'Adrian?'

'Err… hey little dhampir,' he said awkwardly.

'Were you preparing to stab me with that fork or were you just practicing your statue of liberty pose?' I taunted, grinning.

'I'll have you know that this is actually a weapon of mass destruction.'

'What does it contain explosives or something?' I smirked.

He scoffed, 'you obviously haven't practiced in the art of forking yet. Don't worry, I'm a black belt, I can teach you.' He smiled as if he was remembering some moment he had in combat. He then tried to spin the fork in his fingers but it fell onto the floor of the air lock, making a loud clink in the process.

'Aren't you going to show me around your humble abode Rose? I should of known you would have a base situated behind enemy lines.' He then reached down, picked up the fork and tucked it into the waistband of his pants.

'This Moroi is armed and ready.'

'Well since I am going to have to spend four hours locked in here with you, I might as well.'
I showed him around the rooms but his eyes looked bored at all of the money that was flashed at every possibility. Had Adrian lost interest in money? No, that was impossible wasn't it? Having him around made things feel almost normal in these absurd circumstances and almost made me forget…

'Adrian, why are you here? How is Jill? Why is Sydney here? How could you leave them?' I felt the questions pour out of my mouth becoming more and more accusatory no matter how undeserved they were.

'Rose. Please calm down, Jailbait is fine, she is with Eddie and the rest of the crew. Sydney and I only came because Lissa needed our help. Help that would never have been granted by her dhampirs.'

'But why would you put Sydney in danger? Wait, was she using magic earlier?'
Adrian's eyes shifted around the room.

'You know Rose you could really use some air freshener in this room, I could recommend some if you would like.'

'Don't change the subject Adrian; and when did you get so interested in air freshener? Are you even the real Adrian and not just some strigoi forcing a magic user to conjure a false image?'

'Wow Rose what's with all the questions are you really that hormonal?'

I scowled at him and let the subject drop. There were more important things that needed my attention right now.

I sat down in front of the screen and started switching through cameras again.

'I need to get myself one of these.' Adrian gawped at all the information on the screen.

'What does this do?'

'Don't touch Adrian.'

I slapped his hand away but not before he touched the screen. Suddenly a booming voice entered the room. We were able to hear the conversation that the strigoi were having.

'Master, we must send our forces after them straight away, we cannot afford to let them go,' a large strigoi said his gentle voice contrasting with his dramatic appearance. Nickolas brandished his hand immediately rejecting the idea.

'No, no we must make them believe that we are stronger than they think. I have a much better idea, we are going moroi hunting and we are going to broadcast the sport for the whole society to see.'

Adrian's face was pale, too pale even for a moroi. It was as if he had died and been brought back as a ghost.

'Adrian,' I waved my hand in front of his face. 'What's wrong, we already knew they were hunting them.'

He gulped.

'Rose, this is far worse than anything they have done before. A moroi hunt is a hunt in which all strigoi join together and make a game out of killing moroi. There are no rules and the moroi are hopelessly outnumbered. Its similar to herding sheep only it's fear stimulated and the end result is torturous and bloody.'

'How do you know all of this?'

'I was once in one of them. The girl I was with got killed but I managed to get away.'

We both stared into space for hours after that reflecting on the horror that our lives had become. But we awoke with a 'BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP.'

I jumped up dragging Adrian along with me.

'The air lock is ready.' At least something was working. 'Come on Adrian'

The air lock was only designed for one person so we were pressed up against each other as the doors hissed shut.

'You know Rose, a few years ago I would have longed to have been pressed up against you like this in a small space.'

'Yeah, so what's changed?' I retorted.

He looked around sheepishly.

'I guess I moved on.'

'Who's the lucky lady?'

'She beautiful, smart and she is the only one who can really see the full potential in me. I don't think you know her she's called … Taylor.'

Then the doors hissed open.

Outside was a strigoi staring straight at us. Her head tilted to the side as she bared her fangs.

'Hello, Rose, Adrian.' She nodded at us as if she was being polite.

'Tasha…'