Hey! I am so sorry for the delay in updating this story, but hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. :D And it is a long chapter too... :)

Thank you so, so much for all of your reviews and to those who favourited and alerted this story! You all really motivate me to write more. There were a couple of expressed confusions in the reviews, but this chapter should clear everything up. If not, I'll answer your questions in the next post or the next few chapters should straighten things out.

Thanks again!

Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns everything.

I stood there, frozen, not moving an inch. My feet were plastered to the ground. My brain was unable to process what was going on.

How? was the first thought that came to mind. Was this just my mind playing tricks on me? Was he really here?

It should have been impossible to see his beautiful face so close to me, at a near distance. He was Strigoi, after all. Those monsters had turned him into something horrible, something treacherous. And I despised them for that. I wanted to kill them all and free the world from these evil vampires. However, for Dimitri, I hadn't been completely sure what I would do with him. I'd had my ideas… ideas that involved killing him. But I had dreaded that and hadn't known what to expect to see once I had caught him. And now that I had, he definitely wasn't what I'd been awaiting.

What was happening to me? Was I simply going crazy, seeing him here in this very room with me? Because they hadn't found him back in the caves, and that could only mean one thing in my opinion.

Yet regarding him now, I could only pretend that he was still alive. I could only imagine how my Dimitri would be here in my days of misery, waiting for me. It was so easy to forget the wicked creature he had been changed into, the one I was out to get.

I snapped out of it.

Instead of going down that road that would bring me so much heartache, where I thought about Dimitri as a Strigoi, I decided to inspect this ghostly figure before me.

That caught my attention. My breath hitched. Ghostly as in ghost. Of course! Seriously, how could I have not thought about this right away, from the second I had seen him? I knew why; because the very thought was so twisted, so freaky that it hadn't crossed my delicate mind, which was already about to explode with disruption.

I stared intently at his insubstantial figure for what seemed like forever. He looked back at me with the same intensity. I looked into his deep brown eyes, the ones I always got lost in, the ones that now took on a washed out colour, like every other aspect of him. Every feature he possessed was softened, and a very faint glow outlined his features.

The silence was too loud for me to bear. I didn't want to scare him, but decided to get over my paranoia. "Dimitri," I said, my voice wavering with that one precious word.

No answer.

Figures. I had sort of anticipated that. I had a feeling his lack of speech wasn't his fault, which encouraged me to further investigate.

"Dimitri," I tried again. "What's going on? I thought… I thought you were Strigoi."

My eyes brightened with a smile when he shook his head. Okay, Rose. One question down, only a few more to go. You can do it.

I caught my breath. "This is a stupid question, but... are you, um, alive?"

Instantaneously, he shook his head with haste and gave me a grim look, as if to say, Do I look alive to you, Rose? He only became harsh like that when he lost his self control. He had never really been that way with me. Only sometimes. Nevertheless, every time his tone changed to one of such fierceness, it stung. And this time was no exception.

Being Rose Hathaway, I put on my brave façade. I would not show how much he'd hurt me, how much I was already breaking inside. "Okay, okay. No need to get all feisty," I deadpanned.

Since the love of my life knew me so well, he could sense the false bravery covering up the sorrow in my voice and was quick to soften his face. Now, that was the Dimitri I knew and loved; the one who never intended to hurt me and wanted me happy.

Feeling a tad better, I made a checklist in my head. Okay, so not Strigoi; definitely not alive. Only one more option.

I sighed. "Dimitri, I know this probably should have been my first question; it would have saved us so much time… and anger, in your case. But, you're dead, right?" I cringed when my voice cracked. I closed my eyes, attempting to rest them, until I realized that I wouldn't see his answer if they were shut.

When I opened my eyes, the look I saw on his face was overwhelming. I wanted to walk right up to him, give him a hug, and wipe the oppressive look off his face. I was at a standstill though, as his depressed eyes pinned me in place.

He nodded, and I continued to take in the helplessness highlighted in all of his features. Teardrops threatened to spill vigorously from my eyes, and I fought to hold them in.

He had never appeared so weak and so desperate. It was ironic really since, when he had been alive, he had been skeptical about my seeing ghosts and the state that he was officially in now. It killed me when that saying "What comes around goes around" popped into my mind. He already learned enough about Ghosts 101 when Mason led us to the caves!, I wanted to scream at whoever would listen.

This wasn't fair to him, to me, to us. What about the life we had both planned for ourselves, the one where we would be together? What about all my hopes and dreams? Did nobody hear my cries of pain?

"How did this happen?" I demanded, heartbroken. His silence prompted me to ask more questions that I knew he couldn't answer, making me hysterical. "You weren't in the caves, so wouldn't they have dragged you off and turned you into a Strigoi? Why would they drag off a dead body?"

Looking at him, I could see compassion in his features. "I don't want your sympathy!" I shrieked. "You're the one who's dead! Why? Who? I saw the blond Strigoi take you down; was he the one who finished you off? Tell me, and I will find him so that I can take him down! I will have vengeance on your death, Dimitri. I can guarantee you that." I sensed the darkness creeping more and more inside of me with each word that left my mouth.

Dimitri shook his head in disapproval. I could tell he was trying to hide his own sadness from me for fear of making me more distraught.

Something about this moment brought me back to that night. That night where Jesse and his friends had tried to torture Lissa and I had taken the darkness away from her. There was a familiar feeling in the air now. And I remembered how Dimitri had been there for me, how he had calmed me down. That memory was burned into me forever. I remembered the exact words spoken.

"Let me go!" I had yelled savagely.

"No. Not until you break out of this. This isn't you!" he'd said desperately.

"It is! Let me go!"

He had replied, agony in his voice, "It's not. It isn't you! It isn't you."

It isn't you. Four words with one amazing man that had changed my entire behaviour that night. If it hadn't been me then, it sure wasn't me now.

Breathing heavily, I tried to flood myself with calmness. I buried myself in that valuable memory, so much, almost to the point where I was actually there, reliving it.

Dimitri gazed at me as I pushed the fury out of my entire body. He seemed reflective. Even though he stood in place, like that night, I felt him lending his strength to me. And I realized that alive, undead or even dead, he would always be my Dimitri.

Maybe this gift of seeing the dead wasn't so bad. Perhaps it had been given to me for a purpose. As long as I was with my Dimitri…

I didn't know exactly how things would turn out in the end, but then again, hadn't the end already come? The end of Dimitri? Or, you know, this could just be the beginning. I guess it all depends on how you look at it. In any case, true love never dies.

Maybe Ghost Dimitri and Dhampir Dimitri were the same. All it took was a leap of faith to find out.

And I was willing to make that jump, starting from where my feet were planted on the floor to where Dimitri stood in the centre of the room.

My heartbeat raced with each step I slowly and carefully took towards Dimitri. I memorized his face as I walked over to him, trying not to petrify him. He was only starting to grow accustomed to this new him, and I didn't want to make this process any more difficult on him.

I was two feet in front of him.

Acting on instinct- since I never genuinely was one to think things through first before doing- I reached my right hand out to gently caress his left cheek.

"Dimitri," I whispered lovingly, just as my hand grazed his cheek- or, what I'd thought was his cheek.

To my visibility, right when my hand was supposed to meet his cheek, it went through it like it would with water. It was like as if Dimitri's translucent figure had been replaced by thin air.

But Dimitri was still here, peering between my face and my hand with an additional amount of gloom.

Taken aback, I pulled my hand back with a jerk. I mulled over the significance of my hand's reaction to Dimitri's ghost.

Alarmed, I outstretched my arm again, willing my hand to try and make contact with him one more time, in order to further verify that my eyes weren't fooling around. It was a lost cause, because the matter had already been proven with my first attempt to make contact. My second try only affirmed reality.

By the look on Dimitri's face, I knew that he too had grasped the meaning of this. He watched, unable to comfort me with neither his touch nor his voice, as teardrops fell silently from my eyes.

What had I been thinking? I might be able to see a version of Dimitri with my eyes, but my relationship with him would never be the same. He was dead. And the very thought killed me.

Still, no matter how much I hated it, he wouldn't ever again be able to speak to me in that affectionate way of his, tell me how much he loved me, and say soothing words of comfort. I would never again feel his loving touch in any way, like when he would kiss me, hold me in his delicate arms, or even just take hold of my hand. You don't realize all of these necessities until they're already gone.

I guess I was what he valued most as he no longer had the senses that were important in order for him to fulfill his relationship with me.

It was just my luck that this had to happen to me. Well, to him, but indirectly to me also. Because right now, my moments with Dimitri would remain just that: moments. Memories.

I could see that Dimitri was pained too. We were both shaken up badly by this. Except that, while Dimitri mourned with facial expressions due to his inability to cry or speak, tears continued to fall freely from my stinging eyes.

Dimitri looked torn up, and I saw him processing his options in his head. No doubt thinking it was for the best, Dimitri had to decide to make his departure right when I needed him most. Some boyfriend… or, considering the situation, ghost boyfriend.

Dimitri's ghostly figure started to fade little by little, his body growing fainter with each passing second.

"No! Please don't leave me!" I screamed in protest.

He continued to fade away.

"Dimitri, no! You can't leave me here all alone!" I begged, my voice turning scratchy from using it at full volume.

The remainder of him disappeared into nothing, and my whole body ached with his loss for the second time.

I was alone in this very large room. Isolated.

My arms wrapped around my stomach, trying to hold myself up and failing miserably as I fell to my knees. I did not try to hold in my cold tears as they rolled ferociously down my cheeks.

As fatigue took fully over my body and more unknown ghostly figures came into view, my world faded to black.

-xxx-

To say I was confused when waking up would be an understatement.

My eyes fluttered open. I felt groggy.

Lying flat on my back on the carpeted floor, I glanced around my hotel room. My unpacked bag sat unopened a few feet away from me; the bed was still made up; darkness radiated through the windows.

I checked the clock on the bedside table; it read 11:53 pm. I was surprised to find out that it was the middle of the human night. I'd slept for longer than I thought.

Slowly lifting myself off the floor, being careful not to get one of those headaches you get when getting up so quickly after a long night's sleep- even though they weren't as bad as the migraines I got when I saw ghosts- recent memories of barely four hours ago flashed before my eyes. My first encounter with a dead Dimitri rushed back into me.

My heart skipped a beat as I remembered the effect our earlier reunion had had on me. Pain, anger and frustration made their way back into me. However, I was feeling better than before. Probably even well enough to meet up with Dimitri again.

Once up off the floor, I tried summoning him, "Dimitri." When he didn't appear, I continued, "Dimitri, where are you? Man up and come face me." I said this a little more aggressively than I intended.

A few minutes passed, a few more painful cries to my lover said, concluding with the same result: his absence.

Staring blankly at the plain, white hotel wall as tears streamed down my face seemed to interest me at the moment. And so, as I shed my tears, I stared at nothingness.

That is, until I was bored out of my mind and couldn't stand it anymore.

I was stunned that whoever owned this hotel couldn't afford better wallpaper- or even any wallpaper. White paint- really? That was all they accommodated to the people who would come back here, after a long day of tourism, to see and appreciate? And even for people like me, who only needed bright colours to cheer them up? I wasn't asking for much.

I focused way more than I should have on the idea. It shouldn't have been that great of a deal. After all, a lot of hotels had the same, typical wall colour. But in this very instant, this one detail tested my sanity. I realize that, when I'm in one of those moods, nothing I say or do is rational- which is why I welcomed the sudden distraction.

Lissa.

I was pulled into her head with a sharp force from the strength of her fury, now seeing through her eyes. She was halfway across the world from me, back at the Academy.

Anger radiated off her. It was something about her posture that screamed, Stay away to anyone who had the nerve to confront her. Instead, she was the one who did all the confronting.

It was lunchtime at the Academy and the commons was filled with students, eating away at their lunches while chatting in groups. There was only one group that stood out: our group. Christian, Adrian and Eddie- who had, more or less, only a few injuries after Lissa had healed most of him up, but not enough to drain her- were already seated at our usual table- well, not so much my table anymore- as Lissa made her way over to them.

Nevertheless, Christian had a seat saved for his girlfriend. His face fell a bit as he took in her bitter expression. "Lissa, what's wrong?" He stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into his warm embrace.

She cried into his shoulder, "She's gone. She's really gone."

"What are you talking about? Who's gone?" asked Christian, voice gentle.

"Rose," she replied with a sniffle.

She could tell that this caught Eddie by surprise. Adrian, on the other hand, didn't say anything nor react in anyway. However, she did see a change in his aura that indicated nerves. I had a feeling I knew why. She decided to spare him the interrogation though. At least for now.

Eddie was the first to answer. "I don't understand. Why don't you have a seat and explain?"

Christian nodded towards the saved seat in encouragement. Lissa was still undecided, every emotion within her all tangled up. She was in the mood to do something about my disappearance, but the idea of sharing with her friends tugged at her as well.

Adrian didn't seem to like this suggestion. "But she hasn't eaten since breakfast. Why doesn't she go grab some food? And you know what? I really should get going. I have to get back to my room for… something." Adrian was stalling. I felt bad for putting him in this situation, because it was technically my fault. He probably knew though that I wouldn't want him mentioning what he knew to Lissa, as it would make her angry that I had told him about my withdrawal, but not her, my best friend.

They all noticed his stutter. Lissa especially knew something was up.

As he attempted to stand up, she barked, "Sit down." Lissa was extremely upset as she only ever got this mad for good reasons. Usually, she was gentle, kind and good-hearted. Today, the darkness was distinguishable in her. To be honest, it had me worried.

He sat back down as Eddie remarked, "Christian's a good boyfriend; I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing the food on his plate. After all, Lissa's not a big eater, particularly when compared to Rose." He laughed as Christian smirked at Adrian. Personally, I sort of was insulted. I never liked being the centre of anyone's joke.

Christian walked over to the seat designated to Lissa, and being a gentleman, brought out the chair from under the table. She hesitantly sat down. Christian followed suit and started rubbing her arm. She didn't say anything, but she loved it when he went out of his way to be so caring.

"Now please tell us what is going on. What's up with Rose?" Christian questioned soothingly.

And so, Lissa explained everything to the three guys watching her. "You remember this morning? You know, when Rose wasn't at breakfast?" Christian and Eddie nodded, and Eddie elbowed Adrian not-so-subtly, making Adrian nod his head too. "Well, we all thought she had just forgotten to turn her alarm clock on the night before and slept in; you know the usual Rose move. And I know we don't normally have morning classes together, but I got really worried when I didn't see her at all in between classes." She stopped, catching her breath. Three, or well, at least two pairs of eyes watched her intently. "Being my paranoid self, I just went now to her room to see if she was there, and she wasn't. Then, I checked the gym and no such luck. So I decided to go see Kirova and ask her if she could make a request for Rose over the intercom." She started to tear up and it broke my heart. "Although when I got there and asked, she said Rose was gone. She has withdrawn from the Academy and left. Without me. She didn't even tell me! How could she do this to me and leave me all alone to fend for myself? She knows how much I need her and how much she means to me." She let out a sob. I wished I was there to comfort her. Then again, I was the one responsible for all this pain she was suffering from.

Christian awkwardly hugged her from his chair, in a way to comfort. Eddie spoke in a frustrated manner, "What do you mean she left? Why? Why would she do that?"

She cried out, "I meant exactly what I said! She abandoned us. She abandoned me. She is gone." She tried to hide her tears so no one else except her group of friends would see. Luckily, no one was paying attention to their table.

"I don't understand why she'd leave…" Christian mused, pensive.

Eddie said, "Why don't we go back to Kirova and get all the information we can?"

"Good idea," Christian simply agreed. He leaned over towards Lissa and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It cheered her up a bit. "Come. We'll figure out the real story."

"I've already pried every single detail possible out of her! Believe me; she doesn't know much," Lissa answered in discouragement.

"Well, maybe there's more to the story. Come on, Rose always has an ulterior motive." Again, it was weird for me to watch through Lissa's eyes as they talked about me. I knew they weren't backstabbing- just stating the obvious, I admit- but it was still odd.

No matter the mood she was in, she rolled her eyes. She thought that, in spite of how Christian and I had usually acted around each other when I had attended the Academy, we both had had friendly feelings towards each other. You can dream all you want, Liss, but your man and I were never on good terms.

She said, "I'll pass. Trust me; if I can't get any useful information out of her, it would be useless for you to try." And just like that, I knew that she'd used compulsion on Kirova. It bothered me because I didn't want my best friend to get in trouble, though it didn't affect me much since it wasn't like Kirova understood my ulterior motives- as Christian had put it.

"Well, it's still worth a try," Eddie contradicted matter-of-factly.

"I want to go, but I really don't want to leave you alone," Christian told Lissa. It made Lissa ecstatic to know that he took her feelings into account so much. I was relieved to know I'd left her behind in good hands.

"I'll stay with her," Adrian offered.

Christian's face hardened. He didn't like the idea of Adrian and Lissa alone. Lissa was used to Christian's behaviour towards Adrian- especially when they had their magic practice sessions- as well as could see it in his aura. "I think it's a good plan," she insisted eagerly. She knew Adrian had discovered something about my departure- even to an outsider, he would look suspicious- and wanted to speak with him. That wasn't a good sign for me. She would feel betrayed by me because I'd chosen to tell Adrian over her. Although I had told him a lie- I'd said that I wanted to get away from everything- to him and Lissa it was the truth. And she would no doubt feel hurt. I prayed that Christian wouldn't leave them alone.

Christian turned to Lissa, and they shared one of those 'moments'. Unspoken messages passed between them. She was silently reassuring him that it was okay to leave her behind with Adrian. As if receiving this message- and contradicting my needs- he nodded his head in consent.

Lissa stood up right as Eddie and Christian rose, and walked over to her boyfriend in order to give him a hug goodbye. She whispered a quiet, "Thanks" and then went to give Eddie a hug.

The two guys walked off, leaving Lissa and Adrian by themselves. I comforted myself with the idea that perhaps Adrian wouldn't give out any knowledge of hearing about my absence beforehand. I realized however that I also hadn't hinted to him about my not telling Lissa or about him not bringing up the topic with her. Therefore, he had no further indication that it would be wrong for him to say something.

Lissa plopped herself down in the seat beside Adrian, and then questioned, "So what do you know that I don't?" There was a noticeable edge to her voice. She sounded snappy.

Adrian responded with a teasing smile, "You know, for someone who is always looked upon as so sweet and angelic, you sure can have a big attitude."

She retorted with a snort, "I'm best friends with the Rose Hathaway; It's only normal for her attitude to rub off on me every now and then." That did explain a lot.

"You make a good point. Maybe the reason she didn't tell you too is because she was afraid of your attitude…" he joked, not considering his slip.

"So then, you knew before she left?" she pried, acknowledging his slip.

He looked at her contemplatively before answering. "Yes. Yes, I did. She told me before she left." Uh-oh. I had been scared that this would happen.

"Wait a minute. She told you, but somehow 'forgot' to tell her best friend?" Just as I'd suspected, she was beyond furious. I internally cringed.

"Actually, I'm just as surprised that she didn't tell you as you are. I would have thought…? But never mind that. She must have had her reasons… like not wanting to upset you," he thought aloud.

"Oh… upset doesn't even come close to covering how I feel! How could she do this to me?" The waterworks started back up again, making me want to cry as well.

"I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you are. All I know is that she didn't really say much. Just that, after everything that had happened, she needed to get away." I was glad he didn't add the part about him giving me money.

"Right. So she needed to get away from me? Was that the problem? Was I too much for her to handle?"

"It wasn't you, Lissa. Although it was really unexpected… Sure things got bad around here, but what could have possibly caused her to leave so drastically?" Adrian inquired.

That got Lissa thinking, and she knew. She thought back to my relationship with Dimitri and the way I had reacted over his undead state. Lissa also remembered the silent promise we'd made to each other back in that SUV months ago. I would never forget that day and was surprised that she, too, thought of it still.

Lissa didn't say any of this aloud, my privacy in mind. I could always count on Liss for sympathy, even when she was really mad at me.

Despite her anger towards me, I was happy that she understood that it hadn't been her who had caused me to leave. No matter what the cause, she was still infuriated with me because she thought I'd chosen him over her.

"Are you okay? Your aura just changed with your growing anger."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she snapped. Then, she felt guilty for acting so mean to him when all he wanted to do was help. "Sorry for my behaviour," she apologized. "It's just… it has only been one day and I miss her so much. I know she can always drop in through the bond, but I want to be able to talk with her."

He sighed speculatively. "I'll teach you," he said, out of the blue.

"What?" she asked lost.

"I'll teach you to dream walk."

I exited her head, unable to bear anymore. My check-in with Lissa had only initiated more stress to form within me. I had enough on my plate as it was, and didn't need to worry about her trying to find means of communication with me. Adrian was one thing, but having Lissa pop into my dreams would complicate matters immensely.

The anxiety was too much for me to deal with. First Dimitri, now Lissa. Why wasn't anyone giving me a break? Ugh, why was my life so complicated? It was like everyone was trying to tear me apart at the exact same time.

My head hurt and my heart was pounding. I needed to get out of this room. I was growing claustrophobic; all my problems were cramming into this very room with me, hardly leaving any space left for myself.

My stomach growled. Great. Just what I needed to top things off: another thing to add to my list of worries. I had barely eaten all day. In addition to the lack of food in my stomach, even though it was the human nighttime, it was also supposed to be my lunchtime.

Glancing around the room, my eyes spotted a pamphlet on the coffee table. I went over to pick it up. As the pamphlet indicated, I could always order room service.

But what fun would that be? You know, just kick back and eat some food, while watching TV? Of course not. Being the girl I was, was my mind ever relaxed? I highly doubted it. I guess guardian life- or even if I wasn't officially a guardian, anything to do with Strigoi hunting- involved high stress at all times. Or maybe it was just me and my messed up life. Who knows? After all, I wasn't your typical teenager- actually, adult. Right, because it was my birthday today. Could have fooled me too. A very happy birthday to me it is. Being a grown-up is fun.

Since my stresses were clearly all jam-packed into this room, I decided getting outside for some fresh air and a snack would be a good thing- and I had no trouble believing all my worries would follow me outside, but at least there would be more space for everything in the open air.

I walked over to my carry-on and opened it. Inside, I found a blue cotton sweater. I put my arms through the sleeves and zipped it up. I put my hand in my sweater's right pocket, feeling for my silver stake. My hand closed around it but did not take it out.

Going out in the middle of the night was not a clever decision on my part, especially in a big city. Lots of Strigoi would probably loom around. And although I had my stake, I was too overtired to be one hundred percent focused on the world around me. I relieved myself from over worrying as I knew I would feel the nausea when a Strigoi would lurk too close.

I left my bag along with the room as I made my way downstairs to the lobby. The lobby was much like the room, although it was etching its way up to the 'chic' category. I hadn't chosen an expensive and elegant hotel. It wasn't worth it for what I was here for. It wasn't like I would have the time to appreciate the hotel. That wasn't my goal.

On my way through the lobby, I passed the manager at the desk. He startled me when he said, "I hope you're enjoying your stay here."

He was being kind, genuinely caring about how I liked it here. Still, all I could muster up to say was a quick "Yep," then walked away towards the exit.

The exit of the hotel was one of those turning doors, you know, the one where you have to push in a circle to get out. I paused before going through.

Nevertheless, I felt for the stake in my sweater, just to be safe and make sure it was still there. Then, I thought of something. Would I be able to find a twenty-four hour café? I wasn't in the mood for anything fancy and whatnot. Moscow, such a vibrant place, would certainly have something simple opened this late, right?

I went with my instinct- which told me to check for myself. Taking a deep breath, my heart speeding up, I went through the turning door.

Outside was… amazing. If I'd thought it was a nice city when the sun was still in view earlier, with the darkness it was beautiful. Lights highlighted the streets and restaurants invited people to eat. And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it wouldn't be a challenge for me to find a small café. Even though it was late night, pedestrians wandered the streets.

I took in every aspect of the city as I walked down the streets. I looked inside every window I passed to see what the store or restaurant held; I knew I wouldn't be able to understand Russian signs indicating a café, so I inspected inside to see if I would find something that resembled one.

I was making my way down the fourth block away from my hotel when suddenly a confusing feeling tickled at my mind- or something like that. A wave of heat and then ice followed the agitation in my head. Then, it was gone.

The sensation had been disorienting, but I tried to ignore the paranoia it installed in me, passing it off as a side effect to fatigue.

I continued my prance down the fourth block. There was a streetlight before crossing to the fifth. I waited patiently- sort of- for the light to turn to that white pedestrian sign. After crossing, I noticed in the second window on the block a coffee shop. I could tell because there were sandwiches in the counter window, and donuts and cookies in the back as well. My mouth melted with the thought of having a donut; that was just what I needed to lighten my mood.

I was in front of the door, about to open it, when I felt a presence shockingly close behind me. I froze. It wasn't a Strigoi because I didn't feel the nausea that would come along with one's presence. So what could it be? My heart jumped out of place thinking that perhaps it was someone from the Academy who had found me and would try to haul me back.

However, it was a voice I did not recognize. "Oh my. Y-you're shadow-kissed," an excited female voice said.

A shiver ran up my spine as I turned to face the speaker.