Hi guys! Sorry for the long UD! and i can't make the usual shoutout! but lot's and lot's of love ya'll..WHy you may ask?

1. I'm bleary-eyed and have a pounding headache(hangover like-which is totally unfair coz I didn't even get drunk) that there's climate change, it's summer here and we've got typhoons and black outs in random intervals...bummer...

so so sorry if i can't do the usual shoutouts guys! and for the possible mistakes you might spot in today's chapter! i'm wrapping this up quickly...SORRY!

Read and Review guys!

love

AudenPaige0.o

Chpater 15

Adrian, Adrian!…Where the hell are you? We've been set out for about 3 minutes after they gave us a spare stake and overview on where the Strigois where coming from and where we should head in case of emergencies. The student dhampirs they set out where about 100, 50 from my class then 50 from the lower years who where qualified.

I keep on tuning on and off with Lissa just to check if she is okay with Christian and my other moroi friends, also to check if she's with Adrian, so far, no luck.

I trudged with Merideth, my partner in this mission we were assigned in pairs, we were supposed to report to the guardians and designated places to be protected.

I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I immediately stopped in my tracks and reached over to stop Merideth in our progress.

"Wait…" I said to her and cocked my head to my right, "Look over there." I directed her to to get ready from where I could feel my sickness from. Then like my nightmares, a lone strigoi emerged from the depths of the woods. The red rimmed eyes, hungry look in the face and the aura of the undead. I didn't know the face of the strigoi to which I was thankful for.

I felt Merideth tense beside me, unlike me, she has been housed inside the academy without any outside experience of the devastating destruction these monsters were capable of.

And just like any sparring, we positioned ourselves to get ready and fight for our lives. We moved feet apart to cover grounds. The strigoi made the wrong choice of going to Merideth's direction, that left me free. I waited a few milliseconds and then I gave a signal to Merideth to move away. That was when I made my move, I ran to the back of the strigoi and kicked him hard in the back.

This did not faze the strigoi, it only made him turn and face me which Merideth took advantage of, she crouched and turned around so that she could kick the srigoi's ankles hard. Caught off guard, he fell to the side, Merideth uickly pinned him down, and that was when I stabbed him in the chest, right through the heart with the stake I was given.

I could tell that Merideth was a bit shaken with our first encounter, but I gotta hand it to her because she didn't lose her cool. I gave her a thumbs up while she smiled.

We then quickened our steps to proceed to the guardian headquarters. I'm really thankful that they assigned me to the headquarters. It is the most vulnerable place because they were gathering the high school moroi students there, most of them from the Royal families.

I just hope that the strigois haven't figured out yet where they were hiding.

We continued our pace, we didn't encounter any stigois but we heard on going fights from different directions and I kept on getting nauseous from it, but we didn't let our guards down.

When we saw the headquarters up ahead, we broke into a sprint to help the guardians. The guardians were trying to hold off five strigois who were trying to break their formation and get into the building.

We quickly joined the fight without hesitation and helped them. At first, it seemed like the fight was in our favor, strigois were backing down, though no one has managed to take one down yet, they were slowly backing down.

But two more emerged from our right which helped our opponents, now the fight was in their favor. The guardians present in the fight were 9, including Meredith and me. There were a few more scattered around the building who keeps an eye out for any more incoming threats and a few more inside in case of an emergency infiltration.

A few more minutes of struggling, it seemed like they were coming off from anywhere, they all simultaneously burst into flames. Fire could kill a strigoi, but the fires in them were not enough to kill them, just to distract them. We all took this in our advantage and staked them one by one while they were in shock because of the fire, we wasted no time.

They were too busy putting out the fire, and one by one, we staked them right in the chest without delay. They crumpled to the ground before they even realized that we staked them.

We stood there for a moment, then I quickly whipped my head back to the building. Just as I thought, I saw a snarky smile from none other than fire boy himself who seemed too please with himself.

He gave me a salute and I couldn't help but smile gratefully at him.

I looked beside and behind him and saw nothing but lights and people running around in panic.

'Where's Adrian?' I mouthed at him, not sure if he could hear me if I screamed at him through the glass.

He looked over his shoulder for a long time, the whole time I was biting the inside of my cheek praying that he spots him. When he turned back, Lissa was by his side, they looked grave and at the same time shook their heads.

'He's not here Rose. We don't know where he is.' Lissa messaged me through the bound. I turned away from the building and watched the woods in front of me, hoping to God that Adrian turns up unscathed. But after a minute or so watching the silence of night and woods, nothing. He was not coming.

I looked back again and saw that the guardian were huddled together discussing something. I approached their group and saw a map in one of the guardians pointing at some spots. I tapped one and when he turned around-

"Dimitri! We have to find Adrian! He's not inside with the other morois!" I saw no emotion pass in his face, and then it quickly changed to worry when the words finally sunk in.

He turned back to the guardians . "Did anyone see prince Ivashkov anywhere?"

The guardians stopped for a moment and one turned and ran inside to check. We all waited for that one to come back. After a few seconds he returned with the same worried expression on Dimitri's face.

"When did you last see him Rose?" Alberta asked me.

"In the benches by the gardens. We were talking with Liss and the others. Then we parted after that. He and Lissa practiced for a bit though. Then I don't know where he went to next." I said to them.

"Please, let's find him!" I plead them quickly.

They all looked at one another. Then as if they were communicating as one, Alberta said "Guardian Belikov, please go with Rose and search for Prince Ivashkov. If by any chance he turns up in this part or anywhere near, will let you now." Alberta instructed. She also pointed at a walkie-talkie somewhat device that helps guardian communicate with each other.

Dimitri nodded and without thoughts or complaints from me, we both set out to find him.

We first trudged to the guest housing not far from the headquarters, we were hoping to find him in his room and still unaware of the situation, but it was a faint probability since alarm systems were sounding of at every part of the school, anyone holed up in his or her room would've heard it by now and proceeded to the safe and secure areas.

Dimitri and I didn't speak during our journey. When something entered my mind and I stopped in my tracks. I felt my blood run cold.

"Oh my God Dimitri…Adrian is not a student here, he doesn't know the drill! Where to run and hide or the safe areas and headquarters around the school!" My voice quavered and rose higher to every word.

He grabbed my hand and moved forward faster, practically sprinting now. "We'll find him, don't worry." He said determinedly. I shook my head to clear it for a moment, to let my thoughts not waver with panic.

When we were a few meters away from the guest housing, we saw a strigoi lurking in the shadows. We quickly turned into battle mode. And like the pair we were trained to be, we battled the monster with flawless ease since we knew each other's move and anticipated it, we moved in sync.

After I plunged the stake to the strigoi's heart and watch him crumple to the ground, I ran up to the stairs of the guest housing where two guardians where by the door, not protecting it.

"Is anyone there left?" I asked the first one who looked at me intently first. They both checked first if I was a strigoi or not, my eyes and my scent and the temperature in my palm. I got impatient but knew better than to stop them.

The guardian then stood aside.

"Sorry miss. But I and Guardian Stavros here are left, oh yeah, there's also another guardian inside just in case. But no, no other moroi, guest or student." He spoke in a business tone at me.

I expected this, but I couldn't help it when my heart plummeted, I somehow hoped that he would be here. I looked back to Dimitri who stayed guard outside down the stairs in the building and shook my head. He only nodded and beckoned me to continue our search.

Where would Adrian go?

I tuned back to Lissa just to check if he's already there and to check also for my friends safety.

Through the bond, I could feel Lissa's emotions. She was worried about me, Eddie and of course Adrian. She also feels anxious being inside since Christian was outside by the door in the guardian's headquarters. It seems like he was permitted to go out and help the guardians but not leaving the premises of the building.

Oh Rose, I hope you find him. He must be pretty scared and worried sick right now.

At Lissa's words, the same thought popped into our heads at the same time. And I'm now absolutely sure where he is, or where he is heading or , I gulped, where he has been if he was not caught,yet.

I just hope we find him before the strigois do though.

Adrian, please. I hope you're not hurt.