HI :) this is my first fanfic, so please go easy on me..

DISCLAIMER: i, most unfortuneatly, do not own The House Of Night. If i did i would be super happy.

please review, but dont be too mean :)

Chapter One: Zoey

I was awoken to the sound of Heath saying my name, and a few cuss words.

"Zoey! Shit! Wake up, I have heaps to tell you - or show you. Shit!"

"Heath, oh Goddess." And then I broke down, and Heath pulled me into his lap and held me, while I cried my heart out. He rubbed my back and murmured soothing words, trying to comfort me. Soon I settled own enough to ask what he wanted to tell me or show me or whatever.

"Zo, I don't know if you're going to believe me but," He sighed and continued "Kalona is lying to you. Come on I'll show you."

And suddenly I was flying, or gliding is more like it. I could not believe my eyes. It was like flying through time. I saw and heard myself say "Spirit! Come to me!" just as Kalona lifted his hands and snapped Heath's neck. I felt sick, I wanted to vomit. But instead I asked Heath a question I had been wondering about.

"Heath, did it hurt?" I was almost as scared as the answer, as I was of Heaths reaction.

But I didn't need to be because Heath's answer was as normal sounding as if I had just asked the weather instead.

"What? Kalona breaking my neck? Only for, like, a second.

By this time we were standing behind Heath, who was standing behind a wall, keeping to the shadows. And then hit me, we were in Heath's memories, and we were watching what Heath saw before he died. Oh Goddess, I thought, that's why Heath called me to him. And then I heard Kalona's voice.

"It goes exactly as planned" He was saying. And Neferet answered him.

"I hate the subterfuge! I cannot bear to that you pretend to be something you are not for her." She said.

Heath crept forwards, keeping to the wall. I realized that the sound of the fountain in the park, where Neferet and Kalona were talking, was the only thing that was muffling his footsteps.

"You call it pretense. I call it another point of view," said Kalona

"Which is why you can lie to hr and still seem to be telling the truth," Neferet snapped.

Kalona shrugged. "Zoey wants the truth-so it is the truth that I give her."

"Selectively," Said Neferet

"Of course. But do all mortals, vamyre, human, or fledgling, not select their own truths?"

"Mortals. You say that as if you are so far removed from us."

"I am immortal, which makes me different. Even from you, though you Tsi Sgili powers are transforming you into something that is close to immortal."

"Yes, but Zoey isn't anything close to immortal. I still believe we should kill her." I felt angry. So she thinks she could mess with me? But what Kalona said next had the anger turning into sickness.

"You are a bloodthirsty creature." He laughed. "What would you do, cut off her head and impale her as you did the other two who got in your way?" I wanted to be sick. She killed Prof. Nolan. All this time I had thought it was the People of Faith. Actually, I thought it was my mom's husband, the Step Loser. I wonder what she did to Neferet. My internal babble was interrupted by what next came out of Neferet's mouth

"Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't kill her the way I did them. It would be too obvious. She could simply meet with an unfortunate accident when she visits Venice in the next day or so."

I'm sure I was white. I wanted to faint. Or be sick. Or both. But instead of doing either or both of them I continued listening.

"No" It was Kalona who was talking. "We will not have to kill Zoey. Soon she will come to me willingly; I've planted the seeds for that. All I need to do is wait for them to bloom, and then her powers, which are vast, even though she is mortal, will be at my disposal." Well I thought that won't be happening now, will it? Not after what I had just heard and seen.

"Our disposal," Neferet corrected him.

One of Kalona's ebony wings reached forwards and caressed the side of Neferet's body, making her lean towards him. "Of course, my Queen" He murmured, and then he kissed her.

All I could hear was the sound of their kissing, me and Heath's breathing and the sound of my own beating heart.

So, naturally, I was surprised when Neferet pulled away from Kalona. "No. You can't make love to Zoey in her dreams," What the hell?! "And then again with your eyes in front of everyone, and expect me to open my body to you. I won't be yours tonight. She is too much between us." She backed away. "I know I am not immortal, nor am I Zoey Redbird, but my powers, too, are vast, and you should remember I killed the last male who tried to claim me and her." Neferet spun around and, with a wave of her hand, she parted the hedge in front of her and stepped through it, leaving Kalona alone in the dim light in the clearing.

"C'mon Zo, time to go." Heath said.

So Once again we were traveling through time its self, which gave me some time to think. So Kalona told Neferet he had made love to me? Well that's a bit of an exaggeration. I mean I had sex with one guy (which I totally regret!) and now everyone thinks I'm a nasty skank. I don't feel like a nasty skank. But anyway, I can't believe she believes him! My internal babble was, once again, interrupted, by us arriving in the meadow where I found Heath fishing.

"See Zo? That's why you have to kill him, or whatever. He is evil, Zo." Heath said quietly. I turned to look at him and saw that he was crying. I had only rarely seen Heath cry, except if he hurt himself playing football. So it surprised me when I saw tears streaming down his face.

"Heath?" I walked up to him with a question mark look on my face.

"It's - it's just hard watching it all over again you know? And realizing that I'll never see you or my parents again." He said, and then another wave of tears ran down his face. I was crying too.

I then realized what he was saying was true. That I would never see him again after this. I felt my heart breaking. I would have to tell his parents, knowing that it was all my fault. Oh Goddess. I was crying hard now.

And then I heard Heath gasp and I looked up and, to my surprise, saw we had a visitor. My Goddess, Nyx was shimmering right in front of us, just as she had for Aphrodite and me, a week before. As usual, she was incredibly and breathtakingly beautiful.

"Ah Zoeybird, and Heath. How lovely to see you. Although Zoeybird you should not be in the Otherworld." She smiled serenely at us. I bowed, with my fist over my heart, and Heath did the same. "No, you must return to your friends, where you belong. And Heath, my darling child. Yes, I say child," I think she might have said it to me, or maybe to Heath, because we both wore question mark looks. "Because even though Heath was not Marked as one of my own, I feel as though he is one of my sons. Zoey, you cannot stay here forever. You are needed by your friends, and your Warrior. And you need your Warrior in the days to come as well. I understand that you love Heath and that you don't want to go back and have to face the fact that you will need another Consort in the future. But Heath will always be your Consort, and will always be able to visit you, should you need help, or just company. He will always have a part of your soul. But for now you need to go back." Nyx said.

I turned to Heath and he smiled at me. "Zo, you heard what she said; you can call me anytime you want and I'll come visit you. But you need to go back and defeat Kalona, not just for me either, but for all the vamps and fledglings he'll burn up." He leant down and kissed my forehead and a familiar warm, prickling sensation told me that I had been gifted, again with the tattoos that marked me as the Goddess' eyes and ears on earth. But the weird thing is, is that I already have tattoos on my forehead. Huh, weird.

I kissed Heath on the cheeks and the bowed to my Goddess, who, kissed my forehead as well, but instead of the warm familiar prickling on my forehead, I felt it all over my torso, basically everywhere I already had tattoos. Nyx winked at me and then disappeared. Speaking of, I could feel myself disappearing.

"I love you Heath. I'll talk to you soon." I told him before I was swallowed by the darkness.

Some people might find that the darkness was comforting, but I found it disturbing. I imagined darkness within darkness, shadows within shadows. I imagined red eyes staring at me from the darkness. It scared me and I wanted to know how long it was going to take. I was getting impatient. But apparently it didn't take long at all, because soon I was able to hear things. Not clearly, though. That was when I knew I was going back.