The overwhelming smell of alcohol permeated the outside of the bar, but it was even worse inside. I hadn't expected to find myself drunk in some Russian bar, but the circumstances were somewhat forgiving.

I turned the cup in my hand, studying the glass. The liquid was gone and all I saw was the distorted reflection of a tired, depressed girl. Dimitri wouldn't have approved. Well he certainly wouldn't have approved of me flying to Russia to hunt him down, but hell, he would have done the same thing for me. I let go of it, and the cup plunked onto the table, somehow audible over the pounding music. Why did I care what Dimitri thought anyway? He was dead. Or at least undead.

"You need another one of those?" The bartender asked in a heavy Russian accent. He was a dhampir, I could tell but I was surprised he even knew English; this wasn't one of the bigger cities. I gravitated towards Moroi and Dhampir areas, knowing they would mostly likely have the info I was looking for. The bartender was also very cute, with a short dark cut and blue eyes. Not that it mattered.

"No." Monosyllabic answers had become kind of common with me lately.

He shrugged and continued mixing up a drink for the customer next to me. The music made it impossible to fall asleep, but the alcohol racing through my system was making it kinda impossible not to. The conflicting urges waged war in me, until I figured I might as well ask the bartender my regular questions. Somehow drinking didn't block out the heartbreak like it was supposed to. Damn media.

"Do you know where the Strigoi are around here?" Directness had always been my strong suit.

He narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

I scoffed, "To kill them. Is there any other reason?"

He appraised me in a pitying way, "You'd be surprised. There are more than you think who want other things."

This was news to me. I figured there were less 'going strigoi' scandals in Russia. Apparently not. "So you've been asked before? By who?" Maybe I could get some immortality-crazed human to lead me to Dimitri.

"Look, if you want to hunt down Strigoi, fine. But don't ask me for names." He slid a drink across the table to a woman wobbling in stiletto heels. She barely caught the drink, and managed to dip some of her blonde ringlets in it while struggling to stay upright.

"Well this is your lucky day; all I want is the name of a place." I responded.

He didn't speak for a couple moments, then probably deciding that me offing some Strigoi wasn't going to hurt anyone, he told me, "There's a statue of a lion a couple blocks from here. They hang around the big house next to it."

Finally some information I could use. I wondered how many Strigoi I would have to deal with, but brushed it off. Suicide missions were the only thing since Dimitri whispering 'Roza' in my ear that got my heart racing nowadays. I had to get my kicks somewhere.

I thanked him and paid for my drink planning to head off to the Lion statue. Something in the corner of the bar caught my eye though. Maybe it was guardian instinct, or maybe it was just the fact she was the only one standing still in a room full of gyrating bodies. As soon as I turned toward her, she exited through the back door, but she had met my eyes just before slipping away. A red ring encircled them, radiating an evil that was copied in her expression.

I shoved through the dancers, trying to get to the other side of the room. But they seemed to thicken right where I needed to weave through. I got to the door and ripped it open. An empty alley met me, dirty snow layering the ground with cigarette butts sticking out of it like flowers. The Strigoi was gone. And it seemed weird that she had run. Most of them were eager for a Moroi or Dhampir meal. Even weirder was that she appeared to have been spying on me.

Great. Just what I need. I thought. There goes the element of surprise.


Yup, so this is gonna turn out a lot different from the original 'Rose hunting Dimitri' story. Also a lot of Rose/Dimitri moments 3

If you guys like it, I'll continue, REVIEW OR FOLLOW!