I opened my eyes and stared up at the night sky through the looming trees. I blinked and realized what had happened. Everything came rushing back to me. I shot up out of my laying position and looked around. For a moment, I thought I had survived Dimitri's bite and had gotten away, only to pass out in the little forest where we had fought in.

But then I saw that Dimitri was lying next to me. He would have never left me unguarded if I decided run away. Then I realized, unless he knew I wouldn't leave. I parted my lips and lifted my fingers up to touch my teeth hoping to fell smooth, white teeth. But when I ran my fingers along my teeth, I felt two sharp fangs. I pulled my hand away and started to think about what this meant. I would never see Lissa again. Or Christian. Or Adrian. Ever.

Then I thought about the good things. At least I have Dimitri. I looked towards him and smiled. He was lying on his side, turned away from me. I recalled the last time I saw his eyes. They were brown. That wonderful brown that I could drown myself in. But how? He was still a Strigoi so how was this possible? I quit asking myself these useless questions. I was about to wake him up, but then another thing came to me. Strigoi didn't sleep. Well, maybe he is just knocked out. I shook that away as well and put my hand on his shoulder. I shook him awake. He rolled over groaning. When he saw me, he snapped up into a sitting position and looked around. He relaxed when he saw no one was here except for me.

He turned toward me and his eyes traveled across my body. When he came to my face, I looked into his eyes and gasped. Dimitri gasped at the same time I did. "Your eyes!" We both said in unison. His eyes were no longer the red I remembered. They were a beautiful brown, but then I noticed the super thin ring around his pupil. If I hadn't of been so close, I wouldn't have even noticed. By the look of astonishment on his eyes, I would say that mine looked the same.

I spoke first. "We are both obviously Strigoi but why are our eyes like this."

"I am not sure, Roza." I took in his harmonic voice. There was no touch of coldness that laced his words like before. It was the voice that I hadn't heard since the caves.

I put my hand up to his pale face and cupped his cheek. "You are almost the same Dimitri I fell in love with. I couldn't ask for anymore." I slowly leaned in wanting to kiss him, but not knowing how he would react. His reaction was not what I suspected. He took one of his hands and wrapped it in my hair to pull my mouth towards his and kissed me with fierce passion ever. We kissed and kissed. Until I had to come up for air. Which was a long time, given Strigoi didn't have to breath that much.

We pulled apart and smiled at each other. He got up and offered his hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me up. I stared at him. Was this a dream? Surely not. The only time my dreams were this clear was in Adrian's spirit dreams.

Then it hit me. When Dimitri had touched my ring when he was holding me prisoner, he had been more himself than ever. I looked at the ring on my left hand. I looked up to Dimitri's curious eyes. "If something goes wrong, hold me down and put it back on me."

He nodded and stepped one step back. I slipped the ring off my finger, and dropped it to the ground. Whatever part of me had stayed intact broke. I had the urge to fight and kill Dimitri. Even more, was the thirst. I craved something. Something I needed desperately. Then I realized that it was blood. I started to run toward the bridge I knew had to lead to Novosibirsk, but before I could even take three steps I was tackled to the ground by Dimitri, who managed to slip the ring back on to my finger. I gasped as the sane part of me returned.

"What happened?" I asked Dimitri who helped me stand up again.

"The color disappeared from your eyes, Roza. They became completely red and you turned into a real Strigoi." He looked at me for a second longer then swept me into a giant hug. I tried to hug him back, but my arms were tight against my body. I laughed and stayed there, happy to be enveloped in the Dimitri I once knew. "It was like I was trapped inside my own body, Roza. I could see everything I was doing. To you. To the innocents I killed." He choked up. I managed to get my hands free and wrapped them around his body.

"It's okay, Dimitri." I soothed him, "It wasn't you. You had no control. It wasn't you." I was immediately swept into the memory of Dimitri say the same words to me as I fought off Spirit's Darkness. It helped me then, so hopefully it would help him now.

"Where will we go Roza? We can't go back to Galina's estate; the Strigoi there would kill us. And we can't go to America. They would kill us there to."

I pondered it for a moment. Spirit is what caused us to be like this. And I didn't want to put Lissa in danger. I didn't want to put Oksana in danger either, but she was our best choice. "We will go to Baia." I said, "With our speed we will get here by early morning so the sun won't burn us." If it still burns us. I thought.

He pulled out of my embrace and returned to his contained self. But he couldn't hide what I could pick out of his eyes. He had the same fear I had.

If we went to Baia, we would certainly run into the Belikov's.

So there was chapter two. I hope you like this story so far, and I hope you continue to read. I am glad that I am finally writing this a posting it. I have always wanted to but never had. I was always too scared. I will try and post every day, but no promises. But I will update as regularly as possible.