CH 11

RPOV

Songs: Toxic - Yael Naim, #1 Crush – Garbage, Black Ajax – Locksley, The Curse - Agnes Obel

It was a strange feeling walking into a place I had never been before but still recognizing it instantly. There were a lot more people filing into the bar but other than that, it was exactly the same as my vision: classically elegant. Although I was hesitant at first, seeing how the club patrons were dressed I was glad to have the wardrobe update from Adrian.

The neckline in the front of my dress was modest but the back, or should I say lack thereof, was another story. It scooped all the way down to the dip of my spine just above my tailbone. There was a slit in the emerald fabric that went up to the top of my right thigh, stopping a few inches below my hips. The edges clung to my waist, showing off my curves, but it hung loosely around my legs so I could easily conceal my weapon. The diamond necklace that had been sent perfectly mirrored my dress. It sat high on my throat but had a long chain that fell almost all the way down my back, accentuating the open cut of the dress. I left my hair down but swept it to one side to show off the glittering jewelry. Needless to say, I looked hot.

Before we left the hotel, Eddie was kind enough to inform me that I looked like 'Vampire bait'. I initially rolled my eyes and laughed off his shameless comment but seeing some of the faces on the Moroi men as I walked in got me thinking that maybe he had a point. All the better to lure in unsuspecting victims, I thought.

Although feeding was a necessity for the Moroi's survival, willingly allowing them to feed from a Dhampir was considered taboo, dirty even. Female Dhampirs that participated in this sort of behavior had coined the term Blood Whore. There were even communes where these Blood Whores would live together and raise their Dhampir children. Dimitri had once told me he grew up in one of these communes. He insisted it wasn't anything like the stereotypes had depicted them as, but walking into this place I wasn't so sure. Behind the facade of glitz and glam, it was apparent Zavlekat' attracted scandalous behavior, and not just from women. I had only met one male Blood Whore before at court, but here I could see a few Dhampir men dressed to the nines with rich Moroi hanging off them. I would have preferred to come in with my normal attire, ready to derail unwanted attention, but Adrian was right that we needed to fit in or the chance of us getting any information was highly unlikely.

We decided to go our separate ways once inside to cover more ground. From across the room, I saw a group of Moroi women checking out Eddie at the bar. I had to admit, he was wearing the fitted suit that Adrian had sent over pretty damn well. He, of course, disagreed and couldn't wait to get out of the 'stupid monkey suit'. I flashed him a wink from across the bar and he discretely sneered in response.

After an hour or so of wandering around and dismissing an embarrassing amount of advances, I was starting to get impatient. It would have been better to meet Grigory organically, avoiding any suspicion right off the bat, but my anxiety was winning out. I nodded towards Eddie, signaling that I would be moving to phase 2: question the bartender. I strode over to a handsome Dhampir guy behind the bar, swaying my hips unnecessarily, and flashed him my best Rose Hathaway come-hither smile. He gave me a polite smile in response and said, "What can I get ya doll?"

His English accent surprised me. I had ignorantly assumed everyone here was Russian and was slightly thrown off. "Oh, uh I'm okay for now," I stumbled out. "I'm actually looking for someone."

"Oh really? It looks like you could have any 'someone' that you choose right now," he smirked, gesturing towards the expanse of the room. "Well they're not exactly my type," I said batting my eyes. He huffed and dropped his focus to the glasses he had been polishing, seemingly unfazed by my blatant flirting. This guy might be harder to crack than I thought. I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see Eddie approaching the bar beside me.

"Well hey there," the bartender's eyes lit up and a huge grin formed on his face. "Who's your mate?"

Ah ha. It seemed I had been barking up the wrong tree. "Oh, this is my friend Chuck," I said with a mischievous smile. The bartender seemed pleased with my response and made his way to stand in front of Eddie. "So, Chuck. You don't look like you're from these parts," the bartender started.

"And you don't sound like you are," Eddie responded sarcastically. The bartender threw his head back and laughed.

"No, I guess not. I'm Arthur. Arthur from Leads to be exact," he reached out his hand. "Chuck. Chuck from the States," Eddie accepted his hand and shook it.

"What brings you two around here?"

"Well, we were actually supposed to meet someone but haven't seen him yet. Grigory. Do you know him?" Arthur's face fell a little, but he still seemed pleased to be conversing with Eddie.

"Yeah, I know him. Kind of an arse if you ask me. How'd you get mixed up with that bloke?"

"That's not important," I interjected. "Is he here? We need to see him."

"Nope. Not here. Doubt he'll come in tonight," Arthur said as he started polishing glasses again.

"Do you know when he'll be back," Eddie asked as he leaned closer to the bar with a lazy smile plastered on his face. "You'd be doing us a huge favor Arthur." I was shocked how well he was doing at this. Who knew Eddie Castile could flirt?

"Hm, you're cute," Arthur chuckled. "Look all I know is he comes in here sometimes with a group of tossers to host meetings in the back room," he nodded behind the bar. "They're not here tonight, but if you stick around I'll buy you and your pretty friend here a drink." He leaned towards the bar and winked at Eddie.

"Well, that's a very generous offer but unfortunately we'll have to decline. Maybe next time though," Eddie responded politely. He stood up and started to turn away, but I had one more question for our lovesick bartender.

"Wait. Arthur, the group you mentioned. Is there anything different about them? Anything that stands out to you?"

He looked up at the ceiling pensively and thought about it before responding. "Other than being total douchebags, not really." My shoulders slightly deflated in defeat. "Well that, and those horrendous matching rings they wear. I mean I'm all for a nice piece of jewelry on a man, but those tacky gold things are soooo 1985."

My mood immediately perked up. I tried to hide my excitement and casually smiled and waved my fingertips goodbye to Arthur. "Thanks for the help."

"Sure thing. I'll be seeing you around Chuck," he hollered as we walked away.

Once we were out of the bar I smacked Eddie on the back. "Way to go Castile! I didn't know you had that in you?"

He gave me that lazy smile of his and joked, "You think that's the first guy to ever hit on me? Ha! Rose, you're so naive." I couldn't help but giggle.

Suddenly, without my usual bone-chilling warning, I was pulled into Lissa's head. She was on a dimly lit street walking up to an industrial looking club. It had a giant neon red geometric star and the word 'Guevara' at the front entrance. I could feel hunger coursing through every part of her body; she was practically snarling as she got a whiff of patrons walking in and out. There was only one thought going through her mind, and that was who was she going to eat tonight.

I heard a cracking noise and felt a sharp pain flash across my face. My hands came up to my cheek and I looked around to see I was back in my own body. "What the hell?!" I looked at Eddie for an explanation, realizing he had slapped the shit out of me.

"Sorry. You had that creepy look again," he responded meekly.

"I know where she is," I voiced, no longer caring about the slap. "She was walking up to another club called Guevara, and she was hungry," I gulped.

"Come on," Eddie said, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me towards the parking lot. We'll look up directions on the way.

Luckily, we brought a spare change of clothes just in case things got messy, and once we got to the car we quickly put on more battle friendly attire and looked up the fastest route to the club. Eddie deftly sped down the streets of Novosibirsk pulling up to the club in just under 15 minutes from when I had seen her. I didn't get a chance to see if she was alone, so Eddie and I decided we would need to stick together. We already had a plan in place from Zavlekat' but now that the venue had changed our plans were thrown off.

We knew it was risky going into this blind, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to save innocent lives and possibly capture my undead best friend. When we walked into Guevara it was a complete contrast to the last bar. Where Zavlekat' had been classy and dreamlike, Guevara was grungy and erotic. The industrial theme from outside continued into the expansive room. The only light inside streamed from flashing red strobes in all directions, giving the illusion of excess shadows and blurred figures. The club seemed to be one huge sunken in dance floor with a mass of sweaty bodies grinding to an eerie beat. Above us were giant iron bird cages with half-naked girls and guys rhythmically swaying. The music was so loud I could barely hear myself think, little less the person beside me. The bass rhythmically pulsed through my ears and chest the closer we got to the dance floor. I looked to Eddie and nodded, questioning if he was ready. He returned it with a serious look and jutted his chin towards the crowd.

As we passed through, several people had their eyes closed reveling in the euphoric mood they were entranced in. Others were staring deeply at one another as if they were ready to pounce. I looked to my left and saw a girl, her red curls dripping in sweat, with two guys moving their hands up and down her body as she rolled her head back.

It was easy to tell why a Strigoi would choose this place. If it weren't for the lack of the scent of blood filling the air, I would assume almost everyone here was either feeding or being fed from. I tried to focus my vision and looked around for Lissa's pale hair. In the mass of red and black, I hoped it would stand out.

Turns out I was right. About 20 feet away I spotted it. I rushed towards her feeling Eddie close behind me and grabbed her shoulder with my right hand, my left ghosting over my stake. I whipped her around to face me, only to find a stranger's face in front of me. Her eyes were unfocused, and she had a strung-out smile plastered on her clammy face. I cursed to myself and turned away from her.

I heard a muffled shout through the noise of the club, "Rose!" I looked over to my left to see Eddie taking off towards a back exit where a door was still slightly swinging open. We shoved through the crowd, no one seemed to mind, and flung open the back door. As soon as we stepped into the damp alleyway my stomach started turning and I could hear light whimpering. There was definitely a Strigoi here.

Eddie must have heard the same thing I had and moved to a large trash bin across the alley, flinging it out of the way with incredible strength. Behind it was a shorter male Strigoi feeding on a young blonde human. Eddie immediately went on the offense and with a few quick maneuvers the Strigoi was staked. I looked around harboring a feeling that something was off; without the intention of demeaning Eddie's skills, I knew he was one of the best in our class, but I couldn't help but think that just seemed way too easy.

Eddie knelt down beside the girl, gently placing his hand on the side of her face to hold her head up. "Are you alright," he asked. She looked him in the face and started laughing maniacally. He looked at me confused.

My body immediately registered what was off and I felt a wave of nausea wash over me. "Eddie, there are more coming," I croaked, trying to push down the rising panic in my gut.

He leapt up from his crouched position and took a defensive stance beside me. Before we could register what was going on we were completely surrounded. There were 5 Strigoi circling us with two on the outer perimeter, and there was no telling if more were waiting in the wings. The odds were definitely not in our favor.

"Mmmm this one smells delectable," one of the carnivorous creatures cackled.

"Shut up Yegor. You know she wants the Dhampir bitch alive," a female voice argued.

Yegor, huh? He'd be my first target. Their sinister faces stirred something carnal inside me. I clenched my hand around my silver stake, ready to take on the lot of them. If I was going to die, I would go out fighting and taking as many of these demons as I could with me. I prepared myself to launch at the offending beasts; the best defense was a good offense, right?

Then, just as I was about to pounce, a shrieking gasp came from one of the Strigoi on the outside of the circle. Almost unanimously, we all whipped our gaze towards the noise to see the tip of a silver stake sticking out of his chest from behind, blood oozing down his white shirt as he convulsed in pain. The stake retracted with a gurgling snap. The Strigoi went stiff and fell to his knees, revealing none other than Dimitri Belikov.

As if summoned by Ares himself, the Russian warrior immediately rushed into battle. He had a wild look in his eyes as he channeled his godlike skills, dispensing another assailing Strigoi. I was mesmerized by his deadly grace, each of his movements were powerful and fluid as he stormed through the alley.

I snapped out of my daze, quickly realizing the opportunity he had created for us. Eddie and I used the momentary distraction to our advantage and charged at the two adversaries standing directly in front of us. I lunged at Yegor, taking dark pleasure in the surprised look on his face. He ably blocked my first few attacks, but he underestimated my speed as I feinted left and reached around from the right to surge my stake through his chest. I let out an angry battle cry as I made contact with his dead heart and watched the horror in his eyes fade out.

As he laid there I pictured first Isaiah, then Nathan. Two monsters who had stolen my best friends from me. They had turned what was most dear to me into ash. The memory of their faces fueled my desire to end the others in the alley. I glowered behind me to see Eddie successfully take down the female Strigoi before launching at another and shot my eyes to Dimitri who was fending off the other two alone. I sprang into action and kicked the back of one of the Strigoi's knees, causing him to stumble and turn towards me. I sliced my stake down his face, a burning red streak following in its path. He screamed in agony, bringing his hands up towards the bubbling flesh. Dimitri and I moved to stand back to back, falling into a synchronous rhythm. I heard him make his move towards the other Strigoi and I followed suit, throwing another kick towards mine. My foot made contact with his chest, slamming him into the cement wall and before he could recover I charged forward and pinned my forearm against his throat. Dimitri and I simultaneously staked our opponents and that eerie satisfaction trickled through me as they jointly fell limp to the ground.

I somehow pulled myself from the overpowering feeling of bloodlust and snapped my attention to Eddie as he raised his stake above the last pinned Strigoi. "No, Eddie wait! WE NEED HIM!" My pleas echoed down the alleyway. I could tell it took an insurmountable amount of willpower for him to stop his kill mid-strike. I could see the same wrath in his eyes that I had just been possessed by as the tip of his stake halted less than an inch from the Strigoi's chest.

Dimitri immediately ran over to help Eddie slam the beast to the ground, pressing the edge of his stake against its neck. The male Strigoi was slender and clumsy, most likely a Moroi in his former life judging by his lack of escape maneuvers.

"Where is she," I growled at him as Dimitri pressed his stake gradually into the beast's neck. The Strigoi screeched in pain at first, but as soon as Dimitri found a reasonable depth for his stake and halted his movement the pale bastard let out a curdled laugh.

"You don't need me to find her Dhampir," he stared at me knowingly with his crimson eyes. "She is everywhere. She's there behind you, in the darkness," I whipped my head around but there was nothing there. "Can't you feel her on the back of your neck. A breath in the air. A finger reaching out to you," Dimitri twisted the stake in his neck and the Strigoi let out another cry.

"Where is Vasilisa," Dimitri demanded. The threatening malice in his voice threw me off for a moment and caused my pulse to race.

"She has awakened me. Awakened us all," he turned to Eddie this time as he spoke. "We are eternally grateful and will forever serve her." His last statement perplexed me. Serve? Grateful? Loyalty and devotion were not things I would associate with a Strigoi.

"Rose, look," Eddie nodded towards the Strigoi's hand and I saw a flash of gold around his small finger. I opened my mouth to ask about it, but without warning, the Strigoi slipped out from under our hold and wrapped his hands around Eddie's wrists, plunging the stake into his own heart.

"No," I cried out as the Strigoi went limp, an ominous smile on his face. "FUCK!" I screamed, kicking the stiff body. I frustratingly ran my hands through my hair, roughly scraping my scalp in the process. Dimitri stood up next to the Strigoi, his tall shadow creeping up my body and over my head. The look on his face spoke legions. The fury in his eyes wasn't derived from battle like it had with me and Eddie. I knew instantly it was because of what I did. It was because of me.

"Dimitri I..." I was suddenly speechless, terrified of the next words that would escape my mouth or his.

"We'll discuss this later Rose," his voice was hard and cold. I felt a chill pass through me as he spoke.

"You have to understand. I was just—"

"I said we'll talk about it later Rose!" The volume of his voice hadn't risen any, the earlier animosity from the interrogation had faded. But the force behind his words seemed to reverberate off the walls and into my chest.

I gulped down any other objections I had been about to make and fell silent under his fierce gaze.

The chill from his words started to grow and crept into my mind. I then realized, much too late, that it was actually Lissa pulling me in again and I was helpless to stop her. "No, no, no." I desperately shook my head trying to get her out, but my efforts were worthless. The bloodied horror scene before me faded out like a mirage and before I could blink I was transported into a luxurious bedroom. Lissa was splayed out like a satiated cat, lounging on a smooth black cherry bedspread.

"Hello, Rose," she purred.

I scowled in my own body at the sound of her tainted voice. "It appears you disposed of my associates. Hm, that wasn't very nice," she feigned disappointment while reaching for a small crystal bottle full of thick, red liquid. She carefully screwed off the top, pulling out a short brush. It looked like the same shade of nail polish that was on her fingers during her meeting with Grigory; but when she started daintily brushing it over her long nails, I could smell the stench of blood.

"Ugh, Rose don't be such a prude. You only feel disgusted now because you have no idea what's it like," she deeply inhaled the scent of her perverse manicure, lighting up my senses. "Once you are awakened you won't be able to get enough," she said as she lightly blew on the fresh coat.

"It's truly exquisite Rose. Mmm, the pleasure it arouses." Memories of blood dripping from her open mouth skimmed through my vision as she reminisced. "It's like feeling cold, but at the same time hot all over," Lissa let out a moan, stretching her arms behind her and rolling her shoulders back. "Not that a virgin like you would know what I'm talking about," she added with an annoyed tone.

An image of Dimitri shirtless and on top of me traitorously invaded my mind. I quickly tried to push it out but felt something latch on to it and drag it back as Lissa straightened up on her bed. Another flash of his perfect chest heaving above me was pulled into our vision; his tight biceps flexing under my touch, the way my breath caught as he ravaged my neck and whispered my name. Roza.

"Rose you dirty bitch! And with my Guardian nonetheless." Her twisted amusement shot through the bond.

"Shut up," I spat back. She finally allowed me to push the memories away to the dark corner I had been hiding them, leaving an empty feeling in my head, stomach, and heart.

"Oh my god, you love him?! Don't you?" I gritted my teeth.

"Oh, this is just too good," she laughed bitterly. "I guess I can't really blame you. He does look awfully delicious. Maybe if you agree to share, I'll let you keep him as your little pet," she snickered.

"I said SHUT UP!" I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed at the top of my lungs, letting my full barriers down and released the shadows I desperately tried to keep under control. Black clouds framed our vision and a mind-numbing tension pressed into our skulls.

"What are you doing? What is this," she shrieked. The twisted spirits flew out from all directions swarming around us. Lissa frantically tried to swat them away but to no avail. Their contorted faces silently screamed at us as their skeletal fingers reached out towards her. I heard Lissa wail just before I was pulled back into my own body.

I tried to put the wall back up, but the splitting pain only grew, and the ghosts turned their assault on me. I screamed for them to go away, to leave me alone, but eventually, the pain was too much to bear. Impending blackness completely covered my vision and I felt someone wrap their arms around me as my unconscious body fell to the ground.

A/N: He's back! Our favorite Russian comes to save the day. This fight scene was one of my absolute favorite moments so far, especially paired with Black Ajax. That song just exudes Dimitri. Thoughts on our mini-battle? How about Lissa's creepy conversation? We are finally getting a stronger taste of what she's like and a peek into her motivations.

As far as the clubs go, Zavlekat' was mostly made up with some inspiration here and there from other bars I've seen; however, Bar Guevara is a real place in Novosibirsk. I was intrigued by the huge star out front and the industrial vibe it gave off but changed how the inside looked for the purpose of this scene. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it and would love to hear what you think! Thanks to everyone out there still sticking with it.