"You never know what you have until you lose it, and once you lose, you can never get it back."
Story of my life. The day I lost Dimitri was the day I died inside. I felt a piece of my heart, and quite possibly my sanity, break off and fade into nothing. He was my life, my everything; I need him to survive. Every moment thinking about how he's out wandering the streets killing innocent people without regret has me falling deeper and deeper into the vortex of despair that I'm already so deep in, before, finally… it swallows me whole. The day Dimitri became a Strigoi still haunts me and my dreams. Images of my Russian god with pale white skin, glowing red eyes and fangs sends chills down my spine and… to be honest, it scares me.
I can see the doubt in your eyes. You don't believe me, do you?
There are two races of vampire in the world; the good and the bad. The good vampires are called Moroi. Moroi are living vampires who possess the ability to wield magic in each of the elements; fire, air, water, earth and spirit. They're tall, slender creatures and can't take a lot of sunlight, but they do have superhuman sight, hearing and smell.
Strigoi are the opposite. They're the creatures that go bump in the night, your typical vampire, you could say. They're immortal, incredibly fast and strong, they can't go out into the sun and kill without thinking twice. There are only three ways to kill Strigoi – a silver stake through the heart, setting them on fire and decapitation.
Both races drink blood – it makes them a vampire. However, Moroi don't kill for blood. Instead, they have humans who donate willingly. These humans are called feeders and are what you could call vampire bite junkies as a Moroi bite contains endorphins that can be addictive. But if a Moroi goes overboard and kills a human while drinking, they become Strigoi. Also, if a Strigoi drinks someone's blood and then feeds them Strigoi blood, then well… you get a Strigoi. This could happen to anyone; Moroi, human and Dhampir.
Dhampirs are half human, half Moroi. They get the best traits from both races – the sturdiness and strength from humans and the good senses and fast reflexes from the Moroi. They can also venture out into the sun as much as they want. The result being that Dhampirs makes really good bodyguards for Moroi. Or the technical term; Guardians. I'm a Dhampir. Dimitri was a dhampir.
How could this happen? To me? To him? Let me start from the beginning. Dimitri and I had just given into our feelings and we were walking back to the academy when the Strigoi attacked. Dimitri told me to go get help and it took everything in me not to turn around and help him fight. A large battle ensued and many lost their lives; Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi alike. Strigoi escaped though and took captives along for the ride. With my shadow – kissed ability to see ghosts, I asked my friend Mason – who had been killed by a Strigoi a few months before. With the help of a map, Mason was able to tell me, well show me, where the Strigoi were hiding. Much to my dismay, we had to wait for more Guardians to arrive before we went on a rescue mission. "To replenish numbers," my mother had said. Eventually, the Guardians arrived and as a large group we set off, a few fire using Moroi accompanying us. At first, I had to guard the entrance of the caves with a few novices and a couple of Guardians. But when Guardians were trapped by falling rubble, me and a Guardian were sent in to help. It seemed we were winning when we got to the main domain of the caves, but more Strigoi appeared and my mother called retreat. We were running back to the entrance, passing two groups of Strigoi, the first ignoring us. The second however, didn't and we lost only one Guardian in that struggle. I remember exactly how I felt when I saw Dimitri's group heading towards us. Relief and then shock, horror, despair as the group of Strigoi that had ignored us when we passed, attacked and the blond Strigoi took him. That was the only time I saw Dimitri falter. A scream left my lips and I went to rush to his aid, but Stan stopped me. No one wanted to see one of the best guardians turn Strigoi, but they couldn't let me suffer the same or worse fate. The only thing that made me turn my back and run was that I remembered Dimitri saying that he'd rather die than see me dead. And so, I ran. Ran back to the academy and behind the safety of the wards.
After the service, I stayed there in the church, curled up in a ball, lost in my mind… The promise. The promise Dimitri and I had made during a car trip to the mall. We had said if one of us ever became Strigoi, we would want someone to kill us. And now, I was that someone. I had to do it. No, I needed to do it. It would be hard, sending a stake through the one I love's heart, but it would be better than leaving him Strigoi, letting him kill relentlessly.
But there were consequences to fulfilling this promise. I had to drop out of school, months before graduation and leave everything and everyone behind. Including my best friend, Lissa. It hurt, leaving Lissa, but I couldn't allow the last Dragomir to be in danger. I couldn't lose her too. As I turned my back on my bond mate, my best friend, I felt another piece of my heart break off and fade away.
I found out from Mason that Dimitri had returned to Siberia, Russia. With this new-found information, I borrowed money from Adrian – a royal Moroi and a good friend – and prepared myself for my journey. And then I set off… set off to kill the man I loved.