Chapter 10
Dimitri's POV:
I awoke to the obnoxious ring of my phone.
"Hello," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. I was startled to find that it was only 3:30. Why would someone be calling me at this hour? Hopefully it wasn't a human telemarketer.
"This is Guardian Croft!" Barked the man on the other end. "Report to the Security Headquarters this instant!"
"Of course," I replied, mid-yawn, but it had been a waste of breath since Guardian Croft had already hung up anyways.
I got dressed rapidly and ran down to the security headquarters. My mind was reeling now. Something must be terribly wrong. When I got there, I found that the room was already packed with several other guardians.
After looking around for a bit, I found Guardian Petrov, and walked towards her.
"Do you know what this is all about?" I asked her, trying to keep my tone of voice as calm as possible.
Alberta's expression darkened. "Victor Dashkov escaped last night. All of the surveillance cameras have been wiped out, and the guardians who were supposed to be on duty are either knocked out, or have no recollection of what transpired over the past two hours."
Even my Guardian mask slipped at her admission.
"How could they let him get away?" I growled. I was extraordinarily angry. How could security, at the royal court of all places, have allowed one of our world's most notorious criminals to escape? How am I supposed to tell Roza?
I was then filled with fear. What if Victor tried to hurt my charge or my Roza again?
"Dimitri, you have to calm down, and control your emotions," Alberta told me soothingly, resting her hand on my shoulder. "I know that this is disastrous, but we have to focus all of our attention now on finding him, and finding out who his accomplices are."
I nodded, and allowed my guardian mask to once again cover my emotions. Alberta was right. Any time spent on worrying right now would be wasted.
"Guardians, as I presume you all know by this point, Victor Dashkov escaped his prison cell and the court grounds approximately an hour ago. Several cars have been sent out to track him down, but have had no luck so far. Our prediction is that he will be able to board a plane to escape the country within the hour. With his demonstrated ability to use compulsion, he will likely be able to board any plane with the use of a fake ID." Whispers filled the room. Finding Victor would be hopeless if he escapes the country. And with such a lack of accessible information, things were looking grim.
Guardian Croft waved his hand to silence everyone. "We will not be putting much more effort into searching for Dashkov's whereabouts." Some of the guardians were outraged by this statement, while others seemed to accept it.
"You may disagree with this decision, but it is impossible to keep tabs on a one hour radius from this location, and that is assuming Dashkov is even that close by. Local airlines and such have been alerted; however we fear that Dashkov will have no problem overcoming these slight obstacles." I put my head in my hands for a moment, the reality of the situation finally beginning to strike me. He had actually escaped, and we didn't really have any way of finding him. Roza is going to be furious.
"However, we will launch a full investigation into this case. If we can find out who his accomplices were, they may be able to lead us to Dashkov. Some of the court security members may assign you jobs pertaining to this case over the next little while. If you aren't assigned anything, you are free to return to your normal duties. Keeping this news secret will be impossible; however, the Queen will be making a formal announcement in a couple hours to confirm to the moroi that Dashkov has indeed escaped." And with that, Guardian Croft left, and whispers once again filled the room.
"Who do you think would have done it?" Was being asked by many guardians.
"I heard it was an 'inside job.'" One man, Guardian Jefferson, I believe it was, stated. "He has lots of money. He probably just paid off those guards who are now claiming to not remember anything." He said.
That theory was definitely a possibility. I couldn't help but cringe at the thought of guardians turning on us though. Fighting off the strigoi was already bad enough; the last thing we needed was to be fighting so much amongst each other like this. Any guardians who are given jobs pertaining to the case will inevitably be pulled away from protecting their charges.
"Belikov, one of the court's guardian's will take over watching over Vasilisa for the day. Your services will be required for the day," Guardian Croft told me. He then told me to report to Guardian Petrov for the rest of the day.
"Oh, there you are Guardian Belikov," Guardian Petrov sighed as I walked towards her. "They want us to watch the question and answer sessions between the security officials, and the guardians who were on duty when Victor escaped."
I nodded, and followed her down to the courthouse. We were told to observe the discussion through a screen in an adjacent room.
Alberta and I took a seat with a few other guardians and waited in silence until the questioning session began.
"Do you remember anything about last night?" Guardian Croft demanded.
"No! I told you that already. It is as if I had passed out and missed the whole evening." The guardian replied, in a clearly distressed tone.
"What is the last thing you can remember about last night?" Guardian Croft asked.
"Arriving at my shift," the guardian replied, looking down.
Guardian Croft dismissed this guardian and brought two more in who said basically the same thing.
"I know it is often considered inhumane to do so, but we should consider using compulsion on those three to ensure that they are telling the truth," Guardian Croft commented to everyone after the third prospect left.
I nodded in response. It would definitely save us a lot of time and frustration to do it that way.
"We have one more questioning for the day. This guardian just recently woke up after being knocked out." Guardian Croft told us. A moment later, a man walked in with a split lip, and a black eye. The guy looked dreadful.
"Do you remember anything about last night?" Guardian Croft asked him.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it was the feeder! I wasn't prepared for an attack, and then out of nowhere, she punched me in the eye, and a moment later, I must have blacked out." He replied.
My eyebrows shot straight up. His statement was hardly plausible. Being knocked out by the feeder simply didn't make any sense.
"You are under oath right now!" Guardian Croft growled, clearly disbelieving of what he was hearing as well.
"It' the truth, I swear. Compel me or anything, and I will tell you again that it was the feeder!" he exclaimed.
"I think he's delusional. He must have hit his head pretty hard," Guardian Olson commented from beside us.
I was inclined to agree with him.
"You're all dismissed for the day," Guardian Croft told us as he walked into our room. "There are two more guardians who were on duty last night, but they are still unconscious in the hospital wing. We will require your presence once again if they in good enough condition to be questioned. Did any of you find anything suspicious with the statements that we just heard?"
"Other than that bit about the feeder, not particularly," Guardian Petrov responded. "Although a compulsion test would definitely settle all of our minds. It is hard to believe that their memories of the night have magically vanished."
"Compulsion," I muttered immediately after Alberta spoke. Everyone looked up at me.
"The guards could have been compelled into forgetting the night. Spirit users definitely wield enough power to use that sort of compulsion, and some other moroi may as well. Victor has in the past demonstrated a clear ability to wield compulsion." I gulped even at the mere thought of the lust charm.
The other guardians nodded in response. "If they are telling the truth about not remembering, then compulsion use is definitely a possibility," Guardian Croft commented after a moment. "Thanks for your time. You will be contacted later."
He scurried out of the room quickly, and I got up to go back to my room. It was still only 5:30 which meant that I had time to take a quick nap. I just hoped that I could tell Vasilisa and Rose the news of Dashkov's escape before someone else did.
The trial would have started at noon today, so I figure that Rose and Vasilisa will be awake by 10. As I walked back to my room, I reveled in the thought of actually sleeping in until 10. I had grown accustomed to waking up early and getting little sleep, but it was still a nice treat to get a full night's sleep. I wish I could have gotten one tonight.
Despite my constant worries about Victor, I was tired enough that I was able to fall into a deep sleep. When my alarm went off a few hours later, I got up and walked straight to Rose and Vasilisa's room, bracing myself for a lot of crying and yelling.
I inhaled deeply, and then knocked on the door. It opened instantly.
"Oh my god, Dimitri, I just woke up five minutes ago, but when the alarm went off, Rose didn't wake up. So then I tried shaking her and everything, and she won't wake up!" Lissa exclaimed, tears rapidly falling from her eyes.
I immediately ran towards Roza and tried shaking her, but like Lissa has said, she wouldn't wake up. I immediately touched my fingers against her neck, and felt that she had a normal pulse. Her breathing was also steady. But why wasn't she waking up?
"I'm taking her to the hospital wing," I told Lissa, and gently lifted Roza into my arms. I squeezed her motionless body against mine, and sprinted towards the hospital wing. I couldn't lose her. Why won't she wake up? I was beginning to feel hysterical, but I knew that I needed to keep it together until I was once again alone.
"Roza, please wake up," I whispered in her ear, desperately a few times on the way to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, the doctors immediately took Roza into an emergency room and told me to wait outside in the waiting room for further notice.
As each agonizing minute went by, I found it harder and harder to conceal my emotions. The only other time that I have found it this difficult to keep my Guardian mask in place was when Roza went missing in Spokane. I love her so much. She has to make it out of this. If she doesn't… I don't know what I will do with myself.
Did you all like the chapter? Was it easy to follow? How do you think Victor escaped? And what do you think is wrong with Rose? Please review!