Rose POV

Everything had been fun and games until the smell of Mikeals flesh hit me, or more specifically, the smell of his blood.

After getting rid of the annoyance that was Mikheal, I had turned and scanned the now empty room. Mikheal's lap dogs had left on his orders some point after my transition process had begun, so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore at least.

I was fine until about 5 minutes after throwing him out of the window, then the smell came, and it wasn't long before it consumed me.
Bloodlust.
I stumbled back a bit at how prominent the sensation was. It crept up on me so fast, so subtle. It felt like knives were carving into my throat, begging me to drench the thrist.
But I had to wait until after the sun set before I could hunt.
"Argg, fuck me." I said aloud, trying to drown out my thoughts and wait out the sun.

Oh, but the thoughts…. I'd never tasted blood purposefully before, I'd never even desired to before now. I could just imagine how amazing it would be.

I shook my head, trying desperately to think of anything other than the thirst inside me.

Trying desperately to wait this out.
At first it was somewhat controllable, severely irritable and uncomfortable, but controllable, however slowly it seemed to eat away at my mind, making every rational thought disappear more and more until all that was left was blood.
I need to eat.
Now.
Thankfully, the sun was finally starting to dip beneath the clouds enough for me to leave, so I readied myself. Not like there was much to prepare anyway.

I was brought here to die, so obviously I hadn't packed a bag or some shit. Fuck me, my hunger was making me pissed the fuck off more so than usual.
I looked down at myself, to take my mind off my mood and the sensation causing it.

'I look like a fucking homeless person. Thanks a lot, asshole.' I thought, my insult directed at the corpse outside.
There was no way there would be spare clothing laying around here, at least not the kind I was picturing, so the rags will have to do until I can find a store.

'Or a body', I laughed darkly to myself.
When darkness finally consumed the world completely, I was more than ready to consume something of my own.
I sprinted outside and took, what felt like, my first breathe of fresh air in years.

Holy fucking shit.
I could smell everything. The grass, the trees, the earth, the soil, the animals, and an ever so faint trace of…...blood.
Yes, finally.
I used my new speed and darted toward the amazing smell, my entire body focused on this one task.

I'm just so damn hungry.
I passed acres and acres of forest before I even came close to any form of civilization.
Mikheal's estate lied in the absolute middle of fucking nowhere, so it took another ten minutes to reach the smell, even with my newfound, Strigoi speed.
But soon enough I was close.

It couldn't have been more than 100 feet away now, so I slowed, my instincts kicking in and my body moving on it's own accord.
I crouched in the tall grass as I scanned my surroundings. The forest had thinned out consideringly, and a small hut sat in the middle of the clearing in front of me.
And in that hut lied the smell, the fresh blood circulating inside my meal.
My predator instincts told me I could just charge the house, that anyone inside would be ever so easy to kill.

But I am a predator, and every predator loves a good hunt.

I came up with a little plan, and raised back up to my feet.
"Help!" I screamed, "Please help me!"
I raced toward the small house, using every bit of strength to maintain human speed, and began banging softly on the door.
"Please help me! I'm lost and there's something chasing me, plea-"
The door opened abruptly to a tall man, probably around 30 years old, holding a gun. He looked shocked to see me, probably given my appearance and the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere.
'He's about to be even more surprised', I internally laughed at my own dark joke.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Here, come inside." He held the door for me, like any gentleman should. Huh, this world could definitely use a few more men like him, too bad I was about to end him.
"Thank you so much!" I added a bit of desperation into my voice for effect. It worked like a charm.
He opened the door wider for me, allowing me entrance, and closed the door softly behind me. "Now please, what's going on? Are you hurt? What's chas-...what the fuck?" his calm demeanor changed the instant he saw my face clearly, and suddenly fear filled him, I could smell it coming off him in waves.
It was so damn appetizing.
I smiled, but nothing about what I was feeling was funny.

As I took in the smell of my meal, who was currently backing away from me slowly, something came over me. Something I couldn't fight, not that I wanted to fight it anyway.
It told me to do what I craved, that there was nothing to stop me, no reason not to take exactly what I wanted from this man.
So I did.
I pounced on him, roughly pushing him against the wall. His scent filled my lungs making my throat burn. Growling, I ran my hand through his hair, grasping the strands between my fingers and pulling his head to the side.

"God," I gasped, taking in his sent once again, "you smell so damn good." I whispered this in his ear, almost seductively as I pushed my body harder against his, "You make me so hungry."

I pulled his head aside a bit more, and left my head fall on his shoulder.
He cried out, struggling against me, "What the hell are you doing? Stop! Please stop!"
I decided to reassure him a bit, afterall he should enjoy his last few moments alive, "Shh, you'll like it, I promise." With that I used my fangs to pierce his skin, filling my mouth with his warm blood.

Every bit of control I had left in my body was gone in that instant.
I moaned into his neck, I've never tasted something so perfect in my life. The taste was coppery, but sweet, tangy but delicious. It was exhilarating, amazing, addicting.
At first the man had screamed, most likely out of shock and panic, but after a few seconds he fell into the trance that is endorphins, falling to the ground and giving me better access at his neck. If it weren't for the fact that I will undoubtly suck him dry, he would've been addicted to my bite, craving it until the day he died.

The connection of predator and prey was odd and foreign to me still, but I knew that it would become one of my favorite things about this new life.
I suppose I could've used him during my travels, but holy shit, his blood tasted amazing, and I was so fucking hungry…. there was no way I could've stopped.
He was dead within minutes.
Licking up the last drop, I tossed his corpse onto a cot that sat nearby, his final resting place now, and sank to the floor, admiring the pure contentedness that filled me.
I had been so preoccupied with my meal that I hadn't taken the time to look around the house at all.
It looked like a hunting cabin, with a kitchen placed to the far left corner, a living room to the right, and the small cot that sat in the very middle of the place. I laughed out loud, it all looked so unorganized, so dirty, so human.

'You were once human too.' Ah great, the voice is back, can't I have some goddamn peace.
But now my mind was filled with the voice, filled with thoughts that made me second guess shit I didn't want to second guess.

I had yet to consider the fact that I used to be somewhat like this person. Too lazy to clean, too filled with hope, dreams, emotions.
In fact, I had yet to think much about my past life at all.
Why would I? Everything was perfect now…...humans are blood bags, emotions get in the way of fun, life is meant to be taken advantage of, to be used as I please. That's it, nothing more.
But that little voice in my head, the little piece of the old me, it wouldn't let me forget the people I loved, it wouldn't let me forget the home I had found in the academy, the love I'd left there.

"Goddamn it, shut the fuck up!" I screamed at myself, I didn't need this right now, I should be celebrating my first kill, my first meal, not dealing with some transition defect that wouldn't pip the fuck down.

I banged my head against the wall once, just for good measure, but the voice was still there, telling me all the things I didn't want to hear.

'You're missing something' it repeated, over and over.
'You're missing someone'

Lissa POV

Lately, I don't even know what to do with myself.

I'm always tired because everytime I close my eyes I see Rose.

Rose being tortured, her blood dripping down a cold metal table while she screams.

Rose all alone, trapped in her own personal hell.

Rose dead.

I can't sleep.

All I want to do is lay around and cry, but Rose wouldn't want that. She'd want me to go out into the world and do things, 'experience life' as she'd call it.

What if I didn't want to experience life without her in it?

I mean hell, so far life without Rose has been miserable, and it's only been a week, two days, and 47 minutes, not that I'm counting.

What would the rest of my life look like if I couldn't get through a few days without wanting to quit, to give up on this world and join my best friend in another?

Without Rose came sadness, loneliness, depression, and of course the darkness, it seemed to consume me now.

I don't know what to do anymore.

Christian tries to help me, he brings me food I never eat, and sits with me for hours just talking, even when I feel like I can't respond. He's my rock….but even he can't fill the hole punched through my heart when Rose died.

I'm a mess.

"Oh Rose, if you could see me now." I signed, a stray tear falling down my face, if I wasn't careful, more would follow suit fast.

Thankfully, Christian broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hey Liss," he said softly, carefully coming to sit beside me on my bed, "I thought you'd like to read a few letters that have come in over the last week. Maybe distract yourself a bit?"

'Letters, really?' The little voice in my head said, it had a sarcastic tone to it...it reminded me of Rose.

At least he was trying.

Sighing, I nodded my head and took the small stack out of his hand and scanned my eyes over the first one.

Junk.

Scanning the second I placed it in the same pile as the first.

Picking up the third with a heavy sigh, I noticed it was...Wait, what the hell?

This is Rose's handwriting, less sloppy than usual, but Rose's nonetheless.

My eyes darted back up at Christian, to find him looking at the letter with his eyebrows pulled together, clearly questioning himself on this as well.

"Go get Adrian and Dimitri." I said, my voice raspy from lack of use, but rougher than I intended it to be toward him.

His head snapped at me talking, shocked at my voice, but he was quick to leave and search for them.

My eyes fell back down to the letter, to her handwriting.

I couldn't open it. Not yet anyway, not without everyone here. No, that would've been too selfish when this letter was probably the last thing she ever wrote. I sucked in a deep breathe to keep from crying, reminding myself that if she hadn't killed herself, she would be the exact thing she trained all her life to kill, the threat she died protecting me from, the monster she never wanted to become.

I held the letter tightly to my chest, hugging it as if it were her. But it wasn't, and I had to learn to face that, however hard it may be.

I sighed and placed it softly on my bed, next to me, I had nothing left to do but wait.


Hey Loves!

I promised Chapter 10 before Friday, so here it is!

So Rose is having a bit of identity trouble right now, huh? I want to clear a few things up about the story that may have not been as obvious as intended throughout the story, the little voice in Strigoi Rose's head is what's left of the Dhampir Rose, and she will be gone forever in a matter of two weeks or less, as Mikheal said, so when the voice is gone, the Rose we've all come to love will really be gone forever. QTSuzie3 wanted to kno what the phrase in Russian meant from chapter What do you think Rose will do next? (And yes, I know I skipped the last chapter's What's to Come, like i said before it was a really last minute chapter, sorry!

What's To Come: A few words will change four peoples lives forever.

I hope you guys liked this chapter and got to know Strigoi Rose a bit better! She'll be back soon, and as will I so don't go far! If you enjoyed Chapter 10 please review/favorite/follow!

P.S. Change of Fate recently gained 11 reviews in ONE day! That may not seem like many, but when I saw the new reviews in my email I got such a huge grin on my face. This is the first time I have written and published a story, so to me 11 reviews in less than an hour blew my mind! Special thanks to those of you who review after every single chapter, you're dedication is remarkable, and I couldn't have imagined you would've taken such an interest in this story as you have, I'm so grateful to have such amazing readers! I couldn't be more inspired to write than when my phone buzzes in the middle of the day to let me know this story has a new review or follower behind it, it honestly makes my entire day so much better, so thank you all so so much!

~Livy