Hey guys! Purrfictionist here! Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! They mean a lot and make my day. This chapter is another one of Sydney's memories but don't worry, the whole story won't be all memories. We'll be seeing the story from Adrian eventually and maybe even Jared. Read and Review please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Richelle's awesome characters, sadly but I do own my plot!

2

June 5th 2008

Sydney Sage fell back on her bed and moaned. Jogging in the rain was not the best thing to do. Sydney sighed and looked around her room that she once used to share with her elder sister. The thought of Carly brought tears to her eyes and she quickly rubbed them away.

It was a little over three weeks since Carly had died. Her funeral was mainly professional. The majority of the people invited were her father's alchemist colleagues and his heads. There were tears, speeches, and flowers. On May 22nd, Carly Sage was buried in Sydney's small town cemetery. Her mother grieved for days. Sydney could hear her crying in her sleep. Sydney was good at holding her tears until she was in her room or in the bathroom. Unlike her mother who was getting better day by day, Sydney was still numb. Sydney knew that nothing will ever help her fill the hole in her heart. Her father was the complete opposite of her mother. Ever since Carly's funeral, he hadn't spoken a word. He was out late at nights and he did more work than he needed to. Sydney was starting to get worried about her father but there was little she could do. Her mother was there for her father though, or at least when he was home. She was given a month of vacation and she stayed home working on her garden or in her mechanic store. Sydney though was still working with her father. She was spending night and day with paperwork and filing. In fact, she was even assigned an assignment in New Mexico to meet some Alchemists positioned there. Her flight was leaving tonight.

A small knock broke her out of her reverie. The door creaked open and her mother walked in with an apron tied around her skinny waist. Sydney sat up in her bed and returned her mother's warm smile.

"What are you doing here all alone?" her mother asked her.

"I was just lying around," she said.

Her mother nodded and looked around her room. "I see you're remodeling,"

Sydney nodded. She was trying to get rid of all things Carly or anything that reminded her of her dead sister. "Yeah," she said. "I am."

"And what's this?" her mother said as she walked up to the painting Sydney had hung up next to her window. "Where did you get these paintings Sydney? They're so beautiful, who painted them?"

Sydney paled. She couldn't tell her mother that she had gotten them from Adrian. The thought of Adrian made her blush. Adrian had ditched his father and had helped her to her room. He stayed there by her bed side giving her tissues and water and sometimes even held her hand. Sydney doesn't remember much of what happened that night but she remembered that Adrian had stayed with her till she had slept. She didn't know when he left but when she woke up alone the next morning, there was a note by her bedside.

Dear Alchemist Girl,

I'm sorry for your loss. I know how it is to lose someone you love. I had a close friend who passed away in that Strigoi attack. His name's Ivan Zeklos. Maybe you heard of him, you alchemists seem to know everybody. Time will heal us both Alchemist Girl.

I managed to ditch my father. I know that if I stay here any longer, he'll find me so I'm leaving. I don't have the heart to wake you up and say goodbye. I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we'll see each other. I hope it's not. Maybe next time, we can get to know each other better. And like I said before, keep the paintings.

I know that you're scared of us Moroi and Dhampirs, and I know that you probably will burn this note after you read it, but if you ever need anything or if you want to talk here's my number: 954-248-2245.

If you end up seeing my father and he asks you if you saw me, you didn't.

Until next time,

Adrian Ivashkov.

Sydney should have thrown the letter away. She should have burned the letter and the paintings but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had kept his number having some strange feeling that she would need it in the future. And as for the paintings, she didn't have the heart to throw them away.

"I um bought them during my assignment few weeks ago," she said. "There was an artist who was selling some of his paintings at the airport."

"That's interesting, what's his name?"

Sydney looked around and tried to find something that was close to a name. Sydney found a cleaning solution sitting next to her window labeled Jet Fast and besides the window was her lamp that was made of steel.

"His name is Jet Steel," she said.

"Jet Steel," her mother murmured. "He sounds like a bad boy, is he young?"

Sydney shrugged. "I guess so,"

"Is he good looking?"

"Mom!"

Her mother chuckled and ruffled her daughter's hair. "You know I worry about you," she said. "You're so young and your father expects too much of you. He wants you to take over Carly's title. Did he tell you that?"

"I know, he did," Sydney said.

"And you're fine with that?"

"It's better than getting Zoe involved."

Her mother nodded grimly. "I know baby," she said. "Anyway, I came up to tell you that dinner's ready. You can wash up quickly and get something in your stomach before you head off to the airport."

Sydney nodded. "That sounds good."

…

Dinner was a quiet affair. Her mother made chicken, rice, and peas, a simple dish that her father called a proper dinner.

"Did you read the file Stanton gave you Sydney?"

"Yes sir,"

"So you understand your objective of your assignment?" her father asked her as he reached for more chicken.

"Yes sir, I am to go to the Alchemist meeting at New Mexico, gather the information from the Alchemists who were stationed at Russia and gather any extra information I can get on the attack."

Her father nodded and leaned in close. "Do not mess this up Sydney Katherine. I need this information. I need to know how exactly my daughter was killed."

Sydney nodded. "I know sir, I want to know to."

"I did not ask for your opinion on this Sydney,"

Sydney blushed and stopped playing with her peas.

"Jared," her mother said standing up. "That is enough. Sydney knows what she is doing and stop playing with your food dear."

Sydney blushed even more and stuffed a forkful of rice in her mouth.

"She said stop playing with your food, not stuff yourself with it. You're fat as it is," her father snapped standing up.

Zoe snickered and Sydney stopped chewing. Her mother watched her husband coldly as he walked into the kitchen and shot her youngest daughter a look.

"You're not fat at all Sydney. You eat as much as you want and as for you Zoe, you are cleaning up tonight,"

"But mom!"

"No buts," her mother said. "And hurry up Sydney. I don't mean to rush but it's getting late to dear. Ian's brother will be here any minute to pick you up."

…

"Miss Sage, I'm so glad that you can join us," Matthew Jameson said, sarcasm dripping off his words.

Sydney blushed and took the only empty see in the large oval room. "My flight was delayed sir," she said.

"Mmhm," he mumbled. "Anyway, we are greatly honored to welcome you to our meeting today and we hope that this isn't your last. You have a lot of potential Miss Sage, just like your sister Carly. We are very sorry for you loss."

Sydney nodded. "Thank you," she said.

"So today we are here to talk about the very attack that took the life of many including our young Carly Sage," Matthew said standing up. He was a tall man, quite serious for a bright man, with his golden looks and topaz like eyes. "We so far know the basics. It was a Strigoi attack and the dhampirs fought back but they were overpowered. Ivan Zeklos and an alchemist managed to escape the building but they were caught during their run. The alchemist turned out to be Carly Sage."

"But how?" someone else asked. "The Zeklos Manor in Russia is covered with Dhampirs. How can they have let the Strigoi attack their charges? It just seems, I don't know, like they planned it."

Planned it? How can they have planned it? Sydney wondered outraged as she fights back her tears. Why on Earth would they let all of their charges die just like that? Her sister, her poor sister was close to freedom, so close to getting out of the attack but she was caught at the last minute. What Sydney found interesting was that she had been running with Ivan Zeklos. Sure, it was probably just a coincidence that Ivan was Adrian's close friend but for some odd reason, it bothered her.

"They might have," Angelina Johann said as she tightened her grasp on her Styrofoam cup. "What do you think Mathew?"

"I'd like to take that as one of the many possibilities. But to prove this theory, we need to investigate even further, send in some moles to work up close with the queen and see if we can find anything from the talk at Court," Mathew said. "I'll look into see if there are any openings later today but for now, I want to clarify what Royals were there."

"Why Royals?" Angeline asked.

"Because Royal Moroi usually have a larger tendency to have openings for alchemists at court. If we narrow down the Moroi who were there in the Zeklos Manor during the attack, we can assign alchemists to work for those Moroi," Mathew explains. "On my list I have that the Zeklos, Drozdov's, Lazars, and the Ivashkovs."

"The Ivashkov's?" Sydney asked. "Which Moroi in the Ivashkov line were at the attack?"

"The details are not clear Miss Sage, all this information is gathered from what the alchemists heard from the Royals they are working with," Mathew said looking at her before his eyes slid back to his file. "Let's go over the status of the other assignments now."

After nearly two hours, the meeting was adjourned by Mathew. Sydney had been alert the entire time and took notes when she could and asked questions on behalf of the Alchemists back at Utah. Everything besides the talk of the attack went very smoothly without much conflict. Sydney stood up and grabbed her purse and jacket once everyone started to leave. She was slipping on her purse when she met Mathew's eyes. He gave her a small smile and reached out for hand.

"I know how hard this must be for you Miss Sage but the pain will go away."

"I hope so Mr. Jameson."

"I'll see you at the next meeting," he said giving her hand a squeeze before he walked out of the room.

Sydney watched him leave and followed him a minute later. She let the glass door slam behind her as she walked down the stairs of the grandiose building and into the garden that's blanketed by a nice, orange sky. A cold breeze brushed past Sydney and swept away her jacket from her hands and flew into a nearby puddle. She groaned and ran after it to find it gone. Sydney frowned. Where could it have gone? It was right there.

"Looking for this?" a familiar voice said.

Adrian? Sydney turned around on her heels and looked up at a tall handsome man holding her now wet jacket. He looked just like him, the same height, those same enchanting green eyes, the same beautifully sculpted face but his gelled hair is pitch black and he's dressed like a… biker. Adrian didn't seem like a guy who would die his hair, dress like a biker, and pull his hair back with gel. This man though looked more human than Moroi.

"Um yes," she said taking it from him. "Thank you…."

"Jet, Jet Steel," he said.

Sydney stopped breathing. "W-wait your name is Jet Steel?" she asked.

"Um yeah why?" he asked causally. "You don't believe me?"

She giggled and shook her head. "I do, it's just an inside joke kind of thing,"

"My name is an inside joke?" he asked.

"It's a long story," Sydney said shifting uncomfortably.

"I have time, do you want to go out for some dinner?" Jet asked.

Sydney took a step back shocked, flustered. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yeah, just for dinner, why don't you like food?" he asked playfully.

Sydney let out a nervous laugh. "No, I'm uh good," she said turning around so she doesn't have to melt under those green eyes of his. "I'm going to go now."

"Wait, Sydney wait!" he called after her.

Sydney stopped and turned around. "H-how do you know my name?"

He reached for the ring on his hand and pulled it off. Sydney watched in horror as the black hair washed away right in front of her eyes and turned into the brown hair she recognizes.

"Adrian?" she whispered.

He grins. "Hey there Sage."

What did you think? I'll be adding or changing some stuff along the story for example, the attack in Russia. I thought it was kind of funny how Sydney came up with the name Jet Steel. Is it Steel or Steele? I wasn't sure. Anywho, please review on what you think and if I made any mistakes!

~Purrfictionist