Tempted

idea you’re coming after him.”

I swallowed hard, but nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“Blessed be,” she said.

“Blessed be,” we all chimed in, even Heath.

Lenobia closed the door, and no one said anything for a few moments. I think we were all a little stunned and hadn’t quite grasped the fact that we were actually going to Italy to speak before the Vampyre High Council. Or at least I was going to speak. Ah, hell. I was going to have to speak in front of the Vampyre High Council. Or maybe I’d get up there, in front of all those old, powerful vamps and have raging diarrhea and poo myself. Yep. That would certainly make an impression on the Council. “Unique” would be just one of the words they’d call me.

Jack’s question stopped my semi-hysterical mind babble. “What are we gonna do with Duchess and the cats?”

I looked down at Nala, purring away beside me, and said, “Uh-oh.”

“We can’t take them,” Stark said. “There’s no way.” Then sounding more like himself he added, “They’re gonna be pissed when we get back, though. Especially those cats. Cats can carry a grudge.”

Aphrodite snorted. “You’re telling me. Have you met my cat? Speaking of, I’m going to go spend some quality time with her while I grab something to eat and pack.” She gave Darius a coy smile. “If you’d like to get in on that quality time, you’re invited.”

“I don’t have to be asked twice,” he said. “Blessed be, Priestess,” he told me before taking her hand heading to her room to do Goddess-was-the-only-one-who-wanted-to-know what.

“We better get our stuff taken care of, too,” Damien said.

“I can’t believe we’re supposed to take one book bag of clothes. Where are all my shoes going to go?” Jack asked.

“I think we’re only supposed to take one pair of shoes,” Heath said helpfully.

Jack was still gasping in horror as he and Damien left.

That left me with Stark and Heath and Stevie Rae. Before things could get mega-awkward, Stark surprised me by saying, “Heath, would you sleep with Zoey?”

“Hey, man, as far as I’m concerned, I’d like to always sleep with Zoey.”

I punched his arm, but he still grinned like a dork.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Stark.

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I want to check the perimeter before dawn, and I’ll see if Lenobia needs help settling things. Then I’ll get something to eat.”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“In the dark.” He turned to me, bowed formally with his right fist over his chest. “Blessed be, my lady.” Before I could say anything else to him, he left.

I was stunned silent.

“He’s freaked ’cause of Aphrodite’s vision,” Stevie Rae said, getting off my bed and going to rummage through the drawers that used to be hers before she died and un-died. I was glad I’d made Neferet and the vamps give me some of her stuff back, so she actually had things to rummage through.

“Don’t let Stark hurt your feelings, Zo,” Heath said. “He’s pissed at himself, not at you.”

“Heath, I appreciate you wanting to make me feel better, but it’s just too weird to have you be on Stark’s side.”

“Hey, I’m on your side, baby!” He bumped me with his shoulder, and then stretched all long and obvious before reaching an arm around me.

“Uh, Heath, could you do me a big ol’ favor?” Stevie Rae asked.

“Sure!”

“Could you go down to the kitchen—that’s through the common room and to the right—and try to scare up somethin’ for us to eat? They always have a bunch of sandwich stuff in the fridges. You can search for chips, but the closest you’ll come is probably pretzels or those good-for-you baked chips.”

“Yuck,” Heath and I said at the same time.

“So is that okay? Would you do that?”

“Yeah, Stevie Rae, no problem.” Heath hugged me and gave me a sloppy kiss on my forehead before bounding out of bed. At the door he grinned back at Stevie Rae and said, “But next time you want to talk to Zo alone, all you have to do is say so. I’m human and I play football, but I’m really not stupid.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” she said.

He winked at me and took off.

“Goddess, he has a lot of energy,” I said.

“Z, I can’t go with y’all to Italy,” Stevie Rae blurted out with no preamble whatsoever.

“What? You have to! You’re earth. I need the whole circle there.”

“You’ve circled without me before. Aphrodite can step in if you help her.”

“She can’t be earth. It zaps her,” I said.

“But I know you’ve given her spirit before, and it worked fine. Just give her spirit again.”

“Stevie Rae, I need you.”

My BFF bowed her head and looked completely defeated. “Please, please don’t say that. I have to stay. I don’t have any choice. The red fledglings need me even more than you do.”

“Not any more they don’t,” I said earnestly. “They’re here at the school, with a whole bunch of adult vamps. Even if the adult vamps are acting all weird, their presence will be enough to keep your kids from rejecting the Change.”

“It’s not just that. It’s not just them.”

“Oh, no! Stevie Rae, you are not still thinking about those bad fledglings.”

“I’m their High Priestess,” she said quietly, pleading with her eyes for me to understand. “They’re my responsibility. While you’re gone, before you have to go down there and do something awful to them, I can try once more to reach them—to get them to turn back to their humanity.”

“Stevie Rae—”

“Zoey! Listen to me! It’s a choice. I made the right one. Stark made the right one. The kids here are all on the right path, too, and we used to be bad. Like you said, you know how horrible it used to be for us, but that’s changed. We’re different now because we’re choosing to be different. I can’t help believing that those other kids can choose good, too. Just let me try.”

“I don’t know. What if they hurt you?”

Stevie Rae laughed, and her short blond curls bounced around her shoulders. “Ah, heck, Z! They can’t hurt me. They’re inside the earth. If they try anything with me I can call on my element to kick their butts, and they know it.”

“Maybe they were meant to die, and that’s why they can’t get their humanity back,” I said softly.

“I can’t believe that, at least not yet.” Stevie Rae went to her old bed and sat across from me, just like she used to before our world started to explode around us. “I want to go with you. I really do. Heck, Z, you’re in more danger than I am! But I have to do the right thing, and that’s to try to reach those other kids and give them one more chance. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s just that I’ve really missed you and I wish you were coming with me.”

Tears filled Stevie Rae’s eyes. “I’ve missed you, too, Z. It’s been horrible keeping stuff from you. I was just so scared you wouldn’t understand.”

“I know what it’s like to keep secrets. It sucks.”

“Seriously, that’s an understatement,” she said. “We’re still best friends, right?”

“We’ll always be best friends,” I said.

Grinning, she launched herself at me and we hugged so hard that Nala woke up, grumbling at us like she was someone’s mom.

Heath chose that instant to burst back into the room. Arms filled with food, he stopped and stared. “Yes! I have died and gone to girl-on-girl heaven!”

“Ohmygoddess!” I said.

“Heath, you are nasty as roadkill—stinky, disgusting, middle-of-the-summer-opossum roadkill.”