Turning Tables

Chapter 14

Rose

It took us a couple of days to move to the edge of the Indiana border. We hit three more hide-outs and killed another ten Strigoi. Having Sonya really was a godsend. She would heal the major injuries, which had saved Dimitri from bleeding out internally once. Mia had been proud to diagnose the bleeding and Sonya had been able to repair it on site.

We were all conscious that soon we would have to part. According to Sonya it was only a couple of more hours to our destination. We were currently in Fort Wayne and we decided to do one more run together before leaving Mia, Mikhail and Sonya to do their own quest.

Fort Wayne had a bigger Strigoi hide-out and we could use the extra help.

I also didn't know how many more hide-outs we could do after this. Not only were Dimitri and I rather bruised -Sonya only healed critical injuries- the Strigoi were also starting to wonder why every location Dimitri asked about had been hit with a guardian strike.

Dimiri had bought us some time by putting the blame on his former subordinates, he had accused them of having their phones tapped and not having secure lines. But that excuse wouldn't hold out for much longer.

So for all we know, this was the last stop on our Strigoi hunting mission anyway. I know Mikhail and Mia would like it to be. They understood why it was better for them to go with Sonya, but neither of them felt comfortable with leaving Dimitri and I alone to face Strigoi. I really appreciated the loyalty.

And I sort of wanted to go back to Court. Lissa had passed the second test. She had conquered her fears and was gaining more support every day. But I still didn't know who attacked her and who had killed the Queen. I felt like my place was by her side at Court. Funny thing was that Dimitri was feeling the same thing. He asked about Lissa a lot and we were both going through the information that we had to see if we could find either of the two culprits.

"Maybe it is one culprit?" Dimitri asked as we were going over the non-existent evidence again.

I frowned. "That would mean a conservative killed Tatiana, right? She said in her letter that there were people who had wanted to go much further than the age law. And it would make sense that they would attack Lissa after she was made a candidate. She probably is the most progressive out there."

Dimitri nodded, but he seemed unconvinced. "That is one possibility, probably the most likely. But Tatiana could also have been killed by a progressive. And if we are going with a 'one culprit' theory, they might want to take out the competition."

I thought about it. "So that would probably mean Ariana Szelsky right? She is the only other progressive that made it past the first test."

But I just didn't see Ariana do something like this. She had advocated for Lissa to run in the first place.

"It could simply be a supporter, Ariana doesn't have to be involved. But I think the progressive camp is more likely."

I had that feeling too, although on paper the conservatives had more reason to kill Tatiana and attack Lissa. But we were both leaning towards this conclusion because of one thing.

"Conservatives would never hire a Moroi fighter. And Eddie had difficulty with him. He was trained." Dimitri nodded at my observation.

"Although that might be a ruse to get people to think it was the progressive camp."

I groaned, my brain started to hurt. "We are never going to find out who is responsible if we don't get more evidence."

"Any word from Court or the Alchemists about the identity of Lissa's attacker?"