AN: Hello Everybody! Turns out I've been spelling Ralf's name wrong :/ Only just realised it today so I have to go back and change that. Thank you to everyone who sent in their suggestions. The majority wanted Dimitri to find out during the battle and that is what I shall do. You will find out the specific details of how when the scene is written. You will also find out who has been behind the kidnappings in this chapter. Anyway, thank you for the favourites, follows and to all the positive reviews, you are all amazing! Enjoy :)

RPOV

How the hell did I not see this one coming? The answer was literally right there in front of me and I had completely overlooked it.

"An army," stated Abe. "An army of strigoi?"

Shaking my head, I started pacing the floor trying to put everything together.

"A moroi who is turned into strigoi isn't strong enough but a dhampir would make a skilled strigoi."

"Then why not guardians?" questioned Adrian. "They're even more skilled than a novice."

"Because guardians are harder to compel and kidnap. An army of strigoi who were once dhampir's is more than strong enough to go on a killing spree."

Eddie straightened up, a worried look on his face. "An army to invade the academy?"

I nodded. "It had to be a moroi who was compelling the dhampir's someone that these students trusted."

"Except Meredith," Adrian piped in.

"Meredith put up a fight but why? Maybe she was more resistant to the compulsion than the others."

"What moroi would want to kidnap students in order to help strigoi?" asked Eddie.

I spun around to look at Abe. "Have you found anything about the moroi teachers? Anything suspicious?"

"No, they're clean. All the teachers in the academy are, I've done a background check on all of them."

"What about students Rose? Anyone that is capable of doing this?" Adrian had stood up now, feeling hyped up from the new discovery.

Racking my brain, I tried to think of any moroi students who would do such a thing. Christian and Lissa were out of the question since I knew they would never do something like this. They were also the only moroi I had interacted with.

"Well, there is Jesse and Ralf," Eddie said slowly.

"Jesse and Ralf? No way, they're both idiots who are too stupid to pull off the kidnappings," I replied, immediately shutting the idea down.

"Who are Jesse and Ralf?" asked Adrian.

"Jesse Zelkos and Ralf Sarcozy, they're both moroi."

"And you think they're the ones behind this?"

I shrugged, glancing over at Eddie. "It would make sense that they're both the ones doing the compelling because their compulsion wouldn't be strong enough on their own."

"Why them though?" Abe had remained quiet, watching us go back and forth over the theories. "Why do you think it would be them?"

Eddie answered, "They've both made advances at Rose and I remember you telling me that they were making fun of the kidnappings the first time you met them. Aside from those two, I can't think of any moroi who would want to help strigoi."

"Why would they even help strigoi? If they wanted immortality then they could just drain one of the feeders and then done, they're immortal."

I came to a stop with my pacing. "Maybe they wanted in on the strigoi group. They could have wanted a leader to help them rise above others. You know how strigoi can be they're always fighting for dominance. Not many would take Jesse and Ralf seriously since they're just two high school boys."

"That is an interesting theory," Abe mused. "But we don't have any evidence."

I slumped against the wall. "No we don't. It does explain why Meredith put up a fight though. She did say that they had come into her room and everyone knows of Jesse and Ralf's reputation. She probably didn't trust them. They must have gone back for her in the infirmary because they were unsure of whether or not their compulsion would hold."

"We have to take this to Alberta," announced Abe.

"You do that, Eddie and I will go to Jesse and Ralf's room, see if we can find some evidence."

"What about me?" asked Adrian.

I opened my closet to get a jacket and pocketed my stake. "You have a flight to catch soon."

"That isn't for another few hours. It's still dark outside."

"There's nothing you can do for now, not until we find something."

"Fine," he said reluctantly.

We all left my room. Adrian returned to his, Abe went to Alberta and Eddie and I went through the male moroi dorms.

"What's the plan?"

"Don't have one." Eddie gave me a look.

I shrugged. "We'll just improvise. If something goes wrong I'll just compel them to tell me."

"Why don't you just compel them right from the beginning?"

"Cause that just kills the fun, I want to make them sweat."

Eddie smirked and I returned it. I was hoping it really were Jesse and Ralf because it would make it easy to handle them. They were both just weak moroi who couldn't put up a fight and were easy to lock up. We first arrived at Ralf's room but there was no one there so we continued down the hall until we reached Jesse's. Instead of knocking, I barged right in to find Jesse and Ralf.

"Hey Rose, change your mind about spending some time together?" Jesse immediately flirted.

He was too arrogant for his own good. Both of them were.

"I don't recall inviting Eddie though," said Ralf, stepping out from behind Jesse.

Eddie kicked the door shut behind him and stood defensively beside me. It was nice to know that even though I was literally the strongest being in the world, he still felt the need to protect me. Our stance and the way we were glaring at them were enough to make Jesse and Ralf feel threatened.

"We actually came over to talk. I have a feeling you two have been up to something."

Ralf's smirk wavered and Jesse dropped his creepy smile altogether.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

They were definitely the ones behind it. "Hmm, I think I do. I just have one question, why? Why would you help strigoi?"

Ralf bared his fangs at me, making Eddie tense up. "I knew you were going to be a problem the first time I saw you."

I smirked. "Let me guess. You had plans to kidnap me too."

Jesse stepped forward. "It might have crossed our minds. I wanted to be the one to turn you." And the creepy smile was back.

Eddie glared harder. "It wouldn't have worked. We know the truth and we're going to turn both of you in."

Ralf laughed. "Sure you will."

Ignoring him I asked, "Callum Wakefield was helping you wasn't he?"

"Of course, he wanted immortality just like all the other humans. We compelled the dhampir's, knocked them out and dragged them outside the borders so the humans could take them back to Isaiah."

Isaiah. I knew he was behind this. "So he's the mastermind?"

I reached into my pocket to get my stake but then pulled my hand back. They were still moroi, I couldn't stake them but I could knock them out if I wanted to.

"He promised us power as strigoi's," spoke up Ralf. "We deliver dhampirs and we get to be by his side and rule over the other strigoi."

"Do you realise how stupid you sound?" I asked dryly.

Jesse narrowed his eyes at me. "Say whatever you want Rose, we're going to be more powerful than anyone here and you can be too if you want."

I recoiled in disgust. "No thanks, I prefer to be sane. You are going to have to come with us now."

"No we're not."

Eddie was slightly in front of me, shielding me with his body. "Why would you tell us the truth?"

Jesse's blue eyes flashed towards Eddie. "Because compelling you to forget everything we've said is going to feel satisfying. Knowing that we have that kind of power and you two don't is exhilarating."

Ralf came closer to me, holding my gaze. "You're going to forget everything that we've said in this room and you're going to willingly come with us."

He leaned back, feeling content. I was about to ruin that for him.

"Nice try, but you're pathetic compulsion isn't going to work on me," I taunted darkly.

That was enough to piss Jesse and Ralf off. Jesse tried to grab me but Eddie pushed him away, throwing him against the wall that would be painful for a moroi. I slowly walked towards Ralf, making him back up until his back hit the wall. A quick glance over at Eddie told me that he was avoiding Jesse's eyes.

I pressed my arm against Ralf's throat. "It's over for you two. I'm going to make sure you both stay locked up."

"It's too late for that," he gasped out. "They're already here."

Eddie and I looked at each other, knowing exactly what he meant. The strigoi were already inside the academy and if they weren't, they sure as hell would be here any moment now. I reached out and tried to sense the presence of multiple strigoi and sure enough they were here, not too far from the borders. I had to get Ralf and Jesse out of the way.

I forced Ralf to look at me. "Go to sleep and when you wake up, you're going to tell the truth about what you have done. You're not going to remember me using compulsion on you."

He obeyed, not like he had a choice. His body fell against me and I pushed him off, letting him drop to the ground. Jesse's eyes were wide with fear.

"How…how did you…how did you do that?" he stammered.

Eddie let go of him but Jesse was frozen. I stood in front of him and I didn't have to force him to look at me. He couldn't seem to look away taken by surprise at my use of compulsion. I repeated the same words as I did with Ralf and he fell to the floor.

"Why didn't you just knock them out?"

"It wouldn't keep them out of it long enough, at least now I have control on when they wake up."

"And what exactly are you going to do to make them wake up?"

I hadn't thought of that. "I'll figure that out when the time comes."

Pulling out an extra stake of mine, I handed it to Eddie. "Go find Lissa and Christian, make sure they're safe."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I need to go alert the guardians. They're your friends, go and protect them."

He looked reluctant to leave but knew that his duty to protect his friends was more important. Unexpectedly, he pulled me into a tight hug.

"Please be careful," he whispered.

I returned the hug. "I'm immortal, they couldn't kill me even if they wanted to."

When we pulled away, he smiled a little before racing out of the room to find Lissa and Christian. I did the same and raced down towards guardian headquarters, luckily for me, I found Abe, Alberta and Dimitri talking in the hallway.

"Abe," I called out, catching their attention.

Dimitri's eye lit up and as much as I wanted to throw my arms around him and kiss him, now was not the time.

"Strigoi are here. They're breaking the wards."

Dimitri and Alberta looked confused and shocked. Abe was the only one who reacted appropriately.

"How many?"

I concentrated on sensing them for a split second. "Hundreds, there's a whole army of them."

"How do you know this?" questioned Alberta, sounding doubtful.

Their lack of reaction was irritating me.

"Jesse and Ralf told me."

"Jesse and Ralf, what do they have to do with it?"

"I don't have time to explain," I responded, my voice rising. "We need to put the academy in lockdown, gather all the moroi and make sure the guardians are alerted. We're going to need as many as we can get."

Dimitri was studying me the entire time, wondering if he should believe me.

"Are you sure?"

I glared at him. "Yes I'm sure."

Abe had my back. "Alberta, warn everyone."

"Shit." I turned my head slightly towards the sound, hearing their footsteps cross over the border.

"They're in. They're inside the academy."

Dimitri and Alberta looked confused on how I would know but they finally did something. Alberta went to sound the alarm to let everyone know that there was an invasion.

"Dad, go find Adrian and Pavel."

He nodded and hurried away but not before, planting a kiss on my forehead. I knew he would be safe so I didn't have to worry too much about him. He looked calm on the outside but I knew he was nervous.

"Roza you need to go with him," said Dimitri, drawing his stake.

I was about to argue with him but decided not to. There was nothing Rose Hathaway could do to help with so many people watching. I needed to fight as the Dark One and I couldn't let anyone see me, especially Dimitri.

"I will. Be careful Comrade."

His eyes softened slightly and he leaned down to kiss me. It only lasted a few seconds but there was urgency to it.

"I'll be fine Roza, now go."

Without hesitating, I ran down the hallway and when I glanced behind me, Dimitri was already running in the opposite direction. I ran outside and it was absolute chaos. There were far too many strigoi to count and only a few guardians who were taking multiple strigoi on at one time.

There were even a few teachers who were moroi fire-users lighting up the strigoi. The guardians were staking as many as they could but the strigoi were dominating. This wasn't going to be easy, at least for them. Every guardian was occupied with strigoi and I needed to do something. I was conflicted. I had to kill the strigoi but I didn't want anyone seeing me.

Rose, you've got this.

If I concentrated on moving as fast as I could, the guardians wouldn't pick up on me. I withdrew my stake and moved out from the shadows. One of the strigoi caught sight of me and I beckoned him towards me. He bared his fangs at me and I crouched down, preparing myself. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, I sped towards him as fast as I could and drove my stake into him, pulled it out, let his body fall to the ground and moved onto the next one.

I repeated the same thing with as many strigoi I came across. By now, what I was doing was drawing attention and it distracted the strigoi. There were still hundreds of them spread across the entire academy but for now, the courtyard area was starting to clear of strigoi. The guardians were slowing down and exchanging looks wondering what was going on.

There were a few remaining strigoi but the guardians were fast in staking them. I kept my speed up, running as fast as I could until I reached the west wing to find Eddie outside fighting strigoi alongside a few guardians.

Slowing down, I came to the stop near Eddie staking one the strigoi who was sneaking up on him. Eddie turned to look at me. He was exhausted but he was relieved to see that I barely had a scar on me.

"Where are Christian and Lissa?"

"They're both in the Church so they should be fine. Strigoi can't enter Holy ground."

Thank goodness. I did a quick sweep of the area and saw that a few of the guardians from earlier had just arrived and were throwing themselves into battle.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I killed as many strigoi as possible without anyone seeing me. It's working so far."

Two strigoi approached us and Eddie and I went back-to-back. It didn't take long for me to stake one of them while Eddie had the other and pushed his stake through the strigoi's heart. There were more strigoi approaching and I ran to a group of them, darting past the guardians and snapped a few of the strigoi's necks with the flick of my wrist. It wasn't enough so I staked each of them.

The more I killed, the more rage built up in me. I was seeing red and I felt as if my body was on fire. Sydney's warning of the darkness flashed through my mind but in this moment I didn't care. The rage was consuming me and fuelling me at the same time. I had never killed this many strigoi all at once. The darkness was making me stronger, if that was even possible but it made me angrier than I had ever been before.

I used it to my advantage not even thinking about how this could end really badly later on. I showed no mercy and brutally attacked as many strigoi as I could find. The feeling of darkness wrapping around me felt invigorating, it was also clouding my mind.

When almost every strigoi was killed in the area, I felt proud of what I had done. The guardians and the few novices who were helping were extremely puzzled. I couldn't blame them. I came to a stop near Eddie just as more strigoi appeared. My goodness, they keep multiplying.

"Whoa, I knew you were powerful but that was phenomenal," Eddie said in between breaths.

The rage was still pulsing through my veins. I wanted more. I wanted to kill more strigoi and I wanted to feel the darkness. The feeling was addicting.

"Rose, are you okay? Your eyes look black."

I blinked, focusing on him. "I'm fine, come on we still have more strigoi to take down."

Eddie opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. His entire body went into shock and he inhaled deeply. I whipped around ready to take on whoever was behind me but I hesitated when I saw who it was. It was a strigoi, a dhampir before they were awakened. I had never seen them in real life but had spent hours reading over their file and staring at a picture of them. I understood Eddie's reaction because he clearly wasn't expecting it. My heart went out to him as I stared at the person in front of me.

It was Mason.

AN: Jesse and Ralf were the ones behind the kidnappings, which I'm sure most of you already guessed. I hope you're not too disappointed because it did make sense it would be them because they were a part of Mana in the original books. Some of you thought it would be Avery but she wasn't in the story when the kidnappings first happened. Mason is a strigoi, poor Eddie :( The next two chapters will be centred on the battle. The next chapter should be up a little bit later than usual cause I need to spend my time studying for my first exam, which is next week. Wish me luck haha. Thank you so much for reading xoxo Have a great day/night :D