Hey guys! Just warning you that there IS graphic violence in this chapter. It was a little hard for me to write this one. It's quite brutal, so be aware if you can't handle that kind of thing. Thank you all for reading and supporting my writing.


I couldn't even count how many strigoi there were. Too many was all I knew. They came from all directions, taking us down in a matter of seconds. My fast reflexes kicked in, and it wasn't long before I started to fight back. Most of these people had been dhampirs before their transition and had some kind of guardian training. They were strong and knew how to fight, but the rest of us were trained just as much.

I had two strigoi on me which made things harder, but I managed. I had a new sense of vitality as I used every possible open space, dodging them thoroughly. I twisted out of their grasp before kicking one of them in the stomach, making them fly all the way across the room. Their partner, a woman, was flat out surprised by my strength. Any other dhampir didn't have the power to do that.

"You must be the one," she realized. "You're Marie. You're the one with the golden blood, aren't you? Sebastian promised us." Golden blood?

"You're not getting anything," I snarled. She was already charging for me again, and I dodged her at the last second, shooting my leg out behind her knees. She fell on her side, but I wasn't about to let her up. Instead, I pinned her down with my weight and shoved the stake through her chest, piercing her heart. Her red eyes stared up into mine, completely startled until her muscles ceased and her head dropped. As soon as her heart stopped beating, I pulled the stake out.

I heard a loud groan of pain and snapped my head up to find Dimitri now getting tackled by the same man I had thrown earlier. The floor around him was covered in dead bodies and it didn't take me long to realize he had killed all of them.

"Dimitri!" I shouted, lunging at his attacker. This one in particular was harder to get a hold of, but with two people against one, we were winning. His leg swung out and knocked me in the head, causing me to topple over. He probably thought he could overpower me now that I was down, but I wasn't about to let that happen. My stake was out of my hand at this point, so I used my nails to my advantage and dug them into his eyes. He shrieked, instinctively grabbing my wrists. His pain was relieved when a silver stake pierced his back, coming all the way through his torso.

Dimitri pulled the stake out, moving the now dead body off of me before the weight could crush me. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling me up.

"Are you?" I asked incredulously, taking a look at his appearance. There was a bloody cut right above his eyebrow, and a painful bruise was starting to form on his left cheek. Part of his lip was starting to swell.

"Don't worry about me. He hit your head pretty hard," Dimitri pointed out, tipping my chin sideways to inspect the damage on the side of my forehead.

"I'll heal," I told him. "We should—"

"Watch out!" he shouted, shoving me behind him again. There were still others, so I grabbed my stake and started fighting again. Together, Dimitri and I fought like warriors along side each other. His training was really paying off. The fact that he alone had killed all those strigoi—more than I could even count—was beyond me.

I was even more surprised to see my father in one of the rooms, fixated on one strigoi in particular. Beside him laid a shattered vase, surrounded by a pile of spilled dirt and a green plant...which started to grow bigger and bigger. It moved at a rapid pace, wrapping itself around the man's body in a vice-like grip that didn't allow his limbs to escape. Abe had an evil grin on his face as he watched him struggle against his bindings. I realized he was using his magic to his advantage. I had almost forgotten Abe was an earth user—and a total badass.

He finished him off by plunging a stake into the man's chest before letting go of his magic. I was astounded. Not only did my father know how to use a stake and fight like a guardian, but he also knew how to use his magic as a weapon.

I didn't stay to watch as I suddenly heard the chilling cry of a young child. Nobody else could hear it with all the commotion, but I could. I recognized that child's voice from a mile away. It was coming from the second floor, so I quickly bolted up the stairs. Once I reached the top, I cursed, noticing how big this place really was. I figured checking all the rooms would take way too long, so instead, I listened closely again for the cries.

They were faint now, but they were there. They were coming from a closed room—the farthest one down one of the hallways. Seeing that it was clear up here, I creeped down the hallway. The closer I got, the more I could hear the cries.

I couldn't let myself wait any longer, so I carefully opened the door. Now, everything was clear, and my suspicions were confirmed. The light from the hallway lit up the dark room, and there she was. Bundled up into the corner, sitting in a fetal position with her messy blonde hair covering the sides of her face. Her blue eyes looked up into mine, and her tears glistened through the light from the hall.

"Rose?" she croaked. Oh god, she sounded so scared and vulnerable. This poor baby.

"Nevaeh!" I cried, rushing to her side. She crawled away from the corner, and I dropped to my knees, pulling her into my arms. Deep down, I was overcome with joy and relief that she was alive and okay. I was, however, more concerned by how fragile and small she felt compared to the last time I had hugged her. She was a little bit skinnier now—a sign that she hadn't been fed properly. She was cold too, and vampires only really turned cold when they weren't drinking enough blood. Part of it could have also been the emotional effects of being traumatized and alone. Either way, she was weak and fragile.

"I'm here, baby, I'm here. It's okay now," I whispered, tightening my hold on her. All she could do was cry, so I rubbed her back and tried to calm her down as best I could. She mumbled something against my shoulder, but I couldn't hear her as everything was muffled. I pulled back, cupping her face and looking her in the eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"He's—h-he's here," she choked. A chill went down my spine when she said that. It was almost like she was telling me there was a ghost in the room, but I knew it wasn't. I wished it was.

"Who's here?" I asked her, though I was pretty sure I already knew. Her petrified eyes and her gasp of fear as soon as someone's shadow loomed over us answered my question.

And then came some footsteps from behind me. Slow, taunting footsteps that echoed in the giant space. I heard a man's laughter behind me, and it wasn't just anyone's laughter. It was one I both recognized and hated.

"There she is," he said proudly. "I was wondering when I'd see you again. It's been so...dull without your presence here. I really have missed you, Marie."

My heart was pounding, but for the sake of the young child, I stayed calm. I stood, keeping my stake wrapped tightly in my hand while shoving Nevaeh behind me to protect her from the monster in front of me. Behind him, there were two dhampirs, ones I knew—guardian Miller and guardian Sanders. The two men who had been with me the night I was kidnapped.

Sebastian stood there, poised in a new ray of immortality. I felt the colour drain from my face when I realized he was no longer a moroi. He was a strigoi now. His eyes were even deadlier than Kira's had been, but I wasn't afraid. Instead of looking away, I returned his stare with a cold one of my own. When I looked at him, all I could see was the pain and emotional torment he had put me through. I replayed myself getting raped by others. I replayed the sight of him looking down at me while I was strapped down and begging for him to let me go. I remembered the burning pain in my neck when he injected Kira's venom into my body—the last night of my life as a normal dhampir.

All the anger started to flow to the surface. The fact that I was low on blood and probably not nearly as strong—being only half strigoi—wasn't even a concern to me. I wasn't afraid. I was strong.

"You've changed since the last time I saw you," he pointed out. He started pacing in a circle, and I kept Nevaeh behind me the whole time while keeping my eyes on him and his guards. "You're stronger now. Tougher. You'd be a strong ally if you joined my team."

I laughed at his stupidity. "You are deluding yourself if you think I'd ever join you."

"Think about it, Marie! With your blood, you can build an army. You can have followers. You can have all the money and power in the world. Deny it all you want, but you're a part of us now. Join me. Give me your abilities, and I'll give you whatever you want in return."

"I will never join you, and I will not hand myself over on a silver platter. You are the most vile, twisted, repulsive being I've ever met in my life. You kidnap teenage girls for profit! You are the cause for people's suffering and torment! You created an army of evil beings and kidnapped a four-year-old girl!"

"Yes, yes I did. And guess what? It all worked out perfectly. You won't have your crew of guardians helping you now that they're distracted. Your little cub Nevaeh was the bait. But you know what else? She can be just as deadly and powerful as you."

At this point, he was backing me into the corner. Behind him, somebody else stepped into the frame, knocking both of the guards to the ground with some kind of weapon. For god's sake, it was Damian. He shouldn't have been up here. I wasn't even sure how he had gotten up here in the first place. He was supposed to be surrounding the perimeter outside, and the only way I could think of him getting up here without getting caught in the fight downstairs was climbing up through a window.

Damian had a crowbar in his hands, and he was getting ready to swing again. Sebastian spun around just as Damian swung the bar, hitting the side of his head and causing blood to spew. He groaned in pain, falling over for a brief moment while clutching his head.

"Go!" I yelled, shoving Nevaeh in his direction with force. He didn't waste another second and grabbed her, running for the door. He only made it a few feet before Sebastian suddenly leapt out, grabbing Damian in a flash. I pulled Nevaeh into the corner again, trying to ease her fear. Damian was actually doing a very good job at fighting. I had no idea where he had come from before I met him or where he even learned all of this, but he was good.

Unfortunately, being human had its disadvantages here. Damian was strong, well built, and good at fighting, but he was inevitable against a strigoi. And, I could see very well now that he was running out of energy. Sebastian was one tough case.

Sebastian's guards were already back on their feet again, and they were ready to attack me. My reaction was quick, and after fighting off a bunch of strigoi downstairs, these guys felt like a piece of cake to me. I reminded myself not to kill them since they were dhampirs, but got enough hits in to make them falter. It was so hard to think that these two were once friendly people at the academy. They had seen me in my trials and once acknowledged me as one of their own. Now, they were enemies. The betrayal was real.

After driving the last few hits home, I knocked both of them out. Since they were unconscious and out of my way, I returned to the other matter.

"Damian, get out of here!" I commanded, throwing my arms around Sebastian's neck from behind him and holding him in a head lock. He struggled profusely, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold him for long. "Get out!" I repeated. "I've got him!"

Damian was so beaten. If he didn't leave now, he had a high chance of getting killed. Even then, he didn't give up. "I'm not leaving you."

Sebastian broke out of my grasp, charging for Damian again. This time, his fangs were fully out as he pinned him against the opposite wall. He was going to feed on him. I screamed, desperately trying to tell him to stop, but it was no use. Sebastian already had his fangs in Damian's neck, drinking hungrily and sucking the life out of him.

I went after him again, but he swung around at the last second, backhanding me so hard that I fell. I was becoming increasingly thirsty and weak. The blood that was falling from Damian's open bite wounds didn't help.

"Now that I've got you all under control," Sebastian started, "I'm going to propose a deal."

I moaned in pain, struggling to get up as he marched over to Nevaeh, abruptly pulling her up. I watch in horror as his hands wrapped around her head, positioning them so that they were ready to snap her neck. She would not stop crying.

"Give yourself over," he ordered, "or she dies now."

I had two options here. I could attempt another fight on my own, but I was in bad condition. I had fought so many tonight with no blood in my system. Physically, it was draining me. There was also the other option—handing myself over. It went against everything I ever believed in. I never gave in. I always fought back, but when I saw Nevaeh in Sebastian's tight grasp, just seconds away from her death...I couldn't bear the thought. It was like the situation with Mason all over again. A strigoi had snapped his neck because of me. I couldn't let the same thing happen to her.

"Okay. Fine," I said quietly, putting my hands up in surrender. "I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt her.

"Drop the stake," he said. I obeyed him and placed the stake on the ground beside me. Behind me, I could still hear Damian breathing. He was still alive.

"Over here. On your knees." Sebastian pointed to the ground in front of him, and I clenched my teeth, feeling completely humiliated as I slowly sank to my knees. I locked my gaze with Nevaeh's, and I started to notice something else swirling in her eyes. Her tears had briefly stopped, and she closed her eyes, letting the hands she had on Sebastian come loose. She didn't even look scared anymore. What was she doing?

Sebastian's face started to falter and his neck spasmed. It almost looked like he was being suffocated by some kind of force. He couldn't breathe. It was strange and unexpected, but after taking another look at Nevaeh who looked like she was concentrating, I realized she was using magic. I didn't even know she could use it at all, let alone as a weapon. We were always taught that it wasn't physically possible for a moroi to use magic like this at a young age.

Her magic didn't last long, but it was enough for me to get a hold of him again now that he was distracted. My stake was out of my reach, so I pinned him down with my weight and punched him over and over again. I was so angry and out of control now. It was months worth of built up anger just rising to the surface. If each hit could equal the amount of people he tortured or killed, I'd be going on all night.

In a flash, he rolled me onto my back, reaching for my stake. Sebastian pulled it up, taking his aim before bringing it the stake down.

I was left completely breathless, too stunned to even utter words. The stake had gone through the middle of my chest, right in between my breasts...and right where my heart was. I couldn't even begin to describe how bad the pain was. Even with all the adrenaline, I could still feel it. The fact that it was a silver stake—the only weapon that could truly hurt me—made it so much worse. It was agonizing.

I could already feel myself losing consciousness, struggling to stay awake as Sebastian ripped the weapon out. Was this it for me? Had the stake pierced my heart? Was I really going to die here at his hands?

No. Keep going, Rose. Please don't give up now. You have to keep fighting. I had always promised myself I wouldn't go down without a fight. If I was going to die now, I had to end things off. I needed closure. I refused to go out in defeat.

Sebastian's hands wrapped around my throat, tightening to the point where my breathing was restricted. "I can have it all now," he whispered to himself. "You were my most precious creation. If I can't have you...no one can. But I still have her."

My words came out in between coughs. "No—you—don't!"

With the little strength I had left, I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I shoved my right hand into his chest, pushing past his sternum and grabbing onto his heart. He stilled, eyes going wide as he stared down at me in shock. Using my left hand, I pushed his body away from mine while moving my right hand in the opposite direction, effectively pulling out his heart. Sebastian now laid dead on the ground, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

I could hardly breathe, and I was losing so much blood. I could feel it gathering into my lungs, causing me to cough repeatedly. I looked over to my left side, now seeing Damian who was completely unconscious. I could still hear a slow, faint pulse, indicating that he was still alive—but barely. Downstairs, I could still hear a bit of a commotion, but the fight was dying down now.

And then came Nevaeh's cries. Usually, hearing kids cry like this was annoying and obnoxious to me, but right now, all I felt was heartache. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and tell her everything would be okay. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but I couldn't. I couldn't talk or breathe. All I could do was lie there helplessly and cry with her.

She got up from where she was huddled, planting a tear-filled kiss on the top of my head before running for the door. "Help! Help me, please!" she screamed at the top of the stairs.

I could hear voices from downstairs now. The fight was definitely coming to an end now. I wasn't sure who was talking, but they were rushing up the stairs. "Nevaeh! Oh god, you're okay. What's going on? Where's Rose?"

"Sh-she...she's in there! She's bleeding! Please help her," Nevaeh begged. Whoever she had been talking to ran into the room, gasping at the scene before her. It was Alberta.

"Rose! Rose, can you hear me? I'm going to get you some help, okay? Stay with me."

She started calling for backup, both through her earpiece and from inside the house. I could hear a man's voice yelling my name, but I could barely pay attention to who it was. I was out for a few minutes until the room became crowded with guardians. They were helping Damian too, checking his pulse before gently taking him out of the room.

The first person to check on me was Dimitri. I blinked several times to actually see him and noticed that he was even most beaten up now than he was before. His skin was pale too, and if it weren't for his worry and concern for me, he probably would have passed out. He needed help. He needed medical attention.

"We're going to help you, Roza. Don't you dare give up now, you hear me?" he said.

"I'm—" I choked on some blood, struggling to get my words out. "I'm so tired." I started coughing again. I was in so much pain. I just wanted it all to end. I wanted to sleep.

"We need to get her into the helicopter. Quickly," Dimitri ordered, picking me up into his arms. He ran as fast as he could without making my injuries worse, keeping a tight hold on me as he brought me outside. "Stay strong, Roza. You'll be okay soon."

Although he wasn't looking, I smiled up at him. He was safe. Nevaeh was safe. My friends and family were safe too. It was all I ever wanted. I could die peacefully in the arms of the person I loved most.

Soon enough, the pain started subside, and I knew I was on the brink of death. With a tear running down the side of my face, I closed my eyes, whispering the words, "I love you."


Was the end of the chapter too cheesy? I thought it was but I also kind of liked it. I don't know. What did you think of the fight? Was it too much? Please let me know with a review down below! I'd love to hear your thoughts especially with this chapter being so intense. Anyways, stay safe everyone! x