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can stop this before she gets involved."

"What do you expect me to say?" Eddie asked. He sounded at a loss, which struck me as funny, considering he'd been ready to go make all sorts of demands to Miss Carson on Jill's behalf.

"I don't know. Play the big brother card. Act protective. Say she's too young."

I expected Eddie to agree, but he once more averted his eyes. "I don't know if we should say anything."

"What? Are you insane? Do you think it's okay to - "

"No, no." He sighed. "I'm not advocating it. But look at it this way. Jill's stuck in a school full of humans. It's not fair that she be banned from hanging out with any guys."

"I think Micah wants to do more than hang out."

"Well, why shouldn't she get to go on a date now and then? Or go to a dance? She should get to do all the normal things a girl her age does. She's already had her life radically changed. We shouldn't make it any harder."

I eyed him in disbelief, trying to figure out why he was so laid back about this. Admittedly, he didn't face the same consequences I did. If my superiors found out I was "encouraging" human and vampire dating, it'd be more evidence against me and my alleged bias. After all, my reputation wasn't yet restored with the Alchemists. Still, I knew Eddie's people didn't like the idea of dating, either. So what was the problem? A strange answer suddenly came to me. "I feel like you just don't want to confront Micah."

Eddie looked right at me. "It's complicated," he said. Something in his face told me I'd hit the mark. "Why don't you talk to Jill? She knows the rules. She'll understand that she can be with him without getting serious."

"I think it's a bad idea," I said, still unable to believe he was taking this stance. "We're creating a gray area here that's eventually going to cause confusion. We should keep it black and white and ban her from dating while she's here."

That wry smile returned. "Everything's black and white with you Alchemists, isn't it? Do you think you can really stop her from doing anything? You should know better. Even your childhood couldn't have been that abnormal."

With that slap in the face, Eddie stalked off, leaving me aghast. What had just happened? How could Eddie - who was so adamant about doing the right thing for Jill - be okay with her casually dating Micah? There was something weird going on here, something connected to Micah, though I couldn't figure out what. Well, I refused to let this matter go. It was too important. I'd talk to Jill and make sure she knew right from wrong. If necessary, I'd also talk to Micah - though I still felt that conversation would be better coming from Eddie.

And, I realized, thinking of how I had to go hunt down a doctor's note, there was one more source I could appeal to, one that had a lot of influence over Jill.Adrian.

Looked like I'd be paying him another visit.

Chapter Nine

CONSIDERING I WAS ONLY SUPPOSED to visit Clarence's twice a week for feedings, I was kind of amazed that I seemed to be here practically every day. Not only that, this was my first time visiting the estate alone. Before, I'd been with Keith or Jill and had a very well-defined goal. Now, I was on my own. I hadn't realized how much that would freak me out until I was approaching the house, which became even more looming and dark than usual.

There's nothing to be afraid of, I told myself. You've been with a vampire and dhampir all week. You should be used to it. Besides, really, the scariest thing about this place was the old house itself. Clarence and Lee weren't all that intimidating, and Adrian... well, Adrian was pretty much the least scary vampire I'd ever met. He was too bratty for me to feel any real fear, and actually... as much as I hated to admit it, I kind of looked forward to seeing him. It made no sense, but something about his infuriating nature made me forget about my other worries. Weirdly, I felt like I could relax around him.

Dorothy escorted me in, and I expected to be taken to the sitting room again. Instead, the housekeeper led me through a few twists and turns of the dark halls, finally landing in a billiards room that