RPOV

I felt her fear before I heard her screams. I knew in an instant what was going on. Ever since the accident Lissa, my best friend, and I shared a bond. I could feel what she was feeling, see what she was seeing and as it happens to be the case at the moment I was living her nightmare. I woke up and started walking towards Lissa trying to wake her up. I gently shook her and I did not need a psychic bond to be able to see the emotions so clearly portrayed on her face. I took Lissa in a hug and whispered comforting words to her while she calmed down.

This has been my life for the past two years. We had run away from the academy because we felt Lissa was in danger. I tried to do my best to protect her. After all, she was not only my best friend but also my future charge. Although in my mind she was already my charge. I would die for her, I would give up anything to protect her, and it had nothing to do with the backwards idea our society had about 'they come first'.

In this particular case, however, giving up anything and everything meant giving up my sanity. Because I knew the only way to calm her down most of the time was to take the feelings of despair and loss from her and transfer them to me.

Lissa used to get real bad bouts of depression. It was getting especially bad after the accident in which her parents and brother had died and understandably so. As a last resort to get rid of those intense feelings she would cut her wrists and as she described it: let the physical pain overtake the emotional pain. The depression seemed to leave her body with the blood she was losing. It was not a healthy way of coping and my desperate attempt at stopping her had resulted in our discovery that I could not only feel her feelings but also take the bad ones away.

There was only a minor hitch in this process. Those strong negative emotions would transfer to me and I would be stuck with them.

Although Lissa suffered from depression, when I would take those same feelings into myself they did not present as depression for me, but rage. Pure rage. I remembered the first time it happened. I had found Lissa on the bathroom floor with her wrists cut, blood spilling over the tiles. I was angry at her for not coming to me for help. I knew she had been stressed out for a while. We had been on the run for four months and she needed to use a lot of compulsion for us to be able to fly under the radar and that had put a lot of stress on her. But I did not know it had progressed to that stage. Lissa was barely cohesive anymore. I saw the longing in my best friend's eyes to just be at peace and let go of this life. I tried talking to her in and increasingly desperate tone, but all she wanted was to be left alone to fade away. And then it happened. I felt a pit of darkness through the bond I had not felt before. It was never ending darkness. I looked into it and the darkness seemed to look back at me, swallowing me whole. I lost myself to it. I was drowning. I did not know where I ended and the darkness began. Was this was Lissa was feeling when she felt the need to cut herself? I was shaking with rage I could not contain. At that moment a college guy we had been living with in a dorm house walked into the bathroom. Bad timing, very bad timing, I launched at him and wrapped my hands around his throat and I was slowly squeezing the life out of him. It was like the darkness was fading from me as the life was fading from him. Lissa came to her senses and tried stopping me. But was could she do? She was only a physically weak Moroi and I a trained (somewhat) Dhampir. She shouted my name, but I could hear nothing else but the ever slowing pulse of my victim. Eventually, she got me to look at her and in that moment compelled me to let go. His body fell to the floor unconscious. She quickly walked over to him and healed the wounds I had inflicted. When he woke up she compelled him to forget and go back to his own room.

I started to come back to myself and collapsed into a sorry heap on the bathroom floor. No longer shaking with rage but with fear and anxiety over what I had done. Lissa came and sat with me all night just holding me. It was the only night I ever allowed her to comfort me instead of me comforting her. To this day I cannot forget the look in his eyes as I was strangling him.

We did eventually learn that the depression seemed to get worse when she used her compulsion or healing, and we tried to limit the amount of it. Unfortunately when being on the run compulsion is sometimes necessary and I was glad for the occasional healing.

Lissa did not have any affinity for any of the four elements which was a shame. Sometimes physical elements had their uses. We never quite figured out why Lissa could do certain things other Moroi could not, but seemed to lack any affinity for an element which comes so easily to other Moroi.

We got into a rhythm of her using as little of her power as she could and me taking only small amounts of this darkness from her so we could both survive. And although I did not try to murder the innocent anymore, the darkness was always there in the background. We eventually found a coping mechanism for me to release some of the darkness, but it was not ideal. I often wondered why the same feelings had such a different effect on the both of us and all I could come up with was that I was just a violent person, I wanted to take my anger out at the world and Lissa was a saint and she would rather keep everything to herself and not bother anyone with it.

But I was glad that at least today I could calm her down from her horrible nightmare with the normal friend bond of comforting words and stroking her hair. Her breathing evened out and her eyes started to dry, but I noticed her complexion still looked pale. Well paler than usual for a Moroi. I realized that it has been a few days since she has fed and she needed blood.

"Lissa come on, you need to feed. It will make you feel better."

Lissa gave me that look she always gives me whenever it is time for her to feed. She did not want to feed from me, I knew that. But here on the outside world we had no choice. Dhampir-Moroi feedings were highly frowned upon in our society and it was considered dirty and sexual. Hence the name 'Blood whore' for the people, often dhampir women letting Moroi men feed off of them. Our situation was different. Lissa could not simply feed off of any human she encountered in the streets. Lissa had strong compulsion skills, that was not the problem. The problem was that feeding off of non-feeder humans could be potentially attracting attention and lead the guardians to our doorstep. Not to mention it was highly unethical to feed off of someone that has not given you permission. So we solved the problem the only way we knew how, Lissa would feed off of me. But every time she resisted slightly. She would say she wasn't hungry or that she did not like my blood. I knew that was a lie. Once when we were tipsy, okay drunk, at a party she had told me that my blood was delicious. I don't think Lissa remembers that, but I knew she would feed. I could see in her eyes she wanted to protest but I gave her a stern look, and I think tonight she was too tired to resist. So I lowered the straps of my tank top and bra and let her sink her teeth into my neck.

The first contact of breaking my skin always hurt a little but after the two years spent on the run I was numb to the pain. But after that first moment the endorphins in Lissa's saliva penetrated my senses and I felt that pure moment of bliss. This was the reason Moroi had a large number of human feeders giving their own blood willingly. The high created by the endorphins was amazing. We always kept a few days between feedings, so I would not end up addicted. But whenever Lissa was about to bite me I did not feel fear or apprehension, I felt excited, my body knowing it would get to experience that rush again.

All too soon it was over and Lissa had finished drinking from me. I slowly came down from my high and was now only a little bit dizzy from the blood loss.

"Here drink this", Lissa said handing me a bottle of water. I took the bottle from her and took a large gulp. I then walked to the bathroom and cleaned the blood of my neck. On my way back I saw something move outside of our window. I was immediately on high alert. I slowly made my way towards the window and saw a form retreating into the shadow of the surrounding buildings. I noticed two things about the shadow. One: his attire. All black and formal, and two: his height. I knew we had been made. The figure retreating was a guardian. Probably a scout who was now on his way to inform his superior of our whereabouts.

For two years we had been evading their attempts at finding us. They only came close once, when we were hunted by Psi-hounds. However, we could escape then and we would escape now. Part of my ego was hurt. Where did I slip up?

"Lissa, get dressed. We need to go now."

"Strigoi?" Lissa asked as she entered the room, fear evident in her voice?

"No. Guardians."

I don't think Lissa's expression changed very much, the fear still very much evident in her eyes. Which should give you an indication at how twisted our world had become. She now feared the very people that were sworn to protect her with their lives. But since we did not know who Lissa was in danger from, we could trust no one.

We got dressed in a hurry. We always kept our bags packed so we could leave at a moment's notice. We ran down the stairs. The tall guardian was on the front of the house. I just hoped they did not have scouts at the back. I looked outside of the house and scanned the perimeter. No sign of guardians. Good. We walked through the garden of the house and made our way into the streets. I had learned a few tricks on the run. One of which was hot-wiring a car. There was no way we would outrun them. Lissa being an untrained Moroi and me having just been fed off of. But if we could make it to a car we could be in a new location by morning. I scanned the next street for a car I liked as we rounded the corner. Not too new, because new cars had better security, but not to old it would fall apart, also a bit of hoursepower would be nice since we might have to outrace guardians. I saw a car that met my standards and looked back at Lissa.

"That's our new car. Stay close to me while I 'borrow' it". I said to Lissa with a bit of a smirk on my face. Lissa looked at me sternly. For Lissa, stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar was already a great offence and grand theft auto was not something that Lissa could approve off. But she knew as I did, that we did not have a choice.

"I swear you love this way too much".

I fake gasped at Lissa. She smiled. This was the only fun I would allow for the moment. I needed to focus back on the task at hand. I scanned the alleyway again and when I thought it was clear I made my way over to the car with Lissa on my tail. When we were halfway through the street I stopped dead in my tracks. I could see guardians approaching from the end of the street so I took Lissa in the other direction. But then he rounded the corner. I recognized him by his height. Hard to miss really. I also realized I made the mistake of thinking he was the scout. No, he carried himself with so much authority I knew he must be leading this mission. Unfortunately for him, there were eight guardians at the other end of the street and only him and two others at this end. So this end of the street was our best bet. Shame really, I did not want to hurt him or his handsome face, and handsome he certainly was. He was quickly approaching us and I could now get a clear look at him. He must be six foot six, six foot seven. Shoulder length brown hair bound together at the nape of his neck, dark brown eyes, and younger than I thought he would be. Maybe mid-twenties. Pretty young to be leading the mission, which meant that I could not underestimate him. But he was in my way and nothing would prevent me from protecting Lissa, not even tall dark and handsome. So I charged him.

DPOV

Finally, after 6 months of searching and dead ends, this anonymous tip finally panned out. I saw her in the window earlier and was able to make a positive ID on Rosemarie Hathaway. I had seen her picture in the file I was handed back when I was assigned to the princess and was charged with finding her and bringing her back to the academy.

Where princess Vasilissa's file was small and mostly consisted of background information and excellent academic records, Rosemarie's file was big and contained a lot of transgressions. It was the running theory that Rosemarie had left the academy after destroying a fellow student's room and that the princess had gone with her. Rosemarie's stature was hard to miss. Even in the dark I could make out her long dark hair, tanned complexion and trained body. I looked at her and saw her looking back outside and to my surprise right into my direction. For a moment our eyes locked. I was certain that I was concealed in the darkness of the alley, but when she turned around in a hurry I knew I had been made and had to act fast. How did she know I was there?

I called the other guardians on the earpiece we were all wearing, to signal that I had made a positive ID and that they would be fleeing the scene pretty soon. Fortunately we had the place surrounded by 11 guardians both at the front and the back. They were not getting away. Less than five minutes later I could hear one of the guardians telling us that they exited the house at the back and were now in the alley adjacent to the house. I instructed those guardians and the seven others in the vicinity to close in on them from behind and that myself and the two guardians would close them in on this end. There was no place for them to go.

As I rounded the corner with the other two guardians on my heel I could see them both in the alleyway heading in my direction. They stopped when they realized they were boxed in. I expected the girls to just surrender seeing as they could not possibly make it out of this. However, I was wrong, very wrong.

I saw the demeanor in Rosemarie change. From calculating to almost feral. She was not backing down. And seeing as there were three guardians on this end and eight on the other end, she had made to strategically correct decision of attacking us, mainly me. Unfortunately I knew she probably had more chance of beating those eight than me. But she could not have known that.

She came at me with full force. I must admit I was taken a little bit off guard. I had not expected such speed from a novice that had had no training over the past two years. But I was able to block her first punch. That did not stop her though, but I could clearly see her next move and was able to deflect this one with ease. I thought about making this fast and attacked her without trying to inflict too much damage. She staggered back and I saw she was a little uneasy on her feet. I did not think I hit her that hard. She bounced back rather quickly and I could not help but admire her determination. I ducked under her attack and used my weight to bring her off balance. She fell backward and I could see her hitting the pavement hard. I was just in time to prevent that when I took her into my arms. She looked at me shocked and I could see the confusion in her eyes. I also saw something else that made me realize not only how dedicated she was at keeping the princess safe and healthy, it also explained her staggering only moments ago. Puncture wounds. She had let the princess feed off of her. Which made this attempt at fighting me even more ludicrous. Did she really believe that she could take on a fully trained guardian in that state? She quickly got over her bewilderment and took a step back from me and towards the princess. I thought at least this time she would give up, but when I looked in her eyes I did not see surrender, I saw determination and regret? What would she be regretting at the moment? She lowered herself into a fighting stance and it was as if I was seeing a whole new girl. The inexperienced novice was gone. She was replaced with something I could not quite describe. Her eyes dilated and I could see her whole body being charged with energy. She was honing in on me and I could almost feel that sizzle of an upcoming battle in the air. All created by this wild girl. I was ready for her to strike again but the princess stepped forward towards Rosemarie and placed a hand on her shoulder. I could hear her sad pleading whisper to Rosemarie.

"Please stop. Enough Rose"

I could see no immediate change in her demeanor and apparently the princess had felt the same as she repeated very sofly.

"Please"

There was desperation in that one word, which seemed to have the desired effect on Rosemarie. I could see her blink a few times and her pupils returned to normal. The electric energy that was in the air dissipated and her whole body relaxed. She looked at me and I now saw the surrender, that I expected a few rounds ago, in her eyes. I straightened out myself and signaled for the other guardians to stand down. I made a small bow in the princesses' direction. I did not want to make any big sudden movements just to be sure.

"Princess, my name is guardian Dimitri Belikov, and I am here to take you back to the academy"