It’s Dimitri. Looks like he got her message.
Rose is stunned that the Strigoi version of Dimitri looks so much the same as he did before. All except for the eyes, and that sickening red ring around his pupils . . .
My stake was ready. All I had to do was keep swinging to make the kill. I had momentum on my side . . .
But I couldn’t. I just needed a few more seconds, a few more seconds to drink him in before I killed him. And that’s when he spoke.
“Roza.” His voice had that same wonderful lowness, the same accent . . . it was all just colder. “You forgot my first lesson: Don’t hesitate.”
—page 283
Dimitri doesn’t hesitate. He knocks Rose out cold.
She wakes to find she’s trapped in a luxurious room with no way out. Crap. When Dimitri visits, she fights as hard as she can, but he immobilizes her. Just seeing him after all this time is enough to throw off her concentration. She’d expected something different, for him not to be anything like he used to be, but that’s not the case. He’s so much like the Dimitri she remembers that she’s having a really hard time separating the monster from the man.
He too looks at her as if there’s something still there—some kind of emotion tying the two together.
“Why are you here?” His voice was low and dangerous. I’d thought Abe was scary, but there was no competition at all. Even Zmey would have backed off.
“In Siberia? I came to find you.”
“I came here to get away from you.”
I was so shocked that I said something utterly ridiculous.
“Why? Because I might kill you?”
The look he gave me showed that he thought that was indeed a ridiculous thing to say. “No. So we wouldn’t be in this situation. Now we are, and the choice is inevitable.”
—page 292
He wants to awaken her, to turn her into a Strigoi like him so they can be together forever. He wants her to choose it, but he can’t wait forever. She chooses or he forces it. One way or the other, she will be awakened.
The chance to be with Dimitri forever is something she would have wanted once. But now—this isn’t romantic. It’s wrong. To say the least.
Dimitri now works for a Strigoi named Galina, who was his instructor when he was in school training to be a guardian. This is her estate. Other Strigoi work for her as well—including Nathan, the Strigoi responsible for turning Dimitri in the first place. He’s definitely not a friend, though, and sees Dimitri as a direct threat to his power in the organization. But now Dimitri has a weakness—Rose. Dimitri lets Nathan know very clearly that if he touches Rose, he will die.
When Nathan leaves, Rose assures Dimitri he’ll be waiting a very long time before she consents to becoming a Strigoi.
His laughter had been rare as a dhampir, and hearing it had always thrilled me. Now it no longer had that rich warmth that had wrapped all around me. It was cold and menacing. “We’ll see.”
And before I could form a reply, he moved in front of me again. His hand snaked behind my neck, shoving me against him, and he tilted my face up, pressing his lips against mine. They were as cold as the rest of his skin . . . and yet there was something warm in there, too. Some voice in me screamed that this was sick and horrible . . . but at the same time, I lost track of the world around me as we kissed and could almost pretend we were back together in the cabin.
—page 301
When Dimitri leaves her alone, tied up in the room, Rose tries everything in her power to escape. It’s impossible. Waiting for Adrian to contact her through a spirit dream seems like the best solution, but then she remembers he’s mad at her and won’t be contacting her anymore. She’s surprised by how much the thought of not seeing Adrian again in her dreams disappoints her. She knows she’s treated him badly when he didn’t deserve it—when he’d offered her every kindness. She abused that and feels guilty about it. And now she’ll have to figure this out herself without anyone else’s help.
When Dimitri visits again, he tries to convince Rose of how incredible he feels as a Strigoi—it’s the greatest experience in the world to take the life of someone by drinking their blood. The world is made up of predator and prey, and he wants to be the one doing the hunting.
It sickens Rose to hear him talk about murdering people. Even still, being near him makes it hard for her to concentrate, to stay strong in the face of having him back in her life—having him want to be with her forever. It’s all so confusing.
“The connection between us hasn’t changed. You just can’t see it yet.”
“Everything’s changed.” With his lips so close, all I kept thinking about was that brief, passionate kiss he’d given me the last time he was here. No, no, no. Don’t think about that.
“If I’m so different, then why don’t I force you into an awakening? Why am I giving you the choice?
A snappy retort was on my lips, but then it died. That was an excellent question. Why was he giving me the choice? Strigoi didn’t give their victims choices.
—page 314
When Dimitri kisses her again, she doesn’t want to escape. Even though the rational voice in her head screams against it, Rose kisses him back. But the bliss she feels in his kiss is nothing compared to when he bites her. That’s when the Strigoi endorphins kick in, sending all her worries far, far away.
Dimitri isn’t biting her to awaken her . . . that’s still her choice. This? It’s just for fun while she makes up her mind.
Rose loses track of the world, of her problems, of her need to escape. There’s only Dimitri, who visits her daily to feed from her. She can fool herself that this is the Dimitri she remembers, the one she loves, who loves her in return. She’s completely addicted to the bite now, like a drug addict.
But still, a small part of her continues to resist; she refuses to give him permission to awaken her. Time is running out, he warns. Soon he’ll have to make the decision for her.
One night, Dimitri decides to free Rose from her locked room and take her outside so he can show her the estate. On the way to the gardens, they come face-to-face with Nathan. Although he was the one who turned Dimitri, he seems to hate the pair of them. Dimitri attacks, beating the other Strigoi down to show his dominance and to protect Rose.
Outside in the garden, she realizes that she still loves Dimitri—being here with him, even though he’s different than before, isn’t all that bad.
I loved being close to him, loved the way he kissed me and told me he wanted me . . .
“Why?” I asked.
“Why what?” He sounded puzzled, something I hadn’t heard yet in a Strigoi.
“Why do you want me?” I had no idea why I even asked that. He apparently didn’t know either.
“Why wouldn’t I want you?”
He spoke in such an obvious way, like it was the stupidest question in the world. It probably was, I realized, and yet . . . I’d somehow been expecting another answer.
—page 330-331
Being with Dimitri so much—here and in her room—has managed to push her Strigoi-induced nausea off her radar, but other Strigoi can trigger it. And one is approaching—quickly. Galina looms over them, a beautiful but scary woman. She’s given Dimitri some time to sort out his issues, but she’s not willing to wait any longer. He has to either awaken Rose or kill her. Time is running out.
When his boss leaves, Dimitri lets Rose know that his ultimate plan is to kill Galina and take her power and fortune . . . and having Rose at his side would make it that much better. He takes her back inside and—despite the nagging voice in her head that tells her she needs to plan her escape—Dimitri ends their “date”with a passionate kiss . . . one that quickly leads to another bite, which takes any stress or doubt away. The blissful fog rolls in and everything’s okay—even when he warns that Galina’s patience is running out. Soon he will have to awaken Rose, with or without her permission. He can’t wait much longer.
When she falls asleep, she’s surprised w
hen Adrian pulls her into a spirit dream. She knows, somewhere, that she should be happy to see him, but even there, she’s too drugged from the bite to think clearly. Adrian wants her to come back to St. Vlad’s. He’s worried about Lissa—she’s acting reckless and doesn’t seem to care about anything. But to Adrian’s shock, Rose doesn’t have an emotional reaction to this revelation. It’s like the news about her best friend doesn’t even register. That’s when Adrian realizes that something’s wrong, a suspicion that’s confirmed when he reads her aura.
And then, worst of all, he spots the bite marks on her neck. This is enough to trigger panic that Adrian has seen something that she’s deeply ashamed of, that she’s lost control of her life. Rose needs to get out of the dream. She pulls herself out, troubled and saddened by the encounter. Then she rushes over to the bathroom mirror to inspect her throat and is shocked to see the bruises and wounds from Dimitri’s regular feedings. She looks like a . . .blood whore.
It’s a rude awakening and one that almost—almost—triggers a rebellion within her. But she’s still too far gone in her addiction. For now.
Nearly a day passes without another bite and she’s getting twitchy. Finally, she receives a visit, but it’s not from Dimitri. It’s Nathan. And he wants information on Lissa. To kill the last Dragomir would be an accomplishment that would put him in good standing with Galina and would enable him to recover some of the power that he’s lost to Dimitri.
It’s sick, but even though she knows he wants to kill her, the lure of getting a bite—any bite—nearly has her offering up her neck to him. However, she manages to work up enough strength to fight back when he goes for her. She doesn’t want to die—not like this.
Nathan easily knocks her across the room. A human servant is in there as well, and Rose, in her delusions, thinks that maybe she’s the solution to her escaping. She grabs the woman and threatens to kill her if Nathan doesn’t leave. If Rose were thinking straight, she’d recognize the obvious incongruity: Why would Nathan care about a meaningless human servant? The servant fights back, and Rose finds she’s too weak to even fight her off.
Just when all seems lost, Dimitri arrives and nearly kills Nathan for what he’s done. He’s tempted to retrieve Rose’s silver stake from the vaults so she can kill Nathan herself. It’s clear that the next time the two Strigoi face each other, one won’t walk away.
Rose burst into tears when Nathan and the servant leave, but she gets no sympathy from the cold Dimitri. It annoys him that she’s incapable of defending herself when once she was so strong. And it’s all because she refuses to be awakened.
His violent turn reminds her very strongly that he’s not the tough but tender instructor she fell in love with back at St. Vlad’s—he’s a soulless monster.
“Time’s running out. I’ve been lenient, Roza. Far more lenient than I would be with anyone else.”
“Why? Why have you done it?” I wanted—needed—then to hear him say it was because he loved me and that because of that love, he could never force me into anything I didn’t want. I needed to hear it so that I could blot out that terrifying, furious creature I’d seen a few minutes ago.
“Because I know how you think. And I know awakening you of your own free will would make you a more important ally. You’re independent and strong-minded—that’s what makes you valuable.”
“An ally, huh?”
Not the woman he loved.
—page 355
It’s time for Rose to get back her control—over herself, over everything. She needs to get out of there and to do that she needs to be able to think clearly.
When Dimitri tries to bite her, Rose stops him before his sharp fangs penetrate her skin. She claims that she wants to regain her energy for her awakening. But really, she’s just trying to buy time to recover from the addiction. He gives her a deadline: two days before he turns her.
In other words, she has two days to figure out how to escape.
ESCAPE PLAN
Breaking her addiction to Dimitri’s bite is agony. To distract herself, she visits Lissa through the bond. Rose isn’t the only one having a hard time.
Lissa’s wild time of drinking, table-dancing, and kissing ex-boyfriends has caught up with her. Since she refused to admit any of the debauchery to Christian when they got back to school, Jill went ahead and told him for her, leaving Christian doubly pissed—not only has his girlfriend gone off the rails, but she didn’t have the decency to tell him herself.
Through the bond, Rose sees that Lissa leans on Avery for moral support when she worries her boyfriend’s going to break up with her. But then, suddenly, Rose is shoved right out of Lissa’s head.
Okay, that was bizarre! While it’s never happened before, something about it felt sort of . . . familiar.
Dimitri visits her again. This time, Rose avoids the bite by bombarding him with questions about becoming Strigoi—as if she’s honestly interested in making the transition.
As Dimitri answers, he catches sight of the silver ring that Oksana and Mark gave to Rose. She isn’t wearing it on her finger; it’s on a table with some other jewelry—flashy gifts from Dimitri during her imprisonment. He picks it up to inspect it closer. She takes the opportunity to tell him about her visit with his family. As she speaks, it’s as if he softens a little, becoming more like the old Dimitri. He muses that she should have stayed with his family, where she would have been safe. Then he kisses her sweetly, much differently than the previous kisses they’ve been sharing during her imprisonment.
Was it the mention of his family that triggered the softer side of the Strigoi? Or was it . . . the silver charmed with spirit?
She visits Lissa again to find that her friend’s getting in trouble for trashing the library during a party. Just teens having fun, Lissa argues. No big deal. While she doesn’t get suspended, she does get slapped with a bunch of counseling sessions. How annoying.
After a session, Lissa spots Christian and runs to him, hopeful for the chance to explain everything to him. He’s wary of her—and doesn’t understand why she’s been acting so crazy lately, so silly and shallow. She’s not the same Lissa he fell for.
“I can’t be with you if that’s your life now.”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you breaking up with me?”
“I’m . . . I don’t know. Yeah, I guess.” Lissa was so consumed by the shock and horror of this that she didn’t really see Christian the way I did, didn’t see the agony in his eyes. It destroyed him to have to do this. He was hurting too, and all he saw was the girl he loved changing and becoming someone he couldn’t be with. “Things aren’t the way they used to be.”
“You can’t do that,” she cried. She didn’t see his pain. She saw him as being cruel and unfair. “We need to talk about this—figure it out—”
“The time for talking’s past.”
—page 383
It’s over. When he leaves, Avery and Adrian arrive to help a heartbroken Lissa. But then . . . when Avery looks in Lissa’s eyes, Rose can feel her staring right through the bond at her. Then—snap!—she’s out of Lissa’s head again.
This time she figures it out. She’d felt a familiar sensation when Oksana read her mind. Avery Lazar is a spirit user! She’s been causing Lissa’s dark moods, pushing her to do stupid things, and using compulsion on Adrian to make him like her.
Rose’s bondmate and best friend is in trouble, and Rose needs to get out of here if she’s going to help her. Time for action.
She manages to make a rough wooden stake out of a chair leg. When the human servant arrives with a tray of food, Rose attacks and demands the codes for the electronic door locks. Then she knocks the girl unconscious.
Before she can escape, Dimitri arrives. It’s time for her decision.
She gives him one more chance to say the right thing.
“Why do you want to awaken me so badly?”
A slightly weary look crossed his face. “Because I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”
r /> And that’s when I knew. I finally realized the problem. He’d given that same answer over and over, and each time, something about it bothered me. I’d never been able to pinpoint it, though. Now I could. He wanted me. Wanted me in the way people wanted possessions or collectibles. The Dimitri I’d known . . . the one I’d fallen for and slept with . . . that Dimitri would have said he wanted us to be together because he loved me. There was no love here.
—pages 394-395
Rose kisses him goodbye. And then she plunges the makeshift stake into his heart.
Since it’s only wood, it won’t kill him, but it should buy her a few minutes to get past the guard. She races through the estate and forces another human servant to take her to the safe where her silver stake has been stored.
But she’s not free and clear yet: Galina faces off against her. She’s a much more skilled fighter than Rose, and it looks like Rose may have met her match. But then Dimitri arrives, recovered from the staking. Rose thinks he’ll kill her, but instead he shocks her by protecting her from the other Strigoi. He grabs Galina and Rose stakes her—even now, they work well as a team.
Other Strigoi arrive to swarm Dimitri, and Rose finally makes the choice she’s been avoiding. With one last look, she leaves him behind, leaping out of the window and running across the grounds and into the maze of hedges encircling the estate. But she’s not alone for long. Against all odds, Dimitri manages to kill the other Strigoi and is hot on her heels. He calls out to Rose across the distance separating them that since she helped him kill Galina, he’s in charge now. He owes her for that and won’t kill her if she comes to him of her own free will.
So not going to happen. She climbs a tree and waits for him to approach, then leaps on him, fighting hard but unable to stake him again. She takes off and falls down a steep hillside into a river. There’s a bridge nearby that she wants to get to, but Dimitri catches up to her again.