Vampire Academy: Last Sacrifice (Dimitri's POV)

Chapter 23

The three of us backed away involuntarily as we heard the guardians coming up the stairs, and I immediately started thinking of possible ways out. We were pretty much trapped.

"Get out," Sydney ordered. "I'll distract them."

I nodded. Good plan. We need good plans. The adrenalin pumped through me and I grabbed Rose's arm, shouting,

"Come on!" as we raced down the hallway. However, just before we entered the end bedroom, Rose turned around and yelled,

"Get Jill to Court!" Of course. Our leaving would automatically complicate matters now. We couldn't take Jill with us, but she was desperately needed by Lissa. I flung open a large window on one side of the room and quickly glanced at Rose so that she knew which way I was going before sliding out of the window. I leapt down onto the porch roof and slid onto the ground, bending my knees so that my legs wouldn't give out under the impact. Rose followed gracefully, just like I'd taught her to and I caught her arm as she landed beside me, wobbling slightly. She winced slightly, probably at a graze or cut, and then got back to normal.

Guardians sprung from behind the hedges and trees and we stood back-to-back, fighting them off. Thankfully I didn't recognise any of them-they were probably new recruits. As I fought, I kept a watchful eye on Rose. I noticed her dress getting caught between her legs, which could be a hazard if we had to run, and I needed to make sure I had her back.

"The others will be out any minute," I informed her, slamming the last foe onto the ground and knocking him out cold. "We need to move-" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the garden gate. "There. That gate." I headed towards the gate and turned my head when I realised Rose wasn't beside me like I expected her to be. She was hobbling slightly as she ran, and suddenly I realised she must've hurt her ankle as she dropped off of the roof. As we ran down the road leading away from the Mastrano house, I slid one arm around her, taking a bit of her weight.

We turned off the road and started cutting through people's gardens to make it to our destination quicker. Wherever that was.

"We can't outrun them," Rose panted. "I'm slowing us down. You need to-"

"Do not say leave you," I told her sternly. "We're doing this together." The whole point of breaking out of Court was to prove Rose's innocence, not let her go back for no reason.

Suddenly a flowerpot beside us exploded, dirt scattering across the ground.

"They're shooting at us! They're actually shooting at us!"

"With a silencer," I deduced, as another bullet zipped past me. The guardians wouldn't want to make a fuss. "Even so, they'll be cautious. They don't want the neighbourhood thinking it's under attack. We need cover. Fast." We turned again and as we ran I turned over possibilities in my mind. The guardians shooting at us said a lot. The orders were 'kill on sight'. No sparing our lives here. No chance to prove our innocence, or tell them what we've learnt. If we get caught by a bullet, bam. That's it. We're over.

A small house with a glass patio appeared in front of us, and suddenly I knew what we had to do.

"There," I muttered, reaching the door and tugging on the latch. Locked. Dammit. I growled and pulled my stake out of my pocket, slashing the screen that blocked the doorway. Looks like they're more than good for just killing Strigoi. I pulled Rose through the screen and hid behind it, pressing her into my body and holding a finger up. She knew what that meant. Silence.

As we stayed put, the sound of our own breath making us freeze up, we saw the guardians race past us. Some of them were checking out good hiding spots, most of which I'd noticed but had been a bit too obvious. I wondered how long it would take them to find the broken screen. We'd better move quick. Rose and I crept off into the living room, ducking down low and avoiding the windows. In the garage to the house was a red Ford Mustang. I felt a wave of relief wash over me and had to remind myself that it wasn't over yet.