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Rose Hathaway, a
seventeen-year-old Dhampir guardian-in-training, and her best friend,
Moroi Princess Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, are living discreetly, having
escaped from the St. Vladimir's Academy boarding school one year prior.
Dhampirs are vampire-human hybrids trained to protect the Moroi, mortal
vampires with a normal lifespan and death who tend to have magical powers
and belong to royal bloodlines.
The girls are found and forced to return to St. Vladimir's Academy where
they encounter the Strigoi, the undead vampires of legend, which Moroi
become if they completely drain their victims of blood, or are turned.
Lissa is ostracised by her peers as Rose starts to form an attraction to
her Russian Dhampir mentor and fellow Guardian, Dimitri Belikov.
Mysterious messages threatening Lissa start to appear, written in blood on
her wall and an exploding memorial to her family in the school church.
They suspect that it is the work of classmate Mia Rinaldi, who had dated
Lissa's now-deceased, non-monogamous brother Andre and now directs her
hatred towards Lissa as the only surviving member of the Dragomir line.
Manipulating two other students using sex, she persuades them to help her
spread rumors about Rose. Moroi Christian Ozera, viewed poorly by his
peers as both his parents became Strigoi, tries to romance Lissa but Rose
blocks him by lying to them both. Christian and Lissa begin to bond
regardless.
Later, Rose investigates the disappearance of Sonya Karp, a teacher who
helped her and Lissa escape, and finds video footage of Karp mentally
unstable from using Spirit Magic. She also discovers that Lissa has the
same rare power that the founder of their school St. Vladimir had, that of
Spirit, a power which enables the caster to heal ailments, and saves the
dying; however, using Spirit also drains the user's life energy gradually
with each use.
Rose demands headmistress Ellen Kirova show her classified information on
Karp, who reveals that Karp became Strigoi and escaped before
disappearing. At the same time, dead animals begin to appear wherever
Lissa goes. At the Equinox Dance, Rose discovers Mia is not responsible
for all the dead animals. Soon, Lissa is kidnapped and Rose, Dimitri, and
Christian rush to save her.
The Moroi responsible for the kidnapping and the threats against Lissa is
Victor Dashkov, a previous candidate for the throne, who suffers from the
chronic disease Sandovsky's Syndrome. He plans to use Lissa to cure
himself, although the cure would eventually cost Lissa's life. Once
captured and placed in the secure cells beneath the school, Victor
explains to Rose that she bonded to Lissa is because she was
"shadow-kissed", having been brought back to life by Lissa's magic.
While they are talking, Victor's daughter Natalie, who befriended both
Lissa and Rose and was a very insecure student there, is enacting the
tools of his escape. She'd turned Strigoi by draining her crush to death.
Dimitri comes and kills Natalie and detains Victor.
During Vampire Queen Tatiana Ivashkov's speech, Lissa steps in and gives a
speech of her own. She announces that Spirit is her type of magic, and
that it is thanks to Rose that she can master it. Rose then meets Dimitri
outside and asks about his feelings for her. He states that he can't love
her because if there was any danger between Rose and Lissa, he would save
her instead of Lissa. She gives Dimitri a kiss on the cheek and walks back
to the academy.
In a mountain cave close to the academy, Karp leads a horde of Strigoi. |
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