Secret War

Chapter 7

7

"How do you know about Anna?"

"I've done my own research too you know? Don't you ever wonder how the first Strigoi was made?" she smiled. "Now, enough talking, it's about time I ate."

"Riya snap out of it. This isn't you."

"Oh but that's where you're wrong Roza, we all have this side inside of us no matter how much we fight it. It will always be there, I have warned you about this before. I told you to stay away from the fight but you didn't listen to me." Riya shook her head. "Every naughty child needs to be punished Roza. I guarantee that it won't hurt. You have been bitten and fed off of before am I right? The Dragomir princess used to did she not?"

"I am not a Blood-Whore Riya." I scowled. I didn't like this Riya, she was terrifying and it took everything ounce of my strength not to scream.

"No, but you know Roza, you are so much like us. You are Shadow-Kissed, a host for the darkness inside spirit users. You are lucky you know, you only have to bear with one person and she already drives you insane sometimes. Think about how hard it would be to have to take everyone's, humans, Morois, Strigois and Dhampirs. Imagine all that darkness, what it would do to the mind. All the corrupted thoughts are dark Roza, you must learn that. We merely strive to rid that darkness; that is the reason we kill."

"I'm different from you."

"Ah, that you are right about." Riya nodded. I couldn't understand what she was talking about. Was there some link between the Shadow-Kissed and the Strigoi? And she had a point; I didn't know how the first Strigoi came into play. How he or she was created. Riya obviously knew. I couldn't help but notice how tantalisingly close she was getting. "It really won't hurt a bit, trust me Roza."

"You won't bit me Riya, you can break out of this."

"I have warned you before." Riya shook her head. "There are times when even I lose control. And this is the price you pay for not listening to me." She turned to the guardians and raised a hand. "You will all leave and tell your master that you have failed and that you will never agree to any future attacks on this town and this house."

All the guardians around us stood and left, all except five that Riya grabbed by the arms. "You five are the lucky feeders who will help my friends. Go downstairs now and let them feed. Let them punish you for the pain you have caused them."

"Yes mistress," the chanted and headed down the hatch where Zana and Luka were.

"Now Roza," she purred placing her hands on my shoulders.

"Riya, you have a duty to train me not bite me. You owe this to Dimitri."

"I don't owe him anything," she spat. "He never even knew that I was gone!"

"I don't understand Riya."

"He never even knew that I was gone! None of them did! None of them knew that we were murdered, massacred! His branch got the pretty story of us becoming distant and ignoring them when in fact we'd been dead!" Riya screamed throwing her arms in the air. "That bitch Tatiana will pay for what she did. That bitch will pay."

"What about the Queen?"

"She knows Roza, she knows everything about this kind of Strigoi and yet she chooses when to kill us off! She knows that we can gain control with the right help but she won't give any of them a chance! This immortality doesn't have to be viewed as a curse Roza but she makes it so hard for any other Strigoi to ever have the chance to realise that!" Riya shouted in frustration. "She won't even give them a chance to reform and gain their humanity back. That bitch is a murderer, a selfish cow who can't even keep the world safe. She just makes it worse!" she began swearing in Russian and I took this time to process what she was saying.