Chapter One
Zoey
School at House of Night hadn't been the same since we found out that our former High Priestess Neferet had gone to the dark side. Since we found out that she killed my mother, Thanatos whose goddess given affinity is Death, has been High Priestess at the Tulsa House of Night. Surprisingly when our Sons of Erebus leader and Sword Master was killed protecting my best friend's consort, Nyx's former warrior, Kalona, decided to become the new Sword Master at the house of night.
Neferet had been stripped of her title as High Priestess. The Vampyre High Council had also shunned her and we all feared that she would come back stronger. So as me and my circle came back to the bus we'd been riding back and forth from the Depot's since we were kicked out by Neferet when Kalona released his son, Rephaim, my friend's consort, something felt wrong. I didn't say anything but my boyfriend Stark knew what I was feeling. No what I have with Stark goes beyond a simple relationship. He is my Guardian Warrior and even though we don't know exactly what all it entitles, we do know that he can feel everything I'm feeling.
We got back to the Depot and as we got off the bus, we saw the crate that was over the entrance to the depot had been opened and not closed back. I looked at everyone and said, "Let's not jump to conclusions but Damien, Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae keep your elements close." They nodded and I heard them calling their elements. Stark and Darius, Aphrodite's Warrior, climbed down the ladder first. Don't let the name fool you, Aphrodite's not very nice most of the time.
Anyway as we climbed down we got to the kitchen and there in the corner of the room was a young girl curled up sleeping. She had reddish orange hair, torn clothes, and worn out shoes. Her hair was even longer than most vampyres. She was sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake her but Aphrodite had other ideas. "What's she doing down here?" That one line woke the girl up and she whirl so quick that I moved out of her way. She growled and then staggered backwards falling on her butt. Her eyes which were dark blue slipped closed. She looked exhausted. She opened them and said weakly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to invade your area.
"I will leave you now." With that she stood up and almost fell again. She shook her head and then her whole body seized up and she gasped. Her eyes rolled back in her head and I swear she looked just like Aphrodite does when she has her visions. Damien said, "She looks just like Aphrodite when she has her visions only without the blood." I'd almost forgotten about that. Since Aphrodite lost her Mark that tell people that we're fledglings, when she has visions her eyes cry blood.
The girl gasped again and blinked and looked at us. Then she tried to walk to the ladder and fell into the ladder grabbing it for balance. She climbed it but fell as her hand missed a rung. Aphrodite said, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Then Venus came over and said, "Three bags of blood are missing as well as a bottle of wine." Aphrodite said, "No shit, she's drunk!" I could see the girl wasn't drunk she was just exhausted.
I approached her and said, "You don't have to go. Why don't you stay and rest? When you get stronger then you can leave if you want." She shook her head and said, "No I have to get to my brother. It's a thing we do and I have to go. I have to warn him about… never mind I just need to go. You all will be crawling in your beds when the sun rises, I won't." I said, "The sun doesn't bother you?" "Nope now I've got to go." With that Rephaim said, "Well I'll walk you out." Then the two disappeared up the ladder. Stevie Rae said, "Well I'm going to climb in my bed."
We all went to bed after that but I awoke a couple hours later to someone in the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and found the girl was back and there were two boys with her. She had no way of knowing I was behind her and I stayed in the shadows and listened. She said, "I don't care if you offer, I'm not going to drink from you. That's…" she turned and looked around. One of the boys reached for her and she duck so quick I almost did see the movement. She said, "Richard, Just because you're my brother and I'm weaker than normal doesn't mean I am not strong enough to kick your butt. We got what we came for and even though the blood has given me some strength let's get out of here before I'm stumbling over my feet again. Let's go before the sun sets and the vamps and fledglings down here get up and the bird changes back to a boy."
With that the boys left and she turned and said, "I know you're there. My eyesight is better than humans and most vampyres. Beside that I can smell you." I stepped out of the shadows and said, "Why are you stealing blood? I want to help you." I got a good look at her and she was wearing the same clothes we saw her in earlier. Her eyes were a lighter blue but not by much and… "My eyes are going to darker up again in a few hours. The blood not helping me like it should because you were right I'm tired. But I've got to go but you will see me again. This I can promise."
Then she left and I went back to bed. I woke up with barely enough time to get to the bus in time. Later on as I was brushing Persephone in Lenobia's class, Stark came over and said, "I think we've got a problem." I followed him as we made our way to the bus. Erik Night was there with the girl from earlier and the others were there as well as Thanatos and Kalona. I walked up and said, "What's going on?" Erik said, "Apparently, I don't know how to mark kids. I marked Shaylin and her mark was in red. I mark her and there's no mark." Then my mind caught up to my eyes. "You just marked her?" He nodded. Shaylin came up and said, "Oh, you're purple too. Only she's darker than Zoey." "What the hell?" Aphrodite said as the girl staggered. The girl whirled around and said, "No, don't, come in here." She ran over to the east wall and said, "What are you doing here? It's not s…" She didn't finish her sentence as the two boys I saw early came under the secret trapdoor.
The moment they appeared Kalona unfurled his wings. She ran to the boys and said, "Richard, why did you bring Steve? Why are you here? I can take care of myself, thank you very much." One of the boys looked over at us and began to walk over. I saw Kramisha walk towards him her eyes turning red. Then I smelt it. He was human. Before I could warn Stevie Rae about Kramisha, the girl walked up and grabbed his arm. "Steve what are you doing here? I can take care of myself. You don't need to be killed trying to protect me." The boy she'd been fussing at earlier looked at us. He had whitish blue hair that was almost as long as the girls. He was well dressed and well rested.
The other boy had short brown hair and was just as well dressed and rested as the other boy. The girl saw us just staring and said, "The boy with the bluish white hair is my brother Richard. The other one is my friend, Steve and they were just leaving." Richard shook his head and started to speak when she said, "Get out of here before the others follow your scent and come here. I will find you when I can but until then this is the 21st century get a freaking cell phone!" Steve laughed and said, "I heard an almost cuss in there so I think you better get that phone!" The girl turned on him and said, "What wrong with not having a potty mouth. I just don't like to cuss. Just because the world is messed up doesn't mean one should pick up bad language."
My group laughed and she said, "What's so funny?" I looked her and said, "They're laughing because I've been telling them the same thing since I was marked almost a year ago." She said, "You don't like to cuss?" I shook my head. Then she laughed and said, "Well that's two things we have in common." I was about to ask what else we had in common when Richard said, "Two, what was number one?" "The girl over there said that we're both purple." "You're not purple, you're…" Richard started to say. Aphrodite cut him off and said, "Her true color is purple." The girl said, "Richard, get Steve out of here. I'm telling you not asking you to leave."
"What if I don't want to?" Steve said flirting. "Get the hell out of here and I have already told you, my heart belongs to another. Steve, me and you will never be. Now GO!" Richard looked from her to Steve and said, "Well, that's it. We'd better go. These vamps and fledglings here will take care of her." With that they left out the trap door. Thanatos said, "Well that was unexpected. My name is Thanatos, High Priestess and this is my Warrior Kalona. Now young lady, what is your name?" The girl said, "My name is Jazmyne Sanders and I am pleased to have joined your school."