Rose POV

I woke up on a bed in what appeared to be a hotel room, my head throbbing. Waking up with a major headache was starting to become a habit. I lifted the covers, relieved to see that I was still in my party dress. The only things that was missing was my shoes, but I could see them standing next to each other by the door.
Someone had brought me here and made sure that I was comfortable, but I had no idea why. I got out of bed, glad that the cream room only spun a little as I stood up and tried to get my bearings. The room had no windows and two doors, both of which were locked. The walls were cream, as was the bed, the furniture a deep mahogany. There was a bag on the dresser, one that I recognised. It was the duffle bag that usually held my gym clothes, pads, wraps and water bottle, but it had my things from the apartment in it. My toothbrush and toothpaste, my hairbrush, clothes, shoes and underwear.
I stared it and my heart sunk. When Dimitri noticed that my things were missing and so was I, he'd think that I'd left him. I made my way over to the door on my left and tried it, but it was locked. As was the other one.
Normally, I would have tried to break it down but with the dizziness, I knew that it would be a waste of time. I sat back on the edge of the bed, desperately trying to work out what the hell was going on.

I heard the door being unlocked but someone came in before I had the chance to move. It was a tall someone, with pale skin and blood red eyes. He looked familiar, though I couldn't quite remember where I'd seen him before. He regarded me for a moment before smiling, his fangs protruding through his lips.
"It's nice to see you again, Rosemarie." He said and bowed a little. "Do you remember me?"
I shook my head no and he frowned.
"My name is Nathan. It's a pleasure to have you here." He smiled again as if he really were pleased. "You're such a fierce fighter, Rosemarie Mazur. The poison should have taken care of you but I suppose that was my fault. A woman of your talent is not one to be underestimated."
"You're the one that poisoned me?"
"Of course, though not directly. Eric delivered the poison to you on my behalf. I must say though, I'm glad that he made a mistake."
"You are?"
"Yes. You see, he didn't give you the full dose of the poison. If he had, you would be dead and wouldn't be here with me now. It's funny how things work out in the end, Rosemarie Mazur."
"My name is Rose Hathaway."
"Children should take their father's name."
"Well, he wasn't around much." I said, wondering why my name mattered so much.
"Come," he said, holding his hand out to me. "Let's eat, shall we?"
"Excuse me?"
"Of course, I didn't mean myself. You must be starving though. I've had my chefs prepare something just for you." He said.
I looked at his hand as if it were a snake about to strike and didn't take it. "I'm fine, really."
"You will eat, Rosie." He said, coming towards me and gripping the top of my arm.
He dragged me out of the room and down the corridor, in to a big room with a small table. It had a white table cloth over it, with a single rose in a crystal vase. There were two places set with china plates and two champagne flutes, even though I knew that strigoi couldn't eat or drink regular food. They survived off of the blood of morois, humans and dhampirs.
"Rosie, I don't remember telling you that red was my favourite colour." He said as he sat me down on a chair, unfolded a napkin and placed it on my lap.
"You didn't. I was wearing it to a party."
"And here I thought that this was your way of flirting with me." He smiled as he took his own seat.
"In your dreams, evil dead."
He chuckled low in his throat, leaned forward and ran his hand over my hair. "Oh, Rosie. We're going to have so much fun together.
"My name isn't Rosie."
"It is now. I prefer it to Rosemarie or Rose and hearing Belikov call you Roza had always offended my ears."
"You know Dimitri?"
"I knew him, when he was at his best. I never liked that he called you Roza."
"That's funny. I always did."
"That's because you women are fickle. A man pays you the slightest bit of attention and gives you a nickname and you end up as putty in their hands. I have no idea why you are called the fairer sex."
"Let me guess, you don't know why they call you evil either."
He held his hand up and clicked the fingers of his other hand. Two humans came out of a door, one carrying a dish and the other a bottle of what appeared to be champagne. Pasta was served on to my plate and my glass was filled, the golden liquid bubbling in the glass. Nathan nodded and they disappeared back through the door. "Oh, no. I'm well aware of why they call us that. Of course, some of us have actually earned their reputation." He contiued with a smug smile as if the humans hadn't interrupted us.
"I've earned mine."
"Ah, yes. The great Rosemarie Hathaway, defender of Moroi, killer of strigoi." He said sarcasticly. "It's such a shame that the poison made you too weak to defend yourself."
"You know, I'm curious about something." I said, flicking my hair over my shoulder.
"And what might that be, my dear Rosie?"
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Are you not enjoying my company, Rosie?" He asked.
I tried to bite back my grimace. Every time he called me 'Rosie' I cringed internally. "Not particularly, I just don't understand why I'm here. Most strigoi would have killed me or turned me, not complimented my dress and sat there watching me eat as if we're on some sort of date."
"You're here for two reasons, Rosie. The first is that I finally get you all to myself. The second, my sweet Rosie, is to lure your father to us."
"My father?"
"Yes. Ibrahim Mazur, Abe, the great Zmey. It was no coincidence that you were given the poison of the Amphisbaena – the two headed serpent. It was supposed to represent the two sides of his life but he might not have gotten that message. Eat, please." He said, waiting for me to pick my fork up and take a bite of the salmon before he continued. "There are two sides to the great Zmey. There is the mafia man, the man whose name is enough to inflict fear on those that hear it. And then, there is a different side of him. Abe Mazur, family man. I know that he never married your mother but he loves her. It's obvious in the way that he looks at her. I thought about taking her but that wouldn't have caused the same kind of pain that taking you has."
"Why bother at all? You know who he is, you know what he's capable." I said, putting my fork down to look at him.
"Oh, Rosie. I know more about your father than you do. In my previous life I was one of his people. I was the one that he turned to when he needed something taking care of. If there was a problem, I solved it. If he needed someone scaring or someone taking care of, I was the one that he called upon. He managed to screw me over though, moments before I was awakened. Strigoi were attacking and he left us behind, left us to solve the problems that he'd brought upon himself. I was like you, a budding dhampir with a bright future ahead of me but that was taken from me. Don't be too sad though, I was given so much more in return. Eternal youth, strength beyond anything I'd ever known, money, women... I had it all. And then Belikov came. I'd earned myself the position of second in command, only for it to be taken away by your precious Belikov. Then he brought you along, and I swaer, I was in love. My heart doesn't beat, Rosie, but if it did it would beat for you."
"Does that line actually work for you?"
"I don't know, I've never used it before. That smart mouth of yours is what attracted me to you in the first place. To hear you fighting against him when all the others succumbed so easily, was a breath of fresh air. If it hadn't have been for Belikov, I would have claimed you then. He wanted to give you a choice. He wanted you to join him by choice. Belikov may think that he was incapable of love when he was awakened but he's wrong. He still loved you. I wanted you in every way that I could possibly have you, but he forbade it. I offered to break your spirit until you begged on your hands and knees to be awakened. Belikov beat me to a pulp for even suggesting it. He loved you all along, Rosie. It's a shame that you'll never get the chance to tell him. I can see why he chose you to love though, to be the one that he awakened." He said as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "You're so very special."
"Thanks." I said, wondering where he was going with this.
"To find out that you were not only Belikov's lover but also the daughter of the man that betrayed me... It was as if all of my birthdays had come at once. Three of my main desires are acheivable now."
"Oh? What might those be?" I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"I get to kill Mazur, break Dimitri and keep you for myself."
"Why, why would you want to do that?
"Because they deserve it."
"They don't know where I am."
"No, but they will. I'll be sending a very important package to your father. He'll come to save you and I'll kill him."
"He won't come."
"You are the blood of his blood. He'll come for you. His heart will break when he sees what his daughter has become. He'll offer anything to have you returned safely. I'll offer him a trade; his life for yours. He'll take it, believing that you will be safe. Of course, when he's gone I'll keep you as my personal blood whore. I'll have you any which way I please, whenever I please." He reached over the table and stroked my hair and smiled. "Depending on how well you please me, I may even give you the ultimate gift."
"You can take your gift and shove it up your- Ah!" I screamed out when he yanked my hair sharply.
"Now, now, Rose. That's no way to please me, is it?" He let go of my hair, raised his hand and knocked the table to the side. The glasses and plates fell to the floor and smashed and there was nothing else between Nathan and I. He fisted my hair again, pulling me out of my chair and throwing me to the ground. "On your knees, Rose. Show me what a good blood whore you are.
I looked up at him and tried to fight the nausea that rolled through my body as he started to unbutton his pants. "In your dreams." I muttered just before I vomited all over his shoes.
"Oh, Rosie." He tutted as he wiped my vomit off of his shoes and onto my dress. "You don't know who I am or what I can do. Let me educate you." He teased and then proceeded to rattle off information about everyone that I loved. Dimitri and his family, Janine, Abe, Liss and Christian, Adrian. He knew everything about them; their birthdays, their addresses, where Dimitri's family worked. He knew it all. "I can have them killed with one single call, Rosie. It would be wise if you didn't antagonise me."
"What do you want?" I said, hearing the sound of defeat in my own voice.
"Come here Rosie. Show me how much you want them to stay alive." He held his hand out to me and I took it, knowing that I hand no other choice. If I didn't, then they'd all die. My family and Dimitri's. Nathan pulled me towards him and then spun me around so my back was pressed against his chest. I could feel his excitement pressing in to me and fought a shudder as I tried my best to ignore it. "Isn't it devastating?"
"Which part exactly?"
"That such a stubborn creature, so desperate to control her own future, her destiny, can have her spirit crushed so easily?" He ran his finger down my cheek and smiled. "How does it feel to completely powerless, Rosie? Please, don't waste your energy trying to tell me that you're not. By the time that anyone finds you, you'll have been drunk from to the point of almost being drained, you'll have been violated. You'll be broken, Rosie."
A tear slipped down my cheek and he licked it off, his tongue rough against my skin. I whimpered and tried to get away but his iron grip held me in place. He leaned in close, close enough for his fangs to graze the skin of my neck and then I closed my eyes as the euphoria of his bite washed over me.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I woke up. I was sore all over and I could feel something running down my neck. I reach up to touch it gingerly, my finger tips coming away covered in bright red blood. I looked down at myself and my heart almost stopped beating. My red dress was completely torn open at the front, leaving me exposed. My bra was still there but my underwear was gone. There were bruises forming on my thighs, bruises that looked like fingers. Tears rolled down my face as I looked at myself, knowing exactly what had happened and being grateful that I hadn't been awake to experience it.
There was a light knock on the door and then it opened. A young girl walked in, holding a bowl and a something white. I swiped my tears away with the back of my hand and did my best to cover myself up.
The girl came further in to the room and I saw that she was older than I'd first thought. She was probably about the same age as me. Her head was shaved on one side and her hair was dyed colourfully, like the rainbow. Reds, blues, greens and pinks flowed around her like the mane of unicorns that little girls fantasised about. She looked at me briefly when she came in and I could see bite marks on her neck. She looked away from my broken body and put a bowl down on the floor near me.
"Master says that you should clean yourself up." She said, her voice wavering as if she'd been crying.
"You can tell your master that I have no interest in doing anything that that son of a bitch says." I snapped. She flinched and I felt guilty. It wasn't her fault, not really, but I couldn't help but blame her. She was human and she was letting them feed from her. It was something that humans did; they enjoyed the bite and the rush of endorphins that came with it. They hoped that if they pleased their strigoi that they'd be awakened, though many of them didn't live that long. "I'm sorry. You don't have to tell him that."
She nodded but didn't say anything. She just stood by the door, waiting for me to clean myself. I stood up slowly, and went over to the table where she'd placed the bowl and did my best to wipe away the dirt and the shame. I wiped my face with the warm flannel but winced as I touched it to my lip. I assumed that it was split but I had no mirror in the room to check. I wiped my arms and chest down, then moved on the legs. I was wiping my thighs when I noticed that the flannel was coming away pink. I rinsed it out and wiped again. I was bleeding. The son of a bitch had made me bleed. I pushed the tears and nausea down, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Once I'd finished she gave me a small smile and handed me the white thing that she'd walked in with. I unfolded it and something fell to the ground. It was a pair of socks that had been folded inside a dress. I laughed, not because it was funny but because it was absurd. I had no underwear, no jacket. Just a dress and pair of socks. It could have been worse though, I could have been holed up in a cave rather than a fancy hotel.
I took off my shredded clothes and quickly pulled the dress over my head. Rainbow girl held her hand out for the torn dress so I handed it to her. She nodded and picked the bowl up, leaving the room and locking the door behind her.
The dress wasn't so bad, at least as far as dresses went. It was something that Liss would have worn; knee length and white. I couldn't help but think that I probably looked like some sort of sacrificial virgin. I still had scars on my arm from the strigoi attack back at Court but otherwise, I looked resonably okay. That is if I didn't pay attention to the split lip or the welt on my cheek. I pressed my hand to it gingerly, glad to find that it was more of a surface wound than anything else.
I curled up on the bed, wishing that if I said 'there's no place like home' enough time, I'd open my eyes and find myself back at Court, in bed with Dimitri and this would have been a terrible nightmare. I knew I wouldn't but I'd been told once that hope is a wonderful thing, so I held on to it for dear life.

Apparently, Nathan had been going for the sacrificial virgin look because when he came to me again, his eyes glazed over with lust. His excitement was evident as he came closer to me. I stood my ground and held my head high, never one to show fear.
"How are you feeling today, Rosie?"
"I'm just peachy." I said with a sweet smile.
"I'm glad to hear it. I enjoyed our time together last night so much that I thought I should visit you again." He said and sat down on my bed, patting the spot next to him.
"I'd rather stand."
His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, yanking me down so that I sat next to him. "You will learn to do as you are told, Rosie. One way or another."
I wanted to tell him that that was highly unlikely. The teachers at Vlad's had been trying that for years and it hadn't taken, so I doubted that he'd have much luck. I didn't though, I bit my tongue and waited for him to continue.
"I have something that I need you to do for me, Rosie." He said in what was supposed to be a sweet voice. Instead, it made my skin crawl. "I need you to be a good girl and play nicely. Charles is going to be joining us in a moment and he'll prepare that very important package for your father."
"What are you going to do? Cut my fingers off and send them back to him?"
"Of course, not. That would be a waste of perfectly good fingers and no where as painful as what I intend to do. He needs to see what exactly what I'm doing to you, exactly what I intend to do for the rest of your life if he refuses to turn himself in."
The door opened and a human came in, Charlie I assumed. He was of average height and average looks, with a long, thin nose and grey eyes. He was carrying a video camera and a tripod, which he set up at the end of the bed. My heart started to race and dread flooded my body.
"You see, Rosie," Nathan continued as if nobody else had come in, "I need him to see what will become of you. I need him to feel so terrible that he'll come to your rescue."
"You're insane."
"I prefer evil genious. It is quite ingenious though, to cause so much emotional pain to a man before causing him physical pain. It makes it so much more... intense."
He raked his nails down my cheeks, drawing blood. and making me scream. "Yes, Rosie. Scream for me."