Time jump.

I wrote the last chapter so we could follow the events of the books until the end.

For those that have read Crimson power, you will recognize the parallel chapter but with a completely different outcome.

To those that haven't read Crimson power. Here is some background information you will need: Rose and Dimitri were tattooed against their will with Strigoi blood laced through the tattoo. It gave them Strigoi-like powers and they need to feed from Strigoi to replenish their powers. Rose was pregnant with the twins when they were tattooed so they have it too, except they were born with it. Although not necessary for this chapter. That will become a major point later on.

Chapter 10:

DPOV.

The first date was up. The envelopes had been sitting in a safe in our apartment for almost nine years. And today we would finally be able to open the first one.

Rose was practically jumping up and down. It was a testimony to her control that they had remained closed for nine years. I would have expected her to open it up already. My wife was not a patient woman but I suppose when the fate of the world depended on it she could control herself. But only if the fate of the world depended on it.

I opened the safe and took out the first letter, closing the safe up again to preserve the other two.

I started to open the envelope but not as fast as Rose would have liked. Maybe I did do it very slowly just to mess with her. She ripped the envelope from my hands and opened it herself. I chuckled.

"It says that in a few days we will be going on a solo mission. We shouldn't go alone, we should take an army. Army is even highlighted."

"Huh. Would that be the mission Hans has us pegged for? There were only a few Strigoi sighted."

It was the only mission we had lined up. I suppose we would have to start getting things in motion for an army a few days early. That should be fun explaining this to Hans.

"Daddy, Daddy, Sasha is chasing me again. I told him to stop but he wooooon't."

My three year old daughter was standing at the end of the bed whining that her brother was teasing her again. I swear they were both cute when they were asleep, but both a bit of a handful when awake. Although whenever I would feel a little frustrated I would just look at them closely and melt again. Both my children were stunning. They took after their mother but I would like to think I added some genetic information for cuteness as well. Lera's eyes had her mother's darker shade of brown but Sasha took after me a bit and had a slightly lighter shade of chocolate brown more matching my own eyes. They both had Roza's hair, for which I was grateful. Her hair was gorgeous. Lera had said she wanted to grow her hair out like her mother. Currently it was reaching just below her shoulders. Sasha's was short, but not millimeter short. You could actually comb his hair. I wondered if Sasha would grow his hair out like me. All the ladies would be after him. But right now the most adorable things about my children was the scowl and pout on Lera's face as she berated her brother and Sasha's smirk. They were like a mini us.

"Honey, now it isn't nice to tattle either. Just ignore him and he will go away."

"No he won't." My wife said

"No I won't" my son said.

Helpful, very helpful. But luckily I knew how to handle my children and my wife.

"Come on let's get some breakfast."

I heard three yeah's and all was forgotten.

That afternoon we walked into Hans's office. We put the children at a desk with coloring books. There were enough people on paperwork duty who could watch them. Honestly they had everyone wrapped around their little fingers. Whenever we would walk in with them I saw many people getting up asking if they needed to watch them. Especially female guardians were quick to jump up. Sometimes they would even take them to the gym to show them how to fight. My children were three and knew the difference between a roundhouse kick and straight kick. Their execution could use some work, and their ability to refrain from using it against other people other than in a training situations certainly needed attention. But they were three.

We left the twins alone with their crayons and papers with at least three guardians hovering over them as we stepped into Hans's office.

"We need an army."

He looked at Rose very funny.

"Why… do you need an army?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and I think Hans was apprehensive about handing an army over to Rose. He might think she would use it to prank court. But my wife settled down a bit over the past few years. I think she didn't want to set a bad example for her children. Although I must emphasize the 'bit' part.

"It's complicated but we need an army to go on the mission next week."

"You two don't think you can handle five Strigoi?"

"We have reason to believe there are more out there and will need every available soldier to accompany us."

Hans looked skeptical but was looking through his files.

"I have three slayer units at court at the moment. We can have an additional twenty guardians to follow you, would that be enough?"

"If it wasn't, would there be more people available?"

"No."

"Then it should be enough."

I didn't know exactly how many people constituted an army or what we would be facing. But I needed as much as we could get. And I think Hans had provided us with as many people as he could. So it should be enough. It just had to be. It would have been helpful if the letter had said more. More about the specific situation we found ourselves in and why we needed an army in the first place.

We made some arrangements to discuss the situation and battle strategy early next week and went back to picking up the kids.

When I packed Lera's crayons in her bag she had a knowing look in her eyes.

"Is Hans going to help you and Mommy?"

I nodded.

"Good. You'll need it."

And that was the only conformation I needed this was serious. Lera, like my grandmother knew things. Things nobody else knew. I was getting a little apprehensive. How big was this event that would change the world forever?

A few days later we were preparing for the mission. Hans was gathering the army, doing the paperwork and working out the logistics. We were at home with the kids spending some quality time with them. I thought the duties were well distributed.

Lera was coloring and Sasha was making a puzzle. I sat down next to my daughter.

"What are you making, sweetheart?"

She was hovering over her drawing, meticulously coloring the contents of a circle.

"I am making a drawing for you and Mommy."

I looked at the drawing. It was hard deciphering the drawing talents of a three year old, but I saw stick figures which I suppose where Rose and I and I saw beds and what appeared to be a Band-Aid.

"Well you did a good job. But it is bedtime now."

She nodded and put the crayons down. I told Sasha to clean up the puzzle pieces and get ready for bed.

I loved taking them to bed. Rose and I would do it together when we could. Each of us having a kid to get ready. They would take a bath. Afterwards we put them into their PJ's and I would read them a story. Rose had joked I should read them one of my western novels but we were sticking to kids stories for now. Not all of my western novels were appropriate for children. But when I saw a children's book about a cowboy I couldn't resist to buy it. That was the book I was reading now.

Both children were engrossed in the story I was reading to them. I would make grand gestures and funny noises and do different voices for different characters. My children would hang on every word. But soon I read the last sentence that seemed to present in every book.

"The end."

I heard protests from my children but I could already see them rubbing their eyes.

"Now remember, Auntie Lissa will be here if anything is wrong. Me and Mommy have to go defeat some bad guys."

Lera nodded and Sasha was making grand movements with his arms no doubt trying to slay the bad monsters.

"Sleep tight my babies."

"We aren't babies anymore Daddy."

"You'll always be my babies." I kissed both of them goodnight and Rose did the same.

I turned off the lights in their room and hoped I would be the one to turn on the lights in the morning, if all went well.

"I love it when you read to them. You are so animated telling the story, even I get pulled into the world of the wild west."

I laughed as I pulled her closer.

"I'll make a cowgirl out of you yet."

She laughed as she sauntered away.

"oh but I think I have been a few times."

I knew what she was referring to. She had a sexy cowgirl outfit in the closet she sometimes whipped out. With an actual whip. She even got me an outfit to match, well assless chaps and a hat, but as long as I was inside of her by the end of the night, and nobody saw me in it, I would wear anything.

But no cowgirl tonight. That didn´t mean that her outfit of choice for tonight didn´t do anything to me. Quite the opposite. Her tight stretch pants and tight long sleeve shirt made of specifically durable material clung to her like a second skin. She had a thigh strap for her stake and another one at her hip. She looked hot and lethal, my favorite combination. But like always I knew she didn't dress up like that to please me, it was to protect herself from some damage as we were going in to battle.

I dressed similarly in the same durable material specifically designed for slayer units. The long-sleeved top was pulled up to the neck to prevent biting. The material was flexible as to absorb some of the strength from punches and kicks from Strigoi. Although you would still be very sore in the morning, it did prevent a bruise from forming into a break. It also meant most slayers would die from a broken neck as this seemed to be the most effective way of circumventing our new outfit. It was better that way. Quick and painless.

I strapped my own stakes at my side and upper leg and I thought I saw a similar gleam of lust in Rose's eyes as had been in mine a few moments before. We did look like we belonged together. We matched in every single way. Even to our expression which reflected determination. Determination to come back to our children in the morning.

"I love you Comrade."

She kissed me gently on the lips.

"I love you too."

And with that we picked up our bags, took the babyphone over to Lissa and made our way towards the gym where we would be gathering our 'army'.

Everyone had gathered in the gym. I recognized most members of the slayer unit we used to belong to before we had the twins. Team Alpha. We had seen most of them on occasion in the last few years but it had been a while since we had fought together. I had been a while since Rose and I had done anything other than a solo mission.

I was glad to see Emily had joined as well. She was a particularly powerful fire user and was always good to have around in a Strigoi fight.

"So Dimitri, any chance you will let us in in what is going on. Hans has been quiet saying he didn't know anything."

Emily asked us. I could already see our old team forming a ring around us trying to ask the same thing.

I called everyone to attention and like good little soldiers they gathered around immediately.

"I know many of you have questions about this mission. But unfortunately I don't have any answers. All I know is that the mission is more than the few Strigoi that were sighted. I have it on good authority that this will be a major battle. But if we are enough of or we are complete over kill I do not know. All I know is that in order to keep this world save, we need to win this battle."

Everyone was still confused but trusted us more than anything. I hoped we weren't leading them to their doom.

"So is this a Lera thing?"

I saw Christian approach us. I didn't know he would be fighting. I didn't know if I was relieved or scared. Christian was a good asset to have. He had authority over the Moroi fighters and had the most control over his abilities. But I didn't know if any of us would make it out alive.

"She did confirm to me that we needed help on this mission, but we knew that before she told us."

"So who told you?"

I looked over to Rose but she just shrugged.

"When we survive this I will tell you."

Christian looked intrigued and would probably survive just to hear the story, but I had to survive too to be able to tell him.

Rose and I discussed strategy with the team leaders. We mapped out the area and came up with battle strategies and exit strategies. This has been the largest raid ever and with so many people, coordination was key. We had to be able to function as an army too. Everyone had to know their task and their place. It was particularly difficult to include the Moroi in this, but luckily Christian would handle those. We decided on small cells within the larger army. Four guardians to each Moroi. Not only would this be more effective since it would be more compared to what we did in the slayer units. It would also protect Moroi more.

With a heavy heart we finalized the plans and poured into the cars on our way to the where the sightings had been.

Rose and I would go in first to scout out the place and to draw the attention of whoever was there. We had an uncanny ability to sense Strigoi ever since they had become our prey.

The adrenaline I associated with the hunt and finding our next meal was fueling my movements now and heightening my senses. Rose and I both turned on our Strigoi- like attributes and I could hear the breathing of our army only a few hundred meters away. I focused on other sounds of life, or well in this case death. Strigoi had heartbeats and they did breathe but there was an underlying feel of death to them. The sounds were somehow unnatural and their scent was mixed with decay. I could always tell if someone was old or young based on that particular smell. The older a Strigoi was, the more he smelled like decay. It was a subtle smell but with our increased sense of smell we were able to pick it up.

When Rose and I moved to the center of the field before the house that the Strigoi were supposedly hiding in, I nearly keeled over from the invasion of my nose. I had never smelled anything like it. I looked over at Rose but I saw she wasn't focused on the smell, she was focused on a Strigoi a few meters before her.

When I turned around I understood her hesitation. The smell came from a single person. A male Strigoi that oozed power and dominance. He must be ancient. We had fought old Strigoi before. Last year we had taken down a Strigoi had been over two thousand years old. But he looked like a baby compared to this one. His skin was deadly pale. Paler than any other Strigoi I had seen. I wondered if Strigoi also felt the decay in their bodies. Would they need more blood to sustain them as they got older? Does a Strigoi also have a lifespan? Even if it takes thousands of years to reach their end?

"So these are the famous Dimitri Belikov and Rose Hathaway. Husband and wife. The nightmare of every Strigoi. If we had children we would tell them stories of you if they didn't eat their vegetables. The sheer number of us that have fallen at your feet is astonishing. And before the night is over many more will have followed our brethren. But tonight we drag you back to hell with us."

As he said those words more Strigoi came out of their hiding spots and I appreciated that indeed we would need an army to defeat them, since the Strigoi had come with an army of their own. I also understood now what event had eventually caused the future to go to hell. We would have come here alone. We would have died here. I wondered if it was our death or a consequence of losing this battle that had its effect on the world. I didn't want to believe we played such an important role in the world that it would crumble without us.

"Been there done that."

Always the rebel, my wife. She was putting as much bravery in her words as she could. She tried very hard to not cower before him. But I could tell she understood how powerful he was. And even if nobody but me could read my wife like she was an open book the Strigoi did seem to realize that even if we were standing our ground we were shaking in our boots.

They were closing in on us. There must be at least fifty, sixty Strigoi here. But somehow that didn't scare me as much as this one Strigoi before me did. Even if we were outnumbered we brought highly trained warriors that were used to being outnumbered. They could deal with the rest of the Strigoi, Rose and I would deal with him.

We were a prestigious prey for Strigoi. Killing us would bring our killer eternal glory, so it was testimony to his dominance and power that all other Strigoi wouldn't even touch us without him having to say anything. They knew we were his.

"Ah yes your talents for escaping death are legendary. I suppose it is what makes you so deadly. But everything must die eventually, death and taxes right. Well everyone except me of course."

The Strigoi erupted in cheers around. The sheer volume of their chants for our death as much an annoyance as their message was. When he raised his hands to quiet them down their screams for blood immediately died down.

He stepped closer to us and I instinctively stepped in front of Rose. I knew we were well matched and I would need every ounce of her strength and mine to defeat this Strigoi. As a warrior I understood that but as a husband I wanted to protect my wife. I wanted to protect the mother of my children. But if we had any hope of seeing those children again. I would have to trust in her ability to fight like she trusted in me.

"Any last words?"

"Bite me."

She spat at him and I nearly chuckled. Wrong thing to say to a Strigoi, but so 'Rose' it made my heart sore. She whispered 'I love you' to me and I returned the favor before we engaged him.

The rest of the army was doing surveillance and would be here soon to take care of the other Strigoi. Our army was monitoring us and the lines in our earpieces were open. And as we charged the old Strigoi our army came down to the center of the field and started to engage the Strigoi army.

I needed to focus on the fight at hand and trust the rest of them to take care of themselves.

Rose and I were used to fighting opponents together but usually it was us two against a few of them. We still needed to track the other and switch whenever necessary, but fighting the same opponent meant we would have to adapt our fighting style. My large body would get in the way of Rose making a move, but we quickly adjusted where Rose would circumvent my body by going either low, trying to take out his leg, or high, where she was focused on doing damage to his face. I would focus on the midsection and try to get an opening to stake him.

It was something we taught new recruits. You didn't have to be stronger or faster than a Strigoi, you didn't even have to be more skilled all you had to do is find the opening to stake them. If fighting with Strigoi was like a knock-out match we would have been extinct several centuries ago. It was our training that allowed us to kill them, not our strength and speed. Of course for Rose and me it was different as we were stronger than most Strigoi now. But the basic principal still applied. And our years of training would come in handy now as this Strigoi was definitely more powerful than us. I just hope we weren't rusty from years of Strigoi strength.

But as it turns out us getting in the way of each other didn't seem to be a problem. Not because we were in sync, even though we were. But because one of us would pretty much be flying through the air landing on our asses all the time. He swapped us away as if we were flies.

There was a small pause in the fight when Rose and I both ended up a few meters away and had a small moment to regroup. I looked around and saw our people were holding their own. The ground was covered in blood and bodies but I was relieved to see the Strigoi far outnumbered the guardians. But still lives would be lost tonight. Well early morning. The sun would be coming up soon. We were nearing the end of the night and if we could keep him here we might not have to kill him ourselves. The sun might do it for us.

"Well well, you are incredible. How you have mastered that stolen power is quit commendable. In my very long life I haven't seen anything like it. But all good things must come to an end. Personally I can't wait to taste you."

The last part was directed at Rose and I growled. Why did every Strigoi need to make a move on my wife? Yeah I know she is hot, she is also going to kill you. Although with this one that was debatable.

His attention was focused on us so I don't think he noticed Emily coming up behind him. Maybe we didn't need a stake, or the sun, we had Emily. She could fry him. I saw she was doing just that. A moment later the Strigoi was covered in flames and several Strigoi which were in a fight in its vicinity were backing away from the heat. It actually provided a nice window for some guardians to stake them.

But where the other Strigoi were affected by even the sight of the flames, the Strigoi in front of us swatted Emily away and unconscious a few meters away. He was still burning as he did it. I could see even if the fire was affecting him, the burns were healing faster than they could harm him. Eventually he simply patted his body to stop the flames. A second later he was in pristine condition again, no evidence of his earlier plight. He was so old fire didn't even affect him anymore.

Rose and I just stared at him. Our own powers were fading and I saw our wounds were healing much more slowly then they usually did. I would have to feed soon. But I knew I wouldn't get a change before we killed this guy.

Our moment of reprieve was over and he charged at us with full force. And the dance started again. We were beginning to see through his patterns and were able to at least not be thrown to the wind like leaves.

Even if he had been Dhampir before this, I saw most of his fighting skills were obtained after he had been turned. Even though thousands of years of experience would have compensated for it. Usually Strigoi didn't learn real technique in their fighting styles because they were too arrogant to think anything could harm them. It meant I had a small sliver of hope that we could survive this, but we needed to find an opening fast.

There. I saw it. I didn't hesitate, while he was focused on Rose coming from above he left his chest wide open. I jammed my stake in his heart and expected to see him crumble and the light fade from his eyes, but he mostly just looked annoyed if not in a bit of pain.

I saw where I went wrong. Well not wrong. I did everything right. The stake wasn't plunged in far enough. His body was hardened by his shear age to a point that a stake didn't make it past his sternum. I had used all my strength to stake him and it hadn't been enough. We were going to die because I hadn't been strong enough.

My wife however, had another idea. She had been going high as I had staked him and was now falling to the ground, hands first, almost like a cat. I got out of the way to give her space and in her fall she crouched down on the ground. Her hands on the soil as she used the momentum from the fall to kick out her legs. She drove the stake in further and I heard the anguished cry and a moment later the light in his eyes went out.

He fell to the ground and I did the same. Rose was already on the ground and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. I used the last bit of strength I had to move us further from the body before I plummeted down next to her.

The sounds of battle had stopped. It was eerily quiet just a few moments before dawn. All Strigoi had seized their battle and were looking over at their fallen leader. I had never seen Strigoi take a liking to each other but they revered this Strigoi with almost worshipping eyes. To them he was a God and they just saw their God fall. I had expected them to run. Now that their leader was dead I had expected them to run and hide, seeing as the sun was only a few minutes away, but instead of doing that they gathered around him and sat down next to him. My earlier thoughts about him being a God in their eyes strengthened because they were on their knees looking like they were praying.

We just stared in silence. The gravity of this event seemed to be permeating into all of us and we could only be observers. The sun came up and the Strigoi didn't move. The sun burned them and their fallen brethren and they didn't move. They didn't scream as the fire engulfed them. A moment later the Strigoi were gone and all that remained was ash.

I welcomed the first rays of sunshine ushering a new day for all of us. A day which I hoped would lead to a better future.

Christian was hovering over me as I bathed in the sun's light, my only movement was grabbing Rose's hand and squeezing it. I was glad he made it. He looked a little worse for wear but he would live, probably would have gotten a wicked scar from the battle if Lissa wouldn't heal him later.

"So how are you doing?"

He asked.

"Can't move." I had used up every bit of strength I had. My wounds were no longer healing and every Strigoi in sight had been turned to dust. I would have to recuperate the normal way. It had been a while.

"Can't move because you broke your spine and are paralyzed or because you are too tired to even think."

"Latter."

He laughed.

"What about you Rosie, still alive?"

All I heard was a grunt from Rose. But we were alive. And that was all that mattered. We would probably be in the hospital for a while before we were fine.

I was reminded of Lera's drawing. I chuckled, she had seen we would survive but would be pretty beat up. She had made us a get well card in advance.