Prologue

It is 2025 and the The United States has been overrun with strigoi, an evil race of vampires whose sole purpose is to cause death and destruction. It is up to the dhampir and Moroi to keep humanity alive. Dampirs are half human have vampire, with enhanced strength and agility. The Moroi are the good type of vampire. They don't kill humans to stay alive.

They also have magical powers that are connected to the four elements fire, air, water, and earth. Like all wars there is a chain of command. The royal Moroi fund the war and have final say on what plans to execute, but they don't do it alone. A war council made up of Dampir leaders are the strategist in this war. The war council is in charge of training its warriors.

These warriors are known as guardians. The guardians are the most badass fighters the world has ever known. Will the guardians be able to fight off the hoard or will humanity cease to exist. Time will tell.

Chapter 1

Rose's Point of View (RPOV)

It's been five years since strigoi have overrun the united states. In 2020 I was still in the beginning stages of my training to become a guardian. Strigoi have always been a problem for moroi and dhampir like myself, but at least back then they kept the existence of vampire secret until now.

My name is Rose hathaway and I am a dhampir. All my life we have been training to protect moroi from strigoi. Now we are working together to eradicate the strigoi population. Unlike the dhampir the moroi have no enhanced physical strength or agility, but they do have control over the elements that has been proven to be an asset in the battlefield.

Still progress has been slow. Until 5 years ago moroi were not trained to use there magic as a weapon. Which in my opinion is why we are in this mess in the first place. I mean really no wonder strigoi have become such a pain in the ass.

Moroi once upon a time used ther magic to fight strigoi, but since dhampirs were deemed warriors for the moroi I guess they just didn't see the point in risking moroi lives anymore. The initial attach left the dhampir population decimated. It's taken until now to get the numbers back up. I will be graduating this year to full guardian status. It will be my job to protect this world.

Monday morning are the worst. After a long weekend getting back into the swing of things have proven difficult. Especially when my instructor is Dimitri Belikov. He and other guardians from around the world were sent to america to help prevent the spread of the strigoi population. Its been working so far, but it wont hold for long if we don't replenish the ranks quickly.

Like I was saying Dimitri Belikov is the most badass of us all and I know I should be grateful that a god is teaching me how to fight, but right now all I want is to punch him in a not so nice place. We've been running for about an hour with no respite. The majority of the class has already passed out from exhaustion.

"Hey comrade what are you trying to prove." He's ignoring me great. "HEY" I shouted after grabbing onto dimitris arm to try to make him stop. Instead he grabbed me and threw me impressively on my ass. "The point will become clear when you learn to listen." I don't know what the hell he is talking about. "Everyone get back on the track we our not done with our session." Great I should of kept my mouth shut now we will probably run until everyone passes out.

After our little run only 5 of us were left standing and we were rewarded with more training. The lucky winners were Mason Ashford, Eddie Castile, Angeline Dawes, myself and Dimitri. Eddie and Angeline are together. They met after her group was torn apart by strigoi. She was the only survivor of the attack on her people known as "The Keepers."

A group that follows the old and ancient ways Moroi and dhampirs practiced. She's a little rough around the edges, but she was deemed more of an asset and was allowed to join St. Vladimir's training academy with the rest of the dhampir students. Mason, Eddie and I have been together are whole lives. They are two of my best friends. I could almost say they were my only friends, but I have Lissa.

Vasilisa Dragomir, the last in her line and the women who will become queen after queen Tatiana Ivashkov steps down. Lissa and I have a special bond. I can see through her eyes. I am shadow kissed. I can feel what she feels and read her mind. The bond only goes one way. She can't get into my head. We've been able to keep this a secret for almost five years now. It all started the day of the strigoi attack.

I was with Lissa and her family when the vehicle we were in was hit by a drunk driver. We all should of died that night, but lissa saved me. She used her spirit magic to bring me back from the brink of death. Ever since then we have been bonded. Two years ago Lissa was taken to the moroi stronghold for safe keeping. I get to visit her often, but it hasn't been the same without her.

I guess us being apart has helped keep our secret. I can't wait till christmas break next week. The majority of Dhampir and Moroi will be celebrating together as they do every year at the stronghold. It's safer that was I suppose.

What was I just doing again… oh right we are training some more. Great. The remaining four Dhampir students ar to partner up and practice our fighting skills. Everyone of us were exhausted. We were half assing it and it showed. Showed so much that we got yelled at by Dimirti. "What the hell do you call that. If you fight like that against a strigoi you will be dead in seconds." Eddie spoke up " we are all exhausted, can we take 15 minutes to catch our breaths." Damn it Eddie you should of kept your mouth shut. Dimitris response was just as I expected.

" Do you think in a fight a strigoi would give you 15 minutes to catch your breath. Everyone on the line we will be doing sprints for the remainder of this session." Dimitri has always been hard on us, but this is more extreme than i've ever seen him be. Which makes me wonder, what has changed.

On top of morning classes I have have a special private session 5 days a week then none other than Dimitri. A side effect of running away with lissa over two year ago when we decided that her going to live at the stronghold and her becoming queen was too much to bare. We were caught almost a year later by Dimitri and a team of guardians.

I was brought back to the school and Lissa was taken to the stronghold. I would of been kicked out, but having a future Queen as a friend has its perks I suppose. It cost Lissa a lot to ask for such a favor. As a known spirit user, in order to keep me in school and be able to see each other again she had to use her powers whenever the queen requested it.

Fortunately, Lissa hasn't been asked to use her powers in over a year. In fact she was only asked to use her healing powers once to save the life of Victor Dashkov. A royal with a fatal respiratory ailment Sandovsky's disease. Victors health will get worse over time, but the Queen needed the knowledge he has about fighting strigoi in order to have a fighting chance to win the war.

I can still remember the feeling when lissa healed victor. It felt amazing, then over the next few days my anger was heightened to the point that any little comment set me off. Lets just say i spent the next two months helping out at the church as a penance for my behavior. Everyone chalked it up to the fact that i was separated from Lissa, but the actual cause was an effect of lissa using her magic. Another perk of being shadow kissed.

I showed up in the gym for my evening practice when I saw Dimitri in the gym talking to the head of the guardians Stan Alto. What could possibly be so important that Guardian Alto would leave his post at the stronghold to come here. I backed out of the doorway and listened from the other side of the door.

I heard Guardian alto's voice "our sources indicate the strigoi are regrouping for another attack. It is unclear at the point who there target is, but whatever they are planning it is going to happen soon. Do you think the senior novice will be ready to go by christmas." What the hell is going is stan trying to get us to graduate 5 months early. I could be face to face with strigoi in a weeks time. We haven't even had our hands on training in the field yet. We are suppose to start after christmas.

My internal struggle to grasp what was going on was interrupted by Dimitris voice. " I believe some are closer to being ready then other. They still need more training. I can push up practical training for the select few I believe won't be killed in the field before christmas break, but the rest of the group needs more time. I suggest other training centers do the same with their most promising novices, but to send all senior novices out into the field now would be suicide. We can't afford to lose so many."

They must be getting desperate to want us in the field so soon. "I'll inform the queen of your suggestion, until then proceed as planned with the practical experience for your top novices and inform other to do the same. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the sooner they are ready the safer we will all be." With that they parted ways. Only by parting that meant stan was heading straight for the door I was hiding behind.

In an attempt to avoid suspicion I pushed through the door pretending to be out of breath. "Sorry comrade. I know i'm late, but I have a good excuse this time." Which is.." " I Um overslept." I planted on the famous rose smile that could get me out of almost any situation. This was not one of those situations. He pointed to the track and said "Run."