*WARNING* The end of this chapter is very violent. I think most of you are already aware of how violent my stories can be, but I had to warn you all just in case. I hope you enjoy, and again, thank you for all your responses. I feel very blessed by all of you :)

A few days after Nevaeh was discharged from the hospital, she still had a lingering cough. It wasn't anything too serious, but it was annoying and it kept her awake during the day. I had the same problem, so Dr. Olendzki ended up prescribing us with cough syrup. We were specifically told not to mix up our bottles since our prescriptions were different, so I made sure to read the bottles carefully.

I saw her every day now since we were both taking some time off of school. Dimitri always came over after his shifts to check on her and spend some time with me before curfew. After checking Nevaeh's temperature to make sure it was normal, I heard the door open. I spun around, ready to attack whoever was coming in until I realized it was just Dimitri. I sighed, rolling my eyes at my stupidity. I hated that I was so paranoid all the time.

"Hey," I greeted, putting the thermometer down and grabbing his coat. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," Dimitri replied, taking his shoes off on the mat. "I guarded one of the moroi classes today. Christian was looking a little down."

I nodded, feeling guilty. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him recently. Do you think he's okay?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "I think it's just hard for him to get around everything with Tasha."

I sighed and tried not to think too much about it as Nevaeh ran out of her bed and threw her arms around Dimitri's legs. Although her energy was still low, it was comforting to see her usual enthusiasm and excitement again.

"Did Dr. Olendzki give her something for her cough?" Dimitri asked me, ruffling his hand in Nevaeh's hair. I reached into my bag and pulled out the two bottles to check the labels again before quickly tossing mine back in.

"Here it is," I said, handing him the bottle. He looked at it before looking back at me as if he was expecting more.

"You pulled out two bottles," he said.

"No, I didn't," I lied. I didn't want to take the medicine I knew I would hate so much. Dimitri eyed me suspiciously and brushed past me, pulling out the other bottle before I could stop him.

"What do we have here?" he said, reading it out loud. "Take once daily—"

"Oh, please." I cut him off, snatching the bottle out of his hands. "My cough isn't even that bad. This was just recommended."

"It's prescribed," he corrected, opening Nevaeh's bottle. She had a very low dose, but the liquid probably tasted nasty either way.

"Alright, Nev." Dimitri carried her to her bed before opening the bottle. He filled the cap up halfway, tipping it at her mouth. She drank the liquid, scrunching her face up in disgust.

"Ew!" she squeaked. "That tastes like garbage!"

Dimitri chuckled as he brought the covers up and tucked her in. "I know, but it'll make you feel better. Just wait a little bit, and you'll be sleeping in no time."

"Will you stay?" she asked, switching her gaze between us as she curled her fingers around her blanket.

"Not tonight," he told her. "Rose still needs to get better, but we can stay until you fall asleep."

Nevaeh smiled, getting cozy under her blanket with a toy in her arms. "Okay. Deal."

After only half an hour of comforting Nev, she was fast asleep. Whatever was in the medicine made her sleepy which was a good thing considering all the trauma her body had recently been through.

When we silently left her room, we kept her door open since she was being guarded by Eddie who now stood outside her room.

"Thank you for doing this," I whispered, pulling him into a tight hug. After what had happened earlier, he had offered to guard Nevaeh's room to keep her safe since Dimitri was going to stay with me. I was beyond grateful and he was one of the few people I trusted to keep her safe.

"Don't mention it. I've been wanting to guard for a while and I know how much she means to you. I know I'm probably going to mess up my sleep schedule, but it's worth it. Did you know she calls me Uncle Eddie now?"

Dimitri chuckled, staring at the sleeping child through her doorway. "She can be very affectionate once she's comfortable with someone. And, listen, we really appreciate this. If anything happens, whether she has a nightmare or suddenly doesn't feel well, call one of us."

"I will," Eddie ensured him. "You two look exhausted. You should get some rest."

"I second that," I muttered, tugging on Dimitri's hand. "Thanks, Eddie."

Dimitri was walking with me to my dorm to stay for the day, but we stopped mid-way when a familiar moroi popped into the hallway, his black hair looking more dishevelled than it usually was.

"Rose!" Christian called, running up to us. He gave Dimitri a guilty smile before tugging me away. "I know you probably hate me right now, but I seriously need to talk to you."

"Christian, I don't—"

"I know you don't want to talk to me, but you need to hear me out. Please."

I gave Dimitri an apologetic look, but he brushed it off and told me to call him before curfew. I watched him disappear and Christian sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked unusually nervous.

"I'm sorry," he uttered suddenly. "I had no idea what was going on between you and my aunt. I know she's always liked Dimitri, and maybe she was a little jealous, but I didn't think she'd go on a crazy rampage and kill your baby girl, let alone make you both sick!"

"Christian."

"If I knew her intentions from the start, I would have done something to stop her. I would have told her to leave, maybe even reported her! She might be my aunt, but killing someone to get what you want is wrong and I should have known! I never thought she could be this evil!"

"Christian—"

"I mean, one second, I'm celebrating with her over the joy of going to college, and the next I'm being told that she tried to kill you because she was fucking jealous! And, look, I get it if you don't want anything to do with me anymore, but from now on, I promise I'll protect—"

"Christian!"

Finally, he shut his mouth after I forced myself to yell at him. As much as I hated Tasha, I didn't hate Christian. I understood why he felt bad, but he had nothing to do with what happened.

"Tasha made her own choices. She decided to make me sick and she decided to kill Nev—not you. Her actions are not your fault."

"It doesn't matter. She hurt you, she hurt Dimitri, and if it weren't for you two performing CPR on Nevaeh for almost half an hour, she would be dead because my aunt made her drown!" Christian was in a rage. Not only did he feel bad for me, but he was angry at Tasha for being so cruel. Dimitri had been just as angry since Tasha had once been his friend, but to Christian, she was family—and, more importantly, the only family member he was close with.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," he said, surprising me when he pulled me into his arms. His hug was tight and needy, and I wrapped my arms around him the same way. Christian and I were never the type of friends to express serious emotions with each other. Deep down, we cared, but everything was usually expressed through jokes and sarcasm—but this was different. The situation was too serious to joke about.

I pulled away and looked up at him with a frown. "You know she's going to jail, right? And despite what she's done, she's still your family and it's going to be hard on you."

"I know," Christian said, not trying to hide the pain in his voice. "But I can't say she doesn't deserve it, not after what she did. She was acting a little strange since she got here, but I never even considered that she would do something like this."

I sighed. "Can we go somewhere a little more private? I think we should—"

In the middle of my sentence, the loudest bang I had ever heard in my life went off in my ears, startling me and causing both of us to jump.

"What the hell was that?" Christian yelled. It almost sounded like a bomb had exploded. The fire alarms in the academy went off, causing pain to spread in my ears. I covered them in desperation, screaming as the sounds blasted.

"Rose!" Christian caught me as my knees buckled. The sound was so loud and painful. It was loud for everyone, even humans, but it was painful for my ears now that my hearing was magnified. I could now hear people screaming and panicking in the indoor corridors as well as the guardians in the halls who started shouting at people to get out of the academy.

"Make it stop!" I shrieked, covering my ears. It did very little to help and I thought I was about to go deaf. To me, it sounded like I was in the middle of a war zone. The sounds were so loud.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Christian sounded frantic at the situation, but the alarms weren't bothering him as much. After he pulled me outside, I started crying from how horrible it was and ran out into the field, hearing Christian follow closely behind me.

"Rose, stop!" he shouted, grabbing my arm. "What the hell is going on?!"

"The alarms!" I cried, sinking to the grass beneath me. "Please make it stop! It hurts!"

There wasn't much that Christian could do, so he pulled me into his arms again and pressed one ear to his chest while using his hand to cover my other ear. It helped a little, but the alarms were still blasting loudly, over and over again. It was a never-ending loop that had me panicking in no time. I heard footsteps approach us but stayed where I was, not daring to let my ears get exposed.

"What's wrong with her?" Dimitri demanded.

"The alarms," Christian said, sounding breathless. "I think they're hurting her ears."

I could not stop crying. I wanted them to stop. It sounded like my ears were right beside the speaker despite being in the field. There was a commotion now as every student and staff member were evacuating the building.

"Stay with her," Dimitri ordered, "and do not remove your hands from her ears."

Christian nodded rapidly as Dimitri disappeared again. Christian kept a tight hold on me as I shook, even screaming to try to cancel out the sound of the alarms.

"Shh," Christian cooed, rocking me back and forth. I stayed in his arms for the next few minutes as he tried to comfort me. I wasn't sure where Dimitri had gone, but a few minutes later, the alarms stopped.

I exhaled, taking deep, relieved breaths as the pain stopped. I pulled away from Christian's arms, wiping my tears away and rubbing the spot in front of my ears. I would have expected myself not to hear anything, but instead, my ears felt overly sensitive.

"Is she okay?" I heard Dimitri running up to us again as more students continued to walk out into the field.

"I think so," Christian said, standing to let Dimitri take his place. He sat down beside me and wrapped his arm around me.

"I ordered the other guardians to shut off the alarms. You won't hear them again."

"My ears..." I whispered. I was grateful that Dimitri had told the others to shut them off or I surely would have gone crazy. "That had to be the most painful thing I'd ever heard in my life."

"What happened in there?" Christian asked.

"I don't know yet. There's a fire and it sounds like there was some kind of explosion, but we don't know what caused it or where it came from," Dimitri explained. He held my hands, dragging me up to stand as I continued to rub the spot beside my ears.

"Wait." I stopped in my tracks, looking around the crowd. "I need to get—"

"Nev is fine," Dimitri interrupted me before I could get too distressed. "Eddie has her right now. They're at the elementary campus. She's safe."

I nodded, calming my nerves down as I watched someone else approach us. "Mom? Dad?"

"We were looking for you," Mom said worriedly, throwing her arms around me. She pulled back, noticing my hands near my ears. "What's wrong?"

"Those stupid alarms blasted my eardrums!" I knew I was exaggerating. If my eardrums blasted like that, I'd probably be deaf. "What the hell happened?"

Abe stepped forward, checking his surroundings to make sure nobody was around as he spoke to us in an undertone. "There was an explosion in the basement where Tasha and Avery were."

"What do you mean, were?" I asked. Abe pursed his lips, not quite meeting my eyes.

"I mean they're no longer in their cells. Tasha knows how to use fire, so she must have caused it."

"They escaped?!" I shouted, feeling my eyes poking out of my skull. "What about the guardians that were watching them? Did they get burned?"

"Yes," he replied remorsefully. "One guardian is being taken to the hospital. He's been burned severely."

"And his partner?" I asked. Abe went quiet, looking down as regret flashed in his eyes. I already knew what he was implying and saw Dimitri shut his eyes beside me. The other guardian was dead.

"Christian, you should go find Lissa," Dimitri said. I slipped into her head for a second to see where she was and calmed a little when I saw that she was safe.

"She's coming out of the dorms," I told him. Christian nodded, leaving us alone and heading towards the dhampir dorms. She was probably the only moroi that shared a dorm with a dhampir like me.

"The one that was burned—can I heal him?" I asked once we were out of earshot.

"He's already being treated with your blood right now. He'll be okay. What you need to do is stay here until it's safe to go inside. No other part of the school was affected except for the basement and the fire is under control, but we can't take any chances right now."

"We're thinking of taking you to the royal court for safety," Mom informed me, "but for now, just sit here and wait." She eyed Dimitri and turned on her heels to help out with the disturbance, shouting over her shoulder. "Stay with her!"

It had been almost an hour. Dimitri and I ended up sitting in the grass just like everyone else, and the commotion had finally died down. We still weren't allowed back inside and the students outside looked like they were just getting bored at this point.

Dimitri had been caressing my shoulder with an arm draped around me as I picked at the grass beneath me. "How are your ears feeling?" he asked.

"Better," I admitted. They were a little sore, but they weren't in pain anymore. Dimitri's close presence and comfort had done a lot to help. My mind was spiralling and I was glad to have him there. "I'm just thinking about Avery and Tasha. They killed a guardian."

Dimitri sighed, tightening his arm around me and resting his chin on my head. "I know. It's not right. To think it was two moroi is even worse."

"One and a half," I corrected, wondering why I was making such an irrelevant remark at a time like this. "And now my parents want me to leave the academy, but I can't just leave. What about Nev?"

"We'll figure something out, Roza. I know this is sudden, but both of them had intentions to hurt you. The royal court might be the best place to hide you right now."

I knew he was right, but the whole situation was coming on so fast. Technically, I had already graduated high school, so it wasn't school work I was worried about. I had been staying at the academy simply for the sake of recovering from trauma.

I saw Adrian approaching us from a short distance and noticed that whatever he had come here for looked quite pressing. Right now, I was just glad he was okay.

"Adrian," I said, standing up to hug him. I was afraid of him being hesitant after what Avery had put him through, but he didn't show any signs of hesitation as he embraced me.

"I'm glad you're both okay," he said, nodding towards Dimitri. "We might be able to go back inside soon. The fire that was used was through magic, so the damage isn't too severe. Rose, you should grab a drink. You look like a ghost."

"Well then, I'll make sure to haunt your dreams," I shot back, flinching when I realized how scary those words were now.

"You won't be the only one," Adrian muttered. I regretted my words, but my next ones were cut off when Kirova's voice blasted through the speakers.

"Attention students and staff. The east wing of the main building is strictly prohibited during this time. Classes and extracurriculars will be cancelled until further notice. All moroi students and novices must remain in their dorms with the exception of emergency, health and pharmaceutical needs at the hospital. Other essential needs including blood and food will be delivered. Thank you for your patience."

I sighed and crossed my arms as the people around us started to move. "Why does this feel like a lockdown?"

Adrian snorted. "Because it is. Come on, let's go. You should go to your dorm."

"You both should," Dimitri said. "You're also looking quite tired, Adrian."

Adrian was tired and disoriented for several reasons. Maybe he hadn't fed too, but I could see that there was a lack of sleep. He had been stressed out for the past few weeks thanks to Avery's emotional torment.

"Belikov!" I heard another guardian shout. "We need your help right now. It's urgent."

Dimitri was about to protest and I knew why. Despite there being several guardians on duty, he didn't want to leave me alone.

"Go help them," I insisted. "I'll stay with Adrian. I'll go to my dorm, I promise."

"Call me as soon as you get inside," he said.

"I will," I replied. Dimitri kissed my head before heading off to help out the hundreds of students in their distress.

"I need blood first," I said to Adrian when we were alone. He nodded, grabbing my wrist and tugging me forward. We weren't supposed to go into the main building, but with the huge crowd of students, we could sneak our way in.

"We'll go quickly," Adrian decided. He walked with me to the feeding department where I could smell blood even from outside in the hallway—and it was strong. The door outside was locked too.

"Something's wrong," I murmured. Pulling hard on the doorknob, I broke it off in one swift move, discarding it on the floor. As soon as the door opened, the smell of blood was so strong I was afraid I might accidentally feed on Adrian.

"I think something happened here," he said. When I stepped inside, the sight before us made me sick to my stomach. The two receptionists that had been working here were lying on the ground in a pool of blood and it looked like their necks had been brutally ravaged. I couldn't hear a pulse on either of them.

"They're dead," I stated, my voice wavering with sorrow. Behind them was a line of blood that led to the back room where all the blood bags were kept. It looked like someone's body had been dragged across the floor and I started to recognize whose blood it was as the familiar scent hit my nose. I followed the trail, making sure I didn't step in the red liquid.

"Careful," Adrian warned. The sound of a frightened scream in the backroom put us on high alert and I could now also hear an abnormally fast heartbeat. Whoever was in that room was not alone.

"Where is it?!" someone shouted angrily. It sounded a lot like Avery's voice. She must have gotten here after the explosion while everyone else was distracted.

The other person replied, sounding terrified and fragile. "I-I don't know, I'm just a feeder!"

Oh god. She wasn't just any feeder—she was mine. Emily was in there and if I didn't stop whatever Avery was doing, she could die.

Without giving it a second thought, I kicked the door down and ran in just in time to see Avery picking through all the blood bags scattered on the floor. It was a mess—the fridge had been knocked down and the bags were everywhere. It looked like Avery had thrown some of them around as blood coated the walls and floors. Emily was backed into a corner and her throat was a bleeding mess.

"You," Avery snarled, launching herself at me. I reacted quickly and pushed her away before she could get to me. She hit a metal shelf behind her, causing it to come crashing down along with all the appliances that came with it.

"Son of a bitch!" she screamed, crawling out sluggishly. I grabbed Emily as gently as I could and threw her into Adrian's arms. While he took care of her, I focussed on Avery and felt how strong she had gotten after recently feeding on two people. I didn't let my guard down and fought her with efficiency. She may have been strong, but so was I—and I was a much better fighter than she was. I could guess all of her attacks and my reflexes were still faster than hers. As soon as I had her knocked down, she threw her hands up and spat out the blood in her mouth.

"Why isn't your blood in here?" she hissed. "I know you donated! Where is it?!"

Was she that stupid? Did she think the people here were dumb enough to store the rarest blood in our world in the feeding department of all places? It was in a very isolated part of the hospital and the only people who had access were medical personnel.

"Give it up, Avery," I growled. "You're not getting any of it, and you're not going to defeat me. I am stronger than you."

Avery smiled, showing me her red-stained teeth. "Oh, you have no idea what you have coming for you. You think I don't have other people on my side?"

When I didn't respond, she started laughing. "They'll never stop looking for you. No matter how much you try to tell yourself otherwise, you're just a living bounty."

"And you're one of the bounty hunters. Wow, what a fucking surprise." My voice was dripping with both anger and sarcasm. I dragged her up by the neck and threw her a good twenty feet away, watching her go through the wall. There was a giant hole now and I started to wonder how much the damage would cost.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?" she taunted, stumbling back in and placing a hand on her injured back. "I see it in you—the desire to kill, to be the monster you were made to be."

I clenched my fists. "I am not a monster. I'm not like you. I have humanity."

"That's the problem!" she shouted, shaking uncontrollably. "Humanity is poison. It makes a person weak. It holds you back from becoming who you are. That's why you won't kill me."

"Don't listen to her," Adrian warned me. I'd almost forgotten he was still here. "She's testing you, Rose. Don't give in."

"God, he's just as weak as you. All you toxic creatures with your stupid morals! All you have to do is flip your switch and all the emotions, all the guilt, every sense of morality will be gone. Think about it, Rose. All those painful memories you deal with, all those nightmares—they can all go away with the blink of an eye. All your trauma will be gone and you won't be afraid anymore. All you have to do is turn everything off."

"Shut up!" Adrian yelled.

The thought of all my trauma going away might have been appealing, but I wasn't stupid. "So what if it all goes away? What then? I start killing innocent people for the fun of it?"

"Exactly!" she praised. "It's what you were meant to do, what you were created to do—to build an army of your own. You could even take over the moroi world if you wanted to! The moment you were awakened, there was a part of you that wanted to kill. There had to be."

Her words were terrifyingly true. When I woke up on that table like this, I had thoughts of draining someone until there was nothing left...and I had. I still thought about that poor nurse. Regardless of her position in that business, she didn't deserve to die the way she did. I kept telling myself it wasn't my fault, that I hadn't been able to control myself at the time, but in the end, I still murdered someone.

"I'm not weak," I snapped through clenched teeth. My voice got louder and louder as I spoke fiercely. "You think I'm going to let the darkness take over my life? You think you can overpower me? You really think that I will be defeated by a soulless coward like you?!"

Whatever Avery wanted to say after that was cut off and I saw her throat start to close in. Adrian was using magic that he didn't even specialize in, but it was efficient. The only problem was that this seemed to spur Avery's anger and she suddenly leapt up, going for his throat. With all her fiery, something told me she wasn't just going to hurt him. Her goal was to kill. I wasn't about to let her do that and quickly shoved Adrian behind me, stepping into her path. With every last drop of strength, I swung my arm out, hitting her neck with the side of my hand.

And then she fell. Or, well, her body fell. Her head, on the other hand, had fallen somewhere else. With only one powerful swing of my hand, I had separated her head from her body. I wasn't sure how it was possible or how I had managed to do it. Perhaps it was because I hadn't been holding back anything. The strength and speed that came with being half strigoi had overpowered me. I sank to my knees, looking down at my quivering hands.

"I killed her," I breathed. Behind me, I felt Adrian's arms wrap around me as I started to shake. Although a part of me was overcome with relief, I was also engulfed in feelings of guilt. I had just killed a teenage girl.

"It'll be okay, little dhampir," Adrian whispered, turning my head away from the horrible sight and pressing my cheek against his chest. "You did what you had to do."

Was it too violent? I always try to make things less graphic but I feel like the crap I write is so brutal sometimes. Sorry guys, I'll try to limit things.