Vampire Academy: a different ending

A Third Companion

Finding a car in the middle of the woods is not the easiest thing, as you may know. Dimitri and I had been walking for hours, but nothing alive or undead had shown up. I began to tire. Usually I would easily walk another couple of hours without complaining, but the headache was killing me. Before I knew it my face smashed a hard and rough surface. Well, I hadn't seen the ground for ages... Hastily, Dimitri helped me up and supported me in walking.

"Where are we even going?" I asked.

"We're nearly there, try to stay strong." was the only answer I got.

Just when I wanted to ask Dimitri if we could rest, a huge dog jumped from the bushes and stood in our way.

Dimitri smiled. I wondered what this was all about, but before I could ask, I lost consciousness, again.

I opened my eyes and found myself lying on something what looked like a bed of leafs, in some sort of wigwam. I stood up from the bed and felt my head protesting, but it was not as bad as it had been. Slowly I moved to the opening of the tent, as I heard two men speaking.

"How did they know?" an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"I think it was Jesse all along. It must have been." this was Dimitri speaking, obviously.

"But how did they even manage to make an alliance with a moroi? Normally strigoi aren't even patient enough to join other strigoi, let alone moroi."

"I cannot even guess. I didn't expect Dampé to even communicate with moroi. He despises them."

"Dampé never does what you expect him to do."

"Very true."

There fell a silence and I decided that this was my cue to reveal that I was awake. When I stepped out of the tent, I noticed the sky already growing dark, but there was a little fire. Dimitri sat next to a huge Asian guy with a lot of muscles. His hair was crew-cut and he wore a shirt and pants, but no shoes. Both men turned their head towards me as I coughed silently. The Asian guy smiled at me and turned to Dimitri.

"So, when are you going to introduce me to this beauty?" he said.

Dimitri chuckled slightly.

"Rose this is Rusl, Rusl meet Rose."

The guy who was supposed to be Rusl shook my hand.

"I have heard a lot about you." he said.

"That's cool, but who are you exactly?" I asked.

"Rusl is my old friend" Dimitri said. "I have known him for fifteen years now and I think he might be able to help us find Lissa."

I turned to Dimitri. "How did he find us in the woods? And what happened to the dog?"

Dimitri looked quizzically at me. "Dog?"

Rusl started laughing. "I think she means me."

"No, I meant a big dog that jumped out of the bushes just before I passed out."

Rusl smiled at me. "That was me."

It became only more confusing to me.

"Can anyone explain me what's happening here? What is happening to the bond? Where is Lissa? Who is Dampé? How did you, Dimitri, know a strigoi? Who are you Rusl? I DON'T KNOW!" I almost screamed.
After my sudden outburst, I lay down on the forest ground and closed my eyes. After a few minutes I felt someone laying besides me. I opened my eyes and saw Rusl's strange, purple eyes look at my face.

"I don't know if it's wise to tell you everything at once." he said. "The bond could be being misused by the ones who have captured Lissa. It is even possible that they are experimenting on her. If they have found a way to turn the bond in the other direction, they might be spying on us through Lissa. If they know what we know and don't know, they can easily stop us from saving her, but if we keep all the information we have about them a secret from you, they won't know if we're going to attack or not."

I moved so I could sit up straight. I saw Dimitri's silhouette at the fire, but his back was turned towards me.

"I always thought I knew him" I said more to myself than to Rusl.

"He is a complicated man." Rusl said. "I don't think anyone really knows him, including himself. As long as I have known him, he has never opened up to anyone, but if he starts to talk about you, he always smiles."

I smiled a sad smile. I knew I loved him, but he didn't love me back. He had been very clear to me about that. Slowly I turned to Rusl.

"Can you than at least explain who you exactly are and how you're gonna help us?"

Rusl grinned. "I am not someone special actually, except if you ask Dimitri. He thinks I will be able to save the world."

"And why would he think that?"

"Because I am the last one of my kind."

"You're not a dhampir? You really look like one, with your muscles."

Rusl laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment, but when my kind was still alive, we were even superior to the dhampirs. Most of us were well-trained, and just as fast as the strigoi."

"It must be cool to have the qualities of a dhampir AND a strigoi."

"It sounds like it, doesn't it? The only problem is that it's hard for me to stay human at intense moments."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you listen? I told you already that that dog-thing you saw was me."

I gasped.

"But how?"

"I don't know. The only thing I know, is that my family was the last of our kind, and they died in a fire."

"I'm sorry."

"No problem, it happened a long time ago when I still lived in Russia. After I was taken care of in the hospital, some strange man took me to the Belikov's and they took care of me. Dimitri is like a brother to me."

I smiled as I thought about the moment when Dimitri had carried me when I broke my ankle. He always cared about others.

At that moment, Dimitri stood up from the fire, and moved to the tent, which, I saw now, was made of nothing more than leaves and branches.

Rusl started talking again. "So as you can see my body has some advantages over that of a strigoi's."

I smiled absently at him.

"There isn't by chance a possibility that you will tell me what the plan is?"

He smiled again.

"Not the slightest."

~~~~A/n~~~~

I know this is unforgiveable, but I cant help it. I have so much school right now... I hope to write again very soon.