Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)

by Richelle Mead

six tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck: molnija

marks. They looked like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One for each Strigoi he’d killed. Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark.

Lissa’s memories were bad enough without my own mixing into them. Twisted metal. A sensation of hot, then cold, then hot again. Lissa screaming over me, screaming for me to wake up, screaming for her parents and her brother to wake up. None of them had, only me. And the doctors said that was a miracle in itself. They said I shouldn’t have survived.

You flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Jesse in the hopes of getting semi-naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was so hot, he should have worn a WARNING: FLAMMABLE sign.

“Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried.” “Last one?” “Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds.” “This was the first time we found you. In Portland.” I sat up from my stretches and crossed my legs. “Um, I don’t think I imagined psi-hounds.

Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it.” “Maybe,” he said dismissively. I could tell by his face he didn’t believe that.

Bound together and always knows what is in his heart and mind.

They had a bond, I realized.

But her hand moved out like she hadn’t even heard me. Ms. Karp stood there like a statue, her white face looking like a ghost’s. Lissa’s fingers stroked the raven’s wings. “Liss,” I repeated, starting to move toward her, to pull her back. Suddenly, a strange sensation flooded through my head, a sweetness that was beautiful and full of life. The feeling was so intense, it stopped me in my

tracks. Then the raven moved. Lissa gave a small scream and snatched her hand back. We both stared wide-eyed.

Ms. Karp’s grip relaxed a little. “And don’t ever do it again. If you do, they’ll find out. They’ll try to find you.” She turned to me. “You can’t let her do it. Not ever again.”

Just talked about him healing people, bringing them back from the edge of death.”

Ms. Karp, I realized, wasn’t the only other Moroi who could heal like Lissa. Vladimir could too.

“Sonya Kar . . . you mean, Ms. Karp? What about her?” She looked back and forth between me and her uncle. “She . . . became Strigoi,” I said, not meeting Lissa’s eyes. “By choice.”

“But I don’t know who Mikhail is,” I added. “Mikhail Tanner,” said Spiridon. “Oh. Guardian Tanner. He was here before we left.” I frowned. “Why is he chasing Ms. Karp?” “To kill her,” said Dimitri flatly. “They were lovers.”

“She killed the doctor attending her and nearly took out half the patients and nurses on her way out.”

closed my eyes and felt like I might faint. I had calmed down when Lissa sat next to me

because she’d taken the pain away. She’d healed me. . . . Just as she had the night of the accident.

was also probably why she’d passed out when they took her to the hospital. She’d been exhausted for days afterward. And that was when her depression had begun. It had seemed like a normal reaction after losing her family, but now I wondered if there was more to it, if healing me had played a role.

Spiridon.

“They work for Victor Dashkov,” I gasped

We? I recalled how the stories had resurfaced this week . . . from Natalie.

“I’m surprised you even have to ask, my dear. I need you. I need you to heal me.”

“Come now, Vasilisa. I know about the raven—Natalie saw you do it. She’d been following you. And I know how you healed Rose.”

“I’m not talking about her ankle—which was still impressive. I’m talking about the car accident. Because you’re right, you know. Rose didn’t get ‘that hurt.’ She died.”

“The animals. It was you.” “With Natalie’s help.” “Why would you do that? How could

When I read about how wielding spirit works—” “Wielding what?” “Spirit. It’s what you’ve specialized in.”

Spirit is another element, one few people have any more.”

An element that’s within all of us. A master element that can give you indirect control over the others.”

And once it’s out, you can’t put it back. It’s a powerful element—but it’s also dangerous. Earth users get their power from the earth, air users from the air. But spirit? Where do you think that comes from?”

Psi-hounds. Of course. Victor had said he hunted with them; he could control those beasts. I suddenly understood why no one at school recalled sending psi-hounds after Lissa and me in Chicago. The Academy hadn’t arranged that; Victor had.

“You’ve been kissed by shadows. You’ve crossed into Death, into the other side, and

returned.

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.”

“It’s what created your bond, too.

You, however, have a mind sensitive to extrasensory forces—hers in particular.”

She glanced up at me, and that’s when I saw it. The faint ring of red around her pupils.

around her mouth. And most telling of all, the look in her eyes. A look so cold and so evil, my heart nearly came to a standstill. It was a look that said she no longer walked among the living—a look that said she was now one of the Strigoi.

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

It’s worth it, worth giving up the sun and the magic. The magic.

Ms. Karp hadn’t become Strigoi simply because she’d gone crazy. She’d become Strigoi to stay sane. Becoming Strigoi cut a person completely off from magic. In doing that, she couldn’t use it. She couldn’t feel it. She wouldn’t want it anymore. Staring at Lissa, I felt a knot of worry coil within me. What if she figured that out? Would she want to do it too? No, I quickly decided. Lissa would never do that. She was too strong a person, too moral. And so long as she stayed on the pills, her higher reasoning would keep her from doing something so drastic.

“You’re bound to her too, aren’t you?” I asked, fully aware that anyone who saw me would think I was crazy. “She brought you back. You’re shadow-kissed.” That