Chapter 3

DPOV

It was an hour before briefing and Rose was busy with Lissa. Now that Lissa had told Rose she was pregnant she went a little overboard with telling Rose everything. Rose was taking it well, trying to be supportive but I saw the sadness behind her eyes. I think last night we decided that at least for now kids weren't an option. It was frustrating because I knew we both wanted it. For years I thought I was the only one. I knew she wasn't opposed to the idea, but I always forget she is a lot younger then me and in this case the way she was brought up didn't help either. Rose knew what it was like growing up with a guardian parent. I also knew that retiring wasn't an option for us. Being a guardian is who we were. But at least at court we could more easily combine it with a family. But Hans' visit was a wake-up call. We weren't normal guardians, we were slayers. I touched the back of my neck. Slayer units were awarded a special addition to their promise mark, also we were awarded a zwesda every time we got back from a mission. I couldn't keep count of how many Strigoi we had killed. I couldn't even keep track of the number of zwesda's on my neck and now also running down my spine.

I loved tracing Rose's marks. They started from her neck but now reached into the dip of her back. They were two by two and I imagined I had a similar pattern on my back.

Rose walked in and I saw she was tired. Tired of trying her best to be happy for her best friend while at the same time coming to terms with the fact that that was not our future. It surprised me how much this was affecting Rose. She knew I wanted kids, I never made a secret of that. I had seen the look on her face when Adrian told us about Declan. She was scared but I couldn't hide the excitement and wonder in my face. But she was nineteen at the time. I guess Rose did have some growing up to do. I mean it was the same with me marrying her. Even if she knew we would spend the rest of our lives together she simply felt she was too young to get married. So I waited and eventually she agreed. I had hoped it would be the same with kids. It was frustrating to know that even if she was ready now, our world wasn't. But really there is never a good time to start having kids. They are a lot of work either way.

I grabbed her hand as we are walking into the room with Hans.

There were already a few people there. Some of our own unit that were stationed at court were here too but there were also some alternated because not everyone could be called in on such short notice. I was glad to see Adam had remained home. I had seen the file. This wouldn't be an easy task.

"There is a cell an hour out of court. Initial intel showed at least five Strigoi."

Hans pointed at the map.

"There is one entrance into the building and access roads here and here."

Five wasn't anything we hadn't handled before. Our squad consisted of eight people today, but some were new and didn't know how we operated which made it more difficult also the fact that there was virginally no exit strategy other than killing them all had me worried.

Within the hour we were on our way. We were in guardian mode at the moment, but I felt Rose fidget beside me.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Lissa, she was furious with Hans and with me for taking the job, she wants me by her side now, she is afraid something will happen to me. To us."

I nodded.

"Is it selfish of me to want that too?"

Her voice was small. I had been asking myself the same question since last night. Maybe I would discuss it with Hans when we got back. Well not mention the fact we were thinking about having a baby but about wanting to be there more for Lissa and Christian without feeling like we were failing in our duty.

I kissed her on the head. She looked at me shocked, usually I wasn't so affectionate, certainly not when we were in guardian mode, but I just had to. I had a bad feeling about this mission.

All thoughts were banished from our heads once we arrived at our destination. I brushed my hand one more time over Rose's before it settled on my stake. After organizing our party we moved out and charged through the door. Rose and I were always the first ones in and the last ones out. It was no different now.

I saw my first Strigoi and I noticed Rose had engaged another one. I counted seven not five, but still there were eight of us so we should be able to handle this. The Strigoi I was fighting was old and strong. I was having a hard time. I was able to defend against his attacks but couldn't turn the fight around on him. As it turns out I didn't have to. I saw his eyes glaze over and he fell forward. My beautiful wife was behind him with a smile on her face and blood on her stake. She had taken down hers and I saw several others now engaging the last two Strigoi. We were almost done. I let out a breath of relief. This wasn't going bad at all. When the last two Strigoi were nothing more than lifeless bodies on the floor I called the retreating sign. Rose and I would do one more swoop to make sure there weren't any victims or Strigoi left behind. We made our way up the stairs giving each other hand signals to illustrate our next move. We entered room after room but found it empty. The last room we went in together. It wasn't empty but there was nothing we could do. I walked up to the body and closed the eyes on the unfortunate soul that had crossed paths with a Strigoi and became food. I didn't know if the endorphin induced smile on his face was a comfort or not.

We had cleared the house and were going back downstairs when I heard footsteps behind us. Rose turned around and I saw she heard it to. But it was too late. I felt something hard hit me in the head and the last thing I noticed before passing out was Rose falling unconscious beside me.

third POV

"What do you mean, they are gone?"

"Your majesty. After we exited the building after we were given the all clear we noticed Guardian Belikov and Hathaway did not follow us out. We were also missing two other guardians that joined in on the mission. It is normal for them to do a last sweep before we call it a success but we are sure there weren't any more Strigoi in there. When we went back in all we found was their communication gear."

Lissa was getting lightheaded, she sat down in her chair and Christian was right by her side.

"I told Hans I didn't want them to go on missions anymore. I told him."

Lissa whispered to Christian who was trying very hard not to let her panic.

"So what happened?" Christian asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that they are gone and we cannot find the other two either, but their communications gear was disconnected not discarded."

"What does that mean?" The Moroi queen asked with clear fear evident in her voice.

"It means, Liss, that they were kidnapped by the other two guardians." Christian answered as he came to the same conclusion as the other guardians standing before him.

"Well who are they?"

"We looked into their files but found nothing out of the ordinary. But we do think they had infiltrated our unit for this purpose. They were after Dimitri and Rose. They question is just why."

Lissa put her head in her hands and cried. Christian dismissed the rest of the people in the room and crouched down next to his pregnant wife.

"Don't worry Liss, whoever took them, took them for a reason. I am sure they are fine, we just need to find them."

She nodded but kept on crying none the less.