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I sat down on my assigned bed, "Willingly or forced?" I asked gently.
She sighed, "A little bit of both. I said no for the longest time, but Michael somehow got my social security number and wiped my bank accounts. I got evicted had no money. And this is my last option."

I nodded, "He's an ass."
She smiled, "You can say that again. So what about you?"
This time, I smiled timidly, "A little bit of both…I…had some people after me, who knew what they were doing. This is a small means of hiding."
"I'm guessing they weren't nice people." She said.
"No." I replied after a few seconds of hesitation.

She nodded, and suddenly the door banged open, causing us both to jump.
"Marie." The man at the door snarled, "You have an appointment in 10 minutes." He tossed a box at me that I knew contained my 'outfit', then left.
I sighed, wanting to cry. I felt a sudden presence beside me, and jumped.
"Sorry, by the way…I'm Rebecca." She said, thrusting the water bottle into my hands. "Take more." She said,
"But-"
"I've got plenty. They give us a bottle every day, and as long as you act drugged, then…they won't bother you."
I nodded, "Thank you." I whispered, taking a few more swigs.
She nodded, "Good luck."

Dimitri

I watched as Rose was dragged out of the room. She looked solemn, scared. And I could see in her eyes that she hadn't wanted to go with these men. They held guns on all of us and we waited until they were gone…with Roza. We'd lost her again. Dread set in…Who were they, and why had she called for them?

"What in hell?" Celeste breathed,
"Let's ask around. Somebody has to know who these people are." Alberta said, and we began making rounds around her apartment building. Anger built within me at the situation that Rose had put herself in. This neighborhood, this building was seedy…dangerous in every way possible. As soon as we mentioned a man named Michael when a door was opened it was almost immediately slammed in our faces. There was only two people that gave us any idea of who this man was.

According to them he was one of the biggest drug dealing pimps in New Hampshire, and apparently he ran this part of the city. Rose's words ran through my head again,

Look Michael, I told you I won't do it again, I won't be your wh-

I began to piece it together…

Look Michael, I told you I won't do it again, I won't be your whore.

I cursed in Russian and Alberta turned to me,

"What is it?"

"When she opened the door earlier, she started saying something before she realized it was me, it was about him. That name. Michael. He's selling her Petrov, on the streets. You saw those men, she's going to get herself killed if we don't find her."

"We need to tell the others."

Rose

I felt the drug begin to set in, as I got dressed and it spread throughout my body. It wasn't necessarily a good feeling, but I would take it over the feeling of being raped.

It isn't rape if you came here willingly.

I cringed at the inner thought and scrunched my face up at the look of myself in the mirror. The number they had given me to wear was a light blue school girl outfit….Original, I thought sourly, and jumped as the door opened again.
I picked up my water and drank more of it until things blurred slightly at the edges and I lost most of the feeling in my body.

"Come with me." The guard said and grabbed my arm, dragging me out into the hallway.

I took a deep breath and simply let the drug take me to a better place as he walked me through the building and out front where a black sedan waited.

Tears filled my eyes as I thought of what was about to happen.

"In." The guard snarled, opening the door and shoving me in.

He pulled out a gun and jammed it into my hip, I winced.

"You say a word or make a move, and I'll shoot you, do you understand?"

"I understand." I whispered, "I'm not going to do anything."

I looked out the window, trying to ignore the barrel of the gun pressed into my hip. Tears filled my eyes and rolled over as we made our way to wherever we were going.

Dimitri

"This is weird." Yuri sighed, picking up the phone and calling the number that a young woman on the corner had given us. "I'm ordering one of our students like she's a damn object."

"She's made herself that." Stan said, I tensed, but before I could do something stupid, Alberta cut in,

"She was desperate and scared. There was probably a better way we could have gone about getting her back. She was in a fragile mindset, and we should have taken that into consideration."

Stan pursed his lips and said nothing more, as Yuri walked up,

"It's done. They're taking her to the Comfort Inn on 23rd."

"Let's go." Celeste said, "Preferably before these sons of bitches hurt her any worse than they already have."

We filed into cars and headed towards the hotel. I prayed that no one had gotten a hold of Rose yet. If they hurt her, I didn't know what I would be capable of. It seemed like each minute passing by felt like an hour. A 30 minute drive turned into a lifetime until we pulled up beside the hotel.

I grabbed the bag I'd packed for her when we'd been leaving her apartment and tossed it to Yuri, and he nodded,

"She'll likely be drugged." Alberta said, "She shouldn't be too hard to contain. Take Belikov with you. Don't let her see him until the door's shut though."

Yuri nodded, and we headed into the hotel.

"Do you know if she's done this before?" He asked, and I nodded,

"That's what it seemed like."

Yuri shook his head, "Lord, whatever happened to her with those strigoi…There has to be more to it."

"She believes that the death of the Mason boy was her fault. She blames herself, my guess is that this is her way of punishing herself for it."

"I'm just glad it was us that…'ordered' her before anybody else."

"I would have found her either way." I said in a low voice and saw Yuri look at me out of the corner of his eye,

"We know, you know."

This time I gave him my full attention as we unlocked the door to the room,

"Know what?"

"About you and Rose." Yuri replied.

I sighed, knowing it would be pointless to lie, "That obvious?"

"Not obvious...but anyone could see the connection."

I nodded and we walked in,

"I'll stay in the bathroom until she gets here." I said, turning to the side as he shut the door. Yuri nodded, and sat in an arm chair to wait.

Rose

The van stopped and the gun was removed from my hip. The guard grabbed me and I gave a small cry of protest as he grabbed my arm and pressed a needle in. I gasped and sucked in a sharp breath as calm spread through my muscles, I made a small whimper, and things around me took on a hazy shimmer. The guard pulled me out of the car, and I landed on my feet, nearly falling. He grabbed my arm and yanked me, impatiently towards the door. I followed, catatonically into the hotel. The concierge, turned away as if he couldn't see what was happening. The burly man dragged me down the hallway, one guard in the front, another in the back as they took me to the final room.

I swallowed, feeling exhausted, but wired at the same time. They rammed on the door, and it opened quickly. My vision was blurry, but I easily recognized the man before me. I whimpered, trying to tell my captors who he was, but nothing more than a small sound escaped my lips before Yuri had a grip on my arm. He handed them money and pulled me into the room. I nearly fell, but he carefully kept me up, then Dimitri was there.

"No…Don't…Take me back." I whispered.

"Let us help you, Roza." Dimitri said gently, picking me up, then everything went dark.

When I woke again, it was dark and I was in a bed. I moaned in pain as my fierce head ache set in. The lamp across the room clicked on, then Dimitri was sitting beside me.

I flinched away, not making the connection for a moment, and his hand touched my arm,

"I won't hurt you." He said gently. I blinked a few times, then turned back towards him,

"You guys were the customers?" I asked, lamely, and he grimaced,

"Yeah. We were. What were you thinking Rose? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I could die any day." I whispered. He cupped my face in his hands,

"Not like this."

"Please don't take me back." I whispered.

"I'm not." He replied, "You and I aren't going back yet."

My eyes widened, "What?" I rasped.

"You and I are staying here, getting you professional help until it's a good time to take you back."

"No, you don't need to-"

"Rose." He warned, "I'm not letting you go again." He leaned down, placing a hand on either side of my head, so that his nose was nearly touching mine,

"Do you realize what it's been like not knowing where you are, whether or not you were okay, or in danger, or dead?!Goddammit Rose, I wanted to throttle you when I found you."

I swallowed, guiltily, and felt tears fill my eyes,

"I'm sorry."

"Roza." He whispered, reaching his hands beneath the covers, he pulled me out and onto his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around me,

"Don't you ever do something like this again."

I began to cry in earnest and he held me tighter. He lay down with me in his arms, and although he'd never touched me this intimately before, I relished in the comfort, and simply lay there, gripping his shirt tightly in my fist. He kissed my forehead,

"Go back to sleep, Roza. I'll be here, when you wake up."

So? (:

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-I'm dedicating this chapter to Dee2389 whom I think is the biggest fan I've ever had for a story. So Dee, I hope you enjoyed, and continue to read!

-RMNicki-