A/n: A little gore and swearing in this chapter, just a warning.
Chapter 3
It was raining, one o'clock in the morning and Adrian Ivashkov was in a mental battle of wills with a bottle of scotch.
Just one more wouldn't hurt.
It had been over a week since he had last spoken to Sydney Sage, in her dorm room, telling her that he wanted them to be together, that he wanted her.
In had been over a week since she had thrown that back in his face.
"You compelled me!" that's what she had said, compelled, made her, forced her to kiss him back.
He hadn't. Wouldn't ever, but clearly she believed he would, worse then that, she maybe hoped he would so she could explain away their passionate kiss without hating herself as much as she hated his kind.
He broke.
Adrian poured himself another glass; he sat at his kitchen bench in what had previously been Keith Darnell's apartment. Rain pounded on the roof and pattered on the windows, there was a storm outside his door. Weather such as this didn't come to Palm Springs often.
He took a sip as his mind slid from Sydney to Jill, she would be feeling his late night antics tomorrow, but it was the weekend, the last weekend before the holidays for Amberwood students. Not that that made him feel any better about what he was putting her through.
She was the reason for the restraint, he'd had his heart broken before and then nothing had stopped him from boozing and sleazing the night away. Except now he was bound, Jill was Shadow-kissed and everything he did affected her.
He wondered if Jill knew about what happened with Sydney.
Their friends weren't oblivious, neither were the colleagues, Sonya had come right out and commented on his aura the first time they had all been together to discuss the case.
While Eddie, Micah and Jill had been more discreet, the latter had merely hugged him and offered to talk, the others in typical guy fashioned hadn't said anything at all but the guardian had slapped him on the shoulder and said something cliché about women.
Angeline, on the other hand, hadn't noticed anything was off about their reactions around one another, in her opinion, Sydney was an "unfeeling bitch to everyone" or so she had said some time back.
But the Alchemist herself had been the worst. The first day after they're talk she had looked at him with such feeling, such aguish and for a second he thought she was going to apologise, he hoped. But then no, her face had turned to marble and her eyes, usually so expressive to him, went as dim as pebbles in the rain. She'd barley looked at him since.
Adrian was just considering having a fifth, weighing the pros and cons when there was a sound out of place among the rain and thunder.
A knock at the door.
Adrian paused, his green eyes flicking to the clock, it was late, almost two and for a moment the images of Strigoi, of Dawn and her fangs in Sydney's throat sprung to mind before he quickly told himself that the undead kind of vampire wouldn't bother to knock.
The sound didn't repeat again as he listened and he had almost shrugged it off, when there was a particularly loud thump! that sounded from his landing. Lightening briefly illuminated the path to the door and Adrian stood up, finishing his glass of scotch in one go.
When he reached the door and peered through the peephole, he saw nothing but the ugly wallpaper of the hall looking back at him. Once again he almost dismissed the sounds as oddities of the storm when with his superior Moroi hearing he picked up the sound of a voice.
"Ad…rian."
Sydney.
He wrenched the door open and she had apparently been leaning against it because she practically fell at his feet.
"Fuck."
Had she been in any other position she probably would have chastised him for swearing, but truthfully the obscenity pretty quickly summed up the situation.
She was covered in blood and water, undoubtedly from the rain and she didn't seem able to hold herself up any longer.
Adrian crouched down, reaching for her but stopping his hands short, afraid to touch her, afraid to know. He tried conjuring it, feeling inside himself for Spirit, desperate, as he had only been only once before when Jill had needed him.
There was no answer and he knew he had drunk away his powers for the evening, he cursed again, and instead slid forward to put his arms around her, his heart clenching as she whimpered in pain as he lifted her.
Adrian wished, not for the first time for a Dhamphirs strength as he struggled to carry her to the couch, her clothes, business like as usual were stained with dirt and blood and he noticed for the first time, the gold cross around her neck was absent.
"Ad-rian," she tried to speak again, there was blood covering the left side of her face, turning her hair coppery red, "D-imitri." The sound of her voice was urgent but lacked the explanation he needed.
"D-imitri trouble…" she was unconscious then, her head lolling against his hand as he forced his addled brain to think.
A few minutes later he retrieved her cell phone from the pocket of her pants, it was a little damp but still functioned and scrolled down till he found the Dhamphirs number.
It rang out and he tried three more times, leaving messages. Nothing. Then he called Sonya, the spirit user answered almost immediately.
"Sydney, thank god, I was so worried something had happened." His voice froze in his throat.
"Sonya,"
"Adrian?"
He did his best to explain, telling he didn't know where Dimitri was and what had happened to Sydney.
The woman promised to find the missing Dhamphir and would be right over, Adrian nodded dutifully, and hung up.
For a few moments he stood there looking down at Sydney's unconscious form, phone clutched in hand and then finally he snapped out of it.
As he moved swiftly to the bathroom, he dialled Eddies cell, it was Micah's voice who answered and he sounded groggy, "What man? It's like three in the morning."
"Put Eddie on. Now." His voice left no room for argument and soon Adrian had passed on the news to the young guardian.
"Do you think it was Strigoi?" was his first question.
Adrian considered it, there was certainly enough blood, but they seemed from injuries rather than bites, but maybe the news of Sydney's bad blood had gotten out and they hadn't bothered biting her? And what else could possibly take out Belikov?
He didn't know for sure, "I don't know." He admitted, "Could be."
Eddies voice was hard and professional now, and Adrian could hear the sounds of complaining roommates, Eddie, no doubt, was on his way to Jill. "Is she alright?"
Adrian thought of Sydney, bloody and unconscious and still and for a moment he couldn't move, couldn't breathe or speak. Then it passed and he answered. "I think so. Get over here as fast as you can."
Nothing else was said and Adrian disconnected as he opened the bathroom cabinet. While he didn't have the foresight to stock first-aid supplies a certain ex-Alchemist had and as Adrian found a fully stocked medical box he was grateful for Keith Darnell in that moment.
When he returned to the couch, Sydney was awake again, she feebly caught his wrist, "Adrian, Dimitri, you have to find Dimitri."
He pried her fingers off him and crouched down to her level as he started bringing out the medical supplies, "Already got people on it." He was surprised to find himself worried too about Belikov's well-being.
He used a towel from the bathroom, yellow like the walls, to wipe the blood from her face as carefully as he could; revealing a small but deep gash over her eye, some tape and pressure later and he had managed to get the blood to stop.
At some point the Alchemist had passed out again and as he gently lifted her hands to see they were a mess of blood and bone, he couldn't help but whisper "Christ Sage," more proof that she was unresponsive, "What the hell happened to you?" He did the best he could for her fingers and palms but knew it was beyond his help.
He brushed the blonde hair out of her eyes and set a damp cloth on her forehead, her lily tattoo was briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning from outside.
The sight of her blood nearly made him hurl, which, he would realise later, was ironic for a vampire, but as he undid the buttons on her shirt with shaky hands, he realised that nothing could scare him more then the sight of Sydney Sage, bleeding.
The front of her chest was fine, even though some blood had soaked through her shirt and stained the skin, it was only when he very carefully rolled her onto her side he realised the damage.
He needed another drink.
He didn't know if she'd hit something or more likely been thrown into something, but the mass of black and blue that covered her shoulder blades and the curve of her spine made him dizzy, like looking at a magic eye.
It happened to him then, just like in the bathroom, he couldn't move or breathe and he couldn't function. Frozen he was.
With fear.
Desperately he tried again, tried to summon his magic, he could feel it like always, pressing on the back of his scull, but didn't feel its rush or warmth within his reach. No, it was still deserting him.
Fuck alcohol, Adrian swore he would never drink again.
When the sound of her phone ringing echoed through his apartment, Adrian almost jumped a foot in the air, the rain outside was increasing and he could barely see the street outside his windows.
He answered.
"Adrian, I've got Dimitri, he's fine mostly, we're coming to you now, shouldn't be more then an hour or so."
A small weight lifted off his chest. Dimitri was okay.
He managed to thank Sonya and update her on Sydney's injuries before hanging up.
"Adrian?" maybe the phone had roused her but in any case he was at her side in a second, leaning close to her, touching her as gently as he could.
"I'm here, Sage."
It seemed to take all her strength to lift her hand to his cheek but she did it anyway, tracing the lines of his face with her bloody fingers, down his cheek bones and over his lips.
He shivered.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
He caught her ruined hand and lowered it gently back to the couch, "You should be," he breathed, "you scared the life out of me Sage," he waited a beat then smiled at her, "Get it Sage? Life? Cause I'm a vampire." She looked like she wanted to laugh but maybe it was too painful, instead she spoke again.
"I'm bleeding all over your new couch."
Adrian snickered, shifting, if possible, closer to her still, "You best stay alive then, I'll have to make you clean it."
She coughed, and pain flashed through her eyes at the movement of her chest, but she managed to answer "With pine cleaner." She seemed to find that funny, but Adrian didn't know why.
Silence fell and he reached out his hand to her once more, slipping his fingers under the collar of her shirt and to her collarbone, there was no familiar touch of heavy gold. Her throat was bare.
"Must have fallen off," she whispered. More like torn off Adrian thought, still the skin beneath his hand was warm if wet from the rain, he'd done his best to dry her without causing her more pain. It was a wonder she was letting him touch her so freely, at full health he never would have dared.
"I'll get you a new one." He promised.
She was unconscious again and he wondered if she had heard him at all.
When Eddie, Jill and Angeline had arrived, the storm was just beginning to wane. The Moroi princess had by-passed him without a glance for the first time and went straight for the Alchemist.
Eddie stepped into the room, surveying the space for threats, Angeline, was similarly on guard but still asked, "You can't heal her?"
If only she knew how much those words burned him.
"Sydney?" that was Jill who had taken over Adrian's vidual at her side.
"She'll be okay." That was Eddie, protective even of Jill's feelings.
"Do we know?' Angeline asked, "Was it the Lost Ones?"
Adrian looked confused.
"Strigoi?" she clarified, annoyed.
Adrian shrugged, "I don't know." He hadn't thought to ask Sonya when they had talked. "But Dimitri's okay." He said to Eddie who allowed himself that small relief.
It occurred to Adrian that Eddie wouldn't be the only guardian worried about his colleagues state, Rose would be as well.
Thinking her name, usually took all of him, one name and his head was flooded with images of her, memories of her, but this time all he could think of was Sydney, bloody and dieing on his couch, of the feel of her fingers as she touched his face.
Of their kiss.
Sonya and Dimitri arrived within the hour, the Dhamphir hadn't however, come though unharmed, his face bore the marks of a confrontation. A black eye and a busted lip and something about the way he was walking told them that his leg was hurt too.
Sonya's spirit had been pouring into the Alchemist only a few seconds before Sydney's eyes snapped open. Adrian knew straight away what would happen.
"Don't!" It must have caused her great pain to sit up, but Sydney none the less caught Sonya's hands and pushed them away from her.
Her fingers resembled fingers once again but the cut on her head had started bleeding again, although it was far shallower than before.
In an instant all Adrian's anger at her rushed back. "Damn it Sage!"
He had never disliked her so much.
Oddly it was Jill who came to the rescue; she jumped up from her spot at Sydney's side, "Let's give them some privacy to talk."
By the look on Adrian's face no one else was willing to argue, they quickly retreated into the bedroom.
"What happened?" Eddie asked practically the moment the door shut behind them, although wether it was out of urgency or a desire to cover the muffled sound of yelling from the other room wasn't known.
"Was it Strigoi?" Jill asked quietly.
Dimitri shook his dark head, his eyes troubled, "No, they were human." He didn't seem comfortable discussing this, with particularly Jill and Angeline present.
That shocked everyone, other than Sonya who of course, had already been told.
"What? Like muggers?" Eddie spoke after a while.
Dimitri gave him a dark look, "Certainly not, they knew who we were and why we were there, weird thing is they seemed to be after me."
"Then how come, Sydney's the one who looks like she got in a fight with a brick wall, and lost."
Dimitri didn't look impressed at Jill's tone and answered calmly, "Because she tried to protect me, they had some kind of device, it was loud, so loud, I couldn't think or move, only once she got turned off did I see what had happened, I told Sydney to get out of there and she wisely did."
"Then what?" Jill asked
Dimitri and Sonya shared a look; it seemed the Dhamphir had reached his limits of sharing tonight.
Human's attacking Dhampirs and Alchemists?
One sentence came to Jill's mind and it seemed to speak with Clarence's voice.
Vampire hunters.
Somewhere along the line their conversation had degenerated and Adrian no longer knew what he was yelling at her about.
Sydney, for her part hadn't moved, she was still sitting on his couch, answering his accusations as calmly as she could.
"What if you were dieing huh? Sage? Would you let somebody save you then?" Sydney was sure that the others must be able to hear their conversation, or at least his part of it.
"If that person was a doctor, yes." She answered coolly, her back still ached, if much less then it had before, but she was determined to keep it together she'd been touched enough by magic tonight.
Adrian looked like he wanted to throw something, he stepped towards her, seemed to think better of it and stopped just a few feet from her, his fingers curled into fists, his body shaking. "You are," he paused and seemed to be thinking, "the most stubborn, narrow minded, superstitious, selfish, pathetic, human being I have ever met."
Sydney winced from pain that wasn't physical. Stubborn? Yes, narrow minded? Well duh, selfish? She tried her best not to be, superstitious? She didn't really think that one was so bad. Especially surrounded by vampires. But pathetic? That stuck in her, respect was the most important thing to an Alchemist, she knew. As her father always said, pride was better than happiness.
Yet looking at his burning emerald eyes, she knew he didn't respect her, and god dammit, she cared.
If he hated her, that she could handle, if he found her boring or didn't like her attitude, she could cope, but as much as she hated to admit it, she wanted his respect, needed his respect.
And she no longer had it.
He saw the change in her demeanour at his words and for a moment he regretted them, didn't she understand? How selfish she was being? How fucking scared he'd been when she turned up on his doorstep?
No, he realised looking at her, she didn't.
Just like that the fight seemed to leave him and suddenly he was exhausted, both by the late hour and this argument, without another word he collapsed onto the couch next to her and let his hands hold up his head.
Silence stretched between them
"You were right," her voice was soft and if he hadn't been Moroi he probably wouldn't have heard it. He looked up from his hands.
"About what? The stubborn part?"
She seemed to struggle to get the words out, "No," she swallowed, "about the kiss."
And everyone said he had a tendency to change topics. He watched her then, as closely as he could, the way she sat forward to take pressure off her back, the slump of her shoulders that told him she was done fighting.
She seemed to take his silence as a bad thing, she looked over at him her eyes sad and showing the truth she'd fought against.
"I did want it."
Again, moving must have caused her great pain, but regardless, she didn't seem to regret pressing her lips to his.
Adrian held her like one would piece of glass, convinced she would break under his touch. Neither of them seemed concerned about anything else but each other, the fact that their friends could walk in on them at any moment seemed irrelevant compared the feel of their lips.
When finally they broke apart Adrian was left searching her eyes for answers, when he finally found them, it broke his heart
"But we can never be together."
All the arguments that came to mind seemed to die on his lips and all he could get out was, "Why?"
Pain flashed through her eyes again as she looked at him, mixed with fear, fear of something he could never understand.
Not for her immortal soul. But for her very mortal body and his and her mother's and her sisters. Fear of the Alchemists.
She wouldn't be the only one they would destroy to stop such a union, and she struggled with how to explain this to him. Finally a sad smile settled over her face as she answered.
"Because I'm selfish."
And that is all there was.
