Last Breath


Chapter One

I set off to kill the man I loved. I set off three hours ago and no one had come by, I knew this was something I had to do, but I was beginning to wonder if the badass-ness was beginning to wear off. I wasn't even a quarter of the way to Missoula, from there it would-be harder. I wasn't familiar with the landscape or climate of Siberia, I didn't even know the place where He grew up. I wasn't sure I could even bring myself to think his name after the first hour when it finally hit me. I was going to kill him, the man I loved more than anyone in the whole world.

I wanted this to be just one big horrible dream. I didn't want to kill him, I wanted to wake up and have him hold me close. Maybe we'd be back in the cabin. Maybe we fell asleep after we committed that most wonderful of acts and this was just my fears taking over? I was just delusional. This was real life, I wasn't asleep. The sun was beginning to rise as if to prove a point. Got it, I thought in a bored tone. I'm awake and I'm walking to Missoula. Off to kill the only person who understands me.

The lights behind me made me turn. Or maybe that was the roar of the engine in the car. I could barely see it in the early dawn hours. It was an American muscle car, that much I could tell. I was never the Car and Driver kind, but even I could appreciate the craftsmanship of such a vehicle. I put my hand out thumb up in the international sign of hitch-hiking. Not that I particularly liked the idea of getting a ride from someone in a car that screamed danger. What did I have to lose at this point though? Couldn't be much. My heart was already dead.

Even with my thumb out I had to admit that the fact the guy pulled over so easily was surprising. The car was a Chevy Impala, late sixties by the look. It was midnight black and the windows were tinted so dark that I couldn't see inside, even with my dhampir senses. Made me guess that it was some form of glass that was one way. You could see out but nothing could get in. There was a rustling sound as I walked up to where the car pulled over. It made me even more weary. Did I really want to get in? Maybe I could wait for the next one?

No, I decided. I had the stake from the raid and I had two molnija and a zvezda to prove that I was more than confident to take on anyone who challenged me.

Just before I got to the car, the passenger door swung open easily. Even for me this encounter was getting creepy. I got closer to the car, no nausea, they weren't Strigoi. I suppose that meant something. . . Somewhere. The inside was leather, as black as the outside of the car. The only light came from the outside and the CD player that definitely did not come with the car. It was teched out to the max. It had a hook up for an iPod, no surprise that a black one was hooked up to it. "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana played. I had to hitch a ride with a guy who liked the eighties. I was a glutton for punishment. I got in and closed the door. Turning to thank the man who picked me up I swear I almost had a heart attack!

"Hi!" screeched a small girl. She had pale blonde hair that was pulled into pigtails that formed soft ringlets. She didn't look too much older than thirteen or so. "I'm Svetlana! You can call me Sveta!" She was energetic. Reminded me of Mia and Natalie combined. She was tanned, so not a Moroi. But she didn't seem human. Not with how fast or how easy she moved in the cramped back seat. I didn't even notice that she was rambling until her partner spoke. I expected a man's voice. What I heard was different.

"Svetlana! Sit the fuck down or I'm shoving you in the trunk!" said the driver. Her hair was very long and straight. I couldn't tell where her hair ended and her clothes or the car began. She was ghostly pale and sunglasses covered her eyes. She whipped them off and looked at the smaller girl. A breath caught in my throat. Her eyes were rimmed with red. I automatically reached for the stake I had but she was quicker. I sat back against the seat as the silver stake she held pressed against my chest right over my heart. How the hell was she that fast?

"Bela!" shouted the small girl. "You can't hurt her! Kirova won't like it and neither will Janine!" The girl gave a sound of the wind being knocked out of her as the driver pressed more on the gas pedal. Her sunglasses were back on. I took a moment to assess her. She screamed dangerous, more than her car. She had on a long black leather trench coat. She wore a stretchy black top over a button up white blouse that just barely peeked over the edges. Her pants were black, they hugged her legs tightly. Everything hugged her tightly. She was thin with curves in all the right places. If she wasn't Strigoi I would have thought she was the type who got all the guys she could ever want. Maybe she was before she was turned, she was obviously not a Moroi in her previous life.

"Bela! Dimka will be mad at you!" said Sveta. I turned to her at the same time that Bela took the stake away and slammed on the brakes. "Owie!" whined the girl as she hit her head on the center counsel. That was when I saw the Promise Mark, the four molnija and the zvezda on the back of her neck. She was a guardian?

I made a movement to run but the driver was still faster than me. The stake was at my heart again and the glasses were off. Her eyes were a deep brown, they reminded me so much of Dimitri's that it hurt a little. Bela's were rimmed in red though. Were these the eyes I was going to see the next time I saw Dimitri?

"Stop doing that," she said to me sternly. She was older than me. And now that I saw part of her face was all scarred up. It was the one flaw in her features. She was still beyond beautiful, inhumanly beautiful, like Tasha Ozera, but Bela's scar was bigger. It took up half her face, a cross between a burn and a gash as if something tried taking off her face. I didn't want to stare, but I couldn't help it. "I really don't want to hurt you. Dimi would despise me for it and I can't say your mother would like it either. Kirova would have my head on a platter too, ten to one. But I'm not going to let you kill me. Understood, Hathaway?"

I stared at her for a moment before saying the words. "You're Strigoi," I said staring at her. I was terrified. I knew I should have been stronger. After the battle, after the weeks of trying to become just as stoic as every other guardian. I had failed, I was terrified. I couldn't even count on my nausea to warn me now.

"No," she said simply. She reached with her free hand to the glove box and got a small thing of tissues. She wiped half her face revealing a complexion that was still pale but not Strigoi pale, more like she just never went into the sun. "I'm not Strigoi. And I'm actually offended you would think it."

"You do look like a Strigoi when you're undercover like that, Bela!"

"Svetlana, I swear to God, that trunk is calling your name if you don't shut the hell up!" The small girl whimpered and sat back. She muttered something in Russian.

I sat for a moment before I spoke. "Who are you?" I asked. Kirova? My mother? Dimitri? Who were these two?

"I'm Guardian Svetlana Dragonova!" said the girl. Looks apparently didn't matter, or big surprises really did come in small packages. Svetlana did not look old enough to be in high school let alone a Guardian. "I'm nineteen! Most people don't see me as a threat, so I work well under cover." The blonde jerked her thumb to the driver. "This is Bela, well, that's what everyone calls her, she's really Guardian Dece-," she was cut off mid name, this woman obviously wanted to tell her own story.

"I'm Guardian December Belikova. I'm Dimitri's twin sister." She looked calm and cool. But my heart raced. Dimitri's sister? He never said anything about a sister being a Guardian. He said his family stuck to gender roles. He became a guardian, his mother and sisters were family women. I didn't know what to think. Would this woman hate me? Was she sent here to take me back to the Academy? Kirova change her mind? I wasn't allowed to go away? "Are you going to say something?" asked Bela.

"Dimitri?" it was the only word I could manage. She sighed as if it was the most stereotypical thing to say. I wasn't stereotypical! Most girls didn't have my kind of attitude! But she took away the stake, put on the sunglasses and turned back to the road. With her driving I wasn't sure if we were going to end up in Missoula or over the edge of a cliff. She scared me; and not in the same way Dimitri did.

"We're going to Missoula," said Sveta happily seeing my questioning expression. "We're gonna let you do whatever you have to and we have to check in with Headquarters. Then we're going to the airport, we have to take a special transport, Bela won't leave her car." She hit the seat of the car which earned a snide remark in Russian. From the sound it was not praising Sveta. Or her apparent lack of respect for the vehicle. The doll girl said something else. I was lost as the two conversed in Russian. Well, more like argued in Russian.

I couldn't take my eyes off the one called Bela. She was Dimitri's sister. She must have known where he was. "What took you so long?" I blurted out in the middle of their argument, I lost some of the control I'd learned from my God-like lover. Bela said nothing and for once Svetlana was quiet I could see out of the corner of my eye a fallen look on her babydoll features.

"I was at Court," said Bela evenly. She was just like Dimitri, always cool and collected. "I've been there for months. Tatiana just got word that Dimi was taken. I was sent with Sveta to reinforce the school. I asked Kirova to let me come after you. She and Alberta allowed it. But she won't be Headmistress for long, and I doubt Alberta will have much of a power position in a few days. Which is why we have to get out of the states."

"You were at Court?" I asked. "You knew about me? How much did you know?"

"We knew everything!" Sveta said. "Dimka wrote to Bela all the time! And he called lots. Dimka is the only one in the family who talks to Bela."

"Stop talking, Svetlana. I am not kidding about the trunk. If I wanted her to know or if Dimi wanted her to know he'd have told. Keep your bratty nose in the backseat." She threw something at the smaller Guardian. "Have fun." Sveta grumbled some cuss words in Russian. It made me think of how Dimitri would never teach them to me. "She's not related to me," said Bela answering my unasked question. "Yeva and Svetlana's grandmother were friends. Both Guardians who left the life to raise children. Both hate us for becoming Guardians. Sveta has a thing, she can't stand kids. She goes undercover as one to check out the inner workings, see if any Moroi or Dhampirs are looking to go Strigoi. I just hate them. My mother and Grandmother don't understand. I was basically disowned when I ran away at the same time Dimi was sent to the school in Siberia."

"Why do you call him Dimi? Svetlana and Tasha call him Dimka," I said curious. She was Russian, obviously, even her slightly hidden accent gave it away.

"You know Ozera?" she asked darkly. "I always hated that woman. Dimka is his Russian nickname. I never liked it there. As soon as I could I left. Dimi is an American nickname for him. I like America. I hate having to go back to Russia. But Dimi would have done this for me. Dimi's always looked out for me, it's my turn to look after him."

I felt a tear fall from my eye, she could talk so casually about him. I was surprised at how easily I could do the same. Bela tossed me the tissues wordlessly and turned up the music as we entered the city. She had no qualms about breaking the speed limit. She really was dangerous. I didn't know if I should respect Bela or fear her.

These next hours were going to be torture. I didn't want these two around. But I got the feeling that this time, I was the one being guarded.

"Come on, Rose!" said Sveta energetically as she climbed out of the car when we got to the bank. I had a feeling that if I tried to run Bela would just trap me like Dimitri would.