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Christian staggered in, supported by two guardians. Dr. Olendzki appeared shortly thereafter, checking him out and wiping blood away from the back of his head.
Finally, I thought, something would happen.
"How many Strigoi were there?" one of the guardians asked me.
"How in the world did they get in?" muttered someone else.
I stared. "Wh - ? There weren't any Strigoi."
Several sets of eyes stared at me. "Who else would have taken her?" asked Ms. Kirova primly. "You must have seen it wrong through the...vision."
"No. I'm positive. It was...they were...guardians."
"She's right," mumbled Christian, still under the doctor's ministrations. He winced as she did something to the back of his head. "Guardians."
"That's impossible," someone said.
"They weren't school guardians." I rubbed my forehead, fighting hard to keep from leaving the conversation and going back to Lissa. My irritation grew. "Will you guys get moving? She's getting farther away!"
"You're saying a group of privately retained guardians came in and kidnapped her?" The tone in Kirova's voice implied I was playing some kind of joke.
"Yes," I replied through gritted teeth. "They..."
Slowly, carefully, I slipped my mental restraint and flew into Lissa's body. I sat in a car, an expensive car with tinted windows to keep out most of the light. It might be "night" here, but it was full day for the rest of the world. One of the guardians from the chapel drove; another sat beside him in the front - one I recognized. Spiridon. In the back, Lissa sat with tied hands, another guardian beside her, and on the other side -
"They work for Victor Dashkov," I gasped out, focusing back on Kirova and the others. "They're his."
"Prince Victor Dashkov?" asked one of the guardians with a snort. Like there was any other freaking Victor Dashkov.
"Please," I moaned, hands clutching my head. "Do something. They're getting so far away. They're on..." A brief image, seen outside the car window, flared in my vision. "Eighty-three. Headed south."
"Eighty-three already? How long ago did they leave? Why didn't you come sooner?"
My eyes turned anxiously to Dimitri.
"A compulsion spell," he said slowly. "A compulsion spell put into a necklace he gave her. It made her attack me."
"No one can use that kind of compulsion," exclaimed Kirova. "No one's done that in ages."
"Well, someone did. By the time I'd restrained her and taken the necklace, a lot of time had passed," Dimitri continued, face perfectly controlled. No one questioned the story.
Finally, finally, the group moved into action. No one wanted to bring me, but Dimitri insisted when he realized I could lead them to her. Three details of guardians set out in sinister black SUVs. I rode in the first one, sitting in the passenger seat while Dimitri drove. Minutes passed. The only times we spoke was when I gave a report.
"They're still on Eighty-three...but their turn is coming. They aren't speeding. They don't want to get pulled over."
He nodded, not looking at me. He most definitely was speeding.
Giving him a sidelong glance, I replayed tonight's earlier events. In my mind's eye, I could see it all again, the way he'd looked at me and kissed me.
But what had it been? An illusion? A trick? On the way to the car, he'd told me there really had been a compulsion spell in the necklace, a lust one. I had never heard of such a thing, but when I'd asked for more information, he just said it was a type of magic earth users once practiced but never did anymore.
"They're turning," I said suddenly. "I can't see the road name, but I'll know when we're close."
Dimitri grunted in acknowledgment, and I sank further into my seat.
What had it all meant? Had it meant anything to him? It had definitely meant a lot to me.
"There," I said about twenty minutes later, indicating the rough road Victor's car had turned off on. It was unpaved gravel, and the SUV gave us an edge over his luxury car.
We drove on in silence, the only sound coming from the crunching of the gravel under the tires. Dust kicked up outside the windows, swirling around us.
"They're turning again."
Farther and farther off the main routes they went, and we followed the whole time, led by my instructions. Finally, I felt Victor's car come to a stop.
"They're outside a small cabin," I said. "They're taking her - "
"Why are you doing this? What's going on?"
Lissa. Cringing and scared. Her feelings had pulled me into her.
"Come, child," said Victor, moving into the cabin, unsteady on his cane. One of his guardians held the door open. Another pushed Lissa along and settled her into a chair near a small table inside. It was cold in here, especially in the pink dress. Victor sat across from her. When she started to get up, a guardian gave her a warning look. "Do you think I'd seriously hurt you?"
"What did you do to Christian?" she cried, ignoring the question. "Is he dead?
"The Ozera boy? I didn't mean for that to happen. We didn't expect him to be there. We'd hoped to catch you alone, to convince others you'd run away again. We'd made sure rumors already circulated about that."
We? I recalled how the stories had resurfaced this week...from Natalie.
"Now?" He sighed, spreading his hands wide in a helpless gesture. "I don't know. I doubt anyone will connect it to us, even if they don't believe you ran away. Rose is the biggest liability. We'd intended to...dispatch her, letting others think she'd run away as well. The spectacle she created at your dance made that impossible, but I had another plan in place to make sure she stays occupied for some time...probably until tomorrow. We will have to contend with her later."
He hadn't counted on Dimitri figuring out the spell. He'd figured we'd be too busy getting it on all night.
"Why?" asked Lissa. "Why are you doing all this?"
His green eyes widened, reminding her of her father's.
They might be distant relatives, but that jade-green color ran in both the Dragomirs and the Dashkovs. "I'm surprised you even have to ask, my dear. I need you. I need you to heal me."
TWENTY-TWO
"HEAL YOU?"
Heal him? My thoughts echoed hers.
"You're the only way," he said patiently. "The only way to cure this disease. I've been watching you for years, waiting until I was certain."
Lissa shook her head. "I can't...no. I can't do anything like that."
