A/N: Hey everyone! So I don't think there's much to say, except that I hope you enjoy this chapter! It ended up being longer than I planned, so bonus for you guys ;D

So on with the story!

Chapter Thirteen

I AWOKE AND FOUND MYSELF back in hell. Not literally, but it was close enough. Jeff stood stiffly in front of me, his face expressionless.

"Your usefulness has come to an end."

My eyes widened.

He stalked closer, and I instinctively pulled back, causing my bruised, cut wrists to bash against the solid metal cuffs that were attached to the chair. It hurt, but that didn't matter, because that was the first time I'd been able to move my hands. It seemed that starvation had caused me to lose more weight than I, and apparently my jailers, had estimated. My wrists had become so thin that, with enough effort, I would be able to pull them free. But I held back from acting on this idea. I wasn't sure if the door was locked or not, so if I freed myself now, it would all be for nothing if I couldn't get out of the room.

"Oh don't worry, we're not going to kill you here. We have traditions to follow after all."

I tried to speak, but my throat was still dry as sand paper.

"We're moving you to our arena so we can decide who will finish you off."

He talked about my death like he was reading the news, like there was nothing wrong with having someone murdered in cold blood just because they were different.

His hand struck out and grabbed hold of the side of my face, forcing me to look him directly in the eye.

"And I really hope that it's me."

The sound of the door opening caught both our attention, and I managed to pull my head away from his grip.

Jeff straightened himself, and put on a fake smile.

"Ah, Denise dear. You've brought it, thank you."

The old lady from before appeared in my vision, and as much as her presence angered me, I had more important things to focus on. Like the fact that I hadn't heard the door close. I watched as Denise handed Jeff a syringe, and I knew that now was the time to take action.

Gritting my teeth, I silently twisted my hands and pulled them as hard as I could. I contorted them in ways that would have made me feel nauseous if I were in any other situation. My hands scraped against the metal as I ripped them out of the cuffs.

Jeff hadn't noticed, and was heading towards me with the syringe in hand. Denise had disappeared from view, but I hadn't heard the door close. Yet.

"If it had of been up to me, we would have kept you asleep. But according to Denise, you needed to be awoken to make sure you hadn't slipped into a coma. Which is fair enough, as I mean, what point would there be to bringing you to face judgment if you were going to unconscious for it?" He stopped right in front of me, and took the safety cap off the end of the needle. "But, it's time to go back to sleep now-"

He never saw it coming.

Using speed I didn't think I possessed, I grabbed the hand that held the syringe and twisted it around, forcing it at an angle that bones just weren't supposed to be at. He muffled his screams with his other hand, and tried to kick my feet from underneath me, but by having caught him off guard I now had the upper hand and saw his move before he had even made it. I evaded is foot, and used my own to thrust him off balance. He crashed to the ground.

Holding the syringe, I kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious. I had other plans for the needle.

I turned on my heels to find Denise standing in the threshold. The door had begun to slide shut, but due to the weight of it, it wasn't very fast. Especially when Dhampir speed was being taken in to account.

Denise gasped with shock as I shoved her out of the way. Her frail frame fell to the floor as I walked out the door, but I didn't stop there. I bent down and used my left arm to keep her from getting up, while I used my other one to stab the injection into her arm.

"Please," she begged. But I ignored her words, just like she had ignored me. I was a monster after all.

Her body relaxed as her eyes slid shut.

I had no idea how I was even able to move right now, but I didn't have time to think about that. I had to get out of here. Breathing heavily, I surveyed my surroundings. I was standing in a long hallway that had grey walls and no windows or doors. Each end curved off into the direction I had been facing when I was strapped to the chair. I had no idea what way would lead me out of this dump. But as I looked around stupidly for some sort of sign, I found something better. My eyes laid upon a plastic bottle of water sticking out of the bag Denise had been carrying. She had dropped it when I had pushed her to the ground, revealing the contents inside.

Cautiously, I picked the bottle up and undid the lid. I took a swig and swirled it around in my mouth. The water soothed my throat instantly, and I had to fight the urge to swallow it. I gargled the liquid to wet the back of my throat, and then spat it onto the floor. I couldn't risk swallowing the water in case it had any sedatives in them.

I wouldn't underestimate these people.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. Time to move.

I paused to grab a pair of scissors that I had also noticed sitting in the bag, and gripped them tightly in my right hand. It wasn't a silver stake, but it would have to do.

Three men appeared from around the corner on the right hand side of the hallway. I began to run in the opposite direction, but stopped myself. If they were smart, and I knew that they were, then their aim would be to lead me away from the exit. Which meant that the way they had come, was most likely my way out. I just had to fight my way through these guys, and then I'd be on my merry way. Simple.

I forced my legs to start moving again, and I charged towards the three men that were standing in my way. For a small moment, I saw a look of surprise cross their faces, but that was soon gone. They readied themselves, but they had no idea that I was armed, not until I shoved the scissors into shortest guy's stomach. He crumpled to the ground, thrashing in pain. One down, two to go.

The other two men came at me, and attempted to grab me, but I managed to evade them and pushed the man on my right straight into the other one. They stumbled, but quickly regained their balance. But that was all the time I needed to race around the corner.

I heard their footsteps fast behind me as I bolted down the eerie hallway. I forced my legs to move faster as I spotted another corner up ahead. Using the adrenaline pumping in my veins to forget the immense pain I was in, I skidded around the corner without slowing and came face to face with a giant glass door. And beyond it, was the beautiful sight of daylight.

Knowing that my enemies were only seconds away, I charged at the door, expecting it to be locked. But it flew open with ease, almost causing me to crash to the ground. But I managed to catch myself from falling, and continued to run. Even though I was now outside, I was far from being in the clear.

Shipping containers were scattered all around me, and as I looked back to see where my pursuers were, I spotted the bright blueness of the ocean. I was on a dock, and the place that I had just escaped from was a small warehouse. But I didn't have time to reflect on this, as the two guys who had been chasing me were starting to catch up. Even though I was a Dhampir, and was naturally much faster than humans, my injuries were slowing me down.

I had no idea where I was going, but it didn't really matter. I just had to get as far away from here as possible, and then figure out a way to contact the-

A woman suddenly stepped out from behind a rusty old shipping container, blocking my way. A few others appeared behind her. I didn't have the energy to fight them all off, not in my current condition. So I opted for a change in direction, and made a manoeuvre to the right. There was a small path between a stack of containers that I could escape through, but as I went to enter it, I was faced with more of the Alchemist's new BFF's. Shit.

That was my only other way out. Everywhere else was either blocked by people or shipping containers. There was about twenty people and they all had me surrounded, and severely out numbered. But I wasn't about to tell them that.

They formed a circle around me, forcing me into the middle. But no-one made a move. Instead they waited, watching to see if I'd make an attempt to escape.

But I was done running.

"A Dhampir is dangerous enough," I shouted, grateful that the water had helped soften my throat enough for me to speak. Though my voice sounded rough, and each syllable caused a biting pain, I didn't let that stop me. "But what you all have here in front of you, is an incredibly pissed off Guardian. And let me tell you, that's so much worse."

My words seemed to ignite a challenge, as that's when they all raced forward.

I readied my stance, and picked my first target. A tall man, cladded in white charged towards me. But as I watched him, ready to strike, my eyes noticed something behind him. It was a small round object rolling across the concrete ground about fifteen meters away. It came to a stop, and a red light on its side started to blink.

I knew exactly what it was. And more importantly what it meant. Help had arrived.

Using the taller man's weight against him, I threw him to the ground, knocking him unconscious with much more ease than I had anticipated. He had been faster than the others, which gave me enough time to jump to the ground and lay myself flat, just as the small ball exploded. The explosion knocked everyone to the ground, but they didn't stay down long. Just long enough to give the Guardians an opening to make one hell of an entrance.

Out of nowhere, Guardians leaped from the top of the shipping containers, and landed neatly by my side. Two Guardians, that I had seen on occasion floating around Court, helped me to my feet. One was a woman with short blonde hair, whose name I remembered to be Skye due to the bright blue colour of her eyes. She wasted no time with small talk and handed me a stake. There was no need for explanations.

My eyes longingly searched the group of six Guardians that stood around me, but Dimitri wasn't here. My heart felt heavy, and my stomach dropped when I realised he wasn't anywhere nearby. Lissa had just told me that he was out looking for me, so where was he?

My mind flashed back to the warning I had given Adrian and Dimitri about my rescue potentially being a trap.

No, it couldn't be true.

He was safe. And after this fight was over, I'd go find him and everything would be fine.

A fist swung towards my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. I went to block it, but I was too slow. I braced myself for the impact, but Skye pulled me out of the way.

She put herself in front of me, and moved me so I was standing in the middle of the Guardians. They had created a barrier around me, and I realised then that I had only been given a stake as a last measure of defence. To them, it was a last resort method. Today, their duty wasn't to protect Moroi. It was to save me.

They continued to deflect the attacks and I begrudgingly tried to help, but they all kept moving so I was unable to get passed any of them.

Just as the Guardians began to get the upper hand, another group of people wearing white started pouring out of the warehouse. But this time, they had guns.

"Time to move," Skye ordered, as she grabbed my hand and easily dragged me from the circle I had been kept in for the past ten minutes. I was glad to finally be out of there, but my relief soon faded as bullets began to fly passed us. I looked back, expecting to see the other Guardians running behind us. But they were still in the same spot as before, trying to hold back the new group of psychopaths who had just appeared. They all disappeared from view as we rounded the corner of a shipping container, and my blood began to boil. There was no way that I was going to run away from this fight.

"We can't just leave them there!" I hissed, forcing Skye to come to a stop. We were too far away to get shot at anymore, but we were still far from being safe.

"Our mission is to rescue you, and that's exactly what we're going to do. They're trained Guardians, they'll be fine."

"Fine against a gun? Come on, that's bull shit and you know it!"

"How about against a knife?"

A shiver ran up my spine as Jeff stepped out from the shadows of the container he had been hiding beside.

His eyes swept from my face to Skye's.

Before either of us could react, Jeff flicked his wrist and sent his knife flying. I went to move, but my reaction was too slow. And so was Skye's. She had been caught off guard, and even her Dhampir speed was unable to help her.

She screamed as the knife entered her chest, and her shrieks only fell silent when she collapsed to the ground. Dead.

"You bastard!" I hissed. Not thinking, I charged forward, and raised my stake. I moved my arm downwards, aiming at his face. But my anger blinded me, and he evaded my attack by stepping to the side. Using my own force against me, he kicked me in the back, sending me straight to the ground. Using his body, he pinned me down and ripped the stake from my hand, then tossed it to the side.

I wriggled around, trying to get free. But I couldn't. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Skye's lifeless body sprawled out on the ground. I never wanted anyone to die for me. I was a Guardian. I was meant to risk my life for others, not have them risk theirs for mine!

Jeff lowered his face to mine, and smirked.

"You were never going to win."

I spat in his face. He didn't even flinch, but his tone turned even colder. It's what I imagined death to sound like.

"Seems like my lessons on proper manners didn't sink in."

He pulled out another knife from his pocket, and slid the blade down my cheek. My body tightened, and I began to shake. But I refused to scream.

"Looks like another lesson is in order."

A/N: Oh no! Rose cannot catch a break! And where on earth is Dimitri? :S

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