Chapter 4

"Quickly! Lord Ozera can't keep that fire going much longer." Mikhail said as we were running down the hall towards freedom.

"Good luck, Rose and for God's sake be careful." Mikhail called after us.

"Thank you!" I called back.

Just as Lissa said my mom and Abe were in an SUV with Adrian and Christian waiting. Lissa crawled in while Dimitri and I got in the trunk. Once we were settled I realized I had forgotten to ask Dimitri what he had done to get thrown into jail.

"Dimitri. What did you do to get thrown in jail?" I asked.

"Oh I um kind of attacked Stan, Alberta, and a few other guardians." He confessed. I was shocked beyond belief to believe that a really hot Russian god would go against EVERYTHING he believed in just for me. Instead of questioning him I started to laugh so hard that my sides began to hurt.

"Quiet Rose we are approaching the gates." Abe snapped.

"Good evening Mr. Mazur. How may I help you?" a guardian asked.

"Oh we were just heading to town to do a little shopping with the kids. They was to dress up for Rosemarie Hathaway's execution. If you will open the gate so we may return by dinner-"Abe said before being cut off.

"Sorry Mr. Mazur, nobody is to be let in or out. Apparently Hathaway and Guardian and Belikov escaped and nobody can find them anywhere." He informed.

"Oh my I just spoke with her, and she seemed very distant. Anyway Lissa will you talk to the guard?" Abe handed over.

"Hi. You will open these gates and let us out then fall asleep and you will not even remember seeing us around here." Lissa said using compulsion.

"Go right ahead Princess. Have a good evening. If you will excuse me I am going to take a nap." The guardian said yawning. Abe began driving soon I could here my mother and Abe arguing over the directions that Mikhail gave them. Finally we pulled over and my mom opened up the back hatch.

"Found the car. Tanner knows how to hide a car without it getting noticed." She said.

We got in the BMW with Dimitri and Mom in the front and me in the back.

"You drive Belikov I will work the GPS." My mo ordered.

"Wait mom we can't drive all the way through to Las Vegas at night. We need to get a motel room for the night then drive through tomorrow." I tell them.

"Why?" Both Dimitri and my mom ask in unison.

"If is anything like Russia at night outside of any town there is always strigoi lurking around preying on unsuspecting cars. It's safest to only travel during the day." I tell them.

"Rose is right Janine." Dimitri said agreeing. My mom nodded and looked back at the GPS.

"We will get a room in Lehigh and sleep until 8am then we will move." She said.

"Rose can you still sense when strigoi are around us?" he asked. I nodded.

"Good." He said not looking away from the road.

I remembered back in Siberia when I went after Dimitri. Sydney and I stopped to stay at a nice couples house for the night. I was asleep when a huge wave of nausea hit making me wake up. I grabbed my stake and went to go check things out. I found two strigoi lurking around the barn. I killed them both then blacked out waking up in the Belikov's home. I loved them and missed them all. Especially Viktoria. A good friend up until I had one of Abe's men go into a house full of blood whores to stop Viktoria from making maybe the biggest mistake of her life and she said she never wanted to speak to me again. So I left.

We drove until we found a motel in Lehigh and got a room with two beds.

"Rose. Janine. Take the beds. I will take the couch." Dimitri said grabbing his duster. I found one of the beds and laid down falling asleep before I knew my head was on the pillow.

The nausea hit hard. I jerked awake. I grabbed my stake and threw a pillow at Dimitri who woke up in an instant.

"What is it?" he asked waking my mom up.

"There's strigoi outside." I said. Both Dimitri and my mom jumped up stakes in hand.

"Stay there Rose." My mom ordered.

"What am I five? No. I'm 18 I can fucking take care of myself!" I snapped.

"Rose do as I say." She growled. I slumped back down and the nausea grew with every passing second they were getting closer. I got up and pulled back the curtains and that's when the door flew open and two strigoi walked in.