Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)

by Richelle Mead

“My name is Dimitri Belikov,” he said. I could hear a faint Russian accent. “I’ve come to take you back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, Princess.”

I had a standing arrangement with God: I’d agree to believe in him—barely—so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays.

“You’re seventeen, and in less than a year, someone’s life and death will be in your hands.”

I couldn’t be Mason’s girlfriend because when I imagined someone holding me and whispering dirty things in my ear, he had a Russian accent.

“What’s this for? For my first day?” “No,” he said simply. “Because I thought it would make you happy.”

Vasilisa brushed Death to bring you back and bound you to her forever. You were actually in its embrace, and some part of you will always remember that, always fight to cling to life and experience all it has. That’s why you’re so reckless in the things you do. You don’t hold back your feelings, your passion, your anger. It makes you remarkable. It makes you dangerous.”

And then, suddenly, he was there, charging down the hallway like Death in a cowboy duster.

“No. If I let myself love you, I won’t throw myself in front of her. I’ll throw myself in front of you.”