A/N:Hey guys! Sorry this update is a day later than what I promised, but it's much longer than the last one, so I think you'll be pleased. When Dimitri was depressed in the last two books of the series, I seriously thought "Someone needs to smack him around a bit!" That way he snaps out of it. So the dream sequence in the beginning of this chapter pretty much explains that. You're starting to get more action out of Dimitri now, so I hope you enjoy this chapter, I know I did.

The conversations between Dimitri, Oksana, and Yeva are all intended to be spoken in Russian, I'm just too lazy at the moment to look up translations, everything else in DPOV is english...

Also, Dimitri's middle name and Oksana's last name were never mentioned in the books, so I came up with my own versions, what do you think? Read and Review!

"The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn." -DavidRussell

DPOV

As the darkness took over all my senses, I started to have one of those 'out of body experiences'. The one where your subconscious has fallen into a dream and you're fully aware of it. The blackness soon cleared and I found myself standing in a large meadow. I felt a gentle breeze as it cascaded across the knee-length grass and swirled around my body. I glanced up to see a beautiful sunset painted across the clouds in the sky. Wherever I was in this dream, it was wonderful.

But then I sensed a presence in the grassy field with me. To the left of me I saw a woman appear. Her silhouette was blurry at first, but then slowly it focused and became more sharp. I sucked in a quick breath, it was Oksana Reznikova. I remember her from when I was a young teenager where she and her husband Mark moved into a house close to where my family lived in Baia, Russia. I remember I used to follow her husband Mark around like a lost puppy, begging him to show me guardian moves and tell me fight stories.

But that was so long ago. I distantly wondered why I was dreaming of her, I didn't know much about her aside from the fact that my grandmother, Yeva, was very fond of her-claiming she enjoyed her company and particularly because Oksana seemed to share similar gifts as her. But I really didn't know anything else about her, other than she was a nice neighbor that would sometimes give me and my sisters really good slides of black bread that almost rivaled my mother's.

"Dimka, it's been too long. And look at you! A healthy, grown man! I remember like it was just yesterday that you were a lanky teenager." she said, her accent very heavy. I smiled at her in response. She returned the gesture but her smile soon turned into a deep frown, "I'm sorry..." she murmured.

I arched an eyebrow, what did she mean? But my silent question was soon answered. I heard a rustling in front of me, I turned my head to see what it was and I stopped breathing altogether.

I saw the small frame of my grandmother, Yeva Belikova, stalking towards me. The soft breeze whipped back her gray hair to reveal her dark piercing eyes, and at this moment they were filled with a murderous glare. I was confused as to why she was also in my dream, but my musing was abruptly stopped as my grandmother made the last quick stride up to where I was standing and like a flash of lightening, she stuck me across the cheek with great force. What the hell! I mentally retorted.

And as if she could read my thoughts, she struck me again. This time much harder.

"Ow, babushka! Stop it..." I whined back.

A low growl rumbled in her chest and I gulped right before she slapped me for the third time.

"You will speak when spoken to." she hissed in growl. I took a step back and stared back at her in complete bewilderment. What was the meaning of all of this?

Yeva eyed me levelly before snapping, "Don't you dare use than look on me Dimitri Andrick Belikov or so help me..."

I straightened myself up and composed my neutral guardian mask. I spared a quick glance at Oksana and she was giving me a look of sympathy. "Dimka, I know this all seems very strange, but this is real to an extend. We're real. The dream not so much, but I can only wield my spirit energy for a little longer. So please pay attention."

"You're a spirit user?" I asked her. Now I do remember Princess Valisa mentioning another spirit user that Roza met when she came to visit my family, but I wouldn't have thought of Oksana, yet again when I was younger she never showed signs of her specialized element...

"Yes I am." she replied back pulling me out of my thoughts.

I sensed Yeva walk back up to me and I prepared myself for another slap, but instead I was embraced in a tight hug. "I knew Roza would find a way to save you..."she mumbled into my chest. I flinched hearing Rose's name spoken aloud.

The next words I spoke, I immediately regretted, "But it wasn't her babushka. Princess Vaslisa saved me." My grandmother immediately shoved herself out of the hug and struck my cheek again. I could feel the nerves start to go numb.

"She may have been the one wielding the magic, but Roza was the one to save you. How could you be such a heartless disgrace of a man and say such a thing!" she shouted.

I was too ashamed to answer her. Everything she said was right. Nothing I said anymore made sense. I was starting to loose my old self altogether.

Oksana whispered something to Yeva that I didn't quite catch. She nodded her head at her and turned back to me.

"I don't have much more time, so I'll make this quick. The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. You have been given the blessing of a second chance of life Dimka, yet you're choosing the wrong path."

My eyes widened. Does she know what I've said to Rose? My grandmother gave me knowing look.

"Self-loathing over memories is the task of a coward. Hurting the ones you love is the job of a fool. And making irrational actions is the act of an idiot." Each word she spoke was filled with venom. But what she said next terrified me, "Right now Roza needs you. She will not admit this for quite some time, but her future and life depends on your strength. Something you have lost."

My heart started to ache remembering all that I did and said to Rose. I could feel my depression waking back up inside of me. But my grandmother's words stopped me from slipping under. I felt there was so much truth in her words. And here she was telling me Rose was in danger.

Over the past few days, I've started to feel my strength return, but it just wasn't fully there yet. The remaining pieces lived within someone else now... Yeva glared at me as she hissed, "You will look at me when I am talking to you. Do you understand?"

I met her piercing stare as I replied, "Yes, babushka."

"Choose the correct path and burn all that it bad and evil. From there you'll find your strength and you'll find Roza. But until that is settled, you are to NEVER COME HOME. You are a dishonorable embarrassment to the family. I'd rather have your mother think you are dead then know the truth. You must fix the damage you have caused and save Roza. If you cannot, you will no longer be a part of the family. Do I make myself clear?"

I was shocked, but nodded my head in understanding. This was a lot to take in, but I decided to speak up. "I have realized the mistakes I've done. And I am trying to choose the right path, but Roza is missing and I fear I won't be able to find her."

Yeva took this in for a moment and then gave me an odd look, "The second path you choose will not be without it's costs. Be wary of the journey ahead. You will find her."

And then all too soon the dream ended. I didn't know how to make sense of it. All this time Oksana was s spirit user, but I was unnerved by the fact that she could walk a dream. That was something I only thought Ivashkov was capable of doing. But it just didn't make sense, I saw and spoke to my grandmother. But she isn't a even a Moroi. How could she dream walk? Maybe it has something to do with her being a vrăjitoare...

I chose to believe all that I have seen in the dream was real. Babushka was right. I need to stop swimming in my head and move on with my life. Starting with Roza. I have to mend the bridge I have broken with her, I needed her. Something else babushka also said startled me. Rose depended on me. I could see the flaws in that fact, but nonetheless, I had to find her and know she was alright.

I opened my eyes to check my surroundings. The back of my head was pounding. I knew I crossed a line when I broke my self-control and attacked my escorts, but at the time I couldn't contain myself.

Knowing Roza was missing started to wake me out of my delusional unhappy state, but after seeing the warrant poster for her. And realizing someone was calling my Roza a murderer was crossing the line. Sure she kills strigoi, but that's her job. Killing a royal moroi on the other hand isn't, and that's something I know she'd never do.

So in that moment I realized how I truly cared for her and knowing she was unsafe and wrongly accused, it woke up a beast inside of me. It was nothing like the monster that I had become when I was a strigoi, no-this was something entirely different.

Throughout my life I've worked to stay in control of my actions, but sometimes, I couldn't always control my anger. My father was a fine example of that. One day he just pushed me over the edge and I lost it. But after that, I worked hard to control my feelings and actions. I hated feeling irrational thoughts and then acting on those thoughts without hesitation.

I pride myself in strategizing and seeing and weighing things from all angles before making a decision. But when I met Roza, that rationality started to sway. I wanted to act on my feelings, but knew I shouldn't. And now it's like I've imprinted on her. Nothing else matters unless she's somehow involved in my life. I felt this indescribable need to keep her safe and protect her. It was identical to the love I held for my mother, sisters and grandmother, but it was intensified. It was more powerful than the feelings of my family.

Roza is my soul mate. I remember saying something to her once, "I'd do a lot of things to protect you..." It had been right after we spoke to Victor and he tried to threaten us by exposing our relationship. And right now the emotions and protectiveness were the same.

I attacked my guards because I was planning to escape court and find Rose and protect her. Unfortunately my actions weren't as carefully thought out as I had wanted. Love has a cruel way of clouding your judgement. But now I see things clearly. I'm leaving, but this time it must be done with caution.

My vision focused and I noticed under the dim lightening, that I was now in the records vault of the Guardian Counsel Building.

My arms and legs were bound by flex cuffs to a wooden chair. To the left, I saw the bodies of my four escorts piled on top of one another in the corner of the room.

"Sleeping beauty awakens at last..." a man's voice said from a shadow that was cast on a desk. But I knew this voice, it was Daniil.

"How long have I been out?" I casually asked as I started formulating different ways on how to free myself from the chair. He laughed with no real emotion as he slid off the desk and took two steps towards me.

"Long enough to cover up for you and haul your ass down here..." he replied.

I nodded my head. Daniil was helping me? But then why did he tie me to a chair...

"You know, you lost it up there." he cooly observed.

Everything made sense in this moment, he knocked my head into the wall, that's why I blacked out. But I sensed that something wasn't right with him. "Hey Danik, you can stop with the act now, untie me man." I kept my voice calm.

He chuckled and ignored me while he started toying with an object in his hands. "You know, I've risked a lot for you Dimka. And what do you do in return? Act like a mad man and start attacking guardians..." he took another step towards me and it was then that I noticed the object he held was a gun. A semi-automatic pistol to be exact.

I pulled my wrists against the flex cuffs, measuring how tight they were. I would be able to break free, but I needed to distract Daniil long enough.

Noticing my not so subtle struggle Daniil spoke up again, " I wouldn't do that if I were you." he laughed again, and at the same time I realized something was definitely wrong with him. He glanced up at me, "Do you have any idea how difficult of a dilemma I have now?" he paced back and forth, swinging the pistol beside his arm in the process.

"Just let me go Danik. Forget this ever happened." I said to him. He stopped his pacing and abruptly turned about, his eyes were livid "I don't want to do this, but I have to kill you now!" he shouted.

"No you don't. You have a choice Daniil." I had to keep him talking.

"No actually I don't Dimitri. I have to follow protocol. I can't fuck up my career for you. It was a mistake even slipping you information about Guardian Hathaway. I know we're friends, but I know you. I know you're not going to let this go. You're going to leave and search for her."

"Of course I am! I love her!" I shouted in irritation.

Daniil scoffed, "Yeah, two perfect matches", his face turned dark as he snapped, " A former strigoi and royal murderer. You two really make such a great couple."

That's it. I'd had enough of this. In one swift movement I forced my legs forward where the flex cuffs tightened and ripped apart freeing my legs from the chair and I immediately stood up. But at the same time I broke free, Daniil pulled the trigger of the pistol and fired a bullet into my leg. I half expected him to do it, but I didn't expect it to hurt so bad. I swirled my body around and use the back of the chair that was still bound to me to smack to gun of his hand.

The gun was tossed across the room a few feet into the dark hallway lined with filing cabinets. I then rammed my body against Daniil and we both went crashing to the ground.

The moment my body hit the concrete floor, Daniil shot out his right leg and kicked my exposed sternum forcefully. I gasped from the impact as the shooting pain railed around in my chest like a hand grenade that had just been set off inside.

As I desperately tried to catch a single breath of air, Danill scrambled to his feet and kicked my stomach. I grunted from the blow but swung out one of my legs and knocked him over again.

I then propelled my body away from him as I started to free my wrist from the now crushed chair. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" I shouted as I freed one of my wrists and started pushing myself off the ground.

Daniil started crawling towards the gun as he snarled, "I can't let you leave." His hand was out-stretched towards the pistol, he was only a foot away from it now. I sucked in a quick breath and charged my body towards him.

I was on the floor again, throwing lethal punches against Daniil but he was doing a good job of deflecting my blows. He struggled against me still trying to get to the gun. I used the back of the chair that was still attached to one of my wrists and slammed it down on his stretched-out hand. I heard the sick crunching sound as the bones in his fingers broke under the pressure and crushed.

He howled out in pain as one of his legs lifted and sent a hit into my back. I rolled my body to the side and slammed the chair to the side of his head, but at the last minute he pulled away.

Summoning up as much energy as I could I launched my body against his and pinned him down. I used the chair piece to my advantage and pushed down on his throat cutting off his air supply, he struggled against me, but I had the upper hand and my hold was too strong.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!" I shouted to him. "We're friends Daniil! I'm not your enemy!" It pained me, to do this, Daniil was my friend, but I'm going to have to incapacitate him. But before I did that, I wanted to know the real reason why he was suddenly turning on me. I loosened the pressure on his throat to allow him to speak.

"I HAVE TO! I can't let you leave..." he trailed off, his eyes started to glaze over. It was then that I realized someone had used compulsion on him. This wasn't him.

"WHO TOLD YOU THIS!" I commanded. If a person failed at the task they were compelled to do, there was a way to snap them out of it if they admitted to who initiated the order. There was indecision in his catatonic eyes so I repeated the question while I applied more pressure to his throat.

"TASHA!" he confessed.

"What?" maybe I didn't hear him right.

"T-tasha! Sh-she's the one who told me I couldn't let you leave court..." he trailed off, his face was frantic.

"Why?" this wasn't right.

"I don't know!" Daniil shouted back. Without thinking, I removed the chair piece from his neck and slammed it against his forehead where he went unconscious.

I was so taken off guard by all of this, but I knew someone would have heard the gun shot and I need to leave. I freed my other wrist and stood up, but the moment I did I staggered forward as my left leg gave out on me. I groaned as I clutched onto a tall filing cabinet for support. During the fight with Daniil, my adrenaline was so high I didn't feel my leg injury but now I'm starting to see and feel the effects.

Daniil had shot me in the calf and to my luck, the bullet missed all the major trauma areas and exited out the other side. But unfortunately, the wound was bleeding profusely. I had to make a tourniquet to stop the blood flow. I took off the cotton jacket that I was wearing and started shredding the cloth. From there I secured a few pieces around the wound tightly while wrapping the rest of the cloth around the bottom half of my leg to soak up the blood.

I then grabbed the pistol in front of me and tucked it into my pant pocket. I searched Daniil and took a set of keys, along with a few cartridges for the gun and a wad of bills from his wallet. I felt guilty for taking all this from him, but I no longer had a choice. I just attacked all five of my escorts. I had to leave court now.

I limped my way over to the front door of the room that led to a hallway. I checked the area to make sure the coast was clear, then limped my way out of the room and down the narrow hall leaving a trail of bloody foot prints. I cursed under my breath, but kept moving, constantly scanning the surrounding area for any threats.

I came to an emergency exit door and braced myself for what I had to do next. I pulled out the pistol and gripped it firmly in my right hand. I also clutched onto a full cartridge in my other hand. I had to make a run for it until I found a vehicle. Meaning if anyone stopped me I was going to have to shoot them. But not kill. I could never do that. I just needed to stun my attackers long enough to flee. It was late at night moroi time and I silently prayed not too many guardians were on duty tonight.

I took a quick breath and kicked the exit door with my good leg.

I immediately scanned the area and what I saw before me made my heart skip a beat.

There stood before me was the alerts faces of Adrian Ivashkov, Christian Ozera, and Edison Castile. But the worst part was the icy, penetrating glare of Valisa Dragomir. I gulped at my now dry throat. This wasn't what I was expecting to find...

RPOV

I pulled away from Sydney and closed my eyes again. I could still feel the painful pulse of the throbbing inside my head but I ignored it. I focused all my attention on remembering Eric. The way he looked, the memory of his death, anything I could conjure up to summon up his ghost. I felt a swirling rush rake across my skin and I popped my eyes open.

There hovered before me was the restless spirit of Eric Dragomir. Unlike Kate and Tatiana, he wore no mark of his death. He was blonde and beautiful, just like the last time I'd seen him on the plane. His figure was transparent and he wore an emotionless look on his face as he stared at me.

I sucked in a quick breath as I asked a question to break the awkward silence, "You haven't moved on because you have unfinished business here, right?"

In response he just stared, but I noticed a small nod of his head.

"Okay, good. So is it because you have an illegitimate child that no one knows about?" I tried to ask this as calmly as I could, but I knew I was trembling slightly.

He face suddenly became more animated, his stare turned into an unsettling, menacing glare as the corners of his mouth turned up in a sneer. His teeth were clenched, but his fangs were exposed and the sight of him put chills down my back.

His response set me off and I walked closer up to him with a cold glare of my own, "You can't hide this secrete anymore Eric! Lying to your family for all these years is bad enough, but think about Lissa! She's the last living Dragomir that we know of! And that means she can't even represent her family in the Moroi counsel! She has no voice! She can't vote! Tell me who her lost sibling is and help you family!"

He continued to stare me down but I saw a glint of another emotion flicker in his eyes. He opened his mouth and shouted something, but I heard no sound. But that didn't seem to stop him, he continued to shout a line repeatedly over and over again.

I stepped back and tried to read his lips, but it made no sense. I was only picking up gibberish. From what I could understand he was saying, 'Son-JA KLARP'.

"What the hell does 'Son-JA KLARP' mean!" I shouted at him. He stopping his silent shouting and stared at me with frustration. He hovered over to me and I almost shrieked from his close proximity. He jabbed a cool finger against my chest and I shuddered. He then point that same finger to the left of him into the almost deserted parking lot.

At first I was confused and didn't understand what he wanted me to see, but then I saw it. I was hard to make it out in the dark parking lot, but soon it grew in size and became more visible.

To right of my body, just behind Eric, swarmed a dark cloud. I had seen something like it once before and also the last time I had seen it, Eric's ghost was there too. It was the entrance to the world of the dead.

I felt my stomach churning in knots as my whole body, right down to the core of my bones went freezing ice-cold. The throbbing in head burst into a blazing fire. I felt my body sway as my back crashed down on the black pavement of the parking lot. My head bounced and tapped the ground as my eyes widened. Eric continued his pointing all while I saw shadows emerged from all around me. I heard the distant scream of a woman as I watched the dark cloud grow larger.

I faintly saw the outline of skulls and cross bones before everything suddenly went black...

I found myself standing in very bright, white room. My body felt like jelly and my vision was blurred. I blinked a few times and soon my eyesight became more sharp. I noticed I wasn't alone in this room.

Someone else was there with me. I screamed at what I saw. It was Kate. Her blonde hair was in a tangled mess, her normally blue eyes were so dark they looked almost black, and her entire face was scrunched up in a twisted, sadistic tone.

"YOU!" she snarled as she walked towards me and hissed as she bared her blood stained fangs at me.

She lunged at me but I dodged her and then everything went black again...

I was distantly aware of someone shaking me and calling my name. Everything hurt. My body felt like it was just set on fire and then immediate frozen. But the worst was my head, I was experiencing a very painfully migraine.

I cautiously opened my eyes to be greeted with the worried eyes of Sydney. I looked past her to find I was staring up at the cushioned ceiling of a car. I started glancing around and noticed I was lying down across the back seat of an SUV and I had two thick blankets covered across my body.

I swallowed to find my throat was very dry. I glanced back at Sydney and croaked, "What happened?"

Sydney let out a deep breath and said, "Well first you screamed and then you fainted. But it was more of a black-out because..." she glanced at her watch, "You've been out for three hours."

"WHAT!" I shouted and tried sitting up, but the motion made me feel nauseous.

Sydney helped me up and handed me a water bottle. I greedily snatched it and gulped down the entire bottle's contents. When I was finished, I felt a lot better, but my head still really hurt.

I shrugged off the blankets and asked, "Why am I covered in blankets and in a car?"

Sydney raked her hand through her hair and climbed over to where I was now sitting upright. "Your body was trembling and your skin was so cold, I didn't know what else to do so, I dragged you into my car and covered you in blankets."

I grimaced, what the hell happened to me after talking to Eric? I glanced out the window and stiffened. We weren't in the parking lot anymore. "Where are we!" I asked frantically.

"Somewhere remote and safe." Sydney quickly answered. She must of seen the bewilderment form in my eyes so she added, "We're in a park, about an hour's drive away from the restaurant." I furrowed my eyebrows, why would we have to leave the parking lot to go to a park? Oh right, to not draw attention...

"Rose what's happening to you? You kept tossing in your sleep and started muttering. But you had this look on your face before you fainted, what did you see?"

I perked up at that last part, "You believe me? You think I see ghosts?"

She frowned, "I'm warming up to it. I- I felt something before you fell."

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head, "I don't know how to explain it. I f-felt this cold rush against my back and then I felt extremely sad... I dunno..." she looked up at me trying to search for words.

"Sydney I have to tell you something, I'm-"

"Shadow-kissed", she cut in while using her fingers as quotation marks.

"You know? Since when?" she adverted her gaze as she confessed, "When you were unconscious, I did some research on you. Hey don't look at me like that!" she had met my unconvinced glare again.

"Um, I'm sorry. And what did you find?"

"Don't apologize. And well, I don't need to get into the specifics, but there were records on your bond with the princess and the term came up. So I did some more digging and found an article saying something about you being able to see spirits..." she trailed off, I knew she felt uncomfortable about all this, so I decided to drop it.

"Sydney, do me a favor and just forget the last fews hours..."

"But Rose-"

"Just forget it."

"You fainted!"

"SYDNEY! DROP IT!" her eyes widened from my outburst. "Sorry." I blurted out and then an uncomfortable silence surrounded us. I didn't understand what happened to me. But I had this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that if I tried to understand it, I wasn't going to like what I found. So I decided to forget the hallucination and odd dream.

I needed to focus on what was important. Finding Lissa's sibling.

After a few minutes I decided to break the silence, "Do you have any idea what 'Son-JA KLARP' means?"

Sydney jumped slightly, not expecting me to change the conversation suddenly, "What?" she asked.

"Son-JA KLARP. It's what Eric-" I suddenly paused. I didn't want to mention the subject of ghosts again at the moment. I composed myself and reworded my response, "Son-JA KLARP. It's some phrase I don't understand. Do you have any idea what it could mean?"

Sydney furrowed her brows in deep thought and after a minute she said, "I don't recognize it. Maybe it's a name? The beginning part, 'Son-JA' sounds like the name Sonya."

I stiffened after she spoke. How could I of not understood the many times Eric silently shouted. There was a name I knew that matched his wording, "Sonya Karp..." I whispered.

Sydney perked up, "Hey yeah, that's what it sounds like. I know that name, I think I've come across a Moroi named that..."

I tuned out whatever else she was saying as everything suddenly clicked in place. Eric had given me a name as a clue. The name of a woman I once had as a teacher. I felt my blood run cold because it was also the name of a woman that was now a strigoi...

A/N: Next update? I really don't know when, finals start next week so I'll be too busy to write. In the meantime, review and maybe check out my other story and one-shot?

~Fabulous