Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy, not me.

Rose POV

It was all going to be over soon. The Strigoi Swat Team, as I like to call them, is on it's way to rescue my Adrian from the clutches of that whack job Ezekiel. I desperately want to run in there with them but I promised Dimitri I would wait until the coast was clear. Considering everything he has done for me, it's the least I can do. I know he loves me and doesn't want me to get hurt. I don't want him to go in either, but I don't really trust anyone else to do the job as well as he can. He is a badass, you know.

Dimitri and I have been sitting quietly in our little stolen car for about an hour, just holding each other, when we see bright headlights from at least four SUVs coming our way. Dimitri flashes our headlights a couple times letting them know where we are. The cars all turn off their lights and pull over. "Remember Rose, stay in the car. I promise, as soon as I think it's safe, I will come get you." He starts to get out and I grab his hand. He turns around to face me and I just stare, wanting to memorize his face in my mind. Not like I don't already have it committed to memory.

"Please be careful and come back to me." I plead.

"I'm always careful. I love you Roza." He leans over and gives me one last kiss before getting out to join the other twenty or so guardians ready to go take the house.

"I love you too." I whisper.

I watch from the car as all the guardians disperse in different directions, securing the perimeter first before going to the house. Dimitri is on the team that will enter the building first. My heart is racing in anticipation of the whole encounter. I've never really been the religous type, but right now I can't help but pray that Dimitri and Adrian will get out of this alive. From what I've seen of the house, there are no windows so the only way in or out is through the front door. Maybe even a backdoor, but I never went around it to know for sure. Watching how the guardians are surrounding the house, though, there must be one. Dimitri is at the front enterance with five others, stakes in hand ready for the attack.

They haven't entered the house yet, but seem to be trying to listen inside for any movement. God, why is it taking so long? I look down at my hand holding my stake and my knuckles are turning white from gripping it so hard. I also notice that I am sweating and trembling all over. Well, wouldn't you if the man you loved most in this world were running into a house of dangerous, evil blood suckers to rescue another man you love, your best friend?

It is so quiet outside that my heartbeat seems to reverberate throughout the car. Suddenly, I hear a loud BANG as one of the guards next to Dimitri kicks open the door. I think I jumped about two feet off my seat. I didn't think it was possible, but my heartrate kicked up a notch, about ready to fly out of my chest as I watched my love run inside. I was breathing so fast that I had to stop so I could hear what was happening in the house. The most god awful screams came flooding to my ears, so loud it sent chills down my spine.

As I am watching the house, I see three figures running out the front door. The guardians that are surrounding the area quickly descend upon them and stake two of them fairly quickly. The third puts up a good fight and knocks the guard he's fighting out and runs off. He looked really familiar, but with my mind buzzing from everything going on, I couldn't remember why. About five minutes later, all the screaming stopped. I sit in my seat, tense, waiting for someone to come tell me it's over and I can come in, but no one does. I slowly and quietly get out of the car, leaving the door open so I don't make a sound. I carefully creap up closer to the house, using the few trees as cover. I see the guardians casually start to leave the house, and I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. It's over. I see all the guardians get in the vehicles and leave, shaking their heads. Does that mean Adrian isn't here? Where's Dimitri?

I move from behind the tree to find him. That's when my whole world came crashing down. I heard a scream that will haunt me until the day I die. It was Dimitri's. All the adrenalin kicked in and I ran into the house faster than I ever thought possible. I frantically look around trying to find Dimitri, but I don't see anything. I start walking toward a hallway when I stumble over something. When I look down, it is a body of a Strigoi. I can't help but just stare at it. Then my gaze drifts over the area and I see many more bodies, all bloody, all Strigoi. Then I notice that the nauseous feeling I get when the undead are around is still lingering. They're not all dead. That realization, and the fact I heard Dimitri scream, feels like I was plunged into ice water. I can't move. My feet seem to be stuck to the floor because they aren't responding to my wishes. That is until I hear a pain filled groan coming from below the floor. Suddenly, I am searching everywhere for a door or opening of some kind. I'm feeling along the floorboards and the walls. I'm getting frustrated because I can't find anything. I go back and check the other rooms again. Nothing. I open the coat closet, again and don't see anything. On a hunch though, I move the items on hangers to the side and take a closer look at the back. I push on the wall and it moves. I take a deep breath as I push it open as quietly as possible. I have one stake in my hand and the other in my belt. As I look inside, I notice stairs leading down. This must be the basement Adrian told me Ezekiel was keeping him in.

I conjur up all my ninja powers as I tip toe down the steps, careful not to make a sound. I stop when I hear someone talking. It's Ezekiel. "Rose, you finally made it. Please, come down and join us won't you?" Damn. He heard me. I carefully continue down the stairs and step into the room. I automatically take in my surroundings as I have been trained to do. The room looks like I imagine a prison cell to look like. There is a toilet, a cott and a chair that Adrian is currently tied to. He is awake, but weak. It's when my gaze reaches what is next to Adrian on the floor that my heart stops. Dimitri. He has blood on his head and on his neck like he was bitten. He's awake, but struggling. He's lost a lot of blood.

"Roza, run! Go get the other guardians." He says as loudly as he can.

"No! Dimitri!" I scream as I try to run to him, only to be stopped by Ezekiel blocking my path.

"Not so fast Rose. We will get to them later. I'm glad you decided to come to your senses and find me. Of course, you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by just meeting me at the parking lot like I requested." Was he serious?

"I hate to disappoint you...No wait, I'm happy to disappoint you, but I'm not here to join you in your evil quest to take over the world." Dark sacasm dripping off my words. "I'm here to take Adrian and Dimitri back with me." I am putting every ounce of bravado I can muster into my words so he doesn't see how absolutely terrified I am. "So I suggest that if you want to live to fight another day, leave now. Otherwise I'm going to kill you." I give him my best glare and even a snarl looking as intimidating as I can. He just seems to find me amusing.

"Oh Rose, I can see why the powers that be have chosen you to be the One." He says with a laugh. "Take a body trained to kill, add to it a beauty to melt a man's soul and mix in all the piss and vinegar you can and you have one lethal combination that is Rose Hathaway. I couldn't have done better myself." He seems so proud.

"You're right. I am all those things. So why aren't you afraid?" He seems so sure of my abilities but acts as if he has a secret.

"Because I know you're weakness." he says while looking back at Adrian and Dimitri. He does know my weakness. I will do anything to keep those I love safe. I'm about to give in to him in exchange for their release when I hear a faint voice call to me.

"Rose, don't do it. You can't let him change you. We're not worth it. Your life is more important to both of us. You need to fight, Rose. Don't give up." Adrian manages to say. It looks like it took almost all his energy just to get it out. I can see the pain in his eyes as spoke. I hate being the cause of his pain.

"Well, I guess I know what I have to do now, don't I?" I say as I get into a fighting stance. I lunge at Ezekiel with my stake raised, aiming for his chest. He is so fast though that he dodges and returns with a punch to my stomach. That hurt. I right myself up and attack again. I manage to get a punch to his face but it doesn't seem to faze him. I go to punch again but this time he blocks my fist and then backhands me into the wall, hard. Dark spots started dancing across my field of vision. I slid down the wall onto the floor, trying my best not to be overcome by the empending blackness. I didn't work. Slowly the darkness overcame me.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I started to slowly open my eyes, I could feel warm arms holding me tight. I looked up to see Dimitri's face looking down on me. "Roza, you scared me." His voice was shaky and I could see his eyes were wet. Then I could see the blood on his neck. That woke me up real quick. I jumped out of his lap and looked around to see if Ezekiel was still here. He wasn't.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know but he'll be back. It's getting close to midnight, you're eighteenth birthday. He plans on turning you as soon as he can." He barely got the words out. He was so weak from his injuries. I looked around the room and felt defeat overtake me.

"We are so screwed." I looked over to Adrian who was actually smiling at me.

"Never give up Little Dhampir." Then I had an idea.

Dimitri POV

The other guardians and I are outside the house, waiting for the go ahead from the leader to enter. Once we get it, the door is kicked open and we quickly rush in before the Strigoi inside know what hit them. I manage to stake one as soon as he realized we were there. Out of the corner of my eye, I see chaos as other guardians are fighting and taking down the other Strigoi. It's a bloody mess. As I get further in the house, I see one going down a hall, I follow. When I turn to go down the hallway, it's empty. I wasn't that far behind him. Suddenly, I am grabbed from behind and pulled into a closet. I struggle to get free when I am thrown down some stairs. I get back to my feet and get ready to attack. The figure at the top of the stairs flies down in a blur, so fast. He then stops in front of me and I immediately recognize his ugly face, Ezekiel. He has a smirk on his face as he looks at me. "I knew it was you all along. You're the one sent to protect the Chosen One, our Rose." This guy is really Coo-Coo for Co-Co Puffs. How can anyone believe such nonesense, Rose doesn't even believe it. He does have one thing right though, I will always be here to protect Rose. Never again will I leave her. Never.

"That's right. You will never touch her." I really hate this guy. I throw a punch at him and he barely moves. He must be very old to be this strong. I throw another punch but he manages to avoid it while hitting me on my side. That's going to leave a mark. I attack again but this time he grabs something hard and slams it down on my head. Son of a bitch that hurt. I scream in pain. I stumble into the wall but luckliy it keeps me on my feet. I try to muster up all my strength to attack again, but my head is so woozy. He is just standing there watching me for a moment. The next thing I know, Ezekiel is at my neck, biting down. I only let out a groan at the excrutiating pain he is causing me. I am pushing him off with all my might, but it doesn't move him an inch. But before I lose consciousness, he stops and pulls away. I don't know why he didn't kill me then, but I'm not going to ask. I slip down onto the floor. I hear someone talking to me on my left. I look to see Adrian. Rose will be so happy we found him alive, well for now.

"Belikov, stay awake. Don't close your eyes." He sounds weak, like he hasn't fed in days. I look over at him and nod. I don't know why the other guardians aren't storming the basement yet. They must not have seen me disappear. Then a horrible thought occures to me. Rose will be coming soon.

A few minutes later, I hear the faintest of footsteps coming down the steps. I have a bad feeling about this. Ezekiel hears it to. "Rose, you finally made it. Please, come down and join us won't you?" Don't do it Rose. Go back. Run away, I keep saying to myself. But she doesn't. I see her scan the room and finally land on me. I've got to get her out of here.

"Roza, run! Go get the other guardians." I say as loudly as I can. Of course she doesn't listen to me. Instead she screams out for me and tries to run for me but he stops her. He says something to her but I'm not really hearing it all. I do recognize Rose answering him back with her typical sarcasm and menacing tone. She sounds terrifying, but I know my Roza. She's scared, but will never give him the satisfaction of showing it. As he is talking back to her, I catch his discription of her, 'beauty to melt a man's soul'. Well, he got that one right. That is exactly what happened to me the first time I saw her in Portland. And the piss and vinegar part, that's what I love most about her. Life is never boring with her around. I hear him mention her weakness as he looks over to me and Adrian. But when I look at Rose's face when he says this, the look in her eyes scares me more than anything I have ever seen in my twenty- four years on this earth. She's going to sacrifice herself for us. I'm about to tell her no when I hear Adrian next to me.

"Rose, don't do it. You can't let him change you. We're not worth it. Your life is more important to both of us. You need to fight, Rose. Don't give up." Wow. He says exactly what I was thinking. Maybe he does love her after all. Sorry man, if we get out of this alive, I'm not giving anyone a chance at getting my Roza. I'll never be so stupid to push her away again. If she'll still have me. Thankfully, she has decided to fight. I see her attack him and she threw a punch that would have knocked anyone else out, but Ezekiel is too strong. She keeps going though until he hits her hard into the wall, knocking her out.

He stands there looking at all three of us for a moment. "Hmm. I expected a better fight, especially from you." he directs that last part in my direction. "I will let you all say your goodbyes before I come back in a few hours to awaken my hunter. I'll let her decide what to do with you two after that. If you're lucky, she'll change you. If not, well, I'm sure she'll find you delicious." He turns and leaves us alone. All of us are too weak to put up much of a fight. This is not good. I manage to get up and over to Rose. I pull her into my arms and hold her. I try not to think about how this might be the last time I get to do this.

I stay like that for a couple hours, Adrian watching her the whole time. Then I notice her eyes start to flutter open and she wakes up. "Roza, you scared me." I tell her. Then realization hits her as she jumps out of my hold.

"Where did he go?" she asks.

"I don't know but he'll be back. It's getting close to midnight, you're eighteenth birthday. He plans on turning you as soon as he can." I can see all hope she once clung to now fade.

"We are so screwed." I tend to agree. Our circumstances don't look good. But a ray of hope manages to shine through Adrian.

"Never give up Little Dhampir." I see a spark in Rose's eyes when he says that.

I hope you liked that chapter. It was fun to write. I will continue this scene next chapter, which might not be posted for a couple days. Don't give up on me though. Please review and let me know what you think.