Hi everyone, I'm back! :) Sorry for the delay, I know I said that I would hopefully have this story up in about two weeks, and I would have but VCE has been stealing all my focus at the moment. But, from now on I should be updating about once a week, so look out for the new chapters :) Anyway, if you haven't read the summary yet here it is:

" It's been ten years since Rose had to fight to keep her own life, and now she has to risk it again to save a loved one. But it's not just Stirgoi that she will have to fight, this time the game has changed and there is an old yet new player on the field..."

NOTE: Rated M for violence and future character deaths.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

Anyway, without further ado, here is there beginning of my next story... Enjoy! XD


Vampire Academy: The Lost Spirit
Chapter One

MY TOES CURLED AGAINST THE cold sand as I stared out into the never ending black water that was the ocean. The stars twinkled above in the night sky, trying to outshine the full moon. But it was too powerful for them, and it's light to bright for it to even be a fair challenge. Its light glowed across the almost deserted beach, helping watch over the ones I had sworn to always protect. The Dragomir family.

My Dhampir eyes easily allowed me to see Ella and Alaric playing in the shallow water whilst their parents relaxed on a few neatly arranged beach towels. Lissa and Christian both watched their children play teasingly in the water, enjoying the peace that they knew would soon end.

"Rose,"came the static voice of my old friend, Eddie Castile, from my almost invisible earpiece.

"Yeah?" I couldn't make them out, but I knew that somewhere, just beyond the outskirts of the beach there were ten highly trained Guardians keeping an eye on the surrounding beach, making sure it was clear of any danger. Ever since Lissa had become Queen, she couldn't go anywhere without an escort of at least six Guardians. She would have settled for that number to if it hadn't been for the fact that the beach was a huge place, and they needed more Guardians to keep an eye out for trouble. And by trouble I mean Stirgoi.

"Anything to report?" He asked, sounding a bit bored. I sighed, knowing the feeling. We hadn't had any action in ages. Which, believe me is a good thing, but it does get tiring doing nothing.

"Nope, nothing to report. Unless you're interested in knowing that a crab tried to bite me before." It was a known fact that animals or creatures of any sort did not like Dhampirs. Eddie's laugh came through the radio.

"That poor crab..." I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Yeah, did I mention that we're having sea food for dinner tonight?" I waited for Eddie's reply, but none came. "Oh come on, you know I'm joking. And since when did you become such an animal lover?" I teased, trying to egg him on. But the only thing I got in return was the echo of my own voice as it travelled across dark, sandy beach. I tried a few more times, but there was no reply. I knew that if no-one was answering that it was a bad sign. And I took the nauseating feeling in my stomach as an even worse sign.

Crap.

"Liss, we need to go. Now." I tried to stay calm, so as not to alarm the kids. But Lissa and Christian could both detect the seriousness in my voice and quickly got to their feet.

"Come on kids, we all need to go," Lissa called to them as we all headed toward where they were playing.

"But why?" Ella asked in a whinging tone. She was now five years old, and her brother was now seven. Ella was too young to understand what was happening, but Alaric, was old enough to know the warning signs of a Stirgoi attack. He grabbed his sister's hand and somehow managed to coax her into coming out of the water. Christian wordlessly scooped up Ella into his arms while Alaric held onto his mother's hand.

"How many?" asked Christian.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good. There's enough that I can't get in contact with any of the other Guardians, which means that we have to get out of here now." My voice was strong and sharp, and I knew that if Dimitri was here, even he wouldn't be able to question my authority. But he wasn't. And for a moment I felt my heart erne for him, but I pushed back those feelings. I'll see him when I get back to Court, I told myself. Just focus Rose.

And I did. We hurried along the beach, heading towards where my black SUV van was parked- yeah, that's right. I have my own SUV. I held my stake in my right hand, ready to strike at the slightest movement.

We were almost there, just a few meters away from the van when I saw a flash of red and my feet buckled from under me. I felt the pressure of my chest being crushed before I recognised the figure on top of me.

"Carly," I sneered. I didn't wait to hear the snide come back that was sure to come; I slashed my stake at her face and kicked her back with all my might. She went tumbling backwards, but was back on her feet again in a flash. I could see the glow of flames erupt beside me and knew that Christian was by my side. I chanced a glance behind me to see a very scared Ella and Alaric clutching to Lissa's arms as they all watched in fear.

Christian moulded his fire into a ball and aimed it at her face. But she was too quick, and the fire ball missed and hit a nearby tree instead. But it did distract her, which was good enough for me. I had her, and I knew she realised this to. But as I went for her heart, all she did was smile. My stake had just entered her chest when I heard Lissa scream.
Without thinking, I turned around to find that Lissa was fine, but Christian was lying on the ground unconscious. Carly laughed as she tore out my stake and kicked me in the back, sending me flying over to where Christian lay.

I jumped to my feet and tried to keep an eye on all my surroundings. I knew that there would have to be another Stirgoi out there as Carly wasn't the one who had knocked Christian out.

I swore.

Without Christians help, how was I going to protect everyone? Turns out, Carly had come to the same conclusion. She leaped towards me and grabbed my wrists. I kicked her feet from underneath her, but this turned out to be a bad idea. Because as she fell, she didn't let go of my wrists and something had to give. I felt the bones in my right hand crack under pressure, and my stake went tumbling to the ground.

Ignoring the pain, I bent down to grab it with my left, but Carly was faster and kicked it from out of my reach and into the water. Running out of ideas, I grabbed the only weapon I had beside my silver stake. My gun.

"Oh, I wouldn't use that if I were you."

I'd been fast, but not fast enough. Carly had managed to duck behind me, and when I turned to fight I saw that in her arms was an extremely frightened Ella. Lissa had tears running down her cheeks, scared out of her mind for her daughter's safety. And though I tried not to show it, I felt exactly the same way.

With Ella in the way, there was no way I could shoot at Carly. Which was never going to have kill her, but it would have slowed her down. But even that was out of the question now, and I was running out of ideas.

"Let her go, she's not the one you want," Lissa commanded in a shaky voice. Carly's sharp eyes fell on me as she spoke.

"No, she's not the one I want." Shivers ran down my spine as I gathered her meaning, but before I could say anything, Carly ran for it.
Lissa cried out in misery.

"NO! ELLA!"

I saw Carly running off into the nearby woods, and Eddie and the other Guardians emerging from the bushes. So without a second thought I grabbed my stake from the water and ran after her. I didn't like leaving Lissa, Alaric and Christian behind. But I knew that they would be safe and I also knew that Lissa would never forgive me if I didn't get Ella back. After all, this was my fault.

Carly became a distant blur as I raced after her, dodging trees and roots as I went. But it was a useless attempt. I knew I would never be able to keep up. But I couldn't make my feet stop either. I will find them, I have to...

I started to fill with hope when I saw a figure emerge from the trees up ahead, but that quickly deflated when I realised it wasn't who I was looking for. It turned out to be a young female Stirgoi with blonde curly hair and red rimmed blue eyes. She smiled when she saw me.

"I've been expecting you Rose Hathaway."

Argh! I had no time to fight this chick. I needed to go save Ella.

"Well, good for you. But I'm kind of busy, so let's reschedule... whatever this is for some other time okay?" I tried to skirt around her, but she blocked my way.

"You're not going anywhere," she said in a soft but deadly tone.

"Fine, let's hurry up and get this over with then," I said impatiently. I couldn't tell why she looked amused, but it didn't really matter. I knew I could finish her off easily.

I lunged for her, but was knocked onto my side before I could even reach her. I got up and looked around, but no-one else was there. But that didn't make any sense; I knew the Stirgoi in front of me hadn't attacked. So, who had? I got my answer a second later when I was pushed to the ground. I looked up to the face above me and gasped. No, it couldn't be. It was impossible.

It was impossible, but true. This person, who had no doubt knocked out Christian and was the one who was now holding me down, was a person I had known to be dead. A person who had given their life up to save mine, and a person who I had watched cross over to the other side. A person who was now trying to kill me.

It was Mason.


That's the end of chapter one, I hope you all liked it!
Any thoughts on how/why Mason's turned up?
Next chapter up soon!
Please remember to R&R! XD