First off, wow! The first six reviews I got TOTALLY blew my mind!

Smiles, you are my number one review! I love your reviews. You make me laugh. And I will notify you as soon as I write my book. I am actually writing one… But I personally don't think it's that good. Most of it got lost in my car accident- memory cards; not all that reliable when crushed. I also wanted to congratulate you on your exam grades: for not studying, that is amazing! I have to study- except math- I do horrible either way. PS. U SHOULD GET AN ACCOUNT! I would love to talk to you some other way.

First off, when I wrote this chapter (including ch. 42) it was a total of 28 pages long! So I had to cut it down into 2 chapters(CH. 42 + 43). I was thrilled at how many people liked it. I was worried there wasn't all that much action and I had let you guys down. I put as much insight as I could, and made it realistic.

PS. Rated R for gore scenes.

NOTICE: This next part that happens to Rose, (yes, something happens: duh!) a friend of mine knew someone that this had happened to, so I am NOT making this up. This had actually happened in REAL LIFE! But no worries, that person did survive! If you want to know the story, just ask, and I will do an Author's Note or something.

RECAP:

I snorted. "It doesn't matter to me how much power you have. I have strength and willpower, something you strigoi will never have."

She lunged for me, but someone tackled her before she could manage a single step.

Ch. 43

Dimitri.

I don't know how she did it, but she managed to get out of Dimitri's hold before they even hit the ground. She moved with such absolute speed and strength, it was hard to see her.

Dimitri landed on the ground, head first as the redhead came up to me. "I will be back for you." She said me, and ran towards the opposite direction that the aid tent was not. But I still didn't trust her.

"Dimitri!" I took two large sprinting steps to him and helped him up.

"I heard. I'm alerting Tamara now." He said as he stood up. He took the walkie-talkie out of his belt and talked to her in Russian. I couldn't really hear him; all my focus was now on the bond.

Anxiety ran clear through the bond, but I didn't sense that any of it was for herself. I was sucked into her head for a brief second. Her and Adrian were working on Sarah- the guardian from my training class. Sarah had severe head trauma. Her eyes were loopy, one eye was at the corner of the eye, while the other was at the other end. Her face was covered in blood and her nose is crooked.

I was drawn back to Dimitri's voice, giving orders. He turned to Larisa, Lev and Denis. "Go to the West Wall and meet Gabe and Zena there."

"What about Tammy?" Lev asked, his breathing heavy.

"Let Tammy stay with Lissa and Christian." I said.

"Why?" Denis asked, his voice a little bit angry and annoyed. "She should be with us. We need her here! Rose was right, this is worse than we thought. And to think, there are more to come!"

I was standing behind Dimitri, and came up beside him. "She wants to keep Princess Vasilisa safe. I am sure everyone here wants to make sure Lissa is safe."

They all nodded. "Okay. Go to the West wall and watch for strigoi. They will be there when the walls go down."

Everyone was quiet. "What will happen when a mass of strigoi come in? We are all doomed." Lev commented.

Everyone was quiet. "You guys are the bravest souls I have ever met." Dimitri said. "If anyone came make it through this, it's this family. You are all truly my brothers and sisters. Take care of each other out here."

Rose! Now! Move! You have less than five minutes to evacuate anyone near the walls.

That woke me up. "Go now! Hurry! And remember to evacuate anyone near the bomb areas. Don't stay there long, two three minutes top, then hightail it away from the walls."

They were off before Dimitri could say another word. I took his hand and was off with him.

"Retreat!" Dimitri and I yelled in unison as we ran to the building where the archers were at.

"Get away from the wall! Pass it on!" I yelled.

And Dimitri and I started repeating what we said over and over. Some of the strigoi looked at us like we were idiots, while a couple of them were smart and actually listened.

My family would get them.

A hissing sound made me look up above me and I saw arrows flying above me. That was what was making the hissing sound. Right before me, a strigoi was lunging at me, but a red arrow stopped him from colliding with us.

The red arrow was Tina. "Thanks Tina!" I shouted, not daring to look back.

"Welcome!" She shouted. "You owe me."

I laughed.

Mason appeared by me and his eyes were more troubled than before, his forehead in lines of worry and frustration.

Hurry, we have company.

My legs went from a fast jogging space, to a full-out sprint and my tone became louder.

"Rose," Dimitri said, who was running by my side the whole time, "I think we have went far enough. The others would have gotten the rest by now."

"Follow me." I whispered to him.

I stopped dead in my tracks and Dimitri zoomed by, but he would ketch up. I waited for more instructions from Mase.

Go to the archers and press the button there. Don't hesitate when I say to do it. His voice came through strong, just like a general. If he was still alive, he would have been a great leader.

Why would I hesitate? I thought to him, thinking maybe he could hear my thoughts.

Trust me.

Always. I thought to him, realizing he could hear my thoughts and started at a dead sprint to the building. I couldn't talk; I had to work on my breathing.

Dimitri caught up, and his breathing was heavier than mine. "A little warning would have been nice."

I glanced over to him and gave him a half smile. "I said to follow me."

His breathing was still heavy, but I could tell he was giving me an exasperated sigh and was saying my name in his head with annoyance.

"Подготовитесь! (get ready; sounds like: -por-got-o-ves-is)" Dimitri roared in his native language. "отступление (retreat; sounds like: ots-toe-plain-yah) And in this case, it sounded like "OTS-TOE-PLAIN YAAAAAAHH!"

I told them to get ready and to retreat as well, but in English.

We made it to the building, but it took more time than I had thought it would. Mason still had the look of anxiety on his face; he almost looked constipated.

Together, we ran through the door and up the stairs like a tornado. I went to open the roof door, but it was lock. Not wanting to get shot at, I knocked. "Guardian Belikov and Guardian Hathaway!" I shouted.

The doors immediately opened up, and Tina was there. "Saw you coming Rose. I just had to make sure it was you, not strigoi."

I nodded.

"What are you doing here, Hathaway?" Delos came up beside me. He was polite, but he should have addressed me with my title.

"You will see very soon."

I looked over at the walls, and strigoi were climbing through still, mainly because there were too many guardians over at the gate. Lucky though, I noticed that most of the guardians retreated to the West and East walls, fighting and killing (or being killed) any strigoi in sight.

Give it a few seconds Rose. The strigoi are still climbing the walls, thinking that they would ketch the guardians off guard.

The more I looked at the wall and the gate, the faster I wanted to push the two buttons.

When I say go, push the blue button. Remember what it's for?

Of course I remember! It's for the bombs planted in the ground before the wall!

He didn't comment back andeverything around me went silent. I could feel Dimitri looking down at me. I leaned my head back and looked at him, feeling my heart beat fast because of the adrenaline in the fight.

"You ready for this?" I asked him. His face was had cuts on it, and his expression radiated power.

"Only if you are." He said, looking back at the wall.

Get ready. I extended my arm out, making sure the signal got out.

Go.

I hit the button, and it felt like a nuclear explosion went off. Huge chunks of earth were shot up into the air, more than three hundred feet in the air and there was a loud, angry rumble that can be felt twice as much as it was heard. In the next instant, I saw a huge cloud of fire and dirt surrounded Court for a few moments, then slowly faded.

"HOLY SHIT FUCK!" Delos yelled, sounding completely startled. "A little warning next time would be fantastic!" He glared at me and I shrugged.

The blast made my ears ring, and I am sure that everyone else's ears are ringing too.

Even from way up here and behind the walls, I could feel the heat. The heat was intense and from where I was standing, it felt like it was almost eighty degrees. Strigoi screamed out in pain and panic. And though I couldn't see them, I knew that they were either retreating away from Court, or hurrying to get inside.

I will give them a few seconds and allow them climb the wall. I said to Mason, who was standing beside me.

And on my command, you hit it.

Agreed.

And just as I had thought, strigoi started climbing the walls, hurrying to safety; afraid more bombs will be going off.

Just a couple seconds after the bombs went off, hundreds of thousands strigoi were on top of the wall.

NOW! I said

NOW! Mason agreed, yelling and pumping his fist out in the air.

I hit the button and it was three times intense as it behind the walls. The heat was excruciating; the few guardians that were still around went into a fetal position, but they would be okay (they were far back enough that all they would get was the heat and the feeling of the big boom).

The wall exploded, huge chucks of rock and cement was blown into the sky or a few hundred yards away, front or back.

When the explosion went off, the momentum of the force blew the whole wall to pieces. I thought there would have been chucks left of the wall, but the wall was just crumbled rock.

As the rocks started flying, Dimitri covered me, knocking me down to the ground and laid on top of me, his shoulders and head caving towards my head in a very protective manor. Delos and Tina went into a fetal position a few feet away from me, telling me that they were still standing behind me when the whole time.

Silence was all I heard after the explosion; no screaming or moaning in pain. Dimitri got up and helped me up. I brushed his shoulders, getting the small pieces of dirt and cement that was from the wall.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. I checked his neck and back, making sure he didn't have any serious damage. Lucky there was nothing up more debris and small scraps that will be healed in a few hours.

"Yeah." He said, one of his hands whipping off dirt from my face.

I pulled him into a hug, suddenly wanting to be close to him. I didn't anticipate the debris being that bad, and it worried me that something as big as those rocks that were cemented into the wall, would have hit him.

We pulled back after a moment, and looked down to see what the damage was done.

But instead saw the surviving strigoi stepping over the stones that were once the great wall of Court. The rocks were so big, you can call them boulders. There were so many strigoi. I thought the bombs would have been more affective.

My ears were still ringing, and I shouted to the guardians below. "MOVE, they are coming!"

They weren't listening and I quickly turned around and headed down stairs. They must be in shock if they are not moving as fast as they should be.

I felt Dimitri coming up behind me. "Protect the rest of the guardians." I told him. "We can't split up, no matter what." I said to him, but knew we most likely would.

I found Dimitri's hand gently grazing my injured hip as I climbed down the last flight of stairs. "I'm not going to be leaving your side, Roza."

I smiled gently, even though I knew he couldn't see it. It was a sad smile; he wouldn't mean to, it was unavoidable. We ran out of the building at the same speed we came in.

A few feet away from me, a strigoi was about to lung at a guardian who was still in the fetal position. I sprinted up t the guardian, drawing my sword as I ran. The strigoi heard me coming, but by the time I arrived, he was too late.

My sword's blade sliced through his wrist, cut through both the ulna and radius bones.

The strigoi hissed in pain as blood poured out of his arm like water coming out of a hose.

"You stupid girl!" He yelled and then lunged at me. I spun around, bringing my sword up in the air and as I turned back around, I lowered it with speed and strength, slicing through his neck and shoulders.

But it wasn't over with. I felt another strigoi coming up to me, and I whipped around, drawing the sword back. As I turned to face my opponent, I plunged the sword in the strigoi just as he was stepping up to me.

The strigoi slid down to the ground, and when he was on his back, I took my sword and plunged it into his heart, knowing that in the stomach wasn't good enough.

When I was done with the kill, I looked around of Dimitri. To my left, he was fighting a strigoi, to save another guardian.

I looked at my guardian, and he was already up, staying out of my way. I looked at the guardian, and I was surprise to see who it was.

Gideon.

"Good job, Guardian Hathaway, and thank you."

I nodded. "No problem. Why are you here, and not over there?"

"We retreated. It's worse over there. When you blew the C4 up, it killed the majority of them, giving the guardians a huge help, but we lost a great deal of guardians and we need help."

I sighed heavily, digesting the news. I had no back-up plan. This was it.

Then I heard helicopters. Gideon and I looked out in the near distance and saw military helicopters coming towards Court at full speed.

"Someone must have sent for help." Gideon said, relief in his tone.

"Have you gotten any news from the Council?" Maybe they sent for help.

He shook his head. "I had a PI investigate them, and he confirmed that they were under some sort of compulsion, but he wasn't able to find out who was controlling them or how to get them out."

I blinked in surprise. "You mean that they were under compulsion 24/7?"

He nodded.

I sucked in a deep breath. I wasn't expecting that. "Is the Queen with them?"

He nodded.

"Oh god. Call her! Get through to her! Warn her before things-"

The chopper came closer, almost above us and started firing shots below to us.

And they were shooting at us. Gideon and I jumped apart. He went one side, while I went to the other for cover.

I got up, and took my gun out of my holster and pointed it at them. "I'm a guardian!" I yelled.

I looked up at the helicopter, but I couldn't see anyone, just the bottom part of the green chopper. The chopper moved beyond me, deeming me unimportant and went towards the direction the archers were at.

"ARCHERS, LOOK OUT!" I yelled up to them. Fortunately, they had a few seconds to duck for cover, seeing that they were shooting at Gideon and me. Most went inside the building for cover and came down to and stood beside me.

"That's Guardian war craft." Gideon said from a few feet away. I looked over, and saw him lying down on the ground, blood oozing everywhere.

I ran to him and looked him over. His coat was covering whatever damage up, and I quickly removed that, and tore his shirt off.

I looked down his well sculptured chest and saw a hole just below the armpit; it hit a main artery.

SHIT!

Just then, a bunch of guardians came out of the building right before the gunmen in the chopper started firing shots.

I heard more screaming and groaning in pain, and a few doors open and slamming shut for safety.

"Rose, what's going on?" Christian came up to me. I looked him over and he already had a black eye and a ton of cuts on his arms and face.

"You're supposed to be with Lissa!"

His face became hard. "She told me to leave."

I bet she told him to leave because he couldn't hold in his stomach when it came to flesh wombs. Say, when intestines were hanging out.

I didn't argue; I had too much to deal with. "Take your shirt off."I commanded. He did and handed me his blue shirt. I folded it up and put it on Gideon's wound.

"We need to take him to Lissa. The bastards severed his main artery, he needs help now.

Gideon shook his head. "No."

I glared down. "Yes. Look, I just started liking you. You are not going to die on me now."

A ghost of a smile was on his lips, but was faded into grimace of pain.

"Dimitri!" I yelled.

I looked around. The upside of being superhuman is that you can lift anything seven times your body weight, making Gideon no challenge, but I needed someone to cover me when I am running to the Aid tent.

"I'll cover you," two people said at once. I looked up and saw Christian and Tina. Tina didn't have a scratch on her, but I could see exhaustion written on her face from watching below and firing the bow.

I nodded. I knew Dimitri and I would be separating at one point, I just wish it wouldn't have been so soon.

"I burn, you stake." Sparky said.

She nodded and extended her hand out to him. "Tina Elfrail."

He shook her hand and looked her dead straight in the eyes. "Sparky."

Her lips twitched, but said nothing. I rolled my eyes as I picked Gideon up in my arms. He moaned in pain at the movement. "I'm sorry." I said, feeling bad.

He snorted. I started jogging towards the direction of the Aid tent. I didn't want to run to fast, not wanting to make it too uncomfortable for him.

"I have," he took a breath. He was losing a lot of blood, and I knew it was taking its toll on him. Christian's blue shirt was already soaked in blood, turning black already; "to tell," another breath, "you something."

"Oh?" I asked, not really interested in what he has to say, but knew he had to stay away. If he went to sleep, he would be in a coma. "What is it you need to tell me?"

We were nearing the tent. Three strigoi stepped up and Christian burned them, while Tina staked them. They were a good team.

He hasn't said anything, probably about to go to sleep.

"We are almost there, don't go to sleep on me."

He sucked in a breath. "We are safe at the Aid tent. I had them put a double layer up so Princess Vasilisa would be protected."

I walked up to the tent and walked through. Lissa was working on a guardian who at a dislocated shoulder and a broken nose. There were several moroi doctors in the tent, one of which, Lissa was standing by.

"Okay Lissa, heal him." Lissa put her hand on his shoulder. Her necklace glowed to life, making the clouds in the crystal more noticeable and beautiful. The guardian stiffened when she put her hand on him, but when he left the magic and was healed, he immediately relaxed.

"Thank you Princess."

She smiled.

"Lissa!" I yelled. She whipped her head over to me, her face immediately written in worry. She saw Gideon in my arms and ran over to me, then looked down at Gideon. His eyes were shut, but I knew he wasn't dead. Yet.

"What happened?"

I immediately decided not to tell her who caused it. She doesn't need to know that we are losing. "Gunshot wound. It severed the main artery." I removed the t-shirt and showed her it.

She put her hand up to his wound and just like in the movies, it healed right before my eyes.

Gideon's eyes fluttered open and looked up at us, then looked at his surroundings.

He cleared his throat. "You can put me down now, Hathaway." He cleared his throat, embarrassed at his weak state.

I had half a mind to just drop him, but thought otherwise. I gently eased him on his feet. He nodded. "Thank you, Princess."

She nodded and looked at me.

"I will see you later Liss." I said and she smiled, but relief flooded through the bond.

I'm glad it wasn't you. She said through the bond.

Me too. I said, wishing she could hear me.

I wanted to turn away, but Gideon looked at me before I had the chance.

"You may want to stay here and rest for a few minutes. You lost a lot of blood." I told him.

He shook his head. "I feel better. I have energy now."

I nodded and turned, half jogging out of the tent. He followed.

"You said you wanted to tell me something?" I asked, keeping my eyes opened for threats.

"Yes. You won't believe this, but I am, um…" he stopped and for a brief second, I thought he changed his mind. Maybe he hallucinated?

But then he spoke again. "I'm your uncle."

I almost tripped over myself. My uncle? Are all my relatives hard asses? I should have known!

"Uncle?" I said, half yelling. Uncle Gideon? Uh, it doesn't even sound right!

"Half uncle, really. I have a different mother, but your mother and I have the same father."

"Good lord." I exclaimed. "Is there anyone else I am related to?"

He shook his head. "No. Not that I know of."

"Come on. We can talk about this some other time. We have a war to fight." He said and I couldn't agree more.

"One question though," I asked. He glanced at me, but quickly put his eyes back on his surroundings. "Why did you decide to tell me?"

"Because you had a right to know."

"Thank you." It was his choice in telling me, and he thought I should know I'm related to him. It was generous of him telling me, especially since my mother wasn't telling me that I had more family, or in this case another family member.

We were half way back when I heard more choppers. I looked up and saw that they were still Guardian property. The chopper was coming straight at us, near the chopper flying above us.

"Wait," Gideon said, pulling my arm. "Watch."

I was about to call him crazy, when someone in the perusing helicopter launched an RPG. The grenade flew through the air and into the sliding doors of the chopper, then exploding inside; the chopper blew up into pieces.

Gideon and I ran for cover, but I saw Dimitri was still under the chopper, debris coming down on him, while he fought a strigoi.

"Dimitri!" I shouted, stopping in my tracks, and Gideon flying by. Dimitri didn't seem to hear me, and kept doing his own thing. Someone had to pull him out of there.

And it looks like it had to be me.

I went to run for him, but someone caught my arm. "No, Rose." Gideon said in a commanding voice.

"I have to save him."

"Let him go." He said in determination

"He's my fiancé!"

I tugged my arm free and ran to Dimitri. As I ran to him, I retrieved my stake. I pulled his arm as I came up to him, pulling him away from the fight, staking the strigoi, whose attention was only on Dimitri, not his surroundings.

Rose, look out! Mason yelled at me in horror.

I wasn't able to say another word, because the next thing I knew, I was hit in the head by something falling from the sky. It hit so hard, that I knew it cracked my skull. I saw Dimitri's eyes widen as my legs gave out and darkness started to cloud my vision.

"Rose!" I heard him yell, but it sounded far away.

"Rose, stay with me! Stay awake!" I opened my eyes, not realizing I had closed them. He was running somewhere, but I couldn't feel anything.

"Dimitri." I tried to yell, but it came out as a soft whimper. The pain in my head was unbelievable. Pained went from the crown of my head to the tip toes of my feet.

"I'm here, Roza. You stay awake, you here?" He said sternly, but I heard the worry and panic in his voice.

You're going to be fine, Rosey. Mason yelled, but it was more out of desperation than anything. It's not your time to join me.

Mase, you're not the one to make that call. I was speaking for God on that. But Mase was right, I wasn't ready to join him. Not now. Not ever.

"I'm fine. Set me down." I wasn't fine, though. My vision was hazy, and felt weak.

"Lissa is going to heal you. We are almost there."

My eyes shut involuntarily. He shouldn't be running with me in his arms to the Aid tent. He should have left me there.

Rose! I heard Lissa's panic voice through the bond.

I was too weak to open my eyes or say anything.

"..do it." I didn't hear the conversation, Dimitri was the one who said it and he sounded like he was ready to punch someone.

Pain seared in my skull. The pain was so real that I had never experience such pain before and I screamed. It was like someone just jabbed me in my skull, and was picking at whatever was sticking out.

"Shh, it's alright Roza." But Dimitri's voice sounded strained, like he was about to cry as well.

"Lissa, we have to be ready for this. We can't baby it out…" This came from Adrian.

"Adrian?" I whispered. I felt someone squeeze on my hand, and realized I was no longer in Dimitri's arms.

"I'm here, Little Dhampire. You are going to be alright."

I had enough of everyone telling me I was going to be fine. What was wrong with me?

"Goddamn it! What happened!"

Silence.

"Tell me! Fuck this is me you guys are dealing with, I should have a say!"

"We will tell you when it's over, okay?"

I bit my tongue.

"We should give her Dilaudid." A new male voice said. (A/N: Dilaudid is a drug that is twice as strong as Vicodin). He had to be a doctor

"But that will take her out of the fight." Dimitri said in frustration.

"Guys!" I yelled in frustration.

"Roza, be patient."

"For god's sakes, just do it!"

"Rose-"

"No, just take it out!"

"I don't want no damn meds. It can't be that bad."

More silence.

Rose, girl, you are going to want something a hell of a lot stronger than just Aspirin. You are going to want that Dil- whatever drug. This is serious. Mason thought to me.

I rolled my eyes. "Get it the hell over with." I demanded, using my commander voice.

I felt more presents enter the Aid tent. I heard Denis's and Zena's voice call for me, but someone went up to them to tell and they reluctantly left after a few shouts.

Someone sighed, but it wasn't an exhausted sigh or even an exasperated sigh. It was an uneasy sigh. "Guardian Hathaway, my name is Dr. Von Volkenstein, I am about to-"

"You don't have to tell me." I interrupted him.

"My point, Ms. Hathaway, is that this is going to hurt. I strongly suggest Dilaudid."

"No. Just take it out, and Lissa and Adrian should be ready to heal me."

Dimitri grabbed my hand. "I'm here."

"Dimitri, it's not like I'm giving birth!"

Uh, you're gonna wish you were. Lissa thought to me.

And right after she said that, searing pain cracked through my skull. Something wiggled and it hurt like nothing I had ever imagined. My nerves were crying in pain, and it felt like something was inside my head.

"Ahhh!" I screamed, tears coming down.

"She's bleeding too much! Goddamn it, give her a bag of blood!" Before Adrian said that, the pain dulled, but I could tell something was in my head, and it was torture.

"Pull it out, when we heal, she won't need extra blood." Adrian voiced again, his tone sounding strained.

The Doc picked up whatever was in my skull and pained soared once again. "Oh, my god! Get it out of me!" I screamed. It felt like a millions bees were stinging me over and over again in one spot.

"Hold on, Miss. Hathaway."

"Rose?" Lissa looked in my eyes. I could hardly see her, due to the tears in my eyes. I blinked the tears away and saw her a little bit more clearly. When she spoke my name, her voice was powerful and beautiful, making me feel very happy inside. I felt like I could laugh and smile at anything she said.

"Yes, Lissa?"

"You won't feel any pain when we take this out of you."

"I won't?" I asked, smiling.

She shook her head. "No."

Then a tingling sensation was at a back of my head, followed by a hot and cold sensation through both my body and the bond.

Adrian helped me sit up and wrapped his arms around me tightly. "Goodness, Rose, you were so lucky!" Adrian said, holding me even tighter.

"What was in me?" I asked, feeling dazed.

"A piece of a chopper blade."

My eyes widened. "And I survived that?" By all rights of nature, I should be dead.

"It didn't go past your skull. It broke your skin and went in halfway through your skull, cracking it, but the blade didn't go into your brain. If it did, then you were a goner, but you have an angel looking after you, Guardian Hathaway." Doctor Von Volkenstein said.

Adrian let me go, and Lissa hugged me next. "God, Rose. Stop giving me heart attacks. I won't live much longer!" I chuckled, and everyone gave me glares.

"We mean it Rose." Lissa said angrily.

I held my hands up when she backed up from me to give me her fully fledged princess glare. "I will try, but being a guardian means putting your life on the line 24/7, so there are no guarantees."

Liss punched my arm as hard as she could. When she went to punch me, I saw that her thumb was tucked in her fingers, so when her fist made contact with my skin, I grabbed her fist and pulled her to me.

I looked her in the eyes gently. "Never tuck your thumb in when you go to punch. Always keep it laying on top of your four fingers."

She gave me a half smile and patted her other hand over my hair. "Yes, ma'am."

Tammy stepped up, relief in her eyes. "Don't scare the crap out of me again!"

A gave her a half smile. "Я обещаю (I promise; sounds like: ya-bee-shy-L).

Someone squeezed my hand. "Rose?" I looked to my left and Dimitri was there, holding my hand. "Are you ready to get back out there?"

I looked over at Lissa, and worry lit her face again.

I quickly adverted my eyes from hers, by looking at the ground beside her. I took a deep breath.

God this sucks!

I looked up at Dimitri, let my breath out, and nodded. "I don't have a choice."

"Be careful." Adrian said, his green eyes filled with worry.

I nodded and hopped off the table that they had set me on.

Dimitri took my hand in his, squeezed tightly than I would have expected him to do, and we were off.

"Don't you ever come back and save me like that!" He scolded me.

I looked over at him, startled. We were a few feet from the Aid tent when he spoke. "Like you wouldn't have done the same!"

He didn't say a word.

Thank god you're okay! Mason said. I thought I was too late.

I let out a breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Mason." It was him who was looking out for me. Though, I don't know how he did it.

I heard sniper shots, and it drew my attention up into the sky. There was a battle going on up there, but screams a few hundred yards from me said otherwise.

I took in my vicinity, and estimated that there was more strigoi now, than there was before the bombs went off.

"It backfired!" I exclaimed. It was tragic. Horrific. My heart dropped. We were going to lose.

"No Rose." Dimitri said and pointed into the distance where lights were shinning in the dark. "Look. More help is on the way."

"Or it could be more strigoi!" I said angrily.

He shook his head. "They wouldn't have lights on the chopper. Come on. We need to get down there and help. Have you used your grenades yet?" He dropped my hand, after giving it a gentle squeeze.

I shook my head. "Good, me either. I have a feeling we are going to use them now."

I nodded, and together we ran.

"Alert the Cobra's, have them come here."

"I already did. They were at the tent when I told them you were hurt."

When we arrived to help the others, I couldn't help but notice how many guardians we had lost. My heart tightened when I saw some familiar faces. Sarah, George's fighting partner, was among them.

Dimitri and I immediately engaged ourselves, helping those in need of our assistance, but I soon realized that I was growing tired.

I looked around and saw Lev. He was fighting two strong strigoi at one time. But the strigoi were most definitely guardians before turning, because they knew what they were doing.

The two were a team just like Lev and Denis were. One distracted while the other went in for the kill. It was like the strigoi were studied them and were using their own moves against Lev. It was sickening!

I couldn't get to him. I was too far away with Dimitri, so I could only watch as my brother, Lev, was forced into an unbreakable situation.

What do you think is going to happen to Lev? Do you think Rose will get there in time to save him? Please review. I only got eight reviews last time :(