Lissa

"What does the Szlesky family think?" I asked with a smile. Inside, I dreaded this Council Meeting, but it needed to be done.

"The quorum isn't needed. It's an unnecessary law made up by our ancestors to make sure that only the big and powerful Royal families could be on the council and vote." Arianna said.

"Only the big and powerful deserve to be on the council or have the throne. When small families die out, who will we turn too?" Nathan Ivashkov said staring at me. That hit a little close to home. I looked down at the podium to see that I had a text from Rose five minutes ago.

*AVERY LAZAR IS HERE. HELP*

OhMyGod. Avery is here. What is she after? Could she be after me again? Or is she after Rose? I hit the gavel against the podium.

"This Council Meeting is adjourned due to a Guardian emergency." I paled. She must have Rose.

"Who cares?" Nathan said.

"Is it one of your Guardians, Queen Vasilisa?" Arianna asked. I nodded. Arianna glared at Nathan and he actually shrank in his seat.

"I am putting Court under lockdown. No one leaves their room until this situation is solved." I said, calmly, but inside I was pissed.

"Could you specify on the situation, Queen Vasilisa?" The Conta Princess asked.

"Avery Lazar has escaped from Tarasov." I said, looking at all of them. "Her Guardian and brother may be with her. I got a text from my closest Guardian Rose Hathaway that she caught sighting of her and I haven't heard from her since. I think this is an attempted kidnapping. All of you report to your rooms immediately." They all nodded – even Nathan – and left. Once everyone was gone I made a mad dash for Dimitri. I knew he'd be with Christian. So naturally when I wasn't where I was supposed to be, they were surprised and shocked to see me.

"Lissa?" Christian asked. "Shouldn't you be at a Council Meeting?"

"Avery… has…Rose…" I gasped out. I really needed to work out with Rose more often.

"Shit! Dimitri!" He called out. Dimitri came out in his tux and looked very James Bond. Heehees, Bond.

"What?" He asked, looking to both of us.

"Avery Lazar has Rose." I said, more oxygen coming in my system. Dimitri ran to go get changed and came out just as fast.

"Who is Avery Lazar?" I told him of all the adventures I had with Avery. About how she was pretending to be my friend so in the end, she would break the bond I had with Rose and Bond me to her, her brother, and her Guardian.

"She's bonded to two other people?" He asked as we started walking. I idly noticed a couple Guardians joining us. I nodded to them.

"She kills people and purposely brings them back. She almost succeeded with me." I said, remembering being outside of a window.

"So, why does she want Rose?" Christian and Dimitri asked at the same time.

"I'm guessing it's because she saved me from being Bonded with Avery." We went to Rose's room to see what we would find.

"Lissa, track her cellphone." Dimitri said.

"Already on it." I said, pressing one button and it said the text was sent at the… Burning Arrow? "Well… the last text was sent at 2:05 AM from the Burning Arrow. Lessgo, boys." And we rushed over to see what we would find.

Rose

Everything was blurry around me. I couldn't tell where I was. Did I remember who I was? R-Rose. I'm Rose Hathaway. I couldn't tell the time. I could move my legs. I looked up as the world swam around me. Finally my vision cleared and I could see I was in a house… or a basement was more like it. What was really bad was that Avery had got out before Lissa had put Court on lockdown. I looked at my surroundings. I was on a bed, with a blanket on me. Oh, and I was naked. Wait… WHAT?! Backtrack. I'm… naked. I put the blanket around as a towel and went for the door.

"Hello!" I shouted and banged on the door. "Hello!" No response. "FUCK!" I looked back to the bed and saw there was blood on the sheets. My horror was revealed. While I was conked out, I had been raped. I started trembling in anger, in fear, in horror, in utter shock. Suddenly, a voice came from nowhere.

"Good Morning, Rose." It wasn't Avery. Was Avery just the messenger? "Did you sleep well?"

"Fine," I said to the nothingness. "Who am I speaking too?"

"Someone closer to you than you think." This voice sounded so familiar! Where have I heard it?

"Oh, SHUT UP BLAKE! Let me have the mic!" Avery's bitchy voice came onto the speaker. Partyboy Blake Lazar? "That's right, Hathaway. We have you and we're not giving you up anytime soon. You'll go through twice the Hell I was put through in Tarasov and I'll enjoy it just as much."

Naturally, I ignored her. "Blake, how are you close to me?" Normally, Avery's words would've scared the shit out of me, but something in Blake's words sparked something in me.

"Your dad had a –" I heard a SMACK and an "Ow…"

"She doesn't get to ask the questions. We do. God, you're such an idiot. I can't believe we're related."

"What is that blood from on my bed?" I asked fiercely.

"Blake likes it rough." I gagged and puked in the corner. "Oooo… That's a no-no. Time for your punishment." Punishment? What the-? No! The speakers suddenly shut off and a gas was let in through the vents. I tried my hardest not to breathe – and believe me, I could hold my breath for a long time – but I soon had to breathe and then all I was seeing was the ceiling closing in on me. Suddenly I felt lifted in someone's arms and put back on the bed.

"Rose, do you hear me?" The voice echoed. "I'm just playing along. I'm going to get you out of here." I couldn't nod. I couldn't believe I still had the ability to understand what this person was saying. I just gasped and passed out. Finally! I dreamt of Lissa.

"Lissa!" I sobbed. She turned around and pulled me in her arms.

"Rose! You're alive… you're alive…" She cried.

"Yeah, I am. But possibly not for long." I sniffled. "Avery is going HAM on me."

"Is it just Avery? Or is it also Reed and Simon?" She pulled me to sit down.

"It's neither. It's her cousin Blake Lazar." Lissa's eyes widened.

"Partyboy Lazar?" She asked, incredulously.

"He faked it. He's actually really calm and cool and collective. Although at times he's an idiot." I muttered.

"Rose. Where are you?" She said with so much power and emotion in her voice.

"I – I don't know! I'm in a basement with a bed with speakers and a metal door. They took my clothes, Liss. Blake… He…"

"What did he do, Rose?" She asked softly.

"He raped me." I whispered. Lissa pulled me into a hug and I just lost it. There suddenly was a fuzz between us.

"I'll find you. I promise." Lissa said.

"No. No, I don't want to wake up. Lissa, don't go. Don't go, Lissa." Lissa saw me rambling and had a very big sympathetic look.

"I'll find you, Rose. I swear on my life." And I was smacked awake.

"Wake up, Bitch." Avery smiled. I was on the bed with my arms and legs handcuffed. Then there were wires that led up to a generator. There were tubes on my arms and legs, and stomach. Son of a bitch. Shock therapy.

"Avery, I can help you get out of Tarasov… for good. I can help you get a house and a family. Far far away from here and you'll be safe. I'm part of the Elite Task Force. We'll call the case against you off and you'll be free to go."

"Just, shut up!" She screamed. "You can't do anything anymore. My fate's been decided."

"You can change your fate. You are the only one who can change your fate. Not me, Not Lissa."

"SHUT UP!" And she turned on the shocker-thingys. I screamed and shriveled up. OhMyGod, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop. Avery suddenly turned it off and I was left gasping. "That's how it felt, every day for one whole year."

"Avery… please," I gasped, but she turned the shockers back on. I screamed in pain and she laughed. She turned it off again.

"You know what I think is funny? I think Lissa and I were closer friends then you two ever were."

"Avery, I'll do whatever you want. I'll do it. Just take these tubes off of me."

"Eh, no thanks." Avery was about to turn the shockers back on when Blake came in. I looked up, gasping and heaving. "What're you doing, you dumbass? You're supposed to be watching the door!"

"Avery… it's over. Let Rose go before Queen Vasilisa really lets you have it. Rose is her closest Guardian."

Avery suddenly held an athame in her hand. "She is… isn't she? That makes this little bitch important. I could kill her and bring her back or I could just leave her to die and watch poor Lissa be torn to shreds."

"Don't you…fucking dare." If I was dying, I wasn't going down without a fight.

"Oh, but I would." Avery whispered. She traced the athame down my cheek to my neck, all the way to my breasts. My eyes went to Blake's as Avery wasn't paying any attention to him. Blake snuck up behind her casually and BAM! He snapped her neck and Avery went limp over my chest. I started screaming and screaming. Blake got her off as soon as he snapped her neck. He went into his pocket and fished out the keys to the handcuffs. I looked away because I thought he was going to hurt me. I mean, he might as well get it over with. He laughed. He was laughing. I looked at him and tried to sit up. He pushed me back down. I grimaced.

"That was Avery's playtime. Now it's my turn." Blake whispered against my lips.

"You said you were playing along." I said fiercely.

"I lied. I needed you to trust me. Now I have you all to myself. Avery even set up the shock therapy for me. It was so nice of her."

Oh shyat. I am so screwed. Blake's lips came ever so close to mine, they practically touched, but as soon as they were about to touch, he bent my neck and bit. What can I say? Happiness and joy and laughter filled me. It was like everything in the world going right. The blissful bite that I had ached for so long. The last time I had been bitten was by Adrian before Tatiana's murder. I never realized how much I missed it. The bite ended and I was speechless and weak, just the way Blake wanted me. He took off the shocker tubes and his pants. One tear escaped my eye.

"Aw, don't cry Rose. We're just having fun." And he came into me. He went in and out. In. Out. In. Out. I asked him to stop. I begged him to stop. I even tried threatening him to stop. He just wouldn't. He slipped out of me and put his pants back on. "Be good and we'll have more fun like that. Be bad and you'll get punished." And Blake left. I had to fall asleep for Lissa to find me. I looked around the room. Then I had an idea. The sheets! I looked to the sheets of the mattress. "Embassy Suites, Near Lehigh University," I'm near Lehigh? That's why it was so important to Avery. I'm in the hotel Lissa was staying in when she staked Dimitri. I thought sleep would never come, but it eventually did and Lissa came.

"Lissa, thank God!"

"You're still okay!" She hugged me. I flinched and she frowned.

"What happened?"

"Listen to me because I probably don't have enough time. I'm at the hotel you stayed at when you Staked Dimitri. I don't know where, though. By the looks of it, a basement? Blake has me all to himself, Liss. He snapped Avery's neck. She's dead. You need to hurry."

"I'm on my way. Did he hurt you?"

"Avery did some shock therapy and Blake bit me and… I don't want to talk about it." I shuddered.

"He didn't," She snarled. I slowly nodded and she pulled me into a hug. "We'll be there soon." And Lissa drifted away. I slowly opened my eyes and sat up only to realize the tubes were back on, but only my legs. I felt my neck and it was sticky with blood. I shivered. We'll be there soon Rose. It'll be over soon. I wanted to have a smug smile on my face, but it just wouldn't come.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Rose." Blake's smug voice said. "How did you sleep?"

"Fuck you, Lazar." I growled.

"Ooo… now that's a no-no. You wouldn't want to get punished, would you?" He asked, probably with a very amused expression. I used one of Christian's lines.

"Don't you get tired of hearing yourself talk?" I asked wearily.

"Nah, not really. I'll never get tired of this, either." Suddenly my legs were put in searing hot lava or lit on fire. Pick one. I screamed and screamed, trying to pull them off, but they wouldn't budge. It ended as soon as it started, it ended. I held my legs, gasping.

"You have some serious issues, Lazar!" I screamed. Oh, it felt good to scream. I started pulling off the tubes and one by one, painfully, they came off. I rose to my feet – and fell. While Blake was laughing, I expanded my mind to Lissa's to see where they were. They were entering the hotel! I looked around. Dimitri was with her and so was Abe. I felt so relieved. I had to distract Blake.

"Blake, what're you going to do when they find me with you and Avery's dead body?" I asked curiously.

"I'll surrender and say you took advantage of me. You killed Avery because she was coming between us." Blake sounded smug. I saw Lissa. She was right behind the door. Keep him talking! We're getting a confession!

"I didn't see what happened to Avery. What did you do? I mean, if you don't go to jail, you're a hero for saving someone's life."

"I snapped her neck." He said simply.

"Why?" I asked, trying for nervous.

"Because I wanted you all to myself." Blake came in this secret door and I had no idea when that had been installed.

"What did you do to me?" I whispered loudly.

"I made you mine." He said, loud enough for Lissa to hear. Hans BURST the door open and I looked up to Blake from the ground. Dimitri ran to me and helped me up. My legs felt like Jell-O. Blake looked surprised as heyall to see that he got caught.

"Dimitri – DIMITRI! I can't walk right now." I tried to tell him. He lifted me in his arms and Abe came to check on me.

"Rose, what did he do to you?" He demanded.

"Dimitri," I squeezed my eyes shut. Dimitri gave a look to Abe and Abe's eyes widened as hell.

"Rose… what's that on your neck?" Abe asked. Did Lissa not tell him? I got the hair out of the way and Abe's face turned murderous.

"Belikov, get her to the hospital. I'll meet you there." He then turned to Hans. "Hans, my dear friend, may I talk to Blake for a few moments… or hours?" Hans nodded and then looked sympathetically at me. Lissa ran over to me with her other Guardians.

"Dimitri, she doesn't need to go to the hospital. I can heal her." Lissa said fiercely. I faintly heard a 'YOU SON OF A BITCH!'

"She actually does. She needs a pill so that she won't get pregnant and loss of blood." Lissa's eyes widened, but she nodded. Lissa took my hand and I felt the magic surge through her to enter into me. I could feel my legs again and the bite mark was gone. "Sleep, Roza," Was the last thing I heard before I conked out.