I was dragged out of the cell by seven guards and into the courtroom. All this fuss for an innocent Dhampir. A waste of time. Time that could have been spent better. For example, catching the actual killer! Apparently, their minds were set.

I wasn't proven wrong when I walked into the courtroom with the guards, cuffs around my wrists. I did the whole 'walk of shame' in front of the eagerly awaiting Moroi and Dhampir.

I was almost, almost comforted by that, but then my mind snapped into place. It had never worked right, but this was something totally different.

They want your death. They want peace.

I tried to put on a confident face as I stumbled down the room. Sure, I could walk better than that, but if this turned sour, it would cost my life anyway. I needed to escape. I had an idea where I'd go.

Kind of.

I was pushed into the middle of a space surrounded by people. I saw, out of the corner of my eyes, Lissa and Christian holding hands anxiously. Adrian was rubbing the back of his hand as he starred at me. I knew he was itching for a cigarette, but he loved me enough to stay and watch. Then, I suppose, anyone would, if it meant the great Rose Hathaway would die.

Shockingly, it didn't surprise me to see Alberta and Kirova sitting in the back row behind Adrian. A couple of the graduates were here too. Some were my friends, some were the people I wasn't enemies with.

Jill was here too, as was her mum, Emily. They caught my eye, and they both looked on the verge of crying.

Of course, Janine was here too, talking to Abe frantically.

And out at the very corner, the person I actually turned my head for.

Dimitri.

He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, an expression on his face copied the rest of the courtroom who was voting for me, but with an unnatural calmness that he had. The one that actually made me think he cared for me.

He made his choice.

It was like a slap in the face, especially with him right there. It was one thing thinking it over and over again, then saying out loud, but thinking it with him around? Out of the barrier. What would happen if I had to say it out loud to his face? Would I give in?

I turned my attention back to the council that sat in front of me. Tears of fear leaked from Lissa's eyes. I saw that she was at the point that she didn't care too. This was it. This would be the difference between happiness and on the run forever.

Except she didn't know my plan. Again, I was thankful for the one way bond.

The council looked at my with glares of resentment as I prepared myself for battle. I took notice of where every single person was in the room before looking at them.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," The judge said with a voice strong of authority. "You stand the charges of murdering Queen Tatiana. How do you stand?"

I swallowed my pride. "Not guilty, your honor."

She nodded. Iris Kane stood at the opposite side of the room, not even glancing at me. I guessed she had gotten enough of that the last time we met. In the hearing.

The judge looked towards Iris. "Your evidence?"

Iris handed several files to the judge before retaking her place. The judge looked over them very carefully. Abe was right at my side now, placing a hand on my shoulder. Yeah, he had said before that he wished he could just pick me up from the police station like normal fathers.

That was his problem, though, not mine. But I left his hand there.

The judge looked at me. "The evidence is very strong against you, Miss Hathaway."

I was about to tell her we had had this conversation when Abe cut me off.

"Your honor, perhaps I may say something?"

She nodded, much to Iris's displeasure.

"The evidence is strong against Rose, but she had actually put u a very good point at the hearing. She had said that the evidence is painfully obvious, and she would have done a much better job than that if anything. I believe this is a set up. But can you see that? She would have never left the stake in her. She would have used someone else's stake, if anything.

"It's too messy, and it's meant to be that way."

He had totally just stolen my bit! But I wasn't concerned about that this moment. My life was on the line right this moment.

The judge looked towards the jury. "Do we have enough information for this trial to go ahead?"

There was a sea of bobbing heads in the jury.

The judge addressed the rest of us. "The jury will now take all evidence and information into the decision room. A short recess will be in order for the rest of us."

The courtroom broke into a sea of chatter and I sat down. Lissa was calling my name from where she sat, and I decided after a moment, to not be Dimitri. That was me not three weeks ago, with Dimitri. I would have given everything, and I did, to talk to him.

I stopped a fair distance away, but we could still have a private chat with a hundred or so of my closest friends.

"It's gonna be okay," she told me. "I won't let anything happen to you."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, moving closer to her until I didn't have to shout.

"You know better than I do that this isn't going well! You can't promise something like that, Liss, you just can't. Do you have a piece of paper on you?"

She dug in her purse for a moment then handed me a pen and paper.

I wrote her a quick note, folded it up and handed it back to her.

"You don't open this until I tell you too, you hear me? This is important, and no matter how much you want to open it, don't." I took a deep breath in. "and if I don't survive, I want you to open it."

Lissa bit back a sob. She knew she wanted to promise me the world, but this was one war that we were powerless against.

The jury piled into the room then, and I took my position again. This was it. The matter between life or death. To be executed, or to live.

"The jury has decided," the judge began. She opened a note and read it aloud to us. I brace myself. "Guilty."

A shocked gasp went around the room, and instantly guardians were coming at me from all sides.

"You know I have to do this," I whispered to Abe.

He nodded. "Go to the Belikov's. Make sure Dimitri or anyone else doesn't know you are there. I will send for you when it is safe."

I looked at him, and I was grabbed from behind at the arms. I twisted his arms fast, like I had been taught, and he had fallen to the ground.

The fighting went as I had been trained.

Distraction. Something to give you the first opening.

Hurt the jaw. A good jab knocks them out of balance.

Attack their hearing. A good clap with their head between your hands works wonders.

Elbow block, they will fight you will the best they've got. Come around with a rib attack.

Another jaw punch, fracturing it. Get them to really stumble.

Jab to the ribs. Hard enough to break bones.

One last upper cut to the jaw. Dislocating it fully.

Then a final kick to the stomach to make them fall.

Result : Dislocated jaw, four broken ribs, ears ringing, unconscious.

Recovery time: six weeks physical recovery, six months mental.

And I was out of there faster than I had ever exited a building before. Not when we were attacked by Strigoi in Spokane, not when I ran away from Dimitri in Russia, not even escaping the building in Las Vegas. I knew the backup plan if I had failed any of those tasks.

Not now. Failing this would be my death.

I ran into the woods, people coming at me, screaming and shooting at me. I ducked into the trees, but kept running until I was sure the maze would confuse them, if they hadn't been scared by the fact that a 'murderer' was on the loose in the woods where I had the advantage.

I stood for a moment, assessing where I had come, and where I was going.

The Belikov's. Sure enough, Abe would tell Dimitri that his family thought he was dead, and would want it that way. I wouldn't be able to tell them the great news.

Great news for anyone but me.

I took off towards the roads where I could maybe hitch hike again.

Russia, here I come.

Again.

The Belikov's house was exactly as I had left it. There was no physical difference, if you didn't count how long the grass was. I knocked hard on the front door three times, nervous.

What would I tell them? I couldn't exactly just waltz in there and say, Hey, I'm on the run from the Moroi Council because they think that I killed Tatiana when I didn't. They want to kill me, but I need to find out who did. I have absolutely no leads because they framed me. Not to mention find out Vasilisa's long lost brother or sister. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah apparently she does because her father hooked up with this random chick, most definitely in Las Vegas. So I'm gonna crash here, 'Kay?

I was pretty sure that wouldn't go down well. Maybe they would turn me in, who knew?

When Olena Belikova opened the door, she looked shocked for a moment, then grinned at me in pleasant surprise.

"Oh Roza! We have been waiting for you!"

She hushed me into the house, taking a nervous look around outside to make sure anyone had heard her voice before closing the door.

I had waited so long to hear a Belikov say my name. Roza. But, as it turns out, unsurprisingly, I had been waiting to hear that from a different Belikov. I sighed at that thought, but then I frowned and spun around to Olena.

"Wait. Did you just say you were waiting for me? I guess you would know that I would come to visit, but you couldn't have just expected it." I argued, although I was quite confused. Did she really wait all that time for me to come back?

She laughed. "Oh Roza. No, Abe Mazur called. He asked if you could stay with us for a couple of days."

I suddenly felt very stupid. "Oh." I sighed, but then, again, I was caught on something. "A couple of days? You know what's going on, right? I think it'll take more than a couple of days."

"That's true," she said softly. "Being wrongly accused of murder, figuring it out…it takes quite a while. Abe has not told anyone of the people who care about you, not even your mother, where you are. He is out of the Court for now, looking for leads and people who would want to hurt you in that way,"

"You mean kill me, right?" I asked, saying what she was too afraid too.

She nodded once. "But none the less, you have to keep moving, even if you place is secure. There are a lot of people in Russia who would love to help you, Roza. But Abe also wants you focus on learning while you hide. You can't just do one at a time. Just like before."

Before, when I had stayed here while hunting Dimitri. Before, when I had killed Strigoi in Novosibirsk while still hunting Dimitri. Before, when I had been under Dimitri's love, while hunting him.

I almost wished for those days back, when at least I had the illusion that Dimitri still loved me, and then thought better of it. I wanted him, not an illusion.

"What does he want me to learn?" I asked her.

She grinned. "Spirit."

I frowned. "That's Lissa's realm, not mine. I was sort of forced into it."

"True. But you can learn so much from Mark and Oksana. Abe has arranged everything here, where you will be staying, for the time being."

"And if they don't figure it out? If I'm stuck on the run for the rest of my life?"

Apparently, she wanted to hear nothing of it.

"Go unpack your things. You're in your room again." She said.

"You mean Dimitri's room?"

Her breath caught, and I instantly realised my mistake. I shut up then and walked upstairs.

"Abe knew you didn't have much." She said, catching me on the second stair. "He has sent some things for you. Some disguises, too, I think."

I nodded thanks and walked quickly into Dimitri's room. Still his room. But she would know that later.

For now, all I could do was watch and listen until things settled down a bit, and then I would figure out what the fuck was going on.