Vampire Academy: Spirited Offspring

Bloodwork

After I woke Dimitri up and we had breakfast, it was time to go and see what Sydney could figure out about all the spirit dreams.

"You guys can't just go out alone. Didn't you come here to go into hiding?" Viktoria asked.

"Yeah, we don't want people to know I'm pregnant. But I'm not showing yet and I doubt anyone will recognize me." I said.

"You'd be surprised." She replied. "Not many people would know if they saw you at a restaurant or something, but the moment they spoke to you... I don't know, you and Dimka both have this aura around you two. You're both the best guardians in the world anyhow."

I shrugged. Being babysat and pampered wasn't part of the plan. Hiding in remote Russia was the plan.

"We are the best guardians." I said, which sounded off. It sounded cocky and I didn't like that.

"But that's just another reason why we'll be fine. We can take care of ourselves."

"I guess so." She said, then had to leave the room to go get a crying Art.

Olena offered Dimitri the old truck they had, and we set off.

Dimitri pointed out landmarks, and spots he had played at as a child.

I smiled, I could almost pretend we were normal at moments like this.

Sadly the drive to Sydney and Adrian's was short, shorter than I liked.

We got out and Dimitri knocked at the door, Eddie answered the door with Zoey in his arms who was giggling with maple syrup all over her face.

Eddie looked relieved to see us.

"Hey, Zozo." I said and Eddie handed her to me. She wrapped her sticky hands around my neck, probably getting syrup in my hair.

"Hey, Belikov." He said, looking between me and Dimitri.

It took me a minute to realize that us three hadn't been alone since I'd answered the door with nothing on in front of Eddie.

I laughed in spite of myself, and Dimitri caught that something was going on.

"What?" He asked as we walked inside.

I set Zoey down, telling her to go wash her hands. She ran off.

"Nothing, Eddie's just funny." I said and Eddie winced which made me laugh again.

Dimitri looked like he wanted to ask more, but he didn't.

"So, where are Sydney and Adrian?" He asked instead.

"In Sydney's lab. They're arguing I think, Adrian wants to get off his meds." Eddie said.

Dimitri just nodded.

"I'm gonna go find them, Eddie change Zoey when she comes back out, she's still in her pjs." I said.

It must be nice, for Sydney and Adrian to have Eddie. Even though he was technically Adrian's guardian, he was all of our friends and he lived with them. He was kind of a family guardian, and he got along great with Sydney and Zoey.

Zoey loved him.

I found my way to stairs that led to what I believed was the basement, and when I opened the door at the bottom I was right.

Sydney and Adrian stood there in the pristine white lab, arguing.

It wasn't a full blown argument. Sydney and Adrian never argued really. They were a very balanced couple.

"Hey, Rose." Sydney said when she saw me. Breaking off from her conversation with Adrian.

"Hey Syd. So what are we doing first?" I asked.

Adrian opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but then snapped it shut.

"Bloodwork. Yours and Dimitri's. I obviously can't get the baby's yet, but I'll need as much as you guys can give me so I can test the genetics and how they both react to certain things..."

"Ok." I said, then looked over to Adrian who looked upset. Even if him and Sydney didn't have major arguments he hated it when they did.

"Sydney you have to at least give Adrian a chance, listen to what he has to say." I said, turning back to her.

She narrowed her eyes.

"So you know about him wanting to get off his meds? He just wants to get off them for no reason! there's nothing for me to give him a chance with!" She said.

"No, there is. He can read auras, mine, Dimitri's, and if the baby really does have a strong sense of spirit maybe the babies too once it develops further." I said.

Her eyes turned wistful.

"While that would be... Helpful, I still don't like the idea. I understand that maybe it doesn't affect you that much and that it only benefits you, but him off his meds... What if he loses it, what if he were to lose it in front of Zoey?" She said, it was one of the angriest times I'd ever seen Sydney.

"Sydney," Adrian said walking toward her. "Let's give it a shot. I'll give you full reports about how I'm feeling every night, and if it gets too bad I'll get on the meds again. Lissa lives with Spirit everyday, and Sonya Karp. Why can't I?" He asked.

I saw Sydney's eyes go dull as she realized she would have to give in to this.

"Fine, but if you start getting the slightest bit off, Adrian... I just can't stand the thought of you going insane, I love you too much." She said, her voice lightening at the ending.

He wrapped his arms around her as a response.

"Dimitri, Eddie, come down here. You can bring Zoey too." Sydney yelled and within a moment they were downstairs too.

Sydney got some needles ready, explaining everything she was doing to Zoey. First in English, then in Russian. She was apparently teaching Zoey.

"Isn't Zoey a little young to be dealing with lab experiments?" I asked at one point.

"Nah, I started when I was young. While I don't agree on a lot of things with the alchemists, I always valued their teaching methods. Zoey will learn quicker this way."

She took my blood first, then Dimitri's, taking as much as she could from each of us.

Eddie was giving her an odd look. "Have you talked to Lissa about... You know."

"No, not yet. I need to though." Sydney replied.

"Talked to Lissa about what?" I asked.

Adrian was the one to reply. "Strigoi blood. Sydney wants as much as she can get. She wanted some of there saliva too, but she knows the blood'll be hard enough to get."

"Would it help a lot?" Dimitri asked, sounding much too eager. I spun my eyes on him.

"We can do without, but the experiments I could do with it could teach us a lot." Sydney said.

Dimitri just nodded thoughtfully. I didn't trust the look on his eyes, he looked like he was planning something.

Dimitri's pocket beeped, and he pulled out his phone. He frowned.

"Viktoria wants us to go home, Rose. We can come back later if you want though." He said.

It took me a moment to realize it, but he had said home.

How long would we be here? For sure 9 months, probably longer.

Even after the baby was born, how could we just go back to court? It wasn't that simple.

Was this truly going to be our home? Because honestly, for me, home was with Dimitri.

But where did I want our lives to end up?