DPOV

After me and Lissa cried together, she whipped away her tears and said she'd go and tell Abe About what had happened. If I wasn't in the middle of a breakdown, I would've laughed and told her good luck, that she's need it. But there didn't seem to come and end to the tears. After 10 more minutes, I collected myself and punched my emotions aside. Roza needs me, wherever she is. Something seemed off about her when she had looked back up at me. I stood up and decided that Abe needed to know about everything that had been going on, if we ever wanted to find her before something really bad happened to her. When I walked into Abe's office, I was met with utter chaos. There where people running around with papers in their hands, there were some people who sat behind a computer typing away. But I didn't focus on them, what I did focus on was Abe himself. He was sitting behind his laptop, looking at something intently. I frowned and made my way over to him. When I came to a stop in front of him, he looked up. The weird thing is, he didn't seem furious or angry even. If I was in his shoes, I would've skinned me alive already.

"what's going on?" the look in his eyes told me it was something bad and the feeling in my gut told me it had something to do with my Roza.

"you haven't seen?" I shook my head and he turned the laptop towards me. There was a video on the screen, but it was all black.

"what is it?" I got no reply and when I was about to ask again, the lights were turned on in the video. It was my Roza, tied to a chair. She was all bloody and had cuts all over her body. She clothes were soaked in her own blood, her long brown hair, tied in knots and also drenched in blood. Then, 3 men appeared, the middle one seemed old, seeing as he used a cane to stand up, but still limped a bit. On each side of him stood one big man. I saw one of the men holding a bucket, the video was of poor quality so I had no idea what was inside of it. the three men seemed to say something before one of them walked towards Roza. Then, the man dumped whatever was inside the bucket onto my Roza. I gritted my teeth when I saw her jump, awake again and confused. She looked around while the man stepped back again and the second one walked towards her. He had a metal pole in his hand. When he lifted that hand, I looked away and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard the laptop close and a hand on my shoulder. I looked back and found Abe had placed his hand on my shoulder. The look on his face told me he knew what I was feeling, the guilt.

"we know now with who she is. That's a step closer then when we have nothing. Now, I need you to stay calm, these men want to evoke an emotion out of you. They want you to go and do something without thinking, so that they can hurt her by hurting you. And when they do that, she'll be so sad, she'll want to stay there, where there is no reminder of the times you had together. Where she can leave all her emotions and her past behind her. I need you to stay calm and go through everything that has happened over the past few days, weeks. Think if anything suspicious happened. Go through her stuff if that's what you need to do, I don't care. We are going to find her." His voice was strong and determined.

We both sat down and I told him everything that had happened, I even showed him the threats that I had copied on my phone. Though, I left out the ghost seeing part. I don't think Roza would want everybody to worry about that. For a few minutes after I was done speaking, Abe was silent, probably lost in his own thoughts. Finally, he stood up.

"go to her room. See if you can find anything that could help us to finding her." I nodded and left. On my way to her room, I found a piece of folded paper. I picked it up and examined it. Unfolding it, I found out it was a letter to Rose. I frowned as I searched for a sender, but there was none mentioned. Only at the bottom.

Dear Rose,

Be careful. Everything is not as it seems. Your friends are close, but your true enemy is closer.

Don't say we didn't try to warn you.

The Alchemists.

What is Rose doing with the Alchemists? And what do they mean? I folded the letter back up and put it in the back pocket of my jeans. I continued on my way to Roza's room. Once I was inside and closed the door, my search began. I didn't like it that I had to go through all her stuff, but I wanted her home again. After 2 hours, I had gone through everything in her room. And I found nothing. Not a single clue as to where she might be. I stood in the middle of her room, thinking of a place where she would hide something. My eyes scanned the room over and landed on her bed. Maybe, she'd hide something under her matrass, I know Viktoria does. I lifted it up and flipped it over. Jackpot! I picked up the ripped letter that was hidden beneath the matrass. I put the matrass back down and opened the letter. Again, it was from the alchemists.

Dear rose,

Things are probably a mess right now, aren't they? And we know you have a lot of questions, but all will be answered in due time. But for now, there are indeed some things that you do need to know in order to keep the ones you love safe and of course yourself. First, the woman who gave you this letter is Sydney sage, she works for us and will be help us communicate with you. Second, I know this has been told you before, but you need to take it serious, don't let Seth fool you. This is a dangerous world you have entered.

That's it for now, good luck with your training and your coronation.

The alchemists.

There was no date, so who knows when she got this. But I knew I needed to get in contact with this Sydney, maybe she could help. I put the letter back into its envelope just as my phone rang.

"hello, babushka." I smiled a little, it has been long since I last talked to her. But I knew that if she called now, when Roza was missing, she knew something. Yeva and her sixth sense are useful sometimes, but it depends on what she sees in her dreams.

"I saw about your flower. She's not doing very well. I cannot help you a lot, you are on your own. But you need to hurry up! She doesn't have forever. And you don't always need to follow the book, Dimka. Save her and remember. Never hesitate!" with that, she hung up.

1 month later

RPOV

I woke up, but something was different, it wasn't the room, no I was still stuck in there. but I was moved from the chair. I was hanging by a rope, tight around my wrists. I looked up and groaned when I looked down. Guess where I was hanging above. Yep, that freaking fire pit and it was fucking hot! I was dangling just above it, missing the blazing flames by inches.

"sleeping beauty awakes." I looked up and saw the old man. Nothing changed about him. He had now only one person with him.

"what? Where's the other one?" I was hit by a metal pole again, but bit my lip, drawing blood.

"yeah, I liked the other one more." I grunted out. Again, the dumped ice water on me. I knew what they were doing, Abe told me about it once. But he never mentioned how fucking painful it was!

"you talk too much for your own good, you know?" the old man said and I managed to snicker softly. No doubt my shot wounds were open again after everything. At least I got the satisfaction that I was still alive. That's something…

"do you know who shot me?" my throat was hoarse and dry from the lack of water. I heard sardonic laughter from the old man.

"of course, I made sure it was done properly." I gritted my teeth as they put on the fire again. The cold water cooled off my body and now with the heat, it was like I was being roasted like chicken. I closed my eyes and thought of something warm. The mind is something very powerful and the body something very easily fooled. They continued this for, I don't know how long, but eventually they cut me down and tied my back to my chair. I was too exhausted to try anything and they knew it. Eventually, I fell asleep.

This went on for weeks, hell, it could be months; I didn't know day or night anymore. Soon, my hope started fading that anybody would ever find me. God, why did I have to leave Dimitri the way that I did. And Abe and Liss, Mason, Eddie and Mia. Just the thought of them made me want to fight, but I wasn't me anymore. I was changing. The pain started fading, the will to get away started fading, hope faded. My eyes were currently closed, I was focused on my hearing. I learned to pare my energy by not using all my senses at once. I heard footsteps outside- from more than one person-, the a door open and close followed by more footsteps, coming towards me. They stopped and all the noise that was left, was our breathing. I opened my eyes and saw the old man, without his mask.

"Victor?" my voice was barely hearable due to the lack of water. The old man, turned out to be Victor; Lissa's Uncle. Oh god, does Liss know?

"oh Rosemarie. You never expected anything, did you?" I kept silent, but never broke eye contact. Victor sighed and mentioned for some guy that came with him to go to me. He walked over to me and untied me. When he was finished with me hands, he started on my legs.

"why are you freeing me?" I stretched my wrists and my legs while standing up. Victor turned serious

"because I need you. " if my throat didn't hurt so much, I would've laughed.

"so –" I stood up when my legs where free, but stumbled back slightly, "- you torture me for I don't know how long and then you expect me to help you willingly?" he sighed, probably knowing that this was coming.

"you said it perfectly, but the point is, you're not going to help me willingly. " I narrowed my eyes, waiting for him to elaborate. He mentioned for me to follow me. He walked out and I stumbled after him. Victor led me to a room, a bedroom. It was slightly bigger than the one at home- Uh, the mansion. It had dark wood walls and white marble flooring. In the middle of the room stood a king-size bed with black sheets. On the left was a dresser also made of dark wood and the rest of the room was filled with chairs and couches, small tables, a desk and some bookcases. I limped over to the bed and let my body fall on it. after a moment, I sat back and found victor sitting down on one of the chairs.

"you're going to follow in my footsteps and lead the strigoi to victory." That sounded to corny!

"And what if I don't? What if I run away while nobody's looking and let you alone to die. Are you even sick? Lissa believes that you're dying and that when you're 'dead' she won't have any family left." You almost couldn't heat my voice at the end because I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. Victor just sat there, looking amused and waiting for me to stop talking.

"yes, I'm indeed sick and dying. But that is why I need you to lead these people when I'm gone. And no, Vasilissa doesn't know about this."

"I'm not doing it. you lost that chance the moment you started torturing me."

"if you don't, I'll let my men kill everybody you've ever cared about right in front of your eyes." He stood up and walked to the door.

"and there will be no lucky survivors," He sighed, "now get some rest, tomorrow I'll need you." With that he left. I wanted to scream in frustration, but I wanted to keep my voice. I stood up and quickly found a shower. I took off all my clothes and threw them in the corner of the bathroom.

When I turned to the full-length mirror and gasped. I shouldn't have, I knew I looked like hell, but actually seeing myself … my shot wound had somehow healed, but the scar tissue was very visible. I had scars from the knife covering almost my entire body, but they had started to heal as well. My skin looked bloody and bruised, I couldn't stand to look at myself for another second.

So I turned around and stepped in the shower. Letting the hot water run over my body was like heaven. My aching muscles relaxed and the dried blood, my blood, washed off of my body and out of my hair.

The room quickly filled with steam and I half expected my mom to appear, but I knew she wouldn't. I knew she was ashamed of me, her own daughter, even though she's dead. I knew if she was in my place, she wouldn't have took the cowards way out, the way I had chosen. When I had had enough of the shower, I washed my hair and my body and got out, wrapping a big fluffy towel around myself tightly.

As I made my way back into my room, I was actually surprised by how easy I could still walk after all the hitting. I guess they didn't hit hard enough. I had made my way over to the closet and found it filled with clothes, all my size. I rolled my eyes at it and started looking for something to wear. I ended up in a black tank top with a studded cross on, a pair of black leather pants with a red leather jacket. For shoes, I picked a pair of grey boots with a 6 inch heel that had studs on the top piece about the laces.

I tried to cover up my scars on my body, not ready yet to show them, but I didn't bother with the ones on my face. I just put on some mascara I found with a winged eyeliner. I let my hair fall naturally, took my phone and headed out to find Viktor. I didn't know what else to do and soon found him in a room, with a lot of people listening to him. I kept myself in the shadows and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing. And when he finally did, I followed him into his office. he saw me and told me to take a seat.

"no, I want to know what I need to do. Because if I'm just going to be sitting around, I'd much rather go someplace else" he smirked and sat down himself.

"you've never changed have you?" I didn't respond and crossed my arms over my chest, ignoring the slight pain in them.

"there will be a mission tonight and I want you to go as well. You can learn and soon, you'll lead them yourself. Spiridron here will lead you to the weapon storage room, there you will take whatever you find necessary and take it with you to the mission. You will leave soon, with a team of the best I have." I big man walked to me and past me.

"such a gentleman." I sneered and followed him. While walking behind him, I studies him quickly. He had spiky blond hair and was about 23, 24 years old. I didn't have much time after that, seeing as we had arrived.

And wow! This room was awesome! It was like in the movies, racks filled with every weapon you could think of! I smiled formed onto my lips and I was about to take a step forward, when this Spiridron guy to hold of my arm. I pouted as I looked up and saw a faint smile on his face.

"don't do anything stupid, or the boss will have my head." I nodded and he let my go. I swear a squeal left my mouth as I almost ran to the racks. I eyes lit up with joy and I looked through them all and I heard small laughter behind me, probably Spiridron.

I quickly found what I wanted; a sig sauer 9-mm –which I put in the waistband of my pants on my back- and a 10-mm gun – that I would just hold- plus a Swiss army knife in my sleeve. I turned back to Spiridron, who looked impressed and slightly cautious. I smirked and he let me outside of the room and outside of the house to 3 black SUV's. that's when it hit me, I shouldn't be so happy with these weapons, I was going on a raid. I was going to kill people who I knew, who knew me. But that's juts it, they knew. These people changed me and there's no way I'm ever going to be able to change back. And the worst part is, that I don't think I wanna change back.

"here, put this in, that way you can have contact with everybody." Spiridron gave me an earpiece, which I quickly put in. then, I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned around and saw Viktor. He held his hand out to me, with in his palm, a ring with a red ruby that had on each side a skull. This one was only given to the leaders of the Strigoi, if I accepted this, there would never be a way back. And weirdly enough, I slid it onto my middle finger without hesitation. I looked up at the old man and he nodded at me with a proud look in his eyes. We both knew what I had done now, I had sealed my faith.

I was one of them now, and I'll always be.

"let's get going!" Spiridron yelled. Apparently he'd be coming to. I walked to the first SUV and rode shotgun next to Spiridron. The ride itself was quit, not even music was playing.

"so, what do I do when we get there? just shoot random people?" I joked, but it withheld no humor at all. I had never been able to crack a good joke when I was nervous.

"no, we burst in and get to the storage room. We take as many weapons and money as we can." I nodded and looked outside of the back tinted window. "and if anybody, and I mean anybody, gets in your way, you kill them. No matter if you know them or not. No matter if you care for them or not, you shoot them. They are only something in the way of what we want." I gulped, knowing the chance was big there would be somebody there I knew, but I didn't show any emotion. When the car came to a stop, I could hear Spiridron say through the earpiece to get out and take positions. I did as the rest and got out, letting the door open. I looked up and my emotionless mask almost faltered. I knew this place. And I knew who worked here, but what I didn't know what that this was a guardian base. Spiridron motioned for me to follow and we both, almost soundlessly, made our way to the door.

He motioned for somebody to kick the door in and just before he did, I shut off everything that made me human.

DPOV

It has been a month and we have nothing. There was no way we had been able to find out where the messages had come from, the alchemists didn't know either and the person in the video was nothing to us, unless we could see his face.

I was currently laying on Roza's bed. Ever since she was gone, I had slept in her bed every night. Nobody commented on it, probably not wanting to start a fight. I had been very edgy lately and I was just going through the motions. A lot of people had given up on her, but the gang and Abe hadn't. we were determined to find her and take her back home, the easy way or the hard way. I reluctantly got out of bed and got dressed. When I got downstairs into the kitchen, I saw Abe on the phone. Just as I opened the fridge, Abe hung up and closed the fridge.

"what?"

"the base 5 miles from here is now under attack." He called for some backup and I followed him into the car. We both knew this might be Roza and maybe, we could catch her. In about 15 minutes we arrived, breaking almost every speed law on the way. Everybody jumped out of the car and held their firearms in reach. Abe handed and a 45. Caliber from the glove compartment. I didn't want to use it, but I knew I had to. We all made out way to the door silently, passing 3 black SUV's with their doors open. The door of the building was also wide open and there where sounds of a fight coming from inside, a big fight. Then, everybody ran through the door and joined the fight.

Inside was complete and utter chaos, people everywhere, shooting at each other or fighting hand to hand. But my eyes wanted to see only one thing, or rather on person. My eyes scanned the room and that's when I saw her.

She was hiding from bullets being fired at her behind a piece of wood. She was breathing heavy, but didn't hesitate to get back up and fire some bullets of her own. When she ducked down again for cover, I saw her face was covered in bruised and scratches. But what really hurt me where her eyes.

He once beautiful, fiery brown eyes, now cold and deadly. Her eyes darted around the room, not wanting to be seen by her yet, I ran for cover in the shadows, wanting to get a good look at her. She then reached down and from her sleeve, fell a big army knife.

Oh no.

taking one last breath, she jumped up while her opponent was still firing bullets at her and threw the knife at him. It was thrown with such a force, it went straight through his skin, into his neck. She looked around to see if the coast was clear and headed for the storage room.

It was now or never.

I quietly followed her and when she entered the room, I followed her and shut the door behind me. When I looked up at her, she just stood there, annoyed. Her cold gaze never left me as she crossed her arms.

"do enlighten me, please, as to what the hell you're doing here?" he voice was still beautiful, but it was cold and filled with hate. I put on my guardian mask and shrugged.

"I'm just doing my job. And that requires bringing you back home." She laughed sardonically.

"too bad, cause I'm already where I was born to be, where I belong." That's when my eyes fell on the ring she was wearing on her middle finger. The ring. This was not going to be easy.