Hey everyone, I hope you're all staying safe. Thank you all for your reviews and support :)

I was really unsure about this chapter and I had to change it a million times. I still hope it doesn't disappoint.

I had just left the hospital, feeling completely overwhelmed and helpless at the whole situation with Nevaeh's sickness. I was sick too which didn't make things any better. Dimitri was walking me to my dorm when I spotted Adrian smoking in one of the outdoor hallways. It was the first time seeing him since the night of Avery's party.

"Adrian!" I yelled, walking over to him. He lifted his head, tossing his cigarette away before stomping on it. Dimitri followed me, only giving Adrian a slight nod.

"I've been worried about you," I said, sounding harsher than usual as I crossed my arms in front of him. "You've barely talked to any of us since the party. Why are you ignoring my calls?"

Adrian sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to process things in the last few days. It's complicated."

"Process what?" I asked. He pursed his lips, giving Dimitri an unsure look.

"I'll, uh, leave you two alone," Dimitri said, backing away as his eyes switched between us.

"I'll call you when I get to my dorm," I told him. He nodded, turning on his heels to head to guardian housing. I looked at Adrian again, expecting him to start talking.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, softening my voice. The fact that Adrian had been dealing with something that had been affecting him was concerning me. "Is it Avery?"

Adrian lifted his head as soon as I said her name which already answered my question. Was he heartbroken over her? She was toxic enough as it was and he hadn't even known her for that long. They didn't even have any kind of committed relationship. "Look, I know you liked her, but—"

"It's not that," he interrupted. "It's a little more complicated than that. Remember when we were talking at the party, I told you something happened between me and Avery a few nights before?" he asked. I nodded, not quite sure where he was going.

"Well," he began hesitantly, "a few nights before the party, she wanted me to have sex with her. I've always been down to hook up with pretty girls, but I thought she was different. I believed her fake story at the time and I didn't want to take advantage. It makes me feel even more stupid now."

"Stupid for what?" I asked.

"At first, I told her I wanted to wait and she got angry. She said something...and then we ended up having sex in my room. But here's the problem." Adrian paused, leaning in closer to somehow prevent anyone from hearing us even though nobody else was around. "I didn't want to go through with anything. I felt like I wasn't really there. It almost felt like being drunk even though I hadn't been drinking that night. I couldn't stop what was happening. I woke up with bite marks on my neck the next day."

Adrian's words started to sink in and I realized how bad the situation was. Avery compelled him to give in to her. "What the hell? Adrian, you realize how bad this sounds, right?"

"Yeah, I know, I fucked up. I shouldn't have given in—"

"No, I'm not blaming you. You felt like you weren't in your right mind, right?" I asked, placing my hands on his shoulders to look him in the eyes. Adrian nodded, still looking a little ashamed.

"And do you remember when I asked you why you invited her to dinner, you couldn't remember?"

Adrian slowly nodded again. "I know what she did. I know she compelled me. I was confused at first, but I think everything wore off when she crashed. She was holding on to that magic for a long time."

"Some people are good at it. Trust me, I would know," I muttered bitterly, remembering the way I had been compelled to stay calm if I lashed out at my abusers.

Adrian flinched, furrowing his brows as he looked at me again. He knew what was on my mind, but he didn't want to hear the words. "Don't," he said. "I know what you're thinking. Don't say it. What happened between us is nothing like what happened to you."

"That doesn't make things any better. It's not always the girl that's the victim—"

"I am not a victim," he snapped. "And it's not like I could stop anything."

"So that makes it okay for her to compel you and take advantage?" I was getting angry now. I didn't blame Adrian, but I was furious at Avery. He didn't want to hear me say it out loud, so for his sake, I wouldn't, but Avery had taken advantage of him.

"What am I supposed to do, Rose?" he asked, sounding like he was at a loss. "I'm a guy. And apparently, guys can't get...you know."

"That's bullshit, and you know that. Adrian, this isn't okay. You have to report it."

Adrian ran his hand through his hair, gripping it in frustration. He didn't want to admit what happened, but he knew. Maybe he felt ashamed and I couldn't blame him, but it hurt me to see him like this. "Nobody will believe me. Everyone thinks I'm just a rich fuckboy. That's all I am in people's eyes."

"That's not what I think of you," I whispered, resting my head on his shoulder. "You're not the only person she victimized. She took advantage of Chloe, she tried to take advantage of me, and she compelled our friends. You have to report this. For all you know, she might do this to someone else."

Adrian shook his head. "As I said, no one will believe me. It's well known that I used to sleep around. They'll probably think the roles were reversed."

It was a harsh reality. If Avery were to make up some story about him assaulting her, people would believe her. On the other hand, with Adrian's position in society and his history of sleeping around with girls, it wouldn't be so believable if he came forward.

"She asked me questions about you," he brought up. "Personal questions too. I didn't want to answer her, but I think she was compelling me for information. I told her whatever she wanted and did whatever she wanted. I didn't realize she was even compelling me until the night she crashed."

"Crashing caused her magic to break," I said, leaning against the wall beside him. "I was having a nightmare yesterday. I was...back in one of those clubs. You know what I'm talking about." I already explained it to Lissa and Dimitri, and I wasn't up for reliving it again. Adrian already knew, so he nodded.

"I saw her—Avery. She told me she wanted to watch me suffer and started recording everything. When I told Lissa, she started to suspect that Avery was a spirit user. I thought it was unlikely at first, but it makes sense. Dream walking and compelling so many people at once."

Lissa and Adrian were spirit users too, but they controlled their magic and didn't let it affect them too much. Avery overused everything she had which explained why she was such a raging psychopath.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Adrian said sadly, wrapping an arm around me. "And I'm sorry for spilling so much. I wouldn't have said anything about you if she hadn't compelled me."

"Hey, don't worry about it," I told him, patting his chest. "Whatever happened is not your fault. And what she did isn't okay. Just because the circumstances might not have been as severe does not make it okay for her to take advantage of you like that. She played with your feelings and used compulsion to take away your free will. Avery used you and you didn't deserve that."

For the first time throughout our time together, he smiled slightly. It wasn't necessarily a happy smile, but rather an appreciative one. This was probably his first time opening up about what happened and I knew how relieving it could feel to get things out after being alone for so long.

"I don't want her to get away with anything—including what she did to you," he whispered. "But please, keep this between us—for now, at least."

Although I wanted him to report everything, I couldn't force him. He had to go at his own pace—it was the least I could do for him. "I'll keep your secret, but I'm punching that bitch as soon as I see her."

Adrian nodded. "She deserves it. She's the one who's been spreading rumours about you and the fact that I gave her a lot of personal information doesn't help. I'm going to make it up to you, even if that means hurting her myself. I couldn't care less if that ruined my royal reputation."

I raised my eyebrows, turning to look up at him. "You'd risk that just to protect me?"

Adrian tugged his lips up, giving me a sad smile. "I'll always protect you, little dhampir."

I had gotten a decent sleep after my encounter with Adrian, but I felt pretty damn shitty when I woke up. If Dimitri was right about me having a low-grade fever, it was a lot higher now. I had never dealt with a fever like this, but it was so bad I felt like throwing up. My throat hurt—badly—and my head was spinning.

There was a knock on my door and I told whoever it was to come in. Lissa walked in, already dressed with a mug in her hand. "Hey, Rose, I was thinking we could..." she trailed off after seeing me leaning against my bed and placed her mug on my dresser. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"No, I'm just..." I gripped my head, turning away to cough. Lissa pressed a hand to my forehead and her eyes widened.

"Rose, you're burning up," she said anxiously.

"No, no. I'm fine. I'm just tired." My voice sounded off too. I was congested which was probably one of the reasons why my voice sounded sick.

"Are you sure? You need to see a doctor, Rose."

"I'm fine," I said, already running out of breath as I quickly changed into my clothes.

"Can you at least consider skipping classes?" Lissa asked, still sounding worried.

"I can't," I said, shaking my head as I slipped my socks over my cold feet. I was shaking from how bad my fever was. Not only was I sweating, but my hands and feet were freezing. It was a strange combination and it made me want to wear everything and nothing at the same time.

"Okay, well, call me if you feel worse," she said I rushed out. "You look like hell, Rose."

"I've been through worse," I muttered, slipping my winter coat on and shoving my feet into my boots. I was late for class, so I sprinted to the main building after leaving my dorm. By the time I got back inside, I was out of breath again. Even with the cold winter weather outside, I never ran out of breath so easily. Dimitri still occasionally ran with me in the gym before we sparred together and it was one of my best assets. Right now, it felt like I had just sprinted for an hour.

I took off my coat as I started to sweat again. Before heading to class, I stopped by the washroom to wash my hands and wipe my sweaty face. I walked in and went straight for the taps, looking down at my hands and scrubbing thoroughly. I turned the tap off to dry them, but as soon as I looked up, I gasped when I saw a pair of red eyes looking at me through the mirror.

Thinking I had gone crazy, I spun around to see Avery smiling at me. Her eyes were blue again.

"Sorry," she said, looking me up and down. "I realize things startle you more often now. Imagine if I had turned the lights off or locked the door? Knowing your history, you'd be having a panic attack!"

"Your eyes," I said, ignoring her awful words. "Your eyes were red. I saw them."

Avery laughed, looking at me as if I was crazy. "Have you lost your mind? Are you sure you're seeing things for what they are? Or is that sickness of yours playing tricks on you? You know, they say if a fever is high enough, you'll start to hallucinate."

I froze, narrowing my eyes at her. "How do you know about that?"

Avery raised her fingers to her mouth and gasped. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?"

Before she could go, I grabbed her shirt and slammed her against the wall, taking her by surprise. Within seconds, she started laughing despite my painful grip. "God, it is so fun to watch you suffer. Maybe I should record this too so people can see just how crazy you really are."

It didn't take me long to realize what she meant. My conspiracy was right. Avery wasn't just an imaginary person in my dream. She was there to torment and humiliate me, just as we'd predicted. Avery was a spirit user. A crazy, psychotic spirit user.

"See how easy it is for me to get under your skin?" she asked, shoving me away with as much force as I had used on her. "You know, if you were back in the brothel, behaving like this, you'd be beaten and left for dead on the streets."

I went for her again, pushing her so far back I heard something crack. She ran out of the washroom with a speed that caught me off guard, but I wasn't about to let her get away. I followed her out, slamming her against the ground. There weren't any students in the hallway since everyone was in class, but the guardians in the hallway noticed us right away. I ignored the footsteps that came forward and rolled around on the ground, wrestling the girl I was so angry with. Despite being a moroi, she was as strong as me. After seeing her eyes in the washroom, I started to question whether she was even a moroi at all.

I succeeded in flipping her onto her back, pinning her down with my weight as I started punching her face. Ugly bruises were forming on her face and she took everything I gave until someone's arms wrapped around mine from behind me, pulling me back. I already recognized Dimitri's scent and tried not to hurt him despite my struggles.

"You crazy bitch!" I screamed. "If you ever take advantage of me or my friends again, I will rip your heart out with my bare hands! And if you hurt Adrian again, you're going to wish you died when you crashed that car!"

Avery's face faltered at my last comment as the other guardians hooked their arms under her armpits, dragging her up. "Now there's my golden girl," she said, never taking her eyes off of me. Dimitri stopped in his tracks, still restraining me as he snapped his head up.

"What did you just say?" he snarled. Avery smiled, but she didn't answer his question.

"Take her to a cell downstairs," Dimitri barked at the guards. "I'll take care of Rose."

"Guardian Belikov—"

"Now!" he yelled. Dimitri may not have been captain of the guardian team, but nobody questioned him when he gave orders like that. I stopped struggling in his arms and went limp, letting out a stream of coughs.

"Rose?" Dimitri said, rubbing my back as I leaned over. When the coughing stopped, he pressed his fingers against a bruise on my right cheekbone. "She hurt you."

"Well, I hurt her back. She deserves to rot in that cell. Remember what Lissa said about her being a spirit user after I saw her in my dream?"

Dimitri nodded, and I explained our conversation in the washroom to him. He started piecing everything together and came to the same conclusion as me.

"She called you Golden Girl," he mentioned. The fact that she had called me that was dangerous. Not only did she know my secret, but she must have wanted something from me. That code name was used by people who targeted me—people who wanted my blood. In other words, golden blood. I had to mention what I had seen in the washroom because that might have been the only explanation.

"Dimitri, there's something else. When I saw her in the mirror, her eyes were red. I only saw them for a second, but I saw them. I know I did. I swear I'm not crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy. That girl has done more damage than good since she came here. She tormented you in your dreams and if she's half strigoi like you, it explains why she has the same strength as you."

"Maybe we should mention this to Abe," I insisted. "He's had a bad feeling about Avery for a long time. Maybe he can help."

Dimitri nodded, softening his hands on my arms. "I'll talk to your father, but you need to go to the clinic. You don't look well."

"I'm fine," I objected. Dimitri sighed, still looking worried as he led me down the hallway.

"Earlier you mentioned Adrian," he said. I frowned and stopped walking. "Did Avery hurt him?"

I was tempted to spill what Adrian had told me, but I kept my mouth shut. If he wanted to report what happened, it had to be his choice as difficult as it was not to say anything.

"Rose, is there anything you know? Anything that might have happened to him? Avery is already in trouble and if we can get more people to come forward about anything, we can convince headmistress Kirova to kick her out."

"I can't...tell you," I said. "Something did happen, but it's not my secret to tell and I have to respect that. If Adrian wants to say something, he will. I can't do that for him."

Dimitri was never one to pry on someone else's secret, so he let it go and kept walking me to class. I pressed a hand against my forehead as I walked in, quickly apologizing to the professor before finding an empty seat. More students skipped class during the winter, meaning it was half empty and there wasn't anyone sitting next to me. I dropped my bag down, taking deep breaths and muffling a few coughs into my sleeve.

Tiredness started to take over pretty fast. I fell asleep with my head in my arms on the long table, not even bothering to record anything. I probably should have listened to Lissa when she told me to skip classes. There wasn't any point in showing up if I was going to sleep through the whole thing.

I woke up to the feeling of someone shaking me slightly, and I snapped my head to find Dimitri looming over me. People were starting to leave the room and I realized the class was over.

"Did I sleep through the whole thing?" I asked. Dimitri nodded, but he didn't lecture me over the fact that I hadn't been paying attention. His eyes were skimming my face and he looked concerned. He pressed a hand to my forehead and swore in Russian before pulling me up.

"That's it. I'm taking you to the clinic."

"Dimitri, I'm fine. Vampires don't get sick."

"Try telling that to the four-year-old girl who's suffering the same symptoms as you," he said. His words set in and I realized what he meant. Nevaeh and I were both sick. As soon as I stepped out of my seat, my vision darkened and I started to fall. Dimitri's instincts kicked in and I saw his eyes widen as he grabbed me before I could hit the ground. The other guardians in the room crowded around us, speaking into their earpieces as Dimitri talked to me. I could hear them clearly, but I was so confused that I didn't pay any attention. All I could feel was Dimitri picking me up and rushing me out.

Thank you for reading :) The next few chapters are going to be a little intense and maybe a little emotional. At least it was for me, but it's hard to say. Anyways, I hope you liked it :)