Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 9 Attack

I woke up in the middle of the night to hear screaming from downstairs. I sprang out of bed with my silver stake in hand. I could feel a familiar sense of nausea spreading through me, and it kept getting worse as I inched towards the door. "Strigoi!" I hissed.

Liam instantly jumped out of his bed too, stake in hand. "We have to protect them!"

"Them" was the Moroi. That was our duty – to protect the Moroi at all times.

We both raced down the stairs, and I could hear the sounds of fighting from the living room.

The Moroi were standing close to the back of the living room, with Tasha and Christian standing in front of them. Their hands glowed with fire. Lissa looked terrified but uninjured.

Dimitri, Dash, and Eddie were trying to battle seven Strigoi all at once, and not succeeding. Eddie was trying to fight off two at once, but even he couldn't be everywhere.

I didn't hesitate after the initial assessment. I jumped into the fray, and instantly ran my stake through a male Strigoi. He didn't even see me coming, although Strigoi have far superior senses compared to even Moroi. He froze, and fell to the ground. I yanked out my stake and spun around.

I locked eyes with Dimitri and I could almost immediately understand what he wanted us to do, as I had in the past. He wanted us to head for the Moroi so we could protect them and fight off the Strigoi. I gave him a nod and we instantly stood protectively in front of the Strigoi.

A brunette Strigoi was glaring at me, his lips curling over his fangs. If he hadn't been chalk-white pale, and didn't have the red eyes and fangs of a Strigoi, I would've said he was hot.

"I know who you are," he snarled at me.

I glared back at him. "Like hell you do." I flashed out my stake, making sure to keep a good distance between us.

"You're the famous Rose Hathaway. And your mentor Belikov killed my girlfriend!"

I was taken aback by this piece of news but now feinted. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Dimitri looked a little surprised too. The Strigoi avoided me, and sneered. "Natalie Dashkov."

She never had a boyfriend! I thought as I leaned forward and slashed his cheek with my stake. He let out a roar of rage and swiped at me, but I dodged his hands.

"She kept me a secret for her own reasons," the Strigoi said. "After I heard of her death, I had to avenge her by following her path and awaken myself!"

Awaken was the term used by the Strigoi when they turned someone into a Strigoi or killed someone through feeding to become one themselves. I guess they use that because Strigoi don't need to sleep anymore. They make it sound like it's the greatest experience in the world, like a religious experience or something.

I now saw an opening and lunged but the Strigoi laughed and backhanded me. I flew across the room and hit one of the couches.

"Roza!" Dimitri shouted.

I got to my knees, wincing, but my head really hurt and my nausea got even worse. I gasped when I saw three more Strigoi enter the room, and my heart sank. Great, Strigoi back-up. I saw the brunette Strigoi advancing towards me, a sneer on his face.

I felt someone grab my hair and I screamed as a Strigoi jerked me to my feet. Believe me, having your hair pulled as hard as possible is not fun.

I flailed out with my legs and my arms, keeping a tight hold on the stake. I struck out as hard as I could with my stake, and I heard a scream of agony. I pushed in the stake further and the Strigoi's hold loosened as he slumped to the floor.

I yanked out my stake and hurried back to Dimitri's side.

"Fire," I murmured in a low undertone so only Christian and Tasha could hear. We kept forgetting that the Moroi had amazing elemental magic, and could use it in battle against the Strigoi.

They nodded, and then two of the Strigoi suddenly lit up like the Fourth of July.

They screamed, trying to get rid of the fire, but their distraction gave Eddie and Dash the chance to stake them.

I was back in front of the Moroi, flanked by Dimitri as the Strigoi advanced towards us. Christian and Tasha were frantically setting the Strigoi on fire, but although more went down, the last ones remaining were giving Eddie, Liam, and Dash a really hard time.

The brunette who'd spoken to me earlier advanced towards me and Dimitri. We tensed, ready to attack.

Christian was too exhausted to use more of his fire power. Tasha held her hand out and the Strigoi collapsed, on fire, but then I heard her gasp out, "That's all I have left."

Dimitri moved in for the kill, but the Strigoi quickly put himself out, laughing hysterically. His laughter sent chills up my spine. "That was nothing, you foolish mortals," he sneered at us. "I will take my revenge on Miss Hathaway for Natalie's death."

"What did she ever do?" Dimitri growled as he lunged at the Strigoi, stake pointed. The Strigoi gracefully avoided the point of the stake, laughing again.

"It's true she had nothing to do with my Natalie's fate…but you did, Belikov." His voice was full of venom as he spoke. "Therefore…if you took away my love from me, then I will exact my revenge on you the same way!"

A sharp shard of glass suddenly flashed in his hand. I had not seen that coming. Most Strigoi didn't need weapons, since they were powerful and deadly fast enough without them. This wasn't a good sign.

With a growl he turned away from Dimitri and towards Lissa, the shard held high, pointed directly at her heart. "Die!" he hissed. Lissa screamed.

Without thinking, I jumped in front of Lissa to protect her. They come first. I saw the grim anticipation in his eyes, and I realized that it had been a trick.

He lunged at me and slashed the shard across one of the veins in my neck before I knew what had happened. I screamed, and tried to push him away from me. I could feel warm liquid dripping down my neck, and I winced as pain spread out from my neck.

He took the shard out of my neck, and I screamed again. It was the worst pain in the world. He then plunged it into my stomach and I let out an ear-splitting scream. White-hot pain seared through my entire body, and it took every ounce of strength I had to keep from collapsing to the floor and fainting. My stake clattered out of my hands and hit the floor.

"This is what your precious mentor did to my Natalie," he hissed. "But it was less painful for her. This is my revenge on Belikov."

He pushed the glass shard in harder, and I almost passed out. It felt like he was breaking everything in my stomach. He slashed upwards, and I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain. I don't know how I managed to stand.

Dimitri, I thought faintly.

Suddenly the pain stopped.

I was dimly aware that the Strigoi's body was being pulled away from me by a blond girl. There were several cuts on her cheek and arms, but there was a grim look in her pale green eyes.

I swayed on the spot for a moment. Pain burned through my stomach and my neck. It was even worse than when I'd died in the car accident. I then collapsed onto the floor.

A dark red pool spread out from around me, soaking into the hardwood floor. I was surprised that it kept getting bigger and bigger as I watched.

What is it? I wondered dimly, my eyes starting to flutter shut. Why is there so much liquid...

"Roza," I heard a guy's voice. I would've known that voice anywhere. "Please, please. Don't die on me! Don't leave me here without you!"

I managed to keep my eyes from closing all the way, but with a huge effort that made me feel even more tired.

"Please, don't close your eyes! Keep fighting!"

I saw him hovering above me, his eyes full of concern and pain. He was reaching out to cradle me in his arms, despite the red liquid pouring out from me.

It's my blood, I realized now through my stupor. How was it possible that I had so much blood in me?

I don't think I have much longer to live now. I was losing more and more blood, and my wounds...

"Stay with me Roza!" he begged. "Don't leave me…"

I'm trying, I wanted to say, but I couldn't talk. I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep.

The pain was starting to ease. A feeling of ice spread through me, and I realized now I couldn't feel anything. There wasn't any pain. I was now blissfully numb to anything.

"Lissa! Help her!" he screamed.

I felt someone - was it Lissa? - come over to me, and place her hands on either side of my face. She pulled away a few seconds later, and I heard her crying. "I can't do it. Her injuries…."

"Try!" Dimitri begged. "Please don't let her die!"

"She's my best friend," I heard Lissa whisper. "I'll try my best."

"Call the hospital now!" I heard another woman scream from far away.

My vision was starting to blur from darkness. I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again.

"Don't close your eyes," Dimitri urged. "Stay awake."

I love you, Dimitri, I thought. It was requiring too much of an effort to keep my eyes open. I wasn't sure how much more time I had left. He looked down at me, tears streaming down his face.

I now realized, as he looked down at me with tears in his eyes, that he really was the only one I'd ever loved. I'd wasted my last days, trying to make Dimitri feel bad for what he did to me, and be with Liam the previous night. Why hadn't I been able to just accept him? Now it was too late, and I was dying now.

"I love you, Roza," I heard him whisper to me. He kissed my forehead, keeping me in his arms.

I tried to reach out to him but I didn't have the strength. I could see Lissa's face join his in my dim vision. I thought I could make out blurred faces around the edge of my vision. They looked dark and menacing.

"I love you too," I whispered, summoning my last scraps of energy to speak, looking into his eyes. "Take care of yourself." I wanted to just succumb to the darkness that was waiting for me. I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep. Sleep forever…My only regrets would be that I had wasted my remaining days with him, and that I was leaving behind the two people I loved most in this world.

"You're not going to die on me, Roza!" he said, cradling me closer to him. "No, no, no..."

"I'll always love you," I whispered, finally closing my eyes and surrendering to the darkness.

Author's note: Dundun...poor Rose and Dimitri D:

Finally back from my trip! It might take a few days before I can start writing daily chapters (wrote this before I left haha) since I'm still unpacking and stuff.