Chapter 10

I wasn't sure who was more shocked, me or Rose.

Sydney gave us a humourless smile.

"I take it you know who that is?" she asked us.

"Of course," Rose exclaimed. "She was my teacher. She went crazy and turned Strigoi."

"I know," Sydney nodded.

If it was possible, Rose looked even more shocked. "She's not…She's not the one who had an affair with Lissa's dad, is she?"

I tried to do the math in my head. If my calculations were correct, Sonya Karp would have been too young.

"Not likely," Sydney replied. "The account was opened several years before she was added as the beneficiary – which was right when she turned eighteen. So, if we're assuming the account was created around the time the baby was born, then she would have been way too young. Sonya's probably a relative."

As the shock wore away, I felt excitement well up in me. We now had a proper lead.

"You must have records about her family," I said to her. "Or if not, some Moroi probably does. Who's close to Sonya? Does she have a sister?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. That'd be an obvious choice, though. Unfortunately, she has other family – tons of it. Her parents both came from giant families, so she has lots of cousins. Even some of her aunts are the right age."

"We can look them up, right?" Rose asked, just asked elevated as I was from this news.

"There's a lot of them," Sydney said. "I mean, yeah, we could. It'd take a long time to find everyone's life history, and even then – especially if this was covered up enough – we'd have a hard time finding out if any of them is the woman we're looking for. Or even if any of them know who she is."

An idea had been forming in my head as she spoke. It wasn't a plan I was particularly keen on, and it would involve purposefully bringing up those painful memories…but this was something I had to do.

"One person knows who Jane Doe is."

Both of the girl's heads turn to look at me for a further explanation.

"Sonya Karp," I said.

Rose threw her hands in the air, not getting what I was saying.

"Yeah, but we can't talk to her. She's a lost cause. Mikhail Tanner spent over a year hunting her and couldn't find her. If he can't, then we're not going to be able to."

I turned and stared at the window, making sure one last time that I would be able to do this. Could I relive my Strigoi days? Could I be that cold and evil that I once was? Even if it was only for a while.

Yes. Yes I could. I owed this to Rose. And to Lissa.

I pulled myself together and turned back to face them once again.

"That's because Mikhail didn't have the right connections."

"Mikhail was her boyfriend," Rose said, feeling the need to remind me. "He had more connections than anyone else."

My mind flicked back to when Rose had come to Russia in search of me, just like Mikhail had for Sonya. The only difference in their stories was, Mikhail had never found Sonya.

I pulled myself together once again.

"Does your phone have reception out here?" I asked Sydney.

She nodded and handed me her phone.

I stared at the small device in my hand, trying to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do.

When I was ready, I stood up and left the café.

I dialled the number I knew off by heart and held the phone to my ear, just as Rose walked out the front door, closely followed by Sydney.

I didn't really want Rose to be here to witness or hear this conversation, but I didn't have a choice. She deserved to know.

I took deep breaths while listening carefully to the ringing tone. Finally, he answered.

"Boris?" I asked.

"Where are you?" I switched to Russian and lowered my voice, making it as menacing as I could.

Boris answered me with one word. "Moscow."

"Moscow, what?" I growled at him.

"Moscow, sir." He corrected himself.

I hated myself…but this wasn't the time for self-loathing.

"What are you doing there?"

"Snacking, sir," he replied.

"Snacking? Snacking? You're supposed to be looking after everything while I'm away?"

"Belikov, what was I supposed to do? You've been gone for weeks."

"Are you questioning my authority? Are you?" I all but shouted into the phone.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean it. I haven't eaten in days.

I lowered my voice from its anger-induced tone.

"Boris, I need you to do something. I need you to find me a Sonya Karp from Montana. Call Dracis and tell him to find her for me." I ordered him, not at all nicely.

"I'm not sure I can still get in contact with Dracis, sir." He sounded nervous.

"You will do what I say, and find him!" I got angry once again. I could practically see Boris wincing. "And if you don't, I will personally take care of you…and it won't be quick, or painless. I want answers by tomorrow night. Find them, or I will hunt you down and rip you apart, body part by body part. Then I will watch you slowly burn to death."

I hung up before he could say another word and held Sydney's phone out in the direction in which she was standing.

I felt the pain engulf me once again, the happy feelings I had with Rose in the library vanished. I couldn't look at her. I couldn't look at the scared or hurt look on her face at the monster I was.

I closed my eyes and worked on my breathing.

In and out. In and out.

When I could handle it, I turned to face them.

"I've sent someone to ask about her," I said, feeling exhausted. "It might not work out. Strigoi are hardly the type to keep a database. But they do occasionally keep an eye on one another, if only for their own self-preservation. We'll find out soon if there are any hits."

"I…wow. Thank you," Rose said, stumbling over her words.

I nodded, acknowledging her words before changing the subject.

"We should get back to the Keepers…unless you think this is a safe place to stay?"

"I'd rather stay off civilised radar," Sydney replied, already heading towards our truck. "Besides, I want my keys back."

I drove back. It might not have been the best…or safest idea, given my current feelings and mood, but I did my best to concentrate on the road in front of me and not crash the loaned truck.

We arrived back and made our way back along the path. I saw a big fire blazing and people sitting around it, chatting and socialising.

We walked straight back to the house we were staying in.

Joshua's face lit up when he saw Rose. I mentally rolled my eyes. How could Rose not have noticed how head over heels this guy was for her? It was a lot funnier now that I knew that Rose's feelings weren't mutual.

"Rose! You're back. We were starting to worry…I mean, not that anything had happened to you – not with your skills – but that maybe you'd just left us."

"Not without our car," Sydney said, handing the truck keys back, and picking up her own keys which had been left on the countertop.

We were offered some leftovers from dinner, but the three of us had declined; Rose had insisted that we stock up on food from the gas station. I had rolled my eyes at her at first, but couldn't help but be glad when I looked at the food I was being offered that looked oddly like some kind of raw meat.

"Well, if you're not going to eat, you might as well join the others out at the fire. Jess McHale might sing tonight if they can get her to drink enough, and drunk or sober, that woman has the finest voice I've ever heard."

In all honesty, all I wanted to do was be by myself and let out my anger and pain. I met Rose's and Sydney's eyes. Rose looked like she kind of wanted to go. Sydney also looked unsure but then said that she would.

"I'll go too," I said. I had to protect them. Both of them. My need to protect felt ten times as strong as it had this morning.

"Do you still want to see my cave?" Joshua asked Rose. "There's a little light left outside. You'll get a better view that way than if we have to use a torch."

I didn't want her to go with him.

That was the very first thought that entered my head after the boy spoke.

She wouldn't, would she?

"Sure," she said. Yes she would. "I'd love to."

I watched the two of them as they left my sight.

I felt a new kind of upset. One that felt completely new to me.

I passed it off as nerves for Rose as she went off on her own. I reminded myself that Rose was more than capable of protecting herself should she need to.

But the feeling didn't go away.

I turned my attention to Sydney, wanting to make sure she felt safe. She looked a little nervous and kept glancing in the direction Rose had gone.

I guided her to a bench made out of a tree's branch near the group who were singing and clapping.

We sat in silence and watched the group's activities, tension rolling off both of us in Rose's presence. I couldn't help myself from also glancing around in search of her every couple of minutes.

After what felt like hours, I felt Sydney sigh in relief and I turned to watch Rose emerge from the trees with Joshua. She said something to Joshua and he nodded at her and they went separate ways.

I looked back at the fire as she made her way towards us.

Suddenly, I heard a thump coming from that generally direction, and what I saw when I looked up was that Angeline girl's fist connecting with Rose's cheekbone.

I jumped up to help her when I felt arms clasp around my arms.

"It's ok." A man's voice said in my ear. "It's tradition. If a man from our tribe wants to marry a woman, it's custom that the man's sister fights her to see if she is worry."

My adrenaline slowed down as realisation hit me. I watched Rose stay on the defensive while Angeline was strictly offensive. I felt a smile creep its way onto my face as his words fully registered with me. Marry?

Oh Rose, I smirked to myself.

I watched as Rose dodged punch after punch with expertise. It was amazing how much she had improved in less than a year.

"Are you insane?" Rose exclaimed, dodging yet another attack. "Stop this. I don't want to hurt you."

"Sure," Angeline replied. "That's what you want everyone to think, right? If you don't actually have to fight, they'll all go on believing those marks are real."

Ouch. If there was one way to ruffle Rose's feathers, it was to question her skills.

"They are real!" I saw the anger in her eyes spike up, but I also saw all of the effort she was putting in to control it.

"Prove it," Angeline said. "Prove you're who you say you are."

People around us started grumbling and getting impatience at the lack of punches from Rose's side of things.

"I don't have to prove anything," Rose said. In all honesty, I felt awe at the amount of control she was sporting now. If this fight had taken place at the academy 6 months ago, Angeline would be on the ground right now, no doubt unconscious with perhaps a few broken bones thrown in there.

"It's a lie then." She was really asking for it now. "Everything you Tainted do is a lie."

"Not true," Rose retorted.

"You all lie. You're all weak. Especially your 'royals.' They're the worst of all."

"You don't know them at all. You don't know anything about them."

"I know enough. I know they're selfish and spoiled and don't do anything for themselves. They don't care about anyone else. They're all the same."

I was just waiting for the snap.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand," Rose snapped at her. "They're not all like that."

"They are," Angeline pushed on. "I wish they were all dead."

Angeline got a kick in one Rose's knee and…

Snap.

Rose went on the offensive.

They both landed a few blows on each other; Rose's being more skilled and controlled than Angeline's sloppy ones.

Before Angeline knew what had hit her, Rose tackled her to the ground. Angeline struggled and tried to roll them over but Rose wasn't having it. She sent a punch that landed on Angeline's cheek. Hard.

Rose went to stand up but Angeline reached and grabbed a fistful of Rose's hair and pulled. I saw Sydney wince. I admit, that had to hurt. She was pulled back to the ground by her hair and I saw true anger in Rose's face. She managed to twist out of Angeline's hold and pinned her down. Securely this time.

Angeline twisted and turned but there was absolutely no way she'd get out of Rose's grip now: not after the hair-pulling incident.

Why did these things always seem to happen to Rose?

"Fine," Angeline said, giving up. "I guess it's okay. Go ahead."

"Huh? What's okay?" Rose asked her, the anger still clear in her face.

"It's okay if you marry my brother."