Getting Out While You Can

The Return Of A Familiar Face

Growing up being told that they come first was more damaging than I ever thought it could be. For a while, I thought packing up my things and leaving with next to no trace was the craziest thing I ever had done.

But not doing it sooner was the crazy part.

I could have gotten by after what Dimitri said to me in the church. Don't get me wrong, I was heartbroken, and it felt like a hole had been punched into my chest. But I was also a strong woman. I didn't need a man. I just wanted him because I longed for him because I loved him.

The straw that broke the camel's back was Lissa. She seemed to have forgotten that he wasn't the only victim of Strigoi Dimitri, and Dimitri wasn't the only person to lose something in the process. I lost my best friend, the man I loved, my friends' respect, and what little of my reputation I had left.

I didn't want the help, but I needed it. So, when I called Abe and asked him to get me out, he was all too happy. He set up a bank account for me to get started, got me a car and an apartment in a safe neighbourhood in New York, along with all the necessary documentation I needed.

It took Lissa all of a week to realize I was gone, but by then I was well on my way to finding a way to block her out. Antidepressants helped block Spirit for her, a low dose did the same thing for me, while taking care of the side effects of Spirit.

There were only four people I had contact with from my old life: Abe, Eddie, Adrian, and Mom. I was surprised when Mom showed at my apartment five months after leaving everything behind, but she took one look at the life I started to make for myself with a small smile.

"You've got everything I wished you would have," she said one night over a glass of wine. I raised my brows at her in surprise, but she just shook her head. "I may have dedicated my life to being a Guardian, but every parent worries about their children. I always feared that you might go before me. And that would have killed me."

Her admission surprised me, but it was just one step in the right direction.

When the Novice graduate law changed, there was a large outcry amongst the Guardians, even some of the Moroi were livid. There were a few Royals who voiced their concerns, but the votes outweighed them. That was when I decided that I found a better purpose.

Getting Dhampir out of the society.

I gave up my small, cozy apartment and moved to a home in a suburban area. It was bigger than I needed alone, but it was enough as a halfway house. Eddie being the loving, generous person he was, stayed in the society so that he could help get others out. Adrian played a part in that too by helping get transportation for Dhampir leaving. My home was rarely empty these days. I saw a few classmates come across my steps, a few Guardians I had met at Court when I lived there. I was surprised to see Stan Alto on my doorstep one morning, but stepped aside and let him in.

His heart wasn't in it anymore. He could stand by and watch children be raised and groomed for slaughter. And that's what was happening; children were being lead like pigs to slaughter while the 'high and mighty' stood behind them, cowering away like cowards.

But between helping wayward Dhampir, I worked at a group home twenty minutes away. I wasn't trained as a counsellor, but I was there more to help out, to be an ear for one of the kids to talk to. There were a few kids, well young men, who thought they could pull their crap with me. They were wrong.

It surprised the caregivers when one of the boys tried to get rough with me and I had him pinned in a blink of an eye. After that, the hostility started to simmer down. And it seemed like an ice-breaker of sorts. The kids seemed to respect me and even opened up to me.