A/n: Sorry this took so long, I haven't been able to log into my account for some reason, but it seems to be fixed. A little exposition chapter, before the mystery moves along. As always, thanks for all your comments again guys, really appreciated. Sorry again.


Chapter 9


Rose Hathaway wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry and throw things and punch someone or something.

Anything but sit here feeling useless.

Adrian was gone.

So was Dimitri.

She chocked. They were sitting in Sonya's apartment, her, Janine, Abe, Eddie, Jill, Angeline, Sonya and Stan.

The Vampire Hunters, for it was certainly humans, they had attacked Dimitri while he was sweeping Sonya's buildings perimeter and Adrian had been taken down by a poison dart made with UV radiation.

She didn't know why they'd taken Sydney as well. Although Stan still doubted it, believing the Alchemist had simply run off in the chaos.

Rose had wanted to hit him then.

Jill attempted it, only Eddie had held her back.

The Alchemists, as usual, weren't saying a thing.

The vote was being held in the council today, if Lissa's law passed then Jill would finally be safe and Adrian and Dimitri and Sydney would have been kidnapped for nothing.

Just a day earlier and they would all be safe.

Did she mention she wanted to hit something?

"What are we doing?" she asked her voice low.

Stan looked at her; he was dressed, as always, in guardian black and white. "We're being prepared, these people, whoever they are," clearly he wasn't quite accepting the Vampire Hunter theory quite yet, "Are technologically advanced and more then equipped to deal with vampires. We need a plan before we even think of getting the Princess to lead us there."

Jill looked like she wanted to protest but it was Eddie who spoke, "What do you suggest?" he asked coolly.

"I don't know." Stan shrugged honestly, he was thinking hard but not there yet.

That started an argument, one that Rose was more then happy to get involved in, Abe watched the contest with amusement before he finally spoke, "May I be of assistance?" he asked, quieting the room.

Rose glared at him, flicking her hair out of her eyes, "If you've got a solution old man you best spit it out before I throttle you." She sounded like she meant it to.

Abe, to his credit barely spared her a glance, he took a moment to be sure he had everyone's attention before finally saying, "Humans."

There was a pause.

Slowly, Janine spoke, "Abe, that's insane."

He sprung up lightly from his chair on Sonya's couch, "Not even my dear," he flashed her a grin, "Say we guess, from Dimitri's first encounter with these folks that they seem unprepared for humans, if we could round up enough of them it could work."

"Which is precisely the problem," Stan cut in, giving Abe an unimpressed look, "unless you intend to attack with an army of feeders, you can't use humans and don't—" he glared at everyone—"even suggest Alchemists. I'm still considering the possibility of Sydney Sage being involved in all this."

Jill glared.

Rose suspected Stan still hadn't forgiven the blonde for the time she had lied to him about Roses kidnapping and jailbreak. The Dhamphir stood up, drawing the attention of the room. "All of this will be moot, if Jill can't actually lead us to them." Rose wasn't trying to be harsh and gave the Moroi princess an encouraging smile.

Jill looked suddenly alarmed to have everyone staring at her but quickly recovered, "I can do it," she said firmly, "I've found him before. I'll do it again." If Rose didn't know any better she would swear it was Queen Vasilisa passing an edict in front of her.

"And I know where we can get humans."

Angeline's voice stopped everyone again, as they remembered their earlier issue. Abe looked smug but Stan looked at her doubtfully, he knew little of the Keepers.

"And pray tell, what is your brilliant plan?" he asked.

She gave him a challenging look and a smirk, managing to look quite badass even with a bandaged head and split lip. "To call home." She grinned at Rose whose eye lit up with recognition, "We've got all the human's—one's who can fight—you could ever need."

And a plan was made.


Adrian could smell breakfast.

His mouth began to water and the bare-chested Moroi rolled over in his bed, trying to decide between the calls of his stomach and tiredness.

When he remembered who could be the only person cooking breakfast for him he made the decision.

Yawning, his hair messier than ever, he loped his way into the kitchen, it was true morning, on the human schedule and he grinned as he found the woman in his kitchen.

"Morning," he dropped a kiss onto her shoulder.

Sydney glanced back at him while still keeping an eye on the eggs; he wrapped his arms around her waist and tucked his chin into the crook of her neck, "I didn't know you could cook."

He knew she was smiling. "Cooking's the same as chemistry; it's all about how much of this and that." She flipped the omelette in the pan, showing the golden brown side.

He grinned and reached for a fork, leaning over her arm he snagged a piece on the end. "Its not finished yet," Sydney complained.

He rolled his eyes at her, blew on the egg and popped it into his mouth. There was some spice that tasted sweet as well as mushroom and peppers. Adrian groaned, sagging against the counter. "That," he sighed, "is better than sex."

Sydney gave him a droll look and couldn't resist teasing him, "Really? Well I think we must be doing it wrong then."

He looked at her balefully as she titled the pan and deposited the now fully cooked omelette onto a plate, then suddenly, he smirked, "All the more reason to practice." He quipped.

Sydney laughed.

And his world disappeared.

Adrian groaned, the world he was truly waking up in didn't compare at all to his dream. He was on a hard bed, with a metal something wrapped around his throat, his hands were shackled, and there was a drip and IV in his arm.

He felt like hell.

And he wasn't alone.

A man in a suit stood in front of him, there was something familiar about his features but Adrian couldn't place him, he was most certainly human however. The man nodded to him as he woke.

"Good morning Mr Ivashkov."

"Bullshit." Adrian snapped.

The man smiled, he fished in his pockets and retrieved a lighter and a pack of cigarettes, "Would you like a smoke, Mr Ivashkov?"

Hey, why not? It's not like they had to resort to poising him when he was already strung up like a Christmas turkey.

The man lit his cigarette and Adrian raised his cuffed hands to take a breath. "Who are you?"

"I'm what you call a Vampire Hunter."

To the point.

"Otherwise know as a Child of Ra."

That was quite a mouthful.

"What do you want?" Adrian took another puff.

The man looked regretful for a moment, "We, Mr Ivashkov," he pulled from the inside of his coat a syringe which was filled with some eerie blue liquid. "Need to determine only one thing." He stuck the point of the syringe into Adrian's IV and pushed the plunger, "and that is weather you deserve to live." He sounded so matter-o-fact

Adrian began to feel nauseous, as fire dripped into his veins; sweat broke out on his forehead, the cords in his neck strained. His cigarette fell to the ground where it smouldered.

The man looked at him and seemed satisfied if not truly happy, "If you are a good man then I am truly sorry for what we're about to put you through. If you're not…" He shrugged and his eyes became hard, "well then torture will be the least of your worries."


Rose was in a spirit dream and for a moment she thought that Adrian had come to her, that he was calling for her help but no, it wasn't his emerald eyes that met her but Lissa's jade green ones.

Rose opened her mouth but the Queen answered first, "Passed, by an inch." Lissa looked relieved but tired and her weariness was valid. Her green eyes showed the weight of the world, her blonde hair rustled in the wind which felt real on their skin.

"Dimitri? Adrian?"

Lissa had mastered spirit dreams but hers were never quite as vivid as Adrian's, Rose sat in the grounds of St Vladimir's, it was sunny out and Moroi wouldn't usually exposes themselves to such weather. The church was in the background; Rose forced herself not to look for Dimitri's cabin.

She wouldn't be able to look back.

"We're going to the Keepers." Lissa looked alarmed and Rose didn't blame her. "Abe thinks we need humans to take on the Vampire Hunters."

"So they are Vampire Hunters then?" How would she protect her people?

Rose nodded, she was wearing ski clothes for some reason, the ones form the lodge, but didn't feel over smothered. She took off her gloves at least, "What else? They weren't Dhamphir or Moroi or even Strigoi, humans would need a reason to kidnap our kind."

"What about the Alchemists?" Lissa asked, sitting in the grass next to her best friend, she was dressed in plain clothes, not her usual royal attire.

Rose grimaced as she remembered Sydney, "They're insisting that Sydney was merely re-assigned and is uncontactable at the moment. If they knew about these hunters at all they're not letting on and technically we have no authority over them."

Lissa's eyebrows rose in disbelief, "You think they're in on it? Why would they kidnap one of their own?"

Rose shook her head, pulling up some grass and tearing it into strips, it didn't feel right, Lissa could never make dreams like Adrian, just as he could never heal with such ease as she did. "I don't know," Rose sighed. "I know Sydney's not exactly their star employee but I can't see why they wouldn't want her rescued, unless it's some Alchemist party line to cover their asses."

"But why would Vampire Hunters take a human?" Lissa wondered. The school bell rang in the distance.

"I don't know. Why would they take Dimitri either, he's not a real vampire." Damn, she wouldn't let her voice crack but it did anyway.

Lissa seemed to read Roses despair then and without another word pulled her best friend into a hug, Rose clung to her, letting the tears fall, comfortable in the fact that in a dream there were no witnesses.

"We'll find them Rose." Lissa stroked her hair, "Adrian and Dimitri, your Alchemist as well."

Lissa had all the power in the Moroi world and Rose wanted nothing more than to believe her best friend.

When she found the bastards who did this there wasn't going to be anything left to interrogate.


Eddie watched the sun outside Sonya's window set, there was the murmur of low voices from the kitchen, but the words were obscured to him. Jill sat next to him on the couch, the days' activities had exhausted her, she had spent that last few hours trying to get a better sense of Adrian through the bond and had finally collapsed into sleep a few minutes ago.

She was using his arm as a pillow and it had quickly gone numb, he didn't bother to move it thought. At the sounds of footsteps on linoum he looked up to spy Janine Hathaway entering the room, apparently tired of the conversation between the others. She spared him a smile and a nod. "How is she?"

He looked down at Jill's sleeping form, the sound of her breathing the only sound in the room. "Alive, and here," he paused as worry for his friends and his fellow guardian pierced him, "which is better then somewhere else."

"We'll find them, you know." There wasn't a sliver of doubt in her voice and it was uncanny how much she reminded him of Rose, she took a seat on the recliner opposite him and tucked her legs under her body. "Dimitri will keep Adrian safe till then."

Eddie thought on that for a moment, "I thought we didn't do rescue missions." A memory of dark caves with shinning red eyes glowing in the darkness plagued him for a second and he froze, Jill shifted a little against him at the change of posture and he slowly relaxed.

If Janine had noticed his reaction she didn't comment, "These aren't Strigoi." She said softly and it was clear by her words that to her it wouldn't matter if they were being held captive by a hundred undead vampires, Janine Hathaway would still be mounting a rescue mission, daughter in tow. Eddie supposed Dimitri was her family now.

"No." he shook his blonde head, "They're humans," his words seemed to still the room.

Humans.

Almost synonymous with feeders to many of the Moroi and Dhamphires only Alchemists garnered any real respect from their kind, and even then it was reluctant. Moroi may live among humans but they didn't share they're lives, for centuries they had trusted their existence to the banal nature of humans and now it seemed they were paying the price.

He remembered the look on Sydney face as she researched Tamara's death, that look in her eye that in hindsight showed what he was just now learning. "This changes everything doesn't it?"

He held Jill tighter.

Janine watched him, her eyes, alight with guardian watchfulness; finally she took a breath and nodded.

"Yes, Eddie, I think it might."


Sydney was back at Amberwood.

It felt real but it wasn't possible. Her dorm was warm and alight with sun, her covers were soft under her touch, she could almost hear Mrs Weathers patrolling the halls looking to interrupt any romantic interludes.

Then she saw Adrian, dressed in his flashy work uniform and knew the reason why it felt so real to her, what could only be a dream, she stood up from her bed indignant. "Adrian!" She snapped, "Let me outta here now!" was it her imagination or were the walls closing in on them?

He looked at her and seemed to be slowly realising, "This is a spirit dream isn't it?"

She threw up her hands, "Why are you asking me?" she said scornfully, she looked around at the room and a familiar fear of magic settled in her veins. She shivered; the room had suddenly lost its warmth.

"Because I didn't try to make it…it just happened." And then his eyes changed and he looked just as scared as she was.

Sydney narrowed her eyes, through the fear of magic more thoughts seemed to be latching onto her brain and she was remembering. It was like trying to recall long forgotten song lyrics, at the back of her mind but so close, she shivered again, the feeling trailing her spine, not magic making her uneasy, but something.

She frowned. "Did something happen to us?"

Unconsciously she reached for her neck and found blood and for a moment her heart seemed to constrict in her chest.

Vampire.

But no, sense overrode fear and she realised she hadn't been bitten, she'd been hurt. In an accident…Angeline? Latte?

Then taken somewhere…far away, in the back of a car, there was a voice, warm and familiar saying unhappy words. "Adrian?" she looked at him, her voice shaking. sdrian, something had happened to him, to her, she felt far away form him but didn't know why.

He shook his head, the pom pom on his hat rustling, "I don't know, but I think I prefer it here." He looked at her eyes beseeching. "Please Sydney, please can we stay?"

There was a need in his voice she had never heard.

The magic tingled against her skin and Sydney wanted to disappear but something kept her feet grounded. The look on his face. Her breath seemed to catch.

"Adrian," she whispered, fear clogging her words, he reached out and touched her and she caught his hand like a life saver, his fingers were warm and solid, every step closer to him her heart seemed to slow, her breathing eased.

She didn't comprehend speaking the words but they were clear anyway.

"Okay. We can stay." she breathed.

Somewhere in the world, Adrian's body suffered as his mind escaped.

Dimitri had no such power.

Sydney was among friends, who were about to do something truly horrible for God's reasons.

The means justified the ends.