He opened the door for me and I walked through, mustering all the strength I could to look stoic and cruel. That was how Strigoi were supposed to look. I was to show no fear, even though she was much older than I. The door slammed shut behind me and Dimitri took my hand.

It was like a twisted wedding ceremony. I was walking down an expensive red carpet as the residents here looked on. Damn, there were a lot of Strigoi here. Good thing I didn't try escaping. But that made me realize that there was something odd about what was going on. Certainly, not every new Strigoi got a ceremony. They hated each others' guts.

We ascended a small staircase to where the ice princess stood. She eyed me over with hatred flaming from the red rings. I don't know what her problem was. She looked like she was ready to kill me.

Dimitri backed down the stairs and stood in the center of the walkway. What the hell was going on? I noticed Galina and I were opposite each other. My guardian instincts kicked in. I began to examine the room quickly. This was a fighting ring, a very plush one. There was nothing to throw at her except the fencing around the ring. I got the feeling we weren't supposed to use it, though.

Dimitri shouted something in Russian to Galina, then looked in my direction. I had the feeling that meant "Ready?" because she replied with "Da" or yes. We were going to fight. I readied my body and glared at Dimitri for not warning me about this earlier. Things were going really fast for my first day as an undead monster. I should really stop calling myself that.

I heard Dimitri yell something else, probably "GO!", and this was proven correct by the sound of a gong. So I was fighting a Strigoi. Fun.

She made a very fast lunge in my direction, but left her left side wide open. I took the opportunity and kicked her into the wall. Wow, couldn't do that before. She brushed off making a dent in the wall with ease, and came at me with her right side open. I went to do the same again, but she feinted and punched me square in the jaw. I stumbled, but not much, and managed to get a nice hit to her face in while she left her body open to flaunt her meager victory.

She growled and grabbed my fist. I struggled to get out, but she wouldn't let go. Galina swung me around to throw my body against the wall as I did her, but as I relaxed my fist the ring came off in her hand and I fell to the ground. She looked at the ring and toyed around with it as the cruel expression melted from her face, and she looked at me confusedly. No, with arrogance.

How dare she take my ring and stare at me with such a haughty expression! I rose with lightning speed and landed a harsh blow into her gut. She stumbled but held on to the ring. I began to maul her like a bear would do to a human, and she…she began to cry. No, laugh. She was laughing at me and how weak I was! I would not stand for this.

The next hit I landed sent her out of the ring and through a stained glass window. I raced after her, snarling. Dimitri moved to hold me back, but decided against it. I tore the door off its hinges and found her in the back of the garden. She had fallen on some purple flowers, now stained red with her blood. They wouldn't have a bit of purple on them when I was done. The ring was on her hand now. As if she were the one who would be married to Dimitri. This bitch continued to cross the line with me, and now this? This threw me over the edge.

I ripped that finger right off her hand.

The ring was back on my finger now, and I sighed. The animal that was inside me before was tamed. What had happened back there anyways? Once the ring was off my finger, I had turned into a rabid beast…

The ring, that was it! Infused with the power of spirit, it was made to drain some of the darkness I took away from Lissa. And now that I was Strigoi, it was keeping me from becoming one of those…monsters. That was why Dimitri had made love to me instead of hard, furious sex. That was why Galina hesitated and cried.

I was thrown out of this thought train with my fiancé's hand on my shoulder.

"Roza!" I whirled around to face him, and he was smiling a fanged grin. Spirit was why I still considered the fangs as something that didn't suit him. "You did wonderful. I'm so proud of you."

He moved to hug me and I pushed him back. "What, another surprise? Why didn't you warn me? She could have killed me!"

He gave a loud but cold laugh. "But she didn't, did she? You turned Galina, my former teacher, into crying, helpless prey."

"You still didn't answer my question. Why didn't you warn me?"

My lover sighed. "It was a part of the deal. Galina ordered me to put you up against her the second you were awakened. She needed to test you to make sure you were worthy of her having put up with you for so long. And as a condition, you had to be unaware of it."

A mob of Strigoi moved towards us before I could say anything else. Nathan was at the head, growling at me. "How dare you turn Galina into…that!" He spat in her direction. She was barely alive and sniffling, but would recover. And probably want to murder me. "You're just a fledgling. A fucking fledgling!"He lunged at me and Dimitri intervened. "Nathan, I have been waiting for this for a very long time." His voice was filled with cold malice, but if his back hadn't been towards me, I know I would have seen a fanged grin.

"As the new Strigoi in charge of this building, I command all of you to kill Nathan. And make it…painful."

Nathan was still growling. "You can't do that. Your blood whore is the one who defeated Galina, not you. You can't say anything."

Dimitri looked back towards me with an eyebrow cocked. "Well then, Mrs. Belikov. What is your command?"

Nathan, the Strigoi who had taken my love away from me. Who had embarrassed him. Who continually embarrassed him. I had the chance to watch him be ripped to shreds.

But I didn't want to do it. He was a life, although an undead one. However, if I didn't, the Strigoi would see me as an unfit leader. Prey. Not predator. I'd have a horde of Strigoi aching for my undead heart to stop beating, and Dimitri might be among them. That couldn't happen. Would I regret this? Probably. But nothing else could be done.

"As my comrade said, kill him."