Richelle Mead owns the VA and Bloodlines series.

Can you believe they're already releasing the cover of The Fiery Heart soon? The 28th, I think. That's awesome and I can't wait to see it! Anyone want to bet that it'll be purple? That's my guess at least.

Anyway, here's a new chapter. It doesnt have any real spoilers for TIS if you still haven't read it. Hope you guys enjoy it. It gets a little hot at the end there ;) Review and let me know what you think!

"You don't have to do this, Sydney?" Adrian said fiercely, beside me.

The trouble was, I did. And I knew it.

Adrian and I had been summoned to the Moroi Court for more spirit research. I'd been told by the Alchemists that Sonya Karp, the leading researcher of spirit, had requested my presence. They decided it was a good idea considering they wanted me to submit a report detailing any progress the Moroi had made in their research.

I'd had a pretty good idea what Sonya wanted me for but hadn't mentioned it to the Alchemists. They'd probably freak out and turn this into some sort of interracial affair. Sonya's been after my blood for months now, trying to get a sample for someone on the research team to taste. I'd admit, that sounded much worse than it was and, considering my blood was repugnant to Strigoi, I understood where she was coming from. But giving blood and knowing it was going to be... tasted? The thought alone sent shivers down my spine, nearly undoing all of the progress I'd made towards vampires in the past year.

I had made progress in my feelings towards Moroi and dhampirs, the leaps and bounds kind of progress. Not only was I friends, good friends, with a whole slew of them, but I was also romantically involved with the Moroi sitting next to me. The Moroi looking at me with concern in his beautiful green eyes as I pondered what to do.

I looked over at Sonya, seated across the table from me. We were at dinner at the Moroi palace which might have once given me pause, but now I took it all in stride. Even Sonya's request that I let her sample my blood.

"I'm not sure I can," I admitted. "I understand why you need it, Sonya, I really do. But you have to understand why I'm having a hard time agreeing to this."

"We understand," Dimitri said. He was sitting a few chairs down, next to Rose. "And we're not trying to force you into anything." He said that with a meaningful glance at Adrian. Guess he remembered what happened last time they'd pushed me for a blood sample. "But it could be of great use to our research. If Strigoi can't drink your blood, if no vampire can, and we can synthesize it somehow, we could put an end to Strigoi. Forever."

I nodded, knowing he was right. I pushed the food around on my plate with my fork, wondering what I should do. Adrian pulled the fork out of my hand and held my fingers between his.

"It's not your problem, Sage," he said. "You don't want some Moroi tasting your blood. That's a legitimate concern. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Adrian," Sonya said, exasperated. "Let the girl think about it. If she doesn't want to we aren't going to force her, but give her the chance to decide."

Adrian scowled at her. "I know she doesn't want to do this. I can see it on her. And you can too! That's the worst part. You don't care that she's uncomfortable, all you care about is your stupid research."

"It's not stupid research," Sonya exclaimed, starting to get upset.

"It is when it comes at the price of someone's safety," Adrian argued back.

"Sydney would be perfectly safe," Rose said, trying to break up the fight before they could really get going. "It'd be just like giving blood."

"No." Adrian turned on her, the fierceness in his eyes unwavering as he spoke to his ex-girlfriend. "She wouldn't feel safe and that's the only thing that matters."

I could see that this was about to erupt even more than it already had. I placed my hand on Adrian's arm, pulling his attention back to me. While they were fighting a thought had occurred to me. I still wasn't quite sure about it, but it was the only solution to the problem I could think of that I was willing to try.

Once I was sure he was focused on me I lifted my chin confidently and said, "You do it."

A murmur broke out from the group surrounding us but Adrian's eyes never left mine. He shook his head slightly. "No," he breathed.

"You're the only one I want to do it." I gave him a weak smile, hoping I looked calm. "You're the only one I trust."

"No," he said again, his voice firmer this time.

I grinned. "What? Afraid I'll taste bad?"

"Sydney," he said, green eyes serious. He placed a hand on my cheek. "Don't make this into a joke."

My smile faded and I took a deep breath. "I'm not joking," I said earnestly. "You're the only one I trust to do this. And it needs to happen. You know it does." My smile made a brief reappearance as I leaned closer to him. "Besides, it's not like you've never used your teeth on my neck before."

Adrian dropped his hand a shook his head again. He looked appalled that I'd even consider asking him to taste my blood. "Kissing's different," he said firmly. "What you're asking me to do is something else entirely. And what if you change your mind after? What if you get scared? What if you're traumatized or something?"

"Adrian," I reached for him, wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning into his chest. "I love you. I'm not afraid of you. Please?" I asked. "Please, do this for me? For everyone?"

As Adrian held me to his chest and stroked my hair I realized the room had gone quiet around us. Finally Adrian pulled back just enough to look at me.

"Fine," he said, giving in. A small smirk found its way to his lips, making him look more like his normal self. "But promise me you won't get mad if I end up gagging on your blood."

I scrunched my nose in disgust, but promised I wouldn't get mad. He took a long, deep breath before sighing. "Fine," he said again. "Let's go." He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet, then turned to look at everyone. "We'll be back in a bit."

The others nodded, a bit mystified that I was actually letting Adrian bite me instead of just giving them a sample. But it didn't matter what they thought. They had asked for my blood to taste, and this was the only way they were getting it.

Adrian led me back to his guest room in the palace and pulled me down next to him on the bed. Being on a bed with him always set off a flurry of butterflies within me, but this time it was for a completely different reason.

He brushed some hair away from my neck and ran a long finger down the length of it, trailing it down my collarbone and causing me to shutter. "Sydney. Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Yup," I whispered, leaning forward to place my lips on his. He didn't want to bite me, but he'd never turn down kissing me, so I figured I'd start with that. It worked perfectly. He sighed against my lips, deepening the kiss and pulling me closer to him.

Soon we were lost in a world of our own, kissing and touching and just feeling. We ended up sprawled across the mattress, legs tangled, Adrian's hands skimming my ribs under my shirt. After what felt like forever his lips finally made their way down my neck and to a spot just below my ear. He kissed me there hard, hard enough that I was pretty sure he was trying to give me a hickey, but then I felt the sharp pain of fangs piercing my skin and realized what was happening and panic set in.

He was biting me. A vampire was biting me. No. Adrian Ivashkov was biting me.

Before I could make myself relax at that knowledge, the endorphins kicked in and I was floating in a blissful, perfect haze. I remembered this from when the Strigoi had bitten me but it was so much better this time. Adrian wasn't trying to kill me and we were in bed together and I wanted him so badly...

"Ugh," I complained as he pulled away from me too soon. I reached out, trying to bring his mouth back to my throat, but my arms just flailed a little before falling to my sides. I stared up at the ceiling as he grabbed a glass of water next to his bed and rinsed his mouth.

"Sage, no offense," he said, sounding disgusted, "but you taste terrible."

It took a minute for my chemical induced stupor to fade but when it did I rolled onto my side and looked at him. "What was it like?" I asked quietly.

He grinned a little. "Absolutely terrible. Like I need to go find a mint or something to get this aftertaste out of my mouth." He cringed a little." It's gotta be your magic protecting you, which is good. Maybe we can ask Jackie to let us—"

"No," I said, sitting up a bit in bed.

"Okay," he said, putting his hands up in from of him. "We won't ask her. It's okay."

"No." I shook my head. "I don't mean that. I mean..." I swallowed, still feeling a little dazed. "I mean how was it? To bite me? Did it feel... good? Because I know it feels good for you when it's intimate and we were kissing and... stuff." I gestured towards his lap, the evidence of how good he'd been feeling obvious. "Was it nice even though my blood tastes bad?"

He looked shocked I'd asked something like that, but I couldn't help it. I was so worked up and the endorphins had reduced my inhibitions a bit.

Finally he shifted closer to me on the bed. "Sydney," he whispered, brushing my hair away from my neck. His fingers found the spot he'd bitten and a warm feeling spread over my skin. He was healing me, I realized. "It doesn't matter if I liked it, it only matters if you did," he said gently, stroking the skin on my throat.

I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent before looking back at him. "I did," I whispered. "I liked it a lot."

He closed his eyes and leaned down to bury his face in the crook of my neck. "Oh, Sydney," he groaned.

"I don't mean I want you to bite me all the time or anything," I amended, my senses finally returning entirely. "But if it's not too terrible for you, maybe we could do it occasionally? If it's too gross that's okay. I understand."

His lips touched the skin of my neck once, twice, three times, before he pulled back to look at me. "Biting you felt amazing," he admitted, his hands coming up to cup my face. "It's... It's like sex, I guess. When you love the person, anyway. Biting you was unlike anything I've ever felt before. Yeah, your blood's not the best I've ever had, but I'm not really biting you for your blood. And if you like the way it feels than I'm more than happy to help you out on occasion," he said with a smirk.

I returned his smirk with one of my own. "Good to know," I said. "We should probably get back to the others and let them know I taste gross to Moroi as well as Strigoi."

Adrian nodded and took a deep breath. "Alright. Just give me a few minutes," he said.

I was suddenly reminded that he was feeling just as worked up as I was. "Well, maybe it can wait a little while," I said, shrugging playfully. "It's not like my blood's going anywhere." I smiled, biting my lip, and crawled closer to him, pushing on his shoulders until he was lying against the pillows.

"That's true," he said laughed, pulling me down against him. "Unless you want it to, that is." He grinned up at me before lowering his lips back to my neck and sending me into ecstasy, without the help of his endorphins this time.