I forced myself to process the words just spoken to me. Roza. There was only one person who called me that. One person who had been definitively changed back into a dhampir. A person who no longer wanted me dead. It just couldn't be him.
I turned my head ever so slightly, trying to get a glimpse of the person holding me. I looked up through my lashes and released a sigh. He had cropped blonde hair, red rimmed eyes, and a slight build, standing only around 5'10. I didn't recognize him, but he seemed to know exactly who I was.
The strigoi were now patting everyone down, taking anything that could be used as a weapon. The silver stakes were quickly removed from my field of vision. I watched in horror as we were stripped of the only things that could help us right now. I looked at Christian, and saw the strigoi take my phone from him.
"Wait!" The strigoi holding me snapped as the other one made to throw the phone away.
"Turn the camera on. I know someone who will want to see this," I could hear the smile in his voice as he barked out orders. I could feel panic rising in my chest, knowing this situation was about to get worse.
"Who are you?" I asked, never talking my eyes off the strigoi who had my phone. He was pointing it right at me and I knew he had started recording.
Instead of answering me, the strigoi let out a low chuckle before jerking his arm back in a quick, fluid motion. I screamed and fell forward as the pain surged through me. It had taken almost nothing from him to snap the bone, hardly any movement required. I could see the others thrash out against their captors, to no avail.
I gasped out a harsh breath and tried to regain balance within his tight grip. I planted my feet firmly on the ground, blinking back tears. I looked up at his smiling face and suddenly it clicked.
"You're James Alder, aren't you?" I asked, gritting my teeth through the pain.
"And you're Rose Hathaway," he answered, his smile growing as he looked at the camera. I turned away, refusing to let them record the torture.
"No no no, Belikov needs to see this," he said and forcibly turned my body towards the camera. Once I couldn't look away, he jerked again and I felt the same pain rush through my other arm as he snapped it. I tried to muffle my screams, but I knew it wasn't working when I heard another laugh from behind me.
I heard yelling bounce off the metal walls around the room, but I couldn't pick out who was saying what. My mind was too clouded with agony. I still felt James laughing behind me, and I debated trying to break out of his hold. I knew it wouldn't help me in the end, but I'd do anything to wipe that smirk off his stupid face. If I could muster one good punch in my broken state, it would be worth dying for.
"QUIET!" He screamed out into the warehouse. It went silent instantly, and we all waited to hear the next words from his mouth.
"I've been looking for you for a long time, Rose. Well, I've been looking for Dimitri. I haven't been able to reach him lately. But you have, haven't you? I've heard the rumors, and they're true, aren't they? He's been restored," he said, spitting the words out in disgust. My head was spinning, and I hoped he would wrap up the villain monologue soon. I wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer.
"What does that have to do with me?" I spit out through gritted teeth.
"Well, you're the one thing he wanted when he was like me, and what he wanted before he turned... I'm sure he wants you the same now that he's back."
"You're wrong," I responded and laughed humorlessly. I was going to die because this asshole thought Dimitri still wanted me. Oh, the irony. My laughter intensified as I realized it actually was kind of funny.
That really pissed him off, and he tightened his grip on my broken arms. I held back a scream and instead sucked in deep breaths, trying to keep my cool. I was vaguely aware of the camera, though my vision had started blurring at the edges.
"We'll see how he feels once I turn you, Roza."
"Do not call me that," I gritted out, thrashing out against him in a last ditch attempt to throw that punch. I managed to push the threat from my mind as I did so.
"Why not? Because that's what he calls you?" James smiled down at me, baring his fangs as he did so. I shuttered involuntarily.
Just then my friends doubled their escape efforts, and Eddie managed to break out of their hold. He didn't have his stake anymore, so he wasn't able to do much damage. One strigoi came for his neck and was immediately engulfed in flames, and I could see the one holding Christian was lying on the ground, equally as charred.
They were willing to fight despite the odds. I could see the determination in each of their faces. I screamed out in horror, realizing I was about to watch my friends die a horrible death. Then, James Alder was going to turn me into one of them.
"Tell them to stop fighting and I'll let them go," James commanded me. I knew I shouldn't trust him, but I also knew Christian didn't have the firepower to take everyone down. I had to do everything I could to get them out of here.
"Stop, STOP!" I screamed, and the two paused long enough to be recaptured. I could see tears streaming down Sydney's face, and I vowed to myself that I would get her out of here, no matter what it took.
"Unfortunately, this is where our time together ends. You four are free to go," he said simply. The strigoi started walking them to the backdoor at his command. I saw one slip Sydney a set of car keys, and I was stunned. He was going to keep his word. My friends would survive the night.
"Why?" I heard Mikhail yell, "Why are you letting us go?"
"Well, because. You're going to take this phone with you, and show our little video to Dimitri so he can come after her," he answered as if he was bored of this already. Like he hadn't been about to murder five people.
"No. We won't leave her. You'll have to kill us too," I heard Eddie say. I knew he was gearing up for another fight, and I cursed to myself.
"You will all leave and you'll leave right now. THAT IS AN ORDER. Go, and don't come after me. I'll be dead before you have the chance," I screamed at them. They made no move to leave, still looking ready to jump back into battle.
"I said, that's an ORDER, Castile," I pushed the command through my lips with the last of my strength. My eyes connected with his, and I hoped he understood why I had to do it. I could see him put on the guardian mask, and his face hardened.
He shoved Christian and Sydney through the door and made sure they were safely in the car before Mikhail backed out of the door. His eyes connected with mine one last time as he started his own retreat. I watched a strigoi toss him the phone, and I vaguely heard James remind him of the video.
My eyelids started to droop as I heard the sound of an engine starting. I smiled to myself, knowing that they would be safe soon. That sound was the last thing I remembered before my world went dark.
The first thing I noticed when I woke was the dull aching pain of two broken arms. They were tied tightly to my side, and if I moved at all the pain became unbearable. My legs were bound as well, and I knew it would be next to impossible to make an escape. My only hope was that James would be too aggressive when he was trying to change me and kill me by accident instead. I made a mental note to think of ways to provoke him as I lifted my head.
I tried to take in my surroundings, but there wasn't much to them. I was in a room that was mostly empty, except for a bed and the chair I was tied to. There were no windows in my room, and I thought from the musty smell that I was probably in a basement somewhere.
I had no idea how long I'd been out or where he'd taken me, which just added to the overwhelming sense of dread settling in my stomach. The house was entirely silent, but the nausea told me I wasn't alone here. I let out a long breath before emotion started to overwhelm me.
I was then pulled into Lissa's head after a burst of extreme joy, then extreme confusion. The rapid fire emotions called me to her, and I tried to resist the bond at first, to no avail. I sighed in resignation, knowing it would be harder for me to say goodbye to the world if I had to see her first.
"What's going on? Where is Rose?" Lissa questioned as a panic stricken Adrian Ivashkov ran into her house.
"Rose has been taken, and we need your help to get her back," he said, looking over Lissa at Dimitri as he spoke.
He was immediately moved into action, heading for the door before Adrian stopped him.
"They'll never let you leave Court unless you're on official guardian business. You and Lissa need to pack bags. I've put in a request for us to go away for the weekend. Hurry," he called, but Dimitri was already up the stairs, Lissa close behind. They returned in just a few minutes, bags in shaking hands.
Dimitri demanded the keys as he walked outside to a car Adrian had waiting. He didn't want to give them up, but Dimitri didn't give him much of a choice. I watched as the three of them climbed into the car, Adrian barking directions as they got near the Court checkpoint.
Adrian got them through seamlessly using a combination of compulsion and his natural charm, and then the trio was off. Lissa was watching Dimitri grip the steering wheel so tight she thought it might pop off, and I cursed silently to myself. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to let me go.
I didn't want Dimitri involved in this, let alone Lissa. They would be killed before they even got close to me, and I wished more than ever the bond went both ways so I could tell her she needed to have him turn the car around. My life wasn't worth risking any of theirs.
I watched on in pain as the car pulled up on a motel about an hour outside of Court. The three walked with purpose to a room at the end of the building. Dimitri knocked so hard I thought he would put his fist through the wood. Lissa noticed too, although she was too nervous to say anything about it. It only took a few seconds for the door to swing open, and the two groups joined together.
Lissa's eyes raked over the beaten and bruised frames of my ragtag team of hunters before settling on Christian. He had the same defeated look in his eyes at the others, but I could tell it meant more to Lissa to see it on him. I felt love radiate through the bond, and I was happy knowing if nothing else, my disappearance would reunite the two lovers.
Lissa soon had to drag herself away from Christian's stare as Eddie started to describe the situation. The three newcomers hung on his every word, and I could tell how distressed the others in the room were hearing their experience told back to them tactically. I could feel Dimitri stiffen when he mentioned the name James Alder, and Lissa put her hand on his arm to try and calm him down.
"We called you here because he said you would know where he went. We need you to tell us so we can save her," Eddie explained. Lissa noticed Mikhail gave him a hard look, and she wondered if the two guardians had a history she was unaware of.
"Is there anything else you can tell me? Every little detail would help," Dimitri asked as the group looked around at each other, clearly unsure of something.
"He left a message for you," Mikhail stepped up when no one else would. The room went quiet, and Christian wordlessly handed my phone over to Dimitri. Lissa looked on over right shoulder, while Adrian peeked over his left.
I could feel the chill run through Lissa's body as she watched the scene from last night unfold. The tension in the room was thick, and I could bet if she looked away from the video she would see the pained expressions of my friends as they tried to block out the sounds of my screams.
Lissa glanced at Adrian, who had stopped watching and pulled himself away to lean against the wall. He looked like he was going to be sick. Even she had to look away when the video got more gruesome. The only person who finished the entire thing was Dimitri, who stared at the screen in a combination of fear, horror, and pain. I had never seen him look so broken, not even when Lissa had first restored him. He finished the video and the room lapsed into a tense silence, broken by the sound of sniffles coming from the corner of the room.
Lissa looked up, eyes meeting with a pretty blonde human she hadn't noticed before. She gleaned from the lily tattoo that this was an alchemist, and she had several questions flit through her mind at a high speed. One of them was her questioning if this was her replacement, and I couldn't help but feel slightly amused at her observation. If only she knew Sydney thought I was evil incarnate, she would realize she couldn't be replaced that easily.
The group put their heads together to start planning a rescue, and I hoped I could get Adrian to dreamwalk with me so I could tell him it was time to give up. I couldn't bear the thought of my friends getting hurt to save me when I was already a lost cause. I knew in my heart I wasn't going to make it out of this basement.
I was pulled from Lissa's head in the middle of their strategizing, and I was initially annoyed before I remembered to be afraid of the evil standing right in front of me. It was James himself, and he was positioned so his red rimmed eyes looked directly into mine. I couldn't help but shiver at the feel of cold skin so close to mine. The last time I had been in this position, it had been with Dimitri.
"So what's your big plan there, cowboy?" I said, noticing he had on a duster similar to the one I was more familiar with. This guy really was a knockoff Dimitri, and I couldn't resist giving him the nickname. It's not like he could do anything worse to me than he was already planning.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he sneered at me.
"Uh yeah, that's why I asked," I threw back sarcastically. He smiled and pulled back his hand, delivering a hard smack across my face.
The muscles in my arms tightened involuntarily, and it took everything in me to suppress a groan. If I knew anything about strigoi, it was that they enjoyed the pain they inflicted. I wanted to give him as little satisfaction as possible.
"I didn't come to chat. I came to see where your precious Dimitri is, so I know when to expect him," he winked at me.
"How would I know? If you didn't notice, I'm kind of tied up here," I said as he delivered another smack. My arms felt like they were going to fall off, and I couldn't help but gasp at the pain.
"Your bond with the Princess, of course. Don't worry, he told us all about that. Other things about you too," he said suggestively. I didn't answer, unwilling to give anything away, and received a third smack. I could now taste blood in my mouth as I started speaking.
"He would never involve her in this," I spat out the lie.
"So they aren't together? That's a good sign. If he's as good as he was before, he should be here by tomorrow," he said. I wasn't going to correct him. However, I did know that Dimitri was still that good, and I hoped he ended my torment before then.
James turned around and I felt relief, thinking he was leaving. Instead he slapped me a fourth time, harder than the others. I felt my head snap back as I lost consciousness.