off. I looked around at our mixed group of red and blue and saw dark circles under eyes and lots of stifled yawns. Kalona and the problems at the House of Night nagged at my mind, as well as my increasingly strong feeling that everything was not as it seemed with the red fledglings, but I was too tired to deal with all of it.
Wishing I could burst into tears, I cleared my throat, refocused, and said, “How about we all get some sleep? We’re fairly safe here, and there’s really nothing any of us can do about what’s going on upstairs when we’re so tired we’re all practically asleep on our feet.”
“Agreed,” Darius said. “But I think we should set watches at the entrances to the tunnels—with your approval, Priestess, just in case.”
“Yeah, that’s probably smart,” I said. “Stevie Rae, are there any other entrances to the tunnels besides the one through the depot?”
“Z, I thought you knew that there’re tunnels that connect to a bunch of the old downtown buildings,” Stevie Rae said. “This section is part of that system.”
“But no one comes down here and uses these particular tunnels except you guys, do they?”
“Well, no, not this part of them, ’cause everyone thinks they’re old and nasty and abandoned.”
“Could be because they are old and nasty and abandoned,” Aphrodite slurred sarcastically. I noticed she’d ignored the fact that I’d cut her off and started on her second bottle of wine.
“That’s not right. They ain’t nasty and abandoned,” Kramisha spoke up, frowning at Aphrodite. “We’re here and we been decorating. You should know ’cause we used your got-no-limit gold card to buy the stuff.”
“Did you use incorrect grammar at the same time? Like you are now?” Aphrodite said asAYe she peered blurrily at Kramisha from around Darius.
“Look, I know you human and just been awkwardly Imprinted with Stevie Rae, not to mentioned you gettin’ totally trashed, so I’d hate to use my superior red fledgling skills to kick your bony ass, but if you talk about me again I’m gonna forget to be nice,” Kramisha said.
“Can we not focus on the bad guys who might be trying to eat us instead of bickering with each other?” I said wearily. “Stevie Rae, do the other tunnels connect to these?”
“Yeah, but they’re sealed off, or at least that’s what it would look like to everyone else.”
“Is there only one entrance from this section of tunnels to the public ones?” Darius asked.
“Only one that I know of. And it was blocked by some seriously thick metal doors. How ’bout y’all? Have you found any more?” Stevie Rae said.
“Well, maybe,” Ant said.
“Maybe?” Stevie Rae said.
“I was exploring and I found something, but the opening to it was little even for me, so I didn’t go into it. I meant to go back and poke around with a shovel or, better yet, with Johnny B’s muscles, but I just haven’t yet.”
Johnny B grinned and flexed for us. I ignored him, but the Twins tittered appreciatively.
“So, basically, what you guys are saying is that besides the depot entrance, there’s one we know of for sure that links these tunnels to the other ones?” I said.
“Sounds about right,” Stevie Rae said.
“Then I advise you to post two guards, Priestess,” Darius said. “One at the depot entrance and one at the known entrance to the other tunnel system.”
“Okay, that sounds like a good idea,” I said.
“I’ll take first shift on the depot entrance,” Darius said. “Erik, you should take over for me there. It’s our most vulnerable place, so full vampyres should guard it.”
Erik nodded. “Agreed.”
“Jack and I will take the first shift guarding the sealed-off entrance to the downtown tunnels,” Damien said. “That is, if it’s okay with you guys.”
“Yeah, we could even plan some menus and write down some things we need for the kitchen,” Jack said.
“Sounds good,” I said, smiling at Jack and Damien.
“I agree. Shaunee and Erin, could you relieve them for the next shift?” Darius said.
The Twins shrugged. “Okay with us,” Erin said.
“Good. I think it wise that we don’t use the red fledglings to guard the entrances during daylight hours,” Darius said.
“Hey, we can kick some ass,” Johnny B spoke up, looking all jockish and testosterone filled.
“It’s not that,” I said, guessing what Dariu jockishbs meant. “We need to let you guys sleep during the day so that you can stand guard at night when you’re strongest. Which means, hopefully, you’ll be stronger than the creatures who will be coming against us.” What I didn’t say was that, even had Darius not spoken up because of the daylight issue with the red fledglings, I would have said something. I didn’t want to be “protected” by Stevie Rae’s kids until I felt surer about them.
“Oh, well. Yeah. We can do that. I’m cool with protecting a priestess and her group,” Johnny B said, giving me a cocky wink.
I stifled an eye roll. Even without the red fledgling issue, the last thing I needed was another football player- like guy in my life. My eyes slid over to Erik and I had to force myself not to jump guiltily. Yes, he’d been watching me. Great. He’d mostly ignored me since we’d gotten to the tunnels and chose the instant when some other guy was acting flirty to stare at me.
Jack held up his hand like a good little student. “Um, question…”
“Yes, Jack,” I said.
“Where do
“Good question.” I turned to Stevie Rae. “Where
Johnny B spoke up before Stevie Rae could answer. “For the record, I’m willing to share my bed. My heart is more giving than Kramisha’s.”
“It ain’t your
“Don’t go hatin’ on me, baby!” Johnny B said, trying (unsuccessfully) to sound black.
Kramisha rolled her eyes at him. “You so crazy.”
“Well, we have some sleeping bags,” Stevie Rae broke in, sounding like she was on the verge of falling asleep. “Venus, could you show Zoey and the rest of the kids where they are? I guess y’all can sleep in whosever room you want to.” She paused and smiled wearily at Kramisha. “Except Kramisha doesn’t share her bed.”
“But you can stay in my room. That’s cool with me,” Kramisha said. “Just not on the bed.”
“Do all of you guys have rooms now?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice. This was all so different from the first time I’d been down here. Then the kids could barely have been called humanoid, and the tunnels were dark and dirty and creepy. Now the room we were crammed into was cozy, lit by flickering oil lanterns and candles, and the furniture was comfortable, obviously new, and even had cute matching pillows on the bed. It all seemed so normal. Was I just imagining that there was weird stuff going on with them because I was so darn tired I could hardly think?
“Any of us who wanted his or her own room has one,” Venus answered me. “They’re really not hard to fix up. In this part of the tunnels there’re lots of little dead ends. We’ve been turning them into real rooms. I definitely have my own room.” She smiled at Erik. I had to remind myself it probably wasn’t ethical to evoke fire and have it burn all the hair off her bobble-head.
“This is probably where most of the bootleg liquor was stored during Prohibition,” Damien said. “It’s logical because this is right here at the train tracks, and it would have been easy to sneak stuff in and out at night.”
“That’s so cool and romantic!” Jack sighed. “I mean, the whole 1920s flapper thing and juke joints and gangsters.”
Damien smiled indulgently at Jack. “Actually, Prohibition lasted in Tulsa until 1957.”
“Well, never mind. That’s not so romantic. That’s more like gay Bible Belt stuff.” He giggled. “Gay! Hee hees.”
“You’re funny and cute. That’s why I love you,” Damien said, kissing Jack smack on the mouth and causing Duchess to bark happily.
“Okay, barf,” Aphrodite said.
“Oh, and I have one more question,” Jack said, frowning at Aphrodite.
