Chapter 1
Rose
I ran as far away and as hard as I could. I didn't know if my heart was beating too fast or not at all. But it hurt and it had nothing to do with the running.
How could it when he had trained me so well.
'love fades, mine has'
He had told me over and over that he couldn't love anymore, that that part of his humanity was gone after his restoration, but he had never phrased it quite like that.
I didn't know why I even cared. I was with Adrian. Any romantic interest I had in Dimitri was supposed to be gone. I told myself that I just wanted him to acknowledge me like he had Lissa. I had risked everything to get him restored.
But him dismissing me like he had, like we were nothing, was too much. How could he not still love me? How had that part not survived? Mine had survived grieve, torture and a damn prison break.
How could something so strong just...vanish?
I had run back to my room although I had no recollection of how I got there, just a tear streaked image of Court. I decided to take a shower, clean the tears from my face and hopefully the pain as well, but before I could even get in the shower there was a knock on my door.
I ignored it. I didn't want to deal with anyone right now. Not Lissa, not Adrian. Not… no he wouldn't come.
They knocked again. "Guardian Hathaway?"
I raised my eyebrows. I had only been called that a handful of times. It still felt weird but I knew none of my friends would call me that. So reluctantly and with eyes red from crying I answered the door.
A guardian I vaguely recognized stood at the door. I had seen him around the Guardian headquarters in my brief exile to desk duty.
"Yes?"
"Guardian Croft requested to see you."
Damn. What did I do now? "Do I have time for a shower?"
The Guardian looked at his watch. "No."
He walked away without any further word. He expected me to follow him back. I shrugged. I grabbed my jacket, wiped my face as best as I could in the ten seconds I allowed myself and followed him towards headquarters.
Maybe I was being punished for my outburst at the Queen over the age law after all. Or maybe I was getting assigned somewhere far far away to stop causing trouble. Maybe I would have to guard someone in Timboektoe. Honestly, I would welcome that right now. Getting away from everything and everyone, just guarding and working. It sounded devine.
Once at the headquarters, he directed me towards Hans's office. But I didn't need directions. I have been there many times now. Somehow it felt like going to Kirova's office.
The door was slightly ajar. I opened it a bit more and saw Hans sitting behind his desk. He looked up when I entered.
"Ah, Guardian Hathaway. Please come in."
I stepped around the door to take a seat when I noticed Hans wasn't the only one in the office. Opposite Hans in a chair next to the one I was probably meant to sit in was Dimitri.
My heart did that beating-too-fast-or-not-at-all thing again. He looked a little shocked to see me there too. Then he frowned. He was taking in my face and his gaze darkened a walk over had probably reduced the puffiness and redness in my eyes enough so that Hans wouldn't notice anything, but I knew Dimitri did.
I replaced my shocked and hurt expression with my Guardian mask and the frown on Dimitri's face only grew deeper.
"Guardian Croft." I nodded in his direction as a way of greeting and because I didn't want to be a right bitch I nodded in Dimitri's direction too. "Belikov."
I then pointedly ignored him and sat down in the chair next to him.
Hans was too busy with some papers to pick up on any drama between us. Then something else struck me. What if we were here because he knew about us. Not that there was much to tell right now, but there had been at the Academy.
I started to sweat a little, but I couldn't let the fear get to me. I would deny it with every fiber of my being. Right now, that wouldn't be too hard.
"I have a mission for you." He was still not looking up at us, but was rummaging through some papers. So I didn't know who he had directed his word to.
"For me?" I asked.
He finally seemed to have found what he was looking for and handed us both a folder. "The both of you."
I grabbed the folder on autopilot. Mission? Together? My Guardian mask crumbled and I looked over to Dimitri who for once matched my discomfort.
"Yes. Guardian Belikov's fate still hangs in the balance, but the council feels he can contribute safely here. and so can you... As a matter of fact, it was your idea."
My happiness at Dimitri getting his guardian title back was quickly overwritten with confusion. "What idea? Someone actually listened to me? The Council did?"
That made Hans outright laugh. I even heard a chuckle from Dimitri but he covered it up fast.
I opened the folder in my lap. It held financial supplies, Alchemists contacts per area and Guardian contacts in the outside world. But no mission statement.
"You mentioned that Guardian Belikov has invaluable information about the whereabouts of Strigoi. And the Council has agreed with you. You two will track and eliminate as many Strigoi as you can based on his information."
I just stared at him. Completely panicked. Not about the mission. Fighting Strigoi didn't frighten me anymore as it once did, I was even a bit excited. But he made it sound that Dimitri and I will be working together on this. That was the part I wasn't ready to process.
The first sanctioned slayer mission the Council approved in years if not centuries and it had to be me and my ex-lover. There was a cruel God out there somewhere.
I knew Dimitri couldn't refuse. I could tell by his expression he wanted to do this, but he didn't want to be around me. Just being with me in the room seemed to put him on edge. But he at least had his title back, even if it was conditional. He was taking a step in the right direction. He couldn't say no.
I technically could. but ignoring an assignment ment I wouldn't be a Guardian anymore. and I worked too hard to give it all up over a man.
I didn't speak. I didn't know what to say, or how to say it, but Dimitri didn't seem to have that problem.
"The two of us? Just the two of us. That is suicide." He seemed outraged. He was further along in his reasoning than I was, as usual. Yeah, sending two Guardians to take on a whole lot of Strigoi didn't really sound that smart.
Hans shook his head and calmly addressed Dimitri. If he was frightened by an ex-Strigoi getting more than a little angry, he didn't show it. "No, not with you two. Maybe with anybody else. But not you two."
No, not with us. At least when we were in complete sync. I didn't know how well we would fare with our current feelings. But I knew that Dimitri and I could kick ass. And I knew we were one of the best. Unfortunately, it wasn't our skills that had 'earned' us this mission.
"But that isn't why they are sending us." I countered Hans. He at least had the decency to look ashamed.
"They are sending us, because we are expendable. The ex-Strigoi and the trouble maker. They want us as far away from them as possible and if we did die, it would be no great loss. One more problem fixed."
Hans looked at me a little funny. "You really think it is such a bad idea to get you away from the Queen right now." I snorted a little at that. No it wasn't. Because if I stayed here, I might actually kill the old bat.
Dimitri just looked confused. Maybe he hadn't heard about me calling her a sanctimonious bitch. I was a little grateful for that. Although I had meant every word, I knew Dimitri would have scolded me for my lack of control.
And then it pissed me off that I was even thinking about his approval. I wasn't his student anymore. I wasn't his anything anymore. I could give a rat's ass about what he thought of me.
Hans wracked his hands through his hair. "I have the ultimate say in these matters, and although I recognize the risk, I know you two can do this. You were made for this. Be smart, nobody is expecting you to take on more than you can chew. Contact me if you find something you don't think you can handle." Hans stood up and walked over to his cabinet and pulled out another file. "But, I don't have anyone else I can send with you. You two are my best fighters that aren't occupied. It is thin pickings. Most available Guardians here at court have been on desk duty for years. I can't send them with you."
I leaned back in my chair when something came to me. "That isn't really true. You have at least one other. and he is almost as disgraced as we are."
Hans raised one eyebrow at me in question.
"Mikhail Tanner."
Dimitri looked at me questiongly.
Hans thought about that for a minute. "Yes, you are right. Alright. but only if he volunteers."
Dimitri and I both sighed in relief. Not because we had another fighter to help us and increase our odds of survival but because then it wouldn't be just the two of us.
"Speaking of volunteers. What about a Moroi joining us?"
An 'are you crazy' and a 'you can't bring Christian or Tasha' came from Hans and Dimtiri at the same time.
I turned to Dimitri first. "I know I can't bring Christian, even though he would be an asset. I was thinking of someone else. Someone the Council won't care about if she volunteers." Then I turned to Hans. "And I wasn't suggesting she fight with us, but we could use someone who can handle themselves and drive the proverbial and actual get-away car."
Hans sat down in his chair. He was rubbing his temples as if his head hurt. He seemed to be doing that a lot when I was around. "You are going to get me fired, Hathaway. You want me to tell the council that a Moroi will be joining you on a slayer mission?"
I sat down on his desk, one leg still on the ground, the other propped on the wood and shrugged. "Maybe don't mention it? She is a free woman."
Hans sighed and looked ten years older. "Fine. Just be careful in your reports to me. The last thing we need is a wounded Moroi on a slayer mission. It won't just hurt her, it will hurt the cause you so eloquently advertised for."
I smiled at that one. Yeah subtlety was never my strong suit. "But if she is helpful and we succeed, it could help our cause a lot."
Hans had a small smile on his face. I knew he was in favor of Moroi fighting and hated the age law just as much as any Guardian. I imagine he would be seeing and signing a lot of death certificates of children if this law was truly passed.
"You aren't considering this are you, Hans?" oh, Dimitri was on a first name basis with Guardian Croft. "This is kicking the hornet's nest and you know it." Dimitri looked from Hans to me. He gave a small chuckle "I thought you would have Rose on a shorter leash."
I glared at Dimitri but Hans just laughed. "I have learned that you don't control Rose, you just point her in the right direction and unleash her. And see what is what when the dust clears."
The two men looked at each other and something unnamed passed between them. Both of them have been my superiors and I think in that moment they shared the hardship of dealing with Rose Hathaway.
"Which is why I am putting you in charge, Rose. This calls for some of your flair."
I just stared at him. In charge? As in, I was leading this mission?
"Wouldn't Dimitri make more sense? He has more experience than I do and has a higher rank."
Dimitri was a blood master seven, the highest rank you could earn as a Guardian even if he was very young. and he didn't just have great skills in battle, he was a natural leader and had done it before.
"Can't. He is strictly there as the muscle and to provide information."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "So, I am mission-leader by default."
The sparkle in Hans's eyes wasn't lost on me. "ah, and I am so looking forward to those daily reports in your writing Hathaway."
Great, being mission-leader of a group of two didn't mean a lot of barking orders, but probably meant I was stuck with the paperwork.
Dimitri and I had had a brief conversation once we left Hans's office after the three of us spent ages working out some more logistics. I would talk to Mia and Mikhail. Because that is what a mission-leader would do. It was up to me to ask them to risk their lives. But I knew both would agree.
My first stop was Mikhail seeing as he was closest at the archives. I walked down the steps towards the storage cellar. That last time I had been here, I had stolen plans to the Tarasov prison and asked Mikhail to trust me. I wonder if this was crazier or less crazy. At least it wasn't illegal, so that was an improvement.
I found Mikhail on the letter 'M' putting away some folders. The irony that I could find Mikhail under his appropriate letter wasn't lost on me. He seemed to be becoming one with the archives and not by choice.
When he saw me a small smile pulled at his lips. "Come to help me put away some folders? Or are you here to rescue me from desk duty?"
I laughed. "The latter actually." Mikhail looked up from the second folder he was about to place back in its place and raised his eyebrows.
I got up on a nearby desk, sitting with my legs over the side. "I have a mission, a crazy mission, dangerous and… sanctioned by Guardian Croft."
The last part seemed to surprise him. And I couldn't be offended by that, because Mikhail's and mine history together had consisted of him smuggling me out of court after he let me go for stealing files and of him sneaking me into the jail cells to see Dimitri.
"It is voluntary bases only, well for you at least, but I could use the back-up."
"Just spit it out Rose."
"Strigoi hunting, we are going Strigoi hunting."
A million different emotions crossed his face. Shock, skepticism, but most of all, excitement.
"Dimitri has intimate knowledge of Strigoi in America and Russia. The Council wants us to track down and take down as many as possible."
He crossed his arms over his chest, thinking hard. "And you could use the back-up, and the buffer no doubt."
I nodded guiltily. He was one of the few who knew about Dimitri's and my 'predicament'. I knew each time he would mention Dimitri in his head he was substituting his name with Sonya's. Something flashed in his eyes. "You think he knows where she is?"
He didn't need to tell me who he meant. As Dimitri was always on my mind, no matter how much I didn't want to, I know Sonya was always on his. Still, after three years. Which didn't give me much hope for me to get over Dimitri.
"I don't know. Maybe... but could you handle that?"
I knew he had wanted to find her before to set her free, like I had wanted to do with Dimitri. But he had failed to find her. Now there was another way. A Strigoi could be restored, but it required a Spirit user and those were very rare. Lissa wouldn't be able to do it again anytime soon. I doubt Adrian would get involved, he wasn't one to risk his life, but I also didn't think he had the healing capacity needed to do this. And even if we did find someone, getting a Moroi, an untrained one at that to stake a Strigoi was very difficult. But Dimitri had complicated matters, because he was a fighting God. Sonya would still be incredibly strong and fast, but she was a Moroi teacher before this. She had no fight training. It would make restoring Sonya marginally easier.
Mikhail knew all of this. He knew just because we were able to restore Dimitri that restoring Sonya would be very difficult. If we did find her, he may have no choice but to kill her.
"I don't know." He honestly said. "but I want to come. I need to come with you. Not just for Sonya, but for me." He gestured around the archives. "Anything to get out of here and be useful again."
I knew he would. He might not 'need' it like Dimitri and I, but I could tell Mikhail wasn't made for paperwork either. He had spent a year in the outside world hunting Sonya, he would have encountered Strigoi. He had the two molnija marks on his neck to prove it. He would be an asset.
I told him to meet us tomorrow at 8 am in the Guardian parking lot. From there we would set off.
I was now underway towards our fourth and last member of our team. Our wildcard. If you had asked me a couple of months ago if I would trust Mia with my life, the answer would have been a giant snort. But a Strigoi encounter that we shared had changed her and the relationship between us. She had saved my life with her Magic then and I knew she would be an asset.
When she opened the door after I had knocked and saw me standing there she shook her head and smiled. "Here for another favor, Rose?"
She motioned me inside and I followed her in. The scene was eerily familiar to the last time I had come in and asked her to do something dangerous. I realized I did that to my friends a lot. The small moment of guilt was squashed because I knew Mia had been waiting for something like this.
"Actually, yes, or, well… It is sanctioned by the Council and on a voluntary basis." I didn't mention her particular involvement would remain hidden until we were far far away from Court. "I am leading a slayer mission. We are using Guardian Belikov's information about cells of Strigoi and striking first. I could use you."
Mia just stared. She knew as much as I did that these kinds of slayer missions were rare. She had been hoping for one when her mother had been killed by Strigoi last winter, but they had been stuck in so much debate no slayer mission had been called. It had been me and my friends that had taken action -me not so voluntarily- and it had killed one of my best friends.
"You are serious." I nodded. "And you want me to fight?"
She sounded excited. Unfortunately I had to squash that right into the ground. "No, Mia. You won't be fighting them if I can help it, but you will help and I need someone who can handle themselves if and when a Strigoi comes for them. I need back-up, support, someone to distract them so we have an exit strategy when things go south."
I stood up from my chair and looked Mia straight into her big blue eyes. "I need you to understand that I am leading this mission and that means I need absolute obedience in the field. So when I tell you to run and get the hell out of there even if it means leaving Guardians behind, I need to know you will listen."
She swallowed. I knew Mia had been trained by Guardians and understood the dangers better than most, but being asked to leave people behind to die wasn't easy. I had done it once and it had cost me Dimitri and a piece of my soul.
She finally nodded. "I'll come with you." The serious nod turned into a vicious smile I knew all too well. "I mean, you as team leader? That I got to see."
And with that my team was complete. Two ex-lovers, two ex-enemies and a exiled guardian. What could go wrong.
