Author's note: Hey, guys! I didn't update yesterday since it was The night of destiny and I prayed until 2 AM. But today I'm back, and I hope that I pulled the usual Adrian off!

Hmm. I need to mention the following people:
1. Of course, HopperIvashkinator, my wonderful sister that is proud of me :)
2. KeepCalmAndDream, who talks as much as I do! Yay! I love talking to you :D
3. Sam1405, which is going to be away for a while and I already miss her reviews and talking to her. :(
4. TheHappyLol, who didn't review the last chapter, but I didn't forget her :P
5. Lilietje99, my wonderful reader with wonderful reviews. Dedication is fantastic and I love it! :)
6. Bukwurm13, also a dedicated reader. You asked for Adrian and here he is! :D
7. Totalbooknerd13, to who I can never thank enough. Your reviews are so funny! :D
8. CherrySlushLover, whose stories I'm going to read at some point, be sure of it. You won't be able to escape my thousand reviews! :P
9. Casstella, a new reader (welcome!) with an exciting review. I love it how she loves Adrian's painting because I love it too :D
10. Pixie's, for who I'll make sure to make Trey-Angeline one-shots. Is there a name for that pairing? Trengeline? Angey? Oh my God, it sounds awful :D
11. Sydney Ivashkov, who doesn't need to be sorry. You're always welcome, review whenever you can! :)

I am so excited. Even India loves me! So yay for that, go India :D

And don't hope, computer access comes in 20 days in best case. We are stuck with slow writing, but better is to have phone-updates than nothing! :)

And I need more ideas for one-shots. I thInk that witches and the coven will be in the next chapter, but I'm not sure.

And a question - did anyone figure Rowena out?

Okay. The chapter:

After I somehow managed to have a reasonable talk with Angeline, I felt quite proud of myself. I mean, reasonable talk with Angeline? Getting her to do what I wanted? It seems impossible, but Sydney Katherine Sage knew which buttons to push. But I must admit that it was hard in the beginning.

"No," Angeline said over and over. "I won't abandon my love and loyalty for Neil."

I just rolled my eyes at that. The fiery love with Jill and Eddie mysteriously snapped and now both Jill and Angeline claimed they were in love with the new guardian, Neil. He did look kind of cute, but compare him to Eddie, and he looked ugly.

Okay. I definitely changed my way of thinking. Eddie was an unnatural creature of the night months ago, and now he was like my hot brother. I really did change, a lot.

Adrian claimed that Angeline and Jill weren't in love with Neil and that it was just an act. He could read auras, but they sometimes acted too convincing. They squeaked and screamed every time Neil entered the room. They went around him and did everything he asked. The way they dressed... It really suggested they wanted to be noticed by Neil. But they weren't trying to kill each other, at least not yet. Thankfully, Neil ignored them both. I'm sure jealousy, martial arts and magic would be involved if Neil chose one of them. And that was something I desperately wanted to avoid.

Eddie took it hard on himself. He was sad, not able to pull his guardian mask off every time Jill touched Neil on the arm. I tried to find out what happened between him and Jill, I really did. I treathened Jill with magic, but she just shushed me and said, "I don't care." And when I finally they could be happy together...

Okay, back to my conversation with Angeline. She told me at least 20 times that she was in love with Neil and that she wasn't a cheap girl that'd go to such lenghts to get what her crazy nerdy friend wanted. And then I made her admit that nerds didn't fall in love with vampires, so she took that adjective back.

But, when I accidentaly said that I didn't mind her being in a relationship with Trey, her chessy "My love for Neil is too great" lines fell into the water. I mean, who was she fooling? She swooned every time Trey glanced in her direction. Yet she was a dhampir and it went against the-vampire-hunting codex or something. I don't think Trey cared that much anymore. Angeline was beautiful, and they kind of did look good together.

So, the madly-in-love-with-the-British-guardian-dhampir suddenly forgot her pride and unconditional love to help me. It was hilarious.

I just hoped Trey could become a vampire hunter again. If we had him as a source, we would be able to help Jill. And we would be able to save her.

So now I was going to get my daily dose of coffee. Adrian made me promise to cut off my daily caffeine dose if he managed to cut off his drinking. It was a good agreement, really. He was so going to lose. I mean, it's not like coffee was addictive or anything, while alcohol was.

I made that promise exactly 20 hours and 13 minutes ago. I couldn't handle this pressure anymore. I needed coffee. Gallons of it.

I called Adrian, probably for the 10th time in an hour. We bought untraceable phones that made me feel like an undercover agent. It was his idea, and it was a good one - if they tried to find something unordinary about me, they wouldn't be able to do it. We were both becoming paranoid.

"Sage, I can't imagine why you could be calling me for the 11th time in an hour," Adrian said with a chuckle.

"I think I'm going to die," I said dramatically.

He laughed. It was that beautiful laugh that made me shiver. I never heard him laugh like that before our relationship started. Was he really happy? With me, and because of me? Because that was brand-new for me. I never made everyone happy, not even myself. And now I felt... No, I didn't feel happy.

"I need it," I said in a near-whisper. "I'm in pain."

Adrian laughed again. "You're doing good. You can drink the next cup in 3 hours."

"And 44 minutes," I added automatically.

"Okay, Sage. Now I need you to calm down..." Adrian trailed off. He paused for a moment.

And started laughing again. "You are torturing me!" I said in a high-pitched voice. "Why is drinking coffee such a major problem?"

"Well, now you know how I feel. I'm addicted to two things and you torture me with taking them both from me."

I knew the first thing, but I had no idea what the other one was. "Hair gel?" I asked hopefully.

Adrian started chuckling, then abruptly stopped. "Wait, what does that mean?" he asked, sounding horrified.

I really didn't need to mention that. I swallowed. "I might have... Thrown away..." Adrian gasped at that. "Every hair gel... That would make you become bald... Eventually." I could hear Adrian starting to breathe faster.

"I am definitely starting to panic." Adrian said too calmly.

"Well, welcome to the club!" I said, exasperated. "I can smell and taste coffee! I am hallucinating. Right now a cup of coffee is driving a car. And walking down the street. And I'm fighting the urge to run after it."

Adrian laughed, breathless. "You are going to murder me, Sage."

"The feeling is mutual," I said and laughed despite wanting to scream. I wanted coffee. I needed coffee.

I sighed. "I need caffeine."

"I need hair gel! And a drink to survive without it!" Adrian said in a panicked voice.

I laughed. "Plan number twenty-two: run away to the Keepers and bring a truck full of coffee to survive," I said. This one was better than Adrian's - he wanted to go to the Moon, saying there were no Alchemist bases outside Earth.

"And a truck full of hair gel. I mean, you're an Alchemist, Sage. Can't you make hair gel or turn dirt into it?"

"Definitely. And I can turn water into wine," I said and laughed.

"I like that sentence," Adrian said in his low voice, making me roll my eyes.

"What was the other thing?" I asked, suddenly remembering. "The thing you were addicted to."

Adrian didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"You," he finally said.

And just when I started saying, "Adrian, I..." my phone started ringing.

I saw the caller's ID and my blood stopped flowing through my veins. "I'm going to have to call you back," I quickly said. "It's... Jared."

"Don't hang up," Adrian answered. "I want to hear."

I nodded and didn't hang up as I answered my phone, summoning all the courage in me. "Sydney Sage speaking," I said calmly. At least I sounded calm. What did dad want? He didn't call just to say 'Hi', that's for sure. He never did.

"Sydney. Did Zoe notify you about the divorce?" His voice was as cold as ice, cutting through the silence. I could hear my heartbeat. It seemed to say "Danger" over and over again.

I took a deep breath and quickly said, "Yes, sir."

"Good," Jared immediately answered. "Do I have to remind you that you're an Alchemist, Sydney?" My name sounded like a curse when he said it. Dear God, with what was he going to treathen me? He was the only person I was afraid of, besides Abe.

"No, sir," I said aloud.

"Good," he said again. "That means I don't have to remind you that I could notify Stanton if you did something... Bad."

"I'm sorry, sir, but why would you do something like that?" I was a second away from falling on the ground. My heart beat too fast. I had no idea how my voice managed to sound so calm.

"Well, Carly is on mom's side and Zoe is on mine. I just thought that you might want to follow Carly's example and not Zoe's." I knew it. He was going to blackmail me and make me break mom's heart. And I was going to obey, like I always did.

"And if you became too at ease with those creatures, I'm afraid Zoe would have to report on you. And you'd be sent to Re-education." I swallowed again. My hands were beginning to shake. He'd send his own daughter to Re-education. He'd make his own daughter report on her sister. And Zoe would do what dad wanted in the blink of an eye.

"But why would there be a need to do such a thing?" Jared continued and laughed, but neither of us considered it funny.

"You'd never do such a thing, right?" His voice was a warning.

"Never, sir," I said, hating myself for it.

"Well, then, I guess I'll see you at the trial. And if you don't show up..." My heart was beating a thousand times in a minute by that point.

"I'm going to make sure you are treated much, much worse than Keith," he said bitterly. So that hurt him? His favourite boy was Re-educated because of me. And I felt so good because of that.

He hang up and I released the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I am going to kill him," Adrian said, startling me. I forgot he was still on the line.

He answered my next question before I even asked it. "Moroi hearing," he simply said, as if it was obvious.

I shook my head and said, "What am I going to do, Adrian?" And then my voice broke.

"You are going to drink that cup of coffee now and calm down. And we'll figure it out. And I am going to punch him for every 'sir' you said to him. That's, like, infinite punching. I might have to call Castile." Adrian tried to be calm because of me, but frustration was evident in his voice.

I laughed. "Thank you, Adrian."

"No problem, baby. I wasn't sure if you'd approve the murder of your father, since the last time I punched someone you took me to the bedroom." Adrian paused and added, "Not that I mind."

I was thankful that he couldn't see me, since I was blushing. "Marcus hit me accidentaly," I said. "And did you just call me 'baby'?"

Adrian's tone was serious when he answered. "No one can hit a beautiful girl accidentaly!" And he changed his voice to playful, but I remembered Marcus. And how I didn't say of our meeting to Adrian. "And yes, until we have our own babies, I'll call you 'baby'."

I didn't say anything for several long moments.

"Okay, Sage, I won't call you 'baby' if you don't like it," Adrian said and I rolled my eyes. As if I could get upset about something that ridiculous.

"It's not that," I said in a serious voice. "I... Had a meeting, and you are going to freak out."

"Only if you met a hot guy who'd love to see you in his bed," Adrian said playfully and I bit my lip. Why didn't I tell him sooner? I prepared myself for jealous and overprotective Adrian.

"You met a hot guy who'd love to see you in his bed," Adrian exclaimed.

I took a deep breath. "Marcus is back. And he isn't hot and he certainly wouldn't love to see me in his bed."

"That's because he doesn't own one," Adrian said bitterly.

I rolled my eyes and told him about Marcus' strange behaviour, his unknown motives and my fears.

"And stop the jealousy thing, Adrian. He is like a piece of wood compared to you." I said, exasperated by his 'He plays guitar, and I don't' speech.

"When I see that pink in his aura, I'd kill him," Adrian said.

"And then I'd have to break you out from prison," I said and laughed.

"And I'd break you out of that brainwashing center. Do you think your father would become normal if we preformed lobotomy on him? I'm willing to try."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "I miss you. More than coffee."

"That is the most romantic thing you ever said," Adrian said and we both laughed.

"I changed my mind. You did approve of that cup..." I trailed off, my tone playful.

"I thought you were going to cry! If you drink that cup, Sydney..." He spoke my name as a warning.

"Bye, baby," I said emphatically and hung up before he finished that sentence.

24 hours until the next cup. 46 hours until the next kiss. Adrian was right - we both had two addictions, if you didn't count hair gel. We were addicted to each other.