Chapter 1
Southwest Pennsylvania – Clayton Manor
My bones cracked, displacing themselves from their original position. Fresh pain filling my body and setting my muscles alight. Morphing into my new body was painful but worth it every time. The howls of my family surround me as they too finish their changes. My heart beats in my own ears as I run to catch up with them all. Emotion filled me as I felt the blood run through my veins – taking off on all fours I enjoyed the sites, the smells, everything about my new form heightened and elevated my spirit. Shifting was an experience in and of itself, each time making me feel more and more alive.
My new eyes are easily attracted to everything around me. Seeing black and white took some time getting used too but you would go insane upon realizing just how many different shades of black and white there are, and just how vibrant each could actually be. The small animals around me scurried for cover, the fight or flight reaction kicking in – they too could sense me as I sensed them. A predator.
Montana – St. Vladimir's Academy
Lissa's POV
Today's the day. It officially makes three years since my best friend, my sister, Rose left me. Again. I try to be mad, I try to be pissed, I've used so much spirit but the darkness never affected me the same way – it was like, I couldn't be mad. I knew what I did was wrong. Not only me, but him, Dimitri. He broke her heart, stomped on it, and what did I do? Shoved it in her face and essentially told her to get over it, to get over him and leave him alone. How could I do that to her?
In the time that she has been gone, so much has changed. Queen Tatiana had been murdered, at first they wanted to blame Rose, but seeing as how the bond between her and I had been broken, they instead assume that she is dead. Guardian Janine Hathaway was heartbroken upon the news, she held her Guardian mask but broke down crying the moment she was out of my sight. Abe Mazur attempting to comfort her while his eyes and aura were twisted with pain.
I was in the running to become Queen, but I honestly had no interest in it. Camille Conta actually managed to be voted in. Once she did I had to leave. She made court life unbearable for everyone who was not a Royal Moroi and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with that.
I took a position at St Vladimir's Academy teaching young Moroi about spirit magic. The number of spirit users has gone up considerably and the number of undeclared Moroi went down. It seems spirit was a lot more common than given credit for, just no one knew how to harness it. Christine and I were still together, he wanted to get married but I was not so sure. We were still young and I could not fathom the idea of having a wedding where my best friend was not present.
Overall, life has treated me well since Rose left unlike Dimitri. To this day, I still feel bad for him, though I am pissed at him all the same. "Love fades, mine has". Idiot. Yes, he had been a Strigoi, and yes, he had done some horrible things but saying that to her once he'd been back as himself for a while, I know hurt her way more than anything he did to her. Unfortunately for him, he didn't mean it, but as the Goblin King once told Sarah – "What's said is said.". All words have meaning and consequences. Now he has to deal with the fact that the love of his life is gone and he only has himself to blame.
3rd Person
The sun was beginning to set upon St. Vladimir's Academy and that meant that soon all the students would be getting up. Going along with their everyday lives. Taking classes, learning their element or how to protect their charge.
Queen Conta was making the lives of the Guardians and Novices even worse. She was lucky that Tasha Ozera confessed to the crime of killing Queen Tatiana prior to killing herself. It only enabled Queen Conta to continue with the age law that Tasha was fighting against. So from now on Novices were to graduate at only 16 years of age, of course this caused a decrease in promised Guardians. Most were dead upon their first encounter with a strigoi. It'd only been a year since she took the throne but, whispers spread like wildfire through the court about a dethroning. The first ruler to be overthrown since King Badica in the 1764. It was because of this that even Royal Moroi were suffering from less Guardians. More and more Moroi/Dhampir were being turned and it was going to lead to a war, sooner rather than later.