TAINTED OBLIGATION

SUMMARY

Ewelani Kahala's whole life has revolved around the idea that "they come first." Ewelani is a dhampir, a mix between human and vampire, who's purpose was to protect the Moroi…...until a Strigoi attack leaves her mother dead and her questioning everything. After graduation she ran off to the only place she's ever really been able to call home. During her stay at her mother's old house she encounters four boys who are not what they seem and forms an unlikely friendship with them. She came here for an escape. She never expected to find friends, find love, or even to find herself. More confused than ever she has to make a choice. Will she return to her duty and her people or leave behind everything she's ever known for love.

Chapter One:: Disruptions

As I descended the stairs and ran out the back door I started stretching. I let the music pumping out of my ear buds wash over me and energize me for my run. I began running down the side of the yard to the front of the house and out onto the road. As I ran past the house next door I saw that it had finally been rented out. I caught a glimpse of couple guys my age hauling stuff inside. Most likely they were students at the university down the road. It was mid August, the right time for students to move into off campus housing. Fantastic, there goes my peace and quiet.

I kept to my normal pace for the first half of the run until I reached my turn around point and then I kicked it into high gear for the run back. Every day I tried to push myself a little harder, a little faster. As the sweat ran down the side of my face and a pain hit me in my side I pushed through it. I was rewarded when I got to the house and looked down at my watch. I'd finally knocked five minutes off my overall time since I'd gotten here. I smiled and began to stretch out again before heading back inside.

I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and walked down into the basement where I put my iPod on the dock, hitting the play button to let music flood through the house. I nodded my head to the beat as I grabbed the jump rope off the wall and did a set of one hundred jumps. Tossing that aside I headed to the bench press and lifted a few sets. As I did another round of cool down stretches I decided to skip the rest of the work out for the day in celebration of my accomplishment…and my knee was starting to bother me some.

It still felt weird to be on a daytime schedule and I decided to take advantage of the sun and the last month of summer by laying outside on a lounge chair. I changed quickly into a black bikini of mine and headed outside.

I lay there and smiled to myself a bit. It felt like the warmth from the sun was reaching inside me and warming the icy thing that was my soul. It was a wonderful feeling, this peace. I wasn't used to it. My whole life had been focused on others. Dedicated to keeping other people safe from harm. My personal happiness was not a concern. They come first. It was a phrase that haunted me everyday. An anger swelled inside of me, no, they don't come first. My mother should have come first. That day came back to mind with a vengeance.

In the middle of my reverie I heard knocks on the front door. I snapped out of it, whipped off my sunglasses, and bolted out of my lounge chair in record time. I was up against the back of the house, hidden in shadow. I reached out my senses. Who had found me? The Guardians surely wouldn't come here? There's no point, I'd made my opinions pretty clear when I'd left. It's been almost two months. Did they get sick of waiting for me to make up my mind?

I snuck around to the front of the house and peeked at the attacker on the porch. My face scrunched in confusion. A human. What did he want with me?

"What do you want?"

He jumped and whipped around to face me. Putting a hand on his chest he laughed, "Jesus, you scared me."

I scowled, "Can I help you?"

His smile faltered, "Well I was looking for Ms. Kahala."

I narrowed my eyes at him and took a step back as he said my mother's last name, "How are you affiliated with her?"

He raised his brows at my question, "We're neighbors. I lived over there last year," he said pointing to the house I'd seen people moving into earlier, "I left for a few months to go back home and we just got back. I just wanted to tell her hello."

I let off on my scowl a bit but remained silent. I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. I hadn't had to recently.

His face lit up in revelation, "You're Ewelani, right? Ms. Kahala's daughter. She showed us pictures of you last year. My name's Caleb Danvers."

He walked towards me and held out his hand, I eyed it warily for a second before placing mine in his.

"It's nice to finally meet you, I'm sure the guys will be excited to see you as well. Your mom raves about you, you know."

"My mother died two months ago Caleb Danvers."

His smile instantly vanished, "Oh no. I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

"How could you?"

"Right. I'm so sorry Ewelani please let me know if you need anything. You're welcome to come over to the house anytime. How long are you staying here?"

I shrugged, "Indefinitely."

A blonde haired boy came up the driveway to stand next to Caleb and smiled wolfishly at me. At that moment I realized that I was only in the small bikini. I'd purposely worn the size too small one so that I'd have less of a tan line. Shit.

"Well hello beautiful. Where's your mother? I want to call her and tell her thank you." He said this last bit as he looked me up and down. Caleb elbowed the newcomer hard in the side.

"What? This is the famous Ewelani Kahala right? I never forget a pretty face."

I raised my eyebrows and directed my attention back to Caleb, "How many of you are there?"

"Please excuse Reid he's an idiot. There's four of us. Me, Reid.."

At this point "Reid" interrupted him, "Reid Garwin. Our friends Tyler and Pogue are staying there too but I'm sure you wont be too impressed with them after meeting me."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door to go back inside, "I'm sure I won't be. It was nice meeting you Caleb." I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, sinking down to the floor. I could hear the boys on the other side.

"Why'd she look so glum. Those were some of my best lines."

"Ms. Kahala just died Reid."

"I am such an idiot."

I closed my eyes and placed my head on my knees. How many times would I have to say it before it didn't hurt anymore?

…..

This new story is going to be a crossover between Vampire Academy and The Covenant. It's set after Shadow Kiss, after Lissa & Rose's graduation. If anyone hasn't read Vampire Academy I'll try to fill in as much detail as possible so that you can still understand it. However, I highly recommend reading the series because it's fantastic : )

As always please R&R