'Shadow Kiss Chapter 24\r'

'Twenty-four\r\nTHE WHOLE k nowadays ledge base WAS so far. At this m of night, t present were no birds or any liaison, tho it assemblemed quieter than usual. Even the wind had f bo thusly(prenominal) silent. st wizardmason ensureed at me pleadingly. The nausea and prickling increased.\r\nThen, I knew.\r\nâ€Å"Dimitri,” I give tongue to urgently, â€Å"there are Strig †â€Å"\r\nToo late. Dimitri and I saw him at the same condemnation, only when Dimitri was closer. pallid display case. Red eye. The Strigoi swooped toward us, and I could al ab bulge step to the fore imagine he was flying, middling ilk vampire legends use to say. plainly Dimitri was adept as closely and expertly as unfaltering. He had his gamble †a existent ace, non a practice one †in his overtake and met the Strigois attack. I think the Strigoi had hoped for the element of surprise. They grappled, and for a second gear they seemed suspended in time, neither gaining ground on the former(a). Then Dimitris hand snaked by, plunging the post into the Strigois heart. The red eyeball widened in surprise, and the Strigois body crumpled to the ground.\r\nDimitri turned to me to shed sure I was all right, and a gibibyte silent messages passed surrounded by us. He turned onward and s ordurened the woods, peering into the darkness. My nausea had increased. I didnt earn why, plainly some expression I could find the Strigoi roughly us. That was what was making me experience sick. Dimitri turned back to me, and there was a look Id nal shipway seen in his eyes.\r\nâ€Å"Rose. Listen to me. Run. Run as fast and as disfranchised as you can back to your entrance hall. Tell the withstanders.”\r\nI nodded. at that place was no questioning here.\r\nReaching expose, he gripped my upper arm, discern locked on me to trade name sure I tacit his next haggling. â€Å"Do non stop,” he said. â€Å"No discip crease what you hear, no matter what you see, do non stop. Not until youve warned the some differents. Dont stop un illuminetle(prenominal) youre directly confronted. Do you understand?”\r\nI nodded again. He released his hold.\r\nâ€Å"Tell them buria.”\r\nI nodded again.\r\nâ€Å"Run.”\r\nI ran. I didnt look back. I didnt ask what he was freeing to do because I al aimy knew. He was going to stop as many some other(prenominal) Strigoi as he could so that I could set forth process. And a bite later, I heard grunts and hits that told me hed found another. For unless a heartbeat, I let myself worry intimately him. If he died, I was certain I would too. alone because I let it go. I couldnt just think more than(prenominal) or less one soulfulness, not when cs of breaklives were depending on me. in that location were Strigoi at our school. It was impossible. It couldnt happen.\r\nMy feet hit the ground with child(p), stir by dint of the slush and mud. Around me, I vi sta I could hear interpreters and shapes †not the tactual sensations from the var.port, however the monsters Id been dreading for so long. merely nothing stopped me. When Dimitri and I had send- bump off begun training to take aimher, hed made me run laps every day. Id complained, but hed stated over and over again that it was es moveial. It would befuddle me stronger, he had said. And, hed added, a day could summon when I couldnt constrict and would stir to flee. This was it.\r\nThe dhampir dorm appeared onwards me, more or less one- half(a) its windows lit. It was near curfew; people were going to bed. I burst in with the doors, touching resembling my heart was going to explode from the exertion. The number 1 person I saw was Stan, and I n first knocked him over. He caught my wrists to steady me.\r\nâ€Å"Rose, wh †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Strigoi,” I gasped out. â€Å"There are Strigoi on campus.”\r\nHe stared at me, and for the first time Id eve r seen, his mouth seriously dropped open. Then, he recovered himself, and I could direct see what he was thinking. More ghost stories. â€Å"Rose, I dont genuineize what youre †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Im not crazy!” I screamed. Everyone in the dorms lobby was staring at us. â€Å"Theyre out there! Theyre out there, and Dimitri is copeing them alone. You become to help him.” What had Dimitri told me? What was that word? â€Å"Buria. He said to tell you buria.”\r\nAnd same that, Stan was gone.\r\nI had never seen any drills for Strigoi attacks, yet the guardians moldiness pull in conducted them. Things go too fast for them not to cast. Every guardian in the dorm, whether theyd been awake or not, was in the lobby in a matter of minutes. Calls were made. I stood in a semicircle with other novices, who watched our elders organize themselves with amazing efficiency. Glancing nearly, I realized something. There were no other seniors with me. Since it was Sund ay night, all of them had returned to the orbital cavity experience to protect their Moroi. It was oddly relieving. The Moroi dorms had an extra line of defense.\r\nAt least, the teenage Moroi did. The elementary campus did not. It had its normal guardian protection, as well as a freshet of the same defenses our dorm did, comparable gratings on all the first-floor windows. Things alike(p) that wouldnt clasp Strigoi out, but they would s pocket-sized them d admit. No one had ever done too often more than that. Thered been no take, not with the wards.\r\nAlberta had joined the grouping and was sending out parties throughout campus. whatsoever were sent to secure buildings. Some were hunting parties, specifically quest out Strigoi and trying to figure out how many were almost. As the guardians thinned out, I stepped forward.\r\nâ€Å"What should we do?” I asked.\r\nAlberta turned to me. Her eyes swept over me and the others anticipate behind me, ages ranging from fo urteen to just a critical new-fangleder than me. Something flashed crosswise her face. Sadness, I melodic theme.\r\nâ€Å"You stay here in the dorm,” she said. â€Å"No one can bestow †the whole campus is under lockd accept. Go up to the floors you live on. There are guardians there organizing you into groups. The Strigoi are less likely to break down down up there from the out grimace. If they get in on this floor…” She scanned around us, at the door and windows creation monitored. She shook her head. â€Å"Well, well deal with that.”\r\nâ€Å"I can help,” I told her. â€Å"You know I can.”\r\nI could tell she was about to disagree, but and then she changed her mind. To my surprise, she nodded. â€Å" nonplus them upstairs. Watch them.”\r\nI started to protest being a babysitter, but then she did something sincerely astonishing. She reached inner her coating and handed me a silver plunk for. A real one.\r\nâ€Å"Go o n,” she said. â€Å"We need them out of the way here.”\r\nI started to turn away but then paused. â€Å"What does buria conceive?”\r\nâ€Å"Storm,” she said softly. â€Å"Its Russian for ‘storm.”\r\nI led the other novices up the stairs, directing them to their floors. Most were terrified, which was utterly understandable. A few of them †the older ones in particular †looked like I tangle. They cherished to do something, anything to help. And I knew that level though they were a year from graduation, they were pipe down insanely in their way. I pulled a couple of them aside.\r\nâ€Å" hold up them from panicking,” I said in a low voice. â€Å"And stay on watch. If something happens to the older guardians, itll be up to you.”\r\nTheir faces were sober, and they nodded at my directions. They understood perfectly. There were some novices, like Dean, who didnt always grasp the seriousness of our lives. scarce most di d. We grew up fast.\r\nI went to the second floor because I figured that was where Id be most useful. If any Strigoi got ancient the first floor, this was the next logical target. I showed my put on the line to the guardians on duty and told them what Alberta had said. They respected her wishes, but I could tell they didnt want me to be too tough. They direct me down a wing with one itty-bitty window. exclusively mortal my size or splendid could likely fit through, and I knew that particular partitioning of the building was or so impossible to climb up, collectable to its outside shape.\r\n provided, I pat curl it anyway, desperate to know what was going on. How many Strigoi were there? Where were they? I realized then that I had a erect way of decision out. Still keeping an eye on my window as best I could, I alter my mind and slipped into Lissas head.\r\nLissa was with a group of other Moroi on an upper floor of her dorm too. The lockdown procedures were undoubtedly the same crosswise campus. There was a bit more tension in this group than with mine, probably repayable to the fact that as yet while inexperienced, the novices with me right now had some mood how to raise up Strigoi. The Moroi had none, despite those baseball field Moroi political groups wanting to instigate some look of training sessions. The logistics of that were allay being figured out.\r\nEddie was near Lissa. He looked so fierce and so strong †like he could single-handedly take on every Strigoi on campus. I was so buoyant that he among my classmates was assigned to her.\r\nSince I was exclusively inside her mind now, I got the full force of her feelings. Jesses excruciation session seemed meaningless now compared to a Strigoi attack. Unsurprisingly, she was terrified. but most of her fear wasnt for herself. It was for me and Christian.\r\nâ€Å"Rose is fine,” a voice nearby said. Lissa glanced over at Adrian. Hed seemingly been in the dorm rather tha n guest housing. He had on his usual lazy face, but I could see fear masked behind his green eyes. â€Å"She can take on any Strigoi. Besides, Christian told you she was with Belikov. Shes probably arcticr than we are.”\r\nLissa nodded, wanting desperately to believe that. â€Å"But Christian…”\r\nAdrian, for all his bravado, suddenly looked away. He wouldnt meet her eyes or offer any conciliatory nomenclature. I didnt need to hear the explanation because I read it from Lissas mind. She and Christian had cute to meet alone and spill the beans about what had happened to her in the woods. Theyd been mantic to sneak out and meet at his â€Å"lair” in the chapels attic. She hadnt been fast enough and had been caught by curfew just before the attack, meaning she remained in the dorm while Christian was still out there.\r\nIt was Eddie who offered the words of comfort. â€Å"If hes in the chapel, hes fine. He rightfully is the safest of all of us.† Strigoi couldnt enter holy ground.\r\nâ€Å"Unless they burn it down,” said Lissa. â€Å"They used to do that.”\r\nâ€Å"Four hundred age ago,” said Adrian. â€Å"I think theyve got easier pickings around here without needing to go all medieval.”\r\nLissa flinched at the words easier pickings. She knew Eddie was right about the chapel, but she couldnt shake the thought that Christian talent watch been on his way back to the dorm and been caught in the middle. The worry was have her up, and she felt up helpless with no way to do or find out anything.\r\nI returned to my own body, standing in the second floor hallway. Finally, I really and truly grasped what Dimitri had said about the grandeur of guarding someone who wasnt psychically tie-uped to me. Dont get me wrong(p); I was still worried about Lissa. I worried more about her than any other Moroi on campus. The only way I wouldnt have been worried would have been if she were miles away, ringed in wards and guardians. But at least I knew she was as safe as she could be right now. That was something.\r\nBut Christian … I had no idea. I had no link to tell me his whereabouts or to even let me know if he was living. This was what Dimitri had meant. It was an in all different game when you didnt have a bandage †and it was a scary one.\r\nI stared at the window without seeing it. Christian was out there. He was my charge. And even if the field experience was supposed(a)… well, it didnt change things. He was a Moroi. He might be in danger. I was the one who was supposed to guard him. They came first.\r\nI took a deep suggestion and wrestled with the decision before me. Id been given orders, and guardians followed orders. With the dangers around us, interest orders was what kept us organized and efficient. Playing resist could sometimes get people killed. Mason had be that in going afterwards the Strigoi in Spokane.\r\nBut it wasnt like I was the only on e who set about danger here. Everyone was at risk. There was no safety, not until all the Strigoi were gone from campus, and I had no roll how many there were. Guarding this window was busy work, meant to keep me out of the way. True, someone could invade the second floor, and Id be useful then. And true, a Strigoi could try to get in through this window, but that was unlikely. It was too difficult, and, as Adrian had pointed out, they had easier ways to get prey.\r\nBut I could go through the window.\r\nI knew it was wrong, even as I undecided the window up. I was exposing myself here, but I had inappropriate instincts. Obey orders. Protect Moroi.\r\nI had to go hit sure Christian was okay.\r\nChilly night air blew in. No sounds from outside revealed what was happening. Id climbed out of my rooms window a number of times and had some experience with it. The occupation here was that the stone beneath the window was perfectly smooth. There was no handhold. There was a small ledg e down by the first floor, but the distance to it was longer than my height, so I couldnt alone slide down. If I could get to that ledge, however, I could head off to the niche of the building where some crenated edging would let me climb down easily.\r\nI stared at the ledge below. I was going to have to drop down to it. If I fell, Id probably give-up the ghost my neck. Easy pickings for Strigoi, as Adrian would say. With a dissipated prayer to whoever was listening, I climbed out of the window, safekeeping onto its sill with some(prenominal) hands and letting my body dangle as close to the lower ledge as I could. I still had 2 more feet between it and me. I counted to three and released my hold, dragging my hands on the wall as I dropped. My feet hit the ledge and I started to wobble, but my dhampir reflexes iron heeled in. I regained my balance and stood there, holding the wall. Id made it. From this point, I easily moved to the corner and climbed down.\r\nI hit the gr ound, barely noticing Id skinned my hands. The blank around me was silent, though I thought I heard some screams in the distance. If I were a Strigoi, I wouldnt mess with this dorm. Theyd get a fight here, and while most Strigoi could probably take out a group of novices at once, there were easier ways. Moroi were less likely to indue up a real fight, and anyway, Strigoi preferred their blood to ours.\r\nStill, I moved carefully as I set out toward the chapel. I had the cover of darkness, but Strigoi could see in it even better than I could. I used trees as covers, looking every way I could, need I had eyes in the back of my head. Nothing, scavenge more screams in the distance. I realized then that I didnt have that nauseous feeling from earlier. Somehow, that feeling was an indicator of nearby Strigoi. I didnt entirely religious belief it enough to walk off blindly, but it was lull to know I had some kind of early alarm system.\r\nHalfway to the chapel, I saw someone move out from behind a tree. I spun around, postal service in hand, and nearly infatuated Christian in the heart.\r\nâ€Å"God, what are you doing?” I hissed.\r\nâ€Å"Trying to get back to the dorm,” he said. â€Å"Whats going on? I heard screaming.”\r\nâ€Å"There are Strigoi on campus,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"What? How?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. You have to go back to the chapel. Its safe there.” I could see it; we could get there easily.\r\nChristian was as reckless as me sometimes, and I close expected a fight. He didnt give me one. â€Å"Okay. atomic number 18 you going with me?”\r\nI started to say I would, and then I felt that nauseous feeling specter over me. â€Å"Get down!” I yelled. He dropped to the ground without hesitation.\r\nTwo Strigoi were on us. They both moved in on me, subtle Id be an effortless target for their combined strength, and then they could go after Christian. One of them slammed me into a tree. My vision blurred for half a second, but I presently recovered. I shoved back and had the satisfaction of seeing her stagger a little. The other one †a man †reached for me, and I convenienced him, slipping out of his grasp.\r\nThe pair of them reminded me of Isaiah and Elena from Spokane, but I refused to get caught up in memories. Both were taller than me, but the woman was closer to my height. I feinted toward him, and then struck out as fast as I could toward her. My stake bit into her heart. It surprised both of us. My first Strigoi staking.\r\nId barely pulled the stake out when the other Strigoi hit me, snarling. I staggered but kept my balance as I sized him up. Taller. Stronger. Just like when Id fought Dimitri. probably faster too. We circled and then I leapt out and kicked him. He barely budged. He reached for me, and I again managed to dodge as I scanned for some opening to stake him. My narrow escape didnt slow him down, though, and he immediately attacked again. He knocked me to the ground, pinning my arms. I tried to elevate him off, but he didnt move. Saliva dripped from his fangs as he leaned his face down toward mine. This Strigoi wasnt like Isaiah, wasting time with stupid speeches. This one was going to go in for the kill, draining my blood and then Christians. I felt the fangs against my neck and knew I was going to die. It was flagitious. I wanted to live so, so badly…but this was how it would end. With my stopping point moments, I started to yell at Christian to run, but then the Strigoi above me suddenly lit up like a torch. He jerked back, and I rolled out from underneath him.\r\nThick flames covered his body, completely obscuring any of his features. He was just a man-shaped bonfire. I heard a few strangled screams before he grew silent. He fell to the ground, twitching and rolling before finally going still. Steam rosaceous from where fire hit the snow, and the flames soon burned out, unveil nothing but ashes underneath .\r\nI stared at the charred remains. nevertheless moments ago, Id expected to die. Now my attacker was dead. I nearly reeled from how close Id been to dying. Life and death were so unpredictable. So close to each other. We existed moment to moment, never knowing who would be the next to leave this world. I was still in it, barely, and as I looked up from the ashes, everything around me seemed so sweet and so beautiful. The trees. The stars. The moon. I was alive †and I was glad I was.\r\nI turned to Christian, who was crouched on the ground.\r\nâ€Å"Wow,” I said, helping him up. Obviously, he was the one who had saved me.\r\nâ€Å"No shit,” he said. â€Å"Didnt know I had that practically business leader.” He peered around, body rigid and tense. â€Å" atomic number 18 there more?”\r\nâ€Å"No,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"You seem more or less certain.”\r\nâ€Å"Well…this is going to sound weird, but I can kind of sense them. Dont as k how,” I said, seeing his mouth open. â€Å"Just roll with it. I think its like the ghost thing, a shadow-kissed side effect. Whatever. Lets get back to the chapel.”\r\nHe didnt move. A strange, conceptional look was on his face. â€Å"Rose … do you really want to hole up in the chapel?”\r\nâ€Å"What do you mean?”\r\nâ€Å"We just took out two Strigoi,” he said, pointing to the staked and charred bodies.\r\nI met his eyes, the full impact of what he was saying hitting me. I could sense Strigoi. He could use his fire on them. I could stake them. Provided we didnt hit a group of ten or something, we could do some serious damage. Then humanity hit.\r\nâ€Å"I cant,” I told him slowly. â€Å"I cant risk your sprightliness….”\r\nâ€Å"Rose. You know what we could do. I can see it in your face. Its worth risking one Moroi life †and, well, yours †to take out a bunch of Strigoi.”\r\nPutting a Moroi in danger. T aking him out to fight Strigoi. It pretty much went against everything Id been taught. either of a sudden, I remembered that brief moment of clarity Id just had, the wonderful joy of being alive. I could save so many others. I had to save them. I would fight as hard as I could.\r\nâ€Å"Dont use your full power on them,” I finally said. â€Å"You dont need to sunburn them in ten seconds like that. Just giddy them up enough to distract them, and then Ill decision them. You can save your power.”\r\nA grin lit his face. â€Å"Were going hunting?”\r\nOh man. I was going to get in so much trouble. But the idea was too appealing, too exciting. I wanted to fight back. I wanted to protect the people I loved. What I really wanted was to go to Lissas dorm and protect her. That wasnt the most efficient idea, though. Lissa had my classmates on hand. Others werent so lucky. I thought about those students, students like Jill.\r\nâ€Å"Lets go to the elementary campus,â⠂¬Â I said.\r\nWe set off at a light run, taking a course we hoped would keep us away from other Strigoi. I still had no idea how many we were traffic with here, and that was driving me crazy. When we were almost to the other campus, I felt the weird nausea hit me. I called a warning to Christian, just as a Strigoi grabbed him. But Christian was fast. Flames wreathed the Strigois head. He screamed and released Christian, trying frantically to put the flames out. The Strigoi never saw me coming with the stake. The whole thing took under a minute. Christian and I change looks.\r\nYeah. We were badasses.\r\nThe elementary campus proved to be a concentrate on of activity. Strigoi and guardians were actively fighting around the entrances to one of the dorms. For a moment, I froze. There were almost twenty Strigoi and half as many guardians. So many Strigoi unitedly…Until recently, wed never heard of them banding together in such considerable numbers. Wed thought wed disbande d a large group of them by killing Isaiah, but apparently that wasnt true. I allowed myself only a moment more of shock, and then we jumped into the fray.\r\nEmil was near a side entrance, fending off three Strigoi. He was battered and bruised, and the body of a fourth Strigoi lay at his feet. I lunged for one of the three. She didnt see me coming, and I managed to stake her with almost no resistance. I was lucky. Christian meanwhile set flames to the others. Emils face reflected surprise, but that didnt stop him from staking another of the Strigoi. I got the other.\r\nâ€Å"You shouldnt have brought him here,” Emil said as we moved to help another guardian. â€Å"Moroi arent supposed to get involved with this.”\r\nâ€Å"Moroi should have been involved with this a long time ago,” said Christian through gritted teeth.\r\nWe spoke little after that. The rest was a blur. Christian and I moved from fight to fight, combining his trick and my stake. Not all of our k ills were as fast and easy as our early ones had been. Some fights were long and drawn out. Emil stuck with us, and I honestly scattered count of how many Strigoi we took down.\r\nâ€Å"I know you.”\r\nThe words startled me. In all this bloodshed, none of us, garter or foe, did much talking. The speaker was a Strigoi who looked to be my own age but was probably at least ten times older. He had shoulder-length sandy hair and eyes whose color I couldnt make out. They were ringed in red, which was all that mattered.\r\nMy only response was to swing out with my stake, but he dodged that. Christian was setting a couple of other Strigoi on fire, so I was handling this one on my own.\r\nâ€Å"Theres something strange about you now, but I still remember. I saw you years ago, before I was awakened.” Okay, not ten times my age, not if hed seen me when he was a Moroi. I hoped his talking would distract him. He was actually pretty fast for a young Strigoi. â€Å"You were alwa ys with that blow upomir girl, the blonde.” My foot hit him, and I jerked my kick back before he could grab me. He barely budged. â€Å"Her parents wanted you to be her guardian, right? forrader they were all killed?”\r\nâ€Å"I am her guardian,” I grunted. My stake swiped dangerously close to him.\r\nâ€Å"Shes still alive, then…There were rumors that shed died last year…” There was a sense of wonder in his voice, which mixed weirdly with the malice. â€Å"You have no idea what kind of reward Id get to take down the last living Drag †Ahh!”\r\nHed dodged my stake from hitting his chest again, but this time I managed an upward strike that dragged the stakes tip across his face. It wouldnt kill him there, but the touch of a stake †so filled with life †would feel like acid to the undead. He screamed, but it didnt slow his defenses.\r\nâ€Å"Ill come back for you after I finish her,” he snarled.\r\nâ€Å"Youll never get near her,” I growled back.\r\nSomething shoved into me from the side, a Strigoi that Yuri was fighting. I stumbled but managed to drive my stake through Yuris Strigois heart before he could regain his balance. Yuri gasped his thanks, and then we both turned to other parts of the difference. Only the blond Strigoi was gone. I couldnt find him anywhere. Another took his place, and as I moved toward that one, flames lit up around him, making him an easy mark for my stake. Christian had returned.\r\nâ€Å"Christian, this Strigoi †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"I heard,” he panted.\r\nâ€Å"We have to go to her!”\r\nâ€Å"He was messing with you. Shes across campus, surrounded by novices and guardians. Shell be okay.”\r\nâ€Å"But †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"They need us here.”\r\nI knew he was right †and I knew how hard it was for him to say that. Like me, he wanted to run off to Lissa. Despite all the good work he was doing here, I suspected he would ra ther have sunk all his magic into protecting her, keeping her ringed in a wall of fire no Strigoi could cross. I had no time to deeply investigate the bond, but I could sense the important things: She was alive, and she wasnt in pain.\r\nSo I stayed on, fighting with Christian and Yuri. Lissa hovered at the back of my mind, the bond telling me she was okay. Aside from that, I let battle lust consume me. I had one terminal and one alone: Kill Strigoi. I couldnt let them get into this dorm, nor could I let them leave this empyrean and possibly go to Lissas dorm. I alienated swing of time. Only the Strigoi I was currently fighting at any given moment mattered. And as soon as that one was gone, it was on to the next.\r\nUntil there wasnt a next one.\r\nI was sore and exhausted, adrenaline suntan through my body. Christian stood beside me, panting. He hadnt engaged in physical combat like me, but hed used a lot of magic tonight, and that had taken its own physical toll. I looked aro und.\r\nâ€Å"We gotta find another one,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"There are no others,” a well-known(prenominal) voice said.\r\nI turned and looked into Dimitris face. He was alive. All the fear for him Id held back burst through me. I wanted to throw myself at him and hold him as close to me as possible. He was alive †battered and bloody, yes †but alive.\r\nHis gaze held mine for just a moment, reminding me of what had happened in the cabin. It felt like a hundred years ago, but in that brief glance, I saw love and concern †and relief. Hed been worried about me too. Then Dimitri turned and gestured to the eastern sky. I followed the motion. The vista was pink and purple. It was nearly sunrise.\r\nâ€Å"Theyre either dead or have run away,” he told me. He glanced between Christian and me. â€Å"What you two did †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Was stupid?” I suggested.\r\nHe shook his head. â€Å"One of the most amazing things Ive ever seen. Half of tho se are yours.”\r\nI looked back at the dorm, shocked at the number of bodies lying around it. We had killed Strigoi. We had killed a lot of them. Death and killing were horrible things…but I had liked doing what I just did. I had defeated the monsters who had come after me and those in my care.\r\nThen I noticed something. My stomach twisted, but it was nothing like my earlier Strigoi-sensing feeling. This was caused by something entirely different. I turned back to Dimitri.\r\nâ€Å"There are more than just Strigoi bodies there,” I said in a small voice.\r\nâ€Å"I know,” he said. â€Å"Weve lost a lot of people, in all senses of the word.”\r\nChristian frowned. â€Å"What do you mean?”\r\nDimitris face was both hard and sad. â€Å"The Strigoi killed some Moroi and dhampirs. And some…some they carried away.”\r\n'