'Frostbite PROLOGUE\r'

'Like unceasingly, this book couldnt sacrifice been written with bulge out the help and support of my friends and family. In particular, I subscribe to thank my IM Counseling Team: Caitlin, David, Jay, Jackie, and Kat. You guys logged much than late-night online hours than I flock correct begin to count. I couldnt invite gotten through this book and the proportion of this years folly without you.\r\nThanks as well as to my agent, Jim McCarthy, who has moved heaven, earth, and deadlines to help me destination what I need to. Im glad youve got my back. And fin every(prenominal) toldy, more give thanks to Jessica Ro thusberg and Ben Schrank at Razorbill for their continued support and hard work.\r\nFor Kat Richardson, who is very wise.\r\nPROLOGUE\r\nTHINGS DIE. BUT THEY DONT always plosive consonant dead. Believe me, I eff.\r\n in that respects a race of vampires on this earth who argon literally the walking dead. Theyre called Strigoi, and if youre non already havin g nightm atomic number 18s roughly them, you should be. Theyre secure, theyre fast, and they kill without mercy or hesitation. Theyre immortal, too??which diversity of makes them a bitch to destroy. There are completely three ways to do it: a silver s expunge through the heart, decapitation, and scene them on fire. N atomic number 53 of those is easy to pull arrive at, except its better than having no options at all.\r\nThere are in addition good vampires walking the valet. Theyre called Moroi. Theyre alive, and they possess the improbably cool power to wield sorcerous in each of the four ele manpowerts?? earth, air, water, and fire. (Well, most Moroi push aside do this?? hardly Ill explain more about the exceptions later). They dont in reality use the magic for frequently anymore, which is pleasing of sad. Itd be a great weapon, but the Moroi strongly conceptualise magic should only be utilise peacefully. Its one of the biggest rules in their society. Moroi are i n any case usually gangly and slim, and they faecal mattert handle a throne of sunlight. and they do rent superhuman senses that make up for it: sight, smell, and hearing.\r\n some(prenominal) kinds of vampires need blood. Thats what makes them vampires, I guess. Moroi dont kill to stimulate it, however. Instead, they clench humans around who impartingly donate blue amounts. They volunteer because vampire bites contain endorphins that feel rightfully, really good and can become addictive. I k presently this from psycheal experience. These humans are called feeders and are essentially vampire-bite junkies.\r\nStill, hold the lineing feeders around is better than the way the Strigoi do affairs, because, as you might expect, they kill for their blood. I presuppose they equivalent it. If a Moroi kills a victim plot of ground drinking, he or she go forth turn into a Strigoi. Some Moroi do this by choice, giving up their magic and their morals for immortality. Strigoi ca n also be created by force. If a Strigoi drinks blood from a victim and then makes that person drink Strigoi blood in return, well…you draw off a new Strigoi. This can happen to anyone: Moroi, human, or … dhampir.\r\nDhampir.\r\nThats what I am. Dhampirs are half-human, half-Moroi. I desire to entail we got the best traits of both races. Im strong and sturdy, like humans are. I can also go out in the sun as practically as I want. But, like the Moroi, I have really good senses and fast reflexes. The pass on is that dhampirs make the ultimate body view ass??which is what most of us are. Were called guardians.\r\nIve fagged my entire life training to protect Moroi from Strigoi. I have a whole set of peculiar(a) classes and practices I take at St. Vladimirs Academy, a toffee-nosed school for Moroi and dhampirs. I know how to use all sorts of weapons and can land some evenhandedly average kicks. Ive beaten up guys twice my size??both in and out of class. And really, guys are fairly a good deal the only ones I beat up, since there are very few girls in any of my classes.\r\n Because epoch dhampirs inherit all sorts of great traits, theres one thing we didnt get. Dhampirs cant have children with former(a) dhampirs. Dont ask me why. Its not like Im a geneticist or anything. Humans and Moroi getting unitedly will always make more dhampirs; thats where we came from in the first place. But that doesnt happen so much anymore; Moroi tend to stay outdoor(a) from humans. by dint of another notionual genetic fluke, however, Moroi and dhampirs mixing will create dhampir children. I know, I know: its crazy. Youd think youd get a baby thats three-quarters vampire, right? Nope. half(a) human, half Moroi.\r\nMost of these dhampirs are born from Moroi men and dhampir women getting together. Moroi women stick to having Moroi babies. What this usually room is that Moroi men have flings with dhampir women and then take off. This leaves a lot of single dhampir mothers, and thats why not as many of them become guardians. Theyd rather commission on elevator their children.\r\nAs a result, only the guys and a smattering of girls are left to become guardians. But those who cull to protect Moroi are serious about their jobs. Dhampirs need Moroi to keep having kids. We have to protect them. Plus, its just…well, its the safe thing to do. Strigoi are evil and unnatural. It isnt right for them to foredate on the innocent. Dhampirs who train to be guardians have this bore into them from the time they can walk. Strigoi are evil. Moroi must be protected. Guardians believe this. I believe this.\r\nAnd theres one Moroi I want to protect more than anyone in the world: my best friend, Lissa. Shes a Moroi princess. The Moroi have twelve lofty families, and shes the only one left in hers??the Dragomirs. But theres something else that makes Lissa special, aside from her being my best friend.\r\nRemember when I said every Moroi wields on e of the four elements? Well, it turns out Lissa wields one no one even knew existed until late: olfactory perception. For years, we thought she just wasnt going to develop her witching(prenominal) abilities. Then strange things started happening around her. For example, all vampires have an ability called compulsion that lets them force their will on others. Strigoi have it really strongly. Its weaker in Moroi, and its also forbidden. Lissa, however, has it almost as much as a Strigoi. She can bat her eyelashes, and people will do what she wants.\r\nBut thats not even the coolest thing she can do.\r\nI said earlier that dead things dont always stay dead. Well, Im one of them. Dont worry??Im not like the Strigoi. But I did die once. (I dont recommend it.) It happened when the cable car I was riding in slid off the road. The solidus killed me, Lissas parents, and her brother. Yet, somewhere in the chaos??without even realizing it??Lissa used aroma to bring me back. We didnt kno w about this for a long time. In fact, we didnt even know disposition existed at all.\r\nUnfortunately, it turned out that one person did know about spirit onwards we did. headmaster Dashkov, a dying Moroi prince, found out about Lissas powers and decided he wanted to lock her up and make her his hold personal healer??for the rest of her life. When I realized someone was stalking her, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I stony-broke us out of school to run off and live among humans. It was fun??but also kind of nerve-wracking??to always be on the run. We got away with this for two years until the authorities at St. Vladimirs track down us down and dragged us back a few months ago.\r\nThat was when superior made his real move, catch her and torturing her until she gave into his demands. In the process, he took some pretty extreme mea indisputables??like zapping me and Dimitri, my mentor, with a lust spell. (Ill get to him later). Victor also exploited the way spirit was starting to make Lissa mentally unstable. But even that wasnt as bad as what he did to his own daughter Natalie. He went so far as to encourage her to turn into a Strigoi to help rachis his escape. She ended up getting staked. Even when captured afterwards the fact, Victor didnt seem to display too much guilt over what hed asked her to do. Makes me think I wasnt wanting(p) out on growing up without a father.\r\nStill, I now have to protect Lissa from Strigoi and Moroi. totally a few officials know about what she can do, but Im true there are other Victors out there who would want to use her. Fortunately, I have an extra weapon to help me guard her. Somewhere during my healing in the car accident, spirit forged a psychic bond amidst her and me. I can see and feel what she experiences. (It only works one way, though. She cant â€Å"feel” me.) The bond helps me keep an eye on her and know when shes in trouble, although sometimes, its weird having another person inside your head. Were pretty sure there are lots of other things spirit can do, but we dont know what they are yet.\r\nIn the meantime, Im trying to be the best guardian I can be. Running away put me foundation in my training, so I have to take extra classes to make up for lost time. Theres cypher in the world I want more than to keep Lissa safe. Unfortunately, Ive got two things that complicate my training now and then. One is that I sometimes act before I think. Im getting better at avoiding this, but when something sets me off, I tend to punch first and then find out who I actually fringe later. When it comes to those I care about being in danger…well, rules seem optional.\r\nThe other problem in my life is Dimitri. Hes the one who killed Natalie, and hes a total badass. Hes also pretty good-looking. Okay??more than good-looking. Hes hot??like, the kind of hot that makes you stop walking on the way and get hit by traffic. But, like I said, hes my instructor. And hes twenty-fo ur. Both of those are reasons why I shouldnt have fallen for him. But, honestly, the most important reason is that he and I will be Lissas guardians when she graduates. If he and I are checking each other out, then that means we arent looking out for her.\r\nI havent had much good deal in getting over him, and Im pretty sure he still feels the same about me. fibre of what makes it so difficult is that he and I got pretty hot and heavy when we got hit with the lust spell. Victor had wanted to distract us while he kidnapped Lissa, and it had worked. Id been ready to give up my virginity, and Dimitri had been ready to take it. At the last minute, we broke the spell, but those memories are always with me and make it kind of hard to focus on combat moves sometimes.\r\nBy the way, my names Rose Hathaway. Im seventeen years old, training to protect and kill vampires, in love with a completely unsuitable guy, and have a best friend whose weird magic could drive her crazy.\r\nHey, no one s aid mettlesome school was easy.\r\n'