Author's Note: Woo, an update :D Well just a heads up that I am approaching my school exams so I might not update as much until it is over. Plus Spirit Bound will be a big distraction. I am kind of peeved about the release date because Spirit Bound comes out the day before my exams start and my first exam is math :( Well I read Blood Promise in 9 hours so we will see, but then again I stayed up to like 3 o'clock in the morning reading that. I will figure something out. Okay now on to the Spirit Bound quotes:

Two "This is it, a small voice inside her whispered. This is where I die."

Three "Eternity will be lonely without you."

Four "She wasn't alone. I was with her all night."

Five "Because I need you to be bait for Rose."

Send me a message with your opinions, etc. if you want to discuss.

Spirit Bound Countdown: 10 Days :O

Adrian lied down in his bed trying to get to sleep. He kept thinking about Rose and what she was hiding from everyone. He was worried about her aura, the shadows seemed to intensify when she was holding that Moroi against the wall. It wasn't like Rose to act like this and he had a feeling it was to do with her aura. It will have to wait to later, he thought as he fell asleep.

Adrian dreamt about his grandmother's garden. It was the middle of summer. The air was heavy and humid, and sunshine beat down in golden waves. Flowers of every colour were in bloom, and the air was heavy with the scent of lilacs and roses.

He walked around studying the flowers, old memories of all the times he had come here came back to him. All the times that he had walk these gardens when he was he kid, learning all about what it was to be a royal from his grandmother. She was one of the few that had hope for him.

Adrian stared at one of the roses. He frowned when the rose began to change colour. In a blink of an eye, the rose had turned black. He reached out and touched one of the petals. He concentrated as he allowed spirit to flow through him and into the flower. Within moments the rose was back to its original red.

Adrian heard footsteps behind and he turned to see Rose standing in the garden. Must have made her appear when I was using spirit. She wore jeans and a linen tank top along with her usual protection. Rose looked extremely annoyed and her aura showed it along with its usual shadows. He wished he knew how to make that colour go away.

"Where are you?" she called. "I know you're here."

Adrian stepped around from behind an apple tree that was thick with pink and white flowers.

"I told you to stay out of my dreams," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

He gave her a lazy smile. "But how else are we supposed to talk? You didn't seem very friendly earlier."

"Maybe if you didn't use compulsion on people, you'd have more friends."

"I had to save you from yourself. Your aura was like a storm cloud."

"Okay, for once, can we please not talk about auras and my impending doom?"

He would rather have talked about it, but he let it go. "Okay. We can talk about other things."

"But I don't want to talk at all! I want to sleep."

"You are sleeping." Adrian smiled and walked over to study a flowering vine that was winding up a post. It had orange and yellow flowers shaped like trumpets. He gently ran his fingers over one of the flowers' edges. "This was my grandmother's garden."

"Great," she said, making herself comfortable against the apple tree. "Now I get to hear your family history."

"Hey, she was a cool lady."

"I'm sure she was. Can I go yet?"

His eyes were still on the vine's blossoms. "You shouldn't knock Moroi family trees. You don't know anything about your father. For all you know, we could be related."

"Would that mean you'd leave me alone?"

He strolled back over to her changing subjects with ease. "Nah, don't worry. I think we come from different trees. Isn't your dad some Turkish guy anyway?"

"Yeah, according to my- Hey, are you staring at my chest?"

He was studying her closely, but his eyes were no longer on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

"I'm staring at your shirt," he said. "The color is all wrong."

Reaching out, he touched the strap. Like ink spreading across paper, the ivory fabric turned the same shade of rich indigo as the vine's blossoms. He narrowed his eyes like an expert artist studying his work.

"How'd you do that?" she exclaimed.

"It's my dream. Hmm. You're not a blue person. Well, at least not in the color sense. Let's try this." The blue lit up into a brilliant crimson. "Yes, that's it. Red's your color. Red like a rose, like a sweet, sweet Rose."

"Oh man," she said. "I didn't know you could kick into crazy mode even in dreams."

He stepped back and threw his arms out. "I'm crazy around you, Rose. Here, I'm going to write an impromptu poem for you." He tipped his head back and shouted to the sky:

"Rose is in red
But never in blue
Sharp as a thorn
Fights like one too."

Adrian dropped his arms and looked at her expectantly.

"How can a thorn fight?" she asked.

He shook his head, so naive. "Art doesn't have to make sense, little dhampir. Besides, I'm supposed to be crazy, right?"

"Not the craziest I've ever seen."

"Well," he said, pacing over to study some hydrangeas, "I'll work on that."

"Adrian…how do you know if you're crazy or not?"

He turned from the flowers, a smile on his face. But then he saw her face, there was no trace of humor in her eyes. His smile faded matching her seriousness.

"Do you think you're crazy?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, looking down at the ground. "I've been…seeing things." Was this what she was hiding?

"People who are crazy rarely question whether they are crazy," he said wisely.

She sighed and looked back up at him. "That doesn't really help me."

He walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you're crazy, Rose. I think you've been through a lot, though."

Rose frowned. "What's that mean?"

"It means I don't think you're crazy."

"Thanks. That clears things up. You know, these dreams are really starting to bug me."

"Lissa doesn't mind them," he said.

"You visit hers too? Do you seriously have no boundaries?"

"Nah, hers are instructional. She wants to learn how to do this."

"Great. So I'm the lucky one who gets to put up with your sexual harassment."

Adrian tried to hide the hurt and anger that he felt at her words. "I really wish you wouldn't act like I'm evil incarnate."

"Sorry. I just haven't had much reason to believe you can do anything useful."

"Right. As opposed to your cradle-robbing mentor. I don't really see you making progress with him."

She took a step back and narrowed her eyes. "Leave Dimitri out of this."

"I will when you stop acting like he's perfect. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's the one of the people who hid the trial from you, right?" I wouldn't hide anything from you.

She looked away. "That's not important right now. Besides he had his reasons."

"Yeah, which apparently didn't involve being open with you or fighting to get you there. Whereas me…" He shrugged. "I could get you into the trail."

"You?" Rose asked with a harsh laugh. "How are you going to pull that off? Have a smoke break with the judge? Use compulsion on the queen and half the royals at court?"

"You shouldn't be so quick to slam people who can help you. Just wait." He placed a light kiss on her forehead that she tried to wiggle away from. "But for now, get some rest."

Rose faded away along with the garden.

Adrian woke up frustrated. He wished that Rose would stop thinking that all he wanted from her was sex. He felt weird around her, he acted weird around her. He had stopped thinking about other girls, they seemed boring to him now. Rose was different, and so was he because of her. If Reese knew what he was thinking now he would pay him out for being whipped, but he didn't care. I will prove her wrong; I will show her I better then that stupid Belikov. He knew exactly what to do but it would have to wait until later. Adrian sighed as he went back to sleep.