Chapter 1

Rose POV

Being woken up at 7pm in the middle of winter when, even I feel cold, by a strigoi leering over my bed watching me sleep was not my ideal wake up call. The evil, twisted smirk that this particular strigoi was wearing scared me more than it should have. I was the infamous Rosemarie Hathaway, 19 years old, and had more strigoi kills under my belt than most guardians twice or three times my age, which meant that I didn't scare easily. I don't know what it was about this one but it scared me more than normal, it gave me a bad feeling that it was the end for me and my feelings were never wrong. I was also trained by the most badass guardian out there, Dimitri Belicov, who also happens to be my fiancé. We met when Lissa and I returned from our 'adventure' and Dimitri had just graduated. He was ahead of his classes and graduated 2 years earlier than normal, after he graduated in Russia where he was born and raised, he left his family and transferred to St Vladimir's Academy because we were short on guardians. Olena, Dimitri's mum was the best cook that I had ever had the honour of meeting. If anyone should know a good cook it would be me, I love food very, very much. Anyway the point is that Dimitri and I miss his family very much, over the two years that we have been together I have gotten to know and love his family like my own. We fell in love and as they say the rest is history. Dimitri became best friends with Christian Ozera, my best friend Lissa's boyfriend.

Lissa and Christian are moroi, good vampires who can control one of the five elements, fire, water, air, earth and spirit. Lissa controls spirit, which up until recently kept me bound to her. I was her shadowkissed guardian, the bond was formed when I died in the same car accident that killed Lissa's parents and brother, Lissa used her power of healing to bring me back. The bond was broken when I was shot by Christian's cousin, Tasha Ozera because she wanted Dimitri and with me around she couldn't have him. I recovered on my own without the help of spirit which freed me from the bond. I miss it sometimes, it was much easier to keep Lissa safe with the bond but it's easier to be myself without another person in my head as much as I love Lissa I don't need to know her every thought. Christian, or as I like to call him sparky or pryo, specialises in fire. I think of him as my brother and would rather die than let anything happen to him although I would also rather die than let him know how I really feel about him. Moroi can reproduce with other moroi, dhampires and humans; though reproducing with humans is seen as taboo. Dimitri and I are dhampires; we are stronger and faster with better hearing and eyesight than humans. Moroi are seen as weak compared to us but their hearing and eyesight is about the same if not better. We can only reproduce with moroi which means that to carry on our race, we have to make sure that the moroi survive therefore we have become their protectors, their guardians. Strigoi are pure evil, they kill innocent people with no regret or remorse. They burn in the sunlight, are deathly pale and have red rings around their eyes. When you are turned you loose all sense of any morals that you used to have. There is two ways for moroi to be turned strigoi and one way for the rest of us. If a moroi drinks the blood of another moroi, dhampire or human to the point of death then they become a soulless, evil creature of the night. The other way is to have your blood drunk by a strigoi and then for the strigoi to give you it's blood.

But anyway back to the strigoi in my bedroom. I lived in Court so the strigoi shouldn't have been able to get in because of the wards, which meant that humans have broken them. I grabbed my stake from under my pillow, as annoying as it is to sleep with a stake under my pillow, I was thankful to Dimitri for making me keep it there. The strigoi lunged for me, clearly a moroi before it turned as it showed no fighting technique at all. I ducked and outstretched my leg, sending the strigoi sprawling through the air into the wall. Seeing my chance I plunged the stake through the strigoi's stone cold heart and watched as its eyes dimmed until they were staring blankly into space. I was glad at that moment that Lissa and Christian had taken a vacation and that Dimitri was with them, knowing that the reason for this attack was most likely to capture and kill the new queen; Lissa was also the last Dragomir making her all the more desirable to the strigoi. They had wanted me to go but I had too much work to do therefore I had my stand in guardian go in my place. Quickly changing out of my pyjamas and into something suitable for fighting, I checked my phone to make sure I had no messages, meaning that Lissa was safe. I would have had a message straight away if they were also attacked, which meant that the strigoi were oblivious to their trip. Opening my door, I looked out into the hallway making sure that it was clear. The Royal Court was very luxurious and like St Vladimir's Academy had a gothic theme about it, the corridors were long and wide with old, priceless paintings and portraits' of important figures in moroi and dhampire history, on the walls. My room, which I shared with Dimitri, was near Lissa and Christian's room, I stayed in the most guarded part of court. If a strigoi could get in here then it either meant that the guard had slipped when the queen left or that we were loosing, badly. The double door entrance to our wing was hanging off its hinges, walking through our accommodation and out into the open court where everyone else lived was nerve wracking. Even though Lissa, Christian and Dimitri were away I still had friends here that I cared deeply about and would be very upset and distressed if anything happened to them. One of the most horrific sights that I have ever seen awaited me when I reached the centre of court. Strigoi, thousands of them were fighting tiring dhampires. We had lost a great number already but they had too, at this moment it was too hard to tell who would win this fight. Without anymore hesitation to address the situation, attacked the strigoi closest to me. The women went down without a fight though the man was a little harder to beat. It went on like that for a while, fighting, winning and then starting all over again. By the time it was all over I was exhausted. Looking around I saw that none of my friends had been lost in the battle which made a weight life off my shoulders that I didn't even know I had. Walking to where the wards were broken and where the strigoi entered by my self wasn't my smartest move. When I reached the opening I found a group of at least ten strigoi, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fight this many, I turned to run, a lesson Dimitri taught me early on in my trainings. I never even got as far as the tree line of the forest when I felt something heavy hit the back of my head and my mind seeping into unconsciousness.

We had been driving for at least a day after I woke up, I don't know how long I slept for but I can only hope that my friends are safe. Suddenly the van screeched to a halt and I was roughly haled out of the van by my hair making me cry out in pain. It was pitched black, so dark that even with my heightened senses I couldn't make anything out, it was a scary thought to be completely surrounded by darkness, numbing even. We walked through many twists and turns making me dizzy, even though I couldn't see them. The sound of a door being scraped open made me feel more on edge than I already was. I felt the air rush past my face as I was shoved forcefully to the ground, ties were made around my feet preventing me from standing up as well as cutting off my circulation and both my hands were cuffed to some sort of pole or pipe as it was still dark I couldn't see. It stared then, the questioning.

"You're the queens guardian aren't you, Rosemarie Hathaway, the undefeatable. Well guess what Rose you were defeated and this is the end for you. Whither you want to do it the easy way or the hard way is up to you. If you tell us what we want to know we will make you death as painless as possible but if not ….." the voice trailed off suggestively.

"What no name?" came my very bright response. "Malcolm" he replied "now tell us what we want to know" he growled loosing all patience.

"Well now, I can't tell you what you want to know if you don't tell me what is that you want to know, now can I?" this earned me a backslap across the face that would most defiantly leave a bruise. "Where is she?"

"Dunno." It went on like this for a while until the strigoi decided that they were wasting their time with me. Then it came, the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. They started breaking the bones in my legs and moving up my body. After that they started beating me while raping me up until I was covered in blood and could no longer think straight. It hurt that Dimitri was no longer the only one that I had shared that experience, granted with Dimitri it wasn't forced but want and even craved. The sound of heavy footsteps leaving signalled my relief, I knew it wouldn't be long before I left this world and joined Mason in the next. I just hoped that Dimitri and Lissa would be okay without me.

Dimitri POV

We were due to return back to court next week. I couldn't wait to get back to my Roza. Lissa had found an old legend that she though fit Rose perfectly apart from the fact that Rose was a dhampire and not some vampire that had denied its true nature and overcome the darkness, 'and the Rose will flourish and rule' were the parting words of the legend which just worked to lend weight on Lissa's theory that Rose was some saviour for an unknown group of vampires. It couldn't be true because Rose was a Dhampire therefore wasn't this unknown kind of vampire that could be good or bad. Just as I was mulling over possibilities in my head Lissa ran into the room, Christian following close behind, tears streaming down both of their faces. Wondering what could cause this reaction to both of them; I looked at them with curiosity and worry.

"I'm sorry Dimitri" was all Lissa said, but she didn't have to say anymore. I understood something had happened to Rose. That knowledge was tearing apart my insides, taking all my oxygen and reason for living. Without Rose I was nothing, I was but a mere shell of myself. Lissa relayed the events of court, the attack and Rose disappearance. The lack of a body meant that she had been taken; God only knows what the strigoi will do to her. The attack was two nights ago, the court had trouble getting in touch with us which meant that Rose would be long gone. For us I hope that we find her alive or that if she is strigoi that Lissa can save her. I know that I cannot live without her, she is my everything and I will do anything to get her back.

Should I continue it? :/

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