Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodlines.

Author's Note: A huge thank you to Rainy for reviewing. Your support means so much to me. Please keep reading and reviewing. I'm just back from Benidorm and I'm writing this chapter on the plane home to Scotland. Yay! More rain and miserable cold! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy.

Chapter Eight

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Is that Neil Raymond?" asked a gruff voice. He had an American accent and he sounded annoyed.

"Yes," I said warily. "Is this Guardian Croft?"

"Who else would call you from Court?" he asked.

I made no answer so he continued.

"You've to accompany Adrian Ivashkov to Texas," He said bluntly, "I've just had an order from the queen."

I was pretty surprised to hear this. Why was Adrian going to Texas? Why was I the one who had to accompany him?

"Before you start asking questions," Hans said, "There has been another strigoi restoration."

"Who performed it?" I asked curiously.

"A young lady named Nina Sinclair. She just restored her sister, Olive." Hans explained.

"Was it very recent?" I asked. I had heard, of course, that both Dimitri Belikov and Sonya Karp had been restored from being a Strigoi.

"Less than 24 hours ago." Hans said. "Now, get to your dorm and start packing."

"Of course, Sir." I said and immediately headed to my room.

I was unsure of what to pack. I knew that Texas would be pretty hot so I ended up packing five light outfits into a dufflebag, along with toiletries. As always, I kept my silver stake in the pocket of my light jacket.

As I walked out of my room, I thought about how I would get to the airport. I decided to go to central campus and get a taxi from there.

As I entered central campus, I saw Sydney approaching me.

"Hey, Neil," she said, "Where are you going?"

"The airport," I said, "I need to go with Adrian to Texas."

"Oh, yes," she said, "You want a ride?"

"Sure," I said. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said and we went to get her car.

The ride to the airport was mostly quiet. Sydney seemed a nice person but today, she seemed pretty distracted.

"Everything ok?" I asked. I wouldn't normally but she was usually quite talkative.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, "I just have ... a lot to think about."

"Oh, ok." I said and let it go. I wasn't one to pry and besides, she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

Finally, we reached the airport. Adrian arrived five minutes later and exchanged a few comments with Sydney. I didn't really listen, instead I looked at the board and saw that it was time to go.

"It's time to go." I said and we made our goodbyes to Sydney.

The flight was a pleasant one. I read my book, the same one I'd bought in Devon, and Adrian read his. I still didn't know why he'd wanted me to come with him, but I decided that it would be better not to ask.

When we arrived in Texas, we got a rental car and drove to the house that the Guardians were keeping the sisters in.

As we got out, I saw that Adrian looked quite ... nervous. I'd never seen him look nervous before, not ever.

"Well," he said. "Here goes nothing."

Author's Note: Well, I know that it was kinda boring but please review anyway. Also, if you ever go to Benidorm, there's an awesome Olly Murs tribute act. His name is John-Paul and he's amazing! He even sang a song to me, and kissed me on the cheek! So, John-Paul, if you ever read this, thanks for being awesome!

Anyway, please review! hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair)