Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own bloodlines or its characters!

The walk back up to the dorms was a silent one. Normally, I would have no objections to silence. It always allowed me to think. Today, however, the last thing I wanted to do was explore my own mind. "Was I ever that bad?" I asked hoping to break the silence and shut up my ever intruding thoughts. Both Adrian and Eddie stopped to look at me.

"Are you referring to Zoe?" Adrian asked hesitantly. I nodded. Apparently, he had to think about his answer first. Adrian censoring his words was never a good sign. "You've never really been that terrified, but your aura has shown signs of discomfort, especially when I first met you back at court." Adrian smirked at me. "But I did know that you were lying threw your cute little white teeth, Sage. Even back then you couldn't fool me."

"Oh yeah, what was I thinking when your Guardian Boss kept the Alchemists and I hostage?" I questioned smugly.

"You were thinking about how much trouble you happened to get yourself into. You were worried for Rose, and of course you were especially thinking about how utterly handsome I was." I had to laugh at that.

"You hit the nail on the head with that one." I sardonically said.

"Regardless of your personal feelings towards me, your determination to protect Rose presented itself brighter in your aura than any other emotions you were experiencing right then." Adrian said quietly.

"I guess Rose kind of desensitized me." I grinned thinking about all the 'emotions I was experiencing' around Rose. She without a doubt changed my life and its views on the supernatural. "Maybe I should stick Zoe on a train with Rose for a night."

Eddie chuckled. "Rose has a way of sneaking up on people."

"You're telling me." Adrian mumbled, shifting uncomfortably from side to side. I should've never brought this topic up. Even though Adrian has professed his love for me time and time again, I could see that Rose's betrayal still burned deep into his heart and the last thing I wanted to do was cause him pain.

"Hey, stop that." Adrian said rubbing his hands up and down my arms. "I know what you're thinking so stop." He moved closer to my body but not quite touching.

"So," Eddie asked uncomfortably. "What are you two going to do? I was there with you when Marcus and his loyal subjects were recapping their awful Alchemist lives. If they would punish you for thinking Moroi and Dhampirs are okay people, then what would they do if they knew you were involved with one? It's not safe to continue whatever this is." Eddie motioned between Adrian and me with his finger.

I mentally slapped myself in the forehead. I was so worried about Zoe the Alchemist that I didn't stop to think about Zoe, the Alchemist versus Adrian, the Boyfriend. My romantic relationship might come to an end and not just Adrian either. I might lose the new family that I have come to love.

"We all have to be more careful now." Adrian answered. He must have sensed my inner turmoil because he wrapped his arms securely around my waist and pulled me to into his body.

"I don't know if I can." I whispered unable to look into those beautiful emerald eyes. "I need to be more professional now. We all do. If Zoe suspects my friendship with any supernatural, she would turn me in without any hesitation.

"She would do that to her own sister?" Eddie asked a very disapproving tone which I didn't really appreciate.

"She wouldn't do it as an act of betrayal, Eddie." I snapped. My sister was many things but she loved her family and she loved me just as much as I loved her. I knew that if the roles were reversed I would have turned her in too. "In Zoe's eyes, I fell off the path of light. You don't know my father and his influence on Zoe." I took a deep breath for control. It didn't really work. "Zoe would turn me in to the Alchemists thinking she would be saving my soul and get me the help I needed." Tears were bottling up inside me but I willed them to stay put. "So don't make snap judgments about my sister. She doesn't know any better."

"I didn't mean anything by that. I'm sorry, Sydney." Eddie threw his hands out in surrender. "Listen you are the closest thing I have to a sister. I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"Neither do I." Adrian added.

"Which is why, you and Adrian should give it a rest for now." Eddie finished.

"Wait, what? I totally thought we were heading in the same direction but guess I was wrong." Adrian said.

"Listen, you two spend too much time together especially if even Angeline picked up on it." Eddie pushed forward.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused. What did Angeline have to say?

"Tell you when we have more time." Eddie said. "Right now we just have to get through today. We can all talk later tonight when the newest Melrose's go to bed."

"We don't need to execute a covert conference to talk about this. We just have to be careful. Piece of pie." Adrian said.

"The phrase is piece of cake and it's not that simple. You are messing with Sydney's life. She gets caught and they will torture her, play with her mind, and make her wish she was dead. Can't you think of anyone but yourself and your personal pleasures?"

"You son of a bitch. I always think about her. She's always in my head. I would throw down my life for her so don't you dare insinuate that I put myself before her." Adrian and Eddie were inches away now glaring at each other with such disdain. I really needed to buy that book on testosterone driven arguments.

"This isn't going to solve anything." I shrieked wrenching myself between these boys.

"Sydney, be reasonable before the Alchemists come busting our door down and ruin everyone's day, including Zoe's." Both Adrian and I stared at Eddie. "Think about it. If Zoe turns you in she will know she did the right thing by Alchemists standards, but what about by Sisters standards? Regardless of what you or the Alchemists say, Zoe will still feel like she betrayed you and that will crush her more than anything." Eddie put his hand on my shoulder. "Can you live with that?"

He was absolutely right. How could I have not thought of that? Zoe will punish herself more than what any re-education center could do to me? Could I live with that? "No, I couldn't." I whispered. Adrian tried to pull me closer but I wormed out of his grip all together.

"Sydney"

"No Adrian." I interrupted not giving him the chance to change my mind. "I can't be close to you right now." I started choking on my words again. "I can't look at you."

"Sydney please"

"Eddie's right." I have fought day in day out for my sister's freedom to do as she wanted and I wasn't going to stop now. "How could they do this?" I screamed to no one in particular. "My sister, my baby sister. The only reason why I came here in the first place was to keep Zo away from the Alchemists." I started pacing back and forth by now. "NO!" I screeched. "I will go to hell and back before I let them sink their claws into her."

"Sydney, they already have. Your sister is one of them." I stopped and just starred at Eddie.

"Eddie," Adrian warned.

"Sydney needs to hear this." Eddie protested. "Zoe has the tattoo. The sooner you come to terms with that, the sooner we can all figure out how to save her."

"She needs time to mourn. You can't have her jumping in to plan the exorcism of Zoe Sage." Adrian stepped in front of me. "She needs to come to terms with this on her own, when she's ready."

"She will never be ready for this. Sydney wanted out-"

"No!" I screamed. "I can't leave her."

"No one's going to leave Sydney." Adrian said rushing over to me. My head was starting to spin. I involuntarily started to sway back and forth. "Sydney calm down. Everything's going to be okay. Just breathe for a second." My body went completely slack as my vision started to blur. The last thing I saw was Adrian and Eddie kneeling in front of me before my world completely incased me in total darkness.