Rosemarie “Rose” Hathaway and the princess Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir are best friends connected by a one-sided psychic bond that allows Rose to access Lissa’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences. They attend St. Vladimir’s Academy, a boarding school for vampires (moroi, the good vampires) and their guardians (dhampir, half-vampires that protect the moroi from strigoi, evil vampires). When the novel begins, Rose and Lissa have been on the run for two years. St. Vladimir’s is no longer a safe place for the princess, so Rose, who proclaims herself Lissa’s guardian, hatches a plan to ditch school and seek protection in the wide, unknown world.
outside the school, a gang of dhampirs catch the girls and carry them back to the academy to face the headmistress, who scolds Lissa and threatens to expel Rose. However, Lissa uses her power of persuasion on the headmistress to lessen Rose’s punishment. The girls are instead given tightened security — Lissa has Dmitri Belikov, who led the dhampirs that recaptured them, as her bodyguard, and Rose is placed on a tight leash.
The girls, who were once popular due to Lissa’s background, soon find that the social hierarchy of the academy had changed during their absence and there’s a new queen bee on top. Though this nettles Rose, she decides to remain cautious and advises Lissa to remain on the periphery of the in-crowd to avoid attention. However, this does not stop the threats that first propelled the girls to ditch school. Someone is leaving injured, sometimes dead, animals for Lissa to find, which leaves her distraught. Unlike Rose who is dark, wild, and meddlesome, Lissa is light, innocent, and docile. She loves animals and hates to see anyone or anything hurt. She is very passionate.
Lissa also has a strange power — another reason why they ditched school. Moroi are usually able to manipulate one of the four elements — earth, wind, water, fire. But Lissa shows no propensity in either of these and that worries her. Her powers are far more strange and powerful, and she is cautioned not to use them.