Chapter Six

"Come on, Roza," Dimitri's wonderful voice woke me up.

"Carry me," I requested.

"Oh, Rose, we have to go to the meeting, don't forget,"

Nonetheless, Dimitri carried me out of the car, and then gently set me down with a kiss. I snuck a look at Lissa and Christian - who were doing the same. Reluctantly, we pulled away, to head to the meeting, followed by the Royal Guard. Concerned, "What do you think the problem is?" Lissa whispered to us.

"I don't know, but it better be important," growled Christian. Remembering that the Guard was still there, I raised a hand in dismissal at them. I watched as they gave a swift nod and walked off. Probably to chat in the cafeteria, I thought. I waved Eddie back.

"I never got to give you my proper thanks," I told him. "So, thank you."

Eddie just shook his head. "I don't need any thanks, Rose," he gave a small smile to Lissa, "It's our job."

I smacked the back of his head, and watching as he rubbed it, "I know that."

"Anyway, I should probably get going."

I gave a quick nod in agreement.

Christian suddenly spoke, "Liss, you better tell them that you're officially starting the meeting."

Lissa gave him a dazzling smile, "Already done."

We walked into the Meeting Room, of course, Christian left us. Ah... everyone had arrived before us, I saw. Ariana, Alberta, Sonya quickly gave us a smile and a wave as they stood up. The others stood up, but not being close acquaintances with Lissa, just gave a simple nod in acknowledgement.

"Sorry to intervene, Your Majesty," my mother's voice surprised me. "But we were the only ones who witnessed the event first hand." We? I glanced at who was next to her. Hans.

"Please take a seat," Lissa spoke boldly. Then she turned to the others, "What is the situation on this matter?"

My mother's voice rang out without hesitation, "Your Majesty, there has been an attack in the prisons."

Dimitri gripped my hand tightly, restraining me from doing anything.

Nonetheless, he couldn't stop me from voicing my thoughts. "And, where were the Guardians at this time?"

Hans sighed, and I knew it couldn't be good, "Guardian Hathaway, all six lead Guardians were drained of blood. The whole prison was ripped apart and all prisoners were gone."

I froze. Dimitri asked the question I couldn't voice, "Natasha Ozera. Was she gone?"

My mother hesitated, but continued, "Yes, Guardian Belikov."

My mind calculated and processed the event quickly, coming to a solution. "Well there's nothing we can do, can we?"

Hans' voice stopped me. "Hathaway, we sent the basic six-team form after the prisoners. One entire group didn't come back."

I gripped the bottom of my chair. Once again, the Strigoi had gone too far.

I could sense Lissa thinking, but she suddenly decided to rely on us Guardians. "Rose, as Head of the Guardians, if we were to send a team-"

She was rudely interrupted by Nathan and Marie.

"Are you insane?" they outraged. "They'll get killed. You can't send them out like that-"

I looked sternly at the pair of them. "We get killed all the time," I said stiffly. Then I turned to Lissa, "Your Majesty, answering your question, I would like to suggest this. We'll send out two teams. Dimitri and I will lead one. We'll take Vincent and half of Squad One. Alberta, and my mother, can take the other. They'll lead the other half of Squad One."

Ariana intervened, "How do we know the whereabouts of them? Not that I don't think you could handle them, of course..." She bowed her head in respect.

"The Strigoi still think Dimitri's..." I looked painfully at Dimitri, and gulped, "one of them. We could use this as an advantage to find their whereabouts. The Guardians once said yourself that we could."

Lissa looked sympathetically at Dimitri, "Are you sure you'd be right to do this?"

He nodded, but Stanton interrupted, "And what about the humans and Alchemists?How will you do a search without drawing attention?"

Fortunately, Dimitri already had an answer, "If it's alright, we'll make an agreement to avoid the humans as best as we can. In return, however, we would like you yourselves to keep a look out for them."

Ian looked outraged, "And get killed? That's not our job!"

Stanton raised a hand, signaling him to be quiet. Good thing too, I didn't know how much longer I could take this rivaling. Stanton began to speak, "We'll agree. However, you can't expect us to go searching for them."

Lissa gave a simple nod, "Of course not. Thank you." Then she turned back to the rest of us, voice loud and clear, "Does anyone have any objections at this proposition?"

No one moved. Lissa continued on, "Trusty Guardians. Are you willing to send out your members for this mission?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Dimitri, Alberta and Vincent's and my voice voice rang out.

"Fellow Moroi. Are you willing to sacrifice this team of Guardians on our behalf?"

Marie sulked, but nonetheless continued as she heard the other Moroi voices answer, "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Alchemists. Are you willing to look out for these Strigoi in return of our help?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Stanton replied, as she nudged Ian to say the words as well.

"Very well then, this matter is settled. Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov and Guardian Vincent will take half of Squad One. Guardian Petrov, Guardian Alto and Guardian Hathaway will take the other half. Thank you, Guardian Hathaway and Alto for your reports. Dismissed."

We all stood up. The Moroi moved out first, followed by the two Alchemists, and then the Guardians. Dimitri, Lissa and I stayed behind. Lissa glanced at Dimitri's pitiful expression. "Dimitri..." she stammered, "I'm really sorry you have to do this."

"It's okay, Queen Vasilisa," he gave a small sad smile, not unlike the one Eddie had given before. "It's my job."

"Well... I'll leave you two alone," she said, turning to give me a knowledgeable wink before walking off.

I walked up to Dimitri as he stood frozen, giving him a hug. "You don't really have to do this, comrade. I'll find some other way to find them."

"It's okay, Roza. You don't have to sacrifice yourself for me, Rose."

I smiled, reaching up to meet his lips with mine, "I can at least give you this." We kissed, until he decided it was time to pull away.

"Thank you, Roza."

"Well... I guess it's now or never," I encouraged him awkwardly. He nodded, walking over to grab the phone lying on the coffee table, before walking back. He flipped it open, dialling a number.