"Sydney?"
"Yeah, Rose, is that you?"
"Yup, I need your help"
"How many this time?"
"None, I need you to meet me at the..." I looked at Adrian and he told me it was a motel called the Royal.
"Meet me at a motel called The Royal"
"You're in New Orleans, I know what happened! Why did you break out... How did you break out?"
"We'll talk later, meet me here at 1:00pm today"
"Okay evil creature of the night"
And with that I hung up. I handed the phone back to Adrian and he asked "Was that the Alchemist?" "Yup" I answered. It was just then that I noticed how pale everyone looked. I remembered none of them have fed in almost four days. Then I had an idea. I couldn't let them feed off me because I might need to fight later. I walked out of the room, down the steps and into the parking lot. Just as I'd hoped, a bunch of drunk ass kids.
"Hey you! Do you wanna' meet my friends" I asked. "If they look anything like you, then sure" One of them answered. I started walking back to the motel and two of them followed. They were slow to get up the stairs, which gave me a chance to open the door to Lissa's room. I quickly told them that I'd bought a snack. Referring to people as food was against my nature but I couldn't help myself.
Christian pulled out a chair and I put two fingers up to tell them two people were coming. The drunk kids stumbled up the stairs, so I walked over and grabbed their arms and dragged them into Lissa's room. I pushed them into the seats and Christian walked over to one. Adrian walked over to the other and looked him in the eye. "You were never here" He warned and sank his teeth into the guy. There was a soft moan and the guy got that goofy smile that all feeders got. After Christian and Adrian were done Lissa walked over to one and took her bite. They were still alive but they looked weak. Adrian and I dragged them back down into the parking lot. We left them by a dumpster and walked back up to the room. Neither of us said anything on the way up. I ducked my head into Lissa's room and told her I was going to have a shower. Adrian followed me back into the room. I walked into the bathroom and took my shirt off. Adrian walked in and brought my face into his hands. He pressed his lips against mine and kissed me long and deep. He pulled back after a few moments and whispered in my ear "Little Dhampir, I will always love you. I know you will always love me too, no matter what happens" He pulled away and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
I had a quick shower and spent most of the day doing my hair. I had to tell Lissa why I was here, but how can you tell your best friend her dad was cheating on her mom. The thing is, you can't. Especially when her parents are dead and when she believed they loved each other.
It was almost time to meet Sydney and Liss, Christian, Dimitri, Adrian and I were all waiting in the buffet room. "Liss, there's something I need to tell you," I told her. I passed her the note and she read it several times. I could see tears welling up in her eyes but she was trying hard to keep them controlled. She looked at me, almost pleadingly and said through the bond We need to talk.
Luckily Sydney had just walked in, a briefcase in her hand. She saw me and walked over to our table. She grabbed a chair and sat down. "Hey Rose" she said. "Vasilisa Dragomir, how nice to meet you. You too Lord Ivashkov. Mr. Ozera and Mr. Belikov" She greeted. Dimitri flinched at the word mister. After he became strigoi he was stripped of his Guardian title.
"You know why I bought you here" I began. "I need those papers" I told Sydney. "Rose, I told you I can't give them to you." She replied. "Well you're gonna' have to" I growled. She jumped at the tone I used. "Well, there is a way I can give them to you, but you're not going to like it" She told me. "I have to tell Abe where you are. You know I work for him and I don't want him to send me back to Siberia!" She pleaded. "Fine, but by the time you tell him, we'll be gone." I growled. She immediately opened the briefcase and handed me a pile of papers. She then stood up and left.
Once she was gone we all piled off the table and got ourselves some lunch. Back at the table Dimitri and Lissa sat next to me to look at the papers. Dimitri was so close to me, I could smell his aftershave, the sweet scent I know off my heart... "What are we looking for?" Lissa asked. "A bank account, an unknown bank account" I told her. I didn't want to upset her. We went through several pages before we found what we were looking for. An unknown bank account was highlighted several times. There were large amounts of money deposited into it once a month.
Lissa stood up and left after seeing it. Christian followed, so did Dimitri. He promised he'd take care of them, make sure they were always safe on this trip. He was still acting like a Guardian, at least. That left me and Adrian. I quickly handed him the note and he read it slowly. He handed it back and said he was going back to the room. I quickly followed, doing my job as a Guardian to take care of moroi. We went back into the room and I threw the papers on my bedside table.