I decided to call Adrian. It was the best choice for this situation.

If I called Levy, he would report it to the Order. No matter how much he cares about me, it's his job and he is extremely ethical and professional. That's what I like about him. Besides, it would be unfair to ask him to lie for me.

I called Adrian and explain everything to him. He told me he was on his way.

As the minutes passed, I felt the anxiety building up again inside me. I was pacing back and forth clenching and unclenching my fists. About half an hour later I heard steps coming down the stairs. I almost broke down as I saw him.

When our gazes met I saw his eyes widened for a moment. He looked down at the lifeless body next to me then back at me. With no control of my emotions, I felt a tear rolling down my cheek. He quickly came close to me and engulfed me in a warm and comforting hug. That was all I needed to compose myself.

After a while he pulled back and looked at me, assessing the damage I suffered. He looked at the cut on my forehead and stroked my cheek gently.

"I don't think you'll need stitches." He looked into my eyes and frown for a moment. "Your eyes..."

"What's wrong with them? He talked about them too," I said, pointing at the dead vampire.

"They're golden."

"What?!" I said in terror, bringing my hands to my face.

"Don't worry. It's a good thing. It means that you've awakened your hunter instincts," he explained. "It makes sense. I should have known. That was the only way you would be able to survive."

"Is it permanent? The color change, I mean."

"No. It will go back to normal, but it will take some time since it was your first time."

I nodded. "What do we do now?"

"You don't need to worry about it. I will take care of it," he assured me. "I'll carry the body back to one of our nearby hideouts and then I'll burn it."

"Thank you." I smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Now, before I do that we need to get you to a doctor and get your injuries checked out."

I just nodded. "Are we going in your car or mine?"

"Yours. I ran here. It's faster, especially if you cut straight through the forest instead of going through the road."

The rest of the day was a rush. The doctor assured me I had nothing broke nor did I need stitches. He cleaned my wounds and dressed them.

After that, we went back to the bunker. Adrian took the silver dagger from the body and gave it back to me. He offered me a gentle smile before taking the body and leaving.

Later that night he texted me to let me know that everything has been taking care of.

After that day, we texted a lot. A month had passed, and my injuries were completely healed.

The day after the incident, I almost couldn't move from the pain. My body was sore and covered in stains of the color of the sky. Of course, people at work and my friends from the Order asked me what happened, and of course, I had to make something up. The official version of the events was that I crashed my car into a tree to avoid hitting a cat.

I accomplished a lot in a month. Well, at least I think so. I'm still waiting for the confirmation, but I think I found an antigen capable of inducing an immune response to Violet's disease. Because of that Eleonor told me that if I did find the cure I would need to present it to the company scientific board as it could be one of the most important discoveries of our century and open the doors to many other research works and treatments.

As a 'reward' she invited me to a formal party as her plus one. The party would have people from all sectors and was a great opportunity to meet important people and exchange ideas with top researchers. That's what she told me.

I didn't really like these types of events but had to accept the invitation out of respect. Dressing up to shake hands and share fake smiles with strangers. Listening to people talking about how they care about the unprivileged people when they don't do anything to help. Well, it's safe to say that it's not my cup of tea.

The night of the party I got ready at Eleonor's house for practical reasons. Her house was in the suburb and had two stories. The house architecture was elegant and modern. It wasn't as big as my family home, but big enough for an average family. As for the backyard, it was beautiful, looking like it was ripped from a fairy-tale. It had a wooden shed and was filled with various flowers and aromatic plants.

I changed into a long black lace dress that fitted me perfectly. It had long sleeves and an open back despite the front only revealing my collarbone area. Eleonor's wore an elegant long satin dark blue dress. It was way more revealing than mine as it had a V-neck cut. She managed to look sexy and classy at the same time.

The party was being held at a billionaire's mansion. Eleonor told me that he was the owner of one of the big five. As we arrived the party was already full of people and we danced around people, shaking their hands and having small talks. After meeting every person on Eleonor's 'important people list' I walked to the large balcony to escape the noise and forced socialization.

As I went outside I was welcomed by the warm night breeze. I leaned over the balcony and took a deep breath.

"That's a boring party," a male voice he stated.

I smiled as I immediately recognize that voice. "Yeah, there's too much shaking hands going on in there."

"Oh, don't get me started on those formalities. I hope they weren't trying to show their strength to you as they did to me. My hands are hurting."

I laughed. "Always the same princess Levy." I shook my head. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

"Some higher ranked officials from the Order were invited and lucky for you I was included." He smirked.

"Did you get too much to drink?"

"Nope," he replied with a serious look on his face. "Maybe." He chuckled.

I laughed. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Oh, by the way, I want to officially ask you to join the Hunters Order. If you accept you will be placed on my team."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say yes of course!"

"I want to, but I have to be honest with you. I don't want to get involved if I can't do a good job and I don't think I can fight and hurt people that I believe are fighting for a good cause."

"You mean the Brotherhood? It's because of that thief isn't it?" He was clearly upset. "I mean I thought it was strange of him picking you and then what you told us the next day... but I thought you were in shock not that you were a part of this."

"Wow, wow. What's up with the sudden change of humor?"

"Don't change the subject!"

"Look, I don't feel like dealing with your anger management issues tonight ok? It has nothing to do with that. I'm not a part of anything. He only saved me because I was innocent."

"And you know all that, but you don't know who he is?"

I kept quiet.

"Olivia was right, wasn't she? Why are you protecting them?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have any duty, neither towards the hunters nor the enterprises attacked, and I actually think that it's a noble cause," I snapped.

"And here I thought I knew you. You're like them, a criminal," he barked.

A criminal?!

"So you really think that what the companies do is right?"

"No, but I can't act on them without solid proof. Those are the rules. Do you really think I love this system? I don't. I hate it as much as those thieves do, but I made a vow."

"Well then I'm sorry, but I can't make that vow. I can't go against what I believe to be good."

"Fine," he said dryly.

Levy left and went back inside. I was breathing heavily, trying to get rid of all the anger I have built up inside me. Who knew you could almost explode from anger? I always thought it was only a werewolf thing, but I guess Levy was able to transmit that to me.

After calming down I just looked up at the starry night that covered the sky. I was still frustrated and confused about our dispute though. Where did that come from?

"So, it is a noble cause." I heard as I felt a presence next to me.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you that it's rude to listen to other people's conversations?"

"Of course she told me that. After all, I'm a well-mannered man, but what can I say, I couldn't help it, I have an extremely good hearing." He smirked.

"Oh yeah, that's right, you're a vampire," I replied dryly, still looking at the stars in front of me.

"Yes, I am a vampire and owe me a dinner," he stated, obviously ignoring my bad mood.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You owe me a dinner. You know, for the times I've saved you." He smiled. "So, my house. Tuesday. At eight. I'll cook for you. If you want, you may help me since I know you get bored easily," he said humorously.

I gave him a questioning look. "How do you even-"

"I know you've explored my house the other day. I smelled it."

My first reaction was smelling myself. I know, not glamorous at all, but I didn't think that far.

Adrian let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, you don't stink. You actually have a nice smell." He smiled. "Ok, awkward enough."

"You mean creepy." I laughed.

"Again with that?"

"It's weird. I mean you sound so mature and cold when you speak to me, but then, sometimes you seem like a completely different person. So, so loosen up. No filter whatsoever".

He showed me a sad smile. "That's because I'm used to acting like that because of work. Besides, when you're an immortal vampire you tend to avoid getting close to people. It saves you from future grief and sadness. Therefore, I don't get friendly with just everyone."

"I see. I-"

"So, Tuesday?" He cut me off, making it clear that he didn't want to talk about this matter.

I guess it must be hard for him. We mortals always wish we could live longer, to be immortal, but I guess immortality comes with a terrible price. It must be so hard to watch everyone you love die and keep living through centuries.

"Sure-" I smiled.

"Great! I hope you like Italian cuisine, I'm cooking spaghetti Bolognese," he grinned.

"And you dare to tell me that you don't read minds? I love Italian food."

Hi guys!

Once again, I had to split the chapter. What can I say, these days it seems that I can't stop myself from writing long chapters. 

Anyway, I'll publish the next part of chapter 16 tomorrow so you don't have to wait long for the date night *.*

Thank you so much for reading this story, commenting and voting!

I would also want to give a special thank you to @warrior_srarhb,   @ConvolutedConcepts and  @id0vaw2jesu for all the advice and support.

@Zoeygodfrey, as promised this chapter is dedicated to you. Thanks for your comments. They always illuminate my days :) I hope you'll enjoy both parts of this chapter :)

Check out their works, I'm sure you'll like it.