Adrians POV

During our way to St. Louis I had done research on my phone and I knew I had to leave Sydney for a bit.

I really needed to feed and I was still not sure how I possibly could bring up the subject without her freaking out.

I was leaning against the door and watched her unpack her bag with a smile on my lips.

"What?" she asked when she noticed me watching her.

"We are leaving tomorrow. You really don´t have to unpack every night" I said.

"I like to be organized" she said and I chuckled.

"Sure you do" I said.

"Are you making fun of me?" she asked her hands on her hips but smiling.

"Never. I wouldn´t dare" I said crooking my head to the side.

"Just... roll with it" she said and I laughed. It just wasn´t something she normally would say.

"Roll with it, huh?" I asked.

She smiled and sat down on the bed "Why are you standing there? Need to go somewhere?" she asked.

"Actually... I do" I said and she frowned.

"Where do you have to go?" she asked confused.

I walked over to the bed and sat right next to her.

"I´m kind of nervous about your reaction on this..." I began.

She eyed me curiously, still frowning "About what?" she asked.

"It´ll only take about an hour" I said"Remember the part of me being a vampire?" I asked.

Sydneys POV

For a moment I was still dumfounded where he was going with that, when it hit me.

Blood, vampires drank blood, right?

"Where are you going?" I finally asked.

Was he just going outside to find someone he could drink from?

"There is a club on the other side of the city" he said.

I was still looking at him unsure what exactly he was telling me. Why a club?

"So you... you just go to a club and..." I wasn´t sure how to end the sentence when he spoke.

"Gee Sydney. What do you think I would do? Drink from a drunk stranger?" he asked.

I shrugged. How was I supposed to know.

He took my hand and shook his head "No. It´s a club run by moroi. They have human feeders there. People who voluntarily give their blood to moroi" he explained.

My stomach tightened. Why would anybody do that voluntarily? Only thinking of letting someone drink my blood made me anxious.

"Why are they doing it?" I asked.

He brushed through his hair and I sensed a little discomfort talking about it "letting someone drink from you... it´s pleasurable" he said and I frowned.

"Pleasurable?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded "You don´t have to worry about that" he said.

I still had a million questions about the topic, but didn´t know where to begin.

"Why are you uncomfortable talking about that?" I finally asked.

"Well you never... liked to hear about it. And I get that. It´s just something we normally don´t talk about and something that used to make you uncomfortable" he said.

He was right. I didn´t like to think about it. Everything he´d just said sounded wrong. But those people were doing it voluntarily, right? So who was I to judge?

"Will you hurry?" I asked after a while.

He cupped my face and gave me a small kiss.

"You´ll never notice I was gone" he said.

Adrians POV

Driving through the abandoned neighborhood of the club reminded me of something I was taught my whole life.

Never go out at night alone, especially not in an unknown or deserted area. I knew it was pretty reckless and on some level even stupid to go against those rules but I told myself that I was in and out in no time.

I was back at the motel an hour later. I felt refreshed and happy to be back with her.

She was lying in bed and already had fallen asleep. The TV was still on and I switched it off when I closed the door behind me.

The sudden silence woke her up and she looked at me sleepily. She never had looked more cute. Hair all messy and a happy smile on her lips.

"You´re back" she whispered extending a hand.

I got rid of my shoes and my Jeans and quickly got under the blanket.

"I told you I was going to be fast" I whispered when she snuggled up into my arm.

I pulled her closer to me and kissed her forehead what made her smile.

God I could live like this forever.

Going to bed with her, having her in my arms and wake up with her in the morning.

"Good Night" I said and she muttered something like that as well. She was back asleep only seconds later.

I was about to doze off as well, when Jill called.

A slight soupcon of guilt hit me when I realized I hadn´t talked to her since I had arrived in New York. That felt ages ago.

I managed to slip out under Sydney without waking her up, jumped into my sweatpants and stepped outside to take the call without disturbing her.

"Jailbait, how are you?" I asked when I had closed the door behind me.

"Fine, everything´s fine. It´s not the same without you. But same old, same old" she said "I know how you are" she than went on and I could nearly hear her smile through the phone.

Since I wasn´t taking my pills anymore, the bond was back.

I chuckled "Yea... can´t complain" I said thinking about the last couple of days.

"I´m sorry, I didn´t want to... spy...but when you are that happy, it´s hard to not be dragged into your feelings" she said.

"I know" I said. And I wasn´t feeling like that. I knew she couldn´t help it.

"So... when will you two get here?" she asked.

I sighed "Soon, maybe too soon".

"Adrian, we´ll work it out. I mean it´s not going to be easy peasy lemon squeezy, but yo two will be together. And she starts to remember all by herself. Imagine what Jaclyn will be able to do, imagine her getting back all her memories. Memories of you" she said and I smiled. I knew she was right.

"I know it´s hard to not know what they´d done to her and I know that spirit isn´t on it´s best side these days, but she´s with you Adrian. She didn´t run for the hills, she didn´t file a restraining order and she believes you, she believes in you two".

I laughed about her comment on the restraining order and nodded.

"I know you´re right. I needed that. You know, sometimes you can be very wise" I said.

"Sometimes?" she asked in played outrage.

"Besides" she went on "It´s still Sydney we´re talking about. You two belong together, no matter what":

I chuckled. Talking to Jill always was easy and comforting. Maybe it was because she knew how I felt and what troubled me, but when we hung, I felt like some of the darker thoughts in my mind had been pushed away. Well maybe not away completely, but our conversation had definitely helped.

I silently closed the door behind me and snug back into the bed.