"Stop Salvatore. Stop right there."

Elena opened her eyes to see Adrian standing there, a sword in his hand. He'd known somehow that this might happen, and he wasn't about to let it.

"Adrian, it's all right. I asked Damon to do it."

"No! There are other ways, Elena. I can't let you do it. I won't."

Damon shrunk away from her. O'Connell was right. There had to be another way.

"He's right, Elena. Let me get some rest, and we'll talk about this in the morning."

He turned, meeting the other man's gaze as a silent instruction passed between them. Adrian nodded, knowing that he needed to stay the night with her. It was something he had already counted on.

The door closed behind his host, and Adrian made his way to the head of the bed. Elena was exasperated. These are my children we're talking about. As if able to read her thoughts, he spoke quietly.

"They'll be fine, Elena. There are only two people here that could have had access to your children in order to remove them from the estate. One of them is Hadrian, and the other is Matrisse. Problem is that we were all outside long enough not to notice."

"We? What do you mean, we?"

He shook his head. Adrian knew she'd thought he'd stayed at the table like a good little man. But there was no way he was going to let anyone harm a hair on her golden head. She'd gotten under his skin in such a short period of time.

"You didn't think I was going to just sit there at the table, waiting for you to come back, did you? I meant what I said, Elena. I love you. I can't explain it…. Hell, I can barely understand it. But I love you, and I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you. And that includes Damon, if need be."

She felt the familiar sting of happy tears in her emerald eyes. Adrian bent down to kiss her, but was interrupted by a quick rap on the bedroom door.

"Come in."

Hadrian rushed in, and began to speak rapidly, apparently out of breath.

"Madame Elena…. Th-the ch-children…. They are okay."

She shot upright quickly.

"My babies? Where are they? Where have they been? What happened? Are they fine?"

She spoke so quickly she wasn't allowing the poor butler to get a word in edgewise.

"Madame, they are fine. They went out to look for you after you followed the Master into the dark. Matrisse has put them back to bed for the night."

Elena rose from the bed and slipped on her robe. She turned to Adrian, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Wait here for me. I'm going to kiss them goodnight, then come back to bed. Please?"

He smiled, nodding his head, and wondering why she wanted him to wait for her – all at the same time.

"Okay, then. I'll be right back."

When she was in the children's room, she stood for a few seconds at the end of each bed. Hadrian had been right. They were sleeping peacefully in their beds, as if nothing had ever been amiss. Elena bent over and kissed each one of them on the cheek, tucking their covers up to their necks. She made a silent prayer to God to watch over them, and then made her way back to her own chambers.

Adrian was still there. Waiting. His face lit up as she walked into the room. Lord, he's so gorgeous when he smiles. She felt the familiar desire bubbling up inside of her. It was coupled with fear. He told me he loves me. And he was right. They barely knew each other, but the feelings were there, stirring up something that she had forgotten since Stefan's death. She thought she would never be able to love another person again. But the fates apparently had other ideas on the subject.

She climbed up into the bed and pulled the voluminous covers up over her legs. Holding out one hand to him, she looked up to meet his gaze.

"Come lie with me, please."

Adrian lay down the sword at the foot of the bed, then climbed into the soft mattress with her. She wrapped one leg around him, and settled her head against his chest.

"Watch out for your ankle, love. I don't think you'll want to have to reset it in the morning."

Elena smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

But Adrian did not sleep. He kept a very watchful eye on the balcony, where he could see the feathers of a falcon, glinting in the burgeoning moonlight.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

To any of you who are reading this: I am sooooo very sorry it took me this long to get back on track with this story. A lot of other things were coming up in life and I just had to take a break.

Thanks for your patience, and I'll get the next installment up soon!