Vampire Academy: The Ultimate Guide

by Michelle Rowen

In her fifties but wiry and tough, Alberta is the captain of St. Vladimir’s guardians and wears a pixie cut to show off her promise and molnija marks.

  SONYA KARP (MOROI)

  A pretty Moroi teacher in her early thirties, students called her “Crazy Karp” when her use of spirit triggered deep instability. To escape her madness, she made a desperate choice—to become a Strigoi. She was then hunted by her lover, Mikhail Tanner, who never found her. When Rose and Dimitri locate her on their quest to find the lost Dragomir, she is restored to her former Moroi self by Robert Doru’s spirit magic and gratefully reunited with Mikhail.

  MIKHAIL TANNER (DHAMPIR)

  A dedicated and serious guardian, Mikhail left everything behind for a year to hunt down his former lover, Sonya, who had become Strigoi. Returning to the Moroi world, he faced his punishment for defying orders by being given a glorified desk job at the Moroi Royal Court. When he learns of the possibility of restoring a Strigoi to life, Mikhail goes out of his way to help Rose find the answers she seeks and is ultimately reunited with his true love.

  FATHER ANDREW (MOROI)

  The priest at the Academy’s Russian Orthodox chapel, Father Andrew is a wealth of information to Rose when it comes to finding out more about the mysterious St. Vladimir.

  HEADMISTRESS ELLEN KIROVA (MOROI)

  Tall and slim Kirova—who reminds Rose of a vulture—runs the school with a strict but fair hand. Rose spends a lot of time in the headmistress’s office.

  QUEEN TATIANA MARINA IVASHKOV (MOROI)

  Moroi queen and great-aunt to Adrian, Tatiana holds very strongly to tradition. While it appears that she made some very harsh decisions, including lowering the graduation age from eighteen to sixteen, she did the best she could to keep the situation from worsening. While putting on a regal and prickly front, she was more open-minded about change than she let on—when it came to the survival of her race. She even chose to have a group of elite Moroi royals secretly trained in defense. Queen Tatiana is murdered by Tasha Ozera, who strongly opposed her political views, but before the queen’s death she composed a letter to Rose—the only one she trusted with the information that Eric Dragomir had an illegitimate child who, if found, would give Lissa quorum and allow her to have a council vote.

  DANIELLA IVASHKOV (MOROI)

  With a strong sense of Moroi etiquette, Adrian’s mother likes to stick strictly to the social norms lest her family be judged harshly by others. She gives permission for Rose and Adrian to date, if only because she knows it won’t lead to a long-term relationship. She pays off a janitor to give false testimony about her son’s whereabouts at the time of the queen’s murder so he won’t be implicated alongside Rose. Unbeknownst to everyone, Daniella is part of the queen’s secret Moroi defense training sessions and is also having an illicit affair with the queen’s lover, Ambrose. It’s because of these actions that she becomes one of the prime suspects in the murder of Queen Tatiana.

  NATHAN IVASHKOV (MOROI)

  With a deeply judgmental and snobbish air about him, Lord Ivashkov isn’t exactly the friendliest guy around. He disapproves of his son Adrian’s seemingly lazy and disinterested behavior and refuses to welcome his son’s lowly dhampir girlfriend, Rose, into his life. He would likely be even less welcoming to his wife’s blood-whore boyfriend if he actually knew about his existence.

  AMBROSE (DHAMPIR)

  An extremely attractive dhampir in his early twenties, Ambrose works as a masseur at the Royal Court and is Queen Tatiana’s secret lover and blood whore. While he has other lovers on the side, including Daniella Ivashkov, he cares deeply for Tatiana and, after her death, helps deliver a message from the queen to Rose.

  RHONDA (MOROI)

  Ambrose’s forty-something Roma aunt (Dimitri calls her a vrăjitoare, Romanian for something similar to “witch”), Rhonda works at Court telling fortunes to those who want a glimpse at their futures. Her insightful predictions come true more often than not, and because of this, Lissa guesses she might be a spirit user. Turns out she isn’t. Rhonda actually specializes in air magic.

  AVERY LAZAR (MOROI)

  The very beautiful Avery graduated from her high school last year but is forced to join her father at St. Vladimir’s to help assist him in his duties as headmaster. She’s soon befriended by Lissa and is the catalyst for a lot of bad behavior on the latter’s part, including Lissa’s becoming a shallow party girl, which ends up causing Lissa’s breakup with Christian.

  Avery is actually a spirit user who is manipulating everyone as part of her quest for power. She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants and even stoops to using compulsion on Adrian so he’ll become romantically interested in her. Her ultimate goal is to kill Lissa and bring her back to life, therefore binding them together and strengthening her power.

  Avery is already bound to both Reed, her brother, and Simon, her guardian. During a surge of spirit magic, all three bondmates’ minds are fried. All are currently in mental institutions.

  —THEBELIKOV FAMILY (DHAMPIR)—

  OLENA

  Living in a dhampir commune in a Siberian town called Baia, Dimitri’s mother has had medical training and has a reputation among her peers for healing.

  KAROLINA

  Dimitri’s eldest sister, Karolina, has a baby girl named Zoya and a ten-year-old son named Paul.

  SONJA

  Dimitri’s sister Sonja is currently pregnant with the child of a scummy Moroi named Rolan who, unbeknownst to everyone, is currently romancing Viktoria.

  VIKTORIA

  Dimitri’s youngest sister, Viktoria, is madly in love with Rolan but too naive to see that he is using her as a blood whore just as he used her sister Sonja. To help protect her, Rose makes a deal with Abe to scare the Moroi off but is given no thanks by an angry and heartbroken Viktoria.

  YEVA

  Yeva is Dimitri’s grandmother and a former guardian who chose to quit to raise her family and read tarot cards to make a living. While very old and thin, standing barely five feet tall, she’s sharp and alert. Yeva had a prophetic dream of Rose’s visit prior to her arrival and urges her to continue her hunt for the Strigoi version of Dimitri. Despite speaking Russian most of the time, Yeva prefers to hide the fact that she is also fluent in English.

  OKSANA (MOROI)

  A spirit user Rose meets in Baia, Oksana helps Rose learn more about the element, teaching her that silver can be charmed with healing magic and helping her to connect psychically with Lissa and thereby defeat Avery. She is also the one to first mention the “fairy tale” of a Moroi rumored to have brought a Strigoi back to life.

  MARK (DHAMPIR)

  Oksana’s much older husband (it’s very unusual to find a married Moroi-dhampir couple) and shadow-kissed bondmate, Mark has found a way to heal from the darkness he takes from his wife, keeping both of them sane and happily married.

  GALINA (STRIGOI)

  Dimitri’s former school instructor, Galina has been a Strigoi for several years and has quickly risen in power. She presides over her vast estate near Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia. She is staked by Rose, which inadvertently helps Dimitri take her power—his master plan all along.

  NATHAN (STRIGOI)

  One of Galina’s henchman, blond Nathan was responsible for turning Dimitri into a Strigoi. He also had a great interest in being the one to find and kill Lissa, the last Dragomir. He is ultimately killed by Dimitri after Galina’s death.

  EMILY MASTRANO (MOROI)

  Emily is a beautiful, black-haired, blue-eyed ballerina and also the former secret lover of Eric Dragomir—who met her when she was a Vegas showgirl. Before his death, Eric created a bank account for Emily to help her raise their illegitimate daughter, Jill.

  ROBERT DORU (MOROI)

  Victor Dashkov’s half-brother, Robert, is a spirit user driven mad by his magic after his bondmate died. He’s rumored to have restored a Strigoi to life, and while it sounds like a fairy tale, Rose moves heaven and earth to find out that it’s all true. Robert
also uses a silver stake charmed with spirit to restore Sonya Karp to her former Moroi self.

  HANS CROFT (DHAMPIR)

  Head of guardians at the Moroi Royal Court, Hans is in charge of Rose’s punishment after her seemingly irresponsible “girls weekend” to Vegas with Lissa. He’s very stern but also really good at his job. He soon recognizes Rose’s skill and talent as a guardian and eventually comes to respect her as being more than just a troublemaker.

  SERENA (DHAMPIR)

  Serena is the queen’s selection as Lissa’s guardian when Rose is deemed unworthy. The pretty blond dhampir is similar in age to the princess and open-minded about teaching Moroi self-defense. Both she and Grant help Lissa learn to use a silver stake. While badly injured in the Strigoi attack on Lissa’s birthday, Serena is still able to make a distress call to the other guardians. After her recovery, she is assigned to work security at the front gates of Court during the elections.

  GRANT (DHAMPIR)

  Lissa’s temporary guardian, Grant helps Serena teach Lissa and Christian some defense moves. He was also secretly training a group of elite Moroi in how to fight as part of the queen’s experiment. Grant is killed in the Strigoi attack on Lissa’s birthday.

  —THEKEEPERS—

  RAYMOND DAWES (MOROI)

  Leader of the Keepers, a group of Moroi who have shunned the modern ways and live in small backward communes, bearded Raymond is married to Sarah, a human, and has a Moroi mistress named Paulette. They all live happily together.

  JOSHUA DAWES (DHAMPIR)

  Raymond’s eighteen-year-old son Joshua is a good-looking dhampir with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. After taking a liking to Rose during her visit to his village, he takes her for a tour of his bachelor cave and promptly proposes marriage. She declines the offer.

  ANGELINE DAWES (DHAMPIR)

  Joshua’s fifteen-year-old sister, Angeline, is angry at everyone and seems to have a big chip on her shoulder. After Joshua’s marriage proposal, Angeline challenges Rose in hand-to-hand combat to make sure she’s worthy of her brother—a Keeper tradition. The potential is there for her to be a good fighter, but she’s untrained, so Rose wins easily. When Angeline begs Rose to take her along when they leave the village, it’s clear that not everyone is happy with the rustic Keeper lifestyle.

  CHAPTER 8

  Love &friendship

  ROSE & DIMITRI

  PRIVATE LESSONS

  When Rose first meets Dimitri, he’s the one in charge of dragging her and Lissa back to St. Vladimir’s. But he sees her potential as a guardian and steps in to give her extra training to help her catch up. Good thing, too—the alternative would have been her expulsion. It’s not long before Rose starts to realize that Dimitri isn’t just a good-looking jerk with a Russian accent, he’s somebody who supports her, protects her, and is helping her to become who she was meant to be.

  Feeling his eyes on me like that made something flutter inside of me—which was stupid, of course. I had no reason to get all goofy, just because the man was too good-looking for his own good.

  —Vampire Academy, page 64

  Despite knowing that he’s seven years older and her teacher, she ends up falling for him. The feeling is mutual, but Dimitri takes the age gap—and the potential ramifications of a relationship with an underage student—a bit more seriously. Still, it’s impossible to ignore the attraction between the two, especially when they’re zapped with a lust charm, courtesy of Victor Dashkov. It almost—almost—results in the bespelled Rose losing her virginity to Dimitri before they are able to fight back against the charm’s very strong magic.

  Q&A WITH RICHELLE MEAD

  WHAT WAS THE EXACT MOMENT THAT DIMITRI FELL IN LOVE WITH ROSE?

  I’m not sure that we can pinpoint the exact moment that Dimitri fell for Rose. It was definitely a gradual thing that crept up on him (and her!). I can say for sure, though, that he was awestruck by her at their very first meeting. Rose throwing herself between Lissa and the guardians, even when she was hopelessly outnumbered, is definitely one of the most powerful scenes in the series. It establishes Rose’s nature right away—both her bravery and intense devotion to those she loves. Dimitri possesses those exact same traits, and I think seeing that in her was definitely a moment when the world stood still for him.

  It’s magic that never would have worked if there weren’t already feelings on both sides of this forbidden relationship, though. Feelings they need to fight. They’re both set to become Lissa’s guardians, so how can they protect the princess—their first priority as guardians—if they’re too busy protecting each other?

  “Rose, I’m seven years older than you. In ten years, that won’t mean so much, but for now, it’s huge. I’m an adult. You’re a child.” Ouch. I flinched. Easier if he’d just punched me.

  “ You didn’t seem to think I was a child when you were all over me.”

  —Vampire Academy, page 313

  They try to ignore their feelings, but feelings this strong only continue to grow. When Dimitri’s given the opportunity to become Tasha Ozera’s guardian and maybe even the father of her children, Rose is torn apart with jealousy. She tries her best to find love with her friend Mason. But it doesn’t work. What she has with Dimitri is real. And when he declines Tasha’s offer, it just shows that their feelings for each other are impossible to ignore.

  Finally, Dimitri’s resistance wears away as he realizes just how deeply he cares about Rose during her traumatic fight against Lissa’s spirit darkness. He comforts her, tells her he loves her, and they finally make love in the privacy of an abandoned cabin in the woods surrounding St. Vlad’s. He promises that they’ll find a way to be together, no matter what, and for a little while—a very little while—everything is wonderful and golden between them.

  But then Dimitri is attacked and bitten by a Strigoi, and Rose fears that the man she loves has been killed—but it’s even worse than that. He’s been turned into a Strigoi.

  ADDICTED TO LOVE

  Holding true to a promise they once made to each other, Rose travels to Russia to hunt down and kill Dimitri, knowing the man she loved is gone forever, replaced by an evil monster. But when Rose finally finds him, she’s stunned by how similar this Dimitri is to the one she fell in love with—apart from the fangs, red eyes, and cruel demeanor.

  Dimitri kidnaps Rose and holds her prisoner at a Strigoi-controlled estate. He’s cold and evil and readily admits to enjoying the act of murder, but there’s something inside him that prevents him from killing Rose. Instead, he wants to awaken her as a Strigoi so they can be together forever. It’s chilling . . . but kind of romantic, too. While Rose is tempted by the idea of being with Dimitri, she’s held back by her strong sense of good and evil. She knows being a Strigoi is wrong and Dimitri isn’t thinking right. But his kiss feels similar to his kisses before—and when he bites her, she quickly becomes addicted to the pleasure his Strigoi endorphins bring her.

  Q&A WITH RICHELLE MEAD

  WAS WRITING THE EVIL STRIGOI VERSION OF DIMITRI FUN FOR YOU AS AN AUTHOR—OR DIFFICULT?

  Writing Dimitri as an evil Strigoi was challenging on a lot of levels. First, I simply had to overcome my own difficulties with allowing a character I knew and loved to do bad things! When you write someone long enough, you really get comfortable with that character’s personality. So, it was definitely weird having to portray him in a totally different—and at times, awful—way. From a craft point of view, this was also a difficult writing task because I needed to make Dimitri terrifying and consumed by his monstrous side—while still giving readers a reason to be hopeful for him. If you make a character too evil and too unlikeable, readers will lose faith and stop caring. I needed readers to still love him—but also be a little afraid of him! It was a very tricky balance to manage.

  She begins to live in a daze, content with her visits from this dark version of Dimitri. He continues to give her the time she needs to make up her mind about becoming Strigoi—with the caveat that he will
decide for her . . . soon.

  Rose questions his true motives for making her a Strigoi—wanting him to say it’s because he loves her—but he never says the words she wants to hear, words that might possibly have tempted her to make a different decision.

  A glimpse in the mirror after a brief and troubled spirit dream with Adrian makes Rose realize that with the bruises over her neck and the fresher wounds where Dimitri has bitten her, she looks like a blood whore. This realization begins to help her slowly pull out of her addiction until she’s finally able to escape, pursued by an obsessed Dimitri at every turn. He refuses to let her run away from him.