A/n: Aren't you all excited? It's exciting! I'm excited. I love new stories. Haha. Anyway, here's where the fun starts.

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!

And I forgot this in the last chapter! But I do not own Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side or any affiliated nonsense, etc, etc.

In case you were wondering, I make a lot of stuff up for this (hence, it's AU). Jessica knows what she is and who she is. There is a betrothal, but she doesn't think so at this point.

Change in Plans, Chapter 2

It happened in the middle of the day on a sunny Saturday. Mindy and I were parked in a field on the edge of the Packwood's property. Lying on the hood of her truck, we come out here to think a couple of times a week. We go out when it's nice and drift into our own little worlds. We have been out in the rain before, lying out and screaming to the sky, "Why, God, why?" when the world just didn't seem to agree with us. The first time it happened we got soaked, Mindy ending up with pneumonia and I ended up telling her that I was a vampire princess.

On this day in particular she was giggling about her cute new crush, mostly to herself, but every so often she'd throw out a comment about how wonderful he was, what a great smile. I had my own things to think about, including my most current lesson in international economics. Math had always been my weakest subject, and trying to calculate across different countries' currency always gives me a headache.

The car was parked facing across one of our corn fields, so that Mindy would have to back out. She's not very good at it, so she tries to get in as much practice as she can. My house was about two miles down the road and in the half-mile driveway. It wouldn't take me very long to walk back, but Mindy is a regular person, so I ride back with her. Her company, while sometimes a bit trivial, makes me feel so nice. She's a great friend and a great listener. Her stories make me laugh and she's always there for me.

And that's why, when I saw a black figure flickering at the edge of the field, two miles away, I sat up from the hood of the truck. I sensed that there was something off about the man; with my exceptional sight I could tell it was a male, tall, and wearing a dark velvet coat, even on such a nice day. He walked with a purpose, almost as if he had some divine right to walk the land with such authority.

As I slid off the truck and walked slowly into the field, Mindy sat up.

"Jess, what in the world-"

I quickly spun around, grasping her arm. Looking back over my shoulder, I positioned myself between her and the man moving across the field towards us.

"Look, hon, I think you should drive on up to the house. Tell Mom that there's someone visiting out here with me. Tell her that she and Dad should come out and see us." I turned her towards her truck, opening up the door to the driver's side.

"Jess, if you think I'm leaving you out here with some creep-"

"Mindy. Focus. I need you to just do this for me. You know what I can do. You know that creepy dudes can't do anything to me. Just go tell my parents, and make sure they get out here soon." I had almost shoved her up into the cab of the truck by myself while she tried to argue with me. Slamming the door shut, I said, "Go, dear. My parents will want to make sure you're all right."

I shifted myself back into the field again to where I thought the dark man was coming up behind me and watched as my best friend backed out of the field and took off down the dirt road. As soon as I saw her make the turn onto the county road, I slowly turned around, expecting to see the man still halfway across the field.

But he wasn't.

He was two feet in front of me.

I steeled myself for a confrontation, using my regal training to try to make this man feel as belittled as possible. He was a good foot taller than me, with longish dark hair and extremely dark eyes, a smirk gracing his sophisticated mouth. My earlier observation was markedly correct, as he moved with a suave, entitled grace. When I had gotten a decent look at him, I realized what he was.

That's right, I said what.

Instinctively, my body slid into an offensive pose, something that was taught to me in my vampiric fighting classes. There are different stances for dealing with mortals and dealing with vampires. When dealing with mortals you have to reign in your strength and figure out how much force you can put behind your defense. That's key with mortals – never be on the offense, but use your defensive skills in such a way that you can escape them. With vampires it's an entirely different story. The field is leveled and you are back on an even footing, for the most part. But if your opponent is stronger than you, you're out of luck.

"Antanasia," He murmured, with that infernal smirk on his lips. One of his hands came around to land on the small of my back, the other to the back of my neck, yanking me tightly against his body.

"How dare you manhandle a member of the Dragomir royal line in this manner?" I practically growled, straining against his strong hold. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Feisty, just as they said you would be," he mused, lowering his face to my neck, nuzzling. "You are even more magnificent than I expected, though your attire leaves something to be desired."

At this point I hauled off and punched him as hard as I could in the jaw, which was the only part of his face I could really reach while he continued to molest my neck. His hand came up from my back, quick as lightning, and grasped my wrist, pulling it around my back again to arch my body against his even farther.

Smirking against the side of my neck, too close to my carotid artery for my liking, he murmured, "My name is Lucius Vladescu, and I'm here to claim what belongs to me." He brought his face up to mine, dark eyes glinting, and pressed his lips to my own. Ruthlessly plundering my mouth, he was dominating me. I fought back hard, pushing against him and pulling away, but his grip was like a vice. I hate to admit this, but he kept me pressed so close for such a long time, covering my mouth with his own and restricting my airflow, that I nearly fainted.

But if there's anything I hate more than the tyrannical Vladescus, it's feeling like a damsel in distress.

I put my mortal defense moves into practice, putting all of my force into a judo throw that launched him a good ten feet back.

"I don't care if you are the Prince of Darkness himself – you have no right to handle me with such intimacy. You'll not survive long when my family hears of this."

With a laugh he gracefully climbed into the standing position, moving towards me. "My darling, of course I have a right. We are, after all, betrothed."

My jaw dropped and my entire body froze with this bit of information he so arrogantly presented me with. Snapping out of my shock, I glared darkly and returned with, "You are a pretentious, lying prick."

He walked in a circuit around me; I glanced over my shoulders to keep him in view. His strides were too great for me to try to keep up with by turning my entire body.

"I assure you, sweet, that we are indeed betrothed to be married." Stopping behind me, his arm slid out again, resting his hand on my hip. I stepped away from him quickly, shaking off his hand. "I'd like to discuss the details with your lovely foster parents, though, as the history concerns themselves."

I turned to face those dark, burning eyes. "Fine, then. Follow me." I led him carefully through the field, back up towards my foster parents' home.

A/n: I hate it. The end of the chapter, that is. The next one is all explain-y and stuff, so the loose ends of the AU-ness start to wrap up a bit.

Review if you want, I don't really care. I do this just to keep my writing skills active and my creativity still functioning. I hope you enjoy this story, though, because it is one of the nine attributed to the series, and I know that I would like to see more of them.