"Sage?" I exclaimed. She approached me in a very clingy, revealing black dress. Certainly not getting rid of the bland colours but definitely attracting attention. I liked this Sydney; she was being much more dangerous than usually. Definitely made her look sexier. Hell, no way was I going to complain.
"Please do not look at me like that, Adrian." She seemed unnerved but I knew the truth. There'd always be that alchemist seriousness about her but she'd always be human; which meant she was always nervous. No matter how she tried to cover it up. Still, it all added to the bigger picture of her. She'd been brain-washed from a young age to believe my kind was evil. That logic had obviously crumbled over the time she spent with Rose (A dhampir, I once had 'undying' love for, who broke my heart.) I despised Dimitri (Rose's bad-ass used-to-be-instructor who she conveniently fell for.) I should've known I'd only be hurt by her; she had danger written all over her. Despite that, I couldn't push my feelings for her aside. It'd never matter how hard I'd tried. Even when I knew she only had her eyes on Dimitri; I couldn't push my hope that something could be there away. So I hung on like a lost puppy and got dragged into Rose Hathaway's trap. I'll never go there again.
"Hey, why not? Just goes to show that you're an attractive young woman; who's so obviously taken for granted by many. However, not by me. So where are you taking me tonight? A strip club?" I couldn't help a sarcastic comment. By the way she was dressed; it seemed like a likely place we'd visit. She shot me a look that screamed 'shut up'. This made my grin broaden further. Although once she'd looked at me; she couldn't seem to break the gaze. She'd done the same thing a few times recently. It was odd for her to falter under somebodies gaze so easily. Not that I didn't falter under hers because believe me, I did. Those golden eyes; I swear you could get lost in. A bit like an endless maze that lures you in until you get breathless from going around it so many times. Damn it, I really needed to stop thinking like that. I'm one to break rules but Moroi with humans would be wrong. So very, very wrong. Even I couldn't break that one. Sydney broke out of the gaze first and looked towards the ground.
"Not a strip club. Just a very exclusive club. We've got some business to attend to." She seemed unsure.
"You mean you have some business to attend to; you're just dragging me along to join in the fun. Well, I'm not complaining… So long as there are some girls there, I'm in." I joked with her; trying to get rid of the remaining tenseness between us. She sighed heavily; stifling a laugh. I winked at her but something still seemed to be bugging her.
"Is that really all you care about?" Her tone was full of anger and disgust. It was unusual for me to be startled by somebody so easily. We looked at each other; instantly connecting on a more personal level. Her eyes were filled with a lot of pain. I just didn't understand why. Had I done something? Surely it couldn't be bad enough to show the levels of intense pain now brimming her eyes with tears. Jee, Humans are way too emotional.
"Sydney, what's wrong?" I slipped up, calling her by her first name. People who were special to me got called on a first name basis and she knew that. She knew it only too well. I'd kept up my act for so long with her; pretending that I had no intimate feelings for her whatsoever. It was all lies. Her aura went from a glowing red to a radiant gold. It only took a matter of seconds for it to change.
"You just called me Sydney." She didn't bother hiding the surprise in her voice. She tilted her head towards me; a deep pinkness in her cheeks. I'd only just realized that she was blushing. Oh boy did she look cute. Why was she turning me on? This was a bad time to be feeling like this. I mentally slapped myself for feeling like that. It was pretty sick, let's be honest. We'd managed to fall into a heavy silence and were only inches apart. No way could I lose control. I couldn't risk her like this; I couldn't watch her suffer the consequences if anything were too happen. Not after all the times she'd told me how scared she was of those ridiculous re-education centres.
"We should go." It had already taken me so long to speak the words. I hated to ruin the moment between us but we just couldn't have that moment. We were still standing out on the street; there could be alchemist eyes watching from anywhere. That was far past dangerous. Usually the danger factor seduced me more to do things I wouldn't dream of doing but not this time. I couldn't risk losing her. Not too them. They'd already taken so much of her life away from her. We didn't speak anymore for the rest of the journey. Even though I was very curious to what we were going to be doing tonight.
We made it to the club; she was right when she said it was very exclusive club. The outside of the place was pretty blinding with the amount of colours coming off the sign. I was pretty sure a Strigoi wouldn't be able to handle that brightness; even I had to squint my eyes. We entered the place and I realized just how 'exclusive' the place was. Tables were covered in black table cloths with candles standing elegantly in the middle. The tables were surrounded by huge velvet chairs. It looked almost like they were booths. In the centre of the place there was a huge dance floor; the floor was going wild with bright, flashing colours.
"You can't drink tonight, sorry." It's such a shame that she wasn't joking about it either. Still, I understood why she'd said that. I couldn't drink because of the bond with Jill; I'd already harmed her enough when the bond first started.
"Oh that's a problem… I was starting to think I may deserve one for being your acquaintance tonight. Never mind, I'll just have to make the most of your pleasant company." I pulled a sarcastic smile on her. Instead of verbally responding; she rolled her eyes. "So what are we doing here? You can't be dressed like that for nothing."
"Do I not look good enough?" She seemed disappointed.
"You look… Amazing…" Why did I go and say that? I knew it'd make her happy and it was the truth but it would only make me want her more. She never turned to look at me; instead she stood behind me.
"Here's how it goes… We're waiting for someone, while we wait we're going to mingle in the crowd… We need to pretend that I'm… your… feeder." She looked grossed out even by the thought. I was so going to enjoy tonight. "The people in the crowd seem too like conversation, so once they see new people I'm sure they welcome us in. Is my lily covered?" This time she spun round too face me. I twisted the hair already covering the lily in my fingers and smoothed it in place over the lily again.
"Now it is." I'd forgotten too remove my hand straight away. Sydney moved my hand from her face and held it in her own; moving behind me.
"You're good at acting right?" Her hand was sweating lightly as her nerves built; I squeezed it lightly.
"Oh, I'm fantastic. Phenomenal even." I grinned at her. She relaxed slightly.
"Good." She dragged me into the crowd flooding the dance floor.
Sydney was charming the other Moroi and humans in the club. Even I had to admit she was a good actress, pretending she knew nothing about anything. It seemed as if my own remarkable flirting skills has rubbed off on her.
"You mustn't have fed off the little lady in a while." A small, moroi man had stunned me out of my thoughts. I felt Sydney stiffen up beside me. This was not a situation I was supposed to be in tonight, or any night for that matter. How could I even begin to reply to that? 'Oh no Sir, I don't feed from her, she's just a random human girl I drag everywhere with me.' Yeah, something told me he would get suspicious about that one.
"No I haven't, I've got other ones. This one's a newbie, not much good yet." Damn, I hated having to say things like this about her. I kept my tone on a serious note.
"I'll happily take her off your hands, since you have others to keep you occupied." He almost demanded to have her. His wrinkly hand reached towards her arm, I grabbed hold of it. I hoped it was enough to temporarily cut off his circulation. I knew myself I didn't harness that kind of power yet, I liked to believe I did though.
"Keep your hands off her." I put more venom behind my words than I'd originally intended to.
"Whoa, pipe down Mr Protective. I don't want her anyway." It took so much will power not to attempt to smash him with my fist.
"Let's go." I whispered to Sydney. She gave me a simple nod in return as I pushed us both into the ever-growing crowd of bodies. "You're good at acting you know, should take it up as a future career." I was joking, like usual, but I saw the pain flash through her features. I let the word come out before I could even consider what I was saying. The only thing she could ever be, was an alchemist. You had to be a complete idiot to seriously think this was what she always wanted to be. She got thrown in with the demons of her nightmares all the time. Who would honestly want that? You'd have to be a weirdo. She never fully understood what being an alchemist involved. How do I know any of this? Well, she tells me everything about what she thinks and feels. She's much more comfortable with me, even if I am a vampire.
"It'd be nice to do something else for a change. I just can't, I'm bound to this shit…" She didn't continue after she swore, it was a very uncharacteristic thing for her to do. Oh hell, she got so much sexier when she lost control. I let out a nervous laugh. "What's so funny?" She asked, showing signs of genuine confusion.
"Nothing that would be of interest to you. Anyway, you still haven't told me why we're here."
"It's nothing that'd be of interest to you." She mimicked. "Why did you protect me earlier?" Our eyes met and with very little distance between us, I felt my sexual frustration rising. Mentally, I scolded myself.
"Beauty must be protected, especially yours." For once, I, Adrian Ivashkov had spoken a full sentence of truth. She seemed almost overwhelmed by the compliment.
"Well, thanks. Seriously, I don't think our guest is going to show. They should've been here a half hour ago. Honestly, I don't want to stay here any longer. Time to make our departure." She began to shove her way through the river of bodies. I stepped in front, taking hold of her hand. A wave of acceptance flooded through me. I tried to push it too the back of my mind as we made it to the exit. Hesitantly, I dropped her hand as we made our way safely across the parking lot. Sydney was about to get in the driver's side, when she suddenly flung the keys at me. I fumbled with them for a minute or so and gave her a blank expression. There had to be something wrong, she never let anybody else drive her 'baby'. "You drive, I'm too tired." Not wasting any more time, I jumped in the driver's seat. The journey back to my house was silent but surprisingly not boring. Just knowing she was beside me let my defences slip.
I stopped outside the house, shutting down the car's engine. I looked at Sydney feeling the rational part of my brain quickly turn irrational. I no longer held back, I leaned towards her closing the distance between our lips. Nothing had ever felt so right. I didn't want to stop but she pulled away. Looking utterly disgusted and panicked.
"Get out." She may as well have just staked me, those words would've hurt more than being tortured to death. I'd just lost all of my control. I slowly slipped out of the car.
"I'm sorry, Sydney." I said apologetically before slamming the door shut. I should've known I'd lose her. I lost everybody I loved.
