Thank you to LuPeters, cheerleader1100, ChloeBelikov, Kris Ivashkov25, Black Papermoon75, melissamary55, missa27, Big J Ivashkov, 1997Bookworm, Becca(), READandWRITE11, bonkerzrulez, leahmarie023, Dimtri13, lissa94 and Misslissa() for the reviews and favourites. And to everyone else who has been reading!

Sorry for the late update, this has been an interesting chapter to write. I hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Victor Dashkov out of prison? Could anything go right in my life? God clearly hated me. I headed back to the others numb. I headed back inside hoping they would follow me, which they did and we went to mine and Adrian's room.

"Rose, what did Dimitri tell you? What's happened?" Eddie asked, keeping an arm wrapped tightly around Jill.

Deep breaths, Rose. "Promise me, not to freak out...much." Everyone nodded and Adrian kissed the top of my head. "Ok...it's Victor Dashkov." Lissa and Jill tensed. "He...he's...escaped from prison."

Silence. I carried on. "That's not the worst. He left a note in his cell. Dimitri seems to think that he is coming for us because we put him in jail. He didn't say it outright," I added quickly when I sensed pure fear through the bond, "but Dimitri is making sure that we are doubly protected. That's why we have to stay here," I motioned to the room, "so it is easier for guardians to protect us."

"But we have you and Eddie." Lissa whispered and Christian pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair.

"Liss, two guardians cannot protect four Moroi. Two guardians will be posted at every building and Dimitri is going to be checking with us every half hour," that was a lie, "we have nothing to worry about."

I felt Lissa calm slightly, Eddie was sitting in the corner trying to keep Jill calm and inside I was petrified.

"Little dhampir, come with me." Adrian took my hand and led me to the en suite, closing the door behind him. "I know you're scared."

I looked up at him and saw his expression laced with concern.

"Of course I'm scared." I whispered. "Victor Dashkov tortured Lissa and Jill, nearly killed me and Christian, almost told everyone about me and Dimitri. If he can break out of a high security prison he can do anything."

Adrian pulled me into his arms and held me, gently stroking circles into my back. "It will be fine, little dhampir. Victor Dashkov will not get anywhere near Court. He will not hurt you." His arms tightened around me and I sighed. Adrian always knew how to calm me down and make me feel safe.

We didn't do much for the rest of day. We stayed in my room, watching movies, not talking much. Fear hung heavy in the room. Dimitri rang me a couple of times to check on us as did Tasha, making sure we stayed inside where we were safe. Adrian's parents called him a couple of times saying that he should so to a safe room where the Queen was being kept but he refused, opting to stay with me instead.

We slept in my room. Lissa and Christian on the sofa and Jill and Eddie on blankets on the floor.

"Give me a minute and I'll be there." I said to Adrian when we started to pull me to the bed. He nodded, kissed my head and got under the covers.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I took my phone out of my bra where I had hidden it; I needed to make this phone call where no one could hear me.

"Hello?" Dimitri said.

"It's Rose. I need to talk to you." I said. This theory had been going around in my head all day.

"Is everyone ok?" He asked going into guardian mode.

"Yeah, we're fine. Listen, I had an idea about Victor Dashkov."

"Ok." He sounded confused.

"I think he had inside help. I mean, how could a Moroi as ill as Victor break out of a high security prison alone? He had help and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some people at Court who had something to do with it." I waited for him to say something but he didn't so I carried on. "I remember Adrian saying something before the trial. Some royals didn't agree with Victor being imprisoned so maybe he has had help from the inside." I said.

Dimitri was silent for a minute. "We did consider that. There are several Moroi who have been questioned but nothing has come up yet. I shouldn't really tell you this but as you're a guardian now. The guardians are going to wait for Victor to come to us. That is going to be the easiest way to recapture him and question him further."

"What? They're letting him come to Court?" I whispered angrily, trying to keep my voice down.

"Yes, but I promise you, Roza, I will not him anywhere near you. I promise." He said fiercely and that calmed me slightly.

"Thank you. I'm going to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll come by in the morning. Night, Rose." He hung up.

I hid my phone again and went back into my room. I put my phone on my bedside table and climbed in beside Adrian.

He turned to face me and pulled me into his arms. "Everything ok?" he whispered.

"Yeah." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to kiss him.

He laced his fingers into my hair and pulled my closer while I trailed my hands down his bare back to the waistband of his boxers and back again.

He pulled away, rolled on his back and I put my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. His arms were around me again, one stroking my back and the other rubbing my arm.

"Sleep, little dhampir." He whispered and kissed the top of my head. I closed my eyes but sleep eluded me. I listened to Adrian's heartbeat and steady breathing but not even that could help me drift off.

So I thought about my wedding, refusing to come with anymore theories involving Victor Dashkov. I didn't want a shotgun wedding which is why we were waiting until after college. I mean, what was the hurry? Yes, I couldn't wait to be Mrs Ivashkov but we needed to enjoy our life together and not feel like everything was such as rush.

It was the early hours of the morning that I finally fell asleep, dreaming of weddings and dresses and venues and married life in general. I woke early, sleep deprived just like everyone else. Well, not Adrian, he could probably sleep through nuclear war if he tried.

That's when I noticed something. "Where is Jill?" I asked.

"She woke up really early this morning but she didn't leave the room. She went to bathroom." Eddie said, now sounding worried.

"But then why isn't she here?" Lissa said panicked.

"It's ok. She couldn't have gone to the bathroom and got lost." I said. I had a bad feeling.

Eddie and I went into the bathroom but Jill wasn't there.

"Rose!" Eddie shouted. "The window."

It was wide open, not how we left it. We made sure it had been locked. "Shit. You don't think she snuck out the window do you?" I asked. Why would she do that with Victor Dashkov on the loose?

"What other explanation is there? It could only be opened from the inside and there is no sign of someone breaking in."

"I'll call Dimitri." I said going back into the bedroom. How strange.

"I already called him and told him about Jill. He's on his way over here." Christian said. Lissa sat on the sofa quietly crying. I went and put my arm around her.

"It'll be fine." I reassured her. "Dimitri will find her." She carried on crying.

There was a knock at the door and Eddie let Dimitri in. "Where was she last?"

"She went to the bathroom early hours of the morning and didn't come back. Me and Rose found the window open, but it had been locked before we went to sleep and could only be opened from the inside." Eddie explained and Lissa sobbed harder.

"She let herself out?" Dimitri asked, confused.

I followed them into the bathroom leaving Lissa with Christian and Adrian. "It appears like it. No signs of forced entry." I said.

"I'll have to report this." Dimitri said pulling out his phone. He spoke quickly to whoever it was on the other end and hung up. "They're going to search Court for her. No one can get out of Court so she must be here somewhere. You two will have to give statements. There are guardians on the way to protect the others."

Eddie and I just nodded dumbly. We explained to the others what was happening and went with Dimitri. It didn't take long for us to give our statements to Hans, who was in charge of the guardians at Court, and we headed back to my room.

"We've questioned more Moroi about Victor's escape." Dimitri said.

"You're questioning Moroi?" Eddie asked and Dimitri quickly explained everything to him.

"Anyone who stands out?" I asked.

"No. But some might me lying; we just have to bid our time." Dimitri said.

I then had a completely random thought. It wasn't even related to what we were talking about. "Hey, Eddie we should probably get some food. We have none in my room."

"Trust you to think of food." Dimitri laughed. "There's a cafe just around the corner. I trust you two can look after yourselves." Dimitri said and left us.

We entered the cafe and ordered loads of different sandwiches and cakes. I wasn't keen on spending another day in my room but then I didn't want Lissa to disappear like Jill had. There was something that didn't add up with that.

We asked if we could put all the food on a tab and pay tomorrow and they said that was fine after taking our names and room numbers.

Heading back to my building we heard a sort of choking noise from one of the janitor's buildings.

"What was that?" Eddie asked.

"I don't know. We should check it out." I said, pulling out the stake that I had hidden in my jacket. Eddie did the same. We left the bags of food outside and cautiously entered the building.

There was a trail of blood on the floor which led to a figure that was facing the wall. They had their head down and it looked like they were kissing the person they had pinned to the wall.

The person whimpered and the other person dropped them to the floor. "So, they send pathetic little novice guardians to find us." The figured said and turned to us.

It was Tasha. My jaw dropped.

"Tasha?" Eddie said, shock in his voice.

Tasha laughed and stalked towards us. "Yes. Are you surprised? I thought I would live up to my family reputation. It is all part of the revolution, right Victor?" she called behind her and a figure moved out of the darkness.

"Rosemarie, how lovely to see you again." I head Victor say and he through something to the ground. It was a body.

"You turned too?" I whispered and I tensed ready for the kill.

"Of course." He said as if it was a perfectly normal thing.

"Rose, look." Eddie whispered and pointed to the person Victor had thrown on the floor.

"Oh, my God." It was Jill.

"Yes, stupid girl. So prone to even the weakest of compulsion, so willingly to jump out of her window to meet her death." Tasha said.

I touched Eddie's arms and started to pull him back.

"Where are you going? The fun is just beginning." Victor said and the two Strigoi stalked towards us again.

I grabbed Eddie and ran pulling my phone at the same time. "Dimitri! Victor's at Court. He's turned. He killed Jill. And...Tasha turned with him." I shouted down the phone and headed back to the guardian building.

"I'll be at the guardian building." He shouted back and I quickly hung up.

"Jill Dragomir has been killed!" I shouted as I entered the guardian building. "Victor Dashkov killed her to turn Strigoi and Tasha Ozera turned as well. They're following us."

As soon as I finished the guardians were in action. Grabbing staked, shouting into phones.

"Rose, what happened?" Dimitri entered then. I told him what me and Eddie had seen. "I can't believe she'd do this. Why didn't I notice anything?"

"There's nothing you could have done." I told him. "We need to focus. We have to kill them before they kill anyone else."

"Four of the Queen's guardians have been killed. Security cameras confirmed it was Victor Dashkov and Natasha Ozera. We must protect the Queen; she must be there intended target. But that doesn't mean Vasilisa Dragomir is out of danger. I want ten of you to protect the Princess and the rest will come with me to take out the Strigoi." Hans said. "Hathaway you'll come with me. Castile, you'll protect Princess Dragomir."

"But..." Eddie tried to protest.

"No buts. I know you were with Jill Dragomir, you're grief and anger will cloud your judgement. I'm sorry you are too good a guardian to risk you getting killed." Hans said and we all moved out. I nodded to Eddie and followed my group of fifteen guardians out. It wasn't a lot but for only two Strigoi it was enough. Other guardian we passed were on high alert. No Moroi were outside, I didn't blame them.

The Queen's building was a blood bath. More than four guardians had definitely been killed. Bodies were everywhere, Moroi as well as dhampirs.

It was easy to see where the Strigoi had gone by the trail of blood and bodies that they had left in their wake.

"Look, Natasha. They have sent the army for us." Victor laughed as we entered the room. He moved towards them and several guardians moved to take him down.

Tasha had the Queen pinned to the wall while guardian bodies were scattered around the room. Blood coated the floor and the wall. I fought the urge to throw up.

Tasha laughed and turned her attention back to the Queen.

"Tasha, you don't have to do this." I heard Dimitri say.

"Of course I do, Dimka. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it." she turned to him, dropping Tatiana and moving towards him. "You could join me if you'd like. We could live together forever."

Dimitri nudged me slightly and I knew he meant for me to get the Queen while he distracted Tasha. I stepped quietly as the Strigoi were distracted and reached Tatiana.

I shushed her when she tried to speak and I hauled her up.

"What do you think you're doing?" I heard Tasha say and she turned towards me. Dimitri was lying unconscious on the floor and Tasha had a gun in her hand. Why I don't know, she could rip apart with her bare hands if she wanted.

"Tasha, what are doing? Since when do you associate with Victor Dashkov?" I asked her.

"Since now." And a shot rang out.

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