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Chapter 19 - Christian/Dimitri

During the break, the Queen showed up and was quickly caught up. Given that Christian was the only captured one present, it was decided he would read.

I HATE BEING POWERLESS. AND I hate going down without a fight. What had taken place outside in the alley hadn't been a real fight. If it had- if I'd been beaten into submission... well, yeah. Maybe I could accept that. Maybe.

Alberta gave Abe that knowing smile that says I told you so at the same time as I am never happy being beaten, I like to win.

But I hadn't been beaten. I'd barely gotten my hands dirty. Instead, I'd gone quietly. Once they had us sitting on the floor of the van, they'd bound each of our hands behind our back with flex-cuffs- strips of plastic that cinched together and held just as well as anything made of metal. After that, we rode in near silence. The men occasionally murmured something to each other, speaking too softly for any of us to hear. Christian or Mia might have been able to understand the words, but they were in no position to communicate anything to the rest of us. Mia looked as terrified as she had out on the street, and while Christian's fear had rapidly given way to his typical haughty anger, even he didn't dare act out with guards nearby.

Alberta breathed a sigh of relief while Christian looked stunned that he would have frozen on the street and gone so easily in the car. He was reassured by the Guardians that even guardians freeze sometimes and it is nothing to be ashamed of. It was also why moroi will need to train with the guardians they plan to work with, so it doesn't happen when facing a bigger threat, like Strigoi.

I was glad for Christian's self-control. I didn't doubt any of these men would smack him if he got out of line, and neither I nor the other novices were in a position to stop them. That was what really drove me crazy. The instinct to protect Moroi was so deeply ingrained in me that I couldn't even pause to worry about myself. Christian and Mia were the focus. They were the ones I had to get out of this mess. And how had this mess started? Who were these guys? That was a mystery. They were human, but I didn't believe for an instant that a group of dhampirs and Moroi had been random kidnapping victims. We'd been targeted for a reason.

It did seem suspicious that they were caught when they were. Again it was making Abe think about the prophecies. Of all people to be taken, Rose was among them, and they were only taken after they had left the mall and started back to the bus station.

Our captors made no attempts to blindfold us or conceal our route, which I didn't take as a good sign. Did they think we didn't know the city well enough to retrace our steps? Or did they figure it didn't matter since we wouldn't be leaving wherever they were taking us? All I sensed was that we were driving away from downtown, off toward a more suburban area.

"Make sure you pay attention to any details given so we can try and pin point a smaller radius of where they are" Pavel ordered his people. "I have a feeling this is one of those events that needs to happen" he finished sadly, Abe becoming angry again that his daughter is once again likely going to be put in danger.

Spokane was as dull as I'd imagined. Unlike where pristine white snow lay in drifts, slushy gray puddles lined the streets and dirty patches dotted the lawns. There were also a lot fewer evergreen trees than I was used to. The scraggly, leafless deciduous trees here seemed skeletal by comparison. They only added to the mood of impending doom. After what felt like less than an hour, the van turned down a quiet cul-de-sac, and we drove up to a very ordinary- yet large- house. Other houses- identical in the way suburban homes often are- stood nearby, which gave me hope. Maybe we could get some help from the neighbors.

The guardians in the room were wondering if maybe they could maybe get a good enough description of the house and area to go in and kill the Strigoi as a pre-emptive strike before the massacres or the kids go missing. Of course that would still have to go through the Queen who already said any information from the books must be processed by Rhonda and Yeva Belikova before being acted upon. So far they don't have much.