Sorry sorry sorry!
Disclaimer: skip it!
"Dimitri! Mason! We need help! We're under attack! Can anybody hear me?" she cried. I didn't hear any response. The last thing that I remember is Rose coming over to me before she collapsed, like she could shield me with her body even after she was out cold and a voice laughing in the background.
DPOV
I had been running around as fast as I could for my entire break trying to find everything that I needed for Rose and our two weeks alone together, and so far so good. I had all the basics: chocolates, candles, music, not alcoholic champagne. I was NOT going to risk Rose saying that I got her drunk and took advantage of her. If she decides to give me a second chance, she was going to do it sober. I also made sure to get the cabin stocked with warm extra fluffy blankets. I knew how little tolerance that Rose had to the cold even with her Turkish roots. I ordered the pantries to be stocked with some of Rose's favorite foods and also the ingredients that I needed to cook for her. I know that this is what they say about men. But the way to Rose's heart may very well be through her stomach.
I also got a few other things that hopefully would make the rest of our time together easier. I knew that Rose wasn't shallow enough to fall for me just because I did romantic things and got her a lot of presents. But that wasn't what this trip was about, it was showing her that I was worth a second chance. And Lissa had said that it was the thought that counts, so I made sure to have a trump card in my arsenal. I just hoped that she would accept it.
I looked down at my watch and saw that I was almost out of time. I quickly paid for what I was getting and ran back to my post. I was surprised and a little embarrassed to find that the girls were at Victoria's Secret.
"Hey Belikov, did you get me a present?" asked Jack as he grinned like an idiot. But it was actually nice having him around, his carefree attitude made things seem a little brighter than they really were in dark times.
"Only if you like trail mix and cold rations," I said as I came up to them.
"Aww why torture the poor girl more than you have to? You have a kitchen in that cabin, use it. I know you can cook so treat the lady to a nice dinner after a hard day of you telling her that she's doing everything wrong." he laughed. Little did he know how right he was.
"Where are the rest of the group?" I asked because only me and Jack were outside the store.
"Well Mia and Jill went in there for a bit but got bored and came back out but the Princess and Rose wanted to stay. I think they just wanted a little girl time. So we decided that since you were on break, I would stay with the Princess and the rest would go off and do their own thing- and look, there they are now."
I looked behind me and saw the rest of our party coming towards us.
"The mall is closing now but I didn't want to leave with this group until you got back, with an even number we could be jumped easier," Stevie said and I nodded. I looked around and saw that we were just about the last people here.
"Is the Princess and Rose ready to go?" I asked just as they exited the store.
"Rose and I want to look at some more stuff so could one of you please take our things back to the car with you while we finish up here?" Lissa asked in a sweet voice.
"I will," Mason said then smiled at Mia like he was trying to impress her. I didn't like leaving Rose alone, but it was still daylight for a little while longer and she had Jack with her, so I followed the rest of the group back to the car. But after we loaded in all of our things and started moving the Moroi into the car first for safety, I heard a loud whoosh - and then suddenly what looked like a giant parachute was being thrown over us!
"We're under attack!" I cried out and grabbed my stake as Strigoi started coming in under the parachute! It was much harder to fight them in such a confined space. Every time I attacked one in my sight, the parachute would move and with the Strigois' speed, I wouldn't be able to track their movements and block their hits.
Mid- fight, I heard my walkie-talkie going off. "Dimitri! Mason! We need help! We're under attack! Can anybody hear me?"
ROSE! Oh no they had her too! I had to end this fight quickly, I had to save my Roza!
I managed to stake one of them, but then I heard a horror filled scream and saw that the Strigoi were going after the Novices to get to the Moroi. I ran over to help them, which wasn't easy with the parachute moving all over the place and getting tangled under my feet, and got there just in time to see one of the Strigoi bite Mason!
"NOOOO!" Mia screamed and tried to get out of the car to get to him. But I stepped in front of her to stop her from going over there herself and made the Strigoi get his filthy fangs out of Mason's neck, but then another Strigoi jumped me from behind and he got away.
"MASON!" Mia cried again and jumped out of the car to go after him.
"Mia! Get back in the car!" Eddie cried but it was too late, the Strigoi had her.
I went to try to get her back, but I was too busy fighting for my life to see where she was being dragged off to. Then out of no where, the Strigoi on my back bursted into flames and fell off. I looked around and saw Christian getting out of the car and setting fire to the parachute over us. Soon all the Strigoi were gone.
"Is everyone ok?" Stevie asked as he looked around to make sure that no Strigoi were hiding under the car or anything.
"HELL NO," Eddie shouted. "In case you didn't notice, Mason and Mia just got kidnapped by a group of Strigoi!" Eddie shouted mad as anything. I could well understand, but right now I had something more important to worry about. I grabbed my walkie-talkie off my belt.
"Rose are you ok? Where are you? Can you hear me?" I asked frantically. I couldn't lose Rose, not like this. I needed to find her and hold her in my arms and tell her how much I loved her.
"Belikov what's wrong?" Stevie asked walking over to me and ignoring Eddie. I knew I didn't like this guy for a reason.
"Halfway through the fight, I got a distress call from Rose and the Princess, they were being attacked and Rose tried to call for help," I told him not taking my eyes off of the walkie-talkie. I knew it was dumb, but I felt that if I kept looking at it I might magically hear Rose's voice.
"The Princess is in danger!? We have to rescue her," Stevie said like it was the only thing that mattered. I know that as a guardian our motto is "they come first" but just because Rose and Mason, not to mention Jack if he was still alive, weren't Moroi doesn't mean that they weren't worthy of rescuing. And just because Mia wasn't a royal didn't make her any less in need of help.
But I didn't bother saying any of that, right now we had a job to do and if we moved fast enough, we still had a good chance of saving everyone.
"Ok, Eddie stay here and guard the Moroi while Stevie and I go after them and try to find the Princess and the others." It wasn't the best idea, leaving three Moroi here with just Eddie to guard them, especially after an attack. But with Christian's fire powers, it would be more like two guardians protecting two Moroi.
"We will do nothing of the sort!" Stevie said looking at me like I had lost my mind. "We will call in for back up and wait until we have a decent sized rescue party," he said looking happy with himself for taking charge.
"But that will take too much time, they might not last that long," Eddie said looking scared for his friends' lives.
"The others are of no concern, they will most certainly keep the Princess alive for a while for their own reasons and kill the lesser ones if they get hungry," Stevie said not looking like he cared either way.
"So your going to let the others die just because they're not royal?" I asked not believing what I was hearing. "Five people were captured! And they all deserve a rescue," I stood my ground. I was not going to let Stevie intimidate me just because he was a higher ranking guardian.
"Look I don't like it any better than you but we just don't have the man power so I'm going to call some in. You stand guard here while I do," Stevie said like that was all and the topic was over with. I walked over to Eddie on autopilot, thinking of something to do to get a rescue to Roza faster.
"We can't just sit here while we get more people! We need to do something!" Eddie said as I got closer.
"Please help them!" begged Jill.
"If you don't, I'll go in there myself," Adrian said surprising everyone. "I bet I can compel them all long enough to get our friends out," he finished. I may not like him, in fact I often fantasize about being able to punch him in the face, but seeing him actually stand up like this to help Rose, I couldn't hate him too much.
"I know, but were out numbered," I said still thinking.
"Why don't we just go in and ditch Stevie? He wouldn't even know until it was too late and then he would have to stay here and protect the others while we rescued Lissa and the rest of them," Christian said looking like he was about ready to torch Stevie himself if it would get him to Lissa faster.
Mmmm, me, Eddie and Christian would make a good team. But that would leave Stevie here to protect Jill and Adrian. Not bad odds. But...
"If we survive this, you could all get expelled and I'd get fired," I said making sure thet they knew what they were getting into. I didn't care if I lost my job. My life was pointless without Rose anyway, but I didn't want them to threw their future away.
"Do you really think that we would trade Rose and the others for that?" Eddie asked and Christian didn't even dignify what I said with a response.
"Ok then, let's get going before Stevie finishes his call."
RPOV
I woke up tied to a chair, not the best feeling in the world. In fact, I can't think of one good scenario that has come out of being knocked out and waking up tied to a chair. I looked around and was aware that I wasn't alone. Next to me on my left was Lissa, still unconscious but she didn't look hurt. On my right was Jack. He looked pretty banged up, but alive for now. He wasn't unconscious yet but he wasn't exactly with it either.
I looked around and expected us to still be in the back room of the lingerie shop. But I was surprised to see that we were in the center of the mall. It was brightly lit, but I could see out of the sky light that it was night outside, so no sun to the rescue. I looked up and saw that we were on the bottom level with all the other levels looking down on us. And there seemed to be some kind of fountain behind us.
Well, as evil layers go, the mall was a new one. I flexed my wrists to see how tight my ties were, but it was no good.
"So you're awake." I looked over to where I heared the voice was coming from. It was a Strigoi, no surprise there. He was tall so probably a Moroi before he was turned. And as cliche as it sounded, he had a plump English accent.
"The gas didn't have much of an affect on you, but then again it wasn't really meant to. Just enough to knock you out while we took care of you and got our real prize," he said looking over at Lissa.
"Touch her and see what happens," I threatened as I pulled at my ties again. Nothing.
"Come now Miss Hathaway, we both know that you won't be able to break out of that knot that you're tied in so why not just sit back and watch the show, it's about to begin," he said with a creepy smile.
"What are you-" but before I could finish, I heard screaming and yelling. The doors bursted open and in came two Strigoi carrying in an unconscious Mason and a furious Mia.
"You let us go right now or we will see who's immortal," she shouted as she struggled to break free of her captors. Wow, that girl had spunk.
"Mia," I called out, part worry and part relief that she was alive. She looked over at me.
"Rose!" she cried and once again tried to break free. But the Strigoi pushed her into a chair and started tying her up.
"Are you ok? Where are the others?" I asked. I hope no one was killed.
"They were all fine when I got captured," Mia said looking worriedly over at Mason. "What about you?" she asked.
"Fine for now, but I have a feeling that that's all about to change," I said and glared at our captor.
"What do you want with us?" I asked sounding more confident than I felt. I couldn't let this Strigoi know that he had more of an upper hand than he thought.
"I already have it," he said with a fang filled smile and looked over at Lissa. "The last Dragomir, oh what a prize. But to get to this point, I needed help and that's where you and your little friends come in," he said looking over us. "Once the others arrive, I will give you all over as payment so I alone can have the honor of sucking the last Dragomir dry," he said with far too much delight in his voice.
"So this was all a trap," Mia said to distract him. I had a sharp bit of my belt striking out, if I could just cut through the rope enough, I might be able to get out of this chair.
"Why of course it was my dear, do you think that I would be able to lure the last Dragomir into my waiting arms any other way?" English vamp asked as I kept trying. I told Mia with my eyes to keep it up. She understood.
"How did you do it?" she asked. Good idea, I knew that he wouldn't be able to resist gloating.
"Did the Princess by any chance mention to either of you about an email for a VIP lingerie line," he asked and waited for realization to wash over our faces.
"You sent her the email," I said not able to help it. I mentally kicked myself. I should have known, what kind of store sends out VIP emails to someone that hasn't ever shopped there before? It could have just been a sales pitch, but I still should have been more suspicious. And I would have been, if I weren't so busy thinking about Dimitri. I guess he was right, if we were to guard Lissa together then we would get in each other's way.
"Indeed I did and look how well it turned out," he said spreading his arms wide.
"How did you get her address," Mia asked, both getting the attention away from me and asking a valid question. Lissa was a royal Moroi, she wasn't exactly on many people's alert lists.
"Aaaah that would be where my spy comes into the picture." No name said with the creepiest smile yet.
"What!?" I asked stunned. "A spy?" Who would betray us like that? All the workers at the log were Human, only a few Moroi ran the place and they were trusted friends of the school. So that meant that it had to be one of ours.
"Who?" Mia asked, but I doubted that we would get an answer.
"Now now, that would be telling," Mystery man said with a smooth voice.
"Aaa yeah, that's why I asked, DUR," Mia said in her best sarcastic stuck up teenage girl voice. I almost laughed at the face no name pulled. He must be an old Strigoi if he was so shocked at the language that young people use today.
"True, but I was trying to give you an air of mystery," he said with shock and disapproval.
"Air huh? Well I prefer water!" Mia said and without using her hands she made a strong stream of water fly up out of the fountain and hit no name in the chest throwing him backwards.
DPOV
We ran off before Stevie could finish his call and went in the side entrance of the mall. For some reason the Strigoi left all the lights on even though they could see perfectly well in the dark. Christian, Eddie and I moved silently in combat crouches looking for where they might be. We started at Victoria's Secret, but then we heard voices and moved towards them instead.
We had just come up to the center of the mall on the top floor and looked down. There they were, all tied to chairs with some Strigoi pacing in front of them like he owned the place. Which he actually might. Some of the older ones had quite a lot of money built up over the years. Rose was awake and giving hell to her captor. Of course she was, I thought dryly. She looked ok, not bloodied or beaten, thank goodness. Lissa was still unconscious but seemed unharmed. Jack looked like he got the worst of it though. I got as close as I could and listened in on what was going on.
"So you're awake," said the old Strigoi in front of them with an annoying English accent.
"The gas didn't have much of an affect on you, but then again it wasn't really meant to. Just enough to knock you out while we took care of you and got our real prize," he said looking over at Lissa. I clenched my fist that was holding the stake. Rose may be my primary concern, but I still cared deeply about Lissa and didn't like her being talked about like some prize for someone.
"Touch her and see what happens," Rose threatened in a deep voice. Good girl.
"Come now Miss Hathaway, we both know that you won't be able to break out of that knot that you're tied in, so why not just sit back and watch the show, it's about to begin," he said with a crepy smile that I wanted to wipe off of his face. Painfully.
"What are you-" Rose started to ask. But before she could, screaming and yelling was heard and it was coming from the lobby. The doors busted open and in came two Strigoi carrying Mason and Mia.
"You let us go right now or we will see who's immortal," Mia shouted as she struggled to break free. No wonder she and Rose were becoming friends.
"Mia!" Rose called and I looked back over at her. She was so worried about her friends, she probably hadn't even thought of herself yet.
"Rose!" Mia cried and tried to break free. But the Strigoi pushed her into a chair and tried her up.
"Are you ok? Where are the others?" Rose asked, worry filled her voice.
"They were all fine when I got captured," Mia said looking worriedly over at Mason. "What about you?" she asked.
"Fine for now, but I have a feeling that that's all about to change," Rose said and glared at her captor.
"What do you want with us?" Rose asked sounding strong and confident. Never let them see you sweat, I thought to her with a smile.
"I already have it," the soon to be dead Strigoi said and looked over at Lissa. "The last Dragomir, oh what a prize. But to get to this point I needed help and that's were you and your little friends come in," he said looking over Rose and the others. I had to fight the urge to jump out and stake him right now, but he probably had back up somewhere and right now he was talking. He might reveal something without knowing it.
"Once the others arrive, I will give you all over as payment so I alone can have the honor of sucking the last Dragomir dry," he said and I wanted to hit him again.
"So this was all a trap?" Mia said. I'm not sure why but I was very interested in hearing what the answer would be.
"Why of course it was my dear. Do you think that I would be able to lure the last Dragomir into my waiting arms any other way?" He went on, not noticing that Rose was doing something behind her back. I hope she broke free soon, she would be a huge help.
"How did you do it?" Mia asked, exactly what I wanted to know.
"Did the Princess by any chance mention to either of you about an email from a VIP lingerie line," he asked the girls. What? Why would they get VIP emails? And why would Rose want sexy lingerie ...unless she was planning on needing it with Adrian. A sinking feeling spread it's way through me. She couldn't be thinking of going that far with Adrian could she? I started to panic, I loved her so much I couldn't bear the thought of her giving up her first time to someone who doesn't love her as much as me.
"You sent her the email," Rose said and I snapped my head back into the conversation. It didn't matter if Rose was thinking of sleeping with Adrian or not, right now all that mattered was getting her and the others out of there alive.
"Indeed I did,and look how well it turned out," the Strigoi turned and looked back at Rose.
But while the Strigoi was looking over at Rose, Mia looked up and saw us on the balcony. She wasn't stupid. She didn't call out or scream for help. She just kept quiet and tried to distract the Strigoi with more questions.
"How did you get her address?" Mia asked. Lissa was a royal Moroi, and the last Dragomir at that. She shouldn't be getting any human emails like that.
"Aaa and that would be where my spy comes into the picture," he smiles. What! A spy?
"What! A spy?" Rose asked. I loved how in sync we were.
"Who?" Mia asked, and I really hoped that he told her.
"Now now, that would be telling," Or not.
"Aaa yeah, that's why I asked DUR," Mia said in her best sarcastic stuck up teenage girl voice. She had obviously had a lot of practice at it.
"True, but I was trying to give you an air of mystery," he said with shocked, which was pretty funny.
"Air huh? Well I prefer water!" Mia said and without using her hands, she made a strong stream of water fly up out of the fountain and hit no name in his chest throwing him backwards. Realizing that now was the perfect opportunity, Eddie and I jumped into action and were down the escalator in less than thirty seconds.
"Men," the leader Strigoi yelled and about twenty Strigoi came running in through the doors surrounding us.
"Well well well, isn't this a nice surprise?" I heard an annoying English accent and turned to look at the lead Strigoi.
"I had hoped that you would come. Now there's more then enough food to go around and what a selection!" he said spreading his arms wide over all of us. I really needed to stake this guy.
"Let them go now or you're dead," I said in my most threatening voice. Even though Rose was still tied up, we were still pretty evenly matched, with Mia's water, when we untied her, and Christian's fire. All I had to do was get them untied and Rose could get them out of here.
"Oh I very much doubt that Guardian Belikov, you see more is going on than you know. While you might win this small match, the battle is far from over," he said with a smile. I really needed to find out this guy's name.
"What are you talking about?" Eddie asked. Stalling for the moment.
"I mean that Elly wasn't my only operative," he said and looked over to where a beautiful human woman was walking over to us. She stood next to the leader and took his hand lovingly.
"You!" Rose shouted. Well they clearly knew each other.
"Yes me," the woman, Elly said. "I'm surprised that you didn't question me earlier, just walking up to you like that and not even asking you your names and checking if you were on the list. It really was too easy. I guess that's why you're only a Novice," she smiled evilly.
Big mistake.
"Untie me and I will show you who's a Novice," Rose said and I think that she scared a few of the surrounding Strigoi.
"Elly here really was amazing, she was smart enough to figure out that there was no way that the Princess would be able to pass up a shopping trip on her holidays. And was able to create the fake VIP email and really ran things from the human side. I couldn't have don't it without her," English Strigoi said before kissing Elly on the cheek.
"So you see, it's pointless, there is no where you can go that I can't get to," he said and I decided that it was well and truly time to shut him up.
"You let them go right now or you're toast," I said, and then right on cue, Christian (who was on the top floor hiding until I gave the signal) set a ring of fire erupting around us and all the Strigoi started to panic and some just ran away. I let Eddie take charge of the attacking Strigoi while I ran over to Rose, but before I could cut her free, I heard a snap and the rope fell on the ground behind her. She jumped up and looked ready to go at the Strigoi without a weapon. Instead, I gave her my back up stake.
"Get the others out of here. Eddie, Christian and I will take care of these guys," I told her and tried to show her how happy I was that she was ok with my eyes. She didn't look happy about not getting revenge on the people that had held her captive, but she wasn't going to risk Lissa's life on her pride.
"You got it Comrade," Rose said and was off. I was halfway staking a Strigoi when I realized what she had just called me. Luckily, I figured out how to move soon after, but my mind was still on it. Eddie and I went back to back and he was almost as good a fighter as Rose. Christian was throwing big fire balls from the top floor and was taking them down three at a time and the Strigoi were so scared that they barely put up a fight when Eddie and I picked them off one by one.
But just as things were looking up, and that we were going to get away safely...I heard a loud angry English accent.
"Freeze," he shouted, I looked over at him...and my blood turned to ice. He had his hands around Mason's neck and was ready to twist.
"Now, you either all sit back down and be good little hostages or I snap this one's neck and drink him dry," English Strigoi said with an angry crazed smile.
This was not good.
Oh no he got MASON!
whats going to happen?
will they all make it out alive?
What is Rose really going to do with that lingerie?
I already have the next chapter ready so give me enough reviews and I will update soon;)
