Rose's POV

The second time witnessing a Strigoi being transformed is just as breathtaking as the first. The bright light literally knocked me backward. I had to release my hold on Sonya, but restraining her didn't even matter anymore. When the white light faded I saw Mikhail crawl over to Sonya on the floor. Sonya was laying in the fetal position, sobbing. Robert lay staring at the ceiling beside her.

Mikhail started crying too, "Sonya, it's me! Sonya, oh Sonya. I love you so much." He touched his forehead to hers. "M-m-mik… hail!" Sonya got out between sobs. Mikhail wrapped Sonya in his arms like a baby, cradling the upper half of her body as her legs still lay sprawled on the floor.

Eddie looked at me, "That… that's how it happened with Dimitri?" I nodded slowly, recalling the warehouse. Eddie's eyes filled with wonder, he shook his head in disbelief. "Wow," said Eddie wondrously. As happy as I was for the couple, I had a sick feeling resonating in my stomach, "Wow doesn't even begin to cover it," I said tonelessly.

I had an inkling that something was wrong, something was being overlooked. I couldn't put my finger on what was causing my unease.

I looked over to Mikhail, "Take Sonya upstairs, she'll need some rest." Mikhail nodded, never looking away from his lover. Sydney hadn't moved from her position pressed up against the wall, her eyes stayed on Sonya.

Victor scrambled to his feeble brother. He helped Robert move to the couch and lay down there. I felt bad for the middle aged man, he'd used a lot of spirit lately. I shivered when I thought about the darkness that must be creeping into Robert right now.

I went through the house to find a guest bedroom. I didn't find one, but I found a linen closet with enough blankets and pillows to create a makeshift bed. I brought the blankets to Eddie, "You need to get some rest. I'll stay up with the brothers."

Eddie gave me a thankful look before setting up the bed in the corner of the living room. I sat down on the lazyboy with my elbows on my knees. Sydney sat in the lazyboy next to mine, she gripped the armrests. My dark hair tumbled forward, covering most of my face from Robert, even though he was unconscious. Victor sat on the couch with Robert's feet on his lap. Everything was silent for a long time. At least an hour must have passed.

I started thinking of Randall and Vladimir. I remember Randall biting me, he got a sick smile on his face when I had told him about Dimitri and myself. I broke the silence, just so that I could ignore my sinking gut.

"Is Robert going to be okay?"

Victor smiled, I wish I could wipe the smile off of his face. "Yes. He just needs rest. Thank you for the concern." I frowned, "I'm not concerned for you or your brother. Don't ever think anything you could do would get me to like you."

Victor continued to smile, it unnerved me. I dragged my eyes away from him and examined the room. Eddie lay on the floor with his eyes closed and his chest moving up and down at a steady pace. I wanted to go upstairs and see Sonya, but I wouldn't leave an unconscious Eddie or Sydney alone with the brothers.

"I heard that you have picked up your relationship with your former teacher. Not that I'm surprised, you two always seemed to be quite enthralled with each other," Victor smirked.

He's lucky I didn't punch him right then and there. I spoke through clenched teeth, "That's none of your business." Victor looked like he might start laughing, "Perhaps not. How's Vasilisa? Have you been having any trouble with spirit?" His mocking tone softened to one of genuine interest.

"No. We have it under control," I lied. Spirit still terrified me, it's unpredictable nature always left Lissa and I on our toes. Mostly me, since I always sucked the darkness from Lissa. "Really?" His mocking tone was back, "I didn't realize spirit could be controlled."

I rolled my eyes, "Anything can be controlled."

"Not you. You've never been in control."

I opened my mouth to respond with a bitchy comment but there were footsteps on the stairs. Mikhail came into the living room. He looked tired but unbelievably happy at the same time, "Rose, Sonya's asking for you."

I stood up, "Mind staying down here while Eddie sleeps?" Mikhail shrugged, "Just don't take too long, I want to go back upstairs." Mikhail had never seemed so content before. I realized that I didn't even know Mikhail before the heartbreak of losing Sonya. I'm glad he has her back.

We brushed shoulders as I passed him. "Don't let Victor get into your head, just ignore him," I whispered. The stairs creaked as I traveled up, there was one open door.

The bedroom had beautiful patterns of blues and greens painted on the wall. The large window was wide open. There was a breeze from outside, I could hear birds chirping and bugs singing. The sunset was visible over the lake.

Sonya was standing at the window, studying her hand in a patch of sunlight. "Ms Karp?" She turned around to look at me. Her eyes widened with shock and joy, "Rosemarie! I almost didn't believe Mikhail when he said you were here." She seemed much happier than Dimitri was after his transformation. I debated whether that was a good or bad thing.

I shrugged with a small smile, "Here I am. It's good to see you."

Sonya's face dropped. She looked down to her hands, "Yes. I supposed it would be, now that I'm not a monster?" She shook her head almost violently, "I did so many terrible things…"

There it was, the guilt that consumed Dimitri for so long, it still does. "That wasn't you-" I started to comfort her but she held up a hand. She pressed her lips into a tight line, "Mikhail already had this conversation with me. I'll get through it with time, a lot of time. I don't really want to talk about it now. Anyway, Mikhail said you came here to find Eric Dragomir's illegitimate child."

I was glad for the topic change. I didn't feel like having the I know you killed a lot of people but it wasn't really you conversation.

"Er - yes. We found your name on an account that may be tied to the mother of the child. That would mean that you know the mother, that you're probably a relative." I don't know why I was stating all of this, Sonya already knew this.

The look on her face confirmed as much. She scratched her temple, "I, uh, would love to help you Rose, Princess Hathaway actually," she gave me a knowing look. "The only problem is that I promised to keep this a secret for the mother."

I gave her my best are you serious look. "Ms Karp, this is important for Lissa. I know you care about Lissa. I won't let any harm come to this child, but we need to know who the child is." Sonya shook her head. I sighed and ran a hand through my tangled hair. I studied her for a moment, debating how low I was willing to go. Very low, apparently. "Tell me. As princess I command you."

Sonya barked out a short laugh, "I see you haven't gotten very eloquent with your words over the years."

Mikhail walked in the room and moved by Sonya's side. "Eddie's awake now," he said upon seeing my expression. Mikhail kissed the top of Sonya's head. She tilted her head up and gave Mikhail a brilliant smile before kissing him.

I couldn't help the surge of jealousy I felt, that was how my reunion with Dimitri should have been, not love fades, mine has. I forgave Dimitri and accepted his reasons for staying away from me, but I still felt bitter that he didn't run straight into my arms after being transformed.

That wasn't the only thing making me feel ill, somethings not right here. I couldn't push back this premonition. Something bad was going to happen.

I mentally slapped myself, not now Rose. "Sonya, I know that you promised, but we need to find this child. Lissa needs her spot on the council." Lissa needs to be queen.

Mikhail tightened his arms around Sonya, "Sonya, please? This child will help the dhampir. Moroi want to do terrible things to the guardians, and Vasilisa can stop that from happening, but she needs her sibling."

Sonya focused her panicked eyes on Mikhail, she bit her lip and shook her head. "I can't… I promised," she whispered. Mikhail smoothed down Sonya's hair, "I know, but we've broken promises before, remember?" Mikhail winked and Sonya laughed. Her laughter diffused. A somber look clouded Sonya's features. She gave an exasperated sigh, "Detroit. We have to go to Detroit."

We decided to head back to the hotel and rest for the night. Sonya had no issue with leaving her house behind. Too many memories, I guess. It was in the parking lot of the hotel when I realized what was nagging me in the back of my mind all day. The sun.

The sun was gone. It had been for hours now.

I didn't share my fears with the others, honestly we should have considered this before we left the Court. It was too late now, we were on the move and we needed to get to the child. The chances of a Strigoi attacking us once safely inside the hotel were very slim, but stranger things have happened.

Maybe it was just my paranoia about being out in the open at night, but I swear I could feel eyes watching us. I felt uneasy about the dark shadows behind the lamp posts. As long as my nausea trigger system still worked, there were no Strigoi nearby.

I felt much better once we all herded into the hotel room. I also felt it was unnecessary for the Dashkov brothers to be with us anymore. I would have to think of a way to ditch them later on. I pulled out my cell phone to call Abe, he didn't like the new addition to our plan.

He was upset about it, but not nearly as upset as I was when I heard my mom on the other side of the line. How dare that old man tell my mother? He would probably also disobey my orders to stay away from Dimitri.

After several long moments I was able to calm down slightly, it would be cruel to keep my mom in the dark. It was cruel to continue keeping my friends in the dark, but I wasn't going to risk having those lovable fools come after me.

I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Sydney was asleep in our room, Mikhail had locked himself and Sonya in his and Eddie's room and the Dashkov brothers were both asleep in their room. Eddie dozed off on the couch next to me.

Suddenly a wave of nausea hit me, making me curl over on the couch. Then I heard screams of agony coming from the floors beneath me.

There were Strigoi in the hotel.

I grabbed Eddie's shoulders and shook him violently. He woke up in a daze, "Get your stake! There's a Strigoi. Maybe more than one." I ran over to Mikhail's room and pounded on the door until a very flustered and messy haired Mikhail wearing only a bathrobe swung the door open, "What on earth-"

"Get some clothes on, quick! There's a Strigoi in the hotel."

Mikhail swore and turned to grab his bag. I saw Sonya sitting on the bed with the covers pulled up to hide her naked body. I grabbed my stake from next to Robert's on the coffee table. There were more screams followed by eerie silence, then new screams. Each scream was louder, closer to our suite.

Mikhail joined Eddie and I in the living room. "Sonya, close and lock the bedroom door," Mikhail ordered. There was a fierceness in his voice I had never heard before. Surprisingly yet thankfully, neither Sydney nor the brothers had woken up.

I could hear multiple pairs of footsteps moving down the hall, they were moving at a leisurely pace. I crouched slightly, holding up my stake in a warrior's stance. From the corner of my eye I could see Eddie and Mikhail do the same.

The footsteps stopped just outside the suite's door. There was a pause in time. Nothing happened, everything was silent. The quiet before the storm.

The door flew open, and I mean literally flew. The door landed five feet from the frame, I looked up in shock to see four figures storm the room. A fifth figure stood in the hallway, watching.

Now I know why the guardians use the term buria. The suite had a narrow entryway that forced the Strigoi to enter single file, that gave us a decent enough advantage. Eddie and I rushed forward to meet the first Strigoi, a woman who must have been a Moroi before being transformed.

Eddie lifted his stake, so I took the role of the distractor. I leaped forward with my fist in front of me. The woman fell back a couple steps, bumping into the Strigoi behind her. This gave Eddie enough time to plunge his stake into the woman's chest. She crumpled to the ground. Easy enough, now if only we could repeat this until the last Strigoi dropped to the ground.

The male Strigoi who was behind the woman reacted before Eddie could. He reached out and grabbed Eddie's arm, yanking the guardian to the soulless monster. Mikhail charged forward, taking the third Strigoi in line.

Because we'd met the Strigoi in the narrow passageway, they couldn't move further into the suite without getting through us. I used my strake to hit the Strigoi holding Eddie in the side of the ribs. He snarled in pain and focused on me, letting Eddie go.

He met my furious gaze. I had seen too many red eyes in my life. The color of blood in his eyes brought back so many unwelcome memories. I screamed like a banshee as I aimed the stake for the monster's heart. He dodged, taking a step back.

Eddie was already behind him. He struck his stake through the Strigoi's back, missing the heart but weakening the Strigoi. I took the crucial step forward and made the kill. Eddie and I shared a brief look of relief before moving on. Mikhail had killed his Strigoi, a man with blood dripping from his beard.

The last Strigoi was much faster, much older. He didn't bother with the pleasure of killing for blood. Making the neck a target was harder than simply killing the person. Mikhail, who was closest to the Strigoi, was thrown back. He landed on Eddie, the two men toppled over. The Strigoi ignored me and rushed forward into the living area to continue his attack on Eddie and Mikhail.

The Strigoi who was standing in the hallway stepped forward and I got my first good look at him. Don't hesitate. That's what Dimitri had taught me. I hesitated before and it nearly killed me. I wouldn't hesitate again, even though it was Vladimir was standing right in front of me.

Tears threatened to spring up from my eyes. Vladimir ran forward and lunged for me. I sidestepped him, pressing my back against the wall, just in time. Vladimir had his teeth bared at me. I did my best to avoid eye contact with him, remembering how powerful his compulsion could be.

Our movements became like a sordid dance, he would move forward, I would move back. I realized this made me on the defensive side of things. I needed to kill Vladimir right here and right now.

I surged forward, my stake angled perfectly. Vladimir waved his hand and suddenly my stake was gone. Vladimir grinned as he pushed me back against the wall. His body was pressed against mine before I could wriggle free.

"Rose, why haven't you done off with your dhampir pets yet? I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I thought that the Dragomir princess would be with you when you crossed the wards and turned into a killing machine." Vladimir had one hand gripping my arm tightly and used his free hand to brush the hair from my face.

"What a shame!" I spat. I couldn't even move my legs. I looked anywhere but his eyes. I could hear Eddie and Mikhail still fighting the other Strigoi. Vladimir laughed, "No, what is a shame is that I heard you've been crowned princess. Congratulations, by the way. It's a shame because I do love having a royal's blood on my hands. I regret that I have to kill you now."

I didn't think he regretted it at all. Vladimir used the hand that brushed my hair back to grab the top of my head and tilt it to the side, exposing my neck. He bent his head down. He was distracted with my neck, he was vulnerable. I found the strength to push Vladimir just as his teeth sunk into my skin.

I used all of my force to push him backward. His teeth dragged along the side of my neck, cutting deep into the skin and scraping layers of skin. He was off me now, surprised that I was able to push him. I used the element of surprise to run into the living room area. Vladimir recovered fast and followed after me. I swiped Robert's stake off the coffee table just in time to spin around and strike blindly at Vladimir.

I missed his heart, but only by a few inches. He collapsed in shock, his body immobilizing. I plucked the stake out and stuck him in the heart. I continued stabbing him, tears flowing from my eyes. I stabbed and stabbed the limp body until a strong pair of arms wrapped around my own arms and trapped them.

"He's dead, Rose, stop it," Eddie panted in my ear.

"We have to leave now," Mikhail stood arm in arm with Sonya, looking down on me. I was still on top of Vladimir's body. I felt my whole body start to tremble. A terrified Sydney joined Mikhail and Sonya in my line of vision. The brothers were still in their room, probably barricading themselves from an attack. Eddie helped me stand up, I glanced at the five bodies lying before me. None of them were Randall. He was still out there somewhere.

I wiped my cheek with the sleeve of my shirt. Robert could deal with compelling the police. Sydney was already working on destroying the Strigoi bodies. I glanced at Vladimir one last time and watched with sick pleasure as he disappeared forever in a ball of vapor. I couldn't help but think of the human bodies in the hotel.

"Yeah," I said tonelessly, "let's get the hell out of here."