Charlotte

Chapter One

St. Vladimir's had gotten...boring. Okay, I was totally down for that. The last two months had been hell for not just me...Rose and Lissa, and even Dimitri went through the ringer. I got some pretty cool friends out of it, though, and lost one. Christian had quickly become my best male friend, and everyone noticed a difference. He went from being the outcast, the freak and the loner, to dating the most popular girl in school-a princess no less- and having a best friend. Lissa lightened up a little, and with Victor locked up and Natalie dead (I'll get to that in a minute) she didn't have to use so much Spirit. 

Rose and I were great, too. We went back to doing everything together, and I even went back to training. The rumor that we were lesbian for each other still circled, but this time, instead of being upset about it, we fell into it with grace. We may have even purposely reinforced them. We all still felt the loss of Natalie...it was quieter...but it felt like we all took a big breath of fresh air now that it was all over with. 

Natalie was a huge blow to our moral. We'd liked her a lot, despite everything. Not long after her dad had been locked up in the detention center, Victor had convinced his own daughter to turn Strigoi.

I stood awkwardly to the side, listening to Victor talk about Rose and Dimitri's attraction to each other...apparently, the lust charm wouldn't have worked if there was nothing between them already. I tried not to let it bother me...tried to push it to the side. I was glad when the topic shifted to Rose being Shadow-Kissed. She had died, and Lissa had brought her back and it left a mark on her soul. She was never supposed to live past the night of the accident, and that's why she was bonded to Lissa the way she was, and why she had no control over her emotions.

They were forever linked, and now they had a term for what they were: Shadow-Kissed. It was kind of beautiful-kind of poetic- but also really sad. Until one of them succumbed to the darkness or died, they would suffer the good and the bad of that bond.  Essentially, they were screwed. 

"Finally," Victor said as I turned around at the sound of banging and shouting from another room. Natalie rounded the corner, and Rose sagged in relief...but I felt no such emotion...Natalie didn't look like Natalie...she had no aura at all. Nothing was coming off of her...like she was dead. 

"Hey," Rose said. "I didn't think they'd let you in." They hadn't exactly let us in either. 

Natalie didn't respond. She walked right up to Rose and literally launched her into the far wall. Rose gasped in pain, and then again when she saw the red rim around Natalie's pupils. The girl had gone and went Strigoi. I ran at her, terror making my bones vibrate, but I couldn't just let her go. I focused and flung myself at Natalie. We crashed into the cell door she was unlocking for her dad. We dented the bars and rolled over each other on the floor. She got on top of me, snarling and she opened her mouth to take a chunk out of me. 

Rose kicked her as hard as she could in the side. It barely fazed Natalie...or what was Natalie, but it caught her attention. Natalie grabbed me by my throat, lifting me with her. She squeezed, cutting off my air supply. I recalled the conversation on the way to the mall. 

"Could you kill someone you know?" 

And in practice. No stake, nothing to cut her head off with. No way to set her on fire.

My eyes were beginning to roll, my struggling slowing down. Rose hit her in the ribs and Natalie dropped me. I fell to the ground, wheezing with my hand to my throat, coughing. She went after Rose, but she dodged the Strigoi, dipping down and picking me up, and we ran. Natalie jumped, grabbing ahold of Rose's head and smashing her skull into the wall. Blood came away with her skull when Natalie tried to do it a second time.