“You're a Dhampir," I breathed."So are you." he teased."Yeah, but I just thought—""That I was human? Because of the bite marks?""Yeah." I admitted, No point in lying."We all have to survive," he said "And dhamphirs are good at figuring ways out to.”

“You…you got rid of that dress fast," I pointed out between heavy breaths. "I thought you liked it." "I do like it," he said. His breathing was as heavy as mine. "I love it." And then he took me to the bed.”

“Oh. My. God. You're Rose Hathaway aren't you?" "Yeah." I said with surprise. "Do you know me?""Everyone knows you. I mean, everyone heard about you. You're the one who ran away. And then you came back and killed the Strigoi. That is so cool! Did you get molnija marks?" Her words came out in one long string. She hardly took a breath."Yeah. I have two." Thinking about the tiny tattoos on the back of my neck made my skin itch.Her pale green eyes—if possible—grew wider. "Oh my God. Wow." I usually grew irate when people made a big deal about molnija marks. After all, the circumstances had not been cool. But this girl was young, and there was something appealing about her."What's your name?" I asked."Jillian—Jill. I mean, just Jill. Not both. Jillian's my full name. Jill's what everyone calls me.""Right." I said, hiding a smile. "I figured it out.""I heard Moroi used magic on that trip to fight. Is that true? I would love to do that. I wish someone would teach me. I use air. Do you think i could fight Strigoi with that? Everyone says I'm crazy!" For centuries, Moroi using magic to fight had been viewed as a sin. Everyone believed it should be used peacefully. Recently, some had started to question that, particularly after Christian had proved useful in the Spokane escape."I don't know." I said. "You should talk to Christian Ozera."She gaped. "Would he talk to me?""If you bring up fighting the establishment, yeah he'll talk to you.""Okay, cool. Was that Guardian Belikov?" she asked, switching subjects abruptly."Yeah."I swore I thought she might faint then and there. "Really? He's even cuter then I heard. He's your teacher right? Like, your own personal teacher?""Yeah." I wondered where he was. Talking to Jill was exhausting."Wow. You know you guys don't even act like teacher and student. You seem like friends. Do you hang out when you're not training?""Er, well, kind of. Sometimes." I remembered my earlier thoughts, about how I was one of the few people Dimitri was social with outside of his guardian duties."I knew it! I can't even imagine that—I'd be freaking out all the time around him. I'd never get anything done, but your so cool about it all, kind of like, 'Yeah. I'm with this totally hot guy, but whatever it doesn't matter!'"I laughed in spite of myself. "I think you're giving me more credit than I deserve.""No way. And I don't believe any of those stories, you know.""Um, stories?""Yeah about you beating up Christian Ozera.""Thanks." I said.”

“To my surprise, I recognized Dimitri Belikov-Rose's boyfriend-among those doing crowd control. He was easy to spot since he was almost always taller than everyone around him. Dhampirs look very human, and even I could admit that he was pretty good-looking. There was a rugged handsomeness to him, and even in a still photograph, I could see a fierceness as he watched the crowd.”

“Did you know," he said slowly, "That Victor Dashkov is sitting on your bed?""Yeah," I said. "It was kind of a shock to us too.”

“I knew you were a badass," continued Adrian. "But I didn't realize just how much until I saw you dropping guardians out there.""Does that mean you're going to be nicer to me?" I teased."I'm already nice to you," he said loftily. "Do you know how badly I want a cigarette right now? But no. I manfully suffer through nicotine withdrawal—all for you.”

“I can’t have it either. It affects the babies in utero.”“Nonsense,” he said, tossing his long auburn hair over one shoulder. Life would be easier if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. “Why, my mother drank wine every day, and I turned out just fine.”“I think you’re proving my point for me,” I said dryly”