A/N: Hi, everyone! This is my first story to be published here, so AH! I'm pretty nervous!
This is about Adrian and his life right after Last Sacrifice.
ENJOY!

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The pain and nausea woke me up. My head was throbbing, affected by the gallons of alcohol I'd consumed a couple hours ago. My vision became clearer as I blinked away the sleep I'd been under.

The room was bright, giving me an even better look at the trashed condition it was in. Chairs had been tipped (or thrown) over. Tiny feathers had emerged from the pillows when being ripped apart and covers that now covered the vomit-stained floor instead of the bed.

And a girl. A dhampir. Who I, by the way, had no memory of inviting in to my room. Her half naked body was covered by the blankets and she seemed just as out of it as I'd been less than a minute ago. 'Oh well', I thought. 'Seems like it's been just like any other Tuesday.' Careful not to wake her up, I slid out of the room and into the hallway.

It was still bright outside, but that made it so much better to sneak out while everybody else was asleep. Heading towards my own room in another building at Court, I couldn't help to think that no one would actually be surprised to see me like this. After all, Rose had made it perfectly clear that that was how I was: A drunken, smoking, good-for-nothing wimp.

Bitterness made its way through the haziness of my mind that the alcohol had created. I remembered it all. How Rose had told me she loved me, but still loved someone else. How she had looked down on me and my faults, but denied it. How she'd betrayed me, breaking promises and lying about her feelings.

'And how she apparently didn't want someone who wasn't perfect like Dimitri Belikov.'More bitterness filled my mind, as well as anger. 'Like she were some kind of freaking saint herself, that betraying little blood who-' Immediately, I stopped my train of thought before finishing that sentence in my head. It had formed out of itself because of my anger at her, but spirit also lay behind it. Sure, my feelings of disgust and resentment towards her were no secret, nor did I deny them. But even in my head, those thoughts seemed dangerous.

My hands searched instinctively through my pockets and produced a cigarette and a lighter. While exhaling the toxic smoke, I thought back to the days where whenever I'd done that, that little dhampir's eyes would always look at me disapprovingly. Again, bitterness at how she'd judged others without even looking in the mirror, emerged, but this time I managed to push them away before it getting out of hand.

Well inside in my building, while passing the guardians and heading towards my own room, a lump of curly hair caught my attention. I headed towards the little fur-ball, a smile escaping my lips as I spoke.

"Shouldn't little girls stay asleep this time a night, Jailbait?" I grinned. "Though it might be more appropriate calling you 'your highness' now, huh?

Startled, the girl turned around, red as a tomato, and faced me with the most nervous attempt to a smile I had ever seen. "Adrian!"

"Princess Jillian Mastrano Dragomir." I made a bow.

"Hi! I…I couldn't sleep." She frowned. "And you don't have to call me 'princess'. I've had enough of that from everyone else."
She didn't say it in a mean way, telling me to back off or anything. She said it in a way that told me that she at least didn't want to be called like that by her friends.

I knew that being exposed as the illegitimate child of Eric Dragomir must have been enough to make anyone upset and that Jailbait also had to become something new entirely, so different from her former self. A royal. All the pressure that came from that was something I was way too familiar with, so I understood her dislike for titles. She had been very cool about it so far, but I couldn't help feeling worried about her.

I watched her and tried to see her aura, but the five hundred drinks I'd had before had done their job, subduing anything spirit related in me. So, instead, I focused on her face. Her jade green eyes, which were so like mine, but still so different, looked back at me. They wore a calm expression now, having got rid of the frown.

A warm, fuzzy feeling filled inside me as she smiled, more confidently now, at me. With so many people that I'd started to distrust and who made me want to puke, she still had managed to look just as innocent and pure as I remembered from our time together at St. Vladimirs.

Busy seeking words that might comfort her, I was the one to be startled when she suddenly turned to her right, answering a call someone had given her.

"Eddie!" Another one of her adorable smiles spread across her face as Eddie Castile, a Dhampir and guardian, approached us from the entrance wearing his usual, serious expression.

He had been through a lot this past year and after killing a Moroi, his status had lowered somewhat but by the help of our new queen, Vasilisa(Lissa) Dragomir, Eddie managed to keep his position as guardian. In fact, he happened to be assigned as one of Jailbait's personal guardians.

Her smile that had welcomed him faded and was replaced by guilt. "Eddie, I'm sorry, I know that I should've stayed in my room, but I…"

Eddie, who now stood a meter from us and had had his eye fixed on Jailbait the entire time, shot a sidelong glance at me. He gave a curt nod. "Lord Ivashkov." I rolled my eyes. 'My god, he needed to relax.'

His attention immediately shifted back on Jailbait so he'd missed my snappy gesture. I think. "Princess Dragomir-" Eddie started and I couldn't help noticing how Jailbait's body tensed. Yup, she had indeed some title issues. "You can't run off in the middle off the night…" Well, day, but you know how vampire schedule works. "…and expect us to be relaxed. If it had been during the day when more people were awake, then it wouldn't have been a big problem, but as it is, it's in the middle of the night and during this time there's not that much security and the only people awake now are people-" His eyes had immediately shifted to me, but I pretended not to notice. "-who may not be…the…the best company." Jailbait, however, didn't.

"People like Adrian?" She used a tone I hadn't heard in her before. It was angry. "He may drink, but he's not like that and you know it, Eddie."

Eddie's serious expression remained, but had now a slight uneasiness to it. "I'm merely here to inform you of the risks and bring you back to your quarters, princess." She shot him a glance. He cleared his throat. "But I am sorry, Adrian." He said and turned to me. "I didn't mean to imply anything. I know you're not like that."

My mouth twisted into a smile as I saw how that little Moroi managed to make one of the proudest guardians I knew, uncomfortable and nervous like that. She truly was a royal, whether she liked it or not.

"It's not a big deal. I understand how this must look like." I said and motioned with my hand at my designer clothes and the stains of alcohol and vomit that covered them. I hadn't realized how much I truly must stink right now and couldn't help to admire them both for having put up with the stench this long.

We parted ways and as Eddie led Jailbait away, lightly nudging her arm, I couldn't help but to feel a bit weird about it. I wasn't able to label the feeling.

'Astonished over him nudging a princess?'
'Nah.'
'Concerned that he was hurting her?'
'No.'
'Had I just felt protective of her?'
'Probably.'

I ruffled my hair in annoyance. I had made it to my room now and opened the door. Fatigue came over me like lightning and it was a miracle that I managed to get as far as to the bed. There I lay. And before Sandman could get to me I asked myself one last question and passed out without leaving an answer.
'Had I been jealous?'

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A/N: End of first chapter!
Wow, seems like there's something going on between Adrian and Jill ;)
Hope you liked it!

Please review!