Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, it's world, or it's characters. All of those belong to the famous and amazing Richelle Mead, and anyone she had sold the rights to. That does not include me. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction, and no copyright infringement is intended. I only own this spin-off of her world, nothing else that is recognizable as the world or characters of Vampire Academy.
The last several hours had passed quickly. Oh, so quickly. Yet now that he was in the prison cell with armed guardians all around outside the cold, steel bars, time seemed increasingly slow.
Dimitri sat in the farthest corner on the thin mattress of his bed, his head leaning back against the rough cement wall. His normally sleek brown hair was lank around his face and a shadow of stubble was growing on his chin. There were dark circles under his sorrel eyes from forgoing sleep, and his teeth clenched as he remembered why.
Strigoi couldn't sleep.
He felt a strong urge to hit something but he made a fist instead, his nails digging into his skin as he refrained. Pain was good, yes. He deserved pain. But he didn't need to give them any more reason to think he was still a violent, amoral strigoi.
Morals, ethics…. Rose. He had told them not to allow her in, to keep her away from him. So far they had succeeded. He didn't know if she would want to see him after everything he had done. He hoped not.
Yes, remembered all of it. Every single time he drank from her, caressed her soft, warm cheek, and felt the sweet, fragrant blood running beneath her skin call to him.
He had wanted her. Oh, God, he had wanted her. But he hadn't loved her. Dimitri hadn't known that, of course. The question never entered his mind until she asked it. Even then, he hadn't bothered about it. It was inconsequential. He wanted her, and that had been all that mattered.
Now? He had no idea if he still loved her. All he knew was that he shouldn't, that he had no right to love her, to touch her, to hold her. Even to see her. He had no right to exist, but he did. And that was true torture.