Alright my lovelies. This is the beginning of the end. Only two more chappies after this and it'll be done. It's been a joy to share this story with you all, and hearing all the feedback from everyone. I don't think that the next chappie or so is going to be super long, but I'm doing my best to make it worth your while. As always, I own nothing (except Jocelyn and the plot). Everything belongs to the wonderful and talented Richelle Mead (yes Dimitri fans, even the Russian god himself). So without further ado, here is chapter 21.

Chapter 21

The sight when we made it outside almost made me come to a complete stand still. The sun had set while we were inside making plans, giving the strigoi army laying in wait a chance to get throught the gates. It was total chaos as I glanced around quickly. Guardians, new and old alike, were darting into frays, screams filling the air either because of strigoi getting staked or guardians taking their final breaths. I glanced over at Dimitri, then took off running in the direction of the church, the guardians with me following. We had only made it about twenty yards when we were ambushed by a group of twenty or so strigoi. I pulled out my stake and landed a kick to the stomach of the closest one to me. It barely made an impact, but it gave me the opening I needed run my stake through his heart. I was kicked in the thigh by a strigoi, and managed to right myself before I fell. I turned toward my attacker and saw that it was the servant girl from Russia. I remembered all the pain she had help cause me, and took no hesitation in throwing a punch at her. We traded blows, then in her haste to end it, she lunged for my throat leaving her chest open, and I staked her cleanly through the heart, seeing the light fade from her eyes. I looked around to see that we had sufficiently taken out the twenty that had attacked us, we had only lost one of us.

We took off again, dodging the individual battles around us and headed for the church. When we were a few yards away, I stopped looking at the remaining guardians.

"The battle is pretty serious over there," I nodded toward the area we had just ran through, "I just need two volunteers to continue on with me, and the rest of you can go back to help the other guardians." Dimitri and Eddie were the first to step forward. "Thanks guys," I looked at the remaining guardians, "Thank you for all of you help. Be careful, and go kick some strigoi ass for us."

They all nodded, and sprinted back to the fight. We headed into the church doing our best to be as quiet as possible in case there was someone guarding the hallways waiting for us. As we crept along, I had the strangest feeling of being watched. I kept chancing a glance over my shoulder, but I did't see anyone. We stopped so I could check on Lissa to get a better idea of where she was at. I saw through her eyes that they had her in one of the lofts that were over the sanctuary. She was tied to a chair, Victor and Ambrose in front of her. She looked around the room and I was able to see that Jocelyn was tied next to her. It seemed that Ambrose and Victor were in a heated argument about something that I could barely make out with Lissa's hearing.

Ambrose gestured toward the door, "They're down there now. We need to send someone down there before they can make it up here. She brought the Russian with her, and the Castile kid too. She didn't come unprepared like you thought."

Victor looked at him indulgently, "Ambrose, she's not goint to be able to get up here. We've got several guardians waiting for her. You didn't think I would just let her waltz up here did you? I knew she'd bring Dimitri, and I prepared for it.

She won't be getting up here anytime soon, and if by some miracle she does, we have the upper hand."

Ambrose looked very angry, "I think you seem to underestimate Rose. She'll stop at nothing for the princess, and if you think some poorly trained guardians are going to stop her than you're more of an idiot than I originally thought. If you aren't going to take care of the problem, then I will."

He stormed away before Victor could say anything and I pulled out of Lissa's head. I could feel the fear for her and Jocelyn hum through the bond. I'll be there soon Lissa, don't worry I thought.

I looked at Dimitri and Eddie. "There's guards on all the floors starting with the next floor. Ambrose is on his way down. Here's the plan. Eddie, you go back the way we came and find a different way around to the next floor. Dimitri will go the way we were headed and if all goes well the two of you can ambush the guards before they can catch on to what's happening. Do the same thing on the next two floors until you make it to the fourth loft. Wait for me there unless you think you need to go in there. I'll wait here for Ambrose and meet you there when I'm done."

Eddie nodded, "Alright, I'll see you soon Belikov." He looked at me, "Be careful Rose, and try not to give him too much hope in winning."

I shot him a smile, "Now what's the fun in that?"

He laughed and headed toward the hallway we had just come from. Dimitri pulled me into a quick hug and kissed me swiftly. "Try not to keep me waiting too long, Roza. I may come back for you if I do."

I took his hand and squeezed it gently, "I'll end it quickly, you know me. I learned from the best."

He turned to walk away, and called back over his shoulder, "I love you Roza."

I called after him, "I love you too comrade, with all my heart."

I had nothing left to do but wait, and it was killing me. I wanted to get this over with so I could get to Lissa. Fortunately I didn't have long to wait. Shortly after Dimitri disappeared up the stairs, Ambrose showed up. He looked me up and down as if sizing me up, not that it would do him any good. I'd make sure of that.

He started toward me slowly. "So it's down to me and you. Where'd your hunting party run off to? They couldn't stand watching you die so they ran off?"

I glared at him, "Something like that. So let's get to this already. I've got an appointment to keep, and I'd rather not be late."

I had barely finished my sentence when he lunged at me striking me across the face. I recovered quickly and kicked him in the knee. I heard a pop but didn't stop to see if he was okay. This wasn't a sparring session, he wasn't one of my friends. This was a life or death battle, and I wasn't going to lose it. I used his distraction to my advantage and struck him in the face. He wobbled a bit but recovered before he fell. He swung at me again but I dodged, landing a kick to his side. He grabbed my leg before I could put it down, and made to knock me to the ground, but I pulled my leg toward my chest and pushed back causing him to drop my foot. He wasn't putting much weight on his left leg, I couldn't tell if it was a ploy or if he really was hurt, but I didn't really care. I punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. For a dhampir he wasn't that good of a fighter. I could see why he decided to become a blood whore. There sure wasn't a future for him as a guardian.

He looked up at me, "You're better than I thought you'd be."

I laughed, "Yeah, well you should see the guy who trained me. He's just as good if not better."

He kicked out at my leg hoping that our conversation would distract me. I dodged the attack easily and took the opportunity to make my move to end this. I straddled him, jamming my stake in. It wasn't the most humane way to do it, but after everything he'd done to me and my friends, I didn't really care.

Just before he took his last breath, he said the one thing I didn't want to hear. "You're too late, he's probably going to kill the princess before you get there. You've killed me, but you've failed and you can die knowing that." And with that he died.

I spared him one more glance before I sprinted up the stairs. Each floor I came too I saw a littering of bodies scattered around the floor. I didn't see Dimitri or Eddie among them so I figured they we both waiting for me. I made it to the door where I was supposed to meet them only they weren't there. They must have went inside I though. I could feel the fear surging in Lissa, but I couldn't risk slipping into her mind right now. I burst through the door and came up short. Eddie was tied to a chair, blood running from his nose. Dimitri was also tied to a chair, surrounded by five of the guards. Both looked up when I burst in. I spared a short glance before I focused on Victor.

Victor who had Lissa in front of him, a knife held to her throat.

So I'm off to write the next chapter. I'll post it as soon as I'm finished. The rest of the story should be up no later than 3 pm so you all can have plenty of time to read it before Last Sacrifice comes out tomorrow. Yeah I know, I can't believe it's finally here! So please R&R. I love you guys. Keep reviewing, it really makes my day =) Until the next chappie my lovelies.