A/n: Sorry this has taken me so long, weirdly it was watching the tennis in Palm Springs that reminded me I had a story to write.

Chapter 6

Rosemarie Hathaway wasn't above using her position for personal gain. Currently she was lying in one of the clean crisp hospital beds of the secure wing in the Court hospice.

And she could admit, she was putting it on a little.

The nurse who was taking her blood pressure seemed to think so too, but was in no position to question her patient when the Queen herself had ordered this inspection.

Lissa was pacing the small floor space of the room, her shoes making a catchy rhythm on the floor as she paced. Rose spared her a dry glance, as the machine clutching her arm released, and beeped a reading.

The nurse snuck Rose another doubtful look, as she peered at the numbers on the screen. "Blood pressure is normal." Lissa breathed a sigh of relief, while Rose wilted dramatically.

"I'm telling you ma'am, I feel feint, all light-headed and swimmy." Rose lay back in her sheets, throwing a hand over her eyes for effect.

Lissa looked at her friend, oblivious to the play for Oscar contention going on in front of her. "Are you sure she's alright?" she asked of the nurse. Who had vacated her chair and tucked the blood pressure pump under one arm.

The nurse turned to her. "Quite sure your highness." Rose moaned loudly. Lissa looked sceptical and eventually the wizened nurse managed a sigh. "But its best to be safe. I'll run the blood tests again and be back in the morning."

Rose immediately perked up as the women left the room, grinning to herself as Lissa gave her a bemused look and sat on the end of her bed, knocking her feet out of the way. The Moroi Queen levelled her stare at her best friend.

"Okay, what's going on? Are you really okay?"

Rose looked affronted. "I was almost smothered to death you know."

Lissa winced. "I know, but it's not like a single near death experience ever kept you down before." Lissa pointed out honestly.

Rose shrugged. "Maybe I'm getting more cautious in my old age."

Lissa looked unimpressed. "Rose your barely pushing twenty." She crossed her arms shortly.

Eventually the Dhamphir relented. "Okay, okay, I just didn't want you to stop me."

"Stop you from what?"

"Breaking out from my room later tonight and going to visit Sydney." Rose said very quickly and without missing a beat.

Lissa sighed.

"Rose that's not a good idea—"

"I need to see her and she's my friend—"

"I know that." Lissa placated. "but the last thing Vampire-Alchemist relations need right now is another stuff up. The attack last night had already gone public news. The Humans are furious, I already feel like we're on a knife's edge here. I don't need you pushing us over."

Rose frowned. "I won't. I promise. I'm not going to discuss politics with her, I just want to talk to her—"

"About Adrian?" Lissa cut in shrewdly.

Rose paused for a beat and then sighed defeated. "You weren't there. You didn't see it. It was like you and Jesse all over again." Lissa flinched at the unpleasant memory. "One second he was out of control, I'd never seen Adrian use so much sprit and then…she stopped him."

"How?"

Rose sighed. "I don't know, before that she was a mess, freaking out when the Guardians tried to take her away, I know what Abe said they did to her, but, it was weird, seeing her like that, so scared, so out of control. So not-Sydney."

Lissa paused for a second, watching her best friends face closely, before she said firmly. "Rose it's not your fault."

"It's never my fault." Rose replied quietly.

Lissa shuffled forward on the bed and pulled the Dhamphir into a hug. It wasn't often that Rose was the one in need of comfort by Lissa had resolved herself to always being there when those rare occurrences came. Like now.

Rose hugged her back.

"You can't save everyone."

Rose knew that. She understood it a little better these days, but she couldn't help but wonder why it was always Adrian and Sydney who had to be left behind.

If she didn't save them, who would?

Adrian was in a large stone walled room. He was also fairly sure he was dreaming. There was rain outside the window; he could practically feel the chill in his veins from the weather. It felt like a spirit dream but not. Like the football game that had come to him in his sleep some days ago, this place, this time, felt real.

He could hear voice coming from the hall. Adrian was standing in some kind of office, with a mahogany desk, and a filing cabinet. Papers were strewn over the desk. He looked up at the sound of footsteps coming this way. If he was indeed dreaming then there should have been no fear of discovery. Yet last time he'd met one of these dreams he'd been there, almost. He'd talked to Sydney hadn't he? Teased her with her friends. It had almost been like he'd actually existed.

Taking only a second to decide, Adrian ducked behind the side of the door, and not a moment too soon, a second later it swung open, blocking him from view and almost crushing his nose as it swung inwards.

Two men entered aged about into their late fifties they were speaking an unfamiliar language and wearing familiar non-descript suits. One, the brunette younger looking man, had on latex gloves.

The two men paused to look out the window as the rain poured down harder and Adrian got a good look a two matching lily tattoos emblazoned on their cheeks.

Alchemists.

The men continued their conversation unhindered, and soon left the room again. Adrian pushed himself closer against the wall as they exited the room. He heard the door click loudly as a lock was turned.

Springing from his hiding spot, Adrian wasn't one to waste time. Dream or not, he was here for a reason. He turned to the paper strewn desk and started poring over the documents, looking for any info.

There were a few order forms, for food and supplies that looked to be in Cyrillic. But the language the two men had used wasn't Russian or any of its familiars. He turned next to the filing cabinet, and after some tampering with the lock, he managed to open it with a soft squeaking of wheels. Inside he found names. A different folder for each name. He was just flicking to the back when he came across a familiar one. Horace Meyers. The Alchemist who had come to visit Sydney in Palm Springs.

Adrian remembered scared eyes, and pinched skin. The man had curled into a ball when confronted with Adrian's fangs. Sydney had held him as he cried. He'd been re-educated too.

Adrian pulled out the file and started flipping through its contents. A few things caught his eye. Like room numbers, offences, every page was stamped with a red stencil of the word 'complete'. There was a thick set of pages titled surveillance. All detailing Horace's supposed friendship with some Moroi in Las Angeles several years ago. There were pictures too. Printed in colour, Adrian peered at one that showed a younger, happier Horace smiling down at a female Moroi, who was grinning at him like a love struck fool.

Adrian knew that expression well. He returned the file and its contents, and then continued scrolling the names until he found the one he wanted Sage, Sydney.

The first page was merely a list of info, her birth date, eye colour, height, written across the top in red ink however was a hand written note that read:

Sage, eldest daughter of Jarred Sage. To be contacted upon completion. +61 04166 12530

Adrian frowned and continued reading. The rain outside had worsened, and occasionally he heard footsteps in the hall. There was info on all of them in there. There was a report on Roses' breakout from a few years ago, statements and testimonies and then it detailed Palm Springs. There was evidence from Keith Darnell photos of Sydney and Jill, Eddie, photos of him and her, of them at the golf range, his lips pressed to hers.

Adrian flicked back to the front, tracing down a room number, her had a fair idea of what this place was now. Although the question of how he got here, remained to be answered.

Resolute, he tucked the folder back into its place in the cabinet, stealing only a single piece from it. A photo of Sydney and him, from Amberwood Prep. He folded it twice and tucked it into the back of his jeans before he slipped from the room.

He shut the door behind him with a click and slowly glanced down both sides of the hallway, debating which way to go, throwing up a guess he turned left and hurried himself until he reached a set of stairs that led downwards, the walls on either side of him were stone, but the light above his head was modern day electricity. Adrian steadied himself and took a breath before taking the steps two at a time, delving deeper into the building.

For a dream, his footsteps sounded awfully loud.

Jillian Dragomir was drowning her sorrows in chocolate; she lay flat on her back in bed. The covers kicked onto the floor. She hoped stuffing a third caramel cream into her mouth would stop the Guardians standing outside her door from hearing her cries.

She was thinking of Eddie.

She had barely seen him, and right about now she could use his familiar presence. Eddie had a way of making everything seem better; maybe if he was here with her she wouldn't be crying her eyes out with worry.

She was to be going with her parents in two days time. That in itself wasn't the concern. As the worry of Moroi faction assassins grew larger, it was the fact that Eddie wouldn't be accompanying her on the trip anymore. Two more Guardians had been assigned instead. Serena was one, and Meredith the other.

"They will keep you safe," Lissa had promised.

"Adrian's a bit busy at the moment, but I'm sure he'll join you soon," Rose had assured.

Jill snorted and picked up a coconut flavoured chocolate, 'busy' as if she didn't share Adrian's concern for Sydney. Why was it that whenever Jill was determined to stay in one place, she was torn from side to side? Shuffled away at the last second. Sydney was here, Adrian was here and yes, Eddie was here and very soon, she wouldn't be.

It was enough to make any girl cry, well except maybe for Rosemarie Hathaway.

There was a knock at the door and Jill sat up so fast that she spilled the last of her chocolates onto the sheets. A few quick strides and a quick tidying of her hair and she wrenched the door open.

It wasn't Eddie, as she had hoped, but it was the next best thing.

King Ozera grinned at her from the threshold. "You look like hell Jill and I mean that in the nicest possible way."

Jill let out a breath, "Christian," she stepped aside. "Come in." he followed her lead and she shut to door behind him, he frowned at the dishevelled state of her room and picked up one of the abandoned chocolates.

"Drowning in misery?" he asked. "I thought you would have relished a chance to kick some ass." Jill frowned at him, as he popped the chocolate into his mouth a grimaced at the flavour. "Yugh, peppermint."

"Whose ass was I supposed to kick?"

"Don't tell me you've given up on your training, I know Castile's got you doing ninja moves but that doesn't mean you should abandon your magic."

Jill slowly realised what he meant, "Oh you mean, we were supposed to practice?" she asked, and the sadness in her chest was replaced by excitement.

Christian nodded. "I've got some spare time, with Lissa clinging to Roses beside like a limpet and with all the…recent events. I'd think you'd welcome some practice. Mia said she'd put in some time with you as well, I sent you an e-mail."

Jill managed to keep her face neutral at the subtle mention of eddies attack and instead shook her head, "I've been neglecting my computer."

Christian gestured to the state of her room, "And the outside world." His face darkened a little. "Look," he started. "I know what happened with Castile has got you down, not to mention the constant attempts on your life can't be easy but you can do better then this." He crossed his arms and looked resolute.

Jill sighed, "I know, it's Adrian…I think, he's been really sad lately, and then when we overhead Sydney talking with Ian the other night—"

"What did you hear?" Christians blue eyes were suspicious.

Jill shrugged, "Nothing specific, just some confusing stuff, that didn't make any sense and then Sydney reminded us of how much she's afraid of Adrian and…yeah," she finished lamely.

Christian frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Do you know about what happened last night, with the Alchemists and Rose and Angeline?"

Jill nodded slowly, "I felt it mostly." She said softly. "I never felt that much from him, before, spirit, I mean."

"Lissa said that the Alchemist stopped it, like how Rose did with her before when we were at school and that loser Jesse had that secret meeting of theirs."

Jill shrugged; she knew little of the incident, "I guess, all I know is, that one second he was out of control and the next…" she trailed off leaving the statement hanging.

There was a tense silence for a few moments as the two Moroi mulled it over before Christian shook his head and looked at Jill. "Why don't we leave the detective stuff to Hathaway huh? We've got better stuff to be doing. Get ready and meet me at Mia's in half an hour, bring your Guardian's if you have to."

So twenty minuted later, Jill had cleaned her room, scooped up and binned the last of the chocolates, pulled on some clean clothes and was sitting down at her desk trawling her overloaded inbox and reading her messages.

She deleted some spam, and Christian's message telling her about training, she opened one from last Monday addressed from Clarisse her friend at Saint Vladimir's detailing the gruelling torture chamber of eighth period gym class. Jill tried to send a reply but found the server blocked. Unable to send. She frowned in confusion but was soon distracted as she saw just under Clarisse's e-mail one from her friend Micah sent from his Amberwood e-mail address. She clicked it happily, glancing at the clock to see wether she still had time, before beginning the first paragraph.

Hey Jill,

What up? Hows Eddie, Sydney, Adrian, Angeline and all your other random family members I can't quite recall?

Things at school are the same, although not as fun without you guys around. I joined the volleyball team and am hoping it'll shut my dad up about extra curricular activities.

Hey, speaking of weird dad's. Treys showed up in class today. Withdrew him from school apparently just like that. The football team is so screwed especially since your sister shut down the super powered you know what's coming out of you know where. Doesn't look like Amberwood will be making the finals this year. Weird huh?

Hows your family doing? I know you said they've been having some problems lately, but things with your sister are sounding good—Lisa is it?—any how, I hope things are cool. Cause I'm just chilling here waiting for you guys to come back. Seriously it's a bore on campus these days.

Hows your modelling going? Are you still interested in that? I remember how good you were at that show last year; you could make a career of it if you wanted.

Anyway, I've got to cut this letter short Mrs Terwilliger is giving me the evil eye—seriously she's been in a bad mood ever since you guys left, probably because she doesn't have anyone to bring her coffee at all hours of the day—so I'll write again soon.

Let me know what's happening with you.

Micah.

Jill relented to writing her reply later, as she glanced the clock she had to meet Christian and Mia but none the less she smiled happily as she left the room, locking the door behind her.

It didn't seem odd to her, that at that moment she was unable to feel anything from Adrian at all.

Adrian pressed his hands to the glass. He was staring into a sealed room with only one occupant, a young woman with a golden tattoo. Blue eyes and red hair.

She was bleeding.

She'd been restrained to what looked like a massage bed, but not as comfortable. The lights in her room glowed an unnatural blue. Although Adrian was staring through a window he suspected the women couldn't see him, for her eyes passed right over him as they swivelled in her head. There were wounds on her neck, on her shoulders, blood was sliding over her skin and dripping onto the floor.

And the figure. The figure Adrian had seen just as he entered the room, being hauled away by gun wilding guards, seemingly weakened by the overhead blue shinning lights.

Had been a Strigoi.

A thrill of fear filled Adrian as he remembered the red ringed eyes, but the Strigoi hadn't looked murderous as it had been pulled from the room. More tortured. Tormented.

As for the girl in the room, she was sobbing now, but there was a delirious smile on her face. Vampire pheromones kicking in.

And the golden lily on her cheek looked a sickly green under the lights.

What the fuck?

Bang! The door to Adrian's room exploded open and Adrian swung around, he had the unique experience of seeing the guards eyes widen in shock as he took in the presence of an intruder. And before he could wrestle his gun into his hands Adrian summoned his magic and sent him flying into a wall with a sickening crack.

Somewhere in the facility an alarm blared and Adrian's heart started racing. He ran to the unconscious guard, stole his gun and key card, and ran for his life. Begging in his mind. Wake up goddamit! Adrian sincerely hoped this was a dream.

He didn't want to know what dieing felt like, asleep or awake. Or worse, he didn't want to be captured an locked away in a place like this, with its eerie blue lights, and bloodied victims.

Adrian knew only one thing for sure as he reached another set of stairs, this one thankfully, leading upwards. He was in a re-education centre. Where the Alchemists used Strigoi as weapons.

Where Sydney Sage had once been.

Adrian ran as fast as he could.

Rose had expected to face Sydney alone, but having Lissa refuse to let her go alone, to visit the Alchemist had been a nice surprise as well. It was late day, early Moroi morning at the hospital. But with the presence of a Queen at her side, Rose didn't have to sneak to the other room.

They reached the Guardians outside Sydney's room, who looked at one another an quickly stepped aside. One nodded, "Your Majesty."

"Is she awake?" Rose asked.

The Guardian shrugged. "I think so, but she's got a visitor already, that human guy, has been in there for a few minutes."

Rose looked a Lissa and the blonde nodded in understanding, a somewhat unqueenly, mischievous smile turning her lips. "We won't disturb them."

So they slipped into the room quietly, a quick flash of spirit making them invisible to the human's eye.

Sydney lay sitting propped up on pillows, her face showed the marks of her confrontation with the Guardians who had tried to restrain her, she also had the slightly groggy look of someone who'd been on a morphine drip.

"It's happening." Ian whispered. He was sitting at her bed side, her hand in his. "I talked too Jarred, we're leaving tomorrow morning, he's sending a car personally, we'll be gone by mid-day."

"Have you told the Moroi?" Sydney asked slowly. She looked bone tired.

Ian grimaced. "Not yet, but who cares, they can't stop us, they wouldn't risk it, this whole mess had already stretched things to breaking point. Your father told me, most are already convinced."

"Are you?" Sydney asked quietly.

Ian shrugged. "I think it's for the best."

"Really? I'm not. They'll fight back. People will get hurt."

"It'll be worth it." Ian said firmly, squeezing her hand. "I need only to look at you, see what he did to you, to be sure. Their monsters Sydney and we've been letting them get away with it for too long."

Lissa and Rose shared a look.

Maybe Ian couldn't see the doubt in Sydney's eyes but Rose and Lissa could. "About that, I—I've been thinking about that…about him."

Ian looked at her confused.

There was a tense pause, Rose held her breath.

"It doesn't make sense." Sydney finished there was a desperate frown on her face. "None of it makes sense."

Ian sat up sharply. He put his hands on her arms, looking her in the eye. "Don't say that Syd." He sounded desperate himself. "You've been doing so well, it's why they let you out, you were finally getting better."

"Ian—"

"Don't; please don't make me send you back there. I hate what they do, even though I know they have to, their just trying to help, please, Syd, don't make me. You've got to be okay, you've got to get them out of your head."

Sydney pulled away from him quickly, and there was anger in her eyes. "That's what I mean! I don't think it's them, I don't think their the ones in my head, I think its you, I think its us. My dad. Because sometimes I think about them, Adrian Ivashkov and Jill and Hathaway and I remember who they are—" she chocked off the end of the sentence, there were tears in her eyes now and she looked to Ian for an explanation.

"Its not who I know them to be, I know things but I don't remember how or why or when I learned them. Why Ian, why is this happening to me?"

She was completely in tears by this point and Roses knuckled were clenched so hard, they were turning white. Lissa covered her hand with her own and silently begged her Guardian to keep quiet.

Ian pulled Sydney into his arms, and Rose could see it, could see he actually did care, did love her and it didn't make any sense. "I'll get it," Ian whispered to her. "Just wait here, I'll go back to our room and I'll get it, it'll make everything better." For a moment Sydney looked reluctant before the expression crumbled and she nodded desperately.

"Hurry. Please."

Ian stood up and Rose and Lissa had to dodge hurriedly out of the way as he exited the room. They turned back to Sydney the sounds of his hurried footsteps echoed from the hall.

She was sitting up in her bed. Legs pulled up to her chest, rocking gently, tears streaming down her face.

"Go, help your friends."

The memory echoed in Rose's head and before Lissa could stop she was stepping over to the bed, wrapping her arms around Sydney's' frame breaking Lissa's spell and holding the crying girl gently in her arms.

"Shh, Sydney," Rose breathed. "It's okay. You're going to be okay." Her voice turned resolute. "You're my friend too."

A/N: Okay things are still pretty confusing at the moment, but I promise this story will finally start going somewhere next chapter. With Adrians powers and whats up with Sydney.