Last Sacrifice, Part 2

DISCLAIMER: BEFORE I BEGIN THIS POST, DO TAKE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!  BOTH FROM THE PLOT/STORY AND QUOTES - IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT IF YOU READ THIS BEFORE READING THE NOVEL - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

I do not own the Vampire Academy series nor any of Mead's work, but I would definitely love to own Adrian Ivashkov ;)

From previous post:
Rose quickly was brought back to the car because of Dimitri asking if everything was okay back there, which Rose knew "back there" was the Court not the backseat.  Before Rose could speak again, she realised that the car had stopped and had reached Altswood.  When they got out of the car, Sydney questioned Dimitri and Rose on if they were as good at fighting as everyone said, because they had to go on foot towards far up the track.  Before they could begin their trek, Rose could see vampire faces everywhere.

They were Moroi faces to be exact and some even had their own silver stakes.  They were known as "Keepers" who had kept to the old ways which the Court society didn't use anymore.  Some of these Keepers lived in caves, whereas others lived in small little houses.  The three walked to one of the houses led by Sarah, who was a human wife of a Moroi, named Raymond.  One of the males, eighteen year old, Joshua had become interested in Rose and slowly began to flirt with Rose as they stayed with the Keepers.  After having some bread for dinner, the three went into the room which they would be staying in which was apparently the size of Rose's dorm room at St. Vladimir's Academy.  Rose and Sydney began to talk:

"Are you ready to explain who the hell these people are?"
She shrugged. "The Keepers".
"Yeah, I got that.  And we're the Tainted.  Sounds like a better name for Strigoi."
"No."  Sydney leaned back against the wooden wall.  "Strigoi are the Lost.  You're Tainted because you joined the modern world and left behind their backward ways for your own messed up customs."
"Hey," I retorted.  "We're not the ones in overalls and banjos."
"Rose," chastised Dimitri, with a pointed look at the door.  "Be careful.  And besides, we only saw one person in overalls."

As Sydney was about to go to sleep with Dimitri and Rose taking shifts, Angeline - who usually had this bedroom - flung the door.  She and Rose have a brief conversation, telling Rose not to mess up her bed before leaving.  Dimitri took the first shift, so Rose was able to get some rest.  As Rose recognised that this was a spirit dream she called out for Adrian, however, she came face-to-face with Robert Doru and Victor Dashkov*. 
* In Spirit Bound, Rose, Lissa and Eddie had gone to the prison where Victor Dashkov was held so they could let him escape (despite Lissa's fears).  After they left the prison, they had to go to Las Vegas, so they could lure Robert Doru, Victor's half-brother, because he had freed a Strigoi like what Lissa did to Dimitri.  The brothers were able to escape after Strigoi which included Strigoi Dimitri tried to attack Rose and her gang.

Rose and Victor have an argument before they have a proper conversation.  Victor is interested in who killed the Queen and what their intentions were.  Rose told the brothers that there was another Dragomir, who she had to find so Lissa could have her power on the Council.  Victor offers to help Rose in finding the other Dragomir, however Rose attempts to decline the offer and Victor even says that he and his brother will meet up with them after they find anything useful to track the illegitimate child. Victor says that Lissa has to run for Queen to give everyone time to find the other Dragomir since there would probably be a lot of arguments when it came down to the voting since Lissa is the only Dragomir in her family (that she knows of).  The dream ends abruptly and Rose wakes up to notice Dimitri's silhouette in the corner.  Rose then goes back to sleep, realising that it was going to be a busy night.

When Rose expected to see Victor and Robert again, she was completely shocked and excited to see Adrian in her dream.  She ran over to him and gave him a tight hug.  They tell each other how they miss one another before Adrian tells her that the Guardians are planning to use "deadly force".  Adrian tells Rose how he had been questioned and that he had spoken to Joe and Lissa's interrogation.  He also explains that Mikhail will have to question Joe privately since Lissa's compulsion-interrogation would get Lissa into trouble as compulsion is a taboo.  Rose remembered about how she needed more time and explained Adrian on Lissa running for Queen, however, before she knew it, Dimitri had woken her up for her shift.  In the late afternoon, Rose woke up Dimitri since the Keepers were also waking up which then caused Sydney to sit up quickly when she it was around three or four in the afternoon.  During breakfast, before the three had to quickly go to a cafe - so Sydney could charge her laptop's battery - Rose showed Joshua and Angeline her tattoos which was a shock to them, especially how many Strigoi Rose had killed. 

"The mark [battle mark] can't be that uncommon," said Dimitri.  "Your people must have big Strigoi fights every once in a while."
     "Not really," said Joshua, his eyes still on me.  "Most of us have never fought or even seen the Lost.  They don't really bother us."
     That was surprising.  If ever there was a Strigoi target, a group of Moroi, dhampirs, and humans out in the middle of nowhere would be it.  "Why not?" I asked.
     Raymond winked at me.  "Because we fight back."

Before the three could go to the cafe in Rubysville, Joshua asked to Rose that when she got back, he could show her his cave.  Rose accepted the offer, however, Dimitri said that Rose shouldn't lead Joshua on, even though Rose wasn't flirting with him.  While Sydney stayed in the cafe to search information on the possible Dragomir child, Rose and Dimitri decided to go to Rubysville Public lLbrary to search places where they would like to go to.  Dimitri took out "100 Best Places to Visit in the World" and they both would close their eyes and flip to any random page.  They found Mitchell, South Dakota which apparently had a Corn Palace, which surprised as well as fascinated the pair.  Before they left, Dimitri randomly turned to Saint Petersburg, which made both Rose and Dimitri become silent from nostalgia and sorrow.  They both left the library and began to head back to the cafe.

He sat up, not meeting my eyes.  "It doesn't matter.  Let's go back to Sydney and see if she found out anything... although, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's unlikely."
     "I know."  I stood with him, still wondering what else he would have said.  "She probably gave up and started playing Minesweeper."
...
     "How's it-hey!  You are playing Minesweeper!"

It appears that Sydney had found a connection to Eric's mistress...  It was Sonya Karp. 

Sorry for only doing 3 chapters today.  I promise to do more tomorrow! Will need to have tomorrow free from watching any movies and setting up my new television. 

Vampire Academy readers: who do you like more, Rose or Lissa?