Loved the reviews from the last chapter ! can we try for more this time? Like, say, maybe 10? *looks with pleading, irresistible eyes.* I'll make it worth your while :) the more reviews the faster I update because I cant express strongly enough how much a little review encourages and motivates me to find the time to write !

Disclaimer: you know the drill. Richelle Mead owns.

And on with chapter 19.

Chapter 19.

"Adrian..." I murmured ever so quietly. So quietly in fact that I'm not sure Adrian would actually have had a chance of hearing me. The rest of the guardians burst into the large entrance hall at that moment. Lissa came in last, a limping and staggering Christian at her side. She gasped audibly when the site unfolded before her eyes. She looked first at the body of the last Strigoi laying not a foot away from her, and then her brilliant green eyed gaze swivelled around until it finally rested on Sydney's lifeless, pale and unmoving form crumpled with defeat laying on the plush once creamy coloured carpet that was now crusted with dried innocent crimson blood. Adrian was still leaning over the alchemist's body.

I took a small tentative step toward the pair, preparing myself to pull the Moroi back when Lissa's angelic voice rang throughout the room, causing everyone except Adrian to jump and turn to face the source of the unexpected sound. "NO!" she shouted firmly. Through the bond I could feel her determination and... Understanding? I searched deeper for a meaning to her feelings. I found what I was looking for. She understood what it was like to want to bring someone back. But Adrian didn't know Sydney... I filed the thought away for later. There were more pressing issues to attend to at the moment, what with a dead alchemist and my spirit using friend attempting to bring her back from the dead. I live in a crazy world, I thought grimly.

"Lissa, he's not strong enough to do this. He can't bring her back. The power brought on by spirit could destroy him. You of all people should know that." I said meaningfully. "He can't do it."

Lissa shook her head, her platinum blood hair swinging back and forth. "He can do it. He is strong enough. I promise, he will be able to do this. He is so much stronger than you think. Look for yourself." I could feel a tug through the bond. She wanted me to watch this through her eyes. I let my mental walls down and allowed my mind to faze into her head. What I saw before my - her - eyes shocked me beyond belief. Being a spirit user, Adrian could see a person's aura. An aura can tell you how a person is feeling at that particular time and can even tell you if that person is in any way lying to you. Adrian had always said that when someone is feeling happy and content, their aura would glow a beautiful vibrant golden colour. Unfortunately no matter how hard and often she practises and practises along with Adrian's unrelenting help and support, Lissa had never been able to grasp this particular power that spirit users had. Until now that is.

As I watched the scene through my best friend's eyes, Lissa managed to conjure up an aura around Adrian and Sydney's bodies. of course Sydney's aura was dull, dark and relentlessly depressing to watch. It was the colour of death. I shivered and focused on Adrian's aura. His was the one that surprised me more than anything. There was a brilliant glistening golden colour surrounding him. And the feelings that both Lissa and I could feel radiating off of him were that of power and undying determination. I realised then that Lissa had definitely been right about Adrian. Adrian was going to be strong enough to bring the alchemist back from the clutches of death and the other realm.

Minutes later.

Minutes passed but for all I knew it could have been hours. It definitely felt like hours. The mass of people in the room were deadly silent as they watched on in complete and utter awe. They had never seen any actual proof to the theory of spirit. Most people in this room knew about the bond that Lissa and I shared and how it had come to be. They knew I was shadow kissed but I highly doubted that any of the guardians had ever imagined that they would one day get to witness something this spectacular and amazing. I certainly never thought I would see how I was brought back from the dead. Up until a few months ago when it got out about the bond, bringing somebody back from the dead using some sort of long forgotten Moroi power was unimaginable and even possibly laughable.

More time passed us by and I stayed in Lissa's head just to keep watch over Adrian. I was worried about what consequences would come from him using so much spirit induced power. Lissa had been on medication - anti depressants - for some time because of the darkness brought upon her from using spirit. I worried over the fact that it would undoubtedly one day happen to the carefree and happy go lucky Lord Adrian Ivashkov. I didn't want that for him anymore than I wanted to for Lissa. I began to suspect that Adrian wouldn't be successful after all. He is not strong enough. This is going to destroy him. The words flashed through my mind. I hoped I was wrong about it. I wanted Sydney to come back. She didn't deserve to have her life violently ripped away from her by the thing she sought to destroy.

Lissa and I saw the change in Sydney's form at exactly the same time. Obviously no one else in the room could see the change we were seeing. So slowly, ever so slowly, Sydney's aura started to change colour, lightening. The murky grey colour that surrounded her a few seconds ago was now becoming a bluish colour. We continued to watch as Adrian used spirit to feed life back into Sydney's body – into her un-beating, still heart. I pulled myself out of Lissa's head and back into my own body so I could say I witnessed this miracle with my own eyes and not through the eyes of someone else, even if that someone else could see things I could not. I was confident that Adrian would be okay for now, but I knew that later he would be exhausted mentally and physically and would most likely take days, possibly weeks to recover from this abuse of his powers. But all that mattered for the time being was that he had been strong enough, he had found the strength from somewhere within himself to pull Sydney back into the living human world where she belonged.

Watching Sydney as intently as I was, I was able to catch the small movement. The hand that lay beside her body twitched ever so slightly that any human would not have seen the movement. But with my enhanced eye site and my training as a guardian to see things that other would not be able to see, I saw the almost inconspicuous move that she made. All the guardians saw this tremble and they instinctively moved toward her, like she was some sort of threat.

I shifted to Lissa's side and murmured in her ear; "Did it take this long for me to... come back?" I still had a little bit of trouble talking about my 'death' aloud.

Lissa nodded. "It took a while, I think. I don't know, I don't really remember all that much about it all. It seemed to happen in, like, slow motion or something. I was disorientated and stressed at the time, so I don't really know for sure. But, I think it took a while. Maybe not quite this long because I'm stronger when it comes to healing that Adrian is."

After what seemed like forever, Adrian sat back on his heels and wiped his hand across his fore head, swiping the sweat away.

Adrian's POV.

I focused all my last dredges of energy into Sydney's body before I just couldn't do it anymore. But I knew that what I had done was enough. I had seen the movement in her hand and the slow rise and fall of her chest. I sat back on my heels and wiped the sweat away with the back of my hand. I never realised how much energy and strength it took to heal a person. I had only ever been able to heel minor cuts and scratches. Never even a broken bone and now I had brought someone I hardly knew back from the dead.

There was something about this exquisite girl, the moment I saw her walk into our hotel room yesterday I knew that she was different. I don't mean different in the way that she is a human that knows about the existence of vampires, I mean it in the way that she is different from any other girl I had ever known. Even Rose. Sydney was beautiful in her own way. She was special and as soon as I saw she was dying, I knew I couldn't let her go. I only hoped that she wouldn't hate me for the bond thing that would unquestionably come with the healing. Like with Rose and Lissa. Sydney didn't like vampires. What were my chances that she wouldn't hate me forever for bringing her back and being bonded to me? Only time would tell.

I watched her, zoning out everyone in the room who I knew were watching her just as absorbedly as I was. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open revealing clear beautiful endlessly deep brown eyes. I watched her warily as she slowly sat up to many gasps of shock from our audience.

"Sydney...?" I spoke hesitantly kind of worried she would lash out or start to panic. Her brown eyes found my green ones.

"What... what happened?" she asked slightly incoherently.

"You were, um, attacked."

"Attacked?" she looked thoughtful. And then said; "That Strigoi... but, he... he grabbed my neck. He would have broken it." Her hand slowly went to her neck and she moved her head as though she were checking for an pain.

"What happened?" Sydney asked in a firm; don't give me any bullshit voice.

I decided to say it right then. No beating about the bush. Get it all out. "The Strigoi broke your neck and then I healed you. Like Lissa did for Rose." I thought fleetingly about telling her that we would be bonded but decided to wait until the initial shock of being brought back from the dead had worn off first. Sydney gasped loudly.

"What?"

"We're bonded?" she asked incredulously. "I... I heard your voice, in my head." She pointed to her head as if to add emphasis to her words.

"Please, don't hate me," I pleaded. "I didn't want you to die. It wasn't right for you to suffer while doing something for us. For the people you were born to hate."

"I need some time alone." Was all she said as she got up and walked out the door. I made to follow her, but Rose's voice made me halt.

"Adrian, leave her for now." she said softly. "Let her be alone. It's what she wants. Talk to her later, once she has calmed down and accepted the fact that she will be hearing your thoughts for the rest of her life." She smirked. "Poor girl."

Remember, we're aiming for 10 reviews this chapter and I hope to have an update for you by next week sometime. From now on, most likely 1 update a week. Possibly 2 if I have the time.

OH, AND ANYONE WHO LIVES IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRAILIA! Who's going to Bruno Mars on April 16 ? anyone anywhere else going?

Jamming to The Lazy song while I wrote this chapter ;)

B. xx