Sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoy.
I don't own Vampire Academy.
Adrian POV
"I got shotgun!" I yell as I run up to one of the four SUV's the Queen loaned us for out 'trip'. She was also generous enough to loan us ear communicators, survielance maps and blue prints of the prison and extra weapons. I climb into the seat to find Dimitri at the wheel, Tasha and four other guardian are in the back. I pull out the highway map of Pennsylvania to unfold it, looking for the quickest route to Rose. "Hey Dimitri, it looks like the prison is off Highway 6, so if we take..."
"I know how to get there Ivashkov." Dimitri cut me off. "The other guardians and I studied the maps last night and found the quickest route to follow. Don't worry, we'll get there as fast as we can." I fold the map back up, disappointed not having something to occupy my time on the long trip. I sit back in my seat and close my eyes as the feeling pooling in my gut starts to consume me. The worry and the fear of what Rose is going through is making me nauseous. Is she being tortured? Is the bastard feeding off her again? Is she even conscious? The anticipation of getting her back is warring with the more negative feelings, causing me to fidget in my seat. My leg is bouncing up and down at warp speed and I find myself staring at the window I keep rolling up and down. I imagine running to her and taking her into arms and kissing her all over. My heart starts beating faster as I can already feel her warm body against mine, the way her lips perfectly fit with mine when we kiss, the silkiness of her hair as I run my fingers through it and the sound of her voice when she whispers my name. Oh my god, can't we go any faster?
"Adrian, I now you're anxious to get Rose back, but if you don't calm down, I'm going to light your hair on fire." Tasha growls from the backseat. Man, pregnant woman sure can be mean. I look back to her and see a very scary look on her face. I immediately straighten up in my seat and cease any unnecessary movement. I glance over to Dimitri and see a smirk on his face.
"You find something amusing Belikov?" I ask him.
"I'm just glad she has someone else to bitch about." Those pregnancy hormones must be something else if they can cause someone as nice and bubbly as Tasha to get cranky. I can just imagine how Rose will be when she's gets pregnant. I'll need to invest in some body armor. I can't help laugh at the picture in my head of me in a big padded suit getting smacked around by a very pregnant Rose. Dimitri gives me a puzzled look at my outburst. "What's so funny?" he asks.
"I was just wondering what Rose would do when she's pregnant if someone as nice as Tasha is going around threatening to light people on fire?" I laugh again. Dimitri joins me before we both stop with a shudder at the thought. That's going to be nine really rough months, but totally worth it. I can just imagine what our little Dhampir babies will look like. I hope the girls have her gorgeous hair and my eye color, her tan complexion, and striking features. Well, maybe not. I can just imagine all the boys I'll be having to beat away from my little girls. Maybe just having boys will be best. They'll be tall like me but with Rose's strength and deep brown eyes. Whether boy or girl, I know they'll all have Rose's fierce attitude and my cunning nature. Look out world, I hope you're ready.
I must have dozed off because I'm being shaken awake by Dimitri. "We're at the motel. Go put your bags away and feed if you need to. We leave again in thirty minutes." he tells me. I jump out of the car and go to pay for all the rooms. Luckily, my wonderful Celeste called ahead and had a bunch of rooms reserved for us. I have everyone roomed with their guardians, except me. I plan to spend some alone time with Rose when I get her back. I grab a backpack and put in a change of clothes for Rose, a couple bottles of water and her stake that was found in the ashes. Before I go back out to the cars, I sit in the bed and try to find her once more, but with no results. I'm not an overly religious man, but I send up a silent prayer that we find her alive and bring her home safely with no loss of life on our side. That hum that I've felt letting me know Rose is alive has gotten stonger the closer we've driven to the prison. I hope that means we're heading in the right direction. All the emotions I've been keeping down to help me get through the day are starting to boil over as my eyes water up and tears overflow. A sob escapes me as I grab a pillow and bury my face in it to muffle my cries. I quickly get a handle on myself and walk to the bathroom and splash cool water on my face. I take a few cleansing breaths and refocus on the task at hand. I have to be strong now. Rose is depending on me.
I walk out to the car to leave and see Dimitri and Christian arguing with Tasha and Lissa. "There is now way in hell you are coming with us in your state." Dimitri tells Tasha. He must have a death wish after what she threatened to do to me just because I was moving around too much.
"I can help, Dimka. Rose is my friend too. You need me." she pleads.
"And if you think you're keeping me away from Rose, Christian, you're sadly mistaken." Lissa growls. I know Lissa seems nice and harmless, but it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for. She can be pretty scary when she wants to be.
"Lissa, do you know what Rose will do to me when she finds out I let you come along? I'm sorry, but I like having all my limbs in their proper places. You and Tasha are staying here with Guardian Davis and out of danger." he says with authority. Of course with the death glares he's getting from the both of them, he quickly retreats back and gets into a waiting car. I walk over and try to help reason with them.
"Come on ladies, you know Rose will skin us all alive if we let you anywhere near the danger that awaits us. So please, if you care for us at all, stay here where it's safe. We'll bring her back to you as soon as we can." They both stare at me for a moment before conceding. After giving their men a hug and kiss for luck, they head back into one of the rooms with a guardian. We figure since it's still daylight, and Tasha is a fire user, one guardian should be sufficiant.
After a thirty minute ride, we find ourselves at the front gates leading to the now defunct prison. The gate was a huge wrought iron monster. The type you'd imagine guarding a haunted castle. Keeping us from opening the gate is thick chains and an emormous lock. Thankfully, someone thought to bring bolt cutters for just this occasion. With that obstacle out of the way, we plunge forward through the vast prison grounds until we see the enormous buildings in front of us. I knew the place was big, looking at the photos and blue prints, but nothing compares to seeing it in person. It's going to take forever to find Rose in this place. We all unload out of the vehicles and stand as a united front against inhabitants of this lair. I look over to Dimitri for instruction since he is head guardian on this mission. I know he wants to get Rose out of this hell hole as much as I do. Normally, knowing his feelings for her would be cause for jealously, but right now they fuel my cause, so I gladly accept it.
"We only have a couple more hours of daylight, so lets use that to our advantage. Jake, do your thing." he commands. I look to my right and see our air using Moroi step out of line in front of us and lift up his arms. Suddenly, all the windows around the building shatter as the air presses the panes of glass to their brink. The sound is deafening and our presence is surely known now. I just hope Rose isn't caught in the resulting shrapnel. We all cover our ears and cower to the ground to avoid getting hit with the flying glass ourselves. I must say, that was pretty cool. It took a lot out of Jake, though, as he collapses to the ground. His two guardians pick him up and take him to the vehicle that has the stores of blood we brought along for just this situation.
Dimitri then splits us into three groups. He, Christian, me and four guardians go the the left, Jake, Mia and five guardians go to the right while Amy and the rest of the guardians stay outside incase any Strigoi get out. Amy says she's more effective outside than in. We start walking to the nearest door, and I'm so nervous I'm starting to sweat. That feeling of mine is getting so strong, it's like it's pulling me toward Rose, I just need to follow it. Christian and Guardian Smith are in front and Dimitri is right by my side, with the rest of our group bringing up the rear. "How come you're not up there with Christian leading the way?" I ask Dimitri. He's the leader, you'd think he'd be leading.
"I promised Rose that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I keep my promises." he says bluntly. Okay. Before we open the door leading into kitchen, I open my backpack to pull out Rose's stake and secure it to my belt. Dimitri gives me a questioning look, since Moroi don't usually use them.
"It's for Rose. You know she's going to want to help, no matter what condition she's in." I tell him. He considers this for a second and nods with a small smile on his lips. He knows I'm right. Smith opens the door and starts to walk in. My stomach tightes in knots as I follow. I don't know how guardians do this time after time. Hopefully I can convince Rose to marry me and leave this world behind so I never have to worry about her getting hurt again. We walk a few yards and come to a stairwell. Up or down? Smith starts walking up and we follow, but that feeling, that pull toward Rose, is telling me we're going in the wrong direction. I stop in my tracks, causing Dimitri to nearly knock me over.
"What's wrong?" he whispers. I don't know how to explain to him what my gut instinct is telling me as I shake my head. I turn around and start descending the stairs. "Where are you going?" he whisper yells at me. I don't stop because the pull is getting stronger. I don't have time to explain, needing to get to Rose as fast as I can. I can hear footsteps behind me, so I'm guessing he or all of them are following me. I get to the bottom and see that I am at the entrance of a large tunnel system. Of course, Stephan would have her locked away out of the sunlight. From where I stand, I have the choice of going in three directions. I start down my right, but it doesn't feel right, so I retreat. I try the middle corridor, but again, not good. So naturally I go down the left tunnel and feel the pull getting stronger and stronger.
I turn around a bend and come to a hault. I see an alcove on the right with a flickering light coming from above. I also hear someone moving around. I don't know if whoever is in there heard me coming so I tip toe as quietly as I can to take a peak. When I peer around the corner, what I see chills me to the bone. Rose is laying on the ground unconscious, beaten and bloody with a Strigoi hovering over her. I must have gasped involuntarily because the Strigoi whipped his head around in my direction, blood covering his lips. My gaze falls to Rose who has fresh bite marks on her neck. That son of a bitch! Rage floods my every cell as my muscles tighten and my heart beats faster. All I want to do is kill this monster for touching her. I start to charge at him for hurting my love, when I'm stopped by someone grabbing my arm and holding me back. I turn to see who would do such a thing and see Dimitri. The others aren't with him, most likely looking elsewhere for Rose. I try to pull myself from his grip, but he's too strong. Damn him.
The Strigoi staightens himself out and strolls over to me. "Finally we meet Adrian Ivashkov. Let me introduce myself, I'm Stephan Giordano. I've been waiting for you to come, you always do." he says with a sick smile on his face. "Since I plan on killing the both of you very soon, I couldn't help myself but indulge in one last taste of her sweet nectar." he wipes the blood that has dribbled on his chin with his finger and licks it off, clearly enjoying himself with the moan that escapes his throat. Sick bastard. My heart is now pumping out of my chest as he inches himself closer and closer to me. My eyes flicker down to see Rose on the ground, her eyelids fluttering. She's waking up. I let out a large breath in relief. I turn my gaze back to Stephan hoping he won't notice her stirring.
"So, you're the sick fuck that's been hunting down my family for generations." I say as I slowly pull the stake from behind my back to somehow get to Rose. I need a diversion, but what?
"No, not just any Ivashkov, you. You betrayed me in the worst way. The both of you, and you must pay over and over again." he seeths. Man, he really is crazy. Suddenly, a noise from behind me grabs his attention away from me. I take the opportunity to toss the stake to a now fully aware Rose. She catches it in the air and quickly conceals in underneath her. "I see you brought backup. Well I'm sorry to tell you it won't do you any good. I too have reinforcements." As he says this, another Strigoi walks up from the opposite directions from where we came. With the cowboy boots and jeans he's wearing, he looks like he could've just gotten off a horse.
"Is that all you've got? You think Billie Bob here is going to protect you from him?" I say pointing to Dimtiri who looks like he could kill Stephan just by looking at him. I hear Rose give a little snort but thankfully Stephan is too busy watching Dimitri to notice. The tension is rising to an almost choking level as we all just stand watching each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. I see Rose out of the corner of my eye, inching herself closer to Stephan. Surely the cowboy must notice, but isn't making her movements known to his boss.
"I believe it is time for you to die now. The only decision left is how to do it. Should I drain you first? Or perhaps I can just twist you neck in one clean movement. You'll never even feel it, or so I think." As Stephan is babbling away, Rose is getting ever closer. By the time Stephan finishes his rant, Rose pulls the stake out from under her and jams it into his calf, causing him to scream out. Dimitri makes his move to stake him, but he's too fast and grabs me instead. He pulls me to him, using me as a shield in front of Dimitri. He has me in a headlock, one hand pulling on my hair, the other arm around my neck. Shit! "That was foolish Rose. Now yours and his death will be extremely painful. Thomas, grab her and take her to my private quarters and wait for there. I will dispose of this guardian and meet you." he says never taking his eyes off Dimitri.
I can't see Rose in the position I'm in, but I hear her being pulled up to her feet as she groans from the obvious pain her wounds are causing her. I hear a loud grunt and what sounds like a fight behind me. Rose must be giving the other Strigoi a run for his money, even in her weakened state. Stephan turns us so that we can see what's going on. Rose is punching and kicking as best she can, but with the bloodloss she recently received, she won't be able to keep it up much longer. Just when it looks like Rose is out of steam and the Strigoi is about to break her arm, his hair burst into flames. I turn my head expecting to see Christian come to the rescue, but I'm surprised to see Tasha and Lissa standing behind Dimtri.
Lissa POV
"I hate always being left behind just because no one thinks I'm strong enough." I whine. This always happens. It seems everyone around me views me as some delicate flower that can't handle any stress, so they keep things from me and leave me behind when the action starts. This is Rose we're talking about. She's done more to protect me than anyone else ever has and I won't sit idly by waiting for news as to whether she made it out alive or not. I look over to Tasha and watch her pace the floor. She's usually one of the people right in the thick of the battle. Being pregnant must be really inconvenient for her right now.
"I know what you mean. Using my magic isn't going to harm the baby. Dimitri is just being overprotective." she scowls. I have this overwhelming feeling that we need to be there. Rose needs our help more than she needs us hiding away in some old motel room. I take Tasha by the elbow and lead her into the bathroom, out of earshot of our guardian captor.
"I say we go anyway." I tell her straight out once I shut the door. She looks surprised that I would suggest such a thing, but quickly agrees.
"How are we going to do that? Guardian Arnold isn't going to let us." Tasha asks. I give her a smile as I point a finger to my head, compulssion of course. We walk out of the bathroom and I walk straight up to Arnold and look him right in the eye.
"I think it would be best if we joined the others on the rescue mission." he looks dazed and nods his head.
"You're right. We should be there." he says.
"I think you should drive the three of us to the prison right now." I continue.
"Why don't we leave now to get to the prison. The others will need our assistance." he says. That was a lot easier than I thought. We climb into the car that the others left behind in case of emergency and head of toward the prison. My stomach is doing flip flops as I realize what I just got myself into. I try my best to push those feelings aside and conjur up all the courage I can muster. I need to be strong for Rose. Christian is going to kill me.
We get there and see the others have already broken the chain at the entrance. We see the other vehicles and park right next to one. Jumping out, I look around and see that the sun is almost set, which scares me even more. I help Tasha out and we walk to the closest door. We see a stairwell and decide that down would be the better choice since there would be no windows down below, hence no sunlight. We get to the end and see a series of tunnels. It becomes obvious which way to go when I hear voices talking down the left path. We quietly follow the source of the voices and I Rose's name mentioned. I peak around the corner to see a Strigoi holding Adrian captive while Rose is fighting another. She looks rather weak as she tries to fight off the Strigoi. Tasha pushes me aside and points her finger at Rose's attacker, lighting his hair on fire. Rose takes his distraction to good use and plunges her stake into his heart, killing him.
Adrian POV
Stephan must be nervous because his hold on me just got a lot tighter. Rose turns to face him now, looking like she's about ready to collapse. "Let him go now, and I'll kill you quickly. If you don't, I'll make you suffer far more than I did." she promises.
"Oh my pretty Dhampir, if you only knew how many times we have been in this exact situation, and I always win. This lifetime will be no exception." he purrs. Next thing I know I see a flash of light whiz above my head and then being pushed into a very large Russian guardian. I turn around just in time to see Rose punch Stephan right in the nose a couple time while he tries to put the fire out on his head. She then pulls her silver stake up, ready to strike.
"I promised you I would kill you and free your soul. I always keep my promises." Rose says as she raises her stake and tries to stab him, but he's too quick. Dimitri pushes me off him and runs over to help Rose. The three of them circle each other until Dimitri attacks, taking Stephan's attention away from Rose as she brings down her stake into his back and through his heart. His body goes limp and slowly falls against the wall and slides to the floor. Rose follows him down, her hand still on her stake. She doesn't pull it out until she's sure that he is dead. She sits on the dirty ground looking at the dead Strigoi, a tear rolling down her cheek. I quickly jump up and run to her. I fall on my knees in front of her and pull her to me. I bury my head into her hair and let the tears fall. She's alive and safe now. I feel her arms wrap around me too, and sqeeze me tight. I never want to let her go as we sit here on the floor. I finally pull away so I can look at her beautiful face that I've missed so much. She has fresh cuts and bruises on her face that I quickly heal. I pull away more so I can inspect her body. She's only wearing her bra and panties, making it easier for me to see her injuries. Lissa runs over and helps me by healing the bottom of her feet which are covered in blood. I get to her stomach and it all carved up. I gasp when I see it and reach out to vanish it from her skin, when she stops me. "Don't heal that one. Bob carved me a rose. He helped me out before when he let me sleep long enough to contact you." she whispers to me. I indulge her now, hoping that in time she'll see it as a reminder of this horrible ordeal and want it gone. For now I think it best if I don't push it.
"I love you Rose." I tell her as I bring my lips to hers.
"I love you too Adrian." She kisses me back and wraps her arms around my neck. I lift her up and carry her out of this hell hole, hoping we don't run into anymore of Stephans friends. I get to one of the cars and climb into the backseat and sit with Rose and my lap. I hold on to her tight as I stroke her hair. I can hear her breathing heavily and notice that she has fallen asleep. We sit in the car waiting for the rest of the team to come out before we head back to motel and away from this nightmare. Now that I have my Rose back and Stephan is dead, the adrenaline that has sustained me is wearing off and I drift to sleep.
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