A/N: Hey all! I have a nice long chapter for you guys, as a thank you for your patience and ongoing support! Things are going to start heating up in the story VERY soon!

But for now, on with the next chapter!

Chapter Fourteen

HE MOVED THE KNIFE TO my neck, and I closed my eyes. This was it.

I'm sorry Lissa. I tried.

I waited for the coolness of the blade to slide across my throat, but it never came. But Jeff's screams did.

I felt the hulking weight that had been on my body suddenly disappear, and I opened my eyes to see a tall figure with a cowboy duster standing in front of me.

Dimitri.

His back was turned to me, and a cowering Jeff laid strewn across the ground at his feet. He stared up at Dimitri, completely terrified and unable to move.

In one swift motion, Dimitri leaned down and picked Jeff up by the neck and slammed him into one of the shipping containers. Still holding him, Dimitri leaned forward and snarled, "I'm about to prove that your beliefs of our kind being monsters are true. Because what I'm going to do to you, is something even the devil himself wouldn't dirty his hands doing."

Dimitri clenched his hand, squeezing the air out of Jeff's throat.

Pure anger had consumed Dimitri, and part of me wanted to let him make Jeff pay for what he did. But I knew this wasn't Dimitri. This was his former Stirgoi self. And if I let him kill Jeff, I risked losing him to the darkness he'd been fighting ever since he had been restored back to a Dhampir. And I couldn't let that happen.

"Dimitri! Stop!" I shouted, trying to get to my feet. But all the adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins had faded, and my body felt like led.

"Why should I?" He spat, never taking his eyes off Jeff. "I heard what he said! He hurt you!"

"Yes, and he will be punished for it, but in the right way! If you kill him, you'll sink to his level!"

Despite the absence of energy in my body, I somehow managed to prop myself up on my elbows, so that I could properly see what was happening. Still holding Jeff up with one of his hands, Dimitri slowly turned toward me. Our eyes locked, and I could see rage begin to build up in them again as his eyes swept across my bloodied and bruised body. My Guardian uniform was so shredded, that it was only a few seams away from completely falling apart.

"It's okay Dimitri. I'm okay," I said softly. "I just need you to come back to me." I watched as his eyes flickered to something behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see what he was staring at, but there was nothing there. I looked back at him, and realised that he wasn't looking behind me. His eyes were locked on my hair.

Find one thing. One thing that's beautiful … Anything that shows you're not one of them.

That's what I had told Dimitri to do during our searched for Sonya. He had become so consumed with his grief about the lives he had taken when he was a Stirgoi, that he was only able to see the dark side of life. So I told him to focus on something beautiful, to show him that he wasn't a Stirgoi anymore. And he did. He found beauty in my hair. Just like he was doing now.

I watched as his breathing slowed, and his eyes softened. His grip on Jeff's throat slackened, allowing him to gasp for air. Dimitri threw Jeff back onto the ground, and proceeded to take out some metal cuffs from his duster. There was a thick pole attached to the shipping container, which he used to cuff Jeff to. As soon as Dimitri had finished, Jeff immediately began to struggle and shout obscenities. But there was no escape. Not for him anyway.

Dimitri now spoke to someone in his ear piece, which was when I noticed that the sound of fighting had stopped. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but from his composure, I knew nothing serious had happened, which meant that the Guardians had won the fight. I knew that shouldn't have surprised me, considering they were taking on humans. But I'll admit, the whole gun situation had me on edge.

"Is it all over?" I questioned Dimitri when he had finished talking. He had started to walk towards me, and I tried to get to my feet again so I could meet him, but my arms gave way, sending me crashing back to the ground.

"Roza!" Dimitri was by my side in an instant. He kneeled on the ground and scooped me up into his arms, holding me close. I closed my eyes and listened to the beautiful sound of his heart. He lent down and kissed my forehead. "I'm so sorry."

I turned my head in surprise, and met his eyes. He looked so deflated and frustrated. "I should have known… I should have been able to find you sooner!" I reached up and placed my hand on his face, and shook my head. I was about to tell him how stupid it was for him to blame himself, but he cut me off. "And I'm sorry that this wasn't the first thing I did when I found you."

He brought his face down to mine, and our lips melted together. Ignoring the pain in my limbs, I wrapped my arms around his neck, as his caressed my waist. An electric feeling sparked throughout my body, making me hungry for more. But just as quickly as he initiated it, Dimitri pulled away.

I instantly frowned, making Dimitri chuckle.

"You're too injured Rose, I don't want to risk hurting you."

"It was just a kiss!" I pouted.

He shook his head with disbelief.

"I can't believe that this is what you're upset about, considering…"

His eyes began to fill with rage again.

"You're not the only one who has something beautiful to focus on." I placed both my hands on the side of his face, and leaned in so our noses touched. "I have your eyes. Your warm, beautiful eyes remind me that I'm loved, and that I'm safe. And for the moment, that's all I want to feel right now." I heard his quick intake of breath, as his expression softened. I saw the urge and desire in his deep, brown eyes to close the gap between us. But he resisted.

Damn his god-like self-control!

"You're more than I deserve Roza," he whispered. And before I could speak, he tightened his hold on me, lifting me from the ground.

Still holding me, he turned to meet two other Guardians who had just rounded the corner. One carried a long, black bag…

Skye.

Her body laid lifeless just a few meters away from where we were. I closed my eyes at the memory of it. I couldn't believe she had gone to such lengths to protect me. After all, I wasn't a Moroi. It wasn't her duty. But she had still done it anyway. And there wasn't enough gratitude in the world that I could give her for that.

"Guardian Belikov," the shorter of the two men started. "All of the humans have been subdued and hand cuffed as ordered."

Dimitri nodded.

"Good. Please take caution when taking him into custody. They may be humans, but they aren't normal ones. They're warriors."

The man's eyes widened at Dimitri's words. But he quickly shook off his surprise, and headed towards Jeff. Somewhere in the midst of the conversation, the other Guardian had put Skye into the black bag, and was already standing beside Jeff, who was still crazily thrashing around.

And somehow, he had managed to get even gaudier, shouting about how we were all going to pay for this, and how we were all devils etcetera etcetera. He was so loud that I wasn't even sure how Dimitri and I had managed to tune him out before.

One of the Guardians pulled out a needle, and promptly stuck it into his neck. His shouts quickly dyed down, as he fell into a state of unconsciousness. I couldn't help but feel a sense of pleasure as I watched him get dragged away.

"Let's go get your injuries looked at," Dimitri said softly as he began to head in the same direction Skye had been taking me in.

I had so many questions to ask him. Like where he had been when the Guardians had initiated the attack, and how they had found me? And what Lissa had been hesitating to tell me about in the Spirit dream? I wanted to know everything, but there was one thing that I had to ask first.

"What did you mean when you said that the humans who had captured me were Warriors? I mean, it's obvious that they can fight, but you used it like it was some sort of title."

Dimitri's face darkened, and he slowed his pace so he could quickly reach into his pocket.

He handed me a golden earring with a sun on it. It was the one Jeff had been wearing. Dimitri must have taken it from him when he cuffed him to the container.

"The Alchemists aren't the ones behind this. The Warriors of Light are," he stated firmly, his anger increasing with each syllable.

I racked my brain, trying to remember where I had heard that name before. But I couldn't.

"Who the hell are they?"

He was about to answer, when we reached the SUV Dimitri and the others must have used to get here. He opened the back door, and carefully placed me in so I laid across the back seat. He walked around to the other side of the car, and slid in next to me. He cautiously lifted my head up so I could comfortably rest it on his lap, and so we could both see each other properly. He leaned forward, and grabbed a bottle of water from one of the bags that were strewn across the floor. He handed it to me, and I greedily began to gulp the sweet, cool liquid down.

Dimitri told me to slow down, so I wouldn't choke, but I refused to listen to him. I emptied the bottle in a matter of seconds, and entered into a coughing fit. But I didn't care. Dimitri handed me another bottle, and I managed to drink this one a little more slowly, as he radioed someone I didn't recognise the name of, asking them to meet us back at the car. They would be the one to attend to my wounds, but I secretly hoped that they would take their time in getting here. There was still so much I needed to know.

When he finished speaking to whoever was coming to meet us, he got me another bottle of water and turned his attention back to my original question.

"The Warriors of Light are the people we had a run in with, when Sonya and I went up to Palm Springs." Oh that's where I knew the name from! I should have known that they were the same freaks he had told me about! "I just never even thought that they could have been the ones behind this, as it seemed too organised for their style."

"Because they're not the ones behind this. The Alchemists are. The Warriors of Light are just working with them." I had told Lissa about how I believed the Alchemists weren't working alone. The only issue was that I had no clue who the other group was. But now that I knew, it all made sense. "I knew from the start that these people weren't Alchemists, but Sydney's father was the one who figured out our plan and threw me into this place. So I think the Alchemists are the brains of this operation, while The Warriors are the muscle."

Dimitri's brow burrowed with frustration.

"But why? What's their game?" He mumbled, exasperated. I grabbed his hand, and laced my fingers through his.

"I'm not sure. But the Court needs to wake up and realise that the Alchemists can't be trusted anymore. The Vote's tonight right? We still have time to get back to Court before it starts. Maybe Lissa will be able to get through to them now that we have more evidence?"

Dimitri nodded, but he didn't seem so sure.

I thought he would have been surprised at my knowledge of the vote, and asked how I knew it was tonight. But he either already knew that Lissa had gotten in contact with me, or was too distracted to realise.

I went to open another bottle of water, but I paused. There was still one more question I needed to ask before the person arrived to give me medical attention.

"When the Guardians mounted their attack, and I realised that you weren't there, I thought that something had happened to you…"

"Oh Rose, I'm so sorry," he said, before I could even finish speaking. "I went to look for you inside, while the others waited around the building in case I needed back up. The plan was for me to slip in under the radar, and try to get you out without any alarms being raised. But when the Guardians saw you running out of the warehouse, they radioed me and I ran back as fast as I could. But I wasn't fast enough…"

His eyes glazed over, and I knew Skye's death was on his mind too.

"You're not to blame Dimitri. You did everything you could, and much more. I'm not upset with you, I was just scared that the warning that Sydney's father had said about how they wanted all of us, was true. I was worried that you had been captured, or hurt. I just needed to make sure that you were okay."

He squeezed me hand, but didn't say a word. He didn't need to. Now that we were back together, we'd both be okay.

A tap on the window startled us both. The Guardian Dimitri had radioed had arrived. He went to open the car door, but I stopped him.

"Wait, there's one more thing." I said softly, grabbing his arm. He paused, confusion flittering across his face. "You told me that I was more than you deserve."

"Rose, I-"

I held up my hand to stop him from speaking.

"When are you going to get it through your head that I love you Dimitri? We deserve each other, and we deserve to be happy."

Dimitri raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Sometimes, I forget how wise you are Roza."

"Yeah, well someone in this relationship has to be," I teased earning me another wonderful laugh.

"I love you too."

It was my turn to smile.

He released my hand, and opened the car door, allowing the Guardian to get through.

There wasn't exactly a hospital nearby, so the back of the car had to suffice. But I was okay with that. I had spent way too many hours in a hospital bed, so hanging in the back of a SUV was a nice change. Dimitri didn't leave my sight for a moment, and when I was done, I looked in the rear view mirror to see that I had been wrapped head to toe in bandages. Lovely.

The male Guardian named Dom, who had been treating me, had given me a bunch of dry food to eat and some more water. He explained to me that once I was back at Court, I'd be put on a drip to help hydrate me faster and to give my body the nutrients I needed, but for now this would be enough.

I took one bite into the brown, bread like food he had given me, and cringed. It tasted like cardboard, but I wasn't really in the state of mind to be picky, so it didn't take me long to gobble it down just as quickly as I had drank the water. I went to eat another piece, but Dimitri stopped me.

"You need to slow down, otherwise you're going to be sick."

"Come on Comrade, I can eat a triple cheese burger and still have room for ice cream!"

But he still refused, and instead just watched me with an amused expression as I tried to steal the food from him. Which irritated me even more. But I understood why it was so funny considering that I could barely lift my arms. Luckily, it wasn't too long until I was allowed to have a couple more slices, which made me feel so full that I had to shove Dimitri's hand away when he offered me some more. Dom had explained that my stomach would have shrunk due to being starved, but I didn't think it would have shrunk that much. Taking into account how much I usually eat, I had barely eaten a crumb of the cardboard food!

Dom had left to go meet the extra Guardians who had just arrived for back up. They had arrived by jet, and Dimitri and I would soon be boarding it to fly back to Court so I could get more needles stuck into me. But I didn't really care, as getting back so quickly would allow me to speak to Lissa and give her all the information she would need to convince the Royal Council of the Alchemist's misdeeds.

Dimitri and I were both sitting in the boot of the car, with the door up. I had been given a few cushions, allowing me to sit upright. Dimitri sat cross legged right next to me, using his fingers to trace patterns on the back of my hand. It felt so good that I almost fell asleep. And I would have, if Dimitri's phone hadn't started to ring.

Groggily, I opened my eyes to find Dimitri staring at the screen of his phone as it continued to ring. He seemed confused, but a few seconds later he pushed the answer button and held it up to his ear.

"Hello." His tone was firm, and unyielding. "Eddie?"

I immediately tried to sit upright, cringing as my body refused to cooperate. Listening carefully, I could just make out Eddie's voice on the other end of the phone. He sounded rushed, and even worried.

"What?" Dimitri questioned, his tone hardening. "Is everyone okay?"

Now I was worried.

"What's going on?" I whispered, catching Dimitri's attention. His eyes swept over my face, his expression unreadable. The only thing I knew was that something was wrong.

"Hold on for a second Eddie." Pulling the phone away from his ear, Dimitri pressed a few buttons, and held it so it faced both of us. "Okay, I've put you on loud speaker so Rose can hear."

"Rose? You found her!?" Eddie's voice came booming through the phone, making me smile.

"Hey Castile, long time no speak," I said, trying to keep my tone light.

"Rose! Are you okay? We were so worried-"

"I'm fine Eddie, but we can catch up later. What's going on?"

Eddie paused for a second, probably trying to process everything.

"The place Angeline and I moved Jill to, it was attacked. We got out in time, but I don't get how they found us..." Eddie explained, sounding deflated.

I turned to Dimitri, who was staring at the phone with the same fury he had glared at Jeff with. Oh no…

"Eddie, do you know who attacked you guys?" I asked cautiously, desperately hoping that I was wrong. But unfortunately, my assumption was correct.

"Yes, I knew them. They were The Warriors of Light."

A/N: So, The Warriors of Light and the Alchemists are working together (just like it was suspected in the Bloodlines series ;D).

But just as Dimitri queried, what do you think their game is?

Keep those review coming people, as I love feedback and find them to be very motivational! :D

University is going to be a bit crazy for the next couple of weeks, but I'll try and get the next chapter up ASAP!