Rose tripped over the tree trunk and came crashing towards the ground. She attempted to stand up again but screamed in agony; her foot had twisted when she fell. Rose decided to wait a while for the pain to pass. She tried to catch her breath; in and out she puffed. The air was like poison burning her virgin lungs. She could hear them in the distance, the Strigori coming closer and closer. It was no easy task to run from everything and everyone she had ever known, she didn't want to be a feeder for the rest of her life. She had to get out and find them the Dhampir. Rose attempted to stand again when she heard a crunch of leaves. The sounds of dogs barking alerted her of the Strigori. She gasped again but didn't stop; if she had to she would get down on all fours and crawl to freedom. She looked left and right as she heard a gunshot in the distance but nothing was there.
Everything around her looked so alien; Rose marvelled at the brown tall sticks with green oval shaped things around it, and she saw a round white bright thing in the sky, "the moon," she whispered. Rose saw things she had only ever heard of in stories. She would never even have thought about escaping if it wasn't for her friend Emily who had died three years ago. Rose who was now sixteen would be celebrating Emily's seventeenth birthday on the fourth of April. It had seemed like years since they had first met, and it was, 2000 was the year to be exact. Rose was six at the time and she remembered it perfectly. They had knocked each other over in the hall and the kids couldn't stop laughing. Emily with her blue eyes that would light up against her olive tan face when she laughed, inviting you in. Rose and Emily had been friends ever since.
Emily had told Rose about the life outside the mansion, how the Strigori were keeping it from them, so they wouldn't rebel. Emily explained how the air was fresh and that there were blue skies and they had times of the year they called winter and something to do with sunner, "Tell me more," she would ask pleadingly. Emily would only just sigh as she brushed Rose's long tangled mess of brown hair out of Rose's face and look into her muddy brown eager eyes. Emily had told Rose that there were two types of vampires, Mori where vampire only fed on blood donors and where good and had normal eyes, and Strigori where the evil ones with blood red eyes.
It had been because of Emily that Rose hadn't tried to escape before, but now Emily was dead she didn't see any reason to stay. Rose hadn't forgotten about the outside for three years .When April came around the month she found out she was pregnant she realized it was time to leave. It had taken Rose three days to come up with an escape plan. Rose was pulled from her memories of Emily as she heard a monster shout, "Over here." She quickly dashed behind the closest tree and looked around for anything to use as a weapon. She found a long wooden stick lying on the ground and hesitated Before she shakily picked it up; the object reminded her of the cruel and heartless beings that lived inside the walls of the Mansion.
Rose was born there to be a feeder. The Strigori were evil. Rose had been slapped across the face, whacked by the cane and wasn't allowed to cry, or the blinding pain would start all over. She been told she was lucky to be here since she was five years old, and Rose quickly learned how to survive. Rose had been screamed at more times in her life than the amount of days she'd lived. She had survived the years without Emily dreaming of escaping to find where she belonged. The Mansion was a place where you would be lucky to last months, let alone till you were sixteen.
Again she was jolted from her hunted memories as one of the Strigori grabbed her by the shoulders. Rose quickly brought the wooden stick up and struck the Strigori in the face. The monster let her go and Rose took off in another direction. Her legs were aching as she moved swiftly through the night like a fox hunting its prey; and her prey was freedom. She hissed as the leaves scratched and stung her as she ran past them. Rose saw a light up ahead and started towards it, but strong, muscly arms seized her before she could make two steps. "No," Rose shouted as she thrashed in his arms, "I'm not going back!" Rose Hathway was a fighter and she refused to go back; never again would she be slapped, whipped or abused in any way.
Rose froze as she felt teeth pressed to her neck, the world slowed down in her eyes and she helplessly admitted defeat. The Strigori who was obviously the same guy as before had blood trickling down the right side of his face. Rose whimpered when he did not lower his gun, her captors face hardened and she screamed. The strangled scream rung loud through the forest, silencing Rose's ear own piercing scream. The Strigori eyes widened and he dropped his gun before collapsing on her dead, causing Rose to fall under his weight hitting her head against a rock. Her vision began to blur, but before the black could fully overtake her she saw him for first time, Dimitri Belikov. As the sun rose on the new day of the fourth of April Rose fully registered what she had just done, escaped from them.