On this day, August 28th, in the year of our Lord, 2017, I received a large amount of hate mail about having Dimitri remarry a man after believing Rose was dead for 20-odd years. Because they were all guest reviews, I used this note to reply to them and to defend my position as the author. Those reviews no longer exist on the reviews page because they were making other reviewers uncomfortable (and me as well, because I don't want to read condescending bullshit written by someone who has no idea how much a bisexual Dimitri means to me).
This author's note remains to mark the occasion, also known as the Battle of Jackmitri.
Additionally, if you're still upset Dimitri married a man, you can suck my dick.
If y'all could stop squabbling about Dimitri not being bi, that'd be great. This is literally fanfiction. Literally fucking goddamn fanfiction. I write this shit in the back of a van most days. Like what the hell, broskis?
I killed off Rose, created a fake secret society, birthed a child, and dreamed up a new monster for the drama of it all and you're upset about bi Dimitri not being canon? Get outta here with that nonsense.
Sincerely,
Your very gay author
P.S. Guest reviews are suspended until further notice. If you're going to be homophobic, fight me off anon or see yourself out the door.
P.P.S. Now that you're mad about it, what was supposed to be a minor detail is now going to be a way bigger deal that I had originally intended. Get ready for daddy Jack to invade your dreams, ladies and gents.
ADDED: JANUARY 30TH
Dearest Guest, this was the chapter you originally took issue with when you attempted to have my ending author's note taken down. Now I have to put in a random deleted scene from the first chapter here in order to keep it up. There's a large homophobia issue in the Vampire Academy community and I won't take down something that shines a light on that just because it comes close to a rule no one follows. Have your extra Rose Hathaway scene out of place because you wanted to take down my only way to communicate with my audience. Enjoy.
"If you don't do it faster, I will come over there and personally punch you in the face for getting yourself and your team killed," Rose shouted. She sat in a chair on the edge of the training mat, her growing stomach supported by her knees.
The group of trainees she was teaching glowered at her.
"Like I said yesterday, you want to learn how to be evasive," she continued, moving her arms for extra emphasis. "It's no good having a great offense if your defense sucks major Strigoi balls. Run it again!"
The trainees snapped back into formation. They were all barely eighteen, a Trainee I class versus the older Trainee II class that was nearing the end of their program. Rose had been at Corinth for nigh on seven months and still couldn't wrap her head around their ranking system. Students here graduated from academics at 18, but stayed in combat training for two additional years to transform them into deadly Strigoi killers. With the addition of Rose's knowledge and expertise in guardian combat, they were basically dhampir Navy SEALs .
Except, they weren't all dhampir. Rose had a number of Moroi and even a few human students working in her training sessions. It surprised her constantly how capable they were, especially when pitted up against a dhampir. Corinth was truly a melting pot.
"How are they looking, boss?"
Josiah approached Rose on her left and placed a hand over hers. She patted it affectionately.
"Not too bad," Rose said. A trainee two pairs over from her fell to the ground after failing to block a punch from their opponent. She leapt from her chair. "O'Malley, if you do not get up this instant, mat won't be the worst thing you're eating!"
"Woah there, Nelly." Josiah put his hands on Rose's shoulders and guided her back to her chair. "Tough love isn't always the answer."
Rose settled down, still disgruntled. "I recall you enjoying it once or twice. How did the Kansas report go?"
"The Strigoi mob boss is definitely dead thanks to a steady crossbow," Josiah said with pride. He knelt down next to Rose and patted her stomach. "I even brought the little one back a souvenir."
"Another teddy bear?" Rose groaned.
"Hey! Kids love stuffed animals and I'm shit with gifts," he said. "Besides, it's a koala."
"Still a bear."
Josiah rolled his eyes. "Have you named it yet?"
"My baby is not an it, Josiah!" Rose put a protective hand over her stomach.
"If you're not going to tell me the gender, then I'm going to call it an it," Josiah countered. "Name it Josiah, good for a boy or a girl."
"I'm not naming them Josiah, weirdo." Rose stuck her tongue out at him. "Ibrahim for a boy, Valentina for a girl."
"Ibrahim... like your dad?"
"Yep." Rose nodded. "And Valentina is—was—my husband's favourite name."
"Husband, eh?" Josiah glanced at the glittering rock on Rose's finger. "You're never going to let that go."
Rose held her hand up to the light and looked at her wedding ring as if she'd just noticed it was there. She murmured, "Till death do us part, and all that."
"...and all that," Josiah echoed. He rubbed Rose's stomach again. "I will see you two later."
"Leaving so soon?" Rose frowned.
"I have to be in the briefing for the Sierra Nevada mission. There's a nest holed up there picking off hikers." Josiah shrugged and stood. He leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. "I can't help that I'm popular."
"If you two could stop making out, could we get some training over here?" came a shout.
Rose stood from her chair, angry. "That's it, O'Malley! Go take a lap!"
O'Malley rolled their eyes before jogging to the perimeter of the large gym.
"Don't kill anyone while I'm gone," Josiah said.
"I can't make any promises," Rose grumbled. "Did you bring back Thai food?"
"Oh, are you doubting me now? I'm hurt." Josiah grinned. "Dinner at mine with Adam. Be there."
"Or be square," Rose finished. "Bye Jo."
"Bye, Stas." The gym doors swung shut behind him.
Rose clapped her hands together and turned towards the trainees. She raised an eyebrow.
"Now! Who here would like to practice that last move with a stake?"
Dinner at Josiah's unit was always a raucous affair, and it was shaping up to be even more so once Rose was allowed to drink again. He shared a modest unit with Adam, his former combat partner and current boyfriend. It was a known fact that Josiah liked to sleep around, but Adam seemed like he was sticking longer than others. There were rumours around the compound that they were going to get married soon and that if not, Hollis would see to it that they would.
Adam was the sort of person whose personality made it feel as if he was taller than he was; in actuality, Rose towered a good four inches over him. He had dark, coiled hair cut close to his scalp and skin the colour of dark earth, marred only by a glittering Alchemist tattoo on his left cheek.
When Rose had first met Adam, she taught him how to break the seal on the tattoo using tips she'd picked up from Sydney. Although the Alchemists had believed Adam to be missing for several years after he disappeared while stationed in rural Minnesota, he'd still wanted to be free of the tattoo.
"Pad Thai, coming in hot!" Josiah set a takeout box full of steaming noodles down on the small table in front of them.
Whenever Josiah had the privilege of going with the team on supply runs (the first Saturday of every month, if he played his cards right), he brought back takeout from another country. The nearest town was only 20 minutes away, but Corinth did their runs in Vancouver, which was five hours by car. The transportation and agriculture department preferred it, as their usual guise of a remote military academy didn't raise any questions in the city at stores that sold in bulk. Corinth attempted to grow a majority of their food in the greenhouse on the top level but some things fell through the cracks.
"This one is mine, Adam," Rose said as she reached over him with swift hands. "Don't you dare lay a paw on my noodles."
"Fine, Stasla," Adam said in a mocking tone. "The one with a bun in the oven can eat my favorite food at a dinner date with my boyfriend. That sounds right."
"At least we can still drink." Josiah placed a kiss on Adam's cheek and handed him a beer.
Rose knew if she ever needed anything special, she could have it sent to the decoy home in town. Two members of Corinth took turns living in the quaint suburban home every three years as a way of integrating back into normal society. It also served as a safehouse and a first warning system: most Strigoi passed through the rural town in search of blood before moving on to Vancouver. While Corinth's isolation was an asset to secrecy, they kept abreast of the human world or even the normal vampire world by employing a few agents at Court and even one at St Vladimir's, all of them deeply undercover.
She considered herself lucky to have met the acquaintance of the current decoy house residents, Lara and Morgan, before they moved in. She often secured candy and music from them, something scarce in the isolated walls of Corinth. Only those who knew the decoy house residents were able to get rare goods into the compound.
"Well get used to me, because once Josiah is gone on another mission, you're stuck hanging out with the best person in Corinth," Rose said.
"And so modest, too," Josiah added.
"Of course." Rose picked up a pile of noodles haphazardly with splayed chopsticks.
"When are you going to pop, Stasla?" Adam asked conversationally.
Rose smacked him upside the back of his head. "Civilized conversation only! This is a dinner table for God's sake."
"And I meant that in the most civilized manner," Adam replied. He winked at her.
"She's been pregnant for what feels like forever," Josiah said. "It's like the gestation of an elephant."
Rose attempted to cuff Josiah on the ear as well, but her arm didn't reach that far. "Both of you should be banned from talking about me until the end of time."
"But then what would we have to talk about?" Josiah blew her a kiss. Rose caught it with a saccharine smile.
"If you name that baby Ibrahim, I'm going to call him Ra," Adam said. He picked a few noodles off of Rose's plate.
"And if she's Valentina, she's Tintin," Josiah added.
"You're both awful." Rose shoveled pad thai into her open mouth. She mumbled around the noodles, "I hate you."
"We know," they said in unison.
A comms unit on a counter in the corner of Josiah's unit crackled to life.
"Stasla, come in," it said. "Stasla."
The trio glanced at each other. Josiah stood and handed the comms to Rose.
"Go for Stasla," Rose said conversationally. "What's crackalackin?"
"You're needed in main command," the comms said. "It's urgent."
Rose, Adam, and Josiah looked at each other again, the Thai takeout on the table suddenly seeming silly and frivolous. Rose stood and grabbed her jacket from the hook by the door.
"I'm heading your way, main command," Rose said. "Hold tight."
"Rose," Hollis said. His hands were twisted around a piece of red cloth, a common habit for him in stressful times. He ushered her into the main command center of Corinth, an imposing tower of computer screens that bathed the tech workers in blue.
"What is it?" Rose felt like a little girl again, being pulled to and fro by the powers that be in St. Vladimir's.
"There's been heightened activity in the records room at Court and St Vladimir's Academy," Hollis said. He brought her to a computer at the far end. "There and there. The same person requested access to file number two hundred twenty seven four times over the course of a week."
Rose attempted to swallow a lump forming in her throat. "My file."
"Exactly," Hollis said. "Someone might be getting suspicious."
"But how? They all think I'm dead." Rose looked closely at the monitor. "Is there any way of telling who it was?"
"That's the strangest thing: it's the ID of the guardian on duty in the record's room," Hollis said. "Why would a desk jockey like that be interested in a dead guardian?"
The blood stopped cold in Rose's veins. She knew exactly who wanted access to her file, and it wasn't the record's room receptionist, but someone much closer to home.
Adrian Ivashkov.
He must still sense her aura, despite not being able to enter her dreams. There was something about the perimeter of Corinth that kept everyone shielded from the outside world. Rose figured it had to do with the wards placed around the compound, but she had never been curious enough to investigate. If Adrian could feel that she was still alive, he could find her and her child. She'd be done for.
"Burn the file," Rose said.
"What?" Hollis turned to her in surprise.
"Burn the file!" Rose leaned over the computer and began searching for an option of deletion. "I know who's looking for me. We need to burn the file."
Hollis pushed her back and grabbed the walkie-talkie next to the computer monitor. It crackled to life. "Tech command, come in."
"Go for tech command, this is Stanislav," came the reply. The connection always sounded fuzzy when they communicated with a sector below ground, as tech command was. While main command did have a lot of tech people in it, all orders involving tech personnel had to go through tech command first.
"I need you to kill file #227 in the Court archives, please," Hollis said.
Static came through the walkie-talkie's speakers. "Are you sure?"
Hollis looked at Rose with a regretful expression. He didn't want to destroy the only evidence that Rose Hathaway was still alive, but if she wanted to, it was her call. Someone looking for Rose would compromise Corinth, but Rose's life was back at Court. Hollis had figured this would be a temporary placement before she returned, but with each passing day it looked as if Rose was in it for the long haul.
She nodded at Hollis.
"Yes, kill the file. Also the corresponding file in the St. Vladimir archives as well," Hollis replied.
There was a long pause. "I can kill the digital file for now, but you'll need to send in a team for the physical one. It would compromise our field agents positioned at Court."
"Duly noted, tech command," Hollis said. "Kill both files in less than a day and I'll buy your department a round of beers."
"The sentiment is appreciated, main command," Stanislav chuckled. "Tech command, over and out."
Rose let out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding in. At that moment, she felt a tug in her stomach that filled her with nearly unbearable pain. She collapsed to her knees with a cry.
"Rose!" Hollis rushed to her side. He grabbed up the walkie-talkie again. "This is main command for medical. We need a team up on level four."
"Is the file gone?" Rose asked between gritted teeth.
Hollis glanced up at the computer screen, then back to Rose. "Yes. It's gone."
The name Rose Hathaway was gone now; the person who mattered was Stasla. Stasla Belikova: a new name for a new life. Rose thought, in a brief moment of lucidity through the pain, that it must be like shaking hands with death. One life, in exchange for another.
And at 12:31am on a cold October night, a baby girl was born to a woman named Stasla Belikova.