RPOV
Stakeouts are boring, unless you have donuts. Thankfully I reminded myself to buy a box of them. Strigoi-watching was also boring but since I kill them for a living, it's technically my job to make sure they don't harm anyone. Being The Dark One has it's perks but also its downsides.
I have no idea how the moroi society came up with the name for me but I'm just glad they don't know my real one. Rose Hathaway- immortal strigoi slayer. I could have lived my life as a guardian but I knew that I would be of better use to go out and hunt strigoi instead of sitting around and following a moroi around for the rest of my life. I suppose in some ways I do follow guardian traditions. For one, I do have Zvezda marks, which were tattooed on me by one of my friends-Sydney Sage. Never did I think I would become friends with a human but she's actually pretty cool. How many marks do I have?
They start on my neck and when there was no longer anymore room, the marks are tattooed neatly in a single line down my spine. However, instead of the single X mark, she gave me the battle star every month or so to save room on my back. I don't know how many I have but its more than any other guardian has ever received. I did have a problem with being called The Dark One it sounded so dramatic, which is sort of expected since something like me shouldn't even exist. No one knows I'm a seventeen-year old girl but I would've preferred a better name, like The Huntress or something equally badass.
The sound of a car arriving snapped me out of my thoughts. I crouched down to make sure they couldn't see me, not that they would look up. I was on top of a building peering at them and thanks to my heightened eyesight it was easy to see what I was in for. The car came to a stop and two men stepped out-both human. One of them opened the back door and pulled out a young girl with her hands tied behind her and tape over her mouth. Her wild eyes were watery and held fear. I was determined to get her out of there.
She was clearly human and so far didn't seem to have any marks on her, yet. The two men grabbed her and dragged her inside to the old building. It was a strigoi hideout and held about fourteen of them. The sun was almost setting but there was still some light and I knew that they wouldn't risk coming outside. I guess I was going to have to go in. I jumped down and landed quietly onto the ground. I wrapped my hand around the cold silver stake and went around the back of the building looking for a back entrance. I had to move fast before they get a chance to sink their teeth into her. Backdoor-found it. I slowly opened the door just enough for me to slip through. Stupid strigoi, leaving doors unlocked. It was dark and cold; the windows had been completely blacked out. Thank goodness for my good eyesight otherwise I would've been screwed. I could sense two of them down the hall and I crept towards them. Without any warning I leapt out and staked one of them easily. The other one saw me and snarled.
"You," she spat out. She was a young moroi before she was turned and recognition flashed through her eyes.
I smiled coldly. "I'm guessing you've heard of me."
She hissed at me. "I've heard a thing or two."
"Then you must know that only one of us is getting out alive." I stepped closer and lowered my voice. "And it won't be you."
I ran towards her, my stake lined up with her heart and she moved to deflect my blow but she wasn't fast enough. I drove my stake into her and watched as the red glow left her eyes. I pulled my stake out and kept moving, there were still more strigoi here. A bloodcurdling scream made the hair on the back of my neck rise. Shit. I needed to move it if I wanted to get to the girl in time.
Without caring about whether or not I was heard I started running following the scream until three more strigoi stepped into my path, blocking me. Ugh, I was almost there too. I waited for them to attack and it didn't take them long, they were impatient. I managed to stake one of them but the other two were a little older. They were old and a lot stronger but definitely not stronger than me. I was on the defensive side, blocking their hits.
Getting bored I changed it up and backhanded one throwing them against the wall and without missing a beat I staked him. The other one wasted no time and tried to grab me by the neck but I slipped out of his grasp and spun around slamming him into the wall. I pulled the stake out of the strigoi I had just killed and immediately slid it into the third strigoi's chest. They were dead. Five down, nine more to go plus the two humans. I could do this. I slipped through the door and did a quick scan. There were two strigoi, the two humans and the girl upstairs, the remaining seven strigoi were in the room on my level. The girl's screaming distracted them. Good. I grabbed the first strigoi in front of me placing my hand over their mouth and choking them with my other hand. Suffocating a strigoi is not as easy as it seems. Fuck it. With one swift movement of my hand, I broke the strigoi's neck. I wasn't sure if it would kill him but just to make sure I staked him anyway. The sound of bone breaking caught the others' attention. So much for stealth.
They didn't hesitate and neither did I but it wasn't easy. One of them caught me off guard and punched me in the face making me wince. Taking on seven strigoi was more than I could handle but I didn't let that stop me. There was no way I was going to give up. When I was finally down to four, I struggled to not let my knees give way and fall to the ground and I think they knew I was starting to grow weaker.
"Come on Rose, you can do this," I muttered to myself before lashing out at the last few strigoi.
I was out of breath when I killed the last one. Those donuts weren't the best thing to eat before a fight. I climbed the stairs, one step at a time to make sure they couldn't hear me. That flew out the window when one of the humans stepped out in front at the top of the stair well. His lips slowly formed into a creepy smile.
"Well what do we have here? Looks like we have another one."
I straightened up and smirked at him. "You have to catch me first."
Just like I was hoping he would, he attempted to attack me but I grabbed him by the collar and threw him down the stairs. Humans were so easy to fight but I wasn't going to kill him. He wasn't my target, the strigoi were and my priority was to save the girl. Besides I had a rule not to kill humans no matter how stupid and annoying they could be.
I climbed the last few steps and was met with the human and the two strigoi's ready to fight me. I threw a roundhouse kick at the human sending him backwards and fixated my attention onto the two strigoi. One of them snarled and the other shot me an unsettling smirk. The girl behind them was watching us with her wide eyes. Alright Rose, just two more and it'll be over. One of them threw a punch at me, which I neatly deflected, but it slowed me down making me unable to block the hit to my ribs. Grunting in pain, I turned my anger onto her and I felt my control waver slightly, something I shouldn't let happen during a fight. Just like before, I was on the defensive side and I hated it. I focused on taking down the female since she was weaker and just as she reached for my neck; I grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back making her cry out. I snapped her neck and she fell down to the ground leaving me with one last strigoi.
He chuckled. "Impressive. I have heard stories about you and it is a great pleasure to meet you Dark One."
"I would say the same but I've met better people," I said as we circled each other.
He ignored my comment. "It would be an even greater pleasure to be the one who kills you."
Now it was my turn to laugh. "I'm immortal, I can't be killed."
It was enough distraction for me to get a good hit on him but he saw me coming and he pushed me backwards into the wall, his arm pressed against my neck. It was hard to breathe and I almost lost grip of my stake. Almost.
"It doesn't matter if you're immortal, there's always a loophole."
I grunted as his arm tightened against my throat. "Too bad you won't be the one to find it." I lifted my leg and kneed him in the stomach making his grip on me loosen and it was all that I needed to get the upper hand on him. I spun us around so his back was against the wall and without hesitating I staked him and swiftly pulled the stake out, letting his body fall. I turned around and looked at the girl cowering in her seat.
"Please don't hurt me," she whimpered.
Poor girl. I placed my stake into my boot and walked over to her, untying the ropes around her wrist. She shot up from the chair looking ready to bolt but I blocked her from the stairs and placed both my hands on either side of her face forcing her to look at me.
"You will not remember anything that happened here. If anyone asks, you didn't see me and you were only here because you wanted to get away from home for a while. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "Yes." It's not like she had a choice. Thank goodness for compulsion or this would have been a pain to fix. I pulled my phone out and dialled a number and waited for the person to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sydney. I have a mess for you to clean up."
DPOV
As a guardian, I have a job to protect the moroi from strigoi and any other danger. And just like every other guardian, I have a job to be aware of The Dark One. No one knows who it is nor has anyone ever seen this person before. I don't even know what they are because there is no way for any moroi or even dhamphir to be as strong as they are.
It would be a miracle if we learnt their name, gender or even saw their face to know what they are and their age. So far, they have only been known to kill strigoi so I suppose The Dark One is an ally and not an enemy. One thing I know for sure and that is I will know who The Dark One is before I die. Hopefully. Although being the guardian for the last Dragomir may prevent me from doing so. I would never allow The Dark One anywhere near my future charge-Vasilisa Dragomir. She was definitely different and thankfully wasn't like most Royals consumed with money and gossip.
I lucked out. I was on duty and making my final rounds to ensure there were no strigoi lurking around and that the wards were intact. The sun had set and the start of the moroi day was beginning. My replacement arrived and I headed back towards the Academy. Alberta had called for a meeting this morning for some of the guardians. Most likely some news from the Queen. I reached the room filled with other guardians and greeted some of them as I passed by and went to sit at the table. Alberta walked in a few moments later and the room quieted down getting ready for business. She stood at the head of the table and looked over us.
"I have been informed of the latest news from the Queen about The Dark One and the threats made to our academy."
A few guardians shifted slightly in their seats. Whenever it was brought up it always made people feel uncomfortable, including myself. The Dark One was definitely a taboo.
"A strigoi hideout about an hour away was targeted and the Alchemist found fourteen bodies. Some of them staked and some of them with their necks snapped."
The room filled with whispers. I was stunned. I knew whoever they were was strong but they would have to have some extreme strength if they could snap someone's neck, especially a strigoi's.
Alberta silenced us before continuing. "There was evidence that a hostage was taken and the Alchemist were able to identify who the human was however when she was questioned she didn't seem to remember anything and claimed that she was only there to get away from home."
No. Way.
"The Dark One used compulsion."
The earlier whispers became louder and I leant back into my chair. Stan was the first to speak. "There is no way that a moroi could be strong enough to take down fourteen strigoi by themselves."
"What if they're not a moroi? What if they're a dhamphir?" questioned Yuri.
"A dhamphir that that can use compulsion?" retorted Stan.
"Well if they aren't a dhamphir or a moroi then what are they?" asked another guardian.
"Maybe it's a group of dhamphir's and moroi?" suggested a different guardian.
Alberta raised her hand. "That's enough. There is no use in trying to argue about what kind The Dark One is or if they are an individual or a group. What we do know is that they are strong and powerful. We also know that their intention was to kill strigoi and save the hostage, also they kept the two humans assisting the strigoi alive."
Maybe The Dark One wasn't a cold-blooded killer everyone seems to think they are. Who am I kidding? Just because we've only heard stories of them killing strigoi doesn't mean that they haven't taken innocent lives. They were dangerous, whoever they were.
"We also need to be more aware. The hideout was only an hour away and there may be others even closer. These particular strigoi were planning an attack on us and who knows how many other strigoi have the same plans. It's becoming more and more common for strigoi to form groups and attack. I know it's tough but we need to increase the amount of guardians on patrol during day and night. Now that we know for sure that humans are helping strigoi we have to take extra precautions."
Alberta was right, I didn't even want to think about what might happen if this Academy was ever broken into. She dismissed us and we went off to our duties. I went to Vasilissa's first class to stand guard. I want to know who this person is and what they are. Who is The Dark One?
