Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead Page A

think we were his only entertainment on campus. Or maybe not, judging from the strong smell of alcohol around him.
    "Are you sober?" I asked him when the movie ended.
    "Sober enough. What have you guys been up to?"
    Adrian hadn't visited my dreams since the one in the garden. He'd also laid off on some of his outrageous flirting. Most of his appearances with us were to work with Lissa or to ease his boredom.
    We recapped our encounter with Stan for him, playing up Eddie's bravery and not mentioning my dressing-down.
    "Nice work," said Adrian. "Looks like you got a battle scar too." He pointed to the side of Eddie's face where three red marks glared back at us. I remembered Stan's nails hitting Eddie during the struggle to free Lissa.
    Eddie lightly touched his cheek. "I can barely feel it."

    Lissa leaned forward and studied him. "You got that protecting me."
    "I got that trying to pass my field experience," he teased. "Don't worry about it."
    And that's when it happened. I saw it seize her, that compassion and undeniable urge to help others that so often filled her. She couldn't stand to see pain, couldn't stand to sit by if she could do something. I felt the power build up in her, a glorious and swirling feeling that made my toes tingle. I was experiencing how it affected her. It was fire and bliss. Intoxicating. She reached out and touched Eddie's face….
    And the marks vanished.
    She dropped her hand, and the euphoria of spirit faded from both of us.
    "Son of a bitch," breathed Adrian. "You weren't kidding about that." He peered at Eddie's cheek. "Not a goddamned trace of it."
    Lissa had stood up and now sank back to the couch. She leaned her head back against it and closed her eyes. "I did it. I can still do it."
    "Of course you can," said Adrian dismissively. "Now you have to show me how to do it."
    She opened her eyes. "It's not that easy."
    "Oh, I see," he said in an exaggerated tone. "You grill me like crazy about how to see auras and walk in dreams, but now you won't reveal your trade secrets."
    "It's not a 'won't,'" she argued. "It's a 'can't.'"
    "Well, cousin, try." Then suddenly he raked his nails across his hand and drew blood.
    "Jesus Christ!" I yelped. "Are you insane?" Who was I kidding? Of course he was.
    Lissa reached out and held his hand, and just like before, she healed the skin. Elation filled her, but my mood suddenly dropped without any real cause.
    The two of them launched into a discussion I couldn't follow, using standard magical terms as well as some terms I was pretty sure they'd invented on the spot. Judging from Christian's face, it looked like he didn't understand either, and it soon became clear that Adrian and Lissa had forgotten us in their zeal over the mystery of spirit.
    Christian finally stood up, looking bored. "Come on, Rose. If I wanted to listen to this, I'd be back in class. I'm hungry."
    Lissa glanced up. "Dinner's not for another hour and a half."
    "Feeder," he said. "I haven't had mine today."
    He planted a kiss on Lissa's cheek and then left. I followed alongside him. It had started snowing again, and I glared at the flakes accusingly as they drifted down around us. When it had first started snowing in early December, I'd been excited. Now this white stuff was getting pretty damned old. As it had a few nights ago, though, being out in such harsh weather defused my mood a little, the cold air kind of snapping me out of it. With each step closer to the feeders, I felt myself calming down.
    A "feeder" was what we called humans who volunteered to be regular sources of blood for Moroi. Unlike Strigoi, who killed the victims they drank from, Moroi took only small quantities each day and didn't have to kill the donor. These humans lived for the high they got from vampire bites and seemed perfectly happy to spend their lives that way and separate from normal human society. It was weird but necessary for Moroi. The school usually had a feeder or two in the Moroi dorms for overnight