Author's Note: School tomorrow :( I know, very depressing. What's not depressing is that I have finished Frostbite now, yay *claps*. Now I can write about Shadow Kissed :D which is my fav book in the series. For people who are wondering yes the next books will be in the same fic so there is no confusion.

30 days to Spirit Bound!!!!! It is getting closer and closer. Can't wait!


Adrian sat in his room drinking from a bottle of the strongest liquor he could find in his fridge. The image of Rose's empty eyes and grief filled aura played over and over again in his mind. He had left straight after the whole group had arrived. He noticed that the guy that Rose was seeing was missing.

There was a knock on the door. Needing a distraction, Adrian went to open and was surprised to see Dimitri standing there, his eyes filled with the same worry he saw earlier. Adrian stepped to the side letting Dimitri walk in. He sat down on the couch and Adrian sat opposite him. They both sat there in silence.

There was one question that Adrian really needed to know the answer to. He opened his mouth and shut it. On the fourth try he asked Dimitri; "Is she going to be okay?"

Dimitri looked up, knowing straight away who he was talking about. Adrian got his answer the moment he saw Dimitri's expression and he wished he hadn't asked. Dimitri frowned and looked down at the carpet. "I don't know," he said quietly. Adrian noticed the pain in his voice. He took another sip of his drink. Dimitri looked up "I mean physically she is fine except for the burn marks on her wrists but…"

"Mentally she is fucked up," Adrian finished for him. He wondered what the hell had happened to her, he could guess but he wasn't a hundred per cent sure.

"You could say that," he muttered.

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

"It was exactly like you said, the Strigori were holding them down in a basement in a house. They were trying to make one of the Moroi join them by killing one of the Dhampirs. It seems that one of the Strigori was feeding on one of the Dhampirs, he is currently recovering but blood wasn't the only thing he lost. As they were escaping one of the Strigori attacked Rose-" Dimitri flinched "-making one of the other Dhampirs run to her rescue. Mason was killed instantly. Then Rose managed to decapitate the two Strigori with a sword she found close by." She's been through so much. I should of… Adrian frowned. What could I have done?

"How did Rose get the burns?" Adrian asked confused.

"One of the Moroi used his fire abilities to melt the plastic cuffs that were keeping Rose trapped. Apparently it was Rose's idea," Dimitri replied. He had gained more control over his voice and the pain and worry was almost hidden. "Now it is my turn to ask the questions, how did you find out what you told me?"

Adrian had a feeling he would ask this and he didn't know how to reply. Maybe if I tell the truth he will agree to let me stay at the academy.

"I talked to her," he said realising he used the same answer as last time.

"How?"

"Through her dreams"

Dimitri frowned, "What?"

"Through her dreams," Adrian said slowly letting the words sink in.

"I don't understand"

"I'm a Spirit user; I used spirit to enter her dream where I talked to her. That is also the reason why Lissa was in my room the other day. I wanted to know more about Spirit, I hadn't talk to a Spirit user before."

"I never knew Spirit users could do that," Dimitri replied still confused.

"They can do a lot of stuff, I'm still learning and so is Lissa," here it goes, "which is why I have a favour to ask you."

Dimitri frowned, not even bothering to hide the annoyance on his face. "What?"

"Well, I want to go stay at St Vlads for awhile, about a semester, maybe longer, so I can learn more about Spirit with Lissa. I was wondering if that was okay or that you could get me permission." Normally he would just use compulsion to get what he wanted but he couldn't stay sober long enough to do this.

"Are you sure that's why you want to go?" Adrian knew straight away what Dimitri talked about and it pissed him off. Does everyone expect so little of me?

"I'm going so I can learn about spirit, not to extend my holiday"

"That's not what I meant"

"I know"

Dimitri raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not going so I can steal your girlfriend if that is what you're worried about."

"I'm not worried"

Adrian laughed, something he hadn't done in days. "Rose must be rubbing off on you cos I didn't know you were cocky."

Dimitri almost smiled as he stood up. "Fine, I will see what I can do."

He was almost at the door when Adrian remembered something. "When is Mason's funeral?"

Dimitri half turned, "We fly back to the Academy in a couple of hours which is where the funeral will be held at."

Adrian nodded as Dimitri closed the door. He walked towards the phone and ordered a bouquet of flowers that were to be sent to Rose's room back at the Academy. He smirked as he put down the phone. You're not the only one that's cocky.

****

The Academy jet landed a few hours later. Adrian got off the plane and made his way to the main building. Looking at the gothic structure he thought to himself, so this is my home for now. He was directed to one of the guest rooms where he would be staying. He sat down on the couch feeling tired from flying during the day. The funeral was tomorrow at sunset so he had some time to kill. Adrian wanted to explore so he left the room and walked down the hall.

Adrian wished he stayed in his room. The auras of all the people he walked by were full of grief and it was starting to get to him. He almost made it to the end of the hallway when he heard his name.

"Adrian?"

Adrian turned around and saw Lissa walking towards him. Adrian felt relief as he saw her aura bright and golden which seemed to overwhelm the surrounding auras.

"What are you doing here?" Lissa asked.

"Thought I might stop by for Mason's funeral," he replied. "Plus I might be sticking around to learn more about spirit."

"No, I mean what are you doing here, you were meant to come with me to meet Ms. Carmack five minutes ago."

Adrian frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh don't worry now, come on." Lissa grabbed his arm and lead him in the opposite direction.

Lissa and Adrian entered Ms. Carmack's office a minute later. He still had no idea who the hell she is, or what he was doing here but he just went with it.

"Hi I'm Ms. Carmack and you must be Adrian Ivashkov," she said as she shook Adrian's hand.

It turns out that Ms. Carmack was the teacher who taught Moroi who hadn't specialised about magic. Someone had told her about Adrian's abilities, and Adrian was invited to stay at the academy as long as he likes to work on Spirit with Lissa. She then went onto school rules such as no drinking, no smoking, as if I would follow them. Adrian just smiled and nodded which is what he usually did in boring conversations.

A few minutes later Adrian and Lissa left the room and headed back down the hallway.

"I would stay and chat but I better get back to Rose," Lissa said.

"How is she?" Adrian asked.

"Well she isn't in shock anymore…but now she is blaming herself for Mason's death," Lissa said frowning. "I still don't know the full story and I'm scared to ask Rose because I don't want her to relieve that pain again."

"When she is ready she will talk to you"

"I hope so. Well I got to go, see you later Adrian"

As soon as she left, the dark grieving auras of the people around him started affecting him again. Adrian moved quickly back to his room where his cigarettes were waiting for him.

****

Adrian woke up in the late afternoon after having a weird dream about Rose. He had decided to use spirit to get into her dreams. She was just sitting in a dark room by herself, the shadows swirling around her. There was a sword lying in front of her and it was covered in blood. Adrian looked across the other side of the room and saw Mason on the ground, obviously dead. He then realised what this dream was about. He looked back at Rose and saw tears running down her face. Shouldn't there be dead Strigori here as well? But there wasn't, this was Rose's way of blaming herself for Mason's death. All Adrian wanted to do right then was to walk up to Rose and hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But he couldn't. The look in her eyes was becoming unbearable to watch so Adrian left, feeling weak and useless.

Mason's funeral was in an hour so Adrian began getting ready. He made sure he smoked as much as he could so he wouldn't be able to see the auras. Before he left the room he ordered more flowers for Rose which would arrive after the funeral.

As Adrian walked down, he noticed he couldn't see any auras. Guess I smoked enough. He sat at the back away from the crowd. He felt awkward being here but he decided to stay. He scanned the crowd and saw at the front Rose sitting with Lissa and the rest of the group that got captured. He couldn't see her aura this time which Adrian was happy about, she's okay, she is going to be okay. Adrian almost smiled then realised where he was again. He looked away and saw Dimitri staring at him. He nodded at Adrian and looked away. He starred off into space, not really paying attention. He noticed someone turn around and look at him. Adrian looked to see Rose looking at him. He would have normally winked at her but this was her boyfriend's funeral. He tilted his head to the side and she rolled her eyes and faced the front. He didn't know what to expect in the future but he knew one thing; this is going to be interesting.