Don't be Scared Little Alchemist

Chapter 2

As per usual, the drinks I had at the bar just weren't enough to shut out the constant madness that came with spirit, so I continued to drink from the moment I got in the door. Although I could easily afford far better, my house was average sized: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a study. Nothing special, but I really didn't see the point in throwing away cash on things like that. I'd much rather spend it on clothes and booze and maybe on girls... if I ever found someone worth it. Well, I had found someone worth it- in fact I'd given her ridiculous amounts of money and set up an entire bank account for her just so that she could travel to Russia to find the man that she would eventually leave me for...

Rose was the main reason I had to get up and leave court. Even though she and Lissa were away at collage more often than not they still came back. Even though I loved seeing Lissa, Rose was always there, a constant reminder that I could never have her. Not only that, but even when they were away one big problem remained- and I mean a 6ft 5, girlfriend stealing Russian problem who goes by the name of Dimitri Belikov. He'd become the guardian of Christian Ozera- Lissa's dorky, snarky boyfriend- and he was always there at court... every. Single. Day.

He tried to be all nice and friendly with me, never once bringing up that he just so happened to be the guy that the love of my life cheated on me with. He never seemed to get the hint that I just wanted him to leave me alone so I could try and forget my past love life and move on. One day, I just got sick of it. I felt like being at court was keeping me trapped in a past life that I needed to get out of and put behind me... so without warning I just got up and left.

I didn't go to far though, maybe fifty miles south of the court. It was more so I could keep in touch with my friends than to be close to my old home. Ever since I left, Gareth, Eddie and I had lived together in this house. Over the year we'd been out here, they'd become more than just my guardians, they were like brothers to me. Going out and having them looking out for me just felt like a night out with your mates would, it wasn't half as weird as I'd expected it to be before I was out in the big wide world.

After coming home from my rather confusing evening (or very early morning on a human schedule) which started off just chilling out at at twenty four hour bar and quickly moved on to almost dying and running into some whack-job Alchemist chick that just so happened to know Rose, I was beyond tired. It was insane. After two more drinks (and one left on my bedside table for good luck) I was off to sleep, far earlier than I normally would be. My last thoughts oddly enough weren't about the near fatal Strigoi attack, but about Sydney and her magical Strigoi-body-dissolving chemicals.

Before sleep could fully consume me I felt a weird yet familiar sensation throughout my body, like my soul was being pulled away from my physical being. The only difference was- I usually controlled it by choice. I was entering a spirit dream. Never before, in all my 23 years had I slipped into someones dreams by accident. I hadn't even known it was possible until now and it was especially strange since I'd had so much to drink that night that my spirit powers should surely have been shut off. Apparently not.

Every part of my mind was telling me that I was surely in Rose's head. She was on my mind so much- practically 24/7- that it was quite possible that I'd entered her dreams subconsciously. I used to do it so much, especially when we were separated, that It'd practically become natural. Confirming my theory was the fact that we were in a city in Siberia... of course she'd dream about Siberia.

I scanned the area for the dreamer, almost dreading seeing the face of my former love. It'd be far too painful, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to cope with it. As was only natural in spirit dreams, nobody else was around, just me and the dreamer of this dream who supposedly was playing 'hard to find' because I appeared to be alone. And that's when I saw her.

Sitting out on a balcony a little way above the street was the last person I'd expected to see. I waved at her to try and get her attention.

"Well, well, well" I began, "if it isn't my favourite little Alchemist." Sydney peered down at me and flinched a little when she recognised me. I doubted she new anything about spirit, few people did. As far as she was probably concerned, her peaceful little dream had just turned into a nightmare when an 'un-holy bloodsucker' such as myself showed up uninvited. Alchemists may work along side vampires, but it didn't mean they liked us- at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure they hated us and by default also hated their jobs.

"May I join you?" I asked her politely, still trying to figure out how and why I'd just been randomly sucked into her dream. When I didn't get a response from her I simply teleported myself up there. That was an advantage of being a dreamwalker- I controlled the dream and I could do whatever the hell I wanted in it.

Sydney visibly jumped when I appeared beside her, backing herself as far away from me as she could.

"Relax" I assured her in the most calming voice I could manage, "I won't hurt you." It was crazy how she was acting so different now to how she'd acted in the alleyway earlier that night. I suppose since she thought this was just a normal dream, there was no need for her to try and hide her fear. There was no need for her usual attitude. She was scared, I could see it all over her face. It hit me then, just how horrible it must be for her to have to work with 'creatures' that she was scared to death of every day of her life.

"Oh gosh, I'm having a nightmare..." she mumbled to herself, staring down at her shoes. "Wake up, wake up, wake up..." She closed her eyes and continued trying to end the dream. Of course, I was in control here and she wasn't going to wake up unless I let her... or unless someone outside of the dream purposely woke her up. I watched her in pity as she shifted uncomfortably, wary about me being here. The kind thing to do would be to leave right at that moment, but in the long run surely it would be better for me to help her overcome her fear of vampires (the good kind at least) so she'd find her job easier.

"Sydney, you need to relax" I told her, grabbing her forearms in an attempt to get her to look at me. She tried to yank them away, but it was no use. Moroi may not be strong, but we're stronger than a human any day. When she realised she wasn't going anywhere she finally gave up and stood perfectly still. I removed one of my hands from her arm and used it to tilt her chin up so she was gazing up at me.

"Relax" I repeated looking into her deep, dark eyes. "Where's the Sydney I saw in the alleyway earlier?".

She shrugged in response before saying "that Sydney only exists in the outside world, when she needs to. This Sydney can't be bothered with pretending. I hate vampires. End of story." Even though her fear was still easy to see, she was regaining some of her attitude as she calmed down a little.

"I get that you hate Strigoi" I replied, "I'm terrified of them too, you know? But theres no reason to be scared of Moroi. We're just like you, we just drink blood." For the first time in the dream, Sydney rolled her eyes at me, a sign that she was regaining the confidence I had seen in her before.

"And that" she began, "is exactly why I don't like you. I mean, it's disgusting! Drinking human blood... I'm human... it just freaks me out." I'll admit, the way she viewed Moroi made my eyes widen a little, but I showed no further signs of disagreement. The plan was to warm her up to our kind, not make her think I was an argumentative man-bitch or something.

"You don't have to worry about that" I explained, realising as I did that my hand was still on her arm. I quickly dropped it to my side, trusting her to stay put and hear me out. "It'd take a lot of disrespect for someone to drink their blood against their will. That's one of the things that separates us from Strigoi, you see. They don't care who's blood they drink and their quite happy to kill them in the process, but we'd never drink from someone without their permission and we wouldn't dream of killing them... unless of course we wanted to become Strigoi- which for the record, I don't."

"I know that" she replied, nodding her head slightly in agreement. "I just don't like it is all. It seems wrong to me."

At this point, it seemed nothing was going to change the girl's mind. I gave up, I was done playing 'nice-guy' for now.

"Whatever" I shurgged, "we all have our own opinions I guess." She nodded and then shrugged too, showing she agreed with me. I was about to go and leave her in peace when I accidently met her eyes. I felt a strange feeling wash over me, like I shouldn't be leaving. I couldn't explain it.

"Sydney" I said, just before I left her to her dream, "just because you're scared of 'vampire kind'... it doesn't mean you have to be scared of me. Or my friends for that matter. You weren't scared of Rose were you?" I flinched a bit as I spoke her name. I rarely said it aloud these days.

"A little I suppose" she admitted, "dhampirs aren't quite the same though are they? At least they're half human... although it doesn't make them any less evil. But Rose... I thought we were friends. Guess not." I could tell she was referring to how Rose had abandoned her, similar to what she'd done to me. Well, at least me and the Alchemist had one thing in common.

"Adrian!"- It was Eddie. I felt myself being sucked out of the dream and back to reality, back into my own head- which really hurt right now!

"Ow!" I complained, opening my eyes to see my favourite guardian leaning over me. "Hangover..."

"I'm not surprised" chuckled Eddie, "you had what... seven drinks last night?"

"Eight" I corrected him, closing my eyes once again to try and shut off the pain- no such luck. "Why'd you wake me up?"

"You were talking in your sleep" he explained with a knowing grin, "it was entertaining but I thought I should stop it. You know, in case it was a spirit dream and you were too darn drunk to get out of it. You know how you get when you use too much spirit..." Oh did I know...

"The thing is, it was a spirit dream" I replied, "but it shouldn't have happened. The whole point of the drinking is to stop spirit. I've never been able to use it when I've had that much alcohol before, especially not by accident."

"You were in Sydney's dream by accident?" Eddie questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion. How did he know it'd been Sydney?

"Wait how did you-"

"Dude, you said her name like a hundred times" Eddie explained, cutting me off. "Does someone have a little crush of the pretty Alchemist girl?"

"No!" I scoffed. What a ridiculous idea. Me- a highly respected member of the royal Moroi society and an Alchemist? Yeah right.

"Whatever you say..." he teased in a sing song voice.

"Watch it Eddison!" I threatened, finally dragging myself out of bed. Eddie just laughed and followed along behind me. The scary thing was... he may not have been too far off. I wouldn't call it a crush, but Sydney had been the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep and there was something about her that made me want to stay with her whenever I saw her... maybe it was just a desire to prove that I wasn't an evil creature of the night. Yeah. That has to be it.

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xx