In our culture, it is both fact and law that the Moroi and Dhampirs are good, and the Strigoi are evil. This is what I myself was taught to believe. Of course, I experienced their evil firsthand when I was barely 20 years old, so I know this all to be true.
Now, in order to understand the present me, I must first explain my past. Once upon a time (for isn't that how all good stories start?) in Stockholm, Sweden, there lived a Moroi noble by the name of Björn Nordskov. He wasn't the high up in the royal food chain, but was important enough to warrant the need for a Dhampir guardian. The guardian chosen for him was Petra Erikson. After working together for five years, the Moroi noble and his guardian fell in love, and and were allowed to get married (Sweden is much less on their nobles about pure bloodlines, especially when it is a lesser noble). Their first child was a beautiful baby girl, whom they named Anna. A few more years after that, the small family acquired two more members, and the little girl now had two younger brothers, Mikhail and Josef. They were a happy family.
Lucky for the family, Sweden was much more lenient and fair when it came to Dhampir rights, so that Dhampir could do more then be guardians or "blood whores", after the girl grew up and finished her immediate schooling, she decided that she would follow in her mother's footsteps and become a guardian. The family was supportive of the girl's decision, especially when she graduated at the top of her class and went on to become her father's guardian.
Every year, for as long as she could remember the girl's family would travel to their summer house near a small coastal town in Maine, in the United States of America. The girl's English was very good because of these trips. Unfortunately, 2002 was the last trip they would all take as a family. I don't know how the Strigoi found them; I only know what happened that night. It was the second night on our usually two-week long trip, and I was just finishing blow-drying my hair after a shower. There was a reverberating crash throughout the house as windows were smashed in, and doors were kicked down. Guardian training mandates that you keep a stake on you at all times, so I grabbed mine, and went to locate my family.
I found them in the living room, and I found the Strigoi there too. My father had nine guardians, counting myself and my mother (my brothers had only just begun their training), but none of us were any match for the seven Strigoi that had invaded our home. From what I could see, two Strigoi were keeping watch outside, while the other five were in the living room. Two more Strigoi then left the room, leaving the three to stand guard. I knew this would be my only chance, but I was worried. Both of my brothers looked too afraid to be of any help, my fathers had already been bitten and drained of most of his blood, and I couldn't see my mother. Regardless, I had to do something.
Adrenaline pumping, I flung myself at the nearest Strigoi, only to have something yank me hard from behind. It was one of the two Strigoi who had left the room earlier. Grinning at my with sharp teeth and eerie red eyes, the Strigoi let out a hissing laugh before dragging me into the room (forcing me to drop my stake in the process), and flinging me down hard on the ground. Shifting myself into a sitting position, I let out a cry of terror and anguish that should not be experienced by anyone, for lying next to me on the ground was the body of my mother. Her throat was so ravaged that she was almost decapitated.
Both my brothers started to cry, and despite all of my training, I began to cry to. There was nothing I could do. We were surrounded, almost everyone dead, and there was no chance of anyone getting here in time to help. Looking at my brothers, how scared they were...I knew that there was only one chance, however slim, that they might get out of here alive. Moving my body slowly across the faded moss green rug on the floor towards my brothers, I was sharply grabbed by the nap of my neck by one of the Strigoi, a female. Looking in her blood-lust-crazed eyes, I couldn't stop my fear-dried voice from cracking. "Please, do whatever you want with me, drain me, turn me-whatever you want, but please...please let my brothers go free".
As the female Strigoi let out a cackle strong enough to shake her whole body. Once she was able to regain a semblance of control, she started at me, her eyes glittering. "Very well dearie, how about this. We let those scrumptious biscuits you call your brothers go...but you have to join us". It took me a minute to realize what she was saying. They would let my brothers go, but I had to become a Strigoi! It was no choice, really. "Fine, turn me, but please let them go first". The female Strigoi continued to smile, all of her teeth showing in almost a snarl, before nodding her head at the two Strigoi holding Mikhail and Josef.
Leaning over, the Strigoi stood up over my brothers, and with one quick snap of their superhumanly strong hands, snapped my brother's neck. A shrill scream, like that of a dying cat, ripped through the air. It wasn't until I felt the tears running down my cheeks that I realized the screams were mine. "Why" I blubbered, staring at my brothers. Their bodies looked so small and frail. "We honored our bargain of course" the female Strigoi said, "We let your brothers go". I felt nothing, only a cold pit at the bottom of my stomach. Shock, I felt numbly, not that I could bring myself to care.
The last of my family was dead. As I sat there, Indian style on the floor of my family's summer home, the female Strigoi wasted no more words. She wrenched my head to the side, exposing my jugular. Sinking her fangs into my neck, she drained me of my life blood. My eyesight faded as lethargy set in. The last thing I could comprehend was the feeling of a tangy, almost coppery liquid dripping down my throat. When I next awoke, it was in a plush room, decorated in gold and black, mirrors everywhere. Still feeling weak, I layed on the bed, not having the energy or compulsion to move. Hearing a rustle, I turned my head a fraction to see the female Strigoi from before sitting beside me on the bed. She looked at me, all dead-white skin, glittering red eyes, and a smile full of teeth. Smiling wider as she watched me, she spoke, the first two words I would hear in my new life. "Welcome sister".