Chapter 14

I still didn't know what was going on, and the pain that shot through my body with every step sure wasn't helping. We had to move at a snail's pace towards the door.

"Wait." I whimpered. "You need to tell me why we have to leave in such a rush." I closed my eyes, trying to wish the pain away.

He pulled me closer. "I don't want to scare you Rose." He whispered

"You don't want to scare me? YOU don't want to scare ME? Dimitri! Stan nearly killed me, and you think I'm going to be scared? You obviously don't know me at all." I turned, he grabbed my hand.

"Roza,There are strigoi everywhere. A few guardians told us there were 3 or 4 spotted alone along the highway just this morning before the sun rose. We think there are a few human working with them here, and there have been suspicious people passing your room all morning. We have to be safe; we have to get back to the court, and the wards." My body stiffened. Strigoi? More of them, still after me? I tried to remember Stan's words.

"…..Besides you're a smart girl, you'll figure it out."

"Why are they…hunting me?" I whispered.

He just shook his head "I don't know Rose, I don't know. But we have to get you out of here now."

I nodded. "How are we going to get out of here…umm unnoticed?"

"We run. The car is waiting outside. Everyone is already there"

"Run? Are you on freaking crack? I can hardly-" His strong arms swooped me up as he pushed open the first door. I was stunned, and he smiled a little at the fact he had surprised the strigoi killing, guardian Hathaway, Rose.

"Sir! What do you think you're doing?" a few nurses yelled. Dimitri didn't stop to explain though,obviously. A few security guards caught up quickly coming after Dimitri. But they were human, nothing compared to my badass guy.

We got quickly out into the bright sun, people yelling behind us to stop, but we didn't. The sun felt good against my skin, it had to be nearly noon. I saw our black SUV waiting right outside, he pushed me into the back seat, quickly slamming the door and running to the front seat.

"Drive." He yelled and hell we did. We split out of that ER area like there was a freaking pack of strigoi on our tail. Which there very well could have been if it had been night, thank god for the sunshine. The air around me held nothing but silence for a few moments. Then I realized Lissa wasn't in here. I hadn't seen here at all since entering the ER, right after they had found me.

"Where's Lissa?" I asked. She had to have been there, she bought me the jeans right?

"She left…along with about 10 guardians." Adrian said in a harsh tone "Anything to protect their majesty. I want her to be safe too, don't get me wrong, but I mean really? 10? Thats a whole army." It wasn't surprising she left before us, and it wasn't surprising that they would want to have that many, considering they'd see strigoi.

"Oh." I said. Then I was realized how sleepy I still was. I laid my head against the window. Adrian saw and reached over and gently pushed my head on his shoulder, it was a lot more comfortable than the window. I smiled and fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.

I woke up to someone's light shaking. I took a deep breath and smelled Dimitri. I opened my eyes to see him.

"We're almost there. But we stopped to get gas and Adrian was hungry. Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, could I have something to drink" he nodded and walked off. He returned. He handed me a coke. I noticed it had already gotten dark, had we really been driving that long?

Then I heard a scream. It was from a teenage girl, blonde, blue eyed, skinny, but not moroi skinny. I then noticed the form running towards her. I knew instantly it had to be…strigoi. It was a man, he grabbed her neck, and his fangs sank in. My eyes blurred, and I was scared. I was suddenly so damn scared I couldn't see straight. Dimitri reacted instantly, slamming the door and running towards him, stake in hand. I saw Adrian open the door from the gas station his eyes mirroring mine. Fear, that's all they held, was fear. His eyes caught mine though, even through the tinted glass, I opened the door, stepping down. Then I saw the strigoi see Adrian. He moved so swiftly, but Dimitri caught him by the throat. Adrian took the chance, running to the car, along with the other guardians. Dimitri was left for a moment to fend for the strigoi, and he did well, quickly staking him. He looked over to the blood girl, whimpers and cries filled my ears, they were so loud, because I was still in the car and could hear them. He kneeled down, touching her bleeding neck.

"Adrian?" he called out.

He ran to the two of them. Kneeling down and quickly healing the girl. She looked so confused. Dimitri helped her sit up slowly. I saw the look in Adrian's eyes, I knew it was the only way though.

"Are you ok?" Adrian asked

"Yeah, but, how, what?" she asked her eyes flicking from Dimitri to Adrian and back again.

"This was all a really bad dream." Adrian said, using his compulsion. "But even then, you won't tell anyone." She nodded. "Now you'll continue with your night, like nothing happened." She nodded again. Dimitri helped her up, and the two ran quickly back to the car. Dimitri got in the back seat though, with Adrian and I. I touched his shoulder; he looked a little banged up.

"You alright?" he nodded, and gulped, his dark eyes looked scared too, but I wasn't sure why.

"I'm fine. Are you ok?" I looked down.

"Arms, legs, body, no blood. I'm good." I gave him a reassuring smile. He hugged me, kissing the top of my head. I put my head on his chest, but remembered Adrian and sat up straight.

"Hey, are YOU alright?" I asked him, he still looked so frazzled. He turned his head towards me, his face was unnaturally pale, his eyes hard and cold. I touched his hand, it was ice cold. I scooted closer. Touching his chin. His face gained a little color.

"I'm fine." He said, not taking on his usual cockiness

"It's ok to be scared Adrian, I was terrified. I was sacred FOR you."I whispered, he seemed to relax a little.

No one spoke after that, we were all still, nervous. I was certainly glad that we were only 20 minutes away. Those 20 minutes seemed to drag on. I was so relieved when we got to the front gate and the guy almost gasped when he saw me, like he couldn't believe I was still alive, I guess I couldn't even believe I was alive. He kept staring at me all googley eyes.

"What? You thought Guardian Hathaway wasn't going to return?" I retorted. He closed his mouth, which was hanging open. Adrian gave me a playful shove and we pulled forward.

I felt instantly safer inside the wards, like nothing could hurt us. But I knew that wasn't true. I had been taken from these so called safe wards. The wards had been broken before too. But they were safer, or maybe even safest out of all the places I could be.

Adrian said he was going to stay for a few days, I was glad; I wanted to catch up with him. I wanted the awkwardness between us to be gone; I truly wanted to be…friends.

Dimitri helped me back to our home, and I had just plopped on my bed when Lissa burst through the door. Her eyes were already filled with tears.

"Rosie." She whispered. She was such a sap, but with her, I was too. My eyes got teary.

"Come here." I whispered, she did, instantly wrapping her arms around me. We sat there, together at last, and something felt right. I sudden felt the tingle of the bond run through me, it was still so forgein, and the two of us had never had time to talk about it. She was content, and had something she wanted to talk about, I could tell.

"Rose? I was so scared I'd lost you." Her tears returned. "I was so scared." I pulled her closer,

"I know. I know."

"I didn't want to leave without seeing you; I wanted to see you the whole time. But they said, they said that you were still being….targeted. They said I needed to be kept safe."

"It's alright, Lissa, I knew you wanted to. I could feel it." No I hadn't the pain had been to great for me to even care, but I had to tell her that. She smiled.

We sat their talking for what had to have been hours. And god it felt like old times. Old, old times. High school times. But they were ended when a guardian came and said she had duties to talk care of. She apologized, and left with the guardian. I fell back into my bed with a groan. And just like that, Dimitri appeared in the doorway.

"Roza." He whispered, I couldn't help but smile. He glided over to our bed, and lay next to me, putting his hands behind his head so casually. He smiled; it was such a warm, sweet smile. He gazed at me through the corner of his eye. I rolled over and put my hands on his chest, and propped my chin on them. "Do you ever wonder…what would have happened if I hadn't let my control down, if I hadn't…kissed you?"

"Yeah, all the time. It's, scary." He smoothed my hair.

"Yeah, it is." I leaned in and kissed him, passion passing through us. He pushed me down, and hovered over me. But I knew he wouldn't go much further. He lifted my shirt just enough to see my bandage. "We should change it, it's been at least 24 hours." I nodded. He walked to the closet and grabbed out our own first aid kit. He opened it and sat cross legged. He lifted my shirt a bit more, and began to unwrap the gauze off my torso. I saw for the cut for the first time full on, it was deep, but with the little healing the two spirit users had done, I didn't need surgery.

Dimitri carefully touched the red skin around the cut, I winced but tried hard not to say any. He noticed

"Sorry darling." He whispered. I gave him a small smile. I arched my back; he slipped a new bandage around my stomach, wrapping it around a few times, before I sunk back into the bed. He taped it quick, and pulled my shirt done.

"Thanks." He kissed my forehead.

"Anything for you Roza." He whispered, his warm breath sending shivers through my body. I pulled at his belt but he laughed. "Only in your dreams Roza, not until you're all recovered." I put my arms across my chest and fell back once again. He laughed again and it covered me, like a blanket. "Sleep. The longer you rest, the sooner you'll be recovered." He smiled and he whispered, he wanted it too…. "When you feel strong enough, we'll go try to get some real information out of those gauds okay darling." I nodded and then slipped off into a good sleep, filled with good dreams, dreams of Dimitri.