Author's Note: Omg it is freezing right now, so I decided to get into bed with my laptop and update this, hopefully I don't spill any hot chocolate onto the laptop. Well Penguin Australia yesterday posted a sneak peak of Spirit Bound, it is a quote from the book and they are planning on releasing another one once every three days in the lead up to the release. Since I am nice I will post it here and the future ones in my future updates. If you don't want to read them just skip the rest of the author note cos that is about it.

One: "Out of all the people who would attempt to rescue me, I would never have expected you two…"

Spirit Bound Countdown: 21 Days (That's 3 weeks :D)

Why am I always late? Adrian thought as he made his way to the library. He was meant to meet up with Lissa after her classes finished, At least I'm sober. Students were walking up and down the corridors using the time they had before curfew. There was a small crowd that blocked Adrian's path to the library. He stopped when he noticed the colours of the auras.

They were filled with shock, fear, panic and some other emotions. He noticed a large black shadow that seemed to overpower the other auras. What the hell. Adrian moved forward and heard an argument going on in the centre of the crowd.

"You're crazy! You can't hurt a Moroi. If the guardians find out-"

"I'm not." Adrian recognised Rose's voice immediately. "Am I hurting you? Are you in extreme pain?"

Adrian finally saw Rose who was pinning a Moroi girl against the wall. The girl hesitated before shaking her head to Rose's question. The girl was clearly freaked out.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Rose asked.

She gave a small nod.

"See?" she told a dhampir boy that she appeared to be having the argument with. "Discomfort isn't the same thing as pain."

What the hell? Adrian thought again. The large black shadow was Rose's aura and it was almost as dark as the time when she arrived back after Mason's death.

"You're insane. Let her go."

"I'm not done, Ry. Pay attention because here's the point: Danger can come from anywhere. Not just Strigoi-or guardians dressed up like Strigori. Keep acting like an arrogant asshole who thinks he knows everything"- Rose pressed her arm in a little harder – "and you miss things. And those things can kill your Moroi."

"Okay, okay. Whatever. Please, stop it," he said freaked out. "You're scaring her."

"I'd be scared too, if my life was in your hands."

Adrian broke through the crowd and approached Rose.

"This is fascinating," said Adrian. "But I think you've made your point."

"I don't know," she said. "I still don't think Ryan gets it."

"For God's sake, Rose! I get it," cried Ryan. "Just let her go."

Adrian knew Rose wasn't going to anytime soon, so he decided to intervene. He moved around Rose, going over to stand beside the Moroi. He managed to squeeze in between the two girls facing Rose. He stared into Rose's eyes and let Spirit take its affect.

"Yes, little dhampir. Let her go. You're done here."

He saw her eyes glazing over and he knew it had worked but she wouldn't move.

"Let her go," he repeated.

She stared at him as she moved her arm away from the Moroi and stepped away. The Moroi ran over to the boy using him as a shield from Rose. She was on the verge of tears and the boy looked stunned.

Adrian straightened up and made a dismissive gesture toward the boy. "I'd get out of here-before you really annoy Rose."

Everyone slowly backed off and moved away from them. Adrian put his arm around Rose and hurried her away toward the library. When they were almost there, she suddenly pushed his arm off her and jerked away.

"You used compulsion on me!" she exclaimed. "You made me let her go."

"Someone needed to. You looked like you were seconds away from strangling her."

"I wasn't. And I wouldn't have." She pushed open the library door. "You had no right to do that to me. No right at all."

"And you had no right to tackle some poor girl in the hall just to soothe your own hurt pride."

"Ryan had no right to say those things."

"I don't even know what 'those things' are, but unless I've misjudged your age, you're too old to be throwing a tantrum over idle gossip."

"Throwing a-"

She stopped as they reached Lissa working at a table. Adrian saw the anger in her aura. The dhampir named Eddie stood a couple of feet away from her, leaning against a wall and watching the room. His eyes widened when he saw Rose. Am I missing something?

Rose slid into the chair opposite Lissa. Adrian sat down in one of the remaining chairs.

"Hey," she said.

Lissa looked up and sighed, then returned her attention to the textbook open in front of her. "I wondered when you'd turn up," she said. "Did you get suspended?"

"Not this time," Rose replied mimicking the false calm in her voice. "Just got stuck with community service."

Lissa didn't say anything but Adrian saw the annoyance and anger in her aura.

Rose sighed. "Okay talk to me, Liss. I know you're mad."

Adrian looked at Rose, then at Lissa, and then at Rose again. "I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Oh great," Rose said. "You went and busted up my fight and didn't even know what it was about."

"Fight?" Lissa asked confused.

"What happened?" repeated Adrian.

Rose nodded to Lissa. "Go ahead, tell him."

"Rose got tested earlier and refused to protect Christian." She shook her head, exasperated and fixed Rose with an accusatory glare. "I can't believe you're seriously still mad enough to do something like that to him. It's childish."

"I didn't do it on purpose! I just sat through a whole hearing on this crap and told them the same thing."

"Then what happened?" she demanded. "Why did you do it?"

Rose hesitated before answering. "I froze," she said. "It's stupid. I'd been so cocky about being able to take out anyone, and then Stan…" she shrugged. "I don't know. I just couldn't react. It…it's really embarrassing. And him of all people."

"I wish I could read your mind," she mused.

"Come on," she said. "You know me. Do you really think I'd do this? Abandon Christian and make myself look stupid on purpose just to get back at my teachers?"

"No," Lissa said. "You'd probably do it in a way where you wouldn't get caught."

"Dimitri said the same thing," she grumbled. "I'm glad everyone has so much faith in me."

"We do," she countered. "That's why all of this is so weird."

"Even I make mistakes. I know it's hard to believe-kind of surprises me myself-but I guess it has to happen. It's probably some kind of karmic way to balance out the universe. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to have one person so full of awesomeness."

Adrian sat and watched the two of them talk, studying their auras. From what he could tell, Rose was hiding something from Lissa.

"My loyal bodyguard returns," declared Christian as he entered the room. He pulled up a chair next to Lissa. "Are you done now?"

"Done with what?"

He inclined his head towards Rose. "Giving her a hard time about how she threw me into the deadly clutches of Alto."

Lissa blushed. "We were just talking about it, that's all."

Adrian yawned and slouched back in his chair. "Actually, I think I figured it all out. This was a scam, wasn't it? A scam to scare me off since I'm always talking about you being my guardian. You thought if you pretended to be a bad guardian, I wouldn't bother you. Well, it's not going to work, so there's no point in risking anyone's life."

Ignoring his comment Rose said."So um…there's something you guys should know."

Everyone looked at Rose.

"What's wrong?" asked Lissa.

"Well, it turns out that Victor Dashkov was never found guilty of what he did to us. He's just been locked up. But they're finally going to have an official trial-in another week or so."

"But…but…" She took a deep, steadying breath, fighting to stay calm. "How could he not be guilty already? Everyone knows…they all saw…"

"It's the law. They supposedly have to give him a fighting chance."

"So…wait…are you saying there's a chance they might not find him guilty?"

Christian slammed his fists against the table. "This is bullshit."

"This is politics," said Adrian. "People in power never have to play by the same rules."

"But he nearly killed Rose and Christian!" cried Lissa. "And he kidnapped me! How could there be any question?"

"It's a formality, I'm sure," said Adrian. "When all the evidence is in, there probably isn't going to be much of a debate."

"That's the thing," Rose said bitterly. "They're not going to have all the evidence. We aren't allowed to go."

"What?" exclaimed Christian. "Then who's testifying?"

"The other guardians who were there. We apparently can't be trusted to keep the whole thing quiet. The queen doesn't want the world to know that one of her precious royals might have done something wrong."

"But we're the reason he is on trial."

Christian stood up, glancing around. "I'm going to go take care of this right now."

"Sure," said Adrian. "I bet going in there and kicking down the door will change their minds. Take Rose with and you guys'll make a really good impression."

"Yeah?" asked Christian, clenching the back of his chair and fixing Adrian with a stormy glare. "You have a better idea?" Actually I do.

"If Victor was free," Lissa said losing her calm. "Would he come after us again?"

"If he gets loose again, he won't stay that way for long," Rose said. "I'll make sure of it."

"Careful there," said Adrian amused. "Even you couldn't get away with a royal assassination."

Rose was about to retort when Eddie called her name. She quickly stood up and got into her lookout position.

Adrian tuned out and relaxed back into his chair watching Rose's aura. She had confessed about Victor's trial but there was still something she was hiding. What are you up to little dhampir?