Chapter 6:

6 Months Ago

I was abruptly pulled from my shift guarding Lissa for an emergency guardian meeting. Confused on what was going on, I quickly hurried to the guardian meeting room worried there had been a massive Strigoi attack. We couldn't afford to lose anymore guardians, mostly because the numbers were already so low. What made it scarier was the law to have novices graduate at sixteen instead of eighteen, to help with the guardian numbers. That was a heated discussion at Court, that had been back and forth for quite some time. Luckily, no decision had been made yet.

As I entered in the room, my mother was there speaking quickly to Guardian Steele. If her trip back was delayed it must be something big. We briefly made eye contact, with her eyes telling me to sit down and not say a word. Obeying her orders, I found Meredith in the crowd and slid in next to her. I could tell that she was tense about the topic of this meeting.

"Wow, they even told you to come here? Must be something major if they made you end your shift early with Lissa," said Meredith, breaking the nervousness that surrounded us.

I nodded my head, seeing the distress amongst some of the guardians that I knew. Gazing around the room I tried searching for Hans Croft to read his expression, except he was nowhere to be found. "Have you seen Guardian Croft?" I asked Meredith, surprised that he wasn't taking place at the front of the room to get everyone seated.

Before she could reply, Guardian Steele entered the room swiftly, letting the door slam shut behind him. Wordlessly, the remaining guardians took a seat with my mother near the front of the room. Where was Hans? Guardian Steele took the front of the room, clearing his throat and taking a drink of water.

"Guardians, I know you are all curious what brought you to this emergency meeting. I can assure you this would not be called unless it was something urgent. The Moroi Mr. Timothy Walton, Guardian Miller, Guardian Buchan, and, unfortunately, Guardian Croft have gone missing."

The uproar began, with questions shouting when they went missing and how they knew the group was missing. Guardian Steele was paling standing at the front, as guardians argued back and forth about the last time they heard from them. Three missing Court guardians, including the head one, in addition to a Moroi working at Court was far from ideal. One noisy guardian was saying that they should start installing trackers in the cars and we needed to catch up with simple 21st century technology. I couldn't help, but let out a smile at his comment.

"Let me finish," shouted Steele, silencing the crowd. "The four were last heard from approximately eight hours ago, upon their arrival to the town. It was a short trip to run a few errands and they were expected back around six pm. As you know, it is approaching midnight. We have tried contacting each one of them several times, but we have not heard back."

I sat there stunned that something like this was happening. Usually these day trips were nothing too crazy, but then again it had been a heavy overcast day. Maybe it was possible for the Strigoi's to grab people in the shadows, without being harmed. But how did a group of Strigoi's manage to get through three guardians? Why would they target a random Moroi?

"To further examine this, we are sending a team to town and retracing their exact routes. We have great hope that we will find the team and be able to save all four lives."

"Yeah right," I muttered under my breath. If they lost touch in communication for eight hours the likelihood of it being a good outcome was incredibly low. I knew it was natural for people to hope for the best outcome, but I never worked myself up with hope. I learned that things never work out the way you wanted them to.

Next my mother stood up to stand next to Guardian Steele. For my mom not having a permanent place at Court, she sure held grandeur to everyone here. I mean my mom was a badass guardian. She had this expression on her face when something wasn't going her way, that would immediately convince people to follow her orders.

As Mom explained the mission, my thoughts drifted to the first Strigoi murders I had come across a little over a year ago. The Badicas. The lifeless bodies of the Moroi and guardians still haunted my thoughts, especially seeing the best ranked guardian completed mauled.

When mom started calling the names of the guardians going on this search mission, I wasn't expecting my name to be called. I was still a relatively new promised guardian, so it would be awhile before they would instill this amount of trust on me. Well, I was wrong.

". . . and Guardian Rose Hathaway will be joining us today. Please meet near the garages in an hour, your current guardian duties will be covered."

Before I knew it, I was piled in one of the two very full cars, speeding down one of the back roads. It was a very dark night, with little to no light being shone on the roads. Perfect night for heightened Strigoi activity. I clutched onto my one of my silver stakes, trying to distract myself from other things. Lissa was nervous that I had to leave for this short mission, while Adrian just told me not to die. Rolling my eyes at thinking of his last comment, I quickly snapped out of it, when I heard Guardian Steele let out a gasp and slam on the breaks.

"Fuck, this isn't good," another guardian said in the car.

I glanced out the window and saw one of the Court guardian cars pulled over to the side of the road with the windows smashed in. The car pulled over to the side of the road and we silently got out of the cars. We all knew that there were just dead bodies in the car, it was impossible that they survived that attack.

As we approached closer to the car, I immediately picked up on the smell on fresh blood and heard flies buzzing around. Guardian Steele went ahead of all of us, with my mother lingering a few paces behind. The rest of us all stood in silence, anxious in anticipation of what we would see. I wasn't much for gory sites, especially when it would come to seeing people that I actually knew. Hans Croft and I had a rough relationship at the beginning, but soon we came to be on great terms. Apparently, he had stood up for me when they were assigning guardians to Lissa.

Steele opened up the door and immediately one of the guardian bodies toppled out of the car, with a deep gash in his neck and his eyes glazed over. The smell of a decaying body immediately hit us all and I held back tears that were beginning to form. One of our own, gone. My mother opened up the back doors and I could tell from her expression that it was just as gruesome as the first.

Damn.

"Timothy and Buchan back here, dead," my mom said. I could tell that she was trying to hold any hint of emotion back. "No sign of Hans; spread out and look for any sign of struggle. I'll call the alchemists."

We did as we were told with little to no argument. Steele and I started walking into the woods, to see if there was any blood or footprints in the mud that we could track. Steele had a blank expression across his face, the more we started walking into the woods. I could tell that he was feeling doubtful for finding Hans, unlike the rest of the guardians who were still clinging on to a bit of hope.

Steele was a man of very few words, which could be easily seen across his straight face that he typically wore. He had this harsh jaw line that was always accompanied by a clean-shaven face. Never had I seen any hint of a five o'clock shadow. His hair was dark and slicked back with a lot of gel. I swear he looked like someone from the Matrix, the only thing missing was sunglasses and a black leather jacket. I was never a fan of him, especially since he always came across to me as big-headed.

Suddenly, a sweep of nausea hit me and I knew without a doubt that there was a Strigoi. Before I could say a word to Steele, our silver stakes were out and gripped in our hands. The Strigoi approached me with menacing expression and I immediately flew into my innate guardian attack mode. I swiftly gave the Strigoi a few punches, making sure to dodge its attack. Steele ran around back, trying to catch the Strigoi off guard, as the stake was thrown from my hand. No time to get that.

My eyes focused in on the fight and soon enough I was giving the Strigoi a swift kick to the stomach, throwing it to the ground. Steele immediately dove on top of the Strigoi, holding down its arms trying to retain him. "Do you know where Hans Croft is?" shouted Steele at the Strigoi, as I approached the Strigoi with the recovered stake in my hand.

The Strigoi snarled in return.

Steele made eye contact with me and nodded, as I took my silver stake and slashed it across the face. There was a cry of pain, proceeded by more resistance, which Steele quickly apprehended. "I will ask you one more time, nicely. Where is Hans Croft?"

"You will never know," chuckled the Strigoi.

I didn't even hesitate when Steele gave me the cue. I knelt down and plunged the silver stake into the Strigoi's heart, hearing it gasp before it died. Steele released his grip and made eye contact with me, with his routine blank expression. But I could have sworn I saw a hint of sadness and grief in his eyes.

Steele stood up, offering a hand to pull me up. I heard the other guardians approaching, including my mother. "Guardian Steele, Rose what on Earth happened?" She shouted, quickly approaching us.

"Hans Croft is missing, either turned or dead," stated Steele, in a matter of fact manner. "Tell the alchemists we have another one further in the woods. And congratulations, Guardian Hathaway, you have earned yourself another molnija. Let's clear out."

Present Day:

The next day, I was sprawled across one of the couches in the guardian lounge, enjoying the warm fire and sense of quiet. The past couple of days were filled with too emotion, as a result of Dimitri, and I needed calm and relaxation for once –especially before the Christmas chaos. Sipping my hot chocolate, I leaned back in the couch closing my eyes, giving them a brief rest.

Dimitri was confusing on his back and forth emotion, I wasn't quite sure how to interpret it. I still felt like me and him never got to truly talk since he changed back. The one time that we truly talked he told me he didn't love me.

Maybe it was just too complicated to be around each other, especially after everything that had happened in the past. Since I had seen him again, I felt like I lost every bit of clarity that surrounded me and Dimitri. When he left I knew that he didn't want to be surrounded by me and needed a fresh start, but now he was here and it appeared his trip wouldn't be short.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the guardian lounge door swing up. I opened up my eyes and smiled, when I saw Eddie walking towards me holding a brown paper bag.

"Booze?" I said, taking a glance at the bag.

"Nope, better. Two chocolate donuts left over from breakfast. I snatched them on the way out of the cafeteria for you," replied Eddie. He gently tossed the bag on the couch next to me, then sat across from me in one of the leather armchairs.

"Much better."

He glanced at the tree that was in the room, then back at me. "How is everything with Dimitri being here?" Eddie said quietly. Wow, what a great conversation starter.

I opened up the bag and immediately started scarfing down one of the chocolate donuts, giving him a shrug. "As great as it can be. It's awkward and emotions are back and forth for both of us. Apparently, he wants to stay in America, but just gave me some bullshit reason why."

"You think you will ever truly talk about everything since he turned?"

"Doubtful. Any chance we can get out of here as soon as possible?"

"Yeah, actually was just coming here to tell you. Guardian Thomas is on her way to the Academy. As soon as she arrives, we are out of here tonight."

I threw my head back in relief, knowing that I could get back to my normal schedule. I missed being around Lissa, Christian, and even Adrian. Quickly finishing off the second donut, Eddie and I sat there chatting about random things and plans of stuff to do at Court. Despite the pleasant and funny conversation with Eddie, the thought of leaving Dimitri still lingered in my mind.

Eddie and I walked back to our rooms, that were just down the hall from each other, laughing about a few memories with Mason. This was probably the first time we were able to have a light conversation about Mason without it turning depressing. We still missed Mason every day, but the more we talked about the great memories we spent with him, the easier it was.

As we parted ways when we approached my room, I told him that I would see him at the runway with Jill and Guardian Thomas. When I entered my room I quickly sent something to Lissa to tell her that I would be back that night, with the bond immediately telling me she was excited. I knew that I needed a movie night and girl talk night, especially after everything with Dimitri. Grabbing my toiletries from the bathroom and folding up the few clothes I had, I heard a soft knock at the door.

"It's open!" I shouted, zipping up my duffle bag. I threw my hair up in a messy bun, happy that it had finally grown enough that I could go back to this style. I didn't regret my haircut until I realized I couldn't pull it out of my face like I used to.

Dimitri opened up the door, with slight hesitation on his face already. I knew I should have been surprised at his appearance, but I wasn't. I kind of expected to see him one last time before I would return back to Court. He looked at me intently before glancing around my room. He cleared his throat, "Rose, I heard you were leaving tonight."

I nodded. "That would be correct."

"Take a walk with me," He stated suddenly, his dark eyes meeting mine. "I think we should try to part as friends, since we may be seeing more of each other in the future."

I was necessarily planning on seeing more of him in the future, especially since he was the Academy and teaching again. Unless he came to Court, but I doubt that would occur anytime soon. "I don't know how we can be friends since we never have talked about what happened since you turned Strigoi, Dimitri," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

I saw the flicker of pain in his eyes. That same flicker that I saw when he first turned back and would have to think about everything that he had done. Dimitri cleared his throat. "I was unfair the way I treated you and how I called you immature. I had to process a lot of things when I saw you, repress the memories of what I did to you as a Strigoi . . . "He stopped mid-sentence unsure how to continue.

I slid on my coat, seeing him stare at me. "I could use one last walk around campus," I said, giving him a smile. "Lead the way."

We walked around campus both silently at first, not sure what to say to each other. My hands were deep in my coat pocket and I regretted wearing my hair up with the cool winter breeze. It was one of those times where I dreadfully wanted to be on the human day schedule and have the sun warm up the surroundings.

"Is Lissa doing well?" asked Dimitri, putting an end to the awkward silence.

"Yeah, pretty good actually. She is taking a gap year before we start college, so she has been preoccupied being basically Queen Tatiana's understudy. She is still practicing spirit with Adrian constantly and I'm pretty sure Christian will be proposing any time now."

"Sounds like a lot going on. What about you?"

"What about me?" I questioned, raising one of my eyebrows.

He shrugged. "There must be something new with Rose Hathaway."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Yeah, that is a major no. I just guard, train, and occasionally spend real time with Lissa, occasionally Meredith. How is Sonya's new baby?"

Dimitri looked at me, furrowing his eyebrows. He was confused why I would know this about his family, but then it quickly dawned on him that I had spent a significant amount of time with his family in Baia that of course I would know about Sonya's pregnancy. "She had a daughter named Katya," He said. "Yeva says that Katya will have a bright future with much love surrounding it, so we were all pleased."

"Still predicting the future?" I said.

"She will never change," He assured me. It felt weird talking about his family with him, since in the past he was always rather quiet about it. During our old training sessions, I used to always press him for information, but hardly get anything in return. When he was starting to open up about his home, he was turned. What made it even stranger was that I had spent a significant amount of time in his home, when he wasn't even present.

"My family asked about you when I arrived back home," Dimitri stated. "They said that they enjoyed your company when you came to Russia."

"I enjoyed their company too," I softly said. "It was nice to be around a mother who honestly cared about getting to know who I am rather than asking about Lissa and how many training is going. I'm very thankful your family took me in for that short period of time."

He gave me a light smile, still slightly uneasy of the circumstances as to why I met his family. "I never dreamed that you would meet my family, especially in that way."

"I never thought I would run away to Russia, but some things happen that you don't expect," I noted, before silence spread amongst us some more. As we continued walking around campus, I realized that we had naturally avoided the cabin at all costs. Damn, that would have made things even more awkward if we went by there.

He started up the conversation again, which surprised me. Usually it was always me who would initiate every conversation with him. "I thought about you when I first got to Russia, quite frequently. I never wanted you to be in pain, Rose. I truly wanted what was best for you because you deserved so much more than what I could ever provide you."

I stopped and stared at him, slightly stunned that he willingly brought up this topic. I had often wondered if he had thought about me after he went back to Russia. He made it seem like I was completely out of his thoughts when he broke things off with me and left, which always brought me pain when I thought about it. How could my former mentor, my former love could erase me from his mind so easily? But now, I was getting the clarity I knew I deserved. He didn't actually forget about me, I guess I did have a lasting effect on his mind.

We stared at each other for a long time, before he broke eye contact and we continued walking. "Roza, you never need to forgive me for what I did to you before and after I was restored, but I hope you can learn to respect my decision. It would have been unfair to you if I led you on."

Startled at him calling me Roza, I closed my eyes briefly to collect my thoughts. "I'm not sure if you will ever have my forgiveness, Dimitri, but I know I will never understand what you went through. Feelings can change, I now understand that they do. Mine have," I said.

We stopped again, staring at each other in the moonlight. I saw his mouth open to say something, but he stopped. I pulled my hand out of my pocket and grabbed ahold of his, giving it a light squeeze to give him reassurance. I still deeply cared for Dimitri, but I knew I didn't feel that sense of deep love around him anymore. Maybe he was right; feelings can change. My hand lingered on top of his for a bit, before I pulled it away and buried it back in my pocket.

"Dimitri, I just wanted you to know that I – "

I was quickly cut off, not by Dimitri, but instead a blood curdling scream in the distance. It was coming from the front gates. With no hesitation, both of took off in a sprint, knowing that this wasn't good. The adrenaline pumped through me and I heard Dimitri frantically panting something in the radio system. "Guardian Hathaway and I are almost at the gate."

Before I knew it, we approached the gate to see the doors wide open. On the other side of the gate a standard guardian car was pulled up with all doors open, surrounded by Strigoi. There were at least ten Strigoi, making the guardians outmatched. I withdrew my silver stake and ran out of the Academy perimeters, with Dimitri close to my side.

I noticed the smashed in windows, which quickly brought me back to the Hans Croft investigation. This time there weren't any dead bodies in the car; this time it was different. As I rounded the car, curious to see where the scream came from, I froze at what I saw. Laying on the ground with a Strigoi hunched over was Jill's second guardian, with Strigoi teeth sunk in her neck. Her body was limp as she was gasping for life, too weak to move.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, my apologies for the cliff hanger. :P Please review and follow! I love hearing feedback and replaying to messages. :)

Thank you so much for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites. It really means a lot to me, especially since this is my first time ever writing a VA fan fiction. Also, brief heads up. Also to note: Chapter 7 will not have a flash to the past. What I have laid out for chapter 7 will be dense enough and the focus will need to be on the present.

ALSO! Christmas is on a Monday and I am planning on posting later that night or on morning of the 26th. I am currently planning on having it closer to 5000 words instead of my usual 3000 to 4000.

Soooo since I'm so grateful for the love and support I have received as I kick started this story, I have decided to let you guys request something to be included in that chapter. (Note: major things that would derail from the main plot of the story will not be included.)

So who are characters and character interactions you would be curious to see? What is a flashback you would like to see? (Can be anything from Romitri romance to Lissa and Rose hanging out) The only thing I will tell you about the plot for this chapter is that it will take place at Court and will be a Christmas ball and possibly a Russian God will be there? Anyways think on it and lemme know. Have a great week! See you Wednesday. :)