Dimitri POV

It took three hours for Janine to arrive at the front door of mine and Roza's apartment. She didn't knock, she just walked straight in and demanded to see Roza. I took her in to our bedroom and as soon as she saw Roza, she crumbled. I'd never seen Janine show emotion or weakness. She was a guardian that had gained an incredible reputation for her fierceness and lack of emotion, always able to keep a clear head in difficult times. Obviously those same qualities weren't applicable when her child was in danger.
She knelt at the side of our bed and rested her forehead against Roza's hand, muttering something to herself. It took me a moment to realise that she was praying. It had always amazed me how people that weren't particularly religious always seemed to pray to one God or another in times of peril though I supposed that people would try anything to keep their loved ones safe.
The doctor had been to check on Roza but had said that there was nothing that he could do for her. He didn't know what kind of poison had been used, though he had confirmed that she'd been poisoned. He'd told us to make her comfortable and do our best to keep her fever down with ice packs.
I'd stayed by her side, replacing her melted ice packs for new ones and watching as the thick green lines spread across her body. They were climbing up the side of her beautiful face, down her ribs and across her chest. I kept watching the clock, counting the minutes until her parents arrived. It had been Hell to watch her like this and know that there nothing that I could do for her. Seeing Janine with her, I knew that she felt exactly the same way. I told Janine that the doctor had been but he had little hope of being able to save her without knowing which poison was used.
"Abe will be here soon. He'll know what to do." She said, her voice sure but wavering. "He'll be here."
"He'll be here." I said and glanced up at the clock. Yeva had said that we had twelve hours to save my Roza. We only had eight and a half left. I hoped that he would get here in time.
After a while, Janine couldn't stand to see her daughter like that; to watch as the green lines continued to travel. She excused herself and left us alone.
I laid down on the bed next to my Roza, resting my head on her chest and putting an arm over her, keeping her close to me. I listened to her heart beating, knowing that it was slowly getting weaker. He heart didn't pound the way that it usually did and it was starting to miss beats every so often. I was losing her, I knew it. I also knew that there was nothing that I'd be able to do.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because when I woke, Sydney Sage was standing over us. She was trying to wake me gently, smiling down at me with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Sydney? What are you doing here?"
"Abe called me and said that I needed to be here." She said and looked down at Roza. "How much time does she have?"
I looked up at the clock and a cold wave of dread washed over me. I'd been asleep for almost five hours. "Three hours. Possibly longer."
"Did strigoi really do this to her?"
I nodded but didn't say anything. There was nothing that I could say. To fight the tears that threatened to come, I focused on the golden lily that was tattooed on Sydney's cheek. It glittered in the fading sunlight that came through the blinds but became blurry as my eyes watered.
"She's going to be okay, Dimitri. Abe and I have a plan." She said, sounding much more confident than she looked.
"What kind of plan?"
"The kind that saves her." Sydney said but didn't elaborate.
Ibrahim Mazur burst in to the room then, stopping in the doorway as he looked down at his daughter. His eyes filled with tears as he looked down at her, which was somehow worse than seeing Janine in the same state. Abe Mazur has earned himself a reputation over the years and this show of emotion was the biggest contradiction to that reputation that I'd ever seen. In that moment, it was clear to see that his daughter was his weakness. She was the one thing that he loved more than anything else in the world and she wasn't able to see it.
He walked forward slowly and stopped at the end of the bed, resting his hands on her feet. "You can do this, Sage?"
"I won't know until I've tested the poison." She said calmly, watching him closely.
"Then hurry up and test it." He snapped and then turned on me. "Where were you?"
"I-"
"Where were you when my daughter was getting attacked and poisoned?" He said quietly, though the anger in his voice was palpable.
"I was asleep. She snook out while I was asleep. I didn't know." I said, the tears threatening to surface again.
"She was supposed to be on bed rest."
"Abe, it isn't his fault." Vasilisa's angelic voice came from the doorway.
He turned to face her. "He was supposed to protect her."
"Rose is too stubborn for that, Abe. You know that as well as anyone." She said and went to him. She rested her hand on his shoulder and guided him from the room. "There are things that you should know." She said as they went down the hall towards the living room.
I turned back to Sydney just as she pulled out a syringe and went towards Roza with it.
"What are you doing?"
"I need to extract some of the poison to test its origin."

"Your grandmother was right. It's definitely the poison of an Amphisbaena. It's amazing really. They were thought to be extinct for nearly three hundred years until an explorer found a colony of them on a remote island in Greece. He was bitten but managed to make back to the mainland before he died. Of course, no one knew what had happened to him so they went to the island to find out. They found the Amphisbaenas, though they were never moved. They're still there now, though you'll never find the island on any human map. They're too special to be found by humans. They'd try to kill them and use them for some sort of medicine or something equally absurd."
I nodded along as Sydney spoke, knowing that this was her way. She was an alchemist. She knew things that ordinary people didn't. It was easy to see why Mazur had asked her to come. If anyone could help Roza, it was Sydney. "Can you help her?"
"I think so." She said and turned to her case of chemicals. Alchemists were incredibly talented when it came to chemicals and metals; knowing which compounds would work well with others. "I just need to extract as much poison as I can from Rose to mix it with the antidote. You might want to leave, this isn't going to be pretty."
I shook my head and sat up, holding Roza's hand firmly in mine. "What can I do?"
"Hold her down. She's unconcious, but she'll probably still feel some pain. If she's writhing around, I could injure her."
I nodded and placed one hand on Roza's shoulder and the other on her hip, apply firm pressure to keep her as still as possible. I watched with horror as Sydney pulled put various instruments; a scalpel, three different syringes and a rubber tube. As far as I was aware, Sydney Sage was no doctor but I didn't want to question her. I'd let her do whatever it took if she could save my Roza.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
I nodded, knowing that if I opened my mouth I'd say no. I watch as Sydney ran the blade of her scalpel along the thickest of the green lines that came from Roza's wounds. She pressed hard, blood and poison oozed from the wound and ran down on to the bed beneath her. Roza's body started to shake under my hands so I held her tightly, trying to keep her still. Sydney pulled out one of the syringes and drew up some of Roza's blood, the poison with it, and set it down on the nightstand. She did this with the other two syringes and then bandaged the fresh slice on Roza's arm.
"You should take a break, Dimitri. The antidote will take a while. I'll stay with her." Sydney said, placing her hand on my arm gently. She must have noticed my hesitation because she smiled. "It's okay. We'll have a little girl time."
I nodded but couldn't look away from my poor Roza. Her hair was fanned out on the pillow and she would have looked peaceful, if it weren't for the deep green lines that almost completely covered her skin. They were inching their way up her beautiful face now and there was nothing that I could do to stop them. I closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to come and excused myself.

Note -

Hey guys,

Sorry that it's taken so long for me to update! I got married last week and with all the planning and the aftermath... Oh, and my dogs had puppies. I've got six little boxer puppies running around my house! Rose and Dimitri fell to the back burner for a while but I'm back and so are they and we'll be continuing with the story.
I uploaded a few chapters yesterday but I figured that I owe you guys an explanation.
Feel free to review and give me your thoughts and opinions, tell me what you like or don't like and I'll do my best to give everyone what they want.

And I haven't actually done this yet so "I don't own the VA series or any of the characters, unless I slip in any of my own. The plot idea is mine though."