A/N: I present you with the new chapter, I quite like this chapter, it's not meant to be a filler chapter, just the lead up to an eventful next chapter. Excuse any spelling mistakes, typos or double words. Lol. It hasn't been edited. On a side note I have started a new story, it's called "Nothing Left to Lose" it is my version of Bloodlines, I'm very proud of it and I would love if my amazing readers took the time to read this one. It does come after Last Sacrifice so those who haven't read Last Sacrifice should wait until they have. It will also follow Rose but the first chapter focuses on the four main characters of it. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Thanks heaps for reading. I'd also like to thank XxMusicLuver1xX for being my 35th reviewer, I'd wanted to get to that number. Lol. Thank you to everyone who had reviewed, favourited, story alerted, it means a lot to me.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Except Asher.
"Mikhail Tanner" Sydney spoke again filling the silence as I sat there with my mouth wide open. Lissa held my hand tighter than before clearly confused.
"Okay" was all I managed to get out my mind reeling as I attempted to connect the dots, it wasn't possible for Lissa's sibling to be related to Mikhail…was it?
"That's all I've got for you Rose, if you need to talk again you know what to do." And with that the image of Sydney faded from the screen.
"Mikhail, how can it be Mikhail?" Lissa questioned frantically, her extreme emotions where threatening to pull me into her head
"Calm down Liss, it'll be okay, I'll find a way to contact Mikhail so we can figure this all-out" I gave her hand a squeeze. I sent some calming vibes through the bond; she finally calmed down enough to take a rest.
I knocked on Abe's door hoping to obtain a phone from him. He answered the door looking casual for him, he was wearing dark jeans and blue floral shirt, he had a red kerchief around his neck and his hair sat messily on his head.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Well, Dad. I was wondering if you could provide me with a phone." Every time I called him dad it really hit home that he was my father.
"I sure can Rosemarie" he chuckled and stepped aside to let me in.
I followed him into his room, it reminded me of the room that Asher and I had been held in, it was extremely lavish. It was as if the room was made for Abe, the wallpaper was bright and patterned the furniture was large and over the top and the room was huge.
"Has any new information been found?"
"Only little things, nothing entirely important." Abe replied
"oh…" I sighed, this was frustrating, and I couldn't do anything. "Sydney found the name on the account that Eric Dragomir was depositing money into each month and I need to contact him." I said deciding not to dwell on the bad part of this whole thing.
"Who is this mystery person?" Abe questioned a tone of humour evident in his voice
"It's Mikhail Tanner." I said matter of factly
"I see, that certainly is an interesting development" he chuckled
"so, the communication?" talking to him was already starting to annoy me; I was beginning to understand why it was hard for people to have a conversation with me, I must have been infuriating at times. I knew I could be annoying but surely I wasn't this bad.
"you know Rosemarie talking to you is like having a conversation with myself at times" Abe chuckled as if he were reading my mind
"are you going to help me contact Mikhail or not?" I replied curtly
"always straight to business" he shook his head "now now Rosemarie, patience is a virtue." His laughter filled the silence as I rolled my eyes; surely I wasn't that obnoxious, was I?
"I don't have time or patience for this Abe; this is important, just like finding out the queen's real murderer" He was really starting to piss me off now, I had a low tolerance for time wasters and it was especially bad that it was my own father.
"Fine Rosemarie, we have a few spare cell phones with untraceable numbers, you can call Mikhail from one of those" one of Abe's guardians handed me a cell phone as he looked on, still looking thoroughly amused.
"Thanks Abe" I left Abe's room going back to Dimitri who had been waiting for me the entire time
"what happened?" Dimitri questioned right away the concern evident in his voice.
"No news on the murderer, and the name on the account that Eric had been depositing money too. It was um…it was Mikhail Tanner." I watched as Dimitri's usual calm expression changed to one of shock "I know, it's a strange development…I have to call him." Dimitri nodded regaining his composure and pulled a note book out of his own suitcase flipping through it until he found the correct number. Handing it to me I typed the number into my cell phone. It rung as I felt my heart beating tenfold this was the moment of truth.
"Hello?" his voice sounded gruff and bored
"Mikhail…its Rose"
"Hello Rose" he sounded shocked to hear from me but it was hard to tell over the phone
"I have to ask you about something" there wasn't time for pleasantries.
"Ask away"
"I'm going to cut straight to chase, why was your name on an account that Eric Dragomir was depositing money into?" I questioned
"I got my name put onto the account when Sonya…" he trailed off, I knew exactly what he meant
"oh…do you know who the money was really going to?" I asked
"I don't…I'm sorry, Sonya never told me. She said she had sworn to protect that person's identity." The pain was evident in his voice
"thank you for everything Mikhail…" I sighed, I understood the pain he must be feeling "I'll find her Mikhail, I will" I found myself making a promise I wasn't sure I could keep "Where did you search for her?"
"The last location I'd been searching for her was living on the outskirts of Bennington in Vermont; the town is close to the border of Massachusetts. She only ever wanted to live free of spirit, it wouldn't surprise me if she was still living there. She was living in a cottage near the edges of the Green Mountain National forest; the house was yellow with a white picket fence and a stunning garden…" He spoke as if he was remembering the place by sight, I suddenly understood what had happened; he hadn't been able to kill her. "I must go now, goodbye Rose" he hung up, I don't think he believed that I would keep my promise as much as I did, it was a near on impossible one but I knew that we could do it.
I looked at Dimitri thankful to have him there, I knew how Mikhail felt, and it was a terrible place to be in, I don't think I could've handled being there for over 2 years. Trying to kill Dimitri had been the hardest thing I'd ever done and I had left Russia broken. Mikhail had decided to let Sonya live as a Strigoi because he couldn't handle it.
In only a matter of hours we were boarding a plane to Boston, Massachusetts. Abe had provided us with all the money and resources we needed, even a guardian in Asher, who whilst emotionally fragile was physically strong and had no chance of seeing his Ex-girlfriend as a Strigoi anymore. The only ones left behind were Abe and his guardians who would travel to Russia for now and meet us at the court when enough evidence had been found to clear Lissa's name. Lissa and Dimitri were wanted criminals with very distinguishable looks so they both worth jewellery infused with Spirit to alter their appearances and change their identities to match those of the fake passports the ever resourceful Abe had come up with. I sat between Lissa and Dimitri alert as ever, realistically Lissa was safe with three guardians but I'd never stop wanting to protect her. She dozed off after a while, exhausted by the emotional rollercoaster we were going through.
The flight passed by agonizingly slowly as I sat through the flight alert to my surroundings, people talked, people slept, babies cried, old ladies whined…it was just like a normal flight. The plane safely landed as Lissa finally awoke from her slumber; she'd been out like a light the entire time, she looked a bit pale and a little weak, we'd definitely have to find her a feeder. We arrived at the hotel an hour later, it was a Moroi hotel that Abe had found. I had now acquired my own bit of jewellery to protect my identity, I was famous for my antics and I had no doubt that the guardians would be looking for me as well. According to Lissa I also looked like a Moroi, we'd established that there was no way a non-royal Moroi could realistically have three guardians (Abe excluded) so instead we had become two rich Moroi friends meeting at the hotel to spend a couple of days together in luxury. The first thing we did after checking in was order a feeder to the room, ten minutes after the call was made there was a knock at the door, opening It we found a male Dhampir dressed in hotel uniform and a human girl who was obviously the feeder, the male Dhampir had long blond hair tied back in a neat ponytail under his hat, he had a surprisingly thin face with delicate features but stunning blue eyes. The female feeder would have had to have been in her mid-twenties with long dark hair and deep brown eyes, she was very small in stature and there wasn't much to her, I was surprised she could even walk, she lost so much blood on a regular basis how did her body cope?
Lissa eventually fed and we went back to planning. So far we had all agreed that the best way to gain Sonya's trust and get her to confide in us would be to turn her back, soon Lissa would work to charm the stake we would all take the time to rest with Dimitri and I swapping guarding shifts. Tomorrow we would set out on the 3 hour drive to Bennington and proceed to search for the house, once we had found it we would strike right away in the hopes of catching her off guard and hopefully asleep. Dimitri and I would restrain Sonya whilst Asher helped Lissa to stake her. Dimitri had been adamant about giving Sonya a little time to recuperate and during that time he would stay with her. He was the only one who would understand how she was feeling.
One thing was for certain, tomorrow would be a very long day for everyone involved.
A/N: Tell me what you think =)