Summary:

Christina Torres is part Moroi, part Strigoi and part Dhampir. She has the Dhampir fighting skills, Moroi power and Strigoi speed and compulsion. She is very much in love with Guardian Dimitri Belikov, but after finding out that she is part Strigoi Christina leaves. She wants no harm to come to those she cares about… but Dimitri doesn't see it her way. He is determined to find her and nothing will convince him otherwise. This is the sequel to 'Hidden Secrets' but it isn't necessary to read that one to know what's going on in this story. I hope you like it to any new readers. And to the readers that have stuck with the story since the start… Thank You and I hope you like this one just as much (or more)

Dark Temptations

Chapter 1

'He couldn't have found us already!' growled Stefan.

'No other Strigoi would have dared to disobey you Christina.' He was pacing around the over large room. There was no carpet on the floor, just some dark grey tiles. The room was enormous; yet all it held was a throne like chair in the middle. No paintings, designs or sculptures. In fact, it didn't even have a source of light. But perhaps being a Strigoi had its advantages of seeing in the dark.

I sat elegantly on my amber throne. Staring at Stefan's worried features. He suddenly found his way next to me, kneeling down he looked up at my face.

'I don't want him to take you away from me' he pouted.

My laughter filled the room. It was a sinister laughter that echoed all around us.

'He can not force me to do anything Stefan' I said, unexpectedly serious. My Strigoi voice had gone if possible… colder. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I knew that being a part of this lifestyle was a very bad choice. I may have been feared among these creatures, and yes… I did drink their blood I never harmed innocents. But being constantly surrounded by their cruel intentions and evil thoughts, made a large part of myself evil too. I had learned to shut out all wondrous thoughts. Happiness only occurred to me when others were scared. And the feelings I had for Dimitri still lingered inside me… but they were now more bearable.

Dimitri. The thought of him pushed those 'happy' feelings on to the surface, before I pressed them back down again. I would hurt him if I where to go near him, so my solution was to avoid. And here he was again, figuring out our third location. How he did it was beyond me, but in all my time that I had known Dimitri… I learned that he had his ways of know anything, and everything.

'We will not be moving for a fourth time Stefan. If he comes again I- I will… compel him to go away and stop searching for us.'

Even though I knew I would hurt Dimitri, -or anyone close to me-. I received a comforting feeling knowing that someone out there was looking for me. But I would have to put a stop to it.

'Are you sure my lady?' I gave a slow nod, and Stefan stood up once more looking immensely relieved.

'No, one is to touch him! If any of them are to lay a finger on him… I will make sure their harshest nightmares come true! IN TWICE THE PAIN' Stefan gulped. He then walked out the door where some of my many Strigoi followers hid.

I had earned a fair amount of followers in a matter of weeks. Stefan and I had spread the story about my grandfathers red marble, and its powers. We then announced it was I who had it.

The marble was not a small power to be messed with. It was the key to unlocking sun for Strigoi.

And although I was already powerful (being part Strigoi, part Dhampir, part Moroi). Owning the marble made me in charge and twice as feared.

My goal was to find the incantation that would allow Strigoi to walk in sunshine, and keep it to myself.

No matter how badly my mind was twisted. It would never be 'twisted' enough for me to allow monsters to walk the daylight. I, of coarse hadn't told my followers that I wouldn't be sharing the secret.

I stated that there was a spell that would allow 'us' to stand in the sun. But I never said that I would go through with the procedure. So the idiotic Strigoi offered their services to 'speed up' the process. Now I had followers, and they had hopes. Hopes I would not fulfill under any circumstances.

Stefan didn't know about my plan of coarse… then again no one knew. And I knew who led Dimitri to us, but Stefan didn't.

Nicolai… an old acquaintance had made known to Dimitri that I was in hiding. Now Dimitri hadn't killed him but he was keeping him as a prisoner, and learning my locations. He wasn't a 'prisoner' per se, Nicolai simply reported back to Dimitri. The reason behind why he was doing it was because I had deceived him and he wanted his so called revenge.

It was quite intriguing watching Nicolai play both sides. I kept tabs on him through my dreams, yet he never realized I knew what he was doing.

Being part Moroi gave me powers. I specialized in Spirit, so I could dreamwalk. Strigoi didn't dream… or sleep for that matter. But my blood was so rare it gave me the larger power of bringing people to me in my dreams. Or I could view their lives through their eyes. And that how I constantly saw and spoke with Nicolai.

I never really knew why I didn't just kill him and destroy all of Dimitri's leads, but I guessed a part of me would always be weak in killing off old 'acquaintances'. So I let him live his undead life. But little did he and Dimitri know, I was always one step ahead.

As for the incantation, there was little I could do in speeding up that process. My Strigoi followers knew of the spell… so they asked around, threatened and killed each other for any leads. I promised them they would have my protection if they were to take me to the spell. My mind wondered on, until I heard a commotion coming from outside the double doors. I growled and ran over to threaten them into shutting up!

Dimitri's Point Of View:

'She's a Spirit user?' my ears must've been failing me. I'd no sleep for three days straight. And my eyes were getting droopy. Poor behavior for a guardian.

'I mean I already knew. Every Moroi specializes is something. But I didn't know she could dreamwalk!'

Nicolai sat on the bench outside a hotel. He believed that I slept here, but no way would I reveal my location to a Strigoi.

'She has been visiting me regularly, and I can feel a tingle of magic every time she is doing something like that. But I feel nothing right now, so I had to tell you.'

I nodded my head once. This information had woken me up from my tired state. But I was certain I would fall asleep the moment my head touched a pillow.

'She never told me about the dreams' I whispered more to myself than Nicolai. It hurt, knowing that Christina kept something so big from me. I thought she trusted me with everything.

'She is a Strigoi, Belikov! You didn't expect anything more from her did you?'

I lunged for his coat, and then pressed him up against the brick wall of the hotel.

'She, is nothing like you! You know nothing about her!' my breath quickened. I couldn't have anyone telling me untrue facts about Christina. No, actually it was true that she was part Strigoi… but I didn't like the fact that Nicolai made her seem so evil. When she was in fact, the opposite. Her heart was pure and loving. No one could compare her to such monsters.

Nicolai laughed. It made me shudder. A look of pure evil was plastered on to his face despite the smile and wrinkles near his eyes.

'Believe what you may Belikov, but there will always be a longing for hurt inside her. She will always want to inflict pain… why do you think she left you? She wants nothing to do with you! She knew of your feelings toward her yet he left you to suffer! Does that seem like something an innocent eighteen year old girl would do?'

I wrapped my fingers around his head and pushed it towards the bricks. His scalp made a sick cracking sound and Nicolai's eyes rolled over. He would be all right in only a matter of minutes. I laid his body on the floor and grabbed my bag. The SUV waited for me in the car park. It beeped as I pressed the button for it to unlock. Placing the bag on the passenger seat, I laid my head against the steering wheel. Nicolai's words chimed in my head. I shook it off then turned the key in the ignition. It wasn't a long ride back to the real hotel I was staying at, but there would be some traffic from all the partygoers.

As I drove through the brightly lit streets, my eyes closed off slightly. I would be back to the hotel room in a matter of minutes, but those minutes seemed like hours. I passed the last traffic light and turned a corner to the left. I found my self in a very narrow road leading up to a bright sign saying 'Star Hotel'. The sign was its only source of light and as my car reached the end of the road and into the parking lot of the hotel, I saw a figure standing near a dark-green Jeep.

By looks of it, the figure was a female.

It couldn't be.

After weeks without her, my mind was imagining Christina. She stood perfectly still. There was no trace of wind in the air, so her long brown hair lay flat and dead straight against her chest.

She continued to stand still, and scan the SUV with me inside it. Trying not to take my eyes off her I opened the door to get a clear view. Surely this was happening inside my head. I felt relief and fear. Relief in knowing she was safe. And fear that she would reject me. As I popped my head over the top of the car the figure disappeared.

I was left standing next to the car speechless. It had to have been her.

But what if it was just the lack of sleep taking its toll on me? Now all that was left of the figure was an empty space. Nothing was left of her. I bowed my and shut my eyes momentarily. Tears stung at my eye. I shook my head and inhaled very, very deeply.

With the bag in my hand, I made my way inside room number 21. The moment I rested my head against the pillow I fell into the depths of sleep. All cares escaped my head as I slept through the pain.

HELLO! It's so nice to be writing again! I hope you liked the first chapter of Dark Temptations. You didn't have to read the first story (Hidden Secrets) to know what is going on. But I would help. I hope you liked it. Review and let me know how you feel about the story so far!

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or its characters, Richelle Mead does. I simply write my own stories. Any new characters or settings that you will be introduced to belong to me.