I told you guys. I'm NEVER going to abandon this story. It might take me the rest of my life. The sun may grow dim, my grandchildren may be flying to school on their hoverboards, but I'll finish it some day. Anyway, I recently got pretty inspired and now I know exactly how they're going to deal with being stuck on Crete – I have the next 10-20 chapters sketched out. Then there's a part I'm not sure about, and then there's a long part that I actually have partially written, all the way to the end. So... yeah. RM is going to finish before I do, but she's a full time writer and I'm just a math tutor so I'm doing my best! Thanks for sticking around!

Book III: The Other Side

Chapter 3: Honeysuckle and Moonshine

My first knock on the door went unanswered, and I stood listening to the sound of a television babbling away in Greek. I could hear someone pacing around on a creaky floor, and then I heard Jill saying, "Oh, don't do that, Big Hair Lady..."

I knocked again, louder, and this time, Jill called "Coming!" and the babble of television noises stopped. Then the door opened, and there was Jill, smelling and looking fresh from the shower, wearing the jean skirt and purple t-shirt that Eddie had gotten for her. Neither item looked like something she would have picked out for herself, but I had to give Eddie points for trying.

"Hey, Syd," Jill said, with a big smile, as she gestured me to come in. "I thought you'd be Eddie. But I'm happy to see you too, of course. What's up?"

"Eddie's still out doing his guardian thing," I said, closing the door behind me. "I just wanted to check on you before I lay down for a nap. Are you OK?"

"I feel great," she enthused. "I just took the world's best shower. Oh, it feels so good to be clean! And my belly is full" – she patted it affectionately – "and everyone's alive and no one hates me and Eddie likes me after all!" She frowned a little. "Or loves me, apparently. That's a little weird. But I'm... getting used to it."

"I guess you guys have a lot to talk about," I said.

"I guess," she said. "Do you have any idea why he didn't tell me this whole time?"

"Something about you being a princess and being too good for him," I said.

"Uggghhhh," she said. "I'm not even a princess, I'm just a girl whose biological father was a cheater and it happens that he had an important last name, like, as if this whole royalty thing even matters, I mean, it's so dumb to think that some people are more important than others just because of their last name." She sighed. "And then to have Eddie think he's not good enough for me, it's such a mess. I wish I was still just Jill. Not Jillian Dragomir, just... me. The old me."

"Then you never would have gotten dragged into any of this," I said.

"That'd be nice," she said, then added, thoughtfully, "But then I never would have met you, or gotten to go to Crete, or kissed Eddie in a garden full of flowers..."

"I'm glad I make the list of good things," I said, smiling.

"Of course you do," she said. "You're one of the best things." Her smile faded a little as she went on. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you, Sydney. I heard what that awful Strigoi said. It sounds... just... like... awful. Did they really... um... torture you?"

"Yes," I said. "It was horrible. But Adrian healed me, and Eddie and Adrian helped rescue me. I'm OK now."

She looked down at my arm, where the biggest scar still was clearly visible. "Why didn't Adrian heal that big scar?"

"I... I asked him not to."

I expected her to ask me why, but she didn't. She just sat down next to me and put her arm around me. I leaned my head on her bony shoulder. I was so tired.

"Do you realize," she said, "that this is the first time we've been like, talking, just us two, since the, um, the... kidnapping? Feels weird to call it that but I mean that's what it was I guess..."

"Yeah," I said. "I missed you." My voice tightened as I spoke and I felt the full weight of it – how much I really had missed my cheerful and sweet friend.

"I missed you too, Syd," Jill said.

I sat up straight again so that I could see her face. "Back at the... place I was," I said, "when I was kind of out of it, I had this sort of... I don't know, a hallucination I guess, and I thought you were there talking to me, but you were angry at me for not rescuing you. It was awful. I felt like it was all my fault."

"Oh, Syd," Jill said, standing up and starting to pace again. "I was thinking the same thing, but like, reversed. I thought you guys were dead and that it was all my fault, because you and Eddie and Adrian only got dragged out to California because of me in the first place. I'm so glad you're OK, and so grateful you came for me."

Both of us wiped at our eyes a little, then we looked at each other and for some reason, we laughed. Maybe it was just that on this bright sunny day, in this safe clean little hotel room, our fears seemed long ago and far away.

"But you were fine without us," I said. "Considering how well you handled things during the battle, I think maybe you would have gotten out of there on your own."

"I might have gotten out of there," Jill said, thoughtfully, as she continued to pace. "But maybe... not alive. You know?"

I nodded. I did know.

"And I know you guys did your best," she said. "So don't feel bad that you couldn't get there sooner. The only thing I sort of wonder about is...um..." She sighed. "Eddie says you guys stayed for a while with that girl Maeve, while Adrian was healing and you were trying to find me, right? But like... I mean..." She pouted. "What was the deal with her? Eddie seems to have a lot of nice things to say about her."

"Don't worry," I said, smiling. "Eddie has a lot more nice things to say about you. Did you already forget what he said?"

Jill smiled. "No, of course not."

"And for the record, Maeve lives with her boyfriend, whom she's nuts about. She thought Eddie was handsome and nice, but that's about as far as it went. Besides, I think most people would agree that Eddie is handsome and nice."

Jill looked over at me sharply. "Do you think he's handsome and nice?"

"Do you think Adrian is handsome and nice?" I retorted.

Jill's eyes widened, then she grinned. "Touche," she said.

"Anyway, we should talk about all this later," I said. "What I wanted to ask you was whether you still have Vigil in your system. Do you think you're going to be able to sleep?"

Jill stopped pacing and stared at me. "Oh, God, Sydney, it's awful," she said. "I was just thinking about that when you knocked on the door, like, how am I going to sleep when I feel like this? It feels like I drank about a hundred cups of coffee or something. I can't sit still. I can't even close my eyes. It's like my eyelids are Venetian blinds and they keep springing open."

I nodded. "I thought you might feel like that," I said, getting up. "I'll go make you the antidote."

"There's an antidote?" Jill said, with obvious relief. She threw her arms around me in a tight hug.

"There is, and if you let go of me, I'll go make it for you!" I said, laughing.

"Oh, you're the best best best best best, Sydney!" Jill said, still hugging me.

"I'm just doing my job," I said.

"Sure, whatever," Jill said, letting go at last. She immediately began pacing again. "Will it take long?"

"Just a few minutes, I think," I said. "I'll be right back."

She nodded, and I ducked out of the room and went down the hall to my own room. There was no reply to my knock, so I opened the door slowly, saying, "Hello?"

Adrian leaped out from behind the door and pulled me into his arms, closing the door behind us. "Hello," he murmured in my ear, between kisses. "Where were you for so long? I missed you."

"I was talking to Jill," I said, reaching up to stroke his hair, which was still wet from his shower. He was still wearing only a towel, and it was a very small towel.

"Weren't you saying something before about wanting to go to bed?" Adrian murmured.

"I have to make something for Jill first," I said. "I'm so glad I thought to bring my alchemist supplies, even if they did take up so much room in our bags."

"What's going on with Jill?" Adrian asked, his tone changing instantly from amorous to concerned.

"She still has all that Vigil in her system and she feels awful."

"Vigil," Adrian repeated, and then let out a series of pretty creative swears as I began fumbling through our backpacks to find some of the supplies I'd need. I'd put some in Adrian's bag and some in my own, and the more easily replaceable stuff I'd left behind.

"That's how I feel about Vigil, too," I said. I found my one clean change of clothes and set it to the side, then kept looking for the ingredients. "But maybe we should be grateful to it. It helped Jill's magic power held out far longer than it would have otherwsie. Honestly, in the right doses, it's pretty useful stuff."

"I guess," Adrian said. "But I'll never forget how you looked that first night I found you, with your aura all sorts of weird colors and your arms..." He trailed off and swallowed loudly.

"Let's not talk about it," I said, setting the ingredients down on the one small table in the room. "It's behind us now."

"When this is all over, maybe you should talk about it with someone," Adrian said. He sat down on the bed, watching me work.

"You mean a therapist," I said as I started to measure and stir.

"Yes," Adrian said. "I think I might need one too, actually."

I looked over at him to see if he was kidding, but as far as I could tell, he wasn't. "Should we go together?" I suggested, trying to smile. "The four of us?"

"Maybe," Adrian said. "We could order a pizza, have a good time." He gave me a wan smile.

"Sounds like a party," I said, then paused to try to remember the exact order of the steps that Joe had taken when he'd made me the antidote. Thinking of Joe gave me a pang of regret, but I told myself sternly that I shouldn't think about him. He'd made his own choices, after all.

"But seriously, Sydney," Adrian said, and I looked up at him, surprised that he'd called me by my first name. "I'm worried about you."

"Well, don't be," I said. "I'm fine. I just used up the last of my pulverized white quartz, so you can worry about that instead."

He nodded, then was quiet for a while as I continued to measure and stir. When I looked up, he was still watching me with an affectionate look on his face. "I like watching you work," he said, by way of explanation. "You look even prettier when you're doing your thing, you know?"

I ran my fingers through my hair self-consciously. "I must look terrible," I said. "I'm all covered in who-knows-what from that... that... dungeon."

Adrian shook his head. "You're beautiful," he said. "When you're making stuff, you get this look of concentration on your face, and you just glow. I love that. I love you."

I couldn't help but smile. "Oh," I said. "Thanks." I stirred the mixture six times, counter-clockwise, then looked back at him. "I guess I know what you mean. You get this look of concentration when you're painting that's... very charming."

"Are you charmed by it?" Adrian asked.

"Hopelessly," I said.

"Good," he said.

I nodded. "Anyway, I'm all done." I held up the finished product. "Let me give this to Jill before she explodes."

Adrian's eyes widened. "Vigil can make people explode?"

I was about to answer when I realized he was kidding. I grinned, promised him I'd be back soon, and then went back to Jill's room and knocked on the door.

"It's unlocked," Jill called, and I came in to find her pacing back and forth, watching something on the old-fashioned cathode ray TV in the corner of the room.

"What on earth are you watching?" I asked, staring at the screen. Two very fashionable dressed and highly made-up women were arguing intensely in Greek, though their lips seemed to be forming Spanish words.

"I have no idea," Jill said, cheerfully. "I think it's a Mexican telenovela, dubbed into Greek. I don't understand a word, but I kind of like it anyway. I'm making up my own plot. I think that lady with the really big hair is in love with a ghost or something. I don't know for sure."

"Do you want to watch the rest before you go to sleep?" I asked, uncertain.

"Oh, God no," Jill said. "Is that the antidote?" She gestured to the small bottle in my hand.

"Yes," I said. "I think that after you drink it, you're going to pretty much pass right out, so you might want to get into bed."

Jill switched off the TV and lay down while I got her a glass of water from the bathroom sink. She sniffed at the water, but I reassured her that Cretan water was totally safe.

"I'm a Moroi," she reminded me with a smile. "I could drink straight out of a sewer and not get sick. Not that I would, obviously because that's gross, oh my god, can you even imagine...?" Seeing the look on my face, she added, "Sorry I even said that. I think I'm just really tired, Sydney."

I sat down near her on the bed, then handed her the antidote and helped her swirl it counter-clockwise six times to activate the calming properties of the ingredients. She drank it down quickly, then immediately drank the glass of water I'd gotten her to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Wow," she said. "That was gross." Her eyes widened. "I mean, thank you, though. Even if it's gross, I'm glad you made it for me. I'm glad that there even is an antidote for that... stuff."

"Of course there is," I said. "There's an antidote for everything. And I know how awful Vigil is when you want to sleep. Trust me, I know."

Jill lay back on the pillows, looking at me. "Have you taken it?" she asked.

"They gave it to me, back at... where I was," I said.

"They forced you to drink it?"

"They injected me with it," I said, and it came out in a whisper.

"Why did they do that?"

"They didn't want me to fall asleep," I said. "Or pass out. Like, when they were..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

Jill's eyes filled with tears. She looked away from me for a moment, then said in a tight voice, "I really hate those guys."

"I hate them, too," I said.

"If I ever get the chance, I'm going to do something really mean to them," Jill said. Her eyes were starting to look heavier already. "I can't kill them without turning into a Strigoi, so maybe I'll just..." She blinked heavily. "Maybe I'll just mail them some poop. Like, lots of poop. All the poop in the world."

"Sounds good to me," I said, smiling. "There's some goat poop on the streets here. We could start collecting it."

Jill smiled a little, then paused, blinking. "Wow," she said. "That stuff is really working." She rolled her head around to look at me. "Hey, Syd. Is there really an antidote for everything?"

"Pretty much," I said.

"Not everything," Jill said. "Can't be."

"Not everything," I agreed.

"No antidote to love," Jill said. "Not that I want one."

"Me either," I said. "Not anymore, anyway."

Jill smiled. "I'm glad," she said. "It's still sort of weird to see you and Adrian being all couple-y, even though I got used to seeing it through Adrian's head."

"I'm not even that used to it myself," I said.

"We should catch up," Jill said, taking my hand clumsily. "Let's ditch the boys later and talk. Girl talk. I can paint your nails again. They're all messed up."

"It's a date," I said.

"I think you're my best friend," Jill said. Her words sounded a little slurred. "Isn't that weird? I mean, Eddie's my friend too, and Adrian, but they're guys. It's different."

"Definitely," I said.

"I never thought I'd be best friends with a human," she said. "It's so weird."

"For me too."

"Hey Syd," she said. "Am I your best friend? I mean, your best friend who's a girl?"

"Of course you are," I said.

She smiled. "Good," she said. Then her hand went limp in mine, and her eyes fell closed. I gave her a kiss on the forehead, spread a sheet over her – a blanket would have been too warm, I thought – then closed the wooden shades and turned out the lights before I left.

When I got back to my room, Adrian was waiting for me in bed. He patted the space next to him seductively.

"Are you going to stay in that towel all day?" I asked.

"Getting dressed is over-rated."

"And yet, it's something people do nearly every day," I said.

"Not people who are on their honeymoon," Adrian said. "They spend a lot of time sans clothing."

"We're not on our honeymoon," I said.

"Then let's consider this a pre-honeymoon," Adrian said. "We can get hitched when we get back to the States."

"I'm only 19," I said. "I think marriage can wait a bit."

"Hmm," Adrian said. "What's the date today?"

"I really don't know," I said. "Why?"

Adrian started to answer, but just then there was a knock on the door and a soft male voice said, "Ya sas?"

Adrian grabbed his clothes and ducked into the bathroom to get dressed while I answered the door. Yanni, the old man who ran the hotel, was there, carrying a tray and smiling wide.

"Happy honeymoon," Yanni said, as I stood aside to let him in. "I bring this for good luck."

"Thank you," I said. "I thought you were coming for the money..."

"It's ok," Yanni said, shaking his head dismissively. "No problem. Your husband, he is...?"

"Right here," Adrian said, coming out of the bathroom, dressed again in his dirty jeans and t-shirt. "Hello there, sir! What's all this?"

"Good luck raki," Yanni said. "Let's go outside, yes?"

Adrian opened the door to the balcony so that Yanni could lead us outside. The old man placed the tray down on the circular patio table with a flourish, and we all looked down at the goodies. There were two small glasses of orange juice, three tiny shot glasses filled with a clear liquid, a small bottle with a cork in it, a bowl of grapes, and a plate with four little pistachio cookies. There was also a jelly jar with some branches of Lonicera periclymenum set in water. They smelled heavenly.

Adrian sniffed at one of the shot glasses and raised an eyebrow. Yanni saw the expression and smiled. "This is raki," the man said. "You know it?"

"Never had it," Adrian said. "Is it like Italian grappa?"

Yanni made a face. "No," he said. "Very different. It's from Kriti. It's good. Good for everything." His smile turned proud. "I make myself. I make best raki."

"You make it yourself?" Adrian said. "That's great, man! What's it made out of? Potatoes?"

Yanni frowned. "Oshee," he said. "No, no. Grapes. First, we make wine, and then we make raki."

"You take what's leftover from the wine making, and keep going until it's this stuff?" Adrian asked. Yanni nodded, and Adrian turned to me. "Sa- sweetheart! I think this stuff is Cretan moonshine!"

"Moon, yes," Yanni said, nodding. "For your honeymoon."

I didn't have the heart to correct Yanni's misunderstanding, so I gestured to the flowers. "And the English name for these flowers is honeysuckle," I said. "Also good for honeymoons."

The man's smile grew. "Good!" he said. "Honeysuckle, yes! And now, we drink!"

"Oh, no," I murmured.

"Oh yes," Adrian said.

"Take, take," Yanni said, handing Adrian and me each a small glass of the clear liquid. He kept the third glass for himself.

"I don't really drink," I said, sniffing the shot. There was a scent coming from it that was a little like honeydew melon and a little like rubbing alcohol. "And isn't it still only like, 8 or 9 in the morning?"

"It's OK, it's just raki," Yanni said. "It's good for you. Breakfast, dinner, it's OK. Vitameena, vitameena!"

"You heard the man, sweetheart," Adrian said. "It has vitamins in it. Come on." He looked over at Yanni. "How do you say 'cheers' in Greek?"

"We say, ya mas," Yanni said. "It means, to us."

"Ya mas," Adrian and I said, obediently. We each raised our shot glass, and then, because there was nothing else I could do, I tipped my head back and swallowed the shot of raki as quickly as I could.

It was not unlike swallowing fire. I gasped and shuddered, and Adrian passed me a handful of grapes, which I ate gratefully.

"Bravo!" Yanni said.

"Bravo!" Adrian repeated.

"More?" Yanni suggested, pointing to the small bottle, which, I realized, contained more of the moonshine.

"No, thank you," I said, emphatically.

"We'll save it for later," Adrian said, clapping the old man on the shoulder. "But thank you. You make good raki, sir!"

"Best raki in Plakias," said the man. "Gives good luck. Happy wedding, good love, good life."

"Efhareesto," I said.

"Kali mera," Adrian said.

"Ah, you speak Greek so well!" Yanni said. "Bravo!" He started to head back inside, but Adrian stopped him with a gentle hand on the arm.

"Sir," he said. "Do you know the date today?"

"June five," Yanni said.

"Thank you," Adrian said. "I just was wondering."

Yanni turned to leave again, but I followed after him to give him the money for the rooms. He seemed a little surprised, but thanked me with a polite nod of the head and left.

When he was gone, Adrian and I sat back down at the table on the balcony, and Adrian poured us each another shot of the fiery raki from the small glass bottle. I groaned.

"Let's drink to our success," Adrian said. "Come on, it's cultural."

"We should wait for Jill and Eddie," I said. "Share it with them."

"Jill's too young for this stuff, and Eddie won't want any," Adrian said. "Besides, it's a present for us from the man. Good luck for a good marriage."

"We're not married," I said.

"Yet," Adrian said.

"I never did a shot before today," I said.

"And I never teleported halfway across the world before today," Adrian said. He grinned, then he added, in a gentler tone, "You don't have to if you really don't want to."

I looked at him, then sighed. "Oh, what the heck," I said. "When in Crete, do as the Cretans do." We tipped the shots back, and then I crammed a few grapes into my mouth. If this was what drinking alcohol was all about, I really couldn't see the allure.

"Have a few cookies, too," Adrian said, meeting my eyes, and so I did. They were delicious, of course.

We pulled our chairs closer together, then sat looking up at the mountainside, munching on the grapes and cookies. There were a few other villages visible up the mountain, one slightly to the east and one slightly to the west. Directly in front of us was a gorge, probably formed by a river, and I theorized that the strong wind we'd noticed might be due to the mountains funneling the air straight toward the town.

"So, how do you say 'thank you' in Greek again?" Adrian asked, after a little while. "It's so hard to say..."

"Ef-ha-ree-STO," I said.

"It sounds like you're saying 'Eff-Harry-Stowe'," Adrian said. "I keep wondering what Harry Stowe did to piss everyone off all the time. It's like, 'I'm fine with Harry Potter, but that Harry Stowe? Fuck him!"

"That isn't funny at all," I said, giggling.

"You know what else isn't funny?" Adrian said. He pointed down at the street, where we could see two guys about our age walking along in the same direction that Skye and Anke had gone earlier. One guy was on the shorter side, with thick brown hair down past his shoulders. The other one was tall and gangly, as pale as a Moroi, with buzzed hair and deep-set eyes. What had obviously grabbed Adrian's attention was the fact that the long-haired guy was inexplicably leading a chicken behind him on a leash. "That's definitely not funny," Adrian said. "Not at all."

I clapped a hand over my mouth. "What?" I said, through my hand, as laughter began bubbling up through me. "What is happening?"

"He's walking his chicken," Adrian said, softly, and began laughing too.

The taller guy looked up at us. "Hey," he called. "You laughing at us?" He had an American accent.

The long-haired guy put his free hand on his friend's arm. "It's OK, Nick," he said. "They should laugh. It's pretty funny." He waved at us. "She's a gift for my ya-ya," he called. "I can't figure out any other way to bring her along. She didn't like being in the bag, so..." He shrugged.

"She doesn't like crossing roads?" Adrian called down.

The long-haired guy laughed. "No," he said. "She's a weird chicken."

The taller guy, Nick, had relaxed a little by now. "Where're you guys from?" he called.

"Philadelphia," Adrian said. "You?"

"New York," Nick said. "And he's from Boston. Sort of."

"East Coast represent," the long-haired guy said. "Come by the hostel sometime, we can all hang out. Do you know where it is?"

"We know," I said. "Anke and Skye gave us directions."

Nick's face lit up. "You know Skye and Anke?"

"They're old friends of ours," Adrian said. "I'm Jack, and this is..." He trailed off.

"Sophia," I supplied.

"Well, I'm Nick, and he's JD," Nick said.

The long-haired guy, JD, waved at us, and his chicken squawked as if to say hello as well. "Come by any time," JD said. "I don't actually live at the hostel, but I'm there a lot."

"We'll stop by," Adrian said. "It sounds like fun."

The guys waved good-bye, and we watched them make their slow progress up the road with the uncooperative chicken.

"How is it that after spending a few hours here, we have more friends than we made the whole time we lived in Palm Springs?" Adrian asked, as they faded from view.

I shrugged. "I have no idea," I said. "I don't understand how any of this works." And then I yawned, and Adrian yawned too.

"Come on, wifey," Adrian said, standing up. "Let's go take a nap." He winked.

"I'm not your wife," I said, as I got up. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Well, we did recently exchange rings," Adrian said. He picked up the tray.

"Yes, but..."

"Anyway, it just seemed like a good story. People like newlyweds."

I opened the door to the room for us and we both went inside. "People might think we're too young to be getting married," I said.

"Nah," Adrian said, putting the tray down on the table. He gestured around the room. "Because of my story, we got this big room with a big balcony. Is Eddie and Jill's room as nice as this?"

"No," I conceded.

"And I bet Yanni didn't give them raki."

"Lucky them," I said, and Adrian laughed.

"I don't mind the stuff," he said. "It sure gets the job done." He sat down heavily on the bed and patted the space next to him. "Come on, Sage. Let's 'take a nap'." He held up his fingers to make air-quotes around the words.

"I need a shower first," I said.

Adrian started to say something, paused, started to say something else, stopped, then finally nodded. "OK," he said. "I guess that wouldn't be the worst idea in the world."

I laughed. "I stink, don't I?"

"No," he said. "I mean, only a little. I don't mind too much."

I leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you in a few minutes," I said, and went into the bathroom. As I got undressed, I stared at myself in the mirror, and was more than a little embarassed to realize just how dirty my face was. Still, on the plus side, all that dirt had effectively covered up my alchemist tattoo. I made a mental note to pick up some make up as soon as possible, washed up as quickly as I could, and went back out to the main room wrapped in a towel.

The wooden shutters were closed and the light was off. The room was cool and dark and smelled of honeysuckle. And Adrian was fast asleep, sprawled out naked on the bed in what had probably started out as a very seductive pose. I allowed myself a few long moments to drink in the sight of him, then crawled into bed, leaving my towel on the floor. I scootched over close to him, then leaned my head on his chest and listened to his heart beat for a few moments. It was slow and reassuring at first, and then it spiked suddenly. I raised my head to find Adrian wide awake and looking at me.

"Hi," he said. "Guess I fell asleep for a minute."

"Guess you did," I said.

"But I'm awake now, and I can't help but notice that you're naked, Sage," he said. He ran a finger along my spine.

"You're very observant," I said.

"I'm naked too," he said. "Did you notice that?"

"I think I did notice that," I said.

"This is good," he said, imitating Yanni affectionately. "Good honeymoon. Good love. Good life."

I smiled. "It is good," I said. "Things are good. We made it."

He traced a line down my face and over my lips with his fingertip. "You saved us all."

"It was a group effort," I said.

"Maybe," he said. "In any case, I like it here. Let's stay a while."

"OK," I said, yawning again.

He pulled me closer, making little contented noises deep in his throat. "Is JB ok?" he asked softly.

"She fell right asleep once she drank the antidote," I said. "Do you think Eddie's back yet?"

"I heard him in the hallway before," Adrian said. "He came back while Yanni was here."

"That's good," I said, my eyes starting to close. "Ohhh, I'm so tired."

"Then let's sleep," Adrian said.

"Definitely," I said. I kissed the crook of his arm. "Do you think we'll wake up by the afternoon?"

"We'll wake up," Adrian said. "And if we don't, Captain Bringdown Castile will wake us up for sure." He leaned over to kiss my cheek.

I rolled over a little so that we could look at each other, then kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Good night," I said.

"Good night," he said. We leaned in for another quick kiss, and then another one.

"Good night," I said again, and kissed him again. Adrian kissed my neck, very softly. I inhaled deeply. "Is this a good idea?" I whispered.

"Is what a good idea?" Adrian murmured, and bit very gently on my neck, not using his fangs.

"This," I breathed.

"I think it's a very good idea," Adrian replied. "I think we should have as much sex as we possibly can, in case the bad guys come for us tomorrow."

"There's a certain logic to that," I whispered.

"Yes," Adrian said, between kisses. "I'm very logical."

"Oh," I whispered, a moment later. "What about... I mean, we'll need a..."

"Oh, yeah," Adrian said. He got out of bed suddenly, picked his pants up off the floor, and pulled his wallet out of his jeans pockets triumphantly. "Ha!" he said, digging through the wallet and pulling out a small square packet. "It's my last one."

"Then, I'll have to get us some more when I go out for supplies later," I said. "We're going to be here for at least a day or two, so I'll look for a 10-pack."

"I knew I liked you," Adrian growled, and rolled over on top of me.

"Sydney."

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow.

"Sydney? Please wake up."

The urgency in Adrian's voice made me open my eyes. We'd fallen asleep right after we'd made love, but now he was looking at me with wide-open eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked, but I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

"I had a bad dream," Adrian whispered. "I woke up. I don't know. It hurts. I'm scared. What if they come for us?"

"They won't," I said. "They don't know where we are."

"My bullet wounds are bleeding," Adrian whispered, and gestured to his chest, which was as clean and white as it had been when he got out of the shower.

"No," I said. "You're not bleeding. I think..." I searched for the right words.

"It's spirit," Adrian said. "Right? It's spirit? I'm going crazy again?"

"You're not crazy," I said. "You worked so hard to help us, and now you're paying the price. Again."

"I hate this," he whispered. "I'm so scared. Nothing makes sense." He put his head down on my chest. "Sydney," he said. "Help me. Please help me."

"Of course I'll help you," I whispered. I stroked his hair and closed my eyes, trying to picture Adrian's spirit, spotted with dark energy. I felt something catch, and something give way. I imagined the darkness blowing away in the wind and floating away into the sky. I opened my eyes and saw Adrian staring at me in wonder.

"Thanks," he whispered. "I feel a lot better."

"You're welcome," I murmured.

I waited for him to point out that I'd healed him without going to the forest first. I waited for him to tease me and tell me that I was just as magical as he was. But he didn't. He just kissed me on the cheek and told me he loved me. It was only after he fell asleep that I realized that this had been the first time that he'd asked me to help him with the spirit darkness, and then accepted that help without complaint.

I watched him sleep for a little while, and then got up and put on my clean t-shirt, underwear, and shorts. I liked the feeling of being naked with Adrian, but I was nervous that someone might knock on the door at any moment. I sighed as I got dressed again. "Someday, this will be all over," I muttered to myself. "And then Adrian and I will be able to stay as naked as we want for as long as we want."

I got back into bed and cuddled up to Adrian. Asleep, he looked so fragile somehow, with his long eyelashes and pale skin. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago, he'd gone into battle against a hoard of evil monsters. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago, I had gone into battle against a hoard of evil monsters. I looked heavenward and prayed for a while, a long and sincere prayer of thanks. And then I slipped back into sleep.