Henry left soon after and Rose and I were free to send the entire day with each other and with my family. Several more people who couldn't attend last night but who had heard of my return and wanted to greet me came by and stayed for a while. Another couple of people to return were Mark and Oksana.
The main reason they had come however, was so Mark could be filled in on the plan. I could see a little worry in Oksana's eyes as he and Rose discussed what kind of problems we could potentially face.
There was also a lot of worry in my mother's and sister's faces as we left the next morning. I could see my mother trying her hardest to stay brave and keep her emotions to herself for our sake but I could see right through her. She was scared…scared that she would lose me again. We said quick good byes and the three of us departed the house. Henry had chosen not to come with us, for which I was glad.
The drive was long. But after just over six hours, we arrived at the foot of the caverns. We began to follow an old worn out trail up the steep, rocky mountain.
"Nothing like a little rock climbing," Rose said, her tone light as she picked her bag pack up and hoisted it over her shoulder. "This could almost be a vacation, if not for the, you know, potentially dying part."
I smiled and walked to her side.
Mark looked from Rose to me. "Something tells me you're the kind of people whose vacations always end up that way."
"True," I agreed. "Besides, we're safe today. We have my grandmother's guarantee, remember?" I said, teasing Rose. She rolled her eyes in response.
As we continued along the path, it became steeper and even rockier. For some of it, we even had to walk single file in order to get around particularly big boulders. I knew we had reached the right place when the ground levelled out. The small area was surrounded by tall cliff faces on every side and there was a small cave entrance in one of them.
We sat down on the smoothest part of the ground we could find and dropped our bags in a pile beside us.
If we hadn't been waiting to attack…or to be attacked by… a Strigoi, then it would have made a nice day out. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and it was warm, despite the wind that was blowing quite strongly around us. Rose retrieved some food that my mother had given her earlier from her bag and we had a small picnic to keep out strength up.
When I was feeling full, I reclined myself and leant up on my elbows. Rose followed and lay down beside me. Part of our plan was to appear at ease and not alert the Strigoi as to what we were planning to do. We wanted it to seem as though we had just come up here for a picnic.
The last thing I wanted to do was lead the other two into the caves we were so unfamiliar with.
So the plan was to wait until nightfall, and then the Strigoi would come out to us, where we could fight on our terms.
"Mark, you and Oksana should come to the U.S.," Rose said, striking up conversation. "Lissa would love to meet you and talk spirit. Lots of people would."
"That's the problem," Mark replied, not looking too keen about the idea. "We're worried too many people would, now that everyone's interested in spirit. We don't want to become science experiments."
"Lissa wouldn't let that happen," Rose said, not fazed by his lack of interest on the matter. "And think of all the amazing things we might learn. Spirit seems to be able to do something new every day." Her hand found mine, seemingly on its own accord and I knew what she was thinking.
"We'll see," Mark said after a moment. "Oksana likes her privacy, but I know she's curious about –"
Before he finished his sentence, I heard the sound of a footstep not far away from us. I shot up from where I was lounging, immediately alerting both Mark and Rose.
I focused my attention on where I had heard the noise, my hand automatically going for my stake.
I didn't think the other two had heard what I had so I silently pointed in the direction of the noise. They both nodded back in understanding.
Rose silently pulled out a map and gave it a quick study. She looked up at me and signalled to herself and then to the rocks. She made to move but I stopped her. Wordlessly, I told her that she needed to stay and continue the conversation she had been having with Mark, but the real reason I didn't want her to go off on her own was purely for her own protection.
I could see she wasn't happy but she agreed anyway and I stood up to make a roundabout way to the big pile of rocks. As I made my way around, I heard Rose striking up conversation again. Their words didn't register with me as I snuck closer and closer to where I had heard the footsteps.
I was at the boulders now and I leaped at the potential threat. After slamming him to the ground and pinning him down, I realised he was human. I held him down with no trouble as he struggled with all his might against me. Rose and Mark, who had heard the scuffle, came rushing over. Seen as though he was human, and I had both Rose and Mark to help me, I loosened my grip so that the boy could raise his head.
Looking at him properly, he was young. Maybe in his late teens. He looked up as the other two approached and I saw his eyes widen when he say the silver weapons they were carrying.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" he began rambling quickly in Russian.
"Why are you here?" Mark replied.
"I only came to kill the Blood King!" the boy answered.
"Well you can't, so leave." I scoffed and let him go altogether. He was no threat.
He scrambled to get away but ended up tripping and falling in the process.
"Boy can't even stand, never mind kill," Mark mumbled to which I laughed.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Rose demanded suddenly, looking exasperated. I had forgotten she didn't understand Russian. "In English?"
"You…you're American!" The boy exclaimed before I could answer. "I knew the Blood King's reputation had spread, but I didn't know it had gone that far!"
I returned my stake to my belt, already feeling exasperated myself with the boy.
"Well, it hasn't." Rose answered him. "Not exactly. I just happened to be in the neighbourhood."
"I told you," I said to him. "This is no place for you. Leave now."
The boy resisted immediately.
"No! We can work together. We're all here for the same reason. We're here to kill the Blood King."
"What's your name?" Rose asked him.
"Ivan. Ivan Grigorovitch."
"Well, Ivan, I'm Rose, and while we appreciate the offer of help, we've got this under control. There's no need for you to stick around."
Ivan didn't budge.
"You didn't look like you had it under control. You looked like you were having a picnic."
"We were, uh, just getting ready to get into action," she replied.
"Then I'm in time." Ivan said happily. I nearly hit him.
Fortunately, I had better control then that.
Mark also looked and sounded at his wits end. "Boy, this isn't a game." He said. "Do you have anything like this?" he asked Ivan, pulling out the silver stake that he had put in his belt. "I didn't think so. Let me guess. You have a wooden stake, right?"
"Well, yes, but I'm very good at –"
"Very good at getting yourself killed," Mark finished the sentence before Ivan could. "You don't have the skills or the weapons for this."
"Teach me," Ivan said, obviously not going to give up easily. "I told you, I'm willing to help! It's what I've dreamed of – being a famous vampire hunter!"
"This isn't a field trip," I said, speaking eventually. "If you don't leave this area now, we'll carry you out ourselves."
That got him moving. Unfortunately it didn't stop him talking.
"I can go…I can go…but are you sure you don't want my help? I know all there is to know about vampires. Nobody in my village has read as much as I have –"
"Go," Mark and I said firmly, cutting him off.
And he went. I watched as he made his way back down the rocky path.
"Idiot," Mark muttered under his breath and returned to where we had been sitting previously. I waited until Ivan was out of sight before walked back with Rose by my side.
"I feel kind of bad for him," Rose said once we were sitting back down. "He seemed so…I don't know, enthusiastic. But I also start to get why Henry was freaking out so much. If all the other human 'vampire experts' that come here are like him, I can see why they're getting killed off."
"Exactly," I agreed. "Hopefully he'll go back to his village and make up some fantastic story about how he killed the Blood King himself."
"True," Rose said. "The fact that we'll have done it will just back him up when people come here and see no more vampire."
We hadn't sat down one minute when Rose and Mark continued debating which was better, Russian cuisine or hot dogs. It really was hilarious how passionate Rose was about her American food.
As the sun set, I found myself taking my stake out once again and keeping a tight grip of it in my hand. Night was on its way and you could feel the restless tension building between the three of us in anticipation of what was to come.
As the blackness struck, we took out the lanterns we had brought and turned them on. The light from the lanterns created ominous shadows along the cliff walls, giving the entire place an eerie feel as we sat in the darkness. It was even more eerie as we were now at a stage where the Strigoi hiding within the caves could leave freely and attack at any stage.
An hour passed and it became clear that this was a smart Strigoi. He wasn't jumping in without thinking and attacking three dhampirs that were on his territory. He was going to wait it out.
So were we.
"Do you sense anything?" I heard Rose whisper to Mark as I continued glancing around me, preparing myself for any sign of movement coming from the shadows.
"Not yet," he answered just as quietly.
"We should've brought marshmallows," Rose joked. "Of course, then we'd have to build a fire for sure –"
She was cut off by a terrifying scream that rang out from the cave, bouncing and echoing off the surrounding cliff walls.
The three of us were on our feet within seconds, glancing around us and then to the cave.
"Some Strigoi trick?" Mark suggested, frowning.
"No," Rose answered him, taking a small step towards the cave entrance. "That was Ivan."
Mark cursed and gripped his stake tighter. "He never left."
I grabbed Rose's arm as she made more steps towards the dark cave. "Rose, he's in one of the caves."
"I know," she replied. "But what choice do we have? We can't leave him in there."
"This is exactly what we wanted to avoid," I reminded her.
"And likely a trap set by the Blood King," Mark added. Another scream rang out. "He wants us but is too smart to come out and get us."
"But that also means he's probably not going to kill Ivan right away," she responded. "He's just going to mess with him to lure us in. There's a chance we can save Ivan."
Neither Mark nor myself answered, much to Rose's dismay.
She threw her hands up. "Come on! Can you really leave that inept kid in there to die?"
She was right, I knew she was.
How was it that one idiotic kid managed to ruin our whole plan?
"This is where we could've used a map of the caves," I sighed. "Better to set up an ambush."
"No such luxury, comrade," Rose said, moving towards the cave once again. "We've got to go in the front door. At least Mark can give us warning."
I stopped her once again from walking straight into the cave. We needed a formation, and I really didn't want Rose to be the first one to enter the mouth of the cave.
Rose pushed against us so I gave her an argument about how I was safe because of what my grandmother predicted. It was a lame argument, yes, but an argument all the same, which was more than what she had. Mark also made some point about the fact that he was older than us, meant that his life wasn't worth as much, which, of course, was complete bull but I wasn't about to say that in front of Rose.
Eventually, I got my way and was entering the cave first, with Mark right behind me and Rose behind Mark.
I was grateful for the lanterns we had brought with us when the blackness of the cave engulfed us completely. We walked further and further into the deep cave but had to stop when we reached a certain point. There was a fork in the route and we had to make a decision on which way to go. We had to choose carefully though, because if we chose wrong, the Strigoi could come up from behind us and attack.
"Which way?" I found myself murmuring to myself.
We were silent for a moment while each of us tried to figure out the right way.
"There." Mark said suddenly, pointing to the larger tunnel on the left. "It's faint, but I can feel him there."
I trusted Mark's instinct, having seen Rose's first-hand, so we went with the bigger tunnel. It got bigger and wider as we travelled further in before opening up into a large circular 'room,' with several other tunnels feeding into it.
I was about to ask their opinion on which way to go when there was a small bang behind me. I swung around in time to see Rose hit the floor after something had impacted with her.
I would bet every last penny I owned on what that 'something' was.
The Blood King went for Rose a second time, but I had taught her well. She didn't stay in the same place long enough for him to get a hold of her.
He lunged once again and missed her by mere inches. By that time, Mark and I were on him and he had no choice but to turn his attention to us. I put all of my effort into taking down this Strigoi. He was old and fast. A very hard thing to compete with.
Every time I got a small opening, he managed to dodge it. We moved like this for what felt like a long time, each time my stake missed his heart, as did Mark's.
I wasn't looking, but I was aware that Rose had gone on to find Ivan, the reason we had entered the caves in the first place. I knew that she was well able to look after herself, but that didn't make me any less protective of her. I didn't want her anywhere near this dangerous vampire.
"No!" Rose's yell startled me ever so slightly.
I saw the Ivan boy run and ram his wooden stake into the old Strigoi's back. It didn't hurt him of course…but it did distract him.
I swung my leg out, effectively knocking the vampire off his feet, while leaving his chest open. Mark also saw the opportunity and took it without thinking twice.
He plunged his stake deep into the Blood King's heart. I watched as the Strigoi froze in shock and then collapsed, dead, in a heap in front of us.
My eyes immediately went to Rose to see if she was okay; which she was, and I saw that she was also checking to see if I was okay. She looked relieved and happy to see that I was too. Mark and Ivan were both alright as well. Ivan looked a little roughed up and stunned, but fine.
All of our eyes turned to him.
He raised his wooden stake and mocked saluted us.
"You're welcome."