Charlotte

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Mia, do you think you can help Charlie walk?" Rose asked, looking straight at the younger girl. Mia swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, walking over to me and throwing my arm over her shoulder. 

"Rose," Mason said as we were about to say. He grabbed her arm, his eyes looking more serious than I'd ever seen them. 

"Yeah?" 

"I really screwed things up." 

Rose's mind raced, her face softening as she looked back at him. "We really screwed things up, Mason." 

He sighed, looking around at all of us like this was all on him. Like he had forced all of us to chase after him. Like he had held a gun to my head and told me either I risk my life for him or with him. This was bad planning all around. I tried convey that to him, but he didn't seem to want to accept that. To him, this was all his fault. I forgot my anger at him from earlier. He was just trying to make a difference. "I hope...I hope when this is all done, we can sit down and talk and figure things out. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you," he said quietly, looking at Rose. 

"I hope so too." 

He smiled, and they turned back to address the rest of us before we headed up stairs. "Alright," said Rose. "This is how it's going to be." 

Christian and Eddie were leaning on each other to stay on their feet, and Mia kept a firm grip on me while Rose was up front and Mason took up the rear. I had a brief flash back from when we went to the mall with Natalie, and Dimitri had laid out this exact formation as we walked through public. It was almost nostalgic. The two Dhampirs even had a short row about Mason leaving Rose behind to save us if it came down to it. 

The basement door squeaked as Rose opened it, but there was nobody out in the hall to greet us. She stood still at the top while the rest of us carefully, and quietly made our way up, waiting for her signal to proceed out into the rest of the house. From around Rose, I could see the thin lines of sunlight dance across the short carpet, and I let out a quiet breath of relief at the sight. That made things a little easier. Rose turned to look past us all at Mason. "Scout with me," she whispered. 

He'd been trying to help Christian support Eddie, but now he had to shift out of that responsibility and meet Rose in the center of the room. Together, they did a sweep of the main room, Rose gripping onto my stake like a lifeline so tight her knuckles were turning white. My own eyes were steady on the stairs leading to the second floor, the gun feeling heavy in my hand. Mason came back after a moment and took ahold of Eddie again, and we all began to inch through the house. I could see the front door, and my heart rate picked up a notch. 

In a flash, Isaiah and Elena both appeared and nearly made us fall back in shock. Rose went pale, and she grit her teeth for having missed them. Isaiah leaned casually against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Children, children," he crooned. "This isn't how the game works. You're breaking the rules." His lips stretched over in a cruel smile that made my blood prickle. I raised the gun to his face, but he only flashed me a fangy grin. 

"Fast and far, Mason," Rose said in a low, serious voice. Her eyes never left the two Strigoi, watching them and waiting for them to make a move. 

"My, my...if looks could kill..." Isaiah arched his eyebrows as something occurred to him. "Are you thinking you can take us both on by yourself?" He chuckled and Elena cackled next to him while Rose grit her teeth. I didn't care to wait to see what would happen next. I fired the gun two times and the two Strigoi dodged the bullets like something out of the Matrix. Rose took her chance and lunged. Unfortunately, Isaiah managed to dodge Rose as well, and instead he managed to restrain her. I shot again, this time nailing Elena in her stomach and causing her to screech in rage.