God, this chapter is crazy. It shifts from POV to POV, as the story goes on with no guilt. I love it! I am listening to some Guns N' Roses right now, so my writing may sound a little bit crazy, I guess you can say. Who likes the song November Rain? IF you do, then you are like my best friend. That's, like, my favorite GNR song. Anyway, my own story has been progression. I am currently writing chapter three. So excited! Back to this story, enjoy the chapter, which is longer than usual.

I don't own VA…

Adrian

Chapter 14: Bloody Horror

When I first entered the home of Oksana and Mark all I could do was gasp and stare dumbfounded around the little, shabby, cabin-like home like an imbosol. The couple, the dhampir so obviously older than the Moroi, lived in this no matter how shabby, cozy home, filled with so much love. I dared a glance over at Rose's face and my mind began to take a journey of its own. What would it be like for me and Rose to runaway of everything and everyone we knew, get married, settle down in a small house located in the middle of nowhere that was filled with so much love just like Oksana and Mark, work for our own money in regular ordinary jobs, and maybe, just maybe start a family someday?

The strawberry-blonde looked my way, small smile grazing her lips, as the thought entered my mind. Her gaze told me everything I needed to hear: All things are possible. As if somehow they were connected, Mark and Oksana gave each other adoring gazes at the same time. Even without glancing at the shadowy aura Mark sported, and Rose telling me, I would have guessed these two were bonded in the same way Lissa and Rose had been.

"Oksana!" Rose practically flew to the woman's arms. The strawberry-blonde, now known as Oksana hugged Rose in a way a devoting mother would hug her own. "Rose, darling, it is a greatness to see you! Yeva dreamed once again that you would be coming and that we should prepare ourselves because you came with some big news to deliver!"

"Er—something like that."

Oksana remembered I was in the room and looked up at me. "The great news, would it be this Spirit user that is standing in my living room?" I felt this slight tingling in my mind before a frown appeared on her face. "You're blocked. Did you just take something to numb Spirit?"

"A cigarette," I claimed.

Oksana frowned again, but let the argument go. She turned back to Rose and after a few seconds, she lit up like the fourth of July; she was using her element on Rose. But for what?

"Ahh! Invasion of privacy!"

Oksana laughed, unaffected by Rose's outburst. "Sorry. I only took what I needed to know." Still smiling, she turned back to me. "And you're Adrian Ivashkov, the other person Rose has known who has the element of Spirit. It should have been obvious, the eyes were a dead giveaway. Great-grandson of Elisabeta."

She didn't need an assertion because her sentence had been said with confidence but I nodded, nonetheless. "Correct."

"Well, I am Oksana and this is my husband Mark. We knew your great-grandmother very well. She was very welcomed here, and so are you." Rose earned a hug from Mark, a fatherly hug, and he shook my hand. When we had finished getting acquainted with each other, Oksana threw up her hands in an exclamatory manner. "Okay, Rose. I saw into your mind: How can we help you? But before, please sit down. Is there anything I can offer you, water, tea…?"

"We're fine, thank you."

I sat down next to Rose on the beige love seat, Oksana and Mark sitting in the opposite couch before us.

"So tell us, Rose, Adrian, what can we help you with? Is it something with Abe? We can help, you know. We've known him for quite a while and—"

I answered for Rose. "Rose and I have known him for the same amount of time and he would do anything to help out Rose. From what I see, Rose has him wrapped around her finger like any other father would be with his daughter."

Oksana gasped, and even though his face was expressionless, I could tell Mark wanted to gasp as well. "You're his daughter?"

"Turns out you didn't know Abe quite that long for him to spill out his feelings." Oksana took Rose's sentence as a confirmation to her question.

"Abe has a daughter. Wow—that's all I can say."

"'Wow even more because, get this, my mom is having another one of his children."

"You must be really proud to have such a wonderful father?"

Rose snorted. "Yes, I can't imagine a daughter who wouldn't be proud to have a mafia-businessman as her father."

Oksana and Mark chuckled softly. "Ah, we missed that good humor of yours, Rose." It was the first time Mark had spoken. It was all laughs and giggles before Mark took it to business again. "All the fun aside, how can we help you?"

"I don't know if the American news gets around here, but Queen Tatiana was murdered about a year ago." Sadness conjured in my throat and it became incredibly hard to swallow at the mention of my Aunt's murder.

Oksana scrunched up her nose in sadness as she noticed my pain. "Yes, we heard. Such a tragedy."

"Yes it was. A new queen was put into rein, my best friend actually. And she wanted this change."

"Go on. . ."

"So now we find ourselves as prince and princess of the 'Dhamire.'" Dhamire was the official name the council had named the dhampir and Moroi people. They had gone so far off that they were already naming royal families; six families for the dhampir and six for Moroi, 'Mazur' and 'Hathaway' was already one of the royal names.

"Dhamire?"

"Dhampir and Moroi people."

"And so. . . ?"

"We need a king and queen for the Dhamire, since a prince and princess is already in rein."

"And you immediately thought of us?" Mark and Oksana shared a look.

"Rose's mother and father were one of our candidates, but they politely refused. And also, Abe doesn't really look like he would be into ruling and whatnot." I suppressed a laugh at the image in my head. I was pretty sure Abe could handle groups of people, but seeing him upon a throne was not a pleasant sight of Abe. "So then Rose brought you up."

"We'll understand if you refuse," Rose began, "but do realize that since you have been together, married, for quite a while—you will be an inspiration to the Dhamire world. You will give other Moroi/dhampir couples the courage to come out and not be ashamed or ridiculed by snobby Moroi or dhampir. We want change—we want the Moroi/dhampir couples not to be strange, but rather we want them to be natural."

As her speech progressed, Rose stepped into her "princess" role. And god, did she fit that role perfectly. Not only was she beautiful, but she had a way with words, words that left Oksana and Mark, mouth hanging open.

"And—you will burst into the world, so to speak. You will do most things you probably dreamed about before. And this time, there will be nobody to judge you, or your love."

Oksana and Mark, I could see their eyes spark up with interest and longing at Rose's words. Mark put a hand on Oksana's shoulder. "Oksana—" Whatever else might have been added between the two was said in their heads. Finally after some decent amount of thinking, or talking mentally, Oksana looked up. "Give us time to think about this, Rose."

"I understand." Rose stood up and I followed her to the door. I could sense Oksana and Mark wanted us out of here to think some more. "We leave tomorrow. And we except an answer then."

Sydney

"Sydney, are you alright?"

I looked up from the book I had been trying to read as I waited for everyone else to board the plane (I had thought Abe would allow me to stay in Russia for a couple days, but no—turned out it was just a day trip thing) to Adrian's concerned face and eyes. In the time that he had gotten over his breakup between Rose and him, he and I had become very close, as in best friend status. To people it seemed like we could break each other's bones at any given second, but the truth was we were like brother and sister, those rare kinds who got along very well, with the occasional fights here and there.

I was going to tell him to fuck off in Wonderland but I suddenly wanted to talk to someone—to him. I snapped my fingers, commanding him to sit down next to me. "I love how I can bitch at you and you listen. You are one of those rare, nice guys. Rose is so lucky to have you as her man, and I am so lucky to have you as my friend."

He patted my shoulder. "Now, now. This isn't the time to spill our feelings." His face still remained concerned even though he tried to keep the mood light. "You've been acting all distant lately, and your aura, it's like Rose's when she was shadow-kissed. Anything strange been happening?"

I put my head in my hands. "I'm pregnant." Telling him, it felt as if I were confessing the news to my own father.

I waited for sarcastic remark but I got nothing. "How? Did you sleep with a Moroi recently?"

"Adrian—I haven't slept with anyone but Eddie."

"I kind of expected for it to happen."

"But how?"

"Sydney, I ask myself the same question."

"Oh wonderful! You rat!" Adrian and I both looked up to see Rose entering the plane with huge sunglasses covering her eyes. I could tell from her appearance that she hadn't slept last night. "You keep me you up all night and then I find out you were playing chummy with the two bimbos! What the hell?"

"First off, amor, you kept yourself up all night. I told you to stop drinking so much vodka. And second, the bimbos came up to me."

Rose sat in the empty seat in back of where Adrian and I sat. Adrian was about to get up and sit next to her when Rose stopped him. "Nope. At the moment, Syd needs you more than I do."

"I don't know what to do." I was seconds away from sobbing like a child. "I don't know what's happening with me."

"You are blessed with life," a soft voice said from the left side of me.

If Abe and Rose hadn't introduced us last night, then I would have had no idea why this crazy, random woman was talking to me. But since they had introduced us last night, and she was some Spirit user with better knowledge than Lissa and Adrian put together, I was suddenly interested in her words.

"What?"

"You are blessed with life," Oksana repeated.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Not only was I close to crying but I was close to ripping out my hair.

"The tattoo on your neck, it was charmed with all the elements, yes, but it was mostly charmed with Spirit, which in other words is 'life.' And therefore, you are blessed with life."

"Which means?" Now Rose asked for me, curiosity always being her weakness.

"You're an alchemist blessed with life. She can conceive children with just about anyone, human, dhampir, Moroi—except Strigoi." Oksana smiled. "You should be lucky. Only three or four alchemist are chosen to be blessed with life in every 'era.' You are one of those rare ones."

I pondered her words. Why had not anyone ever told me this?

"Oh, Rose. With so many situations happening, it passed my mind to tell you." I squirmed in my seat to look over at Oksana who was now giving Rose a cryptic look, not directed at Rose, but the thoughts in her head were causing the cryptic look. "There was something powerful, element wise, in Russia the other night. It was a power, directed at something. It took me a couple of tries to figure out the power was directed at you."

"At me? I didn't feel anything—" Rose's face paled. "Oh. The choking. The dream."

"I felt the choking; you were halfway there to other world, but I sent the happy, healing thoughts to you, the dream, from the buried thoughts of your Spirit user. I knew if you saw the dream then you would fight, like the fighter you are, to come back to the this world."

"The dream…it was Adrian's and not mine?"

Instead of Oksana answering, Adrian, smiling beside me, answered. "It was my dream, Rose. We lived in a cozy home with our two lovely twin girls and you and me as husband and wife."

"Adrian, you do realize how manly that just sounded," I told him with sarcasm written in my tone. Truth was it wasn't manly at all, his sentence—and truth was, I wished Eddie would say those things to me as well. Nope. But Eddie would be Eddie, and Eddie didn't say those things. Well, the new reformed, King Eddie didn't say such things. And I was pretty damn sure that King Eddie wouldn't want anything to do with this baby as soon as he found out about it. Yes, he cared about me, truly and deeply, but I was pretty damn sure he would walk out on me at any second because of the child I was carrying. Didn't seem like Eddie at all, but that was the new Eddie—that was the truth.

"Sometimes us men need to show our softer, more vulnerable side, the side that actually admits we need our woman, the way I need my beautiful, loving, sometimes wild Rose."

"Wild?" Rose questioned. "I am not wild."

"That's right, honey, you are not wild; you are wild and diabolical."

"Adrian!" Rose reached over and smacked Adrian on the shoulder. "Adrian, move! Eddie is trying to sit down."

But Adrian stayed where he was, even leaning back against the seat, as casual as possible. "Eddie can find another seat elsewhere."

"Adrian," Rose said, her tone suggesting something unknown to Eddie and me, but known to them, "Eddie and Sydney need alone time to talk."

Adrian shot out of the seat so fast I became dizzy. I put a hand to my forehead as if that somehow would help the sudden vertigo flinching in my head. I silently prayed I would not spill my stomach's contents on Eddie as he sat next to me on the seat that Adrian had occupied just moments before.

"We need to talk?" Eddie asked, confused. "About?"

"Eddie…I am just going to say it straight out. I am having your kid."

Eddie turned his head my way, his eyes giving me the feeling of betrayal. "It's not possible, Sydney! You cheated on me. You let yourself be used by a Moroi, he got you pregnant, and now you want to lay the consequences of your actions on me. Tell me, who is the father?"

At least he had the decency not to lash out at me. "If you think I cheated on you, if that is what you want to believe, then so believe it. But I can assure you, I swear to you, you are the only man I have ever been with. Ever."

"Honestly, Sydney. Have the decency to come up with a better lie than the one you are trying to sell me right now. We can't have kids together. You cheated on me."

"Eddie, that's not what happened!"

"You cheated, you lied, you betrayed me."

"Eddie—"

Eddie stood up and turned his back to me. "I so do not need your complications right now."

And he walked away, just like I expected him to. I summoned all the strength I had in me so I would not cry when I saw him place a grin on his face and sit right next to Anathema a few seats away.

Heartbreak. . .so this was how Adrian had felt?

All the wonderful memories between Eddie and me replayed in my head. I ignored it all. Everything, even the comforting hands of Rose as she took a seat beside me and pulled me into an embrace, a sisterly hug. I laid my head against her chest and closed my eyes, hoping the sleep I always seemed to carry around took me over.

Rose

I was mad, angry, beyond angry. I was livid. I was furious. I was outraged. I was infuriated. And Eddie Castile had just been added to my 'Men-to-Kill' list. I had thought Dimitri was a cheap bastard, yet Eddie fit right up in the standards as Dimitri. I was going to assassinate Eddie. Not now of course; poor Sydney, my poor sister, was sleeping in my arms.

The plane had departed, and Eddie ditching Sydney, had passed hours ago, but in my mind, the scene still replayed as it if were happening right before my eyes once more. Even as the hours passed, my anger did not decrease not one bit. At all. In fact, my anger kept increasing as the minutes ticked by, slowly building, waiting to be unleashed on Eddie.

"If you don't kill that bastard…I am about ready to go kill him myself."

I could understand where Adrian was coming from. Sydney was not only like a sister to me; she was like a younger sister to Adrian as well. Adrian regarded Sydney the same way he regarded Jill—like a sister that needed to be protected by her older brother.

I held Adrian back as he began to stand from his seat. "Hold it, baby. We'll take our share in killing him when this lane lands in a couple of minutes." I looked down at Sydney, looking almost like a child asleep. "And Sydney has to wake up to be watching my wrath unleashed."

Although I didn't want to wake her, I gently shook Sydney's form. The plane was about to land. Sydney, Adrian, and me needed to be safely inside a room, a room where no one would hear if Eddie suddenly decided to scream when I got my hands on him. . . .

"Sydney, wake up, love."

"Is he dead yet?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth as she shook off her sleep.

"We're getting there, sweetie, don't you worry about that. Do you remember what happens when Rose Hathaway is pissed off?"

"You enter a destructive mood and you destroy anything and everything in your way." A sudden smile curled her lips. "A mood I can sometimes enjoy to watch, especially when it involves beating the crap out of someone."

"Sydney, good girl!" I hugged her. " My daughter has grown right before my eyes and I didn't even catch it. Good thing she has learned so much from Momma Rose."

"It would be so cool," Sydney started, "to have a mom like you. I bet when you have your kids, they are going to be proud of their mom."

"Hey, hey, your kids are going to be proud, too! They are going to be proud of having such a religious momma."

All of a sudden, Sydney sighed, tiredly. "I don't feel like doing any criminal acts tonight. I am very tired."

I grabbed her hand and helped her down the stairs of the airplane. Totally sounding like a mother, I said, "You need to be careful on these stairs."

"Gee, Rose. I am pregnant, not demented."

As soon as we were safe on the ground, Adrian still giving Eddie murderous looks, I let go of Sydney.

Like in movies, everything happened so fast.

Oksana gasped, shouting loudly at me, and turning frantically back at her husband, Mark. I would have listened to her except I didn't have the slightest clue as to what she was trying to tell me because she was speaking in her native language. She was speaking Russian.

Adrian obviously knew, and so did Sydney.

"Rose—the power is back."

"Rose…watch out. . ." Sydney's words were halted by the cough that overtook her. Seconds later, she was spitting out blood. Not little droplets of it; the blood that spilled from Sydney's mouth was enough to fill a large glass. Another seconds passed, and Sydney fell right before my eyes.

On the ground, Sydney convulsed.

"What's happening to her!"

"She tried to warn you, the power that was attacking you in Russia was about to attack you. . ." Adrian explained.

". . .and now it wants to kill her."

With horror, I watched as more blood poured out of Sydney's mouth.

Poor Syd. Do you think what Eddie said to her was right?

Okay, so I am going to have to ask—do you like the POV changes, or do you want just one POV throughout the whole chapter. Like one chapter can be APOV, the other can be RPOV, the other can be SPOV, etc. Or do you think I should keep on writing the way I have been writing it?

….Thanks for all the awesome reviews!

Share your thoughts!

Take care!

-Mel