I dont know how much of your human boyfriend I can stand, Erik said.
I kept meeting Eriks steady gaze and almost blurted Im not sure how much of your possessiveness I can stand, but I was too tired. Id save that till later, after I had more time and energy to think things through. Instead I just said, Hes not my boyfriend. Hes the human Ive Imprinted with. Theres a big difference.
Consort, Erik said bitterly. Its called being the High Priestesss human consort. Many of them have one. Often they have more than one.
I blinked in surprise. I sure hadnt gotten to that part in my Vamp Sociology class. I mean, was this consort stuff even covered in the The Fledgling Handbook? Guess Id have to read the darn thing more carefully. I did remember Darius mentioning something about it being difficult for a human to be involved with a High Priestess the day Heath and I had had our official breakup scene, and Darius had definitely used the word consort for the human. Huh. Um. Does that mean the High Priestess doesnt have a vampyre, uh, consort?
Mate, he said quietly. If hes a human who has Imprinted with a High Priestess, hes called her consort. If hes a vampyre, hes given the title of the High Priestesss mate. And no. It doesnt mean she cant have both.
That seemed like good news to me. Clearly it wasnt such good news to Erik, but at least I was beginning to believe other priestesses had gone through this kind of boyfriend stress before. Maybe I could read up on it or tactfully question Darius when the end-of-the-world stuff was resolved. For the time being I decided to put a Band-Aid on the issue and clean up the consequences later. If there was a later. Okay, Erik. I dont know what Im going to do about Heath. Its all a little too much for me to deal with right now on top of everything else. Hell, I dont know what Im going to do about you, either.
Were together, Erik said softly. And I want us to stay together.
I opened my mouth to tell him I really wasnt totally sure that was the best idea, but Erik bent and kissed me gently on the lips, silencing my comment. Then someone cleared his throat and we looked at the entryway to see Heath standing there, looking pale and pissed.
Heath! What are you doing here? I hated how shrill and guilty I sounded as I frantically wondered how much hed overheard.
Darius sent me to tell you the roads are too bad. Theres no way I can get back to B.A. tonight. He and Stevie Rae went to find a four-wheel drive so that he can get you and the rest of the fledglings back to the House of Night. He paused. I recognized a tone Id only heard in his voice a very few times. He was seriously pissed, but he was also hurt. The last time hed sounded like this had been when hed told me Id killed part of his soul when Id had sex with Loren and broken our Imprint. Hey, carry on. Pretend Im not here, just like you were doing before. Didnt mean to interrupt you two.
Heath, I began, but just then Aphrodite, followed by a bunch of cats, including my Nala and her hateful white Persian, appropriately named Maleficent, came into the room.
Awkward. Again, Aphrodite added, looking knowingly from Heath to Erik and me.
I sighed and realized my head was starting to hurt almost as much as the cut across my chest. Then the Twins and Kramisha piled into the room, too.
Ah, oh, Shaunee said.
Whats ex-boyfriend doing here? Erin said.
The roads are too bad. Heath cant get home, I said.
So that means he be staying here? Kramisha asked, giving Heath a long look.
Hell have to. Hes safer here than at the House of Night, I said, keeping an eye on Kramisha and adding silently to myself that I wasnt convinced hed be safe here either. He and I have Imprinted again, I added for good measure.
Kramisha curled her lip. I know that. I can smell you in his blood. He aint good for nothin now cept for being your boy toy.
Hes not I started, but Heaths sharp voice cut me off.
No, the girls right. Thats all I am to you, Heath said bluntly.
Heath. Thats not how I think of you, I said.
Yeah, well, I dont want to say shit more about it. Im your blood donor, and thats it. He turned away from me and I saw him grab a bottle of wine someone had left by the bed and take a big swig of it.
Damien, a puffy-eyed Jack, and Duchess (causing all of the cats except Nala to hiss like insane creatures) crowded back into the room then.
Hey, Heath, Jack said. I thought you were on your way home.
I cant get home. Looks like Im stuck here with you in the left-behind pile.
Jack frowned, close to bursting into tears again. Damiens not leaving me behind. Not really. I justI just cant go with him right now this second.
Thats right. Well be back together as soon as we can, Damien said, putting his arm around Jack.
Okay, I hate to interrupt all this gay-boy romance stuff, but I wrote me some more poems when I woke up and thought you better see them, Kramisha said.
That broke though my confusion about what to do about Heath and Erik. Youre right. I do need to see them, I said. Damien, did Jack get a chance to explain to you about Kramishas poetry?
Yes. I even got a copy of the poems before Kramisha went to sleep and read them while Jack and I were on watch, Damien said.
What the hell are you guys talking about? Aphrodite said.
When you were all drunk and disorderly, Z discovered poetry written on the walls of Aphrodites room, Erin said.
Written by Kramisha, but all of it seemed to be about Kalona, which is totally creepy, Shaunee said.
Its like shes channeling abstract images about him, Damien said. I think the poems in her room were meant to catch our attention, which means we need to check out everything Kramisha writes.
Oh, great. Thats all we need. More gloom and doom poetry, Aphrodite said.
Well speaking of, heres two new ones. Kramisha tried to hand me the couple of sheets of paper the poems were written on, but moving my arms up so I could hold them made me suck air with pain.
Here. Erik smoothly took the papers from her. Then he brought them to me and held them up so that Damien, the Twins, Aphrodite, Jack, and I could read them at the same time. The first one was baffling:
What once bound him
Will make him flee
Place of powerjoining of five
Night
Spirit
Blood
Humanity
Earth
Joined not to conquer,
Instead to overcome
Night leads to Spirit
Blood binds Humanity
And Earth completes.
That makes my head hurt. I mean, more than it already does. I cannot tell you how much I hate poetry, Aphrodite said.
Do you have a clue about this? I asked Damien.
I think its giving us directions on how we can make Kalona flee, or run away, he said.
We know what flee means, Mr. Vocab, Erin said.
Its kinda depressing that it says flee instead of kill, Jack said.
Kalona cant be killed, I said, speaking the words automatically. Hes immortal. He can be trapped. He can be chased away, although it boggles my mind to think about what might make him run. But he cant be killed.
Those five thingies together, in a place of power, make him run, Jack said.
Wherever that is, and whatever they are, I said.
Theyre people who represent each of those things. Or at least that would be my first guess. See how theyre capitalized? That usually means they are proper nouns, or names, Damien said.
Theyre names, Kramisha said.
Do you know anything else about it? Can you tell who they are? Damien asked.
Kramisha shook her head, looking frustrated. No. Its just when you said that they be people, I knew you was right.
How about the next one? Damien said. Maybe itll help us make sense of this one.
I turned my attention to the other sheet of paper. The new poem wasnt long, but it made my skin crawl.
She comes back
Through blood by blood
She returns
Cut deep now
Like me
Humanity saves her
Will she save me?
What were you thinking when you wrote this? I asked Kramisha.
Nothin. I was barely awake. I just wrote the words that come to me with both of em.
I dont like it, Erik said.
Well, it doesnt help us with the other poem, thats for sure. Actually, I think it&rsq1awl.
But whos speaking? Who is this me thats asking if Ill save him or her? I was feeling weaker and weaker by the moment, and the long strip of my wound was throbbing in time with the beat of my heart.
It could be Kalona, Aphrodite said. Thats who the first poems about.
Yes, but were not so sure Kalona ever had any humanity in him to lose, Damien said.
I carefully kept my mouth shut, even though my first impulse was to say that I did think Kalona had not always been like he was now.
On the other hand, Damien continued, we know that Neferet has turned from Nyx, which could also mean that shes lost herself, or her humanity. It could be referring to Neferet.
Ugh, Erin said.
She has definitely lost her damn mind, Shaunee said.
Actually, doesnt it make the most sense that its that new undead kid talking? Erik said slowly.
You may be on to something, Damien said. I could practically see the wheels in his mind turning. The Cut deep now / Like me part could be metaphorical for his death. Zoeys wound is definitely life threatening, and theyve certainly both been drawn to the House of Night because of blood.
And his humanity is missing. Like the rest of the red fledglings, Aphrodite said.
Hey, I dont know what you talkin bout. I got me plenty of humanity, Kramisha said, clearly offended.
But you didnt have your humanity when you first rose, did you? Damien said.
His voice was so clinical that Kramishas feathers instantly unruffled. No. You right about that. I had no damn sense about me at first. None of us did.
Sounds like a good guess about the meaning of the second one, Damien said. And because we have Kramisha on our side, her gift with words gives us a glimpse into the possible future. The first poemI dont know. Ill think about it. What we need is to spend some time brainstorming possible meaningstime we dont have right now. But thats really inconsequential. We should still appreciate Kramisha.
Hey, not a problem, Kramisha said. Its all part a bein the Poet Laureate.
The who? Aphrodite said.
Kramisha fixed a sharp look on Aphrodite. Zoey made me the new Vamp Poet Laureate.
Aphrodite opened her mouth, but I beat her to speaking. Actually, lets have a quick vote of my Prefect Council on whether Kramisha should be our new Poet Laureate. I looked at Damien. Whats your vote?
Yes, definitely, Damien said.
I say 6 V O Dt tyes, too, Shaunee said,
Ditto. Were due for a female Poet Laureate, Erin said.
I already gave my yes vote, Erik said.
We all looked at Aphrodite.
Yeah, yeah, whatever, she said.
And I can promise Stevie Rae will vote yes, too, I said. So its official.
Everyone smiled at Kramisha who looked totally pleased with herself.
Okay, so, to summarize, Damien said, weve pretty much decided that Kramishas first poem is outlining a way Kalona can be forced to run away, even though we dont really have a good understanding of the details provided in the poem. The second is saying that Zoeys return to the House of Night might somehow save Stark. Erik said.
Yeah, thats what it sounds like. I handed the pieces of paper on which the poems were written to Aphrodite. Would you put those in my purse, please? She nodded and folded them neatly, tucking them into my cute little bag. I wish both poems had come with more instructions, I said.
I think you should start by paying special attention to Stark, Damien said.
Or at least she should be on her guard around him, Erik said. The poem does mention being cut, and right now thats way more than a poetic metaphor.
I listened while Damien semi-agreed with him and I looked away from Eriks penetrating gaze and right into Heaths sad brown eyes.
Let me guess. Starks another guy, isnt he? Heath said.
When I didnt answer, he took a long drink from the bottle of wine.
Well, uh, yeah, Heath, Jack said, sitting next to Heath on the bed and looking concerned. Stark is a fledgling who, I guess, was kinda a friend of Zoeys before he died and then un-died. He was a new kid, so none of us had gotten to know him very well.
But you knew things about him no one else did. Like that his gift from Nyx was that he never missed any mark he aimed at, right? Damien said.
Yeah. I knew stuff about him no one else knew, except Neferet and the professors, I said, trying not to watch Heath guzzle down the bottle of wine and avoiding Eriks sharp gaze.
I didnt know that about his gift, and Im a professor, Erik said.
I closed my eyes and leaned heavily back on the pillow. Then maybe that was more info Neferet kept to herself, I said wearily.
So why would he tell you about something that was top secret? Erik said.
Annoyed that he sounded like he was interrogating me, I didnt say anything, and against my closed eyes I easily recalled the image of Starks cute, cocky half smile and how Id felt a sudden connection with him and even kissed him as he died in my arms.
Well, lets s:
As my friendswell, all of them except for my consort and my possible matemumbled apologies, I kept my eyes closed and wondered just how badly I wanted to get all healed up, because it seemed, once again, I found myself in a situation that involved three guys. And that wasnt even counting Kalona.
Well, hell
CHAPTER 16
Thankfully, Stevie Raes return stopped all of the Stark speculation.
Kay. Im supposed to tell Erik to carry Zoey. The rest of you stay close. Darius is right outside in the parking lot, Stevie Rae said.