This story will have a lot of twists and turns. It will have all of the major plot points from Mead's books (I do not own Vampire Academy, any of its characters, or Mead's plot points) but I will, of course, put my own spin on things. I hope you enjoy! Also, I have never written a fanfiction in first person before, so we will see how it goes.

I stared at the Strigoi in horror as he bit Eddie for the third time in two days. This situation was getting really bad really fast. I really, really wished that I had told someone at the ski resort where I was hieing off to. They would have no idea where to look. If we couldn't make it out of this ourselves, we weren't going to be making it out at all.

As the Strigio left, I glanced discreetly at the guards. There were two of them, big and bulky, but human. Thank God for small favors. But Mia and Christian were obviously feeling the strain of being without food, water, or blood; Eddie was a complete mess from all the endorphins; and I figured that if my throat felt like it was on fire Mason couldn't be at the top of his game either. On top of all that, our hands were bound and the Strigoi kept showing up without warning. We are so screwed.

If I could just go back to sleep, I could get help. Their only hope was to get word back to the others and the only way they could do that was through Adrian. I couldn't believe that I hadn't told him where we were the second I saw him in my dream. At this point, I was so worried I couldn't sleep. And with every hour that went by, Mia and Christian got hungrier.

When the Strigoi came back in, I jumped at the chance. Okay, jumped wasn't exactly the right term, but I couldn't let Eddie get bit again and the bite might be enough to knock me out. After all, Eddie had been sleeping all day.

I gritted my teeth. It killed me to be polite to a Strigoi but if I wanted him to do as I asked, sacrifices must be made, "Sir? Permission to speak?"

Mason, Christian, and Mia heads whipped around as they stared at me in shock. Mia's mouth actually dropped open, a sight I would have laughed at under normal circumstances.

The Strigoi's eyebrows raised. "Lack of nourishment is teaching you manners? Unexpected, but pleasant. Sure, you may have permission to speak."

I licked my lips, slumped my shoulders, and schooled my expression to make myself look as scared, pathetic, and needy as possible. "I... please... I," I let her voice trail off.

The Strigoi came closer, dropped into a crouch in front of her. "Please what?"

My eyes dropped to his mouth. I hoped the expression on my face was one of longing instead of pure hatred. I opened my mouth, but the Strigoi stopped me with a laugh.

"I thought you were just being gallant before. But you were serious. You really have been bitten before. You crave it, though I doubt you want to. What? Is watching me bite your friend making the cravings stronger? Dehydration lowering your ability to fight it?" He leaned in until I could feel his breath on my neck and I shuddered as true longing shot through me. I had heard that a Strigoi's bite was even more potent than a Moroi's. A part of me screamed to find out, whatever it took. The Strigoi's tongue darted out and lightly stroked my skin. I allowed a small whimper to escape. The Strigoi chuckled. He wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled my head back, wringing a cry of pain from me, as he turned his head to look at Christian and Mia. Christian's eyes were narrowed, the look in them downright murderous while Mia simply looked frightened.

"You going to help slake her cravings, pretty boy?"

Christian growled out, "Leave her the hell alone."

The Strigoi turned back to me. "Is that what you want? Me to leave you alone?"

I shook my head, hoping that Christian would just keep his mouth shut.

"What do you want then, little damphir?"

I flinched as Adrian's nickname rolled off this disgusting creature's tongue. "You. To bite me," I whispered. "Please," I added, my voice breathy, as I imagined killing him, as slowly and painfully as possible.

He smiled a slow smile and leaned in. I could hear Mason shouting something, but all of my focus was on how close Isaiah's teeth were to my skin. I hadn't realized until recently how addicted I had been to Lissa's bite, but now, in this moment, I was fighting the need to lean toward Isaiah. My breathing escalated, my body betraying me as I anticipated his teeth and the blissful feeling that would accompany it. His teeth scraped over my skin and I bit my lip to hold back the moan that threatened to escape as my eyelids fell closed. I stiffened in pain as he bit down, but soon the endorphins flooded my system. It was definitely stronger than a Moroi bite and it quickly drowned out all thought. If my hands had been free, I would have clutched his head to my neck, as it was my head fell back and I whimpered as the feelings of ecstasy swamped me.

On the other side of the room, Christian turned his head away from the sight. Both because watching the Strigoi feeding was making his hunger worse and because he knew Rose wouldn't want any of them to witness her loss of control.

The Strigoi pulled back after what seemed like an eternity and Christian's eyes flicked back to Rose to make sure that she was okay. The Strigoi was whispering something to her and she seemed captivated by whatever he was saying. Then he let her go and rose back up to his full height. He turned back to Christian and smirked. "When you are ready, I suggest you choose her. She'll want it as much as you do."

Christian clenched his teeth as the monster left. His eyes dropped and met Rose's from across the room. Her face showed that she was still out of it, but the hunger in her eyes was evident. She wanted to be bitten as badly as he wanted to bite her.

Slowly, mercifully, I slipped out of consciousness, praying that Adrian would appear.

. . .

I blinked awake. I didn't know how long I had been out for. I groaned as I realized that Adrian hadn't shown himself. Instead, I had dreamed of fire. The Strigoi going up in flames, followed soon by the building as they all remained trapped, tied up like pigs going to slaughter. I shook my head, trying to clear the sleep from my mind.

Suddenly, I snapped my head up. Fire. I almost cursed aloud but, glancing at the guards, I bit the words back. Why the hell hadn't I thought of magic before now? I turned my gaze towards Christian, who was watching me intently. Actually, he was watching my neck intently. I willed him to keep focused just a little longer.

I cleared my throat. "Excuse me? Can we get some water. My throat is practically on fire." As I said those last words I glanced meaningfully at Christian.

"No talking," one of the guards barked.

I watched Christian carefully and could practically see the light bulb go off over his head. He nodded, almost imperceptibly.

A few moments later, he said, "I'm ready."

"We said no talking," the other guard barked.

"No, I mean, I'm ready. I pick her," he pointed towards me.

"What?" Mason and Mia both said at the same time.

The guards looked at each other. "Should we get the boss?" one of them asked the other.

"Nah, he isn't even here."

The guards took off Christian's flexicuffs and he shook his hands out, trying to get feeling back into them.

"Christian, you can't..." Mia started.

At the same time, Mason yelled, "Christian, don't do this!"

"Shut up," one of the guards barked.

Christian started to advance on me and I prayed that he had a plan. A plan that did not involve killing me and turning Strigoi.

Christian knelt down in front of me and I had the sudden impulse to run my hands over his chest. What the hell? He bent closer and my attention shifted to his teeth. Fire licked through my veins as I imagined his bite. He pulled his lips back, revealing his fangs and it took all of my willpower not to beg him to give me the bliss my body was so ardently crying out for. He brought his mouth to my neck and licked my skin, causing me to have to bite back a moan before it could escape and embarrass me in front of the others. I stiffened momentarily at the pain as his teeth sank into my neck. Then the endorphins were flooding through me again, somehow even stronger than when the Strigoi had bitten me. Through the feelings of ecstasy, however, a small part of me screamed at the rest of me to stop Christian, to save him, to prevent Lissa from losing him to the darkness.

Moments later, though, I felt the skin of my wrists begin to blister and I realized what he was doing. He pulled back his fangs, but continued lightly sucking at the wound, making it look like he was continuing to drink me dry. The pain in my hands was thankfully lessened by the endorphins from his bite, but I still whimpered quietly as my flesh continued to burn. It wasn't long, however, until the flexicuffs began to melt, becoming soft enough for me to yank my hands free.

As soon as I was free, I attacked the guard closest to me. Then I turned and flattened out the second guard while Christian moved to remove the cuffs from the rest of their group. He then dragged the guards to the wall and cuffed them.

Peeking out the door, I saw no signs of anyone in the hallway. Turning to Mason, I told him that I was going to scout ahead and that if anything went wrong, he was to focus solely on getting the rest of the group out into the sunlight, into safety. He, of course, argued. He wanted to be the scout, but I was adamant and he ultimately capitulated to my will, which was still stronger than his even in my weakened state. I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

. . .

I groaned as I gained consciousness and pain ripped through my body. For a moment, I prayed for the darkness to come back, to take away the pain. Then I heard Mia's voice calling my name. When I noticed the panic in her tone, instincts kicked in and I blinked my eyes open.

"Oh thank God," Mia exclaimed. "Would you believe that none of these people have phones on them? I checked. I don't know where they stashed ours. Christian is out cold after that bitch bit him, Eddie is barely conscious and completely incoherent. Mason," she stopped dead.

"Is dead," I said, forcing the words past a lump in my throat. "He's dead." I tried to sit up but Mia pushed down on my shoulder.

"No, no, don't get up. We have to figure out how to stop the bleeding before you try running around."

I looked down at myself and noted the gash on my thigh and the gaping hole in my side. I closed my eyes as I remembered what had caused them. Elena's sword had sliced the gash through my leg. Elena had been going after Christian, who had run into the house just as I had plunged the glass into Isaiah's heart. Before he could even react- not that I think he could have done much anyway as weak as he was- Elena had sunk her teeth into his neck. I ran for the fireplace, grabbed one of the swords, and sank it into her side before I had even had a chance to really think. My only focus was getting her away from Christian. Elena had dropped to the ground and as I drew back to swing the sword at her, Elena's hand had whipped up and cut my thigh open with a piece of glass. A moment later, I was hacking into her neck.

My mind came back to the present as I felt a burning sensation in my side. I hissed in pain as I focused on Mia, who was leaning over me. She jumped back, alarmed.

"What the hell?" Mia cried. Then she leaned close and squeezed her fist in the air over my side. The burning sensation came again.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded. "That fucking hurts."

"It's... it's..." she stopped and scrambled over to Eddie, who was sitting propped up against the wall. She squeezed her fist over the bite marks on his neck. "Nothing," she breathed. She looked back at me. "It's just you."

"What? What are you talking about?" I demanded, louder this time.

"I... you aren't even gonna believe this, but I think... I think my blood just, well, healed you. A little. But not Eddie. It didn't help him."

I stared at her incredulously for a moment and then rolled my eyes. "Great, another shadow-kissed anomaly. Just what I needed."

Mia moved back to my side as I pushed myself into a sitting position, ignoring the screaming pain ripping through my side as I did so. "No, seriously," Mia said. She held her hand out over the wound.

"No," I said, knocking her hand out of the way. "I believe you. God knows all kinds of weird things happen around me. Including weird side effects. So God knows what your blood in my system will do. No more. No thanks. I'll deal with it. Speaking of blood, you need some. And we need to try and wake up Christian. Neither of us can carry him in the state we are in." I kept my mind focused on what needed to be done. I'd dwell on the events of the last few days later.

"As I was searching for a phone, I took some blood from the guards tied up downstairs. I am fine. Other than the small cut on my palm and my dry throat from lack of water, there is nothing wrong with me."

"Okay. So. Are there any vehicles outside?"

"I don't know. I can look." Mia stood up.

"No, no. You work on getting Christian to wake up. I'll look." The last thing I needed was Mia to go outside and run into more enemies. I pushed myself to my feet. Mia watched me, a worried expression on her face as I swayed slightly. "I'm fine," I reassured her. I stepped forward and bit my lip, hard, to keep from groaning aloud as the wound in my leg burned from the movement. I kept walking.

30 minutes later, Christian was in one of the captain seats in the middle of the van they had found parked out front. Mason was laid out on the bench seat in the very back. Mia and I were just coming out of the house with Eddie when we heard a car come up the drive.

I pushed Mia back into the house. "Stay inside with Eddie," I ordered. Then I stepped outside and hid behind a large potted plant that was on the porch of the house. My crouched position made my leg scream in pain, but I ignored it, focusing on the SUV pulling up into the shade of the porch.

A man stepped out of the backseat. He was covered nearly head to toe in black cloth, sunglasses covering his eyes. He stopped at the passenger side door. "Pull the car around to the back and then meet me inside," he told whoever was inside the vehicle. Then he turned and began climbing the porch steps.

He had to be Strigoi, considering his state of dress. It was rare to see a Strigoi out and about during the day, even covered as he is, but it had been known to happen. All they really needed was a driver that could be in the sun. I prepared myself, and just as he passed me, I sprung. With no weapon, the only thing I could hope to do is either break his neck and then hack it off with the sword inside or rip off his head covering and throw him into the sun. As I landed on his back, I wrapped my hands around his head but, before I could give it a hard twist, he brought his head down and swung his body so that my body was slammed into the side of the house. This caused the breath to be knocked out of me and I lost my grip on him slightly, which was all he needed to pull me up and over his shoulder to land hard on the porch.

I had managed to keep his head covering tight in my fist, so I could now see the top part of his head. As he moved forward to grab me, moving almost faster than I could track, I brought my legs up just in time to catch him in the chest and send him tumbling down the porch steps. I bounded down the stairs and, as my feet hit the hard packed dirt, he staggered to his feet, obviously stunned a bit from his tumble. That was all I needed. I spun and delivered a flawless roundhouse kick to his chest, followed by a hard front kick that pushed him into the sunlight. As his head began to smoke he tried to throw himself forward, back into the shade of the porch, but I shoved him, causing him to land heavily on his back.

As he began to scream and burst into flames, I yelled for Mia. I didn't know how many other people had been in the SUV and they were in no condition to handle more trouble. I could feel my leg trying to buckle under me as I stood, panting over the third Strigoi I had killed that day. Mia came rushing out of the house with Eddie's arm slung over her shoulders. I limped to the bottom of the stairs. As Mia got to me, I tried to help take some of Eddie's weight, but Mia waved me off. I didn't argue. I was barely able to hold myself up.

Moments later, we were settling Eddie in the seat next to Christian's, I had climbed in the passenger seat, and Mia was starting the engine. As we turned around in front of the house, we heard yelling. Three men were running out the front door of the house. Mia gunned it, a cloud of dust rising behind the van as it raced away from the house. The men began to shoot. A couple of the shots pinged off of the back of the van, but soon we were well away from the house.

"Do you know how to get back to the resort?" I asked Mia.

Mia nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I remember from the bus ride here. It's pretty simple."

"Okay. Just, if I fall asleep, wake me when we get close, okay?"

Mia nodded.

"Okay." And, with that, I fell asleep.

Please take just a moment and review to let me know what you think. All reviewers will get a preview of the next chapter as a thank you! You can expect an update approximately once a week, more often if I can find the time.