Prologue

Her eyes met mine in the briefest of glances. It was all we could afford given the current circumstances, but she spoke volumes to me in a fraction of a second. Roza. My heart ached for her. Part of me wanted so badly to reach out and take her hand, to comfort her, but that was out of the question right now, for more reasons than I had time to rationalize. We were in full-fledged battle mode. Rose didn't need comforting. Hell, she'd been lethal in the last twelve hours. I don't think I would have been able to battle Strigoi like that at her age.

I could see the light from the sun pouring into the entrance of the cave where we'd just battled an entire group of Strigoi who had captured both dhampirs and Moroi from the academy. We'd rescued some, and we'd lost some others. There hadn't been time to count casualties. I was confident we'd made enough rescues and killed enough Strigoi to label the mission a success. Now we were only a few yards from safety, but this was no time to let our guard down yet.

Guardian training had taught me to always keep my attention on my surroundings, no matter how many other thoughts I had on my mind. That's why, within a fraction of a second of feeling movement behind us, I whipped around, stake ready, to take on our attackers.

I was met with a sharp blow to the side of the head. I faltered for only a millisecond, before leaping back towards the Strigoi, taking a shot at its heart. It managed to block me, but I swung around and grazed the side of its face with my stake, hoping to distract it momentarily.

"Keep moving!" I cried out to the others, never taking my eyes off of my attacker. I felt a burst of rage within me for all the death and destruction these Strigoi had caused, and almost effortlessly I pierced the Strigoi's heart with my stake. It crumpled to the ground, and without missing a beat I ripped the stake back out, ready to take down the next. To my right I saw another Strigoi snap a dhampir student's neck. Rage burned through me. I staked that Strigoi faster than the first.

Behind me, I could still hear the sounds of another fight. I spun around faster than a streak of lightening, but I was too late. In that moment, my world halted to slow motion, forcing me to watch, unable to move, as that sick, undead creature sucked the blood from her neck. My Roza, lying on the ground, helpless, broken, her eyes glazed over, her face twisted in horror.

I let out a cry, so animalistic I didn't even recognize myself. I leapt towards her. She wasn't more than three yards away from me. But I was met with the resistance of strong arms.

"Belikov, we need to get out. It's too late for her." Two sets of guardian's arms were around my torso, pulling me from the scene. I surrendered to them, immobilized by pain. My eyes lingered on her lifeless body until I could no longer see her anymore…