Chapter 4 Escape
Under the cover of darkness we left the caves, heading away from St. Vladimir's. Thank god, I thought, the school and all its remaining occupants are all safe. My Roza is safe. We traveled quickly, running all the way, following the exact route that Mason had pointed out to Rose on the map. Just before sunrise we made it to a long line of vehicles hidden in the woods along the dirt road that joined the interstate. In their haste to escape from being attacked again by St. Vladimir's Guardians, no one had noticed that I had joined them.
Including me, 17 Strigoi had survived the attacks on St. Vladimir's Academy and the retaliation attack by the schools guardian, which means they lost more than ¾ of the Strigoi that made the trip to the caves. There was a Strigoi man and woman who appeared to be the leaders because when we got to the row of vehicles they started dividing us up into groups of five or six. I immediately got in the car with them, thinking that I would learn more information this way.
We climbed into the vehicles, and sped away. My adrenaline was in a fury. Sitting here in the car, with them, while I let them flee from attacking the school, went against everything that I had been taught. It was all I could do to keep from staking every single one of the Strigoi in the vehicle with me. Every ounce of control that I had managed to create over the years was in full force. I kept telling myself that I needed to find out how they were working together, so that we could defeat them.
I watched the four Strigoi within the confines of the vehicle, assessing their appearance, trying to determine if any of them had been turned recently. None of them appeared to be very old. And all of them appeared to have been human before being awakened except the leaders. Now that I think about it, the oldest of all 16 Strigoi are the two leaders in the front seat, one a former Moroi, and the other, a former Dhampir. This doesn't make any sense. Strigoi don't get along in large groups, especially those who have been recently awakened. I tried to make out what the leaders were saying, but between their hushed tones and noise from the vehicle, there was no hope, so I concentrated on the two remaining Strigoi in the car. Their eyes were red, and they had chalky white skin.
Shit the skin, Alberta and I hadn't thought of that. I quickly adverted my eyes, dropping my face slightly trying not to let my emotions play across my face. Then I remembered that new Strigoi still have a slight coloring in their skin, and I was supposed to be newer than these two. That, combined with the dust from the cave floor, made my skin coloring unnoticeable at the moment, but I would definitely have to get something to alleviate this--soon.