I'm sorry for having disappeared for two weeks. My computer broke at first, and so I had no way to write chapters, and then I've also been without internet since LAST Saturday. I still won't have internet until about August 14th, so I cannot promise frequent updates. I'm so sorry for making you wait so long, but thank you so much for your patience and support!

Chapter Twenty Eight - Her

"What do you mean she's not come back?" I could see the tears in Vasilisa's eyes as I broke the news to her, the heartbreak she was feeling as she used her hands to cover her mouth so she wouldn't start sobbing. She shook her head at me, as if in disbelief, and turned to bury herself in Christian's arms. I could hear her crying the moment he wrapped his arms around her, and he looked up at me over her shoulder with an unreadable expression.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to them, not trusting myself to hold composure if I spoke any louder. Christian just nodded minutely, hopefully seeing how apologetic I genuinely was.

"How is Guardian Belikov?" He asked quietly, still keeping his arms wrapped around his lady while keeping his gaze on me. I watched as Lissa stirred in his arms, shifting so she could also look at me. I could tell she was concerned about the fate of Belikov as well, and it was understandable - he had been guarding her for almost a year now, and losing him would affect her more than anyone would realise.

"He's stable," I assured them, taking a step back and gesturing for them both to follow me to the room Dimitri was being kept. "Myself and my team were the first to get to the Transit Camp, and by the time we got there Rose was gone and Belikov was losing consciousness. He'd already lost a lot of blood - by the looks of things, the Strigoi used his own stake against him and stabbed him in the chest. Dimitri was fortunate enough that no vital organs, veins, or arteries were struck."

We rounded the corner to walk down the hallway of the bottom floor, Dimitri's room being at the very end. I could see the door was closed, and I presumed it was because the doctor was there tending to his wounds. I stopped in front of the door and knocked twice, alerting them of my presence. "Pavel with Princess Vasilisa and Lord Christian."

There was a moment of silent as we waited, before the door opened, revealing Doctor Abdil. He nodded at me as he slid himself out from the door, shutting it behind him so he was in the hallway with us. "Belikov is awake." He told us in a neutral tone, looking between myself and the two beside me. "He's been awake for about an hour, and I was just on my way to alert Mr Mazur. I have given him some medication for the pain, so things may be a little hazy, however he should be fine in a day or two."

"Can we see him?" Christian asked optimistically.

"Of course," the doctor smiled. "Just make sure he is not flooded with visitors and questions. He still needs his rest. I'm just going to inform Mr Mazur, but you may go through."

The room Dimitri was in was the same one they'd previously converted into a bedroom for him and Rose when she was on crutches. Now it was being used as a temporary hospital room, a single bed being in the centre of the left hand wall surrounded by various medical equipment. I'd suggested to Abe that he convert the unused servant's quarters near the back of the house into a permanent infirmary - after all, with a dozen people, both Dhampir and Moroi alike, living at the property at any given time, it made sense to have a place where the sick and wounded could go to.

I walked over to the side of Dimitri's bed, seeing him indeed with his eyes open and his head propped up against a pillow. His hair had been tied at the nape of his neck and he looked tired and strained, red blotches on his face and neck evidence to that. He was shirtless with a strip of bandage wrapped half a dozen times in a diagonal fashion across his left shoulder and down underneath his right armpit.

He looked up at me with tired eyes, lifting a hand up to reach for me. I shook his firmly, before letting it drop to his side. "Glad to see you're alright, Pavel."

"I'd say the same to you, but," I nodded in gesture to the bandage across his chest, a quiet laugh escaping my lips, "I wouldn't class that as 'alright'."

As if my gesturing made him notice the wound for the first time, he glanced down at his chest with furrowed brows, before laughing himself and letting his head flop back against the pillow. "And I'd say I've had worse, but I'm not sure that's the truth." We laughed together at that, before his eyes settled on Vasilisa and Christian stood at the end of the bed. "Princess Vasilisa, Lord Ozera. It's good to see you both."

"You as well, Guardian Belikov." Vasilisa smiled politely, folding her hands demurely in front of her. "We're happy to see you're awake and well. Christian and I were starting to worry that it was something much worse than... just a flesh wound."

"How long was I out for? Where is Roza? Is she okay - did she get hurt?"

The two of them stayed silent at his question, and so he looked at me for guidance. "You were out for about fourteen hours." I told him carefully, avoiding the second half of his questioning. I watched his reaction carefully as he narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, clearly picking up on my hesitation.

He heaved himself up into a sitting position, despite my urging that the doctor said he needed rest, and looked at me with a steady gaze. "Where. Is. Roza?"

"Rose was gone by the time my team and I got to your location." I stood up straight and gave him the most diplomatic answer I was capable of, knowing that without my Guardian mask I probably wouldn't of had the guts to say it straight. Dimitri had become my friend in the time I'd known him, and I knew exactly how he would react to the news. "We presume the Strigoi got to her in the time between you being injured and us arriving."

In a flash, Dimitri was on his feet, shouting and cursing in both Russian and English. Vasilisa shrunk into Christian's embrace as he lashed out, storming past them and out the door. "Belikov!" I shouted after him, chasing him down the hallway. "Belikov, stop. You shouldn't be out of bed; you almost died out there."

"And my girl may already be dead!" He bellowed as he came to a halt, turning just to scream his words in my face. "Three months. Three months I've kept her protected. And now? I don't know where she is." He tore his hands through his hair as he turned around and continued to walk away, though I could tell this time he was wandering aimlessly, lost without Rose.

"Dimitri, we will find her." I urged him as I followed closely behind, gripping his arm tightly to reassure him. We'd wandered into the main lobby of the compound, and I could see Abe and Guardian Hathaway making their way down the stairs and towards her. "There are a dozen Guardians out there right now following the trails left behind by the Strigoi at the attack on the Transit Camp. We have leads, and we have suspicions of where we believe them to be hiding out. We are this close to finding Rose, and to ridding those who are after her once and for all."

"He's right, Belikov." I heard Abe's soothingly diplomatic voice just behind us, and I turned to see him approaching on his own. "Guardians Petrov and Peron are out leading the team in search for her. They've been giving me hourly reports, and they think they know where they're hiding. We were waiting for you to get better until we made a move on the location. I knew how much you needed to be on that mission."

"Then what are we waiting for?" He lifted and dropped his hands dramatically to his side, stepping backwards in the general direction of his actual bedroom. "Round up your Guardians and let's go."

"Dimitri," I opened my mouth to call him a fool - though in a more polite fashion - for wanting to act so soon after getting injured, but Abe lifted a hand to silence me. I narrowed my eyes at him skeptically, and he just shook his head and allowed for Dimitri to disappear up the stairs.

My body ached. From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, everything ached. I was almost numb with pain as I woke up, complaining into the gravel beneath me. I heaved myself up by my hands, resting on my forearms as I looked around at my surroundings.

I was in some sort of chamber that looked like it belonged to a cave, and was carved into a dome shape. There was no light, no objects... Just empty space, and a gaping hole on one wall.

Getting to my feet was a struggle, but I fought against the pain in my head and managed it - with some help by leaning against the cave wall. The dizziness washed over me in a wave, and I clenched my eyes shut for a few minutes until I was certain I was steady. Where the hell am I?

I looked down at myself and saw I was still dressed in the same clothes as before, though my jacket and trousers were ripped, torn, and bloodied. I reached for the inside pockets hopefully for a stake, though sighed in disappointment when I came up empty. I should have expected it, but a girl can dream, right?

Making sure there was no immediate danger outside of the cave chamber, I cautiously made my way out, keeping my eyes open and my ears pricked. I was right about it being a cave of some sorts. There were several openings scattered around the place, none screaming out at me of significance, which only made my job of escaping more difficult. I couldn't hear any voices or any noises, either, the quiet trickling of water from the stalagmites being the only sound.

I wet my index finger as I leaned up against a wall for support and lifted it up to the side, hoping to get some sort of indication on which way a breeze was coming from. A breeze meant the outside, and the outside meant escape. I smiled victoriously as I felt a breeze picking up from my right, and so carefully followed that path, making sure to keep myself pressed firmly against the wall for both protection and stealth.

The further I walked, the more noises I could hear. Footsteps. Talking. I couldn't hear the exact words being spoken, for the most part being muffled by the distance and the thickness of the cave walls. I looked around cautiously at my surroundings, mentally cursing my situation when I realised the only pathway forwards would lead me directly towards the source of the voices.

I took a deep breath to centre myself before heading forwards into dangerous territory. I pressed my back tightly against the wall and glanced around the corner of the cave opening, hoping to get some sort of indication on who or how many people - more likely Strigoi, going by the nervous pit in my stomach - were out there. I went to inch forwards even further to get a better look, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I spun around as quick as I could and swiped out offensively with my arm, only to have it caught in an instant. My gaze settled on the piercing red-ringed eyes of a familiar Strigoi, and he slammed me hard against the wall. I cried out as my head cracked against the wall, falling limply to the side.

"Look who's awake." The Strigoi smirked at me, moving a hand to cup my chin roughly. I struggled against him, trying to press my cheek firmly to the wall, but he forced me to look at him. I grunted as I looked up at him, the pure evil look in his eyes disgusting me. "Rosemarie Hathaway. You have caused quite a stir, haven't you." He ducked his head down to press his nose to my neck, and I flinched away and clenched my eyes shut. He inhaled, and let out an almost erotic moan as he pulled away. "For a Dhampir, you do smell absolutely sublime."

"Let her go, Nathaniel." A commanding female voice came from behind, and I felt my stomach twist and double over on itself. It wasn't a good feeling. The room suddenly felt cold. I couldn't see what was happening, but I did feel the Strigoi's grip around me loosen, and he stepped away.

I sighed in relief as I relaxed against the wall, opening my eyes. The male had disappeared, being replaced by a tall and curvaceous woman stood a couple metres in front of me. I stood up straight as I looked her up and down, assuming from her stance and aura that she had been a Guardian before she turned. She was well built and stood at about 6ft, with curly dark brown hair that was pulled into a pony tail. She was absolutely breathtaking, meaning even as a Dhampir she would have been utterly beautiful.

She took a step forwards, her low heels clicking against the granite floor as she came closer. She was only two or three feet away from me, now. Close enough that I could attack her if I didn't know better than to act so foolishly. "The infamous Novice Hathaway." She smiled menacingly, folding her hands in front of her. "I've been searching you for quite some time. Follow me." She had a tone of voice that just dared me to defy her as she swiftly walked past me, through the cave opening I'd been trying to creep through before. "And don't bother trying to escape. I've got more people around this place than just Nathaniel."

I followed her cautiously, all the while glancing around at the place. She was leading me through the weaving tunnels without saying a word. I could see several Strigoi around the place just from our short two minute walk, most of them eyeing me suspiciously.

Eventually we stopped at another large chamber that seemed to be secluded from the rest of the cave tunnels. She stepped in first, and I edged on the outside cautiously. There was a table on one side of the 'room' that had large pieces of paper scattered all across it, and even more paper stuck to the wall above it. If I looked hard enough, I could make out several words of significance - Hathaway, Mazur. Belikov.

"Well, you've got me now." I challenged, stepping inside and leaning my back against the wall. The Strigoi picked up a pen from the table and wrote something down on the sheet of papers on the desk. "I assume you're the lady in charge - the 'She' that I've heard so much about... What do you want with me?"

"I want you on my side." She said matter-of-factly, tossing her hair past her shoulder as she looked at me. "I want you to infiltrate the Royal Moroi Court, and get us control."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh, not being scared if she'd kill me for laughing at her proposal. It was just so ludicrious I couldn't hold it back! "You're kidding me, right?" I arched an eyebrow, folding my arms across my chest. She pressed her lips into a tight line and her eyes conveyed nothing as she stared me down. I leaned forwards as I spoke, "why on Earth would I help you?"

"Because you're one of the singlest most brilliant Guardians this world has ever seen." She said with a gleam in her eye, a childish smile on her lips. She stepped towards me with her hands outstretched, palms up. "With you on our side, we would be unstoppable. Besides - do you really think that those Royals care about you? About Dhampir's - about Guardian's?"

"Sounds like you speak from experience." I narrowed my eyes at her neck, seeing the edges of a couple black marks that I knew to be molnija. "What happened? Queen Tati kick you to the curb from her Royal Guard or something?"

She tilted her head almost sadly to the side, her eyes looking off into the distance. "Something like that... I was on a Guardian mission in Prague when my entire team - all two dozen of them - were killed by Strigoi. When I asked Court for more back up to try and find the Strigoi responsible, the Queen denied my request. She said it wasn't of importance."

"And so you went at it alone?" I narrowed my eyes at her, gesturing up and down to her now-Strigoi state. "And this happened."

She looked at me for a split second with an unreadable expression, before turning on her heels and walking back towards the table. "How I came to be Strigoi isn't relevant to the situation at hand." She said sternly with a tone of finality. She placed her hands on the table and looked up at me, her red-ringed eyes boring holes into me. "So what do you say? Will you help us?"

I had a million thoughts rushing around my head in that instant, each one as confusing as the next. I wouldn't help them - I refused. Every ounce of my being was telling me to snap a leg off from that table and stab it into her neck, giving me enough time to run and try to escape. Helping them would be going against every fibre of my DNA - I would not do it.

But how would I escape? I could only hope that Dimitri was okay, and Pavel and Alberta and everybody else. I could only hope that they were searching for me, and even then that didn't guarantee they would find me. What if they never found me? What if I was a goner, the only form of rescue being even slightly comprehensible being the actions of my own?

"And what do I get out of this?" I valued carefully, taking a confident step forwards as I dropped my hands to my side. "I'm not just going to help you out of the goodness of my heart."

"If you help us, then you get to live." She smiled sadistically, standing up straight and looking into my eyes with a sickly-sweet expression. "If you don't, then I'll have no other option than to turn you into one of us. Either way - you will cooperate."