New York.

The Vampire enjoyed coming to the more decadent establishments that New York had to offer.

She found that the men and women who flocked to these places were the crème de la crème of the day's society. Sure their personalities were a little lacking, but then again she didn't come to these places in hopes of finding anything more than a meal.

The bar had quickly become her favourite hunting ground and she often found herself eagerly awaiting sundown so that she could return to the dark – yet intimate – bar and find another poor soul to capture.

The tinkle of glass on glass filled the small room along with quaint conversation, and the Vampire observed the night's offerings with expertise. She weeded out those who were too desperate to find a bed-warmer for the night, from those who were only looking to get a drink. They were the good ones.

The broodier the better, she always told herself. The Vampire wasn't ashamed to admit that she had a type. She liked men who were mysterious. It made the hunt that much more fun.

The Vampire set herself into a love seat near the large window that showcased the city's beautiful skyline and waited for her trap to ensnare its first victim. As she sipped delicately on the vodka martini, she indulged herself in casual conversation with some hopeful businessmen.

She found it foolish that her chocolate coloured eyes having rings of crimson red rarely made men second guess her, or that the sharp points of her fangs ever swayed them. If their heartbeats were anything to go by, her vampiric attributes only seemed to make them more carnal over her.

Taking humanity's stupidity into stride, the Vampire had become highly practised in the art of seduction. With her Middle Eastern features mostly still holding even after her awakening, it was all too simple for her. Nothing as beautiful as she could ever be dangerous, right? Beautiful people weren't killers.

Who would expect that the brunette goddess in the black silk dress could be the last thing one of them would ever see again?

Her tactic was to let her prey think that they were in charge, ensuring that within seconds her new target would be jumping through hoops just in the hopes of pleasing her.

Men came and went. Some realized they didn't impress the alluring creature and let her be, but others dedicated more of their time in hopes of convincing her that they were a good choice in partner.

None were piquing her interest though. Not one man that she had seen or talked to even remotely excited her. Maybe she would just pick one and not even bother with all the fun parts of the hunt. Just kill him and move on.

However, just as she was giving up hope that there were any interesting men in the bar, one approached her with a shyness that she found both adorable and endearing.

She could tell he wasn't normally a talkative man. His heart was beating so fast she thought it would flutter away on her. She could smell the nervousness pulsating off him – he held himself differently to the other cocky prospects, which she liked. A lot. He'll do.

When she smiled at him exposing a set of perfect teeth and pointy canines, it was like he was thrust under a spell. He was unable to get an opening line out, nor introduce himself to her. He had turned into even more of a nervous wreck than before!

This is the one, the Vampire thought to herself, letting her eyes rake over the tall muscled man that seemed to ooze class beyond the tension. He was a tad older than her usual prey, maybe in his mid-thirties, but she could work with that.

And she did. The Vampire engaged in conversation that marked the beginning of her hunt. A few light touches to his arm, some hypnotic smiles and even some sexual hints. But just as she was getting ready to move her hunt to a more private location, the elevator above on the landing dinged with the announcement of a new arrival.

As the doors opened, the Vampire's attention was stolen away from the human entirely – not that he noticed. His words quickly became a dull echo to the Vampire, as all of her attention was now solely focused on this newcomer.

She let her eyes take in his form hungrily and she didn't even attempt to hide the smirk that was forming in the corner of her mouth. She began at his chest with his sharp and well-fitted suit. The expensive cut and midnight blue sheen captured her eyes like a moth to a flame.

However, the black leather duster that he wore overtopping of his suit made her raise an intrigued eyebrow. It wasn't a piece that one would normally pair with such a sophisticated suit, yet somehow, he had managed to pull it off effortlessly.

The dark shoulder-length hair framing his face made him appear paler than her. He had such a sharp and stoic structure that she was sure he would crack and break if he so much as twitched a muscle. He could have been made of marble and she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

He looked like the embodiment of some kind of mythical god. Just the sight of the stranger was enough to send the Vampire's heart into a flutter, among other more intimate parts of her.

She would take a stab and guess that he was in his mid-to-late twenties, but that was a vague guess judging by the red rings that rimmed his pupils, similarly to her own. He could have been much older than he looked.

The Vampire didn't know if her newest fixation had noticed her sitting slightly obscured by the dim lighting, but even if he hadn't, she was content just watching him…for now.

When the elevator doors opened for the male Vampire, the first thing he found himself staring at was skin as white as freshly poured milk; dark eyes ringed dangerously with crimson red; and a smile that was both haunting and enchanting.

He watched curiously as the human beside her described his Wall Street job animatedly, but his words apparently fell on deaf ears.

The dark goddess pushed her hand through the top of her hair, ruffling the controlled brown curls and pouting her blood red lips slightly. He could feel something stir within him, familiarity maybe?

In the second that he stared at her, he felt as if it could have been hours. He felt as if he had been able to study every inch of her in that single second. He couldn't even bring himself to blink in case he missed a microsecond of her.

As he stepped out of the elevator, he undid the button at the front of his suit and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his slacks. Unconsciously, his feet began taking him towards the small staircase down to the lounge. But he had to remind himself that he hadn't come out to socialize with other vampires. He was hungry. End of story.

He studied her for a half a second longer before finally averting his eyes and changing course. He walked along the landing and towards the bar, leaving her below in the lounge but still feeling her eyes burning holes into his back.

Once the Vampire found his seat, he didn't turn again to admire the only other vampire in the bar – but his lips twitched and ears perked whenever he heard her voice. He would even go as far as to say he would smile slightly when her laugh filled the cozy space.

As he stared dead ahead of him at the bottles lining the wall, the image of her sitting in the loveseat in that little black dress danced behind his eyes. The way that the silk clung to her toned thighs, and how the low hanging neckline exposed an overly-healthy amount of cleavage was distracting him from his main reason of being at the bar again.

Dinner!

Yet instead of initiating a hunt, he remained seated as she disguised her own hunt with laughter and chatter. He couldn't help but imagine her twirling her hair around her finger, playing with the locks as she had been doing when she first caught his eye.

Facing away from her was proving to be a challenge. Every time she went quiet or her voice dropped out, the Vampire had to use every muscle in his body to stop from turning and checking to see if she was still there. only been

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if he turned to look at her again though? He could just do a quick turn to make sure she was still there and then return–

You sound like you're in love, his inner voice groaned, cutting off his deliberations and causing the Vampire to instantly scowl down at the drink in his hands. How pathetic, it continued. You came here to hunt, and you can't stop thinking about a girl?

Shaking the judgmental voice from his mind, the Vampire decided that he would do a quick check around the room. Not to spot the other Vampire, but instead in an attempt to scope out any women that he could lead to their demise.

As he craned his neck side-to-side, his gaze however passed over the female Vampire and her cohort again. Unlike when he had arrived though, the couple had since moved closer together. They murmured incoherently to one another as he drew small circles over the exposed flesh of her thigh.

Feeling uncharacteristically jealous, the Vampire found his jaw tensing and his hand tightening around his glass as he locked onto them. He wasn't sure what made him feel like he had some sort of claim over her because, in truth, he didn't. But if the touches and whispers were anything to go by, it was clear the Vampire was going to get a different type of fix before she fed.

That was what made his blood boil.

Just as the Vampire thought his glass would shatter in his hand, her eyes flicked to meet his own. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and stared intently over at him – not allowing a single moment to even blink. The Vampire was instantly filled with a sense of longing.

He groaned at the emotion filling him that was solely reserved for humans. He hadn't longed for anything since his awakening. He didn't need to. But god, every nerve in his body practically cried for this dark goddess not to leave before he gained the valour to talk to her.

But as she uncrossed her legs and allowed the human to help her to her feet, his entire body crackled with panic. His heart quickened inside his chest, having no doubts that she could hear it as clear as day. Her smirk confirmed it.

The smirk quickly morphed into a final innocent smile before beginning her walk towards the elevator.

The Vampire had stayed stoic and quiet since his arrival, listening to her from a distance. But now he only had seconds until she would be out of reach, and how long would it be before he saw her again? Never? Did she regularly come to this bar? Was tonight a once off?

He watched anxiously as she was helped into her coat and an arm was threaded around her small waist.

He was running out of time, and he knew it.

Just as the pair entered the elevator, she turned and smiled at him. That final smile on her plump lips and the twinkle in her eyes are what snapped his inner rubber band.

Surging forward from his seat, the large Vampire crossed the landing and managed to slip between the automatic elevator doors closed just before they closed. Without even giving the Vampiress' companion enough time to react, he wrapped his large hand around his throat tightly. The human didn't even have a chance to gasp for air before he was being lifted off the ground and shoved into the mirrored wall behind them.

The sound of crushing glass echoed through the small elevator as the Vampire dropped the unconscious body to the ground. A small bloodstain remained on the shattered glass from the back of his head, but both Vampires ignored it.

The female Vampire's eyes flickered down to the crumpled form of her dinner with disdain and mild annoyance, before gazing back up at the male Vampire.

"That was mine," she purred angrily in a voice that rather sounded like velvet to the other vampire, instead of its intended ferocity.

While he had felt a certain level of indulgence in hearing her speak directly to him, the hostility in her voice only seemed to make him regret even entering the elevator. Wasn't she the one that had urged him on since he first entered the bar? Why now was she suddenly so hostile with him?

"Does it look like I care about your dinner?" he growled down at her, his eyes flashing with anger at the irritation in her voice. How dare she!

But she was unfazed by his icy glare. She appeared to find it all rather funny very quickly. All annoyance from him knocking her dinner unconscious dropped from her features and instead softened. The quick change in demeanour took the male Vampire by surprise, and he found his own hard features softening and relaxing into the hold her eyes suddenly had over him.

She stepped carefully over the forgotten comatose body, moving closer to him and stood before him, practically sizing him up like a tasty meal. There was complete silence as they looked each other over. Now that she was closer, he could appreciate the curves of her figure and the delicate lines of her face. Simultaneously, they gauged the different levels of both power and seduction that emanated from the other. The only sound inside the space was the soft ticking of the elevator descending down the high-rise building.

"Where do I know you from?" the male Vampire thought out loud before he could catch himself. He could have sworn he had seen her before. Not in person – but he was sure he had at least seen a photograph of her once. There was something about her eyes. The swirls of brown struck something familiar inside him.

"I was the last Dragomir's Guardian," she whispered, seemingly just as entranced as he was.

The female Vampire was outright stunned at how easily she had just divulged that information about her Dhampir life to this stranger. She hadn't opened up about her previous life for a long time – and especially not to any mysterious Russians who she'd only just met.

But a brilliant smile appeared on his lips. A smile that that reached the edges of his face and exposed his fangs entirely. "Rosemarie Hathaway."

Forgetting her bewilderment, Rose returned his companion's infectious smile and she beamed with pure delight at his recognition. "You've heard of me?"

"Who hasn't? The Princess kicked up a storm looking for you."

Rose closed her eyes and breathed a thick sigh of satisfaction at the memory of her best friend's attempts at tracking her down. When Rose had first been awakened, the Dragomir Princess has enlisted the help of several of their friends from their Academy days. She wanted to 'save' her and end her life like her Dhampir counterpart would have wanted.

But Rose was very happy the way she was, and they'd since given up once Rose had cut her childhood friend's life short.

Mason had only been trying to save her when he'd lost his life at her hands. Foolishly, Mad had tried appealing to a smidge of humanity that he obviously believed might have still lied within Rose. But it was more than easy for her to trick him and lead him into believing his words were actually working.

It was almost as if, four years on, Rose could still feel the bones in Mason's neck snapping in her palms; the choked scream of Meredith as she let his body drop to the ground; and the disbelief in the eyes of her 'friends', as they watched her take her best friend's life, and not even blink.

Rose knew that Lissa still attempted to keep tabs on her whereabouts. But since that night, she had never tried to physically hunt her down again – at least, not that she knew of.

Apparently, all it took was the shock of watching someone they grew up with kill so heartlessly to break them. Who would have thought?

Rose snapped her eyes back open and her head tipped slightly to the side. Her perfectly manicured hands began trailing up the breast of the Vampire's duster before smoothing it over softly, never breaking eye contact. "So, cowboy. Do I get to know your name?"

"Dimitri Belikov," he said softly after a few quiet seconds, his accent coming out thicker than he meant it to.

A flash of heat sparked through Rose's body, reaching all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. There was something about this Russian stranger that was rubbing her the right way.

Dimitri noticed when Rose's gaze flicked to the fixture above the elevator doors, and his body filled with the same panic as it had when he'd seen her move to leave. They were running out of floors before reaching the lobby.

Dimitri leaned around Rose and slammed his palm into the emergency stop button. The elevator jolted to a stop before plummeting the elevator into red-tinged darkness.

He took advantage of Rose's loss for words and threw his entire body at her, crushing his cold lips down to her own and pinning her to the wall of the elevator with his hips.

She recovered quickly from his sudden forwardness and instantly returned the ferocious kiss. She wound the long strands of his hair around her fingers, using it as a leverage to pull him closer to her. Upon running his tongue along her bottom lip, Rose parted like the red sea for him - giving him complete access to every part of her beyond her lips.

As Dimitri's large hands cupped below her ear and the back of her neck, his thumb delicately caressed her cheekbone, sending even more shivers through Rose.

The entire world seemed to fall away around them. It wasn't long before they got caught up in the sheer intensity behind the kiss. Within seconds, the kiss became heated and dominating, and Dimitri's hands began to wander down to the backs of Rose's thighs.

He used his strength and pulled her up to him, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. He pushed her harder into the mirror behind her, uncaring of the small cracks that appeared beneath her. He was too captivated by the beauty in his arms to care about something so meaningless as broken glass.

When they eventually tore apart breathless, the air crackled with electricity between them. They both panted with what breath they had as they looked into each other's eyes. Dimitri eventually rested his forehead against her own, drowning helplessly into the depths of brown in her eyes and with an intense tingling remaining on his lips.

Just one kiss and he was hooked.

Rose wasn't sure she had never been kissed with such raw passion and need before in her life. Sure Adrian Ivashkov had been a good kisser. Great even! But it had been four years since her untimely death had ended that relationship. She had more experiences she could compare to now rather than just Adrian and anyone from her Academy days.

As a free woman once more, Rose hadn't held back in taking whatever – or whomever – she wanted. When she was a Dhampir, she had tried to repress the urges she had felt and instead focused entirely on protecting her best friend. She'd felt a bit guilty for allowing things between her and Adrian to evolve as much as they did, even though she had Lissa's blessing and encouragement. But she'd put sex on the back bench and out of her mind really. It wasn't a concern of hers.

But things were very different now.

She could pursue who she wanted, when she wanted – and explore options she never would have had as a Guardian. After her awakening, the possibilities of what she could achieve appeared to be endless! But nothing had quite compared to this moment in the elevator.

Rose's lips curved into a lazy smile as she felt the thunderous beatings of both their hearts through her entire body. She unhooked her legs from around Dimitri's waist and she dropped back to the ground gracefully, her heels making soft clacking sounds as they connected with the tile.

She reached behind her and pressed the lobby button once more, releasing them from the dark red light and letting the elevator reach the ground floor. She only smiled wider as she watched Dimitri's face contort with confusion.

When the doors opened with a chime, Rose slinked past the unmoving vampire in her path and into the lobby. However, Dimitri was too stunned by her withdrawal from him to follow her physically, only his eyes followed her movements.

She spun on the balls of her stiletto heels to face the still dazed Russian and she flashed the most seductive smile that Dimitri had ever seen. It was enough to stop his heart right then and there.

All the breath in his lungs was ripped away and he was stripped of everything that made him a cruel monster. He was reduced to a mere teenage boy under her gaze, embarrassingly suppressing a groan as she captured her bottom lip between her teeth.

"You coming, comrade?" she chimed in, tilting her head to the side.

Dimitri caught the closing elevator doors and shoved them open again. "What happened to 'cowboy'?" he glared, not liking the new nickname she'd just placed upon him.

Rose shrugged her shoulders delicately. "New York isn't exactly the Wild West – and cowboy is a bit old school, don't you think?"

Dimitri stepped out of the elevator, his eyes passing over the body slowly bleeding out on the tiled floor. Blood was beginning to pool around the head of the young man. Enough blood that surely meant there was so way he would ever be standing upright again.

"I thought you were hungry?" Dimitri commented hastily while raising a brow perfectly and looking back to Rose standing in the lobby.

"He's not what I'm hungry for anymore."

They threw themselves onto the unused bed in Rose's lavish and large loft, falling with Rose straddling the Russian vampire as she splayed her hands over his bare chest. As her hands explored the ropes of muscle, a strange warmth hummed through the tips of her fingers and stretched up her arms, making her feel oddly whole.

Impatiently, Dimitri began running his hand up her bare arm until he cupped her cheek. Rose instantly leaned into his touch, still feeling that heat.

Dimitri dipped his thumb between her smiling lips and pushed back her upper lip, exposing a single white fang and eliciting a unique moan from Rose which was mixed with a growl.

He brushed the pad of his thumb over the fang, feeling his own desire spike. There was nothing as perfect as Rose that has even been across his lap. Everything from her thighs, to her hips and waist, from her naked chest to the column of her neck had Dimitri's senses overloaded. He didn't know where he wanted to touch her first!

"You're so beautiful, Roza," Dimitri murmured as Rose bared her fangs more boldly this time. Her red ringed eyes flashed with desire. "I've heard stories of you, Rose Hathaway. Cruel yet elegant. But there was something I never understood." He ran his palms down from her cheeks to the tops of her thighs at his sides.

"And what's that?" she smiled down at him, silently revelling in the power that he was unintentionally handing over to her.

"You had the last Dragomir in your hands, and yet you let her live?"

Rose tensed, her entire body locking up as the words left his lips. She knew that word would have spread of her only instance of mercy, but she didn't expect the man below her to bring it up when he was in such a vulnerable position.

"Why would that be any concern of yours?" she growled.

Dimitri shrugged, oblivious to the anger radiating from her. "Others just can't imagine having the last of a Royal bloodline in their hands and just letting her walk free. It makes them think you owe the Princess something."

In the blink of an eye, Rose leaned forward and grasped her small but powerful hand around Dimitri's throat. He hissed softly in retaliation, but he didn't make any attempts in stopping her.

He was sure he would be able to put her in her place, but then again, he was more than happy where he was.

"I don't owe anyone anything," she growled down at him while attempting to press harder into his throat until he showed signs of struggle. However, no matter how hard she pushed, he didn't splutter with the lack of breath or try to buck her off and strangle her himself.

He just stared up at her unblinkingly. There was something behind his eyes, something that told her he wasn't asking these questions to piss her off or undermine her. He genuinely wanted to know why she had spared Lissa's life.

Sighing deeply, Rose released the death grip she had on Dimitri's neck and sat back again. "A life for a life."

Dimitri considered her words, but without further explanation, he was oblivious to their meaning. The only thing he got from that was while Rose may not owe anyone anything; the Dragomir Princess had still given her something valuable. Whether it was before or after her awakening though, he wasn't sure.

"What could she have done to possess such a favour?"

"In my Dhampir life, I was shadow kissed. I was killed in the car crash that wiped out the rest of the Dragomir family."

"And yet, here you are?"

"Lissa wields Spirit magic. She brought me back, but it came with a cost. It was close to driving me insane before my awakening. All the darkness I took from her was beginning to eat at me."

"You were bonded to the Princess," Dimitri stated, surprising them both with his knowledge. While he didn't know much about the bond, he knew enough to put it all together. He knew a couple in his town that was similarly bound together, but he had never heard the term 'shadow kissed' before.

He wanted to know more.

Rose yelped in surprise as Dimitri rolled them over so that he was nestled in-between her thighs. "You were meant for so much more than just Guardianship. You were meant to be out here, making the world yours."

"The world?" she repeated with a flattering smile.

"We could take it–" he cupped her cheeks– "all of it."

Rose couldn't help but let out a girlish giggle, one that was extremely uncharacteristic for her. She looked up at the man hovering over her with a smile and tightened her legs around his waist.

"You promise?" she purred while lifting her head up so that she was mere millimetres from his lips.

"With all my heart, Roza."