Hi everyone! Sorry I left everyone hanging. I honestly kept wanting to update my stories, but life kept getting in the way, first school then work but finally was able to start writing again, which makes me very happy. I might also be re posting some chapters as I noticed some spelling mistakes and just some minor changes I thought of to make the story flow better. (just wanted to let people know in case I accidentally end up erasing the chapters instead of re posting so people know that was not intended haha).

But anyways, on to the story, Please let me know what you think!

Chapter 15

RPOV

So basically, your plan involves us sneaking into the Tarasov prison, the most protected prison in the Moroi world, finding out where Victor is and then getting out without getting arrested?" Lila asked.

"That is basically the plan" - Dimitri answers Lila. When she put it that way, it did sound like many things could go wrong with the plan, but it was the best plan we had and we did not have the time to come up with a new one. No one wanted to admit it, but every day it was becoming clearer that we were on a time line to find a cure, and even while I put in a brave face, I could still hear the voices in my head, urging me to succumb to my most basic instincts. And though I shoved that voice to the back of my mind I feared it was getting stronger.

Getting back to our plan, Lissa had been working non-stop for the past 2 days on getting us charm bracelets that would disguise our identity. Dimitri's was probably the easiest one as he would only need to slightly change his appearance, but remain looking Dhampir. The rest of us however, (specially Lissa herself as she was a Moroi, a princess at that and it would raise too many red flags if someone found out she was trying to get into the prison, needed to appear very different. As for me, Lissa had made me two types of charm bracelets. One was for me to appear Moroi, and the second one to control my Strigoi instincts, (and avoid making anyone dinner). Now that the later bracelet was doing its job, with only a booster needed every couple of days, Lissa looked much better, as I was not constantly draining her through our bond.

Going into the prison, we wanted to rely the least possible on strigoi abilities; least using them would make my transformation speed up. As for Lila's compulsion, Dimitri still has his doubts in case that event was a one-time thing. In every other sense, Lila appeared dhampir, but I was keeping an eye out in case it seemed she was devolving.

The way in would be easier than the way out, with us posing as important lawyers going in to talk to Viktor, while Christian and Dimitri posing as our Guardians.

As Christian, Lissa and Lila were getting into the car, I realized that Dimitri was handing back in the garage of the Airbnb we had rented about 2 hours away from the prison in Alaska. Taking a deep breath, I approached him.

"Hey, um do you have a minute?" I ask, feeling unsure about how to approach this. It feels disorienting, not to know how to talk to Dimitri, when before I had always been able to be comfortable around him, of him almost knowing what I was thinking before I said it.

"Sure," he says, stepping back inside the house while I follow him into the living room where days earlier we had come up with our plan.

"Look comrade" I start, and decide to just get it out there. "I just want to apologize, but everything that happened back in Spokane, for hurting you like I did."

"Roza, please don't do that." Dimitri cuts me off.

"Don't do what?"

"Apologize when you were not in control. I should have believed you were still here from the beginning." Dimitri says, and there is so much pain in his voice, I can't resist the temptation to reach out to him.

"Comrade, how could you have possibly known." I reach out for him, and after a brief hesitation, take his hand in mine. "I asked you to go against all of your training, against your belief that you were helping me, fulfilling the promise that you made me." I try to convey my feelings to him, so he can see I do not blame him; that I understand.

"I love you Roza, and I could have killed you" Dimitri says, drawing me closer. I need him to see, even if I look and sound different, that it is still me in here.

"I love you too Comrade, and I am so happy that at least I get to spend a little more time with you." I know my hands are cold to the touch, but Dimitri doesn't seem to notice, and holds me closer.

"We are going to fix this Rose, we'll find a way. You'll see." He declares, but I detect some uncertainty in his voice.

"I'm afraid Dimitri, afraid the voice in my head is getting stronger, that soon I will not be able to control it, and I need you to do something for me if that happens." I tell him, looking up to him. He is so much taller than me, I have to raise my head to meet his gaze again.

"What is it?"

"If it looks like we are nearing the end. If we are not able to find a solution to this, and I am about to lose control, I need you to kill me, before I take Lissa with me." I squeeze her hand harder. "You saw the toll this is taking on her, and you also know that she will not let me go until she has drained herself completely trying to save me. You can't let that happen."

"Roza…"

"Promise me, Dimitri."

Taking a deep breath, Dimitri draws me close, until his lips are grazing mine. Soft, gentle, like he is afraid of breaking me, though now that I am so much stronger than he is. As he draws away, he puts his lips to my ear, and whispers. "I promise".