Hey guys this is a shorter chapter than usual and I'm not sure I was ready to go this direction so soon but I have really been stuck lately on how to write this. Sorry for such a long wait. The next chapter will explain more but I really felt I had to end the chapter where I did!

Chapter 13 Dead End

The burning in my stomach was becoming worse and worse and Dimitri's words were haunting me. The worse part about this whole mess was when I was a Dhampir I would have rather died than do what I was about to do now, but Dimitri had felt that way to. Once he was turned Strigoi he did what I was about to do. It's like this overwhelming voice in your head urging you to embrace what you have become, but there is still this little voice inside me screaming not to do it. Maybe I didn't have to kill my victims maybe I could just take what I needed and leave them alive like I did with the guy in the alley. Who was I kidding that is exactly what Dimitri would have told himself initially and then the hunger probably just took over him, exactly the same way I felt it taking over me with that guy in the alley. For some reason the more I pondered it the more I realised I barely cared. It was exactly like Robert said eventually you can't feel your emotions. That voice screaming for me to stop was getting quieter and quieter by the minute.

I headed out of my hotel toward the busy nightclub section of town. As I was walking I got the distinct feeling I was being followed but by who? As I continued walking I opened my Strigoi senses to everything around me, to get a better feeling of whom and how many were following me. I could sense at least three people hot on my tail. Wait they weren't just people they were Strigoi. I could also sense at least another two people further back. I could see an alley ahead of me so I quickened my pace and rounded the corner ready for battle. I leant against the alley wall and waited.

Two Strigoi rounded the corner and I lunged at the one closest to me. He was strong and at first threw me to the ground with ease. I noticed that as I jumped back to my feet at lightning fast speed the other Strigoi was standing casually by the wall just watching the fight. I lunged at the guy that threw me to the ground quickly and wrestled him to the ground, I managed to swing my leg around his neck and pin him to the down. He began to laugh at first and it almost caught me off guard. I quickly leant forward and with a quick twist of his neck I felt his bones snapping. His body went limp but I was pretty sure I had merely incapacitated him not killed him; hopefully he would be down long enough to let tomorrows sun do the rest. I sprang to my feet and spun around quickly toward the other Strigoi who was still leaning against the wall smiling.

"My turn then I guess, this should be fun" The strigoi casually uncrossed his ankles and began to approach me still smiling. I was going to enjoy removing his smug grin.

"You're just going to end up like your little friend here, but I'm okay with that" I said with a casually chilling tone.

The Strigoi smiled at me once again "I don't mind so much going down to a pretty little thing like you almost seems worth it"

Oh god this guy was flirting with me how Grose "Well let's stop all the small talk shall we and get to it"

The Strigoi smiled and then lunged at me throwing me hard against the wall. He pinned me there with his chest and leant into my ear and whispered. "Fiery little thing aren't you I thought we would get to know each other a little first"

I quickly pushed my knee up into his groin and as he buckled over I gave him another quick kick in the chest and pushed him across the alley into the far wall. "I have no desire at all to get to know you"

The Strigoi quickly jumped to his feet and that's when I heard the sound of someone clapping. We both stopped and looked toward the sound of the clapping in the shadows. That's when from the darkness I seen another Strigoi appear. "Victor warned us you would be good...seems he was right" The Strigoi replied still clapping his hands and shaking his head.

"So you're Victors little minions are you?" I said smugly.

The Strigoi I had been fighting didn't appreciate being called a minion and lunged at me once again. I was onto him this time though and ducked quickly out of the way. As he sped past me I kicked him in the back and he smashed his head into the wall hard. He was down but probably only for about 30 seconds or so. I had to make use of my time quickly. I flew toward the Strigoi standing at the edge of the shadows. He was ready for me though and kicked me square in the middle of the chest and before I knew it he was on top of me with his fingers around my throat.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way...come with me quietly or come with me in pieces Rose it's up to you"

That's when out of nowhere I felt the Strigoi ripped of me and I seen him thrown to the ground, hovering above him with a stake in his hand was Dimitri. Wait a minute Dimitri how could he be here. Dimitri lunged down and pushed the stake into the Strigoi's heart. "Rose will be going nowhere with you"

Dimitri looked up from the dead Strigoi directly toward me. I began to scramble backwards trying to get to my feet when I hit a wall. I quickly jumped to my feet and that's when I seen Eddie and Thomas appear behind him. Behind Eddie and Thomas I saw Lissa, Christian and Adrian. All of a sudden Abe, Cindy and his guardian's were there to. Shit this was a full scale attack they were going to trap me by all means necessary. I quickly scanned behind me it was a dead end. I wasn't getting out of here. Not without going through them.

Dimitri slowly got to his feet with his arms out pleading "Rose...don't do anything rash where not here to hurt you" Dimitri took another step toward me and my body tensed ready to fight. I seen Eddie and Thomas step forward at the same time.

Lissa was behind them with Christian holding her around the waist. They both looked nervous but there was a determined look on Lissa's face. "Rose please let us help you...where here to make you better Rose, this isn't you...where going to fix this" Lissa' voice was pleading like she was hoping I would see reason.

I couldn't even speak I was too busy frantically scanning everyone's faces. Abe's eyes were pleading and Cindy's were sympathetic. Christian seemed worried most likely for Lissa and Adrian well he wasn't looking at me at all he was looking at his feet.

Dimitri took another step toward me and as he did I seen in the corner of my eye the Strigoi that I had thrown into the wall had quickly jumped to his feet. This caught Eddie and Thomas's attention and they quickly got into a fighting stance. Dimitri's eyes never left mine. "Lissa and Christian stay behind me...Adrian stay near Thomas...Eddie you got it covered" Dimitri had organised everyone without ever looking away from me.

The Strigoi lunged toward Eddie and Eddie tried to stake him but just missed, they continued to wrestle when I noticed Adrian move away from Thomas. I had to take whatever opportunity I could to get out of here and I had noticed that Thomas was getting ready to help Eddie and hadn't noticed Adrian's small move. At Lightning Strigoi speed I sped toward Adrian and grabbed him by the throat pulling him back to shield me. Lissa gasped in shock and all the guardians braced themselves ready to attack me. "Don't any of you come any closer" I said with my chilling Strigoi voice.

Dimitri put his hands up to stop anyone coming toward me. "All of you stay back leave her"

Eddie finally had got the best of the Strigoi and had now joined everyone else braced to attack me. "We can't just let her walk out of here with Adrian man it's not right and you know it" Eddie said to Dimitri hesitantly.

Dimitri appeared angry "I said none of you will touch her and I mean it" Dimitri slowly looked back toward me "Rose you don't want to hurt Adrian now why don't you let him go" I still couldn't speak I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to hurt Adrian but he was my only way out of here.

That's when I was surprised by Adrian's voice "Rose its okay I want to come with you anyway...I've changed my mind" I gasped in shock at Adrian's words and so did everyone else.

"Adrian noooooo" Lissa screamed "How could you Adrian...How could you do this to all of us...your meant to help us fix Rose...How could you" Lissa began to sob.

I began to laugh I couldn't think of anything else to do and it sounded malice and chilling. They had come here united to return me to my former self only to have Adrian back out of the plan and now it was all falling apart for them. "Are you sure this is what you want Adrian? There is no going back after this" I said into his ear but loud enough for everyone else to here"

I seen Dimitri's body tense "Rose please...don't...not him Rose...please" I seen sadness cross Dimirti's face at what I was about to do and for one second I didn't want to do it. It was in that split second of indecision that I must have released Adrian just slightly because out of nowhere I felt Adrian move and all of a sudden I felt a blinding pain in my chest.

I heard the sounds of Lissa's screams "Adrian noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" and then I heard the sounds of Dimitri's frantic voice calling my name and then all of a sudden there was a burst of blinding white light. I clutched at my chest and fell to the ground in pain.

A flash of memories coursed through my mind like they were being played in rewind. With each memory I felt every emotion connected with that memory flood my body. I could only describe the experience as a cloud of visions in front of me being sucked back into my body through the gaping wound in my chest until I was so full my entire body wanted to explode. All of a sudden my body felt heavy and my mind felt full.

I opened my eyes and hovering above me was Adrian, he bent down toward me and whispered into my ear "I'm sorry little Dhampir" then I felt a soft kiss to my forehead and then he moved away.

Replacing Adrian above me was Lissa, there were tears streaming down her face and all of a sudden she threw her arms around my body "Oh my god Rose...your back...I have you back...I've missed you so much Rose...I'm never going to let anything happen to you again I promise" Lissa was promising to protect me when it was my job to protect her. I felt the tears wanting to break free but I held them back I didn't know whether they were going to be happy tears or sad. My body may have been full of emotions again but I still couldn't feel a thing.

All of a sudden I heard Dimitri's voice "Lissa we need to get her back to the hotel" Lissa gave me a kiss on the cheek and then moved out of the way. Dimitri bent down slowly and picked me up in his arms and began carrying me out of the alley. I felt his lips press down onto the top of my hair but he didn't speak another word and I'm glad he didn't.