Thank you all so much for continuing to read and review; I really appreciate it! A part of this plot (the Stan portion during the attack) is credited to Olivia Williams for supplying me with the basic idea. Thank you, I needed something extra in here! And without further ado, I present the longest chapter yet. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own the plot. Anything you recognize belongs to Richelle Mead.

Chapter 9

Chaos ensued. The sound of shattering glass came from down the hall, followed by guardians yelling for backup. I quickly removed my stake from its holster before running to the door.

"Rose, earpiece!" Christian yelled. I turned around as he threw my equipment before swinging back around. I shoved my earpiece into my ear and attached the microphone beneath my shirt to my bra as I continued running. No one ever looked there.

"Do you copy?" I asked.

"I copy," I heard Christian say through my earpiece. "And I'm right behind you."

"We're gonna stay and see how we can help," Lev said.

"Copy," I answered.

I barreled out into the front room of the guardian building, followed by Fire Boy and Stan. I was vaguely aware of Alberta assigning guardians to different dorms in order to protect the students. Through the bond, I could see Eddie, Dimitri, and a few other guardians surrounding a scared Lissa. Whoever was behind this attack knew we wouldn't be prepared yet. They were using that to their advantage.

There were two guardians fighting six Strigoi in the room I entered. Stan shoved past me and went to help one of them, so Christian and I went to the other. I didn't recognize the Dhampir, but he seemed like he was fresh out of the academy. His moves were a bit shaky and he wasn't overly confident against his attackers. Of course, I wasn't very competent the first time I had faced a Strigoi either.

Don't hesitate, rang through my head.

Christian set one of their heads on fire, distracting them enough that I could stake them in one smooth motion. Turning to face the second, I was launched against a wall. When my body hit the floor, my face came into contact with broken glass which littered the ground like crystals. I could feel blood running down my face, but the adrenaline canceled out any pain. Christian set the other two Strigoi we had been fighting on fire, effectively wiping them out. He ran over to help the kid, who it seemed had been thrown around quite a bit as well.

Glancing over to the other fight, I could see that Stan and his partner were having a difficult time killing one of their Strigoi. He looked like he was ancient and from the high-speed movements he made he wasn't going down without a difficult fight. He abruptly threw Stan's partner through a window and grabbed Stan's head tightly in his hands. It was like I was teleported back in time as Stan's eyes made contact with my own.

Isaiah simply stopped the attack, grabbed Mason's head with both hands, and gave a quick twist. There was a sickening crack. Mason's eyes went wide. Then they went blank.

And just like the last time, I stopped feeling and simply acted. Hauling myself up from my position on the floor, I attacked the Strigoi with no thought to myself. Running from behind him, I swept my stake across his back. He yelled out in pain, dropping Stan and flipping around so fast I barely saw him move. Luckily I was ready for his movement and slid my stake through his ribs and into his heart with him barely even noticing until I'd already done it. As I pulled my stake from his body and he fell to the floor, his eyes widened as he realized he would be forever giving up immortality. The exact actions that I wished I could've done in order to save Mason.

It landed before us. My vision swam as nausea and dizziness wrapped around me… Time seemed to slow down as I relived these moments fully for the first time since Spokane. With my free hand, I stroked Mason's hair.

"Rose, focus," I heard beside me. Lifting my gaze from the dead Strigoi in front of me, I met Mason's worried blue eyes. "There are still more out there. You have to find them quickly." I could distantly feel nausea, but my for some reason I simply couldn't escape how I'd lost one of my best friends. I'd killed countless Strigoi, but I'd never been faced with such a similar situation to my first kills. Apparently Isaiah and Elena still had an effect on me.

"Rose?" Christian asked. He took hold of my shoulders and shook me a bit. It was enough to snap me out of my trance-like state. His eyes moved across my face anxiously.

"I can feel more Strigoi on campus. We have to find them."

"Alright." I filled the boys in through our earpieces as Christian and I ran outside. I could hear guardians thundering down the hallway, so I knew the three that were incapacitated would be in good hands. We paused, me trying to get my bearings and figure out where the other Strigoi were.

"Do you smell smoke?" I asked, whiffing at the air. Christian inhaled before nodding.

"But where's it coming from?" Searching the skies, I found a heavy black cloud but the building blocked where it was coming from. We ran towards it, cursing when we saw the church on fire. I could just imagine Christian's inner turmoil. It had been the place where he had met Lissa, where they had consummated their love, where they had become inseparable. I had teasingly referred to it as their love nest, but I knew I would be devastated if something happened to the cabin.

More importantly, it looked like the Strigoi were trying to destroy our every protection before the real attack began, which only increased my unease.

When we were only a few yards away from the church, we stopped and tried to evaluate the scene. The flames were incredibly intense, rising into the air a good ways. Smoke was pouring out of the open door and I could feel the heat radiating from the building where I was standing.

"Lev, I need you to send some help to the church. It's on fire."

"Copy. Anyone inside?" It was early morning, vampire time, but I figured Father Andrew would probably be inside. He always seemed like "the early bird catches the worm" type.

"Not sure, but I'm assuming there is," I returned.

"Copy that."

"Can you control the fire while I go inside and look for the priest?" I asked Christian.

"Rose, do you think that's wise? Running inside a burning building?"

"I'm not just going to leave him in there."

"You don't even know he's in there for sure."

"I'm not going to take the chance that he is. Can you control it or not?"

"I can try," he said, slightly hesitant. "But it's pretty out of control. If I can, it won't last very long. That building's already unstable."

"Just do your best," I said, squeezing his shoulder before walking to the door.

"Rose!" I turned towards him. "Be careful." I nodded and entered the burning building.

As I stepped in the door, smoke filled my lungs as the heat licked at my skin. Whoever had set the fire had done an excellent job. I dropped down to my knees and began crawling toward the front of the church. The flames crackled all around me, the smoke casting a fog-like hue and making it difficult to see anything further away than a few inches. I never realized just how far the front of the church was away from the door. A small piece of timber fell from the ceiling, singeing the sleeve of my jacket. Damn, I had paid a fortune for it. A larger piece fell a few inches in front of me. Well, I suppose a jacket was better than my head.

Coughing, I continued crawling toward the altar. If I didn't get fresh air relatively soon, I knew I wouldn't be making it out of the building alive.

Taking a break, I laid myself down on the hardwood floor. Closing my eyes, I thought of how it must feel to die. Was it painful? Would I be able to reunite with the friends I had lost throughout the years of my life? How easy it would be to just wait for death to come for me. I had avoided it so many times, but maybe this was my time. Maybe I wasn't as strong as everyone thought I was.

But I was strong. I never gave up on anything, even when times were so trying that I wanted to do nothing else. And I couldn't leave Christian behind. He had never given up on me in all the time I had known him, even when at times I had probably deserved it. I couldn't let him down now, not when we needed each other the most. And my team. They had to know how much I loved each and every one of them.

And I couldn't leave this world knowing so many things were unresolved. I needed to fix things with Eddie and Adrian and make sure they knew how much I cared about them. I couldn't let this dispute between Lissa and I go on any longer. We had to come to terms with the past and move towards the future, whether it be together or not. And Dimitri. You must be open-minded, Yeva had said. I hadn't really done that with him, and no matter how much he had hurt me I supposed he deserved that much. And I had just developed a relationship with my parents, as well as finding another family in the Belikovs. I had way too much to live for.

I hauled myself back onto my knees and continued crawling forward. Suddenly my hand came in contact with warm flesh and I squinted my eyes, able to make out a body lying on the floor in front of me. I rolled it over so the man was on his back, recognizing the priest instantly. Father Andrew's hair had become even more grey in the past few years, but he was still wearing his button-down shirts and dark blue dress pants. He would've looked exactly the same if it hadn't been for the two puncture marks on his neck. Suddenly I was very uncomfortable not being able to see my surroundings.

"How's it going in there, Rose?" Christian asked. I checked for the priest's pulse and luckily found one.

"I found Father Andrew; he's unconscious. It's getting pretty bad in here, Chris."

"You need to try to wake him up. I can't control the fire much longer; you need to get out of there." I could hear a few other people talking in the background from his end, but tried to ignore them. I needed to concentrate on escaping the church.

"I'm really sorry about this, Father," I said before slapping him across the face. He groaned loudly, reaching up toward his neck.

"Father, you need to get up. We have to get you out of here." His eyes fluttered open and he took in what I'm sure was an amazing appearance. I could just imagine how horrible I looked right now.

"Rose?" he asked quietly.

"Bet you never thought you'd see me in here again," I said. "Come on, I'll help you walk to the door." I helped him slowly get to his feet, putting his arm around my neck. As I was supporting all of his weight, I told Christian that we were on our way out. A beam was creaking above our heads, which I took as a very good reason to start moving toward the exit.

"Rose, look out!" Father Andrew yelled. I had heard the running footsteps only seconds before he had shouted. I reflexively threw my elbow out and struck the person as hard as I could. Not worrying whether the priest was still on his feet, I let him go and thrust my hand out into the darkness. I felt something slice my palm but ignoring the pain, I tightened my grip on what felt like a knife and tugged it from their grasp. I could feel the warm stickiness of blood on my hand as I slammed the person against the nearest wall, holding my stake against their throat.

"Hello, Rose," the man said, smiling widely. Due to the fact that he wasn't screaming out in pain from being inside a church and having a stake held against him, I deduced that he was probably a human.

"Rose, who's in there with you?" Christian asked worriedly.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked menacingly. His grin only widened.

"I have a message for you." He paused, drawing it out. "From Ion."

"Is that so?" I murmured. While I had been assaulting the human, I had completely forgotten that I was still in danger of being burned to a crisp. That quickly rushed back to the forefront of my mind when a beam fell a few feet from us. I punched him in the face as hard as I could without killing him, making his head snap back and smack against the wall behind him. He fell to the floor unconscious.

"Rose, I can't hold it anymore! You have to get out now!" I looked behind me at the priest, who was sitting in a pew coughing. Making a snap decision, I leaned over and began dragging the human toward the door. When I got close enough to Father Andrew, I helped him stand and supporting him, began pulling them both to the exit. Another beam fell a few inches from where we stood. As we neared the door, I shoved the priest outside. I nearly felt bad, because I was sure he had probably stumbled and fallen, but I didn't have time to worry about that. Coughing hard, I lifted the human's arms and drug him out the door. The ceiling caved in behind us as I fell backwards on the steps and landed in a heap at the bottom.

My throat burned as I tried to breathe in as much fresh air as I could. The crackling blaze that was eating the church spewed heat onto my skin, making me yearn to get further away.

Suddenly someone lifted me up and carried me away. Looking up, I recognized the tan face, chocolate eyes, sensual lips, and silky hair that represented my comrade. He carefully set me down a few feet from the blaze, running his fingers through my hair and murmuring comforting words in Russian. Little did he know that Denis had been teaching me Russian for two years.

"It's okay, Roza," he said. "I'm here; I won't let anything hurt you." He cupped my face with his large hands, using his thumbs to brush away some of the soot that I imagined was ingrained upon my face. "I love you," he murmured. In that moment, when I understood him and knew that I wasn't supposed to, my heart began to melt. I was still confused and pissed at him, and I wasn't going to make it easy on him, but I knew beyond a doubt that we could work through this.

In English he said, "Don't scare me like that, Roza. I thought I'd lost you." Smiling slightly, I reached up and placed my hand on one of his.

"I'm okay, Comrade." He seemed taken aback by my actions and words, but a breathtaking smile lit up his face. I don't know what would've happened next, because my phone rang unexpectedly. I silently cursed the interruption while I pulled it out of my pocket.

Not recognizing the number, I answered, "Hathaway."

"Well done, Rose," a familiar voice said, making my eyes widen. It startled me how much his normally warm and sunny voice sounded so cold. "Of course, I really shouldn't be surprised. After all, you always were the best."

Glancing over at Christian, I saw him helping Dr. Olendzki with Father Andrew. I could still feel nausea, so I knew he was close by. I stood up and surveyed my surroundings. Where could he be?

"I'll be watching," he said before the line went dead. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye, and I turned to look toward the wooded area behind the church. Ion stood just inside the forest, watching me. I couldn't make out his features very well from where I stood, but I could imagine his short blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and easy going smile from before he was turned. A smirk unfurled upon his face before he disappeared into the shadows provided by the trees.

"Did you see…?"

"We need to get you checked out at the clinic."

"I'm fine," I said. I tried to push past him to go after Ion, but he wrapped his arms around my hips and hauled me back. "Let me go."

"You're not at your best," he said. "Let him go until you're more ready. Bide your time until you know more about him and the threat."

I paused in my struggles to get away, but he didn't relax his grip. I thought over what he had said.

"Now is not the time, Roza," he insisted. Finally I nodded and allowed him to take me to the clinic.

"Not even on campus twenty-four hours and you're already visiting my clinic," Dr. Olendzki said when she entered the room her staff had put me in. "I always knew you were my number one patient." Dimitri had remained with me, while Christian, after making sure I was alright and had no problem with "The Russian" staying with me, had escorted the human back to the guardian headquarters. Alberta was going to put him in a cell until he woke up and could be questioned.

After my hand was bandaged and a few stitches closed a nasty cut on my forehead, Dimitri and I made our way back to the guardian building. He had tried to convince me to return to my room and rest, but I had insisted. After all, we still had to find ways to protect the students on campus.

When we entered the room, everyone turned to look at us. My parents both looked extremely relieved by my appearance, as did Alberta and Eddie. Lissa was nowhere to be seen at the moment, while Stan and the two others that had been in the reception room sat on the couches. They looked pretty beat up and each had their fair share of bloody bandages and darkening bruises, but even so they stood up when we came in. I felt like I was being stared at by everyone, making me shift awkwardly on my feet. Stan approached me, looking unsure of himself which made me feel a bit better. He reached out and lightly placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me a small smile. He had an odd emotion on his face that I couldn't decipher.

"Thank you," he murmured. "You saved my life in there."

"Not a problem," I mumbled.

"And I'm sorry for the things I said earlier. I was very wrong." I realized then that the reason I couldn't figure out the emotion was because I had never seen it on his face before. He was grateful. And behind his shoulder, a fading red-haired, blue-eyed boy looked extremely proud.

Aren't you proud of me? No cliffhanger! I'm also thinking of changing the name to "The Darkest Hour Is Just Before The Dawn." Let me know what you think!