A/n: Here's the next chapter for you.

I just wanted to explain a bit about the last chapter, in case you had some questions or didn't understand. I was experimenting a bit with dream perception and symbolism. Jessica was running around the "spider web" of Lucius' ancestral manor home, not her own. She has an undercurrent of fear that everything in her life that she trained for was in vain and that she'll just be the trophy wife of a dark, powerful man, not an aggressive queen in control of her own people. The tea-serving was the symbol of her as a domesticated, subservient ruler, one that knew the motions and performed them, but was in service of another; in this case, her husband.

Don't worry too much about it. It was just an experiment to see how it would pan out. I'm working on fine-tuning my fiction style of writing.

Disclaimer: I have no claim to Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side and have no monetary gain from this work.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 5

I woke to the sound of slamming dresser drawers and the All American Rejects' "Gives You Hell". At first I thought Mindy had played with the controls on my stereo again, and I burrowed farther into my blankets. Then I heard heavy thuds that were out of synch with the rest of the song and I decided that the Rejects never used that much bass. I pulled my tousled head from my pillows and looked over towards my dresser.

"Good morning, darling. It seems that you are decidedly lacking in clothing appropriate for a princess of a ruling clan." Lucius was dressed in his dark coat and tailored black trousers and looked entirely too awake for seven in the morning. I was naturally befuddled, as I was excluded from the Morning People Club.

I sat up, ran a hand through my hair, and mumbled out a, "What on earth are you blathering on about?" before giving up and flopping back down into bed and closing my eyes. I heard him chuckle and felt the bed shift with his added weight. A hand went to my hair, gently detangling it, and the other was next to my head, holding his weight.

My eyes flew open as I felt the hand in my hair softly slide down my neck.

"Get off. Now."

His smirking face inches from my own, he murmured, "But you look so lovely just lying here in bed. I'd be a sad excuse for a man if I had not the inclination to attempt a seduction while you're at your most vulnerable." With that, I deposited him onto the floor with a rather stealthy lady-like maneuver of the bedclothes.

I rolled over, looking over the side of the bed at him. "And stay down there."

[|…|]

Lucius and I had a very dangerous relationship in the days that he lived with us.

That morning, as I relinquished my warm bed and showered, he took it upon himself to choose my clothing for the day and walked into the bathroom shortly after I had stepped out of the shower. I had my hair up in a towel and was wrapped in a bright blue bath towel that hit rather too far up my thigh to be appropriate for public viewing.

I nearly screamed when I saw him open the door with an arm full of clothing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I couldn't do much but stand by the sink looking angry.

His dark eyes took in the sight of me, bare legs and arms and all. I made an angry, impatient noise, and his eyes snapped up to my own. With an arrogant drawl he explained that he had found something reasonable in my wardrobe and that at the earliest possible time we would be taking a day trip to New York City to shop for a completely new one. He put down his burden on the sink counter near me with his left hand, his right landing on the counter on the other side of my body.

"Have I told you how completely enchanting you are when angry, my darling?" His lips began to curl into the ever-present smirk, and without thinking I leaned against the counter in an innocently seductive pose. He leaned in farther as my hand slid towards the circuit in the wall. I demurred slightly, directing my eyes downwards, covertly looking to see how far away I was from my target. I looked back up to his eyes quickly, and then hoisted myself onto the counter, putting myself closer to his height.

To be honest, I was surprised he played right into my trick. He let out a quiet growl and stepped closer, and in a flash I had the cord of my hair dryer around his neck and his back pressed against my towel-covered chest. At that moment, I was seeing red. My built-up anger from the night before combined with the tension and pressure and worry I'd been feeling over my parents' safety was culminated in the almost over-powering need to brutally murder Lucius Vladescu.

And I honestly am not sure what would have happened had my foster mother not been coming down the hallway at that point. With a loudly exclaimed, "Jessica!" she hurried into the steamy bathroom, prying my hands off of electrical cord. My mother showed her strength in those moments, ordering Lucius out of the bathroom and shutting the door. For five minutes she held me and quietly reminded me of my duties as the heir to the Dragomirs, and how, if I murdered one of the enemies I'd be as much at fault them.

I still felt numb by the time she released me. I went back to my room and threw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie before grabbing my school bag and shoes and going downstairs.

My father was making pancakes when I got to the kitchen. I sat down across from Lucius at the table and a self-satisfied smirk of my own slowly crept onto my face when I saw the still-red welt on his neck.

[|…|]

We waited outside the house for Mindy. I rode with her every day to and from school ever since she got her license. Her parents gave her the hand-me-down pick-up truck for her sixteenth birthday.

Standing by the tree at the end of our driveway, Lucius kept throwing me calculated stares while subtly rubbing his neck.

Finally, I turned to face him, arching an eyebrow. "Problems, Lucius?"

His eyes seemed to go completely black for a moment. In those few seconds, I was more afraid than I have ever been before in my life. There was something about those dark, endless pits that made me want to crawl into a safe place and hide for eternity.

I had been leaning against the trunk of the old oak tree and at his almost imperceptible advance I slid away from the hard wood behind me, backing up slightly towards the house. Both of my parents had left already to attend to business, but I knew where the firearms were kept if I needed them.

Then the sound of Mindy's monstrosity was heard, and after a glance over his shoulder, Lucius looked back at me, and said, "You'll be sure to pay for this morning." He turned towards the approaching truck. My mind flashed to my parents, a long-distance call away in his manor. He probably had men by their chambers around the clock, and who would be only too happy to inflict some form of punishment on the couple for a fault of mine.

I quickly went to his side, "Wait! Please, you caught me by surprise this morning. Don't do anything to my parents."

He spun, grabbing a hold of my upper arms and leaning into my neck. He murmured, "As I said, you'll be sure to pay for it."

Mindy tapped the horn and I turned my face towards her, confusion spelled out on her face. I quickly broke away from Lucius' hold and grabbed my book bag, making my way to her truck. Lucius picked up his own bag and followed, keeping his eyes on me.

A/n: Mehh. Okay, possibly. Worse than the other few chapters, but I really wanted to show how quickly Jessica gets set off, and how angry she really gets. I think she has a lot of potential to become as psychotic as Lucius in the book, and I really wanted to explore that.

Thanks again for all of the great reviews!