PROLOGUE

I felt dazed, like I was waking up from a dream. Only it would be better described as a nightmare. I was trapped, and my eyes contemplated opening. Only I knew my surroundings so well that I really did prefer the darkness. As much as I wanted to leave here, I knew it would be worse when I did. Much worse. But, oh how I longed to see my friends again. I could even hug my mum right now, that's how desperate I was for company.

The past three months had been spent with no contact from the outside world. The cell I had been locked away in was about 3x2m and aside from the single bed in the corner completely empty. I now realised, the tallies they always showed you in the movies that were the 'criminals ways of counting their days' were utter bullshit. Firstly, they didn't even give me a pen or piece of chalk, and there was no way in hell I'd cut myself just to count my time in this miserable place, not when I was counting in my head. And secondly, wouldn't criminals think to just ask their jailers? Though I doubted the guardians outside the bars of my cell would say anything to the girl who was thought to have killed their queen.

Oh yeah, did I mention that's why I'm here? Some bastard stole my stake and drove it straight through Queen Tatiana's heart. Of course the Moroi thought to suspect me: aside from the obvious fact that my stake was used, I had on numerous occasions mouthed off to the queen, calling her a 'sanctimonious bitch' and the like. As if that wasn t enough, she had suspected a romantic involvement with her great-nephew and myself; though it wasn't true at first, the night of her murder we had come close to having sex. Then there was also the matter of the ridiculous age law, decreeing dhampirs eligible to graduate at the age of 16. I had made my opinions on the stupidity of this law known, only to find out after Tatiana's death that she had done it for the greater good. However, if my best friend, Lissa, had been able to vote the law would not have been passed. The 'Quorum' says that she needs another family member to take her place on the council, which is possibly one of the worst laws the Moroi have ever come up with.

So now I have to find Lissa's half sibling (who Tatiana tipped me off about) from inside the four walls of my cell. I have thought long and hard these past months to no avail, and all that's left now is to wait for my trial, which is tomorrow. It's probably going to result in my execution, and then nobody will ever find the illegitimate son or daughter of Eric Dragomir. I could probably tell Adrian and Liss about it before they put me on trial; though I'm doubting I'll be allowed to see visitors, Adrian and Lissa's element are a large help.

You see, every Moroi specialises in one of the five elements: air, fire, water, earth or spirit. Up until recently, everyone had forgotten spirit existed, and those who had it were generally thought to have not specialised. I suppose we would have thought the same for Lissa, if not for one thing. In the car accident that killed her parents and her brother Andre a few years ago, I should have died. Well, technically I did. Something inside Lissa awakened the spirit and she brought me back, making me shadow-kissed and giving me some interesting abilities. I can see ghosts, though I really would rather not be able to. But I also have a bond with Liss, and it allows me to know her thoughts and feel her emotions. So yeah, then aside from Lissa's awesome healing abilities, she has spirit-induced super compulsion though all Moroi have compulsion to a certain extent and can see auras, which Adrian taught her. Because all spirit users can do different things, Adrian can't heal as well as Lissa, though he's learning. He can, however, walk through people's dreams, which has been useful in some cases. Mostly, it just gets annoying. I would need it to tell him about the illegitimate Dragomir, so I needed him to know that I wanted to see him tonight. I doubted the guards would tell him that though, as they never were really that helpful, especially when Dimitri had been locked away down here.

Ah, Dimitri. As usual, my thoughts had wandered to him. He had been my mentor back when I attended St. Vladimir s Academy, a school for Moroi and dhampirs. After the car accident, Lissa and I had run away and lived among humans for two years. Dimitri had been among the guardians who came and took us back to the academy. Headmistress Kirova hadn't wanted me back, but Dimitri had argued my case and agreed to mentor me. We grew closer, and when the psycho Victor Dashkov had kidnapped Lissa for her healing abilities, he placed Dimitri and I under a lust charm, which had resulted to me nearly losing my virginity to him then and there. After that we tried keeping our distance, but then the night of the school's attack, we gave in to each other. It was amazing, but in the rescue mission that we were both part of, he was turned into a Strigoi: an undead vampire who gets satisfaction from blood, power and killing. I followed him to Siberia to free him from that state, only to be taken as his blood whore and nearly turned myself. I ran away and killed him, or so I had thought.

A twisted chain of events had followed, and he was now a dhampir once more, thanks to spirit and Lissa's determination. I had since graduated and been flown to the Royal Court to get my guarding assignments before being prosecuted for high treason. Dimitri had told me he no longer loved me, and at the time I thought my heart would never heal, however I now know that I didn't need a Russian God to survive. Adrian Ivashkov had put the pieces of my broken heart back together, and I owed it to him to give him a chance after everything I'd put him through.

Anyway, how was I to contact Adrian? How could I possibly find Lissa's half sibling before my inevitable execution after tomorrow's trial? Was there a way to escape my impending fate?

Maybe I would wake up from this terrible nightmare. For now, only time would tell what was to become of me...


Okay, so that's just a recap for anyone who doesn't remember. Though if you don't, I wonder why you're reading this? Haha. My first fanfic, please review... I'd love to know what you think. I wrote the next 5 chapters over the holidays, but I want to know people actually bother reading this, or I won't be very motivated :(
So yeah... Just hit that button! :)

- Jess !