A.N : So here is the chapter 6. Thanks to my reviewers!! it means so much to me i mean when i don't feel like writing knowing that you guys are waiting and appreciating this story well... it's boosting me. You are so nice with me. Anyways you can also check the promo i made on youtube for this story you should check it out... it give some small spoilers away *wink* ( the link is on my profile).

Well you guys rock!!!!

Please review this chapter as reviews help the writer continue isn't it?

Xoxo, Steffy

Chapter 6:

I showered and changed in a rush too happy to have this little lead. A lead that will put me on the right track, give me that hope, that goal I desperately needed.

Andre was waiting for me in my room and that was just a creepy thought to know that ghosts could be spying on you during your most personal and intimate moments.

I shook my head. I didn't have the time or the desire to even go there.

As I turned to leave the room I looked back at Andre.

"Are you coming or not?" It was a stupid question I realized too late since he didn't really need me to give him a lift.

He shook is head.

"No? How come you aren't?" I asked both surprised and irritated. Even if he couldn't protect me, I felt like he was abandoning me. "How am I supposed to find out where they are staying?"

He shrugged.

"Oh come on… Not the shrugging again." I whined rolling my eyes. "What does that even mean? Their in the southern area of town?"

He nodded.

"And what?" I thought for a second. "Oh I got it!" I said widening my eyes with comprehension. "You don't know where exactly! Is that it??"

He nodded.

"It's ok," I said nicely. "You already helped … pointing me in the right direction." I told him giving him a sad smile. "Thank you."

He nodded with some guilt in his expression.

"I'll be back I promise," I said walking out of the room. At least this time I added to myself.

I hid the sword under a blanket on the floor of the car. I wouldn't need it while walking a perimeter of the nice area of town.

First, a young girl with a sword would probably alert the 'goody two shoes'living in this area and I couldn't loose the precious hours left of daylight in answering the police's questions.

Secondly I was just inspecting the area, walking around close enough to the houses to 'feel' the one with the strigoi.

I would not attack today, not without a plan of action; it would be a pointless suicide. I said I was not suicidal and it's true. Even if I didn't think I would, or wanted to outlive Dimitri for long, I also didn't want to be taken down like that by a random strigoi it wouldn't be worth anything.

No, I was smarter than that… I'll organize and think before acting, at least for now.

Once I found the house, I would go back to the motel and attack tomorrow in the morning when the sun was high.

I parked the car in the middle of the area, it was the best place to park in order to circle the perimeter and I swore to myself that Strigoi or not I would come back to my car as soon as the sun would start to set, which will be, I looked at my watch, about 4 hours from now.

Plenty of time. I thought locking the car and checking that my hidden stake was still attached to my belt. Let's go girl.

When I got back to the car, the sun was setting in the horizon and I couldn't have been more disappointed and upset than I was.

I went up and down each street of a 3-mile radius and didn't feel anything, not even a twitch! I walked all the residential area I was sure of and nothing in those houses brought a feeling to the surface. There was nothing even remotely suspicious on the outside either, nothing!!

Well I thought it was odd to have strigoi in an area like this, as it was really contrary to everything I've been taught about their behavior, but the large nest I witnessed was unusual too.

Could a ghost make a mistake? Is it possible they left in between the time he found out the information and shared it with me? I wondered driving away.

I made it back to the Motel about two hours after sunset. I drove around to clear my mind for a while, trying to figure out what my next move should be, but as hard as I thought my mind was blank. I DIDN'T know what to do next and that was scarier than I thought it would be.

I stopped near a little 24/7 shop and managed to convince someone to buy me a bottle of vodka.

I wanted to get drunk tonight, really REALLY drunk as well, for the first time since Dimitri's death, I didn't know what to expect in the morning. What to wake up for?

As I stepped out of the car I saw two men sitting on a bench near my bedroom door. I didn't feel like arguing tonight I thought hopefully that they would leave me alone.

The first one was wearing some clothes directly stolen from the 70's with so much bling on him that even having the word "pimp" tattooed on his forehead would have been less obvious.

The second one was a skinny wreck of what used to be a human being a long time ago and, by the smell of it, he was completely drunk! So drunk that it would have put Adrian to shame, which was not an easy thing to do.

Welcome to the club comrade I thought tightening my grip around the bag containing my bottle.

"I tell you man…I saw it as I'm seeing you." Said the drunk to the pimp.

"Of course you did Rob…how many drinks did you have when you saw it?" Asked the other one probably waiting for one of his 'girls' as he kept glancing at the door just beside mine.

"It doesn't matter I- Hey Doll!" He said changing course when he saw me pass in front of them.

"Hello" I mumbled reaching for my door.

"There are some weird things happening around here," he said. "I… I can lend you my body for protection if you need." He added as his alcoholic breath made me nauseous.

I was about to retort that I could break him just by puffing, but I didn't feel like fighting… Not tonight anyways.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said not even looking at him and opening my door.

"He saw a vampire!" Said the pimp laughing beside him in an attempt to make fun of Rob.

At that word I froze and slowly turned around to face them.

"Yep… Exactly… a vampire," repeated the Pimp somewhat proud to have caught my attention.

"Oh you can laugh Peter!! But… I may be drunk, but I know what I saw!" Added Rob trying to stand as straight as he could with the probably unbelievable level of alcohol in his system.

"Please tell the young lady what you saw," said Peter with an alluring tone while checking me out in a ghastly manner probably imagining all the disgusting things he could do to me.

But I was too interested in Rob's story to even care.

"I was like maybe two streets down," he said pointing to his right side. "And… I...I was getting out of a bar when, out of nowhere, a blond dude was in front of me, holding someone by the neck!" He said pretty sure of himself.

I nodded.

"Yeah and…" He seemed eager enough to share that with me. "He had some weird red eyes, pale skin, long hair…he was young too." He said pointing at me. "About your age or so…" he added before looking at Peter through narrow eyes. "And I didn't say it was a vampire I said it was a freak who was pretending to be a vampire or so!! He had fangs too though."

He continued to talk, but I didn't hear the rest, this description... I only knew it too well. It was the vampire who got away at the academy, the one who pretended to know me, the one who wanted to hurt Lissa…. The last Dragomir!

And the direction he pointed… I quickly thought it was near the house, the one where I've been held hostage!

"Andre…. He betrayed me!" I said out loud not even bothering looking at the two men.

As I walked in, I saw Andre standing there, and without thinking, I closed the door and threw the bottle at him with all the force I had, but of course the bottle when through him and exploded against the wall.

"You fucking liar!!" I shouted. "You sent me on a wild goose chase when you knew I was right! You knew there were still some strigoi at the house, but you lied to me!!"

Andre stared at me for a minute not even bothering to deny it he nodded in confirmation.

"You said you were here to help!! And you drove me away from my goal!! Is that help?" I asked rhetorically sinking into a chair looking at him with so much disappointment.

He nodded.

"Oh yeah?" I said sarcastically. "And what sort of freaking aid was that huh?? You were like a brother to me! One of the few people I trusted dead or alive!! And you betrayed me!!"

He just kept staring.

"What the hell!! Just say something!! Do something!! You lied! You didn't help… What kind of help was that?" I asked really wishing I could hurt him.

I saw his eyes narrow like he did when he wanted to say something.

"Help you…To stay alive…" He said in a hush tone.

"I don't want to stay alive!" I shouted as his eyes widened. "Not in these conditions I mean," I said backtracking.

Sorry he mouthed.

"Like hell you are! Are you sorry for betraying me or for getting caught?" I asked not even waiting for some kind of answer. "Whatever!! You can burn in hell now for all I care. I don't give a shit!" I added seriously. "You can go back to whoever sent you and tell him or her that I know everything and that once I'm done I'll track him down and he or she will be sorry for having done that!"

I decided to go and pay a little 'visit'to Lissa through our bound. I never tried to get in her head from that far away, but it was required to work. If I did, it would hurt me because I would feel the full force of my betrayal, but I thought that if it was someone from school who sent Andre she was obligated to know about it. Sending him was smart…I would never have doubted him.

"I want you to go now." I said staring at him, but he didn't move.

"You really need to go now, I can't bare seeing you in front of me." I said not even shouting anymore. His eyes were sad. "Just the sight of you makes me nauseous."

I managed to hurt him; I guess ghosts do have feelings after all. He vanished into thin air.

I settle on the bed, my back against the wall as I concentrated on getting into Lissa' mind.

It took me a bit longer and a lot more energy than before since I was somehow out of practice already.

When I opened my eyes I could see a pair of icy blue eyes staring back at me. Christian… Christian was staring at me with concern, worry and love...Undying love except that he wasn't staring at me, but at Lissa. I finally made it into her head!

"Ok studying time over." Said Christian taking her hand and kissing it. "How are you doing?" He asked with interest keeping her hand tight in his.

I was so glad she had him. He was really good to her… soothing, exactly who she needed to be with. I thought with some kind of appeasement.

She gave him a small smile while feeling so many contradictory feelings.

She was happy to be loved by the man she loved and that they were both well and alive. But that made her feel guilty since she knew I lost the man I loved and she also felt sad to have lost me and scared as hell that she wouldn't see me again.

I felt bad she felt all that, I was the bad one in that story. The one causing her pain, which was kind of ironic, since I had spent the last 10 years trying to protect her, spare her any kind of pain.

"I'm okay," she said "it's just …Rose." She added. As she spoke my name she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

"I…" Christian cleared his throat. "I miss her too you know," He said uncomfortably.

Both Lissa and I felt a same amount of surprise.

"You. Miss. Her?" asked Lissa.

"Well yeah I do," he shrugged. "She's kind of badass and all that, but let me tell you… I'll deny it all when she comes back!" He added trying to bring some hope into her.

I'll have to thank him if I ever got to see him again.

"I don't know… You know I heard her mother speak and she said that," Started Lissa the voice shivering.

Christian stopped her gently brushing her cheek.

"Don't listen to her!" He said having a hard time hiding the anger he probably felt toward my mother. "Whatever she said…She's wrong." He added locking his eyes on Lissa to show her how much he meant it.

What did she say damn it! I thought getting more frustrated by the minute.

"Let's face it," he added seriously "it's a woman who's seen her daughter twice in the last 5 years. She doesn't know how strong Rose is. She…" He sat beside Lissa on the bed and put his forehead against hers. "She is brave and strong. It won't be easy, but she can face it and I honestly believe that she will make it back." He added.

Well the last part was not entirely true, I could see it in his eyes, but Lissa wanted to believe him so much that she ignored that or maybe she was not as good as me to notice this kind of thing since I was a master at hiding what I really felt.

"Yeah… you're right!" She said feeling a bit better. "I know Rose better than anyone else and she is capable of amazing things… she'll come back, she won't abandon me." She added, which was like a shot straight to the heart.

Lissa looked up at the clock and Christian sighed.

"He'll be over soon?" He asked suddenly sullen

"Aww don't be like that," said Lissa brushing her lips on his. "You know it's not like that between us and whatever the Queen said he doesn't want me and I don't want him." She smiled. "I found my prince and I don't intend to let him go," she added with a wink.

This comment lit a light in Christian's eyes. "I love you so much," he said his voice full of emotion.

At this instant I felt like a peeping Joe and I was about to go and give them some privacy when someone knocked at her door.

"And you know the more we work together the more it'll help Rose." She said standing up to open to Adrian.

"I know… I really do." He said nicely standing up too.

Help me? Help me how?? I thought but they didn't mention any ghosts.

"Well… I'll go back to my room," he said reluctantly. He kissed Lissa forehead and gave a sharp nod to Adrian. At least I was bound to give him a cookie point for trying.

As soon as Christian left Lissa turned to Adrian

"So did you find something new?" She asked eagerly.

He shook his head sadly settling in the little armchair by her bed. "No, but I did order some books from the Court library… it will probably help us a bit more." He smiled "being a prince does have its privileges sometimes," he added smugly.

I could see from his blood shot eyes that he was drunk, but Lissa didn't really express that much concern so it was probably an almost permanent state now.

"Ok Cousin…." He said all business like. "Let see if you can do better today… Read me!" He added extending his hand.

Lissa smiled a bit and sat on the bed. She took his hand in both of hers.

"Try to get into my head…" He said in a deep voice. "It's harder with me than with other people, but if you can get in without using too much energy, you'll be able to do it with anyone and it will be a great help to know if people are lying or not. "

Lissa nodded and squeezed his hand a little bit harder.

Lissa…My Lissa could be telepathic! I thought impressed. Well it did make sense… as a spirit user she could influence the mind like when she made Jesse see the spiders.

I was so concentrated on her now that the room could have been set into fire and I wouldn't have noticed it.

As Lissa closed her eyes and concentrated on Adrian I felt so many flickers of feelings hitting me at the second that it was impossible for me to understand any of it, but I was pretty sure that Lissa could.

And boy… I didn't get disappointed.

Lissa opened wide eyes and let Adrian's hand dropped., she was just shocked, shocked beyond words, but also infinitely sad for him.

"You did it?" He asked nicely

She kept staring at him.

"Liss…. Are you alright?" He asked starting to worry.

"The rumors were true… at least on your part…." She said in a whisper.

"What?" Asked Adrian confused, but I could see in his eyes that he was dreading her discovery.

"It's not only a crush you… you love her! You are madly in love with her!!" She said still sounding uncertain, as her own words seemed unbelievable. "Letting her go, helping her to go was for you the greatest of all sacrifices." She added with teary eyes.

"Well … It's… Well you can read my mind that's good…" he stood up "I think that's enough for tonight. You… you need… to rest now," he added in such a hurry to leave that he didn't even sound coherent anymore.

Lissa didn't move and continued as if he didn't interrupt her. "You were and still are ready to give up everything just to be with her. The name, the rank, the money… Everything! You don't just want to date her...You… You want to built your life with her!!" She added looking up at him. "I can't believe it… so much love… all the sacrifices."

He walked to the door without a word before turning around. "It doesn't matter anyway does it?" He asked rhetorically looking totally vulnerable for the first time since I met him. "She's ready to sacrifice everything too, even her own life, but for someone else. It's just totally unrequited. She just likes me enough to hurt me and hurt herself for not being able to give me more."

Lissa bit her lip not knowing what to say to him.

"This stays between you and me all right?" He added in a begging tone leaving before even hearing her answer.

I got out of Lissa's head at this instant as I had trouble breathing.

It was probably just incomprehension. She still was a novice at reading minds and he was too drunk…

Misinterpretations happen all the time! I thought in a lousy attempt to convince myself.

I couldn't allow myself to care about someone anymore…. I was closing the door on every feeling I ever had and could have.

I could not keep breathing otherwise.

I crawled into bed, took a sleeping pill and thought about my visit to the house tomorrow. About how Christian was there for Lissa and everything it took to forget the chat between Lissa and Adrian.

That was not something I needed or even wanted to know.