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"Yes, sir," I heard the leader say. "They're in here, just like you wanted."<br />
Finally, I realized. The person behind our kidnapping. Panic shot through me. I had to escape.<br />
"Let us out of here!" I yelled, straining at my bindings. "Let us out of here, you son of a—"<br />
I stopped. Something inside of me shriveled up. My throat went dry. My heart wanted to stop.<br />
The guard had returned with a man and a woman I didn't recognize. I did, however, recognize<br />
that they were …<br />
… Strigoi.<br />
Real, live—well, figuratively speaking—Strigoi. It all suddenly clicked together. It wasn't just<br />
the Spokane reports that had been true. What we'd feared—Strigoi working with humans—had<br />
come true. This changes everything. Daylight wasn't safe anymore. None of us were safe<br />
anymore. Worse, I realized these must be the rogue Strigoi—the ones who had attacked the two<br />
Moroi families with human help. Again, those horrible memories came to me: bodies and blood<br />
everywhere. Bile rose in my throat, and I tried to shift my thoughts from the past to the present<br />
situation. Not that that was any more reassuring.<br />
Moroi had pale skin, the kind of skin that blushed and burned easily. But these vampires…their<br />
skin was white, chalky in a way that made it look like the result of a bad makeup job. The<br />
pupils of their eyes had a red ring around them, driving home what monsters they were.<br />
The woman, actually, reminded me of Natalie—my poor friend whose father had convinced her<br />
to turn Strigoi. It took me a few moments to figure out what the resemblance was because they<br />
looked nothing alike. This woman was short— probably human before becoming Strigoi—and<br />
had brown hair with a bad highlighting job.<br />
Then it hit me. This Strigoi was a new one, much as Natalie had been. It didn't become obvious<br />
until I compared her with the Strigoi man. The Strigoi woman's face had a little life in it. But<br />
his … his was the face of death.<br />
His face was completely devoid of any sort of warmth or gentler emotion. His expression was<br />
cold and calculating, laced with malicious amusement. He was tall, as tall as Dimitri, and had a<br />
slender frame that indicated he'd been Moroi before changing over. Shoulder-length black hair
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