Rose
"We'll send scouts out to see where Ray's reinforcements are. If what you're saying is true, Ray'll have some of his men inside. It'll just be like Tasha and Court - the Guardian's will be so fixated on getting all Moroi and Dhampirs safe in the canteen they'll assuming anything inside the school grounds is supposed to be there. The mock up charms are only good for disguising Strogoi's instincts and disguises the red eyes, with the Guardian's on high alert, they'll pray the wards are working. We can tell what species you are, but only Shadow-kissed Guardians can tell if you're a Strogoi. Aly'll be the only one to tell, we just have to hope she's listened too."
"Just a quick question." Denis declared raising his hand. "Who are taking orders from?"
"Me." I said as Henry said "Rose" at the same time. "Did you get the scarfs I asked you to get?" He nodded. "Good, we'll need a way to tell the 'good' Strogoi." I replied rolling to my feet.
"Right, so what's the strategy?" Henry asked as the others gathered round, taking a scarf and double knotting it around the neck and flipping it around three times.
"Alberta's still the Caption at Vlad's. After the first attack I made binders of strategy, how we could do better. Lissa gave it to Alberta after I went missing." I started. "Hoping Alberta's following my strategy, I know where the guardian's will be places, the extra weapons and where they're holding all the students. The Guardians can hold off any Strogoi inside the school, we're going straight for the reserves."
"What makes you think all of Ray's pack aren't in the school already?"
"They'll only be able to get at least three or four in the canteen before the Guardian's get suspicious and that's pushing it. How many are in his pack?"
"At least twenty."
"Alright, we'll have the element of surprise. I'll be able to take down three before they notice what's going on. If you guys can distract them, I can stake them easily enough. If we take out the reserves, Ray'll have no cards left to play." There were nods around the table. "And I promise you'll be the first group to get the restock of charms." There was another round of nods and smiles.
"We better get going. The sooner we start this, the sooner it'll end." Henry cleared his throat.
"Rose, we got you something." He put something wrapped in cloth onto the ground. "Denis and Mark took this from your car before the police got there." I moved the cloth and looked down. "We can't have the world's best Guardian going into a Strogoi attack without her stake, can we?" It was the stake Dimitri bought me for my eighteenth birthday, months before my accident. The engravings were familiar, our initials engraved on the butt, Dimitri had our initials in the same place so we were always together even when we were separated in an attack. Dimitri had the grip engraved with roses so it was unique. I picked up the light silver, turning ot over. I haven't held this for years.
"Thank you." I whispered putting the stake in my belt. "You don't happen to have a hair tie, do you?" Henry shook his head.
"But we do have these for you as well." He pulled out two swords, both identical except for a slight detail change on the handle. I took it out of its scabbard and looked at the handle on one. It was engraved with the promise mark, the other was engraved with another symbol I did not recognize - a rising sun. "It's a symbol my pack and I decided to make a stand. The rising sun is to resemble a new day, a new beginning, a new life. We spread the word. We all have a bracelet with the symbol." He lifted up the sleeve of his shirt. I put the swords back into thier place and strapped it on my back, moving my hair
"I want one of them." I smiled. It was smile gold bracelet with the rising sun in the center. Denis smiled.
"We made you one."
"Thank you." I replied, accepting the bracelet, clasping it to my wrist. "If you told me about these earlier, you didn't have to wear the scarfs."
"You mean we can take them off?" Mark rejoices, lifting his arms to untie the knot.
"No, you can't." I laughed. "Let's go."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Don't move until I've been spotted." I whispered in my crouched space, moving silently towards the first Strogoi, impaling him swiftly and silently, guiding him to the ground and moving him out of the way from the others. I hid behind a tree, clenching my stake tightly before moving my fingers to relax them, the cool leather of the scabbard on my back as I leaned against it as much as I could before darting towards another tree, taking down another Strogoi. As I moved again and was just about to take down my third Strogoi, there was a sound of a twig snapping. It wouldn't have made a very loud noise, but because my adrenaline was pumping It was louder than a plan taking off. I glanced at the ground; it was not me. I looked up and lunged forward, staking the Strogoi as he turned around. I didn't get a chance to hid him when the others showed up.
"Surprise!" I yelled putting my stake safely in my belt taking the swords from my back instead. "Do you want to dance?" The Strogoi lunged for me. I met them half way, swinging the swords as my Strogoi team leapt from the trees and attacked. When I was getting too close to the others with my swords, I quickly changed back to my stake, moving as quickly as I could. There was a lot of snarling on both sides, fangs extended slow and deadly. My guys were outnumbered as I tried to swiftly move from one to the other, staking the Strogoi they were fighting. By the time this was finished, I was panting, sweat running into my eyes. I dragged a hand roughly over my forehead, trying to get rid of some. There was a sharp pain in my head as a fist full of my hair was yanked backwards. I gasped in pain, twisting and shocking my stake deep into the heart of the Strogoi.
"That's them all." Henry said wiping blood from his brow. I swallowed and looked around at my new found allies when a shooting pain had me clenching my stomach. "Are you alright?" I nodded shaking my head. My vision changed, it was blurring on the outside, as I looked at the may worried faces of Moroi and dhampirs. I pulled myself away when another wave of pain shit through me putting up mental blocks.
"The Queen's in labor." I mumbled. "Perfect timing Liss." I looked around at the others. "Right, the hard part is over. Denis, how many did we take down?"
"Fifteen."
"How many are in his pack?" I looked at Henry.
"Twenty-five."
"Okay, so there's only ten left." I reply wiping my stake on my trousers. "I really need a shower." I mumbled. Henry and Denis snickered. "Right, so. He's only five men left. They're either in the canteen or outside. The guardian's will be able to handle the Strogoi outside - what was that?" I looked toward the school.
"Looks like Strogoi have gotten inside." I let out a breath and rolled my shoulders.
"Alright, we're going in. You have to stay with me, I'll be able to fend of the Guardian's if they attack you instead. If they attack you, fight to defend, okay?" They nodded. I nodded. "Let's go."
I ran towards the front gates of the school, jumping up and grabbing the bars, getting ready to climb them. I could feel the others following suit as I climbed the gates as quickly as I could without foot holds. I slid down the gate and landed lightly on my feet. I waited for the others to land.
"You have better hearing then me. Where is the worst of the fighting?" Henry pointed towards the west so I led my group that way running as swiftly as I could until a Guardian stepped in my path. He held out his stake, side stepping me as he lunged for Denis. "No!" I yelled, jumping forward and pulling the Guardian from Denis. Denis bared his fangs behind my back as I held up my arms. "Not them." I said. I didn't recognize this Guardian so he must be new, but he made a familiar motion with his finger.
"Rose Hathaway is with them." He said, getting to his feet. "Hathaway's fighting with the Strogoi." I rolled my eyes.
"Boo." I waved my arms as the young Guardian fled in the opposite direction. "Great, I spent all summer trying to convince these guys I'm not a traitor!" Henry stepped forward. I shook my head. "Right, let's go!"
I ran ahead, changing my grip on my stake. I lunged forward, staking a Strogoi that was winning against a Guardian. My guys and I used the same strategy as before, they attack, distract and I kill, it was just harder to do when I had to fight off dhampirs as they tried to attack the Strogoi trying to help them.
"Fall back!" One of them yelled as they ran towards the canteen. We over powered the Strogoi here quickly as soon as they left. Henry pointed to the South.
"There's more fighting down there." I nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. When we got there, it was the same situation as the west, they fell back we attacked and won. I was taking my stack from the last Strogoi, rolling my head back and taking a breath, my arms weighing like led.
"They've retreated back to the canteen; all Guardians are inside there as a last line of defense." I nodded.
"This strategy should have worked - the one I set up for the Vlad's-"
"It did. Ray recruited more Strogoi." It was the first time I actually looked around my surroundings, instead of focusing on my target. Bodies littered the ground. I closed my eyes for a brief moment.
"Let's get to the canteen." Henry nodded. "Is everyone alright to continue? You can sit out and heal and then join back in." Denis shook his head.
"You're very good at strategy. We're fine. Let's go save your kid, huh?" I gave him a small smile and a nod.
"Let's go." I ran forward, leading the way to the canteen since I spent my life growing up within these walls. There were Strogoi, tearing at the windows trying to get through but hissed when they hit the barricade. I stood there; my arms crossed over my chest.
"I wouldn't do that, the woods reinforced with silver. I thought it was clever." The Strogoi hissed and lunged, circling us. I put my stake in my belt, taking back out my swords. There were too many, twenty in total. "Make sure you and the Strogoi you're fighting are over there. I'll take out the ones there with the swords. I'll come over and help you when I'm finished." Henry nodded.
"Good luck." I gave him a nod and waved my sword, quickly decapitating a Strogoi. There was a moment of silence. "That's very sharp." I looked at Henry and nodded before the roars brought us back to our situation. Henry and the others took some Strogoi away. I moved quickly, waving my sword, dodging hits, getting thrown to the ground, getting kicked, punched. I wiped some blood from my lip as Henry lunged at a Strogoi that was stalking towards me. I was breathing hard, the sweat stinging my eyes as I moved quickly killing the Strogoi until finally, we were on the last one. I quickly beheaded him as he snarled.
I fought to stay on my feet, the thought of Ray being inside with Aly made my blood run cold. Henry and the others walked over to me, thier clothes torn, cuts already healing, some blood drying on thier hands and face. I put the swords back and took out my stake.
"I can't wait for that shower." I stretched my arms, wiping my forehead dry from sweat. We walked towards the canteen doors.
"She's not a traitor." That was being screamed loudly from the inside. I didn't recognize the voice.
"She's running with Strogoi out there right now; I think that's a traitor."
"Stop the both of you! We're under attack, shut up and be ready. It's eerily quiet out there." I swallowed,
"Maybe I should be the only one to go in." Henry nodded his head in agreement.
"We'll help with the door and stay back. If anything happens in there, we'll be right behind you." I looked around at the others. "Go get your daughter." I nodded. Altogether, the Strogoi rammed the door hard. They did this a couple of times before there was movement inside.
"Right, we fall back. Get the children at the far wall, the Moroi forming a barrier, then the Dhampirs, depending on the grad, leaving the Guardians at the stop and the seniors behind." I turned to Henry.
"Alright, one more and it should break." He nodded. The others all looked at one another, shoving hard against the door until it creaked and the moved to the side but it wasn't going to be easy to get in. I sighed. "You broke in here a couple times, where was your best entry point?" I whispered to myself and then opened my eyes, motioning for Henry to help me up. I lost the stone on the top of the building, I let it drop to the ground.
"We'll keep and ear out. If anything sounds like it's getting funny, we'll be right in." I looked down and nodded. Everyone gave me encouraging smiles as jumped up and crawled through the small space, grumping as it was harder than the years before.
"Great, I got fat." I hissed as I pushed my way out and climbed onto the framework of the roof. I put my hair behind my ear and silently dropped to the floor in the center of the room. There was screaming of Moroi as I landed. There was a loud roar as the Guardian's geared up to attack and pushed towards the center of the room but stopped as soon as they saw me.
"It's only me!" I put my hands up as I stood there watching as the older Guardian's, the guardians that have been at this school when I was a student relaxed slightly, while the younger ones tensed.
"She's a traitor." I rolled me eyes.
"I'm not, but there is one in there." There was a roar and growl to my right, I ducked and punched out just as the canteen doors cracked more and Henry lunged toward us, attacking Ray as he tried to grab me. I staked one of his friend's easily enough but with the amount of people, it was getting difficult to get enough room to fight. "Come on Ray, you should have just left my five-year-old alone." I couldn't see Dimitri or my mom but I knew they were with Lissa and Aly, the last defense to save the Queen. There was a sea of people parting wanting nothing to do with what was going on. The only ones that were not moving were the guardians and seniors. "Don't worry about your reserves, they're all gone." His eyes shone brightly as Henry held him, both Strogoi's eyes were shining brightly.
"That kid is very clever. Trying to tell people there were Strogoi in there."
"Ray." He smiled.
"Rose." He lunged getting out of Henry's grip but before I reacted, someone leaped over me with a hiss and a snarl. I smiled at him.
"I have friends too." Instead of Ray's people fighting with him, they ran. They ran leaving him alone. "Goodbye Ray." I swiftly put the stake in his chest as he struggled against Denis and Henry. His eyes slowly closed. "Quick change of plan." I said to the others. "We're moving into part three, we'll do part two later." Part three was getting Dr. Olendzki, Christian and Lissa to the infirmary before she had the baby in the middle of a dirty floor. Henry nodded as he Denis and Mark ran inside, and grabbed them rushing past me quickly in the moment of confusion. Shawn walked up to me, extended his hand.
"Strogoi are faster." I gave him a small smile and nodded taking his hand.
"We have to stop by her house first." He nodded and then we were off, blurring through the grounds of St Vlad's until we made it to Lissa's house. I unlocked the door, ran inside, grabbed her hospital bag and Shawn brought me to the infirmary. Henry, Denis and Mark were standing with thier hands up defensively.
"Look, we can just wait for Rose and -" Henry turned to me. "Thank god." I nodded toward him.
"I'll call you. Henry? I'll find your family, I promise." He nodded and bowed low before he and the others ran. I stood in the door way. Lissa sat on the bed breathing hard her hair plastered to her neck and face with sweat. She over at me, Christian had his arms rasied.
"It's a long story." I said. "I didn't think you wanted your s-child to be born on a dirty floor." Lissa screamed and Christian flinched, dropping his hands. I went into the room and dropped the bag beside the bed.
"Don't you dear even think about leaving Rosemarie Hathaway." She yelled. I swallowed. "You caused this." She turned on Christian. Dr. Olendzki was ignoring what was going on in the door and was focusing on Lissa.
"Alright, I can see the head. You're going to have to start pushing." Lissa did as she was told, Christian behind her supporting her as Lissa gripped my hand tightly. She was panting. "You need to keep pushing." Lissa shook her head.
"Come on, I managed it." I gave her a smile but she returned it with a glare.
"Oh, don't you start!" She yelled. "You better have a god damn good reason to be running with Strogoi!" Lissa squeezed my hand as she pushed again.
"I'll explain later when your not trying to push a little Moroi out of your vagina." Christian snorted.
"We're never having sex again." I laughed at Christian's face as Lissa finished pushing and was met with a screaming boy.
"It's a boy." Dr. Olendzki gave him to Lissa as she started to busy herself, getting Christian to cut the cord. Dr. Olendzki put her arms out for the baby again. I smiled at Lissa and stroked her hair.
"It's okay, they're just going to clean him up and weigh him. He'll be back soon." Lissa looked over at me, her eyebrows fused together and nodded. Christian looked at me.
"I'm sorry we had to upstage you're rescue." I smiled and rolled my eyes.
"There's her hospital bag. They'll keep you in wait for him to pee and poo and feed. You'll be fine."
"Hey Rose," Lissa looked over at me sheepishly. "I knew you'd make it for his birth." I smiled and kissed her forehead.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
I left Lissa and Christian in the hospital, got Dr. Olendzki to call Alberta and explain that everyone was fine and Lissa was in the infirmary with her new baby boy. I walked slowly back towards Lissa's house, knowing Dimitri had the house next to it. I sat on the stone porch, leaning my head against the post as I closed my eyes, forcing myself to stay awake despite the exhaustion. I heard footsteps approaching and opened my eyes to an attack of a five-year-old. I smiled and closed my eyes again, holding my daughter tightly. She buried her head in my hair and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. I kissed her cheeks and forehead smiling.
"I missed you, baby." There was wetness on my shoulder as her eyes overflowed with tears. I opened my eyes and looked up at Dimitri. I gave him a small smile and he sank to the ground wrapping his arms around me, pulling Aly and I closer.
"I really could do with a shower." Dimitri laughed and kissed me.
"You're never driving again." I laughed. "Dad, can you take Aly for a bit?" Aly's arms grew tighter around my neck. Abe looked at me confused but nodded anyway and took Aly from me and walking into the house. I slowly got to my feet, the exhaustion settling in. Dimitri held me steady. I looked up at him and gave him a small smile. I looked over at Sally.
"There's another ten bodies outside the walls." She looked at me and gave me a small nod. "Where's Mia?"
"Mia?" Dimitri looked at me as Eddie answered. "Honestly? I don't know where she got to but she won't be long, she's probably just getting some of the baby stuff in our house for Lissa-"
"No, she's not." I pulled away from Dimitri. "Where is she?" I whispered to myself.
"Roza, maybe we should go inside, I can hear Aly crying-"
"Hi Rose!" There she was, walking over with a smile on her face. "Thank god you warned us!" Alberta was walking with her. I straightened my back and looked at her.
"Look, there she is. Now, we can-" I lunged for her kicking her legs from under her and slamming her hard on the ground. Mia gasped as I heard my name being yelled by the others, I fought the arms trying to take me off her.
"Rose? What are you doing?" She asked trying to pry my hands for her neck. She tried to get up but I slammed her into the ground again.
"I know everything." I whispered in her ear. I pulled away and saw her eyes widen not just from fear but from realization. "Shouldn't have threatened my child." I said that a bit louder when I felt Mia calling for her element. I shook my head and focused. Spirit users can bend all elements slightly, so I called for water to try and suppress Mia's calling for her element. I shook my head and focused. Spirit users can bend all elements slightly, so I called for water to try and suppress Mia's, it worked for a brief moment. "It's a long story." I knocked her out and got up looking at Alberta.
"She's the mole."