Chapter 37: Free Fall

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy

****Caution! This chapter contains slightly dark themes. Proceed at your own risk. Happy reading!

RPOV

Spring break had come and gone and Lissa and I along with Eddie and the rest of her royal guard had returned to Lehigh. She had nearly recovered from her bout of spirit madness and was hopefully on the road to recovery. I watched her take her meds every morning before we went to class. She said it was like part of her was dead, but she was trying to deal with it the best she could.

We only had about a month until Easter, it was so late in April this year that afterwards there would only be two weeks of the semester left before finals. It was going to be pretty hairy so I tried my hardest to keep Lissa focused on her studies. It was hard because she had tons of royal business to take care of regarding the moroi who had complied with the law and the unfortunates who hadn't. Paperwork kept piling up and she had pulled all nighters at least three times this week.

It was Thursday night and Mia had come up for a visit with Eddie this weekend so it would just be Lissa and I studying for our huge business law exam we had on Tuesday.

"Can you go over it one more time?" she asked. I sighed heavily and repeated the cause of action in the case we were studying.

"Ugh, my brain is fried. Do you want to take a break and get some food?" she asked. We'd been at it for nearly three and a half hours. I'd made flashcards and everything. She was determined that she wasn't going to let me get higher marks than her this semester. We'd kind of made it into a competition. So far we were neck and neck with Eddie trailing by two points. Blowing off studying this weekend wouldn't help him any, but by the noises that were coming from his room, school was the last thing on his mind.

"Did Christian say when they were leaving?" I asked.

"Yea, he said they were leaving today. Their plane leaves just after dusk."

Christian and Dimitri were headed to Alaska to Tarasov. Tasha was now permitted one visitor every three months. He would only be able to stay a few hours, but being the compassionate man he was, he wanted to make the best of a bad situation. As his guardian Dimitri had to accompany him. He didn't have to like it and he wouldn't be setting foot in a room with that hideous excuse of a woman at least those were his words the last time I spoke to him about it.

"He said they would call before they left."

It was a seven hour plane ride and they were going to stay the entire weekend. It was kind of a man date or so I'd named it poking fun at them as if they were vacationing together, which technically they were. According to Lissa they were flying out tonight and he'd see Tasha on Friday and they were going to see the sights on Saturday and fly home late Sunday evening which meant Monday on our human schedule. I wished Dimitri were coming to see me instead of escorting Christian, but as they say in France c'est la vie.

"What do you want to eat?" she asked tossing an assortment of take-out menus from local venues all over the middle of the floor.

"Hmm, we had pizza last week and I'm really not in the mood for Mexican. How about we try that Lucky Bamboo place on the corner?" I suggested.

"MMM, I could go for some Chinese," she agreed.

Thirty minutes later Phillips came to the door with two large bags. There were six more downstairs. Lissa had ordered enough so that all of her guardians could eat in shifts.

After dinner it was back to the grind of studying for our test. Mia and Eddie were still in their room and hadn't even come out for dinner. Around eight my phone buzzed.

"Hey Comrade," I answered. Lissa's phone went off just seconds later and I knew they were saying their goodbyes. There was no cell service where Tarasov was. Once they boarded the plane they would be incommunicado until Saturday morning when they reached their hotel outside of Tarasov's confined grounds.

After reminding me to be careful and that he loved me, we hung up. I would be sad not talking to him for a few days, but it was a necessary evil in our lives. Moroi came first. Whatever they wanted to do and wherever they wanted to go we would follow, even if it was as stupid as visiting their crazy loon aunt in her padded cell.

That night we went to bed around eleven both being exhausted. I woke up with a start, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I shouldn't have had that third egg roll, I thought rolling over to see if Lissa was feeling as bad as I was. Only when I looked at her bed, I realized it was empty. I hoped she wasn't puking her guts out like I felt right now. I put on my slippers and made my way to the bathroom. It was dark and flicked on the light finding it empty. The funny thing was that there wasn't anyone in there, but all the drawers had been opened and ransacked.

"Oh shit," I cried, quickly pulling on my jeans and slipping into my hoodie.

"Phillips, I need a visual on Lissa. Have you seen her?" I asked into my ear piece. There was no answer.

"Phillips are you there? I need a visual on Lissa, she's missing," I repeated trying not to sound as frantic as I was.

"Anyone? Is there anyone there?" I called out, but all I got in return was static. All I knew for sure was that Lissa was in danger and it was possible that the rest of the guard had been taken out. I pounded frantically on Eddie's door.

"What is it?" he groaned opening the door. He was just wearing boxers and he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Lissa is missing and the rest of the guardians aren't answering." I told him. Suddenly he was on high alert.

"Where did she go? When was the last time you saw her? How come you didn't hear her leave?"

"If I knew where she went, I wouldn't be here bothering you at three am would I?" I hissed causing him to flinch as he flicked on the lights and began a mad search for his clothes.

"What's going on?" Mia asked.

"Lissa is missing, the royal guard has been incapacitated. All I know is that before she left she ransacked the bathroom."
"So you don't think she was taken?" Eddie asked.

"Not originally, but anything could have happened after she left.

"Why would she leave without telling you?" Mia asked.

"How should I know? Everything was fine before bed. We studied for our business law test, ate Chinese and then went to bed. Mia you should come with us. It isn't safe for you to stay here. We have no idea if there are strigoi on campus or what is going on. Get dressed, we need to find Lissa and fast."

Ten minutes later we'd confirmed from the human coed behind the front desk who reeked of pot, that Lissa had come down looking distraught around one am, only two hours after we'd gone to bed. He said that she was still in her night clothes.

"She's bleeding," Mia whispered as we exited through the front of the dorm.

"What? How do you know?"

"I can smell it. It's all over the floor. Well not really. There's only a few drops, but it is strong to the moroi sense of smell," she explained.

"Do you think you can follow it?" I asked.

"I'm not a bloodhound," she said, rolling her eyes. "But I can try."

My heart was pounding in my chest as we followed Mia in silence, the only sound was our heavy breathing. No one wanted to speculate on what had happened.

"Shh, I hear static," I said creeping quietly over to the bushes that were behind the small campus pond. I gasped at the sight before me. There is a heap on the ground were all the ear pieces from every member of the royal guard sans Eddie and I. There was no one around, just a pile full of very expensive equipment.

"Why would they all ditch their equipment back here? That doesn't fit a strigoi's pattern. Usually they just mame and kill," I whispered.

"She's right it doesn't fit and there is blood here too," Mia said.

"Who's blood?" I asked fearing that the rest of the guardians were already dead.

"Same as before so I'd have to say Lissa's."

Her response did little to ease my worry.

"I hate to say this, but have we thought about the possibility that Lissa is behind their disappearance?" Eddie asked timidly knowing there was a chance I'd snap at him for even suggesting that and in the past I would have no question. Now though after what she had done to me under the influence of spirit just a few weeks ago, I was inclined to agree with him.

"Yes, I've thought of that and I think you might be right. Whatever the case, we need to find her and them too."

"Shouldn't we call the royal court?" he asked.

"And tell them what? Lissa may or may not have butchered the entire royal guard or she may have been taken by strigoi or she might just be a little punch drunk and have wandered off? We need to know what happened before we tell anyone or this place will be swarming with guardians and news teams. I'm surprised that none of the rest of them had time to make the call though." That fact really set me on edge. What the hell had happened to them?

We kept walking through the woods following Mia as she sniffed out Lissa's blood. I was betting right now that her injuries were more self inflicted than accidental. She had been searching the bathroom for a razor blade. I was pretty sure she'd found one and as we came to a clearing in the woods I knew I was right. There at the top of an old abandoned, dilapidated, three story house that was once used for a fraternity, was Lissa. She was alone and walking back and forth on the square roof blood dripping from her wrists and a half empty bottle of liquor in her hand.

"Don't startle her. I'm going to go up there."

"Rose, be careful. You know how unstable she is."

"I'll be fine. It's her I'm worried about," I said pointing to where Lissa was teetering back and forth as she paced like a madwoman. I went into the house and climbed the stairs quietly as not to alert her to my presence. I didn't want to startle her into falling.

I stepped out onto the roof. It was a lot higher than it looked. A fall from this height would surely be fatal. Luckily I wasn't clumsy, but she was drunk and uncoordinated. The sooner I talked her down the better.

"Liss," I said her name calmly. She turned around at the sound of my voice.

"Rose! What are you doing up here? Do you want to fly too?" she giggled. Okay she really had gone off the deep end.

"Liss why don't we go downstairs and talk about this?" I asked trying to coax her inside.

"No, that's okay. I like it out here. I feel free when I'm up here."

"What do you mean free?" I asked cautious not to get too close to her.

"No more tests, no more stupid royal duties, no more deadlines and no more drugs!" she cried pulling a bottle of pills from the pocket of her robe and tossing it over the edge.

"You haven't been taking them?" I guessed out loud.

"Nope!" she giggled nearly falling over the edge herself.

"Be careful!" I cried.

"Rose, I really tried to be good, honestly I wanted to, but it's like cutting off my own arm when I'm separated from my magic. You will never understand. I just can't do it. It makes me want to DIE!" she screamed emphasizing the word die.

"Okay, I get it Liss. I totally do and it's fine. You don't have to take them anymore, but why don't we go home? It's late and I'm tired and everything will look better in the morning." I was terrified that she was going to jump.

"No, I want to stay here. It feels good up here. I'm Queen and I get to make the rules. You'd think that would make me feel like I was on top of the world, but guess what? It doesn't. It just makes me stressed and unhappy and I feel like I'm living in a pressure cooker. I can't please everyone and I certainly can't succeed in school. All that stuff we were studying for the test made absolutely no sense to me. You could have been speaking Japonese for all I knew!"

"Liss, this isn't the answer. You don't have to be Queen. You can resign. Then we can just be normal college co-eds. I had no idea what to say to calm her down. She was acting entirely out of her mind. I was really worried she was going to jump. I gave Eddie a pleading look as he stood with Mia out of Lissa's line of sight.

"Liss can we please go inside and talk about this?"

"No Rose, we can't. Look at what I've become. I don't even know myself anymore. I've been awful. I've done horrible things to you and to Christian. I don't deserve to live anymore. I should have died in that accident with my parents."
"Stop saying that! You know that wasn't you. You used way too much spirit in the wrong way in a short period of time. The medication was supposed to keep the darkness at bay, but you didn't stick with it long enough. You can be better Liss. I know you can. If you had died in that accident, then I would have too. I am so grateful every day that you brought me back. I want to live. I am in love and you gave me the chance to have a second shot at life. I would never have met Dimitri or gone to college or become a guardian. Don't you see? Everything is meant to be. Please come down and we can work this out," I pleaded.

"You think you can solve everything Rose, but you can't! Not this!" she said taking a step towards me. She was only inches from my grasp now. All I had to do was grab her and shove her through the window into the house and we'd be home free.

My eyes darted between her and the window gauging the distance. If I hit her with enough force at the right angle I could pull it off. I prepared myself mentally and physically and just as I was about to throw myself at her she figured out my plan.

"No, I won't let you talk me out of this. I'm going to end it!" she shouted pushing me out of the way just as I moved forward to grab her causing me to lose my footing. I stumbled and a look of panic came across her face.

"Rose noooooooooooooooo!" she cried trying to grab onto me as I plummeted from the top of the roof. These were going to be my last seconds on earth and as I fell my life flashed briefly before my eyes. I registered Lissa's piercing shriek, but I couldn't think about her now. My last thoughts before I hit the ground were of Dimitri and the warmth his love had brought into life. I saw his smile and imagined the sound of his voice earlier as he'd told me he loved me and then there was excruciating pain. It only lasted a few seconds before everything went black.

Okay don't kill me! I had to leave it there. You know I did=) (Waves white flag) So what do you think happened to the guardians? Why didn't Rose hear Lissa leave? Do you think Rose is dead? Answer my questions and I'll post the next chapter a lot sooner. I promise=)