The elevator dinged once it reached my floor but I didn't hear it. It wasn't until the doors were closing again that I sprung into action. I quickly walked out of the elevator and to my room. My hands were slightly trembling as I pulled out the hotel key card.

I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath. I waited a few minutes, trying to listen for anything outside of my room but I heard nothing. I slowly walked away from the door and started my nightly routine.

Maybe I was hallucinating.

I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and immediately went to bed.

I kept waiting to hear a knock at my door at some point during the night, but it never came.

I'll wake up tomorrow and realize I imagined the whole thing.

With that thought, I drifted off to sleep.

I was so tired I didn't even dream. I woke up what felt like 5 minutes later but was actually a few hours later, finally feeling well rested. I checked my phone for messages and emails, got up and started getting ready to meet everyone for our second day of experiments.

I knew my way around by now and decided to simply make the 15 minute walk to the building by myself. I regretted that decision about 5 minutes into my walk. There were not as many people out as earlier, but the ones that were out were blatantly staring at me. I picked up my pace and tried to ignore their stares. I didn't necessarily feel unsafe, but it definitely served as a reminder that I was an outsider.

I almost bumped into Dimitri as I walked into the building.

What is it with him and lurking near the entrance?

Yesterday, he bumped into Rose and today it was almost me.

"Sydney?" He looked behind me. "Is Rose with you?"

"No." Why would he ask me that?

"So, you walked over here by yourself?"

Oh.

"Yes." He raised his eyebrows. "It's just a mile from the hotel." I responded defensively.

"Yes, but-"

"Sorry to interrupt." Nina said, looking at Dimitri. "But we need you in there."

He looked at me. "No more walking on your own. Someone will escort you at all times."

I rolled my eyes but was actually grateful for his insistence. I definitely did not want to walk alone in the dark as the only human in the area.

I followed Nina and Dimitri into the room.

Lissa, Sonya and Rose were standing in front of a table. They were talking while there were 4 dhampirs stationed along the walls throughout the room. I recognized Mikhail Tanner but the other three I did not know.

It reminded me of Eddie. Would this be the job he would come home to after Palm Springs? Is that what he wanted? What would Jill do? And what about Angeline?

"It didn't work." Lissa's defeated voice brought me back to reality. She turned to Dimitri. "Can you put this bangle on? We're trying to see if it covers you with spirit in any way."

Dimitri grabbed the bangle and put it on.

"Just as we feared." Sonya said. "It's barely covering you and it's fading as we speak."

"It was covering Rose even less, what does that mean?" Nina asked Sonya.

"My best guess is that he still has spirit in him from being restored."

"How many objects have you tried to charm with spirit?" I asked them.

"Probably about 5. It takes a while to get the spirit in the object, and even longer to figure out a way to get the spirit to stick for more than a few minutes." Lissa responded.

"What material were they all made out of?"

"Silver… Why?" Sonya asked, tentatively.

"Have you considered experimenting with the material used to host the spirit? Maybe another material will hold it better or for longer." After they didn't respond, I continued. "You could try with the most common materials like gold, platinum and copper. Mixtures of them could also prove useful."

"That could work," Lissa said. "The last ring that was charmed had stronger spirit in it than the bangle, and it had gold engravings on it. I didn't think much of it at first, but maybe the mix in materials is what made it a better host for the spirit."

"Yeah but it was also charmed by Adrian, who's better at this than most of us." Nina responded quickly.

I froze. Adrian?

When had he charmed that ring?

Was he here?

Last night's instance in the elevator came back to me.

My heart sped up at the thought that perhaps I hadn't imagined that last night.

"Okay well, there's no point in making Sydney stick around for all of that." I heard Sonya say.

I finally focused back on the group and noticed she was giving me a tight smile

Why would she- My aura.

Act normal, Sydney.

"I agree." Lissa said to me. "I think it'll take us days, maybe even weeks to experiment on all the different material options." She smiled, and it made her seem even more queenly. "We really appreciate your help. It was a great idea, but I don't think you need to stay here for it."

"Lissa." Christian interrupted. She looked up at him, her smile growing and nodded. She looked back at me. "It was nice to see you, Sydney. Thank you, again." With that, she walked over to Christian, gave him a quick kiss, took his hand and let him lead her out of the building.

I didn't know them very well, but I could tell they balanced eachother out. There seemed to be such an ease to their relationship.

"It's her hourly break." Rose explained as she came to stand next to me. "The doctor said she's stressing out too much. Gee, I wonder why. So, she has to take a 5 minute break for every hour that she works non-stop. Christian somehow ended up being the person to enforce those breaks and I don't wanna know where he takes her."

I smiled. "That's sweet."

"Woah, Sydney. A compliment for a vampire?"

I rolled my eyes. "So, are you escorting me back to my hotel?"

"Yup. Let me brief Mikhail real quick and I'll be right back."

Sonya approached me as Rose walked away.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." She smiled. "It was nice working with you again, Sydney."

"Thank you, you too. Good luck with the experiments."

"Good luck in your new post."

She gave me a knowing smile as she walked away. I frowned but didn't have much time to process what she said because Rose rejoined me.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

I nodded, grabbed my alchemist kit and followed her to the exit. I was about to walk through the door when I heard a familiar voice from inside the room.

"I brought some more jewelry but I'm not sure I have enough with copper."

I glanced behind me and time seemed to go in slow motion.

There was no denying it this time, Adrian was here. At court. At the same time as me. In the same room.

I saw him walk into the room with a box in his hands. He placed the box on a table and was talking to Sonya when he turned his head and noticed me.

He stopped talking mid-sentence.

I could only stare back at him as one by one Sonya, Nina, Mikhail and Dimitri glanced towards me to see what Adrian was so surprised by.

Finally, he seemed to regain his senses and gave me a nod.

A nod?

What does that even mean?

"Sydney, are you okay?" Rose asked, which made everything go back to normal speed.

I have to move.

"Yes. Let's go." I said, as I turned to follow Rose out of the building without a backward glance.