I know I was going to wait until the New Year, but think of this as your early Christmas present! (And I mean a month early, people. Don't expect anything nicer.)

Except, it's late and a school night, so I'm shortening it into a prologue. :)

Usual disclaimers apply.

Dimitri had pushed me up against the tree, his lips oh so dangerously near mine, when I felt all the air rush out of me. The feeling was gone as soon as it came, and when Dimitri pulled back, I knew he felt it too.

"Rose?" he asked cautiously before grabbing my hand the second Adrian appeared at our side.

"Alright, lovebirds, break it up. We have to get a move on." He waved his hand impatiently at us, before turning back to the sheet of wavy air in front of him.

"Go where?" I demanded, marching up to him.

"To the future of course. I mean, yeah time travel seems a bit out of the ordinary and impossible, but you know that rescue mission you just convinced Janine was a good idea? Not so much for you and your little lover boy there. Now hurry, before the portal closes and everyone else is left alone in the future. Which, as every sci fi junkie knows, is a bad thing." Adrian crossed his arms.

I looked back to Dimitri, uncertainty written all over both of our faces.

"Seriously? Do you guardians make all of your decisions with this much thought and carefulness? That would be nothing gets done," Adrian fumed, glancing at the wavy air in front of him. "The portal" he had called it.

"I don't know..." I said slowly.

"Oh my God," Adrian said. He grabbed our arms and pulled us through.

Dimitri and I landed on our faces, while Adrian stepped in right after us like he did this all the time. There was a snap and I could hear the snarky grin creep its way onto Adrian's face.

"Now, what did I tell you all?" I stood up with Dimitri's help, and glanced around. Christian, Lissa, Eddie, Janine, and Alberta were all seated around a futuristic looking black glass table. Every single one of them looked freaked out. I tried to hide my shock as I saw a calendar displaying "DECEMBER 2023" tacked up on a wall right next to a doorway leading into a different room. This must have been the dining room.

"Adrian, what-" Lissa started, but he guided Dimitri and I to the empty two seats and shushed Lissa.

"All in good time, Dragomir," Adrian said. Dimitri sat down next to Janine warily, but I stayed standing. "All in good time."

A head poked itself through the doorway next to the calendar. Dark dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun, black rectangular glasses with piano keys on the side framed the girl's blue-gray eyes, and a small pimple on her chin that was slightly off-center with the rest of her features regarded the table silently.

She pulled herself fully into the doorway, and her guardian face broke slightly when she saw Adrian. She was very obviously a teenage dhampir. It was even obvious underneath the black sweater and dark wash jeans she wore, pale green slippers scuffing the hardwood floors as she strode over to where Adrian and I stood.

"Adrian," she greeted, her voice holding a Russian accent slightly thicker than Dimitri's. She hugged him tightly, and he returned the hug. "Why did you take so long this time?"

"Because I had to save up energy for bringing everyone else," Adrian said simply, pulling away from the hug. Adrian, last I had bothered to ask, was a little under six feet, and she easily looked him in the eye. I would bet money she was taller than Lissa.

"Oh." She smiled softly in a business-like way I had only seen Janine master, and looked around the table. "I see you brought everyone."

"Well, not everyone. I can't exactly teleport halfway around the world to go get your other family members and hold open a portal this far in the future, now can I?"

"Only if you practiced," she teased, poking him in his bicep. It was obvious to see that her muscles were well developed, despite being no more than fifteen; I probably had the same physique, and while most of it was catch-up in a half a year, I had been training for about three and a half years at this point.

Her eyes found mine for a second, and she muttered something in Russian before turning them loose on the table again.

"So, who are you?" Eddie blurted. "I mean, it seems like you're related to some of us."

"Oh, I am," she said. She smirked at Adrian before turning back to the table.

"Just get on with it," Adrian muttered, facing the living room with the monochrome furniture that peered into the monochrome dining room. The girl rolled her eyes at Adrian, and then her lips drew down into a frown.

"I guess the best way to do this is Band-Aid style." Her eyes lingered on Janine for a moment, before staring at nothing in particular, a habit Dimitri had told me I'd eventually develop.

"My name is Anastasia." Her eyes flicked to me and I felt like they were staring miles down inside of me. "Anastasia Belikov."

Review!

Hooray for total AU -ness! Trust me. It won't seem so odd. Adrian popping out of nowhere saying "We have to go time traveling! Now hurry up!" is the only weirdness of this story. It should get more believable starting....first chapter!