Title: Come Find Me

Pairings: Dimitri and Rose storyline with appearances by the VA gang.

Warning: Rated T. May have more adult themes throughout; however, will alert you at the start of each chapter if that were to occur past a T rating.

Summary: (set after Bloodlines) when Queen Lissa is made aware of a dangerous drug that has the ability to impact both her world and the human world, she tasks her two best Guardians to get to the bottom of what is going on and save the day. Only danger seems to be lurking around every corner. Can Rose and Dimitri save the day, or will they end up becoming the next prey?

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Richelle Mead and the fans of Vampire Academy.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this story.


Timeline/Important Notes:

- The story takes place after the Bloodines series

- This story will be told in first person—Rose/Dimitri POV

- This story will contain flashbacks between the past as well as the present

- To those of you that like to know up front…I don't know how many chapters this will be. It's determined by interest and creative content. I will try to commit to updating a new chapter as often as possible, either daily or at least once a week. Hopefully sooner than later!

I think that is it for now…feel free to drop or ask any questions in your reviews and I will be happy to answer them as I post new chapters. Reviews and feedback are always welcomed and appreciated. It lets me know if you like it and if I should continue.


Rose


Chapter 1

Present Day…

The tip of the knife bit into my neck. I stood as still as possible, trying to think of my next move to get me out of this situation.

"Let her go!"

Dimitri!

His eyes were murderous, pointed at the man behind me, holding the knife to my throat. My captors' fingers on his other hand dug into my waist as a reminder that he had me at his mercy and that if I tried anything, I would die. Dimitri glanced at me briefly, his eyes being the only thing to soften, before his look turned to one of determination. The look I knew from the first moment we met five years ago in that alley when Lissa and I tried to escape to keep our life on the run from being cut short.

I would never let anything happen to you; those eyes implored into mine.

"You take another step, and I slit her throat from ear to ear." My captor hissed.

Dimitri stood still; his jaw clenched, as he let out a feral growl at the threat to my life. His hands were balled into fists at his side, his entire body on alert and ready to strike at any moment.

"All I ever heard about was Dimitri Belikov. The big bad Russian that was so powerful, so strong, so smart." My captor sneered, his foul breath caressing my cheek. "Not so strong and powerful now, when I got your girl at my mercy," he taunted, digging the tip of his knife in deeper that he was mere seconds from penetrating my skin.

My captor might currently be motivated by his hatred for Dimitri, but if he punctured my skin and blood—even a drop poured came out—a new kind of chaos would begin. It didn't matter what vengeance he was seeking, it would all be jeopardized over something that people like him couldn't control. Their lust for blood. Especially Dhampir blood.

I was Rose Hathaway. I had killed so many Strigoi over the years—in most cases two on one because of my skilled training with my now fiancé and former mentor Dimitri —but in this scenario we were outnumbered. I was used to running into dangerous situations, using my Rose logic of thinking on my feet, to get me through…but this was different. This wasn't just my life at stake.

As my mind ran through all of the possible scenarios of how I could get out of this situation—while ensuring the man I loved more than anything survived too—I couldn't help but take my eyes off him.

Dimitri. My heart. My soul. My better half. His expression held a note of determination I had seen countless times before. It didn't matter that we were severely outnumbered. We were the two bust Guardians that existed at court. We had taken on numerous Strigoi fights before and come out without a scratch…but this was different. This was calculated. This was some sort of deep-seated plot for revenge, that Dimitri and I couldn't just battle our way out of like before. I couldn't risk him or any of my friends lives for my own safety. I wouldn't survive it if anything ever happened to any of them.

I had thought I had lost Dimitri once a couple of years ago, and I almost didn't survive it the first time. I was strong. I was gutsy. I would fight anyone and anything to protect the ones I loved. What I couldn't do...was survive if I had lost him again. He was my whole world, and I was his. He was my oxygen, the very beat that kept my heart going.

My eyes took in every six feet, seven inches of him. Always in his dark brown duster that he loved so much—that I now loved so much. I was sure he always thought of himself like some kind of western cowboy—thanks to his guilty pleasure in reading western novels—and now I couldn't picture him in any other way. He was my Dimitri. My cowboy and demon protector.

We had been through a lot in the five years since we had met, gotten to know each other, and fall in love. I mean, seriously, who was I kidding. I fell in love with the guy the moment I met him. Something that would never change. In this life or the next. It was what Dimitri believed. That we might have a chance to redeem our souls for the afterlife. I had been an atheist and didn't believe, but I loved him with every fiber of my being. It was hard not to have a part of me that didn't start to believe it was a possibility. Even I had to agree that luck only took us so far. And if there was an afterlife, one where Dimitri and I could remain together, I would want to believe in something like that.

My Comrade.

His eyes flickered back to me, and some of that hardened determination melted once I knew he was reading my face. He knew exactly what I was thinking. I tried to school my expression, because even if a small part—very small part—thought this could be it for us, I didn't want him to know I had been thinking it.

Too late.

One thing about Dimitri and me…we could say so much with our eyes. I knew his "I love you" look, like I knew how to breath in and out. I knew every movement, stance, and posture, to know what he was thinking as if I was reading a book. He equally knew mine too. It was why we made the perfect team. Both professionally and personally.

Right now, he was telling me we would be ok. We would get through this like we got through everything else. I didn't fight off death—literally—Dimitri becoming Strigoi, turning back to dhampir, thinking he couldn't love me and pushed me away, being framed for murder, taking a bullet to the chest and almost dying again (literally), and finally getting back the man I loved, that I valued more than my own life—to die now.

"This is between you and me, Ryan. You want me, you got me. Let Rose go," Dimitri growled, his eyes never leaving mine.

My captor, Ryan, snorted as he kept the blade steady at my throat. "No. I don't think I will." Ryan turned his head, his lips close to my ear, his breath making my skin crawl. "I'm going to take everything you hold dear in your life, Belikov. Everything!"

Dimitri's eyes flickered back to mine, and for the first time in a long time I saw it flash behind his eyes: fear. Not because my badass Russian was afraid of Ryan in the least. He was afraid, because of what he could see was on my face. What he knew I was going to do.

Don't, his eyes pleaded.

I shot him a rueful smile. I was Rose Hathaway. Taking orders or sitting back and doing nothing was never really my style.

I love you, was my response back in my gaze.

The last thing I saw was Dimitri take his first step forward, before I used the element of surprise on my captor, lunging us both over the cliff of the mountain and into the watery abyss below.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I know it was a bit short, but I promise my other chapters will be longer. :)