A/N: This is it everyone! Enoy :)

Chapter 23

Hope's POV

I drummed my fingers in the beat of the song softly playing on the radio. Alberta was in the drivers seat and Mr. Nagy, the epic British-accent, note-stealer/reader teacher, sat in shotgun. Clara and I sat in the backseat with a heap load of shopping bags surrounding us. We were returning from a Missoula shopping trip – although being on constant guard, as Moroi accompanied us. Various St. Vladimir's mini buses were in front of us. Alberta allowed Clara and I to accompany her in her car because the buses were full and mainly because we were late – as always.

Alberta, an extremely calm driver, wore her short hair in that pixie styled hair cut that I so desperately wanted to spike up everywhere… and maybe dye it blue too. Her promise mark and molnija marks were clear to the eyes and were an utterly impressive site.

"Oi!" Alberta suddenly shouted, waking us all up out of our daydreams, as she swerved sharply to the right. I smashed against Clara, squashing all the shopping that sat beneath me.

Clara gasped in shock and moved around in her seat after I carefully sat back on my side, touching the side of my head. I winced in pain, and the crashing thought of me flying through Clara's window if I hadn't worn my seatbelt dawned on me. Although it was painful, I tightened my seatbelt.

"What's happening?" I cried, and was again thrown back in my seat as Alberta gunned it. The mini buses were out of site. I frantically looked out of my window and it dawned on me. The sun was drastically going down.

"Strigoi?" Clara rushed out, visibly frightened.

"The damned bastards almost rammed my car!" Alberta spat, winding dangerously through the slower cars. How she didn't hit one of them, I had no clue. Her driving was a good as her fighting. Is there honestly something that this woman sucked at?

"We're being pursued by three vehicles – all confirmed Strigoi. Get back to the safety of the academy. Send reinforcements. Quickly!" Mr. Nagy barked into his phone as one of the cars was rapidly catching up to us.

"Damned mongrels," Alberta growled, swerving dangerously again.

I looked ahead of us and saw an upcoming bridge ahead and my blood ran cold.

"Guardian Alberta-"

"I know," she interrupted me. I stared at her reflection through her review mirror and saw her panic. Going across this bridge is an open ticket for the Strigoi to ram us off the edge. Clara clasped my hand. We looked up at each other. I squeezed our hands together tightly.

We entered the beginning of the bridge. I didn't look behind us, or in front. I just kept holding Clara's equally frightened eyes. Our hands became damp from sweating so much.

I was surprised to find my other hand snaked its way around my door handle just as I looked behind Clara. My stomach knotted in horror as I watched in slow motion as one of the cars sped up and then swerved to the left harshly. I let go of the handle. My door opened slightly. I stupidly took my seatbelt off and saw Clara started to do the same. Before impact I grabbed unto her. The impact felt worse than getting shot. The car savagely crashed into Alberta and Clara's side – mostly at Clara's door. All of us were thrown sidewards – backwards for me. Clara's bodyweight crashed unto mine. We flew back into my door and that's when I screamed. I flew out of my door harshly. Clara, however, didn't make it. I watched a split second before I flew out of the car. I was able to fly out, but Clara sat too high. Before she could neatly fall out, I watched in horror as her head viciously crashed to the top of my door and her head snapped back.

Again I screamed as she fell out while the car spun wildly out of control. Her neck was broken; I knew that much as she lay unmoving on the road. I, though, wasn't able to help flipping out of control and falling over the edge of the bridge. I managed to get a grip of the paling before heading face first over the bridge. I looked down in horror at the drop. It wasn't going to be a pleasant ride down.

Clara, I thought. No. I wasn't going down, I had to go back to her.

If only it was that simple. I tried to reach the bar with my other hand when a Strigoi appeared on the other side. I was suffering from severe whiplash and queasiness so really I was seeing three Strigoi. Triplets?

"Gotchya," he grinned, showing me a nice view of his fangs.

Strigoi. The word repeated in my head as I stared at him.

They raised me. And yet when I looked at him all I saw was death and decay. All that followed a Strigoi in its wake was death. When I stared at him, I felt a sense of dread. Did I recall feeling like this when I was living with them? No, absolutely not. They didn't eat me, so that had to be something – and the reason I didn't fear them.

He grabbed my arm and started pulling me up. I tried to scratch him off but I could barely concentrate. When I was almost pulled up the entire way I looked over at Clara and all I saw were guardians fighting off the Strigoi. Approximately six Strigoi, seven including the one that's got a hold on me, and about ten guardians including transport. I looked over in time to see a guardian lifting Clara into the backseat of one of the academy's personal cars.

She's in good hands now, she'll be ok, I thought. She doesn't need me.

I looked the Strigoi in the eyes and suddenly I remembered my stake tucked into my waistband. I growled in frustration at him, wrestling around, making things difficult. He bit out a curse. I whipped out my stake and after a moment's worth of hesitation, I slashed at his arm, severing it from his body. He screamed in pain, and then he went out of my range of sight.

I fell, backwards too. At least when you're falling forward you know what to expect, and when you're going to smash into water. When falling backwards, all you can see is everything getting smaller, insignificant. I felt as if I was floating away from everything. My feet made contact with the water first, then after sliding into the water, my entire body felt like I'd been stabbed over and over. I stupidly screamed under water at the pain coursing through me and swallowed a lungful of water in return.

Drowning. My second most preposterous, most illogically fear I have. Even Strigoi don't scare me as much as sinking to the bottom of the ocean watching my air bubbles float to the surface. However, my ultimate fear is getting eaten by a shark. Send me into a pit of ten Strigoi with only a butterknife and I'll manage. Coming face to face with a shark, and I start to feel all kinds of crazy mumbo jumbo wash over me.

I stopped trying to swim to the surface. There was no point. What if Clara had passed on? What if I basically just killed my best friend? Would she have survived the crash if she had her seatbelt on?

I sank deeper and deeper; thinking this was it. I didn't struggle or wince at the thought of dying in one of the most horrid ways, in my opinion. I didn't care if they'd morn me at school, or call me a reckless failure of a student training to be a guardian. I had no interest protecting the Moroi. How could I? The bloody enemy brought me up for goodness sake. I was just someone that has emotional blockage from that part of my life – and here I was attending school with a major bloodcurdling secret. If I spilled what had happened, I might as well be classed as a Strigoi. I thought I could attempt to push that part of me behind and walk forward with my life. But I can't. I needed answers.

I felt someone tug me up suddenly but I was so out of it that I couldn't look back. I released my last air bubbles. The last thing I felt was my burning lungs after blacking out.

I regret it instantly when I opened my eyes. I gave a loud protest as a blinding light was held close to my eyes. I winced, closed my eyes tightly and turned my head away.

"Patient's awake," a low voice said. The glowing light faded away from me and I looked through slits before opening my eyes. The first thing I saw was his face. His face. Not her face; not Dr. Olendzki's concerned face. Oh shit.

"Where am I?" I croaked like a drunken sailor.

"You, my dear, are in a hospital," the nurse said, and the doctor was scratching notes in his book.

Hospital. Not the St. Vladimir's sickbay. How the hell did I end up here?

I looked down at my arms and saw there were bandages in random areas. I also felt a big bandage on my lower back. Great.

"You need to be extra careful," the pretty nurse said, gently pushing me back down on the bed. "You need lots of rest. Do you have a job?"

I thought of the first thing that popped in my head. "I'm an architect."

"Aren't you a little young to be a qualified architect?" The doc said, raising his dark eyebrows.

I shrugged. "I'm the ultimate nerd. I aced it through school."

"Right," he said, not believing me.

"Who brought me in?" I asked, abruptly changing the dying subject.

"A woman. She said she saw you falling off a bridge-"

"What'd she look like?" I demanded, sitting up quickly and feeling queasy again.

"Hey," the nurse said cautiously, pushing me back down again. "Easy now. She had dark hair and a white complexion. Do you know her? All she said was that she was walking along the bridge when you fell off. My God, what were doing-"

I zoomed out and just kept watching her worried expression as she continued chastising me. Dark hair, white complexion. I remembered being pulled, by what I was uncertain. All I knew was that they were bloody strong.

I remembered the water pushing passed me as I was towed to the surface.

One word kept echoing in my mind – Strigoi.

I smiled cheerfully at her. "I saw a dolphin and silly me leaned too far over the edge and poof! I fell," I said, interrupting her.

The doctor came around to the side of my bed and held up a plastic bag with what I assumed would be my medicine. Joy.

He ran through the details of my condition and how to take the prescriptions. All in all, I needed a lot of rest and to be wary of my neck – which stung like a bitch. The doc gave me a heat pack to ease the pain slightly before I was allowed to go. Walking in general made me feel a little dizzy but I didn't dare ask to stay here in the hospital. I needed to get to a pay phone and fast. I took the elevator to the bottom floor before exiting. It was late afternoon and soon it'd be dark. I had no way of getting to St. Vladimir to see how Clara was going.

I scanned the area outside and found a pay phone. I started running for it before I remembered my neck and head were basically on fire. I abruptly stopped, sucking in a shakily breath and winced from the dizziness and pain. I made my way slowly to the phone. I remembered having a dollar in my pocket and brought it out. I reached to plop it in– then stopped.

Who was I going to call? Clara's phone wouldn't be on her. I didn't recall the academy's number and apart from those two numbers, who else do I call to pick me up?

I tapped my jean pockets and proceeded to feel into them and felt something smooth. I frowned. I grabbed it and held it up to my eyes just to double check that I wasn't imagining it. I must have hit my head pretty hard because I was holding up a hundred dollar note. No way. No bloody, friggen way was it mine. I didn't keep money in my pocket either and I was broke – like three weeks ago. So where did I get the money from?

I knew her face would pop up in my head as soon as something suspicious occurred. I closed my eyes, remembering every feature of her face. She regarded me as if I was made of gold. A memory had tugged at my thoughts when our eyes met – of someone spinning me around, laughter filling the air as we twirled and twirled. Everything was blurry, as it had been for many years. I'd chosen to forget about my past. I'd chosen not to remember their faces. The pain and torment of hearing their screams was bad enough let alone try to remember the good times I'd shared with them.

Surprisingly, a tear slid down my cheek as my eyes opened.

But everything I thought about her, I knew there was more to it than simply exchanging eye contact. I had known her that I was certain of. I couldn't put a name to her face but I was determined to do just that – as soon as I graduated. Which is why I called a cab and told him to drive in the direction of St. Vladimir's. I told him to drop me off a couple of miles from the secret road I'd take to get back into the academy. He, naturally, thought I was delusional as I set out walking in the direction of the academy with a heat pack on my neck. As irrationally delusional as I was, I knew better than to lead the cab driver to the academy. Such notion was forbidden and was looked down upon if humans knew of our whereabouts. But angry teachers was the last of my problems when a car drove passed me and braked just as quickly minutes after the cab drove off.

Great.

I was not exactly in the best form of fighting a Strigoi but I was beyond pissed off at the distance I'd have to walk just to get to the bloody academy gate so I was sympathetic to any dumbass Strigoi that attempted to mess with me.

I was just about to bite off a warning when the passenger door opened and Guardian Hans stepped out, and looked sharply at me. He ran over and -I kid you not- hugged me. I'd be less surprised if a Strigoi announced his love for me. It took me a few moments to understand what was happening when he pulled away. I looked at him, exasperation evident on my face.

"I failed that test, didn't I?" I asked before he could say anything.

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"The test," I said with emphasis. When he still looked confused, I gestured impatiently with the hand not holding my heat pack. "The one I missed and had to resit it. It was about those stupid training techniques you told me to practice. The ones that make me look like a preschooler? That's why you're hugging me, right? To let me feel the support but really you're just gonna drop me on my ass and say I failed-"

"I hugged you because you're alive," he cut in, as if what he'd said was the most obvious thing in the world.

I stood there, blinking up at him – not quite understanding him.

"So, wait. I did pass the test?"

He sighed in frustration. "Earth to Hope," he said, literally softly knocked on my head. "We all thought you were either taken as food or were killed!"

I winced when he hit my head. "You know, my head is attached to my neck and I've got whiplash and my neck kills. So you knocking my head wasn't a pleasant experience. Please refrain from doing it again."

Again he frowned. "You were planning to walk to the academy on foot, while having whiplash?"

I nodded, before wincing.

He shook his head. "I swear, you remind me of-" he cut off so abruptly that I had to question his reason.

"Who do I remind you of?" I asked, suspicious.

As if realising something important, his eyes took on a darker, sour shade. He gestured to the car. "We'd best be getting back."

With that he led me over to the car. I carefully got in and sat back while he jumped into the passenger seat. A female guardian I didn't know sat behind the wheel, nodding respectfully to me before starting the engine.

My eyes widened with disgust when I noticed I hadn't asked the most important question. "How is Clara?"

I visibly saw the woman cringe at Clara's name. My eyes narrowed. What did they know that I didn't?

"That is why we have to quickly get back to the academy," Hans said uncharacteristically softly.

"Meaning?" I urged on.

There was a pause, meaning Hans hesitated. Hans never hesitated. My head started to pound unbearably.

"We'll be late for the funeral," he whispered and for the first time in my life, I saw a tear fall from Hans's eyes as I stared at him through the side mirror.

There had been arrangements for my supposed death as well. A headstone was made with my name on it with the dates and everything. Four guardians had fallen. They were buried at the school's graveyard. Clara, however, was not. She was buried at a cemetry two hours away from the school, in which those family members that didn't particularly want to venture on into the school could visit her. I thought it was absurd for her not to be buried here, but didn't voice my opinion mostly because I couldn't speak. I hadn't ushered a word since Hans hugged my shuddering form as we exited the car. I was hysterically crying in his arms and shouting that they were all wrong and that they were stupid to pronounce her dead. Until I saw her body. She was Orthodox so her body was taken to church where her body lay in her open coffin. You're supposed to kiss her head as a goodbye. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it without bursting out crying again, so I waited till I was one of the last. Alberta went before me, and when she turned around and walked passed me, her hand brushed my back comfortingly. But I knew I was beyond numb to feel it. I walked up to my now best friend's body and took a deep breath before layering myself down.

"You will be avenged," I whispered before kissing her forehead. A few things of hers were placed near her. With shaky hands, I took her favourite hairclip out of my pocket when I was in our room – my room now. I placed it in her hair and smoothed it back out and then realised I had to be forcefully removed from her because my heart wasn't ready to let go yet. Hans and Alberta grabbed hold of me as I fell, tears burning my eyes again as I was dragged out of the church. The tears kept flowing as I got into Hans's car along with Guardian Alberta and Kirova. No one spoke as numerous amounts of cars left the academy and made our way to the cemetery where Clara's body would be put to rest. It felt like my heart was shaking and yet I wasn't cold in the slightest. I purposely wore a black lace veil over my face so no one would be able to see my tears. I wore all black, along with everyone from school.

The service was short and when her coffin was layered into the ground was the only time I looked up at the faces of my fellow students. Everyone was evidentally upset; some were crying, some even turned away and were uncontrollably crying. Benji stood next to me, always wrapping an arm around me and rubbing my back. Anything and everything to attempt to make the pain ease away from me but knew such a thing was impossible but I was grateful to have him there anyway.

When it was time to leave, I couldn't. I wasn't ready to and begged Alberta to let me stay. I couldn't remember who, but one of Clara's family members vouched to drop me off at the academy when they departed. Alberta was inclined to leave me alone without supervision but Hans came to my rescue. I didn't say goodbye to anyone as they left but Benji squeezed me and kissed my head before leaving. I barely felt it. I barely felt anything after I placed my flower down on grave.

I hung back from her family, wanting privacy. They were more hysterical than I was, which I'd thought was impossible.

I looked up at the downcast sky, hoping it'd rain so badly. Then no none would definitely see my tears.

I stared at my friend's headstone, my one and only true friend that supported me through everything. Who was always there for me, who always joined me in terrorising Kirova.

Never in my entire life would I have thought I'd be doing this – to her. Staring at her grave. Clara was a sweet, funny, charming, and a horribly sarcastic person who could make anyone laugh at her craziness. And now she was put to rest, and yet I knew I wouldn't rest until I set out to kill every one of those bastards. Alberta said that a few Strigoi escaped. All I wanted to do was make them suffer for what they did to my true friend.

I, somehow, heard footsteps come from behind me. I don't know why, but my heart clenched with one word – protect. I slowly turned, my eyes narrowed in a warning with a promise. A woman stood behind me dressed in back and also wore a black veil. Her dark hair was pulled into a messy bun but her face was barely visible. And yet I sensed something familiar about her.

"Hope."

All it took was one word. My name, of all things to say. How'd she know me? What did she want? The roughness of her voice identified her as Strigoi.

I bared my teeth in a not so nice snarl. "Who are you?" I said in a low voice so the others wouldn't hear.

If I was going to exchange words with this monster, they weren't going to be nice.

She moved closer and slowly turned her veil to the side so I could see her.

It was her! I thought wildly.

No, no, no, no this isn't possible. It was someone else. It couldn't be her. She doesn't know my name, she doesn't know me.

But she did say my name, so how the hell did she know me?

Her hair was the familiar dark, wavy hair I saw before in the café. And as she turned to face me, those same eyes regarded me as a friend, not a foe.

She didn't seem to be scared of me or the fact that it was the middle of the day and the sun could appear at any minute. Her eyes locked unto mine for a moment before she regarded the other grieving people. She then looked at the headstone and frowned.

"She was your friend," she muttered, an unrecognisable emotion flashing through her eyes.

I didn't, no, couldn't say a word. All I starred at was her blood red eyes. She was Strigoi. All this time, I've been memorising the number of a Strigoi.

"It seems that death follows us both wherever we go."

Her words stung and my eyes darted towards Clara's grave. Then, as if I was slapped, I looked back at her with shock.

"No, death follows you every time you kill a victim," I spat, unsure of where my courage suddenly came from.

She glanced at me, eyebrows raised. "True. But I was referring to fellow Strigoi as well."

"Strigoi are cut down all around the world because they're evil-"

"For someone who was raised by Strigoi, you sure do have strong opinion about them."

I stiffened and accidentally dropped my purse in which I had my silver stake. I didn't look at it or fumbled to pick it up. For some reason I didn't see her as a particular threat.

"So you do know me," I said softly.

She, startling, was reluctant to look at me. "Yes."

I gulped loudly. "How?"

Her lips were tightly compressed. "I knew your family."

"Sonya," the name spilt out before I could stop it. At the sound of the name, she stiffened.

"I knew her. Back at school she was my teacher," she emotionlessly chuckled. Her face cleared of any emotion as she stared up at me. "You were taken that night. The night of the bombing."

I stayed quiet, in fear of interrupting her. She had information about my family that was crucial to me.

"From what I know Raiden-" she voice broke at his name-" stole you from your family and while Sonya tried to get you back, she was killed."

Just hearing Raiden's name made my heart hurt. He was the one that fed me nightmares.

"Were you close to Sonya?" I asked.

"Very," she said seriously. "I left though, to keep you all safe. Safe from Raiden, which clearly didn't work."

My face paled at her reaction to my question. "You mean, you…you were a part of my family's coven too?"

"I was one of the first members of your coven. I'm also the one that left them to their deaths unintentionally."

"You blame yourself for what happened?"

"Every damn day, yes. Everything that's happened is because of me."

"Why?" I asked exasperatedly.

She cleared her throat before locking eyes with me. "Because Raiden was my husband."

I gasped so loudly that it echoed. No way, that wasn't possible. I remembered Raiden. I vaguely remembered he was part of my family and I remembered his wife. They were so madly in love and were always near me. Especially the wife. She always held me, always read to me and fed me cookies with a glass of milk at the side. She used to throw me up high in the air and then catch me and spin me in circles. She was always around me. She used to let me run me fingers through her long dark hair-

"Rose," I rushed out, clasping my hand over my mouth as tears ran freely down my face.

Rose looked at me with so much relief and happiness that I couldn't help burst out crying. She flew over to me and folded me into a comforting hug.

"It was you," I cried in her shoulder. "All this time, it was you."

"Shhh," she whispered, rubbing my back.

"I thought you perished along with them," I continued. "I was so alone. All I had was Clara and-"

She lifted a finger to my lips. "Your friend has fallen. May she rest in peace."

"But what do I do now? What do we do?" I asked desperately.

"The normal stuff to do when this happens," she said, shrugging.

"And what's that?"

"Avenging your friend's death. By killing those who dare split us apart," she said with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Hope?"

I spun around abruptly and was looking into the eyes of Clara's grandmother. Tears had made her makeup run along with all the women here.

"We're leaving now," she said softly.

"It's ok, I'll be taking her back," Rose came to my defence, layering her veil so the grandmother couldn't really see her eyes. "Hope is my baby sister."

The grandmother nodded before turning back to me. "You were special to Clara. She always spoke fondly of you. May you remember her of the good times you two shared, and not the bad."

She kissed my cheek and nodded to Rose before leaving with the others.

"Her grandmother is right," Rose said softly. I turned back to her and again she lifted her veil and I saw her eyes. The same eyes all Strigoi shared, but I still couldn't get over the fact that I trusted her. A Strigoi of all people.

She shrugged, guessing my thoughts. "Raiden may have destroyed our lives but you wouldn't have met your friend if things didn't turn out the way they did," she whispered. "But I must warn you of something."

"What?"

"When you go out looking for Strigoi and start to avenge your friend by killing the soulless monsters, that I'm refereed to, then it's hard to stop and the more we kill, the more they'll fear us."

"I never said I wanted to stop killing the bastards," I spat.

She nodded, acknowledging that. "Then I guess we better start tracking the little shits down," Rose said, mischief written in her deadly smile.

I glanced back at Clara's grave thinking perhaps leaving her would make her think that I was going to give up on her.

Never, I decided, as I walked with Rose to her car. I'd visit Clara all the time and hope that one day I'd find the Strigoi responsible for her death. Besides, Clara would always hold a special part of my heart. She'd always be in my thoughts.

Then a thought occurred me as we came upon Rose's car. I stopped at the passenger side and looked over to her on her side. She was about to proceed inside before I caught her eyes.

"Why did you give me up?" I suddenly asked, tears threatening to spill."I mean, why leave? Why didn't you just stay and we could have all battled it out against Raiden together."

"Because I knew I couldn't kill Raiden. If it'd come to that, I knew if we all fought we would have all perished, which is why I thought that if I'd left he'd go after me only but…" She looked away, ashamed. "Our family paid the price, so I'm going to attempt redeeming myself and finding out who killed your friend so you won't have to feel as if it's your fault. It's a start."

"But Raiden found you?"

"No. I found him," she said, her eyes growing dark. "I killed his siblings in cold blood for what they've done to us and let the ghosts of our family members drive Raiden to insanity."

"So he's still alive?" I exclaimed.

She shrugged. "The place where he was held was bombed so I doubt it. My only concern was finding you," she said, with a soft smile.

"You never gave up on me?" I wondered out loud, accidentally. I blushed, and looked down. When I looked back up, I saw Rose moving towards me and folding me into a hug.

"You'll never feel as if you have no one again," she promised. "I told you this so many times when you were younger. You are my family, and no matter what happens, I'm never going to give up on you, Hope."

And for the first time since I heard about Clara's accident, I felt free and loved. I wasn't going to go back to the academy and become a guardian. I was going to set out with the only family I had and together we'd make our way through life as one.

I smiled against her shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling the peace I've dreamed on getting from the moment everything was taken from me.

This, I realised, was what I'd daydreamed of every since I memorised her number.

"Hey, do you still have your phone?" I suddenly asked, pulling away.

She, for once, looked sheepish.

"Ah, well, um, no. You see, I may have jumped off the bridge after you and pulled you out of the water and may have forgotten my phone was in my pocket. Maybe," she added, grinning.

I shook my head, exasperated before we both got into the car. Once inside I smelt something so good, I swear I started drooling.

"Hot chocolate," Rose said, gesturing to the take away cups in the cup holders. I grabbed one and gulped it down quickly before exploding.

"Argh! It burns!" I yelled, sticking out my tongue and breathed in and out rapidly.

Rose started the car and put her foot down, laughing. "Emphasis on the 'hot' you shmuck."

"You know, that's the first time I'm going to allow a Strigoi to live after insulting me!"
"There's plenty more where that came from fruit loop," she chuckled and winked at me.

I grinned back, happiness filling my heart and Rose drove onwards to what I hoped was my new home.

The End

A/N: Well folks it's finally over! It's sad to wrap up stories but I hope you all enjoyed it. Stay tuned with my up coming stories for VA :)

I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews. Know that they were the reason that made writing this story fun! :) Thanks for all the support and being patient with me when I took awhile to UD. I apologise tremendusly for the wait. I hope you all enjoyed my story :)

Littlewerepire7