A/N: This story is a collaboration with The Equestrian Writer. I'm writing the House of Night part, and she's writing the Sweep part. It is our first time writing together. Some of you are probably thinking that this should be in the crossover section, but this one is the house of night version and The Equestrian Writer is doing the Sweep version. They are two stories w/ the same title. Mine is HoN with the Sweep characters coming in later. Whether you're a fan of the HoN series or the Sweep series, please tell us what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night series. That right belongs to P.C. and Kristin Cast, the fabulous authors of this amazing series. Sadly, that also means Stark…..*whimpers*.

Summary: Set after Awakened. The gang has escaped the House of Night, again, to the refuge of the tunnels underneath the Tulsa depot. Neferet has allied herself with another powerful evil so that she can finally bring Zoey down. When Zoey's circle of friends are held hostage, she must rely on new friends to help her through this dangerous situation.

Okay, I'm done rambling. On with the story…. :D enjoy

Chapter One

Zoey

"You're tickling me."

I squirmed underneath Stark as he left trails of kisses along my neck, his breath tickling me. I didn't put up a big fight, though. I liked what he was doing and didn't want him to stop. Placing my hands on either side of his handsome face, I pulled it up and met his lips with my own. We kissed passionately and hungrily. My hands slipped around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He slid his hand seductively down my body and gripped the bottom of my t-shirt, pulling it up and off.

My hands roamed over his bare chest and around to his back. Stark moved his lips from mine, dropping kisses along my cheek and down to my neck. His tongue flitted out, touching my skin. I moaned in response. "You taste so good," Stark murmured against my skin.

"Do it," I encouraged him.

Stark pulled back to look at me, checking my expression. "You sure?" he asked, searching my eyes for any signs that I was lying.

I nodded, wanting the feel of his bite. I stretched my neck, allowing him easier access. He kissed my lips one more time, then moved to my neck. As his teeth sunk in, the initial pain hit hard but was soon replaced by a wave of pleasure. I clung to him, raking my fingernails down his back as he continued to take blood from me.

"Zoey….," Stark whispered the invitation. I didn't need any other encouragement. Kissing his shoulder and neck first, I opened my mouth and began to drink from him.

A few minutes later, we lay together; arms and legs intertwined. I had my head on his shoulder and my arms wrapped around him, keeping him close to me. Stark's hand caressed my shoulder softly as he traced the filigree tattoo that was there. I sighed contentedly.

"What are you thinking about right now?" Stark asked.

I smiled, "I'm thinking of how I want to stay right here, but I know that we have to get up soon."

"I say we just forget everything else and just stay here," Stark suggested, his cocky grin out in full view. He leaned down and gave me a lingering kiss.

Against his lips, I said, "I'd have to agree with you if I didn't think that Aphrodite would come in here and drag us out." I laughed, and then kissed him.

"I'd kick her ass before she could do anything," Stark joked, breaking the kiss. We lay there together, laughing. I could almost convince myself that everything wasn't imploding all around us. I held onto him as my laughter dried up, never wanting to let him go.

Suddenly, a horrible sound came from out in the hallway. Stark and I both jerked upright, startled. Stark reached for his bow and arrows, but I held my hand up to stop him, sure that it couldn't be that dangerous. Pulling my t-shirt back on, I realized what the sound was. Two cats fighting.

A small laugh came out with my relief that it wasn't Neferet as I walked out into the tunnel. It really was quite the sight. My little orange cat, Nala, was snarling and clawing at a certain white Persian, Maleficent. Some of the fledglings were starting to come out to investigate the noise. I caught a glimpse of the twins and Kramisha down a little ways bust out laughing. It was a little funny if you thought about it.

"We have to separate them before one of them gets hurt," Stark said, materializing by my side. He had an arrow in his hand. Stark inched forward with the arrow out to try to put between the two cats. Before the arrow reached them, however, the cats separated and Maleficent took off sprinting down the tunnel, alarmed.

"That was weird," I said, staring after Aphrodite's hateful Persian as Nala began winding around my legs, her fur tickling my bare legs. She complained at me, so I picked her up and she began purring into my neck.

"What's weird about it?" Stark replied back, "That thing is Aphrodite's; I expect it to be weird." He came over and slid his arms around my waist.

Nala sneezed at him, and jumped down from my arms, she apparently didn't like being a third wheel. "How about we go back in and pick up where we left off," Stark whispered in my ear. I smiled and turned to follow him back into the room. I stopped when I saw someone coming down the tunnel.

Rephaim.

I've gotten somewhat used to him as a human guy in the few days since his change. It's still a little unsettling to know that he used to be a raven mocker. His appearance right now was a little disheveled looking, so I knew he had just come from scouting the outside world during the day. Rephaim had volunteered at the beginning to scout aboveground every so often at daytime when no one would recognize him as a bird for any signs of danger.

"Anything we need to be aware of?" I asked him.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Rephaim explained, shaking his head, "Most of the residents has gone back to their day-to-day routines. There is no sign of Neferet or my father."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I admitted, with a sigh.

Rephaim looked at me curiously. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Just that if there hasn't been any sign of either of them since we've been here, then they're up to something either together or separately," I told him.

There was nothing else to say, so we went our separate ways. I was about to walk into the room when someone called to me.

"Zoey!"

I turned to see my friends, Damien and Jack, running towards me. I instantly got a feeling that something was wrong. "What?" I questioned them, "What is it?"

"You have to come quick. Aphrodite's having a vision."

Stevie Rae

"There you are," Stevie Rae replied, getting up from where she was sitting on the bed. "I was about to go looking for you." She slipped her arms around his waist, pulling him to her in an embrace. She relaxed into him as his arms wrapped around her comfortingly.

"I was out scouting," Rephaim told her, then he gave her a smile, "You should know that I would never leave you."

Stevie Rae smiled back at him, and their lips met in a kiss. The kiss was long and passionate, and the rest of the world fell away as she became consumed by him. They haven't gone any farther than just kissing, but it was times like these that her need and desire of him could overrule all coherent thought.

Rephaim's hands slipped underneath her shirt, but they didn't go any further. He kept his hands on her waist, stroking her soft, smooth skin. Tingles spread throughout her body as her fingers tangled themselves in his long, black, raven-soft hair. Stevie Rae was vaguely aware of the thrum that was his heartbeat and the pounding of his blood. The lure of his blood grew stronger with every sensual kiss.

Rephaim pulled back slightly, resting his forehead against hers. "When was the last time you had any blood?" he whispered, trying to see if she showed any signs of weakness.

"I'm fine," Stevie Rae assured him, though a little unconvincingly.

"You need some then," Rephaim replied. He pulled her over to the bed and they sat down on it. "Take as much as you need."

"I don't want to-" Her protests were cut off when he put his finger to her lips.

"I'd do anything that would help you," Rephaim stated. He guided her head to his neck for her to drink from him. The lure of his blood was intoxicating, and she couldn't fight against it. She opened her mouth to bite down, when suddenly-

"Stevie Rae, you need to-whoa, hey!" Kramisha said, from the doorway.

They were both startled, but Rephaim had his arm around Stevie Rae to keep her from moving too far away. "What is it?" she asked, a little flustered.

"I just wrote this poem and it creepy as hell," Kramisha stated, holding a piece of purple paper out.

Zoey

Stark and I ran to Aphrodite's room, with Jack, Damien, and Duchess right behind us. This is it. This is what we've been waiting for. All sorts of scenarios involving Neferet and/or Kalona spun around in my head, each one much worst than the one before it. We reached Aphrodite's room and we didn't hesitate in pushing through the curtain that hung in the doorway and into the room. All of us stopped as we took in the scene.

Aphrodite was on the bed, leaning against a few pillows. Her blood-red eyes were focused across the room, but I knew she wasn't seeing the dirt wall that was there. I should have known something was happening when Maleficent took off, because the Persian was sitting on Aphrodite's lap, staring up at her worriedly. Darius sat next to her, his arm around her and trying to comfort her. She was also violently shaking.

I walked over the bed, sat down, and took her hand in mine. "Aphrodite?" I began, trying to be as gentle as I could. It was a little hard, because I was scared that what Aphrodite was seeing was something really terrible. "Aphrodite, can you hear me? Can you tell me what you see?"

Silence.

Then, suddenly, Aphrodite gasped a big, lungful of air, a panicked expression her face. "Aphrodite, what it is?" I urged her, still gentle but with a little more urgency.

She didn't say anything again, and, this time, her oath-bound warrior spoke up for the first time since we'd come into the room. "She's experiencing something terrible," Darius pulled her closer to him as if he could shield her from the vision, "She needs to-"

"There's a town…..never seen it before….." Aphrodite finally gasped out, "Then,….O Goddess!….."

"Please tell us what you see," I told her, a little bit of a pleading note in my voice. I saw that she was starting to come out of the vision. I turned to Damien and Jack, who were still standing in the doorway. "Go get her a cold washcloth for her eyes." They both nodded and were gone.

"She needs to rest," Darius tried again.

"No," This was Aphrodite. She found Darius' arm with her hand and rubbed it reassuringly. "There was a room…filled with those other nasty red fledglings and Kalona and….a woman I didn't recognize," Aphrodite explained, still quite terrified, "It was filled with smoke and fire, and blood….so much blood." She shivered, and curled into Darius' embrace.

"Was there anybody else there?" I asked. I felt Stark move closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I took comfort in his presence.

Aphrodite nodded, "A bunch of random people, and all of us….." She looked at me, and there was something in the way she looked at me through red eyes that sent a chill down my spine. "Except you and Stark."

My heart nearly stopped beating. My friends and a bunch of innocent people were going to possibly be dying and I wasn't there. "Could you see any indication of where this is going to happen?" I managed to sputter out. I gripped Stark's hand, and he squeezed it back, reassuringly.

"I saw a sign," Aphrodite affirmed, "It read: Widow's Vale, New York."

A/N: If this has intrigued you, please review and we'll post the next chapter.