This was the last part of the councils, which is good.

"For the final section of the councils, the following men and women are the guardian side of the damphir council. Head Royal Guardian Alberta Petrova, Alberta was the head guardian at St. Vlad's, Yuri Maslov, who is also a guardian at St. Vlad's, Celeste Williams, also a guardian at St. Vlad's, Guardian Emil Cisco, another guardian from St. Vlad's, Guardian Mikhail Tanner, who is a court guardian, and finally, head court guardian, Guardian Hans Croft. Those are the members of our councils, and as I said before, they are all approachable. So, if you have any worries, concerns or ideas, about anything that could help our people. Please bring them to someone, on one of the council's attention. Thank you all, please resume your previous positions."

Once they had all gotten back to where they were supposed to be, I once again began to speak. This time with determination, to have myself heard and understood.

"Ladies, gentlemen, moroi and damphir alike, hear me and hear me well. We are all that are left, of a once great and mighty nation. And form this day forth, we will pull together and act as such!" The room burst into applause, holding up my hand I asked for silence.

"The human world, is in constant turmoil and continuous war. We will not, I repeat, we will not, be like them. Our civilization is as old as theirs, but we will not descend into chaos, as they have. We will do the exact opposite; we will once again, become the great nation that we used to be. From this day forth, we become a united nation, once again!" Everyone in the meeting hall stood, and applauded so loud the window panes shook.

"No longer, will we be a nation divided by race, money, titles, snobbery or cruelty. The initiative of allowing moroi to fight, and help protect themselves, and the ones they love. Will help bring us closer together as a nation. If you do not want to fight, as you have already been told, you do not have to. But, for the brave souls, that undertake this quest, then I salute you. We will find a way, for you to use your magic, whatever specialty that may be, to help protect yourself and those you care about. Mason Ashford, is opening a self-defense school, for both moroi and damphir, here at court. With the help of Eddie Castile, Lord Christian Ozera, Mia Rinaldi and my sister in law, Victoria Belikova. Those of you that wish, when the school opens, please feel free to sign up for classes. Any and all guardians, that wish to lend a hand in the training, in your spare time, please contact Mason. I am sure, that he will appreciate any and all the help he could get."

A chant broke out, "Queen Rose! Queen Rose! Queen Rose!" That continued for about five minutes, until I once again, raised my hand asking for silence.

"Every moroi that wishes, before the school opens. Training will begin, in both magic defense and offence as well as physical endurance, offence and defense. In one of the gyms here at court, check the bulletin boards, and court website for times and places. If there are any academy students, that wish to learn, there will also be classes set up at each academy. They will be outside of regular class times, so as not to interfere with regular classes. Once you are trained, if you pass the tests that are set forth for you. Then and only then, will you be allowed to fight, alongside your guardians. If someone does not pass the tests the first time, they may continue to train, until they do. Going back to the old ways in this, will save lives, both moroi and damphir. It will also help to make us strong again. The strigoi will be afraid of us again, just as they should have always been!" Again, the applause and cheers shook the building, all the way to its very foundation.

"All damphir, are allowed to love and be with whoever they wish, as long as the feelings are returned. The same goes for the moroi, but only as long as the feelings are returned. And both parties are over the age of sixteen. Anyone, attempting to force, or manipulate someone's else's emotions, will be sent to Tarasov for five years. If it happens again, it will be for life. I will not tolerate, the moroi taking advantage of the damphir, any longer. And let me assure, those of you that don't already know this. Just because a damphir, decides not to become a guardian, it does not make them any less a part of our society. It also does not mean that they are, I hate this word, bloodwhores. If that is what you think of non-guardian damphires, or female damphires at all. Then I can, and will, show you the difference. All of my life, I was called a bloodwhore, simply because the moroi thought I was a damphir. Although I wasn't, those words didn't hurt me any the less. And things like that will not be tolerated anymore!"

Another burst of applause, and cheers broke out in the room. I could hear people stomping their feet, in a show of their support for my words.

I let my eyes pass over Dimitri, he was smiling bigger than I had ever seen before. I could see tears of pride, and love in his eyes, as he watched me. I could feel his pride, that the love of his life, was going to make the changes, that have been needed in our society for centuries.

Looking back to those gathered, I said, "Never think, for one moment, that I expect the moroi to act any more civilized, than I expect the damphir to behave. I expect everyone, to act as they should. And I will not ever, show any more leniency for one race, than I will for the other. As I said, starting today, we are all the same, I don't see races, I see people. Another thing, if anyone is found, to have turned strigoi of their own free will. Wellll, let's just say, that when they are found. I will make the Salem witch trials, look like a walk in the fucking park!"

(DPOV)

The room again shook to its very foundation, as the people cheered and applauded for my beautiful wife. I was so proud of her, it hurt. I could never get people to follow me like this, not with just my words.

That is just one thing, that has always astounded me about my Roza, she is a natural born leader. People will follow her into the depths of hell itself. Simply because they have the faith and belief in her, that she will lead them safely back out.

Even at the academy, during the attack and rescue, even the guardians were willing to follow her and her orders. Simply because they believed in her, and her skills and abilities, to do whatever she set out to do.

"Does anyone have any questions?" My beautiful wife asked.

"You said that Mr. Castile graduated second in your class, and Mr. Ashford third, so who graduated first in the class?"

I could see the blush of embarrassment, flood my wife's cheeks.

"That would be my wife." I proudly answered for her.

A silent shock, descended over the crowed for a moment, before the questions started again.

"Why are you so much better than the others?"

"Two reasons actually. One, is that I had the best mentor to ever be a guardian." She answered, turning to look at me. "Two, is because of my shadow-kissed abilities."

"I thought Ivan Zeklos and Sonya Karp were strigoi."

"They were, but my husband and myself can restore strigoi to their former selves."

"Have you finished interrogating everyone involved with Randall Taurus's crimes?"

"No, due to complications with my pregnancy, I have had to be on bed rest for the last couple of weeks. Which is why the coronation had to be postponed. But, I intend to get back to it soon."

"Has all of the people he had kidnapped, been found?"

"The ones that were still alive, yes."

"Do you know how many he had kidnapped?"

"Almost three thousand."

Gasps, and 'oh my God's', filled the throne room

"How many were found alive?"

"Two thousand and fourteen."

Stunned silence once again filled the room.

"Have you been able to recover any of the bodies?"

"Not many, less than one hundred, actually. We are afraid, that some, if not all of the others, were cremated."

My Roza's answer was met with more silence. I knew this was a difficult thing for my Roza to talk about. Because, for some unknown reason, she felt responsible for Randall having done this. Even though, he had been doing this, since she was just fourteen years old.

(RPOV)

"Are there any more questions?"

"Can you tell us your plans, on dealing with the strigoi?"

"I am sooo glad someone asked that question." She exclaimed excitedly, while clasping her hands in front of her. Making everyone laugh.

"My husband and I, have thought long and hard about this. And we have made a few decisions. The first, was obviously teaching the moroi to help defend themselves. The second, is a bit more detailed, as you no doubt now know, that Dimitri and I, can restore strigoi to their former selves. So, we decided, that if we are attacked, here at court, we will restore all of those, that attack, at once…"

"Is that possible?"

"Yes, for us, it is."

"Now, as for what we are going to do, away from court. We are going to be mobilizing strike teams, who are going to go out in the field and destroy the strigoi, taking the fight to them. These teams will consist of ten guardians, and hopefully, once the moroi are trained, some of them will volunteer to join the teams. But this, like learning to fight, will only ever be voluntary. We are hopeful, that there will be enough moroi volunteers, to be able to have at least one moroi per specialty on each team."

No one said anything, so I continued.

"The object of these missions, will be to end the threat of the strigoi, once and for all. If by some chance, a member of a team is turned, that member is to be wrapped in charmed silver chains. And the nearest spirit user, is to restore them. If Dimitri and I are the closest, then we will come and restore them ourselves."

This statement, must have shocked them, because most gasped, but they all looked stunned at my words.

"Dimitri and I, do not put ourselves above anyone else. We are in this fight, just as much as everyone else. Once the strigoi, that get close to court are restored, they will receive treatment and therapy. I do not know how it feels returning from something like that, and I pray that I never have to find out. Dimitri and myself, can't be turned, but unfortunately the people we care about can be. That is what I meant, by I hope that I never have to find out. I know that it won't be easy for the restored to return to main stream society, right away. And we must respect their needs and help them in any way that we can. If the damphir, that were guardians, wish to return to their guardian positions, so be it. If not, after all that they have been through, we must respect that decision. We owe it to them, after an ordeal like that, to let them do and be what they need to."

I saw several people nodding in the crowd. However, the snobby royals, which there were thankfully less than thirty percent of the royals, looked upset by this information.

"As I said, we are all in this fight together. So, we must pull together as a nation, and protect each other. There is no more of that, 'they come first' bullshit. From now on, we all come first. We will leave no one behind!"

The whole room roared with approval.

"Now, for our communities and academies. The communities that are strictly moroi and damphir, will be fortified. By this I mean, we will have impenetrable, fifteen-foot-high, walls built around them." I watched everyone's reactions to my words carefully.

"On these walls, we will place huge ultra violet lights, as well as cannons and Gatling guns, that can shoot cannon balls filled with charmed silver stakes and bullets, as well as ultra violet tipped bullets. The guns will also shoot charmed miniature stakes and the ultra violet bullets." The guardians looked impressed, while most of the moroi looked confused.

"Also, from now on, every guardian and trained moroi, will be given guns, that shoot ammunition of the same type. We have some weapon designers working on this right now. The academies, will all be upgraded to include the same type of fortifications. As previously stated, classes will be given at the academies for the moroi students that wish to learn to fight. The people that do not live in strictly damphir and moroi communities. We implore you, to either move to one, or move to court. We cannot fortify communities that contain humans." I saw several people nod their heads.