The first thing I noticed was the thirst. I'm not even sure if it can be described as thirst. It was worse than any pain I have ever felt or imagined, as if my throat had caught fire. I needed to make it stop, to make the pain go away. I wanted to tear my throat apart to stop the fire, to claw at it until there was nothing left. That's when I noticed my arms were chained behind my back. I blinked, trying to focus on my surroundings.

"You'll get used to it."

I glanced up into the eyes of the blonde strigoi, the one who had taken me away from…her. A sudden surge of hatred overpowered me. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to see him dead…but worse, I wanted to consume him, to drink every last drop of his evil blood. Nothing would thrill me more then to rip his stupid, little blonde head off. I let out an unintentional whimper. The burning sensation only seemed to be growing. He let out a sadistic chuckle.

"We all had to go through it, some worse than others. It's only like this for the first few weeks, and then it'll decrease. You'll still feel it and it will always burn but not as intensely as it does now. Only blood numbs the pain."

He pulled up a chair and sat in front of me. It was at this point that I realized that I was sitting in a small room. I had almost been certain that we were still in the cave. The blonde waited for what he had just said to sink in. I was a strigoi now…I could never be with Rose now. Not like this. We had finally worked everything out. I finally had her…only to have her along with everything else I've ever cared about ripped away from me in a matter of a few minutes. Why had I waited so long to act on my feelings? We could've had more time…I'm such an idiot. A few Russian curse words bounced around my head and I flinched at the memories of her begging me to teach her their meanings that flooded my mind.

I looked back at the strigoi who had changed me. He was still staring at me; an amused look had crossed his face. He'd better be thanking the lord that I'm chained to this chair right now, I'd be sure to wipe that look smirk clear off his face.

"She was your lover."

The words caught me by surprise. Was our love that obvious? He chuckled again at my expression.

"The look on both of your faces said it all." He replied. I opened my mouth to speak but only managed a small squeak. He ignored my pathetic attempt of speech.

"I knew her, she used to hang around that Dragomir girl. Rose, wasn't it?"

I flinched again at her name, my roza. I'll never be able to hold her again. I glared back up at him, trying to hide my emotions and the burning pain.

"Hm? I thought that was it, Or was it Lilly or something because I know it was some kind of flower."

His expression turned mocking and I could see that grin crawling back onto his face, I looked away again. She could never love me when I'm…well like this. I was a monster now, an undead blood sucking monster. I made another attempt of speaking, this time I was victorious.

"Why am I chained up? I'm one of you guys now." I made no attempt of hiding the disgust in my voice.

"Simple enough, it's for my safety as much as it is for yours."

When I didn't say anything he continued.

"There's never anyway of knowing how hard the thirst may hit a newly awakened strigoi. I know if my creator hadn't restrained me I might've ripped open my own throat. As for my safety being concerned, well I could pretty much imagine your hatred towards me at the moment. Those awakened by force tend to rebel."

That made all the sense in the world and I immediately scolded myself for asking such a stupid question.

"Oh, how careless of me, here I am blabbing away and I haven't even had the decency to introduce myself, my name is John Shebat, and yours is?"

He waited for my answer and I debated whether I should even give him one.

"Or I could just call you 'tall Russian guy' for the next several weeks. Hey, whatever floats your boat man, who am I to judge?" His grin was wider than ever, and I see now that I had clearly misjudged his years, he seemed younger than I had thought him to be, maybe just a few years older than Rose. I looked away as I spoke.

"Dimitri…" that was all he was going to get from me today, he was definitely beginning to piss me off. My patience was wearing thin, and I'm sure he must have noticed too because his expression and tone suddenly grew serious. His next few words caught me entirely by surprise.

"She'll come after you, Dimitri."

I froze, as if the words themselves had stabbed me in the heart. Realization along with guilt slowly began to sink in. He was right, if I knew my Rose the way I've always claimed I had, she was probably hunting me down, silver steak in hand even as we speak. She'd feel as if she'd owe me that much. This is all my fault, if she leaves the school and Lisa now, she'll never be a guardian, the wonderful, dedicated guardian we all knew she was destined to become. She'll be throwing her entire life away…for me. I know she can never love me as I am now, I wouldn't even love myself as I am now. I am the one thing she has trained her entire life to destroy, the one thing that I had trained her to destroy.

My heart sank as countless memories flashed through my thoughts, memories of her working hard to steak the dummies in the gym, of her complaints, her beautiful long hair floating behind her as she jogged around the gym. I remembered how just a few days ago she'd taken me down for the first time during the field exam, memories of the cabin. I remember when I first met her; even then there was something about her that had sparked my interest. I bit my lip and tried to fight back tears, the last thing I wanted right now was for my enemy to see me cry. But suddenly it didn't seem to matter anymore. I didn't care what John thought of me. He'll be dead soon anyway. I'll make sure of that.

Rose… she has every right to want to kill me; she knows that's what I would've wanted. If she finds me, then I will let her do what she has come to do. Then she could properly mourn my passing and continue her own life… she has so much more to live for, she's too young to throw that all away.

I can't wait to see your face again…my last memories will be of you, my beautiful Roza.