Prologue:
Crap. Here we go again.
"Gone? What do you mean she's gone? And why have you all waited so long to tell me?" said a voice I immediately recognized to be my mothers.
"She left Guardian Hathaway. A week after the attack happened she just left without warning," said Lissa.
"But why would she leave? I don't understand?" my mother replied. I never had a great relationship with her; in fact, there was a time where I hated her, but now seeing hers, and Lissa's faces filled with worry made my heart skip a beat.
"She cracked when they told her that they couldn't find Guardian Belikov's body. She wouldn't eat or talk. She would just curl up into a ball and sleep all day in her room."
"BUT WHY?"
"Because she loved him and he loved her. Apparently they tried to hide their feelings for each other because of their age and because they would be protecting me." Lissa winced at that. She still felt anger and sadness at my leaving. I mean I was her best friend….was……I don't even think I am anymore after all I've put her through.
She just didn't get it. I loved him and she had the power to bring him back but she wouldn't. Then when I tried to explain to her why I had to leave she tried to make me feel guilty--well not try seeing as I already did. Come on, Rose. You can do it get out. You aren't her and you don't want to her hear anything they say. Dimitri, Dimitri. Oh wait, I forgot that only works when she and Christian are in shall we say…..a fun mood. My eyes, what the hell is burning my eyes?
Ugh, I forgot. I had a huge wakeup call when I woke up to the sun's rays right on my face. I'm on the Trans-Siberian Railway, on my way to a town known for its high Strigoi population. Whoopee! I wasn't at all excited about it even though it meant getting information on Dimitri. Russian Strigoi are real—I mean reeaalll—bad asses. Now, I truly realize what Dimitri's agreement meant, when I told him the academies weren't preparing us enough for the outside world. It's a good thing I had Dimitri teaching me all his godly techniques and ironic how I now have to hunt him down using them!
Suddenly the train stopped and I realized we were at the station. Now there's no more running away, the only way to go is toward the hunter and its lair. It's time to make the hunter the hunted.