What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Epilogue

Epilogue

I'm stood here in the kitchen thinking over what has happened over the last decade and at what our family, including Eddie, Mason and Alberta, have managed to achieve.

Firstly the heart-breaking events, we lost Yeva five years ago. She was strong until the end; a formidable woman who has left an impression on all of our lives. One night she went to bed and never got up again. I suppose going to sleep and never waking is as good a death as any, no pain or trauma, just peaceful oblivion, but we will miss her greatly.

Another person I will miss will be Lissa. She never really did recover and she unfortunately ended her own life three years ago. I suppose the psychological scaring was too much, Tasha's crazy personality never went away, which is totally unfair seeing as Tasha is still alive and kicking in Tarasov, even if she is in a straitjacket most of the time and is still deemed unfit to stand trial for all of the suffering she caused. The research on the necklaces was extensive and after some investigations, our suspicions were confirmed. Tasha had originally wanted to influence Lissa into convincing Chris to release his trust fund however, shortly after Lissa began to wear the necklace the charm was affected by Lissa's own spirit magic which caused an unheard of reaction and denatured the charm. It created a two way bond that increased the darkness and psychological effects exponentially. The harm was already done by the time Lissa stopped talking to me. There was nothing that any of us could have done to stop it from happening, even though I still feel guilty from time to time.

I was starting to get upset so I soon switched to more pleasant musings. I still can't believe that we have a highly successful international business. Since the onset of the royal contract we have expanded the business with a total of eight gyms and several more satellite offices for our guardian agency. We are the go to people for private guardian training as well as several more contracts with the schools to provide intensives for senior classes and teachers. Latest research that was conducted last year stated that strigoi levels have in fact reduced and guardian numbers have increased since the creation of our business and the contracts to providing training to the schools and private guardians. Dimitri and I have been learning and incorporating other training techniques from other fighting styles worldwide. This has increased the success of strigoi hunting parties and battle survival rates overall.

On a personal level, there have been successes there too. Eddie and Vika moved to Istanbul the year after the royal contract was signed and finally got married five years ago. They also adopted a lovely little girl, Fairuza, whose mother was killed when she was attacked by a strigoi. They found her in the house where the attack happened and essentially rescued her. No family came forward to claim her so they both decided that they would take care of her.

Paul graduated and was the dedicated guardian for a close friend of his. Both of them visited the gym in Baia, which was still managed by Alberta, for regular training, including tactics of how his moroi could help him in a battle and how Paul could keep him safe but also allow him the freedom to help. This wasn't an isolated thing; many guardian/moroi pairs were attending our gyms to learn how to fight together. It seems that since the court case years ago, there has been a re-evaluation of attitudes towards moroi fighting alongside their guardians. Guardian Sean Todd was glad that his father's idea was finally becoming a reality and Chris and Mia's dedication to teaching offensive and defensive magic was paying off.

Speaking of Chris, he and Tessa are still together and they have a little boy who is four. Tessa is still our housekeeper and they both still live with us in the villa in LA. Mia now lives in Paris and manages and teaches at our gym there. She moved there when that branch was opened three years ago and loved every minute. I believe she even has someone in her life but she won't say and I respect her privacy. Mason and Naiha are also still together and still running the gym in New York. They were offered another gym if they wanted but they were settled where they were and wanted to continue with the gym they started with.

What about Dimitri and I? Well today is our Tenth wedding anniversary and to say we were still happy was an understatement. Our love for each other just continues to grow and grow, as does our family. Over the last ten years we have welcomed into the world three lovely children; Anya, who turned eight at Christmas, Pyotr, who was six and Lissa who was two. They were adorable children and have been the light of our lives since they entered it and I was about to give Dimitri another shock by telling him we would be expecting tiny feet again.

"Morning Comrade" I said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Milaya" he said kissing me. "Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary."

"Happy Anniversary back at you Comrade" I said returning his kisses.

"Where are the children?" he asked.

"Anya is in the gym downstairs with Chris and Matt, Pyotr is in the games room, Lissa is asleep mercifully" I said and then added "and two are still being grown." I waited for what I had said to sink in.

"Yeah it's nice that Lissa is sl... wait, did you say two are still being grown?" he said in shock.

"Happy Anniversary Comrade, you really do need to stop knocking me up" I said with a laugh. He looked as if I had thrown cold water over him. "Come on Comrade, you aren't going to freak out about being a Papa now are you. We already have three, you should be used to it by now" and I winked at him.

"Twins?" he asked.

"Yep, two more bouncing Belikovs to add to our menagerie sometime in October" I laughed out. "Are you not happy?" I added feeling a little worried.

"Of course I'm happy Milaya" he said and he lifted me off my feet and spun me round, "It was just a shock that's all but I am over the moon." With which he returned me to my feet, got down on his knees and placed a kiss on my stomach. "Hello you two, I can't wait to meet you and I love you already" he whispered in Russian.

"You are such a softie, Comrade" I said with a giggle. "Who knew that my 6f 7 battle god would be reduced to tears and baby talk?"

"Yeah right my warrior goddess, as if you aren't the same" he shot back at me with a twinkle in his eyes.

"True" I said with a shrug of my shoulders "but you wouldn't have me any other way."

"I'll take you anyway I can get you Roza" he said with a wink.

"You already have, Comrade, you already have."  

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A/N, well there you have it folks the complete story of What a Difference a Year Makes.  I hope you have enjoyed it.  Please feel free to leave me comments to let me know what you liked about it.  Thank you for your support.