrived.

I will not die. I'll wait here for you.
I feel alive when you're beside me.
I will not die. I'll wait here for you.
In my time of dying.

I would not die without seeing her once more…until touching her once more...without feeling her kiss once more. Only then would I die.

Rose's POV

Eddie and I ran through the halls, looking for Dimitri and a sign of the others. Finally, we caught up with everyone.

"Where's Dimitri?" I asked, looking at their faces.

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

I had a very bad feeling beginning in the pit of my stomach and I tore down the hallway, flying up a path of stairs. I ran to the door at the end of the hall and screamed, "DIMITRI!"

He was laying in the midst of a pool of blood that I knew wasn't Strigoi and had a knife clutched in his hand. His skin was deathly pale and his eyes were closed.

I threw myself down next to him, tears pouring down my face. "Dimitri, open your eyes! Say something!" I begged.

I realized he was breathing and I pushed him onto his back, pressing my hands against his wound. He spit blood out onto his chin and opened his eyes a little.

"Ro…za." He whispered, reaching up to touch my face.

"It'll be okay. Everything will be alright." I said, pushing onto the wound and screaming for help.

"May…be…not."

"Don't say that."

"Rose, I…know…that I'm…not invince…able."

"I know you're not either. Damn it! When will they hurry up?" I exclaimed, trying to keep myself calm as Dimitri's blood flowed over my fingers and saturated my clothing.

"Rose…I…love…you. And if…I die…I want you…to know…" His voice trailed off and his breath caught.

"You want me to know what? Damn it, Dimitri. Tell me. Please." I prompted.

"You…are the…best thing…that has…ever happened…to me."

"I love you too." I whispered, leaning down and kissing his bloody mouth.

I heard running footsteps and then my mother gasp. "We need a medic NOW!" She yelled at the others.

That's when Dimitri convulsed and when he stopped, he dropped down…not breathing.

Dimitri's POV

Everything was white. There was no color to wherever I was as I wandered around this area of white. I heard someone calling my name over and over again. I wanted to go towards the voice, but I didn't know where it was coming from. Suddenly, the voice was all I heard as it began getting louder and adding on words.

"DIMITRI, COME BACK!" It screamed. "PLEASE! I NEED YOU!"

Then…

I was slammed back into my body and I flew up, gasping for breath.

"Dimitri!" A voice said anxiously.

I couldn't see anyone and I just gasped for air and tried to figure out where I was.

"Get him calmed down before he goes into cardiac arrest!" A voice yelled.

"Where the hell are the sedatives? Come on, damn it! The freaking sedatives!"

"Son of a-"

I began thrashing at people trying to restrain me before something was injected into me…and then I passed out as I felt someone's hand slip into mine.

Whew! That was a bit longer than most of my chapters, but I do hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I do not own The Vampire Academy series nor do I own the song Time of Dying. They belong to Richelle Mead and Three Days Grace!