Rosemarie Hathaway
After Veronica had asked questions about how I was feeling and what St. Vladimir's security was like, I asked a few questions of my own. "How do I get blood?" She replied patiently, "you are allowed to go anywhere you want unless I specifically ask for you or all the Strigoi to come here. There's just one more requirement I have that is different from everywhere else. You have to take at least one human to serve you so they can help you from dying and if we need to contact you." This startled me, I thought I would be alone. "How am I supposed to get one?" Veronica glanced at me, "from anywhere, this is New York, no one's going to miss one person out of all the big apple. You have tonight to find one or we'll just pick one for you. Also, stay in New York, I need everyone soon for an attack."
It was 11:00pm, time to hit the clubs. Half an hour later I was with some 20 year-old guy in the alley next to the club. Between some fervent kissing I managed to get his name, Sam. I smiled at him and he grinned back, we were both enjoying this but the blood packs hadn't been enough, not nearly. Slowly I kissed his throat, starting just below the ear and carefully moving down to the collar bone. I stopped about halfway before I allowed my fangs to expand and I sinked into the warmth of his throat. A few seconds later I realized that he was weakening and I felt in complete control, I could easily just keep drinking and that would be the end of a life. But the blood had given me time to think and I looked at Sam, he wasn't bad-looking but he wasn't strikingly handsome. So I gave him a choice, "Sam, work for me and I won't just drink from you, one day I'll make you immortal." I waited for the words to sink into his head. He nodded and I led him back to my room, I told him about the Strigoi and how we can't stand sunlight, fire, or silver and that he had to protect me from it. Dutifully he quickly closed the shades as the sun's rays started to peak over the horizon. Afterwards he went off to his day job, I had told him to keep working for in case I ever needed the money and so that I knew where he was during the day.
It was boring, Strigoi didn't have a need to sleep and I was too excited to do a passive activity like reading. I slipped into Lissa, she was in New York, this surprised me. Dimitri, Adrian, and Viktor Dashkov were with her. Viktor spoke first, "but it's true, I knew a spirit user who could make a Strigoi human again." Lissa felt skeptical as did the others but she was also hopeful. If Viktor was right then she would be able to get me back and I'd be a weak Dhampir again. They left and allowed Viktor to leave too, I guess that information was the price for letting him go. I called Sam and told them where they were. His instructions were to be in a phone call with me while he flashed his bite marks at Dimitri. Then I was in Lissa again, Sam had done everything and now Dimitri was pinning him down. Lissa asked, "he could be a Moroi's feeder." Dimitri replied, "he's not, he doesn't know what a Moroi is, but I'll bet he knows what a Strigoi is..." Recognition crossed Sam's face at the word Strigoi, but he kept to the plan and said, "this is for you" he held out his phone.
Dragging myself into reality as I reached for the phone in front of me. I could hear the click meaning Sam's phone had gone into speaker and Adrian's breathing as he cautiously picked it up. "Who is this?" I smile looking at the time, it was 3:00pm, the sun was setting. "Don't be that way Adrian, you know who I am." I heard his voice catch as he whispered, "Rose, are... are you a... a Strigoi?" Instead of answering his questions I asked, "what are you doing in New York?" Lissa answered, "a guardian saw you here and r... reported it, Rose, how can we find you again?" Find me? Why did they want to find me? Of course, they wanted us to get together so Adrian or Lissa could stake me with a spirit bound stake. "There's a wonderful alley where Sam and I first met, he'll show you."
An agonizingly boring hour and a half later I borrowed a black mustang and a chauffeur from Veronica. Surprisingly enough she didn't ask any questions. I was driven 2 blocks before the alley and told the chauffeur that I no longer required his assistance. I walked at Dhampir speed toward the alley, I wore a leather jacket with jeans and heals that must've cost Veronica $500 alone. Lissa was in the alleyway with Dimitri, Adrien, and Sam. I would've thought they'd split up and at least try to surround me. Adrien was surprisingly not drunk but he was smoking a cigarette until he saw me and stamped it out. All 3 looked at me with shock, I suppose that seeing me as a Strigoi was hard for their weak emotions. Sam slipped under Dimitri's arm and hurried dutifully in front of me, I smiled a cruel smile at the thought that a human thought he could protect me from one Dhampir and 2 Moroi.
Suddenly Adrien lunged with the stake in an attempt to get it in my ribs. I predicted something like this so I stepped into it making his stake go in my stomach, it hurt. Blocking the pain, I looked up to see the shock on Adrien's face, grabbing him by the face I kissed him. The stake was killing me but I had to ignore the pain for just a little longer, then I whispered softly in his ear, "go to sleep." The kiss had caught him off guard so much that he didn't realize I was compelling him until his eyes closed and his head slumped onto my shoulder. In one callous motion I shrugged him off and looked up at Dimitri, he looked sad. I stalked towards him and look at Lissa, she wasn't holding anything and she was trying to hold back tears but failing. Glancing quickly at Sam I shout, "get Veronica." Lissa begged at me with her eyes then pleaded, "Rose, somewhere inside you is the Rose that I know." I shot back, "well she must've gone on vacation because it's just me." Dimitri stared at me then took out a regular stake, the silver gleamed in the moonlight, "on the SUV I said that if I became a Strigoi then I would want you to kill me, you agreed." I narrow my eyes, "is this one of those I'll thank you later situations? I won't because I'll be dead." I couldn't resist adding, "that is, if you think you can actually kill me."
Then I heard it, footsteps a few blocks from here but coming in fast. Dimitri must've sensed me distracted so he lunged at me, the stake pointed at my heart. Wes grabbed Dimitri mid-air and threw him into the wall at the end of the alley, I heard his heartbeat slow, he was unconscious. Lissa stared at me, "Ros..." I stopped her mid sentence by digging my fangs into her throat, I didn't drink any because I just wanted her under the influence of the endorphins.
They were all put in the same prison as I was originally. Next thing I knew, Veronica and I were alone in a room together. "Well done Rose on capturing the last Dragomir, I knew that awakening you was a good idea." I hated being given orders and I didn't seek her praise, she was the most powerful Strigoi in New York, maybe besides me. After a few seconds I took a few steps forward, "thank you for giving me this chance." I took one more quick step before I shoved Veronica into the wall, she wasn't an old Strigoi but she probably had at least a couple decades on me. For the first time I noticed the decoration sword on the wall to my left. I smashed the glass and, ignoring the pain, seized the sword. It was sharper than the axe I used the first time I had killed Strigoi, this time it was almost too easy. Veronica hadn't expected me to rebel against her, at least not this early on. Also, I was a lot stronger and faster than most other Strigoi she had ever had to deal with, in no time I had her pinned under me with the sword resting on her throat. All I saw was red as I pushed the sword deeper and deeper until it slammed into the floor with a clang. Wes walked in, "Ver..." He stared at me with a surprised look on his face and I grinned, "burn the body."