'Las Vegas again? You do realise that every single Moroi and Dhampir in America is on the lookout for you right now. I mean, I'm up for gambling more than anyone and even I can see that is a terrible idea.' Adrian spoke quickly, and more than he had in the eight hours we'd been on the road. Just then a beep sounded out and everyone jumped to attention for a reason unbeknownst to me. Adrian reached into his pocket to retrieve the culprit of the now incessant beeping.
'Cell phones are easily traceable Adrian!' I almost squealed as I saw what he had pulled from his pocket.
'It's not a cell it's a beeper.' He said exasperated. I scoffed, a beeper? Wow this operation was even less promising than I thought. It hadn't even left the nineties. 'Cell phones are easily traceable you're right Rose, that's why we have the beeper. Who's going to think to keep tabs on a pager?' I lost the incredulous attitude, he was right. 'But who on earth are you contacting anyway? We're all here and accounted for.' Just as I spoke I knew it to be untrue, Eddie wasn't here. 'Eddie?' I asked, knowing the answer to be yes. 'No.' My face must have turned confused again because Lissa spoke this time. 'We didn't ask Eddie to come, after last time...' She didn't need to finish, I knew what she meant. I'd already risked Eddie's future too much, and this time there would be no bouncing back if we were caught. 'Who keeps paging you then?' I asked Adrian. He started to turn his head to look at me before Dimitri glared at him 'Eyes on the road.' Dimitri growled; his Russian accent thick with disapproval. I had the funny feeling Adrian was trying hard not poke his tongue out at him.
'Abe' Mia said quietly, almost inaudibly. I wasn't sure if she'd said so much as two words the entire trip. At first I thought she meant she'd seen Abe, although where I did not know. I couldn't stop myself from peering out the window before I realised that Abe was the one contacting Adrian. 'What the hell? Abe is in on this too!' I was almost screaming and I felt Lissa tense up next to me. She had known all along I felt through the bond. Please calm down Rose, we'll explain everything. I was still feeling that slightly irrational resentment towards Lissa, in no small part due to Dimitri's proximity I guessed, the way he kept turning around to make sure she was ok irked me no end not least because every time our eyes met I felt my heart swell up.
'Abe and I were the ones who orchestrated this whole plan' Adrian said smugly, I knew he took great pride in being liked by my father, and being in on one of his plans must have only fanned that particular fire. 'He's not at court?' I asked calming slightly. If anyone was capable of pulling off a successful jail break it was Abe Mazur but I was sure someone would be keeping tabs on him if he were still at Court, on the off chance he'd contact me. Lissa shook her head, and I realised that my lack of recognition towards her had wounded her slightly. I hadn't really been up for chatting but a quick check of the bond told me she'd been hurting for more than just the past two days. She felt as if she'd wronged me because of Dimitri's new affection for her, and the fact he wanted nothing to do with me. Yet she couldn't abandon Dimitri, he needed her. With that I did my best to block the bond out. After all I'd done for her time and time again, how she could not see that she was breaking my heart right along with Dimitri was beyond my comprehension. It occurred to me then that I couldn't be around Dimitri for the rest of my life if he were going to ignore me, and if we got caught that could end up being sooner rather than later. I somehow had to convince Dimitri to leave, or, I had to leave Lissa and Christian behind, because as much as I hated to admit it Lissa had become the reason for any sort of protective fire within Dimitri, she had taken my place as the centre of his world, and dealing with that for as long as I lived was too much of a price to pay for staying on the run with Lissa.