"Who is Guardian Nelson?" I asked, looking back and forth between Pavel and Abe, trying to keep myself in my own body rather than Roza's. Her anger quickly grew from her shock, pulling every ounce of fear from my body to give her strength.
Both Pavel and Abe were too busy spewing murderous thoughts in Turkish to answer my question, and I didn't want to distract Roza who was currently in the presence of the mysterious Guardian Nelson.
Abe pulled out his phone and started tapping the screen violently. Pavel followed his lead and also turned to the device in his hand violently. Because of the loud Turkish yelling, Christopher, Jasper, Sydney, and Kyle came running up the stairs.
"What's going on?" Kyle asked, looking to me because I was the only one not violently handling a communication device.
"Pavel figured out who took Roza, but he thinks they're working for someone else. Do you know who Guardian Nelson is?" I asked looking between the four of them. Sydney looked as lost as I felt, but the other three adopted the same murderous looks that Abe and Pavel had previously.
"Guardian Nelson took her?" Christopher asked with a clenched jaw.
"That's what Roza said. Who is he?" I asked again, growing more annoyed as my question went unanswered.
"He was a Guardian at the house, for a day, at least. He overstepped his boundaries with Rose and was sent to a different location." Kyle informed me with an angry fire burning in his eyes. "I don't know what happened to him from there."
"He was forcefully removed from the property I'd reassigned him to because he was trying to stir up trouble amongst the other Guardians. I fired him and sent him on his way. I never thought that he would be picked up so quickly." Pavel muttered, filling in the information that Kyle couldn't.
"So, this Guardian Nelson has my Roza, but you don't know who he is working for, where he is, or why he took her?" I asked, trying to keep a calm mind, but with each unanswered question, I felt my blood begin to boil. I could feel Roza struggling against her bindings the longer Guardian Nelson stayed in the room, but he seemed to be the only one dealing with her. Perhaps it was because his employer didn't want her to know who they were.
"We're working on it, but it doesn't help that Nelson knows how we operate to keep a lower profile, so he's had a little bit of a head start on covering his tracks," Abe grumbled, still punching at his phone violently.
"Is there anything I can do within the Alchemists to help find her?" Sydney asked wringing her hands.
"I'm not sure if your people keep track of specific Guardians, but if you could perhaps check to see on the off-chance they do. His first name is Tyler." Pavel said barely glancing up from his phone. Sydney left in a blur, and I couldn't help but feel useless.
I was sitting here waiting to discover who had taken my Roza. I couldn't do anything until I knew where she was, and I hated it. I dove back into Roza's mind, trying to understand what possessed this Guardian to abduct another.
Rose was currently spewing a long string of cuss words in his direction. However, despite her best glare, Guardian Nelson's 'smug-ass little face' (Roza's thoughts not mine) stayed frozen in amusement.
"I'm going to kill him, Dimitri," Roza growled in my mind once she realized I had rejoined her.
"Before you do anything too rash, perhaps you could discover his motives. We still have no idea where you are or why he would have taken you. We need time, and we need answers. Try to get him talking from your end. We're doing everything we can from this one." I sent back, trying to open the bond further.
I knew that Roza had the ability to see through Lissa's eyes at times, and I wanted to possess the same ability. I needed to see this, pardon my language, motherfucker with my own eyes. I want to know what the man I'd be hunting looked like. I needed to know his face, so I could be sure to slam my fist into it repeatedly the first chance I got.
It felt slightly intrusive, pushing past Roza's mental barriers, but once she understood my intentions, she dropped them for me. All at once, I was surrounded by concrete walls. My nose was assaulted by stale air, and my body shivered from the cold air.
In front of us stood a man that demanded attention. His shoulders were pulled back as were his lips into a cocky smirk. I had to agree with Roza that his face was a little smug. He was tall, though still a few inches shorter than me, but his build wasn't sturdy enough to match which left him with an overall lanky sort of look.
He had muscle, just not enough to offset his height in an aesthetically pleasing manner. His hair brushed the tops of his ears, but it was oily, giving his normally brown hair an almost black coloring.
As Roza continued in her spew of insults, his lips pulled back from his teeth, revealing a set of yellowish, off-kilter teeth that sort of begged to be knocked out. His facial features were sharp, leaving shadows in all the right places to give him a sinister sort of vibe.
If I didn't know that he was the man that took my Roza, I probably would have suspected him just based off of appearances alone. His arms were crossed over his chest while he relaxed against the wall furthest from where Roza had managed to prop herself up.
"Information, Roza." I reminded firmly, halting Roza in the middle of a particularly nasty insult. She growled at me mentally, and if it weren't such a serious situation, I would have thought it cute.
"What do you want, Tyler?" She growled in question, the vision narrowing in her furious glare.
"I want what I wanted the first moment I knew I was going to be living in a house with The Rose Hathaway. I want you, my dear. I've always been one for the chase, which Pavel unknowingly started when he sent me away, and you were the perfect prey." He explained easily, his cocky grin growing as he spoke. His eyes were dancing in a dangerous way, and I felt my entire body tense as I realized the kind of man Guardian Nelson really was.
The Hunter.
I'd run across a few of them in my time as a Guardian, most didn't last very long in the field. Most of the time they were Unpromised, or if they were Promised, they were working privately. Men like Abe Mazur valued them because they weren't afraid of a challenge or getting their hands dirty should the need arise, but they usually got themselves in unneeded trouble, or worse – killed.
They loved the thrill of the chase. Stalking the prey from the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. They tend to become obsessed should their prey allude them for too long or if they come up against a particularly challenging opponent, and I hate to say that Roza is the perfect prey.
She's strong, both physically and mentally, and she has a knack for getting herself out of sticky situations. That's one of the reasons people know her name. She's a fighter. She's known throughout Russia as the Angel of Death because she looks like an angel yet deals death with little hesitation.
I didn't know what game Guardian Nelson was playing. Usually, Hunters enjoy the game of cat-and-mouse. They'll get close enough to their victim to let their presence be known then back off to chase, like a cat toying with a mouse. However, Nelson just took Roza. There wasn't any kind of game involved there, and I'm failing to see where one could start now.
"Well, you've got me now." Roza sneered. "Though, I'm going to make sure you regret every second of it."
"That was the response I was hoping for." He responded, his grin becoming far too wide for any one person to handle. "You're a fighter, Rose, so I'm going to make you fight."
"You won't win in a fight against me." Roza scoffed, though her body tensed for a fight. Her hands were bound, so if Guardian Nelson intended on fighting Roza now it wouldn't be fair, not that Roza wouldn't win either way.
"Oh, you won't be fighting me. I've seen you fight, and that was against twelve highly trained Guardians. No, I'm going to watch you fight twelve Strigoi. No weapons, no help." The vision field widened, so I knew that Roza's eyes widened at his revelation, though I knew it wasn't out of shock. However, Guardian Nelson took it as such.
"Comrade, he doesn't know," Roza whispered quickly.
"Doesn't know what?" I asked just as hurriedly.
"He doesn't know what I can do with the Darkness. He's only seen me fight hand-to-hand. I didn't know my Darkness could manifest itself until after you arrived, long after Tyler had been kicked out." She said as she watched the manically laughing Guardian exit the room.
"That's a good thing, they won't see it coming. You can use it to your advantage." I responded.
"No. It is my advantage, but if I use it then they'll know. Besides, I can't kill Strigoi with my Darkness, not without the help of your Light." Rose relaxed back against the wall, still bound as her thoughts began to churn. "If I get hurt, you're the one that's going to feel it."
"That's okay, Roza. Just let them think that you're injured, it could help you in the long run." I said quickly, knowing that I would much rather feel the pain than putting Roza through that.
"The long run? I've never killed Strigoi with my bare hands before. I'm not even sure if I know how! They're going to kill me before I have a chance to figure it out."
"No, they won't. Guardian Nelson is playing at something. He's not just going to let you die. He needs you for his sick and twisted game, you're too valuable to him to let you be killed by Strigoi." I said thinking it through. "He'll most likely use this opportunity to wear you down so he stands a chance in a fight against you."
"The only way he'll stand a chance against me is if I'm dead, and even then, I'm sure I could do more damage as a ghost." Roza chuckled. I tried to find the humor in her statement but was simply left depressed at the thought of my Roza being dead.
"The only people that will be dying is Guardian Nelson and his employer," I mumbled sagely, promising myself that nothing would happen to Roza as long as I live.
"You should let the court system handle them, Dimitri. It's one thing to kill to preserve your own life, it's another thing to take a life out of revenge." Roza said gently, siphoning off my depressed mood.
"I will do whatever it takes to get you back," I vowed. "Your father is pulling me back. If he comes back keep asking questions. Find out all you can. Don't worry, Roza. I'm coming for you."
"Is there anything new, Belikov?" Abe asked, his stony, murderous expression firmly planted on his face.
"Guardian Nelson revealed his plan for Roza, but we still don't know who he's working for. He's a Hunter. He plans on pitting Roza against Strigoi, not to kill but to weaken." I informed before gathering my bearings.
In the time I'd spent with Roza, Sydney had returned with her laptop and was quickly typing away with Jasper looking over her shoulder. Christopher had started pacing with a thoughtful expression as he mumbled to himself. Kyle was sitting, waiting patiently for any update or command.
Abe and Pavel had stopped their vicious attack on their phones, though they kept them in hand, probably waiting for a response.
"How is Rose doing?" Pavel asked, standing behind Abe tensely.
"She's angry. She a little worried, not for her sake but for mine. She's worried that when she fights Strigoi that I'm going to take all the damage, and she doesn't want that." I sighed, wiping my hand across my face. Abe chuckled quietly while shaking his head. "Have you guys had any luck?"
"Pavel and I have contacted people that have access to the Guardian vehicle navigation systems. They're going to see if anyone was around this area yesterday. It should only take a few hours to hear back from them. I don't know if Sydney has made any progress. She won't answer us when we ask her questions. Jasper has been trying to deduce what she's been doing, but she's really good at what she does and doesn't leave much time to piece things together." Abe reported looking over at Sydney as she continued to ignore everything except what was displayed on her screen.
"She's sent out an alert to the Alchemists in the area. Apparently, Rose is a valuable asset to the Alchemists because of her time in Russia. They have a list of Guardians that they have on speed dial should a Strigoi problem be getting out of hand." Jasper said, looking up from his intense observation.
"I've heard of them. They're more prestigious than the Royal Guard, but no one knows who they are." Christopher said, never once pausing in his path of pacing destruction.
"They're referred to at the Dirty Dozen," Pavel said. "Arthur Schoenberg was one of them. After the attack where he was killed, the Alchemists were having a tough time finding a replacement."
"How do you know?" I asked.
"I'm one of them," Pavel said with a shrug. He passed it off as no big deal, but I felt everyone pause in their own musings, Sydney included, and stare at him in amazement. Even Abe had a shocked look leading me to believe that the mobster himself didn't know the accomplishment of his personal Guardian. "Abe, you had to have known it wasn't a coincidence that we were in Russia during the majority of Galina's reign."
"You led me to believe it was all business," Abe said with furrowed eyebrows.
"It was. Though it was my business alongside yours." Pavel chuckled with another shrug.
"I'm assuming that Roza doesn't know that she's on this prestigious list?"
"Probably not. Most Guardians don't know that they make the list unless they're called upon to take care of some incident." Pavel informed before turning his attention fully to Sydney. "So, I'm assuming that the Alchemists have been tracking her somehow. They've become a lot more subtle than they used to be. At one point I think they used chip implants to keep track of the Dirty Dozen, but now they do so willingly."
"How do they track you?" Jasper asked, cutting of Sydney's response.
"This," Pavel said raising his left hand. On his index finger sat a silver band. "They've got a tracker embedded in the ring, as long as I don't take it off, they'll be able to find me. I don't know if they would have had enough time to get something to Rose, and considering that she didn't know what she was, I doubt she has something they can track."
"That's where you're wrong," Sydney said, a wide smile spreading across her face as she turned her laptop to face us. There was a pulsing red dot in the center of the screen that was boldly labeled 'Rosemarie Hathaway.'
"How?" Pavel asked in shock.
"She wears a ring. It's the same ring she had when she escaped from Galina's compound. I don't think she's taken it off other than to shower." Sydney said with a shrug. I'd noticed the ring before, but I also knew the significance of it.
"It was a ring that a Spirit user had charmed for her in Russia before I took her. On one of my…visits…I'd taken an interest in the design and picked it up to study it closer. I'm pretty sure that it was what planted the seed in Roza's mind that I could be restored with the help of Spirit." I mumbled looking at my hands as the images flashed through my mind.
"I don't care what it's for, who gave it to her, or why she's wearing it," Abe growled. "Just tell me where my daughter is."
"She's still in the state, a few hours from here, in fact. The property is listed as foreclosed. It's been on the market for quite some time, but no one has put in an offer until a few days ago. The place looks pretty run down." Sydney said, turning the screen toward herself to find a picture for us to look at.
"If I had to guess, the Strigoi have been using it as a transit house. Do you know who put in the offer?" Pavel asked.
I had to agree with Sydney, the place looked overgrown and slightly isolated. I could see woods in the background of the picture and it didn't look like the house had many neighbors. A house like that would be a perfect place for a few Strigoi to hide until nightfall.
"Yeah, and that's what made me sure that she will be there. The name is Ethan Moore. He's a Guardian at Court. There's no need for him to be buying a house in New York." Sydney said before pulling up Guardian Moore's picture.
"That's one of the men that took Roza," I said pointing quickly to the picture that appeared on the screen.
"What could he want with Rose?" Christopher asked leaning over my shoulder to get a better look at the guy.
"He's probably working for the same person that hired Guardian Nelson, but I don't know how they would have crossed the path of the same person," Pavel said before his eyes widened. "The person that hired both of them has got to have some in at Court. After I fired Guardian Nelson, Guardian Croft would have been notified of his unemployment. He would have been put on a list of available Guardians, one who didn't mind being hired out privately."
"So, whoever was looking for a private Guardian hired them both and it was just an unfortunate coincidence that Guardian Nelson also happened to be obsessed with Roza?" I asked trying to fit the pieces together.
"I'm not so sure. I would hazard a guess that Guardian Nelson was hired specifically because of his obsession with Rose." Pavel said scrolling through his phone.
"What are you doing?" Kyle asked suddenly as Pavel started backing out of the room.
"I'm going to call Guardian Croft and see who hired Guardian Nelson," Pavel stated before walking out of the room with his phone to his ear. Just them, Abe's phone chimed.
"That was faster than I imagined." He mumbled as he took in whatever notification he received. "The car was signed out to Guardian Moore, but he was clever enough to disable the GPS tracking before leaving the wards. They don't know where he is, but that doesn't matter because we know where he is, or where he should be."
"Then why are we still sitting around?" I asked jumping to my feet, surprised with myself that I hadn't done it as soon as Sydney had shown me the pulsing red dot.
"It's my daughter's life on the line, Dimitri. I'm not going to rush into this half-cocked because I wasn't patient enough to gather all the necessary facts before putting together a plan." Abe said firmly, looking toward the doorway where Pavel was returning from his conversation with the Head Guardian.
"Natasha Ozera," Pavel said, his eyes blazing.
"Tasha?" I questioned, not trying to hide my disbelief.
"Do you know who that is?" Abe asked, his eyes narrowing in a dangerous way.
"She was a friend of my eldest sister," I said. "What could she possibly want with Roza? They were friends. Why would Tasha go to these lengths to take Roza when she could have just called and talked to her?"
"That's what I'd like to know, also, but I doubt I'm going to receive an answer from anyone other than Natasha," Abe said nodding to Pavel as he stood. There was an unspoken routine taking place that confused Sydney and me until Jasper started to inform us.
"We're taking two vehicles. Dimitri, you'll be with Abe and Pavel. Pavel will be in communication with Christopher while you guys hash out a plan of action. It's almost a four-hour trip between here and where we're going. That will give you plenty of time to figure out what we're doing when we get there."
"What about Eddie?" I asked.
"He'll be here when we return. With Rose." Abe said motioning for me to get moving.
"Grab whatever weapons you'll need," Christopher said, holstering his own stake but leaving his sword leaning against the wall. Pavel strapped a gun to his side and passed another to Abe, having him do the same.
I left my stake on the kitchen counter and strapped on both my swords before running upstairs to grab Roza's. When I got back downstairs, everyone was ready to go. I followed Pavel and Abe out to the vehicles wordlessly and only made a sound when a sharp pain radiated through my arm.
"What's wrong?" Pavel asked quickly, drawing his gun. I felt the pain quickly siphoned away and dove into Roza's mind to check on her. She had been moved to a different location. It wasn't the small, cold room where she had been before. This was a more of a bullfighting ring, but instead of being surrounded by fences, there were walls of fire.
The walls kept the Strigoi Roza was fighting from leaving the ring, but they also prevented Roza from escaping. Illuminated just beyond the wall of flames, I could see the sinister smile of Guardian Nelson. Beside him stood Tasha.
Had I not known she was behind this I would have been shocked to see the look of malice on her face as she watched Roza fend off a dozen Strigoi. The pain flashed through me momentarily before Roza took it to fuel her strength.
"It's not my pain, it's Roza's. They've started the fight."