A/N: How about an early update? Yeah? I think so.

Dedicated to:

Lydia Wolfe

For appreciating my existence. Haha! Also for loving this story, and I can't tell you if he lets Sydney know about his vampire side, but I can tell you that something unexpected is going to happen. Thanks for reviewing and hope to see more reviews from you.

Alright, let's get on with the story! Yay!

Sydney's POV

I was happier today than I have been in a long time. I got to school today with a huge smile on my face, and practically a skip in my step. Kristin and Julia knew the instant they saw me that Adrian had to do everything with my good mood.

"I take it you found him?" Kris asked. I smiled and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you so much for finding him for me." I say, and she giggles, hugging me back.

"So everything is good between you two?" Jules asked and I nodded pulling back.

"Yeah, everything is fine between us; it's just my dad's issues that we have to deal with." They nod agreeing.

"Is he coming to your graduation party?" Kris asked. I sighed, shrugging.

"I hope he does, but of course my dad is going to be there." I say. They sigh too, knowing the drama spelled out there.

"Are you going to see Adrian today?" Julia asked. That at least made me smile.

"Yeah, I'm going to meet his dad Friday." I say. They both let out a series of gasps.

"His dad?" Julia asked.

"You two must be serious then." Kris smiled brightly. I laugh at that and shake my head.

"I don't know about that. Adrian is just talking to his dad about some business, and I'm tagging along. It's not official or anything." I explain but they share a look saying otherwise.

"Whatever Sydney." They both laugh as the bell rings. I roll my eyes and follow them to class.

I sat on the desk chair as Adrian sat in front of me painting my face. We had argued about face painting, and he decided to prove his point and pain something on my face. He wouldn't let me look at it until it was finished.

"Why am I letting you do this again?" I asked. He chuckled.

"Because I am an artists." He said, like that answered everything.

"Oh, right." I say sarcastically as he finishes up the face paint and lets me get up to check it out.

"What do you think?" he asks.

I turn my face and look at his work. It was a golden colored flower. A lily to be exact. I smiled; it looked just like my dad's.

"I love it." I say, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled and ran his thumb across my unpainted cheek.

"Let's get a picture of it before we wash it off." I say. He gave me a confused look.

"Why would we wash it off?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Because we are about to meet up with your dad." I say like it was obvious. He then looks at his watch in surprise. That look didn't make me feel good.

"Yeah, we're late." He said, grabbing his jacket and keys.

"What?" I asked blankly.

"Yeah, we have to go now." He said. I stared at him unbelieving.

"I can't meet your dad with this on my face!" I shrieked pointing at my cheek. He laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the door.

"Don't worry about it. He won't say anything about it, trust me." He says. With an irritated sigh, I grabbed my coat and followed him out the door.

We got to the restaurant, and Adrian made me promise not to say anything unless I was directly spoken to, and if I didn't know the answer I would have to just stay silent. What was this, some type of Godfather that I was meeting?

As we got closer to the table, and I got a look at Adrian's father, Nathan Ivashkov as I remember, I suddenly felt as if I were meeting the Godfather. Nathan was dressed in a black suit with a red tie, his graying hair slicked back, and his emerald green eyes seemed to pierce right through us as we got closer.

"Adrian." Nathan called, standing up and then looked over at me. "Who is this?" he asked. Adrian looked over at me, and I gave him a quick nod before extending my hand out towards Nathan.

"Sydney Sage." I simply said. Nathan shook my head, eyeing the face paint.

"Sage? Are you the daughter of Jared Sage?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." I answered. Nathan nodded, and then turned back to Adrian.

"Why do you have an Alchemist escorting you? Are you that much in trouble?" he asked, sounding convinced. I looked at Adrian, about to ask him what Alchemist was meant by, but then remembered Adrian's orders. I stayed quiet.

Adrian sighed, closing his eyes.

"It's for work dad, you wouldn't understand." Adrian said. Work? Should I find that offensive?

"What work requires for you to have,"

"My work. Now drop it." Adrian said, and even Nathan was taken aback by Adrian's aggressive tone. "Can we get to what you really wanted to talk to me about now?" he asked, getting impatient.

I could tell that neither of these two men appreciated their time together. They were both easily bothered by the other. I swear, if they didn't look alike, you would think they would be enemies, not father and son.

"Alright. Sit." Nathan ordered. We all sat down, and I sat down closer to Adrian than Nathan.

"So, what is it?" Adrian asked. Nathan sighed, folding his hands on the table in front of him.

"Adrian, I'm sick." Nathan said. Adrian snorted at this news, but Nathan just looked at him. "I mean that I'm so sick that I'm dying." He said. Adrian stared at his father for a while, trying to figure out if his old man was telling the truth or bluffing.

"You're kidding." Adrian said. Nathan shook his head.

"Wish I was, but I'm as serious as I can be." He said. Adrian looked at his plate in front of him not able to say anything. "I didn't come just so you could hear I was dying." Nathan said, regaining Adrian's attention.

"The council is already talking about my replacement." Nathan began, looking almost pained by the idea. "Out of everyone in our family line, your name came up." He said. Adrian looked up at his father shocked. "It came to a shock to me as well." Nathan added. Adrian rolled his eyes and sat back.

"Should it have been? Lissa must have said something." Adrian assumed, and I pictured Lissa in my mind when he mentioned her. What did she have to do with this?

"Lissa, Queen or not, does not have the authority to elect you Representative of the Ivashkov line. That is the responsibility of our own family." Nathan put in.

Wait, Lissa is a queen? I look at Adrian, but he looked annoyed by what his father said.

"She doesn't have authority, but she does have a say in who it could be." He replied to his father.

"And you think she was right mentioning your name?" he asked. Adrian snorted.

"No, she would be out of her mind."

"Well it seems that some of our line is out of their minds, because they agree with her that you should become the next Lord over the Ivashkov royal family." Nathan nearly shouted, and he looked at me quickly before collecting himself again.

"This is why I am here. I need you to come back and take up this responsibility." He said. Adrian right out laughed.

"I'm not going to accept the title." He said.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want it. I like my life here. Why would I go back?" he asked. Nathan looked at him a little angered.

"Because you were nominated, and we expect you to be a man and step up to your responsibility." He said. Adrian sighed, looking already done with this conversation.

"Look, we both know I don't want this and there isn't any way I would take it. So why try to push me into it?" Adrian asked.

"Because I believe that this responsibility is good for you and is exactly what you need to shape up your pig sty you call a life."

My mouth gaped open a little. That was a little harsh to say to your son. I wasn't surprised when Adrian slammed his fist on the table and stood up quickly.

"My life is just fine, and I don't need you telling me that it's not. Sorry you're sick, but don't expect me to come back to court any time soon." Adrian said and took a step away from the table, which was my cue to follow.

"Adrian." Nathan called sternly, but Adrian didn't take it and began walking out, me following.

Once we hit the pavement outside, I grabbed Adrian, stopping him from stomping off. He turned to me, and he had anger all over his face.

"Are you okay?" I ask, but he turns away and continues to walk down the sidewalk.

"Adrian." I call for him, but he continues to walk. "Adrian." I shout, and grab for him again. "Talk to me." I beg, looking him in the eyes. He sighed, taking my hands in his and squeezing them tightly.

"I'm sorry. He just gets on my nerves sometimes." He said, trying to laugh it off, but I could see his pain. I ran my hand through his hair, trying to comfort him.

"It's okay. I know how it is." I say, and he smiles leaning down to kiss me, but then pulls back before he does. I look at him curiously as he drops my hands and looks out towards the street.

"We should probably get going." He said, and began walking to the car. I followed not understanding the sudden mood swings.

We got into the car and I went over the whole conversation in my head. I then caught on some words that didn't make sense to me. Alchemist? Council? Lord? What was Lissa being Queen? Queen of what? I looked over at Adrian as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to the motel.

"Adrian?" I called. He gave me a quick look to let me know that he was listening. I reached in my bag for some face wipes that I just realized I had and began wiping the face paint off my face.

"What was all that talk in the restaurant?" I asked. Adrian gave me a quick glance and smirked.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. I turned to look at him.

"Why did your father call me an Alchemist?" I asked. Adrian looked at his blind spot before switching lanes, which he rarely ever did.

"It's just a nickname he usually calls the girls I'm with." He said, and I knew he had lied to me by the way his eyes kept shifting.

"And the Council?" I asked.

"Codenames for his work." He answered simply. I looked at him not buying it.

"And Lissa being called a queen, and you getting nominated for Lordship over your family?" I ask. Adrian sighs, making a left turn.

"Does any of this really matter to you?" he asks. I was taken by surprise by that question.

"Of course it does; it's part of your life. Why wouldn't it matter to me?" I say. Adrian shakes his head.

"That part of my life I want nowhere near you. I didn't even want you to come with me today." He said, and I sat back in my seat, amazed at how he wanted to keep his own life a secret.

"So you can know basically everything about me, but I can't know anything about yours?" I say, shaking my head. "Unbelievable."

"You do know things about my life, you know about Rose." I laughed dryly.

"Knowing about your ex-girlfriend is supposed to make up for all that?"

"My life is complicated, even for me. You don't need to be mixed into it." He says, and I glare at him. He gives me a quick glance, and does a double take. "What?"

"I don't need to be mixed into your life?" I asked. It took him awhile to realize what he said. "What are you saying Adrian? That I'm not part of your life? That I don't deserve to be a part of it?" I asked. He sighed, closing his eyes for a quick second, regretting his choice of words.

"You know that isn't what I mean." He said.

"Then what do you mean, Adrian?" I asked, getting a bit angry.

"I mean that my past is my past, and you don't want to get mixed into it. I'm not saying I don't want you in my life. I think I've made it clear that I do want you in my life." He said, parking the car in the motel parking lot.

We both got out of the car, and the sun was done setting now, leaving us in the dark. Adrian began walking towards the room, but I wasn't done here.

"So you're saying I can't know anything else about your past?" I say, following him up to the room.

"Basically, yeah." He answered, walking up the stairs.

"Why? Why keep it all a secret from me?" I ask. He continued to walk to his room, and took out the room key. "Adrian." I say his name icily. He groans and turns to me.

"Why are you so set on trying to get to know my past? Why not let it go?" he asks.

"Because, Adrian, when you love someone you want to get to know them. All of them. Nothing in your past can drive me away." I say, breathing hard, my anger starting to get the best of me.

"That's just it." He said, looking at me almost guiltily. "I know it will." He said, opening the door to his room.

"Adrian." I shout, slipping my way inside the room before he had a chance to shut me out. I couldn't let this go. There was something about his past that he was hiding from me, and I wanted to know what it was.

"Sydney, please." Adrian begged, running his hands through his hair. "Please stop asking, I can't tell you." He said. I stood near the door as he paced the room.

"Can't tell me or won't?" I practically growl.

He looks at me, anger pure on his expressions now. He walked to me with great speed, and slammed his fist on the wall next to my head. The hit was so loud I was surprised that he didn't punch a hole in the wall.

"Can't. I can't tell you. It's the only way in protecting you." He growled.

"Protecting me from what?" I ask.

He looks into my eyes, and as I stare into the green ocean of his I begin to lose myself. They were filled with sorrow, and grief, but mostly fear.

"From me." He says, his voice just a whisper.

I stare up at him, feeling my anger melt away. I start to shake, and my hands find a way up to his chest. I can see that he honestly believed that he was going to hurt me. I didn't want him to feel like that. I wanted him to know that I felt safe with him.

"Adrian." I whisper, before grabbing his collar and pulling him towards me. Our lips meeting in a deep passionate kiss.

A/N: Was that good or what? So I'm thinking about creating a separate one-shot for the next chapter. Yes, if it weren't already obvious Sydney's night has come. So next chapter is going to be full of some lemony goodness…but not too much detail for all you readers who don't like the rated M stuff.

That is why I am creating a separate one-shot lemon to post up for those of you who don't mind reading that stuff. Okay!

Hope this chapter was good for you all, and I hope to see reviews and questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I answer anything! It's true.

Okay, until next time.

Safe Sailing Readers. ;D