The searing pain shot through my each limb making me double over and drop to the ground. I clutched onto the dust and bit my lips as the excruciating pain seemed to rip me apart.

The pain seemed to vanish as soon as it had come allowing me to see the intruder who had trespassed the wards at court.

It was a girl, hardly fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her irises were gleaming ruby and the pallor clearly indicated that she was a Strigoi but there was some striking beauty which seemed otherworldly. Her skin wasn’t chalky, rather it glowed in the dark.

“How did you break the wards? Who else is there with you?” I lunged for her again.

I crumpled in pain within seconds. She was just staring with those blood red eyes and doing nothing.

“First of all we talk,” she said in a high pitched childlike voice. “And you don’t move, human”

“I’m not a human. Can’t you get that?” I was exasperated.

She listened intently and then her eyes wide, “You have a beating heart.”

“I’m a Dhampir and don't you have one too?” I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t exist. I knew only one  freak, some vampire hooked up with a human and almost got herself killed, but was later turned to escape death.”

“There are thousands of us roaming the earth. Are your coven that cut off from the world?” I sneered.

She glared at me and the pain lit up my nerves again.

“What are you doing to me?”

“A bit of pain does wonders,” her voice was ice.

“How do you make someone feel as if she is on fire? Is it compulsion? But Strigoi can’t use compulsion!” I screamed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Strigoi... compulsion...whatever are new concepts. My powers are innate. I acquired them at transformation.”

“Did you turn yourself?”

“What the heck!” she screeched, “You always have to be turned by force. How can you turn yourself?”

“Wait, there is some mistake.” I tried to clarify, “Aren’t you a Strigoi?”

“We’re a part of an Italian coven, the Volturi. We stay under cover and at peace with the human world. So we deserve some credit at hiding the vampire world from the humans.”

“You drink blood by killing humans?”

"How else are we supposed to survive? You don’t actually think we could survive by drinking blood of animals like that yellow eyed coven of the forks headed by Carlisle.”

“You could get it from willing donors. They readily let you feed for the endorphin highs from the saliva of Moroi. Why do you have to hunt? And ugh! Who drinks animal blood?”

“They declare themselves as vegetarians. But humans don’t donate blood, do they? Our leader Aro has been here for centuries. He never heard of this kind of life. I would like to meet the leader of your coven.” her eyes narrowed.

“What leader? We don’t have a coven,” I snapped, “We’re the good guys who stay in our own world headed by the queen Vasilisa Dragomir. We follow religion, believe in god, goodness and healing. Possess magic and never commit a sin of killing. Once the Moroi drain a victim, they become Strigoi and gain immortality. We dhampirs are trained to fight and kill them.”

“Soul? Who needs a soul? Besides, how can you weak dhampirs kill us?”

“I’d like to demonstrate,” I mocked, “With a silver stake charmed with the Moroi elements of air, water, earth and fire, of course. Or maybe burning in fire, decapitation and the sun.”

"Don’t you know we’re invincible? Only another of us can kill us by tearing us apart and burning us. Not a puny dhampir like you. And the sun doesn’t kill us, we just sparkle.”

I was getting increasingly confused. Were there other vampire races than the Moroi and Strigoi, that we never knew of?

“I think there has been a misunderstanding. You people are in our locality and our guardians will come soon. I doubt you can fight so many. How many can you use compulsion on all at once?”

“I can manage only one person, but my instincts say we have things to catch up with," she shrugged, relaxing her stance.

“I can talk only if you stop using that horrible tortuous glare on me. I’m Rose, the personal guardian of the queen,” I got up from the ground and extended my hands as a gesture of friendship.

She looked wary but nevertheless shook my hands, “I’m Jane.”

“Okay, first of all, do you ever regret being turned?”

“I was awakened as a kid, I was practically taught the ways and lives of vampires. And I don’t regret being turned. Killing is fun,” her smile was deadly.

“I know you people become heartless and cruel. Right and wrong don’t matter to you. But, Jane, if you could live a different life, mixing with humans and staying in civilization, would you choose it?”

“Only if we get human blood.”

“You get your daily dose of blood but have to be very careful not to drain a human. Think of them as an unending source rather than a onetime source. We dhampirs don’t drink blood.”

It made me queasy to even have that talk about blood but my heart knew I was doing the right thing.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “That dhampir, Renesmee does drink blood, though animal blood.”

“That’s a different concept altogether. But as for you all, you said you could go out in sun. That makes you more invincible than the rest. Can you be restored?”

“Who would like to live as a weak human after being exposed to this life of power?” her eyes glazed over.

“You won’t want to go back to your human world? We know a way. I got back my lost love but I doubt that would work for you,” I said, still thinking of ways to convince her.

“You wouldn’t want to go where I came from,” her smile chilled me to the bones, “ Imagine staying in a village where you’ve special powers and you and your brother were being burnt alive at stake, just because they presume you’re a witch. I and my brother were sexually assaulted even by people who kept us captive and then they tied our unconscious bodies to be burnt alive…”

She stopped abruptly and I could see her shaking, as she remembered her past life. Her eyes seemed human for a brief flicker.

“Jane,” I put an arm around her, “I can’t even pretend to imagine how it feels like. But now you’ll be safe, the world has changed.”

“No, she jerked away my hand and was a few feet away at lightning speed, “I don’t want the compassion of a half breed like you. I’m happy to be a pure vampire, invincible and deadly.”

The coldness was back in her eyes.

“Jane, I know you aren’t the monster you think yourself to be. Circumstances forced you. You can change your life. You’ve to trust me.”

I extended my hands.

She stood frozen, the dilemma evident in her fiery eyes.

"Please," I whispered.

She took my hand, smiling.

1200 words.

For the contest by Fanfic A Mashup of Vampire Academy with Twilight.

Dedicated to Pipigrin edelmeehan KashishBelikov teamhathaway dodsley TwilightGirl32 The_Dweeb louiseistyping my Vampire Academy team.