A/N; Just a small note, that I'm going to ignore Sydney's 'magic' in this story, one plotline too many. Thanks for all your comments guys, always welcome, good or bad.

Chapter 4

"Morning Jailbait."

"Ahh!" Jill almost fell from her perch in her bed at Adrian's abrupt appearance, he had plopped down at the end of her quilt, surprising her from sleep and scaring the living day lights out of her.

From across the room, Angeline launched their alarm clock at his head, which the Moroi Lord promptly dodged.

Jill opened a bleary eye and looked at him, he seemed as normal as ever and was munching on a bagel which was getting crumbs all over her bed spread, a Starbucks bag in his hand announced the presence of more breakfast treats, he wagged it at her tauntingly. "Time to rise and shine, I've got big plans for this evening."

"This evening?" Jill moaned, there was a cute guy in her room and she wasn't even wearing make-up, "why on earth did you have to wake us up twelve hours in advance?"

It was the last day of term and classes didn't start for—Jill glanced awkwardly at the abandoned alarm clock that now lay on the floor—three hours, what the hell could be so urgent? And for that matter…

"How did you even get here?" Adrian gave her a blithe look. "You didn't use compulsion did you?"

He snorted, "Please Jillian, I don't need magic to get into a girls bedroom." Jill blushed at the insinuation, "Well," he paused dramatically, "not that kind of magic."

"You came in through the window!" Angeline groused from the other bed, the Dhamphir had a pillow stuffed over her head and her voice was a little muffled.

Jill looked at Adrian curiously who shrugged, "Only after Nurse Ratchet refused to let me passed the door."

Jill giggled, some of her tiredness receding, she pulled her pillow into her lap and gestured for a bagel, which Adrian handed to her. "So what's happening tonight?" she asked, taking a bite.

Adrian beamed, "We're going clubbing my dear, I want to show you guys the delights of LA, we live a few miles out from one of the hottest cities in the world and have yet to explore it." He tisked exaggeratedly.

Jill gave him a sceptical look, "Good luck getting that one past Sydney and Eddie." Although, the idea did sound appealing and Jill was all for a little holiday mischief.

Adrian nodded, finishing off his breakfast, in one too large bite. "Which is why I'm here so early grasshopper, it's going to take us the rest of the day to convince either one, or both of them and even then I'm sure Sage will find some way to be a stick in the mud."

Jill gave him a disapproving look, "Don't be mean Adrian." She chided.

"I wasn't." he said honestly, "and I'm sure Sydney would pride herself on her lack of fun-ability, it's like an Alchemist gold star or something."

At that moment Angeline managed to free herself from the thrall of trying to get back to sleep, and sat up in her bed, the Dhamphirs hair was a mess but she still seemed threatening, even in sleep clothes, she pointed a finger at Adrian's Starbucks bag acquiescingly. "There better be one of those in there for me."

Adrian beamed at her, holding out the bag before looking sly, "Well of course my dear, as long as you promise to help."

A bargain was struck.

When Sydney had been pulled from class the last day of term, she received several envious looks. The day had as of yet been unproductive, the holidays drawing focus from long division or history and the others wished they could get an early mark as well.

Trey, "Oohed," at her jokingly as she walked past him to where the headmaster was standing. She didn't even bother glaring at him in response as she slipped from the classroom.

A tall man was standing already in the hall; he had dark hair which was beginning to show the signs of age, dark grey eyes and most importantly, a golden lily tattoo.

"Mr Meyers is from the college, they're considering you for a scholarship." The headmaster said gleefully, it was a pretty good cover story and Sydney tried to match his enthusiasm. "I'll leave you two alone."

He was going to be so disappointed. The second he was gone from sight, Sydney turned to her colleague and extended her hand. "Sydney Sage." He nodded, eyes passing over the small, mostly healed cut on her forehead, he seemed to be studying her.

"Let's walk."

Horace Meyers seemed to be far more comfortable in the sun then the temperature should allow, especially in long sleeves and high collars although it was nice to find someone her shared her passion for snappy dressing. "You wanted to know about the Moroi from LA?" he asked.

"In particular any that didn't specialise, I realise it's a long time ago and a lot to remember—"

"I know the one you mean." Sydney blinked, that was entirely too easy. "His name was Dallas Badica."

"Of the Badica family?"

"Yes, he had a sister Chloe—" he cut off so quickly she would have thought it was compulsion, especially by the way his eyes went wide. For a moment there was a far away look in his eyes.

Then, just like that he was back to normal. "He never specialised, but had low level control over all four of the elements."

Still frowning at his odd behaviour, Sydney nodded slowly, that followed with what she knew, both Vasilisa and Adrian had mediocre control in all the elements. "How do you remember him so well? Did you know him?"

"No." that sounded like a lie.

"Okay," Sydney said slowly, "do you remember anything he had to do with Strigoi?" at the last word, Horace tensed up so much that had he been piano wire he would have snapped.

Sydney could see the cords in his neck tightening, she'd seen plenty of Alchemist's wigg out at the mention of their undead enemies, even had a few personal hang-ups herself but this was a little extreme.

"No." Horace finally answered.

Seeing he still seemed uncomfortable she moved onto slightly easier questions which eventually left her with little more then she had before, asides from the name. They had gotten half way across the campus by that time and stopped under a shaded fig tree for a break.

Sydney watched her fellow Alchemist closely, in search of answers to the many questions he had drummed up, chief of which was, "Why did you have to come all this way?"

He looked at her, and his hair looked darker in the shade. He seemed to be sizing her up. "You know how it is." He said finally, "you go where they tell you to go."

She crossed her arms, "That's my point, they don't do anything without a reason, taking you from your post all the way out here just for a little chat seems extreme." And it was but with his odd behaviour Sydney was starting to suspect that this had more to do with him being in trouble then her. Maybe it was some kind of punishment.

In any case, he seemed uncomfortable with this line of questioning and kept fiddling with his collar.

Before she had the chance to grill him further a voice from across the quad yelled out, "Hey Sydney!" the younger Alchemist looked up to spy Jill bounding towards her, face alight with happiness. Eddie and Angeline trailed, as always, not far behind her. More surprisingly, so did Adrian.

As the young Moroi reached them Sydney felt Horace take two quick steps back, so his back was to the fig tree. Jill spared him a smile which he did not return.

"Who's your friend?" Jill asked.

Friend was a stretch but she didn't dislike Horace like she had Keith so she let it slide, "Jill this is Horace, Horace this is Jillian Dragomir." Her voice all business. The princess winced at the use of her full name but still managed to say.

"Nice to meet you."

Horace didn't reply with words but instead a stiff nod, as Eddie and the others caught up, his demeanour soured further. Sydney could definitely see why he had been shipped to Nebraska if this was the way he got around the 'good' vampires.

"Oh look, another Alchemist," Angeline said, her derision for their kind dripping from every word. "How fun."

"This one's not as cute, though." Adrian chimed in, his expression no different to when he always joked although Sydney recognised the words were meant for her.

To distract she quickly redid introductions, Horace however, seemed to be getting more stressed as the conversation went on.

"Aren't you uncomfortable in that get up?" Adrian wondered, looking sceptically at Horace's suit.

Ready to defend her fellow human, Sydney stepped in, "Says the man wearing silk."

He looked affronted, "At least I took off my tie Sage."

"I should get going," that was Horace who seemed to have finally regained the ability to speak, he looked at Sydney and for a second she thought she saw a warning flash in his eyes. Was he concerned for her? Why? But then it was gone and he was shaking her hand stiffly. "We'll talk later Miss Sage." Would they? That was news to her.

The other watched him go curiously, "Are all humans that uptight or is it just Alchemists?"

"Shut up Adrian." Her lack of quippy retort seemed to surprise him, he watched her closely for a second, wondering what was on her mind.

As Sydney watched her fellow Alchemist retreat she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something.

Had he been trying to warn her?

"No."

"Yes."

"I'd rather take out my eyes with a rusty nail."

"That would be unnecessary." She glared at him. "Come on Sage, one dance."

"Not on your life."

It seemed the news Jill had meant to share with her that afternoon was an impromptu LA vacation Adrian had organised, well okay, more like he had came up with it on the spot when he'd been bored and sober.

Now they stood in the centre of one of LA's hottest night clubs, music pounding in their ears, light flashing overhead. Jill and Eddie were dancing somewhere in the crowd, the latter not willingly to let his princess out of sight in such a location. Angeline had at some point found more then one hot guy to slip away with before Sydney and her morals could stop her.

The Alchemist now had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, the position twinging the recovering muscles in her back, as Adrian pleaded with her. If he had any brains he would ask someone else, more then a few scantily dressed girls were giving him a second look, but no, he seemed to have decided to annoy her instead.

Despite the fact that she probably would have rather liked to dance with him, it wasn't really an option, she couldn't dance and refused point blank to try.

"You're no fun Sage." He whined. She wasn't sure how many drinks the Moroi had consumed, but was sure it was more then enough, at the moment he was standing uncomfortably close to her and her heart rate was beginning to pick up.

She turned her lust into sarcasm, "How is this news to you?" her outfit was getting more then a few looks from the other patrons, she'd refused to borrow one of Jill's flashy dresses for the occasion and wore her usual button down blouse but had finally relented to wearing a pair of jeans and simple black heels that she wore most of the time anyway.

Adrian sulked into the chair next to her at the bar; he of course was dressed perfectly for the occasion, and ordered another drink, this time a Bloody Mary. Sydney made a face at the name and he laughed.

"Hey hotness, you wanna dance?" it took Sydney several moments to realize that the voice was directed at her and only Adrian's unimpressed face convinced her, she spun around to face its owner and promptly balked at the muscly guy that now stood in front of her.

She struggled for a second. "No…thankyou."

Adrian snorted into his drink and she shot him a glare, frankly this was all his fault, if he hadn't convinced the others that holidays needed celebration and that oh yes of course he could compel the bouncers into believing they were all twenty one (much to Sydney's protest) none of this would be happening.

"Why not?" the unnamed guy asked, with a frown on his face, his too gelled hair reminded her of Keith and she almost gagged.

"Because I don't know how," she answered honestly, leaving out the part where she wouldn't go near a guy like him with a ten foot pole. Believe it or not she wasn't new to this experience, hanging out in Russian nightclubs had led to more then a few encounters with humans and even once a Dhamphir who had wanted to 'try' the American girl.

"That's not a very good answer."

Adrian stood up and for a moment Sydney thought she was going to have to break up a fight before he caught her hand and pulled her against him suddenly. "And because she's already dancing with me Paco." And before she could stop him, Adrian had tugged her into the crowd of dancers and they'd left her ill-fated pick-up artist behind.

Once finally they had found a small space to call their own, Adrian stopped but didn't release his hold on her, the proximity of the other dancers meant she was standing entirely in his personal space. "I could have handled that."

He grinned down at her, and his eyes looked especially green under the strobe light, "I know Sage but I like being gallant, don't spoil it for me."

"Yeah but—"

"You let that Ian guy do it but I can't." he commented.

Sydney paused confused. "Ian, what do you mean?"

He laughed at her lightly, "I was there remember, when Stan was interrogating you that Alchemist bloke looked like he wanted to put you over his shoulder and take you back to his cave."

She slapped him on the shoulder, grateful that on the darkened dance floor he couldn't see her blush. Rose had once said the same thing, albeit more tactfully. Ian was an Alchemist, superior to her own age and rank, and actually might be useful contact for her to figure out the Horace mystery, she promised to call him later.

"I'll let you be gallant if you drop this conversation." She offered making him laugh, as the song from the speakers changed.

"Done." He grinned, pulling her closer to him as another couple, who looked completely drunk, squeezed passed.

"I hate dancing," she admitted. In a voice only his Moroi hearing could pick up.

He smirked at her, "Well, I thought you'd prefer to dance with me then that beefcake back there."

That was certainly the case but she wasn't going to admit that, the last thing Adrian Ivashkov needed was an ego stroke. "I don't even know why either one of you would want to dance with me." She muttered honestly.

Adrian seemed to contemplate her for a second before the tiniest smile lit his lips, "Abe was right," he began, making Sydney pause, "you women really have no idea the power you wield."

Then he spun her and she happily avoided answering that statement and explaining why her stomach had jumped at the look in his eye when he spoke.

Part of her loved being barely millimetres from him, their bodies touching but the rest of her mind still screamed vampire. Here under the lights wearing a silk shirt and with ultra-mussed hair she couldn't think of anyone more unthreatening the Adrian Ivashkov.

He was staring at her again. And she felt her smile fade as she got caught up in him again, it wasn't fair and it's wasn't right; she was the one who had put the kibosh on their budding romance? Friendship? Whatever the hell had been happening between them. It wasn't fair to him or to her heart to keep feeling this way.

He leaned even closer to her, his breath brushing the golden lily on her cheek, "I don't mind." Had he read her thoughts?

"Just one dance Sage, it won't mean anything." That was of course a lie, but he was willing to suffer the pain later for the pleasure now and she didn't seem to be able to move away from him.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and against her better judgement nodded, letting him hold her tighter as he taught her to dance.

"Where are Sydney and Adrian?" Jill called over the music to Eddie, this pounding human sound had done a number on her sensitive hearing and she and Eddie had retreated back to the bar for a slight reprieve, the Moroi girl had expected to find their friends here, but who were no where in sight.

He shrugged, clearing a space at the bar for her and ordering two waters, "Don't know, Sydney's sensibilities probably got offended and she's back in the car, Adrian's probably…well actually I don't want know what Adrian's doing or whom he's doing it with."

Jill laughed, but a third voice interrupted their conversation, "Probably each other." Angeline snorted as she slid over to them; the Dhamphir girl had no problem showing a little skin and was already being mentally devoured by several of the men nearby.

Jill looked shocked while Eddie snorted with derision, "Maybe where you come from Angie"—she glared at him, hating the nickname he had given her—"but in civilised society, humans and Moroi don't get together, especially not Alchemist humans."

Angeline's dark look turned pitiful as if he was a small child. "Don't be so naive, just because they don't do it public where you little pure darlings could be offended doesn't means it doesn't happen." She crossed her arms, "Paulette could tell you some stories I bet," she smirked, "there are more then a few vampires out there who get their rocks off by screwing and feeding at the same time. How do you think our kind was created cousin?" she asked Eddie darkly, mimicking the Moroi use of the word cousin.

"And," Eddie asked, without missing a beat. "What about Alchemists. Have you ever heard of them getting down and dirty with vampires?"

Angeline snorted, as a human guy nearby eyed her up, "No, but then they'd have to relax for two second to get their play. Never gonna happen."

"My point," Eddie turned to Jill, "is that I'm sure Sydney and Adrian are around here somewhere, you don't feel anything concerning through the bond do you?"

Jill seemed to just then recall this gift of hers and Angeline rolled her eyes before turning to order a drink as Jill took a breath and tried to calm herself.

She felt…happiness, no, it was more then that, completeness, she couldn't really describe it but where ever Adrian was he was more then okay, she quickly retreated from his head and smiled reassuringly at Eddie, "He's fine thanks." He smiled in return, "But what about Sydney?"

"Don't worry," Angeline answered, "if someone came across her in a dark alley she could always just bore them to death."

Eddie laughed and Jill momentarily forgot about her worries, Adrian's feelings of contentment slipping into hers.

"I swear to God if you get sick in my car, I'll will you throw out, I don't care what speed we're going." Sydney had never been so appalled and her fear for Latte was paramount. Adrian sat slumped in her passenger's seat, his eyes heavy and his breath rancid.

"We're not far," Jill tried to say encouragingly, she was looking a little green around the gills herself, despite not drinking a drop of alcohol. "He should make it."

"Yeah, back to the school," Sydney said glancing in her review mirror so she could see the two Dhamphirs and the Moroi princess, "but how the hell am I supposed to get him into his apartment?"

Angeline shrugged, turning to look out the window at the traffic, "Don't ask me, I suggest chucking him, much easier."

Jill glared at her, while Adrian started playing with the radio; Sydney quickly slapped his hand away. "Don't even think about it vampire boy." He pouted.

Although he had meant his previous promise to quit drinking, it had seemed insignificant once Sydney had stepped away from him that night and he was reminded again, that she wasn't his and never could be. A few shots of tequila had done enough to numb the ache in his chest.

When they finally made it back to Amberwood campus and the others piled out it was left to Sydney to deal with Adrian, although the school was technically on holidays and many of the students had returned home for the holidays the teachers were being even more vigilant and Sydney doubted wether she could really sneak the drunk Moroi past her dorm warden but once he started dry heaving in the bushes her mind was made up.

There was no way she was subjecting her poor car to that any longer, so with frustrated patience, she grabbed him under the arms and hauled him to her dorm, where they were indeed stopped by the matron, Mrs Weathers.

She took one look at Adrian and tapped the big yellow sign taped to her desk. 'No male students are permitted past this line. Trespassers will be shot.'

Sydney grimaced. She shrugged Adrian across to her other side so she could give her left shoulder a break, her aching back reminding her, that indeed Sonya hadn't healed all her wounds from the previous week. "He's my brother," she explained, "he was supposed to go back to his place tonight, but well…if I let him go now who knows where he'll turn up."

"Another brother?" Mrs Weathers asked, fortunately she didn't seem to remember Adrian from his last late night escapade to her room. Only Jill's, this morning. "You lot breed like rabbits."

Sydney frowned but as usual didn't disagree, "Yes ma'am," she was struggling with his weight now and finally decided just to drop him where she stood, Adrian promptly rested his head against Mrs Weathers desk and started sleeping.

Fortunately this seemed to sway her decision, she frowned but finally nodded at Sydney, "Fine, but I want him gone by the morning and any mess he makes you'll be cleaning up." Sydney winced but nodded.

"Yes ma'am."

Getting Adrian into her room hadn't been too difficult but once she had deposited him on the ground at the foot of her bed she was more then ready for bed and was just getting under the covers when Adrian spoke.

"Sage, you're not really leaving me down here are you?" he sounded so pitiful she sighed, annoyed and crawled her way to the foot of her bed so she could peer down at him,

"You seemed perfectly happy five minutes ago."

"That was before I woke up."

"Obviously."

Adrian rubbed his shoulders in exaggeration, "Its cold down here."

She rolled her eyes and threw him a pillow, "I thought alcohol was supposed to keep you warm? And by the way, if Jill has a hangover tomorrow I'm going to kick you." She warned.

Adrian tucked the pillow under his head, "Anything else you can do?" he asked despairingly.

"Would you like a mint?"

"You'll do." He answered.

Sydney's body tensed, damn him, could he make this any more difficult? She knew that this was her fault, she shouldn't have danced with him tonight, never have let him hold her so close or touch her in the way he had.

"Adrian," she started.

"I told you to stop saying my name like that."

She huffed. "Go to sleep Adrian."

He didn't reply but she could tell he was annoyed with her, well too bad, she thought as she slipped back under the covers.

It would take her hours to get to sleep and not because there was a vampire at the foot of her bed but because his name was Adrian Ivashkov and he was no longer an irrelevant party boy.

A knock came at the door before the first light of sun had even appeared; the sky was still a purplish colour outside her window. She suspected that the intruder was Mrs Weathers come to get rid of their interloper but instead found Horace on the other side of her door.

Unfortunately for her, he happened to see Adrian tangled up on her floor and his eyes went wide, before she could react he had grabbed her by the arms and swung her into the hall, for a few moments she thought he was angry until she got a good look at his face and instead saw fear.

He was afraid of a drunk, hung-over Adrian?

Horace pushed her away from the door, pressing her body against the wall, shielding her with his, he looked at her frantically, "What is it?" he asked, "What has he done to you?"

Sydney stuttered, she needed her coffee so early in the morning to be able to think, "What? Nothing, he hasn't done anything." She knew she would be in trouble, perhaps even slandered a vamp lover again if he reported this to their bosses but he looked frantic and afraid not judgemental. He looked into her eyes and she was rather uncomfortable at how close he was standing and how tightly he was holding her arms.

"He didn't compel you? You're sure? Try to think, it's what they do you know, they trick your mind, put their own words in and make you think it's your voice speaking."

Sydney stared, his little tangent reminded her of the times Adrian would go on one of his spirit induced rants, and Horace was looking at her so intently it took her a moment to realize what was right in front of her face.

His neck, now exposed where his collar had slipped, was covered with scars. Vampire bites.

She should have recognised it before, the odd moments of blankness, the serious fear of Strigoi, her fathers' involvement and the fact that he was here, when it was so inconvenient for him not to be.

Horace Meyers had been re-educated and he was a warning to her.

She'd be next.

She'd only known a few and heard stories of others who had returned from those centres, they all had these odd moments, sometimes in the middle of conversations, where they seemed to fade away, there was perpetual fear in their eyes and she had heard, bites all over their bodies, not just their necks, but their wrists, their chests, wherever blood flowed.

There were rumours that the Alchemists used vampires in their re-education centres. A necessary evil, just like their tattoos.

And it looked like they were true.

"Sage?"

Damn it all to hell. Adrian stepped into the hallway, his hair mussed, eyes blood shot, his clothes wrinkled from the night he had spent on her floor, but he took one look at her current situation and sobered up.

He punched the other Alchemist in the face before she could stop him and although he wasn't guardian level good, he was still a vampire, his strength compared to humans was enough to knock Horace to the ground.

"Adrian, no!" Sydney cried, her mind was still spinning, she tried to reach for him, to stop him, how could she explain? But Adrian continued forward stepping towards the prone Alchemist who was looking at him with such a terrible fear.

Then he bore his fangs.

"Adrian!" she grabbed him by the back of the collar making him yelp and swung him out of the way, pushing him down the hall, "Get away!" he stared at her in shock, not understanding in the least, she would worry about his feelings later but right now Horace's need was more urgent.

The second he had seen the fangs, it was like a light switch had been flicked, a sob passed his lips and his eyes became unfocused, his knees were wrapped to his chest his limbs shaking and Sydney had to watch helplessly as a grown man cried.

"What…" Adrian breathed.

She couldn't believe he was still here, couldn't he see that he was the nightmare here? She turned on him.

"Get out!" she didn't care if anyone heard her raised voice, "Get out now Adrian!"

He looked at her once more.

"Go!"

And he was gone.

Sydney forgot him and instead turned to the crying man on the ground, it was…a panic attack? She guessed, the other re-educated Alchemists she had known had had similar incidents, she remembered a Minsk nightclub in Belarus, it had just been some Goth teenager with plastic fangs but it had been enough.

She hadn't been any help then, she wasn't now.

She touched his arm and Horace whimpered such a pathetic sound. She breathed his name and he was finally able to look at her, perhaps her brown eyes and flat teeth calmed him but again he started shaking, this time she awkwardly wrapped her arms around him. He was too large for them to fit all the way.

She held him all the time knowing that this had been their intention all along, her father's maybe or maybe not, for her to see.

What the Alchemists did to people who got mixed up with vampires.

It wasn't till later that night that she returned to her dorm, she'd be gone the whole day and had no way of knowing what had become of Adrian, she only hoped he could understand when she apologised later.

"I knew when they sent me…you seemed like a nice girl."

It was then to her surprise that she found him sitting on her bed, reading one of her books, seemingly not noticing her presence.

"There's still hope for you…don't fall for their tricks, get them outta your head, you think they're your friends, they're not."

"Adrian?"

"Chloe…I thought." She knew what he had thought; she wasn't to that place with Adrian yet.

"Sydney." Not Sage.

Love.

"Is he?"

"In Nebraska, the Alchemists won't be hearing about this." She sighed.

Silence descended and Sydney suddenly felt weary to her bones, she wanted nothing but to collapse into her bed and cry.

"You're next."

The words had consumed her all day as she made arrangements for Horace to get out of town, as she had driven Latte back to the school and as she ignored the ring of her cell phone displaying her fathers ID.

Had this been his idea?

Was this a warning? A straighten up and fly right and maybe you'll get to keep your self, or a threat? Was her case already closed?

She was so caught up it took her a moment to notice Adrian was off the bed and standing in front of her now, the book he had been reading left open, Dracula by Bram Stroker, she tried to laugh but it came out as a sob and in the next second she was in his arms, crying into his shirt.

His hold was surprisingly strong, his heartbeat surprisingly loud, she clung to him, loosing track of time when finally he whispered in her ear. "It was meant for you, wasn't it?" his voice cracked.

He didn't need to see her face to know the answer, so when he pulled back and he looked at her, she had never seen him so serious. He pressed his forehead to hers. "That is not going to happen." When he said it like that she almost believed it. "Whatever it takes."

Then he kissed her on the forehead and pulled away from her, she could tell it took all his will to do, as he walked to her door and out. It took every ounce of strength he had not to run back to her.

But he had meant it.

Too keep her safe, he would do anything, even stay away from her.

So that's what he did.

He was selfish like that.