Just so you all know, I'v made some minor changes in previous chapters, so if you want to go back and re-read them, then that's great. If not, that's fine too! Also, I'm not going to give you any excuse for not having updated in so long other than lack of motivation. Warning: From this point on, the story will contain some serious spoilers from Bloodlines Series. If you haven't read them, then it will make much more sense if you read those first. (up to Fiery Heart). Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Richelle MeadChapter 7

"Will you stop trying to avoid my question?!" Snapped Dimitri, clearly reaching his limit. "What the hell did you do?!" As much as I love making Dimitri lose his temper, I really wasn't in the mood to deal with a pissed off Russian. Everyone just looked at me, waiting for an answer. And their faces were priceless when I gave them one.

"Necromancy."

Sydney POV

I gasped as realization hit me. She was a witch as well. That explains the fire thing that Rose was talking about, I thought to myself.

"In order successfully reincarnate someone, it would require an extremely powerful and highly skilled witch. I've heard that quite a few witches have attempted to do it in the past, but it's very rare that they would succeed. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of a witch that has been successful at reincarnation." I said, voicing my thoughts aloud. "Not to mention that necromancy involves a lot of dark magic, and that even the simplest mistakes almost always result in very severe consequences…" I trailed off.

"Well, from what I can tell, you're not too bad a witch yourself" Pandora said to me, smirking.

Looking around the room, everyone was looking at me, and it made me feel self-conscious. Pandora had a smirk on her face clearly amused by what I had said. Ivan looked at me, clearly shocked by my words. Dimitri and Eddie, as usual, had on their, as Rose calls it, 'guardian mask'. Jill was smiling, the kind that said 'I know something the rest of you don't'. Adrian was grinning at me, a proud look in his eyes saying 'that's my girlfriend'. While Rose, Lissa, and Christian had expressions that said 'you're kidding right?'. Lastly, Ivan just looked bored and was having trouble keeping his eyes open. The only sound that could be heard was the dog, Ruby, snoring while curled up asleep in Christian's lap, who didn't seem to happy about it. I began to panic.

"What, did I say something wrong? I didn't think before I spoke, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone." I was panicking; I didn't like all of this attention. Not one bit. "Hey, babe, it's okay, you didn't say anything wrong. You have nothing to apologize for" Adrian said softly, pulling me into a soothing hug. I immediately felt better.

"Huh" Pandora began. "I never would have thought that an alchemist and a moroi would be dating." She muttered, probably more to herself than to anyone else.

"Wait! You're dating someone!" Rose screeched! "Why was I not informed of this?!" She yelled, making me cringe. "Sorry, I just felt like it would be best if I didn't tell anyone that we were together" I said in a small voice.

"We, as in you and Adrian?" She looked at me in disbelief. "Sorry Little Dhamper, you and Cradle Robber over there decided to get back together, so I assumed that you were no longer head-over-heels about me." Adrian began, clearly enjoying Rose's reaction. She just snorted in response, Dimitri on the other hand just glared at him.

"Wait, so when Adrian asked you to dance at Sonya and Michel's wedding, it wasn't because Adrian was just being Adrian, you guys were already together?" She asked me. "Err, no. We weren't together then" I said, feeling as though I was being interrogated. "She doesn't want to admit it but she was already helpless in love with me." Adrian began. "And who could blame her? What's not to love?" He said, grinning widely.

"I could come up with a list if you want, and I'm sure that Dimitri would be more than happy to be a co-author" Christian said, his usual smirk plastered on his face.

Pandora POV

I was highly amused at how everyone seemed more shocked at the fact that Sydney was dating someone than they were about her being a witch. Sure, it was a royal moroi, but still, I think that the magic thing is a bit more shocking.

"I love how you're all more shocked by the fact that she's in a relationship than that she's a witch. It's highly amusing watching you all." I said while smirking.

"Well, honestly, I think that we're all just so used to crazy unnatural stuff happening that when something new comes up, it doesn't really effect us" said Lissa. "Yeah, I'm with Lissa, the Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov thing is way more unnatural than the witchcraft thing. " Christian agreed. Rose nodded in agreement. The witchcraft thing didn't surprise Dimitri at all, due to the fact that he's been the victim of quite a few magic-involved injuries, pranks, and all that good stuff, and the same applies to Ivan.

"Wait, you guys seem like you've known this the whole time—and you guys have known about this the entire time." Rose said, the knowing looks on Eddie and Jill's faces told her the truth. They did know the entire time.

"I only found out because of the bond with Adrian and he know almost immediately. Eddie found out later though." Jill explained.

"Of course you did" Rose muttered to herself. Dimitri just chuckled at this.

"And let me guess, you knew about this too." She said, looking at Dimitri, he looked at her guiltily. "Yeah, unfortunately I did." He muttered, glaring in my direction.

Christian POV

"So just to make sure I've got this all straight", I began "Ivan died, but was brought back to life by Pandora, who's a witch." "Yeah, in more than one way" muttered Ivan. This earned him a slap on the back of the head from Pandora. "Sydney, who is also a witch, is dating Adrian. And you guy's are what?" I asked, pointing towards Ivan and Pandora. "Splitting rent due to the fact that our jobs suck and if something breaks then there's someone else to blame it on." She said quickly.

"That makes sense. Ivan, where do you work?" Lissa asked politely. That's my girl, always the polite one.

Rose POV

"I work at this store that's a few buildings down the street from here" was his response.

"He dresses up like a cowboy for a living." Pandora cut in. "Hey, I do not! I'm a salesperson!" "Yeah, who dresses up like a cowboy." "It's required for my job! Everyone has to do it!" "Yeah, and my job requires me to wear boots and a hat, but you don't see me complaining about it." "Seriously, you complain about it all the time!" "No, I don't. I simply make it very clear that I hate my job" Pandora stated matter-o-factly. "It's the same thing!" Ivan protested. "No it's not!" "Yes it-" before Ivan could finish his sentence, he was cut off by Dimitri, who smacked the back of his head (much like Pandora had done, just not nearly as hard) and then did the same thing to Pandora, but this time with a bit more force than he did with Ivan.

"Will both of you stop arguing! Or at least stop yelling" he said, looking highly irritated. "Seriously, was that really necessary?" Pandora snapped at him. "Let it go, you don't have to have the last word, it'll just start trouble" he said, probably about to give her one of his famous 'Zen lessons'. "But he started it!" That earned her another slap on the back of the head. "Stop acting immaturely" he said, using the same tone that you would use to tell a child not to do something. She clearly reached her snapping point when he said that, I would too if someone said that I was acting immature.

"You think that's immature? I'll show you what being immature is you stupid, idiotic, cruel, promise-breaking, pathetic excuse for a friend." She growled. And with that, she tackled him, well, she tried to, but he stepped out of the way easily. This made her even angrier, and she jumped up and somehow managed to get him into a choke-hold without actually knocking him over. She had her arms wrapped around his neck (non-romantically), clearly trying to cut off his oxygen supply.

Dimitri POV

Clearly I had forgotten how strong of a grip she had because it seemed like the more I tried to pry her arms from around my neck, the tighter her grip became. Usually, I would have just flipped my opponent off of me, but she knew this, and knew to warp her legs around my abdomen so that I wouldn't escape if did try to flip her. I could also have just fallen backwards, and hopefully the impact would cause some damage, but I just wanted to get her off of me, not kill her. The impact would probably do a lot more damage to her than it would if I were to do it with another guardian or a strigoi. Pandora though was about a foot shorter than me, and I weighed more than twice as much as her, so the impact would cause much more damage than a few broken ribs. I was starting to feel light headed, which meant that if I didn't get her off soon, I would probably pass out within the next two minutes, if not sooner. Then I remembered something that she did to me when we were younger and when I had the upper hand. I knew I was going to regret this, and I hated doing it, especially since I turned back into a dhamper, not to mention that I will never ever hear the end of it but I really needed her to get off of me, or at least loosen her grip on my neck. Before I could change my mind or pass out (whichever would have come first), I did it. I managed to turn my head enough so that I could bite her arm.

She immediately loosened her grip and I used this opportunity to pry her away. I didn't bite her hard, I just bit her enough so that she would be shocked enough to loosen her grip. She ended up being pulled away by Eddie, who made sure that there was enough distance between the two of us for her to not choke me again.

"You ass hole!" She shouted, surprise laced into her words. "What the hell did you bite me for!" "I really didn't feel like crushing you and I couldn't think of any other way that would distract you enough for you to loosen your grip."

I'd have to make sure that I kept my distance from her for the rest of the night; she might attack me again. Although I will say, I was thankful that she had her arms and legs wrapped around me in order to try and choke me to death. If she weren't then I would have to pry a very angry (and jealous), Rose Hathaway away from Pandora, not that she has anything to worry about, but still, she gets jealous of other women looking at me, and I get jealous of other men who hit on her so I guess I can't really blame her for feeling jealous without being hypocritical.

Pandora yawned. "Well, it was great hanging out with y'all, but I'm exhausted. Goodnight." Eddie looked very hesitant to let her go, but he must have figured it was okay. She turned away and headed towards the kitchen, which I assume you have to pass through to get to the bedrooms, since the only other door was the entrance to the apartment.

"Nice to meet you guys, see you in the morning." She said without turning around. "Wait, we're staying here tonight?" Jill asked. "Well, we were supposed to eat dinner then continue driving back to court then stop at a hotel for the night after driving for a few hours." I said, only just now did I remember that we had a schedule we were supposed to follow.

"Whatever, if you all want to go then you know where the door is, if not, then you can stay here or I can tell you where the nearest hotel is. As long as nobody bothers me at night and I can go to bed soon, then I really don't care what you do." Pandora said, who had come back towards the living room and was leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen.

I looked at Lissa. It was her decision. I really didn't feel like driving at the moment, but if she wanted to go, then I'd be more than willing to do so.

"If everyone else is okay with it then could we maybe stay here?" She asked, as always, she took everyone else's wants and needs into consideration before her own. It was part of what made her a great queen. Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement, well, Christian, Jill, Sydney and Adrian did. It wasn't up to Rose, Eddie, and I to decide, it was their choice, we just go along with it and make sure they're not in any danger.

"Okay, sounds good. Someone can take the couch, there's a pop-out mattress that can hold up to four of you, although I'm guessing that you'd prefer it if you didn't have to share with more than one other person if any. Two people can take Ivan's bed, although there's no guarantee that you won't catch the plague or something if you stay in there. Two people can sleep in my room, Dimitri can sleep outside the door as well as anyone else who wants to join him. I call under the kitchen table and Ivan, you're on your own." She finished. "One of us needs to keep watch just in case." I said to Rose and Eddie.

"No you don't, I've got a barrier around this place that'll burn any strigoi alive if they get within 5 feet of it. They'll be a pile of ashes in less than 15 seconds. If any unwanted moroi, dampers, or humans then they'll be locked out. The walls on the outside are concrete and the front entrance is locked and made of plexi-glass or some other shit that's impossible to scratch. The only other way to get into this place is through either a window, which is also made of plexi-glass, or the fire escape on each level, which will collapse if anything heavier than a pigeon steps foot on it. You're all safe." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Unless of course there happens to be a fire, if so then I'm sure that I'll run into at least one of you guys in hell. And with that said, goodnight." This time when she turned and walked out of the room, instead of hearing footsteps, I hear chairs scratching the floor as the were moved out of the way, probably so that Pandora could have enough room to sleep under the table.

Eventually, we all got sorted out, and although I knew that Rose and Eddie were hesitant, eventually everyone had figured out where they were sleeping. Jill and Eddie were in the living room. Rose and I were originally going to stay there for safety precautions but when Adrian made a suggestive remark, Pandora made a rule that due to the fact that there isn't a door between the Kitchen and the living room, only Jill and Eddie were aloud to sleep in there since they weren't in a relationship. So Jill and Eddie got the living room (Jill on the bed and Eddie on the floor as per Pandora's instructions), Ivan offered Rose and I his room, and much to my dismay, Rose thanked him and said that we would take up his offer, clearly thinking that Pandora was kidding when she said that someone would likely catch some weird disease if they stayed in there. Adrian and Sydney took the side opposite of Jill and Eddie on an air mattress that was moved to the living room. Christian and Lissa took Pandora's room since Pandora refused to let them sleep on the floor or the couch. Christian and Lissa both immediately agreed on Pandora's room, since other than the bookshelves crammed with books, the room was neat, clean and nothing like Ivan's. Finally, Ivan, much to his and Pandora's dislike, was sleeping in the kitchen as well, him on a sleeping bag near the sink, and her in one under the table. Ruby ended up staying with Lissa and Christian. Lissa was ecstatic about it, but Christian on the other hand was anything but.

If nothing else comes up in the morning, then we can get back on the road and we'll be at court and at home in less than two days. I thought to myself before I finally fell asleep, unable to keep my eyes open any longer.

So? What do you all think? Will everything go smoothly for the VA crew from this point on? Of course not, then there'd be no point in having this story since it'd be no fun for me to write! But don't tell anyone I told you! Anyways, Please R&R!