Betrayed

textbook had described the reasons behind bloodlust in logical, dispassionate words that didn't begin to represent the truth of it.

Drinking Heath's blood was an incredible turn on. Something I wanted to do again and again. Soon. Now, actually. I bit my lip to keep from moaning as I thought about Heath—the hardness of his body and the incredible taste of his blood.

And suddenly it was as if a part of my mind lifted, like a string thrown out of a big ball of yarn. I could feel that piece of me searching … hunting ... tracking ... until it burst into a dark room and hovered above a bed. I sucked in my breath. Heath!

He was lying flat on his back. His blond hair was tousled, mak­ing him look like a little boy. Okay, anyone would think the kid was totally cute. I mean, vamps were known for being stunningly beau­tiful and gorgeously handsome, and even a vamp would have to admit that Heath scored high on their own scale of good-looking.

As if he could sense my presence, he stirred in his sleep, turn­ing his head and restlessly kicking off the sheet that covered him. He was naked except for a pair of blue boxers that had fat little green frogs all over them. The sight of them made me smile. But the smile froze on my face when I noticed that I could now see the thin pink line that ran down the side of his neck.

That was where he'd cut himself with the razor blade and where I'd sucked his blood. I could almost taste it again—the heat and the dark richness of it, like melted chocolate, only a zil­lion times better.

Unable to stop myself, I moaned, and at the same instant Heath moaned in his sleep.

'Zoey …' he muttered dreamily, and shifted restlessly again.

'Oh, Heath,' I whispered. 'I don't know what to do about us.' I knew what I wanted to do all too well. I wanted to ignore my exhaustion, get in my car, drive directly to Heath's house, sneak in the window of his bedroom (it's not like I hadn't done that be­fore), open the freshly closed cut in his neck, and let his sweet blood flood my mouth while I pressed my body against his and made love for the first time in my life.

'Zoey!' This time Heath's eyes were fluttering open. He moaned again and his hand moved down to the hard lump in his pants and he began to—

My eyes sprang open and I was back in my dorm room with my forehead pressed against the window, breathing entirely too heavily.

My cell phone bleeped with the tone that said I had a text mes­sage. My hands were shaking as I flipped it open and read: I felt u here. Promise you'll meet me Friday.

I took a deep breath and answered Heath with two words that made my stomach flutter with excitement. I promise.

I closed the phone and turned it off. Then, forcing away the image of Heath with the unhealed cut on his neck, warm and de­sirable, obviously wanting me as much as I wanted him, I moved from the window and climbed into bed. Incredibly, my clock told me it was now 8:27 A.M. I'd been standing by the window for more than two hours! No wonder my body felt so stiff and crappy. I made a mental note to look up more info about Im­printing and the connection between the human and the vamp next time I was in the media center (which had better be soon). Before I turned off the little table lamp I glanced over at Stevie Rae. She was curled up on her side and her back was to me, but her deep breathing told me that she was definitely still asleep. Well, at least my friends didn't know what a bloodlust-filled, hornie freak I was turning into.

I wanted Heath.

I needed Erik.

I was intrigued by Loren.

I had no damn idea what I was going to do about the mess that my life had become.

I smushed my pillow into a ball. I was so tired I felt like some­one had drugged me, but my mind still wouldn't shut itself off. When I woke up I'd see Erik again and probably Loren. I'd have to face Neferet. I'd perform my first ritual in front of a group of kids who would probably be happy to see me fail, or at least em­barrass myself miserably, and there was always the possibility that both would happen. Then there was the weirdness of know­ing that I'd seen what could only be Elliott's ghost behaving in a very unghostlike way. Not to mention another human teenager was dead and it was looking more and more as if a vamp had something to do with it.

I closed my eyes and told my body to relax and my mind to concentrate on something pleasant, like ... like … how pretty the snow was ...

Slowly, exhaustion took over and I finally, gratefully, fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER 19

Someone banging on the door pulled me awake from a dream about cat-shaped snowflakes.

'Zoey! Stevie Rae! You're gonna be late!' Shaunee's voice sounded muffled but urgent through the door, like an annoying alarm covered up by a towel.

'Okay, okay, I'm coming,' I called as I tried to struggle out of my covers while Nala complained loudly. I glanced at my alarm clock, which I hadn't bothered to set. I mean, it wasn't like it was a school day and I usually didn't sleep more than eight or nine hours at a time and—

'Hell!' I blinked. Sure enough, the time was 9:59 P.M. I'd slept more than twelve hours? I stumbled to the door, pausing to shake Stevie Rae's leg.

'Mumph,' she muttered sleepily.

I cracked the door. Shaunee was glaring at me.

'Please with the sleeping all damn day! You two have got to stop staying up late if you can't get up. Erik's going to be per­forming in half an hour.'

'Ah, hell!' I rubbed my face, trying to force myself awake. 'I forgot all about that.'

Shaunee rolled her eyes. 'You better hurry up and get dressed. And slap some serious makeup on that pale face and do something about your nappy hair. Boyfriend's been looking all over for you.'

'Okay, okay. Crap! I'm coming. Will you and Erin—'

Shaunee put up her hand, cutting me off. 'Please. We've al­ready got you covered. Erin's in the auditorium saving front row seats as we speak.'

'Is that you, Mamma? I don't wanna go to school today ...' Stevie Rae mumbled, clearly not awake.

Shaunee snorted.

'We'll hurry. You guys just save those seats for us.' I slammed the door shut and hurried over to Stevie Rae. 'Wake up!' I shook her shoulder. She squinted and frowned up at me.

'Huh?'

'Stevie Rae, it's ten o'clock. P.M. We slept forever and now we're so late it's ridiculous.'

'Huh?'

'Just wake the hell up!' I snapped, taking out my frustration that I'd overslept on her.

'Wha—' She looked blearily at the clock, and that seemed to finally get through to her. 'Ohmygoodness! We're late.'

I rolled my eyes. 'That's what I've been trying to tell you. I'm gonna throw on something and work on my hair and makeup. You better jump in the shower. You look terrible.'

''Kay.' She staggered into the bathroom.

I yanked on a pair of jeans and a black sweater, and then got to work on my hair and makeup. I could not believe I'd totally blown off the fact that Erik was performing the Shakespearian monologue he'd taken to the competition. Actually, I hadn't even worried about how he'd placed, which was definitely not good girlfriend etiquette. Of course it wasn't like I didn't have other things on my mind, but still. Everyone thought I was the lucky girl who had caught Erik after he'd escaped from Aphrodite's nasty spiderweb (and by web I mean crotch). Hell, I thought I was lucky to have him, something that had been hard to remem­ber when I was sucking Heath's blood and flirting with Loren.

'Sorry about oversleeping, Z.' Stevie Rae came out of the bath­room in a gush of steamy air, towel-drying her short, blond curls. She was dressed a lot like I was, and she must still be half asleep because she looked pale and tired. She gave a huge yawn and stretched like a cat.

'No, it's my fault.' I felt bad for the way I'd jumped on her be­fore. 'I should have known with how little I've