Chapter one: The darkness awaits.

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. At that moment something inside me changed. I made up my mind, I knew what I had to do. I took a few deep breaths as I let the gravity of the situation sink in. I opened my eyes, hardened and determined. I ran off, feet pounding against the concrete ground. I fought the urge to look back, today was a new start, fresh beginning. And to start afresh, I had to leave everyone I loved, the dear and precious memories, my old life behind.

*3 hours earlier that day*.

I stared at the bloody mess in front of me. My body was numb, my hands shaking, my mind blank unable to process what had just happened. I looked up, feeling the gaze of everyone on me. I looked around at the familiar faces, each one covered in fear and apprehension.

"Rose…..how could you…." Lissa, my best friend who had known me since childhood, stared at me like she didn't recognise me.

Jesse's body lay on the ground, contorted and covered in bright red blood. I reached out to touch him, he was breathing, but struggled to move. I took a step forward and was suddenly yanked back into the strong arms I knew so well. I breathed in, smelling the familiar aftershave that sent shivers down my spine. His touch, usually so soft and loving, was hard and cold. I looked up to see his eyes.

" Dimitri...I….I…" I stumbled. I wanted to tell him what happened, about the darkness, I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything would be okay. I thought he would understand.

But seeing the cold and harsh look on his face knocked me off guard. Before I had a chance to tell him, Headmistress Kirova appeared in front of me.

"Miss Hathaway, since you enrolled hear at St Vladimir's academy I knew there was something about you, something sinister and evil." I shuddered, the words "sinister and evil" stuck in my mind. "Out of all your stunts you've puller here, this is by far the most despicable and unforgivable of them all. Guardian Belikov is the only reason you've not been expelled, but unfortunately, his forgiving and convincing nature will be of no use here".

Dimitri finally spoke "Believe me Headmistress, any faith I had in Rose has now disappeared. I feel ashamed that it was I who allowed her to stay, she would be much better off away from here, expelled. You have my word that I will not defend Rose, her actions today have shown me who she truly is".

I felt tears sting my eyes, he, the man I had fallen in love with, wanted me gone. He spoke with such malice and detachment in his voice, that I could tell he truly meant every word.

I was taken aback by his words and voice, so much so that the next half an hour passed on a blur. The next thing I knew I was being escorted by Dimitri into a room.

Inside Kirova's office just, Dimitri, Lissa and herself remained. Kirova broke the tense silence by speaking first.

"Jesse has been taken to hospital, he is currently in intensive care, you are lucky, for his sake and your own, that he is not dead." I studied her for a moment, she had always had sharp, bird like features, but right now her face seemed to take on a whole new level of harshness. She continued in that shrill voice of hers, each word cutting into me like a knife being driven into my stomach. "After some discussion with Lissa, I have agreed to hear your side of it, but believe me, it is going to take a lot to comprehend such horrific actions and their reasons behind it".

I gulped and bit my lip, lowering my gaze as I nervously pondered what to say in my mind. 'If you tell them the truth, you could hurt Lissa…..but if you lie or keep quiet, you could end up in serious trouble'. Kirova coughed, unaware of the internal debate I has having in my mind.

I decided to tell part of the truth, as much as I could tell them without causing harm to Lissa.

I looked up, swallowed hard and started speaking, trying to make my voice sound strong and confident, despite how scared and small I felt inside.

"I was on my way to my dorm room, and Jesse knocked into me as he passed. I decided to try and ignore him, but he followed me. I went into my room and tried to close the door but he wedged his foot in and forced his way in side."

I continued to explain what happened.

Flashback*

"Jesse, get out before I kick your ass and make you wish you had never been born".

He sniggered, a smug smirk from stretching upon his face. I used to find that smile charming at one point, his cockiness reminded me of my own.

"I know you want me Rose, the way you play hard to get. You only move away from me because you know the sexual tension between us would overpower you if we stayed in the same room together".

I scoffed, "I would rather be deprived of chocolate donuts for the rest of my life than be alone with you". Okay, maybe that was a bit far, my mouth was drooling at the mere thought of the chocolatey goodness smothered on top of the sweet dough….I mentally slapped myself, if I didn't stop Jesse would think I was going all gooey eyed at him and not my deep love for donuts.

"It's time you got your head out of your ass and realise you'll never get this." I made a theatrical gesture over my body.

"Hmmm Hathaway, that appears to be the second time you've brought up my ass, one might suggest it's on your mind, no?" He took a step closer to me. "Don't try to deny the obsession with my body, I've seen your smouldering eyes feasting on it".

I snorted with derision and made a show of slowly moving my eyes up and down his body "You're right Jesse, my passion for you is just so, just so…."

I wretched violently and grabbed the waste basket."Rose…" I held my finger up and interrupted him, over dramatically 'vomiting' into the basket again.

"God, I'm so sorry Jesse, just a wave of nausea came over me all of a sudden".

Not taking the hint, he lunged at me and grabbed my ass with both hands and lent in towards me. "Well, let me take your mind off it…" I shrieked as he kissed me, repulsed with the touch of his lips on mine.

All of a sudden, before I had a chance to get him off me, similar to the feeling of belly flopping into a pool from a great height, a wave of depression hit me and I was snapped into Lissa's mind.

"Jesus Christ Lissa! Anybody would think it's Rose in the fucking room!" He said, narrowly avoiding a book hurtling toward him at a rapid speed.

God, I'm not that bad am I?

Lissa screamed at him, a horrible, heinous sound that pierced through Christian like a hot iron. "GET OUT!!! I don't want you here!"

Christian moved towards her, earning him a hit in the face by the lamp Lissa threw. "Lissa! Listen to me for God's sakes! I love you, stop it, let me help you before you hurt yourself, please. This isn't you"

he said that last sentence with such sadness and sincerity I thought it might make Lissa waver.

Instead she lashed out at him, kicking and clawing as she screamed.

"Get out you sick bastard! Before you turn yourself into a strigoi and like the rest of your cold blooded, murderous family!"

That last cheap shot clearly got to Christian as he visibly shook with rage.

His eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth as if to say something. He changed his mind and stormed out of the room.

Lissa collapsed on the bathroom floor, grabbing a razor blade and started to tear into her soft, pale, delicate skin on her wrist. With the first drop of blood I quickly closed my eyes and took away the darkness from her, filling with anger and disgust with each breath. When I took it away she fell asleep, exhausted.

I snapped back sharply into my own head. Jesse's lips were still on mine. But this time, I was far less patient than I had been before.

I bit his lip and shoved him to the ground.

His eyes widened, "you sick son of a bit…" I pounced on him, a red tinted darkness clouded my vision.

Every nerve, muscle and bone in my body pulsed with rage and loathing. I punched him over and over again, ignoring his screams and moans. It must've made such a noise that it attracted the attention of passerbys as the next thing I knew I was yanked off him, but I continued to squirm and lash against my restraints.

I hit my head on the wardrobe and passed out. The next thing I remember I awoke to find everyone surrounding me, Jesse's body in a heap on the floor.

End of flashback*

I told Kirova and the others this, missing out the part when I absorbed Lissa's darkness. Lissa couldn't even remember how she recovered, and didn't know I took it from her. If I told her or anyone else, not only could it get her into trouble, but she would blame herself for today's events. With her darkness already causing such a violent urge to harm herself, I figured that the guilt added on top of that could push her over the edge. I shuddered at the thought of Lissa's limp, lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.

"You mean to say you nearly killed a boy because he...he flirted with you?" Kirova laughed, but there was no humour in it.

I launched out of my chair with such speed she jumped back and nearly fell off her chair. "How dare you! He sexually assaulted me, molested me, groped me! And you call that flirting?! I knew you were a stupid old bitch, but come on! This is a whole new level of stupidity!"

This time, a deep Russian voice shouted, "Enough Rose! Show some respect to your superiors! You are still a little child, and of such, you will do as you are told by your elders!".

I was taken aback by his tone, but as usual, covered my emotion with attitude as I crossed my arms and turned towards him. "Last time I checked, Comrade, you didn't seem to mind my age, on the contrary, you seemed to love it. And as for my behaviour, you've never seemed to mind my wildness before. Or is that it? Gone off kinky sex? Too bad Comrade, you're missing out on the ride of your life, quite literally".

That did it. Oops. Not really helping the case in trying to prove I'm not an absolute unstable nutjob.

Fury flashed in his eyes, but remembering where he was, he quickly returned to his guardian stance, and put his guardian mask back on. The rest of the meeting I decided to calm down and keep quiet, if I wanted any chance of escaping this as lightly as possible, reacting would just make it worse. In the end Kirova took away all my privileges. This entailed the removal of all clothes except my uniform and a pair of combat pants and top. I was to be accompanied at all times by a guardian, and I was unable to spend anytime socialising with friends, as not only was I banned from contact, but my curfew started straight after practice. I was to spend my time, for the foreseeable future, alone and bored senseless. As I was dismissed, with a guardian at my heel of course, I tried to get a word in with Lissa.

"God, can you believe how much of a bitch she's been? Yeah he's badly injured, but he sexually assaulted me! He had what was coming to him!" I didn't entirely agree with that, but I felt I had to say something to justify my actions.

She responded by sighing at me, avoiding looking in my eyes. "You don't get it Rose do you? This time you went too far, I've stood by you throughout everything you've done. But this was too much, too violent and cold. I don't like this side of you, and I'm relieved you're banned from seeing me again. You're only here because I said I'd leave if you left too, but I did that out of pity, not friendship. You're a sad, pathetic person Rose. And it's about time you took responsibility for what you've done." With that she tossed her silky smooth blonde hair over her shoulders, and gracefully walked away.

I stared after her shocked. My initial reaction was to shout at her, because I did this all for her.

But l knew deep down I couldn't face anything happening to her. She couldn't help the darkness that consumes her. She has been there for me my entire life, hell, she brought me back to life. The least I could do was to repay her now.

With that I was escorted away to my dorm, left alone with the guardian as he stared at me and my own self pitying thoughts.

I lay down on my bed. I could feel his eyes on me, making me extremely uncomfortable. I decided not to bother getting changed, the thought of him looking at me with those expressionless eyes freaked me out massively. I couldn't stay here like this. I was losing the will to live an hour in, God knows what I'd be like in days, weeks, months…. Years later?! With that thought I knew I had to make a move. My best shot was Dimitri.

God Dimitri, the mere thought of him made my hairs stand up on end. I lay there, stupidly grinning to myself, forgetting about the guardian in the room.

I loved him, I was so deeply in love with him that it hurt. And I knew he loved me. After Mason, Eddie and I were kidnapped, he had professed his love for me. Yes, our love was forbidden, but I knew deep down we both knew it was impossible to try and push aside. Our love was strong and fierce, we had gone through so much together. I thought about his hair, silky and dark, I loved it best when he let it loose to his shoulders. I thought about his strong jaw and chiseled cheekbones, his dark bottomless chocolate eyes, that seemed to stare into my own as if he could see my soul. I thought about his soft and full lips on mine. The way it felt when we kissed, his tongue dancing with my own. The sparks I felt when his body touched mine were indescribable, almost orgasmic. With that thought I let out a soft moan, catching the attention of the guard. I felt my cheeks flush bright red.

But then I had the most ingenious idea. Yes, it was pretty seedy and low, but I was desperate. I had very little choices or devices at hand. The only ones at my disposal were, well, my body and looks. I decided now was a good time to get undressed.

I looked at him, he wasn't that bad looking I guess? God who was I kidding? He had a weird bowl haircut and crazy long sideburns that nearly reached his nose. His eyebrows were bushy and wild, much like his, vomit, nose hair. His cheeks were huge and pimply. And his mouth, God was he drooling? I thought guardians were supposed to be stoic? Guess Kirova assigned this one to me for a reason.

I shuddered at was I about to do. I stood up and sauntered in front of him, not easy to do with just a few feet between us. Reaching down, I grabbed the hem of my top and raised it above my head. I saw his eyes widen as he coughed and sputtered. I guess this is the first time he's seen a gal topless, never mind one with tanned, generously sized boobs.

I grabbed his hand, and when I smugly realised he wasn't going to resist I started guiding it towards my left breast. With his attention distracted, I grabbed the lamp next to him with my right hand and smacked him over the head, rendering him unconscious.

Two words appeared in my mind "sinister and evil"...I shook off the feeling of sleaze. This was the only way. The only chance to talk to Dimitri. Sure there would be consequences when the boss found the guardian in his current state, but I tried not to think about that.

Talk to Dimitri, he'll make everything right, I convinced myself.