Trigger Warning: this chapter contains descriptions of attempted forced suicide and other imagery that might be upsetting to some readers. Please proceed with caution.

Rose POV

It all started when Lissa came up with the brilliant idea to interview the spirit users we met in Tarasov prison.

Unfortunately, I was also curious about the results, so I supported her in this initiative to bring these poor people who had powers related to Lissa's. We thought we would discover new wonderful spirit abilities and learn new facts about this part of the magic. We didn't think that they were sent behind bars because they were deadly dangerous.

We were also fooled by the first two spirit users we brought to the Court. They seemed panicked and uncommunicative, but they posed no threat to us. Our vigilance subsided, and when the third spirit user - Martin - arrived at the Palace, he had no problem using this to his advantage.

We knew he could use almost unbelievable compulsion, but we didn't expect the level of his abilities and evil intentions until we saw our nurse, bleeding on the floor, with a scalpel stuck in her heart and her own hand on the handle.

We evacuated Lissa in a flash. She and Christian were locked up with half the royal guard, while the rest of us were distributed to find Martin before he could harm anyone else. We assembled a fast meeting at the guardians' HG, where we learned that Martin had ordered some guardians to get rid of the monitoring, depriving us of our surveillance system.

Our hastily created plan was quite simple: track down Martin, notify other guardians once located, ensure the safety of the first guardian, and have a third guardian defeat the spirit user.

We were given earpiece sets, walkie-talkies, and extra guns. Martin was assessed by our supervisors as a high threat and we were given permission to neutralize him as soon as we found an opportunity to do so. Before we started, we learned of new victims - a woman who jumped out of a window, and a man who hung himself with his tie.

When all the guardians were leaving, Dimitri grabbed my hand. We didn't have time to talk, but with a squeeze of a hand and a hasty kiss, we conveyed everything we wanted to say to each other. Be careful. Don't do anything risky. Come back to me afterward. We were sent to the same building but to different floors. We parted with a quick, but tender kiss.

I move cautiously, with a gun in my hand. We received notification of three more deaths. Each guardian was allowed to shoot first and ask questions later. I walked through the lavish corridor, listening for the slightest rustle and keeping my eyes wide open. I knew that if I didn't spot him first, I would most likely be killed.

I swung open the first door. They led to a little-used meeting room. Like all the rooms in the Palace, it looked richly decorated and luxurious. No one was inside - the guardians had ordered an evacuation in all public buildings. I looked around but found no sign of a living soul.

There was no one in the next two rooms either. However, it didn't make me feel more relaxed. On the contrary, the silence and emptiness had a worse effect on my nerves.

Entering the last room on my floor, I was ready to run into Martin, expecting him in every room and around every corner. However, when I entered the room I found no one. I looked through the room and peeked behind the door to make sure no one was there. Only there I encountered the penetrating gaze of his mad eyes. He was expecting me and took advantage of the second he had. His blue sapphire eyes pierced me to the core.

"Put that gun to your head and shoot," he commanded me. The tension left my body. I began to raise the gun toward my head. Before pointing the barrel in my direction, I fought against myself, although it seemed as if I was trying to swim against the current of a rushing river. You can't aim at yourself! You can't lose to it. You can't give in to it!

On the other hand, letting go and giving up control felt natural. Ultimately, all I had to do was submit, not resist to the point of making my muscles tremble. I had struggled all my life; yet, it felt so natural to submit to this command. I pointed the gun at my head.

Don't you dare squeeze the trigger. Clench all your fingers on the pistol grip, but don't squeeze the trigger! That will be your end. Dimitri will find you with a bullet in your head.

The mental image of Dimitri's face when he finds me with a gun wound in my head, after the few meaningful glances we exchanged as we parted, made me turn the barrel away from my head. However, I couldn't quite fight the compulsion to put it to my head, so I had to focus all my willpower to keep from raising the gun again. My arm was trembling from the effort I was putting into holding the gun away from my head.

Seeing this, Martin burst into squeaky, almost hysterical laughter, reveling in my struggle. He clapped his hands and circled me, making sure he stayed out of the line of my gun.

"Wonderful! Exquisite! I haven't had a similar opponent in years! In decades. Fantastic. Throw the gun away and stay still."

I dropped the gun and became motionless. He went to the window and started to open it, and I reached for my earpiece, but he covered my movement before I could say anything.

"Silence! Now go to the window and jump out of it."

My legs, seemingly independent, carried me toward the window, obeying the command, despite my mind's resistance. Stand still. Don't go to any window. Go back for the gun and shoot him.

I slowed my steps, which now seemed heavy and slow as if I were trudging through a snow blizzard, although there was no physical obstacle in my way. I looked toward the gun and stopped, trying to use my willpower and reach for the gun.

Martin giggled when he noticed my struggles.

"I didn't expect to have so much fun. Well, I guess I will have to increase my efforts. Go to the window and jump out of it," he said the last sentence with emphasis.

My efforts to fight his power stopped. The power controlling me was far too strong for me, a weak dhampir, to resist. I gracefully approached the window, bringing a sickening smile to Martin's face. I climbed effortlessly onto the window sill but found my inner voice again when I looked down. My hands clenched forcefully on the window frame, preventing me from taking the last step.

I won't jump out, I repeated to myself stubbornly in my mind. Six stories separated my window from the ground. I had no chance to survive if I jumped out. A cold wind whipped around me as I struggled against Martin's deadly power. I won't jump. I'm stronger than this sick bastard.

"Well… go on!" ordered Martin, but, trembling with effort, I moved further away, although I was still standing on the windowsill. I thought of Dimitri, of what he would do when he found me downstairs, and I stood more firmly on my feet. "Jump!"

My whole body trembled with exertion. His voice and power oozed into my mind like poison urging me to obey him. However, somewhere inside me there was also my voice, my stubbornness, and my will, which screamed internally, telling me not to give up. My kees softened from the effort - the simultaneous struggle to take a step and to not take a step. My fingers turned white as I desperately clenched them on the window frame. I heard my heart hammering inside my chest, preparing to fight for my life.

"I said, jump!"

The door opened with a bang and the firing of guns, in my direction. I shuddered but didn't even look in that direction, too busy fighting for my life on that windowsill. I heard Martin screaming in pain.

Don't jump! Hold on!

Several guardians started running toward us. I don't know what they did to Martin when he began to scream shrilly, because a pair of strong, familiar arms tightened around my waist and forcibly brought me to the ground. Dimitri held me close to him in an iron grip, not allowing me to take even a step. I knew that being in his embrace he would not let anything happen to me, so I let go of my fight against Martin's compulsion. As I began to wriggle toward the window, the grip on my shoulders strengthened, and Dimitri pressed me closer to him, standing between me and the window.

All of this lasted, at most, half a minute. The guardians rendered Martin unconscious, and his spell finally released its grip on me. Martin lay in a pool of his blood, from a gunshot wound on his hand. I went limp in Dimitri's arms, feeling my muscles relax from the constant struggle and my knees buckling under me. My boyfriend held me so I wouldn't lose my balance, feeling the change in my behavior.

"Are you all right?" He asked as I clung to him and tried to catch my balance on my own feet. I was trembling all over my body - from exertion, fear, and tension. My heart was hammering in my chest. A mass of guardians stormed into the office, guns pointed at us. They lowered their weapons upon seeing that Martin lay unconscious on the floor.

"I'm fine; it's just... this struggle exhausted me," I admitted, turning to look at him and squeezing his hand, which was wrapped tenderly around my waist.

Dimitri had on his face the mask of a determined, lethal guardian. However, all the terror and concern for me were hidden in his eyes. He watched me with tenderness and with that deadly concentration, making sure I was okay. I snuggled into his chest, feeling more stable after this psychic fight. His hand comfortingly stroked my back up and down.

Hans himself came to investigate the situation. He immediately had Martin put to sleep so that he could not be conscious around anyone. His fate was soon to be decided by the Royal Council. He questioned me on how I found him and dealt with him. I told him everything and learned that I had managed to turn earpieces on. The rest of the guardians heard that I was with him and that I was under his spell. They couldn't track me at first, but when they succeeded, Dimitri and two other guardians rushed toward me, hoping they wouldn't be too late.

Dimitri tightened his grip on my hand, and I moved closer to him, seeking comfort. I didn't know how much longer I would be able to hold out under Martin's spell, but I knew that I had survived mainly because of my will and Dimitri's quick reaction. If I had followed orders right away, I would not have been alive.

Martin was sent to solitary confinement, his victims were taken to the morgue, and the rest of the people were let out of the evacuation. Dimitri objected to Hans when he wanted to take us to the guardians' headquarters to write down the report, negotiating with him that we would come the next day. He wanted to allow me to get the rest I so desperately needed as soon as possible.

We walked slowly to our apartment, his arm around my waist, supporting my steps. As the tension left me, all my muscles began to ache, and my eyes closed of their own accord. Dimitri broke our comfortable silence.

"I knew you were the most stubborn person I know, but I didn't expect to what extent." There was softness and pride in his voice.

Fatigue was getting to me, but I forged the strength for the mocking smile I gave him.

"Thanks to you, I have the opportunity to practice. You're a truly worthy opponent; Martin was no match."

His smile was also mocking.

"Happy to be of use."

I laughed moving closer to him, and he embraced me tighter.

"Thanks for coming for me, comrade," I said sincerely, looking into his eyes. For a moment, the memory of panic flashed in his eyes. He didn't want to tell me about it yet, focusing on my well-being. However, I imagined what he must have felt when he realized that I was alone with Martin after all the reports we had received. After hearing that he told me to jump out the window. How desperately he must have been running, praying that I wouldn't take that one small step while he rushed toward me with flashing speed.

I didn't press him, knowing that we would talk about it later. Now he simply kissed my forehead, allowing his lips to rest a little longer on my skin, savoring this small, tender gesture. As we walked home, we held hands, grateful that we were going home together.