Takes place sometime after Tempted, and what happened then will mostly be ignored, as it's not of much importance (well, now).
Zoey walked down the sidewalk quickly, anxious to get back to her dorm, only meaning to go out for a quick Doritos and brown pop binge, but she'd still taken more time then she thought she would.
The street lamps were dull and flickered every minute or so, and her boots made loud clacking sounds, which made her jump every few feet. It was about 3 in the morning, unfortunately, and Zoey, despite her five affinities, and her vampyre strength, felt vulnerable and scared in such close proximity to dark, dirty alleyways full of goddess knows what.
She clutched the white, plastic bag closer, continuing down the gum splattered sidewalk, eyes darting all over the street, hyper aware of anything, and everything in the street. She really should have brought Stark along, but she'd insisted on going out and doing it herself, and he'd not wanted much to deal with a temperamental Zoey. They- all her friends, that is- had been having themselves a party, to celebrate the beginning of their last year at the house of night. Well, for most of them.
Zoey had been planning on staying at the house of night for a few years simply as High Priestess and nothing else, more out of not knowing what she'd do after. The house of night felt like a second home to her after all these years, and though she'd been through things that would make anyone go insane- she didn't know what she'd do without the completely enjoyable chaos of her school.
Things had been relatively quiet since they'd defeated Kalona- she winced, because even still, she avoided even thinking his name- and everything had remained pretty normal, aside from some social dramas. Zoey, all in all, felt lucky that it'd all worked out in the end.
Suddenly, she rounded the last corner to her car- well, the school's- and almost passed the last dark corner, before she heard yelling.
Her eyes widened, and she stopped completely, her bags whooshing forward at the sudden stop. She peeked into the alley, unsure of what to do, or even of what was happening.
There was loud, obviously angry shouting- even if she didn't exactly know what language it was in. A little bit of dim light shown, so she could see better what was happening, and it shocked and revolted her to the core.
A tall, looming figure was screaming himself senseless at a tiny, helpless looking child-looking person, and was waving a beer bottle dangerously, and Zoey could see the small figure cringe and whimper, but stay relatively silent, even though they were seriously at risk.
"Hey, you! Stop it!" she screeched, feeling something turn in her stomach as the taller figure had, moments prior, brought his hand down on the smaller person's face with a large enough force to make a dull, smacking sound. She ran down the alley, dropping her bags before she reached them, blindly angry, feeling irrationally protective of the child.
The man whipped around to face her, face in a sneer, before leering at her, but Zoey was too far gone to register whatever he said-even if it had been English. She thrust her fist into his face on impulse, not having time to call any sort of affinity, even though she'd gotten much better at it through time.
He toppled back, looking utterly confused at some girl punching him, before leaning against the alley wall, seemingly passing out in a drunken haze.
Zoey, breathing hard, chest heaving, turned her gaze to the small, now quiet figure, barely able to comprehend what had just happened. A moment ago, she'd been just taking Doritos and pop to a party- now she'd made one of the biggest decisions of her life, whether she realized it or not.
The small figure turned to her, looking deathly scared still, and then Zoey realized it was not so much a small child- as a simply, very, very small girl only a few years younger than herself. She had huge, orb looking luminescent eyes, and snowy pale skin, which had a childlike perfection to it.
"Are you okay?" Zoey asked, after a moment, feeling dazed, mostly in response to the almost inhuman, godlike beauty of the girl before her. She was scarily skinny, Zoey noticed after barely half a second's inspection, pale, slender legs shown off in lace leggings. She was curled up into a small ball against the filthy, once-red brick of the wall, a big, red blotch against her cheek, with a purple undertone, a bruise already blooming. She had small cuts along her face, all fresh and red still, and to Zoey's shock, little pieces of glass in them.
"Never mind, stupid question," Zoey mumbled, holding out a hand to the girl tentatively, even though the girl nodded slowly, blinking.
"Thank you," she said softly, her voice somewhat raspy, still sounding feathery, and incredibly frail. She took Zoey's hand, and got up.
She had on a very short black skirt, and long black boots, with a white coat with silvery fur trimmings along the hood. She was short and tiny, a good few inches shorter than even Zoey's unimpressive height.
She teetered unsteadily, before stumbling a few steps, and Zoey rushed to steady her, an arm around her incredibly narrow shoulders. Her knees gave out, and her eyes slid shut, low, warm breath of Zoey's neck.
Zoey felt a bony elbow through several layers of jacket, and picked up the girl, bridal style. She was almost unbelievably light, and even more beautiful in the moonlight, her hair shining the light. Her small, curving pink lips were slightly open, and Zoey smelt the barest hint of smoke on her breath.
Zoey's strength helped as she carried the girl out of the alley, even though she was almost sure she could have held the small girl before she'd been marked.
Zoey's mind was strangely peaceful, oddly serene, as she picked up the now crinkled bags, and walked the last few meters to the parking lot, a girl in her arms. Something, she didn't know what, simply said, everything is okay. This is where you belong, and Zoey couldn't disagree because she felt irrevocably tender towards the girl in her arms, and a subconscious part of her knew that her life would be indescribably better.