Vampire Academy Read-Along: Chapter 24

We've finally made it to the last chapter of the book!! I seriously cannot believe that the movie is just ONE DAY AWAY. Holy crap. I'm so excited about it! I'm hoping to be able to go see it this weekend but with getting the little ones pictures made this weekend I don't think I'll be able to. Boo! I am going to go as soon as possible though. I'm absolutely DYING to see it!

Chapter 24

Rose weighs her options as she realizes she has no way to fight Natalie or kill her. Her best option is to run, but Natalie is blocking her way out. Natalie leaps out and grabs her, slamming her head against the wall. Hard. Victor tells Natalie to try not to kill her because they could use her in the future. She says she'll try not to. Rose yells at Victor. She can't believe he turned his own daughter Strigoi to get what he wants. He leaves. Rose realizes just how stupid Natalie is when conversing with her about turning Strigoi.

"Do you understand? God, Natalie. You . . . you turned. Just because he told you to?"

"My father's a great man. He's going to save the Moroi from the Strigoi."

"Are you insane? You are a Strigoi."

"I had to do it to get him out of here before the others came. One Strigoi to save all of the Moroi. It's worth it, worth giving up the sun and magic."

"But you'll want to kill Moroi! You won't be able to help it."

"He'll help me stay in control. If not, then they'll have to kill me."

"You are insane. You can't love him that much. You can't really--"

Natalie throws her against the wall again. Rose realizes she hesitated just like Dimitri had said not to do, and she is about to die. But then Dimitri shows up. He fights Natalie, killing her with a stake. He runs over to Rose, picks her up and carries her out. She tells him he was right about the Strigoi, just as she's about to close her eyes. He tells her not to go to sleep yet. She asks Dimitri if Victor was right about the compulsion spell. He admits that he does want her and wishes they could be together, but they can't. Their age difference and the fact that they'll both be guardians to Lissa someday means they can't be together. He has to throw his body in front of Lissa if there was a Strigoi attack. But if he lets himself love Rose, he'll protect her instead. 

The medical team takes her away to the clinic where she stays for a few days with Lissa and Christian by her side at all times. She learns from them exactly what happened and how Dimitri had discovered there was a Strigoi loose on campus. They found Victor and recaptured him during his attempt to escape. Lissa is now on anti-depression and anti-anxiety medication to keep her feeling stable. She also finally believes Christian's story about her brother screwing Mia over. Mia however had continued to be mean to Lissa by talking bad about her to the royals who are ignoring her now over her relationship with Christian. Lissa however doesn't seem to care. Rose realizes Lissa and Christian won't stay down for long.

Dimitri continues to treat Rose like everyone would expect. As a mentor. Rose understands his reasons behind their not being together. They have to be able to protect Lissa. Lissa admits that it's a shame she can't heal or use compulsion anymore. She's glad she got the help but he misses being able to touch spirit. She wants it so badly sometimes. It hits Rose that Ms. Karp didn't become Strigoi because she had gone crazy. She became Strigoi to stay sane. She instantly worries about Lissa.

Rose decides to go to the chapel and talk to the priest about St. Vladimir. She asks how he died--if he became Strigoi or killed himself. The priest says he died peacefully in his sleep. He overcame his demons, his insanity, with the help of shadow-kissed Anna. Anna had been the one to help St. Vladimir walk the middle ground between sanity and insanity to allow him to continue his use of spirit. Ms. Karp didn't have that, but Lissa does.

Walking to the commons Rose notices the very raven that Lissa had healed two years ago and Rose understands that the raven is bound to Lissa as well. She tries to get it to land on her arm but it flies away instead. She watches it fly away and then continues her path to find Lissa.

We've reached the end!! I'm both sad and a little relieved that it's over. Sad because I thoroughly enjoyed reading it again. Especially because I had forgotten so much that happened. But I'm also relieved because writing these summaries were rather time consuming and I didn't have a lot of time to put towards them and kept missing the posts and having to double up on the chapters to make up for it. However, I truly hope that you enjoyed reading Vampire Academy and that if this is your first time reading it, you'll continue on with the series!!

So now that you've finished the first book, how do you think the rest of the series is going to play out? Or at least the next book? 

I would really like to hear your thoughts!!