AN: Hey Everyone! I'm sorry that my updates are irregular but I am trying. I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as I could even though I am swamped with work at the moment. Anyway, thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows! I appreciate you all so much. Here's chapter nine, enjoy! :D

RPOV

I was beginning to drift in and out of sleep, forcing myself to stay awake despite my body screaming out in exhaustion. I couldn't even remember the last time I had slept properly with all this chaos going on. The woman I had captured was sitting across from me still passed out and I was impatiently waiting for her to wake up.

Hans had given us a room that looked like a cell. It was dark in here except for one light and the concrete walls made the place seem cold and dangerous. Dimitri entered the room causing me to straighten up from slouching against the wall and he spared a glance at the woman before walking over to me.

"She's still out?"

"It's only been ten minutes, she'll wake up soon."

He stared at me closely. "You should go back to our room and get some rest, I can watch over her."

I shook my head weakly. "No, I need to be here when she wakes up."

"Roza you can barely stand, I'll call you as soon as she's awake."

"I said I'm staying Dimitri," I snapped.

He didn't flinch at my tone instead he looked at me with concern.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "You're right I am tired and this mission is doing my head in."

"It's okay, if you're not going to go back to our room to sleep then at least rest here and I'll let you know when she wakes up."

Giving in, we both sat on the cold ground near the door. Even though she was handcuffed, we weren't taking any chances. I rested my head on his shoulder and let sleep take over me, finally allowing myself to take pleasure in the blissful state. My body was completely relaxed but my mind wasn't.

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the dull room with Dimitri anymore. I tried to look around to see where I was but instead all I could see was a silk sheet covering my entire body. Moving my arms I pulled at the material attempting to lift it off me, except it didn't work.

Without warning the silk sheet tightened over my entire body and I gasped for air as it stretched over my face making it even more difficult to breath.I panicked wanting to scream for help but my lungs were choked up and no matter how hard I clawed at the material it wasn't working. Dark spots flashed in front of my eyes and I felt like my head was going to explode.

This isn't real. This isn't real.

"Rose."

I heard the sound of my name and stared around wildly hoping that someone had come to help me but there was nothing there, all I could see was the silk sheet and the same dark spots that were becoming bigger and bigger.

"Rose, wake up."

I'm trying.

"Rose."

All I wanted to do was scream. I wanted to get out of here yet I didn't know how to, being suffocated was making it harder.

"Roza."

Dimitri. It was Dimitri's voice. His voice sounded so far away and I remembered that this wasn't real. I was dreaming and this was a nightmare.

Wake up Rose.

I recalled the time when my mother had coached me out of the dark coma that I was in a few weeks ago and used the same strategy to return back to reality. Getting out of this situation made the last one seem like a piece of cake but I put everything into pushing my way through. The material pressed down on me the more I flung my arms and legs so I stopped moving altogether and focused on returning to the room. My eyes shot open and I scrambled to my feet looking around, struggling to find my bearings.

"Roza, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Blinking several times, I focused on the tall figure in front me and waited until my vision cleared. Dimitri was standing in front of me, keeping his distance with his hands held out. I breathed shakily absentmindedly brushing my fingers across my throat relieved that I could breathe again.

"I'm fine, it was a bad dream."

He didn't look convinced and shot me a look that said later, I was going to avoid that conversation as long as possible. Looking away from his intense gaze, I turned to see the woman mumbling softly and her eyes slowly fluttering open.

My body was weak and I was feeling exhausted-mentally and physically-however, that wasn't going to stop me from getting answers. I strode over to her and placed my hand under her chin to tilt her head back so that our eyes met. It took her a few minutes before she realised what was going on and that she was in danger. She struggled against the handcuffs and went to move her head away but I held on tighter not giving her a way out.

"Easy there," I murmured. "You could break your jaw."

She growled at me and clenched her teeth, her eyes piercing into mine. To anyone else she would have looked threatening and she kind of did but she didn't know what I was capable of. I stared right into her eyes and watched as her body stopped moving and her lips parted as her eyes glazed over.

"What's your name?"

"Nancy Stewart."

"Are you a part of the Dark Knights?"

"Yes."

"Who else is a part of the group?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You're a part of the group, tell me the names of the others."

"I can't, I don't know them."

Anger spread throughout my body. I was in no mood to re-live the whole 'I don't know' bullshit that I had to go through with Meredith.

"How many of you are there?" I asked, hoping that taking the questions in a different direction would lead to more answers.

"Twenty-one. Eleven moroi and ten guardians."

I could sense Dimitri approaching us and came to a standstill near me. "We were right, moroi and dhampir's are working together."

"Who killed Tatiana?"

"I don't know them."

Strengthening my grip on her chin, I kept spitting out questions. "What can you tell us?"

"Each moroi represents one of the royal families, they are the leaders in the revolution."

"What revolution?" I asked, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.

"For moroi to join alongside dhampir's and instead of sitting around waiting for strigoi to pick us off one by one, we would all go out and hunt them down."

I almost let my grip loosen and without even looking at Dimitri, I knew he was just as surprised as I was. There were several people with a similar mind-set, yes they were the minority but it wasn't anything new. But to kill people in order to launch this revolution was a far stretch.

"Why kill Tatiana? Why kill everyone else? How does this help you in anyway?"

"Tatiana was in the way," she said, her voice remaining monotonous. "The others were standing by her side in her choice that went against our beliefs. They had to go."

The way she spoke so calmly about killing people struck a nerve in me and made me feel uncomfortable. It was as if we were discussing the weather. We were close, we were so close to getting more answers and by now my head was throbbing, my legs were shaking and I felt my body begin to weaken. Ignoring it I lowered my face near hers until we were only a few inches a part.

"Tell me their names. Where do I find them?"

"I don't know."

That was my undoing. The feeling that shot through my body was similar to what I use to feel when I still had the darkness in me.

"Tell me!" I roared. "Tell me their names!"

Nancy whimpered quietly and I could barely hear it over the sound of my heart thumping in my chest and my head pounding.

"Roza, maybe we should-"

"If you don't tell me what I want to hear, so help me god I will rip your throat out," I spoke menacingly. "Tell. me."

Tears sprung in her eyes and for the first time she genuinely looked scared. She was scared of me. My compulsion was in full force now but the problem was that I couldn't force someone to tell me something that they didn't know. That didn't make me break the compulsion even though my body was slowly starting to give way. Suddenly, I was ripped away from her and felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist.

"Let go of me!"

"No," Dimitri shot back. "I don't know what's going on Rose but you need to calm down."

My body slacked against him and I gave up. Breaking off the compulsion, I took a moment to take in what had happened through my clouded mind. Nancy's body was shaking vigorously, something that I had failed to notice while I was compelling her and she hung her head, her hair forming a curtain around her face. My body was also shaking but not nearly as much as hers and I felt something wet on my face. Slowly, I lifted my hand to my face and when I pulled my hand back I could see blood. My nose was bleeding and I could now taste it in my mouth. My eyelids felt heavy, there was no energy left in my body and I passed out.

I felt a sense of déjà vu when I woke up, taking me back to the time when I woke up from my coma. The bright lights were irritating, I had no idea what was going on and I felt like shit. I didn't even have to look to know that Dimitri was sitting in a chair by the bed reading one of his western novels. The smell of his aftershave was all the confirmation that I needed.

"Hey comrade," I croaked.

I could hear him move and I let my head fall to the right to look at him. "How long have I been out this time?"

He brushed a few strands away from my face and his warm brown eyes held so much worry. It tugged at my heart to see him troubled by me.

"A few hours, you're in the infirmary. The nurse said that you passed out from exhaustion but I know that isn't the real reason."

So much for avoiding that conversation. "I don't what happened."

"You lost control," he started. "It was like when you lost control when the darkness used to take over but it was different this time. Something was off. Nancy practically had a mental breakdown after the compulsion you put her under and your body was shaking, your breathing was heavy and your nose started bleeding."

I turned away from him, not being able to meet his eyes. He tilted my head back to him and lightly stroked my cheek.

"What did you dream about? And don't say it was nothing."

Avoiding the question was my first instinct but I had learned that it was better to tell Dimitri because he wasn't going to stop.

"I was lying on the ground with a sheet covering my body and it was suffocating me. I couldn't scream or get it off and the more I tried to pull at it, the tighter it wrapped around me. It felt like I was dying and then I woke up."

"Do you think it was just a nightmare or is there more to it?" he asked gently.

I shook my head. "It had to have been just a nightmare."

"What happened with Nancy then? You were fine at first, then something snapped inside of you."

Placing my hand over Dimitri's, I said," I lost control. I just don't know how or why."

He sighed heavily. "We should have paid more attention to your abilities and the effects of the stake. It did something more to you Roza, something that we haven't noticed yet."

I laughed humourlessly. "Like what? Like maybe I'm slowly dying?"

Dimitri didn't look amused. "Don't say that. Maybe have Sydney look into it, she might have a few ideas."

Motioning him to help me sit up, my thoughts went to Nancy. "There was something that Nancy said. She mentioned the others were with Tatiana at her side with her plans. We talked about how there were people who must have been supporting her arrangements for Templa. There has to be a list of names somewhere because those people are on this group's list of people to kill."

"We need to get ahead of them so we know who to protect," he added. "She told us that each of the eleven moroi represented the royal families."

"There are twelve families and only eleven moroi. Does that mean each of them are a royal moroi?" I questioned.

"Maybe. Why only eleven though?"

It was a good question and it didn't take long for me to figure it out. "Lissa, she's the only one left of her family."

Dimitri straightened up and the concern that we had for her safety was too obvious to ignore. "She might not be on that list but she is a target."

"You need to tell the others, I want her protected 24/7," I demanded. "You have to stay by her side."

"She'll be okay," he reassured me. "None of us will let anything happen to her and I'll make sure to let Petar and his group know."

My mind was racing through all of this new information and as much as I wanted to stay here and help with the assignment, there was a growing problem that had gone too far for me to neglect. I laced my fingers through Dimitri's and kissed him for a moment. He didn't hesitate in responding and the feel of his soft lips on mine was the best feeling I had experienced in a little while. I needed it. Pulling away, I leaned my forehead against his.

"There's something that I need to do, I have to leave for a few days and while I'm away you have to promise me that you'll look after Lissa and that everyone else will work on getting that list."

He seemed taken aback. "Where are you going?"

"I need to see Avery Lazar."

AN: Thank you so much for reading and thank you to everyone who sent me suggestions! I'll try and update as soon as I can. Have a good day/night! Much Love xoxo