*Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does!*

"Well, he's my half-brother," Robert told me, his eyes still filled with anger.

I just stared at him. He was my worst enemy's brother. Mortal enemy, I quickly corrected myself. I was shell-shocked. I couldn't seem to make myself move. I couldn't make myself look away from the man who had just defended Victor Dashkov.

Dimitri recovered before I had. "Sonya, I think you should feed. It might help you regain some strength," he told her.

She nodded, stood up, and followed Dimitri. Before she left the room, she shot one last look of hatred towards Robert.

Then Robert and I were alone in the room. "Say what you will. My brother was a good man. He didn't abandon me when everyone else did. When I developed these strange powers, he helped me understand them rather than shunning me. He was a good man. Those things he did, he did them because he had to," Robert defended him.

I was angry that he was defending Victor's actions. "I don't understand how you can say what he did was okay!" I shouted angrily.

"He did what he had to. He wanted to reach certain goals and he had some obstacles in his way. He overcame those obstacles. Just because you don't agree with what he did, doesn't mean it was wrong," Robert shot back.

"Are you fucking insane? He tortured my best friend! He made his daughter… his own flesh and blood turn into a Strigoi! Why can't you see that that was wrong? You said before that Victor was the only person that didn't shun you. It was probably so he could manipulate your powers just like he had with Lissa. If you don't see that you're deluding yourself! Victor Dashkov is an evil, manipulative…" I shouted. I was cut off by a vase flying towards my face. I ducked down and it missed me by inches.

"You don't know anything about my brother!" Robert insisted.

"I know that he's evil! I don't need to know anything else," I told him.

Suddenly, the lamp on the end table slammed into my back. I fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Dimitri!" I shrieked when I had regained my breath. I got back to my feet and lunged to Robert. About a foot away from him, I felt like I had ran into a solid wall. I had the wind knocked out of me, but managed to keep my footing this time. What the hell? I lifted my hand tentatively and my suspicions were confirmed. He had created an invisible barrier in front of him. I noticed Dimitri in the doorway, taking in the situation at hand.

I tried to break through the barrier when Robert made the cord from the alarm clock on the end table wrap itself tightly around my neck. I couldn't breathe. I started to see black spots in my vision.

Then suddenly, I heard something fall to the ground and the wire loosened up. I could feel warm arms holding me. "Rose! Keep your eyes open," the voice told me.

I didn't want to though. I was so tired and I couldn't find my air. I felt cool hands on my face and suddenly, my throat cleared up. I took deep, rugged breaths filling my lungs with air.

"I fixed the major problem. She'll still have slight bruising, but she can breathe now," a female voice said. It took me a moment to realize that it was Sonya's voice. I finally opened my eyes. I saw Dimitri staring down at me, his eyes filled with love and concern. When he saw I was looking at him, he hugged me to him tightly. I melted into his embrace, breathing in the scent of his aftershave. It helped calm me down.

I glanced around and saw Robert lying on the floor. He didn't look conscious. I turned to Dimitri. "Did you knock him out?" I asked him in a small voice.

He nodded. "He was out of line," Dimitri said grimly. I could see how much it hurt him to have harmed a moroi.

"You shouldn't have done that," I told him gently. I hated seeing him upset because of me.

"I don't regret it. He should have known better than to hurt you. I wasn't going to stand here and let him kill you," he told me seriously.

"I love you," I whispered to him.

"I love you too," he whispered back. He pressed his lips to mine gently, but pulled back too soon.

I gave him an angry look. He chuckled. "Not right now. Later, I promise," he told me.

I sighed. "Later is so far away," I said annoyed.

Dimitri chuckled. "I know. But we do have some things to do for the queen," he pointed out to me.

I sighed. "Right," I agreed reluctantly. I glanced at Robert. "We never got to figure out how he restored Sonya. Guess we'll never know."

"Actually, I asked him on the way back from his apartment. He infused the stake with spirit. When a stake is infused with spirit, a spirit can restore any Strigoi to their former state, whether they were human, moroi, or dhampir," he explained to me.

"What do we do with him now?" I asked uncertainly.

Dimitri looked at Robert guiltily. "I was thinking we could just bring him back to his apartment. His maid will look after him there," he said. I knew he didn't like the idea of just leaving him there, but he couldn't come with us now. He was dangerous.

"Okay. That's as good a plan as any," I said to him.

"Where are we going to go? He knows where this hotel is, so we can't very well stay here," I pointed out.

He looked hesitantly at Sonya. "I don't know. We'll have to talk to Sydney and see what she thinks," he told me.

"Where is Sydney?" I asked curiously. I only just noticed she had been absent through everything that just happened.

"I made her wait out in the living room. I didn't want her to risk getting hurt," he explained with a frown. "I knew you wouldn't yell for me like that in less something was seriously wrong."

"Well, we might as well go talk to her now," I said. Dimitri helped me stand up. I couldn't have done it on my own, kind of like how I could have walked on my own, but I didn't complain. I know he was just trying to help me.

He helped me sit down on the couch by Sydney. He quickly debriefed Sydney on what had happened. "So where do you think we should go?" He asked her.

"It's obvious isn't it?" She answered him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dimitri and I both knew what she was going to say. She turned to Sonya. "Sonya, we need to ask you something," she said gently.