Chapter 9

Five strigoi launched themselves at Mikhail. I pulled out my yatagan and sliced through the others until I was face to face with Miss Karp. She stumbled back, obviously scared. I mimicked her steps. I heard the others arrive behind me. Mikhail was instantly by my side. Sonya ran, we chased. Through the open fields we traveled. She jumped over a river in a single bound. We followed her along the river, keeping her in sight until we reached a bridge. I knew this bridge. My heart skipped a beat as I ran across the place where I had staked Dimitri. I remembered him falling back into the river. We were close behind her. She passed the mansion, we still persued. Five more strigoi emerged from the house. Mikhail stopped to distract them. I glanced back just to make sure the others were close behind. I saw Nicolai clear the bridge and jump into the fight. I turned back to Miss Karp. She wasn't that far ahead of me anymore. I pulled out my dagger and threw it right into her spinal cord. It wouldn't kill a strigoi of course, but she sure as hell wasn't going to run anymore. Mikhail caught up just as I removed my dagger.

"We only get one shot at this" I told him and Lissa, "are you ready?" both gave me the positive answer I was waiting for. Art, Lev, Denis, Nicolai, and Viktoria ran up. "Art, Denis, Lev you know what to do, restrain her." The four guys each pinned her to the ground. I knelt by her heart, stake in hand.

Let the spine heal first, Lissa thought. My hands were placed on the body. I felt the hole closing up and her body instantly gained strength. NOW!

I took the stake to her heart allowing Lissa to do what she needed to. I felt the whole thing, saw it all, and wanted to kill myself. Miss Karp's memories surged through me. Her school days, hiding her talent, secretly helping spirit users at St. Vladimir's Academy, me and Lissa, her capture, crazy thoughts, headaches, the decision to go strigoi, then everything went still. I witnessed the change. The pain, the amazing senses, and the ultimate removal of all my problems. I could see how it was so appealing. Lissa was mending her soul back together. I reached in to remove the dark memories. Then she cried. Miss Karp broke down and cried in my lap.

She looked at me, Mikhail, her hands and the others. "I'm me" she muttered, "I am back to myself" then she reached down and made the grass grow taller. "Spirit, you returned."

Mikhail scooped her up in his arms and we headed back to Baia. The walk was much longer than the adrenaline run we had just finished. I heard Mikhail whispering sweet words and singing some personal song.

"You guys pack the car" I told the boys. Mikhail had set Miss Karp in the back to get some sleep. Now we needed to head back to Novosibirsk. I went into the house to say goodbye to the Belikovs. Tears streamed eyes, until I promised to return within two weeks. I promised Paul and Anastasia new hats when I returned. Then I headed out the door. The guys were waiting and I jumped in. Daylight was quickly approaching. Three of us had to squish into the front seat in order to make space for everyone. The road was long and silent.

We arrived shortly after sun up. Mikhail took Miss Karp straight to his room for some much needed sleep. They guys returned to Tanya's and I was left to myself. I closed the bond right after we made it to Baia, it took a lot of effort to keep it open. I gobbled down some waffles, doughnuts, and leftovers I brought back from Olena. Then I crashed on my bed. It was the most restful sleep I had in a long time. I was ultimately happy. Dimitri confessed to loving me and was going to be in my arms again soon, we changed back Sonya, and I wasn't in any kind of trouble for once. Three reasons to be happy. I didn't think about what I would have to do when I woke up, instead I concentrated on everything positive. For once, there was a lot of positive things in my life. I awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. Stupid phone!

"Hello" I answered groggily.

"Roza" Dimitri gasped.

"Hey comrade" I lightened up. "I'm in Novosibirsk."

"Why are you there? You could have stayed with my family" he argued.

"I know" I replied laughing, "but we have more space here."

"I am coming to see you" he said, I could hear Paul and Anastasia arguing over something. "I will be there in a few hours."

"What day is it?" I asked looking over at the calendar that hung on my wall.

"Tuesday"

"Shit!" I yelled. "I've been asleep for two days. I guess spirit really does drain the mind." Then I took in his comment. "Stay with your family" I said cheerily, "you haven't been there in almost two years. I will be back sometime over the next week. I just have to take care of one more piece of business here."

He sighed, "okay, but we need to talk."

"Soon" I smiled to myself.

After hanging up I went into the living room. Mikhail and Sonya were there. "How do you feel?" I asked her.

"Strange" she replied, "I haven't seen the sun in five years and now I can't stop enjoying looking at it."

"Don't look too hard, it can burn your eyes" I smiled at her.

"Do thank Princess Vasilissa for me" she said.

"She is queen now" I replied. "So did Mikhail tell you the plan?" She shook her head no, "well we have learned that spirit users not bonded to another tend to go crazy." As in 'that's why we all called you loon.' "So we are going to kill Mikhail and let you bring him back to life, creating a bond. Then he will be able to draw on the darkness of spirit and use it towards fighting. Oksana and Marc have offered to help you through the transition." Her face looked horrified.

"You want to kill him?"

"No" I sighed, "we have to. Is your magic back to full power." Mikhail shook his head 'yes' while she stammered.

"Yes, it is but.." she began, "I don't think it's a good idea."

I took out my stake and hit him in the heart. He fell backwards off the couch. Blood gushed out of the wound. Sonya burst into tears and flew to his side. I was on her, holding her hands back. She had to bring him back just as his soul departed. I released her when it started to rise. Miss Karp's hands removed the stake. Then I watched as she ran her hands along his chest. Instantly his soul was jerked back into his body. The blood receded back into the opening and the skin stitched itself together.

Mikhail sat up instantly. "Wow" he said, "what an experience!"

"I don't remember mine" I admitted cleaning my stake on an old rag. "Do you sense her?" He nodded as did Sonya. "Can you sense him?" Their gazes were locked. I could tell that they had an open two-way bond. I was jealous, it was something I had to work for. Life is so not fair.

"I hear it!" he said turning to me. "I can hear her thoughts."

"I can hear his too" Sonya added. They turned back to each other and I left.

The air was cool. It passed over my skin sending chills up my spine, down my arms and legs. I stood for a moment on the silent street. I took a deep breath.

"Rose" a faint voice called. I kept my eyes closed, hoping it would go away. "Rose" the voice repeated my name, a little louder.

I opened my eyes to see what I didn't want. Mason stood there, staring at me with those sad eyes. Tears leaked down my cheek. "Mason" I sobbed dropping to the ground. In all the five years that I lived in Turkey, I never saw him. I thought about that day in Spokane all the time. "I'm sorry" I cried into my hands, "it's my fault that you're dead. I never should have given you the information. If it wasn't for me, you would still be alive." I looked up to see him shaking his head.

"Come" his voice was a whisper, he motioned me to follow as he moved through the city. I followed him out of the city and into a graveyard. I paused at the sight of over a thousand spirits. Amongst them was Queen Tatiana. I stepped over the threshold of the sacred ground, and every spirit turned towards me. "You" Mason began pointing at me and motioning for me to sit on a concrete bench under a large tree.

"You have screwed up" Tatiana said looking down at me. Several others stood behind her, I recognized him as past kings and queens of the moroi world. "You have unleashed an evil into the world. We didn't know for quite some time, just how evil he is." It took me a moment to sort it out. Who? "Victor Dashkov is out to destroy our world. At one point, he wanted the best for all moroi. Yes his method was twisted but the goal was of good intention." I rolled my eyes.

"You must stop him" King Kristof Badica added. He was king in the 1950s. He was assassinated by his nephew after his ten year reign. "End this problem here and now" he looked down on me, "you must rid the world of this problem."

"How?" I wasn't sure that I could do this. Take out Victor Dashkov.

"That is for you to figure out" Tatiana stepped forward again, "and figure it out before he switches sides."

Switches sides? "Victor wouldn't turn strigoi!" I was confident about that, "he hates strigoi, he wants a better world. A world where we exterminate them like bugs, instead of hiding like rats in the sewers." I had talked to Victor a few times, enough to get his world vision. In a way he reminded me of Miss America. They want world peace but have no clue how to do it. Although, Victor was researching ways to achieve his goal.

"That was true Guardian Hathaway" Tatiana replied. "Unfortunately, after your testimony and his sentencing, Victor began to have other thoughts. I want you to keep in mind that he asked his only daughter to become one of those undead abominations." I nodded. I remembered Natalia, she had been a friend of ours. "You know what you must do, this problem is yours to solve. So get out there and fix it."

The ghosts nodded as they either sank into the ground or rose to the clouds. There was no easy way to handle this issue. I had to kill Victor or get him back to Tavarsov Prison. Killing him would ultimately be the easiest and probably the most convenient. I pulled out my cell and dialed the number by heart. I didn't have a contact list and I always erased my call record. Abe's number one rule was 'leave nothing behind but the memory of pain'. Never leave call records on your phone and always block your number. The two things that I always did.

"Ibrahim Mazur" my father's voice rang out, "what business do you have?"

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