Destiny, supposedly I had one in being a guardian to the last heir to the Dragomir name, my best friend of thirteen years, my blood bound sister Lissa. There was a strict guideline of how life for a Dhampir was supposed to go; you were either a fighter or a lover, a lone solider or family bound. I had accepted a long time ago that I was never going to be a part of a family, I had given up the notion of ever having children because I had a duty, one that I lived for and one that I would die for... one that I did die for... twice.

The first time I had passed through into the spirit world was when Lissa and I had been traveling back with her family, something had been in the road which caused Lissa's father to swerve and veer us off of the road. The car had a hit a tree and with such an impact I had been thrown from out of my seat, in the middle of the back of the car through the front window. My body was broken beyond repair or so it had appeared. Lissa had saved me before I could pass through to the world of darkness with her spirit bound abilities and given me the gift of life. Unfortunately her parents and older brother, Andre hadn't been so lucky. They had died at the scene.

The second time I had passed through into the spirit world, well I hadn't been so lucky. I had followed the guardians down to the caves just beyond the woods, a mile or so away from the school. Strigoi had attacked our school, taken my peers and held them captive. With my own little gift of being able to sense when strigoi were near thanks to my blood bond with Lissa, I helped discover the location of the caves and had gone with the guardians because I had simply needed to be there. The guardians had entered the cave with the mission of destroy, rescue and recover. They were to destroy any Strigoi left inside, rescue the students whom they could and recover the bodies...

And thats when it happened. The second time where I died. Everything happened within a flash. I was standing outside of the caves, watching and waiting for the guardians to return. And then I saw him, walking towards me, returning home to be with me. That had been the plan at least. He was going to give up his post as Lissa's guardian, get an assignment within court so that we could be together. That had been the plan.

A warm smile touched my lips as he stepped towards me, almost out into the daylight. The smile died as a set of strong, muscular hands wrapped around his throat and dragged him backwards into the darkness. Before anyone could stop me, before anyone could see what was happening I had run into the cave without thinking, without any weaponry.

Dimitri's eyes went wide as he fought back against his attacker. But his attacker was too strong and Dimitri's usually bright but guarded eyes faded and they closed as he passed out from the lack of oxygen. He fell to the floor in front of me, his large six foot seven frame taking up the majority of cave floor.

"You cant win this little girl.." Dimitri's attacker taunted me, his blood thirsty eyes taking in my curves. I couldn't win. I could either attack which would give the approaching guardians behind me the chance to get him out of here or I could turn around and run away, leaving Dimitri to his fate.

I couldn't turn around. There was no possible way I could leave an unconscious Dimitri in the cave alone with a Strigoi, he was the love of my life, even at seventeen I was sure of that.

My feet reacted before my brain engaged. They jumped over Dimitri's unconscious body and leapt out towards the blonde haired, red eyed Strigoi.

"ROSE!"

I turned my head for the briefest of moments to glance over my shoulder, my mother was fifteen feet away from me almost at Dimitri's body. Dimitri's eyes opened, narrowed and then widened as he regained his senses. But it was too late.

I closed my eyes and prayed that it would be quick. His fangs ripped through the layers of flesh on my shoulder, I felt nothing but pure agony until the beautiful bliss set in. And then there was darkness.

-

My skin had once resembled the inside of an almond, a beautiful creamy complexion. To the human, untrained eye it still looked exactly the same but to me it looked slightly faded and pale. My hair while still long and dark it was now constantly shiny and had a gloss to it that could have made me a hair commercial model. My eyes often overlooked due to my other, more prominent features were no longer their soft, warm brown shade but a ravishing, angry blood red. The only thing that had remained the same were my curves, dangerous and very much distinguished.

"Excuse me." An irritatingly high pitched voice screamed in my ear, pushing into my back to make her way past me into the bathroom.

"Your excused." I growled, irritated by the littlest things these days. I closed my eyes and inhaled to calm myself but instead the smell of bleach and the girl's dewberry scented perfume washed over me like a tidal wave. "What did you do, shower in that cheap ass perfume? Next time do the public a service and remember less is more."

"Who the fu--" Her question died on her lips as I opened my eyes and glared at her through the mirror. She stopped mid approach and her mouth hung open ready to catch flies. But a minute later she was back on her approach, no longer intimidated by me. Oh how naive. "I think someone's been hit with the ugly stick and sweetie red contacts are so 2002. " She laughed at her own little joke. Her laughed weighed down on my nerves even more so than her nasal high pitched voice.

My right hand clenched into a fist, I could feel the blood pumping through my veins, urging me to lash out. My heart usually silent was beating rapidly against my chest, desperately trying to find a way out. The smell of her dewberry perfume was now washed away and covered with the beautiful sweet scent of the blood running through her veins. I licked my lips and let out a deep sigh. "Get out... now" I growled.

For a girl who didn't seem to get the hint the first time around, it seemed like she wised and sobered up because she was out of the bathroom within a blink of an eye. My hands reached out and grabbed ahold of the tiled bathroom counter. "Get a grip, Rose..." I took in a deep breath, her sweat was still lingering in the air but even more than that was here beautiful aroma of fear which was perfectly mixed with her blood.

I tensed for a moment, one quick moment which saw me break the tile counter. The pasty tiny remains from the edge of the counter were on the floor in front of me and in my hand. "Crap.." Shaking the tiny fragments from my hand, I bit down on my lip no longer consumed by the scent in the air but the mess that I had caused. What a way to try and remain covert, I chided myself.

"Rose..."

Looking up from the floor I found myself looking into a beautiful heart shaped face, warm brown eyes and an almost transparent body. "Jace, back so soon?"

A small smile touched his lips with my comment.

I had been told once that when a blood bond individual like myself passed on into the spirit world or became a member of the spine chilling, undead blood sucking crew that the bond would break because the undead aren't capable of maintaining or even producing any kind of magic. Well I had two months of experience that told me otherwise and I even got to put a little cherry on top of that cake because the bond that should have been supposedly broken was in top form, even giving the dead a voice.

"You need to come... now." The teenage boy turned and walked out of the bathroom, expecting me to follow like the little lost lamb that I was.

"Still bossy I see..." I sighed and stomped my foot as I turned in my black three inch boots and followed him out of the bathroom, weaving in and out of the dancing crowd. Jace had been stalking me for a little over three weeks, popping up whenever he needed me to do his bidding, or at least that was the way I viewed it.

We stepped outside of the club and the sharp cold air bit away at my skin but I didn't mind it, in a way it was refreshing.

Jace stopped and looked across the short distance between us and nodded his head to the left to which I shrugged. If he wanted something he was going to have to ask for it. "Around the corner, she'll scream..."

By the timing you would have thought it was planned. A loud scream echoed through the streets, a scream filled with horror and excruciating pain. It wouldn't last long, it never did. I sighed, slightly pissed off. Why did I have to be the one that ghosts followed and heckled until I did as they wanted? "This isn't my destiny.." But maybe it was.

I rounded the corner with my newly inherited super quick speedy feet and found myself witnessing an almost orgasmic sound coming from darkened corner of the alley way. "Gross.." Folding my arms across my chest, I frowned. "Are you done yet?"

"Go find your own." Came the response in a low throaty growl.

When it came to Strigoi, they... we... didn't tend to play well with others, it was case of what I liked to call only child syndrome. "Oh come on now, there's plenty enough to share." I quickly surveyed my opponent. Approximately six foot in height, well built was probably a big gym fan before his turning, dark cinnamon colored hair and a scent washed in blood.

He stopped abruptly and sniffed the air like a dog on a mission. Slowly he turned and peered at me over his shoulder, his bright red eyes boring directly down on me. "You smell different."

"I get that alot. I like to shower, wear a little perfume, you know keep up some kind of general hygiene...unlike some." My eyes scanned his torso as he turned his body to face me completely apparently to the annoyance of his meal, who let out a disappointed whimper.

The Strigoi turned back to look at the girl, clearly torn between the two of us which insulted me a little.

"Oh come on, a little rough and tumble with someone your equal and you might even get lucky." I joked, trying to bait him to me. "But then you might not...depends if you can handle it."

And with the dig at his manhood he was on me before I had a chance to move. He was quick throwing his well muscled arm around my neck, pulling by body tight up next to his. He brought his nose down and skimmed along my neck, inhaling. "You smell different." I felt his moist tongue glide across my skin which sent an open shiver down my spine.

"Yeah..." I struggled to speak as his arm tightened around my neck. My fingers tucked into the palm of my hand with my nails digging through my skin. "Well you smell just like the rest." I threw both of my elbows back and hit him hard in the abdomen, loosening his grip on me. I reached up grabbed the arm that was still around my neck and slowly tackled him for ownership of my own personal space. His arm slowly started to ease up and away from my neck and I grinned, spinning on my left heel while throwing him a right handed jab.

I jumped back from him and watched him stagger for the briefest of moments before he once again lunged at me, only this time I was prepared. I took a hold of the wrist that he aimed at my face and twisted it behind his back, hearing a very audible click as I pushed him up against the club's exterior wall. "Ouch, I think that was a shoulder pop.." I grinned and leaned up to whisper in his ear as he struggled against my hold. "You wanna know why I smell different?" He had commented on my scent, they all did before the time came... "It's because I am." And with one quick snoop, my mouth was on his neck and my fangs ripped through the layers of his flesh and sucked the undead life from him.

"Oh my god..."

The whimper came like a buzzing background noise as I fed. The mixture of human and Moroi blood made my mouth water as I dropped his lifeless body to the floor, closing my eyes and inhaling the beautiful scent.

"Rose?"

Cold water rushed over me as I turned and viewed for the first time the man's victim. Small face, curly hair, cute outfit... young, naive and Moroi. Her baby blues were framed with a confused brow as she looked up at me. "Mia." I licked the remaining blood from my lips and sighed. "You really shouldn't be here..."

--

Donned with some ultra cool, reflective lens aviators I strolled through the club with Mia in my arms, walking past and ignoring the collective stares we were receiving. Maybe it was because I was decked out in skinny jeans, black boots, leather jacket and wearing a pair of sunglasses in a nightclub or maybe it was the fact that a five foot six girl was carrying another girl through a club as though she were as light as a feather... and to be fair, she was.

We left the main foyer of the club and went into the back.

"Excuse me you can't go in there..."

"Uh huh." I kicked at the managers door which not only opened the wooden door but knocked it completely off of its hinges. Strolling inside I looked across at the well dressed Moroi man sat behind the managers desk and placed Mia down in the chair in front of the desk. "She needs a feeder, she's lost alot of blood."

"What happened?" He stood from behind the desk and approached the two of us. I took a couple of steps back so my back was against the wall. He examined her and then looked up at me with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little buzzed. There's a dead strigoi in the back alley way hidden behind a dumpster, I didn't have time to dispose of the body."

"Thank you..." He turned and faced his desk, pressing a button on the phone. "We need a first aid kit and a feeder in here." He turned back to face me, "You should probably go before..."

"A deal's a deal. I keep your customers safe and you keep me hidden. Although maybe now..." I looked down at an unconscious Mia, she had seen my face, she knew that I was still alive, or at least I was still around. "I should go, I wouldn't want to get either of us in any more trouble than we're already in."

"She can be compelled.." He offered up an alternative.

"No, it's cool... I shouldn't have stayed here so long anyway. But your offer was too good to pass up." I grinned recalling when he had come across me in a nightclub. Instead of calling backup telling them there was a Strigoi loose in the nightclub, he took me aside and offered me protection. I didn't question why he wanted to help me or even why he had no guardians surrounding his every move. I was new to being a member of the undead not to mention alone and confused. I kept my wits about me, readying myself for the day when he would send in guardians to kill me, I was prepared but that day had never come.

"Where will you go?" He asked.

"I'll stick around Missouri for now...I have people here I need to keep an eye on. But sooner or later, I'll have to move around." There was too much at risk for me to stay in one spot too long. Someone would uncover who I was and hunt me down, either Moroi or Strigoi. I made my way to the doorway and stopped midway through. "Thank you... for everything. I won't forget it, Abe..."

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