The last rays of daylight streamed through the split in her curtains, giving the room a dim, yellowy glow. She lay, a woman of nineteen, sprawled across one side of a large bed, above the covers, beneath the covers beside her lay another figure. Her pale body shook as her nimble fingers clawed at the sheets beneath her. Her thin body was glazed with sweat and moved in controlled jerks. Her pale blue eyes widened. Her long, dark hair lay smoothly over her pillow and stuck to sides of her neck.

"Gahhh! Ahh!" She cried out. She slowly pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, still shaking.

"Ah shit, fuck, ah." She breathed out the words in a sigh. Each part of her ached, she had numerous bruised dotted over her body, but they were not the cause of her pain that time. She felt a deep pain in her chest and head and a dull ache covering her whole body with occasional and random, sharp jabs of pain. Her face twisted, contorting her usually delicate features.

The figure beside her began to awake. He pulled himself further out of the covers and ran a bony hand through his hair.

She shook violently; sweat continued to pour over her bare figure. She reached for the man's hand, but he pulled it away. He ran his fingers through her hair in a seemingly affectionate manner. He then grasped the back of her neck and with one jerky movement he pulled her in close so their cheeks were almost touching. His breath warmed the side of her face as he whispered into her ear,
"You know what you have to do."

Nine months earlier- January 2012

It had been a long day, a productive day. Alina always loved those days, when she felt inspired by the simplest things, when her creativity blossomed. She worked in a hired art studio. It was small and hidden just a few alleyways away from the busy city centre. She left the studio at eight o'clock. It was a cold January evening so the sun was long gone. The cold air nipped at her fingers and the parts of her that peaked out from under her scarf and tightly wrapped coat. She briskly climbed down the steps and quickly through the dark alleyways. She was distracted by her ideas of her work, if she was ever distracted it was always by her work. It was all she had. She had switched to autopilot, her feet following the familiar lanes as the wheels of her mind spun. She had reached the main street on which she lived when she was suddenly dragged back to reality by a sharp pull on the crook of her elbow. The force of the tug made her stumble back away from the road she was about to cross, just in time for her to hear the honk of a car horn zoom past her, narrowly missing her. She was panicked and alert as though she'd been shaken awake from a dream. Taking another step back her foot landed on a treacherously icy patch, it slipped out from underneath her. Her arms flailed out looking for something to steady her, she inhaled sharply as she fell back.

But she didn't hit the ground. Her shoulders were caught seemingly in mid-air by something soft, but strong. Her head rested on a shoulder and a strong arm was hooked securely, but gently around her waist. For a moment she didn't move, she was shocked and felt rather sheepish. She wasn't usually this clumsy.

"Are you alright?"

The voice came from behind her. He was well spoken with a classic English accent, and it was soft, yet it resonated deeply in her ears.

She inhaled sharply to bring herself back to reality. She leaned forward out of the strangers arms; stood up straight and tried to brush off the embarrassment,

"I'm fine." She turned around to face the stranger. She had to pause for a moment to let her eyes soak in the details of his appearance.

At a first glance there were no extraordinary qualities to this man. His skin lay perfectly over his sharp cheekbones and was pale as the frost that surrounded them. The lightness in his complexion contrasted against the dark of his hair that fell down by the sides of his face. His eyes were surrounded by darkened rings, which made the whites of his eyes seem to glow slightly. His irises were mahogany coloured and entrancing. She couldn't pinpoint the exact positioning of it, but she dared to hope that she had seen a glimpse of kindness in his eyes. And though his lips were thin lines, pale and faded they were pulled slightly to one side, an amused smirk.

"Thanks, for… well, you know." She felt a grin growing over her face and a blush tinting her cheeks.

"Are you always this accident prone?"

"Well, no. Not usually." She stumbled over each syllable. Alina was not one to be so easily phased. She had always been so unimpressed by people.

"Dmitri." He outstretched a hand, pale, thin, but seemingly gentle. She accepted the handshake with another goofy grin,

"I'm Alina." She tried to regain control of her expression; she seemed to be smiling far more than was reasonable.

"Charmed." Maybe it was the wondrous accent or that he held a regal air, but something about him had charmed Alina. She watched the amused smirk grow into an amused smile, "Well as delightful as meeting you has been, you seemed to be in quite a hurry. So I'll-"

"Oh, no. I was just heading home." Alina's keen manner seemed to surprise her more than it did Dmitri; in fact he seemed unfazed by her eagerness.

A silence ensued. Dmitri seemed comfortable enough, so Alina was the one to break it.

"Can I do anything for you?" Alina's embarrassment was clearly out on display. In her head she had carefully constructed what to say, only when leaving her head had it become mixed up. Dmitri exhaled a short laugh then reached forward and swept Alina's hair out of her face,

"I'm sure you could." His dark velvet voice sent cool shivers down Alina's spine. There was a moment that felt like an eternity, until it was interrupted by snow beginning to fall.

"Oh, why don't you come in?" Alina felt ridiculous, she knew she felt an attraction to this man who was almost a total stranger. She had never really felt an attraction to anyone before, so she had no idea how to act upon it in a normal way.

"Come in?" Dmitri seemed thoroughly entertained by Alina's awkwardness.

"Oh, I live just across the road. If you were heading somewhere, that's fine. Of course I wouldn't want to-"

"You do realise we've only just met?" Alina's cheeks flushed pink again and her heart sank slightly.

"Yes, you're right I-"

"Well that's alright then. Shall we?" Dmitri smiled a debonair smile and offered a hooked arm, which Alina took, of course. They crossed the road linked at the arm and reached Alina's flat just as the snow had coated the whole street.