This chapter probably contains the most plot developments of the book and pretty-much everybody gets a look-in - Rose/Mikhail/Don, Lissa/Eddie/Christian, Dimitri! - Enjoy :-)

41. Shell-shocked

(Mikhail POV)

There was nothing usual about my morning – sneaking past the front gates of Court with a princess and two Guardians in the trunk of my black Dodge Charger – and now I was on my way back from the airport the initial buzz of adrenaline was quickly fading to a latent hum of anxiety.

Where was Rose taking her friends, Princess Vasilisa and Eddie Castile? How did they plan to use the information they'd 'borrowed' from the archives to save Sonya and Dimitri from their Strigoi fate? Was there some ancient book or reclusive expert out there that held the key? What would happen if they got caught?

I wished Rose had allowed me to accompany her on their secret mission but perhaps it was better this way. At least now I could cover the kids' tracks so they didn't have an army of Court Guardians on their tails before their plane even left the ground. Pulling into the Guardian carpark, I spent longer than usual ensuring that the vehicle was clean, meticulously checking over the upholstery and wiping fingerprints from the door handles. I had to make certain there was no evidence tying my car to the missing teenagers – Hans had been lenient with me after I'd gone AWOL searching for Sonya, but I didn't think he could overlook another serious misstep.

Heading straight from the carpark to my late shift in the archives, I worked quietly through the daylight hours until it was time to return home. After eating a light dinner and heading out for a punishing session in the gym I finally crawled into bed, completely exhausted. I was just dreaming about a blue house (again) when a horrible screeching sound shocked me awake and I reached over groggily to pick up the phone that was blaring on my bedside table.

'Mikhail,' Don Kardos' voice was hushed, like he was trying not to be overheard. 'Something's up. Get over to HQ as quick as you can.'

Did the kids get caught already? I wondered apprehensively as I dragged my clothes on and hurried across to Guardian Headquarters. When I arrived five minutes later, twenty or so Guardians were already milling about in the foyer as clueless as I was.

'What's going on?' I pushed through the crowd to join Don at the front desk.

He leant over the counter towards me, his face flushed with excitement. 'Some crazy shit, man,' he exclaimed in a stage whisper. 'Princess Vasilisa was scheduled to meet with Queen Tatiana at midnight but she didn't turn up. Hans was given a royal order to track down the princess, and when we made a few calls we discovered that two of her friends – Rose Hathaway and Eddie Castile – are missing as well. Turns out all three of them have done a runner! We're not certain of their exact location yet but rumour has it they've been sighted in Vegas.'

I did my best to feign surprise. Vegas? What was Rose thinking taking the princess there? That place was practically crawling with Strigoi. I just hope they found whatever they were looking for to make their journey worth the risk.

'But that's not all!' Don lowered his voice. 'There's been a breach at Tarasov Prison. Victor Dashkov's escaped!'

'What the hell?' I nearly shouted, no acting required for this outburst.

'Ssh!' Don hissed as a couple of the Guardians in the lobby looked over at us. 'These poor suckers have been selected to track down the convict. Some people might think he's just a crazy old man, but you and I both know that Dashkov isn't afraid to use offensive magic and he's pretty good at finding ways to make people suffer. I wouldn't want to go near him!'

A suspicious though flashed across my mind – could Rose have had something to do with the prison break? No. Not possible. Sure, she was brave and had a reputation as a strong fighter, but I didn't seriously think three teenagers could make it in and out of a high-security prison without being caught. And besides, why would Rose want to free the man who'd kidnapped and tortured her own best friend?

Just then another thought hit me and I was flooded by a wave of fear and guilt. I'd just helped a princess and two young Guardians escape the confines of Court to do God-knows-what, and now there was a notorious criminal on the loose. The damage that could happen if they crossed paths was too horrible to imagine. Dashkov had abducted Vasilisa Draogmir once before in order to force her to cure his illness with Spirit magic, and I wouldn't put it past him to have another attempt. What if I'd just delivered the last Dragomir straight into his hands? The idea made me feel sick to my stomach and I leant heavily on the desk to steady myself.

'You alright, Misha?' Don's expression was worried and he quickly rounded the counter, drawing me outside to get some fresh air.

As the only person who really knew what I'd been through, Don understood why Victor being free was such a shock. When I'd first returned to Court after hunting for Sonya I was in such a dark place that Hans insisted I see a counsellor. As part of my therapy I was encouraged to share my experiences with one person I trusted, and that was when Don proved his friendship beyond a doubt. In addition to sharing my grief over the loss of Sonya and hearing about my harrowing battles with Strigoi as I searched for her, Don knew it was Spiridon who'd jumped us in Pittsburgh and Victor who had arranged the attack as a way of keeping me from Sonya. (Princess Vasilisa had made the existence of Spirit public knowledge after her dramatic rescue from the clutches of Victor Dashkov, and it was such a relief to share the burden of Sonya's secret at last.)

'I didn't mean to upset you, Mikhail,' my friend apologised, leading me to sit on a bench near the gigantic statue of Queen Alexandra, 'but I thought you should know what's going on. There's no way Hans would include you on this kind of mission after you've been stuck in the archives for so long, but at least I can keep you posted with any news that comes through the front desk and let you know when the old bastard is caught.'

'Thanks, Don,' I glanced across at him gratefully. 'I'd rather have heard this from you than found out through the grapevine. I just hope they catch him soon.'

They didn't.

Our retrieval team did locate the missing princess and the Guardians however – on their way back from Vegas in the company of Lord Adrian Ivashkov – and the whole group were returned to Court in disgrace. Even though it appeared that the teenagers had been on a harmless excursion to let off some steam, royalty was held to a much higher standard than most and Queen Tatiana was scandalised by the wild behaviour of her protégée and her nephew Adrian.

Captain Hans Croft was equally disgusted by the actions of Guardians Hathaway and Castile; they hadn't just gambled away their money in Vegas – they'd gambled with the lives of two Moroi royals. As it turned out, the same night that Princess Vasilisa and her friends had been partying at The Witching Hour there was a vicious Strigoi attack only blocks away at The Luxor Hotel, and even though the Alchemists were able to hide any evidence of vampire activity, news of the mass-murder was splashed across mainstream television within hours of the incident. If the situation were different, there might have been two Moroi royals and two Dhampirs among the dead.

In the days that followed, Queen Tatiana's punishment was swift and brutal. Any discussion of Rose Hathaway being officially assigned to Vasilisa was instantly dropped and Rose was denied access to the princess – deemed to be a bad influence on the young royal. Plans were fast-tracked for Princess Vasilisa to attend Lehigh University in the expectation that she would return her focus to readying herself for succession to the throne, and her Guardians – Grant and Serena – were instructed to keep a close eye on their charge and report back to the queen if she so much as stepped a toe out of line.

Meanwhile, Hans made it his personal mission to ensure that Guardians Hathaway and Castile understood the severity of their misconduct and the precariousness of their positions by demoting them both to menial duties. I'd heard all of this from Don and knew Rose had been indefinitely assigned to an admin role, but it still surprised me when I found her in the archives towards the end of my shift one afternoon.

What were you really doing in Vegas? I wondered curiously as I approached the young woman, watching her brush the hair back from her face in frustration as she shuffled several stacks of files and papers into alphabetical order.

'Didn't expect to find you here again,' I said quietly, and she jumped a mile high, unaware that I had entered the room.

Rose set the files down and gave me a rueful smile. 'Yeah, weird how fate works, huh? They actually want me here now.'

As dangerous as her actions proved to be, I still felt bad for the young Guardian. She was so full of life – keeping her down here in this dungeon was like torture for her.

'Indeed. You're in a fair amount of trouble, I hear,' I eyed her sympathetically.

'Tell me about it,' she grimaced, glancing around to check we were alone. 'You didn't get in any trouble, did you?'

'No one knows what I did,' I assured her, catching the genuine look of relief on her face before she glanced back down at the papers on the desk.

Niceties aside, I was dying to know how the mission went. Was she any closer to finding a way to save my Sonya and her mentor Dimitri? I dropped to a crouch, bringing myself down to her eye level and resting my arms on the table opposite her.

'Were you successful? Was it worth it?' I asked earnestly, my eyes searching for the truth as she struggled to answer.

'There were some... not so successful things that happened. But we did find out what we wanted to know-or, well, we think we did,' she trailed off uncertainly.

My breath caught in my throat. 'How to restore a Strigoi?' I clarified quickly.

'I think so,' she tried her best explain but she was clearly holding something back. 'If our informant was telling the truth, then yeah. Except, even if he was... well, it's not that easy to do. It's nearly impossible, really.'

'What is it?' I asked a little more softly, thinking a gentler approach might work better, and Rose looked up at me with such a pained expression I nearly reached out to stroke her hand.

'It takes a Spirit user,' she explained. 'One with a Spirit-charmed stake, and then he... or she... has to stake the Strigoi.'

Of course. I'd seen Sonya do amazing things with Spirit magic – if Spirit could heal a Dhampir or Moroi it was plausible to assume it might heal Strigoi too. I smiled sadly as I remembered the first time Sonya revealed her powers to me; when she healed my wrist after the Dragomir funeral. She had been so vulnerable then, so beautiful, but now the whole memory felt dream-like and surreal. I shook my head to rid myself of the bittersweet memory and returned to the business at hand. 'So, what Spirit user could do a staking?'

'None,' Rose replied flatly. The tongue-in-cheek air she normally assumed was completely gone and now that her mask was down I could see that she was suffering as much as me. A lightbulb went off in my mind and I finally realised that Dimitri was more to Rose than just a mentor. She loved him the same way I loved my Sonechka, and every moment they were apart made her soul darken with the loss.

'Lissa Dragomir and Adrian Ivashkov are the only two Spirit users I even know – well, aside from Avery Lazar,' she carried on dejectedly. 'Neither of them has the skill to do it – you know that as well as I do. And Adrian has no interest in it anyway.'

'But Lissa does?' I probed, sensing her hesitation.

'Yes,' she admitted, 'but it would take her years to learn to do it. If not longer. And she's the last of her line. She can't be risked like that.'

I hated to admit it but Rose was right. It would be too selfish, too reckless, to ask the princess to risk her life when there was such a slim chance of success.

I sighed heavily and stood up, suddenly aware of the time – I had one last job to do before I clocked off and Queen Tatiana wouldn't be happy if she had to go into tonight's council meeting without the files she'd requested. 'Well... I appreciate you going after this. Sorry your punishment is for nothing.'

The girl shrugged bravely. 'It's okay. It was worth it,' she replied and our eyes met in silent understanding. Both of us would try anything – risk everything – if it meant saving the ones we loved.

We chatted a little while longer then I made my move to go.

'F comes before L,' I pointed out, amused by Rose's creative approach to alphabetisation, before grabbing the paperwork I needed and leaving my new filing buddy to her work.

It was late when I got home so I decided to skip my usual morning training session in favour of a proper sleep. With so many Guardians off searching for Victor Dashkov the rest of us had been assigned extra shifts and I was actually looking forward to the welcome change of a double-shift on the front desk later that night. Turning up to work at 9:00pm, I settled in for the long haul, keeping an ear out for any news from the council meeting that was currently in session. Queen Tatiana's efforts to lower the Guardian graduation age to sixteen had divided public opinion so greatly that the majority of council meetings were now closed to the public for fear of rioting, leaving most of us in the dark as to the council's progress on the debate.

After a long stretch by myself, Don relieved me for an hour's break around 5:00am and he looked up gratefully when I returned to my post carrying a coffee in each hand. The last leg of my shift went much quicker with a friend there to talk to, and I only had an hour or so to go when we received an urgent request for a file from the archives. Leaving Don to man the counter, I hurried down the staircase to the lower vaults and as I rounded the next corner I collided with a female Guardian who was running in the opposite direction.

'Come on! We have to get help!' Rose grabbed my sleeve and began tugging me toward the front lobby.

I frowned in confusion at the unexpected outburst, quickly scanning for threats before turning my attention back to her wild, panicked eyes. 'What are you talking about, Rose?'

'Lissa! Lissa and Christian. They've been taken by Strigoi – by Dimitri. We can find them. I can find them. But we have to hurry.'

What? It sounded like she'd fallen asleep in the archives and had a nightmare. 'Rose... how long have you been down here?' I asked her with a frown.

She gave me an exasperated look and fled down the hallway without giving me a second glance. I wasn't sure whether to follow her or return to my original task when my phone rang and an automated message played in my ear.

'Ugroza! Soberite!' Han's disembodied voice crackled out urgently. 'Secure the Queen! Assemble for orders!'

I hurried upstairs after Rose to find the whole building in chaos. Guardians were spilling out from their offices to gather outside the foyer, shouting questions to one-another as they ran. When I reached the front desk, Don's face was set in a grim mask as he answered phones and directed foot-traffic, and I spied Hans standing off to one side carrying out a terse conversation with Rosemary Hathaway.

'I saw it. I saw everything that happened,' the young Guardian declared emphatically before her words were lost in the surge of noise as more Guardians arrived.

'…We have Alchemists coming to get her, and... clean up,' Hans shouted over the din. 'Come on. We need you. There are teams already forming.'

Her? Who was in trouble? The Queen? Princess Vasilisa?

'You're doing a rescue?' Rose asked him as I followed them through the main doors out into the courtyard that was swarming with Guardians and high-ranking Moroi. 'That's... rare.'

Hans looked at her fleetingly before answering. 'So is the Dragomir princess,' he said, and the whole crowd fell silent at his whistle.

'Ladies and Gentlemen. There has been a fatal Strigoi attack near Lehigh University,' he explained swiftly. 'Multiple Moroi and Dhampirs have been killed, including Princess Priscilla Voda. Princess Vasilisa Dragomir and Lord Christian Ozera have been taken hostage and it is our mission to retrieve them.'

He paused to let the news settle in for a moment before barking out a series of orders.

'Don, you're in charge of HQ while I'm gone. All remaining staff should be re-assigned to fortify the gates – I don't want any surprises when I get back.' Don nodded before racing back inside to answer his shrieking phone.

Hans turned to the rest of the assembly. 'Any Guardian who served in the recuse mission at St. Vladimir's last year are to follow me.' He looked over at the handful of Moroi who were standing off to the side. 'Lady Ozera, we could use your skills if you are willing to assist – along with any other fire-users you recommend, and…' he scanned the crowd until he saw my face, 'Mikhail. You're coming too.'

I couldn't believe Hans was letting me go on an away-mission and I dashed to his side, ready for any order.

'I don't want you near the fighting, Mikhail, but we need a driver. There are going to be casualties and I want somebody I can trust on hand to ferry the wounded back to Court. Can you do it?'

I nodded and followed him to the carpark at a jog.

We all travelled in convoy and it wasn't long before I pulled in behind the long line of black SUV's already parked outside an abandoned warehouse not far from the university. Even though I wasn't here to fight, the adrenaline pumped through my body as I watched Guardians pile out of the cars and move silently to surround the building, and at a single command from Hans they surged through the doorways to engage the enemy. My hand hovered unconsciously by the stake at my hip, and as the battle screams rose from within the warehouse I had to restrain myself from rushing in to help.

My patience was at breaking point when a small huddle of Guardians came out of a side door, lugging a huge figure between them. The man was obviously wounded and his weight hung limply as his companions dragged him along. Gunning the engine, I mounted the curb and drove right up to the group. Somebody opened the back door and slid across the seat, pulling the injured man in after him, and another Dhampir with a serious head wound took the final seat in the back.

'Drive,' he choked out, and I obeyed without question, heading back towards Court at a reckless speed. When we arrived at the front gates we were stopped by a small team of Guardians who had the whole city under lockdown, and everybody piled out of the SUV to transfer the wounded into a waiting ambulance.

'I've got a Dhampir here – no visible injuries but unresponsive. What's his name?' a triage nurse asked sharply as she scribbled notes down in her folder, nodding to the huge figure that slumped helplessly on a stretcher.

'That's Dimitri Belikov,' came the reply.

I froze, completely shell-shocked.

Dimitri Belikov is a Strigoi not a Dhampir. My hand flew instinctively to my stake and I turned slowly to face the man I'd heard so much about.

He looked up at me vacantly and I saw that his eyes were brown.

Author's Note:

My main difficulty at this point in the story is deciding how many scenes/how much dialogue from the original book to include in each chapter. I considered breaking this chapter into two so I could spend more time on each scene but decided my book is getting too long & I just want to move forward so Sonya and Mikhail can get together again.

I guess the main theme of this chapter is friendship - Mikhail's bond with his mate Don (I love Don... maybe if I ever write a different story for VA it will be from his perspective!) as well as Mikhail's growing friendship with Rose. She isn't just a fickle teenager to him anymore - they pretty much have more in common than any other two characters in the book.

A quick note on the Mikhail/Rose archives scene: direct speech for this conversation comes from Spirit Bound Ch 13, but I've edited heavily to keep it relevant to the needs of my story so you will notice some minor inconsistencies to the original text if you are a hardcore fan.

Also, I did my best to keep track of the timeline from the original book (i.e. how many days was Rose in Alaska/Vegas), but it was very unclear in some scenes so I eventually gave up & applied my own times... nobody else will probably care, but in case that's your thing... sorry!