A stunned silence fills the air, one that is only broken by the sound of friction.

"...Rose?"

"Yes?"

I refuse to look up, just continue to rub the splinters of wood together.

"Rose, have you gone mad?"

I am suddenly jerked away from my work, thrown and pinned on the ground.

"Have you? Dimitri, get off of me!" I struggle and fight, but he grips onto my wrists.

"No, Rose! Are you insane? You'll kill us all! You want to start a fire while we're locked in an attic?"

"Let me go!"

He growls and presses harder against me, trying to quiet my fighting. "Have you lost your mind? Rose, you'll kill us both, and then who will protect Vasilisa? I won't let you do this!"

I repress the urge to be calmed by my former-mentor. I am done with calm, rational discussions. I needed to take action, I wasn't just going to sit by and wait for things to get better.

So I continue to struggle against him, trying to throw him off of me. When that fails to be effective, I bring my knee up right into his gut, giving me the chance to roll us over and pin him underneath my legs.

"I don't care what you're going to let me do. I'm going to do what I want. Do you want me to tie you up? Because I will..."

He grunts and bucks wildly, trying to dislodge me from his waist, but I hold tight.

"Listen to me. I have a plan. And if you're going to go against me on this, and stand in my way, then I'm going treat you like any of the other dhampirs downstairs that are going to try and stop me. Got it? I've got this. Now, are you going to trust me or not?"

We are both panting heavily, watching each other.

"Okay," he whispers hoarsely. "Alright."

Slowly, so slowly, I reach down, and brush a strand of dark hair from his damp face.

Memories swirl, and I see us, over a year ago, when he had pinned me in the gym. Now, roles reversed, I was sitting on his chest, and he was where I was all those months ago.

Vurnerable.

"Viktor will know that you lied about Vasilisa's whereabouts, soon."

Repressing a shudder that threatens to pulse through my body, I simply nod, and clamber off of him.

"Sorry about-"

"Yeah," he grunts, wincing and gritting his teeth as he rises, his arm slung across his midsection, where I've shoved my knee into his side. "Can I do anything to help?" He motions the kindling and paper in the center of the room.

I give him a small smile and shake my head. "Sit down and shut up."

"Be glad to."

I quietly get back to work, trying, and failing, to torch this place. My desperation begins to increase as time passes. Viktor could be returning any second, and I'm still desperately trying to start a fire. Finally, finally, smoke starts to rise. But unfortunately, no fire.

I let out a growl of frustration and scrub the pieces together with more effort. Nothing.

After a noted moment of hesitation, Dimitri slowly crawls over beside me and cups his hands gently around mine. With a calmness I've only experienced from him a handful of times, he leans over and begins to exhale gently onto the slivers of the window sill. A flame jumps up, slowly turning the wood to ashes. The fire dances in Dimitri's dark eyes, as he gazes at me through pieces of fallen hair.

We smile.

"What? A Boy Scout, too?" I raise my eyebrows in question.

I gently lower my kindling, letting the flame touch the papers that spiral around me, and watch as the fire spreads. Dimitri grabs my hand, pulling me up from our place on the floor.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait until someone sees the smoke."

It won't take long, as the rest of the papers absorb the flame, shooting up and licking the ceiling.

"Rose, we could very well be dead by then!"

I grin darkly and make my way over to the crease of the slanted ceiling and the floor. With a forceful kick, I shatter the window. It's a small, rectangular window a few feet off of the ground, barely large enough for us to sqeeze through. But it's all we've got.

"Hurry up. We don't have much time."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, the attic door has been flung open, and a flood of oxygen sweeps through the room, making the flames soar.

I wiggle through the thin window, with a boost from Dimitri, of course, turning around and pulling myself onto the roof. I lean down and hold my hand out to Dimitri.

He grabs for my hand, and tries to pull himself out after me, but he struggles. His shoulders are broad, his hips too wide, and the window is thin.

"Dimitri!" I tug at his hand and manage to pull him free, but not before a dhampir, one of Viktor's guards, latches onto his ankle.

He clings onto the edge of the roof, swinging his body, catching a man, not much older than me, in the side of his jaw. He stumbles back, into the flames, and Dimitri does a pull-up, and clambers onto the shingles beside me.

"What's your plan, now?"

I grip his wrist, running to the other side of the roof, feeling the heat on the bottom of my feet. Easing myself over the side, I shimmy down the drainpipe, ignoring the temperature that radiates from the metal.

When my feet hit the ground, the stain-glass window blows outward, showering me with shards of glass. The flames roar, and I throw myself onto the ground, shielding my face.

"Rose!"

Over the whistling fire, I hear a thud, and a face appears above me, hovering.

"Rose? Rose, can you hear me?" His finger touches my cheek, and when he pulls back, I see it stained with blood.

I choose not to answer him, and pull myself up, stalking off along the side of the church, ducking to avoid windows.

But Dimitri will have none of it, and he grabs at my wrist.

"Rose! Stop. Wait. Are you alright? Just take a minute, you're bleeding. Are you feeling nauseous? Light-headed?"

I swat away his hands. "Stop it. We need to get Adrian out."

Based on the location of the front doors, and my knowledge of where they dragged Adrian off into, I slide next to the window, nodding to Dimitri. He sends me one more concerned look before slipping out of his jacket. He wraps the leather around his knuckles, and slams his fist into the glass, shifting so I am shielded from any stray pieces.

One, two, three seconds pass, and no one comes to investigate, so Dimitri clambers into the small window.

Before I can crawl in after him, he appears before me. "Rose, he's not here," he shouts over the hiss of the flames, and my gut sinks.

Dimitri hops back onto the ground and grabs my wrist, dragging me behind him towards the center of Court.

Don't hate me! I know, it's been forever, but I have been so incredibly busy lately that I just don't have the time to write! Forgive this terribly crappy chapter, and, once again, I would love to have some ideas on what you would like to see... so...

Somebody? Anybody?

Thank you for being so patient, for those of you still reading.

-PRG