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Not when I have to get to Vlad as soon as possible.

I all but run out of the room, heading straight to the blood room. But just as I am two steps from opening the door, four more people appear in the hallway, all coming from the direction of the hatch.

My eyes widen in horror as I realize I'm truly caught.

Their weapons are pointed toward me as they slowly advance.

I could surrender, but that's simply out of the question. Not when I know what they're likely to do to me if they get me. I'd rather die than open myself up to that type of hell.

I take another knife from the back of my pants, ready to do whatever it takes.

"It's just a girl," one of them mentions as they get closer to me.

"Where's Kuznetsov? He told us he'd be here," another says and I frown.

Who told them?

"Doesn't matter, you know the drill. No witnesses," the third one chimes in, and I know my time's up.

Vlad…

But just as I'm about to either let them kill me, or do the honors myself, the door to the blood room swings open.

A naked Vlad entirely covered in blood struts out, his eyes immediately locking with mine. He looks me up and down, giving a small nod when he realizes I'm unharmed.

As he fully comes out from the room, I realize he'snotunarmed. One rifle in one hand, one corpse in the other as he's dragging the body across the floor, he doesn't seem to be still in the throes of an episode.

If anything, he looks perfectly sane.

The men do a double take when they see him, the sight of him in a blood bodysuit seemingly making even seasoned soldiers sweat.

My own heart finally calms down as I know he's here, and that he's lucid. That means they don't stand a chance. And so I release a relieved breath.

"Duck," his voice is soft and I don't even question the command, throwing myself behind him and ducking at the entrance of the blood room.

The entire thing happens in slow motion as Vlad single handedly opens fire on the three men, bullets raining on them and penetrating every inch of their non-armored body. He's so fast they don't even get to point their weapons toward him.

When one makes a feeble attempt at shooting at Vlad, he simply lifts the corpse with one hand, using it as a human shield.

Once everyone's down, he dumps the corpse, hurrying towards me.

"My brave, brave, girl." He takes me into his arms, rocking with me. "I'm sorry I wasn't there earlier," he says, holding me so tight I can barely breathe.

"It's okay," I say, even though my body is trembling slightly from the adrenaline residue. "We're fine. We're both fine." I lean back to look at him.

He shakes his head slightly, cupping my cheeks and laying kisses all over my face. "We need to get out of here," he mentions, tugging me to my feet.

"There are more people upstairs," I tell him what I'd seen on the camera, including the fact that someone must have told them his location.

"Fuck," he curses under his breath.

Passing by the dead men, he picks up their guns, handing me two and keeping two to himself.

"Stay next to me, hell girl. If anyone shoots, get behind me, okay?"

His features are stern, his voice grave as he more or less orders me to let him take any bullets meant for me.

I want to argue, tell him I'd never do something like that, but one look at him and I know he's not likely to be amenable. So I just nod.