Epilogue
"Where are we going again?" Roza asked, her head lulling to one side in boredom as we continued on our journey. I think that this was the fourth time that she'd asked. I'm wondering how many more times she's going to ask again before we stop answering.
"We're going back to Montana. There's been word that Strigoi are amassing again. Larger numbers than the first time. Apparently, they only call us if Strigoi are amassing in numbers greater than a hundred." Pavel answered, and the Guardian beside him, Kanon, scoffed as he rolled his eyes.
I felt Roza smile beside me at his actions.
"I think I'm going to like you, Kanon," Roza said, her smile bright as the burly Guardian turned around in his seat with a large smile.
"I already like you, Little Bit." He said with a wink. A growl erupted from my throat before I had a chance to quiet it. I could feel the Light bubbling at the surface, begging to be let free, but with the slightest touch of Roza's hand on my arm, I calmed completely.
"Sorry, he gets a little testy when males give me too much attention," Roza said, raising up slightly from her seat to give me a kiss on the cheek. I, however, turned my head quickly to capture her lips in a searing kiss, you know, to prove my point. She eagerly returned my passion as she tangled her fingers in my hair. I wanted to pull her closer to me, but the seatbelt was preventing me from doing such.
"Alright, Belikov, I think he gets the idea. She's off limits, now, retract your tongue from her throat." Pavel growled in a fatherly tone, forcing me to break the kiss far before I wanted to.
"Come on Pavel, we weren't even doing anything that was obscene," Roza grumbled.
"I'm pretty sure he was about to do something obscene if I hadn't have stopped him," Pavel said sternly, his sharp eyes reprimanding me through the mirror. I felt like a teenager again, getting caught making out with the daughter in the back seat of the car. Not that I'd done that before.
Kanon looked a little put out by our display, but Roza was satisfied if her sigh was any indication, even if she did seem annoyed with Pavel's overprotectiveness. He turned back to the front with a huff but stayed quiet.
It had been two years since we'd brought Jill back to Court and got Lissa her spot on the Council. In the first four months on the Council, Lissa fought tooth and nail to get Guardian hunting parties approved by the Moroi Council before it was proposed to the Guardians. Hans was all for it, but it took a little more convincing for other Guardians to get behind it.
There was a huge issue as to where the hunting parties would go. Would they stay just around Court or would they travel to places that were more heavily populated? Would they be sent by the Alchemists using the system they use to keep track of Strigoi numbers? Would they be sent to where there were more reports about Strigoi attacks?
All the logistics had to be worked out by Lissa, with the help of Roza and myself, before the Guardians could start planning what an actual hunting party would consist of and do. Despite being thrust into the Moroi legislation system, Jill was holding her own and providing support and feedback for whatever Lissa was dealing with at the moment.
The two of them were still trying to figure out their roles as sisters, half-sisters, but it helped more when they both looked at it as friends helping friends. It also didn't hurt having Roza there to mediate for a bit, that and Christian's support for Lissa and his growing friendship with Jill.
After we'd made sure that Jill was settled at Court, we had completed our mission, and Roza and I returned to New York to continue hunting. Well, Roza wanted to return to the city and keep hunting. I was happy to follow her anywhere. Manhattan was now the safest place for Moroi to visit outside of Court, all thanks to Roza's mission to rid the city of Strigoi one nightclub at a time.
She was known by many names amongst the Strigoi, both in the city and around the nation. Dark Temptress, Angel of Darkness, Soul Reaper. I think her favorite was just Darkness. She thought it fitting. Most of the time they only referred to Roza when talking about the avenging Darkness, but I was always there, right beside her.
After losing her so many times, there wasn't a chance in this world or the next that I was leaving her side. Not even death could stop true love, and she was mine. We roamed the streets of New York almost every night, making sure it was safe. I was pretty sure that Roza was going to move locations soon because the number of Strigoi had dropped so drastically.
I wasn't too surprised when Adrian decided that he was going to follow us, mostly Sydney, back to the city for a long-term stay, but I was surprised that Jasper was alright with it.
"I've got to say that she was never this happy when she was with me." He told me once, watching to two as they sat in the sand. Everyone in the house seemed to get along fine with Adrian, and Abe enjoyed having another kindred soul around, both in personality and being a Moroi. I forget sometimes that Abe is a Moroi and has surrounded himself with Dhampirs.
He isn't like other Moroi. He doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, prefers it actually, so he gets along fine in the rough and tumble of the Guardian life.
Once the hunting parties were approved by both Councils, the queen personally invited Roza back to Court to help assemble and train the first hunting party. She was on the fence about it, but she also knew she'd made a promise to Lissa to come back and help start the hunting program. After discussing it with me, we traveled back to Court, much to Lissa's delight.
I could tell the Roza was having a wonderful time being back with her friends, but she was doing it on her own terms and not as a Guardian. Well, in a sense she wasn't a Guardian. She wasn't a traditional Guardian, she was Roza.
I had a feeling that once the hunting parties were more firmly planted at Court, Roza would want to go back to her own team hunts in a large city. We'd cleaned up New York enough for it to be safe again, but there were plenty of cities out there that could use a year's worth of scum removal courtesy of Roza.
Our hunting party, the first one ever, consisted of Roza, Pavel, two Palace Guardians Erik and Nathanial, and myself. We mainly focused around the area of Court, hunting smaller more efficient groups of Strigoi that stalked the roads leading to Court for when Moroi left the wards. With the success of the first hunting party, more were formed from volunteer Guardians, still approved by Roza and myself. There were three other hunting parties that were larger, and we tended to help out with the large hunts also, but we liked to stay in the area around Court.
Lissa was currently trying to get Moroi to be involved in the hunting parties, but that was harder to sell to the Moroi Council than to the Guardian Council. The Guardians had been pushing for Moroi to aid in fighting Strigoi for decades, and we were once again voicing our support, not that they were really listening to us. With the help of Christian and Jill, the idea of Moroi offensive magic was quickly gaining ground, though, especially with the younger generations.
In the middle of our first year back at Court, the Dirty Dozen was called upon the first time. Somewhere near the Canadian/American border, Strigoi were teaming up to target travelers entering and exiting the two countries. During that battle, two members were killed before the team could either take the Strigoi down or send them running.
I replaced one of the two dead team members, much to Roza's chagrin. She didn't want me there because it would put me in harm's way, but I didn't want her there because it would put her in harm's way. With both of us there, we could keep an eye on each other, and we always did work better together. While it didn't make her feel any better having me there, it made me feel better being there to watch her back.
Kanon replaced the second one, and this was the second time in a year that we had been called upon because of the excess number of Strigoi gather in one place. At first, the rest of the Dozen, other than Pavel of course, mocked Roza because she was so young. It also didn't help that she was the only female member of the Dozen. Due to the already sparse number of female Guardians, not many females surpassed males in fighting efficacy, but after seeing Roza fight, the team knew her to be the most formidable opponent amongst them all.
That's why we were on the road. We were heading back to St. Vladimir's. The twelve of us had split into three cars, Kanon drawing the short stick and being stuck in the car with the three people that were already a family.
While the Dirty Dozen worked extremely well together, mostly due to their experience in the field, we didn't really know each other that well nor did we complement each other's fighting styles, other than Roza and me, of course. The Alchemists don't call on us that often, but when they do, it's because something horrible is about to happen.
"Where are you usually assigned, Kanon?" Pavel asked, glancing back at me through the rearview mirror. I suppose he thought if I knew the man better, I'd be more inclined to get along with him. Highly unlikely.
"I'm a private hire. I'm usually hired by Moroi to accompany them on their more clandestine meetings." He provided, a smirk crossing his face as he skirted around his usual workplace setting.
"You're a promised Guardian, and you hire yourself out as a discrete bodyguard for Moroi that like to go to strip clubs instead of home to their wives?" Roza asked in an unamused tone. I could feel the disgust growing in her. It seemed that she might not like Kanon after all.
"That's exactly what I do, Little Bit, and I enjoy every minute of it. It gives me an excuse to go to the strip clubs without looking like a complete pig. My job is to make sure the Moroi don't get killed by Strigoi, but that doesn't mean I can't look and touch in the meantime." Kanon said, looking a little too pleased with himself.
"You'll find someone one of these days that will make you leave that life behind," Roza muttered, leaning her head on my shoulder. While I found that hard to believe, I also didn't think I'd meet anyone that made me question my job, my duty, but she was sitting right beside me.
"How far out are we, Pavel?" I asked after kissing her temple.
"We've got an hour or two more. The Alchemist say that they're still gathering around the St. Vladimir areas, but they don't know what they could be planning other than an attack on the school." Pavel said.
"Why do they always target St. Vladimir's? Why can't they target a Moroi school somewhere cool, like St. Basil's? I wouldn't mind going back to Russia, and I'm sure that the Belikovs would be thrilled to see us." Roza said, looking up at me with bright eyes.
"We'll discuss a trip out there when we get back to Court," I said, answering her unasked question. She gave me one of her breathtaking smiles before closing her eyes and leaning her head on my shoulder again.
"Should we be concerned that this is the second time we've been called upon in the last year?" Pavel asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I wouldn't be too concerned about it. We've been making a noticeable dent in the Strigoi population in the past couple of years, they were bound to get smart eventually and start working together. The larger groupings call for larger targets, and other than Court, the largest population of Moroi are the schools." Roza answered, her eyes still closed as she tried to rest before having to be at full functioning capacity.
"Why not attack human populations?" Kanon asked. I suppose that he spent the majority of his career in human locations. Humans were plentiful, but they didn't taste anywhere near as delightful as a Dhampir, and they couldn't hold a candle to Moroi blood, especially royals.
"Strigoi are addicts, too. They get hooked on Moroi blood. If they had Moroi blood in the early feedings of their undead life, they're not going to want anything else. Human blood is necessary for survival sometimes, but if you're working in a large group to acquire Moroi blood, there's no reason to turn it down." I answered, only feeling slightly bad about my response.
Kanon turned his head to raise an eyebrow at me, but Roza's eyes snapped open to give him a harsh glare. His face lost any accusation that he was about to throw my way, and his gaze returned to the road in front of us.
"And you say I'm the testy one." I chuckled in her mind. She lightly swatted me with the back of her hand before she relaxed back into me.
"You know you love it." She grumbled lightheartedly.
"Alberta is going to meet us once we arrive," Pavel informed us, looking back at Roza with a kind smile. I could feel Roza's excitement grow at the mention of the much-missed Guardian. "She'll have rooms ready for us, and hopefully we can rest a bit before we start looking at logistics. The Alchemists should still be sending over their reports."
"I can't wait," Roza said with a broad smile. Her eyes were shining bright, and I think she forgot our real purpose for going back to St. Vladimir's, but Kanon wouldn't let her forget.
"Are you really that excited to fight Strigoi?" He asked, giving her an incredulous look.
"I mean, yes, but I'm more excited to see Alberta," Roza answered in a serious tone.
"What is wrong with you?" Kanon asked, his eyebrows furrowed in utter confusion.
"You mean you don't like ridding this world of Strigoi?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Fighting Strigoi means you're fighting Death." Kanon deadpanned, his eyes wide as he looked back and forth between Roza and me.
"We've fought Death before, and we've come out the other side unscathed. It also helps that we have an advantage that the rest of you don't have." Roza said with a shrug. I chuckled as Kanon's eyebrows drew further together when Roza mentioned our advantage.
Before he could ask the question that I could tell was on the tip of his tongue, Roza slowly sent out a dark tendril and laughed as Kanon tried to scramble back, hitting his head on the roof of the car in the process. Hoping to get all the fear out at once, I reached out to tangle my own bright tendril around hers.
If possible, his eyes grew wider in disbelief. Pavel couldn't hold back his laughter any longer and neither could I. Kanon looked between the three of us as if we'd lost our minds. Roza and I pulled our magic back in us, and Kanon relaxed slightly in his seat.
"Would you like to explain what that was?" He asked in a shaky voice. It was comical, to say the least, to see the burly Guardian as shaken as he was. It wasn't like he hadn't seen magic before, but he'd never seen it out of two Dhampirs.
"That," Pavel cut in as his laughter quieted to just chuckling, "was why these two are so good at what they do."
"I was bound to Princess Vasilisa for a few years, meaning she brought me back from the dead. I died in the same crash that killed her family, but she was only able to bring me back. As a part of the bond, I took the crazy that builds up from being a Spirit user. When I tapped into that crazy, I found this." Roza explained, swirling her Darkness around her. Kanon seemed to follow so I jumped in with my own explanation.
"After I was restored, I connected with Roza, well, reconnected with her. She really brought me back to life, which in a way provided me with my own sort of magic." I said, swirling my Light around Roza's Darkness. "Roza died a couple years ago during a particularly nasty battle involving both Strigoi and Guardians. A rogue Guardian shot her, and she died. Because of our connection and the magic she'd gifted me, only accessible through the restorative process mind you, I was able to bring her back as she had me. We're bonded now, and she's no longer bound to the princess."
"So, what you're saying is that no one else has this ability?" Kanon stated after starring at us for a few silent minutes. I could see that we were getting closer to the academy, and I was looking forward to seeing some of my old colleagues again.
"Not unless you want to go through a long and painful process, and I wouldn't even suggest that." Roza quipped as she shuddered at the memories.
"There's also no guarantee that it would work again," Pavel added, adding to the fact that it wasn't something to experiment with.
"I wasn't suggesting that we replicate, I was mearing pondering if it could be researched and possibly used to our advantage," Kanon said, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. Roza narrowed her eyes at him again, but she let it go, though I think it was mostly because the gates of St. Vladimir's were peeking over the horizon.
Being the middle of the Moroi night, we didn't have to worry about Strigoi on the road, nor did we have to be fussed about unwanted attention. Looking behind us, I could see the two other cars that were tailing us winding their way down the long drive.
"Welcome back, Comrade," Roza said with a dazzling smile as Pavel stopped to talk to the gate attendant.
As we pulled up in front of the Guardian Building, Alberta was already there waiting for us. I could practically see her bouncing on the balls of her feet as the car pulled to a stop, but before Pavel could put the car into park, Roza had flung the door open and rushing into the waiting arms of the head Guardian.
"It's so good to see you, Alberta." I heard Roza mumble as I climbed out of the car to greet my former boss myself.
"It's great to have you back, Rose." Alberta smiled and pulled her closer. "It's also great that you brought Belikov back. However, from what I've heard, you two should have been back years ago."
"Sorry about that, Alberta, Roza never likes to do what's expected of her." I laughed, and Alberta released Roza only to pull me into an equally tight hug.
"Don't blame this on me!" Roza exclaimed in mock offense.
Alberta laughed and greeted both Pavel and Kanon along with the other eight members of our team.
"You guys have got some time before we need to start preparing. Go get some sleep and we'll start in the morning." Alberta said kindly, handing each of us a set of keys, other than Roza and me. "Well, our morning. We'll meet in the conference room."
Roza and I bid her goodnight and retired to our room for the remainder of the night, getting as much sleep as we could before the event of tomorrow really started. I didn't know what to expect from the growing Strigoi in the area. I didn't know if I would once again need to defend the school that I'd died trying to protect.
However, I did know that I was going to do it with Roza by my side. She was my soul mate and the only person that could bring me back from the dead, quite literally. She balanced me as I did her. Two sides of the same coin, working together to accomplish the impossible, like bringing down an entire Strigoi army.
She is the Darkness to my Light.
That's a wrap, folks!
Thanks again for sticking with me (for those of you who happened to join early on) and jumping on board when you did (for those of you who found me a little later). I truly appreciate all your kind words (I know I say that a lot but I truly mean it).
I've got like four stories in the works as of right now, but none of them are even close to being finished. I've made a resolution to become more disciplined and not start posting a story until I have it complete (less stress for me and faster updates for you).
I hope you all have had a wonderful year thus far (hang in there if you haven't, things always get better). If y'all have any questions, comments, concerns, or just want to chat, feel free to PM me. Until then, I'll just be writing and writing and writing.
I'll see you in the next one!
~Victoria