For Rosalie Sage, your Christmas present for 2010
From: Trinity Hathaway
New Orleans, Louisiana
Why was I assigned here again? Honestly? New Orleans, Louisiana? Great. Just great. People here make it too easy for those stupid strigoi to come out and kill them...especially on Mardi Gras. A lot of drinking and dancing late at night gives strigoi the perfect chance to feed on people that won't be missed. But hey, it's a good thing I'm working with dhampirs with this crap. Even though I find them utterly repulsive, it's good to have help in killing these demons.
I watch as a group of teenagers pass me, laughing and drinking while walking to a night club down the street. What fools they are. Setting themselves up for rape or death. Yet, I envy them so much. They get to do whatever they want while I sit here in wait, hoping to get some strigoi dead. I don't even know why I'm here. Then I see that those teenagers are too skinny and too tall to be humans. They are moroi. Oh great. I finally realize that here, moroi teenagers are attracted to the club scenes. No wonder they have creepy guys and girls following them around.
It's almost 9 at night but the neon lights and the party fever here makes it seem like it's only morning. Then I realize something almost shocking. Even though I've seen many in battle with dhampirs, it's shocking to see how ordinary they look. Strigoi. Well,not necessarily ordinary. Of course they have pale, chalky skin and red eyes. But other than that, they look like ordinary people. Nothing has changed. My battle instincts came on and I started to walk behind the group of moroi teenagers, trying to catch up with one of the guardians.
"Hey!" I yelped as a guardian pins me against the wall.
"What's the problem?" he says in a husky, sexy voice.
"Look. I need to warn you." I lower my voice.
"What?" he looks at me in confusion.
"I'm Rosalie Sage, an alchemist."
"Look, I don't know about any alchemist, but y-"
"A strigoi is here and you need to get those moroi teenagers out. Now."
The guardian looks at me intently, wondering if I am telling the truth. I stare right back. I realize then how gorgeous he is. Short, spiky jet black hair and green eyes. A muscular build and wearing all black. Yeah, he's definitely sexy. But he's a dhampir...one of the damned. I shouldn't think that. But I can't help it. A girl can look...can't she?
He sighs and loosens his grip on me. I roll my shoulders and feel the blood pulsing through my veins.
"You need to get them out of here."
"Yes. But not now, we don't need to worry them. I need you to tell me where this strigoi is so we can kill him."
"Don't you need back up?"
He snorts with laughter and crosses his arms.
"Back up? Look alchemist, I know what you do. But I'm here to protect them. If it's one strigoi what bad would it do to take him down?"
"Whatever." I say unemotionally. I don't know why I feel the need to protect these moroi teenagers. I'm supposed to hate dhampirs, moroi, and strigoi. Yet I work with them to keep these vampires a secret from human society. Wow, how messed up does that sound?
I look at him expectantly and walk across the street looking for that chalky man. I can feel the guardian looking at me, studying me. I look back at him and then turn around bumping into someone.
"Sorry." I mumble as I look at the person. But it's not a person. In fact, my battle instincts automatically come on as I see him, smiling down at me with those white, glistening fangs, hungry for blood. I back away as the guardian pulls out his stake and gets into a defensive stance.
I backed into a wall, not wanting to get in the middle of this fight. Though the strigoi must have been a moroi from his height and build, he definitely would have been no match for the dhamphir if he was not strigoi. But he is, and strigoi have unnatural strength, meaning if this dhamphir hesitated for even a millisecond, he would end up dead. And if he ended up dead..so would I. Realizing this, I began to inch away towards freedom, towards a crowded area.
The guardian began his attack on offense, feinting and attacking, cutting the strigoi with his stake twice. I winced as the strigoi screeched. It sounded like a cat scratching a post. It was irritating. Then I realized a guy was walking my way, with an uneasy, yet confident step. He was definitely drunk.
"No.." I whispered as I rushed towards him. This man would get himself killed, drunk and defenseless. In his hand he held a bottle of wine, drinking from it every other minute. I looked at him unhappily. I did not want to take care of this drunken mess. He was tall...and extremely hot. Probably a moroi too I told myself as I reached him.
"What are you doing?" he whined as I put my hand around his waist to steady him.
"Trying to save you!" I growled as I led him away from the fight. He turned his head to watch the guardian fight the strigoi off. Clearly the strigoi was losing, probably from his lack of fighting experience against an experienced guardian. But he did have raw talent,throwing good left hooks at the guardian, once hitting him in the jaw.
"Look, I don't need help." the man said. He smelled like he'd been smoking cigarrettes. I wrinkled my nose and looked at him. This man was definitely hot. Brown tussled hair, and a gruff look like he just came out of bed. Despite his looks, he was clearly drunk, which was not attractive.
"I don't care about what you need," I snapped back, rushing him towards a bench only five feet away. Then someone grabbed me, and without even thinking, I punched the person in the face, only to find the guardian there. He held his jaw, glaring at me.
"Sorry! I thought you were the strigoi!" I apologized. He stayed on guard, but a tiny hint of a smile came on.
"The strigoi escaped. I don't know wh-" the guardian stopped mid-sentence, his eyes wide. I stared at him, then looked down. A pole had been pierced through his stomach. Instinct kicked in and I ran for it, along with the guy.
"Come on," I growled at the guy. But he refused to move. I thought this guy had a death wish. The guardian slumped and fell to the ground. The man I held tightly on to took a long silver blade out and went towards the strigoi willingly.
"What? Are you going to stake me?" The strigoi asked incredously. The man smiled, and then staked him right in the heart. I stared in shock. The strigoi had doubted the man, and he had staked him perfectly. The strigoi's eyes went wide with even more shock, and he slumped next to the dead guardian.
"Shouldn't you be cleaning this mess up?" the man said, wiping blood off his stake.
"Wait. Your moroi! How'd you do that?" I asked, still shocked.
"I took lessons from guardians. Since Queen Vasilisa has come into power, many moroi have gone and learned to fight along with guardians. So if you don't mind," the man said, stepping out of the way. The stake was long gone, but the scene of the dead strigoi and dhamphir was still there.
"Not until you tell me who the hell you are." I compromised, crossing my arms. He smiled, and I swear I could have fainted right there. But I didn't, because I was human and moroi were vampires. I was food to them.
"I'm Adrian Ivashkov." he said.