Hey Everyone. I want to apologize for taking so long. I didn't expect to update this late (nearly two weeks!) After I got back from Tybee, the teachers thought it would be funny to overload us seniors with work and deadlines :( so not cool! Not to mention I can't skip on senior skip day! How unfair is that? (in the States it's a tradition to skip one day of the year when you're a senior). I have also been working on scholarships (hate them-need them). I also went to my senior prom! It was by far the best! No date- but didn't need one. Though it was sad to see the guy that I like (he's clueless I like him. Besides, I'm not his type) come with another girl.

Well, enjoy! Again, sorry it took so long. I hope it's everything you thought it was. If you think I should add something, let me know, NOW because the next chapter is the LAST war chapter. :)

The two strigoi that were beating Lev up, had guardian body build to them. One was a blond male, the other a brunette female. I watched in horror as the male strigoi held Lev down and the woman kicked Lev in the nuts. All the way from over here, six hundred yards away, I could hear his cry of agony, and it ripped at me.

Not my brother! No!

I ordered my legs to go faster, but they could only go so fast. When Lissa healed me, she healed my hip as well as my head, but she didn't give me any energy.

And right now, I was short on that.

"Dimitri." I said in panic. He was a few steps ahead of me.

"I know. I'm going as fast as I can." Which was saying something. Both of us ran back and forth by the wall, killing strigoi. Now, it was finally taking its toll on us.

I quickly looked around for more Cobra's in the area that were able to help Lev in some way, but no one was free. Everyone was too busy helping each other with battles that were looking serious.

Zena and Larisa were handling two at a time; Zena got a nasty kick to the face just as I glanced at her; Larisa was showing her strigoi that she was the superior one. Denis and Gabe were busy with two strigoi, who both looked skilled. Denis did a jump and kick into the strigoi's face. The strigoi stumbled from Denis's kick; Gabe saw his opening and stabbed the strigoi without hesitation.

But I still couldn't call out to Gabe; he had another strigoi to deal with.

There was no one I could call out to help Lev, and Dimitri and I were still too far away.

I looked back at the strigoi and Lev and noticed that in the distance watching Lev get beaten up, was that redhead in the mask.

"I will be back for you." She said to me. She was, just not in the way I had thought. I thought she would have been back for just me. She had another way of coming for me.

I did the only thing I could think of.

I estimated that I was now four hundred thirty-five yards from Lev. It was still a very far distance to be doing what I was going to be doing, but I had no choice.

"Dimitri, whatever you do, whatever happens, keep running. Trust me." I yelled, slightly out of breath from all that has happened.

"всегда (always; sounds like: Sig-dah)" Dimitri yelled behind him, not stopping.

I quickly grabbed my gun and stopped running, then fired shots at the strigoi's feet. I had no choice but to fire at their feet. I was afraid I would hit Lev, and if I hit him, he would soon be dead by the strigoi's hand.

My shots startled the other strigoi, but not the redhead. She looked my way and gave me an malice, chilling smile; showing her white fangs.

The redhead's hand went down to her waist. She was wearing blue jeans, and on the side, was a walkie-talkie. She lifted it up to her lips and started talking into it. I couldn't hear what she said, but Lev looked up at her, and a look of panic crossed his face.

Panic. That was the one thing I have not seen on his face, and it scared me to death. His eyes widened, almost in a pleading gesture, but his lips didn't form any words, more like a silent, pleading prayer to God.

Dimitri, who was in front of me, never flinched when I fired my gun; he kept running towards Lev. He knew it was me who was firing the gun. He knew I had thought of something.

On my third shot, my bullet went into the brunette's foot. Dimitri was two hundred yards away. She yelled in pain, and kicked Lev in the face for it with her injured foot. That hurt her wound worse, causing her to yell out more, but her crying was cut out by Dimitri tackling her to the ground.

As he tackled her down, I stopped firing and ran up to get closer. I ran as fast as I could, running only on the balls of my feet. As I ran, I looked for potential threats to Dimitri and Lev.

To my dismay, I saw one coming straight for Dimitri.

The strigoi was coming in from the left side, and was practically flying, feet barely touching the ground it seemed like. The frustrating part- the strigoi was closer to Dimitri than I was.

I stopped immediately and started firing at the strigoi coming to the brunette's rescue. I was now about two hundred fifteen yards from Lev and Dimitri; I also had a lot closer shooting range, but the strigoi was still closer to Dimitri.

On my first shot, the bullet went straight through the oncoming strigoi's shoulder, blood splattering out of the back of his shoulder. He hissed in pain, but kept running towards Dimitri. I ran towards them too.

I fired again, stopping only for a moment and aimed, but this time, missed and watched as the strigoi scooped down and threw Dimitri off of the brunette. When I say threw, I mean that Dimitri was thrown a good ten feet from the girl. He landed on his feet, somehow, doing a summersault in the air instead of just being thrown- it was pretty cool.

I ran towards them as soon as I seen that I missed. I didn't have far to go and before I knew it, I was fifty yards from both Lev and Dimitri.

Dimitri lunged for the strigoi that threw him, but the brunette that was beating Lev up, had stopped and sprinted over to Dimitri and held him to the ground before he could move a muscle. The female strigoi had Dimitri in her grasp, and made him stand up and walk over to sit down by Lev, which the male blond strigoi had Lev on his knees, but his torso was straight up, and soon, Dimitri was in the same position.

Realizing that the position they were in is a favorite execution position, I didn't have to order my legs to hurry up; a sudden burst of adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream. But to my disappointment, I wasn't able to get that far because I soon saw a blur of red and black beside me before I hit the ground. I had made it seven feet from Lev and Dimitri, which was my goal, but what was not my goal was getting knocked down.

The momentum was hard, and it caused me to roll over a few times and lose my grenade bag (it launched itself a couple yards away from me), but the strigoi- the familiar strigoi- got to me before I could take control of the situation. She had me on my stomach and pinned down, my arms above my head, her knees on hamstrings (painfully so).

"Told I would come back for you… but I didn't add in your little dogs. My mistake."

She moved down to my neck, but not in a super threatening way- okay it was very threatening (especially when in the pinned position), but she moved down only to whisper something in my ear. However, as soon as her chest met the metal of the hilt of my sword, she hissed in pain.

In that split moment, she was distracted and I used that against her. With all my upper body strength, I threw all my strength into her chest, knocking her backwards. I rolled onto my back and flipped myself up, using my abs and thigh muscles. Once I was up, I went for the redheaded strigoi.

But she was on me in a flash. As soon as I was up, she came swinging with a growl.

"Watch your right-" Lev started to say in Russian, but it was too late. The redhead already brought her knee up to my right hip and kneed me. I went down hard with a thud. The knee in the hip put a damper on my mobility. She had seen me flinch at the kick, and took my moment of weakness to attack again- and in the same spot.

I went down. She hit me hard enough to chip a piece of bone. I made a cry of agony, and Lev looked pained and he tried to get out of his captor's hold.

"Hold still!" I heard the blond strigoi say to Lev, then I heard a hand make contact with skin. I couldn't see it because I was too busy trying to fight the redhead off of me. She had tackled me when I went down again. My hands went to her throat, as if to choke her, but instead, I took off her mask. She made a weak attempt to keep my hands away by making her elbows bending inward, but I was fast and got it off of her.

When I looked at her face, my theory was correct. The redhead was Mrs. Karp. Damn. And I had wanted to kill this strigoi. I was hoping I was wrong.

If it wasn't for Mikhail, I would have killed her, no questions. But it was Mikhail who had been a huge help in letting me get the information I needed to find Victor and Robert. I owed him this. I don't know how I am going to turn Ms. Karp back, but I owed it to Mikhail to try.

I hit her behind the ear as hard as I could manage. There is a pressure point there, and if I severed it, she could be paralyzed for a few minutes (A/N: with humans it would be hours or even days). She recoiled away from me. When I went to get up, I got as far as standing. Someone was on me, and had their fangs at my throat.

"Make another move and I will rip your throat out!" A male strigoi hissed. The voice sounded unisex, so I couldn't tell if it was a male or female.

I stayed still; not moving a single muscle. When the strigoi sensed my compliance, he shoved me forward to where Lev and Dimitri were. "Go." He said in a hissing voice.

I went, making my facial expression as hard as steal. As I looked at Lev and Dimitri, their expressions mirrored mine, except Lev's had a little bit of anger and fright in his eyes. I couldn't understand why he was so scared. Is he scared for his own life?

After I got into the same position as the guys, Ms. Karp (I'm just going to call her Karp…or fish) came to stand in front of me. She tilted my chin up to make me look in her eyes; I was currently looking down at the ground.

"You know it was me who was watching you all this time. I knew you could feel a presents around you- a dangerous presents."

I gave her a cynical laugh. "Dangerous? Please, my family and I could deal with you without a sweat!"

She glared at me and I flinched, knowing exactly what she was planning. I immediately regretted saying anything. And as if I knew her, she cooled down with a smile (a dangerous smile) and walked over to Lev.

"How does down south feel?"

I could visibly see him gulp, already anticipating the pain.

"Fine?" She turned her head to give me a knowing glance with a chilling smile, then back at Lev. "Well, I can't have that!" and her foot made contact with him.

Lev's eyes widened in pain, his breath came out with a hiss, mixed in with a cry of agony. He bowed his head and torso as if to rid the pain.

Anger clouded my vision. The sound of Lev's cry was all I could hear; his pained eyes was all I could see. But somehow, I bit my tongue. Most likely out of fear that anything I would say would make her do something equally or worse than what she just did.

When Karp was satisfied, she nodded and turned around, walking back up to me. To my surprise, she slapped me in the face as soon as she came to a standstill. "Don't underestimate me, Ms. Hathaway." She growled.

I bit my tongue again, this time on another cynical laugh.

"Remember, I have been watching you. I know what all of you are capable of."

I glared at her, looking her straight in the eyes. "You are the one responsible for bringing this war upon us!"

She shook her head. "I am responsible for bringing this war upon you! I want you dead! All of you. You have already killed a great amount of covens in Russia. I knew it was only a matter of time until you moved to another country and started over, your gang, if possible, growing larger and even more powerful and stronger! You have to be stopped."

"So you want me dead." I said deadpan.

She sighed and took a step closer. Her hand went to the side of my cheek. "No, Dear." Then her hand went to my throat. "I want all of you dead." She barred her fangs.

In an attempt to sidetrack her- also because of a huge realization, I talked again. "It was you, who has ordered the killings of guardians."

She looked pleased I had realized that. She dropped her hold on me; hand going to her side. "I was wondering if you had noticed. Yes it was me."

"But you only ordered the killings-"

"We only want moroi blood and in order to get that, we need to eliminate most of the guardians. With only few guardians, they would be less of a threat because they would think we are after them only."

"Did you order the killing of the Badica family?"

"No."

I was surprised by that, but concealed it. "What about Guardian Arthur Schoenberg?"

"Yes."

"Why? Why not the Badica's but Arthur?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest as if she thought I should have known this, or that it is boring her to tell me. "Because Arthur was the biggest threat I had at the time. He was smart and would have known exactly what I was up to. Not that he would have known it was me. So he had to go, you see.

However, the Badica's… Well, they were just a tasty treat."

Ask her about Isaiah.

"What about Isaiah." She gave me a confused and irritated look. "The guy you stationed in Spokane, Washington two years ago."

Realization dawned on her. "Ah. He was my captain. He was the one to get things started, though some guardian killed him…" Then she finally connected the dots. "You!"

I didn't acknowledge it, but didn't deny it. She groaned. "I should have known the moment you mentioned his name." I thought she was going to hit me or Lev, but she surprised me by waving her hand. "Whatever. I don't care. He wasn't anyone too important. I guess I should thank you. I would have killed him later."

I was going to ask her why, but she answered before I could ask. "He would want my power. He would come up with some plan to take it from me. He is smart." She walked over to Dimitri.

I knew the strigoi were cocky with the news she had given me- and of the Cobra's position- so I made my move. I knew exactly where my grenades were, all I had to do was get out of the strigoi's hold.

I shoved against him, and he was clearly off guard; as I said, cocky. I never had moved so fast in my life. I pushed off with my toes, and dove for the nearest strigoi that was by me, which just so happened to be Dimitri's captor.

I wrestled him down on the ground, but froze as a heard a gunshot. "Get off of him!" Karp said. I knew the gun was pointed at my head.

Dimitri was free, and went to deal with Ms. Karp while I wrestling Dimitri's strigoi until my stake met his heart.

Karp hissed when she saw I had killed him, and fired the gun.

The shot wasn't fired at or Dimitri. It was at Lev. Lev neatly dodged it, by taking him and the strigoi down with him to the ground.

But Lev didn't go away totally unscathed. The bullet grazed his calve, and went into his captor's left shoulder.

"Dimitri! Don't kill her." I shouted to him in Russian. Nearby me was a stick think and big enough to stake someone. I threw it at his feet. "Stun her with this." Punching her hard enough on the side of the head and kicking her in the stomach gave him enough time to retrieve the stake.

But Karp was fast at recovering. She pushed Dimitri on the ground, but not before he had the stick in his hands. Dimitri was flat on his back as she came at him again.

This time, he was faster. Using his leg and abdominal muscles, he got up, staking her in the heart. She looked at him stunned, then fell to the ground. I had a feeling of Dah-ja-vu. I had done that to Dimitri in Siberia. What is he thinking? I wondered.

But in sync, we both turned to Lev. He was already waiting for us. I grabbed my grenades and we were off.

"Why did you stun her instead of stake her?" Lev asked me, slightly outraged as he followed me to the Aid tent. I couldn't blame him. She might have damaged his family jewels and I let her off the hook.

"Because I owe someone. I need to try and bring her back."

"To bring a moroi? Rose, that's dangerous. Even for you."

"I use to be strigoi, Lev." Dimitri said. "And you trust me, don't you."

He nodded. "Alright, I'll help. Are you bringing the others into this?"

I looked at Lev, more concerned to about him. I looked him over, and saw that his 'manly pride' was swollen. And when I say something like that, you know it really is swollen.

"No, not enough time." We entered the Aid tent. I looked for Lissa, and she was over someone, healing a broken leg, it looked like. Adrian was sitting down and drinking some water, clearly exhausted from using so much magic. I walked up to her and she looked at me.

"Everything alright?" Adrian looked over at us but stayed seated.

She looked me over and the others. "Can you heal Lev?" I said, drawing her attention over to Lev.

"I'm fine." He persisted as Lissa looked him over.

"His family jewels got damaged." Her eyes traveled downward and her eyes went wide in shock and dismay.

"Rose!" Lev yelled in exasperation.

"Thanks Liss." She went over to Lev. He didn't move as she touched his shoulder. Within seconds, the swelling was gone and he was back to normal.

"So, how do you feel about turning Ms. Karp back?" I asked, putting it out there. Lissa looked at me, her facial expression shocked.

"She's here?"

I shrugged. "I'll say. She tried to kill me." I couldn't hide the grimace.

She held out her hand for the stake. I retrieved mine and handed it to her. Just as Lissa was studying it, Christian walked in.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. He nodded. Lissa didn't look up as she concentrated on charming it.

"She's charming it." He realized immediately, then turned to me. "For who?"

"Sonya Karp." Dimitri said. "We need to turn her back moroi. She's too dangerous as a strigoi. She was the one to lead this army of strigoi here. If we turn her-"

"Then that would be the end of the war. We would win." Lev summed up, looking at Dimitri with a pleased expression.

Suddenly, the stake glowed white, indicating it was charmed. Lissa opened her eyes and looked at us. "You guys will cover for me, right?" She said, fear and nerves clear in her voice.

I walked over and grabbed her hand. "Have I failed you yet?"

She shook her head. "That was a dumb question." She laughed nervously.

I looked her over, but it was Dimitri who spoke. "Princess, you don't have to do this."

Determination light through the bond as she straightened her spine and her shoulders went back. "Yes I do. This is what royalty should mean. Royalty isn't about power, but of the great choices we make for our people. We, they royals, have lost our way; it is up to me to remind them what royalty is all about."

That, was the best and greatest thing any princess has ever said, I realized. If she should run for queen, she would become queen with wise words like that. Our society has lost so much insight on what rulers are suppose to be like. Lissa- Princess Vasilisa- just might bring it back.

"Let's go." Lissa said, looking and sounding a heck of a lot braver than she felt.

"I'll come with you." Tammy voiced in. I completely forgot she stayed here. "I will help protect her."

"You should stay here, Tamara." Lev voiced, not sounding sorry at all. "Adrian would-"

"Adrian already has four guardians already. Lissa's two are staying here."

"Rose." Lev said, looking to me as their Queen.

Great, I thought with extreme sarcasm. Just bring me into this. I will make it all better. "Tamara is to come and escort the Princess back here safely." Lev grinded his teeth. I would have to talk to him later about why he is so mad at Tammy. It is unusual for him to be angry about safety.

Together, we left the building. Dimitri, being the protector he is, went first to make sure the coast is clear. After a few seconds, Dimitri came back for us and we went. We formed a circle around Lissa and Christian. Sparky had a fireball ready for a sudden attack. I stood before them, leading the circle.

As we speed-walked to where we last saw Ms. Karp, I was pretty certain that she was gone. It had taken Dimitri less than four minutes to recover, and we had been at least seven minutes getting Lissa.

As we approached where Karp had last been, the Cobra's came up to us.

"What is going-" Gabe started to say, but between us, he saw Christian and Lissa. He looked at me with a little bit of anger and confusion. "Why?"

"We are turning a certain strigoi back." I said.

His right hand went to cup the back of his neck, and knowing him, most likely scratch it in agitation. "Alright, we will help cover." Gabe, Zena and Denis scouted the area in front of us, and they occasionally took down a few strigoi, but they were easy- must have been human, because they didn't know their own strength.

When we had arrived to the spot where Karp was it, as I had suspected, she was gone. However, my strigoi sensor was going off, telling me not to take that piece of evidence as proof.

"I thought you would come back." I heard her voice before could see her. Right in front of me, she was standing a hundred yards away on the top of a hill.

"Tammy and Lev, you two stay here." I whispered to them. They were on my side. I walked forward with Denis and Dimitri on my tail, however, before we managed to get close to her, several strigoi knocked us to the ground.

We were ambushed.

Two were immediately on me, two on Dimitri and one on Denis. It would be easier to deal with them separately, and that is exactly what we did.

From my point of view, the strigoi were moroi when turned, which left me with an advantage. I quickly drew my sword, tired of these games with Karp.

Hearing the metal of the sword, Denis and Dimitri drew theirs as well. "Give it up Guardian!" One strigoi said. "This is beyond your expertise. You can fight, I give you that, but to fight this many strigoi? I hope you know where you're going in the afterlife."

I wanted to backhand him right then and there, but I held my ground. The two strigoi and I danced, trying to find a weakness in each other. Unfortunately, they had the advantage because there are two of them. Fortunately for me, they aren't smart. If they were, they would have worked out a plan: one held me down, while the other did the killing. But they didn't.

I waited for their patience to dry up- which didn't take long. They soon charged me at the same time, which was stupid of them. I had a sword in my hand. didn't they think I would be able to use it, or did they think it was there just for show? Either way, they were idiots attacking me at once.

They jumped at me, arms out like a zombie and fingers like claws.

Using my legs, I kicked one as hard as I could in the stomach, while with my arms using the sword, chopped the other strigoi's arm off. As I kicked the one strigoi, its breath went out in w whoosh; the other screamed in a high pitch in pain and fury.

"I expected more." I said in amusement, knowing damn well it would piss them off.

It did. Above me, I heard helicopters and automatic guns go off to the strigoi persuing us. Its comforting to know that we are targets.

The strigoi whose arm met the heat of my sword, came at me, but I neatly dodged her, knowing that was her intensions on me. The other strigoi, who I kicked in the gut, dove for me after the other strigoi made his move, but I anticipated his move as well and as he slid past me, my sword's blade went in half way through his upper thigh.

The pain knocked him to the ground and I made my final blow to his heart. As I took my sword out, the other strigoi attacked me, telling me I took too long staking him. We wrestled, the strigoi giving me a good blow in the jaw; I even heard a crunch, but promptly pushed the aching pain aside.

I observed her, and decided to give her a final lesion before sending my final blow to her heart; because I saw my opening. "Always guard your chest." I said. I punched her chest where her lungs where, knowing it would stun her, then sent my stake- which I got out when she talked me- in her heart.

"ROSE!" Dimitri yelled. I looked at him, but saw he was doing fine. I looked at Lev and he was just killing his strigoi. "SONYA!" Was all he had to say. I knew exactly what had happened.

MMMM! What happened? Review please.

Also, I had picked out people who I thought resembled most of the characters in my story. I don't have Abe or Janine yet (ideas?), but I have most. Take a look if you want.