A/N: Hey everyone. I just wanted to apologize for not updating for such a long time. I'm in my last year of school, so the only time I can update is during the holidays.

At certain times in my story, I had absolutely no idea what to write…so I think this chapter was one of the hardest decision in the story (not knowing what the hell to write). So, now that I have decided to go with the flow and let my imagination steer this story to it's end.

So please don't hate me for not updating. I do make an incredible effort in constructing every chapter, and I'm not joking, but this chapter has taken me almost a month to do. But it's all good now, because now it's out of the way and I kind of have an idea for the rest.

So enjoy this enormous chapter I've written for you :)

Disclaimer: I don't own VA, only own the plot and a few characters.

Chapter 16

The waves crashed upon the sand, just barely touching my feet. The wind, restless as ever, didn't comfort me. Not even the waves. And definitely not the bitter taste I had in my mouth.

My body screamed to move; yet I never gave in. I watched the ocean until the very last fire from the wreckage died down. When it did, I felt like a part of me died down with it.

I hated the position I was in. I hated how vulnerable I felt, and the unbearable thirst for blood. I couldn't care less if I died of thirst. I wouldn't mind. I was contemplating whether or not to speed the process up. Maybe go for a swim and don't stop until I found a shark on the way and let it eat me. Where's Jaws when you need him?

I barked out a sharp cough, sending me forwards into a sitting position. Along the way, I heard my back crack at least a dozen times. I winced from the pain. My breathing labored. I felt weak. I needed blood, but I didn't dare relieve myself from the thirst. It was my punishment. I was punishing myself for not saving Dimitri. That was supposed to be my job. My job was to save Dimitri, and his was to save mine.

Oh, but what happened? I mentally sneered at myself.

"You got thrown out of the freaking plane!" I yelled at myself, jumping to my feet. I stormed off along the beach.

"You're an idiot, Rose!" I chastised myself, kicking a broken shell. "You're weak!" Another useless kick at the sand. "And heartbroken!" Another kick. "And now what? What am I supposed to do? Go back to Montana and check up on the family? Oh, maybe I should pay Lissa a visit! Oh, what a splendid idea! Maybe I should go see her, and perhaps she'll invite me to another dumbass Moroi gathering!"

I was loosing it.

"But don't worry, all you gotta do is buy stilettos and you'll look like a Moroi! Oh, and don't forget to apply a shitload of pale foundation too!" I roared, striking at a palm tree, making it splinter in a few thousand pieces.

Damn Strigoi anger! It was working it's magic for me at this precise moment. It felt good to yell it all out, and I pray that no living soul witnesses my state. They might conclude that I have a serious problem. Wouldn't want them to think that.

I continued down the beach, still yelling at myself and babbling on and on about the most absurd things.

I stopped abruptly and turned around in a complete circle. I frowned.

Where was I?

I didn't have the slightest clue where I was. I could have been anywhere. Anywhere across the globe.

"Stupid," I muttered.

Half a hour later

I ran around the entire island only to find one route that'll possibly lead me back home. However it wasn't accessible on foot. I had to swim there. In the distance, there was an outline of…ship? In the distance, I could just make out a faint light. My best guess was that it was a ship. It was to far away to actually know what it was. But it was my only shot.

Walking down towards the water's edge, I stopped. Turning around, through the trees, I looked at where the plane went down.

Dimitri could still be there!

Maybe his clothes snagged on a plane, forcing him to go down with it. I bit my lip, dismissing that possibility. No. Then he would have used his Strigoi strength to get out of that sort of situation.

While my mind reeled through the possibilities, I knew deep down that there was nothing I could do. He was gone forever this time. There's no way he would have survived that explosion. He would have been torn to pieces.

I bit my lip so hard that my fangs pierced their way through. Some of my blood flowed in my mouth. I spat it all out roughly. Strigoi blood was revolting. My face twisted in disgust just thinking about it. Once the foul taste left my mouth, I turned my gaze towards my goal destination.

I secretly hoped it was a boat. All I had to do was hijack the thing and I'm off. Judging from the distance between the boat and I, I'm estimating that it was around twenty-one and a half kilometers away.

Dipping a toe in the water, I cringed at its freezing temperature. I looked out across the dark ocean. I scanned the water, finding nothing that looked too suspicious. It would be risky to swim across to the boat. After all, these waters were shark infested.

I breathed out a shakily breath. Like I said, I didn't really care if anything happened to me. There was nothing to go back to. I've considered going back to my family. I've fantasized about going back to how things originally were. But I've already foreseen what would happen if I rocked up again. Raiden will somehow manipulate Sonya into thinking he has changed for the better, and Sonya being Sonya will take him in under her wing again. Then 'out of the blue' his siblings will ask to join the coven, and ofcourse Sonya will allow them to.

I sighed angrily, and then forwarded into the water. When the freezing water reached up to my collarbone, I kicked off the ocean floor and swam freestyle towards the ship. I swam at least ten meters before I heard a familiar sound. I froze in the water, contemplating whether I imagined the sound or not. The noise grew louder and louder until finally I saw it. A helicopter. The headlights were so excruciatingly bright, so bright that I instinctively cringed away. The helicopter swooped down, almost at ground level, preparing to land on the abandoned island.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins. The helicopter landed. The blades slowed to a stop. I treaded the water, and sank down a bit lower so that everything below my eyes was invisible.

I debated over who it could be. Perhaps a local? After a moment, I rolled my eyes at my stupidity. I was in the middle of nowhere! It couldn't be a local or a ranger. Maybe it was the police. I squinted at the helicopter only to find that it was white with a bold green stripe on the side. No police colours, so I mentally crossed police off.

Just as I was thinking of another possibility, the pilot jumped out.

Oh boy.

My heart missed a beat as I stared at his figure. He wore black low cut jeans, no shirt, and his Adidas sneakers. Around his neck he wore dog tags; one with his details and the second one had only one name stamped into it: Rose.

"Raiden," I whispered.

Ofcourse it was him. He should have been my first guess! He scanned the island, and then swore viciously. I blinked in surprise. What was his problem?

He stormed back to the helicopter and for a moment I felt so relieved that I almost smiled – until he retrieved some sort of gadget. He walked a few strides away from the helicopter before pressing a button on the screen of the gadget.

My bra softly started to vibrate. Oh lord. My eyes widened in horror.

You've got to be kidding me!

Great, just great. The tracking device was waterproof, and was increasing in volume. And then it started beeping. It was a low sound at first until it grew so unbelievably loud.

Raiden slowly turned towards me.

"Shut up," I hissed viciously at the device.

But it was too late. Raiden slowly, ever so slowly, turned his head upwards towards me and our eyes met.

Busted.

He pressed a button on the gadget without taking his eyes off me and the beeping ceased. And then he slowly walked towards me.

Oh boy, he going to –

Something touched my foot.

My breath caught in my throat. Because I wasn't wearing shoes, I felt the rough skin rub against my foot. I froze again, tempted to swim like crazy back to shore. I scanned the water with weary eyes and found nothing. Then - as if deliberately – a fin broke the surface, and disappeared shortly after. The distance from where the fin surfaced to me wasn't far at all.

Okay, I take it back! I don't want to become a shark's dinner!

The fin surfaced again, except this time it was much more closer. And this time it didn't disappear. Fear was on the verge of chocking me.

Still, it didn't disappear. Then slowly its back slowly started to rise.

Oh lord, it was a great white. My breath quickened. The shark's back was arched up and, undoubtedly, it was a large shark.

Closer and closer it came. It's coal-black eyes came into view. I've never seen anything so cold and vicious and…hungry. His eyes held mine as he continued to fill in the space between us.

I don't know why I did it, but before I could give it a second thought, I screamed, "Raiden!"

The shark opened its jaws, beholding a sugar load of teeth. I started to swim helplessly backwards, which only made the shark's speed increase. Seeing how pointless it was, I stopped moving, turned my back to it and expected my death.

Except it never came. I waited…and waited, preparing for the pain – and it never came. I slowly turned towards it again, only to see it gone.

How can that be? It was right there and-

The shark surfaced again, except this time, it came out underneath me. I screamed as it jumped out of the water, with me directly on it's mouth. It's jaws opened to show a zillion rows of teeth and I would have fallen in if Raiden's arm didn't pulled me out. As I fell back down into the water, I watched in awe as Raiden jumped on the back of the shark, as if he was riding it. It was an incredible site to watch. I collided with the water, feeling as if I just fell on concrete. The shark fell roughly back into the water, taking Raiden in tow. I resurfaced after accidentally swallowing a mouthful of seawater.

"Yuck," I spat, coughing up the remaining water and spitting it out. My head was pounding from hitting the water. The short-lived migraine slowly started to fade away and I was left with the dread on not knowing where the shark was.

Raiden resurfaced not too far from me. Relief washed over me and on instinct my body swam to his. However, I made sure I kept my distance from him. I stopped and treaded water only when I was about five paces away him. He turned and our eyes met.

Disappoint and anger was evident in his eyes. Suddenly his mouth turned up in a snarl.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed.

I blinked in surprise and I flinched away from him. He completely took me off guard. Was he implying that I was a nut for swimming through shark-infested waters, or letting Tasha shoot me? Both were crazy stunts, but hey, I am Rose.

I felt my own mouth turn into a snarl.

"What was I thinking? You got a lot of nerve asking me that," I spat. "Especially after everything you've done."

His eyes narrowed, but his mouth was no longer positioned in a snarl.

"I had my reasons. What were yours? Trying to get killed? Is that it?"

"You had your reasons?" I said calmly, ignoring his questioning.

"Yes," was all he said.

If I weren't in ice-cold water, I would have taken on my intimidating stance: hands firmly on my hips and a look of fury that made my victims' known fear justified. But since that option was no longer valid, I'll just have to settle for a more approaching look - a look of complete and utter detestation.

Before I snapped, I managed to hold back a tacky retort. I am sometimes an impetuous person. I learnt the hard way of thinking before blurting out what was really on my mind, and I've copped a lot for it. So that is why I tried to be as civil as I possibly could in this matter.

"My reasons for what I've done are of no concern to you," I said calmly, although he understood my true meaning: Back off.

"So that's what this is all about? You trying to get back at me for everything I've done," he said simply, as if he accepted it. Then his tone turned for a more menacing approach. "And yet you haven't even given me the chance to explain. I think you know me well enough to realize that I am not an idiot. If I was, then I wouldn't have accomplished what I have until this moment," he said viciously. He reached forward and roughly pulled me closer to him. I swallowed the yelp that almost rolled off my tongue. Our chests touched and our mouths were only centimeters apart. My personal space expired five seconds ago.

Our eyes were locked and neither of us dared to look away.

"You have absolutely no idea of what I've been through to get in this spot I'm in now," he said gravely. "When I saw that you weren't going to move that night when Tasha threw the stake at you, I could have killed you after myself!" he yelled. His hands tightened on my shoulder and he shook me. "Why? Why didn't you move? You could have, Rose! You're a freaking Strigoi! And-"

"No."

He stopped mid-sentence at my abrupt interruption. He frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean 'no'?" he demanded.

I looked at him with a glint of challenge in my eyes.

"I don't want to hear it. You think you got it so tough, Raiden?" I asked exasperatedly. "Try seeing the person you love suddenly become someone entirely different-"

"I'm not different. If you'll just -"

"You and that dumbass brother of yours have caused enough chaos for me to literally end up in the psycho institute at my old school," I said. "And now-"

I had a sudden realization that we were fighting in the middle of the ocean.

"Uh, Raiden?" I said nervously, eyeing around us.

His eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Where's Jaws?" I squeaked.

"Jaws?" he dryly laughed at my paranoia. "You still worried about that thing? I killed him."

"Huh," I said lamely, and relaxed slightly. "We should get back to shore."

"Why?"

I looked at him incredulously. "Why? Because we just got attacked be a shark…haven't you considered that there may be another one below us somewhere," I said, gulping loudly at the end.

"What, you think a shark is going jump right in the middle of us and-"

I don't know why, I don't know how, but these sharks had perfect timing.

Before Raiden was able to finish – as if mockingly – a great white decided then and there to make his presence known. He lunged out of the water, ramming itself against us. My breath was knocked out of me as I flew roughly backwards, but not before seeing the shark's pectoral fin collide with Raiden's private part.

"Mother f-" Raiden smashed into the water before he would finish. I landed in the water back first, smashing into something hard. I vaguely thought I had struck land – until it shifted out from under me and I was thrown into the water yet again.

I surfaced quickly, only to find out that what I had landed on was a shark. However as it reared up towards me again, I noticed it was an entirely different shark to the one that jumped between Raiden and I.

We had to get out of here. There was no point in fending the sharks off. They had us surrounded.

I looked over to the right, and saw Raiden wrestling the bigger shark. I cursed, and frantically looked for the island. My eyes widened as I took in the view in front of me. The island was a mere ten meters away! How had I not noticed?

My relief was short-lived. I turned a split second before the shark opened it's jaws and lunged at me. My quick reflexes saved me from the beast swallowing me whole. Even though the shark was smaller than the one Raiden was wrestling, it didn't mean this guy wasn't huge.

I gasped and reached out, holding fast on the shark's upper jaw with my hands, making sure not to go anywhere near it's teeth, while balancing my feet on it's lower jaw. Both my hands and feet were millimeters away from the shark's teeth, but I didn't let that scare me off. I had his jaw wide and open and I wasn't letting go anytime soon. My heels and palms digged into his skin.

That's when the expected happened. Half in the water and half not, the shark turned it's entire body from side to side multiple times so roughly that I almost flung off. I held on with all of my might, my muscles burning for me to let go, but I refused to give in.

If I stood up straight, instead of hunched over quite a bit, I'd rip his jaw in two. But that wasn't exactly an option at this precise moment, as he was still persisting to get me off. His tongue lashed out, frightening me even more. I didn't want to feel it against my legs. I cringed.

Looking behind me, I saw that I was much closer to land, so close that I could probably touch the bottom now.

That's when I took my course of action. Turning back, I did the most dangerous thing I could have.

I let go.

The shark clasped his jaw shut for a second before reopening it to grasp me. Before he could, I jumped side wards into the water and swam for dear life. My feet briefly touched the bottom, giving me a surge of hope. I didn't stop my swimming until the water went to my mid-thighs. I stumbled in the water, looking back at the frustrated great white. He tried swimming closer, only making his situation worse. He rolled over, swam forward and did everything he could possibly do and still it wasn't good enough. There's no way he'd get to me now, it was too shallow.

I forgot about him instantly as I rushed out of the water. I collapsed on the sand, never feeling more alive. I breathed heavily, gazing up at the stars as if I've never witnessed anything so beautiful.

"Ahhh!" Raiden cried out in pain.

I sat up hastily, and saw that my shark had now joined the other and lunged at Raiden. Raiden never ceased in punching, kicking and even clawing at them. But it was too intense to fight both sharks.

He went underwater for a brief second, before surfacing and fighting on.

I took a hesitant step forward.

Should I? Should I save him? I'd be risking my own life for him. Was it worth it?

I looked at him and saw everything he has done to me flash before me. The lies and betrayals.

I guess I've lived through a bad romance. A deadly, sexy, bad romance.

All the love and romance was fake…and the two words he spoke to me on our wedding day 'I do' meant nothing now. Nothing to him. But they meant the world to me then.

That was when I was stupid enough to think he ever loved me.

"This is what you get for tainting my heart," I muttered.

I took one last glance at him before strutting over to the helicopter.

"Rose!" he yelled. I ignored him.

I never turned back or even acknowledged him. Some would call me selfish for leaving him to die out here, especially since he came and saved me. Those people can go to hell.

I opened the door and jumped into the pilot's seat. Never had I seen so many controls.

"Fudge," I sighed.

Roughly closing the door, I looked around and assumed what every button was for. I knew how to fly a helicopter but I was still nerved by it. I didn't check up on anything, which wasn't wise, but I didn't have the time to. I grabbed the collective, pressing the start button and waited for the tick tick tick noise of the fuel igniter. After hearing it, I covered my thumb with the fuel cut-off button. I looked at the controls and saw that the R.P.M. had reached fifteen percent and took my thumb off the cut off button and I tightly pressed my thumb against the start button. I introduced fuel slightly by twisting the throttle and watched the temperature increase. The whine of the starter engine engulfed my hearing. I let go of the release button and twisted the throttle to fuel cut off without hesitation. After waiting for ten seconds, I released the start button after the R.P.M. reached the green line. Advancing the Collective throttle grip to flight, I gripped the throttle as the helicopter light off the island.

I closed my eyes for a millisecond, having second thoughts about leaving him there. He saved me, and I was in his debt. I could save his life…I mean how would he get back to-

Oh forget him! He's getting what he deserves! Leave, and be mature about this!

I sighed roughly, flying the helicopter higher. I steered it in the opposite way to Raiden, going in the direction he came from.

There was no going back now. It was final.

Raiden and I were now enemies.

A/N: I'm not a pilot by the way. I looked it all up haha

Hope you enjoyed it :)

And also, don't forget to review, please, and tell me what you think.