AN: Salutations. It's been a while since I have written anything worth posting. After reading, and completely loving, these books, I couldn't help but feel compelled to write something. I have many ideas, some of which are more original than others. After scanning over some of the other fanfics, I discovered some of my ideas are unexplored territory. Please read through this and tell me what you think. If I spark enough interest, I will write more. This may sound caddy, but if no one is interested, I don't want to waste my time. I know it's short, but it's meant to act as a prologue. It begins around the middle of Chapter 26 of Blood Promise. Thinking through the plot of this story I have thought up, a lot of the events from the book still take place but in either a different way or a bit later than they did before. It starts off and is, in general, fairly dark. Please read, enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy.

Black Ink

Prologue: So Close, and Yet, so Far

The silver ring. It was my life line. The pain would all stop if only I could get a bit farther. Phantoms swirled around me as I forced my feet to move forward determined to reach the top of the embankment.

I made it.

Stepping onto the sturdy bridge suspended above the Ob, I collapsed to my knees. I clutched my head as it throbbed painfully from my dangerous ploy of opening the floodgate to the spirit world. It had worked, but I had forgotten the immense toll it took on me. I struggled to keep my breathing even to retain some semblance of control over the wayward spirits around me. With shaky hands, I slipped the ring, that Oksana had given me, back onto my finger. Even with it's healing magic it took all the concentration I had to force those walls and barriers back into place where they belonged. To seal me off from the world of the dead. "Go, go, go," I whispered frantically through clenched teeth urging and pleading with metal blocks. They moved agonizingly slow, but the desired effect was achieved. The metal grates of the bridge dug into the skin on my knees as I panted heavily from the exertion. I rested for a moment, but then the reality of the situation came back to me as the pounding in my head began to dissipate. I knew that I only had a short window of time before Dimitri closed the distance between us. I did not get a large enough lead on him and could not afford to waste time. I needed to move, and fast. I stretched out preparing to push myself back up onto my feet.

However, something closed around my sore ankle and pulled me backwards with incredible force. I'd been to slow. My body slammed against the bridge forcing all the air out of my lungs. I gasped for air and managed to cry out at the jolt of pain that surged up my leg as I was violently dragged backwards. The metal grating cut into the soft flesh of my legs easily drawing blood. I cursed the sweater dress that had been my only option of clothing for my escape from the compound. I struggled against my captor with all the strength I could muster. My desire to live burned hard in my veins spurring me on. My fingers desperately grabbed onto anything I could to try and give me some leverage. Rocks, the grating, divots in the cold, hard dirt, but nothing worked for long. He was too strong. My fingers were cracked and bleeding and I could feel blood running down my arms and legs from the struggle.

The grip on my ankle relinquished it's hold, and I took that opportunity. I kicked my foot catching him in the chest. He stumbled back slightly unprepared for the attack and I surged forward in an attempt to scurry away. I only made it a few steps before he recovered and grabbed a hold of my long brown hair. I bit back a scream of pain as he pulled backwards. My body arched to move with it to prevent further damage. A dark chuckle emanated from the figure hovering over me. "I told you to wear your hair up," His cold, empty voice taunted me. His lips were mere inches from my ear.

I shuddered involuntarily at his closeness. I gripped my stake tightly in my hand, which was hard since my hands were slick with sweat and blood. "You always said you loved my hair down," I remarked before swiping the stake backwards blindly hoping to stab him with it. It hit my mark and it sunk into his stomach. He hissed in pain but did not release me. I pulled it out and attempted a second swing. It was an miscalculated move on my part. He was too quick. He had predicted my movements.

A growl rumbled in his chest and he pulled my hair harder reaching his other hand out to wrap around my wrist. He held tightly nearly crushing the bone in his grasp. "Drop it," He hissed venomously in my ear.

I shook my head against his hold refusing to give in to the request. Abe had been right all along. I was risking my life for the wrong reasons. I needed to get free. I needed to get home and away from this toxic love affair with death. Most of all, I needed to protect Lissa. Sensing that I wasn't about to comply with his demands, Dimitri slammed my hand against the hard metal rail of the bridge. There was a sickening crack and an intense pain shot up my entire arm. Despite my best attempts to hold it in, I screamed loudly. However, the act had the desired effect. I dropped the stake. It clattered against the metal grating before rolling off the bridge and down into the raging current below disappearing into the blackness.

"Why do you make me have to hurt you?" He roared pulling me up onto my feet by my hair. "This would have been so much easier if you had just accepted my offer and allowed me to awaken you," He raged infuriated by my resistance and attempt at escape.

I could feel the anger radiating off of him. My blood ran cold as I realized that there was no escape. I no longer had a weapon, and he was much stronger and more experienced than I was. There was no way I was going to survive this. No way that I could beat him, or kill him. He was simply too strong for me on my own even in his slightly weakened state. I had danced with the devil, and I had been defeated. Caught in his sinister clutches. As I came to this realization I stopped struggling. It was useless. This seemed to please him somewhat. He was in control now. I closed my eyes tightly refusing to allow him the satisfaction of my tears. I was afraid of what would happen. Would he turn me? Kill me? Punish me? I had no idea of knowing. "Please," I gasped through the pain coursing through my battered and brutalized body. I was desperate and I was certain that it showed through in my voice, as shaky as it was. "Please, kill me," I practically begged. Silent tears feel from my eyes and slipped down my cheeks. I just wanted it all to end. For all the physical and emotional pain to stop. It was too much. Despite everything that had happened, and was about to happen, I still loved him. Even as a Strigoi. He was still Dimitri. My Dimitri. I had tried to convince myself that he wasn't and that he was a monster, but I only felt as though I were lying to myself. Somewhere, he was still in there. Deep down.

Dimitri sighed releasing his hold on my wrist. Gently, his fingers stroked my face. It was an intimate gesture that I had not been expecting. I winced leaning away from his touch."My poor Roza," He began speaking softly as he brushed my hair away from my neck. "You think you have it all figured out, but you have no idea what I am capable of now that I am in charge." He continued his fingers like ice against my skin. There was an edge to his voice that I could not decipher.

My eyes widened at his words. He was in charge now and I had been the one who helped him. I had been the one to stake Galina. I had helped him defeat her and by doing so, he was able to kill the others that stood in his way. Had I simply just jumped from the window instead of looking back, I would not be here in this moment with him. Perhaps I may have made a clean escape. My compassion and my deep feelings for him had been my downfall. Dimitri had found my weakness and he was more than willing to exploit that weakness for his own benefit.

"It'll only hurt for a moment," He whispered against my ear before kissing my cheek.

Mentally, I began to prepare myself for the inevitable. I suppressed a sob as I pictured my friend's faces. This was the end. I would never see them again. If they did, they'd kill me, or I would kill them. These were the thoughts running through my mind as I felt his fingers tug my clothing away from my shoulder and place gentle kisses along my exposed skin. I felt little enjoyment from the contact. His fangs pressed against my skin and a rush of excitement flowed through me. I knew what would happen next and my body craved it. That knowledge sickened me. The moment his fangs pierced my flesh, it was all over. I was his. The intense pleasurable haze settled over me and my body hummed with enjoyment. This is what I wanted. What I needed. The moment his fangs pierced my flesh, I knew it was over. There was no going back. I belonged to him. I was a blood whore. A blood whore for a Strigoi. I was as good as dead, and I found that I didn't care. Slowly, I felt myself slipping into a dark abyss from which I may never return.

"Tonight I'm polluting your body

Your mind's so broken, and that means you're mine.

The children forever shattered, in the darkness you left behind.

And you can't crawl on back to your safe place

'Cause it's burnt to ashes, yeah it's gone.

And you can't find salvation

'Cause it's missing from your mind."

- Black Ink ~ Onision


AN: I do not mean to portray Rose as weak, because she most certainly is not. I just want to explore a different course of events. Certain characters may change over time depending on the course of events this story takes. Will Rose become Strigoi? Or does Dimitri have other plans? Read and Review.