A.N: Hey guys!!

I hope you are going to enjoy this chapter. From the next one things are going to heat up lol.

Anyways I'll UD as soon as possible.

Don't forget to review =D

Chapter 14:

"Where are you going?" Asked Sydney already in bed.

"I…I need to talk with Oksana." I said evasively tightening my training shoes.

"But we've spent the whole day with them…the whole week really." She said almost whining.

I rolled my eyes but she didn't see it. It has been a week now that she was at the Academy and she almost refused to leave the room and when she did it was to, pretty much, reluctantly following me to Adrian's room.

Christian even called her my 'creepy shadow' because she was always glued to me. Funnily enough Christian was on his best behavior when Sydney was around even if I knew the very low opinion he had about alchemists but I guessed he didn't want to make the situation any more difficult and I really appreciated that.

"I need to have a word with her in private" I said before Sydney did even get the chance to get out of bed. "And night seems to be the only time."

"Yeah with your friend Lissa following us everywhere" She said nonchalantly settling more comfortably in the bed while reaching for the book she was reading…The Hunger Games.

"Lissa…Lissa is my best friend." I simply said. But it was true that Lissa was very jealous of me having another girl friend. She was silly of course but it would have been pointless to tell her, yet again, that she was my best friend. If she wasn't sure by now, that nobody could take her place in my heart, there wasn't much I could say to convince her.

"But it's past curfew." Said Sydney and I knew she was just saying that because she was not comfortable to stay by herself.

"Since when do I follow rules?" I asked rhetorically. I turned around and smiled at her. "I'll be back soon I promise."

She shrugged "Don't sweat it Rose, I've got company" she said nudging her book. "Peeta is loving, perfect and human"

"Who?" I asked confused. "Pita? It's some kind of bread right."

She sighed. "Never mind. See you later."

"Yeah." I said simply walking out. We were right in the middle of the exams, and us novice, were almost seen as guardians now. Plus, as I already noticed earlier, I was slightly above the rules.

"Miss Hathaway…It's past curfew" said the matron as I reached the exit.

"I know but it's important" I said head high locking eyes with her to show that I wasn't joking around.

She looked at me for a second and decided that fighting me was not worth it. "Make it fast" she simply said concentrating on her magazine again.

I jogged as discreetly as possible to the guest dorms because, even if some of the guardians and Moroi on service were more easy on me, I didn't want to run into my mother. She wouldn't let me go without exactly knowing why.

When I made it to Oksana and Marks' room I got a little uncomfortable to disturb them. They were a couple and…oh Hell.

I knocked quietly enough so they wouldn't hear it if they were sleeping.

Mark opened the door almost immediately. He was not even in PJs yet.

"Rose!" He said as a big smile spread on his face. It was funny how him and Oksana were always happy to see me .I felt like I was their adopted kid or something, and even if we parted about 4 hours ago, I could see that his pleasure was genuine. "Please come in!"

I walked in and found Oksana sat at the table with her usual herbal tea. It smelled terrible and tasted even worse but it helped her channel her energy. Lissa was happy enough to use it every once in a while. Adrian, spat it out after the first gulp saying that nothing tasting that bad could do any good and he rather turn crazy than drink something that tasted like ass and after tasting it myself…I had to agree with him.

"Hey Rose!!" Said Oksana with the same big smile as Mark.

"I needed to talk to you in private" I said sitting in front of her. 'Private' included Mark as she was even more linked to him than Lissa and I were so, it was useless to try to have a secret.

"Oh really?" she said raising an eyebrow. "I'm intrigued now."

"I bet you are" said Mark sitting beside her.

"So you see Andre told me today that Dimitri just arrived to Alaska right." They nodded "and I was thinking…Magic does influence Strigoi to some level. The healing ring, the fire and all that."

"Yeah…" said Oksana trailing off.

"And you know the potion that help enhance psychic abilities is pretty efficient isn't it?" I tried perfectly knowing the answer to that one.

Sydney had shared with us a potion that enhanced the psychic abilities of the spirit users making them two to three time stronger but we decided to keep it secret as it could corrupt. Power always corrupted people. Oksana just drank 1/8th of the dose and she was powerful enough to take me into Christian mind without burning energy.

"I guess…" she said warily.

I looked at both of them and decided to play it straight. "Okay I wanted to know if you could enter Dimitri's mind" I blurt out.

"What?!" They both said in total sync.

"Avery could influence mind and if the potion can make you more powerful maybe you could influence a Strigoi mind… it's not like they are not sensitive to magic." I said feeling more and more idiotic.

Oksana looked at me silently but I could see in her eyes that she was thinking at hundred miles per hour. Mark kept quiet and I was grateful for that. It was Oksana's decision to take and he respected that.

She sighed heavily. "Ok let's just talk hypothetically here… if I could get in, which I doubt I could. What do you want me to do?"

I bit my bottom lip. "I want you to implant a memory in there."

She opened her mouth to say something but I quickly continued to talk.

"Well I want you to take me in his mind as you took me in Christians' mind at the try out." I kept looking at them into the eyes to show them that I was sure. "I want him to attack somewhere else."

"Why?" Tried Mark.

"He only came with 4 other Strigoi and it's a very small group to attack the Academy which means he has a plan. He knows something that we don't. Dimitri…Dimitri is not the kind to attack recklessly and I know he is the same alive or undead."

"I don't see your point." He insisted. "Maybe he is planning to recruit more 'soldiers' on his way over here."

I shook my head. "Dimitri won't take anyone to attack the Academy. He needs to trust them to some extent, to know what they can do." I locked eyes with him. "My point is that if he is coming only with 4 other Strigoi it's because he knows how to attack and the Academy is huge…We have too much ground to cover."

"Maybe…" Said Oksana unconvinced.

"Plus I was thinking about it and we're supposed to be criminals, traitors and we're going to bring Victor back at the Academy?" I grimaced. "It's pretty moronic."

"Yeah…I thought about that too" Said Mark. "If I was Victor I would have doubts if you brought me back here."

"So what's your plan?" Asked Oksana.

"Well I wanted to go in his mind and just change one of his memory of us. One day, after training, he asked me what did Lissa and I had planned for graduations. I…I just want him to think I told him that Lissa and I planned to go and spend the week before graduation in the Lodge her parents had in Badlands National Park in North Dakota."

"You want to attract him there." Simply stated Oksana.

I nodded. "We'll have the advantage there, it will be our ground."

"Yeah but it's very dangerous Rose. I mean imagine it doesn't work? He'll attack the Academy but none of us will be there to keep it safe." She said worried.

"Andre can keep us posted on that and…"

Oksana shook her head vigorously. "it's crazy Rose it will never work."

"Why?"

"Why?!" She snorted. "Well you pick your favorite…I never tried to enter the mind of Strigoi before and you told me that Dimitri was very powerful, I don't know him, there is nothing to link me to him, he is far and there is no way to be sure it worked!!"

"Maybe we can just give it a try as for something to link to him." I pointed at myself. I didn't want to sound full of myself but I knew I was his only weakness now. The only thing that was still keeping him attached. "As for a link to him well…I'm the best bet, I'm probably the only thing that could still affect him."

"So you want to see if we can temper with his memory?" She asked me wearily. "Maybe...yeah if it works, it's maybe better to get him away from the Academy." She finally conceded.

I looked at her hopeful.

"Ok…We can try." She looked at Mark. "Can you get me the little bottle with the rest of potion?"

Mark nodded and squeezed my shoulder as he passed behind me.

"What do you want to do?"

"Well I was thinking that we could go back to the day when we were both making snow angels, it was a moment where connected…." My voice became thicker, it was painful to remember our happy moments. Oksana reached for my hand and squeezed it. "I want him to think he promised to support me and wish me luck the morning of the Gladiators' day."

"Gladiators' day?" Asked Oksana confused.

"Yeah it's the last physical exams for the dhampirs." Said Mark coming back to sit beside me. "It's like the most important of them all. It's worth about 80% of your physical training."

"Yeah and you see it happens on the same day every year depending on the Academy you are attending of course and here it's the Friday, two weeks before graduation."

"So…It's tomorrow!" Said Oksana.

I nodded. "And I know Dimitri, if he had this memory he would contact me. He will want to keep this promise he made to me. He seemed to make a point of it, when he held me captive, to tell me how he was keeping his promise. Moreover, it will amuse him to torture me like that "I added not able to conceal the pain in my voice.

"So you want us to implant that memory and try to influence him into calling you?" She summarized.

"I… exactly."

She jugged her bottom lip and shrugged slightly. "Why not….worth the try."

I sighed with relief.

"So he will call the Academy you think?" Mark asked, I almost forgot he was here.

"If it worked he will yeah. And they'll transfer him to my cell."

Oksana took the little bottle containing the gold color potion and drank half of it. It was about 3 times more than what she drank for the Christian experiment. "You'll have to guide me to his mind Rose." She said taking my hands.

"And how do I do that?" I asked suddenly worried that I would fail.

"I don't know" she shrugged slightly. "Think about moments you shared, happy moments. Even…while he held you captive."

She held my hands tightly, eyes closed. I closed my eyes starting to go over some of my moments with Dimitri. I was a bit embarrassed knowing that Oksana could see them too but I knew she would never judge me. That woman was good to the core.

I saw the first time we kissed, the first time I read through his pretense, the first time he hint on the love he felt for me. Our time in the cabin, the 'I love you's' after that. I also thought on how he held me in bed when he was a Strigoi, spooning me as to keep me safe, how he defended me against Nathan and Galina.

I suddenly felt a cold breeze fill my body, almost freezing my bones. I could feel the pain and hatred and desire to revenge….We were in.

He was thinking about me, how he was about to make me his. He didn't want to kill me, he actually never even intended to. He wanted me by his side. He tried to fight that part of him but he couldn't. It was clear in his mind, undeniable, I was his and he was mine but he wanted to kill the others…my friends, my family. He hated them because they had that part of me I didn't give away willingly. For him, I chose them over him and he intended to make them pay. He considered that they had stolen me from him and he was coming here to claim me back.

I gasped keeping my eyes close. I could feel it deep down inside of him. He probably didn't acknowledge it himself but he did love me, probably as much as he did before, but it was overshadowed by all the evil and darkness.

Oksana was so powerful it amazed me. She managed to slip through his memories with almost no effort.

He is not protecting his mind right now. He doesn't think anyone could be powerful enough to do that. Said Oksana directly in my mind. I'm implanting the memory now and I'll try to give him the impulse to call you like…an encouragement. I don't want to hit to strong. We don't want him to figure it out and block his mind.

I nodded still feeling all the coldness in Dimitri but I couldn't help loving me. I was ashamed of that of course but I just did.

After a couple more minutes Oksana's hands relaxed and she let go of mine. I opened my eyes slowly and met her concerned gaze. She probably thought I was a freak, a wacko when she realized all the love I still had for him.

"Now we wait and see." She said nicely. "I'm sorry" she added in a breath.

Mark quickly looked down at the table, he knew everything, I could bet he saw my memories as Oksana was seeing them.

"Why would you be sorry for?" I asked naively. "Even if it doesn't work, you tried!"

"No I'm sorry for you two Rose." She said in a hush tone. "Nobody can comprehend the love you had…still have. We knew you two were in love we just…." She quickly glanced at Mark probably trying to find the right words. "We never even guessed the extent of that love." She shook her head. "It IS a love worth fighting for."

I chewed on my bottom lip. "I sure hope so" I said in a whisper more for myself than anyone else really. "I…I need to get back."

"Yeah you need your sleep if you want to be ready for, what did you call it-- Gladiators' day?" She asked with a sad smile.

"Piece of cake" I said standing up trying to joke.

Both Oksana and Mark hugged me tight. It was a bit awkward for me but it felt nice too. They were good people.

I was walking back to my room still shaken by the little visit in Dimitri's mind. Now it would be even harder to kill him if I had to. I was positive that his love for me was still inside somewhere…how would I ever be able to plunge my stake into his heart now?

I sighed heavily as I reached the building.

"Hey!"

"Christian?" I asked dumbfounded seeing him exiting my dorm. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to ask you something but 'creepy shadow' told me you left for a while." He said grinning.

"Call her Sydney! You're not helping you know." I snapped

"I…" Christian looked hurt it had been so long since I snapped at him. "I just wanted to know if the potion to enhance power could work on me too…She said we'll give it a try tomorrow if you're ok with it."

I nodded curtly.

"What's wrong Rose?" He asked warily.

"You want to know what's wrong?" He nodded. "Really??" He nodded again.

"What's wrong is… You know how much I love Dimitri right?"

Christian frowned slightly confused. I could see in his eyes that he didn't expect me to go there.

"I love him so much and even now I'm ready to do everything to have our love back even…" I gulped as a lump of tears had formed in my throat. "Even him, evil as he is, he is trying to get back what we had in his dark and twisted way." I shook my head "and when I see two people that love each other so much" I said pointing at him.

"Rose…" He started resignedly.

"There is no need to deny it Chris I saw your mind remember. I'm so mad at you two I could just scream! You see me fighting to have my love back, you know how easily you can lose it and what do you guys do? Give up!! I…." I threw my hands in the air in surrender.

"It's not that---"

"Don't say 'easy' because I swear I hurt you!" I said and I realized I meant it. "Nothing worth living come easy Christian and you know that. That's what make me sick. Seeing you waste what I'm working so hard to get back!" And without another word I swirled around and rushed into the building.

It needed to be said!! I thought as guilt started to creep in me. I hated to have snapped at Christian like that. I hated hurting him, he didn't deserve it. But he had to understand that one day it might be too late and that he should enjoy being with Lissa while he could.