"Wake up, Thea!" Roran's voice shouted at me from somewhere far away. "You have to get up!"

I tried to say, "I'm up," but I bit my tongue and it came out, "Ihh errhp."

Something was wrong with me. My entire body was seizing and spasming violently, and my heartbeat pounded out of rhythm and was sluggish at best.

"You have to give her your blood, Altair," I heard Roran say. "Please! Do it for me if for nothing else!"

"I've already told you it's too late!" Another voice shouted over my head, making it throb painfully. "She's almost completely turned. If I gave her my blood now it would kill her."

"You're wrong!" Roran argued. "She took my blood in purgatory and she survived. But you have to do it now! I can see the fangs growing beneath her gums! Do it, now!"

I heard footsteps retreating and a vicious growl erupted from Roran's chest.

A pitiful wail rang in my ears and then I heard my mother plead, "Please save my daughter! Please!"

"Save her, or so help me, I will kill you along with Moroi," Roran added.

"No. She's practically turned now and is more of an asset to us as a vampire than a human anyway," the voice, presumably Altair, argued. "And don't waste your breath, Roran. Without your powers you're about as threatening as a newborn babe."

Several other pairs of footsteps could be heard followed by confusing shouts.

"What's going on here?" a new voice asked. "We need you upstairs, Roran! You know Moroi better than anyone!"

"Save Alethea or you can forget me helping you," he told the new voice.

My vision was starting to clear and I realized I was lying cradled in Roran's lap and several people were crowded around me. The seizing was slowing to mild shaking and the pain had lessened almost entirely. When my heart stopped it didn't take me long to figure out what was happening. I was now a vampire.

"Roran," I whispered. "Listen to them. It's too late. Let it go."

When he looked at me it was heart breaking. His eyes were glassy with unshed tears and now he was the one shaking.

"I'm sorry," he replied, his voice breaking on the last word. "If I had gotten here sooner-"

"Stop. There's no reason for you to apologize. This isn't your fault. I chose this and now I have to live with the consequences."

A throat was cleared and I looked toward the sound. Several phoenixes stood staring down at me. I offered them a hesitant smile and turned back to Roran.

"I'm glad you were able to find more of your kind. I know how alone you felt before. I'm happy for you," I told him.

"Not to break up this teary reunion or anything, but we need to get upstairs," said one of the phoenixes.

I nodded and stood up. "Right. Can one of you get my parents out of here?"

"I've already told you we're staying with you!" My father shouted, looking at my mother who nodded in confirmation.

"No, you aren't. I'm sorry, but I won't let you die because of me," I said, shaking my head. "Especially not now that I have the means to get you out of here."

One of the phoenixes winked at me and proceeded to lift my mother over his shoulders. She shrieked like a banshee and if I hadn't felt so guilty I might've laughed. My father glared at me, but followed behind them reluctantly.

"Okay," I began after they had gone. "What is going on upstairs and how many people do you have with you?"

The phoenix who had had his back turned to me replied, "We've got about twenty-five men upstairs killing vampires and giving Moroi hell. He keeps calling in reinforcements. What we need is someone who can get close to him."

He gave me a significant look and I understood what he was trying to say. I had to be the bait. It was the only way to get close enough to kill him.

"The problem is even if we kill him here he's just going to return to purgatory and re-spawn," one of the other phoenixes explained. "It's the only thing we don't have a plan for."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I do," I said, praying Roran wouldn't ask for too many details.

"You have a plan? What is it?" Roran asked, giving me a hard look.

"Just let me worry about the details, alright?" I responded. I took a deep breath and suddenly realized how dry my throat was and how thirsty I felt. "Man I could use a drink. My throat is parched."

The phoenixes all shared a look amongst themselves. I looked back and forth between them waiting for an explanation.

"What? What did I say?"

Roran pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh. "That's the blood thirst kicking in, Thea."

A cold feeling washed over me. "Oh."

I had to get to Moroi before I hurt anyone else. I wouldn't drink their blood. I would kill myself before I hurt them.

"Well, then get me to Moroi so I can take it out on him," I ordered. "I want to be rid of him. For good this time."

Another explosion rocked the building and pieces of rock and dust rained down on our heads.

"What's with the explosions?" I asked. "What are you blowing up?"

"Demons," Altair explained. "You can't really kill them, but if you blow them up it takes them a while to reassemble themselves."

My eyes widened. "That's the only way to stop them?"

"Well we don't exactly have time to exorcise them," he replied. "And we can draw as many protective sigils as we want, but Moroi will just take them down."

The beginnings of an idea began to form in my head. "There are marks you can put up to keep them out?"

"Yeah, but I like just said that won't work. Not with Moroi alive."

I shook my head. "I know, I was just curious about it. Can you show me them? Just in case?"

He glared at me, his eyes glowing blue from anger. "We don't have time for that! I thought you wanted to stop Moroi?"

"I do!" I argued. "I was just curious!"

"Here!" he said, digging into his duffle bag and shoving a small journal at me. "They're in there. Read it later. We have work to do."

I grinned and put the journal in my back pocket. "Thanks. Let's get going then."

Roran stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Are you sure you can do this? You don't have to. Moroi could kill you, Thea."

I tried to smile, but found I couldn't quite manage it. If I thought too much on what I was about to do, I would chicken out and that couldn't happen. I had to do this - for my family, for Roran, for me, for everyone. It was the only way to be sure we would all be safe.

I hugged him tightly and was surprised to find he was still shaking. "It's going to be alright," I assured him.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Alethea," he replied, kissing my cheek and turning from me to follow the others up the stairs.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to stomp my feet and shout about the unfairness of it all. But that wouldn't help me or anyone else. Once upon a time I had been that girl. I had been helpless. I had had to rely on everyone else to solve my problems. But not this time. I could be brave. I could be whatever I needed to be to save my family, my friends.  Taking a deep breath and pushing all of my doubts and fears to the back of my mind, I followed the others upstairs.

"We're going to clear you a path," Altair told me. "We'll take care of everyone else; you just focus on Moroi."

I nodded. "Thanks. Don't worry, you can count on me."

In the madness surrounding us it was hard to tell one person from another, and I worried one of the phoenixes that didn't know me might mistake me for an enemy now that I was a vampire. Thankfully, Roran never strayed too far, staying no more than five feet away at all times.

I wasn't sure if they had a monster military, but if there was such a thing these phoenixes were probably trained in it. They staked vampires like it was as easy as breathing. Bodies were falling around my feet like timber and I had a hard time keeping my blood thirst in check. The blood and gore surrounding us had me wanting to sink my teeth into every person within arms reach.

Moroi was nowhere to be found. I searched every room we fought our way through, but evidently he knew we were looking for him and was staying hidden. I had a feeling if I ever wanted to find him I would have to break away from the safety of the group. I had no doubts that if he thought I was on my own and unprotected he would find me.

I waited for Roran to get distracted, knowing he would never let me go off on my own. It didn't take long, it seemed like many of the vampires remembered him and were targeting him specifically. When he was surrounded by three vampires and couldn't see me, I snuck in through a door on my left. It turned out to be a kitchen and I winced when I thought of all of the things that could be used to kill me in there.

"Best get out of here quickly, Thea," I murmured to myself.

"Oh, but we've only just reunited," Moroi's voice called mockingly from the back of the room.

He trailed in through the door, watching me intently. "I see your transformation is complete. Congratulations on being a vampire again."

"Piss off," I snapped. "I only became a vampire again to defeat you. Only a real monster like you would think this is a good thing."

"Defeat me?" He asked, smirking. "You really think you can?"

I nodded and returned his smirk with one of my own. "I'm going to kill you or die trying. And if I die that's really no big deal either. I can just try to kill you again once we get back to purgatory."

The amusement drained from his face and he stalked toward me slowly. "I'm growing very tired of you. I think it's time for these games to end, don't you?"

"Yes, I agree," I replied with absolute certainty. I began advancing on him too, picking the two largest knives I could find from the knife block on the counter and wielding them like I was an expert. It probably felt more intimidating than it looked.

I could feel the fangs elongating in my mouth and the nails on my fingers becoming talons. If he was going to kill me he was going to have to work for it because I was going to give him the fight of his life.

We clashed in a fury of snapping jaws and ripping flesh. The pain I felt from his attacks only fueled my rage, giving me more incentive to fight. Before I noticed doing it, I had abandoned my knives and was fighting solely with my teeth and claws. Some part of me (the small part that was still clinging to humanity) knew this was wrong, but I had lost the ability to listen to reason. I was feral. I was a monster.

Moroi must've realized the same thing. His attacks became less and less aggressive and more about blocking and defense. He kept trying to make a break for the door, but I continually dragged him back, eager for another round. It was no longer even about beating him – not entirely. I was lost to the blood lust and the power - I was drunk off it.

Both of us were dying, that was very obvious from the amount of blood pooling on the floor around us. We slipped in it repeatedly, grasping at the counters to get up and launch into each other again and again. The sounds coming from us were something you would hear on the Serengeti when two lions fought over territory.

And I realized with sudden and complete clarity, that's exactly what we were doing. Once this was over either he would return to his throne in purgatory victorious, or I would be the new queen taking his place.  With an almighty roar I snatched one of the knives from the floor and stabbed it straight into his heart.

"I think it's time for a regime change," I hissed at him as he dropped to the ground.

My grin was dripping red with blood as I turned the knife on myself.

"Ready or not, here I come," I called to Moroi's body and plunged the knife into my chest.

...

End of Part One
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