Hey everyone! So this is my first fic for Vampire Academy that I've ever written. I'm much too anxious for Blood Promise (the real one) to await its release, so I figured I'd write one myself!

Disclaimer: I don't own VA. I wish I owned Dimitri.... but I don't. Lucky Richelle Mead does.

Chapter One

When I had first left St. Vladimir's Academy a little over a week ago, I didn't know it would be so strange being on my own. At first I had thought it was just because I was away from everything that had been familiar to me; Lissa, the safety of the school itself, others that I could relate to. But then I realized that it was because I was lonely. More so than was possible to put into words. I didn't have my best friend with me like I did when we had run away to Portland, and I also didn't have Mason to guide me anymore, even though I'd already come to terms that it was time for him to rest. He'd done his job. He deserved to find peace.

So, here I was, sitting in the terminal at JFK airport in New York, waiting for my flight to board. I had already taken two flights to get here: Seattle to Indianapolis, and then on to the Big Apple.

After leaving the academy, I had taken a cab to Missoula, to the bank that Adrien had instructed me to go to so that I could get the money I needed in the account he'd put it into for me. And when I say money, I mean a lot of money. Over thirty grand. I knew that would be more than sufficient to get me through this mission that I had assigned myself.

If I was lucky, this would take a month of so at most to complete, me coming away unscathed and Dimitri dead instead of being trapped as a Strigoi. But if I wasn't lucky…well, I didn't want to think about that right now. I had too much on my mind too much to get done.

At last, I heard my flight number being called to board and I got up, heading for the gate, my duffle bag already under the plane with the rest of the checked baggage. The woman at the gate regarded me warily but I pointedly ignored her. I didn't need criticism on top of everything else I was dealing with at the moment. And I was doing a pretty kick ass job at dealing with it, if I do say so myself. Which I do.

I tapped my foot impatiently until she finally handed my boarding pass back to me. I walked down the dimly-lit tunnel to where I could board the plane. Luckily, people ignored me as I made my way down the middle aisle towards where my seat was located. After sitting down, I stared out the window of the airplane. Thank God I got a window seat.

I hated thinking about what I would have to do at the end of this whole twisted, messed up thing. How could I kill him? How could I drive a stake through the heart of the only man I have ever and will ever love? He meant the world to me - I would die to save him. Which was probably what I would end up doing, but if I could give him redemption, it would be well worth it.

But I couldn't think of that right now. I couldn't allow myself to become distracted. I couldn't allow myself to hesitate. That would be a fatal mistake. After all, hesitating is what caused Dimitri to be turned into a strigoi in the first place. I had to keep focused and strong. I had to save his soul.

The plane took off from the runway ten minutes later and I sat back in my admittedly comfortable seat, preparing myself for the six hour flight that would take me away from New York, to my destination: Russia.

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When the plane landed in Moscow, my first thought was, so it really isn't a desert wasteland after all. My second thought was, how the hell am I going to find him? This place is huge!

I mean, come on. Russia is an entire country. It wasn't just one state like Washington or Montana. He could be anywhere!

But I knew where to start looking. Not looking for him, exactly, but for someone else. Someone who had the powers and drive to help me find my Dimitri.

So, after several long hours of asking around and requesting translations of the complicated language, I finally stood in front of my destination. I stood in the midst of a small commune that Dimitri had told me about on more than one occasion, particularly when my curiosity would get the better of me. It was where he had spent his childhood with his mother and two sisters.

Communities such as this one often got stereotyped as being full of blood whores. But that wasn't the case. Just because some women did that, didn't mean all dhampir women did. They didn't become guardians because they had to raise their children, and that, to me, was quite an accomplishment.

As I stood in front of one of the houses, holding a slip of paper in my hand with the address of the house written on it, I took a deep breath, trying to dig up the courage to actually go up and knock on the door.

But I didn't get the chance, because right then, the door opened and I was face to face with a person who had brown hair and dark eyes.

Alright, so I know this first chapter isn't very long, but I needed to leave it with a cliffy....I love cliffies. Expect many in this story.

I hope you all liked it so far!