Prologue and Chapters 1-5 Summary

This novel is the fourth in the Vampire Academy Series. Rose Hathaway, the narrator of the series, is a dhampir, half vampire and half human. Rose is training to become guardian to her best friend, Lissa, with whom she has a unique bond. However, several events in the previous novels caused Rose to leave the school and to give up her position as Lissa's guardian.

In the Prologue, an attack on the vampire Academy, St. Vladimir's, leads to a rescue attempt. During the rescue attempt, Rose and Dimitri fights side by side. As the Strigoi flee the area, Dimitri lets down his guard and is attacked, bitten by a Strigoi, an act that turns Dimitri into a Strigoi. Recalling a conversation they once had in which Dimitri expressed the thought that he would rather die than live...