"What the hell do you mean a link? Like the bond between you and Rose?" His voice betrayed his growing sense of unease. He'd memorized exactly what was required to achieve the desired effect. What did it matter if he didn't read every single word—he'd gotten the basics right.

Lissa frowned. "No, nothing that strong. The way it was described was more like an inadvertent… bridge, between your mind and theirs. It's not something that's always there, but it might appear when you aren't consciously thinking about it. Does that make sense?"

"No."

She sighed. "Look, the warning was really vague. The important thing is you can't try it again. Who knows what could happen if you mess up? Reading over those notes…well, they listed some strange things." She paused, chewing at her bottom lip. "Was it Rose? Is that why you've been having visions about her?"

"Don't I wish—it would have been a lot more pleasurable with my little dhampire there in her red bikini."

Belikov—who'd remained silent throughout the discussion—made a low, threatening sound. Lissa glanced over at him, seeming confused by his reaction. Her brow furrowed, as if she were attempting to puzzle something out.

"How do I get rid of the link? If it appears, that is." He asked, trying to divert her attention from Belikov's possessive outburst.

"Um, I don't know if you can. What were you doing, before you passed out?"

"Absolutely nothing." She shot him a skeptical look, which he chose to ignore. "Seriously, Lissa. I fell asleep on the couch. The next thing you know, I was in a spirit dream—but I didn't create it. Not consciously, anyway. The… uh… test subject got pulled in with me."

"This is exactly why I said we shouldn't mess around with things that weren't well documented, Adrian."

"You know cousin, nobody likes an 'I told you so'."

"I better start going through the books again." Belikov stood up, but Lissa waved him off. "Christian and Eddie are waiting for me, I don't need an escort Guardian Belikov. I'll stop by your room later if I find anything, Adrian."

As soon as the door shut, the Russian glared at him. "What did you see?"

He stared up at the ceiling, searching his thoughts. It didn't really matter, did it? The phrase 'just a dream' kept replaying in his head, over and over again. Everything else was gone. Again.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. "I remember everything up to the point were you got pissy with me. After that, nothing. What happened? How did I end up here?"

Belikov sat back down, rubbing his forehead. "In the dream, I was yelling at you and you… froze. The look on your face was similar to the one Rose gets when she's in the Princess's head. You started mumbling things. Not sentences, just random words. A short while later you began screaming, so I shook you. When you woke, you were…"

"Crazy?" Adrian interjected, smirking.

"Yes. I think you attempted to use compulsion on me. After you coughed up blood and blacked out, I woke up. You were thrashing on the couch, bleeding from your mouth and nose. I brought you here." He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of his coat. "While the doctor looked you over, I wrote down the words you said. The ones I could remember."

He watched as Belikov attempted to smooth the paper out. His curiosity was peaked—this was the first time anyone had bothered to jot down any of his insane commentary. None of it really mattered anyway, the Russian was reading way too much into the situation. It had just been a damned dream.

"Strigoi. Rose. Fire. Rocks. Allie. Look out. Rose. Save him. Fight. He's still alive. She's screaming. Help him." Dimitri looked at him expectantly as he folded the list, returning it to his pocket.

"Interesting."

"What do they mean, Adrian? What did you see?"

He sat up. "I already told you I don't remember."

"This afternoon you claimed you'd had a prophecy and Roza was in danger—that it was a matter of life and death. Try to remember."

"Fuck, I don't know!" His temper flared. "More likely than not it's nothing, Belikov. I'm crazy, remember? Hell, when I was at Alder I chased my Slavic Arts professor around the room trying to clock him with a textbook because I had an insane vision that he was a giant praying mantis and needed to be squished. That vision wasn't real and neither is this. It was just a dream. You told me that, remember?"

"And at Alder, you collapsing right after you had the vision? Coughed up blood?"

"Look—whatever screwed up thing spirit did to pull you into my dream was too much. There was too much spirit funneling though me. My body couldn't handle it." He stared at the other man, bored with the line of questioning.

"That doesn't sound plausible. Why would—"

"Fuck plausible!" He interrupted. "I've got the weirdest frigging element imaginable. No one knows what it's capable of. Every day Lissa and I discover more and more things it can do. This," he gestured towards his bloodstained clothes, "is nothing."

"You were positive it was a prophecy, Adrian." Belikov's voice was soft, his aura filled with worry.

Adrian lay back, returning his gaze to the ceiling. He wanted a drink. Now. "I was mistaken. It was just a jacked up nightmare, probably brought on because I haven't been drinking enough. Alcohol withdrawal can cause hallucinations, you know."

"What if you're wrong? Are you willing to risk that? Try and remember, please. Tell me what you dreamed, just in case."

Adrian glared over at the other man. "There's nothing to tell. I had a nightmare and I don't remember it. End of story."

Belikov's eyes narrowed, his jaw tensing. "Fine. If anything does happen—if Rose gets hurt—it's on your head Ivashkov. I hope you can live with that."

"Fine. Now get out." Adrian closed his eyes, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling that Dimitri's parting words had sparked inside of him.

The rest of the week passed slowly. Lissa had no luck finding further information in the library, despite spending hours perusing the stacks. Since he had no more fucked up nightmares and no more weird dreams that pulled Belikov in, he wasn't concerned with the lack of progress. The gnawing feeling remained with him, making him feel… guilty, but he didn't know why the Russian's words had that effect on him. To be honest, he continually pushed the entire situation out of his mind, spending a couple days indulging—he went on binge, drinking until his liver actually hurt. At that point, deciding he'd indulged enough, he vowed to spend the next few days sober, giving his body time to recuperate. He fell into bed and slept for sixteen hours straight.

Surprisingly enough, he woke up in a good mood. It got even better when he realized Lissa had left him a message, inviting him to come watch movies after dinner—she made a point to mention that Rose would be there. Glancing at the clock he saw it was almost dinner time. If he hurried, he might catch up with Rose in the commons. The fact he hadn't bothered to check on her in several days brought back the feeling of guilt. He showered and was out the door in record time.

He saw Rose and Lissa walking in the distance and hurried to catch up with them. They seemed to be laughing, which was always a good sign—it meant Rose would be in a good mood. A male dhampir approached them, stopping the girls in their tracks—making it easier for him to lessen the distance separating them. As he drew closer, he noticed three guardians wearing all black sneaking up on the group. He chuckled to himself—one of them was Belikov.

Rose must have sensed them, because she didn't even hesitate. Throwing herself between Lissa and the first attacker—a woman—she lashed out as soon as the figure advanced with a blow to the face. As the guardian staggered back, another figure moved in. Something in Adrian's memory clicked as he gazed at the man. Closing his eyes his breathing quickened as the image of the man's dead body flashed behind his eyelids. What the fuck? He shook his head, trying to concentrate on the fight, refusing to acknowledge the gruesome vision.

Rose kicked the woman in the stomach, knocking her into the man, and they both stumbled. In that brief moment, Rose pulled out her practice stake and aimed for her heart. She hit the mark, and the woman immediately stepped aside. The other guardian moved in on her again, and they began exchanging blows. Adrian glanced at Belikov and the young dhampir—the later was getting his ass handed to him. From the corner of his eye he saw Rose wiggle out of her attacker's grip. Quick as a flash, she staked him.

Rose turned toward the remaining threat, watching as the novice sparred with his attacker. Adrian smirked when he glanced at her aura. Rose might not know who the remaining guardian was—which was ridiculous considering the fact Belikov was the only giant on campus—but it sure did. It was reaching out to the Belikov, and his was doing the same towards her. He returned his attention to the fight, his eyes flicking from time to time to assess their auras. Belikov knew Rose was there, and was trying to impress her. Of course, it wasn't a hard task, the novice he was battling was absolutely worthless.

Rose threw herself forward and shoved the boy out of the way. As she faced off with her opponent, their auras blazed like solar flares. She sprang toward him with the stake, but he was too fast. It was like he knew what she was going to do before she actually did it. He halted her attack with a glancing blow to the side of her head. Adrian was incensed until he saw the man felt remorse. He bit his tongue, remembering this was a test of his little dhampir's abilities. He moved closer, not wanting to miss a second of the action. A crowd of people had slowly begun to form—Belikov and Rose were celebrities in their own way, both known as being the best of the best. The whole mentor-student thing also added to the drama. Hell, add in the fact they were in love, and this became prime-time entertainment—to those who were in the know, that is. He let his eyes drift across the crowd and spotted Alberta. He raised a hand motioning her over, and in less than a minute, she was at his side.

"Care to make a wager?"

"A hundred on Rose," she said.

"Shit. That's a sure thing, Allie."

Belikov and Rose were in their own little world, their eyes locked on each other. As they tested each other, attacking and blocking, Adrian couldn't help but laugh. Alberta shot him a look and he leaned towards her, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Their auras. I expected to see aggression, maybe concentration."

Alberta raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"There both there, but overriding it all is a tidal wave of lust, from both of them." He smirked at the surprised look on her face as she processed his words. A minute later, she was laughing along with him.

Rose's expression changed, and with it, her fighting style. Just as Belikov had anticipated her moves, now she began to do the same to him. They truly were amazing to watch—they were separate sides of the same coin, almost too well matched. Both were covered in sweat, but neither showed the slightest hint of tiring.

In an instant, Belikov got through her guard. He moved in for an attack, throwing the full force of his body into Rose. She blocked the worst of it, but stumbled from the impact, losing her footing. He didn't waste the opportunity and dragged her to the ground, trying to pin her.

Rose shoved her elbow up and nailed him in the face, making him flinch. Latching onto the opening, she rolled him over and held him down. He fought to push her off, and she pushed right back—the sight brought back Adrian and Alberta's giggles. The way they were writhing against each other looked entirely too suggestive.

Finally, Rose brought her stake down over his heart. Everyone started clapping, but neither of the fighters appeared to notice. Their gazes were locked, Rose still straddling him, her hands pressed against his chest. Both of them were sweaty and breathing heavily, looking as if they'd spent the last hour engaged in… other activities. Adrian elbowed Alberta as Rose leaned forward—someone needed to break this up. Their expressions were anything but professional, filled with lust and longing, as if they were about to attack each other in a completely different way. Alberta made a gesture towards the other two guardians, and the female walked forward, grabbing Roses hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Well done," said the man. "You took down all three of us. That was textbook perfect."

Belikov was on his feet now—Rose looked pointedly at the other two guardians, which was the smartest thing she could do, considering they'd been about to suck face in front of half the student body.

"I hope … I hope I didn't hurt any of you," she said. Her statement was rewarded with friendly laughter.

"That's our job," said the female guardian. "Don't worry about us. We're tough." She glanced at Belikov. "She got you pretty good with her elbow."

Dimitri rubbed his face near his eye. Adrian glanced at their auras and found himself wishing that Rose's elbow had broken the Russian's straight nose. "The student surpasses the teacher," he joked. "Or stakes, rather."

"I'd keep an eye on them, Allie," he whispered. "The lust is still there, growing stronger by the minute. It's overshadowing every other emotion in their auras."

She slapped his arm. "Let it go Ivashkov. I trust him."

Adrian watched as Rose and Dimitri stared at each other, and another vision flickered in his head. He saw the couple pressed against a tree, embracing and discussing the fact they'd been intimate. He was so intent on the images in his mind he didn't realize Alberta was talking to him—until she grabbed his face.

"Adrian? Are you alright?"

He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, almost hyperventilating. As he struggled to catch his breath, he kept hearing Belikov's voice echo in his mind. Over and over, like a record stuck in a groove. 'What if you're wrong? Are you willing to risk that? Try and remember, please. Tell me what you dreamed, just in case.'

The memories were returning, slowly but surely. Unfortunately he had the horrible feeling that time was running out.