“To repeat our special report on the gang violence in midtown Tulsa last night, Tulsa P.D. reiterates that the city is safe and the problem under control. To quote the chief of police, ‘It was an initiation ritual by a new gang that calls itself Mockers. Leaders of the gang have been arrested and the streets of midtown Tulsa are, once again, safe for our citizens.’” The newsman continued,
“We have one more community announcement: All House of Night staff and students have been recalled to the school due to the impending weather. Again, all House of Night staff and students have been asked to return to school. Stay tuned for updates. We return you to our scheduled programming.”
“There was no gang in midtown last night,” I said. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”
“She fixed it. She manipulated the press and probably the public, too,” Erik said, looking grim.
“Is the ‘she’ that High Priestess who messed with my mind?” Heath asked me.
“No,” Erik said.
“Yes,” I said at the same time. I frowned at Erik. “He needs to know the truth to protect himself.”
“The less he knows, the better it is for him,” Erik insisted.
“No, see, that’s what I thought before, and that’s why everyone was so mad at me. That’s also why I made some major mistakes.” I looked from Erik to Heath. “If I hadn’t kept so many secrets and had trusted my friends to handle themselves, I might have talked more and messed up less.”
Erik sighed. “Okay, I see your point.” He looked at Heath. “Her name is Neferet. She’s the High Priestess at the House of Night. She’s powerful. Very powerful. And she’s psychic.”
“Yeah, I already know she can do stuff with her mind. That’s how she messed with me. She made me forget chunks of things that happened. I’ve just started to remember them.”
“Does it make your head hurt?” I asked him, remembering the pain I’d had to work through when I’d broken the memory blocks Neferet had put in my mind.
“Yeah. It hurts, but it’s getting a lot better.” He smiled his familiar, forgiving smile and my heart squeezed.
“Neferet is also some kind of queen for Kalona,” Erik continued.
“So she’s bad news all the way around,” Heath said.
“Bad news and dangerous. Don’t forget that,” I said. “Also, Kalona can’t stand to be underground. He couldn’t before he was imprisoned in the earth by Cherokee women, and now that he’s escaped, my guess is he’s going to be even leerier of the earth. So remember, you’re safe underground.”
“What about the Raven Mockers?”
I shook my head. “We just don’t know. None have come down here, but that doesn’t mean much.” I thought about the darkness in the tunnels below and the bad feeling it was giving me, but I didn’t know what the hell it actually was: Red fledglings? Raven Mockers? Some other faceless thing that Kalona was sending against us? Or was it as simple as my imagination? The only thing I knew for sure was that I’d sound like an idiot crying wolf if I babbled a bunch of maybes, which meant, for the time being, I kept my mouth shut.
“Well, it’s Saturday, but we don’t have school because it’s still winter break until Wednesday, and if this ice storm hits as hard as they say it’s going to, we might be out for the whole week,” Heath was saying. “It should be easy to keep safe, even if the Raven Mockers attack again and their attack moves from midtown Tulsa to Broken Arrow.”
My stomach felt hollow. “And they might. Neferet knows I’m from Broken Arrow, and she knows there are still people I care about there.”
“So she might send the Raven Mockers to Broken Arrow just to mess you up?” Heath said.
I nodded. “Especially when my group and I ignore the call to return to school.”
“But wait, Zo. You have to be at school around a bunch of vamps or you and all the rest of the fledglings will get sick, right?”
“I’m here,” Erik spoke up. “And so is another full vampyre. Not to mention Stevie Rae.”
“Isn’t she all gross and undead?” Heath said.
“Not anymore,” I said. “She’s Changed into a different kind of vamp, one with red tattoos. And all of the gross fledglings that tried to eat you—well, they’re red fledglings now, and aren’t so gross.”
“Huh,” Heath said. “Well, I’m glad your BFF’s okay.”
“Me, too.” I smiled.
“So are three adult vamps enough to keep you guys from getting sick?” Heath asked.
“We’ll have to be. Heath, you need to go,” Erik said abruptly.
Heath and I looked at him. I realized I’d been grinning a lot at Heath and really liking that he and I were talking again.
“The ice storm,” Erik continued. “It’s not smart for him to get stuck here, and that’s what’s going to happen if he’s still here when the sun sets.” Erik paused and then said, “Which is going to happen in about half an hour. How long did it take you to get from Broken Arrow to here?”
Heath frowned. “Almost two hours. The roads are bad.”
It should have only taken him about thirty minutes to get from his place to the depot. Erik was right. Heath had to go home. Not only were we clueless about how much danger we might be in from Kalona, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure Heath would be safe around the red fledglings. Besides my questions about them, the truth was no matter what they were or weren’t now, Heath was one hundred percent human, with lots of yummy, fresh, warm, sexy, pumping blood (I ignored the fact that my mouth was watering just thinking about it), and I had no idea about their willpower limits.
“Erik’s right, Heath. You can’t get stuck outside tonight, especially this close to midtown. Besides the ice, we don’t know what’s up with the Raven Mockers.”
Heath looked at me like he and I were completely alone. “You’re worried about me.”
My throat felt dry. This was so not a conversation I wanted to have in front of Erik. “Of course I worry about you. We’ve been friends a long time.” I could feel Erik’s eyes on me. I forced myself not to fidget guiltily and added, “Friends worry about friends.”
Heath’s smile was slow and intimate. “Friends. Right.”
“Time for you to go.” Erik sounded pissed.
Without looking at Erik, Heath said, “I’ll go when Zo tells me to.”
“It’s time for you to go, Heath,” I said quickly.
Heath’s eyes stayed locked with mine for several heartbeats. “Fine. Whatever,” he said. Then he turned to Erik. “So you’re a real vamp now, huh?”
“Yes.”
Heath looked him up and down. The two guys were close to the same height. Erik was taller, but Heath was the more muscular of the two. Still, both guys looked like they could handle themselves in a fight. I felt myself tense. Was Heath going to throw a punch at Erik?
“People say male vamps are big into protecting their priestesses. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Erik said.
“Good. Then I expect you to be sure Zoey stays safe.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her as long as I’m alive,” Erik said.
“Make sure it doesn’t.” Heath’s voice had lost the charming, easygoing tone with which he usually spoke. It had gone hard and dangerous. “Because if you let anything happen to her, I’m going to find you, and vampyre or no vampyre, I am going to kick your ass.”
CHAPTER 11
I moved quickly, putting myself between the two of them. “Stop it!” I shouted. “I have way too much to worry about right now to also have to pull you two off each other. Jeesh, talk about immature.” Both guys kept glaring at each other over my head. “I said, stop it!” And I smacked their chests. That made them blink and shift their attention to me. Now it was my turn to do the glaring. “You know, you two are ridiculous with your puffing up and your testosterone and crap. I mean, I could summon the elements and kick both of your butts.”