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Vampire Academy.

Alternate Ending.

1.5

Being sleep deprived was something that didn't, or rather, shouldn't matter to Guardians or Novices. But still, sleep was important. A necessity for some and a privilege for other, read for Guardians. As novices, we received special training to control our sleeping patterns. I remembered when I was thirteen. Twice a week, the novices had to join some of our dhampir teachers and protect the three gymnasia that were assigned to us during that year. We had been divided into teams and were treated as real Guardians. That had been amazing for the first two weeks.

Then our sleep started to hamper our routines. We were tired all the time, sometimes even falling asleep during theory classes. Each one of us has bags under our eyes and the whole year, we continued to receive sympathetic looks from our teachers. Gradually though, we learned to control our sleeping habits. We learned to wake up at the sound of a twig snapping. We learned to make ourselves fall asleep and wake up within fifteen minutes.

We learned that sleep was not meant for everyone and it had to be treated as a privilege.

I hadn't slept in the last thirty-six hours. I remembered being proud of myself when I had stayed up for twenty-seven hours for the first time. My friends had congratulated me and my best friends had stayed away from sleep deprived Rose.

At this moment, I hated Strigoi with a passion that couldn't be expressed.

"Rose, your anger's not helping right now," Dimitri said, as he chugged down his coffee while I sipped my soda.

I shot him a glare, "Don't go Zen on me now, comrade." I said. "Please," I added. Dimitri was just as sleep deprived as I was. Only, he wasn't showing it.

He slid in next to me and took my free hand in his. "This will be over soon and then we can go back."

I suppose I should explain the situation.

We had arrived back at the Academy a day after our meeting with Tatiana. It was now two days later.

Three novices and three Guardians, Meredith, Dean and I along with Dimitri, Jean and Guardian Elena James were sent out to check out the highway via which the new headmaster was coming. Apparently. Headmaster Lazar hated to fly so his children were coming in a jet provided by the Academy and the headmaster Lazar was on his way. Actually, he was already at the Academy. He'd reached there hours ago, escorted by Meredith and Elena. But before they team had reached there, three Strigoi had been spotted a few miles away from the cars. So, Dean and Jean had checked it out. But before anything could happen, the Strigoi ran away. The thing was Dimitri had spotted two more joining them.

While Jean and Dean were scouting the trail through the woods, Dimitri and I were keeping an eye on the Strigois' hideout. Currently, there were only two in a surprisingly, well-maintained house. Dimitri and I were far enough that they could neither hear or smell us, in other words, we were sitting inside a small diner and the scent of humans was doing a great job of covering us.

There wasn't much population around here. But I had talked to one of the two waitresses here and she had told us that two people had gone missing in the last one week.

Naturally, we had to interfere and be the hero. Okay, maybe, maybe, I was glad to be away from school and on an impromptu mission.

I sighed and dropped on a visit to Lissa. She had stopped the pills on Tatiana's order. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and pushed the queen bitch at the back of my mind. Everyone was gathered for the welcome of the new headmaster. A day ago, Kirova had called for an assembly and declared that she wasn't leaving the Academy, just leaving her post.

I-Lissa- was sitting next to Christian with other Royals in the front ad listening to the Lazar go on and on, on how glad he was to join the team and what plans he had for the future and how much he was regretting the loss we'd just faced.

I grimaced. Here I was listening to his boring shit which was making me even more drowsy.

I pulled back to where I was. I heard the door open and my eyes automatically flew there.

Dean and Jean entered. I was about to stand up when Dimitri caught my elbow. I nodded once to Dimitri.

Dean was limping slightly but otherwise looked unharmed. Jean looked okay but I noticed that she wasn't moving her left arm and when she had to scratch her nose, she winced. They were chatting and smiling about something, though Dean wasn't that good of an actor. They joined us after quickly telling the waiter near them to get a bottle of water.

"Took care of two. They had separated. We don't know where the third went." Jean said casually. Dean slumped in his seat and let out a sigh.

Dimitri nodded.

"Those still in there?" Jean nodded towards the window.

"Yes," Dimitri responded. "Still-"

The waiter came with a bottle of water and a few glasses.

"Thanks." Jean grinned.

"Are you ready to order?" He asked, giving Dimitri a side glance.

"Dean?" Jean asked.

"Just a shake. Chocolate." He said. "And fries."

"Make that two and I'll have a coke," Jean said.

"Nothing for us," I said. Dimitri nodded.

"You sure, Hathaway, I don't like sharing my fries," Dean said in a teasing tone. I teasingly slapped his arm.

The waiter left and we got down to business again. Dimitri filled them up on what happened while they were gone while Jean told us on how they had cornered two Strigoi. Thankfully, Dean had brought an extra jacket because Jean's had been ripped and Dean was hiding an elbow injury under his.

The waiter arrived with the fries and drinks. Jean said a quick thank you and sent him off.

We had to take three of them out as soon as we could. If the third one had already reached the other two (which I knew he hadn't) it would make it difficult for us. Dark clouds were already setting over us and we had to hurry before an innocent could die.

They were bound to go hunting today because the last kill was about three days ago.

We had to attack them within the next couple of hours before the two in the house could leave.

"Dimitri," I said as I looked through the window and at the house. The third Strigoi was going in.

"It's time, then. Will you two be alright?" Dimitri said to Jean and Dean.

They nodded.

"I will lead. Jean, you'll stay behind me. Dean, you will flank the back of the house. Rose you in front. There's just one floor. It will be, hopefully, easy."

We nodded without arguing.

"Remember, try not to engage alone. You are already injured and we don't want casualties or draw attention to ourselves." Dimitri further added.

We left as soon as we were done with the bill.

The four of us split off.

I felt my stake burning in the pocket of my jeans. I stuffed my hands in the jacket pocket and kept on walking.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dean go around another, seemingly abandoned house, to go towards the target. Jean and Dimitri were nowhere to be seen.

My heart was pounding. My fingers were clammy.

I felt something, someone, walk behind me. My breathing hitched and something sharp stabbed my head. I gasped.

Ahh!

My eyes were pricking. I couldn't see properly. The pain was too much. I sank down to my knees and clutched my head.

Were the others alright? What were they do-"

The pain seemed to increase and my ears started to ring.

Then it stopped.

As if nothing had happened. It stopped.

I blinked around in surprise. I wasn't on my knees. I was standing upright in the middle of the road.

What the hell had happened?

There was no one behind me. I touched my head and and... nothing.

My eyes fell on Dimitri who was right in front of the house. He was staring at me.

Get to the house, Rose. You can't compromise this!

Right.

To the house. I kept on walking, but still... what the fuck had just happened?

I saw Jean follow Dimitri inside. I stood, leaning against a wall, trying to focus all my attention towards what we were about to do.

Merely seconds later, I heard a yelp.

My ears picked up the low growls and grunts inside. I could hear their footsteps too.

Then a slump.

One down, hopefully.

The grunts continued and then what I had dreaded, a scream, Jean's scream.

Shit.

I knew leaving my spot would be disobeying a direct order.

I ran inside, my stake in my hand, ready to strike.

My eyes immediately fell on the brunette Strigoi hovering over Jean. Dimitri seemed to be having a hard time too. The Strigoi he was fighting seemed ancient.

I jumped at the brunette one.

He let out a snarl and threw me on my back.

Perfect.

Landing a kick at his side, I quickly turned around and kicked the back of his knee. His legs gave up and I slashed my stake over his face. He howled in pain.

By now, Dean had joined us and was taking Jean out of the way of any more harm.

"She's breathing." I heard him say.

Dimitri and his Strigoi were grappling on the ground. He had the upper hand at least.

My strigoi slowly got up. He was beyond angry now.

"That's all you got?" I taunted, noticing Dean getting behind him.

The Strigoi and I got into another match if fists and kicks.

It was going well. My stake's pointed part was sticking right over his heart.

And then, the pain. The intense, stabbing pain.

I cried out. I felt a kick at my hand and heard my stake landing far away. A blow to my stomach made me fly back towards a wall.

But it was nothing compared to what was going on in my head.

Traitor. A voice hissed.

Stay away from me. I screamed. Get back!

A dark figure was closing in and so was the Strigoi. Somehow, the Strigoi turned and got distracted. But the spirit kept on walking, talking out its hand.

Let's go. It's time for you to join us.

No, please, no. I whimpered.

You have to, Rose. You can't deny that any longer. A hand touched my head. It felt like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over me, followed by searing coals.

I screamed and screamed and screamed.

Hey, guys. So, here's the next chapter. A bit dramatic, I know. But just couldn't help myself!

Anyway, thank you for your reviews. And Yeah, I get what you mean about colleges, Shadowapple of Thunderclan, but it just gets into your head sometimes and it gets to a point where you have a breakdown.

Thank you very. Very much for reading WSHH. I am trying to figure out a cool ending, but then I realized it doesn't have to be cool, but just something meaningful and something touches my readers. And I have a few different endings in my mind and let's see what happens next.

See you soon.

Sacraa.