Dimitri's POV

As soon as Tasha told me that she was staying at a hotel in Pittsburgh, I bolted from the privacy of Rose's office, vaguely noticing the raised eyebrows I got from everyone in the living room. I ignored them and immediately went to the bedroom to grab a backpack and stuff some clothes in at random. I could feel my blood pumping the same way it does when I fight strigoi, and I hadn't felt this kind of fear since Rose was kidnapped in Spokane. If Randall wanted me then he could have me. I would come prepared.

I could hear confused murmuring in the other room as Rose asked all of our guests to leave. "Something's come up," she explained in a tense voice. "We need you guys to leave for now." I heard Abe laugh, when no one else joined in he cleared his throat, "Are you serious?" he asked. I couldn't see them but Rose must have nodded. "What happened? Is Dimitri okay?" Lissa asked. The pounding in my head increased, and I could recognize Rose's voice but I couldn't make out any of her words.

I stopped trying to listen to them, throwing all my attention into getting what I needed into the backpack. Shirt. Pants. Stake. Gun. Spare stake. Would Rose notice if I took her spare stake? Yes, yes she would. I packed that too anyway. I couldn't think of anything else to bring.

The bedroom door was hanging wide open, so Christian just walked in. "What happened?" he asked, seeming genuinely concerned. I gripped one of the straps on the backpack and carried it at my side.

"Your aunt happened," I hissed as I stalked out of the room. "Excuse me?" he called out, following me into the living room.

I had almost made my way to the front door when Rose stepped in front of me, "What do you think you're doing?" she asked with her arms crossed in front of her. Christian stood next to Rose, "Did you find Tasha?"

I sighed in annoyance, ignoring Christian. "Rose, I don't have time for this. Move." I don't know why I thought she would listen to me, she never does. Instead, she scoffed at me. "I'm coming with you. Just let me get a bag."

"Did you find Tasha?" Christian repeated, looking hopeful and afraid at the same time. "This has nothing to do with Tasha," I snapped at him, realizing I contradicted what I said to him earlier. I turned to Rose, "You're staying here." I didn't care at this point that Rose's parents were seeing me getting upset. Usually Rose was the only one who saw me lose my composure.

Damn, I thought, you used to have such a good poker face, Dimitri. Christian scrunched his face up in annoyance, "But you just said she did something!" Rose held up her hand to stop Christian, but now the whole room was in on the action, all of them asking questions at the same time.

Rose reached for her jacket, but I wrapped my hand around her wrist to stop her. She narrowed her eyes at me and tried to tug her arm away, but my grip was stronger. I shook my head vehemently, aware that everyone was watching us argue as we ignored their questions, "You have to stay here." I stepped forward, ready to push past her to get out of the apartment, but Rose held up her free hand to my chest to stop me. I let out an angry puff of air. "You're my guardian," she argued, "where you go I go."

"Call Hans, he can find someone to guard you while I'm gone. Now let me go," I half ordered and half begged her. "Don't talk to my daughter that way, boy," Abe growled, but I never took my eyes off of Rose, imploring her to understand. I needed to save my sisters, and I needed to know Rose would stay at court where she's safe. She knew that's what I needed, but that's not what she wanted.

She dropped her arms to face her father in a typical defiant teenager stance, "Stay out of this!" she turned back to me, a look of painful resignation on her face "You're an idiot if you think I'm not helping. Do you have your cell phone?"

I nodded. She took a steadying breath. "Good. Then I'll catch up with you in a couple hours. Call me when you get there." I was ready to argue again but she just raised her eyebrows and gave me a look that said you can't stop me. A head start was all I could ask of her, and if it meant I could leave now then I was all for it.

"Fine," I said at the same time that Christian said, "I'm coming with you, Rose."

Everyone in the room gawked at him. "No!" Rose, Lissa, and I said at the same time.

Christian threw his arms up in frustration, "My aunt is out there! I'm going."

Lissa started yelling at Christian about danger and not getting involved in my business. While the others in the room were distracted, Rose stepped in close to me. "I'll deal with Christian, and their questions. Go now, I'll see you soon," She leaned up to kiss me. I allowed myself the seconds it took to kiss her back, letting her know how much I loved her. I touched my forehead to hers and said "Bring guardians." Then I walked out the door. The irony wasn't lost to me in leaving Rose to pick up the pieces of the mess Tasha made.

The guardians at the garage were wary about giving me a car on short notice in the middle of vampiric day. "Where's the princess?" one of them asked. I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. "She's with the queen. I'm running an errand for the princess, and it's time sensitive, so I would appreciate it if you could ask the questions later." I did my best to put on an air of authority, but I probably just sounded grouchy and menacing.

They finally handed over a set of keys to a Jeep. I was on the highway in less than fifteen minutes, and I began the almost 5 hour drive to Tasha's hotel. One of the perks of living on a vampiric schedule is that there's never much traffic at night. There was still snow on the road, but that didn't stop me from driving 30 miles per hour over the speed limit, Rose would have been proud. The sun would be rising by the time I got to the hotel.

The snow came down faster the higher up in the mountains I got, I was pretty sure I was driving directly into a blizzard. I drove as fast as I could with the snow slowing me down. Throughout the entire drive I had memories of Rose being held captive by me in Siberia playing over in my head. I couldn't stop images of my sisters being used as food from entering my mind, and my grip tightened on the steering wheel until my knuckles were white.

I realized that this meant I would have to face my father again. I hadn't seen him since I beat him to a pulp when I was thirteen. I remember waiting up late at night, sitting on the staircase, waiting for him to come back for my mom. She would sit on the sofa in the living room those nights, unaware that I was still awake. Sometimes she would cry, and I would just sit there, listening to her sobbing, getting that monster out of her system. After what he did to Rose I had the same feeling that I did when I was thirteen. A strange sense that I never wanted to see him again, yet at the same time I was just dying to get my hands on him. He has now messed with every woman in my life. I wouldn't even flinch when I drove my stake through his heart.

When I was about an hour away from the hotel my phone started singing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Prince, my ringtone for Rose. "Where are you?" I asked, not bothering to say hello. I could hear people talking in the background. "First of all thank you for telling the guards at the garage that you're running an errand for me," she said sarcastically. "That was easy to explain when I told them I needed to leave too. And thanks for taking my spare stake."

I rolled my eyes at her, knowing she couldn't see it anyway. "Lissa and I talked this through, and we think it's a trap. Tasha said she wasn't supposed to be calling us, but if Randall really didn't want her to tell us, he wouldn't have let her near a working phone. Randall knew Tasha would call us." My grip loosened on the steering wheel, in fact I almost let go of it altogether. "Shit," I muttered in Russian.

"Shit is right," Rose said in English. I blame myself for Rose learning how to swear in two languages. "Don't worry. Go meet with Tasha, just don't go looking for your sisters yet. I went to Hans and got ten guardians to accompany me. We're leaving court soon. They're making me wait for the sun to rise for safety reasons," she grumbled.

"Wait, Rose, what did you tell Hans?" I'm not sure I wanted him to know about Tasha's involvement. This was a rescue mission for my sisters, not a hunt for a fugitive. "I told him it's a need to know basis, and he trusts me, surprisingly enough. All he knows is that someone is in danger, and there are Strigoi involved. He doesn't know about… her." Rose's voice remained quiet. The guards Hans loaned her must be with her right now. I breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, that's good. Hopefully ten guards will be good enough."

"I have to go, we're loading the SUVs now. I love you," she blew a kiss through the phone. "I love you too," I said. She hung up, leaving me alone with my thoughts again. I finally arrived at the hotel an hour later, grabbing my backpack and walking up to the reception desk. I went ahead and got a room, since I didn't know how long we would be here, and there was no way I was sharing a room with Tasha. I sent a text to Rose to let her know I booked a room under my name, and she could get the other key when she arrived. Now for the hard part, I thought as I got into an elevator.

I went to the fourth floor and walked down the hallway, looking for room 402. It was all the way at the end of the hallway, the door pushed back into the wall. I knocked and the door opened immediately, revealing the man I despised most in this world. My father stood before me, red ringed eyes and a grin on his face.

"Dimitri! You came!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. I didn't waste time in tackling him and going at his face. I wasn't expecting him to actually be at the hotel, and my stake was still stashed away in my backpack. For now, I was letting all of my anger out on his face. He didn't even fight back, he was laughing as I hit him, breaking his nose and drawing blood. For a Strigoi it wouldn't hurt that much, but I'm still surprised he didn't stop me sooner. "You motherfucker!" I screamed in Russian.

Suddenly there was another pair of hands on me, not strong enough to pull me off, but I could feel them trying to get me away from Randall. His laughing had simmered down and he lay there, content to see what I would do next. "Dimitri, stop. Stop, let him go." It was Tasha's voice. I didn't listen right away, but I realized I was panting, and I didn't want to waste my energy if Randall decided to fight back. I stood up, keeping my eyes on Randall. I didn't trust Tasha, I never would, but Randall was obviously a bigger threat.

He stood up and brushed off his suit, as if he were straightening up before a business meeting. Already, I could tell that he was sharper and more cunning than his Moroi self. I guess Moroi Randall would have been intelligent if he weren't drunk all the time, but Strigoi Randall didn't need alcohol. He was sober now, which made him all the more dangerous. I reached into my bag and got out one stake. I still had two stakes and one gun in my bag that neither Tasha nor Randall knew about, and I would keep it that way until I needed them.

"You're tall, son." he remarked, looking me up and down and smiling when he saw the stake. "That wouldn't be a good idea," he commented and sat down, his nose no longer spurting blood, but his suit had red all over the front. Tasha stood off to the side. My hatred towards my father all but kept me from even noticing her. She couldn't hold a light to how I felt about my father. "Where are my sisters?" I demanded, making eye contact with the monster of my childhood.

Randall shook his head disapprovingly and clucked his tongue, "That's not how this is going to work, Dimitri. I want to see Rose first. Where is she?" He looked over my shoulder, as if expecting her to appear beside me. I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes. The glint in his eyes told me he wanted me to attack him again. He wanted to know that he still got under my skin. I couldn't give him that satisfaction.

"She didn't come with me," I stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Just give me my sisters." Now that Randall was already here, my goal was to get information out of him before Rose showed up with her fleet of guardians. His air of ease concerned me. If he had heard any rumors about me, he would know that I was once a Strigoi, and that I was a ruthless guardian with an impressive amount of molnija marks.

Tasha looked nervous though, which meant there was danger involved for her. My best guess? Randall had other Strigoi with him. I just didn't know where. An initial glance of the room told me there was only one door to enter and exit, though there could be someone in the darkness of the bathroom. The sun was coming up in less than an hour, so any Strigoi henchmen would be camping out inside. The bathroom was my blind spot right now, so I went to sit in the office chair provided in the room. I know sitting puts me in a precarious position, but this way I could keep an eye on Randall, the bathroom, and the door to the hotel room.

Randall gave me an impressed look, surprised at my brazzeness. "I find it hard to believe," he started, "that Rose wouldn't follow you. Shall we wait for her?" I shrugged nonchalantly, "If you want to prolong your death be my guest." Randall sat at the edge of the queen sized bed, stroking his chin. "You're sparing me for Rose to kill? How romantic."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Don't be a fool," I said in a low voice, "It's the women you've wronged that deserve to put a stake through you. My mother, my sisters, Rose. They deserve to kill you, but gladly I'll do it for them. Who is with my sisters now?"

Randall gave me a knowing look, "Someone willing to kill them at my order, so I wouldn't be threatening me if I were you."

I paused. He was right. Despite my strong demeanor, he had the upper hand here. "So what do you want?" I asked cautiously, already certain of his answer. He gave me an isn't is obvious look. "First of all I want to see Rose. We'll negotiate your sisters' freedom after that." He crossed his ankles, making himself more at home, and gestured for Tasha to sit next to him. She joined him, looking at me with regret written all over her face. I flicked my gaze back to Randall.

The alarm clock in the room told me that twenty minutes of staring each other down had passed before Tasha broke the silence. "Dimitri," she said timidly, "I… that is…" she looked sidelong at Randall, who was watching her carefully.

"Is Rose bringing backup?" she asked, but I could tell she wanted to say something else. She had a panicked look in her eyes that told me I needed to give a specific answer. She flicked her gaze to Randall and back to me quickly, imploring me to understand. I realized she was helping me set the stage so that I could deceive Randall. I cast a hesitant glance at Randall, playing along with Tasha. I did my best to appear like I was deciding whether I could say my next words in front of the company. Then I lied my ass off. "The queen would never let her princess leave Court, especially if she knew where Rose was planning on going. She's breaking out."

I glanced at Randall to notice that his eyes had lit up like Christmas. He took the bait and assumed that meant Rose was coming alone. Tasha shook her head in disbelief, "Stupid girl, always rushing into things without thinking. If she had her head screwed on right she would've brought guards." I tensed when Randall stood up, moving over to the window. He pulled the curtains closed, and I got one last peek of the orange glow in the horizon. "She is very rash, isn't she. Doesn't do much planning. She tried escaping me two times and failed because she couldn't think things through." His face turned pensive, "That could end up to be a problem. Hopefully where she lacks in brains she makes up for in obedience." Randall looked at me, waiting for me to comment.

I reminded myself that I had to keep up the facade, and couldn't give away Rose's cover. "She was more concerned with freeing my sisters than protecting herself. She may be rash but she's selfless." I squared my shoulders to show my father that I was only defending my girlfriend's pride. The idiot was still buying into the act. He seemed pleased that I was defensive. "You and Rose are still quite close, I hear. There are rumors that you're engaged." I had heard the rumors. I thought about the engagement ring I had bought around Christmas time. I had cut out a hole in the pages of Anna Karenina, written in Russian, and hid the ring in the book, where I knew Rose wouldn't ever find it. Only my mother and sisters knew about the ring.

"Our relationship is private, and certainly none of your business," I snapped. This only amused Randall more, and he must have taken my reply as a confirmation of our engagement. "Nothing about Rose's life is private, you should know that. She's a princess. And even if the late queen never coronated her, she would have been a celebrity amongst the royals, with a reputation like hers. Whoever she belongs to is a lucky man," he said the last part like it was a compliment to me.

I was about to argue back that Rose didn't belong to anyone, but the awestruck look on his face stopped me. I realized that Randall wanted Rose more than anything. He didn't care about me or my sisters. We were the pawns. Rose was his end game, because, I now knew, Rose was the one that got away from him. The one he thought would return. He lost his power over her when she broke his compulsion and he couldn't stand that.

I felt a weird sensation of anger coursing through me. Never in a million years did I think I would have to fight my own father over a woman. And despite the fact that I had been about to correct Randall for saying Rose would belong to a man, I felt myself growing possessive of her. My anger was only increased when I thought of my sisters being used by this monster to get Rose back into his grip.

Then an idea struck me. If this was all about Rose, like everything else is, then I should be able to use that against him. I stood up rapidly, keeping my chin high to look down on him. "New plan. You take me to my sisters right now. Once I see that they are okay and not harmed, I'll call Rose and give her directions to meet me alone, but you'll be the one to meet her. I'll leave with my sisters." I tasted bile in my mouth but pushed it down. I had to appear certain of my decision. Tasha gasped, but I could tell I had hit the spot with Randall. "You would hand Rose over to me for your sisters? Just like that?"

I shrugged, "My sisters are my family. Rose is my employer." My mind was racing to catch up with my words. I was making this up as I went, but I still needed a way to get Rose in the loop before I let Randall make a deal with me. He nodded in disbelief, "And a great fighter…" He moved to shake my hand. I couldn't believe I had just forced a whole conversation with him, and basically sold Rose to the devil.

"There's a transport van in the parking garage that will take us to the girls. Tasha took a risk in calling you." He turned his head to the bathroom, "Let's go," he smiled mischievously, returning his gaze to me, "I'll let you and Natasha catch up. Meet me in the garage in twenty minutes." My theory was correct, and another Strigoi came out of the darkness of the bathroom to follow Randall out of the room.

As soon as they were gone I turned to Tasha, "Are we alone?" I asked. She nodded, "Dimitri, you can't trust that deal with Randall. He wants to turn both of you. He doesn't just want Rose." I nodded, it was ridiculous but made sense at the same time. "I can't believe he really believed that you would hand Rose over to him," she muttered. I could, though. For someone as abusive and possessive as Randall the Moroi had been, it only made sense that he would think his son would be the same. He saw women as toys, and thought that every man believed the same as he did.

"Tasha, Rose is coming with ten guardians. Will that be enough to fight Randall's Strigoi?" A small smirk played on her face, "I figured. And yeah, he only keeps two with him at a time. There's six total, but he rotates them out." I nodded quickly, pulling my phone out of my pocket. "I need to call Rose and tell her that the plan has changed."

"Dimitri?" I looked up from my phone to Tasha's pinched up face. "Yes?" She sucked in a deep breath, and I almost groaned. I already knew what she was going to say before the words were out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, really. I'm so sorry. I never wanted to involve your family." She almost sounded full of guilt, like she couldn't stand her own company anymore. That made two of us.

"You involved my family the minute you bit Rose. You just don't get it, do you? She is my family, Tasha."

"She's just a girl!" she exclaimed, annoyance clouding her once grief stricken face.

"No, she's twice the woman you'll ever be." Tasha flinched slightly at my words. Part of me was secretly glad that caused her pain.

"She can't give you what you want."

"She already has, more than you could ever know. Tasha."

Tasha froze, taking in my words. I saw her world come crashing down, and I couldn't care less. I gave my attention back to the phone. I could feel Tasha's eyes on me the whole time. Rose answered on the third ring, and I gave her all of the details. I told her I wanted her to wait for my next call, and that when she saw me I would have to say things only for Randall's benefit, and not to read too much into anything I said. She was to walk in alone, the accompanying guards would wait for her signal. Rose told me she loved me before hanging up. "I love you," I said into the receiver. Tasha was still staring at me, her eyes were wet now and her lips were quivering.

"I'm so sorry, Dimka."

The affectionate nickname my family used for me didn't have the same warm effect on me it used to with her. I grabbed my stake and backpack, refusing to comfort Tasha when she brought all of this on herself. The only way Tasha could redeem herself in my eyes would be to help me get my sisters and kill Randall, and then leave my life for good.

"Let's just get my sisters home."