What would have happened if Mason helped Rose kill the strigoi and didn't die in that house? This was written at the end of Frostbite. Comments very much appreciated !

I clung to the sword I had used to decapitate Isaiah as I looked over at Mason just as he severed the head of the woman known as Elena. The air felt still and warm as I stood near a covered window. It was finally setting in. I had just killed my first strigoi.

It was going to be Isaiah or me.

I needed to get out of this house and Isaiah was the only one standing in my way. I landed a blow at Isaiah's side, but he did not flinch. He then landed a blow that sent me flying backward toward the wall. My head hit the corner of something behind me. I could feel my blood start to pump faster. I knew I was done. I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling, but as I did, Isaiah's face appeared blocking my view. He put his weight on me and sighed loudly.

"One thing about you Dhampir … you look sexier when you are angry. I try to keep Elena around as a partner, but somehow the smell of fresh Dhampir blood is my weakness." Isaiah lightly stroked the hair off of my forehead.

Am I in shock? Was Isaiah telling me that he was attracted to me? I probably didn't hear him right…

Isaiah leaned into my neck and traced my ear with his nose.

"I think I may be giving you what you want though, blood whore… and I am not so sure I want to give you the satisfaction. Or do I?" He laughed to himself, now grazing his teeth across my neck.

The pain that I had in the back of my head was subsiding. I needed to move, now. I lunged to my right hoping Isaiah would not anticipate it, but he caught me around the waist, bringing me hard to the ground again.

"No, I don't think so," he mocked. "I think you're going to stay here and we are going to talk a little more".

As he said 'more' he pulled me toward his body. His breath was back on my neck. How gross! Sweaty strigoi breath was worse than Jesse Zeklos… must remember to tell Lissa about this later… hmm

I reached back to jab my finger into his eye, but he dodged my hand. This time he was not laughing as he elbowed me in the back of the head with his free hand. I felt the same hand push my hair away from my face as he moved his mouth onto mine. NO !

I tried once more to reach him, but he pinned my hands to my side and his fist landed another blow to my face. This time I could not retort. The roar in my head began and I knew it was over.

I heard a small sigh escape my lips as I gave into the pain.

My head was comforting, almost like a silky lake of blackness. Here I wasn't worried about anything at all. The others had gotten out and by now they were far enough away that they were safe. Swirling around in the 'water' I began to feel something tugging at me. I wasn't ready for anything. I wanted to just float on for a while.

"Rose…."

I couldn't answer. I didn't want to answer.

"Just let me sleep … please!" I thought loudly

The voice became louder and its echo softer. Okay, I am not dead, I am just waking up.

"Rose c'mon we have to go" the voice said again.

"Hmm?" I managed, though my eyes were still closed.

"Rose, I can't pick you up unless I know you can move by yourself. I don't want to hurt you, but we have to go! We have to go now!" the voice urged. This poor person sounded so concerned for me.

"No, everything is fine" I said lying still. "They all got out. They are okay." I started to drift off again. I almost felt like smiling; I was so tired.

"Rose, I came back for you. Let's go!" Mason urged a little louder.

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. He grabbed onto my back and looked me deep in the eyes. He studied me closely.

Dizzily I rubbed my forehead with my palm. Wait, what?

"Why did you come back?! I told you not to come back!" I said angrily.

I started to stand but the room swirled again and I grabbed my head now with both hands.

"Rose, let me carry you" he whispered.

"Mase, I don't need to be carried. I'm fine. You shouldn't be here." I assured and scolded him at the same time. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times as my view became clearer. I looked around the room, surprised that the strigoi had left me alone.

"Rose, you aren't okay. You are pretty beat up. You are lucky you are alive" he finished.

I looked down at my clothes and realized that Mason was right; I looked worse than I felt. My shirt was ripped up and my jeans were barely hanging on me. The buttons and the zipper were undone with scratches and bruises forming around my hips. Suddenly the images of Isaiah, before he knocked me out, came back to me.

No, he didn't go that far! I would have woken up. I would have stopped him.

I quickly looked back up at Mason who was still staring at me. His eyes had gone from pleading to upset. He already understood what I had just realized. He knew what had happened and he was wishing the same things I had. Mason would have stopped this too.

The silence between us was awkward as we both thought about this. I had to say something.

"Hey I'm good. Let's go!" I whispered loudly. Did he buy it?

"Two Dhampirs for the price of one!" a voice cackled

"ISAIAH!" the voice continued and then laughed maniacally.

Elena was annoying before, but this was infuriating. I stood up quickly and grabbed Mason's arm. He looked at me desperately and I nodded at him, pacifying his fears for the moment. Isaiah appeared around the doorway and stopped.

"Ah sleeping beauty has come around, I see. True loves kiss? Or wait, is that a different story? They are all the same anyway" Isaiah mused.

"Yeah, the bad guy dies every time," I retorted. Mason looked over at me and slightly rolled his eyes. I shrugged back at him as best as I could.

During the banter Elena had taken advantage and lunged toward me, taking me out at the knees. I struggled to kick her off of me but she was strong, like Natalie had been when Victor Dashkov had used her to free him.

Suddenly, Elena was gone. I sat up quickly and realized that Mason had thrown her off of me and was now fighting her next to the fireplace. Probably where I had hit my head. Mason was overpowering her and it seemed that Elena had been taken by surpise. Mason's eyes burned into her and for the first time since we had been here, this strigoi seemed afraid.

"Oh there is that face again. That anger… one I would almost classify as sultry," Isaiah hissed from behind me.

I turned to face him. I wasn't angry anymore, I was focused. I put myself into an offensive stance and glared at him. He made the first move and missed. My next move grazed his head and sent him staggering back. I was fighting as hard as I could, trying to remember everything Dimitri had taught me. All of those early morning running sessions I had complained about were helping, but it was no match for the pain I was in. My muscles were sore, my head throbbed where Isaiah had elbowed and punched me and I was pretty sure I had a broken rib. I had been in and out of consciousness for the last few days and I knew it would not be long now before something had to give. Someone would give.

Isaiah then made the mistake that would be the death of him. He looked over at Mason and with a wicked smile.

"I'm wondering whether I should end you first and make him one of us, or turn him first so you can watch. Your prince charming turning strigoi would be a twist…"

That was all it took. The adrenaline kicked in. If anything, I would save us from becoming strigoi regardless of the cost. I grabbed a sword from the nearby mantelpiece and started swinging.

Some time must have passed before I realized that Mason had his hand lightly on my shoulder and he was studying my face. His eyes told me that he was concerned, more than I thought necessary. I mean, we only did what we were built to do, what we had to. Dhampirs spend their whole lives training for this. Did Mason think because I was a girl that I needed comfort?

"What!?" I probably insisted a little too annoyed than warranted. I let the sword drop out of my hand next to me and looked back at Mason.

"Rose, we just killed our first strigoi".

He paused, dropped the sword in his hand, took in the scene around us and caught my gaze once again, "I mean … I guess I just never played it out in my head like this."

A playful smile crossed his face, "That was crazy … like really crazy! We seriously just wrecked house on these strigoi; Freaking epic!" His arms tightened on my shoulders.

I nodded and gnawed the inside of my cheek as I blankly copied his survey of the room.

"Yep".

I really did not know what else to say. What did he want me to do, jump up and down? Maybe take a strigoi appendage and wear it as a badge of pride around my neck? Use the spattered blood on my clothes as war paint? I realized while thinking this that maybe I wasn't totally okay. I mentally shook the idea off.

I stepped out of Mason's arms length and shrugged. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I moved, but ignored it. The excited look on Mason's face turned incredulous and he also took a step back.

"Rose, what we just did … no student at the academy has done. You just took on a strigoi twice your size!" Mason ran his hand through his hair and then gestured toward me, "You have to be proud of that!"

I hadn't had time to think, let alone be proud. I acknowledged, appeasing him.

"I am Mase, I just think I'm … I'm just tired or something. It will kick in later I'm sure," I said smiling convincingly.

Mason stared at me knowingly, but he hesitated. He then chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I have a sneaky suspicion that this will be all over campus tomorrow as 'Rose Hathaway killed two strigoi as Mason Ashford stood in the corner and cried' or something," he winked. We were both thinking the same thing. The way Mason found me was indicative of something I didn't want to think about, nor was it something I wanted to talk about with him.

We heard the sound of tires screeching out side causing Mason and I to look towards the open front door where Mia, Eddie and Christian had escaped not too long ago. Now that I thought about it, I was not really aware of how long we had been in the room. Mason looked outside, "Guardians." He jerked his head toward the door and left, likely expecting I would follow.

For the first time since we killed the two strigoi I coherently looked around the room. I looked over where Mason had killed Elena. The blood running down the wall behind her limp body looked like art people do with balloons filled with paint. The splatters were running thickly down the wall, forming small puddles in the crease of the floor. I looked over at Isaiah's head now empty of most of the blood, still masked with a look of shock. My head swam. I needed air, now. I took one step toward the door but halted in pain.

That broken rib may be more than one.

I winced at the sharp pain as I prodded my chest.

I'm falling apart. Pull yourself together Rose!

Struggling to walk any further, I leaned on one arm against the nearest armchair, wrapped the other one around my chest and closed my eyes. My head was still unsteady and my breathing labored. I had to get myself together. As I was trying to slow my breathing footsteps echoed up the porch and into the front room of the strigoi house.