DPOV

I woke up with quite the headache. It wasn't due to my alcohol consumption, but I suspect it was related to the large wound I could feel throbbing on the back of my head. I tried to reach it, but couldn't, because my hands were tight up, in chains, suspended from the ceiling. I could barely touch the ground with my feet. Great. Because my life wasn't enough of a shit show.

I was in a small room. It had a bed and desk. Not that I was enjoying any of these luxuries as we speak, but I assumed they were here for a reason. There weren't any windows, so I didn't know how long I had been out. Was it still night? The same day, the same week?

I thought back to the last thing I remember. Rose. I was watching Rose, and Rose was watching me. Was she here? Is she responsible? I suspect this was the work of Strigoi. I recognized the nausea now. Rose experienced it, and I was hitting myself for not figuring it out sooner, but then again, I had only been shadow-kissed a few days. But if it was Strigoi, why were they keeping me alive? I was a dangerous person to keep just for food.

The door opened and I got my answer.

"Oh look at what they did to you? Poor thing. I guess they really do fear you. But I know I don't have anything to fear from you. Do I, comrade?"

I would have given everything to hear her call me that one more time, but not like this. Her voice sounded cold. It was nothing like it used to be.

She walked over to me with a key in her hand. She was twirling it between her fingers.

"Although I must admit I enjoy seeing you like this. I can already imagine so many things I could do to you. You remember how wild my imagination could get?"

I remember. Although I was the sexually more experienced of us two, Rose was definitely the more adventurous. I didn't mind at all. As long as I could make her mine that was all I would ever need.

She ripped the shirt off of my chest and ran her fingers down my abdomen. I shivered. I wanted to say it was from the cold or from fear, but I knew that was a lie. Although I realized this wasn't my Roza, nobody had informed my body. It was still responding to her touch the way it had before.

She smiled. She enjoyed my reaction. She stepped a little closer and she pressed her body against mine. She stood on her tippy toes to reach me. Her face inches from mine. She slowly brushed her lips over my lips. I groaned. It had been too long since I kissed her. She deepened the kiss and I didn't stop her. I should have, but I didn't. When she pulled away I immediately felt the loss. She placed her forehead against mine.

"I missed you, comrade."

I wondered if there was any truth in her words. But when she pulled back to look at me, I could see that there was. There was something warm in them that I had not expected. Maybe I was reading too much into this. I wanted to believe there was still a piece of Rose in there, but I knew enough about Strigoi to know that wasn't true.

There was a knock on the door and the warmness in her eyes made way for a cold calculating glare. Like the light in them was just turned off. It was almost like the red in her eyes became brighter. Another Strigoi came in and Rose immediately left my side and launched at the Strigoi, lifting him off his feet and pinning him against the wall. The speed at which she did it had me startled, but it was the violence that really had me shaking. She intentionally tried to hurt him. Just because she could.

"I thought I told you I didn't want to be disturbed." She hissed at the man. It was a display of dominance. Her voice didn't sound like her voice. It made my skin crawl.

The other Strigoi was actually afraid. He couldn't be much younger than Rose in Strigoi age, seeing as she was only a few months old, but he was actually afraid of her. What had she been doing in those months since she had been turned?

Without any hesitation she snapped the neck of the Strigoi and tossed him into the hallway, shutting the door and locking it from the inside. I flinched at the sound it made. She had done it effortlessly. Her power was evident. And I had played a large part in cultivating it. In a couple of months she had made a niche for herself, commanding respect. I would almost be proud if it wasn't so twisted.

"So where were we? Oh Yes, I was enjoying our reunion." She was walking back towards me. Well stalking back towards me. I now knew how a prey animal felt. That feeling in the pit of my stomach, indicating danger. That is what I felt as I looked into her eyes. Danger.

I held her gaze and looked into her red-rimmed dark brown eyes. I was confused when her eyes turned a light brown and her hair changed color from dark to blond. I was being sucked into Adrian's head. He was talking to Sydney. His anxiety had pulled me in. He was panicking and I could feel my own heartbeat increase at a feeling that wasn't even mine.

"Where is he, Sydney. It has been three days. I know he was upset about his father. I thought he just needed some time. But three days?!"

He was in the suite and Sydney was sitting next to him trying to comfort him. I felt him relax at her touch.

"I am sure he is fine. Maybe he is just trying to clear his head?"

"I tried dreamwalking him. He isn't conscious, but he isn't asleep either. This is bad. I would know if he died right? Lissa knew when Rose died."

I had been unconscious for three days. Jesus. That was one hell of a hit or she had me sedated. I would never leave Adrian alone for three days even if I was all over the place with how I was feeling about our close relation. It didn't matter. Adrian couldn't find me here. I didn't even know where 'here' was. If I had been out of it for three days. I could be half across the country by now.

The attention on the bond broke and I was back in the room with Rose. She was studying me and seemed shocked at first. Then she was angry, very angry.

"No. It can't be. Tell me she didn't do this to you too?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

"That bitch. When she couldn't use me anymore she just took someone else's life? So she can just keep using magic and let us take the fall for it. That selfish good for nothing spoiled princess!"

The pure rage in Rose frightened me. Lissa, she was talking about Lissa. I had never heard her talk about her like that. The old Rose wouldn't. It was true Lissa's relationship with Rose bordered on psychiatric dependency with Rose as her enabler, but both girls were to blame for that.

"No Roza, I am not bonded to Lissa. I haven't seen Lissa since you… left. I am bonded to Adrian. I died about a week ago, he saved me."

Her anger subsided a little. She was mad at Lissa but not at Adrian?

"He isn't making you take the darkness, is he? He isn't using more magic?"

"No, we are still adjusting. But Adrian handles the darkness like he always has, drinking. Only now I feel drunk too." If he drank a whole lot sometimes I would feel the effects. I had been working hardest to block that part out. It wasn't very handy for a Guardian to be as drunk as his charge.

She smiled.

"Comrade. When you found me you weren't vicariously drunk. You were regular drunk. I could taste the alcohol on your breath."

Taste? What had she been doing with me while I was unconscious?

"Yeah, well it has been a hard couple of months."

She looked at me funny. She was tilting her head like a cute puppy would. She was seeing right through to me like she always did. I could never hide anything from her.

"I know. It has been lonely without you. You were always the only one that understood me. The only one that could handle me. I miss that. I miss you. But it doesn't have to be that way. We were trying to find a way to be together and now we have. You know this is the only way. No one would have ever approved of two guardians being together. But now we can be free. I am free. Free of enslavement. Free from the darkness, free from Lissa. I am my own person finally and you can be too. Join me, Comrade. We can be together."

That is why she kept me alive. She wants to turn me. But why not just turn me and be done with it?

"No Rose. That's not what I want. And it wasn't what you wanted either. If I turn, I won't love you anymore. I would rather die loving you till my last breath then have it twisted into something dark."

She came close to me again. She placed her hands on either side of my face. Her hands felt strangely warm. They felt like her hands.

She looked up at me.

"But I do still love you."

With that, she let go and walked out the room. I felt strange. She said that with so much conviction. I almost believed her. But I couldn't let her get to me like that. I knew better. Strigoi may remember their attachments. But they didn't feel them anymore. There was only room for cruelty. Her display with the Strigoi earlier was proof of that. But why did I feel better than I had in the last four months?

The shackles had become uncomfortable. I had been in them for two days now, well while conscious. I could see my wrists were red and at some points, I was bleeding.

"Good morning Comrade. I have breakfast for you."

This has been our routine for the last two days. Rose would come in for food or...other things.

Mostly she tried to talk to me, convince me to turn. Sometimes she would get frustrated and hurt me. Nothing I couldn't handle, but her nails on my chest did leave some marks. And then there were other times when she would use my body against me. She would kiss me, stroke me, always leave me wanting more. It was a different kind of torture and I didn't know which I preferred.

I tried stopping myself from responding to her. But my body had a mind of its own. Well maybe that wasn't true. I knew I wanted her. I just wanted to touch her again, to feel her again. And sometimes when I couldn't see her eyes, or the paleness of her skin, I could still pretend she was Rose. I lived for those moments.

"I have bread and fruit. I know how much of a health nut you are. Me, I would kill someone to still be able to eat chocolate. I miss that you know. Although the warm blood of a juicy human is just as good."

She was about to feed me when I protested.

"Please Rose, just let me down from here. I can feed myself."

She hesitated. She looked me over to see if I was trying to trick her. She looked back towards the door making sure it was closed. She stared me down for what felt like forever. But if I knew anything about Strigo it was thati I knew how arrogant they were. In her mind I wouldn't be able escape. And at the moment, I would have to agree.

She had made up her mind to release me. She reached up and unchained me.

I dropped to the floor. Rose was beside me in a second. My arms were dead. They had been suspended for a total of five days, all the blood drained from them. My legs weren't much better. I was rubbing my arms, trying to get them to work again, but it was awkward because I was using the same arms which had no feeling in them. Rose seemed to notice my predicament and she rubbed my arms for me. You might expect a Strigoi to overdo this, but her touch was gentle. I was a little bit surprised at the altruistic action.

She helped me on the bed and I laid my head back against the bed board. I sighed, It felt good just to sit up instead of hanging.

She handed me my plate, but when I tried to grab it, it fell from my hands. My arms were still not able to function as they used to.

"I guess I'll be feeding you anyway."

She smiled a big smile showing her fangs. She sat down in front of me. Her legs on either side of me and leaned forward to place pieces of fruit or bread in my mouth. I had a wonderful view from here. I looked down her chest to her neck to her lips. I saw something red on the edge of her lips. I clumsily lifted my hands and brushed the blood away from her lips with my dumb.

"Does it bother you I just fed?"

"Not as much as it should," I answered truthfully.

She smiled and moved in closer. She put the plate down and was now sitting in my lap. She was playing with my hair. She lowered her lips to mine and she kissed me. I could taste the blood still on the edge of her lips, but I didn't care. Not when I was kissing her. Not when I was holding her. I knew I was getting in too deep, but I couldn't stop myself.

She pulled back and continued to feed me.

"So you haven't seen Lissa at all? Do you think she mourned me?" Her voice held no emotion. Like her own death wasn't something that people should mourn over. Maybe in her mind it wasn't. Afterall, most Strigoi are grateful for the change.

"I know she did. She was devastated at your funeral. I am sure she misses you so much."

Something cruel came over her face. She scoffed. This Rose was incapable of thinking Lissa had any respect for her, or would miss her.

"She will see me soon enough." The look in her eyes was cold, so very cold.

"What do you mean?"

"There are wards at court but not at Lehigh. When she goes to school there I will take her. I would like to say it is the reputation you get from killing the last Dragomir, but no, Lissa is personal. She made my life hell. She enslaved me worse than any other guardian. With her, it wasn't just that my life was not my own. My thoughts, my feelings weren't my own. She invaded mine with hers. She tainted me with her burden. I will make her pay for that."

This was more what I expected from a Strigoi. Her loyalty towards Lissa got twisted into something dark, resentment. I could understand, I resented Lissa too for what she put Rose through, but I could rationalize that Lissa can't help it. It is the way the bond works. But Rose cannot make the same reasoning anymore.

I didn't like Rose like this. So Strigoi-like. She reluctantly got up from the bed.

"As much as I want to stay, I have things to do." I didn't want to imagine what those things were.

She was preparing the shackles again to put me back in them.

"Please Rose, Don't make me hang from the ceiling again?"

I pleaded. Rose looked at me calculating. I saw a plan formulating in her mind. I had maybe expected her to just leave the shackles but a smile came across her face.

She bolted the shackles on the bed and instead of suspending me from the ceiling she simply chained me to the bed. It was more comfortable so I didn't complain. I would be able to sleep like this.

She left the room in one swift motion at Strigoi speed, reminding me my Roza wasn't my Roza anymore.