Bloodline spoiler:

Eddie is Adrian's guardian.

Sydney became a witch and is able to perform spells and use elemental powers. Unlike Moroi magic, human magic isn't inherent and is drawn from energy and elements around them. The difference means human magic can negate the effects of Moroi magic as used for instance in the compulsion tattoos.

Chapter 5:

RPOV

We actually hadn't slept. Not because we weren't tired, we were spent after round four but, because I didn't want to miss one minute of the time we had left.

It was morning. How I knew this I didn't know but I knew it would only be minutes before they would take us away.

Regrettable I left my warm and safe spot naked next to Dimitri for some clothes. He did the same but the moment we were dressed we crawled up to each other again.

"I am a little sad I won't get to see Lissa's baby. Now I'll never know if Christian actually created hellspawn."

Dimitri laughed a bit. He pulled me closer to him and turned my head so I could look at him.

"Just promise me you'll fight. Fight the disease, fight the transformation, fight for us. And if fate finally does us in, promise me we will see each other on the other side."

"I promise. I am going to fight with everything I got. Because with my track record I honestly won't know if we would be going to the same place if we die."

"Well good luck to the God trying to keep me from you."

One last kiss before I felt the effects of that damn sedative again. I was trying hard to fight it. One last glance at my husband. We had been through so much together. I didn't know if after this we would be returning together to this room. I didn't know how long the process of turning or dying from rejection took. I tried to saver every last bit of him. His hair, his brown eyes, his scruffy stopple. There were too many things I wanted to commit to memory but not enough time as I felt the sedative take effect. My mind went blank.

Sharp. Electricity. Jolt of power. Blackness.

I woke up and felt a shiver run through me. I was cold. I looked around and I noticed Dimitri lying next to me, still unconscious. So I scooted over to him and buried myself in the nook of his chest and shoulders. He was warm and it helped a bit. Although I could feel myself aching all over. After a few minutes I felt Dimitri wake up as he was running his hand through my hair.

"God Rose, you are hot."

"I know, but I only have eyes for you."

He sighed.

"I meant your body is warm. To warm."

"Yeah I think I am spotting a fever. My body aches all over and I feel cold despite the fact I am hot. I am guessing I am the lucky one with the immune response. At least I didn't turn."

He pulled me closer as if he could protect me from my own body.

"How are you?"

I didn't know if he had a fever or not, he felt a little colder than me, but that didn't mean anything.

"Actually I am okay. I don't feel a whole lot different."

"Good."

"Rose just stay with me. I know you can fight this."

I wanted to believe him, but I was feeling like crap and I knew that was my body rejecting the Strigoi blood. I didn't know how long it took the others to die, but at least I was comforted by the fact I would be dying in my lover's arms.

I think I heard the door open and I felt Dimitri stiffen besides me but my head was too heavy to look up who was coming in.

I saw something white pass me by and I felt the needle sting as they were taking red liquid from me. Isn't that supposed to stay on the inside of me? I vaguely recognized they did the same to Dimitri.

"How is she doing?"

I could hear the fear in his voice. He was dreading the answer.

"She is past the deadline for turning. But she is running a high fever. But some were already gone by this point. I will keep monitoring her. As for you. No immune reaction, no signs of transformation. With you the experiment seems to have succeeded. Or at least didn't kill you, which is a vast improvement."

I was glad. Dimitri was going to be fine.

"Do you hear that Roza, he says you are getting better."

I heard what he had said. He didn't say I was getting better. I was just not as bad as some of the others. But I knew Dimitri would be holding on to hope till my last breath and so would I. If only so I can kick Nathan in the nuts for putting us through this.

third POV

"Why can't I contact her, Christian, what if she is dead?"

"I don't think so. It feels similar to when Sydney was taken by the alchemists. They are not asleep, they are sedated." Adrian informed a very distraught Queen.

When Adrian and Sydney and Eddie had heard of Rose's and Dimitri's disappearance they had made their way to court with Declan. To try and help in any way they can and to try and calm Lissa down. She had been a mess. She blamed Hans for their disappearance. They shouldn't have been on a mission in the first place. And he had no idea about the whereabouts of the two guardians that took them. They both had exemplary records but had abandoned their station because they never got back from the mission.

"I am looking more into the backstory of the two guardians. Up until a few months ago they were the cream of the crop, both guarding a high ranking family. But their charges did mention they were different the last couple of months. I am trying to see if they had overlapping destinations."

Adrian was looking through their files. He, Eddie and Christian had been going over them a million times the last few days.

"The only thing I can find is a royal party a few months back. Both guardians were there."

"Who else was there, Maybe if we question other guardians that were there we could find something?" Eddie commented.

Luckily with the Strigoi threat, high level events like that were registered and there was a list of attendees.

"Three guardians that were there are stationed here at courts and one is here now with his charge, we can call them in and see if they have seen or heard anything."

A few hours later and three guardians interviewed they had learned nothing. All their hopes were on the last guardian. The one who was visiting.

"Do you mind if we ask you questions about the royal function a few months back."

Lissa started. And of course the guardian shook his head. Who could refuse their Queen?

"Have you noticed anything strange? There are two guardians missing and the only thing that they seem to have in common is that function."

The demeanor of the man changed. He was no longer looking Lissa in the eye, he was staring straight ahead. The look on his face blank.

"I didn't see anything strange."

There was no emotion in his voice, it sounded flat and robotic.

"Do you know these two guardians?"

"No."

This was not a normal human response. It was a rehearsed response. But the man in question didn't seem to know it.

Sydney walked over to the man.

"Any new tattoo's lately?"

He shook his head.

"bend over please."

"Why?"

At least that sounded more like a person.

"Because your queen commands it."

Lissa piped up from her throne, with all the authority she could master.

The man bend down and Sydney inspected the marks on his neck.

"The promise mark is freshly tattooed over. I think it was tattooed with a compulsion spell in it. Maybe that is why the guardians took Rose and Dimitri, they were compelled to."

"Hold on just wait."

Sydney said as she left the room. It took her 15 minutes but she came back with a bag of supplies. Syringe, needle, sterilized water, salt and dirt.

"I can break the compulsion."

She held her hands over the bottle of salt and the air picked up around her, the water was swaying a little and the dirt started to stir. She then held out her hand and made a fireball which she channeled into the salt. She mixed it in with her water and pulled some up in the syringe.

"I don't know if it will work on Dhampirs, seeing as they already have Moroi blood in their system, but in theory this magic should negate the effects of compulsion by Moroi magic."

She injected the syringe into the skin of the guardian.

At first nothing seemed to happen. But after a few moment he grabbed his head and the blank look in his eyes seemed to lessen.

"Who contacted you at the party? Who tattooed you?"

You could see the man struggling. His eyes glazed over and came back into focus a few times until they stayed focused.

He looked at Adrian before answering with distain and a little pity towards Adrian in his voice.

"Lord Nathan Ivashkov."

Adrian sat down in a nearby chair. He had no illusions about his father. His father was a conservative royal bigot but what on earth did he want with Dimitri and Rose?

"Did he say anything about his intentions?"

"Just that if we didn't adhere to the natural order and do as the royals told us to do he would make us."

The guardian put his head in his hands.

"god I feel so stupid. I can remember the things he made me do. He wanted me to spy on my charges, get dirt on them. My charges are progressive so I suppose he wanted to get some leverage on them. There were four of us in the room that night. But I now know the look on the faces of the guardians that gave us the tattoos. They were being controlled to."

"Oh god, that is why he has got Rose and Dimitri. They are the symbol of progressiveness. Many guardians look up to them, for their skill, their commitment to duty but also because they have a life of their own."

All color seemed to drain from Adrian's. Adrian was quite sure his father was responsible for brainwashing his friends.

"I don't know Adrian, they have been gone for a week. Why would he keep them that long just to tattoo them? I think he has something else in store for them."

Sydney replied to her husband. Her husband who she saw getting smaller and smaller by the minute. She could understand. Her own father had traded alchemist secrets with the warriors of light to improve their strength using Moroi blood. Both men were extreme in their views. Despite both of them loathing each other, they really weren't all that different.

"But Dimitri is his nephew."

Lissa said indignant.

"He doesn't see it that way. He doesn't consider Declan family either. 'Dhampir blood will never be my blood'."

Adrian said the last thing imitating his father with a stern and unwavering voice.

Sydney sat down next to her husband. Her hand was on his and squeezed it. She was trying to see this as a positive. Even if that was hard.

"This will give us a lead to them." She said hoping he could see the silver lining.

He nodded but his heart wasn't in it. The cloud being to prominent.

"What will they think of me when they see me?"

"Adrian no, don't do this to yourself. They know that you are not your father. If anyone knows that it is Dimitri… or me."

He nodded but Sydney knew the fact that his father disowned him and didn't even bother to visit his son or grandson in five years was weighing down hard on him.

"Adrian is there anything you can do to help? Maybe you know of properties your father owns or something like that that could help us."

Eddie said with a gentle voice. Honestly all his friends' parents were a mess. Rose's parents were actually the most normal, which was saying something.

He was deep in thought. You could see him scanning his father known properties in his mind. Something crossed his face. Realization hit them all, that they had a lead.

"I might know something."