Richelle Mead owns the VA and Bloodlines series.

Finally! Finally getting passed the Sydney in reeducation stuff. I can't wait for Adrian's next chapter to be posted. He's going on a trip and a few awesome characters will be with him and I'm so excited for you to read it! Anyway. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

The Alchemists stepped up their game.

It wasn't a huge shock that they'd started experimenting with new torture techniques when the cold and dark wasn't working. Now it was always bright in my cell. So bright, so as to fill my soul with the goodness it so desperately craved, they said. But with the constant brightness came the heat. Supposedly it was purifying or something. All I knew was the hot mixed with the dampness of the concrete walls created an impossible humidity that made it hard to breathe. Physically I was fine, naked and sweaty, but fine. I kept hydrated with water from the sink in my cell, but it was still uncomfortable. I'd wanted nothing but a break from the never ending cold, but I'd take it back in a second to spare myself from the heat.

Ever since Ian visited and I'd accidentally unleashed a fireball on him, I'd been waiting for the troops to storm in. I'd thought nonstop about it for days. Would they fear me? Would they try to perform some sort of anti-magic exorcism or something equally horrifying? My favorite theory was that once they took in all the evidence that I was a witch, they'd release me, back to the world of the damned. I wasn't foolish enough to believe it though. The Alchemists would never just let me go, not even if they were terrified of my powers. They'd find some way to use me, I was sure. The fact that they hadn't started experiments or even questioning me about it left me confused and uncertain, but there was only so much I could worry about in here.

It was always a constant fear at the back of my mind though, so when before one of my sessions with Dr. Alvarez, a guard came into my room and held me down while a man in a white jacket injected some sort of serum into the back of my neck, I figured this was it. This was them making the next move.

But the man only said, "To loosen you up a little," and quickly depressed the plunger. "It'll help you feel a little more comfortable during therapy."

I was about to tell him just how comfortable having a needle stuck into your neck really is when another guard entered the room and helped the first guy drag me down the hall to the bathroom. I figured whatever they'd given me would leave me feeling woozy so I wouldn't be able to burn anyone else the way I'd burned Ian, but I couldn't feel anything strange as I showered and put on my standard therapy jumper.

By the time I was brought into the therapy room for my meeting—now daily—with Dr. Alvarez, I did feel the tide shifting inside my mind. It wasn't anything obvious. Just a small dose of loyalty for the woman who loved to grill me. For some reason, I felt excited for her questions, knowing I was the only one with the ability to answer them. I desperately wanted to please her.

"Sydney, it's so good to see you today," Alvarez chirped as I sat down at the steel table.

"You too," I said, and there was not a trace of sarcasm or contempt in my voice. Some part of me knew that I did not like this woman very much, that I didn't like speaking to her, but I couldn't help myself. Not with what had turned out to be compulsion running through my veins.

"Great," she chimed, looking pleased with my response. "Let's get started."

###

For the next hour Alvarez quizzed me about everything that had happened in Palm Springs regarding the vampires there. Mostly just double checking my story against Zoe's. To make sure the compulsion is really working, part of my mind whispered. To make sure it'll be easy to get the information they want from you. Finally she got into my relationship with Adrian and why I felt I "loved" him. She asked about his looks, his personality, the way he acted around me vs. how he acted around other people. I'm not sure she appreciated all of the good things I had to say about him, but I just kept answering, wanting to please her.

"You believe the Moroi boy is perfect?" Dr. Alvarez suggested.

"Adrian is anything but perfect," I explained. "But he is perfect for me."

"But you don't believe he's perfect?" she pressed. "He has flaws that you don't like?"

"He has tons of flaws. We all do."

She nodded her agreement but went on. "Name one thing you don't like about him."

I didn't say anything at first, because there wasn't anything that immediately came to mind. There wasn't much about Adrian I didn't like. Dr. Alvarez seemed to think I was being stubborn though.

"Just one thing, Sydney. It could be anything. Physical, or maybe something he's done or said that made you uncomfortable. Anything. There's always something we don't like about other people, even people we love." She cocked her head to the side and studied me. "Are you really telling me there's nothing about this Moroi you don't like? Doesn't that seem a little odd to you?"

And it did seem odd, because there were things I disliked about Adrian. "He drinks," I said finally. "Or, he used to. He stopped for me. He stopped smoking too. And he went on pills to help stabilize his magic."

I saw a shiver ripple through Dr. Alvarez when I mentioned magic, but she only smiled. "Well, that's a healthy choice for him. But I'm asking for a flaw, Sydney. Something you don't like." She flipped through one of the folders in front of her. "From what we know about him, he's apparently quite the womanizer. That doesn't bother you? Knowing he's been with so many other women, yet claims he loves you?"

"Adrian does love me," I affirmed, annoyed she was trying to suggest otherwise, but still feeling compelled to answer her question. "But, yes. Knowing he's been with so many women bothered me at first."

"And what changed your mind? Many women would have a problem with their boyfriends being so promiscuous. I know I wouldn't be happy with it."

"It just wasn't important, I guess. It's in the past, I can't change it. Besides, he didn't know me then."

"So you excused it, but it's still something you don't like?" she pressed.

"It's..." I thought about it for a minute. "No, I guess I'm not exactly thrilled he's been with so many people. But it's not a big problem for me either."

Dr. Alvarez leaned across the table with narrowed eyes, her elbows supporting her. "So what is a big problem for you, Sydney? All relationships have some form of strife. What was your's?"

Adrian and I were in love, it was true, but Dr. Alvarez wasn't wrong about relationships being riddled with problems, and Adrian and I certainly had our share. Our biggest was probably the drinking and the spirit darkness, which Adrian had fixed with mood stabilizers. Then there was Zoe and keeping our relationship a secret, but Dr. Alvarez already knew all of that and I felt an overwhelming urge to answer her question correctly. But what was there to say? Adrian and I didn't keep secrets from each other, he didn't cheat on me or hurt me or...

"There was this one thing," I said slowly, knowing I shouldn't say it, but unable to stop myself completely. The solution they'd given me was obviously in full effect now and the words rolled right off my tongue, despite the danger I knew they presented. Dr. Alvarez was waiting patiently, looking extremely interested in my answer. "Adrian and I had a pretty big fight after I found out about something he'd done when he was younger."

"What did he do?" she asked curiously, her blue eyes twinkling.

"He got drunk with a human girl and he..." I shuddered. "He bit her."

"Against her will?" Dr. Alvarez looked truly aghast, her hand shooting to her throat as if to protect herself from being bitten by a phantom vampire.

"Well, sort of," I said. I wanted to stop talking, but I couldn't. I didn't want to tell her this. "She was drunk and so was he. He said she probably didn't remember..."

It sounded lame to my own ears. It sounded like I was defending what he'd done and I certainly wasn't. I hated what he'd done, but he'd done it and there was no going back. The only thing to do was learn from it and move on, which he had. But still, the look in Dr. Alvarez's eyes mirrored the horror I felt when I'd first found out.

"This Moroi boy took advantage of a young girl who wasn't a feeder? He drank her blood without her consent and compelled her to forget?"

"He didn't compel her. She was just drunk," I corrected, but she shook her head, uninterested in the details.

"It's certainly an egregious crime. No wonder you fought with him. It's terrible." She sat back in her chair. "It's what we work so hard to protect innocent humans from. You understand that, don't you, Sydney?"

"Yes, but he was young."

"I know for a fact that Moroi are taught when they are very young that that sort of behavior is off limits. It's why they keep feeders, so no more innocent lives will be corrupted than absolutely necessary. So what does that say, Sydney, that the Moroi you belive yourself to be in love with committed one of the most heinous acts imaginable against our kind? That doesn't reflect very well on the rest of Moroi society does it, that a boy you feel is perfect has sinned so monstrously?"

"But he..."

She stared me down. "You know in your heart that what he did to that poor girl was wrong, don't you, Sydney?"

"Of course, but—"

"Good." Dr. Alvarez stood, cutting off my rebuttal. "That's great progress we've made today, Sydney. You may go get cleaned up and I'll make sure they give you something extra special for lunch today."

With a pleased smile she stepped through the door and was gone, leaving two Alchemists dressed in all white to escort me back to my cell.

I felt like I'd betrayed Adrian somehow after my session with Dr. Alvarez. There was nothing to do about it though. I'd told her, now all I could do was make sure that I didn't tell her anything more. Whatever they'd injected me with was strong, but it would fade. It would fade because I was a witch and my magic would protect me from the compulsion the Alchemists used.

It had to. I had to believe it would.

###

I was so sure I'd be okay the next day, that the compulsion would have faded and I'd be back to ignoring Dr. Alvarez. Or even better, pretending the compulsion was still overpowering my will. I could spread a thousand lies, make everyone think I was still under their power. Maybe then they'd let me out of this place.

But that's not how it turned out. The next day two men injected me with another needle. I fought them off, but in the end all I got was a dose of compulsion and a new bruise from where they'd pushed me into the concrete floor to restrain me.

It went on like that. Small injections every morning, even on the mornings when Dr. Alvarez was mysteriously absent. About a week into the injections they cranked the heat so high I felt like I could cook an omelette on my forehead. I thought I was getting sick at first, but when the men came in to give me my injection, the guard started sweating, profusely, within minutes of being in my cell, so I figured it was the room, and not me, that was overheating.

By that afternoon I was practically a puddle on the floor, listening to the audio loop play time and time again, trying desperately not to repeat the words in my head, but it was like the lyrics to a song. A twisted, awful song, but still. It was hard to fight against the constant stream of words whispering through my head, getting stuck, forcing me to think them over and over again.

"Repent. Admit your sins, and you shall be forgiven," the robotic voice still told me from time to time.

I couldn't think with all the talking. I was feeling the pressure of reeducation like I'd never felt it before. Between the heat, the drugs, the compulsion, the forced therapy, and the constant rumble over the PA system, I couldn't escape it, even if just to my own mind for a few minutes.

This was all made worse by the humidity in my cell, of course. I felt weak, like I was going to collapse and never get back up. It was stifling and I was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on me by that evening.

I was terrified. I was usually able to control myself, calm my nerves so I didn't freak out in a tough situation, but this? This felt out of my control. Like I was riding along in someone else's body, knowing that I wasn't acting like myself, that I wasn't thinking correctly, but being unable to stop myself.

If I told the Alchemists how unbearable it was in my cell, they'd help me. I knew they would. They'd lower the temperature, but at what price? They'd save me only if I paid them back in blind devotion, giving in to the compulsion one hundred percent. They only wanted me to say I believed what they told me was right. But to give in... it wouldn't be real saving, it would only be a small reprieve until they discovered I didn't believe them, then they'd find a new way to torture me.

I thought a lot about that over the next few days. The Alchemists couldn't save me because they were the ones doing this to me. But were they? The lines were beginning to blur in my mind, leaving me in an almost constant state of panic, added to by the uncomfortable heat. I knew it was the Alchemists fault I was in here, but wasn't it sort of my fault as well? If I hadn't strayed from my path... No. It was my dad's fault I was here. If Zoe hadn't been so nosy she wouldn't have found out about my relationship in the first place. But how could I blame my sister for this? She was only doing her duty by reporting my extracurricular activities. She'd done it to save me, hadn't she? To help me. The Alchemists keeping me in this room were only doing their jobs too, trying to save my soul. How could I hate them for something so pure and kind? No matter how wrong they were, they were still only trying to help.

They locked me in a cell!

But they were willing to let me out if I admitted my sins.

I hadn't sinned!

But I had been foolish to have a secret relationship that I knew would land me in this place. It was a stupid thing to do, thinking back on it. Adrian was in my heart and always would be, but this wasn't about him. It was about me and how stupid I had been to act like I was invincible. I knew this was a possibility and still I did things I knew I shouldn't have.

I knew it was wrong. I'd told him that again and again for so long. But it wasn't Adrian's fault I'd failed to listen to myself. It was my fault.

It was my fault I'd landed myself in reeducation. I should have been smarter than to think I was above the rules. I should have known better.

During my next meeting with Dr. Alvarez, when she asked me "Why do you think you are here?" I said, "Because I should have known better."

The gleam in her eye didn't cause the right amount of dread to rise in my chest, but I was too distracted by the cool shower and hot food she offered to think much about it.