A/N: Enjoy this next chapter. Anyone have any thoughts on what could possibly be happening?

Rose

Chapter 12

One Month Earlier (Week 2, Day 3)…

I woke up sore, but mostly in a good way. My muscles were tight from the fight with the Strigoi in the ally the night before, but also because of the way that Dimitri knew how to work my body.

As I climbed out of bed and back into the living room, Dimitri was already dressed, pouring over information that was on the laptop.

"Comrade, it's our day off today. Would it kill you to sleep in a little?"

He looked up from the computer and over at me, his lips turning up into a grin. I rubbed at my eyes, still only dressed in a long t-shirt that just covered my upper thighs. My hair was a bit of a mess having gone directly from the shower all wet right to bed. Not that I was complaining.

I tried to smooth it out and make myself look somewhat presentable…but I could be wearing a paper bag, and the way Dimitri was looking at me right now would still make me want to go weak in the knees.

"I think I found something," he said, gesturing to the computer.

I yawned loudly. "Am I going to need coffee first?"

"I made you a cup," he said, his head signaling to the counter where a cup of coffee laid.

I went over to grab the mug of caffeine, a moan escaping my lips. "If I haven't told you lately, I love you, Comrade."

He chuckled. "Me or the coffee?"

I grinned. "It's a tossup." I winked at him, but he knew damn well I was talking about him.

I walked over to the couch, and sat down with the cup of coffee in my hands. Even in his determined and focus state, his glance slid my way the moment my t-shit moved up a good inch or two showing the full berth of my bare legs that he loved so much.

I cleared my throat. "You better start talking, because if you keep looking at me like that, we are going to go for round five this morning."

His cheeks flushed—which was actually quite cute—before he returned back to the screen. "I combed through all of the files and employment applications for the names you gave me last night," he stated.

I yawned again, still trying to wake up. "How long have you been up?" I asked curiously.

"Long enough," he replied as if that tidbit was insufficient.

"Okay, so what did you find?"

"Let's start with the cocktail waitress. Jean Stone. She was a nineteen-year-old when she started there. She was here about six months before she didn't show up for her last reported shift," Dimitri explained.

"So, she just disappeared?"

He nodded. "It was a few days before the police were brought in for a missing person. From what we could gather with access to the files, her case is still open."

When Dimitri meant "access to the files," it meant that we used highly trained trackers to be able to break into local police and fire rescue to access their reports. It wasn't as easy if it was higher in the government, since they used more advanced equipment, but we also hired the best when the time came for us needing sealed information.

"Do they have any leads?" I asked.

He shook his head. "The lead report from the deputy for Jean's mother, who lives in Florida, said her daughter is a free spirit. That she often just picks up and heads to a new town the moment she gets a calling," he answered, putting a questionable quotation around the word calling.

I rolled my eyes. "One of those." I took a sip, but something wasn't quite sitting with me. "Let's say she did just decide to pick up and go, wouldn't she have been flagged in the system by now if she tried to make a purchase or rent a space?"

Dimitri's eyes lit up with approval. "Yes. Which there hasn't been any. So, unless she went off the grid…"

"Or she is actually dead or has become the undead…"

"Exactly," he surmised.

He moved her information to the side, and pulled up a picture of another person on the screen. This individual was much more powerful looking. Built and tall—about as tall as Marcus—he looked every bit like one of the security details.

"Is this Ryan?" I asked.

Dimitri shook his head. "This is Reed. Reed Parker. He was Marcus and Zachary's number two. The one I replaced."

I didn't like the sound of that. Obviously, we had needed an excuse to go undercover, but the fact that we had someone missing so high up the chain, made me worry. Dimitri could handle himself—that I was confident for sure—but we still didn't know exactly what we were working with when it came to this new drug.

"Is he missing too?"

Dimitri didn't answer right away. His hand was resting on his chin, rubbing it as his eyes looked at the screen reviewing the information.

"That's not what I am getting. Jean and Ryan, according to their files, they went missing about a week ago. Reed has been gone for two months. There was no resignation, no police report, nothing."

I set the coffee mug on the coffee table. "Any family to report him missing?"

He shook his head. "No." He looked at me with that look in his eye that told me that I wasn't going to like what he was going to say next. He was right. I didn't. "He was a dhampir, Rose."

"A Dhampir? But we would have known if he went missing, right?"

Dimitri rubbed the back of his neck. "Not necessarily. I asked Hans for his file. He was a good guardian back in the day. One of the top in his class when he was at the academy. He even guarded a prominent Moroi for years."

"What made him leave?"

It wasn't uncommon that after years, some guardians decided to just stop protecting Moroi and go live a life on their own. It was highly frowned upon, because our whole purpose was to serve the Moroi first.

A dhampir abandoning their guardian duties to the Moroi was just as bad as a female dhampir leaving to go and live a life as a blood whore.

"She died," Dimitri said solemnly.

He pulled up a picture of a Moroi on the screen. She was pretty with her long blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes, but she had looked like many of the same when it came to Moroi features.

"Strigoi?"

"Mugging," he answered. "She was a yoga teacher and leaving her final class for the day. She was on her way home when she was mugged. Raped, stabbed, and beaten until she died."

I gasped. I could only imagine for someone like Reed what that must've felt like for him knowing he was unable to do the one thing he was trained to do. It even surprised me that he would have let her go without any security, but that is generally what happened to those that wished to live a more normal life and let their guard down.

"After that, he left for good and took odd end security jobs until he landed at the night club. No other family or friends, he cut himself off from the world," Dimitri added.

I scooted closer to the edge of the couch, my elbows resting on my knees. "So that explains why no one reported him missing. But do we think he was taken by force?"

Dimitri's lips twisted. "I can't be certain, but everything I read…says that might not be the case." He turned his head to look at me. "Did your colleagues say anything to you last night?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Only Faye questioned me at one time on why I was so interested in wanting to know why everyone left. I think I was able to shut down any suspicion. She had seen me with Marcus earlier that day, so I played that I had made a big blunder and was worried about losing my job."

A guarded look transformed over his features. "Be careful," he said.

I smiled. "Always am, Comrade." We turned our attention back to the screen. "I didn't get any vibes that anyone was unhappy with his performance. They seemed sad that he was gone."

"That's what I get too. He seemed well respected by the other security details. Some who have not been happy to have me take his place."

"Must be your warm and fuzzy personality," I teased.

He looked at me with a confused expression, making me get up to walk over and drop a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Okay, so there is the likelihood, that Reed could be a part of whatever is going on. Good to know. What about Ryan?"

Dimitri's fingers flew over the keys, before Ryan's picture came on screen. "Ryan Tarus."

"A Mori?" I asked with surprise.

He nodded.

"As a security guard? That doesn't make any sense."

"My thoughts exactly," he remarked at the surprise in my expression.

It wasn't that some Moroi wanted to do more than just attend court and live off their royal names. After Christian had proved that Moroi could aid in the fight, and things had gotten a little hairy for a while at Royal Court, many of the Moroi had wanted to join in on learning more guardian training.

Most Moroi royals thought that notion was foolish, and threatened to cut off their children from their wealth and privileges if they decided to want to engage in such a lifestyle.

"So…was he cut off? Is that why he worked at the nightclub?"

Dimitri typed again bringing up another screen. "Not that I could see. It doesn't appear his parents were ones that supported that decision, but he wasn't cut off. In fact…" he brought up another screen that took us to a link of a college campus.

"He's in college?" I asked.

"Yes. He still currently showing enrolled at Denver University."

I grinned, pulling back abruptly. "Do I feel a road trip coming on."

Dimitri shook his head at how quickly I went from wanting to relax and do nothing all day to now wanting to get on the road.

"Go get dressed, Roza. Then we can leave."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

Dimitri

After an almost two-hour ride with traffic—and Rose complaining that I wouldn't let her drive—we had made it out to Denver and parked in the visitor parking of the college campus.

"So, what's our play?" Rose asked as we exited the vehicle.

The sun was shinning now, but the weather was still cooler in the forties. The one nice thing about this assignment, was that Rose and I were able to enjoy some of the daylight perks since we weren't on Moroi time tables.

"Figured we could start with his dorm room. See if we could find any information there," I answered.

She nodded; as we started making our way to the dorms on the campus. From what I could gather with information that had been collected, we only had what dorm room Ryan had been staying in. The rest of the information had been restricted and off the computer system due to his Moroi background. Not uncommon to be able to avoid any sort of our existence getting leaked out.

As we walked to the hallway, we passed a few students who looked in our direction. I was well aware of the double takes we were getting as they passed, but mostly it was because they were appraising Rose. One look at me, and their head snapped forward before they continued on.

"You know, Comrade, if you and I were in college, I'm sure I would be sneaking into your dorm room every night," she teased.

My upper lip twitched. "If you recall, you did enough sneaking around back at St. Vladimir's."

That innocent look—which was anything but innocent—returned to her expression. She poked me right in the bicep. "I don't remember you complaining." Her eyes flashing with mischief.

I sighed. "It's amazing that you were never expelled and me fired," I muttered.

"That's because no one can resist the Rose Hathaway charm. Not even you, big guy."

We stopped in front of dorm room 2120. "Let me do the talking, Rose."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but then nodded. "Fine. I can see why going with the big, scary, intimidation tactic would be better."

I arched a brow. "Big? Scary?"

She shrugged. "I like it."

I shook my head, knocking on the door. There was silence, but Rose and I could hear shuffling behind the door. I knocked again.

"Go away!"

A groggy yell sounded from the other side of the door. Rose and I looked at each other.

"Rude if you ask me," she remarked.

I pounded on the door even louder.

"Dude, it's not even noon. Go away!" The voice shouted louder.

This time I pounded even louder and not stopping, until I achieved the desired effect and the door opened. A human male on the other end stood at the door, wiping his eyes as he squinted up at us. His hair was tasseled and he reeked of day-old alcohol.

"What?" he snapped.

His hands dropped from his face. Even though he only appeared half awake, the moment his eyes took in Rose, he instantly became awake as he gawked at her from head to toe.

I snapped my fingers in his face. "Eyes up here!" I demanded.

He flinched; before looking over at me, taking a step back right into the door.

"What do you w-want?" he asked.

"We're looking for your roommate, Ryan Tarus. Is he here?"

The male yawed, leaning his head against the door as if he was actually going to attempt to fall back asleep standing up. I snapped my fingers in his face again.

"What?"

"Ryan Tarus. Is he here?" I repeated.

"No," he said grumpily. "Why?"

"We need to talk to him," Rose said, trying to ease some of the frustration looming between us.

The student looked over at Rose with renewed interest. "Why talk to him, when you can spend time talking to me," he answered, giving her a shit eating grin.

I growled.

"This is important," Rose replied, her voice taking an urgent undertone at my agitation with the idiot standing in front of us.

The student sighed, but I didn't get that he was actually even worried about the fact that is roommate might be missing.

"I don't know. Not sure when he will be back," he admitted, waving off the concern. "Now if you will excuse me," he said, trying to close the door.

I stepped forward; my arm extending out to keep the door from closing in our face. "When was the last time you had seen him?"

The boy let out an exasperated sigh. "Man, I don't know. Why do you even care?"

"Answer the question," I demanded, growing tired of his whining and unhelpful behavior.

The boy groaned. "I don't know…about two weeks ago. Said he was going to work and haven't seen him since."

"He hasn't tried to make contact with you?" Rose asked.

The boy turned to her, some of his annoyance dropping a bit. "Were roommates. Not like we were friends."

"Has anyone come to ask about him?" I asked.

"You mean besides you two at this ungodly hour," he remarked snidely. I shot him a pointed look. "No. But if you see him, tell him he owes me twenty bucks." He looked at us two. "Now, unless you sweet thing want to come in here and question me—" —his brows wiggled with his intent— "—I am going to go and lay down."

I was about to grab hold of his shirt, when Rose's hand rested on my shoulder. "Not a chance." She turned to me. "Time to go," she said, knowing perfectly well, I wanted to teach this jerk a thing or two about manners.

"Whatever," he said, before closing the door right in our face.

"Maybe it's a good thing we never attempted to go to college," Rose observed.

"Yeah, why is that?"

She grinned. "Because all my checks would go to bailing you out of jail."

I held open the door out of the dorm building. "Rose, my self-restraint is much stronger than that."

She laughed. "Sure, Comrade. You can't fool me. I saw how you were five seconds from beating him to a pulp."

"The kid needs to learn some manners," I rumbled.

She laughed. "Manners, yes. Never being able to walk again…no."

"Rose? Dimitri?"

We both stopped in the middle of the campus courtyard the connected several of the dorms together and turned around.

"Ms. Terwilliger?" Rose asked as we made our way over to her.

"I thought that was you," she said, coming to stop in front of us.

Jaclyn "Jackie" Terwilliger, was a history teacher at the Amberwood Prep school that Lissa had sent Sydney, Adrian, Jill, and Eddie too when there had been creditable threats to Jill's life, after we had all found out that she was the half-sister to Queen Vasilisa Dragomir.

She was also a witch that helped Sydney during her time there to create spells and casts the brought forth the dealings of what was going on behind the scenes with the Alchemists.

Jackie was a bit odd and cooky, but she had proven to be a tremendous asset to us when we had needed her.

"What are you doing all the way out here in Colorado?" Rose asked in puzzlement.

"A teacher conference, dear. Always looking to refine my skills," she answered with a twinkle in her eye.

If I had to guess, Jackie wasn't just here because of a teacher conference, and the skills she was referring to had something to do with her coven. Since she didn't hide the fact to us that she was a witch.

"What brings you both to Denver?" She asked, looking between us both. "You two don't strike me as the type that would give up your normal duties for schoolwork."

Rose had made a gagging sound, but her look in my direction told me she was going to defer to me for the answer.

"We're looking into a disappearance of a Moroi," I answered, going with the half-truth. She didn't need to know all of the reasons why.

She eyed me carefully. "Must be an important Moroi if your queen sent the two of you."

I made no comment either way on the matter.

"You two are looking good." She turned to me. "I swear you get bigger and scarier each time I see you."

Her tone was playful. There was nothing that scared Jackie Terwilliger.

"Actually," Rose spoke up, and I noticed that look in her eye. That look that said she had an idea. That look often scared me.

"Yes…" Jackie said, turning towards her.

"Maybe you can help us," she suggested.

Jackie's expression turned of one of interest. Mine as well. "Help you, how?"

"Well, Dimitri and I were headed to the faculty office. We were hoping to secure information on the student, but we're concerned that they won't give it to us without being his parents or family."

Recognition dawned in Jackie's expression. "I wish I could help dear, but I have no authority at this school. Even if I asked, they wouldn't share it with me since I have no reason to know."

Rose frowned. "It was worth a try."

"But…" Jackie added, her brows shooting up to indicate she did have another idea.

She reached into her bag that was slumped over her shoulder and pulled something out of the pocket.

"Hold out your hands," she commanded. Both Rose and I opened our palms flat to her. She dropped two charms in each of our hands. "What I can do is provide you with a glamour."

Both of her hands came to rest on top of our outstretched ones, as she closed her eyes and started to chant words and sayings that I had no idea what they meant. As she continued, I could feel the small charm I was holding grow warm and tingle in my palm.

She drew back her hands, her eyes opening as she beamed at us with a smile. "There," she declared, as she looked at the both of us. "This should get you what you need. As long as you have these on you, you should appear like your Moroi in and about the age of forty for the next day before it wears off."

"No way…" Rose beamed, another one of those dangerous looks in her eyes.

"Thank you, Ms. Terwilliger," I said.

"Jackie," she corrected. She clapped her hands. "I really must be going, but please tell Sydney and that adorable husband of hers that they are due for a visit."

"We will," I affirmed.

We watched as Jackie turned away from our view, before we headed over to the administration building. I held open the door for Rose, as we both secured the charms that Jackie gave us.

In the reflection of the glass of the door, I could see the spell she had placed on the charms was working perfectly. As she had said, she made us both to look like forty-year-old looking Moroi. Both of us with blonde hair, pale skin, and sharp features. Seeing my reflection, I understood now, why many of the Moroi men and woman decided to become models.

Rose, looked back at me staring at the reflection, catching a glimpse of herself. Her body did a little quake next to me, as our shoulders touched.

"What?" I asked curiously.

She titled her head to the side as she looked at us. "It's…so…"

"Unnerving," I guessed.

She turned to me and nodded. "Yeah." She tapped me on the shoulder. "Let's get this over with. I very much would rather be looking at you just the way you are." She winked.

As we approached the desk, an older woman who had to be in her late sixties picked up her head. She had the librarian look down pat, her demeanor reminding me of some of the teachers I had growing up back at the schools in Russia.

She wore a pair of glasses that were perched on her nose, both sides of the glasses attached to a chain that hung around her neck. Her hair was pulled up tightly into a bun that sat on the top of her head, the wrinkles around her mouth more pronounced from possibly years of frowning or giving disapproving looks to students.

"May I help you?" she asked as pleasantly as possible, even though our very presence seemed to be the opposite.

I pointed to Rose and then myself. "We are Mr. and Mrs. Tarus. Ryan Tarus is our son. We were hoping we could speak to someone in charge regarding our son's enrollment here."

Her eyes squinted as I referenced the name, as if she was trying to go through a rolodex in her head of every student that was currently on campus.

"Yes…" she drawled out. "We have left you a couple of messages regarding your son's attendance. Or lack thereof," she added in a judgmental tone.

"Boys," Rose added flippantly. "That boy could drive me to drink."

I jabbed Rose in the side, her gaze flickering to mine as if she didn't understand what she could say that could have been wrong.

"Yes…I am beginning to see now," she responded glancing between the two of us.

"Is there someone we can speak too?" I asked again, bringing us back to the topic.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "One moment. Let me see if one of the advisors are available."

A few minutes later, she returned along with a male advisor who looked as if he had just graduated from college yesterday.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tarus, I'm Chad Weston. The campus's resident advisor and counselor," he said extending his hand.

I shook his hand first, before he turned to Rose and did the same. He beckoned us back to his office where he asked us to take a seat.

"It's great to hear from you," he said, taking a seat behind his desk, folding his hands neatly on top. "I know we made several attempts to reach you. We've be concerned recently with your son's lack of attendance.

I cleared my throat. "That's why we are here. We will be withdrawing his attendance here. Starting today," I advised.

Mr. Weston's eyes went wide, that clearly having not been the information he had expected. "Oh, well, I am sure you can understand that isn't the kind of news we would like to hear."

Rose shrugged. "It turns out, college really wasn't his thing."

Chad's brows drew together. "Hmm. I must admit, that is quite odd since he was a remarkable student. High grade marks."

That was interesting, since everything we had on Ryan indicated that we had recently more been interested in wanting to pursue guardian training in the event he was picked for the small group as a trial period where guardians and Moroi worked together.

Lissa had been reviewing petitions and request for some time. Things had finally started to calm down after it was first initially brought forward, but now that Moroi could actually be joining attack missions, it could stir back up discord among the royals.

"Our son is talented," Rose said, turning on her charm, "but we discussed this as a family unit and this is what our Ryan wants."

"We would appreciate copies of his record," I added. "In the event he decides to change his mind in the future."

Chad eyed us both, wondering if there would be anything else he could say or do to convince us otherwise, but when Ryan continued to remain absent and not show, they would have to understand at some point.

"I understand." Chad stood from his chair. "Give me a few moments and I will have them make a few copies."

"And we would also like any of his belongings that were left in his room," I added.

He walked out of the room, Rose turning to me as soon as he was gone. "It's really like taking candy from a baby."

"Yes, and the fact that we are wearing glamours had nothing really to do with it," I asked.

"You know, I have to give Jackie credit. If I had that kind of power just laying around, I would be glamouring my way out of things left and right."

I groaned. "Yes, I am thankful you cannot. It's already hard enough to manage you, just as you are."

She stuck her tongue at me, quickly hiding her action once Chad stepped back into the room with a copy of Ryan's file in his hand.

Rose and I both stood as he handed the information over to me.

"Before you go," Chad started, looking from me to Rose. "Prior to your son's recent absence from class, we had some unusual reports about his behavior."

"Why kind of reports?" I asked.

Chad looked away from my gaze, his eyes dropping to his shoe. He shuffled from one foot to the other, shoving his hands in his pocket. After a moment, he finally looked up to meet our scrutiny.

"Please understand that the school does not believe these allegations. We take any reports that we receive and we investigate them to the fullness of our ability."

"What reports?" I repeated, my expression unflinching.

Chad rubbed the back of his neck. "A week before he stopped showing up to class, his roo—a student reported that several nefarious folks were seen around campus and specifically with him. While they were in Ryan's company there were snippets of discussion that appeared that your son might be involved or dealing with drugs."

Rose and I looked at each other, or expressions worrisome. It was another clue to what we already had guessed, but if what Chad or those had witnessed were true, then it wasn't a good thing that this might just be a one off type of situation. No, this would indeed end up being an operation that was underway.

"I'm sorry to possibly be the ones to tell you this, but I just thought you should know," he said quickly, at what he must've seen cross our faces.

"We thank you for the information," I said.

"Of course. I will have someone collect his things and bring them to the office at once."

Rose and I left his office and waited in the office administration until someone had brought the two boxes that had encompassed all of the belongings from his room.

Rose

As soon as we got back to the apartment, Dimitri and I called both Sonya and Mikhail and gave them a brief update. We had learned there had been no new incidents at the school, but there had also been no news from Sonya on any of the information she collected.

What blood samples she had collected from the Strigoi we had captured from the woods at St. Anna's had produced no new information. What Sonya was able to confirm was that it had almost identical markers and data from the original information Sydney had provided us a few weeks ago.

While we now had significant data that something was being manufactured to create terminator type Strigoi, we were no closer to understanding what was being used or how the process was commissioned to get the results outside of Moroi and dhampir blood.

After we hung up with Sonya and Mikhail, we put a request in to debrief with Hans. Once he took down all the information and gave us a rather curt and lackluster pat on the back, he left the room and connection open for me so I could talk with my friends.

Currently in the room was Lissa, Christian, and Adrian. We had apparently just missed Sydney who Adrain had taken back to their home to get some sleep. She had been living off caffeine the last few days trying to find anything to help aid us in the assignment.

We tried to assure Sydney that we were all in this together, but considering she was the smartest out of the bunch with her scientific background in chemicals and compounds, she felt the weight was significantly more on her shoulders to get us a clue.

"Tell me everything!" Lissa demanded, pulling me from my thoughts.

This was the first time we had an opportunity to really chat since Dimitri and I had landed in Colorado. I had sent her a few texts and pictures in the evening hours when I knew she would be starting her day and Dimitri and I would be winding down from our shifts at the nightclub.

I told her about the club, my job and the girls that I worked with along with the ridiculous outfit that I had to wear day in and day out. I even snapped her a picture the first day I had to wear it, which only earned a response that Christian had made some sort of remark that he would love to see Lissa wearing something like that for him.

"I can only imagine how insanely jealous Dimitri is having to see you wear that," Lissa teased.

Dimitri really did have remarkable self-control, because my uniform was practically lingerie that I was wearing to work day in and day out.

I looked over at my shoulder, where Dimitri was sitting at our kitchen table that was three sizes two small for him as he poured over all the data we had, including the newest information we got on Ryan this afternoon.

"You know how they always talk about makeup sex being the best sex you ever have?" Lissa nodded. "Makeup sex as nothing on this."

"Ew, gross. That is my cousin you are talking about," Adrian chimed in, worming his way into the screen.

"That's what you get for inviting yourself into a two-party conversation," I joked.

Adrian grinned. "Hi, little Dhampir."

"Tell us about the Strigoi you killed in the ally," added Christian.

I had provided Hans the abbreviated version during the debriefing. Since it wasn't one of the terminator like Strigoi's, he hadn't been fully interested. He rode off my concerns about the comments the Strigoi had made as just as pathetic attempt to prevent its death. I disagreed, but I learned when it came to Hans that once he had something in his mind, it was difficult to try and change it, unless one had a considerable amount of evidence to back it up.

I ended up giving them the full recount of what happened, which provided a varying degree of responses from my friends. Lissa was more concerned, Christian wanted to talk strategy and ways I could torture them more slowly next time—if I wanted them to talk—while Adrian as usual stuck to jokes.

"Rose, please be careful," Lissa reenforced.

"I always am," I answered.

"I know you, Rose. I know what your being careful means." She grabbed the laptop. "Where's Dimitri? Let me talk to him, he will listen when it comes to making sure you don't do anything crazy."

I sat back, yawned and stretched my arms wide in an overly dramatic way. "Boy, I am tired. Plus, this connection is getting a little hairy. I think it's time to go."

"No…no…Rose…it is not. Don't you dare hang up on me," Lissa demanded.

"Give Sydney my love," I added.

"Rose, as your queen I demanded—"

"Love you too, Liss."

"Rose! Rose…"

I cut the connection off, closing the lid to my laptop. I stood up from the couch, making my way over to the kitchen where Dimitri was still sitting concentrating on the information. I stood behind him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, resting my chin on his head.

"Lissa sends her love," I said.

Dimitri chuckled. "One of these days, you really will get in trouble for hanging up on her like that."

I grinned, bending down to kiss him on the cheek. "But not today." I looked at the information he had in front of him. "Find anything useful yet?"

His brows drew together in concentration. "No. Nothing that I think can be useful yet. There is a lot of information here, but it's just separate puzzle pieces that without the foundation board don't make a lot of sense."

"Anything new?"

I thought if maybe we started somewhere new that we might be able to see if we could fit it with information we had already collected.

He shoved a couple of papers out of the way, bringing up one piece of paper that was all handwritten. Something we had collected today from our visit to Ryan's college.

"There are two words," he said, his head turning so he could see me better. Since my arms were still wrapped around his neck, it brought us even closer. "The word shipment stands out to me."

"Well, that would make sense since he worked at the club. Especially since we now have a high suspicion that their suspicion is probably less having to do with alcohol deliveries and more about whatever this drug is."

"Exactly," Dimitri agreed. "The other thing that stands out is the word Svoboda used."

"Svoboda? Isn't that Russian?"

"It can be many things in many languages. But, yes, in Russian it translates to freedom or free will," he answered.

My brows furrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Dimitri's hand came up to my clasped one, taking my hand in his as he brought me forward so I could sit on his lap. My right arm slung over his shoulder. There was a worried look in his concentration that I didn't like.

"Dimitri?"

He sighed; a faraway look in his eyes. The same kind of look I had only ever seen a few times before. The look of the time whenever he talked about his time as a Strigoi.

I brought my free hand up to his cheek, urging him to look me in the eyes. "Dimitri," I repeated carefully. "Talk to me."

"You remember that in my short time I had climbed through the ranks of the Strigoi?"

I nodded. It wasn't one of the better moments, but even as a Strigoi, he still excelled in anything he did.

"Yes."

"While I excelled, there was always a few levels above me I had yet to reach. I had…"

Dimitri's voice trailed off as he looked down again, but I wouldn't let himself hide from me. I gently pulled his chin up, forcing him to look me in the eyes. We were a team. We did this together. When he was hurting, I took some of the load and gave him back some of my strength.

"I'm here Dimitri. You're safe. Safe with me," I reminded him.

He leaned in until our foreheads were touching, my hands on either side of his cheeks, as I placed a gentle kiss on his.

"I had a meeting scheduled to meet with the next level, but that had all fallen to the waist side when you…"

"When I showed up to kill you," I finished for him.

I pulled back, and I could see the anguish in his eyes. Normally, Dimitri had time to prepare himself when he had to talk about these days, but whatever he had found in this case, just ripped the band aid back open and threw him in the trenches.

He nodded. "I never got the Strigoi's name, but there was one thing anyone in his crew or under his command referenced. It was the word Svoboda."

I hugged him to me, placing a kiss on the top of his head. A feeling deep in my gut told me that wasn't a coincidence. That none of this could be a coincidence. The deeper we went into the assignment, the more that uneasy feeling was beginning to grow.

It felt like the ghosts that had been stuck with me when I had been shadow-kissed. Ever looming and warning of danger that was coming ahead, and I was still left in the dark and unable to figure out what I needed to do to stop it.

The only thing I could do in that moment, was hold Dimitri closer to myself and hope that whatever it was that was coming wasn't strong enough to tear us apart.