Vampire Academy one-shots

In Our Line of Work

DPOV:

As I sat at the dinner table eating a microwave meal, I found myself thinking about how quiet it was at home without Rose. Our Guardian housing home may have been small but when she wasn't home it felt big and vast- empty. There was no singing travelling down the stairs as she showered, no playful laughter, no shouting obscenities at sports players on television. Just empty. Lissa (who also happens to be the Queen of all Moroi) and Rose had gone to Denmark for a visit to Lissa's godparents and wouldn't be back for three more weeks. My life had been playing on a simple loop the last few days since they had left- do my shifts, eat, do more shifts, eat, do shifts that belong to someone else, sleep, repeat. There was no Rose throughout the day to brighten it, no Rose to come home to when we both finished our shifts, no Rose to hold close as we lay in bed. But I knew it wouldn't last, and that when she came back, everything would be better than ever. But I couldn't help feeling a little down- I missed her. I mulled over all this while absentmindedly spooning mashed potatoes into my mouth, they were a little dry, but I hardly noticed. Hearing a knock on the door, I quickly finished my mouthful and got up to see who and why someone was visiting at this time. Walking over to the door, I went through possible people to be on the other side when I opened it. Sonya Karp wouldn't be a huge surprise, for we worked together sometimes to figure things out about spirit and our restoration from being Strigoi once. Eddie Castille was a possibility. Adrian and Sydney Ivashkov was unlikely but not impossible. Some other names flitted through my head, but the one I secretly wanted the most was Rose. I knew she was away though- so it wouldn't be her. Turning the cool metal of the door knob, I opened the door.
My heart stopped.
I saw someone I certainly hadn't expected to see. Someone I never wanted to see.
"Can I help you?" I asked the man infront of me. He was a guardian I knew worked in the casualties filing department, and he wore a very grim look on his face.
My stomach had dropped. This was the kind of man who brought news to your front door of when a guardian died that would've meant something to you. I instantly assumed the worst, that he was here to tell me about Rose, and began to feel my hands shaking. I hated the thought of anyone that I was close to dying, but still, I found myself saying over and over in my head
Not Rose, please not my Roza, anyone but her.
The guardian cleared his throat, pulled out a note and began to read it.
"22nd November, 1:30 am, Copenhagen, Denmark, Her Royal Majesty, Queen Vasilisa Dragomir and Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway faced by six Strigoi" with those words I lost all ability to breathe. "Hathaway fought valiantly and managed to get Queen Vasilisa to safety but was not so lucky herself. A strigoi got to her just before backup could arrive and she put up an amazing fight before it got the best of her and ended up draining her body of blood. Queen Vasilisa will be flying back tomorrow and Hathaway's body will also be transported home where she will be given a Guardian's funeral."
Hathaway's body.
My heart shattered. With every word he said, I felt the life leaving my body. I shook my head at him hysterically.
No... no.
"Y-You've got it wrong. There must be some kind of mistake- Rose isn't- she can't be." I couldn't say the word.
The man looked truly sorry, but right now the look on his face just made me want to punch him. How could he know? How could he possibly know what I was feeling right now. I was breaking, my vision blurring over. Rose- my beautiful Roza. I couldn't loose her. I didn't know what I would do with myself. The thought that I might never see her again- the pain that caused- it was unbearable. The guardian at the door placed a hand on my shoulder. I shirked it off.
"I'm sorry Guardian Belikov- from what I've heard- I can tell she meant a lot to you."
He was wrong of course. She didn't mean a lot. She meant everything. By now I was fighting off the tremors trying to shake my whole body and I gripped the doorframe to keep from collapsing.
"For what it's worth- you're not the only one- this kind of thing happens all the time in our line of work."
In our line of work. Being a guardian. The very thing I had trained her for.
"Go. GO" I choked out at the guardian harshly. He nodded like he had expected nothing less, turned around and left. I just stood there in the doorway. Unable to move, breathe, make coherent thought. I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest- how could I live without her? She was my world. I loved her more than life itself. I slammed the door shut and started repeatedly hitting it- harder and harder to the point where there were cracks in the wood. The pounding of my fist against the timber slowed and my legs gave way beneath me. I leaned back against the door and closed my eyes- unable to prevent the tears that rolled down my face. I clasped my head in my hands and shook my head. She was still fresh in my mind. Tan skin, dark eyes, dark hair. Witty attitude, fiercely loyal, brilliantly passionate. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid my eyes on. And she was gone.

Rose is dead

It felt like white-hot branding irons were digging their way into my chest. I wanted her here. I wanted to hold her close in my arms and never let go. I would've given anything for one last moment with her.
"Rose...Roza...my Roza" I whispered her name over and over. As if somehow she would hear and return to me. I looked up at the ceiling.
"Don't leave me Rose. I need you. Please Rose..." my voice was weak and cracking. The pain. The agony. It was unbearable.
"I love you Roza. Come back to me. I love you. God I love you so much." I said, but she wasn't there to hear it. She never would be again. I felt my hands twitch with the need to stroke her cheek, to smooth her hair.
But she wasn't there.
Because that's what happens in our line of work. We lose the people we cherish the most.