Chapter 21:

RPOV

When I came to I was in the back of a car and Victor and Abe were in the front with Abe driving. I groaned and tried to put a hand to my forehead which was aching badly, but then I realised that my wrists were tied together behind my back and my ankles were bound together too. My groan alerted Victor and Abe that I was awake and my mouth was thankfully uncovered.

"Where the fuck are you taking me?" I demanded groggily from the drug.

"Language Rosemarie," Abe scowled me.

"Fuck you."

"Show some respect young lady."

"I have a daughter at home. Turn the car around and take me home now, otherwise Dimitri is going to kick your ass." I mumbled trying to sit up.

Victor and Abe chuckled.

"Dimitri isn't going to find you." Abe said while Victor nodded.

"And why is that?"

"Because it's his father that wants you, not us. We're just helping him." Victor explained.

I felt my eyes prickle with tears as I looked at Abe. "Why are you doing this? You're my father. You're supposed to protect me from bad things, not hand me off to them." I said.

Abe smirked. "I'm not most fathers Rose. I thought you would know that by now."

I fell silent as we pulled up to a big estate. It was a four story mansion that looked like it belonged in a picture story book. Not somewhere you would hold a teenage girl captive.

The mansion was made up by a stone structure. The windows in the building were old Victorian like ones from the old day and the doors were hard wood with brass handles. The grass outside was cut to precision, and when I looked at the front door I saw that two strigoi stood on either side of the door. Confused I looked up at the sky and noticed that it was night time. One was a man, and one was a woman. I knew the woman strigoi straight away because I remembered Dimitri told me about her. Galina. She was a Russian Dhampir and mentored Dimitri when he was in school so I knew she was pretty badass. The other man I didn't know. He had short cropped hair that hung over his eyes. His jeans were slightly too big for him so that they hung over his feet. He was very muscular and watched his surroundings for danger as he kept guard, making me think that he too was a dhampir when turned.

I was startled out of my staring when Abe came around to my door and grabbed me by the top of my arm, and not to gently pulled me out of the car. I kicked and struggled as he pulled me and I tried to hook my feet around something, anything, in the car. Abe sighed and then said something to Victor who stood beside him. Victor nodded and then came around to the door near my feet. He reached down to unhook my feet and I struggled against him. When he got my foot off I gave him a well-earned kick in the face.

Victor's hand flew to his nose and when he pulled his hand away I saw that his nose was bleeding. I grinned triumphantly.

Abe then started to haul me towards the front doors and I knew that I was not going in there. I had this feeling that if I was to go in, I'd never come out. I struggled, I kicked, screamed, bit, scratched, and hit. I did anything I could that would make them let go of me. The man strigoi came over to me when Abe actually did drop me when I kicked him in the groin. The strigoi picked me up before I had the chance to crawl away. Sometimes being bound at the wrists and ankles did suck. The man paused at the door when Galina started to talk to me.

"Feisty I see. Dimitri would have had fun training you." she said winking, and it was then that I knew she knew about our relationship.

I growled at her and the man started to walk but then Galina spoke again.

"Pity he couldn't get someone who could put up a good fight."

That was the last straw for me. Time to give her a taste of the notorious Rose Hathaway attitude.

"I see you don't fight fair either. Tying your targets hands and feet together so they can't fight back is kinda an unfair advantage on your part. So my theory is that you have heard about how good of a fighter I am and that you felt that the only way you could defeat me was by tying my hands and feet together. That is so badass you could join the Mickey Mouse club. I'm sure they'll let you in without a problem." I spat.

Galina growled at me and slapped me across the face hard. I thought about how much harder she hit compared to Nathan. Nathan felt like a breath on my face compared to her rock like hit. I gasped and went momentarily slack in my captures arms. Galina nodded to the strigoi who held me and he started towing me inside.

"No! Let me go! You can't touch me! LET ME GO!" I screamed as Abe walked over to me.

He raised a finger and placed it against my lips to silence me. I glared at him and tried to bite his finger but he pulled it away before I could.

"You're in good hands here dear daughter of mine. So hush." He said as he pulled a blindfold out of his pocket.

"Then what's with the blindfold?" I asked as he came over and started to tie it around my head. There wasn't anything I could do to stop him.

"Just to make sure you don't see where we are taking you in case you manage to escape and find your way out. We can't have that happening now can we?" he explained.

"I still don't see your logic in taking me." I mumbled.

Abe chuckled. "I told you before. We are only helping a friend along with what he wants."

I glared. "That asshole can go fuck himself. Seriously, why in the hell would he kidnap his daughter in law?"

I felt Abe shrug from behind me. "Who am I to try and make sense of the method in his madness? He promised me money if I helped him and being a business man, I never turn down an offer."

My eyes prickled behind the blindfold. "Even if it was to hurt your own daughter?"

Abe didn't answer for a long moment. "You're not my daughter Rose. If you were, I would know you and I wouldn't be doing this."

I felt the tears fall over my eyes after he said that. I knew Abe was a heartless cow, but never would I have thought he would just come out and say straight out that I'm not his daughter. Talk about ouch.

I felt myself being lifted up and I kicked out feebly. I knew it was pointless trying to get away. They had me tied up and had too many guards around. That and I also didn't know where the hell I was.

I felt us climbing stairs and then I heard what sounded like a code being punched into a decoder. The door opened and then closed softly behind us. When the blindfold was finally lifted off of my face, I was able to take in my surroundings.

We were in what looked like a luxurious apartment room that was all open space. There were no walls or doors that separated the different room, except for the bathroom. As I looked around I found it strange that there was no kitchen. Abe and Victor stood off to the side watching me carefully as I took everything in.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Asked Victor.

I snorted. "More like hell."

Abe sighed warily as he came over to un-tie my hands and ankles. "You're here now Rose. You may as well settle in and get used to living here because you won't be leaving this room anytime soon. You will be here for a very long time to come."

I crossed my arms defensively. "I'll find a way out."

Abe barked out a laugh. "I doubt that."

With that they both turned and left out the door. The only door there was that lead to freedom. I tried to look at the code they punched in the door but it was too long and too complicated to try and remember. That and that Abe stood in a way so that I couldn't see what he was doing.

I looked around once again and my eyes rested on a desk chair that was near a desk. I went over and picked up the chair. It was quite heavy and I smiled knowing that it should do quite a lot of damage with the weight that it had packed behind it. I swung it at the window and I was shocked to find that the chair didn't even make the window move. If anything I broke the chair. A deep crack had appeared up the leg of the chair and I looked at it astonished. How could I break the chair and not the window? I thought. It was then that I realized the damned window was bullet proof so of course it would be chair-proof too. I sighed and threw the chair across the room where it proceeded to hit a vase and knock it to the ground where it broke.

"Hey now, don't take your frustrations out on the poor chair."

I whirled around at the sound of a new voice and when I saw the two boys standing there I felt my jaw of slack with shock and bewilderment.

"Mase," I breathed.

Mason Ashford my best friend that stood just a few feet from me smirked. He looked very, very much alive and I couldn't help but remember the sickening crack of his neck as Isaiah broke it. I looked at his face and I felt relieved to see that his skin was still the tanned tone it was and that his eyes were still the colour of blue that I loved and not ringed in red. His messy mop of red hair was as tousled as I had ever seen it, and the freckles that were scattered across the bridge of his nose just screamed my Mase. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realised that he was still my Mase and not a strigoi.

A cough from my left brought me out of my frozen state and there I saw stood Andre Dragomir. The mass of blonde hair and jade green eyes brought a stab of homesickness to my heart when they instantly made me think of Lissa's beautiful and angelic face.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply feeling faint. This was just too much.

Here in front of me stood two guys that felt like family to me and were very much alive and clearly not strigoi. Andre was like the older brother that I never had and he always was protective of both me and Lissa when we were in school together at St Vladimir's. He would threaten any boyfriends I had and keep the boys away from Liss. The only boyfriend he ever let Liss have was Aaron, and that was mainly because I made him leave the two of them alone.

Mason on the other hand was the best friend of mine after Lissa of course. Together we could be as thick as thieves and come up with the most devilish plans together. I remember the time when he cheered me on when I started a fight between a hermit crab and hamster in Ms Karp's class. God that had been funny.

I felt tears run down my cheek as I looked at the two boys. Before I knew what I was doing I had launched myself into Mason's arms and was sobbing into his chest.

"Oh Mase. You have to help me get out of here. I have Adrianna, my daughter, needing me at home, and Dimitri would be wild with worry by now. And Andre," I turned to him. "Lissa needs you. She needs her bigger brother. We all need you Andre. Mase, Eddie needs you. You have no idea what he has been like since you died, or well, we thought you died. I mean, I held you in my arms and I knew you were dead. So how-" I broke off of my rambling as I looked at the two of them.

"How is it that you two are alive? I mean, Mase, I held you when you were dead with a broken neck, and Andre, you were in a car crash that killed you when the car smashed into my side. I'm alive because Lissa saved me, but how are you…?"

For the first time upon seeing the boys I looked at them. I mean really looked at them.

They both wore the same sort of attire. They had on dark pants and white shirts, but Andre had a light blue jacket while Mason had a red one on. They both had a black stone around their necks on a piece of string, and-

I did a double take and looked at the stone around their necks. I stepped forward and picked up the stone that hung on Mase's neck. Upon inspection, I saw that it wasn't just a stone, but was a black onyx crystal. An earth stone that in ancient times was used for strong compulsion spells.

Compulsion…

My eyes snapped up to Mason's and I saw the familiar glazed over look in his eyes that people got when they were under the influence of compulsion. In my palm, my hand was tingling uncomfortably the longer I held the crystal and I realised it was because not just because of the compulsion, but also dark magic.

I stepped back almost hesitantly as if I was afraid of Mason. I looked to Andre, to see that he had the same similar glazed over look in his eyes and I knew that he was being compelled too.

"Who has compelled you?" I asked slowly as I stepped further away.

I didn't know who it was that had compelled them, but if it was Victor or Abe or someone else I knew that they wouldn't have compelled them to be nice to me.

"It was Victor and Robert." Andre said stepping forward and wrapping an arm around my shoulders like he use to do oh so many years ago.

I frowned. Those brothers were dangerous, more so when they worked together. "What did they do?"

"Victor had put some sort of spell in this crystal, and Robert has compelled us into doing what they say and into staying here and babysitting you. What he didn't say was that we couldn't tell you what happened and he also didn't say anything about not being nice to you. We can do what we want basically, just as long as he doesn't say we can't do something." Mason said stepping forward and raising his hands as if he was showing me that he wasn't going to do anything.

"Then what did happen? How are you guys alive? Not that I'm not grateful that you are alive, but I mean…"

I broke off not knowing exactly what I was trying to say.

"I think you know the answer to that one Rose." Mason said taking yet another step forward.

I frowned. "I don't-"

Andre interrupted me. "Oh but you do." He said. "What do you get when you mix a dead body and a spirit wielder?" Andre questioned.

I frowned confused but suddenly I got it. "You're shadow-kissed. But to who?" I whispered looking between them.

Clearly they weren't going to make it easy for me because Andre smiled. "Who do you know that can wield spirit Rose?"

I swallowed. "Well, there's Lissa, Ms Karp, Adrian, St Vladimir, Oksana, and Robert-" I broke off as my eyes went wide when realisation dawned on me.

"Robert! You're both shadow-kissed to Robert! But how? Why? What would he want-" I broke off helplessly, not really knowing what I was asking.

Andre chuckled. "He brought me back the night of the car crash after you and Lissa had been carted off to hospital. Robert and Victor were there watching you and Lissa because Victor was watching you two because you were shadow-kissed. But when he saw me lying there dead, he got Robert to bring me back because then he would have someone closer to him which he could study. Then just a few months ago we just happened to be in Spokane and walking down a street when we saw a blond hair girl come out of a house gasping for breath and looked pretty beat up if you ask me."

"Mia," I breathed knowing exactly of when Andre was referring too.

Andre nodded. "Victor noticed my distraction straight away because after all Mia was my ex-girlfriend that I use to sleep with."

My mouth dropped open. "What! You and Mia?!"

Andre nodded amused. "Yes, anyway we saw a storm of guardians raid the house, and Victor was curious so we hid out of sight and watched what happened. We saw a brown haired guy drag you out of the house, like he was practically carrying you and you were pretty distraught. Anyway, after we were positive no one was in there, we went into the house to see what had been going on when we saw Mason lying on the ground dead."

Mason beside me shivered as if remembering his death haunted him. I didn't blame him. Lucky for me, I couldn't remember mine because I was dead for only a few seconds while these guys were dead for a few minutes.

Andre then continued to go on with his story. "Anyway, Victor who was curious as to what would happen being bound to two people ordered Robert to shadow-kiss Mason. Robert, who does anything Victor asks of him, did it. So then it was me and Mason shadow-kissed to Robert. Not only can we see into Roberts head like you can with Lissa, but we can also see into each other's head. I can see into Mason's head, and he can see into mine."

I felt my eyes widen. "I've never heard of someone being bound to two people before." I breathed.

"Yeah, but we have more of a chance of going insane quicker than you and Lissa."

I frowned. "You say that like it's inevitable."

Mason grimaced. "Well, it is. I don't know how you managed to deal with it all this time Rose. Every little thing pisses me off so much…" he said breaking off and looking off into the distance.

I nodded. I could relate easily to that.

I opened my mouth to reply but just then the door opened and someone walked in. I sucked in a breath between my teeth when I saw Dimitri's dad walking in.

"Alexander."

Alexander looked up at me and smiled. "Hello darling."

I'm so sorry I didn't manage to get up more than 2 chapters but in my defence I worked every day, except 2 days over the holidays and they are fairly big chapters with a lot of action. I realise that by now your head are probably exploding off of your shoulders and I wish I could apologise, but I can't, because I did promise to write something unique and something that no one has done before, and I'm pretty sure no one has thought of something as crazy as this.

Next chapter in DPOV

So REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! :)

~Sarah. xx