Collateral Damage

- SEVENTEEN -

I slide into the car with Scott following soon after. Adrian opened the front passenger door. "Take us back to the academy please." Adrian said bluntly to the driver. Scott's tried to link his fingers with mine but I pulled my hand away.

The smell of cigarette smoke filled the car and I looked over at Adrian who held a cancer stick in between his fingers. I rolled my eyes and continued to watch the scenery passing by my window.

None of us said a word until we arrived back at the academy. "What are you doing Rose," Adrian asked as I opened the door to the briefing room.

I ignored his question and walked over to the filing cabinet in the far corner. "Pass me a paperclip," I said pulling my hair into a pony tail. Scott passed it to me and I unfolded it.

I think Scott knew not to push me or question my madness, something Adrian obviously had to learn.

Before long I had picked the lock with the paperclip. I slid the draw open, and found Stan's file amongst the other strigoi murders.

I grabbed my phone and dialled Louise's number, on the third ring she answered. All the while I was receiving confused stairs from the men in my life. I put the phone on speaker and sat it down on the table by the file. "Hey Lou, did the person that told you Andrew was, uh, gone, say which apartment it was?"

She was silent for a bit before saying, "Uhh, hang on a second I wrote it down," the other end went silent. "It was the apartment building on Swanson Street, they didn't say which apartment block, or which number."

I flicked through Stan's file, Location of Death: Swanson Street; Hathaway Apartments. I didn't think my heart could sink any lower. I was wrong. My hands began to shake and I could feel my heart in my throat.

I couldn't breathe.

"Rose, are you okay?" Adrian said, looking at me. I couldn't speak. It's my fault. All of it. It had to be, how did I not realize this before? My daughter. My friend. My boss. Why me? What the hell is going on?

It all happened so quickly. Scott hung up the phone as I tried to stand, my heart was breaking. I walked towards the door, holding my stomach. I could feel the bile rising in my throat, I had to get to a toilet. I was gonna vomit. I put my hands of my knees to try and catch my breath, the guys were looking over the file, "Hathaway Apartments," Scott whispered. "Rosie?" he asked.

"I...I can't... breathe," I said gasping for air. The door opened and there stood Dimitri. I tried to walk away with my oxygen deprived body. My heart had never thumped so hard, I swear it could have ripped a hole in my chest.

Before I knew what was happening I was falling. "Roza?" Dimitri said as my legs buckled and I fell. I didn't hit the ground... I knew Dimitri had caught me.

DIMITRI'S POV

I had never seen Rose so angry. Adrian and Scott tried to speak to her as I watched from afar. I tried to listen to the priest but I couldn't, Rose kept playing on my mind.

"I'm going to check on Rose," I said to the princess before walking towards a car.

We pulled in just as Rose, Scott and Adrian entered the castle. I thanked the driver for bringing me back. I tightened my duster around my body as I walked in the cold towards the doors. I decided I would check Adrian's apartment first.

I knocked three brisk times as I went over what I was going to say to them when I saw them. There was no answer. I walked back through the main corridor trying to decide where to look next before I heard voices from the briefing room.

I opened the door to find Scott and Adrian by the table and Rose at the door with her hands on her knees. Her face was pale and she looked like hell. I was about to ask what they were doing here when Rose straightened up and went to walk past me.

Her hand was flat on her stomach and she looked like she was going to be sick. The next step she took seemed like she had no energy left, as soon as her foot hit the floor she began to fall. "Roza," I muttered as I grabbed her hips. I used the force of her fall to bring her safely to the ground. Like when you catch a ball you use its force and bring it back so it doesn't hurt your palms.

I laid her down on the ground and watched as her chest rose and fell in huffs. I came to the conclusion that it must have been a panic attack. I had never seen her this way before. I mean she was distraught when Mason died, but this was different.

I didn't realize Scott was by my side until he was brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her face. She looked peaceful.

I couldn't say that about Adrian though. He looked spooked, "What's going on in here?" I asked as Scott scooped her up in his arms. Her head rested in the crook of his neck. His face was void of any emotion and I realized it was worse than I thought.

Adrian grabbed a file off the table and followed after Scott who had left with the woman I loved.

"It's not my place to say Dimitri," he whispered to me as he brushed past and into the corridor.

Something hasn't been right with Rose since she got here. And I'm going to get to the bottom of it.