Building the Tension | ✔ | 18+

Chapter 2c

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Ten guardians were trapped with eight Strigoi on the other side of the cave-in. Dimitri and Alberta were among them. I couldn't see any Moroi fire users, but there were definitely flashes of fire on the other side. A handful of bodies were strewn across the floor, at least four of which were Strigoi. The opening was small and someone would have to get low to the ground to get through, leaving them in danger of attack. The Strigoi needed to be eliminated before anyone could come through the cave-in. The three of us would help to make that a more fair fight. We got the jump on a few, but others saw us coming, one each diving for Stephen, Eddie, and me.

I was ready to fight and I could feel the darkness working in my favor, fueling my fight with anger. My size worked to my advantage in the close quarters because I could move more freely than the Strigoi. He couldn't get away and I was able to dodge most of his hits. I got my head slammed up against the wall, but it didn't hurt. I got in a couple of good hits and then managed to stake him before he could try to hit me again. I pulled my stake away and went immediately to Eddie's aid, but before I could even get to him, both Stephen and Eddie had each taken out their own opponents.

The guardians who were trapped took out a couple of the remaining Strigoi and then there were only four Strigoi left. Stephen and I worked together to take down one more. He was older - and therefore more powerful - than the others, so even two against one, he was difficult to kill, but we managed. Once there were fewer Strigoi, it was easier to finish off the remaining few. The trapped guardians were getting free and could now help us. Anxious to do my part, I lashed out with my stake at the back of one of the Strigoi closest to me who was fighting with Eddie. It's not even all that likely to hit a Strigoi's heart with the stake when trying to stake from the back, but I had to try, and I immediately hit her heart. Once there were only a few left, Alberta told us to make our escape. We had them surrounded and three of the trapped guardians made their way out the way we had come in. Stephen, meanwhile, crawled through the hole to the other side. Dimitri staked one of the two Strigoi. One left.

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But not close enough. Three Strigoi lay in wait in one of the alcoves. We'd passed them, but they'd let us go by. It all happened so fast; no one could have reacted in time. One of the Strigoi grabbed Celeste, his mouth and fangs going for her cheek. I heard a strangled scream and saw blood everywhere. One of the Strigoi went for Ms. Carmack, but my mother jerked her away and shoved her forward toward us.

The third Strigoi grabbed Eddie. It was the blond Strigoi I had seen earlier on campus. The one who had spoken to me in the battle. My mind immediately flashed back to Mason. I couldn't protect him. I couldn't let that happen again with Eddie. I wouldn't let myself lose any friends today. He grabbed Eddie and pulled him to the ground. I had a clean shot at this Strigoi's back, but he was so far. Could I reach him before Eddie was down? Could I make a second stake in the back work? I did it once today; could I do it again?

I stabbed out at his back and the Strigoi yelled out so much that it was almost like a growl, but I didn't hit his heart. Instead, he whipped around and started coming towards me. Eddie appeared to be lying unconscious on the ground behind him, but I hoped still alive. I didn't have time to worry about him right now, though. I had to act fast. The Strigoi was stronger than he looked for a former Moroi who didn't appear to be that old. He gripped my upper arms, and tried to pin me to the wall, slamming the stake out of my hands. He prepared to sink his fangs into my neck, but at the last moment, I was able to connect and head-butt him in the forehead, quickly bringing my knee up to his groin. It might be dirty fighting to kick a guy there, but when it is life or death with a Strigoi, nothing is off the table.

The Strigoi doubled over for just a moment, then looked at me with his red-rimmed eyes full of fury and began coming back to fight me again. I saw where my stake had fallen, but I wasn't sure I could get to it. I punched him as hard as I could, but he smashed my head against the wall. Everything started going blurry and black around me and the Strigoi picked up by my arms again, preparing to sink his teeth in.

In an instant, the Strigoi was dropping me and we both crumbled to the ground. As I fell, I saw in my blurred vision that there was Dimitri behind the Strigoi, with his stake sticking out of the Strigoi's back.

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I wasn't sure how long I was out for, but I woke up in the med clinic with Dr. Olendzki and Lissa looking over me, feeling that cold and hot that I was beginning to associate with spirit healing running over me.

"Rose," she said, "finally, you've come back to us. It appears that you had a very mild concussion, but you're going to be just fine. Princess Vasilisa has been healing you."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Guardian Belikov carried you all the way back here from the cave," said the doctor, "You owe him your life." I knew he would be fine, but it surprised me how much of a relief that was to hear that Dimitri was alright.

"What about everyone else?" I asked. "Did Eddie make it out?"

"See for yourself," Eddie said from the next bed over. I couldn't help but smile.

"Rose, you don't need to stay here any longer, if you're ready to leave. It's almost curfew, now that we're on daytime hours."

"Thanks," I said, "I think I'd like to go home and rest, anyways." I got up off of the exam table and asked, "Wait - where's Dimitri?" I asked.

"He couldn't stay," said Lissa, "He had a couple of guardians' meetings to debrief, and then he was supposed to do a security shift."

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Author's Notes:

At the end of my original Chapter 2, I started asking a 'question of the week' (I was publishing about a chapter a week, at first).  My question of the week is, if you were to imagine that Vampire Academy had never been made into a movie, who would you cast as the characters?

Personally, I liked the movie and I love Zoey Deutch as an actress, but after reading the book (I'm a 'see the movie first' kind of girl), I always felt like Rose was mis-cast as a little too caucasian. Maybe if she was younger and could do the action sequences, Mila Kunis would have been a great Rose, but also possibly Sarah Hyland could have been cast as Rose instead of Natalie, just based on appearance, and Danila Koslovsky, while truly authentic in the Russian accent, lacks some of the sex appeal I would expect for Dimitri. Since he might be getting a little too old to be playing a 24-year-old now, I was thinking maybe Gregg Sulkin, if he could grow out his hair and talk with the Russian accent. I'm also not at all sure why the movie version of Lissa had a British accent - that was just puzzling!