Well I did it! :-) Another chapter down...as usual, let me know what you think ;-) R.J.

Chapter 20.

What the hell had I been thinking? It was a fair question to be asking myself, I'd run out of the hotel without a single thought about a plan, I had no idea what to expect. And now I was wishing I had stopped to think things through, and let myself at least absorb the situation.

The weather had turned quickly from a warm summer day to a stormy, wet evening. The moment I had set foot outside the hotel, the dark night sky had been lit with forks of lightning that were echoed by the sounds of thunder and pouring rain. I was drenched through, my hair plastered to my face as I watched the lights reflect off the canal. The church was magnificent, lit up, looking like a Christmas tree with the colourful and bauble like roof, and just as magical.

The rain and time of night had dispersed any tourists, I was alone. The only other light came from the street lights. I was on edge, and once again checked my watch for the time. I'd left the hotel as soon as I'd hung up the phone, so I had arrived in plenty of time hoping that would give me an advantage.

All of a sudden I started to feel sick to my stomach, the hairs on my arms stood on end. It took me less than a second to realise what was coming, Strigoi. I automatically reached for my stake. Although it wasn't my personal stake, the one that someone had used to kill the queen, it was a stake none the less. Turning to face the monster I knew was behind me I prepared myself to attack. My blood turned to ice.

I'll never forget the shock of the first moment that I had set eyes on Dimitri after he'd been turned. He'd looked the same, until you got to his eyes, they had been turned from warm velvet brown to the colour of crimson. What I saw now however caused just as big a shock. There was no doubt in my mind who it was, he was tall and well built, his shoulder length blonde hair was plastered to his head, water dripping off the ends onto his drenched leather jacket. I recognised his nose and mouth and wondered what colour his eyes would be if they weren't tinged with red. It was like looking at a male version of Lissa. It was the male version of Lissa. It was Ilia Zukov.

As he moved out of the shadows I could see he wasn't alone, there were three other Strigoi with him, all of them with pale skin, dark hair and eyes the colour of blood. One of them was dragging Sydney behind him.

"Shit" I'd really fucked up this time. I would have to do what I could to protect Sydney, but the bottom line was I couldn't kill Ilia. That said, I didn't exactly know how I was going to take on four Strigoi by myself anyway. I was screwed.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," Ilia had stopped near one of the lamp posts, he wore a smug grin that was creepy with the points of his fangs showing. I was forcing myself not to be sick as the nausea gripped me, trying to prepare myself for what was to come. "We meet at last." He looked amused with himself,

"I hope I'm worth all the hype then," I forced myself to smile back, trying to disarm him.

"Well I happen to think the person that I heard all about you from may have been a little biased." Again with the knowing grin, it was really starting to piss me off now. Deciding I'd had enough of this nonsense, I wanted to get down to business.

"Now that I'm here you need to let Sydney go." Ilia looked over his shoulder at Sydney. Her usually neat and smooth hair was falling all over the place, she looked unusually pale and dirty, I was trying to see if she had bite marks anywhere, "If you've bitten her I swear to God I'll knock your fucking head off." I spat out through my clenched teeth at the Strigoi holding her. He growled at me,

"Enough Nikolay, do not be so rude." Ilia reprimanded Nikolay, who sneered at me, showing me his fangs.

The weather chose that moment to turn worse, the rain started falling harder, the occasional lightning strike lighting up the sky. The rain was so loud that it wiped out the sound of the thunder, which effectively put a halt to any further banter between Ilia and me.

I barely saw the flick of his hand that was obviously the signal for the other two Strigoi to attack. Their movements so fast, their actions so fierce I was fighting them off without thinking, my body was moving using pure instinct. I swerved and dodged, blocked and feinted, putting all my training and skill to use.

Through my concentration and over all the noise I heard Sydney scream. That microsecond that my attention was pulled elsewhere was all they needed. I was grabbed by the arm and pushed to the ground. My head hit the pavers, making bright lights appear before my eyes, before the pain set in. The next thing I knew his hand was around my throat my breath cut off as his hand squeezed harder. I was still struggling, trying to pin or kick him with my legs, all the while I couldn't work out why he hadn't ripped my throat out yet?

All I could see where his eyes, so angry, so not human, they seemed to be glowing with pleasure at my struggle. I could feel the muscles in my neck bruise as he tightened his grip. My lungs were burning from the lack of oxygen.

Well this is great. I'm going to die.