After sucking on my own blood, I leaned over and fed Vale with the blood in my mouth.
But after a while, I realized her lips were unmoving. Her body became cold in my arms. A wave of panic and terror crashed on me.
"No..." I gasped and pulled away to look at the huntress, whose heart was no longer beating. "No!"
Chapter 42
I sat holding Valerina against my chest. Her face, white as the snow that had frozen my heart, no longer showed any sign of life. The sounds of exploding bombs reverberated all over the city, but all I felt was the coldness that seeped through every pore of my body. The coldness that would last longer than any winter in the world.
"Valerina," I whispered her name over and over as if it would wake her up and bring her back from this endless sleep.
I knew she wouldn't hear it anymore. The hollowness in my chest spread like a black hole. The words were lost forever. We stayed in the same bed, but it felt as if we were a world apart.
Another bomb struck the ground, shaking the building. Dust fell from the ceiling like snowflakes then the light went out. I tightened my hold around the lifeless huntress.
She's gone.
The realization choked me like the smoke of a wildfire. Many thoughts rushed into my mind. If only I had stopped her. If only I had come sooner.
There were more shouting and running outside.
"Your Highness!" an officer stood at the door. "We must leave the base. Their airships are coming here!"
"Leave me alone," I said in a hollow voice.
"But Your Highness!"
"I said leave me!" I hissed. I could feel my eyes blaze with rage and grief. The officer recoiled. Then after another bombing sound, he bowed and left the ward along with the others.
The tears had stopped falling, but everything inside me was still burning and bleeding.
I tightened my hold around Vale's listless. My hand kept stroking her face. There was no blush anymore. I took her hand, raw from the rough battles, and put it against my cheek.
"You left me," I said. "Why?"
She's gone.
The thought still felt strange to me as I couldn't bring myself to accept the truth yet. She was here a moment ago, now she was not. My mind was filled with bleak apocalypse. I wanted it to come and destroy everything I'd ever known. If it was large enough to feed my rage and grief, I would welcome it.
I broke into another wailing. The dead no longer suffers. It is a lie. I still felt the pain like a sharp stabbing knife.
After the sorrow came the hopelessness.
A long moment later, I covered Vale's body with the white sheet. Then I stood staring at my greatest loss. I couldn't bring myself to cover her face. I was afraid if I did, it would mean I had truly lost her from this world.
The beautiful face that had brought life and joy to me was empty and distant like a blank mask. The sight of it made my heart clench like a fist until I could barely breathe. My stomach filled with fire and ashes. I imagined tearing down the walls, mashing everything, stabbing myself in the heart and bleeding to death.
Then I yanked the knife from my belt. My palms ached where my nails had cut into them.
But a faint voice inside my mind stopped me.
If I died, her death would be for nothing. Everything she'd ever fought for. Everything she had sacrificed, her childhood, her hopes, her future and her own life.
It would all be for nothing.
I put the knife down and leaned over to Vale again.
“I love you,” I whispered and placed my lips against hers.
The war doesn't care whether you're grieving and broken. The war still keeps going until it has taken everything away from you.
All this greed and horrors must be stopped.
STEPPING OUT INTO THE base again, I saw black smokes rising from every corner of the earth. The soldiers ran in every direction, fixing and checking the ammunitions. They hurled and reloaded explosives into the aircraft.
There were a hundred on coming Zeppelins, carrying thousand tons of bombs floating over the Moscow sky. I found Trotsky briefing his elite jet fighters. I remembered him telling me about the Night Witches, and how he had created his version of an all-female air squad from the Soviet time.
Their planes were getting ready to take off once his order was given. Then the General saw me. His violet eyes froze. Malena stood beside him. Her face pulled in on itself, bracing.
"Anastasia," Trotsky began, but his voice seemed to have lost its usual assurance. "Is she..."
I gazed back at them. The bleak look on my face was enough. They knew. Their Beta was gone. Malena bit her lip as a single tear rolled down her cheek. The rest of the hunters lowered their heads as a sigh of mourning.
But I had no time to mourn. Now all I wanted to do was avenge her death. I stepped forwards, feeling as if my body was made of wood.
"Prepare me an aircraft," I said to my men, trying to keep my voice from breaking. My mind was still burning with thoughts, but I tried to shut them out.
"Anastasia," Trotsky said. "You don't have to..."
"Do not stop me, Trotsky," I cut him off. My tone was sharp like a knife that the man went silent.
Then he exhaled and looked up at the sky again. Our planes were taking off like a flock of birds. They went soaring towards the swarm of Zeppelins and German aircraft in the horizon. I could see their Mothership looming slowly like a whale in the air, heavily protected from all sides by their fighting jets.
The sirens let out an ear-piercing wail from the center of Kremlin.
"This world don't belong to the dead," Trotsky breathed. It was the same words he had said to me when I first met him. The man turned to me again. This time, he smiled sadly.
"It's time we bide each other farewell, Anastasia," he said. "It seems someone needs to bring the gift back to the Kaiser."
"General, let me do it," the Alpha said. “I will bring a group of volunteers to capture their main airship.”
Her face was full of the vengeance and determination. Like me, she had to bury her grief with a pile of rage.
Trotsky gave a shake of his head.
"But this is a suicide mission,” he said. “The hydrogen bomb isn't timed. We can fly it back to Berlin using our supersonic craft."
"Then I'll go," I said and was ready to step out when he blocked me with an outstretched arm. I looked back at him, irritated.
"Sorry to crush your hope of getting killed, Anastasia, but not you either," the General said as I glared at him. "No one is more suited for the job than me. I will bring the gift back to the Emperor with a thank you note."
"But General," the Alpha began but Trotsky waved his hand dismissively.
"I'm sure each of you are ready to die," he said. "And we shall live one day, my girls. But we shall live and win. As long as we're still breathing, there's always something to fight for."
I looked at the General, unable to find a word to speak. We had come along way.
"What’s your plan, Trotsky?" I said.
"A simple one," he replied with another smile. "Capture the Mother from above and deliver her baby from below. Fly back to Berlin, and the rest I will leave it to you."
Then he turned and made a briefing to the Night Witches, who would follow him as his cover.
Before Trotsky left, he put his hands on my shoulders.
"Her memory will live on," he said. "You just have to stay alive for her, Anastasia."
I nodded then watched the man getting into his aircraft. Trotsky saluted me before he took off into the sky. The others trailed from behind, protecting him from the enemy's defense line.
After Trotsky was gone, I got ready for my own mission.
But as I walked over to my plane, a German Luftwaffe flew over our base and dropped a trail of bombs on our barracks. The explosion sent me flying to the ground. The world was askew for a moment before the screams erupted in the air.
My ears rang as I tried to pick myself up again. All around
the fire burned, engulfing several buildings and turning our aircraft into skeletons. I heard machine guns began to fire.
Gritting my teeth, I ran and caught sight of the jet that was still intact. I went towards it.
After settling into the cockpit, I gripped the control sticks firmly on both sides of me. Then the domed head of astromech windshield closed. The screens lit up and displayed radars and the capacity of its dual laser cannons, rockets and ammunitions. Without any delay, I began to take off into the air.
I flew over my ruined city. Below was a black sea of undead soldiers. They fired at me, but their bullets were deflected by the bulletproof metal.
The radar alerted me. There were two Luftwaffes flying from the opposite direction. I blasted them with the powerful electric shocks. They burst into flames and fell over their own soldiers below, burning them into cinders.
More German jetfighters flew towards me. I tilted away from their paths, circling a city tower yet not without dropping a series of bombs on the undead army.
At last, I saw their Zeppelins. They came and rained down the capital with their machine guns and explosives.
Pushing the controllers, I speed towards them. They hurled bullet at me like hailstorm, but I managed to keep going. Once I was close enough, I shot another lightning blast that went straight to one of the Zeppelins. The thousand watt of high voltage zapped their main power circuits, and I watched them sinking into the ground one by one.
The airships exploded and flames devoured them in a blink of an eye. Another flock of Luftwaffes soared towards me and spat out several missiles. The radar blared in warning. I dodged each of the missiles, but they arched and flew back from behind.
Speeding my aircraft upward, I flew back and went between two Luftwaffes. They lost their targets and found the oncoming missiles instead.
Explosion erupted.
I began to fire at the rest of the Zeppelins. One. Two. Three. Seven. Ten. Until I ran out of ammunition.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting sound echoed in the sky. The screen around me showed several jet fighters coming at me.
I released the last two of my missiles. They took down two of the Luftwaffes and a Zeppelin. One crashed into the cathedral while the others landed in middle of the undead wave. Fire engulfed them, sending thick black smoke into the sky.
I wrecked twelve of their airships in total and a dozen of their Luftwaffes alone. But the chaos remained unchanged.
In the distance I could hear more blasts, more crumbling, more shouts and screams as the enemy did their work, too.
Suddenly, I felt a jarring shock from behind my aircraft. The screen turned red. I realized I'd been hit. The cockpit started to tremble and then the engine died. I found the canopy release button and pushed it. The domed roof fell away and the parachute burst open, pulling me out of the burning craft.
The air slammed at my face as I was dangling in the air. Looking down, the undead were waiting. I grabbed my pistols and started shooting at the rotten soldiers below.
Each bullet pierced them in the head.
Three. Five. Eleven. Fifteen.
I reloaded and fired again.
After a while, their bullets caught me in the shoulder and left leg, but I didn't feel any pain. I kept shooting until my parachutes were torn, and I plummeted to the ground.
I realized I was in the middle of the Red Square.
All around me were the German soldiers. Their mask-covered faces directed at me. I forced myself to get up. One of them charged forward with his bayonet, intending to gut me, but I grabbed his rifle in my hand. And with the hilt of my boot, I crashed his skull through his helmet.
The gas streamed out of the crack, and he was instantly lifeless.
A dozen more of them marched towards me. I drew out my daggers. With a blinding speed, I rushed over and stabbed them in the chests, slit their throats and decapitated them. My grief had fueled me in the fight, but it wasn't for long before I would lose my strength. My leg began to burn and my hands started to slow in exhaustion.
Once I killed a horde of undead, another came forward. I kept hacking at anyone who came at me.
Then I found myself slashing at a man wearing a crested helmet with pointed tip. He was one of their commanders.
The man dodged my blade, and I nearly toppled over from the momentum. Recovering just in time, I swung my leg and crashed my heel into his temple, breaking his gas mask.
Unlike the others, his face still had flesh although some patches were red and raw with blisters.
"A vampire?" I breathed. His violet eyes blazed and he charged at me with a lightning flick of his military rapier. I sidestepped him, but I wasn't fast enough and the tip of his sword pierced into my left side. I gasped in pain, but before he pulled back, I gripped his sword and swung the blade into his throat. His head fell off his shoulders.
I dropped to my knees, gasping for air. Blood soaked my clothes. From a distance, another wave of undead crept towards me. I was holding the digger tightly in my hand and would rather die before those things got to me.
I looked up at the sky and saw only a blood red dome. Dust and smoke hung in the air over a wide, broken city. I raised my blade with my shaking hand.
Now I could join her.
But an earth-shaking crash halted my action. The ground shook and shot out debris into the air. I turned to find the Moles worming their ways onto the surface. Another whizzing sounds came from above.
A formation of flying aircraft flew into the area, blasting machine guns and fire bombs at the undead army. The German soldiers fell back as many more jet fighters came in. I realized they weren't ours. Their planes had the emblem of the British Air Force.
The Moles crashed over the enemy with their drillers, scattering them.
"Anastasia!" a familiar voice floated into my ears. It was a faint voice against the chaotic noises, and I tried to search for it. Everything was hard to see through the smoke and my hazy vision.
But I saw the silhouette of a woman. Her long red cloak flipped in the wind as she ran. For a moment, I thought I was seeing Valerina. Once her hands reached out to me, I realized it was not her.
"Anastasia!" Alex cried. "Oh...no...sister!"
My strength had left my body as I was sinking and sinking into the deep dark void.
Epilogue
The nature of sorrow often fades over time, but once in a while it remains lodged below the surface of things, a stubborn thorn under a fingertip, making itself felt every time you brush against it.
The years galloped past, flowing onward like the waters of a river, disappearing never to return, on this day, it had been three or maybe five years. I did not keep track of time anymore. But the beauty of the bright spring sunshine, rejoiced with blossoms and the song of birds, brought nostalgia to my heart.
I brushed another paint stroke against the canvas. Purple was my favorite color, but now I had grown to love red. Red was vibrant and strong. Red was the color of blood and life.
In the garden under the spring sun, the portrait was taking shape, a beautiful shape of a woman I loved and longed for every day.
By habit, I reached for my sherry decanter on the table, yet I didn't thirst for the crimson content. The pills must be working. Arkady and Damir had introduced me to their new breakthrough.
Soon, I would feel no need of human essence. I would feel less and less of a monster.
Of course, I could never be human again, but at least, I had no craving, no bloodlust, and over time, I might start aging again. That was what they told me. Our scientists already perfected the vaccination for the human race, making their blood undrinkable for us.
Damir was now the head scientist of the new government. He was hoping to eliminate genes associated with vampirism. I wondered how long it would take to develop the cure. Maybe his children with Lyra would continue their father's work. It might take generations or it might happen overnight. All I had to do now was wait and live my life one day at a time.
After the war, the Allied Nations broke apart. The Kaiser had turned into ashes along with his ambitions.
Trotsky and Krasnoff were also dead. But their idea lived on. The two leaders had taught me an important lesson. Their dream of bringing humanity back to the world had taken roots in my mind. It had grown and spreading until the treaties were torn and all the royal houses were demolished, all but a few who agreed to our proposed program. The winner got the make the rules after all.
There was no more slavery. The remaining vampires were put to sleep, never to awaken ever again. The ones were deem good and harmless must remain in anonymity for the rest of time.
My sister was more than pleased to take off her crown and abdicate her throne. She never wished to be a Czarina anyway. And after Alex and her wife returned to their beloved island, I also left Kremlin to find my own peace and quiet.
'The world doesn't belong to dead'
The words still echoed in my mind.
I tried not to let myself relive the memories. The thought of the past still sent a terrible chill through my bones.
I lifted the paintbrush and was about to add another shade of color when I felt a nestling against my leg.
When I looked down, I found a ball of white fur with a pair of pink eyes.
I stooped and gathered the fluffy animal into my arms.
"What are you doing here?" I said with a frown. The rabbit's nose moved and its long ears twitched. Then I heard a shuffling sound from a distance and looked up. There was no one there. I decided to get off my seat and walk over to find the source.
It was true that a landscape of pine and snow did little to entice me, but when spring came, the earth here became alive and more beautiful than anywhere I’d been to. It breathed new blooms and sang new streams.
I entered the woodland that surrounded the mansion, and the sound of trickling water came through the trees.
Then a figure kneeling beside a pile of rocks appeared into view.
Twisting the tongue as I might, but words wouldn’t form. I wanted another tongue to use the language that wasn’t too stiff for something so sweet and gentle, yet words failed me.
Anastasia Romanov (Sequel) Page 24
