Chapter 1
"Goodbye my beloved family."My last words I spoke as they slept soundlessly in their master bedroom. My little sister wrapped under my mother's left arm and my father's right. I just wanted to watch them, but I couldn't. I had to get away from them. Not for me but for them. It wasn't that I was any trouble to them; it's that I wasn't just some six year old who wanted to go to a moroi school and grow up in politics. I wanted to protect those I cared for no matter what it cost me. Besides politics didn't really suit my interest.
I knew more than any six year old should about how the world works. Most from watching and learning from my grandfather. Being part of a royal family was hard enough. Being part of a dying one was even harder. So I decided to leave, but first I needed to make sure my brother would keep his mouth shut about this. I already whipped my families' minds of my existence. Not one would remember ever watching their spirit using little boy laughing a playing around with them. Only my brother would and lucky was I that I wasn't introduced to the world yet. I was good with my powers but I couldn't erase everyone's minds. Could I? I laughed thinking of what could happen in the near future when I honed in on them.
Spirit was lost but there were a few books I found in a cabin out in the woods a few nights ago. I stayed up all day and night reading about what it could do. There weren't many solid facts but a lot of rumors about dream walking, healing, mind control, and charming stakes. Mind control was all I needed to learn then so I practiced on my guardian. I started simple making him do simple tasks he normally wouldn't do. Such as leaving me alone when he's to be guarding me or making him forget minor things. Then I progressed onto harder tasks such as making him forget important events and causing trouble. Before I knew it I had mastered this and I could easily heal things like animals and minor wounds. I was set and ready to leave to do whatever I could to rid this world of strigoi.
So the day before I had walked up to my guardian while he was reading his favorite book "Three." A really boring boom threat story if you ask me. I mean the main character had problems that should have been easily noticeable. The funny thing was his lover was himself. I mean the professor was my favorite character. Anyways I pulled is shirt to get his attention. "Mister Tom." I said trying to look him in his eyes. Not easy when he stands at six foot one. I mean I was tall for my age at four foot five I was up to his waist.
"If it isn't my favorite little boy." He jokingly laughed as he picked me up in his arms and set me on his lap after putting his book down careful not to lose the page number
. "Did they figure out it was him yet?" I asked pointing to his book with a smirk across my lips. His eyebrow rose as he clearly wasn't that far yet. I laughed as he realized what I had just said.
"Always taking the fun away from me aren't you. Can't I read a book without you spoiling the end for once? I mean some of us just can't read as fast as you or make since of the story plot." He smirked figuring I didn't understand most of what he said.
"Oh please if you want to waste your time reading that boring book, go ahead it might teach you that not all stories have the happy ever after ending you adults beat into our young minds." I laughed as his eyes widened. Gottcha, I locked eyes with him and started reading his thought. He was surprised but soon that faded as I input my directive into his mind and erased my existence. His mind lit up like a firework as his head dropped.
Later that night I came to find he had been killed by a strigoi after he hit on his superior. A tear slipped down my cheek as I regretted making him hit on his boss. I meant only to get him sent to jail so he couldn't come back to me in case I failed at messing with his memory. I went to my room and sat on my bed thinking about what had happened earlier that day. How his pearl white smile would never be seen by anyone again. How his grainy beard would never comfort anyone again. His strong features that made him so handsome to many moroi never put to us. And no family to moron his lose. I know I shouldn't feel like he was family. But I didn't care even if he was a dhampir like my sisters best friend. I know we are taught they are only here to protect us but I couldn't watch as they were mistreated. It's why I didn't have many moroi friends. So I raised my fist over my heart and vowed to leave that day.
That brings me to now as I walked into my brother's room. My heartbeat was fast and my hands sweaty with my short flashback of events. I clenched my fist and knocked on his door. The noise barely loud enough for him to hear. For some reason my hearing was acute cause I could hear his heart skip a beat as he jolted awake and walked towards his door. Almost instantly I could tell he knew it was me. His aura lit up as he opened the door and pulled me inside locking the door behind him. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked as he sat down on his bed. My nose cringed as I thought I smelled like musky sweat and some other strange smell. I nodded and hugged him. Then I erased his mind and he fell down onto his bed knocked out. I smiled and left his room running to mine as quietly as I could. I frowned as it seemed during the night the halls all changed and it became a maze. But after a while I made it to my room grabbed everything a needed. A silver stake, the book from the cabin, some food, and a small blanket. I already had money in my pocket that should help me out later on, but I took some more and put it in the backpack before closing it and slinging it over my shoulder. I opened my window and was about to climb out but I decided to go to the kitchen for a quick snack. So I set my bag down and tip toed down the grand stairs to the kitchen. About three feet from the door I jumped to the wall hearing someone inside.
I peaked around to see my sister's best friend with my sister eating a snack. They turned my way but I had already ducked behind the wall. I ran to the left as I heard one of them coming towards me. Slipping into the broom closet I heard them start to talk."Stay here it could be a strigoi." I heard as footsteps left the kitchen, but then I heard someone running and the first pair stopped and sounded like she was yanked back.
"Stop you can't go out there; you're not a guardian yet. Please stop and let's go get someone." My sister thankfully intervened. I waited a few minutes before I left and ran back upstairs grabbing my bag and climbing out the window. I knew I had only a little time before guardians swarmed the house and got to everyone. So I ran to the church and ducked and hid behind grave stones. Before long I was there and heading to the walls. Getting there was easy getting over was the hard part. Luckily Tom had taught my some things and from there I learned by myself so I wedged myself between a building and a wall looking up at a tree as a tear slipped across my face. I whipped it away with my sleeve and slowly pushed myself up the moss covered stone wall. It was cold and rough against my back but I bit my lip and reached for the nearest branch and pulled myself up. Satisfied I climbed over the wall in the tree and slide down the tree and rolled reducing the force of the landing. It stung but I pushed forward and off into the forest looking towards my future and silently saying my goodbyes to everyone. Most had forgotten and sooner or later I would never be remembered. A tear slipped down my cheek as I dodged tree roots and trees.
I came to a dirt road around an hour later just as daylight began to fade. It had been twelve am when I left and I knew it was noon by now. So I began to look for shelter for the night so I could reduce the threat of strigoi attacks. After an hour of searching I found a cave hidden extremely well. Perfect I thought as I knelt down and opened my bag grabbing To—my stake. No time to cry I was no little kid I had to keep going, so I did surprised to find it was empty except for a fresh water lake inside. Looks like my luck is holding up so far I laughed setting my bag down and walking slowly over to the lake. It smelled so great after everything I had just been through. So I jumped in not caring how cold it was against my skin. I stayed under water for a minute or two enjoying the fill of the water until my lungs ran low on oxygen so I swam back up breaking the surface with a splash.
After an hour of swimming I got out and took off my soaked shirt laying it under me as I slowly dried off. Closing my eyes I dreamed of my family and how they would change without me ever being there. Would my sister still fight for what she believes in or would she become the snobs I never could get along with. Hopefully she wouldn't hate anyone like me. Then I thought of my brother who hit on so many girls. A laugh filled the room and I realized I was staring up at the ceiling laughing. Oh, how I would miss every time my sister would smile and how her friend would act so tough to protect her. I smiled knowing hopefully I made the right choice. No matter what happens from now on I'll watch over them in my dreams. I looked around the cave for a spot to set everything up and found it instantly. It was right under a hole in the ceiling and when I looked out a crescent moon was just breaking out through the clouds. When I thought about it now I knew that that moon meant something to me. I reached towards it and laughed imagining I could feel it touching my being. That was impossible right? Who knew it could I mean stranger things have happened.
I pulled out the blanket and laid it across the smooth sandstone ground. It stood out as a royal blue color against the sandy colors that surrounded it. I was finally dry after two hours so I put my shirt back on and laid down on the soft thin blanket. I didn't know what it was made of but it sure was comfortable. That's when I remember that I left one shred of evidence behind, my birth record. It sat hidden in a safe somewhere in the house only my father knew someday they would find it but maybe by then I would be back to explain. Until then I didn't really care at this point as sleep soon took me over. The last thing I remember was holding my stake close to my chest as I closed my eyes for the last time that night.
I smiled and opened my eyes to a full moon and sighed as I sat up staring of into the lights of the city. Remembering that night was hard enough these past few years but tonight I was happy I still held onto my past. Now at the age of seventeen I barely looked back or remembered my past. So much has changed since then and I was never around. And to make matters worse I sensed strigoi sounding my location fast. I jumped to my feet and woke my best friend. He jumped to a start about to complain when he took one look at m face and knew. Immediately he grabbed his stake and crept towards the metallic door. My stake already in hand I followed behind him ready to take down the next one I knew would come. Just as we reached the door the door went flying at us. I jumped to the right spinning on my hand to automatically launch myself at the attackers. They were fast but I was faster, in a second I had his arm pinned to the wall and my stake entering his chest. I looked him in his red ringed eyes and wished him safe travels before his body crumbled to the ground.
A fist came flying at me and it was a good thing I had great reflexes because I barely dodged it. I looked back at her to see she had at least ten more backing her up. I took a quick glance back to see Blitz holding his bleeding head. "Shit" I swore silently as he was surrounded by what looked to be twenty. Damn they must have gotten smarter because this was a large force. Suddenly my right eye started to hurt and the world started to loop in circles and blur. I realized I had been punched and I turned just in time to be pinned to a wall with both my arms pinned to the brick wall. Then I felt it a sharp pair of fangs pierced my neck. It hurt but then to it started to fade instantly. I took a deep breath and trusted my shoulder into her mouth and I heard what I realized was her fang snapping. I smiled and ran up her body forcing the two holding my arms to let go as a preformed a flip and landed. My vision cleared as the adrenaline kicked in rapidly. Before I could react I was kicked into the brick wall. I knew it broke because the next thing I knew I was dangling over the edge of the building. Looking up I saw a new female strigoi grabbing my arm.
"Drop the stake and I'll keep you alive for now." She hissed. I looked around for another way to escape. Shit there was none, or at least one that would work to my advantage. Then I saw it like it was glowing path way. I scratched her hand with the stake and dropped. Immediately I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up as I punched through the window and fell onto the wooden floor. Luckily no one lived in this abandoned hotel. The door burst open and one of them charged me again as I just got to my feet. Spinning under his first punch I staked him through his back wishing him farewell as he fell out the window. Another instantly leapt forward only to meet my extended kick. He stumbled back just as I jumped forward placing my hand on his shoulder and launching myself at his teammate. My stake clipped his friend's neck as I knocked him into the wall causing it to break. Coming to my senses I looked up as a foot kicked me straight in the chest. Hearing my ribcage crack I lose control of my breathing and started to cough. The adrenaline had worn off by now and all the pain came at me all at once and I couldn't help but let out a small cry of pain.
They pulled me to my feet and dragged me up the stairs to the roof where I saw him. The strigoi female I had forced to let go of me had my best friend between her fangs. My eyes widened when I realized he was about dead. She prepared to snap his neck and I looked down. I looked down and hoped if he died that this time I would die with the ones I loved most. There was no point in begging them to stop and no point in ever showing them weakness. "Force him to watch I want him to see this before he goes." She smirked as my head was forced up. "Watch as you friend undergoes the change." Change what!? Not now I couldn't watch as she drained him. I know this was just about as bad as it can be. I looked him in the eye only to see the fear he had been holding and every moment of his life shatter. He was gone and I was my fault again. I let another one of my friends die to the hands of strigoi. He so far has had the worst fate of being turned.
I watched in agony as she slit her wrist and tilted his head back so he would swallow the blood. After a minute he coughed and he looked at me with murderous lust in his eyes. Coming to his feet he walked slowly towards me. I swore I would free him of this curse if it was the last thing I did. Because with what I had left I grabbed the strigoi holding me and with all my force flipped him over my back, and kicked him at my newly turned strigoi friend. They both fell back as the others rushed forward. I gripped my hidden stake and spun around and staked the broken fanged female and used her as my shield while I took down strigoi after strigoi.
It hurt so much to watch what I had been so close to attack you. He and I were the last two standing as bodies covered the floor. It was almost sunrise and the winds were calming but I was too busy to notice as I dropped a formally turned dhampir. I should have used my magic but I had vowed never to use it to fight anyone until now. With a simple snap of my figures his body burst into flames as he jumped at me. His body hit the ground as he cried out in pain. I watched as the sun rose and the fire fade away. The burning started as I stepped on his stomach. "Kill me." He screamed and begged as he covered his burning face. So I did hearing him thank me as he finally fell apart turning into dust. I placed his stake in the ground and left never looking back. "It's time to find someone to teach me. I Oathkeeper Dragomir will become strong enough to protect my family and friends." I whispered to myself as I changed then and there.