“At least two of my circle have just gone through big losses,” I worried aloud. “And, really, Erin’s death affected all of us. Now we’re stuck here with kids who are also upset and pissed off. Can’t you do something to get us out of here?” I was having a hard time controlling my own frustration—I had no clue how I was going to help my friends deal with their issues.

“Zoey, I met with Detective Marx before the Fox News crew arrived. Actually, Chera Kimiko’s presence here is indicative of the fact that this situation is not going to be resolved quickly.”

“Didn’t Detective Marx find anything that would prove Neferet killed the major?”

“He mentioned DNA evidence and is requesting that comparative testing begin on all our professors to rule out a match,” Thanatos said grimly.

“But that’s good! None of our professors killed the mayor,” I said.

“Zoey, if I allow the human authorities to begin testing my professors I will be allowing them to cross a boundary that has successfully and safely separated human and vampyre codes of justice for more than five hundred years.”

I shook my head. “No, I still don’t see why that’s bad. At least not this time.”

“This time it is not bad. What about the next time a local murders a human and then stages it to look like a vampyre killing—and perhaps even has a strand or two of hair from one of our High Priestesses to leave at the crime scene. If I allow a nick in the wall that protects our kind against human persecution, how long will it be before that wall crumbles completely and The Burning Times begin again?”

I shivered. “What are you going to do? We can’t just stay locked up here forever.”

“I have sent a request to the High Council for a hearing this very night.”

“You’re going to ask them to step in with the humans?” Just the thought of it gave me a rush of hope.

“I am, and I need you here to serve as witness to Neferet’s manifestation.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll do whatever I can,” I said.

“It is now nine o’clock. I’ve scheduled the Skype conference with the High Council for ten o’clock, so that we will still have time this night to light Erin’s pyre at midnight. Please rejoin me in one hour.”

“Should I bring Stevie Rae or Aphrodite?”

“Use your own discretion, Priestess, and I will respect your decision.”

I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed to her, wishing I had as much respect for my decision-making abilities as Thanatos did.

Aphrodite

“Chera’s actually prettier in person?” Aphrodite frowned at Darius. He sat on the side of the bed while she sipped the iced coffee he’d brought her and caught her up on the latest disasters of the day. “Like that was a detail I needed you to report?”

“No one’s beauty shines like yours,” he said, smiling.

“Just tell me what kind of purse she was carrying. One of those new blue Coaches or a sparkly Valentino?”

A deep line formed between Darius’s eyes. “It was made of leather.”

“Color?”

“White?”

Aphrodite sighed. “No way Chera would be carrying a white purse in February. You have no clue what it looked like, do you?”

“None whatsoever, but you asking about it tells me that you are, indeed, feeling better, my beauty.”

“I suppose I can’t expect you to be completely perfect, but next time consider her purse a weapon. That way you’ll remember to check it out. And, yes, I’m feeling better. My eyes have finally cleared, and knowing that no one expects me to sleep in a nasty basement, along with the fact that this coffee is filled with half and half and real sugar, has combined to make my headache go away.” Aphrodite took another sip and sighed with pleasure. “It tastes too good to be bad.”

“If it makes you feel better, that is all that counts.”

“If my butt gets so big it has its own zip code, you’ll take that back,” she said.

Darius smiled. “You do feel better.”

“Yeah, but the vision sucked. Big time.”

“Are you ready to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Darius looked away uncomfortably, and Aphrodite stroked his strong arm and laced her fingers with his. “Hey, it’s not because I don’t want to talk to you. It’s because I need to process what I saw and figure out what the hell to do about it.”

“Should I get Zoey?”

“No!” she said, and then realized she’d almost shrieked the word. “No,” Aphrodite repeated in a normal voice. “I don’t want anyone to know that I had a vision yet. Darius, I just need some time to think.”

“But is it wise to keep a vision to yourself?”

“Right now my gut is telling me that it isn’t wise to blab what I saw.”

Darius leaned forward, kissing her softly. Then he met her gaze and said exactly what she needed to hear. “Trust your instinct, Prophetess. I believe in you and your gift. I want you to know that whatever you tell me I will hold sacred and I vow, as your Warrior and protector, not to tell anyone unless you allow it.”

Aphrodite slipped into his arms and felt the terrible tightness in her chest relax. She didn’t have to carry the burden of her visions alone. Darius would never betray her.

“I’m so crappy at this love stuff. I’ll never be able to tell you how much it means to me that I can trust you.”

He stroked her back gently. “You need not tell me. You show me every day we are together.”

Aphrodite closed her eyes and gathered strength from his touch and his words, praying silently: Please, Nyx, let the days we are together turn into months, the months years, and the years decades.

She hugged him hard, and then leaned back so that she could meet his gaze. Without any preamble she told him, “Darius, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said.

“Watch Zoey.”

“Watch her?”

“Yes. Watch her and see if she acts unusually pissed off.”

“And if I see her being angry?”

“Come get me and I’ll deal with her. Don’t get Stark. He can feel her emotions and if she’s the level of pissed I think she’s going to be, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be ready to explode, too. Plus, remember that Aurox slash Heath is stuck inside the House of Night with us. We all saw Heath’s reflection. Z’s pretty much avoided him since that night, but who he really is has to be affecting her. It’s going to come out eventually, and, let’s get serious, you know there’s no damn way Stark will be cool with sharing Zoey again.”

Darius nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right about that. I will watch her.” He paused and then added, “Your vision was about Zoey.”

It wasn’t a question, but Aphrodite sipped her iced coffee and then nodded. “Yeah, it was about Zoey and her anger. She was out of control.”

“Why do you believe you shouldn’t speak to her of this? She knows your visions are valid. Perhaps she would listen to you.”

“That’s what I’d think, too, but the very first thing I said when I came back from the vision was for you not to get Z. Darius, I was speaking from instinct—Goddess-given instinct. Yeah, I could be messed up and misinterpreting it, but that’s why I think I shouldn’t tell Zoey—or at least not yet.”

“As I said, I believe in you. Trust your instinct and your Goddess-given gifts.”

“I’m going to, but I’m also going to get some outside help, sadly from an annoying source.”

Darius’s brows lifted. “I assume you do not mean me.”

“No, handsome, I don’t mean you. I mean Shaylin.”

“You’re going to tell her about your vision?”

“No. I’m going to tell her an interpretative exaggeration about my vision.”

“In other words, you’re going to lie to her.”

Aphrodite loved that he’d said it so matter-of-factly, with no judgment, and no lecture.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, but calling it an interpretative exaggeration sounds better.”

“You’re going to have her watch Zoey, too?”

“Yes again.”

“Her use of the True Sight gift has, thus far, proven valid,” he said.