Vampire Acadamy fan book

Chapter One

Blood. It’s Everywhere today, In my house, In my yard, On my hands, and now because I scratched my nose, it’s on my face. I know what you’re thinking, and I’d like to put the ‘Oh My God she’s a murderer’ theory behind us, I haven’t killed anyone, at least not anyone alive. Maybe I should just back up for a second, ever heard of Rose Hathaway? Well, I’m not her. But I’ve met her; we were friends at the academy before she ran away. My name is Aceline, Aceline Hayes and I’m a Dhampir, like Rose. Only, with less fame, and guardian-ness. You see I have neither of those things. I never graduated because I dropped out after my mom died in service. She and I used to always be together, but don’t feel bad for me, she died a hero, and a great guardian at that.

“Hello, get back to earth, Ace” Kai said smacking a magazine down in front of me, last month’s issue of MacLean’s. “What?” I asked looking up at him “gotcha a snack” he chuckled waving a bag of

                                                      

Chips in front of my face. “That’s not the healthy breakfast I sent you out for” I said shooting him a curious look “So, you don’t want it?” he teased. “Are you kidding?” I laughed and lunged at his arm as he pulled them away. “You are going to wash your hands first though right?” he said seriously, or sarcastically, I couldn’t tell. I let out a huge sigh “fine” and started walking towards the kitchen; I looked back when he started laughing and almost walked straight into the wall. “What’s so funny?” I asked obliviously, when I turned my head my mouth dropped, there on the table was the exact breakfast I’d had set up in my head, crispy side bacon, sunny side up eggs, toast with jam, and strawberry waffles.

“Told you I could cook” he bragged, by the look on his face he was expecting me to say something funny about it, but seeming as he worked so hard all I could muster up was a small “thank-you” and with that he was completely caught off-guard. “Sure” he said, shocked at how I reacted, I washed my hands.

Kai is like a big brother to me, always trying to tease me, but he always knows the right things to do to cheer me up. I met him not long after I left the academy; he was left on his own too, only, I was kicked out of my dad’s place, he just left his parents. When I thought everything was lost he showed up. He’s good in a fight too, He’s strong enough it doesn’t seem natural, and his reflexes are incredible. I guess I could think about that more, but he’s on my team, what’s there to worry about? That’s rhetorical by the way.

Just as I was about to finish a waffle in two bites, a knock came to the door. Kai looked up and growled, I mean really growled. I couldn’t have made that sound after practicing in a hundred years. “What’s up? pup?” I said with a laugh and stood up. When my hand touched the door knob a cold shock shot through me. Pulling it open slowly I stared at who stood there for a moment, it was a dhampir, he was around six- seven, with a mixture between curly and wavy dark brown hair with deep dark eyes. The duster he wore suited him, but also made him look like a wannabe cowboy. “Can I help you?” I asked honestly, he gave me a half smile which left me a little confused “Aceline Hayes, do you know her?” I tilted my head a little “that would be me” I curiously replied “what’s up?” he just kept smiling and stepped aside. Then she came into sight.

“ROSE!!” I froze. Her hair was longer now and she just stood there hands on her hips looking me up and down. Her jeans looked dirty as usual, and she was wearing a grey long sleeve shirt, which was weird for her, but it was cool outside. “Your still taller than me after all” she flashed me a smile, being around five eight was close to my height, I was around five eleven after all. Then I realised something, I hadn’t taken the strigoi bodies out of my living room yet, not to mention I was covered in blood still, and never mind my poor, now red, slippers and pajama pants. “Uh, guess I wasn’t expecting guests” I said and laughed “please, come in, I should go take a shower” I said smiling. When they walked in Kai sat at the table still staring at

The visitors as if he was plotting to rid us of them, probably mad that they came in right before I ate something he actually cooked. “It’s going to get cold” he whined, I just rolled my eyes and took a couple steps up the stairs “Oh, and Rose” I said turning around slowly to smile at her “it’s nice to see you again” I finished and began walking up the stairs.

When I got to my room I stood in front of the mirror in shock. My long auburn hair was in bed head mode, and I was drenched in strigoi blood. “Crap” I sighed and took my bloody clothes off as I headed for the shower connected to my room. I was brushing my hair as I walked. When I reached it I stood next to it and turned the knob with one hand testing the temperature with my other hand. When I was satisfied I got in and started to wash my hair. There was no way Rose would visit me for a friendly encounter, not when she’s got a duty to protect the queen, especially since its Lissa. This was going to be a long day. I rinsed out the shampoo and reached for the bar of soap, cleaning off all that blood wasn’t easy, some of it had seeped through my clothes. When I scrubbed and scrubbed, it finally came off. I sighed in relief that it even came off at all. And with that I turned the water off and stepped out grabbing a towel. I dried myself off and walked out into my room towards my dresser. The usual sweatshirt and baggy pants seemed attractive right now. I went in and grabbed a new pair of underpants and another bra. I got dressed and used a blow dryer on my hair while brushing it to get the waves out. Then I walked downstairs.

“You can’t go in there” I heard Kai shout, when I walked downstairs and saw Rose holding the door handles to the living room. “I wouldn’t if I were you” I said halfway down the stairs “It’s not the prettiest sight” I sighed. The tall guy looked up at me, god, who is this guy? Rose ignored me and just kept fooling around with the handles I smiled, “If you’re told to get away from somewhere, that’s the place you want to be most, huh? You really haven’t changed Rose” I laughed and moved towards her. I unlocked the doors and frowned as they opened.

 She stood there in surprise and looked up at me “a-are you hunting them?” she asked with a serious look on her face. I sighed and looked at Kai who did the same and I tilted my head back beginning a stretch. “No” I said moving my head so I could look down at my feet. “These came to us, last night” I ran a hand through my hair which now felt wet and cold “And you killed them all by yourself?” she gave me a worried look “Hey” Kai said walking towards her “what am I? Human?” he joked pretending to be offended. Rose paused and looked up at his figure of six three. “Well, if you aren’t human, dhampir, or moroi, what are you? You definitely aren’t strigoi or a ghost” He stopped dead in his tracks, turned around grumbled something under his breath that no one could understand and walked away. “I think that was rhetorical, Rose” I laughed, obviously enjoying how surprised he was getting today.

I could see she wasn’t listening though, just thinking. That’s when I realized, she had a point. If Kai wasn’t human what was he? “Maybe he’s a lab experiment gone wrong” I laughed, and she looked up at me and laughed brushing it off, but when I looked over at the wannabe cowboy, I noticed he was still analyzing the situation. Rose must’ve noticed my curiosity because she smiled and turned to him “Don’t mind him, He’s usually like this” my mouth opened to reply, but I’d lost my words and shook my head. That was him, the first man that was known of that was turned back from strigoi to dhampir, standing in my hallway. I turned back to the massacre of about ten dead strigoi in my living room.

“We should probably get these things outside, the suns out now” I said kind of exhausted. Rose turned back toward the living room, “probably a good idea” she agreed softly, and with that the Guardian, came over and tossed two over his shoulders. Though Rose and I practically had to drag the bodies to the door and throw them out, they’d be ash before they hit the ground. The guardian got the last one and as he went outside with it. I faced Rose honestly “so what’s with the wannabe cowboy?” I said seriously, she paused then realised who I was talking about and laughed. “He’s just another guardian” she gushed. I jabbed her with my elbow, “not from what I’ve heard” I leaned over and whispered in her ear “not to you anyways right?” I said trying not to laugh. She laughed and jabbed me back “What about that bad boy you’re living with? Black hair, green eyes and pretty hot all around, sounds like your type to me” she winked. I laughed “Kai? He’s like my brother that’s all” “that’s all?” she looked at the ground looking a little disappointed. 6

The sound of a breaking plate brought me back to reality. It came from the kitchen ‘what now?’ I thought while I walked toward the kitchen with Rose next to me. When we got there Kai was on the ground picking up the broken glass “what happened?” I asked and walked over to him to help him with the broken glass. His face looked troubled when I saw it, but when he looked up, he smiled “Guess cooking and cleaning are two very different things” he said and laughed. Rose smiled and helped with the glass. Was I the only one who saw his face when his head was down? Why was he so upset? And he’s done the dishes a thousand times before, what shook him out of it? That’s when the wannabe cowboy walked in and laughed when he saw all of us on the floor in the kitchen “what’s going on?” he asked trying to keep a straight face, Rose smiled at him “Normal life comrade, normal life.” He gave her a funny look then smiled. I paused completely confused and looked at Kai, who locked eyes with me for a brief second then we both turned away and laughed.

“I feel bad for you” I said looking at him “once Rose gives someone a nickname it never truly goes away” I laughed he half smiled at me as we finished the dishes. Rose and Kai were cleaning up the blood in the living room. “I have a feeling you two aren’t here for just pleasantries though, are you?” he paused, but wasn’t surprised “we weren’t aware you had a roommate” he said changing the subject “well I wasn’t aware you were coming, we’re even, now tell me what you want” he did that stupid half smile thing, most girls would find it

Cute, but it was really starting to get on my nerves. “How did you kill ten strigoi in a refined space when you aren’t even trained completely?” he whispered then hung the cloth on the tap. “We fought.” I said seriously “that’s impossible” especially for a trainee and a- whatever he is” I looked at him seriously and hung the drying towel on the bar of the stove. “Wasn’t it also impossible to heal strigoi to its point of origin?” I looked him up and down, and then walked away. “Guess I’m asking Rosie-bear” I said turned around and stuck my tongue out at him while walking backwards. Belikov rolled his eyes.

When I stepped into the living room, it looked like it hadn’t been touched at all by the violence that took place in it. The striped yellow wall paper was clean, and the golden finished oak flooring looked untouched. The piano sat there with all the glory that it had when Mom and I used to play it and sing with its deep toned, but irresistible melody. The furniture looked the same as it had when she left home for the mission that had kept her away from me. No. I can’t listen to the whispers of memories that push into my mind; I won’t listen to my heart right now, not when it hurts like this. “What’s wrong?” Rose asked in a worried tone “I thought you’d be happy it was this clean” I wiped my eyes to brush any tears that may have come out away and gave her a smile “I’m alright” I sighed “I guess it just took me by surprise how  good I job you did” I teased.  She smiled at me warmly. I wonder where all this warmth came from, when I knew her before she was just a party girl, a whole other kind of hunter. Of course I never joined her for these parties; I was never the social type. “You grew up” I whispered and gave her a gentle smile.

Chapter Two

The Guardian stood behind her, leaning against a wall. He seemed to be processing something. “And your still such a kid” Rose said with a smile “no concentration, and full of childish things to say and do” I didn’t know what to say, I felt so ashamed. Why did I stick my tongue out and the wannabe cowboy? And why can’t I be more preserved? Or even more mature? “Well I am two years younger than you” I said with a laugh. Why did I say that? “That’s why I’m so curious about how you and Kai managed to stand up against ten strigoi” she whispered and briefly looked back at Belikov. I bit my lip and turned away “it just happened, Okay?” Rose looked at me in disbelief “Are you hiding something from us?” she asked I stopped and a flash of anger burst through me. “Is that the only way you think I could do this?” I snapped “I can’t believe y-” Kai cut in “She’s been training harder than even you, Rose” pure fury leaked like venom in his voice. That’s when the room went silent; everyone was shocked he

Was capable of such a harsh tone. “Kai” I whispered turning around “calm down” I said quietly and calmly. He looked at me seriously “No. They barge in here uninvited, and act like you’ve got some big secret; you don’t need this, Ace.” I frowned and turned away. He looked hurt, balling up his fists. “She’s worked so hard” he pleaded to Rose and the Guardian.

“More than half of the bodies were beheaded, why?” The wannabe cowboy asked calmly.  Kai looked up at him and frowned, “because stakes are hard to come by when you aren’t a guardian, we only have one stake” he said still clearly upset “I prefer my sword” I whispered. Both wannabe cowboy and Rose turned to me “But strigoi are hard to kill with swords” Rose said as she seemed to recall a sad memory “I’ve done it before I would know” I turn towards her “This is a special sword, its silver” I whispered. She paused for a moment and considered this “It’s blessed by the four elements” I said honestly, and that made her look up at me for a moment. “How did you get a hold of a silver sword?” I frowned “It’s a family heirloom for the dhampirs of the family” The guardian, who was usually calculating the next move, was caught off-guard, and judging by his expression, it wasn’t often this happened

“Can I see it?” he said curiously. I nodded. “Wait, first we have to grab something from the car” He continued. As he walked outside, Kai and I sat on the stairs, a few minutes passed before they came back. When they did, we went up to my room, Kai followed behind the three of us to my bedroom upstairs, and when we stood in my average sized room I grabbed a box from under my un-made queen sized bed. Then I rested the rectangular box on the mattress and opened it carefully.  The silver sword seemed to glow, and the bejeweled handle was covered in rubies and red glass hilt stood shining above it. Rose’s mouth dropped and I gently pushed the sword to her, my hand covered by a cloth with sat under the blade. “You take extremely good care of this, don’t you” she whispered, I nodded. Wannabe cowboy looking satisfied stared at me suspiciously “We haven’t been properly introduced” Rose paused, surprised that she had forgotten about it “Its fine” I said and gave the guardian a smirk “I could just call you Russian wannabe cowboy guy”  He showed no emotion, and Rose grimaced. “Aceline, this is Dimitri” and he held out his hand, his cold eyes staring at me for a moment. I rolled my eyes and shook his hand “nice to meet you too, I think” I said. When I looked over at Rose she had a huge stupid grin on her face, it killed any doubt over getting prepared, prepared to take a chance.

Giving Rose the most charming smile I could get I stared at her “I should put that back in the box now, if you’re done” I said politely. She looked at me and smiled, “alright” she said bluntly. When she passed it to me, I gripped the handle, and looked up at her. She looked nervous, so I smiled “you know the best thing about how much training I do?” I asked politely and winked at her “what?” she said curiously. “I can tell the difference between my friend and an imposter” I said still smiling, when I stood up she fell over in shock. And at this Dimitri jumped up to try an attempt to get the upper hand, but if he had really been worth bringing back from being a strigoi, he wouldn’t have been so sloppy. With one strike, he was out the window burning in the sun. I knew it. I took my sword and plunged it through this Rose’s heart. Her body seemed to change drastically as she died; suddenly she was a blonde strigoi. I turned to Kai “their getting smarter” I whispered, “I see that” he frowned and swore under his breathe

That’s when he did it, it was so unusual and unexpected it freaked me out. He raised his head, tilted it back and sniffed the air. “What in the world, are you doing” I asked completely shocked.  “They’re in the basement” he said “nope, never mind, they’re here” he seemed disappointed not to have saved them. I just laughed at him, until the real Rose and Dimitri walked in, then I just shut up. “What are you?” I asked him as I turned to him. “I don’t know” he said and looked down. For the first time in a long time, I was afraid, the fears seemed to have been swelling and swelling since Rose mentioned he wasn’t anything we knew of, Noticing things that were unusual kept happening and realizing I hadn’t noticed them before scared me more than anything.

“How did they manage to disguise themselves like that? They looked and acted just like you guys?” I asked seriously. Rose frowned, “that’s part of why we’re here, they’re starting to find ways to use magic from Items, and this might just be the beginning” I paused and looked up at her “No, that’s worse than anything we’ve ever dealt with before, and a striogoi using magic is, well its unheard of” Kai sat between Rose and I, and seemed to be soaking up every word. “Do you think they’re after the sword?” he asked intently, Dimitri looked at him with a thinking expression on his face “Maybe, but I also think their after Aceline” Kai stood up looking stunned “why?” we both said in unison, and looked at each other surprised that we had. Rose bit her lip; “we don’t know” she said and turned away. Kai and I both looked up at her still wearing our surprised expressions. Dimitri shrugged his shoulders and looked at us; “That’s what we’re here to find out” Thoughts buzzed through my mind, this was all hard to take in.

“And” Rose’s voice startled me ‘and what? Isn’t there enough issues here already’ she held my gaze “There’s something in your possession that we think their after, It’s a crystal ball, ring any bells?” I thought about it for a second and shook my head ‘why would I have a crystal ball?’ then something came into my head. I looked over at Dimitri curiously “Have you ever heard of Anastasia?” I asked politely, he paused “the missing Romanov princess? What would she have to do with this?” I tucked some of my red-brown hair behind my ear and stared at him “Maybe everything” at this he looked confused. “Anastasia was a morai princess, even if the rest of her family was human, she was brought into the family, and when she was, the Romanovs spread the rumor of a new princess being born, Her royal lineage had died, leaving her behind, a royal morai lineage that had long been forgotten” Dimitri looked surprised, and Rose smiled at me “still interested in fairy tales, I see” I looked away seriously thinking, then looked up again “One of the only things she came into the Romanov house with was, a crystal ball, It is said that it merged with her soul, and would be passed down from generation to generation” Dimitri looked down, thinking of the possibility. When he looked up at me he fully smiled this time, but also had this lonely look in his eyes “I guess we’re going to St. Petersburg” he said, a small accent made it seem antique.

Rose sighed “why does everything have to happen in Russia, comrade?” she joked elbowing Dimitri. He chuckled and nervously smiled at her. The airport was stuffed with people trying to get somewhere hot before it got colder here, in North Dakota. Getting through to the desk was hard, but it turns out not too many people were on their way to Russia, which was good for us. I never liked being around so many people though, it almost terrified me, I could deal with about ten people, but that’s my maximum. Looking at Kai, he felt just as freaked out, which made me smile; after all I wasn’t the only one anymore. He noticed me smiling and zoning out again and sped up to walk next to me “what’s up?” he asked smiling back, but it wasn’t just the usual joke around smile, this was a full-fledged happy smile. It kind of surprised me, and my smile faltered for a moment “Ace” he said with a worried look coming over his face “Is everything alright?” he was serious. “I’m fine” I whispered to him, and that was when I got this weird chill.

I suddenly felt so cold, and I just couldn’t stop shaking. My knees felt wobbly and they hit the floor, while my hands rubbed my arms trying to warm up. Kai stopped and realised I wasn’t walking anymore, when he looked back at me a look of panic shot through his eyes, then ceased almost immediately when he decided it wouldn’t solve anything. He calmly walked back to me and knelt In front of me “you don’t look okay to me” he said and felt my forehead, “Should’ve eaten your breakfast” he winked. “Your body is still exhausted from last night” he said innocently. I, being such a kid, laughed at this though, and at first he didn’t get it but when he did he chuckled and grabbed my hand to pull me up. It felt so warm to me. I didn’t understand why I was getting so excited over my best friend holding my hand, but in that brief moment that he pulled me up, I never wanted it to end. When he pulled me up, I wasn’t balanced and fell into him; he grabbed my shoulders to steady me and smiled at me when I looked up at him. He was so red; you’d think he was sick, but that smile proved otherwise, ‘does he notice he’s blushing?’ I thought, and then I felt my cheeks burn up. I turned away, hiding my face with my bangs. He grabbed my hand again and started dragging me through the crowds of people.

The warmth of his hand seemed to keep the chills away. It was unusual. When we came to a stop I looked up and saw Dimitri in from of us with Rose. “We got the tickets” Dimitri said waving the tickets in front of our faces. That’s when I noticed Kai hadn’t let go of my hand still, and he didn’t seem to want to either. So I pretended I wanted to go get a hot chocolate, but Kai came with me and got some donuts too. When I reached for the hot chocolate I wriggled my hand out of his to pick it up. I gave him a look when we sat down waiting for the plane. “What?” he smirked “I’m just making sure you don’t get lost?” I sighed and wanted to say something like ‘so that’s why you were blushing so much’ or ‘I get lost less often then you’ but I just drank some hot chocolate, getting rid of the chills. He looked distressed “so, what do you think of that Belikov guy?” he asked almost making me spit out my drink “Dimitri? He pisses me off” his expression told me he was pleasantly surprised by my answer. “You jealous?” I joked, he laughed “no, I just, just have to protect you that’s all” he winked at me. I laughed ‘sure’ I thought and drank the rest of my drink.

The plane wasn’t going to come for another hour, so shopping for Rose’s jean supply seemed the necessary action. I was surprised when she had to look at all the jewelry too, and shirts. It felt like it took forever for her to drag me through stores with her. At one point I fell asleep on a bench, just waiting for her. The guys, of course, went to look at all the important stuff, deciding I would want to clothes shop with her. When she woke me up, she looked so energetic and positive, the opposite of me at the moment. “Are you done yet?” I yawned, beginning to stretch, she smiled at me “I got you something” she reached onto a bag and pulled out a necklace, nothing too extravagant, just a black leather choker with an orange stone hanging on it, the was polished, but uncut. Just my style. I smiled up at her, “thanks” I said still tired. I put it on when she passed it to me, and the moment it touched my skin, it felt like it’d been mine for a long, long time. “Whoa” I whispered as I rubbed my thumb on the stone, Rose looked at me honestly, “The woman told me there was an old world story to that stone, and since you’re so fond of fairy tales, I figured it’d interest you”. I smiled at her, with new found energy coursing through me, curiosity filling every bit of me “what’s the story?” I asked barely able to keep my voice low.

The smile on Rose’s face never faded, and I had a feeling she was just happy I wasn’t resenting her shopping habits anymore. “Well, it’s said that if the stone glows. Then its wearer has the soul of a knight from olden times, and that the stone will grant the wearer its powers. That’s not the only stone, but there are only about six out there, one for Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark. The one you’re wearing is the Fire stone.” I looked down at the orange rock, a little disappointed it wasn’t glowing on me, but it was very pretty and it suited me. I looked up and gave Rose a smile “awesome”. “What is?” Kai said walking up behind me, but when I turned around he looked at me surprised “Where did you girls go, exactly? Ace, you look worn out” Dimitri gave Rose an amused smile from the background. I smiled  “shopping” I shrugged Rose looked at me and laughed “no, I went shopping, you slept on the benches like a homeless person” I rolled my eyes “details, details” Kai gave me his ‘I’m so sorry” look, then laughed.

The plane was leaving soon, so we had to get back to the airport, when we got there our bags were being put on the plane (now including Rose’s new ‘necessities’). A plane to Russia in the middle of the night, I had a bad feeling about this, one I couldn’t quite pin point, and it was unlikely that this was a fear of flying, but seeming as I had nothing to go on I dismissed it. As the plane took off nothing seemed out of place, except there were only around eleven other people on board, that and the television wouldn’t quite work, it was playing a part of a horror movie again, and again, like there was a loop on it. It was one of those parts where you know something horrible is about to happen and right when the main characters aren’t expecting it, something worse then you thought would happen, happens. A stewardess walked over and hit the TV a couple times, that’s when shock flew through me, this horror movie was about zombies getting on a plane and killing everyone, until the planes crashes. I’d seen it before. I whipped my head around to tell the others, but before I could speak, the plane violently began to rock. We were going to crash.

CHAPTER 3

The stewardess that had hit the TV was staring at me with a wicked grin as a strigoi pulled her down and bit her neck, she didn’t even struggle. She must have been compelled by him, and as I looked around the plane at the10 remaining people, I noticed they were all smiling at us with their fangs out and red ringed eyes screaming for blood. This was a trap. I turned toward the cockpit as another compelled stewardess walked out with a knife, she was covered in blood. I’m guessing she killed the pilot. Another strigoi leapt at her and she smiled happily as he viciously seemed to chew on her neck. Finally when I looked back at the others, they were all fast asleep. It was only Dimitri who woke up as the plane tumbled back and forth. It was just him, me, a crashing plane, and ten strigoi. It’d sound cool, if you weren’t actually in the situation. It’s a good thing I never put my sword in my bag, and you really don’t want to know how hard it was to get on the plane in the first place. Dimitri unfortunately didn’t

Have his stake, and the plane was going down too fast to complain. We both jumped into action, I didn’t watch much of his fights, but he seemed incredible enough to wound them, and I’d kill them either by stabbing or taking their heads off. When Kai woke up behind us, he woke up Rose, who jumped up right away, while he ran off trying to find parachutes.

In five seconds we’d killed four strigoi as a team; it was on the ninth strigoi that the plane stopped rocking and started to climb again, which knocked everyone down. When the plane evened out the tenth strigoi pounced at me, I dodged and kicked him down against a chair, holding my blade to his neck. Rose came up with Dimitri; we were all out of breath. “Why are you attacking us?” she barked getting used to the new found balance, when he didn’t answer after 10 seconds, I cut his chest, not enough to kill him, but enough to bring any monster to tears,  this monster was no exception.  “Answer her” I said in a low cruel voice, “bitch” the strigoi hissed at me. I smiled at him “you’re really going to say that to the woman with a blade to your neck?” I politely remarked, the strigoi gave me a wicked look “you’d make a good addition to us, If only you were smart enough to awaken” he mused. Before I could react he grabbed my sword, pulled it towards him and he revealed my neck through my hair to himself. He lined his fangs up and bit. It was painful, and as the room blurred out, all I heard was Rose screaming.

That’s all I could remember before a bright light engulfed me, and I woke up with my head on Rose’s lap. Kai was looking down at me, and Dimitri was sitting near my knees. The plane had stopped, and I had to guess we were at our destination. “What happened?” I was still a bit groggy after just waking up, when my still felt the pain in my neck, I sat up quickly and touched my neck. It had been bandaged. Rose looked like she was going to cry, It was the first time I’d ever seen her like this “what’s wrong?” I asked seriously worried. Rose hugged me and I jumped, “Never again” she whispered “I never want to see another person turn strigoi again” her grip got tighter, so I hugged her back briefly and let go. “What happened?” I asked again, now the question was directed to Kai, his black bangs hiding his face. He looked up at me and pointed at the necklace, “that happened” he said bluntly. I was still confused “What my necklace? Rose gave it to me, said there was a story behind it” he looked straight at me calmly “It glowed, Ace, and it saved your life” I paused at this, a little freaked out by it but at the same time I was excited . A necklace saving your life, that’s impossible, but there’s a lot of impossible happening today.

“Weird!” I laughed. Everyone else just looked at me like it was the worst possible time to laugh, “I wonder how he managed to touch my sword” I whispered curiously. At this Kai looked at me like I was insane “That’s all your thinking about?” he gave me seriously upsetting look. “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right” Dimitri gave me a glance and walked over to pick up my sword, testing the weight. He walked back towards us with it in hand “It’s because it’s not your sword” he said staring down at it, “this is iron, it’s incredible you didn’t notice it, Iron’s a lot heavier than silver, and tougher too” I paused and looked around us, five bodies had been stabbed in the heart, I felt a lump in my throat. Rose followed my gaze and realized just as much as I had. “Dimitri” she said silently “we have to get out of here, now” she warned. He looked up a bit confused, but nodded.

As we stepped out of the plane, the morning sun was blinding, but missed at the same time. The clouds were few and although it was cooler outside, the sun was warming enough to make all the difference. We’d landed in a clearing in a forest; I had no idea where we were other than that. We grabbed our things out of cargo and as we headed through the thick trees, I felt determined to get out of the woods before night fall. By then the surviving strigoi would’ve left the plane and would probably catch up to us quickly. I didn’t want to take any breaks what-so ever, but when a stray branch ripped the bandage on my neck, I whimpered. It felt like billions of needles were poking at all my veins at once. I dropped to my knees. ‘What had that thing done to me?’  Rose was right behind me and bent over asking what had happened, but when she saw my neck, she wouldn’t let me answer. She just opened her bag and treated it trying to move as quickly as she could. Even though she tried to go quickly, it felt like it took hours, and before we knew it, the moon began pull itself up on the horizon.

The moment she finished, we had to leave the woods twice as quickly, it didn’t matter that the strigoi’s bodies would them back when weaving through the deciduous trees, their speed would make up for it. Plus, judging from the plane ambush we’d just encountered, they weren’t stupid. I could hear sticks breaking all around us as they tried to keep up, the woods were black, and the ground was black, the only light was of the moons glowing atmosphere. That’s when something seemed to whisper in my ear, it wasn’t chilling like a strigoi voice, but it was just as intense, full of heat. “Light” it whispered “push your light to a darkened path, illuminate your heart” it sounded like a woman’s voice. Full of harmony and arrogance she seemed to tunefully dance, with nothing but her voice. I closed my eyes and saw a beautiful middle aged moroi standing before me, she seemed to materialize out of sparks, and flames. Dancing before me, she smiled at me, and a blaze seemed to blind me. I opened my eyes to escape it, still running and as I looked around, a wall of fire protected us from the sides creating a visible path out pushing away strigoi that had caught up.

No one said anything as we all bolted for the fields and the bright singing moonlight. No one cared. We had to move quickly, or this chance could be gone. The second we’d stepped out of it, the flames shot up behind us, nothing could get through. I sighed in relief as the wind twirled around me, assuring me that the short freedom was real. No one was burned, no one was hurt, give or take a few scratches from trees. I stood there in silence as I found the ground I stood on, my bag clinging to my sweat drenched shirt. As the flames danced, I no longer saw the danger in them that I’d seen my whole life, just the middle aged woman and her smile. The fire couldn’t scare me, not anymore. Kai pushed me forward to keep me moving as I had kept staring at the brilliantly beautiful strokes of oranges, reds, and yellows. Just like that, my head was where it belonged; in the clouds. I could feel my body moving I could see ahead of myself, but I didn’t have to process any of it, just watch; Being somewhere else completely.

 We sat inside a small hotel in a nearby town. As we’d figured out, we weren’t far enough away from Tsarskoye Selo to fly again (not that any of us wanted to) but not too far that driving seemed impossible, meaning we’d have to get a car. “Too tired” I said under my breath as I lay back on the comfortable burgundy lobby couch. “How about we get a room in here for now?” Rose agreed with a yawn. Dimitri didn’t want to stop moving, but as he looked at the three of us he nodded, realizing we wouldn’t even make it across the parking lot. I smiled half asleep half out of it. Stumbling up towards the metal counters I noticed the man standing behind it. He was lean and a little taller than me, his red hair receding, and wrinkles showing as he smiled lightly at me (on the verge of laughing). Apparently, I struggling to get to the desk in fatigue was amusing to him. When I got there I gave him a natural smile, “can we get two rooms?” I politely asked pointing to the group, he smiled back “two rooms?” he asked in Russian making sure.

Dimitri walked up and towered over me, “Yes, two rooms, please” I confirmed in Russian, still smiling. Dimitri looked down at me a little surprised, and I could feel Rose’s eyes on me too, like I had done something very unusual. When I pulled out my card Dimitri still looked shocked. I felt a satisfaction in putting them both off kilter, Kai of course was sleeping on the couch next to Rose. When I paid for the rooms, we split up, boys and girls.

As Rose and I separated from the boys, she looked at me in astonishment “when did you learn to speak Russian?” she finally asked, curiosity obviously getting the best of her. “It’s my native language, English is a second to me” I said back with a bit of a laugh ‘who’s acting like a kid now Rose?’ I thought. Her eyes went wide “your Russian? I never would have guessed” she seemed more and more curious, but I didn’t want to tell her my life’s story, I just wanted to go to sleep and take a shower in the morning. “I’ll tell you eventually” I said as I unlocked the door to our room. “I wonder what happened to your sword” she whispered, I froze, how could I forget something like that, it was missing. “I’m sure it’ll turn up eventually” I gave a convincing smile to her as well as myself. ‘I hope’ I thought becoming a little worried, but not showing an ounce of it in my facial expressions.

Even though all these thoughts were in my head, the moment my cheek touched the pillow, I was almost asleep, but something was missing, something important, and it wasn’t my sword. When someone knocked at the door I jumped, it was Kai. He stood outside the door yawning, tears were flooding his face he was so tired. Opening the door he shoved a big classic looking teddy bear in my face. “Got this for you at the mall before” he said quietly “figured you couldn’t get to sleep without one, and by you not being asleep already, proves I was right”  I paused and looked at it and smiled gently taking it from his hands “thank you” I whispered and hugged it close to me. He smiled at me, “anytime” he winked. When I closed the door, he was already walking away, the soft teddy bear meant the world to me, and as I hugged it close to my chest I had no problems sleeping what-so ever. This was one of my secrets.

Chapter 4

Waking up I’d noticed Rose was still asleep, it was around 8:00am and I hopped up, stuffing the new teddy bear in my bag. Straight after, my destination was the bathroom for a shower, water always calmed me down before, but today I was a little frightened of it, I don’t know why. The water just seemed to feel like I was getting shocked by each droplet. Taking off the necklace however changed that. Freshness and a calming feeling took me over; I’d always been most comfortable there, in the cool liquid, the place that I couldn’t be burned. The scars on my back stopped crying softly while I stood there; thinking about them now, reminded me they were still there. When I wore the necklace, they never complained, not once. I froze then. I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed. Getting out of the shower, I put on the necklace, and looking in the mirror, I watched steam rise from my body; leaving it dry. I paused. Then shrugged it off and got dressed.

Rose was awake when I walked into the room; it was now around 7:30 and she was brushing her long hair on the bed (something I neglected to do). I walked over to her and helped her brush it, its dark brown tones turning into a settle brass like color in the morning sun, which seeped through the window looking like honey. She gave me a thankful smile “so what made you decide to keep your hair long?” I asked curiously “I like it better that way” she responded before I even got another breathe in after my question. ‘Dimitri’ I thought and chuckled. “What about you?” she asked honestly. I smiled lightly at her “well for one thing, I’m not a guardian” I noticed a shadow out of the corner of my eye; someone was coming up the hallway. I sat down behind her and continued to gently brush “And second of all, My mother had longer hair before she passed away, Its part of how I hold onto her” Rose turned and looked up at me “that makes some sense” she whispered to me in a kind voice. When I looked up Dimitri stood in the door way, he’d heard everything. He looked so lonely for a few seconds, then shook it off “You two ready to go soon?” he asked, his voice seemed a bit tender, but it could’ve been my imagination.

Rose smiled at him briefly and started going around the room picking anything of hers up. I just picked up my clothes; stuffed them in my bag and started to walk out. Dimitri, still looking a little on the tender side stood there silently as I walked past, I stopped diagonally of him “what’s the matter? Kai snored, didn’t he?” I joked Dimitri chuckled lightly, “All night” he whispered back. I smiled and kept walking “oh c’mon” Kai complained as he leaned against the wall next to the door, I didn’t know when he got there; and considering Dimitri almost lost balance at his words meant he didn’t notice him either. “Anyone ever tell you you’d make a decent ninja?” I teased, trying not to think about it “like whom? Naruto? Or like Snake?” he laughed “Snake?” I asked. He rolled his eyes “video game” and that’s all he needed to say before I nodded and started for the stairs.

Kai looked at me confused “the elevator’s right here, you do know that, right?” he asked. I shook my head “don’t trust it” As I opened the door to the stairwell I couldn’t help but smile. I knew who Snake was, off “Metal Gear Solid”. But letting Kai think he knew something I didn’t pleased him, I’d feel bad taking that away. Halfway down to the first floor I saw three younger women, an older one, and a young boy. Getting a clearer look, another middle aged woman stood behind them. I froze up. It was the Belikov family, I’d met them once before, they didn’t like to stay in their town for longer amounts of time, they seemed to prefer to get a breather every now and then. I walked down the stairs and greeted them respectfully. They seemed quite surprised to see me, which made sense, seeming as last time we met I told them I was going to America. “Back so soon?” The grandmother laughed in Russian “it has been four or five years now, hasn’t it?” I politely said back in the same language.

Looking behind me, the older woman smiled, while all the others mouths dropped. Turning around I saw Dimitri, Rose, and Kai coming out of the elevator talking to each other, Rose and Dimitri didn’t even notice the presence of the family, and Kai however noticed me and walked towards us. “What?” I asked gently, “That’s just Rose and Dimitri” I finished, Rose followed Kai,  and Dimitri followed her, both still not noticing the family, and still talking to one another. When they came about 3 feet from me, Rose glanced at them, not paying any attention and them froze and did a double take. She looked surprised, and slowly touched the bottom of Dimitri’s chin and gently faced him towards the Belikov family. He froze, tears slowly forming in his eyes.

The middle aged woman ran towards him crying, “My child, my child” she cried in Russian “it’s true, your alive” I stood there in shock. Dimitri, Dimitri was the son they spoke of last time we’d met, the one that was living in America. One of the younger girls fled over to Rose apologizing for something in English “you were right, Rose, I’m so sorry I said such a terrible thing to you” she whined. I still couldn’t take it in, it was so weird, such a warm loving family, for such a wannabe cowboy? It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Dimitri gave Rose the biggest smile; I’d ever seen him give. Kai gave the ‘I don’t care and don’t want to know’ stance another try. He looked over at me and smiled, asking me quietly how I had slept; I smiled and gave him a thumb up. He chuckled then we both concentrated on what was happening.  The grandmother was watching everything at once, she walked up to me smiling. “What business do you have here?” she asked intently, this time in English. “Anastasia’s crystal ball” I said back “we’re looking for it” I finished. No point in lying to someone as sly as her. I could see how smart she could be by the look in those old eyes.

My words put a spark in those same eyes, and a devilish grin came over her face. “Anastasia” she repeated to herself in a prophetic voice. She looked up and smiled at me “good luck” she said in Russian, I paused and looked at her “thanks” I said smiling back. She started to walk away “I wasn’t talking about the crystal, I was talking about you, and good luck hiding it from them, especially here” I froze at her words as guilt pierced my every limb ‘how did she know? Wait, she couldn’t actually know, could she?’ my heart sank in desperation, Kai stared and nudged me “hey, what’d she say?” he asked curiously. Dimitri walked up behind him and crossed his arms; he’d soaked in every single word “looks like we might have to have a talk later” he said making it obvious he was unhappy. I went silent. Maybe seeing the Belikov’s again wasn’t such a great thing.

Sooner than later, we had to leave them behind. Dimitri seemed bothered by his grandmother’s words, but at the same time he was overjoyed at seeing his family again. “I’m so glad I didn’t stay in that school” I thought out loud, Rose gave me a weird look “the academy?” she guessed “yeah” I smiled “guardianship wouldn’t have been my forte”. She paused “it might’ve been” she whispered “it’s in your blood as much as mine” I turned to her curiously “It’s not the life I want to live, if I have a choice” she stared at me for a second, then nodded and we continued walking behind Dimitri, who again, was obviously eavesdropping.

We stopped in front of a small used car dealership. There was some sort of huge sale on, they seemed to be going out of business, and no one was buying their cars, all of which were around ten years old at least by now. Looking through the cars Dimitri was looking at the really ones, Rose was looking at the fancier newer types, and I was looking for something in between with Kai. That’s when it caught my eye. A year 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Perfect, it was black with a leather interior. I called Rose and Dimitri over. Both agreed it wouldn’t draw attention, and it wasn’t old enough for Rose to complain, but wasn’t new enough for Dimitri to make a scene. Now all we had to do was find a car dealer, which wasn’t too hard.  Signing the paperwork, and getting insurance, now that was a pain. Finally, I finished with it, in what felt like forever, really took about fifteen minutes. This was awesome.

The car was ours, which meant we could get going now more efficiently. Using fake id to get it was easy too. Plus, all we really had to do was use some outrageously well done costumes. Leaving to the palace was now first priority. We packed lunch and got our clothes, among other things. Dimitri somehow managed to get the keys from me, by using common sense as mind control. Really starting to hate that guy. So the love birds took the front seats of MY car, leaving Kai and I sitting in the back, for the entire six hour drive. Though sitting with him wasn’t such a bad thing at first, his silence became uncomfortable, making the air around us seem thicker. An invisible fog lurking around the entire backseat area. I suddenly felt sick, the silence irritable, and the bumps on the road driving me half insane, I began to wonder where we were, Other than speeding through the woods in my new car. Was this some sort of short cut?

The car stopped in the middle of no-where and Rose as well as Dimitri stepped out. Kai sat there watching, just as confused as I was. He slowly intertwined his fingers together, thinking, watching as Dimitri opened the back of the car and pulled out a tent, and an axe. I got out of the car and walked over to Rose “what’s going on?” I asked surprised “why are we camping all of a sudden?” I continued. She threw her bag to the ground and frowned “Dimitri doesn’t know if he can trust you or not” she said bluntly while pushing a thread of brown hair out of her face. I looked at her even more confused, but when I remembered my experience with his grandmother, I understood. He must’ve been the kind of guy who either knew everything about those around him, or the guy that has to know. “My past has been long since buried, Rose” I whispered “I don’t want to bring it up again” at that I turned and began to walk towards the woods, now without a weapon, I’d begun wondering if I would only drag her down.

The frigid air felt good that night. I didn’t need any sweaters, not when I wore the necklace; it seemed to push the warm flames through my veins. The cool rock I sat on, kept reminding me it wasn’t the whispering wind that was warm. As I dipped my feet into the lake that sat before me steam rose and for a moment, just a moment it took form of something, but before I could tell what or who it was, I could hear Dimitri walking up to me. It scared me, and I pulled my feet out quickly. They instantly dried. He walked up and sat next to me, overlooking the lake, it almost would’ve been romantic as a scene, if we weren’t so obviously pissed at one another (not to mention I was with a wannabe cowboy I couldn’t find at all attractive.) He stared out at the reflections of the stars and moon on the calm set water. I did the same. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” he asked not quiet rudely, but annoyed was definite. I stayed silent, ‘maybe if I keep my mouth shut, he’ll get tired and leave’ I thought calmly. But he didn’t he just sat there, quiet as the rock that lay under us. About thirty minutes passed and he looked at me with no worry, anger, or any other emotion showing on his face, he had been calculating on how to break me, get me to tell him what he wanted to know. When I looked back, he turned his head away almost seeming ashamed of the thought. I started to get bored, and Dimitri’s company made me want to hit something, but hitting him, wouldn’t score me any points, not in a mind game.

So, I put my feet back in the water. The steam rose again. Dimitri stared at what I was doing, his eyes widening in curiosity. The water hurt, god did it hurt, but I had to find out what was in the steam. Again the vapor whirled around to form something, it spun for a minute, then stopped and formed a face, the face of the one person who really knew me, the one person I’d loved more than anything.

Chapter Five

My mother’s eyes looked right into mine. The yellow colours along with the browns mixed to a beautiful gold colour, her hair was long as I’d remembered it, natural highlights softening the light brown and defining lengthy waves as it seemed to delicately blow in a gentle wind, her golden colored skin bathing in an invisible sunlight. She was on a farm, with wheat all around her. The smile she gave me showed she was so happy to see me again, I didn’t realize I was smiling back until I felt tears sliding down my cheeks. Although I felt him watching, Dimitri had disappeared in my eyes, all I saw was mom. “Kisa” she whispered, her voice somewhat unclear. A nickname, what she’d always call me by. I brushed the tears away from my face. “I’m sorry” she said in a small voice, she was

Speaking Russian; I shook my head “you did what you had to, to save your moroi” reassuring her of what she’d done. I smiled “I’m just glad to see you again” I didn’t know whether I was lucky or unlucky that Dimitri knew how to speak the language though. Seeing her again, it was incredible. Until a twig broke behind us and I jumped, kicking my feet out of the water. She was gone. I frowned and turned to see who was behind us, it was Kai. He seemed to have been bringing us some food which was hard to see in the dark. It also hadn’t helped that he’d slipped on some wet mud and landed on his butt, the food was everywhere, and despite my recent emotional interaction with my mother, I burst out in laughter. I laughed harder when he tried to stand then fell again. But when he got up he gave me a ‘gee, thanks’ look and turned to go “wait” I said trying not to laugh “are you okay?” I managed to get out without exploding “just peachy” he said and walked away grudgingly. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Kisa, hm?” Dimitri crossed his arms towards me with a  cool expression “suits you, kitten” My whole body stopped moving, I wanted to hit him so hard he’d feel it for months, I wanted to freak out, but I couldn’t let him get to me. I had to push it all down, from what I saw on that plane, he’d catch just about any punch I threw and seeming as he was trying to get to me he’d expect me to physically react. It was the first step to getting someone to break, I know, I’ve done it tons of times before. I put one foot in front of the other and headed back to camp. Dimitri was following close behind me, smiling like he was amused by something.

When I stepped into the light of the fire, I stood there and smiled to myself, images flashed of the moroi woman in the stone that I’d seen before, dancing to the flames, gracefully, and beautifully. Rose looked up at me confused by my confidence; she had expected Dimitri to get to me. He walked over and sat next to her in front of the tent. Kai looked at them briefly, then continued roasting a wiener on a stick. I wasn’t all that hungry, but Rose and he seemed to have appetites that never ended. I walked over to a nearby tree and began to climb it, till I got to a high thick branch that could support my weight, and then I lay on it looking down at the others, who stared at me. “Why are you going up there?” Rose called to me, I smiled “better watch, I think I’ll sleep up here tonight” I called back. I usually used to sleep up high, when mom was around; I’d often sleep on the roof dark shingled two floor house, the stars calmed me, made me think I was worth something, made me feel like I was part of something bigger. Sleeping under the stars gave me dreams, unfortunately every once in a while they’d happen. Rose coming wasn’t a surprise, but because I spent the whole night killing, well, it was the last thing I’d remember.

Sooner or later Rose and Kai went into the tent; Dimitri sat outside the tent keeping a tentative watch on things, the wind picked up as the night went on, but clouds hadn’t covered my view yet, so I stayed up, silently lacing my fingers together, the branch was cold, but my body heat kept me warm, my hair tied into a long braid. Looking down at the tent, Rose stuck her head out and said something to Dimitri, he went in the tent and she sat outside poking at the fire. After a while my back started to get sore, and my jean capris began to feel wet to me. I came down from the tree and started for Rose when the sky behind me cracked with light. Thunder, the cloudless night soon became full of storm clouds. I ran towards Rose my grey runners slapped against the hard mud, which soon became a pudding like substance as the rain began to attack it. My body was warning me that I’d become wet, soaked even, but as I headed for the tent rain, it hurt when they hit me, it felt as if hot coals were tossed at me, a burning feeling where each drop hit me. Torture. The necklace must been the cause of this, I realized as I undid the back of the leather choker. The moment the rock left my skin, the burning stopped, and I got wet, my hair soaking up so much water, it could fill a water bottle. By the time I got to the tent, Rose was already inside, and I was the wettest person within its thick material. That’s when I’d noticed, Kai wasn’t asleep.

His lime green eyes pulsed with color as I looked into them. He was tired, I could tell, the red outlined eyes that peered right back at me proved it. He slouched as he sat there in his baggy grey T-shirt; his arms seemed limp as one hand slowly reached for my cheek. The black hair that went down to his chin was styled naturally, Kai was an unusual looking guy, he had larger eyes, and his stances were often aggressive. Tonight, he sat almost curled in a ball, in a defensive position. The moment that warm finger touched my cheek a sudden crack of lightning lit up the tent, and his eyes shut tightly as a booming thunder followed. I shivered, my wet clothes would only hurt me if I touched the stone again, and with the guys in here, there wasn’t room to change or take off my green concert tee or my capris. “You’re soaked to the bone” he whispered and he turned around to grab a blanket. He pickup up a jacket instead, his jacket. The water proof part of the coat proved itself pointless, seeming as I was already wet, but the inside was a fleece material, it was warm and felt soft against the skin that my bra didn’t cover. The jacket was well, it was large on me, Kai was definitely bigger than me with his broad shoulders, and muscular shape. He looked at me in the eyes again for about two seconds, and in those two seconds, Rose and Dimitri were gone to me, it was just him and I in that tent.

The tent suddenly began get pushed lightly back and forth as the wind charged at it. I took a deep breath pulling Kai’s jacket closer to me, while the other three started to watch parts of the tent in case it fell on us. The coat smelled so good to me, I could almost never get close enough to me. My eyes blurred and before I could process anything I was yanked out of tent without warning. Pain shot through my body, every muscle aching, and the only word that left my throat was “strigoi” the pain in the voice was only heard by Kai as he turned around in terror. Lightning lit up the tall light haired man behind me; he was pale as any ghost and bore the look of a heartless monster. The necklace lay on the ground in the tent, my sword missing, and my body too weak to escape. I had lost this fight, without it even beginning. Kai threw me the necklace, and I wrapped it around my wrist, but it was too late I could feel every bit of life being sucked away from me slowly and painfully as the man fed on me, until everything went black.

I woke up in a small wooden cabin, a single lantern lit up the entire room, there wasn’t an upstairs, and the only furniture appeared to be the wooden table that held the lantern. As I sat up, I realized I was surrounded by strigoi, former moroi, humans, and dhampir alike were flooding the room. Until one stood there, staring at me with his storm grey red ringed eyes, his wavy blonde hair flowing down to his shoulders. He smiled wickedly, with a face as white as the fangs which he showed proudly. I quickly paused and looked at my now cold pale wrist, the necklace still hanging; I slowly put it on and stared at the male strigoi that watched my every move. When I had it on my neck he strolled casually towards me, the bottoms of his grey trench coat and baggy black jeans nearly touching the floor as he seemed to gracefully float across the room. I stood up becoming more aware of my surroundings, too many strigoi to count. The boy must’ve been at least six feet tall, the grin never leaving his face even when he stood before me. I looked up at him with a clear mind; the boy leaned over and put his mouth next to my ear. “How’s being awakened treatin’ you, love?” he whispered, the British accent startled me.

 It was unusual in Russia, most the strigoi as I looked around were Russian. “What’s this some sick welcoming party?” I asked turning back to him, he grinned even bigger, the smell of death lingering in his teeth. Specks of blood decorated those teeth as I looked closer, recent blood. “You” I pointed at him without fear “you turned me into this” at this he laughed “what? You didn’t get the high when I awakened you? Or were you just too surprised by how good I looked?” he confidently whispered. My face must’ve been priceless to him, because he couldn’t stop laughing, and I was completely shocked by the idea of a strigoi having even a shred of a sense of humor that didn’t include not so funny ‘I’ll rip you apart’ bits.

Great, I was brought back into all this turmoil to get rid of the strigoi threats, not become one. One thing I admit to thinking is even stranger than being an evil vampire, was that I could still think for myself, Dimitri told me that to him it was like a nightmare, not being able to control himself through any of it. So, why? Why was I thinking like I still had a soul within me? “What are you talking about? Who gets high off strigoi bites?” I sarcastically asked, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could catch them. The boy laughed at first, but when he realized I wasn’t kidding he stopped “what you’ve never gotten high off a bite?” he asked seriously “or” he slowly put his teeth over my neck, I was confused for a moment, but my body reacted. My fist drove into his stomach before I could control it, but he blocked, and with one hand, before I knew it he flipped me on my back and sat on top of me holding both my arms up above my head.

He didn’t move from his position, he just stared into me “get out” he spoke honestly then the creepy smile hit his face again “this one needs to learn some manners” he included with a look on his face that told me he had something devious on his mind. The other strigoi began filing out of the cabin obediently, and until they were all out of earshot, we stayed there, watching to see if the other were going to make a move. Neither of us did. “My, my, that was rude, love” he whispered not moving “ruining the little party I threw for your awakening” he creeped me out, I admit, but I wasn’t going to let him toss me around. My mouth opened for a comeback, but before I said anything, the boy before me pulled out a necklace of his own, and a shining black stone decorated it.

Chapter Six

“My name is Blaike, I hold the stone of darkness” he said smiling at me for real now “that’s why you have a sense of humor” I said as I sat up “your conscious of everything like me, right?” he pushed me back down and lay on top of me again “judging by your stone’s colour, I’m guessing you have the fire stone” I nodded, struggling to get out of his grip, I couldn’t escape. One of his hands began to slowly trail its way down my arm, to my cheek. “What are you doing?” I asked trying to back up, but it was kind of hard to do so laying on a wood floor. He continued smiling at me “I’m kick starting you your heart” he whispered, and before I could question it any further he pressed his lips to mine, at first gently, and without noticing it, my body completely relaxed, and I kissed him back. His same hand slowly tracing my shape gently, my body started to heat up and I pushed away again, that same hand grabbing my arm and flipped me on top of him. I was sure he could hear my heart racing as he laced his fingers in mine and pulled me down for another kiss, I wasn’t sure whether to fight or kiss him again, and a mere moment before our lips touched, I jumped back breaking free of his grip.

I somehow managed to land on my feet, but I was nowhere near balanced, I wasn’t used to this faster and stronger thing yet. Stumbling backwards, I realized how I really should’ve just rolled off of him. He sat up and up and laughed at me as I fell on my butt. “Why did you turn me?” I said frustrated, he smiled laid on his belly and kicked his legs back and forth while staring at me “what? You’re not having fun love?” he asked in a mocking voice I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I opened my eyes again he sat directly in front of me, my body  fell, I closed my eyes again, bracing myself for the impact, but the feeling of the collision with the wooden floor never came. After a few seconds I noticed this and opened my eyes, He’d caught me “I got you, don’t worry” he whispered and hugged me close to him, the smell that was all over him earlier disappeared, and left behind an new scent that was all over his chest, the smell of wild roses, as I looked up at his face, he’d looked so different to me, he looked handsome, in a strange rugged way.

“So” I whispered gently pulling back “can the others with stones like us keep control like this?” he looked down at me and shook his head “water, wind, and earth stones would do nothing against a strigoi transformation, maybe a light stone user could prevent the transformation” he admitted “what makes us so special?” I asked staring up at him. He smirked at me “that’s something we have to find out on our own, and if we figure it out, we can change back” at his last three words I held my breath ‘can change back’ “how do you know all this?” I asked so as to not get my hopes up. He pressed his mouth to my ear “I don’t know” he whispered bluntly. I frowned, my hopes crashing down on me. I froze just realizing something more important. “You didn’t hurt anyone that was with me, did you?”

He shook his head, “one fellow got away with some good scratches though, but he leapt at me, it was just self-defense” I stared at the copper haired boy for a moment “what did he look like?” Blaike shook his head again “don’t you dare, they’ll kill you if you find them” his words scared me, maybe even terrified me, Rose would be at the front door in about two minutes if he laid even one hand on Dimitri, let alone running off with me, Kai would be here in one. I looked up at him “which one?” I asked again, more serious now. “Wolf boy” he said just as seriously “what?” “He’s a wolf” I paused completely confused “you know, love, black hair, glowing green eyes” I looked up at him quickly “Kai? No, he’s not, that’s impossible, werewolves don’t exist!” Blaike let a smile play across his lips “you really didn’t see it? I mean technically he’s a half blood so he doesn’t transform, but still, I’m sure he’s tried to sniff another dogs butt at one point”  that’s when Rose’s words echoed in my head ‘Well, if you aren’t human, dhampir, or moroi, what are you? You definitely aren’t strigoi or a ghost’

“We should get out of here, quick” I said to Blaike as I stood back up again. Blaike frowned “but it’s too late for that” he whispered, I looked at him for a second then turned towards the door as it hit the ground Kai stood there in the dim lighting, clearly pissed right off. Behind him stood Rose and Dimitri who were both almost completely out of breath. Kai walked in angrily, walking towards Blaike “you asshole!!!” he growled, I backed up and leaned against the wall looking at my feet. I couldn’t control my strength or speed yet, starting a fight would only get me killed, Blaike proved that to me.

Rose and Dimitri stood at the door catching a breath, I figured I’d get killed if I just walked up and said hi just the same. When Kai reached Blaike he threw a punch, Blaike dodged and got behind him and tried to repay the favor, but he turned around, grabbed his wrist and threw him into a wall. Blaike tried to use the wall to bounce back, but it almost seemed to crumble the moment his feet touched it, so he landed on his feet outside and pushed his way back in, the fight was incredible, it was like neither of them got hurt. He tried to kick Kai the moment he stood before him again, but Kai blocked it, and when he did Blaike punched him in the face dizzying him temporarily, which gave Blaike an advantage for a kick to the stomach. Kai came back when he fell by the table by picking it up and smacking him with it, of course this also sent the lamp flying, which would probably start a fire. When I looked around for Rose and Dimitri I realized Rose was right next to me with a stake I hand, and Dimitri was on my other side getting ready to hold me into place. As my eyes wandered back to the fallen lamp, a fire slowly started to form, getting bigger and bigger quicker and quicker. That’s when I lost it.

“Enough!!!” I screamed aloud, Blaike and Kai froze and looked at me. I pointed at the growing fire “everyone out!!” Being upset distracted me, Dimitri took his chance and grabbing me to give Rose an effective angle to get to my heart, and I struggled, then used one of my arms to push him into the wall. Rose lunged at me and I took the stake out of her hand, and dodged her while sticking it in my pocket, when she hit the ground I signaled Blaike and Kai to come over, they came. I helped Rose up and helped her walk out, while they both helped Dimitri. Half the building was already engulfed by flames; the moment I knew everyone was safe I relaxed.

 When Blaike and Kai started arguing, I made Blaike go get some water for Rose and Dimitri from the camp, he whined at first, but went, which meant I was stuck with two unconscious strigoi killing machines that had just tried to kill me, and guy who could start howling at the moon any second. I lay back in the grass and sighed, Kai staring at me as if I might actually consider eating my friends. At one point I stared back just to make him aware that I knew what he was doing, he just smiled at me “I thought you were dead” I laughed “only half dead, turns out the fire stone keeps me conscious and in control when I’m a strigoi” he seemed to think it was cool, but he was probably covering up the fact that he was worried about me when he thought I was dead, but who wouldn’t. “What’s with the strigoi guy?” he asked “or could I just kill him” I laughed and made eye contact with him “no, you can’t kill him, he’s got another rock just like mine” he frowned “oh well” I looked over at the soundless sleeping dhampirs on the grass not far from me, then turned on my side to look at Kai again, his green eyes shining in fascination with me. It startled me at first, but I let it go, ‘how many secrets was he keeping from me?’, but at the same time ‘how many am I hiding from him?’

Blaike walked out of the trees with the water, surprising both of us. Looking back at Dimitri and Rose, Dimitri was starting to get up, when he looked at me, he seemed shocked, like he’d hoped me being a strigoi was just a bad dream, I flashed him a small smile and tossed him a water bottle, and I walked over and knelt between him and Rose, at first he seemed protective, I ignored him. I gently took the silver stake from my now stretched pocket and politely resting it next

To her on the ground. I took my sweater off just as well and placed it on her, so she wouldn’t freeze. Smiling down at her, I felt like a mother taking care of her daughter. Dimitri must’ve caught on, because when I turned to him he had a generous smile on his face. Within the minutes it took me to do so, Blaike and Kai were already making childish faces at each other, and already getting rowdy as ever, I sighed, a mother all right. Rose woke up when she heard Kai get thrown against a tree “C’mon guys cut it out” I said pushing my way between him. It occurred to me that in the midst of all of this, we’d forgotten our objective. Rose sat up and looked at us, noticing her stake right beside her. She looked at me with pity in her eyes as she gripped it and stood up, my eyes flicked her way then I looked at Blaike, he watched her. In a matter of seconds, Rose flew at me stake in hand, and Blaike threw himself at her, I could only stop one, there wasn’t time to stop them both. And as they moved closer to me in what seemed midair, I grabbed Blaike, throwing him into a nearby tree. Kai jumped up and grabbed Rose landing on top of her, staring her in the eyes, growling. I stood there shocked for a moment, as I turned back to see Dimitri, all I saw was his fist, before I thudded into a different tree. “Call him off!” he yelled, a tiny quiver in his voice proving some bravado, before I could Rose kicked Kai off and he backed up slowly, staring at her angrily.

The night’s sky lit up with countless stars and beautiful shades of blue as deep as the ocean, as beautiful as what I’d picture an angel’s gown to be. Unfortunately that beauty couldn’t be brought through in the relationship among the five of us, seven counting the souls within the necklaces Blaike and I held. Kai’s eyes burned in frustration as if he hadn’t thought he’d done anything wrong in attacking Rose to protect me, and Rose was flushed as she looked at me as if I were some horrible beast that had no right to walk the earth anymore. I sighed, this was the last thing I needed, my eyes travelled towards Blaike who just stood there smiling brightly at my troubles. Dimitri walked towards Rose and helped her up “It’s alright” he whispered gently, words her mind seemed to register for a moment only to dismiss soon after. She looked more like an animal that had been chained up in front of food, tortured, and dangerous.

 Blaike touched the chain on his neck for a moment and walked up to me, now looking more serious, “I’ve got to talk to you” he whispered as he walked passed me, the words sounding so stable my mind couldn’t process them as his, But I nodded and followed.  “She won’t be able to deal with this” he murmured when we left earshot, his accent seemed to sugar coat the words, but his eyes were serious. “This is your fault, you did this” “because otherwise you and your friends would’ve killed me the moment I came close” .He had a point, we probably would’ve killed him, but, wasn’t there another way? Couldn’t he find something different? A frown painted my face, the only voice in my head was mine, but it was confusing enough by itself. “Whatever” I moaned and started back to camp. Before I could take even two steps away, he grabbed my hand and spun me towards him gently, I could feel my body stop, but the world was spinning around me, every thought shaken.

My eyes met his, and in that moment everything seemed clear, something was there, something I never expected to see on his face, proof that he wasn’t lost to the darkness that seemed to stain his existence. Two crystal tears had begun slipping down his cheek begging to dissipate. He was lonely, all this time. What I had thought was darkness, what looked so ready to hurt others could only hurt him, so long, so long spent in the dark surrounded by cruel and selfish savages. He was never one of them, what had the cost been for the strigoi to obey and trust him? Too much.

Before I could even debate staying or going back mentally, my body gripped to him, never wanting to leave him in such a place ever again. Heat begun to resonate from my eyes as tears escaped them, the water searing my cheeks, but reminding me of the price I must also pay to have this “gift”. Blaike jumped at the contact and my reaction, only to ease and slowly pull me closer, resting his head on my shoulder.  Every nightmare I have ever had was going to come true, the question is, how much of it would be caused by the very hands that just couldn’t let go of someone hurt? How long could I keep control of what I now am?

Chapter 7

Blaike and I backed away from each other slowly, both pretending none of this had occurred “what if Rose decides to kill us?” he asked as we started back to camp, “then that sucks” I replied. My energy seemed to be sucked right out of me from both crying, and taking the pain of the tears, my brain was officially fried for the night, and too much had happened to be awake at this time of night, or morning. At the small camp I fell asleep almost right away, Kai curling up next to me, trying to be sneaky, I had no energy to shove him out of my bubble this time though, besides, he was twice as warm as Blaike was, and I felt as safe with him there as I did the day we met. The world around me grew foggy, my eyes fading into a new black.

I sat surrounded by a new darkness, but in the distance, one light stood, heat resonating from its dancing form, I stood up slowly and pushed myself to walk towards it. When I stood in front of it the moroi woman stood before me and smiled gently at my company “hello there young one” she casually welcomed. “Hello” I said back with less than any emotion behind it, her orange eyes flickered towards me “I see you’ve become a monster” she said again casually

Addressing me, right now, this seemed very annoying.

“Why am I dreaming?” I cut in before she had the chance to open her mouth again. Her fiery eyes widened as she stared at me silently, only the crackles of the fire and the whispering grey smoke seemed to answer to me. The thin lips that slid above her chin widened as a curious smile burst upon her face “you haven’t thought about it?” she whispered excitedly. “Too tired to think” I sighed “and yet you do think?” she countered, causing confusion to envelope me, which brought along with it curiosity. Like a hunger my mind asked questions among questions giving few answers. “What?” I said looking at her feeling more awake, “one question, little one, is a fire dead or alive” My mind exploded with possible different answers with each their own paths of logic “alive” I whispered. The woman looked at me in dismay. “Dead” I said solemnly, her eyes did not change. “You do not understand yet, but you will eventually” she spoke silently and calmly, I sighed, a fire? How am I supposed to know? It’s just a fire. What a silly old woman.

As the world around me became visible, I could see, truly see the beauty of all the nature around me, the fear of losing control had awakened me. The orange lit morning sky looking endless, yet fragile, the tiger lily sunset.  Kai had his head on my lap, already awake, yet not moving, his eyes staring into the very same sky, his chest moving gently with his breathe. Had I also missed his beauty? Had I missed the beauty of his life? I trusted Kai, but have I truly ever seen him? The airport flashed through my mind. Did I see him when he had held my hand? Heat ravaged my face in a swift jolt; does he want me to see him more clearly?

Kai’s eyes flicked towards me, as if sensing my thoughts. My heart stopped as he sat up and gently touched my cheek “are you alright?” he asked completely oblivious to everything I was thinking. Those emerald green eyes piercing my soul with new found warmth, my stomach did a flop…. Was he always this attractive to me? “Your face it’s all red” I could barely hear him over my own heartbeat, images popping into my head of a kiss that I could almost feel, a dream I could almost touch. Uncontrollable urges running through my body, and all he did was look at me, straight in the eyes. He had set me aflame without trying to. My eyes fluttered shut as my lips glided to his, as soon as he’d realized what was happening he’d begun to do the same. That moment, right before our lips touched, it was like we’d waited an eternity for this one kiss.

A kiss that wasn’t going to occur thanks to Blaike, he’d rushed to push us apart the moment he caught on, His oceanic eyes gleaming in desperation. In a matter of seconds I’d felt I’d found purpose, yet in the same gap of time I’d lost it. Kai slumped at the bottom of the tree he’d hit, he’d lost consciousness. It took me a second before I had realized Blaike had caught me before I hit anything that had any potential of hurting me.

This moment could cause some serious trouble between Rose, Dimitri, and us, us, I’ve recently found out seem to be the freaks of the group now. I couldn’t risk waking them; it could cause permanent damage to our friendship. Maybe that should’ve been the least of my worries.

As I stood up a found my balance I looked at the two boys who continued to bicker amongst themselves, until they realized I was looking at them, my eyes turned sharp, “enough” I whispered in a darker tone, unsurprised by my lessened mood. This had to be over. So as they calmed down I made my decision. I was leaving.

Chapter 8

 As Blaike stood on duty to watch for anyone that could cause trouble, I packed up all my things, I couldn't allow them to follow me, I was too dangerous, and my relationship with my father wasn't one I wanted to be known.And so we left, it'd been a long night, and the next day was only going to be longer.

"So, wait, wait, we can walk in sunlight?" Blaike's eyes glittered at my question "that is one of the things the stones let us do, yes" he answered in his accent. "Anything else I should know about?" I said nudging him in the shoulder with mine, he smiled down at me "we don't have to drink blood, so theoretically, if you've lived as long as I have you'd turn to dust the moment you took it off, unless you went on a blood rampage of course" "then we have no thirst?" Blaike shook his head as if he were amused "I didn't say that" I felt a hollow feeling inside at that. wanting to drink blood, the feeling of needing it is much worse than just plain needing it to live, its like becoming a heroin addict, you don't need it to live, your body just yearns for it. Walking through the forest, we finally made it, we could see small suburban homes.

Blaike gave me a kind smile, "so which way?" he asked eagerly. I pointed to the left, and it was there that my fathers house stood. A mansion the size of a castle. My feet took me towards it, and right before I could pass through the gates and get this over with, I stopped.

The dhampir guards would kill me if I stepped any closer. I was a strigoi now, a monster, I looked at my reflection in the the fountain. Yep, definitely a monster, my face was disgustingly pale, and my eyes had the red ring surrounding them. I looked skinnier, more fragile. A tear escaped my eye, I have fangs, monstrous fangs made to kill. My tear dropped into the water distorting my reflection until I saw a familiar face. It was the moroi woman.

She gave me a brilliant smile. "What are you doing there?" I asked a little too loudly. Blaike turned and looked at me, then looked down into the reflection, his eyes widened briefly, his mouth dropping in surprise "MOM?!" he said also a little too loudly. My eyes shifted between the two, I could see it now the face shape, their noses, and even the shape of their eyes were similar. The woman smiled bigger "hello dear, I've missed you" she blew a kiss towards him. Then her attention turned to me "have you found the answer to my little riddle, Hun?" her eyes flicked back to me making my stagger for words "both?" I asked completely unsure, her smile grew even wider "yes" I waited for something to change to be the way I was again, but nothing changed. I looked up at her confused "why isn't anything happening?" the woman stared "just because you have the right answer doesn't mean you know its meaning, but I'll give you a prize" I blinked "hold out your hands and close your eyes" she instructed. When I did I could feel the objects weight in my outstretched hands. I opened my eyes and smiled.

My sword had been conjured up out of nowhere and the cool silver was instantly recognizable as it dropped into my now filthy hands. It looked as if it'd been bathed in flames. "A Phoenix blade" the reflection of the woman said cautiously, yet curious of my reaction. "What?" I whispered without wanting to yell it and attract attention, she gave me a grim look "a Phoenix blade is an extremely rare weapon that chooses its owner, this one has chosen you, it will burn everyone who touches it that it doesn't choose to possess it. It will be your most trusted and loyal companion, and if you are in trouble it will find and protect you." "So in the plane?" I whispered "It wasn't your necklace that protected you, Aceline, It was your sword. However after protecting you from so many it was worn and turned to ash, only to be reborn from the flame, but because you had already "awakened" by then it couldn't get a lock on you."

I felt Blaike's hand gently lift my chin to close my mouth. "No way. This was my mother's" she shook her head. "Its always been yours, your mother was just holding it for you until you got older." My hands balled themselves into fists I wanted to.... to.... I don't know what I wanted to do. did i want to hurt something? No. That isn't me, it's my new violent strigoi part. I took a deep breath opened my eyes and the moroi woman was gone. I had to think of something else.

I turned to Blaike "mom?" I asked keeping a laugh down "how old are you?" I giggled. He sighed  "little over a hundred". I stopped. He was serious.
 "Then you got bit..."
"early 1900's, England" he finished for me.

My eyes widened and he let out another sigh, only this one far more sarcastic "Yes, I have let a life full of broken hearts and plenty of nights doing things other than feeding, if things go bump in the night its probably just me with more young woman." Laughter was in his eyes, and it was just about to spill out of me before he covered my mouth and those beautiful blue eyes shifted to the side. Someone was coming towards us, and it was one of the guards.

I bit my lip. My heart beat growing louder and louder. Taking a breath I smiled, I could feel my heart beating, I could hear it drumming through my ears. It was beautiful. but then I also heard the heavy footsteps closing in on us, I was alive but to those around me I seemed as if I wasn't, I could breathe, my heart still beats as do theirs, a flame dances, it breathes, its alive like me, but, it isn't because it doesn't seem that way to most. Like a soul. Hot air surrounded me flames spiraled around me. Blaike turned to me noticing the light and put his hand up throwing darkness at my glow dimming it gently to make it less noticeable. Then it was gone, my light faded and all that was glowing now was my skin letting loose a gentle shimmer. 

I kept my eyes closed and opened them slowly at Blaike. His breath caught in his throat, his mouth hanging open. I smiled politely towards him. As a gentle breeze blew my hair in front of my eyes. It was a copper red now with strawberry blonde and gold highlights put through it. Its beautiful shining waves caressed my shoulders falling down to the small of my back. I watched my own hand move towards Blaike gently and push his chin up to close his mouth with a single finger. With that single touch I saw a shiver echo throughout him, it was probably the same one that had gone through me. His cheeks flushed, and that's when I realized he wasn't strigoi any longer either, he was a moroi now. His blue eyes had lost the red ring within them, making them even more beautiful then they had been before, the once pale blonde hair had turned a golden brown, and his paper white skin was still light but not nearly as striking. I stared at him until I noticed him staring at me with the very same eyes I was probably giving him.

Then the heavy footsteps we'd heard came to a stop in front of us. The guard looked down at us curiously "what are you kids doing here?" Blaike and I shot each other a look and I stood to my feet "If you must know, I was appreciating the flowers with my guardian" Blaike lied "I believe you know her? we in fact came here to visit her father" the guards eyes narrowed as he studied us "and your father would be?" I smiled "His highness Zilya" The guard gaped "y-your the first daughter of King Zilya?" he stood straighter "please come this way" and he led us into the castle that had been forgotten by mankind.





A man stood before us, his back to us looking out the window behind his finely furnished oak desk. His hair had greyed since I had last seen him, and his figured had widened. This was my father and as he turned to look at me with his warm brown eyes, I saw no regret in how poorly he'd treated me, yet at the same time, I could see the regret in ever having my mother leave him, regret in not seeing me grow up. 

"As a member in this family you must match the abilities of another in this family, and to even see this family's treasure you must be a full fledged member of this family, you already have my blood in your veins, but you still haven't succeeded in fulfilling the second requirement." he informed me in his deep husky voice. I sighed, he was always about rules. "So who am I supposed to fight?" I held my right arm up by the elbow in a stretch position for a moment then moved the the other one while Blaike smirked at me. "Your sister Zara" then I was the one that burst out laughing "Zara? you named her Zara? Really? Your name means kingly and her name means princess? Wow no original names in your moroi bloodline" My father stared blankly and shrugged his shoulders "I didn't name her, or myself, but either way you will fight against and rein victorious over your half sister or you will not see what it is you want."

I felt my eye twitch in frustration, he was right, as usual. But, why is he giving me the chance to prove myself in this family, I'd heard most Moroi fathers to dhampir children wanted nothing to do with such "dirty" offspring... especially their dhampir daughters. I sighed, no matter how hard I thought about it I couldn't crack the puzzles of his mind. "Fine" The words slithered from my lips like a smoke, only to come back for me later.

We stood in the middle of the grand ball room. My eyes focused on Zara, her hair was a flaming auburn, the one thing we both seemed to have inherited from our father. Her face was young, round yet beginning to become defined, and her oceanic eyes stared at me with curiosity. For a moroi she was small, being just a little taller than I. She wasn't wearing much for makeup, and if I'd seen her before I'd have never thought her to be a princess, the was something quiet and graceful about her. Like a swan gently gliding above water with shimmering ivory wings, she'd flew towards me. I was so focused on analyzing her that I hadn't realized that the fight had begun.

Zara had been trained to fight, that much was obvious. despite the fact that she was royalty she was fast, tough, and as easy to hit as a bullet with a nail. Safe to say I was in trouble, she was a dual wielder with two gleaming swords in each hand each had a handle made of jade. I jumped back holding my recently recovered sword to block her, she pushed on swinging with a technique I've never seen before, she'd gracefully swung her left and right arms to swing an X at me.

Her Swords swung through each other without any damage to either, my eyes widened as I'd noticed. Her swords were liquid, I looked to her throat and there bounced what seemed to be a clear stone filled with a blue liquid. She held a stone like mine. I drew a breath carefully. If the swords were water I could use my fire to evaporate that water and disarm her, but no, she could turn it around easily and put out any flame I start. I could be too much of a risk considering the fact that she knew these powers well enough to create swords from hers, she could easily overpower me, who has absolutely no clue how to even use them. Her sword swung towards me from above.

I rushed to block her attack, But as her sword touched mine it disappeared into a steam. She looked at me confused. My mouth shot open, and I looked to my sword as a flame design crept up its hilt to its tip, It looked as if a flame were growing within the design as it turned orange and flickered, I held it tight and swung it at her other sword, it too vanished. She stared at me and thrust her swords out in front of her as they both resurrected from sword death. I swung at them once again, she moved both down and pulled a matrix moment under my sword, moving back up and stabbing me in the heart, the water losing its shape as soon as it went through my weapon but stabbing into me as a solid. I had lost.

Chapter 9

I woke up in a beautiful large bedroom on a bed covered in soft red silk. If it weren't for the fact I knew vampires existed I'd probably feel ashamed comparing the flowing red silk to a similar look to spilling blood, but lets face it, that's exactly what this spread was meant to do.
Considering I was obviously still alive if I'd woken up, that only begged to question.... how did I survive such a fatal blow?

Zara sat on the chair next to my bed, I hadn't noticed her because she'd been asleep. Which only gave way to more questions swirling about in my mind, How long had I been out? Why was the very sister whom I could've sworn should've just killed me? and finally, Where the hell was Blaike? My concentration shattered the moment I noticed Zara stirring. Her sky blue eyes delicately opening. For a moment we just stared at one another, then she sighed and looked down saying something under her breathe, saying it again as she looked up at me "Слава богу, вы живете".... (Thank God you live)
 I felt my expression sour 
"do you speak English cectpa (sister)?"
 She looked my in the eyes sheepishly 
"you speak Russian?"
  
My rage began to boil "I am the first daughter of this house, ofcourse I speak Russian!" her lips parted as she stared at me "but... your not moroi" I shook my head "not since birth" her eyes widened "you were moroi?"  I nodded "until my third birthday" she stared struggling to breathe "How?" I turned my head unable to see her horrified expression "all I know is that I died on my third birthday" I inhaled deeply than stood, only to fall back onto the bed "how am I still alive?" She stared at me and shook her head "I have no idea...."