Transforming Tradition (AKA What Happens Next)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

      I cursed at myself for my stupidity at not checking our surroundings before we left the restaurant. Quickly, I took a look around to see how big this problem was. My eyes circled around and I counted out four Strigoi stalking up to surround us. I took a protective step in front of Lissa and saw Dimitri and Eddie get their stakes out.  I was about to do the same when Dimitri shook his head and whispered to me.

“You are not fighting.” He said quietly, but sternly. I started to argue before he muttered to Lissa. “Hold her back if you have to, there is no way she is fighting in her condition.” Lissa nodded and moved to grab a hold of arm. I mentally rolled my eyes at her antics. I could easily get out of her grasp if I wanted to. She knew what I was thinking and leaned to whisper in my ear.

“I won’t hesitate to use compulsion. Please Rose; don’t fight unless you absolutely have to. Think about the babies. You don’t want them to get hurt.” I sighed in defeat and nodded telling her I wouldn’t try anything. She was right, I couldn’t risk the babies.  I looked up to see that Dimitri and Eddie were already fighting two Strigoi each. One of them had realized that they could come to take us when the others were distracting the only fighters and he hurried towards us. 

“Christian!!” I yelled out, and he looked over at me.  I gave him a sly smile and nodded to the approaching enemy. He immediately knew what I meant and returned the smile and I watched the fire almost immediately burst out of his palms. 

Due to the shock on his face, the Strigoi had obviously never seen a Moroi fight back before he started to back away from the heat coming from the approaching threat. Christian didn’t even need to use his fire-power because Eddie sought the opportunity of the distraction to stake him. When Eddie’s stake plunged into his spine the Strigoi that he had been previously fighting had recovered from Eddie’s attack and was creeping towards Adrian. He was so fast that he had him in a headlock before any of us could move. I was frozen in my shoes as I watched this, remembering how the same thing had killed one of my best-friends, Mason, not even a year ago. But while I stood there motionless, someone thought to fight back. I had given my stake to Viktoria since Dimitri didn’t want me fighting and I didn’t want her to be unprotected. She saw a flaw in the Strigoi’s attack. He had left his back wide open. Viktoria saw this opportunity and immediately went in for her first kill without any hesitation. She executed it perfectly and it was obvious that she was Dimitri’s little sister. I watched as Dimitri and Eddie had the last one cornered and was as shocked as they were as he started shouting.

“The great battle is coming and soon you will all perish in agony! The time of the prophecy is now and soon we will hold all the power.”  He cackled at all of us. My heart pounded and blood started to boil at the mention of the prophecy. Dimitri stepped up to him and held the stake to his throat, pressing in slightly.

“You monsters will be the ones to perish.” He spat at him before skillfully swiping the blade away from his neck and sinking it into his heart. We watched the strigoi’s body sink to the ground and Dimitri and Eddie backed away, breathing heavily. I got out of Lissa’s hold and went over to check on Adrian while Dimitri and Eddie quickly scouted the area to make sure there weren’t any more hiding to attack us. Adrian was fine, and as I checked his injurues, all I found was that he was going to have some major bruising on his neck. Lissa asked him if he wanted her to heal him, but he declined, knowing the effect of darkness first-hand. Dimitri and Eddie told us the coast was clear and we started to discusswhat we were going to do with the bodies.

“We could put them behind the trashcans in the alley and let the sun scorch them in the morning.” Mia suggested. Dimitri shook his head and said it was too risky, that someone could discover the bodies before the sun came up. Being me, I tried to thaw the tension in that moment with my humor.

“We could always haul them along with us and put them in a cab. Tell anyone who asks that our friends had a ‘little too much to drink’” I suggested. Eddie and Adrian burst out laughing and Christian snorted.

“Only you Rose, only you.” I shrugged and listened as they bounced ideas of each other.  Only moments later, we heard movement in the alley. I stiffened, and Dimitri and Eddie automatically responded by lifting their stakes in defense mode and moving forward. The person came out of the shadows and Eddie lowered the stake and quickly turned to us. 

“It’s a human.” He said so quietly that only those with refined senses could hear. My brows drew together in confusion. Why would a human be stupid enough to approach us? The person stepped through the shadows and we were able to see them. The human was a petite blonde who was dressed like someone from an episode of ‘The Office’.  She stopped in her tracks and I was counting down the seconds until she ran away screaming because of the corpses that were surrounding us. She surprised all of us with what she did next. She sighed and told us to stop staring at her like she had four heads. This just made us gawk at her even more. Thankfully, Lissa stepped forward to talk to her, ready to use compulsion to deter her from the scene.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked cautiously. And with good reason. Humans were known to work with the Strigoi in hope of enternal life. Sick, I know. But, she could be working with them. That thought made me step forward toward Lissa protectively. 

“I’m here to help you with the bodies.” This made me stop in my tracks.

“What bodies? “ I said. “There are no bodies here. Now run along to your mother, young one. You’re not needed here.” I said, sounding something like Yoda at the end. Ya, I ramble when I’m nervous. It’s a bad habit. She narrowed her eyes at me and stepped forward, pulling a small glass vial out of her bag. I attempted to raise an eyebrow. What was she going to do with that? Throw it at us and hope we start melting like that witch in The Wizard of Oz? I watched as she stepped towards the nearest body and unscrewed the cap, pouring the contents onto the body. My mouth dropped open as I watched the body slowly disintegrate. Wow, I guess I was close with the ‘melting’ thing. 

“What the hell was that.” I said slowly enunciating each word. I saw the girl groan and roll her eyes.

“Have you guys really never heard of Alchemists?” She deadpanned. I raised an eyebrow and looked at my friends to see if they had, because I certainly hadn’t. I saw some recognition in Dimitri’s eyes as he stepped forward to talk. 

“I’ve heard rumors of them before, but never any specifics. What do you do exactly?”  He asked curiously. She took a deep breath, clearly annoyed that we didn’t already know. She then introduced herself as Sydney Sage and explained how alchemists help the moroi sometimes, and help keep the existence of vampires unknown to the human world. When she was finishing her explanation, her phone rang and she excused herself to answer it. Being the nosey Rose I am, I eavesdropped on what she was saying. I froze when I heard my father’s name in the conversation. And knowing his occupation, I got a little suspicious. After she hung up, I walked up to her and cornered her asking how she knew Abe Mazur. She then quickly explained that she was working for them and immediately asked me how I knew him.

“I’m his daughter, Rose Hathaway.” When I said this, relief flooded her eyes. 

“Well, then I guess it’s luck that I ran into you tonight. Your father was having me look in the Alchemist records about some prophecy and I just found some information that I was going to share with him. I guess I can just tell you now but it would probably be best if we went somewhere a little more private.”  I looked at Dimitri excitedly and Adrian said that we could go back to the hotel to talk. We all agreed and went back toward the cars to head to the hotel. 

When we got to the hotel, we went to Adrian’s room because it was the closest and I was about to burst, wanting to know the information that Sydney knew. When we got to the room, she started to explain. 

“Well, there has been a lot of movement in the strigoi world. There has been a lot of talk about damphirs and strigoi banding together. There has even been talk of some moroi banding together with them as well. At first we didn’t know why they were doing this, it didn’t make any sense. Then, your father told me about the prophecy. They are starting to band together, and we have a feeling that the big ‘battle’ the prophecy talks about is going to happen soon.” She finished giving the information and we just sat there in silence for a while. After it all soaked in, Dimitri was the first to speak and suggested that they wrap up the weekend early and meet with everyone at the Belikov home.