Eclectic Witch

*"Μία λέξη μας απελευθερώνει από όλο το βάρος και τον πόνο στη ζωή. Και αυτή η λέξη είναι: αγάπη.
(One word sets us free from all the weight and the pain in life. And that word is: love.)"*
―Althea Claire to Dimitri Belikov**Althea Liv Claire** is a powerful witch and the former host of the Hollow. She is the daughter of Charlotte Claire and David Souros, and older sister of Davina Claire-Mikaelson. When Claire was barely a year old, her mother became pregnant with Davina, but by a different father. Claire is the adoptive daughter of Eric and Rhea Dragomir, the younger sister of Andre Dragomir, and the older sister of Vasilisa Dragomir. Claire is best friends with Rosemarie Hathaway and considers her her other sister. Claire is married to Dimitri Belikov and the mother of their daughter, Nina Rhea Belikova.

## Biography

### Early Life

#### New Orleans

On October 31st, 1993, Althea Liv Claire was born to Charlotte Claire and David Souros. Though originally a happy childhood, about a year after Claire’s birth, Charlotte fell pregnant with another man’s baby. In anger, Souros took Althea and left in the night, arriving in the Dominion. The male witch became close friend with the Dragomirs.

When Claire was four years old, Claire and her fathers apartment was attacked by Strigoi. Souros placed Claire in a protective circle of fire as he tried to fight off the Strigoi. Sadly, before the Dhampir Guardians could arrive, Souros was drained of blood and killed. Claire was adopted by Eric and Rhea Dragomir, two royal Moroi. Claire became the younger sister of Andre Dragomir, and the older sister of Vasilisa Dragomir.

### Life Change

#### The Crash

At one of the Queen's parties at St. Vladimir's Academy, Lissa is there with her royal family and her Dhampir best friend and future guardian, Rose Hathaway. Unfortunately, there is a tragic car accident and all of Lissa’s family lose their lives, but she and Rose survive.

### Three Months Later

Three months later, Lissa is ready to return to St. Vladimir’s, but her new guardian Dimitri keeps Rose from immediately greeting her best friend. Later, Lissa learns that since she is the only Dragomir left she must perform the Consecration Ceremony and take her seat on the council. She has to speak old moroi for the ceremony, but she struggles with it until Christian Ozera introduces himself and helps her. Sparks fly between the two, and goes onto open up to her about his parents turning Strigoi. At the Consecration Ceremony no one wants to sit near Christian because of what his parents did. Lissa does great speaking the Old Moroi, as well as with everything else. Later, Christian tracks Lissa down and offers to be her Old Moroi tutor.

Eventually, Victor knows Lissa is associating with Christian and warns her to stop.

Meanwhile, in Guardian training class, it’s Challenge Day. Rose loses her #1 ranking for skipping class to see Lissa, so she challenges Mason for her spot back. It goes well until Rose sees Lissa in her minds eye having a panic attack and she falters, allowing for Mason to win.

Rose and Lissa sneak out during the daytime and go to a place they both loved. There they memorialized Lissa’s family with lanterns. Dusk is quickly approaching on their way back and Rose suddenly feels sick. They get attacked by a Strigoi and Lissa makes it safely inside the wards. Unfortunately, Dimitri has to help Rose, and he’s pissed at them for sneaking out. He’s also not the only one upset. The best friends are no longer allowed to be roommates, and Rose gets an upsetting email from her mother informing her how disappointed and ashamed of her she is.

Surprisingly, The Queen throws another party for St. Vladimir’s Feast Day and shocks everyone in attendance when she names her successor as Lissa Dragomir.

### Episode 2

An injured Lissa, walks away from the wreckage that was her family’s car, but stops by an unknown figure laying on the ground. Some footsteps are then heard, and an heavily injured Andre pleads with his younger sister to remember. Then, back in her bed, a perplexed Rose wakes up, after having that nightmare involving her best friend.

Later, the Dhampir are training while on a giant screen, an article from the *Dominion Sentry* stated that *Vasilisa Dragomir, Queen’s pick for the throne*. Which ultimately shocks Rose upon reading it.

Meanwhile, Victor states that they will help out Lissa after the shocking news that she has been picked as the Queen’s successor. However, Mia is still annoyed that she lost her chance at being queen after Andre died. Victor then informs Lissa that Mia has been tasked with helping Lissa run you through some political tutorials of all twelve Heads of Family. Mia quips that they are mostly gossip and backstabbers. But Victor reminds Lissa that the best way to get their vote is for them to think Lissa is their new best friend. Not long after, Victor goes on to say that he must go, as everyone's gathering to discuss Lissa’s specialization Ceremony. This takes Lissa by surprise, but Victor mentions how all of it is just a nice gentle way to get campaign season started. He then continues on by saying how everyone loves a good faction competition, up on the big screen so the entire dominion can invest in Lissa.

Still reeling from the news, Lissa asks Mia about her sister, and why the Council finally stopped insisting that she try. To which Mia says that by the time they were done with her, even if she did specialize, she wouldn't be capable of using it.

Elsewhere Mason offers himself as a distraction for Rose since she is so overwhelmed with everything that recently happened. At first she rejects his offer, but quickly changes her mind, and the two kiss.

Meanwhile, Mikhail is dissecting a Strigoi as he teaches a class. He then proceeds to show one of the strigoi's eyeballs, and reveals it to have a high number of rods for better night vision, like a cat. He then points out the quadrate bone, which allows the strigoi to unhinge its jaws like a snake. Later, he informs the students in training about a strigoi’s limbic system, which is the area in the brain responsible for behavior. Which as it turns out, is practically microscopic. So from this, they can deduce that the Strigoi are incapable of possessing true conscience.

Somewhere at St. Vladimir's Academy, Rose tries unsuccessfully to get Meredith to help her pass a note to Lisa, but the redhead laughs, and turns her down. When asked why not, Meredith says that strategically, this is a no-win situation for both of them. If she gets caught, she gets demerits, so she’ll lose standing. Afterwards, Rose receives even worse news when she is informed that the issue of her and Lissa sneaking outside the wards was raised at the Royal Council. As a result, there's going to be a tribunal, and the Dean will preside over it. Rose wonders if they want to ship her off to St. Jude's or some other school. But her instructor tells her that they aren't deciding where Rose should go to school. Instead, they want to determine if Rose has a future as a Guardian at all after her reckless behavior.

Rose once again has that same nightmare from before, but wakes up confused as to what it is she is supposed to remember.

Sonya is in the library, and sees a bird perch up on one of the bookshelves. The black bird tweets, and flaps its feathers. She tells the bird that she missed it. Shortly thereafter, Mikhail visits the library, and mentions how he can't find the *Volkov Anatomical Compendium*. Which he needs, to check it against the Strigoi that he has been dissecting. Sonya points out how that is the seventh attack this year, which seems more than a normal seasonal spike. A frustrated Mikhail mentions how he has been saying that too, but no one on the Council wants to listen to a lowly Dhampir like him. Sonya then leans closer to him, and asks the Dhampir if he is wearing cologne. To which he replies that she noticed. Sonya states how she happens to have a good nose. A nervous Mikhail then asks if she likes it on him. It takes her a few seconds to answer, but eventually she says that he smells less like a Strigoi than usual.

Meanwhile, a scared Lissa confides in Christian about how she has to do her specialization ceremony tomorrow. She continues by saying that she doesn't think she'll be able to specialize. She then points out that when Sonya Karp didn't specialize, first they sent her to the High Priestess, then counseling, then they sent her away to some place for electric shock therapy. It took her years to be close to normal again, and she's not even Royal.

Elsewhere, Dimitri goes on to say that even though Rose isn’t asking, the definition of immaturity is blaming others for their own failings. He then points out how he was not the one who put Lissa at risk by taking her outside of the wards. He also was not the one who decided your punishment. He does admit to being annoyed that one of the most promising young Guardians he has ever come across is too stubborn to see sense. In spite of that, he doesn’t want her to be expelled. Rose then asks if the image of her out there in the Communes doesn't give him a thrill. To which he says it doesn’t, as his mother and sisters live in the Communes, and that's not the life he would wish on Rose.

Back with Lissa, she confesses to Christian that her parents always said they had a plan in case a specialization never materialized for her, but without them, there's no one between her and shock therapy and every other thing they did to Sonya Karp.

Later that night, Lord Zeklos says that he has special permission to leave the Province. The guard asks for what purpose, but rather than answering, he points that he is a Royal. Thus, the lowly guard doesn’t need to know his purpose. However, the guard does mention that under the laws of the Human Treaty of 1497, he agrees to traverse only the approved roadways, avoid any and all human interaction with the human species, never reveal your identity as a citizen of the Moroi Dominion, etc.

Eventually, the Tribunal of Rose Hathaway commences where she mentions that she would die for Lissa. But the tribunal points out how she seems to lack the discipline and critical skills that an elite guardian needs. However, Rose points out that there is more than one way of keeping Lissa safe. Unfortunately, in that moment she starts experiencing Lissa’s turmoil, and without a moment’s hesitation, she walks off her tribunal meeting and goes to check in on her best friend.

Meanwhile at the Council meeting, one of the members says she'll be surprised if Lissa lasts a week. She continues by saying that The Queen will see soon enough that not every Dragomir is fit to sit on the throne. Later, Victor tells Lissa that as her godfather, he promised her family that he would always look out for her. So he asks that if there's any chance she'll walk out there and not specialize, she needs to let him know now. That way, he will get her out of this Dominion tonight before anyone can ask questions. After some thinking, she decides to lie and say there isn’t anything she wants to tell her godfather.

Eventually, Lissa admits to Rose that part of her just wants to be free. Where she can live somewhere that no one cares what element she is, or if they’re Dhampir or Moroi. But then the other part of her is thinking about everything Andre was gonna mean to this Dominion, like a leader who ruled not just for the Royal Moroi, but for all its citizens, including the Dhampirs. He was gonna make this a place one wanted to run to, not away from. Thus, she wonders that if she disappears, what will happen to her brother's legacy. Especially after realizing how there is a parade of people dying to be on the throne who want the exact opposite.

Throughout the dominion, people vote on which specialization she will have. Some bet on air like the current queen, while others point out that Dragomirs are always Fire. At first, Lissa, tries air, but fails. Some in the crowd yell out that her magic's weak. Eventually, she moves onto fire, and the flames roar to life. The Queen then mentions how Lissa is Fire like Andre, which is a good omen. At first, she becomes excited at the turn of events, but when she looks into the distance, she sees Christian using his fire magic to help her out. She is angry that he did that for her, when she didn’t ask for that kind of help, and now feels like Christian made her a fraud. Christian points out that half the people in the town are frauds. But Lissa states that half of them want her to be their queen, but even they would shun her if they knew she didn't have fire, water or any of it. So she has no real magic. But Christian refuses to apologize.

With it being almost daybreak, Lissa tells Dimitri that his shift is over. Thus, his future queen demands he go have some fun. However, before he does, he asks her if anyone told her what's happening with Rose.

After her conversation with Dimitri Lissa summons Dean Kirova using her royal privileges in order to plead for Rose's case.

Later, she goes to Christian, and tells him that she doesn’t need a man to save her. She then points out that the last thing Christian needs is to be caught for the misuse of magic. While she knows that he was scared for her, he needs to be more careful. Even though they both agree that giving in to their feelings would be a bad idea, the two still kiss. All while at the Dhampir bar in town, Rose ends up witnessing this by unintentionally being in Lissa’s head.

Meanwhile, Mikhail goes to see Sonya again to make his intentions totally clear with her. However, Sonya points out that there must be a long line of normal girls he could hang out with. But he states that he doesn’t like normal girls. He then mentions how he considers her smart, great with kids, and how she has a smile that lights up a room.

Elsewhere, Lissa informs Rose that she is staying after all, since as it turns out there is an upside to being almost queen. People have to listen to her. She then mentions how Rose can thank Dimitri for telling her, and for carrying Rose back to her room, after she passed out at the bar. Rose then comes clean, how she didn’t pass out because of the drinking, but it was due to kissing Christian. Rose continues by saying that because Lissa was kissing Christian Ozera, for some reasons she can't really explain, Rose was kissing him too because she was in Lissa’s head. Lissa admits how all of this is crazy, and they need to figure it out. Before she leaves though, Lissa asks if Rose is going to be able to sleep. Rose offhandedly mentions that she probably will, if only Lissa’s brother would stop haunting her dreams. Rose mentions how every time, it's the same one. Lissa is outside alone, she sees a dead body, and Andre's there, and he tells Lissa to remember. Lissa then realizes that those aren't Rose’s dreams, but hers.

Meanwhile, Sonya shows Mikhail the pins of where each recent Strigoi was sighted outside the Academy. She points out how they're a sequence. They seem to be hitting potential weak points, gates, doors, etc. Sonya continues by saying how the Strigoi that Mikhail and the other Dhampirs have encountered lately haven't just been opportunistic. They've been planning. He points out how the Strigoi don't plan. But she refutes that by questioning if they've been testing the wards as well. Sonya worries that if they find a weakness in the magic that reinforces the walls of the city, the entire capitol could be compromised, and they'd be at risk of an attack.

Unbeknownst to them, at another location, some Strigoi are climbing the walls and breaking into a place to launch an attack.

### Episode 3

At St. Jude’s, a massacre at the hands of the Strigoi takes place and it is utterly devastating.The students fight bravely and Rose’s mom fights bravely, but many students’ lives are lost that day.

On the giant tv screen, one of the Council members is heard saying how “this is a terrible tragedy” but to not fool themselves into thinking this was something out of the ordinary, because if it happened at St. Jude, it can happen at any of the other 12 provinces, Which in turn means that none of them are safe.

At the Royal Census Bureau, The Queen is being informed about how as it stands, the situation is dire. Dhampir numbers were already down. Now with the massacre at St. Jude's, if they don't take action now, their futures are in peril. As it is, there aren't enough trained Guardians to replace the ones they've lost. Thus she is advised to emphasize to the community the necessity of the special relationship between Moroi and Dhampirs.

Later, the students of St. Vladimir are then told that “the massacre at St. Jude's was unthinkable. All were taken too young. All will be mourned. As is custom, tomorrow, we will celebrate the traditional Death Watch for the fallen. We also mourn the loss of the Dhampir Guardians slain while doing their duty protecting our Moroi brothers and sisters”.

After everyone leaves, Christian remains and Lissa checks in on him. He confides in her that St. Jude’s just so happens to be his old school. Lissa asks him if he knew anyone. But Christian replies that he didn’t know anyone that well. Well, except for Xavier, his old roommate, who wasn’t much of a nice guy.

At the Dhampir training grounds, the novices are told that “the only way to deal with the massacre at St. Jude's is to learn from it and prevent it from ever happening at St. Vladimir”. Janine Hathaway, then states that the Strigoi attack on St. Jude's was unique since the pattern of the bodies indicate that they were herding the victims and killing them in groups. However, the Strigoi are loners. They occasionally hunt in twos or threes, but they turn on each other as easily as they do on their victims. Then, Meredith theorizes that it looks like the Strigoi’s attack was coordinated. Which means that historically, it goes against what they have learned about the Strigoi. Janine congratulates Meredith on looking at the facts without bias, and goes on to explain how in the past, the Strigoi's inability to cooperate had protected them. But it seems like the Strigoi that were present at St. Judes, at least, seem to be working together.

The next day, Queen Marina gives a televised speech in which she implores the citizens of the Dominion.look to the future to safeguard their Dominion. She reiterates that with the Strigoi threat ever present, their need for Dhampir Guardians has never been greater. Thus she states that it is time to set aside dalliances with Blood whοres and focus on preserving their society. The Queen then goes on to say that Dhampir women from the communes will be provided for those Moroi in need to complete the holy sacrament of rebirth. She then implores to her subjects to not stray from their sacred duty to surrender to sin.

Meanwhile Dimitri runs into Eloise, an old friend who tearfully tells him that she has been chosen. Dimitri can’t help but embrace her; unbeknownst to him that from outside the Royal Library, Rose is watching this scene unfold.

Elsewhere, Victor tells Sonya and Mikhail that they're overreacting. However, both of them remain firm in their belief that it's time to strengthen the wards. Victor reminds them that they still have two decades left on the enchantment cycle. But Sonya states that if they wait, they run the risk of the Strigoi finding a way to break through as the enchantment gets older and weaker. She theorizes that perhaps that is what happened at St. Jude's. Victor asks Mikhail if that was the case, but he informs him that “They're looking into Dhampir error, which is code for they don't know”. Mikhail says that they want to take their evidence to the queen and the council tonight. But Mia, who has been listening the whole time, asks the two who will listen to them. Since they are going to need something more credible than the word of a Dhampir and the Bird Lady.

At the council meeting, Lissa feels like a fish out of water. One of its members mentions how the Guardians aren't the only protection they have. However, Victor states that they are too dangerous, and the first and only time they used them, it went badly. The same council member however is undeterred, and mentions how these creatures were still experimental back then. Victor mentions how they haven't been tested since. But the female council member goes on to say that while the monk prepares, they need to protect themselves. Victor eventually explains to a lost Lissa that what they are talking about are the Psi Hounds; guard dogs created to only obey Moroi commands. They patrol the wards for signs of Strigoi, except they don't know when to quit.

After the meeting, Mia explains to Lissa that the only time they were let out was awful, since they tore through an entire farming village outside the gates before they were wrangled back into their cages.

Unfortunately, Lissa unintentionally hurts Mia’s feelings when she asks her what mask she will be wearing to the Death Watch. This leads to Mia saying how it “must be nice, living by your own rules, oblivious to the real world”. Before letting her know that the Death Watch is for Royals only. Once she leaves, Tatiana tells Lissa to not let Mia get to her. Afterall, girls like her only exist to make other people feel bad about themselves. Lissa continues by saying that she really had no idea that the Non-Royals were excluded. Especially given the fact that non-Royals died at St. Jude's too.

Eventually, Tatiana tells Lissa that her mother sent her to court a few months ago to study religious studies with her aunt, High Priestess Irene. But she was also a friend of Andre's. She explains that he knew the council needed to modernize or the young Moroi would never engage.

Initially only Royal Moroi are invited to the Death Watch, but thanks to Lissa, everyone gets invited. Or so it seems, since in the end, this is just a ploy by the Queen to look good after Lissa goes above her.

At the Moroi library, Christian summons Rose, and upon arriving, he asks her if she has ever heard of an ancient magic used for mind control. He continues by saying how "the apocryphal text outlines fantastical powers, most prominently, compulsion, the power to control the minds of Moroi and Dhampir alike with a golden-threaded tongue". He mentions to her how it is his belief that Lissa can do this. Rose is unsure, but he remains firm, saying that nothing else explains what he saw, because one second she tells Mia to do something, and Mia just does it, like a puppet. However, in the story, they then burn the guy at the stake for using this ability. While one lady, they tied her to a millstone and threw her in a pond. Unfortunately, no one says where this power comes from, and as far he can tell, there's only one book that does. Which can only be found in the High Priestess' archives.

Sometime after, Alberta Casey informs Janine how she just got new info about St. Jude's. It turns out that the wards weren't breached. They were disarmed. Janine then wonders if it was an inside job. Later, the two women bring in Christian for questioning him in regards to a possible connection to the attack. They then show him some security camera footage outside his old dormitory there. The aforementioned video shows that not only are parents still alive, but they were also behind the attack; possibly looking for him. While everyone else is busy with the Death Watch, Christian and Rose meet up. After some pestering from Rose, he eventually confides in her that the worst part for him in regards to his parents is that everyone thought they were awful to grow up with, but they weren't. Christians admit that they loved him, and he loved them in return. One day, they were a family, sitting in their cabin at Mont Blanc, hanging out, skiing. Then next, they chose to become Strigoi, over him. After that, he just assumed that they were dead, but now he doesn’t know how to feel because they're not dead. They led the massacre at St. Jude's. He continues by telling Rose how her mom thinks they're looking for him. She brings up how that could put Lissa in real danger if she's with him. But Christian doesn’t need the reminder of the gravity of this problem. He does, however, ask if for now, she will not tell this to Lissa. Rose agrees, under the condition that Christian won’t put her best friend in danger.

Meanwhile, at the Dhampir bar, Sonya goes outside, and Mia asks her since when did the Bird Lady hit up parties? To which Sonya replies that it has been this way since the right person asked her. Mia continues to be nice by telling Sonya that she looks gorgeous. Sonya compliments her on her lipstick by calling it a pretty color. Mia admits that Sonya had originally picked it. She liked it on her, so she copied it. Mia then continues by saying that she used to do that a lot when she was little. She then shoes Sonya away, advising her to have fun,

Shortly before he heads to the Death Watch, Christian notices a nicely wrapped gift laying on his bed. He puts his mask down, and proceeds to open it, and much to his horror, it is the lower jaw of his old roommate who dies in the Strigoi attack of St. Judes. There is also a note that came with the gory gift, but all it says is XAVIER, and nothing else.

Later, Christian shows up, and surprises Lissa by dancing with her. She admits that she didn’t think he’d come since there would be so many people around. But he explains that he just had to tell her what he and Rose found while researching for a way to get her out of Rose’s head. It turns out that the stuff they found is from 600 years ago. It talked about a fifth element. Thus, Christian deduces that Lissa actually already specialized, but simply didn’t know it. While it’s true that there are four known elements, he thinks Lissa is someone who specialized in something called Spirit. Lissa tells him that she has never heard of that, and what Christian is speaking sounds a lot like blasphemy. Thus he advises her to not tell anybody, and calls her a unicorn that needs to be protected. He then tells her that the two of them can’t be together and departs. Later, Lissa and Victor meet with the Queen and learn that Lissa is no longer her successor to the throne thanks to an old rule that Tatiana pointed out. Since Tatiana wants to be the next Queen, she found a loophole to get Lissa removed from her position as princess and thus, next in the line of succession.

After the whirlwind of the day’s events, Victor arrives home, but collapses and remains unconscious while Sonya yells for her father to wake up.

### Episode 4

Rose is training with Dimitri, whereas Christian thinks of his parents due to the unwelcome gift of Xavier’s teeth that they gave him.

Elsewhere, Sonya greets a man named Robert, calling him Papa. Victor then comes out of the other room, telling Robert that he’s fine, but Robert asks Sonya what she did in a stern tone.

Later, Victor and Robert sleep together and then discuss Sonya. Robert says that she can’t risk it again, even for Victor, and thus Victor feels guilty that her daughter used elemental magic on him.

Robert tells Victor he’ll talk to Sonya and that he almost lost him. Victor says it came out of nowhere. According to Robert however, it’s not really out of nowhere, given Victor’s family history, but he doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Thus, Robert tells him that he needs to see a doctor immediately .

Victor instead replies that he needs to get back to work.

Meanwhile, Rose gives Lissa a book that Christian says would be helpful to her. Lissa is still upset that Christian broke up with her. Rose responds that he likely had his reasons, but Lissa says that she has her own reasons for not wanting his help.

Since the book is in Old Moroi, she needs help translating it. Thankfully Rose offers her help, even though she has her Benchmark Tests coming up.

Lissa instead tells her friend to focus on her tests and that she’ll be fine since she has a lot of free time. Rose asks Lissa if she’s okay, and she responds that she might have dodged a bullet. She’s now back to her initial plan to graduate and see the world with Rose, but she wants to figure out the Spirit element issue first.

Later, Tatiana Vogel gives a speech to the Council, declaring her candidacy for Queen. She also states that Lissa was really the radical choice, given that she has a Dhampir best friend and is associated with the Ozera family. After Tatiana’s speech, one of the Council members suggests lowering the age of guardian enlistment to 16. Victor objects to this but is outvoted.

The Benchmark tests start, and the novice Guardians get assigned to a Moroi and have to protect them from attacks by other Guardians pretending to be Strigoi. The Novices that do well in these tests get to go on the Royal Tour as part of the Guardian security team and get good assignments once they graduate. Rose hopes to be assigned to Lissa for the test but instead has to protect Jesse Zeklos.

Victor visits Lissa, wanting to restore her ability to vote in the Council with a loophole he found. If Lissa gets married with someone that has enough Dragomir blood, her voting power will be restored.

Christian gets a delivery of a ski lift ticket with coordinates on it that tells him to meet someone there on Friday at 3:00 AM. He doesn’t answer when Mason asks him who wants to meet him as he instead looks at a picture of him and his parents on his bedside table.

Lissa calls Rose to tell her about her potential marriage. She says that most Moroi women over 21 are married, and Rose wonders what the rush is. Lissa asks her friend to name all the love match marriages she can think of in the Royal Court. According to her, most Royal marriages are about power, bloodlines, and money. Rose then counters that it wasn’t like that for Lissa’s parents and isn’t like that for Victor and Robert. Lissa however says that they’re the lucky ones.

Rose asks who the groom will be and apparently, he has to have some amount of Dragomir blood for Lissa to regain her quorum. One of the Moroi men on the list is Jesse.

Rose then sees Jesse arguing about marrying Lissa with his father. Eventually, he reluctantly agrees to court Lissa.

While they’re meeting in a church, Christian and Mason show up, and then a bunch of other novice Guardians with their Moroi charges do as well. Rose then realizes it’s a trap from the Guardians, who are pretending to be Strigo and tells Jesse and Lissa to get out.

She and the other novices fight the more experienced Guardians. Many of them succeed, Rose included.

Mason notices some romantic tension between Rose and Dimitri while she’s fighting him. Unfortunately for Rose, Jesse didn’t leave when he was told to, and Rose is upset because this will affect her score.

In the end, Rose gets in trouble for fighting with Jesse. However, she is told that she did well otherwise in the test, so she moves up in the rankings.

Dimitri tells Rose that he’ll come harder for her next time. She responds by telling him that she’s looking forward to it.

Jesse’s father asks him how his meeting with Lissa went, and he tells him about the fake Strigoi attack. He tells Jesse to reschedule it immediately. Jesse is reluctant since Lissa won’t choose him anyway, but his father hits him and repeats his words.

It is then that Christian walks by, seeing the whole altercation. Meanwhile, Lissa goes to a bookstore to get a book about the Spirit element. The shop owner is reluctant, but she compels him to do so anyway.

Meanwhile, Victor argues against 16-year-olds being Guardians at the Council meeting and suggests temporarily taking Guardians from non-Royal Moroi, even though that would mean his husband Robert would lose his protection. Tatiana, who is now a member of the Council, agrees with Victor.

Christian looks at the ski lift ticket with the coordinates and talks to a feeder about his troubles with Lissa. Later, Christian tells Jesse that he has to get past the wards. Since Jesse has a car, he needs his help. Jesse initially refuses but then thinks of a way that Christian could help him. Christian goes to pick up a Dhampir girl that Jesse uses as his feeder, but that his father disapproves of.

Rose congratulates Mason for being on top of the board but says that he can only stay there for so long. He explains that Rose might not get so lucky with who she’s fighting next time, and she wonders what that means.

She asks Mason where Christian is, and he says that he is with the girl who sent him the ski lift ticket. Rose asks if Christian said the ticket was from a girl, and she figures out it was from his parents. Once Mason realizes Rose is right, he goes after Christian, despite her warnings that they should tell someone. Christian gets to the coordinates, thanks to Jesse, while Rose runs into Dimitri.

She tells him that they have to find Alberta and Mikhail because Mason needs their help.

As for Christian, he meets his mother as a Strigoi and wonders why she and his father left. She tells Christian that they wanted to come back for him and that they wanted to be together forever. But before she can say more, Mason comes, and Christian’s mother disappears, much to his dismay.

Mason tries to get Christian to leave, saying that his mother wouldn’t be happy with him being there. As another Strigoi shows up, Mason fights him until the more experienced Guardians show up. They manage to subdue and capture the Strigoi. Christian then confirms that the Strigoi isn’t his father.

Later, Sonya is in a greenhouse, when Mikhail comes to meet her. He tells her about the captured Strigoi. She then proceeds to tell him she has a secret she’s not supposed to tell him but wants to. According to Sonya, there is a darkness inside her that sometimes makes her act out in ways that might scare him. Mikhail reassures her that he’s not easily scared. He says he knows darkness and that right now, all he sees is light in her, and the two kiss.

Dimitri talks to Christian, telling him that he knows St. Vladimir's Academy has been hard for him. However, Dimitri warns the young Moroi that he put a lot of people at risk. Christian apologizes but says that he wanted to see his parents. Dimitri says that they’re not Christian’s parents anymore and that Christian wants something that he can no longer have. Christian however recount a story about his childhood cat, Harvey. Harvey wasn’t the friendliest cat except with him. He would follow him around and give him gifts of dead birds, which Christian figured out was his way of showing affection. Thus, Christian wonders if his parents can still feel love even as Strigoi.

Elsewhere, Mason yells at Rose for telling on him since he lost his ranking and his ability to go on the Royal Tour, which he wanted to do to see his father. Rose apologizes and says that she didn’t know. But Mason counters that she didn’t since she never asks anything personal. It's always on her terms.

Meanwhile, Lissa goes to talk to Christian. She scolds him for almost getting himself killed and then shows him the book she got about the mysterious Spirit element. Apparently, St. Vladimir had the ability to compel people just like Lissa. She wonders what else Spirit users can do. Since int the stories she read, they can see auras and heal people.

At the greenhouse, Sonya and Mikhail continue to spend time together. Sonya heals a bird that was on the floor, and her eyes turn dark, which is noticed by Mikhail.

Elsewhere, Lissa talks about the darkness that comes with Spirit use.

Rose goes to train with Dimitri still upset about Mason yelling at her. Dimitri however tells her she was brave, and that she is number one because she obeyed the chain of command, and Christian and Mason survived because of her. He also calls her Roza, stating it’s due to his Russian childhood coming out, but she likes it.

Dimitri then continues by saying to Rose to always be ready because today is a new day, and the Benchmarks are continuing. He wishes her luck, when someone comes up behind Rose and puts a sack over her head.

Meanwhile, Tatiana tells the Council that Victor was right and that the only way to truly test a novice Guardian is to confront them with a real Strigoi. Which they just so happen to have one available and the votes to make it happen.

In an undisclosed location, someone unlocks the Strigoi in a cage.

### Episode 5

In the latest test, Rose and the other novices are abandoned somewhere. They are tasked with avoiding getting killed to protect their Moroi target and survive the night. The inexperienced guardians in training think this is just another simulation and that more seasoned guardians will soon attack them. They are unaware that the council decided to turn a captured Strigoi free on them just before their expedition.

Victor tries to halt the experiment after learning what Tatiana and the council have done. Even though the Queen is aware of it, though, and she has no desire to sever relations within the council. After learning about the situation, Dimitri and Lissa decide to act independently. Lissa joins forces with Christian, Mia, Mason, and Jesse, while Dimitri rushes to find Rose and the others. Many lives are lost when they arrive because it is already too late.

The guardians dispatched to test the novices are not informed about the presence of a rogue Strigoi on an otherwise secure property, as opposed to the novices, who were unaware of it. One of those guards is Mikhail, who is fed on by one of the rogue strigoi, but shortly after doing so, feeds him his blood. Thus converting Mikhail into a strigoi.

With Mikhail now transformed, one of the novices has been gravely wounded by the time Lissa gets on the scene. The novice appears to have no chance of surviving, but Lissa uses her spirit magic on him to instantly heal him. While this is going on, Strigoi Mikhail attacks Rose, making her battle someone she genuinely cares about and in the ends, she is forced to drive a stake through his heart to put a stop to him.

Meanwhile, the council views their experiment as a success because no Moroi were hurt. Rose is praised as a leader and will now accompany the royal tour after winning the competition. Sonya, who was supposed to go on a date with Mikhail, is informed of his passing while she deals with her grief. The loss breaks her heart, and she attempts suicide by jumping off a balcony. However, the birds arrive to save her after she falls from the tower. Unfortunately, the birds that had saved her drop to their deaths as she leaves safely.

While Sonya’s predicament worsens, Lissa also travels a challenging route. She understands that if she wants to learn more about her abilities, she must go on the royal tour. She suggests a plan with Jesse for this. Jesse is her best option because he has enough connections to the Dragomir bloodline to guarantee her a place on the council. Thus, she will need to meet Jesse’s parents, who will be on the royal tour, to be properly engaged to him.

Although she finds this to be distressing, it appears to be the least of her worries. Lissa’s eyes are beginning to turn black, just like Sonya’s did when she used her spirit magic.

Additionally, Rose experiences the effects of Lissa’s powers and notices a change in her eyes due to their connection.

### Episode 6

Rose is still upset about Mikhail’s fate. She’s also reading a message from her mother, about the Molnija mark, a sacred tattoo given to a guardian for each Strigoi kill.

This is one of the highest honors they can receive. Janine says in her letter that Rose’s first Molnija mark is a rite of passage, and she wishes she could be there, but duty comes first. While Rose waits to receive the mark, she remembers moments with Mikhail, including when she was forced to kill Strigoi Mikhail. She says she can’t and runs out of the room.

Lissa comforts her friend, saying she didn’t kill Mikhail; she killed a Strigoi and saved them all. Meanwhile, Rose wonders if Jesse is the best Lissa could do. Lissa responds that she needs to go on the Royal Tour to learn more about spirit and get her quorum back so she can prevent what happened to Mikhail from happening again.

Elsewhere, Victor is getting ready to head on the Royal Tour himself. He says that there is something wrong with their society if they can call a training exercise that leaves seven dead a success.

Sonya adds that dhampirs are expendable, but his husband Robert adds that no one was saying that. Sonya responds that it is how they think and asks Mia if Meredith is going on the tour. She warns her sister to spend as much time with Meredith as she can. Mia is going to be accompanying Victor on the tour.

She’s prepared, having made a schedule and written down all the important information for the campaign so that he won’t need to lift a finger. At least that is the initial plan, until a man bursts in, saying that Mia has to report for an ecclesiastic reprimand for using magic against Jesse, a Royal. Failure to report would lead to her expulsion from St. Vladimir's Academy. Thus, Sonya volunteers to go on the Royal Tour instead to help Victor.

While on the Royal Tour, the Queen gives a speech, begging the Council to choose an heir to the throne who can help unite the Dominion instead of tearing it apart. Jesse tells Lissa that his father is pressuring him for a date for their Marking Ceremony. Lissa assures that she’ll give him one if she gets an invitation to the Ivashkov Trust party. Jesse says he can’t get her an invitation. She responds by saying she’ll try someone with real power; Jesse’s father.

Victor asks Sonya for information about Jesse’s father, Dane Zeklos. She uses her abilities to read their auras, finding out that Dane is ashamed of Jesse and Jesse’s terrified of his father.

Of course, Sonya claims the information came from Mia’s notes on the Zeklos family. Tatiana’s aunt says that they might have underestimated Sonya adding that Victor is targeting Tatiana’s base, and Dane Zeklos could affect other votes for Victor.

Rose and her fellow novices hear Tatiana discussing the Guardians with a man who turns out to be Mason’s father, Stefan Carter. According to Eddie, Stefan is making a lot of money moving non-Royal Moroi from the villages without Guardians to Relocation Centers.

Meredith says she hears they’re pulling Guardians to help with the Relocation. Rose asks which villages, and Meredith says it’s all of them. Rose then asks if Mikhail was from the Caroni village in St. Ignatius province, where they are now. Meredith thinks he was.

Rose wants to be reassigned to the relocations for Caroni village, saying she’s the first novice since her mother to kill a Strigoi and that her talents would be better suited elsewhere. The Guardian she’s speaking to tells her to report to Head Command immediately. Rose asks who Head Command is. Dimitri appears behind her, stating that he is Head Command.

Later, the Dhampir girl Jesse likes, Silver, shows up next to Jesse. Apparently, his father’s business partner brought her to the party. Jesse runs after her, saying she should ditch him and explore with him. She declines, saying that she likes that he’s not ashamed to be seen with her in public. Dane sees them talking and gets angry with Jesse. Upset over his father’s anger, Jesse tells Lissa they’re leaving. Eddie tells him they have to wait for the convoy back to the hotel, but Jesse says they go when he says so. He leaves, with Lissa, Eddie, and Meredith following him.

Meanwhile, at St. Vladimir’s, Mia endures her punishment for attacking Jesse with her magic, while Christian talks to a feeder about how he hates being there because of the power-hungry people who mess it up for everyone else. The feeder asks Christian if something happened with Lissa and warns him that love is never easy. Then Christian runs into Mia, who asks him to teach her how to use her magic the way he does.

Rose and Dimitri arrive at Caroni Village, where he asks her if she’s sure she wants to do this. She responds that she keeps seeing Mikhail in her dreams. She wants to ask for forgiveness from his sister Sasha and their father so that she can finally get some sleep. But Sasha is upset when she sees Rose. She and Mikhail’s father, an older Moroi man, asks Rose to forgive Sasha, as she was very close to her brother Mikhail. Rose responds that she was close to Mikhail too. His father says that Mikhail would talk about her as a brilliant wild card. Rose remarks on him being a Moroi but raising Dhampirs. He says that when their mother died, he couldn’t let them be raised by strangers in some commune. He asks to see Rose’s Molnija mark and tells her that she saved his son from his greatest fear: being turned into a Strigoi. Mikhail’s father also says that Rose’s Molnija mark would honor Mikhail’s life, not the thing he became. Moreover, Mikhail would’ve done the same for her.

While on the way back to the hotel, Jesse, Lissa, Eddie, and Meredith see rocks fall down. Meredith tells Lissa to get back in the car.

While in the village, Dimitri scolds Sasha for disobeying the resettlement orders and speaking treason against the Council. He tells Sasha to come with him and Rose to face a Tribunal, but she refuses. Rose asks Dimitri if this is why they were sent there. He explains that they were sent there to relocate the stragglers, but he was sent there to bring in Sasha Tanner. Rose asks Dimitri why he didn’t tell her. She says that the stragglers aren’t just there out of respect for Sasha and Mikhail’s father, Kieran, but because Sasha is the only one who cared about them after the Council took their Guardians.

In the middle of yelling at Dimitri, Rose keels over, causing him to ask what’s wrong. Rose sees through Lissa’s eyes, that they are being attacked by a couple of Strigoi.

Lissa tries to heal Meredith when one of the Strigoi attacks her but is interrupted by the arrival of more Guardians.

Meanwhile, at St. Vladimir’s, Christian and Mia are practicing her water magic. Christian tells Mia to pull it back, but she is unable to do so. She says that is exactly what happened with Jesse; it just ran away from her. Christian tells her that magic can be scary, and she needs to learn how to control it so that it doesn’t control her. He tells her about when his Aunt Tasha came to stay with him after his parents turned into Strigoi, and she taught him everything. Mia tells Christian that she knows about his parents leading the attack at St. Jude’s and that she wants him to know that in case he wants to talk.

Lissa scolds Jesse for almost getting them all killed. He wonders how it’s his fault. Lissa explains that they didn’t have to leave the party before the convoy. Jesse has had enough of Lissa’s yelling and asks her when they’re going to start their wedding rituals so that he can tell his father. Lissa doesn’t have time for it, but he tells her to make time. She asks if this is Jesse trying to be a man for his father and then compels him to get out of her sight. Just afterward, Lissa gets an invitation from Dane, Jesse’s father, to the party she wanted to attend.

Meanwhile, Rose tells Sasha that Mikhail was her friend and asks if the firewood is there to scare off the Strigoi. Sasha says it’s for her father’s funeral pyre since he won’t survive the night. Rose offers to take Sasha’s place and fight the Strigoi tonight so she can spend time with her father. Sasha agrees. Dimitri tells Rose that they have to get going, but Rose says that she’s not going anywhere, and neither is anyone else. She says that he can follow orders and be a good soldier, but she’s done following the orders of those who don’t put her first. Dimitri says that he wants to put Rose first, but he can’t because if Guardians don’t follow orders, the system crumbles. Rose counters that the system is broken and that not following the rules led to a better outcome for Mikhail’s family.

Rose wonders what her and Dimitri’s life would be like if they’d had fathers who actually cared about them. She knows nothing about her father, and Dimitri says he knows too much about his. He wants to be nothing like his father and fears that without rules, he would be. Dimitri says that he has to follow orders. Rose says that she doesn’t and that he can take her in along with Sasha if he doesn’t like it.

Mia then wonders how Christian didn’t get expelled from St. Vladimir’s. There’s an investigation going on about how his parents managed to sneak some correspondence into the school in the first place. Mia asks if Lissa knows about any of it, and Christian says that she knows some of it, but there’s no point in telling her now that she’s off getting engaged to Jesse. Mia teases him about it. But Christian says that he still has so many questions for his parents, which she must think is crazy. Mia says she understands since she tried to find her birth parents years ago, but they weren’t Strigoi. Mia and Christian’s conversation is interrupted by a call from Sonya, who tells Mia that something happened to Meredith. Mia immediately leaves to see how Meredith is doing.

Sonya watches as her eyes turn black in the mirror. Her eyes then go back to normal, only for a black mark to spread all over her body.

Mia and Christian arrive to see Meredith, who is healing from the Strigoi attack. Christian eventually leaves the two of them alone.

Meredith warns Mia against using her magic like that again, but Mia says she doesn’t care, not if it means protecting Meredith. She says she’s glad Meredith is okay, and Meredith is glad Mia is there. The two share a kiss.

Meanwhile, back on the Royal Tour, Lissa finally meets the owner of the art collection, Adrian Ivashkov, who is nothing like what she was expecting. Lissa tries compels him to show her his collection, and he agrees. She asks him what he knows about St. Vladimir, and he responds that he knows more than the average Moroi. Lissa then asks Adrian what the painting she’s looking at depicts. He replies that it shows St. Vladimir entering a man’s dream. Adrian shows Lissa another piece of art, and it depicts the Darkness that comes with Spirit. Lissa is stunned. He asks her if they should get a drink now.

Elsewhere, Tatiana approaches Sonya, telling her that it must be hard for her to smile while bearing such a loss as Mikhail was a good man. She adds that it wasn’t Mikhail’s fault; it was the Council, and they should have known he wasn’t fit for field duty. Sonya replies that he was a great Guardian. Tatiana counters with the suggestion that he was better suited for a desk job. She continues by saying when she becomes queen and institutes better testing, they’ll know if someone is an incompetent fighter. Sonya responds that Mikhail wasn’t, he was one of the best. Tatiana says she understands that maybe it’s best to remember Mikhail that way.

Dimitri comes up to Rose, telling her that the perimeter fires were a good idea. Rose asks him if he should be watching Sasha. He replies that he should be, but that Rose needs this fight. She’s hurting, and that he would do anything to make it stop. Rose senses that the Strigoi are there. As she and Dimitri fight them, Tatiana gives a speech about how they can’t have a monarch who pretends to be faithful to their religion, as Victor does.

Jesse tells his father that Lissa basically said she wouldn’t marry him, and his father responds that he’s less than worthless. The two Zeklos men get into a physical fight.

Meanwhile, Lissa’s eyes are turning black as Rose and Dimitri continue to fight the Strigoi, eventually joined by Sasha.

Tatiana says that Victor has incited the Dhampirs to neglect their duty to protect the Moroi. She then says that Victor’s daughter’s Dhampir lover betrayed them by allowing himself to be turned into a Strigoi. She proceeds to call Mikhail a traitor. Sonya goes to attack but is held back.

With Sasha’s help, Rose and Dimitri defeat the Strigoi.

Sonya apologizes to Victor for trying to attack Tatiana, and Victor promises to get her help.

Dimitri asks where Sasha is, and Rose says she told her to run. Dimitri then asks Rose if she knows what they’ll do to Sasha if they find her, and what they’ll do to her if they find out she helped her get away. Rose says she isn’t sorry. Dimitri says that she never is. She responds that they risk their lives, and that Sasha shouldn’t be punished for speaking the truth or wanting something for herself. According to Rose, Sasha deserves better; they all do.

Adrian tells Lissa that he can help her, but only if she wakes up. Lissa says that since Adrian Dream Walked, he must be a Spirit User like herself. He asks if Lissa is up for an adventure, and she agrees.

One of the Guardians asks Rose and Dimitri where Sasha is. He responds that she died doing her duty in a Strigoi attack. Rose wonders why he lied. She says they should go, but Dimitri says there’s something they have to do first: her Molnija mark. In the end, Rose and Dimitri end up kissing.

### Episode 7

Lissa enlists the help of Dimitri and Rose to help guide her and Adrian through the human world since outside the walls of the Dominion, Strigoi can have a field day, so it’s considered dangerous for Moroi to go alone, and illegal without proper permits/approvals. Adrian claims to know of someone in the human world with vast knowledge of St. Vladimir, (who is the founder of the Elementalist religion whose connection to the spirit element seems to have been covered up. Supposedly this person was a fugitive for her ‘theories’ on St Vladimir, the origins of Elementalism, and her research interests as she was labeled a heretic, so she hid in the human world attempting to keep a low profile.

Throughout much of their time in the human world, Rose tries to loosen Dimitri up, who takes offense to the attack on Elementalism that they are lodging and remains constantly stressed and alert in case of attack. Adrian, on the other hand acts with an almost hedonistic philosophy, justifying pretty much any action he takes by how fun it is.

Eventually this rag-tag gang finally finds who they were looking. From Clarice, they get confirmation that St. Vladimir was a Spirit user, and that the "Darkness" Lissa and Adrian feel is a side effect of using their Spirit powers. Moreover, a Spirit user can transfer their darkness onto someone else through a Spirit bond called Shadow-kissed and that the reason the church covered up the existence of Spirit is the same reason that allows a Spirit user to form a Spirit bond: (i.e. resurrection which is regarded as the ultimate sin).

Eventually, some Strigois find them and begin to attack. When they do, Rose experiences a moment of hesitation when she decides whether to aid Lissa or Dimitri. This ultimately leads to Dimitri ending their relationship (before it even truly began), because he believes that as Guardians they can never hesitate on their duty and thus their relationship would be a distraction and betrayal of their duty. To make matters worse, Lissa puts some distance with her best friend after she tells the Dhampir that she can no longer allow Rose to be her Guardian. This, after learning the story of St. Vladimir Spirit bonding with his Guardian (the first and model for Guardians to come) and burdening her with his darkness as result. she comes to believe that the Moroi/Guardian relationship at its very core (especially when Spirit bonds are involved) is exploitative, and she doesn’t want to partake in this. The two end up falling out with each other, however, as Rose doesn’t think it's right for Lissa to make the decision for the two of them.

Elsewhere, the power struggle between Victor and Tatiana continues. The two spend most of their time networking and competing for votes so they may ascend to the throne. In a last-ditch effort when she realizes she’s losing, Tatiana goes to her aunt (the high priestess) and convinces her that Victor’s ascension to the throne spells doom for the church’s influence and power, and thus she must force the queen to withdraw support from Victor in order to maintain peace between church and state. The queen, in a desperate attempt to not anger the church but still allow Victor a chance to rise to the throne, invokes an ancient rule which turns the race into a series of trials as opposed to an election, in her words allowing the elements to decide.

### Episode 8

A the endurance competition of the trials, the competitors must brave the four elements, and both Tatiana and Victor stand on the edge of a watchtower while the wind blows in their face.

However, Victor continues to be under a lot of stress, since in an effort to save his political career and spare his family any pain, he is covering up the fact that Sonya drain a human of all their blood and turned Strigoi. Thus, Victor is trying to pretend that she left town but is still well and in contact with him.

Meanwhile, Rose continues drinking her sorrows away. When she wakes up, after presumably being taken care of by Mason, the two of them discuss the current Strigoi situation. They come to two major conclusions: 1) someone within the Dominion must be working with Strigoi and likely someone with a power like a Royal and 2) there’s a chance that Strigoi are specifically targeting Lissa .

Their investigation is cut short when Rose sees Dimitri through a window and goes to speak to him. Eventually, Rose learns that Dimitri is Tatiana's champion. Rose, believing that she’s the only one with a chance to beat him, marches to Victor’s home and demands that she be his champion. When the fight comes around, it becomes quite clear that Dimitri could win but ultimately can’t bring himself to hurt Rose. In the end, he allows Rose to beat him and sulks about the fact that he wasn’t willing to live up to his duty.

When the fight ends, Mason forces Rose to speak to Lissa. Lissa reveals that the others have filled her in on their theory and suggests that they take magical drugs so they can revisit their memory of the car crash to see if they can learn anything. While combing through the memory they see the Strigoi Ozeras at the scene of the crash. Once it's all over, though, Rose decides that Lissa was right and that they should go their separate ways. Rose also gets shut-down by Dimitri again (who ultimately seeks comfort in Tatiana). In the end, Rose discusses with Mason the possibility of leaving St. Vladimir's Academy and turning away from a guardian life. Mason agrees and the two kiss, seemingly suggesting that the plan is locked in.

Elsewhere, Lissa proposes to Christian after she decided that it wasn’t worth it to just marry whoever, and she also found out that he has enough Dragomir blood to earn herself a quorum. The two agree to go ahead with it, but Christian begins to get cold feet after Rose and Mason let him in on their theory that his parents may be trying to get to Lissa.

During the second trial, a physical battle but not between the contestants, instead between Dhampir champions of their choosing takes place. Tatiana chooses Dimitri and Victor chooses Rose . In the end, Rose (and by extension, Victor) comes out victorious.

The third trial is mental. Both contestants ingest a drop of St. Vladimir's dried blood which will allow them to visit a memory-like dream. Through this hallucination of sorts, they must figure out what a leader truly needs. Whichever contestant can emerge from their dream with the correct answer first will win the challenge and by extension the throne. Ultimately, it's Victor who emerges first and gives some speech about how a leader needs to have nothing, they must be willing to give up everything in order to be a good ruler. This is enough to win him the trial and the throne. Unfortunately, his rule might be cut short as Tatiana reveals during her concession speech a massive glass case containing a Strigoi Sonya.

### Episode 9

As it stands, Victor's power grab quickly collapses once Tatiana reveals a captured Strigoi Sonya and puts on a display to the Dominion that Victor is an irresponsible father, a liar, and very sickly.

Meanwhile, Rose and Mason continue their newfound relationship and are gearing up to leave the Dominion. They’re going to do what Rose and Lissa had been planning for ages. The difference is that if Rose and Mason run away together, it's two Guardians leaving their post, and this comes with an associated risk. But, Rose wanting to leave everything behind and Mason being in love with her, they decide it's what they want to do.

Dimitri, on the other hand, gets questioned about Mikhail Tanner's sister, and subsequently is put on trial for treason. Unwilling to change the story he gave and throw anyone else under the bus, he’s put under house arrest until his trial is over. Rose, hearing about this, comes to speak to him.

As Mason is getting ready to leave, he’s confronted by Meredith, who tries to talk him out of leaving, on the basis that he’s going to screw up his life for a girl who he’s just a rebound for.

Unbeknownst to Rose, Dimitri ends up being sentenced to "the dungeon."

Meanwhile, Christian goes to confront the only person besides Lissa that’s been kind to him Diane, his human blood-bag/de facto therapist. He goes to confront her about being the rat to his parents, using him to help them go after Lissa and keep the Dragomirs off the throne. Later, he receives a letter with a picture of Mia being held captive. Supposedly, his parents have kidnapped her and want to trade her for Sonya’s safety. After taking it up the chain to higher-ranking Guardians, they arrange to make a trade. All this time Christian is attempting to vouch for the Strigoi; perhaps they are capable of feeling, perhaps his parents still do love him. After the trade is made, though, they mock Christian, revealing that this was all a setup to infiltrate the Dominion and feed, revealing that they don’t care for him. In anger, Christian sets his dad on fire and kills him. At this point, his mother becomes so upset that she says she’s going to make him feel "true pain" by going after Lissa.

Eventually, Lissa learns from Mia that Sonya was a spirit user like her and that it was using those powers that drove her to become a Strigoi. Lissa, upon learning this, goes to speak to Victor to try and console him on the loss of his daughter. Unfortunately, once Victor hears it, he proceeds to try and coerce Lissa into healing him, so he can ascend to the throne. He then proceeds to lock Lissa in a room until she agrees to heal him. A few hours plus a talk with a hallucination of her brother go by, and when Victor returns, Lissa agrees to heal him but with another play in her back pocket. After Lissa heals Victor, she goes behind his back to the Queen, and requests that the solution to the current political instability is to remain on the throne; disavowing both Victor and Tatiana, while crowning Lissa her heir as she works on gaining her quorum back.

Shockingly, it turns out the inside person that the strigoi had to help them with infiltrating the Dominion was none other than Tatiana, who goes into a dungeon where they have a prisoner they are speaking to. Upon further revelation, is is revealed that Andre is alive.

### Episode 10

The Dominion falls under a brutal attack from the strigoi, who run around creating havoc. Christian realizes that the only chance for survival is to restore the protective wall around the Dominion, one that the strigoi cannot cross. But the problem is that the key to closing that door has been stolen, which calls for a new key to be made. Meanwhile, Lissa finds herself in an even more precarious situation when the Queen is poisoned. She tries to heal the monarch, but it doesn’t work, and she is forced to run away for her life.

Rose and Mason drive away into the human world, but they turn back when Mason tells her that Dimitri is in prison, which means that Lissa is unprotected. Once back, they come up with a plan to evacuate the region before the next strigoi attack.

Meanwhile, Andre escapes Tatiana’s captivity and reunites with his sister. Just when it looks like things might take a turn for the better for the Dragomir family, fate strikes again.

While everyone believes that Andre died with his parents, it turns out that Tatiana had been holding him captive all this time. She needed someone with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the monarchy so that she could find her way to the throne.

Knowing that his sister and the entire Dominion are in danger, Andre finally escapes. But his reunion with Lissa is short-lived. He is only able to tell her that Tatiana is behind it all. He hands over a chip to her, though Lissa has no idea what it means. Before he can tell her more, Christian’s mother attacks Andre. When Christian arrives on the scene, she is reminded of her husband’s death. As revenge, she feeds her blood to Andre and takes him away.

Elsewhere, now that the Queen is dead, Tatiana makes a move for the throne. She needs the council to elect her, but she knows that there are still some supporters of Victor who might create problems for her. So she lets loose a couple of strigoi, who conveniently kill all those who might stand against her.

By the end of the night, the vote is over and done with, and Tatiana is crowned queen of the Dominion. As soon as that happens, she declares Lissa a person of interest in the murder of the queen. It is important for her to get Lissa out of the way because she is the only one who can stake a claim on the throne now, challenging Tatiana’s authority. Before she died, the Queen had declared Lissa to be her heir to the throne, and there might still be some loyalists in the Dragomir family who would like to see Lissa on the throne rather than Tatiana.

With her brother gone and her reputation tarnished, Lissa has no choice but to flee. At least until she can find a way to strike back at Tatiana. She is accompanied by Rose, who is not going to leave Lissa anymore. The last time she did it, catastrophic things happened. Now that her best friend is going out into the world, she can’t let her do it on her own. Moreover, without Lissa, there is nothing tying Rose to the Dominion anymore. Except for Dimitri, that is. But right now, her best friend needs her more.

Another thing that gives purpose to Rose’s new adventure is the possibility of meeting her father. The only thing that she knows about him is that he is moroi. Her dhampir mother, Janine, never talked about him, and Rose had always held a grudge against her father for abandoning her. This was also the reason why, except for Lissa, she never felt a particular duty towards the moroi. Now, however, she has the chance to connect with her father. Knowing that she is walking into a dangerous world, her mother wants her to have all the help she can get.

Meanwhile, Christian and Dimitri decide to stay back. It turns out that Christian is now the head of his family because his aunt died in the strigoi attack. He has to take over the reins of the Ozera family while also trying to find answers about his parents and redeem his own reputation. He is also one of the monks now, which means that there is a new path laid out for him, which might open him to more secrets related to the vampires.

Dimitri, despite wanting to leave with Rose and Lissa, stays back to keep an eye on Tatiana. Even in the face of all that has happened, he and Tatiana were on rather good terms the last time they saw each other. Now, someone needs to be close to her in order to figure out what her plan really is. Dimitri can do that and find a way to expose her, strip her of her power, and help bring Lissa back to the throne.

When an injured Andre opens his eyes, they turn out to be red.

## Culture

### Greetings

A handshake isn’t as simple as it seems when you take it on the road. In Middle Eastern countries, for example, handshakes involve the right hand only, where the left hand is considered unclean. Visitors to China will want to lighten their grip, while folks introducing themselves to Germans should know to stop after one firm downward yank.

Not sure what to do if your hand is dirty or wet? There are country-specific procedures in place for that, too. In Morocco, touch the back of your right hand to the back of the other person’s right hand to complete the gesture. In Rwanda, grasp the other person’s wrist, unless, of course, their hands are muddy too, in which case, just touch wrists to convey “hello.” In Botswana, things are more complicated, even when hands are clean. The local handshake between two people entails multiple steps: Clasp right hands, shake up and down once, interlock thumbs, raise your arms to a right angle, grasp hands again, then release to a relaxed “shake” position before letting the other person’s hand go.

### Thank You

Saying Ευχαριστώ! (Efharistó!) or “Thank you!” can be done without even saying a word, using this common gesture in Greek. Just touch your chest with your right hand, usually where your heart is, and tap it two or three times. This is a very popular gesture, which shows gratitude and can be used independently, even without actually saying a word.

### I Need to Tell You Something

When Greeks touch their lower lip with their index finger, it means they want you to come closer in order to tell you something—most of the time, in private. This gesture can easily be mistaken for the more common worldwide gesture meaning “Don’t talk.” However, there’s a slight difference: in the Greek gesture, the index finger is facing toward the lip and not sideways.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Spell Casting:** As a witch, Claire possesses one of the defining characteristics, her ability to cast spells. A "spell" is a word, a verse or incantation, ritual action, or any combination of these to carry out a magical action. On rare occasions such actions can be performed without the use of a verbal spell.
* **Channeling:** As a witch, Claire has the power to invoke extra forms of energy by focusing on external forces.
* **Potion Brewing:** As a witch, Claire has the power to brew and concoct potions, remedies, and elixirs that have supernatural properties with varying effects.

* **Telekinesis:** As a witch, Claire has the power to move objects and persons through mental influence.
* **Pain Infliction:** As a witch, Claire has the power to create excruciating migraines or aneurysms through supernatural means.
* **Elemental Control**: As a witch, Claire has the power to control and manipulate the elements of air, earth, fire, and water.
* **Divination:** As a witch, Claire has the power to divine future, past, and present events based on extrasensory perception.
	+ **Clairvoyance:** As a witch, Claire has the power to divine future, past or present events through instinctive knowledge.
	+ **Intuition:** As a witch, Claire has the power to divine future, past or present events through the use of instinctive knowledge.
	+ **Premonitions:** As a witch, Claire has the power to divine future, past or present events through the observation and study of dreams.
	+ **Psychometry:** As a witch, Claire has the power to divine future, past or present events through contact with or proximity to a certain object or person.
* **Projection:** As a witch, Claire has the power to separate from one's body and project the mind to another location or to instantaneously travel from one point to another.
* **Transmogrification:** As a witch, Claire has the unique power to alter the physical structure of objects living or dead, changing their form through spells.
* **Telepathy:** As a witch, Claire has the power that allows witches to access the minds of others through spells.
* **Illusions:** As a witch, Claire has the power to alter the senses of others to perceive a false reality through spells.
* **Dream Manipulation:** As a witch, Claire has the power to control people's dreams through spells.
* **Resurrection:** As a witch, Claire has the power to bring someone or one's self back from the dead through spells.

### Abilities

* **Master Martial Artist:** Claire is an extremely skilled and formidable hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist, having been trained extensively in various forms of martial arts by Belikov to protect herself. Her fighting style appears to be composed of Eskrima, Muay Thai, Karate, Judo, Boxing, Krav Maga, Taekwondo, savate, kickboxing, aikido, wing chun, and Sambo. Belikov taught her to use a more acrobatic style of fighting to use her enemy's strength against them. Claire takes practical approaches to her fights, quickly analyzing her enemies to better defeat them. She is able to quickly use her surroundings to her advantage and use random items as improvised weaponry.
* **Knife Mastery:** Claire was trained and is highly skilled at using a knife in combat. She is able to put up a fight almost equally against the extermelyskilled Belikov. Claire is also able to throw knives with precision and accuracy.
* **Master Acrobat:** At a young age, Claire trained in gymnastics and when she began working with Belikov, she was trained farther. Claire is highly skilled in incorporating gymnastics and acrobatics into her fighting style as she battles opponents. She has been very flexible since a young age, as she could already assume the upward bow position at the age of six. Claire had numerous complex maneuvers and feats throughout her battles defeats many guards with ease.
* **Gifted Intellect:** Claire has an extremely high intellect and possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams like threat assessments and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations. She also possesses a vast knowledge of human and Stragoi anatomy, displayed by her often using joint locks and hitting enemies in the weakest parts of their bodies; for example the crotch, stomach, armpits, and the head. Her prodigious skill from her years of training also allows her to predict her opponents' plans of attack as well.
* **Expert Tactician:** Claire was a very effective strategist, tactician, and field commander, being able to lead teams of Dhampir, Moroi, and other supernatural beings and humans. Claire was able to trick a group of Guardian Dhampir into thinking that they had tracked her down when she already knew and deliberately left them there in order to lure them to the wrong place and thus buying herself more time to go to her hiding place. Rose Hathaway once stated that Claire does not usually require an extraction plan on her missions in the communes and Dominion due to her competence and ability to formulate her own escape plans.
* **Master Interrogator:** Claire was trained in interrogation and is able to do a "reverse interrogation"; while she seemed to be in danger, in truth, she was getting all the information she wanted to know.
* **Multilingualism:** At her own personal request, Claire was trained by Belikov to speak Russian along with Latin as her Witch language and her Native english and Greek, thanks to her father's heritage. She is also well versed in Spanish, French, Italian, and a bit of Romanian. Xandra also knew Morse code, which enabled her to send secret messages when in need of help.

### Weaknesses

* **Disbelief:** As a Witch, the act of denying or disbelieving in Claire’s potential can her to inadvertently suppress their magical power.
* **Distraction:** As a Witch, denying Claire from concentrating or giving full attention to her spells, may render them ineffective. Since most spells are spoken verbally and take time to take effect, Claire is vulnerable to attack before her completion. Additionally, certain spells require items, tools, and or special events during casting, therefore they can't be invoked on a mere whim.
* **Emotions:** As a Witch, Claire's magic is subject to the influence of her emotional state and may fluctuate according to her, especially when untrained. Strong emotions such as worry and anger can fuel a her power while emotions such as fear may prevent her from properly accessing them.
* **Herbs:** Ingestion of certain herbs can Claire to lose consciousness and prevent her from using magic for an undetermined amount of time. The Lobelia flower prevents concentration and, therefore, the practice of magic and can be used to temporarily weaken Claire.
* **Witchcraft:** As a Witch, Claire is still susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical and dark objects. A siphoner can siphon the magic from her and prolonged exposure is said to lead to death.
* **Mortality:** Despite her mystical attributes, Claire is still human and share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.). However, Claire can temporarily get around this weakness through the use of protection spells.
* **Overexertion:** As a Witch, the excessive use of magic can lead to disorientation, nose bleeds, unconsciousness, and if taken to the extreme, death.
* **Nature:** It is said that Nature will always find a balance when witchcraft is performed, thus spells will always have loopholes. This means, among other things, that no being can be truly immortal.