Chapter 10

So here's chapter 10 as promised =) It's shorter than I would have liked but it's here none the less. So without further ado, I own nothing. Richelle Mead owns everything else.

There comes a point in your life when you know that you probably aren't going to make it past the moment you are living in now. I've had a few close calls in my short time living: when Dimitri had fallen and I tried to rush back into the cave to help him, when I went to Russia to chase Dimitri down and tortured strigoi to find out information about him, when he captured me because I had hesitated, the night on the bridge outside of Novosibirsk when I thought I finally killed him...just to name a few. But this was totally different. I looked around the circle of strigoi surrounding me and tried to wrap my head around it. I glanced over my shoulder to see where Dimitri was and saw him leaning against the car, acting as if there wasn't an army of strigoi surrounding the woman he loved. I chanced a glance up toward the windows on the third floor of the hotel and just glimpsed the curtains twitching back in place.

Okay, think Rose. I told myself. There's only ten of them. Maybe Dimitri's acting like he's not involved so he can sneak attack them or something. But as soon as I thought the words, I knew in my gut that it wasn't the case. Why in the hell wasn't he acting? Surely he wouldn't let something as little as a lover's spat stop him from coming and helping me. I figured that I might as well get this started. Hopefully, since Dimitri wasn't going to help, Abe would wonder why I was taking so long and send down some of his guardians to check on me. Hell, hopefully my mom came, because as pathetic as it sounded, I could have really used my mom's bad ass guardian skills right about now.

I looked at the tall, dark-haired strigoi that stood in front of me, closer than the others, "What, did I get a candy gram or something? Because, honestly I'm a little disappointed. I've been here three minutes and I haven't heard my song or gotten my candy."
He smiled at me, "Ah, Rose Hathaway. I know all about you. Too bad you're attitude is going to get you killed that much sooner."
I shot him a derisive smile, "Have you been stalking me on facebook? That's a little creepy, besides I haven't been on there for weeks now so your information is probably out of date."
He laughed a cold, hard lifeless laugh, "It is truly going to be a pleasure to kill you. It's a shame your lover couldn't be here to suffer with you or at least see the life being drained out of you slowly. That would truly make my night."

I shot a look back over my shoulder to Dimitri only to see him smiling at me. Only this wasn't the warm, loving smile of just a couple of days ago. This smile reminded me so much of the smile he used to smile at me while he was still a strigoi-cold, calculating. If I got out of this alive I was going to seriously kill him.

I looked back at dark-haired strigoi, "It is a shame. But alas, you only have me, so let's forego the formalities shall we? I'm expected inside, and I'd rather not keep them waiting longer than I have to."

I pulled the stake that Czekov had given me back at the hotel from out of my jacket, crouching into a fighting stance. I shifted my gaze from one to the other, listening to see if the ones behind me moved to attack while I wasn't facing them. I didn't have to wait long before the circle dispersed and all but three of the strigoi clustered together. The three remaining took it upon themselves to attack me at the same time.

I dodged the first one, landing a swift kick to the second one's stomach which barely seemed to phase him, and neatly staked the third one all in the span of three seconds. However my happiness didn't last long because the other two were on me fast and I was kicking and swiping at them with my stake to keep them at bay. I was waiting for an opening and after several minutes the first strigoi gave it to me. I rushed him and staked him before he knew what was happening, which left me with the last one. We sized each other up trying to see which one could get the upper hand, and I kept hoping it was me. He punched me, nearly knocking me to the ground but I recovered quickly. I pretended to be more affected than I was and waited for him to make another move, which he did. As soon as he started to rush me again, I dropped down into a crouch and staked him smoothly through his heart.

I stood up again, waiting to see how many I'd have to fight next. I chanced another glace toward the third story windows again, and that was the biggest mistake I could have made. As soon as I started to glance down the other seven strigoi rushed me. Apparently they thought that three at a time was not nearly enough to do an adequate job of taking me down, so I had to deal with the rest of them at the same time. Two bull-rushed me at once and slammed me into the hard concrete. As dots swam before my eyes, I thought it odd how the street in front of the hotel was totally deserted and this huge gathering wasn't drawing any attention. I managed to kick the strigoi that was starting to get on top of me into three other strigoi and got up before another could take it's place.

As soon as I got my footing back, I was punched in the stomach and kicked back down to the sidewalk. By some shear bit of luck I managed to stake the strigoi that decided to land on top of me. I rolled over and took out my stake, trying to get up before another one could get to me. I was not as lucky as I had hoped. A blond strigoi placed her hands around my neck while I was trying to get up and slammed me back down into the sidewalk. She started lowering her face toward my neck, pushing my face to where I was looking at Dimitri. I was still struggling, trying to break free but I couldn't help but think how odd it was for Dimitri to not help me. He could take down half the royal guard for me, but help me against ten strigoi - he'd rather sit out. That was so unlike him.

The blond strigoi was applying so much pressure to my head, I felt like she was a couple of seconds away from breaking my neck. She was about to bite my neck when I heard the most wonderful sound in the world. It was almost better then hearing Dimitri's voice after Lissa had staked him and turned him back into a dhampir. It was the sound of the doors bursting open from the direction of the hotel entrance and feet running into the fray that was surrounding me. Suddenly the blond was no longer on top of me and I jumped up to help the others. I looked around and saw my mom darting in and out of my vision along with Abe's guardians.

I wasn't paying enough attention and the leader that had taunted me earlier knocked me down again. The whole getting knocked into the sidewalk thing was starting to get really old, and I was getting angry that I kept letting my guard down. He bit down into my neck, pain shooting through my body fading into the blissful feeling that came because of the endorphins. He kept drinking from me, and my vision started to blur-black dots appearing before my eyes. This is it, I thought to myself. At least I'm going to go not feeling any pain.

I was just about to slip into the darkness when I heard a feral growl from somewhere and pain suddenly shot through my neck, radiating through my body. I heard the last of the screams from leader die down into nothing when a dark figure loomed over me. I had to try to focus on who it was, but finally they came into focus. Dimitri.

"Oh so now you decide to help, " I tried to say, but I didn't think it had come out as clearly as I had hoped.
"Rose don't talk, I'm going to get you help. Stay with me."
"Don't tell me what to do, I-"

That's when I couldn't hold my head up any longer and it rolled to the side. Standing near the car in handcuffs by my mom was Dimitri. That wasn't possible though because Dimitri was holding me. I managed to muster up enough strength to glance between the person holding me and the person being led behind us several times before it started to register.

Two Dimitris?

That's when I passed out.

Two Dimitris! Is she dreaming b/c of blood loss or is there really two Dimitris? I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out. Muahahahahahahahaha! So please R&R. I really want to know what you think =)