Ivan stood outside the guest housing building at St. Vladimir's. It was the first week of December. A thin layer of snow blanketed the ground. It was such a familiar sight to Ivan and yet so different. He had died here. He couldn't remember where exactly, not anymore, but still the vague memories pressed into him with the awareness that the last time he had set foot where he stood now was the day he had been turned into a Strigoi. A touch on his arm distracted him. Looking to the side, he saw Tasha.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"No, not particularly, but I'll be fine."
She squeezed his shoulder in a gesture both familiar and comforting. For a long moment they stood like that, resting in that quiet connection. Then she lowered her hand and stood with him in the stillness of the night.
Things between them were easier now that they had talked. They weren't together again. A lot remained unsettled. There was still love between them, still attraction. They had even spent a few nights together again, though nothing was resolved. Ivan's time as a Strigoi still lay between them as a painful wound. Tasha wasn't sure how to resolve her feelings about what Ivan had said and done as a Strigoi. Ivan still wasn't sure how to resolve his own feelings about what he had said and done as a Strigoi. So they were somewhere in limbo, trying to become something.
"You should rest before we head out," he said. It was only a few hours until the team gathered at the vans to begin the drive to Sofia's cabin.
"So should you."
He let out a heavy breath which steamed in the frigid air. "I can't." He let a thousand unsaid words die on his lips. There was so much in this place, a deluge of memories and emotions that were tangled and jumbled. How short and fleeting his life had been.
She reached out to him, catching his hand in hers, letting their fingers entwine. "Rest with me?"
Her gentle question warmed him. He squeezed her fingers and nodded. They let go before turning and going back inside the building. Passing through the lobby where the rest of the team was milling around talking and eating, they made their way to the elevator.
Rose lost track of the conversation around her when she caught sight of Ivan and Tasha entering the elevator. A brush of fingers against her back turned Rose away. She looked up at Dimitri with a shrug.
"It's none of your business," he whispered in her ear.
Rolling her eyes, she whispered back, "I know. I'm just curious."
"I am too," he admitted.
With a smirk on her lips, Rose returned to the conversation.
The people gathered were mostly the team who were going to fight Sofia. There were a few others, though. Lissa and Adrian had come, and would remain at the school to heal anyone who returned with injuries. A few others were visiting from the school. Jill was there, along with Sonya and Mikhail. Rose had seen them the previous week at Court for Thanksgiving. It had been an emotional reunion, though far easier than most of the others had been. Jill, Sonya, and Mikhail had shown Rose unconditional affection and love. But she also had done nothing to harm them directly as a Strigoi.
Rose knew that she should rest before they left. They had five hours, but she wasn't ready to go upstairs. She was hoping to see one more person.
The door opened, and Rose saw him. Mason's red hair caught her eyes first, and then his face. She saw his eyes search the room and land on her. The delight on his face made a broad grin stretch across her own. She waited beside Dimitri as Mason walked to her.
"I almost can't believe you're really here," he said when he stood in front of her.
"Some days I can't believe it either."
Then they were hugging so tightly that it was hard to breathe. In less than a year, they had endured horrors few could understand. Now they could hug again and believe everything was alright, if only for a moment.
"I'm so glad to see you again," Mason said when they finally stopped hugging.
Rose was smiling, happy tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm glad too." She wiped away tears. "I've become a bit of a crier since being restored. It's annoying."
"No, it just means you're alive."
Rose nodded in reluctant agreement and finally caught sight of the Moroi behind Mason. The young woman was pretty, brown-haired and blue-eyed, and seemed to be around the same age as Rose and Mason.
Mason turned to her, catching her hand with his and tugging her forward. "Rose, I want you to meet Ashley." He looked at Dimitri and Eddie, who had joined them. "She's one of the teachers who started this year, and she's my girlfriend. This is Dimitri and Eddie."
They all said polite greetings.
"Mason has told me so much about all of you. It's nice to finally meet you, in spite of the circumstances."
"He can't stop talking about you," Eddie said.
Rose shook Ashley's hand with a polite smile. "I didn't know about you, but it's nice to meet you. I'm almost afraid to know what you've heard about me."
"No worries." Ashley looked at Mason fondly. "Mason has nothing but good things to say about you. He says that you're the bravest person he knows."
"It's the truth," Mason said solemnly. "I know all three of you are going today. Stay safe. Kill Sofia for me and for everyone else she harmed."
Rose locked eyes with Mason. "I will." Then she grimaced. "Weird question, Mase?"
"Yeah?"
"If everything works out, do you want your hand bones back?"
He thought a minute, looking down at the pinned end of his shirt, then shrugged as he grinned at her. "Sure, why not."
Rose laughed. "I missed you."
They hugged again. "I missed you, too. Stop dying on me."
She let out a strangled little cry. "I'll try my hardest."
They talked for a while, mingling with everyone before the team went to rest until it was time to leave.
"You're not good at resting," Dimitri told Rose from where he lay on the bed while she paced.
"I know. I'm just so anxious and scared."
He held out a hand to her. "Come here. Lay down with me."
She let out a long breath and went to him, curling against him on the bed and lacing their fingers together. "I know this needs to be done. I know I can fight her, but I'm so afraid of facing her. I'm worried that someone I love will be hurt. I'm afraid of what being there will bring up for me."
Dimitri kissed her forehead and pulled her close, tucking her under his chin. "I know."
"I know we have the element of surprise. We're a bigger number, and we have fire users. But there are so many 'what if's. There are humans there, the … victims and the staff. We don't know how many Strigoi will be there. Sofia and Tessa certainly … Sofia's terrifying, Dimitri. She's so strong and fast..."
He stroked her side gently. "I know." He trailed off for a bit before talking again. "You and Ivan have both mentioned Tessa, and that he turned her."
"He did," she confirmed quietly, "She was his first. I don't know the details, just that it was awful. That's why Ivan is opposed to restoring her. He thinks what she experienced is too much to recover from." She shuddered.
"Do you think restoration should ever be attempted again?"
"I don't know. I'm grateful for my life now, but I don't know if the danger and trauma are worth the risks. Not to mention the risks to the spirit user. I wish there was a way to stop the transition altogether."
"Maybe we'll find a way some day."
Rose moved her head so that she could look at him. "Maybe."
She brushed a hand along his cheek, sliding it into his hair. They kissed, long and slow and deep, lingering in the moment with each other until it was time to leave.
Rose drew a deep breath to steady herself before standing in front of the team that would go to Sofia's. Due to her experience at the cabin, she was the appointed secondary mission leader, even though she wasn't technically a guardian anymore, and was also a possible liability on this mission. Dimitri was the primary mission leader, but Rose would be the one giving the mission brief before setting out. Twenty-one of them were going. Fifteen guardians and six Moroi. Dimitri, Tasha, Eddie, and Ivan were the only ones Rose knew well. The rest were all volunteers. Christian, though he had wanted to go and was at St. Vladimir's, had not been selected for the team. He would stay with Lissa and Adrian on the school's campus and wait for news.
"You all know the plans. We have an hour drive out there. Ivan will be helping navigate from the first van. I will be in the second. The latest surveillance images showed that there were three vehicles at the cabin. We recognized them as belonging to Sofia and Tessa. There is always the chance that there could be one or two more Strigoi visiting. It would be unusual for there to be more. Fire users, remember to be cautious when in the building. There will be humans there. Two humans are staff. I don't know how to predict their actions. There will be other humans held—" Her voice caught. She drew a deep breath again, forcing herself to calm. "Held hostage. They are all kept in one room, the number will be impossible to estimate. Anywhere from one to five is a good guess."
Rose looked at the team, seeing how firm and serious they were in their resolve to fight. "Remember that Sofia is two hundred years old. She is extremely strong and fast. She's also deceptive. She never showed us the extent of her strength. She won't go down easily. But this mission is really important. When she is gone the Strigoi under her influence will be in chaos. The information we can gather at her cabin can be used against hundreds of Strigoi in this country and around the world. We can make a difference, starting today."
A couple of the guardians gave shouts of encouragement, leading to a few more, along with some nervous laughter. Then they began filing out of the building and heading toward the cars. Rose stopped near the door to hug Lissa, Jill, and Christian.
"I love you," she whispered like a promise. And they, through tears, said the same. Though Christian tried to hide his tears.
Dimitri drove the van Rose was in. She sat in the passenger seat, answering any questions the guardians in the car might have. Ivan was in the van in front of them, doing the same. After a time, the questions ceased and the large fifteen passenger vans fell silent.
It was after eleven in the morning when they arrived at the road leading to Sofia's cabin. The road had been plowed, making the drive relatively easy. The sun was high on a cloudless, sunny day. It was a perfect day to take out the Strigoi.
They stopped the vans in the parking lot. Stealth wasn't the primary goal. As soon as the Strigoi inside heard the sound of cars on the road they would be alerted that someone was coming. They all exited the vans quickly and quietly. Their shoes crunched on snow and gravel.
In the wilderness around them only the soft creak of branches swaying in the wind made a sound. With a few hand gestures, the team began to fan out and move toward the building. Only Ivan would remain at the vans, waiting.
They formed smaller teams with one fire user each. Rose, Dimitri, and Tasha moved together. They would move through the front door with another team following a few beats behind them. Two other teams would enter through the rear entrance. The remaining team would stay out front and wait for a message over their earpieces.
Rose stood in front of the door, hand on her stake, heartbeat thundering. The door would be unlocked. It was never locked. She tried not to think of how many times she had walked through this door. Tried not to think of the victims who had come in alive and died at her hands.
"At the rear entrance." Eddie's voice said in her ear.
Rose suppressed a flinch at the suddenness of his voice. "Copy. Move in."
With her quiet command, Rose opened the door. It didn't creak or squeak. There was nothing waiting inside the entry for them. But the building wasn't silent. In the distance, music played quietly. It filtered through the hallways like an omen.
It was almost a relief to know where Sofia was. She was in the library, playing her harpsichord. That meant Tessa would likely be upstairs, away from the music. And the human servants would be somewhere, lurking.
They moved slowly, inching along step by careful step. They had all memorized a diagram of the house. Ivan and Rose had been sure to detail every room and its use, even the closets. Every door was opened. Nothing was left to chance. They cleared the first rooms before moving along the hallway.
Eddie's team split with some remaining at the rear door while the others moved further inside. Rose's team continued together on the main floor. They saw nothing unusual as they moved inside. Beautiful, disconcertingly upbeat and strident, music from the harpsichord continued to echo through the house.
The human dropped a laundry basket when she saw them. When her eyes landed on Rose, her jaw dropped open in shock. "You're dead," she murmured in disbelief.
One of the other guardians grasped the woman by the arm, pulling her toward the exit. She didn't budge at first as her eyes were glued to Rose.
Nothing inside Rose felt pity for this woman. While she didn't remember her name, Rose remembered how complicit she had been. Every human who served Sofia was far too willing to harm other humans. This human had watched untold numbers of humans in this house be held prisoner and fed upon. She was responsible for bringing them food and water until they were killed. She was responsible for cleaning up after the victims.
"Not anymore," Rose said coolly, "How many humans are here?"
Surprisingly, the woman didn't hesitate to answer. Perhaps she was used to Rose's commands. "Five in the dining room. No others."
"How many vampires?" Rose asked.
"Mistress Sofia and Miss Tessa," the woman responded with hesitation.
Rose drew closer to her, fear having given way to cold anger. "Are you certain?"
"Ye-yes," she stammered. "No one else. Your eyes and skin..."
"I told you," Rose said, her lips curved in a nasty grin that showed her blunt canines, "I'm not dead anymore. Now, where's Tessa?"
The woman swallowed hard. She was clearly terrified, not just of the situation but of Rose, in particular. "Upstairs in her office."
With a motion of her head, Rose met the eyes of the guardian holding the human, indicating that she should be taken outside. The other guardian complied, pulling the human toward the entrance. Shaking with what she realized was anger, Rose forced herself toward the next task. "Eddie, did you catch that?" she asked over her radio.
"Yeah, one upstairs. We're heading up now. You trust the human?"
Her jaw clenched and relaxed. "She's too afraid of me to lie."
"Copy," he said.
Rose looked at her own team as they continued scanning the room. "We need to split." She motioned to several of them. "Get the humans out, then rejoin us. You remember the floorplan?"
There were multiple nods of assent before the team split. Rose's smaller team now only had four others, including Dimitri and Tasha. They walked with quick and quiet steps toward the library. The music grew louder as they drew near. The sound of it grated on Rose's nerves until she was ready to snap. Everything about this place threatened to suffocate her. Too many horrific memories pushed at her mind, threatening to break free.
She drew deep breaths, centering herself, forcing herself to stay in the now. Sofia needed to die. Rose needed to stay focused or people she loved could die.
The music stopped as they reached the entrance of the library.
"Dhampirs and Moroi in my home," Sofia said. Her waist-length curls were now dyed in an ombre of ice white at the crown of her head to dark blue at the tips. The ripple of it as she spun toward them looked like water. She froze as she saw Rose.
Rose used that for her advantage and dashed forward, stake at the ready. But Sofia was quick, even when shocked. She deftly evaded Rose's stake and shoved her aside as if Rose weighed nothing at all. Rose landed on the smooth wood floor, smacking her head off the ground. She landed in a heap beside the bookcases.
The others charged toward Sofia now. Tasha sent small flames toward Sofia, controlled fire that was meant to distract more than harm. In a wooden building surrounded by flammable material, the last thing they needed was for the building to catch fire as well. Furious snarls sprang from the lips of Sofia as she swatted away flames and dodged Dimitri and the other two guardians.
"Stop!" Sofia shouted, and at once Tasha, Dimitri, and the other two guardians froze. They stood in front of her, weapons at the ready, unmoving. Sofia stalked backward a few steps toward the bookcases. She didn't even have eye contact with all four, and yet she could compel them to stop.
"You dare attack me in my home!" Her tone was cold fury, lacking in any of the humanity she often affected. "I will kill you all, long and slowly." She told them about how she would kill them. How she would peel the skin from their bodies as they screamed.
Rose, head spinning, had forced herself into a crouch as she watched the others fight. Terror and nausea welled up in her. She felt something sticky on the back of her neck, when she touched it with her hand, she saw blood. By some miracle, her other hand still clutched her stake. She clenched her jaw against the pain, fear, and dizziness. She had to focus. She had to fight. When the others froze with Sofia's compulsion, Rose stared in horror. Then she realized that the compulsion hadn't affected her.
Drawing a steadying breath, Rose watched as Sofia monologued all she would do to the others in the room. She waited, breaths slow and steady, sweat and blood dripping down her neck, until the right moment.
Sofia was so furious that she was distracted, it was one of her only weaknesses. Rose watched, measuring the distance between her and the ancient Moroi. The attack had to move quickly, or Sofia would stop her, and Rose was pretty sure that her head couldn't handle being knocked against something again.
Light and quick, Rose sprang toward Sofia. The Strigoi turned just as Rose reached her, but Rose's stake still hit, digging deep into Sofia's side. Sofia shrieked, pushing at Rose. Rose screamed, every ounce of pain and fear and rage in her flowing out. Pulling out the stake, Rose struggled to keep away from Sofia's hands and teeth as they fought so closely.
Dimitri ran forward while Tasha and the other two held back. He had never encountered a Strigoi who could hold four people in compulsion at the same time, with what appeared to be no effort at all. He had seen Rose crouching to strike and felt terror flow through him as he feared for her. He could see the blood dripping down her neck and knew she had a head injury. The instant the compulsion broke, he went to her.
Dimitri's stake slammed into Sofia's back just as her fangs brushed Rose's neck. She jerked back, screaming in pain. And Rose, without a second's hesitation, jabbed her stake into Sofia's heart. The Strigoi's eyes went wide and empty; her body went limp and fell when Rose and Dimitri pulled out their stakes.
Dimitri slid his bloody stake back into its sheath and touched Rose's face. He brushed his lips against hers before helping her walk around Sofia. She clung to him, stake gripped in her hand so tightly that her knuckles were white where they weren't covered in blood. Her movements were sluggish. Whether that was from her head injury or something else, he didn't know.
"We need to get you to Ivan," Dimitri said. A moment later, he gave up on her walking and scooped Rose up in his arms. He talked into his headset as he went. "Sofia is dead. Rose is injured, I'm taking her outside."
"Copy," said Eddie. "We killed Tessa as well. Continuing to sweep the building."
"The human prisoners have also been led outside," another of the guardians said. "There were five, and we're helping them in one of the vans."
Dimitri ordered the other teams who weren't assisting the humans to continue clearing the building. He hurried to the main entrance with Rose, who was fighting to keep her eyes opened. Her head rested against Dimitri's chest as her breathing grew quick and shallow.
Ivan met them just outside the door. Swearing, he touched Rose's head as soon as Dimitri stopped moving. Spirit flowed from Ivan into Rose, warm and healing. Her breathing slowed to a more natural pace and her eyes fluttered open again.
"You have got to stop getting injured this badly," Ivan said quietly.
"How bad?" she asked, drawing in deep breaths as Dimitri let her feet down, though he kept an arm around her waist.
Ivan blinked back tears. "You could have died, again."
Dimitri's grasp on Rose's waist tightened reflexively.
Rose swallowed. "I didn't, though? I'm not shadow-kissed again?"
"No, you're fine." Ivan shook his head. "You were still breathing when I healed you."
She nodded, and the three walked a few steps further outside. "We killed her." Looking down at her hands, Rose saw that she still held her stake, and she saw the blood coating the stake and her hand. She closed her eyes and shuddered. "I never wanted to kill again, but this needed to be done." Her eyes met Ivan's. "It's over."
"This part is," Ivan agreed.
Squeezing Rose's waist again, Dimitri let go. "I should head back inside and make sure the building is cleared." He cupped Rose's face with a hand, his fingers touching the sticky blood in her hair, before brushing a kiss against her lips. "Rest out here until the building is cleared."
"Will do," she agreed.
Dimitri walked back into the building while Ivan walked with Rose to the vans.
"The one van has a guardian and our human prisoner. The other van has a different guardian and the five hostage humans." Ivan told her.
Rose let out a world weary sigh. "We should take the cars." Noticing her still bloody stake, Rose walked toward the snow piles on the side of the parking lot and began cleaning off the blood in the snow. When she was done, she put the stake back into its sheath.
"Do you want to get warm in one of the vans?" Ivan asked. He was standing beside her and had watched her clean the stake in silence.
Rose looked at the vans and grimaced. "I don't know if I can be around the victims or the prisoner. I'd rather deal with being cold."
"That's why I'm out here. The prisoner does recognize us. She's terrified."
Rose tilted her head to the side. "You don't remember her name either?"
Ivan shook his head. "No. I'm not sure what that says about us."
She started to shrug, and then began to sob. Ivan wrapped her in a hug and let her sob against him. He murmured soothing nonsense, rubbing her back until she finally calmed.
"I almost died, again. And I killed her. Dimitri staked her too, but I finished her off. I'm trying to be okay with having killed again. It was Sofia. She was a monster and could have killed us all, but I'm so tired of killing." She pulled back, looking at Ivan. "I want to be useful. I want to do good. I want to protect. But I'm so tired of having blood on my hands."
Ivan took her hand and squeezed. "I know."
They waited outside until the building was cleared. They were cold, but the weather was warm enough that they could handle it in their coats. The guardians and Moroi came outside, bringing the corpses of Sofia and Tessa with them. They laid the bodies in the sun.
Rose and Ivan walked to the bodies, where Dimitri, Tasha, and Eddie stood. The others were filtering back to the vans. The sun was already beginning to turn the dead women to ash. Rose's body locked up as she stared at the dead, their bodies bloody and faces slack in death.
Ivan studied the dead with sorrow. "They didn't deserve this." His voice was little more than a whisper, as he spoke the thought out loud.
"Why?" Tasha asked in a carefully neutral tone.
Ivan met her eyes. "This death was necessary to protect others, but they didn't deserve to be turned." He swallowed hard, trying to forget the memories of Tessa. He had seen what Greg had done to her. He had tasted her blood and turned her into the monster she became. This death was a cruel mercy. "I hope that if God exists, they are judged on who they were as mortals and not on the things they did as Strigoi. They were both brilliant young women when they lived. They deserved different lives."
"I hope so too," Tasha said, voice thick with tears.
"What now?" Rose asked.
Dimitri looked back at the building. "Five of our team are willing to wait here until the next team comes through to clear the building of anything the guardians can use to take out more Strigoi. There has also been discussion about leaving a small team here for the next few months to take out any Strigoi who might come, as well as rounding up any human contacts they may have had."
"Some of the stuff could also go to museums," Ivan said. "The books and art on the walls, plus the instruments and some of her clothes are antiques. I'll talk with the council about what should be preserved and destroyed."
With a nod, Dimitri agreed.
"I got Mason's hand," Eddie said. He held up a cloth bag. "That's one room that should be destroyed."
A shudder ran through them all. Dimitri, Tasha, and Eddie had all seen the ossuary.
"The whole cabin should be burned to the ground," Rose said. She unclenched her fists and drew a deep breath that she let out slowly. "But I do understand the tactical advantage of leaving it for a while. And I understand preserving the historical stuff."
Dimtiri walked to Rose and took one of her hands in his. "It will be one day. But we never have to come back to this place again."
Rose met his eyes and nodded. Never again.
Four days later, Rose, Dimitri, and Ivan stood by the edge of an icy lake in Maine. The road they took to get there had been plowed, but they still drove over a layer of snow to reach the parking lot near the lakeshore. The lot was also plowed, but only enough for a couple trucks. Their SUV left the only tire tracks on the road. Their boots left the only non-wildlife footprints.
Looking around at the mountains and forest around the lake, Rose was stunned by the beauty of the land. "How did you find this place?" she asked.
Ivan set a backpack on the ground as he answered. "I was looking for the right place to meet Lethe and knew that I needed water and that an isolated area was probably the best option. This used to be a resort, but it was up for sale for some time. It was perfect, so I bought it. The cabin where we left our stuff is the only one that's done being restored. If everything works out, I plan to use this land for outreach with the broader community of supernaturals."
"A noble goal," Dimitri said. "Hopefully the immortal water spirit doesn't kill us all."
Ivan shrugged as he began to pull jars out of the backpack. "First she has to come."
"What if it doesn't work?" Rose asked. "How are we going to find connections to the other supernaturals?"
"Perseverance," Ivan replied.
They watched as he finished setting jars down on the snow. Beside them, he placed a knife. Then, Ivan removed his boots and socks, stepping onto the snow with bare feet.
Rose and Dimitri watched in fascination. They knew what he was going to do, but they didn't know all the steps. They were also aware that this water spirit, if she showed, might not be friendly.
Ivan stepped into the frigid water, and one by one began to empty the jars. He had bought the finest and most natural ingredients he could find. First was grains of wheat. Then honeycomb. He also poured unpasteurized milk into the water and wine. Last of all he knelt in the lake, amid the semi-dispersed offering, and cut his hand with the knife. He put his hand in the water, which numbed the cut even as his blood joined the offering.
"Lethe, spirit of water, once called goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion, come to me. I don't know how else to reach you."
Just when he thought that he could bear the cold no longer, or that Dimirti and Rose would intervene, Ivan felt the water warm.
A woman's voice, beautifully melodic and soothing, spoke. "You'll freeze to death like that."
Ivan looked up and saw the slim, graceful form of a woman only a few yards away in the water. When their eyes met, she went utterly still.
"How are you?" Her voice trailed off as she moved toward him, quick as a snake. Her aquamarine colored eyes regarded him with wary curiosity.
Ivan, for his part, did not move away from her as he was scrutinized. He was no longer freezing due to some magic of hers in the water.
"We met in April, but you were a Strigoi. How are you now a Moroi? And why did you call for me?"
The most disconcerting thing about Lethe was not her unnatural eyes, or even the fact that she was completely naked and her body was very attractive. It was her hair, which was ice white at the top of her head and midnight blue at the tips, almost exactly as Sofia's had been when she was killed a few days earlier. Though on Lethe it seemed like a natural extension of herself, given that her skin took on almost the same shading at present. It took a moment for Ivan not to shudder at the memory of Sofia laying dead on the ground as she turned to ash. On the shore, Dimitri and Rose had similar reactions, while also being in shock that the strange woman had appeared in the water. It had been one thing to hope their plan worked and something else entirely to see this result.
"I was born Moroi," Ivan said, "My friends found a way to restore me to my former self. There is a way for the Moroi to do that, though it is difficult. I called you because I hoped you would answer. I thank you for coming."
She gave a closed lipped smile. "I haven't had someone give a ritual offering to me in over a thousand years, the lure of it was too tempting to ignore. Though, I must admit that Moroi blood being present intrigued me. What is it that you wanted to speak with me about?"
"When we met, you were going to kill me, but you didn't. Something intervened, although my memory of that is … hazy at best. I feel as though a compulsion was placed on me to forget those memories." Ivan shook his head, gazing into the distance and then at Lethe again. "It was called an eternal?"
A shudder rocked Lethe, sending small ripples from her into the lake. Ivan did his best to look at her face and not the way her perfectly formed naked body moved.
"Yes, it was an eternal," she replied. "It demanded that I save you from yourself." She studied him thoughtfully. "Perhaps this is why. It knew that you were meant to serve some function now that you are restored to being a Moroi."
"Can they do that? Can they see into the future?"
"They don't see the future." She sounded annoyed, as though this was information everyone should know. "They exist outside of time. For them there is no past or future, everything is now."
Ivan nodded and changed subjects. "As I was saying, when we met, I remembered you as a mostly neutral party. Aside from attempting to kill me, you were calm and reasonable. You taught me about the world the Moroi forgot."
"Forgot?" she laughed. "Moroi are one of the most arrogant races to ever walk the Earth. Your people cut themselves off from the rest of the half-blooded races. The rest of them actually know about one another, even if they don't have regular interactions."
"Half-blooded races?" Rose asked.
For the first time, Lethe looked at Rose and Dimitri on shore, assessing again. "There are hundreds of races that humans would call 'supernatural'. There are the immortal races and then there are the half-blooded races that came into being millenia ago when immortals and humans intermixed. Shape-changers, monsters, mermaids, and vampires were the offspring of such unions."
"You're saying that Moroi are descendants of humans who had children with a race of immortals?" Ivan asked.
Lethe's nose wrinkled in displeasure. "Yes."
"Do you know which one?" Rose asked. "Because Moroi having magic, being able to turn into Strigoi if they drain a person, and being able to have dhampir children is a lot of variety for one race."
The water spirit tilted her head to the side, alien eyes studying Rose. Then a slow, closed-lipped smile spread on her face. "I have no idea, though there were whispers that it was the eternals. The story as I heard it, millennia ago when I was young, is a twisted one. You see, eternals are not supposed to impose their wills on the Earth. Yet some of them desired the humans, and so they lay together and produced children." Lethe did not disguise her disgust at the idea of immortals and humans having sex.
"However, since eternals are not supposed to do such a thing, their children were both blessed and cursed. They were blessed with magic — to touch and manipulate the elements. They were cursed to drink the blood of humans to survive. They soon learned that the half-blooded offspring, the Moroi, would produce humanlike children with humans and reproduce more Moroi with one another. Unfortunately, they also learned a second curse, one that plagues the Earth to this day. If a Moroi were to drain a human's life force entirely, they would die and become a vicious and immortal monster."
Dimitri regarded Lethe thoughtfully. "What if an eternal and a Moroi had a child?"
She moved her hands in a careless gesture. "I do not know, though one would assume the immortal blood would run stronger. I can't imagine what that would do. However, I do not think you called me here to discuss the origin of your people."
"No," Ivan agreed. "We came here because I have come to realize that my people are alone. We cut ourselves off from the world and from one another. We are trying to change that. I wanted to know if you could assist me in establishing connections between the Moroi and other mortal supernaturals, the half-blooded races, as you call them."
Lethe considered him thoughtfully. "What would you do with those connections?"
"I want to create a team of people from every mortal supernatural race to help and support one another. We could all benefit from knowing one another and assisting one another."
"And what is in it for me?" She sank a bit deeper in the water, and Ivan was quite certain that she was able to join herself with the water because she did not appear to have any form beneath the surface of the water.
Ivan looked around them. "I own this land. I want to have this water stay pure and be a sanctuary for you and your kind, provided that you do not harm any guests who come onto the property. I want this to be a meeting place for various peoples. I would, of course, ensure that it does not become polluted."
She smiled, one which showed her terrifying serrated teeth. "I think we can make a deal."
Later that night, Rose and Dimitri curled up together under the covers of their bed in the cabin. It was a nice cabin, simple but well built. Fire crackled in the hearth, keeping them warm and comfortable.
"I can't believe it worked," Dimitri said as his fingers stroked her hair.
She gave a soft laugh. "Really? You brought the two of us back from being Strigoi, and you think making a contract with an immortal water spirit is unbelievable?"
"Maybe," he agreed with a soft chuckle. "At least we don't have to start reaching out to the other races right away."
"Ivan will."
"True, but you and I are going on vacation."
She curled closer to him. "We are. I'm excited to meet your family."
"They'll love you."
Rose sighed contentedly. They were quiet for a while. Dimitri lay on his back while Rose was curled across his chest. They were content to hold one another while the fireplace crackled. "Do we work for Ivan now?"
He laughed. "I think we do, since this was all his idea. However, we're a team with him. We're not employees, and we're not his guardians."
"He doesn't have any guardians."
"He doesn't want any. He'll be safe enough here, within the wards of the property. And I don't think anything that could harm him will get far on this property." Beyond their window lights were floating in the lake. The water spirits had already come to play in the water. They wouldn't harm Ivan, Rose, Dimitri, or any invited guests, but they wouldn't hesitate to kill someone who meant harm.
"He needs feeders."
"I think he's working on something with your father for that."
"Mmm." Rose made an unhappy noise. "I know it hasn't been that long, but I keep hoping that it will get easier for him."
Dimitri tucked strands of her hair behind her ear. "What about for you?"
She moved a shoulder in a shrug. "I'm fine."
"You still don't eat meat."
Her nose wrinkled. "That's different. I don't need meat to survive. I miss hamburgers, but I'm not ready to try again. Maybe next year."
"Next year is only in a few weeks." His tone was teasing.
She laughed. "It is. Has it really only been a year? I feel like this year lasted forever."
Dimitri's hand stroked down her hair and caressed the skin along her spine. "It did."
"What does it feel like to have quit the guardians?"
His fingers paused stroking for a moment while he thought, then he resumed running his fingers along her back. "I don't think it's fully hit me yet. I wasn't really doing guardian work since you were restored, but now… it's an adjustment. However, this project feels more important for the future of our people."
"It does. I'm excited to start contacting people — after vacation."
"What do you think about not being a guardian?"
She cuddled closer to him, nestling her head into his chest. "I don't know. I wasn't a guardian for very long. I'm glad that I won't have to kill. I'm not going to stop carrying a stake, because I do think protection is important, but I don't want to take more lives." She was quiet for a while and found one of his hands to hold. She ran her fingers against his in the silence. "I know that we needed to kill Sofia. I didn't hesitate. I nearly died, again. We saved people, in that house and people in the future, but I hated every second of it. I'm ready for a life where I don't have to get more blood on my hands."
Dimitri kissed the top of her head, drawing his arms around her to hold her close. "I was so terrified when she threw you. I want to give you a life where you never have to face those dangers again."
She shifted in his arms, bringing her face toward his and kissing him. "I never want you to face those dangers again, either."
Their lips met again, slow and lingering.
Dimitri's hands cupped Rose's face, holding her gaze for a long time. "I love you, Roza. Whatever the future holds, we'll do it together."
"I love you too, Dimitri." Her hands moved to hold his face, mirroring him. "After all we've been through, we can get through whatever the future holds."
Notes:
I can't believe we're at this point! Only the epilogue remains, and it's done (currently in editing). So, that should get posted next week or the week after if something pushes it back. I'm starting back on Everyday Moments (fic in this fandom) and finishing that up... probably should start posting that again in August?
Getting back into writing has been hard. I graduated with my masters in May! Now I just need to get into anything resembling a normal routine. It's been a crazy year. Full of good and bad. I'm so grateful to be able to give you these final chapters in this story. I'm also excited to work on getting into my original stuff more too!
Thank you all for reading. Thank you all for your wonderful comments, which I will have time to respond to the ones on this chapter! (I'm sorry that I didn't get around to so many comments for the past couple years.) Thank you to Honestpassion13 for being my beta 3 I do have a facebook page for my writing (that I constantly forget to update) which is bluegoldrosestories.
I hope you enjoyed this. I love this story and am so happy to have shared it with you all!