It was Angeline who had spoken and there she stood now, behind the Strigoi; stake in hand ready to attack. The Strigoi spun around and laughed.
"Another delicious Dhampir. Actually, better make that two as well as another Moroi. Hello Eddie and Adrian. Lovely to see you both again." Both Eddie and Adrian gasped as they saw the face of the Strigoi.
"Tasha?" They both said. Oh. Now I know why she'd looked familiar. She was Tasha Ozera; the Aunt of Christian Ozera, who happened to be Vasilisa's boyfriend. But she was in prison for the murder of the former queen and Adrian's Aunt; Tatiana Ivashkov. Did she become Strigoi to get out of prison?
"That's right," Tasha took a step towards the boys. Eddie stood his ground but Adrian took a small step back. Tasha let out a little laugh. "What's the matter boys? It's been a while since we last saw each other? Don't you want to catch up? Where IS he? Where is Dimitri?" I reached behind me and grabbed Jill's hand; she squeezed mine and pulled me back. I shot her a confused look.
"Adrian just sent me a little message through the bond. When Tasha, Angeline and Eddie begin fighting, we take Adrian and we run and we don't look back. Eddie and Angeline will join us when it's over." Jill whispered so quietly that I had to lean back more just to hear her. Luckily I did hear her and nodded.
"We'll start moving towards them anyway." I whispered back. Jill and I held onto each other tightly and started to move away from Tasha. We were just about to completely pass her when she reached out and grabbed me. Her hand gripped my throat, closing off my airways.
"You think you can just escape from me?" She hissed. She looked around the entire room. "No one is leaving here alive. Not until I have Dimitri Belikov standing here right in front of me." Her voice carried out through the room and the other Strigoi all snarled in response. "You have ten minutes to find me Dimitri Belikov," Her grip on me tightened. "Or the girl dies."Out of the corner of my eye I saw Adrian, Eddie and Angeline move at the same time. I let go of Jill's hand and feebly pushed her in Adrian's direction. He caught hold of her and held her tightly. He was watching me, eyes wide in fright. At that moment, I realised I will never see him again if I died. And I didn't like it. Not one bit. I knew-but denied it- that I had feelings for him. He knew it. But it was the Alchemists, my own stubborn beliefs and fear that was keeping us apart. That and also, it was completely wrong for a human and a vampire to be in any sort of relationship. My heart was pounding in my chest as it worked over-time to get blood and oxygen flowing. And, my heart, like my throat, was being crushed. I didn't want to leave any of this group of misfits, I called my friends. I didn't want to think about what would happen if I left them to their own devices. Tasha inclined her head in my direction, fangs flashing. My blood ran cold.
"Time's up!" Tasha lowered her mouth to my neck. I began struggling and when her fangs pierced my skin, I cried out in pain. I could hear my friends screaming out my name and telling Tasha to let me go. It hurt a lot, but then the pain receded and was replaced by a feeling of complete, pure bliss. It was amazing, I felt absolutely care-free. But I could also feel myself getting weaker and something warm trickling down my neck. It tickled, making me want to laugh. All of a sudden, the blissful feeling was gone and I was lying on my back on the ground staring up at Tasha. She was looking down at me, a disgusted look on her face. My blood coated her mouth, chin and part of her throat. She reached down and grabbing me by my throat again, pulled me to my feet.
"Your blood is filthy. Undrinkable. I can't drain you without wanting to gag. I guess I'll just have to settle for snapping your pretty little human neck instead." She growled, her cold fingers closing themselves around my throat, her nails digging into my skin. I struggled to breathe as her grip got tighter and tighter. Suddenly, she was screaming. It was an ear-piercing blood-curdling scream. The kind that while watching a horror movie makes you flinch, cover your face and scream along. Her hold on me loosened as she spun around. I still couldn't move. Angeline stood there and for the first time she looked fierce and dangerous, and so much like Eddie. Tasha swiped out at Angeline, slashing her throat, before dying. All at once, the others began moving. Eddie caught Angeline just before she hit the floor. Oxygen and blood fought their way back into my head causing a wave of dizziness so strong to hit me that I fell to my knees. Jill was there supporting me, but I waved her away managed to hold on to consciousness long enough to crawl over to Angeline and pull her into my arms. With an enormous amount of effort, I removed my pyjama top-thankful for having a tank top on underneath- and pressed it firmly to the wound on her throat. I could feel myself sway and felt a pair of arms wound around my middle, while another pair of hands replaced mine at Angeline's throat. Not long after that, both Angeline and I were consumed by a frightening darkness.
I woke up to find myself tucked into a warm bed. I tried to figure out how I'd ended up here, when everything came rushing back to me. I remembered the attack on Amberwood, Tasha Ozera trying to kill everyone, Angeline staking Tasha, Angeline getting her throat slashed by Tasha before Tasha died. But after that, I pulled up a blank. A soft snore alerted me to the fact that I wasn't alone in the room. I inclined my head in the direction of the noise, wincing as it hurt, and saw someone with their head resting in their arms just by my pillow. Whoever it was was apparently asleep. I reached over and flicked on the lamp that was on the bedside table to get a better look at the person. It was Adrian. And he was fast asleep. The chair he was sleeping in was pressed up close to my bed. I reached out and ran a hand through his untidy hair. What surprised me was that his hair felt soft against my fingers. I thought he'd used a lot of product in his hair. But apparently, that was not the case. The hand that was running through his hair moved down to his shoulder and I gave it a quick shake. He woke straight up, emerald eyes glinting in the lamp light. There was a wild, almost feral look in his eyes as he looked around the room.
"It's okay. It's only me." I tried to get out but it hurt. Adrian's eyes settled on me and he visibly relaxed. I watched as different emotions played out across his devilishly handsome face; worry, despair and relief. There was one more emotion I saw as he watched me watching him; longing. His eyes bore into mine and I had to look away.
"Thank god you're okay," He reached out brushed hair away from my face. I didn't bother flinching or moving away, instead I closed my eyes and revelled in his touch. "I thought you were dead. I thought Tasha had killed you."
"I thought she'd succeeded in choking me. The thought of never seeing any of you ever again, scared me so much," I said. He sat on the edge of my bed and held my hand to his heart. He sat so close to me I could feel the warmth of his body radiating off of him. "I'm sorry for scaring you." We sat like that, staring at each other, taking the others features, for a long time. At least, until I remembered something else, or rather, someone else.
"Angeline?" I asked my voice hoarse. Adrian smiled.
"She's going to be perfectly fine. I offered to heal her, but she managed to tell me, via pen and paper, that she wanted to heal on her own." I sighed in relief. She wasn't dead. But still, I had to see her for myself.
"Can I see her?" I asked.
"Sure. Can you walk?" I shot him an are-you-kidding-me look that made him laugh out loud. Adrian helped me off the bed, one hand on my elbow, the other hovering above my back. I felt dizzy and he staying there by me. He reluctantly let go once the dizziness had subsided. But he walked close behind me just in case I collapsed. I wasn't in any danger of collapsing though.
We walked down the corridor and a thought hit me. I didn't know where I was. I turned to Adrian.
"Where are we?" That earned me one of his trademark smirks.
"We're at Clarence's. His place is being used as a recovery centre for a while," He stopped us outside a door. "Here she is." He pushed open the door and I took a step in. There, lying on the bed was Angeline. She looked like she was sleeping. I walked over to her bed and took one of her hands. Her eyes fluttered open and connected with mine. I smiled warmly at her and she tried to smile back. Her throat was covered thickly with bandages. She tried to open her mouth to speak but I stopped her.
"Don't speak. You need to let yourself recover," She nodded her head in agreement. "I'm so glad that you're alive Angeline. So, so glad. It was a brave thing you did, going up against the Strigoi like that." I gave her hand a squeeze and she squeezed mine right back. Eddie walked in and saw me. He pulled me in for a hug and I hugged him back.
"You're awake. I'm so glad that you're going to be alright," He paused and looked at both of us. "That goes for the both of you. We were all so worried. Jill has been hysterical. Going back and forth between the two of you, making sure that you were both still alive." Eddie must have seen the look on my face because he pointed in a direction and said, "She's sitting in the living room." I gave Angeline's hand one more squeeze and then left the room to find Jill. Just like Eddie had said, she was sitting in the living room, curled up against the back of the couch. She looked up at my approach and then jumped off the couch and straight into my arms.
"Oh my God! Sydney! You're okay!" I squeezed her tight and stepped back. I could see her eyes shining brightly with unshed tears, but as she looked at me, those tears slipped one after the other, down her cheeks. "When you and Angeline and passed out, we'd all thought you had both died! I couldn't imagine life without the two of you. I've come to see you both as sisters." Jill's words had left a permanent print on my heart. She saw me as a sister? What did I think about that? Instantly, the answer was in my mind. Only after a few months of knowing each other, being around each other every day; the feeling was mutual.
"The feeling's mutual." I choked out.
The door to the kitchen swung open and my jaw dropped open in complete surprise.
"Sydney?" My mom said from the doorway. "You're okay! When this nice young man told me what had happened I started to panic. But I can sort of relax now that I've seen you with my own two eyes." The "nice young man" had to have been Adrian as my mom was pointing in his direction.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" I asked, stunned. "And what do you mean you can "sort of relax" now that I'm okay?" My mom looked utterly uncomfortable. She stepped into the room and grabbed ahold of my hand and lead me to the couch.
"You might want to sit down for this" She looked around the room at Adrian and Jill. "You may stay. As it may affect your work. And it may give you answers as to why your blood is tainted." I sat down at the same time as my mom, Adrian and Jill. I was utterly confused. What did my mom have to tell me? Was there something going on at home? How did she know about my blood?
I looked at her, searching her face for any sign of, well, anything. Mom closed her eyes, took a deep breath and open her eyes again, focusing them entirely on me.
"When I was five months pregnant with you, your father and I were attacked. By Strigoi. We were at home. Carly was at your grandparents for the weekend. The-the Strigoi drank from us both. Unfortunately, I was completely drained and later given Strigoi blood. I became a Strigoi that night. I'd hated it, yet loved it at the same time. One night, I was out hunting, when I was bound with silver chains and was restored by a Spirit-charmed stake. When I realised what had happened, I clutched my stomach. Hoping you were still alive. You were, thank God. The kind man who had restored me was a Moroi named Robert Doru. He'd told me, that you were still alive and quite healthy. But during the restoration process, he'd had to inject some of his blood to get rid of the rest of the Strigoi blood that was still in your still-forming system. So his Spirit-filled blood as well as recently being restored had left you tainted. He wasn't sure how long the taint would last," Mom looked down at our joined hands, tears streaming down her face and dripping onto our hands. "When I finally worked up the courage to return home. To your father and Carly, he'd tried to kill us. But I'd managed to convince him that we were human again and were perfectly fine. But to this day, he's still wary. No, wary isn't quite right. More like, he's still scared. Scared that at any moment, I'd find a Strigoi and beg them to change me back. He's also scared that you'd follow in my path. But, thanks to all the experiments that have been conducted here; former Strigoi can't be re-awakened." I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. And not to mention; angry. My mom had forcefully become a Strigoi while she was pregnant with me. And both my parents had kept this from me my whole life. I had Moroi blood flowing inside me. An infinitesimal amount, but still, it was there. The room had grown cramped, claustrophobic, making it harder for me to breath. I had to get out of here.
I pulled my hands from my mom's and ran. I ran out onto the front lawn and dropped to my knees on the grass. I heard my name being called but I ignored it. I wanted to be left alone.
"Sydney?" The voice was closer and oh-so familiar. A hand rested on my shoulder and still on my knees, I spun around and looked into Adrian's worried face. He saw the tears falling down my face and pulled me into his arms, one hand cradling the back of my head as I cried uncontrollably. Adrian was murmuring into my ear, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I was saying something too but also couldn't make it out. Adrian sat down completely and pulled me into his lap. I clutched at his shirt. Why won't these tears stop? Why can't I stop crying? Why had my parents never told me any of this?
I'd cried myself almost to the brink of sleep. I was still clutching to Adrian, my tear-stained face buried in his neck, as he gathered me into his arms and stood up. There were voices; my mother's, Jill's, Dimitri's and Sonya's, asking me if I was alright. Adrian adamantly told them that I was in shock and needed to be left alone. He then left them and carried me back into the house and put me back in the bed I'd woken up in. And just before I truly drifted off, I heard Adrian whisper that he'd be right there if he needed me. At that moment, I was grateful for having someone like Adrian as friend. Even after all the things we'd said to each other.
As I slept, a pair of emerald-green eyes watched over me protectively. And I knew it was Adrian.