Shadow Rider (Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Chapter 54 - Rose

Sunset was approaching, and all of us were clustered in groups when Lissa and Sergei announced that it was time to form our defences. I hugged everyone I could get my hands on: my friends, my parents, my Dimitri.

Abe gave me a penetrating look before taking his position beside my mother.

'Good luck, Zmey,' I said, holding his gaze. 'Give them all you've got.'

He nodded darkly. 'Protect my daughter,' he replied, addressing Dimitri, who's grip on my waist tightened.

When they were outside earshot, I raised an eyebrow at Dimitri. 'Don't listen to that old man. We have our duties. Christian is gonna be smack in the middle of it. Both of us will be protecting him.'

Dimitri nodded gravely, though worry flashed in the depths of his eyes. But this was an aged problem, and none worth discussing now.

Every single Moroi that was partaking in the battle was assigned at least two guardians. Christian had me and Dimitri, Casimir had Natia and Ash, Abe had mom and his bodyguard, Mia had Ambrose and one of her close dhampir friends. The knowledge that all my loved ones were protected eased my nerves a little, but I still felt the gnawing need to protect everyone - even at the cost of my life. Dimitri, I knew, harboured similar thoughts. We sought strength in the other.

I looked behind my shoulder. At the very far back, surrounded by a stoic assembly of royal guardians, all of whom had been interviewed and tested for their loyalties, stood Lissa. Today she wasn't dressed as fabulously as she normally was - instead she wore comfortable clothing, her hair tied up in a bun. She'd be doing a lot of work tonight.

The very last of the preparations were being made. Torches were lit all around us, so as to aid the sight of the dhampirs, and also flash the Strigoi, who were ever so sensitive to the light of the sun or flame.

But in the end, all we could do was wait, and I found I was trembling with mingled apprehension, fear and excitement. Adrenaline pumped through my body at insane speeds - I wanted to run far and fast, I wanted to kill and protect. I clutched at Dimitri's arm, fidgeting, unable to ease the jumpy, restless feeling that had overcome me.

Then I caught sight of Natia. She was performing some kind of martial arts ritual, spinning her swords in her hands. She moved slowly and deliberately - there wasn't even the slightest tremble to her movements. Ash was jumping from foot to foot, as if preparing for a boxing fight. Casimir, in contrast, was still as a statue, gazing up into the darkening sky. I too glanced up, taking a tiny moment to savour the wonderful palette of the setting sun - the bright, intermingled hues of crimson, peach and warm yellow. How strange that an event so beautiful could be followed by something as terrible as this.

I was glad to see that Natia and Casimir had amended things between them. Ash luckily, also seemed to be in neutral spirits.

And something about Natia's ritual calmed me down. I searched her gaze. She found it, and nodded at me firmly. Her features were taught with determination, her eyes so dark as to appear bottomless and entirely fathomless.

Just then, the last of the sun disappeared behind the curve of the earth, leaving the world illuminated by a faint, purplish glow. The Strigoi then, must have dispatched from their camps.

We all tensed as a collective, and a heavy silence fell upon us. The only sounds that could be heard were the shuffling movements of bodies, the speedy breaths of hundreds of people being expelled at once. I fell into a crouch.

Then the ultimate moment arrived.

The clumsy clomping of humans could be heard, along with the hissing and snarling of approaching Strigoi. Then a terrible subterranean rumbling reached our ears, as if the very earth was protesting the impending violence that soon would be demonstrated upon her, the fresh blood that would be shed at her feet.