Dimitri

We cut through the howling undead. Rose and Janine fought side by side, the deadliest mother-daughter duo, and their stakes pierced many a Strigoi heart. Christian stalked behind them, flames pouring from both hands, clearing a space for us to move as the Strigoi recoiled from the death he wrought. In the light of the blazing fire he wielded, he looked like an angel of death.

I brought up the rear, felling any Strigoi who came too close. My eyes were peeled for any sight of Lissa or Robert. It felt strange to be giving my Moroi, Christian, anything less than my fullest protection, but a guardian's duty, first and foremost, was to his/her queen. Besides, Christian looked like he could handle himself.

"I don't see her," Rose called back to us, dispatching a Strigoi woman with a grunt. "Did she mention her plans to either of you?"

"Adrian!" Christian suddenly called. Rose's ex-boyfriend had suddenly appeared before us. His hair was dishevelled, and not in a fashionable way – his clothes were torn and he looked like he'd been in a scuffle. Yet, for a user of a non-physical element, doing battle with an unprecedented horde of evil undead, he looked remarkably all right. As I watched, a Strigoi man bore down on him, only to stop, his snarling expression turning blank. He suddenly turned and flung himself on another Strigoi, ripping the other vampire's head off.

"Illusions," Adrian murmured, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Deceptions. Mirages. He thinks he's seeing a Moroi, but he's just killing his own kind. Funny, isn't it, how all it takes to cause real death and destruction is the perception of a threat?"

"Adrian," Rose said carefully. Adrian was getting close to that spirit-induced rambling to which he could occasionally be prone, which was a sign he was using a dangerous amount of spirit. "Adrian, stay with us."

Adrian blinked. "Little dhampir?"

"That's more like it," Rose said with some relief. "Adrian, have you seen Lissa?"

Adrian nodded, which was a surprise. "We were fighting with spirit together – using our telekinesis, super-compulsion. She's over – there."

He pointed, and through the crowd I glimpsed the queen of the Moroi. Flanked by guardians, the moonlight shone on her platinum blonde hair, lighting it to a halo-like sheen. Her expression was fierce as she battled the Strigoi, and it became clear quickly why she fought with guardians – she used her powers in a complement to their fighting technique. Leering Strigoi suddenly stopped, incapacitated, as she planted visions and hallucinations in their minds, enough for the dhampirs to swoop in and stake them, much as Adrian had done. I suddenly realized that, wielding as much spirit, the element of life, as she was, she herself was a deterrent to the undead – Strigoi weakened visibly as they approached her, and when once she reached out and grabbed a Strigoi man to distract him with a stronger illusion, his skin sizzled from the contact of so much living magic burning inside her. Spirit, it would seem, was a powerful weapon against the Strigoi. Glancing over, I noticed Rose noticing this, and making a mental note to speak to Lissa about this in future.

It was obvious, however, that Lissa was tiring. Perspiration shone on her skin, and her clenched jaw spoke to the effort this magic was costing her. I nodded to my companions. We would have to take Lissa away from the battle, protect her from the Grand Master's schemes.

Rose and I surged forward. Lissa's eyes widened a fraction. "Rose! Dimitri," she exclaimed.

"Liss, you have to come with us right now," Rose hissed.

"What? What's going on?"

"The Grand Master's looking for you," I responded. "He means to turn you Strigoi. You need to leave the battle and come with us so we can protect you –"

"She's not going anywhere," came a lazy drawl. The crowd of Strigoi parted, and Robert Doru stepped forward, his lips curled in an ugly sneer.

It was a shock to my system, just as seeing Sonya Karp once had been. The first thing I noticed about his eyes, surprisingly, was not their red rings, but the sharp focus with which they fixed onto me. Gone was the spirit-induced confusion and dreaminess they had once held, and in its place was a cold, malicious intelligence I realized with a pang I had never known was there. As I watched, a glint of triumph entered his eyes, and his sneer widened as he took in my undoubtedly shocked expression.

"Dimitri Belikov," he hissed. "We have you and Rose to thank for tonight's events – without you, I would never have made the decision to make myself strong. I suppose I should be grateful."

"Robert." I worked to keep the sorrow from my voice. "I wish I could say the same."

Robert's attention, however, had turned to Lissa. She was staring at him. She'd never met him, but rare had been the occasions on which she'd spoken directly to Strigoi.

"Your Majesty," the Grand Master said mockingly, feigning a bow. "Just as we have Dimitri and Rose to thank for tonight, perhaps you should be thanking me. It was the ingenuity of my brother and I that prompted you to run for queen."

"I owe you no thanks," Lissa retorted. The guardians around her shifted.

The battle was still going on, but I was distantly aware that the Strigoi immediately surrounding us were watching the showdown between the two leaders of the Moroi and the Strigoi. As well they should – this was history in the making.

"Unfortunately for you," Robert continued, "I'm not one of those Strigoi who's lived hundreds of years. They tend to preface their battles with a long and somewhat predictable speech that allows their opponents an advantage. I'm far more modern."

And with that, he sprang at Lissa.

I launched myself forward, but the guardians at Lissa's side were already moving, throwing themselves at Robert. More Strigoi then poured into the melee, and I found myself grappling with a tall woman who had undoubtedly once been Moroi. I staked her with some difficulty and looked around for Lissa, spotting her again almost immediately.

She fought at Rose's side, and the two of them were a perfect match – dark hair flew with blonde, two angels of life and death battling unnatural creatures. Rose spun and kicked and hacked at monsters, laying waste to those around her. But, as I watched, it became clear that Lissa, too, had been taking combat lessons. She must have kept them secret from Rose – there was no way Rose would have let her – but she dodged and twirled and lunged with a newfound, almost dhampir-like grace. Robert's fangs snapped inches from her, but she dodged backward with skill that could only have come from guardian training.

From Robert's frustrated expression, it was clear that Lissa had surprised him too. Moroi weren't known for being particularly fast – Moroi politics certainly wasn't – but as Lissa evaded Robert's attacks, he grew visibly angrier.

"Has someone been a bad little queen?" he sneered. "Has someone been training?"

"I will decide what constitutes good and bad behaviour," Lissa snapped at him. "And I think I am well past caring."

With a jerk of her head to her left, she gave a sharp nod. I noticed suddenly that Christian was just finishing off a Strigoi opponent. He snapped his fingers, and flames roared to life, scorching Robert's body. Whichever way he moved, the flames burned hotter and fiercer, and so they held in place. Roaring in anger, he turned his red gaze back on Lissa.

"I may have been pushed boundaries by deciding to train," Lissa hissed, "but I think you'll find what I'm about to do is tried and tested."

With guardian-fast movements, she whipped a silver stake from inside her clothing – and with one swift, sure movement, darted forward and plunged it into Robert's chest.

A strangled, inhuman scream rose from Robert's throat, but rather than crumpling to the ground as I'd expected, there was suddenly a blinding white flash of light. It overpowered my senses and knocked me to the ground. Soundless and yet potent, my world turned to white.

As it began to clear, I found myself lying on the ground. The blast had knocked most of those immediately surrounding Lissa and Robert down too. The Strigoi who had been unlucky to be around such powerful spirit magic were screaming, their skin singed and burned by life. Other guardians swooped in and made quick work of them.

Lissa was on her knees, an exhausted, bloodied queen, but a queen she remained nonetheless, her chin and head held high. And before her was a crumpled, stooped over figure, lying on his hands and knees in the dirt as though in prayer. Before my eyes, he began to stir. With suddenly frail, unsure motions, he picked himself up and rose to his knees. Confused blue eyes, already beginning to swim in tears, met Lissa's, and a flush entered what had once been a chalk-white face. Lacking the strength of an undead monster, he suddenly collapsed again, but it was enough.

Robert Doru was no longer Strigoi.

As my senses slowly returned to me, I became aware of the fading sounds of battle. Somehow, impossibly, Moroi and dhampirs fighting together had overcome the greatest threat they had ever faced. I heard the sounds of fleeing Strigoi, and the beginnings of shouts of triumph from guardians and their charges alike. But all of my attention was directed toward the scene of benediction before me.

The queen of the Moroi had worked a miracle, and from undeath had brought glorious life.