Vampire Academy: A Desperate Cause

Chapter 19 of my Vampire Academy story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead.

Chapter 19

DIMITRI POV

Standing outside the apparently abandoned warehouse where Natalie assured us the Princesses were being held, I continued to prepare myself. I had done every physical preparation possible, so I was doing so mentally now. Running through our plan, any back-up plans.

'We need to make sure we're ready for any eventuality...' I considered carefully. 'Anything could happen; it's just a case of, being able to adapt.'

This was big, important, we knew that, we were all nervous, but we were going to act, in spite of that. This was our only, our best chance after all.

I sighed as I stretched my muscles, looking over at Adrian who nodded, indicating he was ready, just as I was. My main concern of course was the first part of the plan. I didn't like it, but the opportunities involved in this seemed to outweigh the risks, at least in Rose and Natalie's minds.

Our main issue, getting through the front door, was the first trial and Rose and Natalie believed their best chance was to use live bait, to trick them into letting them through, paving the way for Adrian and myself.

I shook my head as I approached Natalie and Rose. 'Typical of Rose I suppose, always volunteering for the most dangerous parts, still, it makes sense I guess.'

That was the part that made me nervous, despite my faith in Rose, my knowledge of her strength, she was going to be the live bait. A decision she had made straight away, without any hesitation, as I had thought, typical of her.

The idea was for Natalie, disguised to make her still seem Strigoi, to escort Rose as a hostage to the warehouse. Right now they were setting things up to 'look the part', Natalie was tying Rose's hands behind her back with ropes, the ropes were loosely tied, so she could break free easily when the time came.

"Right, we're all ready." I said at last. "So, when will we start?"

Rose smirked at me. "Right now, don't worry too much, alright, we've got this under control."

I rolled my eyes but nodded and Natalie applied the finishing touch, securing a strip of tape over Rose's mouth. I stepped back to join Adrian as we took up positions while Natalie began to lead Rose to the warehouse; Rose acting as if she was groggy, bleary eyed; as if she had been drugged.

Natalie 'dragged' her towards the doors while we remained hidden. Even from where we were, we could hear them.

"Hold it, what is this?" One of the two Strigoi guarding the doors demanded.

Natalie spoke coldly. "What does it look like, I've secured a Dhampir as hostage.

The second leered at Rose, eyeing her body up and down. "Oh and a pretty one too, so, why bring her here, planning to share your food?"

"No, imbecile, look who it is, we were told about this one." Natalie spat back. "She's just who we need to help the master in bending the Princess to his will."

They shared a look, Rose let out a few muffled mumbles, still play-acting. Finally the Strigoi unlocked the doors and all four of them entered.

I nodded to Adrian, this was our chance and together we began to hurry, quietly, towards the door. We carefully opened it and slipped inside, we were in a corridor and it soon became clear that the first part of the plan had gone off perfectly.

Natalie and Rose were standing there, Rose had freed herself easily, removed the tape from her mouth and was helping Natalie hide the bodies of the two dead Strigoi.

"Okay, part one, done." Rose said flippantly, winking at me.

I grinned. "Of course, well, let's get going."

Natalie nodded. "It won't be easy, Lissa and Jill are, last I heard, being held separately. We have to go to the main room, from there, we'll have to split up, the western door should lead to where Jill is being held, the northern one leads to Lissa."

I nodded and together we advanced, quietly.

Natalie guided us through the corridors and in a roundabout route, avoiding any Strigoi or Moroi patrols or where they were simply sitting around, hanging around, talking and joking, some of them sick jokes about what they had done or were planning to do to Lissa and Jill. I could see Rose was furious but I shook my head and took her hand, trying to calm her.

"Stealth Rose, stealth, remember." I whispered.

She nodded and we moved onwards and soon we reached the main room; it was then I realized that this whole thing was a trap.

"I'm glad you could make it." A familiar voice stated.

Natalie hissed, Rose tensed and Adrian growled as suddenly lights turned on everywhere and there, standing on the balcony, by the northern door Natalie had mentioned was Viktor Dashkov.

I almost wanted to laugh at his vanity; a wanted fugitive and he still tried to look immaculate in a black business suit with dark tie and grey shirt.

Viktor shook his head, smiling calmly. "How sad, it was so easy to trick you all. You think I didn't know, when Natalie didn't return, that something was wrong. I had spies out, I saw what you had done."

"Father, you..." Natalie cried out.

"Now you shall pay for your treachery, along with my other enemies, Natalie." Viktor remarked blandly.

I snarled, this man truly was mad, he was willing to kill his daughter, simply for trying to put a stop to his madness.

"This ends here, Viktor…!" I began.

He merely snapped his fingers. "For you."

It was then we were surrounded, a mixture of Strigoi and Moroi traitors, surrounding us. It was clear now we were in for a fight and were badly outnumbered. Victor watched calmly as his army swamped us.

With a growl I immediately countered the first attack, Adrian and Natalie did their best to fight back, to use their magic, not an easy task with so many Moroi amongst our enemies doing the same thing.

"This isn't going well." Rose muttered as she killed a Strigoi, only for another two to take his place.

I grunted as I did the same; she was right, we were running out of chances, getting overwhelmed, I was soon pinned against a steel support pillar, I fought back, my hand holding the stake pinned against my body.

Growling I struggled to free myself; when suddenly the Strigoi pinning me began to scream and fell to the ground, on fire. I turned in shock, hearing Rose gasp. Standing there were two people, both young males, the first, the fire user, clad in black jeans, a grey tank-top; blacks socks and sneakers.

The second one being a Dhampir clad in Navy blue casual trousers, a white T-shirt; black long jacket, white socks and black and white sneakers. I recognized them at once, so did Rose.

"Christian, Eddie..."

They both grinned and it was then I saw Ibrahim Mazur, dressed smartly as ever, albeit still allowing ease of movement for fighting. Finally Janine entered, along with several other Guardians, all in official Guardian uniform, all ready to fight. The tables had turned, reinforcements had arrived.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.