AN: Okay, so I've decided to try my hand at a VA fanfic. I can't promise regular updates because of my work schedule, but that doesn't mean that there will be a long wait between chapters. What it means is that I can't go and say, "Updates will be on Tuesdays!" That will pretty much be impossible. Check my profile if I do have an abscence, because I will likely post explanations there. I will never post only ANs for chapters. That's obnoxious. Oh, and I have another VA idea on my profile, so if you're interested, then check there.
Reviews: I will never hold chapters hostage for a certain number of reviews, but I still need feedback, otherwise I will assume that no one is interested and will stop posting UDs and move one to something else.
Okay, other than that, I will try to answer every review sent to me, but I won't put answers in an AN unless muliple people ask the same question. Oh, and I've decided to add some general writing tips at the end of my chapters if anyone is interested. I don't have time to review a lot (because mine tend to be very long) so I'll put my tips here. Now, on with the story.
One
Had anyone told me that the Strigoi were going to attack the academy yesterday, I would have laughed in their face. So would anyone else here. St. Mark's Academy was meant to be one of the most secret, most guarded and most hidden of them all. Only a handful of Dhampirs knew its location and even fewer Moroi were aware of its location outside the academy walls. No Strigoi should ever be able to attack.
As it's happening right now, however, I had to accept that we have been found. It was stupid to wander around in denial when Strigoi could turn you at any second. At least I was in the dorms when the attack started. Those outside hadn't much of a chance. Of course, I'd give anything to be outside now, but the Guardians were adamant for keeping as many students inside as possible.
"Hathaway!" one of them finally barked at me, "Sit down! You don't have the experience and we'd be giving them what they came for if we let students out," he said for explanation. He probably only told me that because I've been pestering him for the past fifteen minutes, but whatever. It still wasn't what I wanted to hear.
I could see his reasoning, everyone in this room could, but that didn't stop me and some other students from pressing the matter. It was what we were training for, why we even had these powers. We had to kill Strigoi and the fact that there was a small army waiting outside to kill us was nearly unbearable.
"We can't just sit here!" I growled in defiance. Some of the others voiced their agreement.
"You can and you will," a new voice said firmly.
The wall of Guardians parted in front of me to reveal the school's head Guardian. Well, she was technically a Guardian but she was really more than that, just like the students.
"If you don't," she continued, "than everything we've been doing will be pointless. None of you are ready. Not yet," she turned to the Guardians, but I stopped listening. No doubt she was just informing them of the ground team's plan to keep the Strigoi out and what to probably expect if they failed.
I was too busy thinking about her dismissal of our skills. Guardian Harris was very well known for giving out the truth; bluntly if necessary. However, I'd always been told that with my abilities, I and the other novices would have no trouble bringing down standard Strigoi. Unless… these weren't standard Strigoi. My spine chilled at the thought. We weren't meant to be turned.
We aren't like the ordinary Dhampirs or Moroi. Don't get me wrong, we are Dhampirs, but in some ways we're more and others less. I suppose it all starts with the Moroi.
Moroi are vampires, they drink blood, but don't kill for it and they stay out of sunlight, however, they don't disintegrate while in it. They just grow weak and get nasty sunburns. The most relevant thing about them though is that they can use magic. Nearly all Moroi specialize in some sort of magical element. They can use fire, water, earth or air. Some don't specialize, but that's never impacted us.
Hundreds of years ago, Moroi and humans used to live amongst one another. I guess it was natural then for some of them to… mingle, but the end result was the creation of the Dhampir race. Obviously, Dhampir are half-human, half-Moroi, however, they don't drink blood and they can't use magic. At least they didn't. Dhampirs did inherit better senses and reflexes as well as a badass immune system from the Moroi and hardiness and strength from humans. And they can go out in the sun which is definitely something I put on the pro side of the Dhampir ability chart.
Dhampirs can't have kids with other Dhampirs, so that means they have to turn to the Moroi to reproduce. What's weird though is that when Dhampirs and Moroi have kids, they come out as Dhampirs; straight half-and-half. There aren't any three-quarter Dhampirs out there. Except… many are starting to wonder if that's true anymore.
They're wrong of course. Sure, when you analyze my blood, I'm going to be half-Moroi, and half-human, but I, and others like myself, didn't get the standard Dhampir traits. We have faster reflexes and the super immunity as well as the ability to go out in the sun without any repercussions. We didn't get the superish strength and endurance however. It seems that a rare number of Dhampirs inherited a form of magic instead. There aren't different kinds of magic for us though. All the Dhampirs that have this ability have the same type of magic and it doesn't' seem to fit into any element either.
There have been many debates among he Moroi as to whether or not we were even using magic because of this, but I think it's irrelevant. We can do seemingly impossible things with our minds. Calling it magic or something else won't change that.
So, we could still protect the Moroi from the Strigoi, but we proved to be much more effective than ordinary Dhampirs. Since our numbers are so low, the Strigoi, unless they grew to be very old, have virtually no experience in dealing with us. That's what I've been told at least. I'm starting to think that if there are Strigoi that can turn us, then obviously, we aren't as badass as we thought.
It all came down to them, the Strigoi. All Dhampirs are expected to become Guardians so that we can defend the Moroi from them. Of course, not all Dhampirs end up doing this, but a good number are out there fighting the undead monsters.
Strigoi are what humans consider vampires. They are immortal, can't go out in the sun and kill when they drink blood. Those that become Strigoi turn into monsters without a conscience, beings that are truly evil. There are only two ways to become a Strigoi. One is only available to Moroi and that's when a Moroi turns by choice when they kill while drinking blood. The other is usually done by force. A Strigoi will drain the blood from its victim, and then feed its own blood back into the body. Boom, baby Strigoi is born.
Apparently, Moroi are much more appealing to Strigoi and that's where Dhampirs come in. Since we're stronger and more durable, we got the job of defending the Moroi. The vast majority of us are simply called Guardians and they pretty much shadow their Moroi charge and defend them from all threats, Strigoi or otherwise. Glorified bodyguards essentially. I'm actually an Aegis though and by the time I'm finished training, I'll be considered as one of the best. The training is difficult thought and since we're so rare, the royal Moroi don't exactly like the idea of throwing us together with the normal Dhampirs. Some of them even consider us dangerous. So, combine out few numbers, the supposed threat to Moroi children and the fact that we keep our powers as Strigoi, then the need for secret academies become obvious. After the Strigoi figured out that we wouldn't lose our connection to our magic like the Moroi do, we became bigger targets than even them.
"How many are out there?" one of the Guardians asked.
"Too many," Guardian Sara Harris stated bluntly.
The other Guardian paled, "Wait, what do you mean 'too many?'"
Harris sized him up for a few seconds, "I mean that if we don't get reinforcements, then the Strigoi will be getting into this building. Be prepared."
"Hold on," another started, "are we getting reinforcements?"
Harris just looked at her for a moment.
"Don't let your guard down," she said before leaving.
The Guardians turned away from us and I had a feeling that they were trying to talk about what little strategy they could come up with without novices overhearing.
"So, we're all alone on this?" one of the novices, Ryan, asked me.
"Looks like it," his friend, Kevin, grumbled. "I don't know why we can't fight them. They had us."
"Yeah, but even Harris looked worried. I don't think this is going to be as easy as some of the Guardians think it's going to be," Holly told us.
Ryan snorted, "Harris just needs to get that stick out of her ass. We can handle a few Strigoi. Right, Hathaway?"
A few seconds ago, I would have said, "hell yeah," but the problem with that is Harris plainly stated that there were far more Strigoi out there than just the "few" that Ryan thinks are. Besides, Harris doesn't tend to exaggerate things.
"A few, yeah, but if there are really that many…," I trailed off. This wasn't something I wanted to think about. The academy was probably going to lose many Guardians tonight.
"Hold on," Kevin laughed, "Are you really scared Hathaway? This is what we've been training for! I thought you weren't soft like Harland here."
"You say soft, but I just say that I'm not stupid. Do you really want to take on an army of Strigoi? You have to know that even we can't handle that."
I had to strangle the urge to get insulted by his comment, but I'm fortunate that Kevin has more pride than I do. Soft? Ha, he's an idiot.
"Army? Hathaway, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Everyone knows that Strigoi don't work together like that," he scoffed.
I bristled in embarrassment, "Yeah? Then explain why Harris is so worked up. She wouldn't make a little Strigoi attack seem like an invasion. At least, she isn't the type to do so. Even the other Guardians seem nervous. Explain that," I challenged.
Even Ryan was looking condescendingly at me.
"Hathaway, those are just norm Dhampirs. They can't handle what we can." Nathan shook his head at me.
"What makes you say that, Kevin?" Holly jumped in," If that were really true, then they wouldn't have 'norms' defending the school. They'd put more Aegises here if the royals couldn't trust Guardians."
"Holly, they don't call us the Aegis of the Crown for nothing. We're meant to protect the most powerful of royals, so we aren't going to be wasted on protecting schools. The norms can handle that," Ryan told her.
"Without this academy, there aren't any new Aegises to replenish the ranks. There is no way that the Guardian Council would trust us to what you seem to believe are sub-par protectors," Holly shot back.
I had trouble with this topic. On one hand, we are always told that we are better by our Aegis instructors, but on the other hand, how much of that is simply pride? Were we simply a novelty meant to startle the Strigoi into a fatal mistake? Before I came to St. Mark's, I had gone to school with novice Guardians. They had always claimed that they were actually more skilled than the Aegis. That Dhampirs like me used our powers as a crutch. The novices would say that the Strigoi were used to Guardian tactics and it took real skill to kill them with what they had. Aegis novices claim that the Guardians are simply bitter.
"You really think they're the same as us," Ryan said, shocked.
"Ultimately, yeah. They may go about killing a Strigoi differently, but in the end, it's all the same. The Strigoi is still dead," Holly answered.
"Jeez, that sounds like something a Guardian novice would say. You're really mixed up, Harland."
"Whatever, Morris," Holly snapped.
Ryan and Kevin turned away from us to start this conversation up with some other novices. I guess they had been hoping that we would agree with them completely when they asked our opinion.
"Did you actually agree with me, or did you just do that to get on Ryan and Kevin's nerves?" Holly asked me.
"Why? I don't care enough about them to do that. They're just assholes with how open they are about being Aegises," I answered.
"You were all for fighting earlier. Do you really believe in Aegis Harris that much? It just seems weird to me."
"Harris isn't an idiot and neither am I. Jeez, Holly, what's with all the doubt? I thought you knew where I stood on this," I snapped.
She sighed, "Sorry, I just got a little crazy when I saw how much you wanted to go out there. I don't want you to do something stupid."
"I'm not. Besides, Kevin and Ryan were right. We are training to kill them. It's out purpose," I snapped back.
"So are the Guardian novices, but the Guardians aren't throwing them out there either. Killing Strigoi is not our purpose yet, just like Harris said," Holly pointed out mildly.
"I think you need to learn to take a few risks. Apparently they need more Guardians that don't seem to be coming. We're right here though," I reminded her.
"They want us! That's why they're here. If the Guardians threw us out there, they'd essentially win," Holly said frustrated.
"Think about it, Holls. If there aren't enough Guardians to keep the Strigoi out of the building, then that's a moot point. We're cornered here. Our strengths come out when we can keep the bastards at length. Here, though? If the Guardians can't hold off the Strigoi, then we'll be slaughtered," I told her.
"None of us have ever fought them!" she cried, "None of that makes any sense. We'll get killed if we go out there and you have to be insane to think otherwise."
"We'll get killed if we stay in here. There aren't enough Guardians to protect us, so I'd rather fight," I answered her.
"You don't know that. The Guardians will be enough."
"Harris didn't seem to think so," I pointed out calmly.
In fact, Harris looked as grim as I'd ever seen her. Normally, she's a pretty mellow person, if a bit strict. She doesn't spell out doom for every bad situation. Actually, we've never really had this sort of thing happen before. The only thing that's come close was when four Strigoi had attacked an Ivashkov household. I had overheard a group of Guardians talking about how terrible it was. Eight of the twelve Moroi inhabitants had been killed; however Harris had been quick to point out that two of the Guardians assigned to the Moroi had got the remaining family to safety. She had said that the Strigoi had completely surprised the Guardians and that none of them should have made it out. But they did. Harris told them that situations aren't always as bad as they seem before leaving.
Honestly, I really hadn't agreed with her. That attack never should have happened; it showed very crappy skills on the Guardian's part. There had been five of them, so there should have been at least one patrolling the area; just had form in general. However, it did show me that Aegis Harris liked to look at the bright side of things. She liked to keep morale up, and for her to come in ad basically tell the Guardians here that the situation on the ground was nearly hopeless said a lot. That basically translated to me that the novices would end up fighting regardless. The Strigoi are known for their superior strength and speed and the cramped conditions inside the school would play in their favor. This attack just gave me a bad feeling.
"She didn't say that, though. She only said that Strigoi will likely get into the building. Besides, they have to fight their way here from the other side of campus, that's too far for that many of them to make it here," Holly said confidently.
"Apparently, there are a shit load of them."
Holly finally just gritted her teeth and refused to respond. She knew we weren't going to agree. The both of us are just too stubborn to see the other's argument. My point of view probably looked just as wrong as her's did to me. Though, if we make it out of this, I might just let her gloat about being right for as long as she wants.
The tension in the room continued to rise as the minutes ticked by. Fear also rose as well, but no one really voiced it, even though it was practically suffocating us. I had to admit that even I was scared shitless. I mean, this was a Strigoi attack on a school that was supposed to be the best hidden in our world. The grounds were patrolled constantly and there were way more Guardians here than at a typical academy. Even if Strigoi stumbled across it, they weren't supposed to make it back to their friends. Either someone slipped up., or we were betrayed by someone very high up in Guardian or Moroi society. I hoped to God it was the former.
I wanted to see how many Strigoi were out there, but the Guardians wouldn't even allow that. There was at least one covering every point of entry into this common room and all the novices had been herded into the center. This was driving me crazy having no idea what was going on and cornered in this relatively tight space. There were twenty-eight of as crammed in here and another fifteen Guardians. I swear, if I don't get some fucking space, I'm going to end up ripping someone's face off.
All the tension came to a boiling point when we could suddenly hear shouts and struggling on the floor below us, I don't know how long we've been stuffed in here, but it felt like the Strigoi came much too quickly for my comfort. For all of our bravado and cocky boasts, every single novice became silent. The Guardians had already been more or less quiet, but while we flinched and fidgeted every time we heard something, the Guardians became still and coiled at attack. I guess I realized then that we were very much outclassed compared to the so called "sub-par" Guardians. Whether or not we would become greater than they, we still had no experience with actual fighting and I guess that's what really matters.
After several eternities, everything went silent from below. A few of the novices, like Ryan and Kevin, relaxed and their cocky grins returned. The rest of us noticed that the Guardians continued to look focused and poised for anything.
Suddenly, we could hear the shouts of alarm and fighting much, much loser. Holly grabbed my hand in a death grip and I couldn't really blame her. Sounds that we couldn't catch before were now reaching us very clearly. Screams of pain and terror could be heard clearly and what made it worse was that the Guardians were making them. Even though many of us think ourselves better than the Guardians, we all respect the self-discipline they all have. They don't panic and they hardly ever show actual fear. Nerves, worry and concern perhaps, but even then, they tend to hide these emotions behind the characteristic Guardian mask. Like ours the Guardians' purpose was to protect and to do that, they need to keep their charges calm to prevent needless panic. The shit must have really hit the fan for them to abandon their composure.
"Th-they won't get through," I heard Ryan say nervously, "The doors are chained shut….."
Indeed they were with something that was pretty heavy duty. However, that wouldn't mean anything if there was an older Strigoi out there. Or one that had once been an Aegis.
"Should any of us move towards the door?" One of the younger Guardians posted at a window asked.
"No, stay there unless it's obvious we can't hold them here. The ones in the hall might be a diversion," Guardian Edison answered her. He sounded tense.
There was no silence to herald the approach of the Strigoi this time. It seemed like one moment, Edison had growled at the younger Guardian but the next, he was stabbing his stake towards a Strigoi that had tried to reach through the common room double doors so she could snap the chain. Those doors had been locked tight.
Hissing in anger, the Strigoi pulled back quickly in anger to avoid the magical bite of Edison's silver stake. It didn't matter how old you were as a Strigoi, getting stabbed with a stake would still hurt like a bitch. Many of the novices screamed at the appearance of the Strigoi, but I had been too shocked to. It was one thing to expect them to actually get here, but it was another thing entirely to see it actually happen.
For a moment, it seemed like it was just our imagination. There was no Strigoi beating down the door; the Guardians had managed to kill them all. It quickly became apparent that this imagination was dead wrong.
Several Strigoi reached through the broken doors to make a go for the chain and there were too many hands reaching inside for the Guardians to get at then all. I don't think I will ever be able to recall all that happened next in any kind of clarity. The Strigoi burst in and I can't begin to guess how many there are. The cries of alarm from the younger Guardians and the sound of blows being traded was the only thing that registered with me auditorily. Visually, all I could see were the red, evil eyes set in that dead, pale face. To me, they looked like the bodies of death come to drag us down with them one way or another. However, what really stuck with me was the evil, unnatural light in their eyes as they fought and struck down the Guardians. Every single of them enjoyed the massacre they were inflicting on us.
I was distantly aware of the screams coming from my classmates and it suddenly occurred to me that I had been complete idiot to believe that sixteen-year-old Aegis novices stood any sort of chance against theses monsters. Some of the novices tried though and I watched as they were quickly torn into. Numbly, I witnessed a female Strigoi tear Kevin's throat out. He looked so surprised.
Complete chaos reigned, but I probably would have gotten killed by watching this all go down if my vision hadn't suddenly been filled with Edison shaking my roughly. He was covered in blood and his clothes were torn, I also registered that he was shouting at me.
"RUN!" finally sunk in.
Some part of me wondered where in the hell he expected me to do so, but the larger part was too busy trying to wrap me mind around all the death and destruction that was happening all around me.
Edison's growl of frustration, or perhaps desperation, brought my attention back to him. He gripped my arm tight enough for my numb brain to register the pain and dragged me to the window. It was then that my mind decided to get its ass back into gear.
By this point, there were hardly any Guardians left standing and the Strigoi were moving on to slaughter the students. There was so much blood. My hand was throbbing painfully and I looked down to see that, surprisingly, Holly had me in a death… well, she was still there.
Holly was just as frozen as I had been and showed no sign of coming out of it, so I knew I had to take action. She's my best friend, and besides that, I couldn't stand the thought of being alone.
I pulled her roughly towards the window and she followed like a marionette. That was going to have to change. There was no way I was going to leave her, but I didn't want to get turned either.
"Holly!" I shook her, hoping that she would snap out of it. We only have a few moments.
"Lily… what are we…?" her eyes were locked onto the attack. I turned and saw that one of the Strigoi had focused on us. Edison was already fighting two, barely, there was no way he could handle another.
"Hey, don't look at them," I said while forcibly turning her towards me, "We're getting out of here; now."
I didn't wait for her to ask me how this was going to happen; I just kept pushing her towards that window. There was no way I was going first for fear that Holly wouldn't follow me. For a second, I was terrified that Holly wouldn't get it. She isn't stupid, but all the shit that's happening around us was obviously affecting her thinking process. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry. The normal spark in her eyes returned for a moment and she charged the window shoulder first.
There was probably a deafening crash, but the sound of my classmates getting slaughtered drowned that out. I went right after her. Behind me, I could hear Edison give an agonized cry. I didn't turn back; I think I know what happened.
Glass cut into my right arm as I jumped through, but I barely felt it. All of my focus was dedicated on slowing my body so I wouldn't break my legs on landing. That would really suck ass. Holly was already going into a roll on the ground and I copied her a few seconds later.
"Do… do you see any of them?" she whispered to me.
It took some effort on my part to calm down enough to recall how to scan the area. A part of myself berated me for having to do that. Guardians and Aegises had to stay in control, to always be alert. Strigoi weren't going to care we were young and freaked out.
"No," I whispered back after it appeared the courtyard was deserted. Apparently, the Strigoi had focused their numbers in attacking the building. That didn't mean there weren't any lurking around though.
"We can't stay in the open," Holly said suddenly, "We need to get to the trees."
There really wasn't any other option; the sun wasn't going to rise for about another six hours, according to my watch. Staying out in the open would be a death sentence. At least in the forest, the Strigoi wouldn't have a direct line of sight.
"Just look out in case there are any Strigoi hiding in the tree line. They're probably expecting some of us to try escaping that way," I stated grimly. This was going to be a real bitch.
We didn't worry about keeping to the shadows or anything like that. The Strigoi could see well in both dark and light, so it wouldn't make a difference. Instead, Holly and I tried to make ourselves as small as possible. I kept my eyes wide open as we crossed the tree line, but there didn't appear to be anyone here. Well, maybe this would be easy.
"How far in should we go?" Holly questioned me.
I had no idea, really. My main focus was just getting to the forest, so I didn't really think about what we would do when we got here. Apparently, Holly didn't either. Bad form on our part. The question remained though. Do we stay near the academy in the hopes that the Guardians eventually come with reinforcements? Or, do we try to make our way to the nearest town?
"Do you know the direction to town?" I asked her. I couldn't say that I did. Maybe in the day when I could use the sun as a compass, but the tree cover was too thick to try to use the stars. Damn, I think I remember our theory class having something about how the layout of the campus could tell you where north was. I think Holly and I had been passing notes that day….
"No. They'd probably catch us even if we tried," Holly sighed.
Of course. The Strigoi weren't going to stay at the academy. They had to have some kind of plan to get out and my first bet was that they were going to use this fucking forest. Damn it to hell.
"Then we need to find some place to hid and stay there."
That's easier said than done. Not only is it the dead of night, it's also a new moon. Dhampirs can see better in the dark than compared to humans, but we have a limit too. No point is standing here, though. Aside from a horrible transformation.
As we searched for a good hiding spot, I tried as hard as I could to keep from thinking about what just happened. It was impossible. What I always kept focusing on was how eager I'd been to just jump out there. Even when I knew it was hopeless, I thought that if Harris and the others just gave me a chance, I'd have probably made it through. What the hell was I thinking? The Strigoi just ripped us apart, Guardian and Aegis alike. What was a novice going to do? It's not like I'm a senior on the cusp of graduating; there are still two years' worth of training and theory I have to cram in my head.
"Lily, I think this could work," Holly jolted me out of my thoughts.
I had to hold back a sigh. Even after the Strigoi have proven to me that I had to look at my life in general more intelligently, I still end up zoning out while trying to survive in what might be death infested forest.
Dragging my eyes to what Holly found, I saw that it might just do the trick. It was a small rock formation that was nearly hidden by a few large bushes. The best part of it was that the top wasn't covered. The rock would surround us on two sides, so we'd only have to watch through the bushes. There was a good chance that the Strigoi won't look twice at this hiding place. It can't protect them from the sun, when it finally rises, so it's not worth their notice. All we have to do now is stay alert and keep silent for the next… five hours.
Tip of the Chapter
Never put : "Sorry, suck at summaries," in your summary. Not only does it completely turn me, personally, off, but it also looks completely unprofessional. Don't apologize, so long as the summary does what it's supposed to (which is to get the general point of the story to the reader) than it had done its job. Summaries don't have to be award winning. Most of the time, when someone puts that, the summary does not, in fact, suck. Putting that, right there, makes it suck. Don't do it. Ever.