You are welcome to the Vampire Academy

MANILA, Philippines - Based on author Richelle Mead’s worldwide bestselling series, Vampire Academy tells the legend of Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for Moroi (mortal, peaceful vampires) and Dhampirs (half-vampire/half-human guardians). Rose, a rebellious Guardian-in-training and her best friend Lissa — a royal vampire Princess — have been on the run when they are captured and returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy, the very place where they believe their lives may be in most jeopardy.

Thrust back into the perils of Moroi Society and high school, Lissa struggles to reclaim her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love-interest, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissa’s guardian. Rose will sacrifice everything to protect Lissa from those who intend to exploit her from within the academy walls and the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary.

Moroi are both royals and non-royal vampires. They are mortal and peaceful. Moroi have an elemental power which they specialize in: Earth, wind, fire or water. They have fangs and drink the blood of humans, or Dhampirs, to survive. Sunlight irritates them. They are often pale and tall. There are only 12 royal Moroi families. Lissa is the last in the line of the Dragomir’s.

The Dhampirs are half-vampire/half-human. They are often dark-haired, have heightened senses and are physically stronger than the Moroi. Dhampirs’ lives are dedicated to protecting the Moroi. They do not have fangs and they do not drink blood; they can eat whatever they want. They endure physical training to become guardians and learn to be warriors: Fighting, decapitating and staking if necessary to protect the Moroi from the undead Strigoi. They live by one simple expression: “The Moroi come first.”

Strigoi are the most dangerous of vampires. They are the immortal undead. Strigoi only come out at night and they can slaughter you with their heightened power and speed. They are very hard to defeat, even for a highly-trained Dhampir guardian. They live outside of society and thirst for Moroi blood to retain their immortality. They would like to kill off the last 12 remaining royal Moroi families and take over society. To kill a Strigoi, a silver stake must be driven through their heart. There are two ways to turn Strigoi: 1) For a Moroi to choose to turn Strigoi, they must purposefully kill a human during feeding; 2) Strigoi have the ability to turn a Moroi, Dhampir, or a human, into one of them with a single, sustained bite. Dhampirs have Molnijia marks tattooed on their necks if they kill a Strigoi.

Fantasy author Richelle Mead was first inspired to write about vampires while flipping through books of old Romanian stories about different races of vampires roaming the world: The Moroi, who were described as living and good, the Strigoi, who were portrayed as the stereotypical bloodsucking vampires of nightmares, and the Dhampirs, half-human, half-vampire warriors.

After studying these at length, Meade took the idea of these different sub-sets and decided to build a society out of them. “What would it look like in the modern world if you had these races at war?” she asked herself. Eventually, she decided that placing them in the context of high school seemed the perfect present-day battleground.

Vampire Academy, the first installment in what would become Mead’s six-part best-selling series, was published in 2007 and became an instant fan sensation. Together, the books have gone on to sell over eight million copies in 34 countries and secured an avid young adult audience. “The books touch on a lot of themes that are important to adolescents,” notes Meade. The friendships between the characters are deep and sacrificing. It’s what’s moved a lot of readers.”

The Vampire Academy opens nationwide on Wednesday, Feb. 12.