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Rose, get up!

I sat up opening my eyes. I could have sworn I heard someone tell me to get up but there wasn't anyone around. I laid back down and as soon as I closed my eyes I heard it again.

Rose, get up!

This time I recognized the voice. It was Lissa, talking through the bond. As much as I wanted to yell back through the bond for her to shut up and let me sleep, I didn't. I knew she wouldn't hear me, so I grabbed my cell phone and dialed her number.

"You're up," said Lissa as she answered the phone.

"Yeah, thanks to you. What did you want?"

"We have to leave in an hour, or did you forget about our trip?"

I sighed. "No, I didn't forget about it. Well not completely, I mean I knew we were leaving today, I just forgot to get up. I'll meet you on the runway."

I hung up the phone and looked around my room. My suitcase was lying on the floor, open. Luckily I had finished packing last night. Christian had been good and didn't distract me too much.

I raced across campus with my suitcase and travel bag. I could see Lissa waiting outside the jet for me. She looked nervous, like she thought I wasn't going to show up. Even I wouldn't pass up a trip to an unknown location. I rushed up the stairs after Lissa. Of course I was the last to show up, there wasn't anything new about that.

"Nice of you to show up, Hathaway," Eddie called from the back of the plane.

"You know me, I love to be fashionably late," I said as I tossed my bag down in an open seat. "You going to tell us where we are going yet?"

"Well first we are stopping in Munich, to refuel and then we will continue our trip. Once we get to Munich I will tell you where we are heading but not until then," Adrian said with a sly smile.

I sat down in my seat and glared. He knew how much I hated being out of the loop and yet he did it anyway. I was starting to think how much I could really use a drink when once appeared in front of me. I looked up to see Christian standing in front of me with a smile.

"I thought you might want one."

I took the glass and sat back. "You read my mind. So any idea where we are going after Munich?"

"I have a couple ideas," he said as I cuddled into him.

"Care to enlighten me, or are you just going to leave me in the dark?"

He laughed. "If something good would come out of leaving you in the dark I would, but I know what happens to people who piss you off." He leaned down and kissed my forehead, "And personally, I don't want to be one of those people."

"Oh come on. It could be fun," I said playfully elbowing him.

"I think we are either going to Russian, Romania, or Italy. Those are the only places I can think of that we have to fly into Munich for first."

I closed my eyes and relaxed. "I kind of hope we are going to Romania. I know this sounds corny and very tourist-like, but I've always wanted to see Bran Castle."

"You're a Dracula fan?"

"Not a Bram Stoker Dracula fan, but a Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. I may not be Romanian, but I know a great fighter when I see one. He may have had cruel ways of dealing with his enemies, but he was smart. He stood up against all enemies, whether from neighboring countries or his own."

"I never pictured you much of a history buff."

"Hey, I may not have paid attention in many of my classes, but I wasn't an idiot."

He laughed. "I never said you were."

I fell asleep as we flew over the Atlantic. Christian had woken me when we arrived in Munich but I waved him off. It wasn't long after that I felt him gently shaking my shoulders again.

"Come on, we are here."

I blinked my eyes into focus and looked out the window. "What time is it?"

"Nearly midnight." I stood up looking around for my bags. "They are already in the SUV. Come on everyone is waiting for us."

I stepped off the plane to find two large SUVs parked on the runway. I climbed in next to Christian. Mia and Eddie were behind us, and two guardians I had never met were up front.

"So where are we?" I asked after I realized I had no idea where we were.

"Sibiu, Romania." One of the guardians answered from the front.

I knotted my eyebrows together trying to remember where that was. "How far are we from Brasov?"

"A little over two hours. How did you know that was where we were headed?"

"I didn't. I just know that is where Bran Castle is. I've always wanted to see where Vlad Tepesh was from."

The driver nodded as we pulled out from the airport. It was a quite drive, Mia and Christian were both asleep. I turned to look at Eddie. He was watching Mia and I couldn't quite see his face.

"What's up Eddie?"

He looked up at me and I tried not to smile. I knew that look, he was in love. "Nothing, just thinking."

"She feels the same way, you know." I turned back around and pulled my iPod out of my jacket pocket. I was putting in my earphones when Eddie spoke up.

"How do you know?"

"Everyone sees it. Haven't you noticed how we are all paired off? Adrian may be a carefree party boy but he isn't blind. We all have seen how you two look at each other."

I leaned my head on Christian's shoulder and he automatically pulled his arm around me. I watched the road as we rode out to Brasov. We couldn't have been too far away when I got that familiar nausea feeling in my stomach when Strigoi are near. I yanked out my head phones and screamed, "Strigoi!"

Adrian must have told the guardians about my weird Strigoi 'alert system' because immediately they were on ear pieces and sped up drastically. I grabbed my stake and saw Eddie do the same. The nausea was receding but not quickly enough. I couldn't see any and that made me nervous.

"Eddie, you see any?"

"No, I can't. You still feel them?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and that's what's making me nervous."

"We are almost in the wards. We should be there momentarily." The guardian that was driving said.

Sure enough moments later the nausea disappeared completely. I turned around to look out of the back window. That's when I saw them. There were at least seven standing in the middle of the street. Just as I was turning around I saw something I wasn't expecting. They parted and a human walked through with a stake in hand.

"Stop!" I screamed. The guardian slammed on the brakes. I was jumping out before we had even stopped completely, Eddie right on my heels. "Get them out of here. Get them to safety and warn the others that the wards have been broken. We will hold them off as long as we can."

The driver nodded and just as I was about to close the door, Christian and Mia jumped out. "We aren't leaving you two here alone."

"You two are both idiots, I want you to know that, but I don't have time to argue. Just stay back I can't worry about you two."

Eddie and I took off toward the group of Strigoi. "Why aren't they attacking?" Eddie asked as we ran.

"I don't know, don't let your guard down though. I still don't trust them." He nodded. We slowed to a walk and stopped about twenty feet ahead of them.

"Stop," the leader commanded. "We are not here to attack."

"Then why break the wards?" I asked, stake ready to attack.

"We haven't broken them yet, Rose."

"How do you know my name?"

"You made quite a name for yourself out even out here. It is too bad about your Dimitri though. He was a skilled fighter, a great Strigoi. He should have just turned you when he found you in Russia, rather than keep you as a play toy. Then we wouldn't be in this predicament."

"And what predicament is that?" I hoped that the pain in my voice wasn't evident. I hadn't really told anyone all of the details about my trip to Russia yet. My friends knew that I had came to kill Dimitri and he had kidnapped me, but they didn't know the details about what happened while I stayed with him at Galena's estate.

"The one where we are going to have to kill you. We know that you will never let us awaken the princess without a fig-"

"You're damn right I won't."

The Strigoi laughed. "We will see about that. Until we meet again," he said as he turned and walked off into the night, his fellow flunkies walking behind him.

I started to take off after them when someone grabbed my arm. I turned to see Mia staring at me. "Rose, it isn't worth it. They will kill you."

"Mia, I trained my whole life to take them on. I fought them while in Russia. I have always been outnumbered and yes it may look bad for me but if it keeps Lissa safe I will do it. I don't care what it takes, I will keep her safe."

"I know that, Rose. But if take off after them now and you get killed who will protect her then? Who will help her with the darkness?"

I wanted to ignore everything she said but she was right. "Okay."

I could see ten more guardians running toward us with five Moroi. One of them was Lissa. What the hell was she doing down here.

"Guardian Hathaway, I am Guardian Mathias. What happened? Where are the Strigoi?"

"Guardian Mathias. They left. They came with a warning, or what I am taking as a warning anyway. They came for Princess Dragomir."

"What?" Lissa yelled from behind the group of guardians.

"They came for you. Don't worry I won't let them get you."

"I know, Rose. What about the wards?"

I straightened back up. Making sure my voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "They didn't break the wards. After they said what they were here for they turned around and walked away. I want a perimeter sweep and the wards checked. I will take the princess back and talk with-"

"Guardian Takashi."

"Guardian Takashi about rounds and shifts." I took Lissa and headed back to the castle, Eddie, Christian and Mia followed.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be, Lissa. How can I keep you safe if you won't do as I ask you to do?"

"I thought you might need my help."

"What I need is for you to stay where I ask you to. It won't do me any good if you got killed."

"What if you got killed, Rose? Did you even think about that?"

"Lissa, it doesn't matter about me!" I shouted. My voice was growing louder with every word. "I have trained to protect you, Lissa. If I get killed protecting you, then it was worth it. But I will be damned if they get to you first."

We were standing in front of the castle doors now. I could see her eyes filling with tears. I felt bad but she had to understand that it has always been they come first and it always will be.

"Just stay inside please."

I walked off to find Guardian Takashi. I finally found her in a room off of the main hall. She was barely over five feet, with razored blue-black hair and deep chocolate brown eyes.

"Guardian Takashi."

"Guardian Hathaway. I take it everything is taken care of?" she asked with a slight Japanese accent.

I nodded. "Yes, I sent Guardian Mathias and a team to do a sweep of the perimeter and check the wards. The princess is back inside the building, unharmed."

"You handle yourself well. I know that this is your holiday time and I apologize for the interruption. I will make sure that there are plenty of guardians on duty, we will not let anything happen to the princess."

"Thank you. I may be on holidays but I am always armed."

"I think we all are like that. Once you get use to something it's hard to change. If Guardian Mathias or anyone from his team finds anything I will let you know."

I nodded and stepped out. I had been so occupied when I went to find Guardian Takashi that I didn't even get a good look at the inside of the castle. I walked through the narrow hallways gazing at the tapestries that were hanging on the walls, the paintings faded and worn.

"He was a great leader," a voice from behind said.

I turned to see the guardian who had been driving behind me. He had a Romanian accent. I was surprised to see that he was tall, almost as tall as Dimitri was. He had sandy blond hair, and grey eyes.

"Yes, he was. I've always wanted to come here."

"Ah, I am sorry I never introduced myself. I am Guardian Crede."

I shook his outstretched hand. "I am Guardian Hathaway. It is nice to meet you Guardian Crede."

"Please call me, Michael."

"Michael, did you find anything outside?"

"No, Guard-"

"Rose."

"What?"

"Call me Rose."

"No, Rose. We did not find anything. All the wards are still full strength but we put up two more layers just to be safe. Guardian Takashi has doubled the guardians on shift. We will not let anything happen to the princess."

I nodded and walked out to the courtyard. We hadn't even been on vacation for a whole day before the damn Strigoi showed up. Days like this really make me wonder if we are even doing any damage against them.

I smelled a very decent brand of vodka behind me. "Dream stalking not keeping you occupied enough now? Got to turn to night stalking, too?"

"Little Dhampir, one day you will have to teach me how you do that."

I laughed as he sat down. "Guardian secrets. If I told you, I'd have-"

"To kill me. Yeah, I know. How are you doing?"

I grabbed the bottle of vodka and took a drink. It was the same stuff that they had passed around at Dimitri's wake. "I've been better. I guess everything is just kind of getting to me. I mean I try to protect Lissa from the Strigoi and she runs right for them. How can I keep her safe if she won't listen?"

"She was worried about you, Rose. We didn't know what was going on. All we see is your SUV stop and you take off running."

"She still shouldn't have ran after me, Adrian. I know that she wants to help. I see it in her eyes everyday how she wishes she was a fire user or a water user so that she could be fighting right next to me. But she isn't a fighter she is a healer, she isn't meant to be on the front lines. And I wouldn't want her out there. Even though we have Moroi willing to fight next to us now doesn't mean that it is easy for me to accept. I have always been trained that they come first and now everything has changed. I mean its hard for me to try and not worry about them in a fight but I'm suppose to protect you guys, not let you fight next to me."

"Are you saying that you don't want Moroi to fight?"

"No," I shook my head, "that's not it at all. I am glad that they want to fight. It's just hard for me to change my ways."

"But you let Christian fight next to you, why not others?"

I took another drink and then another. "I don't let Christian do anything. The first time we fought next to each other, the day St. Vlad's was attacked, was the hardest thing I ever did and the most amazing thing ever. I love the idea of an offensive Moroi movement, but that doesn't mean I want Lissa out there."

Adrian put his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder. "I don't want to see her out there either. But it's not easy seeing you out there either."

"But it's what I was trained for."

"I know, but that doesn't make it easy to watch. Rose, you made a lot of enemies while in Russian, and tonight proved it. You are one giant badass but that doesn't make you invincible. Just promise me you will be safe. I can't lose you. I still love you, you know."

"I still love you."

"Good, now that that is out of the way, let's go find our lovers before they get worried about us and come looking."

I laughed and tried to stand up with Adrian. I guess I had a little more than I realized because the world started to sway ever so slightly when I stood. I waited until it leveled out before I started walking. Adrian lead me my room and I found Lissa sitting on my bed, waiting for me.

"Adrian, you were suppose to find her and bring her back, not get her drunk," Lissa chastised him.

"Hey, I'm not drunk, Liss. And it's a vacation anyway."

She smiled and sat down next to me. Adrian waved and walked out the room. "I'm sorry, Rose. I really am."

"It's okay, Lissa. But I can't have you out there with me. It's different if we are out and they show up, but when you willingly run to them…" I shook my head.

"Okay, I promise I won't do that again. But only if you promise me one thing."

"What is that?"

"Try to have fun while we are here. You are on holiday, not on duty. This is your vacation as much as it is mine. I have plenty of guardians okay?"

"I'll have fun, but I am not leaving without a stake."

Lissa tried to scowl at me but instead I started laughing. I couldn't help it. "Go to sleep Rose. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Lissa. Oh, if you see Christian will you send him here."

"Sure."

I fell back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Today had been a long day and I had spent most of it sleeping. I couldn't believe the nerve of that Strigoi had. He must have had a death wish. The one thing I couldn't figure out was how he knew about mine and Dimitri's relationship. Something in the back of my head was ticking but I couldn't put my finger on it. I fell asleep thinking about that Strigoi.