Blood

The days after that were like a dream. In fact, I honestly can’t say how many days even passed. Maybe it was one. Maybe it was a hundred.I lost track…

For someone who had preached to Denis about impulse control, I wasn’t setting a very good example. Once left alone in the suite, I continued trying everything possible to get…

Unsurprisingly, I woke up with a headache.For a few addled seconds, I had no idea what had happened or where I was. As drowsiness wore off, the events on the…

Convincing them to release a Strigoi-particularly when we had him trapped-wasn’t easy. My questioning hadn’t made sense to them either, but they’d gone along with it. Letting a Strigoi go?…

Denis and his two unpromised friends, Artur and Lev, were ecstatic that I was going to be part of their posse. But if they expected me to share their crazy…

Abe glanced over at one of his guardians and gave a swift nod. The man instantly walked away. “It’s done,” Abe said.”Just like that?” I asked in disbelief. His lips…

The encounter with Denis left me even more confused than before. It was a shocking illustration of Mark’s warning, an omen of what I too might become if I wasn’t…

The next day was Easter. Everyone was up and around, getting ready to go to church. The whole house smelled delicious, filled with the scents of Olena’s baking. My stomach…

Being with Lissa left me with more questions than answers, and so without a course of action, I simply continued to stay with the Belikovs for the next few days….

I stared at Mark for several long seconds. Finally, stupidly, I asked, “Did you say… heal?”Mark stared at me in equal surprise. “Yes, of course. She can heal other things,…

Everyone had hit it off so well at lunch with Avery that the group had gotten together again that evening and had kind of a wild time. Lissa was thinking…

“I thought you were a dream,” I said.They all remained standing, the dhampirs fanning out around the Moroi in a sort of protective formation. Abe’s was the strange face I’d…

The reactions were mixed among Dimitri’s family members. Some cried. Some were stunned. And some-mainly Yeva and Viktoria-simply took it in and kept their emotions from their faces, just as…

It was like Christmas morning.I wasn’t usually big on God or fate, but now I was seriously reconsidering. After I’d passed out, Sydney had apparently made some frantic calls, and…

I bolted upright, every part of me awake and alert. There were no city lights to shine through the window, and it took me several seconds to make out anything…

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully. Sydney never entirely lost that discomfort she seemed to have around me, but sometimes, while I was trying to figure out Russian television,…

At any other time in my life, I would have loved exploring Moscow. Sydney had planned our trip so that when our train arrived there, we’d have a few hours…

“Wait-what?” I exclaimed.That wasn’t in the plan. That wasn’t in the plan at all. I was trying to move through Russia in as incognito a way as possible. Plus, I…

Chapter TwoGoing for her instead of me was bad form on the Strigoi’s part. I was the threat; he should have neutralized me first. Our positioning had put Sydney in…

Chapter OneI was being followed. It was kind of ironic, considering the way I’d been following others for the last few weeks. At least it wasn’t a Strigoi. I would…