March 31st 1957 was the day that started the downward spiral that almost ruined Alice Baker's perfectly planned out life. Today that day is far gone from her memory and yet the significance it carries is too much to be forgotten.
The Baker family had never been rich. While not able to provide Alice with everything she ever wanted, her parents had done the best they could to provide her with everything she needed. And that was just fine with Alice.
Until she met Rick. Rick seemed to be the embodiment of perfection. At 23 years of age, he had achieved a success people never even dreamt of reaching. His secret? He made it big on the stock market straight out of college. Not only was he successful, he was beautiful. His lean, yet muscular body stood at 6 feet and he had deep brown eyes that any girl would drown in. He was also an arrogant bastard who ruined the lives of several well to do women. Alice Baker almost became one of those women. She fell for him and she fell for him hard. There was only one thing that she did not know about him and that one thing made all the difference. Rick Royce was also Moroi.
Moroi do not get involved with humans. Occasionally, they interact with humans, but nothing more than what is required in daily life in the human world. Other than that humans provide the main source of Moroi nutrition, blood, as feeders. Anything more than that is practically unheard of. The relationship between Alice Baker and Rick Royce was different. Thankfully, Rick was nowhere near being part of any of the royal families and his mischievous philandering did not result in scandal.
When Alice Baker and Rick Royce crossed paths on that faithful day, Alice was just another human secretary to Rick and Rick was just the rich, snobby CEO to Alice. One coffee cup changed it all. Alice was running late and her supervisor was not going to be happy if his coffee was not on his desk in the next 3 minutes. She was walking down the hall with stacks of paper in one hand, coffee in the other. Rick was strutting down the hall, towards Alice, glorying in his triumphs. Alice looked up and in the split second it took for her to roll her eyes at his conceited stance, she tripped. And in one fluid motion, Rick grabbed the coffee, before it spilled on his Armani dress shoes, and picked up the papers, before Alice even had the chance to stand up.
Clumsy humans he thought just as he helped her up. Their eyes met, only for a moment, one moment too long.
That one glance changed the lives of two people forever. One minute Rick was picking up the coffee for Alice, next he was swooning over her good looks. One minute Alice was cursing her bad luck, the next she was thanking faith for her good fortune of landing in such fine company. Of course, that was not her thoughts. Rick had used compulsion on her.
Compulsion was no longer used in the Moroi world. In fact Moroi and dhampirs were drilled from the time they were old enough to understand that compulsion was wrong. Rick was different. He believed what was right was wrong and was wrong was right. So of course, he used compulsion. He was also a womanizer, a thief, a liar, and his sole reason for existence was to ruin the world's careful balance of good and evil. Many would wonder why he was not Strigoi. Maybe he was an ordinary Moroi he would be. But, he wasn't. He wielded a different kind of magic. One that disappeared years and years ago. One that many Moroi had never even heard of. He could use super-compulsion and he could heal people. He could walk dreams and read people's thoughts. Now, one would think that a man of so many talents would use all this for good, but Rick was a twisted man. He was born an orphan, raised inattentively and had made it his life's goal to get revenge on whatever trick cruel fate was playing him.
Alice on the other hand was the embodiment of a goddess. Sweet and honest, she expected only good out of people, unless they had proved her otherwise. Rick was one of those people who had proved not to be good in her book. She tried to avoid him at all costs, but on this day fate made it that they cross paths. Every single one of her instincts was telling her to run. But, she did not. Maybe today was different. Maybe she was finally drawn to his good looks or this man had charming powers. The latter seemed impossible even though it was real.
In that instant Rick was able to draw Alice into a spell and draw her into a conference room. Rick's fangs were pouncing with venom and the thirst for venom was too strong. One bite was all it took. Rick leaned down and began to feed off Alice's sweet blood and he filled her with thoughts of attraction and elation. Alice was in ecstasy. She had never felt that way before. It seemed as if she would be in this elation forever. And then just as suddenly she had thought that, she was out of the elated state. And Rick was gone. She had no way of knowing who or what caused that intense feeling of elation and peace and wonderful feelings. She was confused and in whole together different state now. Dizzy from the loss of blood she walked unsteadily towards the door and fainted.
When she awoke she found herself in a comfortable bed in a room filled with women who looked just like her or how she thought she must look: dazed and confused. She falls asleep and wakes up again this time back in the office with one thought in her head; she must find a way of repeating that state.
And that's when the horrible spiral began. She tried drugs. She tried alcohol. She even tried sex. Nothing would bring her to that state. But drugs and alcohol came close. Eventually she landed herself on the streets in such a confused and dazed state that she would beg the passerby for a bite, not even knowing what she was asking for. That's what caught the attention of the Moroi world. They seized her and took her to St. Vladimir's Academy where her life became meaningless.
As for Rick Royce, the guardians found his woman hideout where he kept all his feeders and where Alice awoke that day. Rick was disgraced and sent to Moroi prison for his ways and his eventual insanity.