A/N: So it appears if I don't finish my own stories, they will go unfinished. I think I am kind of happy about it. I'm not sure how well I could handle someone else writing my babies for me. So I will be updating them myself from this point on. The updates will be weeks, possibly months apart with the work that I am doing on the Band of Misfits series, but I will do my best to finish them. I am going to start with Safe and Sound, because I feel like this one was the most missed.

Just a quick recap of the last chapter for those of you who don't want to read it: Rose and company are currently discussing their plan to get the kids out of the club, kill Marcus and Rebekah, and destroy the whole while saving Katya. Rebekah, who found out the truth from Anya, and Marcus are trying to figure out how to escape the club and destroy any and all witnesses.

I hope you enjoy things from here.

KATYA

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was that I actually had clothes—it was an easy thing to notice when you have been without them for weeks. The second thing was that I was lying on the couch instead of on the floor of my cage.

"I can't believe we have to resort to this." I heard Rebekah say in an irritated tone. "We were doing so well here. Now, we are going to have to start all over again somewhere far away from Russia."

"I know, love." Marcus responded, sounding just as irritated. "But wouldn't you rather be alive to start over?"

"Of course, Marcus." Rebekah answered. I could hear a lot of frantic movement going on behind the couch as the two had their conversation. "I just don't understand why Abe Mazur is suddenly so interested in shutting us down. He has been doing his business here for years. Why now?"

"I don't know Bek." Marcus said. "But we can figure it out once we are far away from here."

"Anya says he asked her a lot of question about our little pet." Rebekah continued. "Who can stop pretending to be asleep." She came around to my side of the couch. I was surprised to see that she was wearing a simple white t-shirt and pair of dark washed jeans. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. "I knew you were awake the second you regained consciousness." She sneered at me. "No matter. You didn't really hear anything that I didn't want you to hear."

"Why is Mr. Mazur interested in me?" I asked before I could stop myself. I knew it was a stupid question and an extremely stupid time to ask, but I needed to know. It seemed important.

"I have no idea." Rebekah said. "But we'll be long gone before you ever get the chance to find out the truth."

As if on cue someone knocked on the door, and, Ivan, Rebekah's favorite guard, entered the room without an invitation. Whatever was happening must have been serious, because Rebekah didn't even look irritated at the interruption.

"Everything is ready, ma'am." Ivan said. "The kids have been drugged and are all locked in their rooms. We've doused the top two floors with gasoline. Boris is just waiting for the cue to start the fire."

It took a full minute for his words to completely register, but when they did, I literally leapt of the couch. It was surprising easy, considering the weakness, and soreness of my body.

"NO!" I screamed, looking at Rebekah. She had gone back to helping Marcus pack things as quickly as possible. "You can't kill them. They're innocent children who are only guilty of trusting you. They don't deserve to die because of it." You can't!"

"Shut up!" Rebekah yelled, slapping me in the face before I could even register that she was in front of me again. I fell to the hard floor with a cry of pain as my already battered body made contact with it. "They're all drugged and won't feel a thing. I'm not completely heartless."

"And what about me?" I asked, praying that I was going to be left to die with the others. I didn't even give a damn if they were kind enough to drug me or not. All that matter is that I died in the end.

"I already told you, puppy." She taunted, nudging my face with her tennis shoe. "You are going to live through this. We are far from finished having our fun with you. And, if you die, who is going to feed Adam until he learns to hunt for himself."

"Please." I begged, unable to stop myself. "Just leave me here. Let me die. I can't…"

"Shut up." She kicked me in the stomach, leaving me to gasp for air. "You are coming with us, and all the begging in the world isn't going to change that."

Another knock on the door saved me from another kick to the stomach.

"Come in." Rebekah called with a sneer. She grabbed me by the back of the hair and yanked me into a standing position just in time to see the door open and Adam step through.

ROSE

"Alright guys," I said to the assembled group of guardians and Moroi in Olena's living room. "This is the plan."

It was less than an hour before we were set to head to the night club. Abe had made it clear that it was far enough away from normal civilization that we wouldn't draw attention to it by fighting. That was a very good thing. I wanted to save them as much as anyone else, but not at the expense of exposing vampires. We didn't need to end up under a microscope.

"In forty-five minutes we will head to the club and ambush it." I explained. The sun would rise in about fifteen, but we needed to give the bad guys enough time to clear out and go to sleep. The less vampire interaction we had to deal with the better. "The goal is to get the kids out of there and burn the place to the ground. Fight and kill if you have to, but the kids need to be your priority. Hans, Dimitri, Eddie, and I will head to the basement, dispatch Marcus and Rebekah, and get Katya out alive. Once the building is clear, our fire using Moroi will set it on fire. And Oksana," I glanced over to where she was sitting with Mark in the corner. "Has agreed to use her compulsion on any witnesses."

It was a huge concession for Oksana who believed her gift should not be used to mess with other people's heads. She understood the importance of saving innocent lives without exposing out kind to the humans. Lissa also had the Alchemist on standby to take care of what needed to be taken care if the law got involved.

"I heard Mazur mention earlier that some of the kids might not want to leave." Meredith asked. "What do we do if they refuse to leave with us? We can't take them out kicking and screaming."

"Try talking to them." Dimitri answered before I got the chance. He was standing beside me in front of the room. We were leading this mission together. "Let them know that you are offering them something that Rebekah and Marcus can't. You are offering them freedom and safety as well as a place to stay and food to eat. Tell them that they can have that without having to degrade themselves and work like dogs."

At some point during his speech, my hand found his. I wasn't even conscious of actually doing it, but I found I didn't want to release it. I knew he must have been terrified of what we were going to find when we arrived at the club. To be honest, I was to.

Strigoi Dimitri had told Marcus and Rebekah to keep Katya alive until he returned for her, but we both knew they couldn't be trusted to do that. According to Dimitri, Katya was a fighter who refused to lay down for him, no matter how much he hurt her. I imagined, especially after hearing what Anya had to say, that she would be the same way for Marcus and Rebekah. We had no way of knowing if the two would get sick of her and just kill her. We had to be ready for that. I knew Dimitri was scared that would be the case, and so was I.

Feeling his hand in mine again went a long way to calm me and remind me that Katya wasn't the only child being abused. Even if we couldn't save Katya, there were a handful of other kids that we could save. I had to remember those kids, and I hoped Dimitri did too.

"Exactly." I said, ignoring the side glance Dimitri was giving me as he clung to my hand. No was not the time to talk about our relationship. We had an attack to lead. "And if they still refuse to come then leave them. Make sure they understand that Marcus and Rebekah won't be there to protect them anymore."

"So we're just going to burn innocent children alive because they refuse to come with us?" Mia asked. We had brought her along because her control of over water would help us to control the fire after it was set.

"Of course not, Mia." Dimitri said in a kind tone. "If anyone chooses not to leave with us, we will let them stay and leave the place standing until we are sure it has been completely vacated. We are not monsters like them."

"Exactly." I said. "We will not harm them or force them to do anything they don't want to do. I hope it will go a long way to show them that we are better than Marcus and Rebekah. If that doesn't work, then Hans, Eddie, Dimitri, and I will just have to do everything in our power to insure that the threat of those two is gone forever. Any more questions?" There was a collective murmur of no and a lot of head shaking. "Alright then, let's load up the SUV's and finish this."

I dropped Dimitri hand as we headed for the door, but he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back to him.

"Can we talk for a minute?" He whispered.

I sighed as I followed him to the other side of the room. I had known this conversation was coming from the minute I took his hand, but I honestly had no idea what to say to him. I hadn't yet made a decision about our relationship and didn't think now was the time to talk about it.

"Look, Dimitri, I don't…" I started, but never got to finish. He spun around so quickly I was reminded of when he was a Strigoi. He grabbed my face between his hands and pressed his lips against mine with an almost bruising force. Caught off guard, I sunk into the kiss and forgot about all the reasons I had wanted to stay away from him. I kissed him back with a fierceness I didn't even think I was capable of. For the first time in days, I actually felt like I was home.

DIMITRI

I knew kissing her was wrong. I was supposed to be giving her space to decide how she felt about our relationship, but I couldn't help it. The moment she grabbed my hand my control started to slip, and I knew I needed her in my arms again. I needed to feel her lips on mine again, if only for a few moments. These past few days I've felt like a drowning man, but the moment her lips touched mine, I felt like I could breathe again.

I had expected her to push me away, but she didn't. She kissed me back, letting herself sink into my arms. I held on for dear life knowing this could end any moment. It lasted much longer than I expected it too, and when she finally pulled herself away from me, we were both left gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry, Roza." I told her not taking my eyes off her. Tears were filling her eyes as she stared back at me. "I just needed to…"

"Don't." She held up one hand while swiping her eyes at the other. "I know, and I understand. I'm just not ready, yet."

"I know, and that's fine. I just want you to know that I will always love you, no matter what happens tonight, or what you decide to do. You are my everything, Roza. You need to know that, and I am so sorry I hurt you. I never wanted to that."

"I know." She reached up and gently stroked my cheek with the back of my hand. "And I will always love you, Dimitri. I don't think anything you could do could change that. And I want you to know that we will get through this. It's going to take time, but we will get through, together. Just like we've gotten through everything since the day we met."

Hope sparked in my heart at her words and the look in her eyes. Was two days enough for her to decide that her love for me was all that mattered? Or was I reading too much into things?

"What are you saying?" I whispered, grabbing her hand and entwining our fingers. She didn't pull her hand away. In fact, she smiled and her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink as she leaned closer to me.

"I'm saying that I love you, and I want to be with you." She said laying her head against my chest. "But getting back to where we were before this is going to take some time. I can't just go back…"

"I get it." I told her running my free hand through her ponytail. "And I don't want you to compromise your morals for me. I don't want to lose you either, though. I don't know what I'd do, if you weren't here."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." She laughs. "I'm not going anywhere again."

I kissed the top of her head and released her hand pulling her closer to me. She wrapped her arms around me.

"I love you so much, Roza."

"I love…"

"I hate to interrupt the reunion." Abe's voice cut her off. "But we have a big problem."

Rose pulled away from me and turned to face him. I wrapped my arms around her waist not letting her get too far from me.

"What's happened?"

"I left a couple of my men at the club, just to keep an eye on things." Abe answered. "I just got a call from one of them. The club erupted in flames less than five minutes ago."

KATYA

My mouth dropped open and terror flooded my heart as I looked Adam up and down. It was the first time I had actually seen him since he woke up. Any other time, I had a hood over my head and could only feel the pain of his teeth against my neck.

To be completely honest, I wished they had put a hood over my head this time, because what I saw broke my heart. He looked almost exactly like the boy I had loved, but so different. He was much paler and his eyes had a red ring around them that sent a shiver down my spine. The smile on his face was no longer that of the kind boy who had taken care of me in these last few weeks. It was the cold, sinister grin of a monster, and I didn't want to look at him anymore.

I tried to lower my head or look anywhere else except his eyes, but Rebekah wouldn't let me. She kept a tight hold on my hair, forcing me to look right at him.

"What?" She taunted. "Don't want to look at the monster you created?"

"Marcus made him, not me." I growled back, trying not to cry.

"But it was his love for you that caused Marcus to have to take such drastic measures." Rebekah laughed. "If he didn't love you, he wouldn't be this way."

"You're right." I found myself snapping. "If he didn't love me, he would be drugged upstairs so you can burn him to death. I'd rather him be like this than dead. At least, it's possible to save him now."

"Oh no my dear." Rebekah yanked on my hair a little harder. "Once you've been awakened, there is no turning back. He is going to be this monster for the rest of eternity, and you will be nothing more to him than a meal and an easy fuck. Just like you are to Marcus and me."

Tears stung my eyes at her words, but I refused to shed them. I needed to find a way to get out of here, even if it meant killing myself. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being abused, especially not by the man who once loved me.

Marcus let a growl of irritation and put his fist through the stone wall, effectively breaking Adam, Rebekah, and I out of the torture session.

"I can't believe I didn't realize it before." Marcus yelled. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"What?" Rebekah asked, releasing me and rushing over to Marcus. I fell to the ground on shaking legs, glad for the excuse to stop looking at Adam.

"Abe Mazur's sudden interest in her and wanting to bring the club down. It's Belikov." Marcus ground. The name alone sent fear coursing through my entire body. True, I'd rather be in his hands than with Marcus and Rebekah, but he was the one who brought me here in the first place. If I never saw him again, it would be too soon.

"Why would he care about what happened to the bitch and all the other brats?" Rebekah asked him. "He was our best client and he brought us our puppy. Why would he all of a sudden…"

"Haven't you heard the stories, Bek." Marcus cut her off. "That little brat of a queen, supposedly turned Belikov back into a dhampir."

"But that's not possible." Rebekah argued. "It's just a fairy tale."

"How else do you explain Belikov's little tramp's father suddenly being interested in bringing us down? You know Mazur as well as I do. He didn't care what was going on here until his precious daughter took an interest."

"Okay, so saying that is true, does it change anything?"

"No. We still need to get out of here, because if the queen's personal guardian is involved, she will bring hell down on us. We need to go, now."

I had no idea what they were talking about and, honestly, I didn't care. All I cared about was finding a way to get them to leave me here to die.

"Adam, get the girl." Rebekah snapped at him. "And don't let her go. I don't care how much she struggles, or if you have to hurt her. I want her alive when this is all over."

"Yes, Miss Rebekah." Adam said, before coming around the couch.

He held his arms out to me, but I crossed mine over my chest. I was not going to make getting me out of there easy for them. I would kick and scream until they had no choice but to let me go. Adam sighed and bent down scooping me up into his arms bridal style. I struggled a little, but his arms were like a cage. Soon I was helpless in them.

"Stop struggling or I'll have to hurt you." He growled. Then he nuzzled his nose into my hair and I braced myself for a bite that never came. "When I tell you to, roll out of my arms."

The words were whispered so low I couldn't be sure if he actually said them or not, but I didn't react to them at all. If he was really going to help me, I didn't need him to get in trouble before he had a chance to. I did stop struggling, though.

"Ivan, tell Boris to light it up, then get out." Rebekah said. "We will contact the two of you when we have a new place set up."

"Yes ma'am." Ivan said with a little bow before leaving the room.

"Adam, follow us." Rebekah said before walking out the door.

Adam followed her to a part of the basement I had never been to before. There was a circular door with a combination to it. It sort of reminded me of a bank vault. After spinning in the combination, Marcus pulled the steel door open, and gesture us through. He stepped through himself before the three vampires took off running down a long hallway surrounded by steel panels.

I noticed that Marcus hadn't bothered to shut the door. Was he really that confident that the fire in the club would destroy it enough that no one would be able to find this place?

We hadn't been running for more than a minute, before I heard Adam's voice again,

"Now."

Again, it was so quiet that I couldn't be sure he actually said. Even if the voice was only in my head, I chose to listen to it, because it might have been the only way I was going to get out of this.

I jerked my right shoulder to the left as hard as I could to the left and sent myself flying out of Adam's arms. The sensation of flying lasted for less than five seconds, before I hit the steel floor head first. My head exploded in pain for a half a second before everything faded to black.

ROSE

The SUV's flew down the street much faster than was most likely legal in Russia. I could feel the sweat coating Dimitri's hand as I clung to it. Eddie sat on my other side. He had his hands clasped together and his mouth was moving as if he were praying.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that no amount of praying was going to get us there in time to save the kids. All we were going to be able to do was work damage control. Even the human firefighters wouldn't make it there in time. The club was so far away from human civilization that they probably didn't even know it existed.

I glanced at Dimitri who was staring stone faced out the window with a few tears rolling down his cheeks. I snuggled myself closer to him and wrapped my free arm around his.

I wanted to comfort him and tell him everything was going to be okay. I wanted to say that it wasn't his fault, and he shouldn't feel guilty. I couldn't say any of those things because I didn't know if they were true or not.

All I could do was snuggle as close to him as possible and pray he wouldn't let his guilt over this destroy him.

DIMITRI

My heart broke as we reach the spot where the club once stood. The human firefighters had just finished their job of putting the fire out, and the whole area was crawling with cops. Sonya and Oksana got out of the SUV first, and walked up to the rescue workers.

They were going to work their compulsion on the men involved in the cleanup. They intended to convince everyone involved that the burning of the club was an unfortunate accident, and that no one was inside. It didn't take long for them to get all of the humans cleaned out.

When that happened, everyone spilled out of the two SUVs and headed toward the collapsed remains of the two story building.

"Look through everything." Rose ordered as I started sifting through the charred bits of wood and metal.

I knew this building almost as well as the Galina's estate. It was my second home in Russia. Marcus once told me that he and Rebekah built the basement so that it was indestructible, even by fire. It was their way of insuring they would have a safe place to hide if something happened. It was possible that they were still here, and Katya was still alive. If that was the case, I had to find her.

"Pull out any human remains you find." Rose continued. "We may not be able to return them to their families, but we will at least give them a proper burial."

I continued to frantically pieces of the building and furniture out of the way as I searched for the stairs leading to the basement. I ignored the tears that were falling down my cheeks. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. I didn't think I would be able to get through this if she was.

"Dimitri, she's gone." Rose said, putting a gentle hand on my back. "They all are."

"No, Roza." I shook my head. "They had a basement, that couldn't be breached by anything. If I can find it, I might be able to find them. I know they are probably gone, but they may have left some kind of clue where they went. You have to help me find it."

"I think I found it." Eddie's voice says from a few feet away from us. I looked up to see him standing above a small square in the foundation of the house. "The stairs are gone, though."

Rose and I joined him at the whole to see that he was right. The stairs lied in a charred pile on the cement floor of the basement.

"I think I might be able to slide down there." I said. "Then I will help you two down." Rose nodded as I sat on the edge of the whole.

"Just be careful."

I nodded as I let myself drop to the floor. My height helped me land on my two feet without hurting myself. I reached up in time to grab Rose as she slid into my arms. Eddie was right behind her. The three off us had to pull out our flashlights to get a good look around. It was too dark for even our heightened eyes sight to see.

"Do you think they are still here?" Rose asked.

"I doubt it." I told her. "But we need to be alert, just in case. There's an apartment off to the left here, Rose." I inclined my head toward the door for it. "Can you check it out. Go through everything to see if there is any clue where they went." Rose nodded and headed off toward the apartment. "I'm going to search the dungeon area that they used for punishment. Eddie, I don't think there is anything else down here, but could you check it out just to be sure."

"Of course."

He walked off, and I headed through the door to my right. Inside was a stone room with no windows and only the one door. Chains dangled from the ceiling and walls, and the whole room stank of blood and death. There was the body of a young blonde girl tied to a chair in the corner. It appeared her throat had been ripped out. It was so sloppy I could guess that it had been a new Strigoi who had killed her.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered as I went to work untying her from the chair. "So sorry."

Tears were streaming down my face as I fumbled with the ropes. I couldn't believe that I had let this happen. I was the worst kind of monster.

"Dimitri, Rose, come quick!" Eddie's voice echoed through the basement. "I found someone."

I raced out of the room meeting Rose under the hole in the floor. "Eddie, where are you?" Rose called as we ran toward his voice.

"There are some tunnels in the very back of the basement. I walked in to see what I'd find and it isn't pretty."

We found the tunnels he was talking about and only had to go less than a mile into them to find Eddie. He was kneeling beside a girl who was lying, unconscious in a pool of blood. The blood looked like it was originating from her head.

In the darkness, the blood blended well with her dark hair and my heart sank. Her face was turned away from.

"Turn her head, Eddie." I said slowly. "Please."

Eddie did as I asked, and I dropped to my knees. The face that was staring back at me looked so much like that there was no doubt in my mind that it was Katya.

"Is it…" Rose started putting her head on my shoulder.

"Yes, it's Katya." I reached up, putting my hand on hers before looking at Eddie. "She's dead, isn't she?"

A/N; What do you guys think? I worked really hard on it for the last two days. I hope you enjoyed reading it as must I enjoyed writing it. Please review.