This chapter short, but I needed a break from writing chapters of 2000 words and up. So I hope you enjoy. I know you were telling me to bring back Tony, but Maya needs a new guy in her life. Hope you like Callan. Thanks again for all the awesome reviews! They make my day and I do hope you like this chapter!

I don't own Vampire Academy . . .

This time, when I woke, I knew where I was—well I didn't know my exactly my location but I knew who was keeping me hostage. It was all the same scene, except Illiana wasn't here and I knew Tony wouldn't be saving me now. And I was ready for her. She thought she was crazy. Well, she had never seen me in action. Come and get me bitch! I'll show you crazy, whore! Come and get me.

She did.

"Maya, it's lovely to see you again." Her blue eyes danced as the malice, evilness filled them. As always, she wore that cruel smile that I hated. I just wanted to rip it off her face and burn that smile. Maybe tonight I would get my wish. Maybe tonight I would get my revenge for her killing Tony.

"Wish I could say the same . . ." I was more like disgusted to see her.

"Don't play like that dear; I just want to have a friend chat with you, dear." She looked like she wanted to do the exact opposite of having a friendly chat. She was used to killing. Friendly chats weren't her forte.

"The hell with that. I know well enough that you brought me here to torture me."

"I just wanted to talk to you." She shrugged. "If that's your wish, so be it. Torture you shall receive."

I saw the dark fog that was her brother and ex-guardian as she summoned them. I was prepared for her this time. I squeezed my eyes, only enough to brace myself for the hit, but not enough to actually close them. I waited a few seconds for something to happen. Nothing happened. The malice-filled smile didn't leave her face. She tried again.

Again . . . nothing happened.

I looked down at my hand and realized the Ring of Healing was shining, burning with some kind of light. It was getting hotter and hotter on my finger, but I didn't actually feel the burn. It was as if the ring was filling me with power I hadn't known existed. I looked up at Avery when I heard her snarl. She tried again with her powers. Like before . . . nothing happened. At all. In fact, the black fog disappeared.

Odd.

Realizing I did have a chance to get out of here, I stood up and walked to her. She growled again and came at me, attacking me physically and not with her powers. Her powers weren't the only thing that were to the extreme; the way she fought, it was probably better than one of any guardian's in the world. I had to give her that. I respected her in that instant.

The honor soon faded when she landed a blow to my face.

She did not just do that.

Avery gave me a challenging gaze. Bring it, bitch.

Thank God Dante and Tony had made me train with them several times as I now knew how to defend myself from a woman that was acting overly childish. I blocked one of her punches and went for the attack that Tony had taught me. Hit under the chin . . . it distracts the attacker. As I readied my fist for a punch in her face, the ring on my hand just so happened to graze across her skin.

The scream that came out of her mouth was non-human. The skin that the ring had grazed had burn marks and smoke. It was like acid had been dropped on her skin. She and I both stared in horror at her skin. It was me who smiled cruelly this time. I gripped her hand with the hand my ring was on and again the screaming stared.

"I thought you wanted to torture me?" I asked her, mockingly.

She couldn't answer. She was too busy yelling.

"What do you want with my dad, anyway?"

I decided not to torture her with the ring. I let her hand go for a couple of seconds as I waited for her answer.

"I loved him." She gasped out as she clutched her hand. "Your mother took him away from me! He was supposed to be mine!"

Out of my own pleasure, I put the ring back on her skin.

"Well, you miss the key word. My dad was supposed to be yours. Didn't actually mean he was going to be yours."

I took the ring off her skin and decided to play fair.

"I'll make you a deal. I promise to let you go if don't bother me ever again."

"No deal. You're dying tonight."

I got mad. Was I really going to let myself die? Even better question, had Tony given his life for me just so that I could let myself die? I don't think so.

I put the ring back on her skin.

That did it. I took the ring off my hand and slipped it on her finger. It was like something was possessing her body. She thrashed out, twitching, and screaming out things that were in a foreign language. Her eyes rolled back into her head, showing only the whites. It was like she was having a seizure or like she was possessed.

My anger hadn't dimmed as I watched her suffer. Not at all. I looked around the room. It had was probably the "killing room" because there were weapons all over the place. She probably had been so sure that I would die tonight that she had forgotten to take me out of her before killing me. An evil smile lit up my face as I saw a shinny dagger, much the same to the dagger Avery had killed Tony with. I walked over to it, gripped it in my hand and walked slowly back to her.

"You killed the man I loved, you know?" The words were said softly, but nobody could deny there was definitely anger running through my tone.

I was surprised she could even talk at all. If I had been in her spot, I would have not said a word. "He deserved it."

"No he didn't. But you deserve it, however. You deserve to die in the most horrible way possible, yet I am being kind to you and just going to let all your troubles slide and give you the easy way out." I gave her a sideway's look. "Or do you prefer I wait till the sun rises and just take you to the sun so you could suffer in the same way I have suffered for the past three months because of what you did?"

I answered my own, question, shaking my head. "I am tempted to make you suffer. But I think I'll just kill you now."

And I did just that.

I watched her struggle to breathe as the knife made it way inside her heart. It was difficult getting it there, but I did it. "This is for killing, Tony . . ." I whispered.

Unexpectedly, she laughed. "I will never give in to that deal. Never." She cackled in a weird, nasty way. "You are forgetting that I have allies, powerful allies behind those doors. You kill me, they kill you and unlike me, they live forever. They will haunt your life forever."

Oh, crap. I hadn't really thought about the Strigoi outside.

My moment of being so powerful was stopped.

There were Strigoi outside. How was I going to get out of this one? After a couple minutes of debating, I finally realized the answer. I had to fight. There were stakes on the wall. And that was all I need, right? I grabbed two stakes and walked out the door, slowly.

There was some sort of battle when I walked out of the "killing room." Strigoi were battling each other, each with a dazed expression. It looked like they were compelled to do it. Well, easier to kill them. I awkwardly staked the first Strigoi. I couldn't get the stake past his ribcage. This was a lot harder than it seemed. Finally, though, I did something. The Strigoi gasped and I was surprised when he and another Strigoi fell. Odd. On it went, until finally, I bumped into someone. We both stuck our stakes at one another.

"Callan!?"

Callan? In a place where only guardians should be . . .

"Maya!?"

"We go to kill them all."

I surveyed the room.

"I think we already have them all," Callan said.

"What are you doing here?"

"I can ask you the same question."

"I asked you first," I said, with a low threatening tone. I had just killed someone. Don't want to piss me off.

"I followed the Strigoi that abducted you." I could tell he was keeping something from me.

I looked around again and I felt like someone had slapped me. The fear kicked in at last.

"Let's get out of here!"

"After you, Maya! Run!"

But I couldn't run.

A massive headache overtook my head. Everything was black. I couldn't see anything or feel anything except that painful headache. I found myself falling, falling, until finally hitting the ground. In seconds, the blackness took me over . . . .

So…why do you think Callan was there? Thanks so much for reading!