Getting Out While You Can

It's Not Like I Haven't Seen It Before

"When you're done, you can take the car if you want. You don't need to be here all day," I said handing him the keys.

"Okay. There are a few things I need to get for work anyways," he said with a smile.

It wasn't even ten minutes after he left that Deanna came over to me with his report in her hand.

"This is the most detail-oriented report I have ever seen," she said in awe.

I rolled my eyes. I guess years of doing reports for Strigoi attacks and events really came in handy. "Yeah, he's an over-achiever. You should have seen the detail in my disciplinary reports!"

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I tried really hard not to laugh as I watched the starring match happen between my mobster father and Dimitri. I could tell that Abe was at ease while he made Dimitri fidget, and Dimitri was doing everything in his power to not bolt.

"So, old man, what do you got?"

Abe moved his eyes from Dimitri, a smirk coming across his face. "Plenty. There are a lot of Royals who are for the laws that are going to be proposed, but a lot of their Guardians are highly against it, for obvious reasons. I have it on good authority that there is already a coupe on the way with the Guardians, thanks to Edison."

"And?"

"And I have a few people who could be the perfect starting points to cause the chaos. But we need to have a contingency plan in place, particularly for you, Rosemarie," Abe explained leaning forwards on his elbows.

"Why Rose?" Dimitri asked, brows furrowing.

"Because when it becomes apparent that Rose has been helping Dhampirs leave the society, she'll have a target on her back. Cut down the bridge, so to speak."

I gnawed on my lip in worry. I never thought about that, I never thought about the potential danger helping all these people could cause. I had itinerantly put a huge bullseye on my back for freeing people.

"So what do we do?"

"We don't let anyone know that you're the one behind all of this," Abe said plainly, "we have a decoy."

I frowned and followed the pointed gaze Abe had, finding it on Dimitri.

"No. Absolutely not!" I exclaimed, standing up in protest. "We cannot ask Dimitri to do that!" I turned to face Dimitri.

"I refuse to ask you to do something like that. You have already been forced into too much. I won't make you part of my mess."

Dimitri didn't show whether he was upset about the direction of the conversation.

"What would I need to do?"

"NO!"

"What would I need to do?" Dimitri asked pointedly, eyes firm on me but his question was directed at Abe.

I huffed and looked at Abe, crossing over my chest as I glared at him. Abe smirked at me but looked at Dimitri.

"I don't need you to do anything yet. I need to make sure that my contacts will be in the right place at the right time. But you may need to go back to Court."

"And if the Royals decide that he should be arrested for deserting, what happens then?"

"That won't happen, kiz," Abe said tiredly but I rolled my eyes. I knew I was acting like a brat, but I didn't like using Dimitri in this situation, one bit.

"Rose," Dimitri said, tentatively reaching out and touching my arm, "let's just hear what he has to say."

I looked at Dimitri and sighed, sinking down the couch beside him and looking at Abe expectantly. I didn't have to like it, but if Dimitri was willing to listen, I should listen too. Dimitri gave me a reassuring look and looked back at Abe.

"Id just like to say that if Dimitri has to go to court, I will be going too. I will not let him go back alone," I said bluntly before Abe started to speak, "It won't be believable that he did this all on his own. I can almost guarantee that he was closely monitored at court."

Abe sighed and threw his hands in the air, clearly annoyed. "Will you stop talking for five seconds so I can tell you what I have?!"

I grumbled and slumped back on the couch, nodding for him to speak. Abe waited for a moment before he spoke as if to make sure that I wasn't going to start speaking.

"We leak the information of what the court was wanting to do to Dimitri. Dhampir women need to be made aware that the court could possibly find a way to engineer this. While Dimitri didn't give them a specimen, they still have his DNA. If they really wanted to, they could find a way to replicate it. We need the general public to know that the Royals are not looking at the Dhampir as lives, but like cattle, as expendables. There are more Non-royal Moroi and Dhampirs than there are Royals."

"It will be a controlled announcement. Only certain people will be told at first, and we will increase the people that know. There happen to be a handful of Royals who are against this as well, mostly out of fear that they will lose their Guardians if there is a revolt," Abe said, looking at me firmly.

"You trust these Royals?"

"One or two happen to be good friends and are in it for the right reasons."

I looked from Dimitri to Abe and then back to Dimitri. "What do you think?"

Dimitri slowly nodded his head. "I think it could work, but we won't be able to do it alone."

A grin crossed Abe's face that made me feel uneasy. "Oh, don't worry about the number, my boy. I have that covered. All you two need to do is to show up."

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Hello hello lovelies!

I believe this will be the last update before the New Year.

I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas and Happy Holiday!!