Chapter 2: Changes

We walked slowly back to the group. More of his choice than mine. He held onto my hand tightly. If I was a normal human anymore, it might have hurt or even crushed my fingers. But as an adult vampire, it was a strong embrace. I stopped in my tracks and it jerked Erik to a stop.

"Erik?"

"Yes Z?"

"Do you REALLY love me?"

"Why would you ask such a question? Why would I have any reason to lie to you now?"

"I just ask because I'm just a large burden to handle"

"Burden? How could you ever classify yourself like that? Zoey, I was drawn to you since that day in the hall when you saw Aphrodite and I. I cant explain it, but Nyx came to me that night and told me something."

That was a shock. I hadn't heard of anyone that had been greeted by Nyx, our Godess, except for me. Well, I'm sure that Nyx had visited other people before, but no one had ever said anything. Come to think of it, I never shared that bit of information with anyone either.

"She visits you as well?"

He nodded, "Yes, she came to me in my dream. She told me that you were her chosen one. And that I should stay close to you always."

My eyes got wide, what did he mean 'Chosen' one? "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you are the CHOSEN one by Nyx. Can't you see that? Why else would you have an affinity for all the elements. We were chosen to be together Zoey. I really wish you could see that! She came back to me after that day in class. I slammed my door because I was so confused. I was angry, hurt, but I knew that I loved you more than anything. She appeared in my office and told me that all that had happened was in her plan. She knew what happened and why it happened. She explained everything to me. It just confirmed everything when I was you and Neferet. I knew that for Nyx I had to forgive you. I asked for her strength and she gave it to me. My worries have faded away and I no longer feel bothered by it all anymore."

And as he finished he pulled me close to him and kissed me again. This time, I couldn't help but to kiss him passionately back. If this WAS Nyx plan, then I wasn't going to argue any further. Maybe that is why I always felt so safe with him. Why I felt drawn to him and why I felt so bad about hurting him. He was supposed to be mine, and I his.

We kissed deeper, and deeper. He pinned me against the wall of the tunnel again with one hand behind my neck caressing it while the other hand held me close and secure around my waist. He started to get 'excited' again and I started to push away. This time, he wouldn't let me. His kiss got deeper, almost in a state of panic. He gripped me tighter. I had my hands around his neck and shoulders kissing him back. This boy really had to love me if he was getting so excited in the state of things. So I decided to go with the flow this time. I released my stress and worries of what was going on above us and about our friends, our lives, everyone's lives. He started to kiss my cheeks, caressing my ear lobe with his tongue and slowly kissing down my neck. He reached the hollow of my shoulder and lightly kissed it. He slowly lifted his head and said, "Ok, enough foreplay, let's get going. We have a lot to think about and a lot to do before dawn."

He was right. We desperately needed to get going. We needed a plan. How were we ever going to sleep down here? And so we marched on towards our friends. Wow, did we have news for them.

We reached the large opening in the crossroads of the tunnels. Everyone was sitting in a circle talking, crying, supporting one another. I was really surprised to see Aphrodite among the group. At least finally they had accepted her.

"Ok HAG, but we still need a plan, we can't just go around wandering the streets looking for a bathroom and food with those…those…THINGS out there!" screamed Erin.

"Totally agree Twin" Shaunee said. See, Shaunee and Erin aren't exactly twins. Erin is a white girl from Tusla and Shaunee is a beautiful cappachino color Jamacian mix. They just so happen to share brainwaves as most of us thought. They were eerily similar.

"Whatever nerd herd. I'm just saying we should do SOMETHING instead of just sitting here. We all are going to have to use a bathroom at some point and we're going to have to eat. So better now than never." Aphrodite pointed out. Aphrodite was the leader of the Dark Daughters until I came. She conjured some evil spirits which I, and my wonderful friends Erin, Shaunee, Stevie Ray and Damien happened to cure her of. Since that night, she was stripped of her Dark Daughter's role and it was passed to me. That's not all that happened to her. After we found Stevie Ray and we managed to 'help' her change, Aphrodite's mark was gone. She was now human again. Well, not all the way human. She was still gifted with the Visions she's always had. Nyx even told us herself she had not punished Aphrodite, she in fact had a plan for her all along.

"Hey guys, I don't mean to interput the the pow wow here.." I said, and then instantly all eyes were on Erik and I.

"Zoey…..your marks! What happened? They changed!" Damien said, very surprised with wide eyes.

"O-M-G" the twins said in unison.

"Here, take a look" Aphrodite said as she handed me a compact mirror from her purse.

"Oh! WOW!" I exclaimed

"Zo, now, don't take offense, or think I'm being a perv or anything, but can you slide your dress straps down….guys…come here!" Erik motioned for my friends to gather at my back.

"Oh my goddess! Zoey! Your marks cover your entire back now! Symbols I have never seen before. More ruin symbols!" Shaunee shouted as she ran her fingers down my spine.

"You know, I'm quiet curious about those marks. I wonder what they mean and if we can find out." I really was interested. Was there a way to see what these marks stood for. For another time, when we're not saving the world from the most beautiful and dangerous monster this earth has faced.

"I have a laptop with me if you'd like to Google it" Aphrodite pointed out as she grabbed her satchel that had her laptop. "I have broadband connection, but I'm not sure if we can get service down here. We might have to venture up if we want to be able to use it though."

"Thanks Aphrodite. That's really….umm…NICE of you"

"Don't mention it. Literally. I mean like EVER." she said as she smiled and turned away to find Darius.

"So what's the plan now? What are we going to do about going to the bathroom, because, I know sooner or later, we're all going to have to go. We all need a shower I know that and needed food is inevitable"

"Damien, I think you need to let Zoey just chill out for a minute" Stevie Ray said as she walked into the circle. "Wow Zo, your marks are beautiful! So your fully changed then! That's one less worry off our plate."

"Thanks Stevie Ray. But your right Damien, we need a plan. I'm not exactly sure what we should do in order to get out of this mess. Has anyone thought about maybe going up to the surface and checking out things? See whats going on with the Raven Mockers? Only then will we know what we can do. "

"Your Priestess, I will go" Darias stood up and gave me the royal bow with a fist over his heart.

"Thank you Darius. But please, call me Zoey. I am not a Priestess yet, and maybe then when I do become one, IF I become one, can you call me that. Until then, lets just drop the formality."

"As you wish my Pries…Zoey."

Darius rushed back up the tunnel we just came through. No more than 15 minutes later he was back. "Nothing. I don't' see anything going on outside. Not sure what to make of it. The Raven Mockers could be hiding, but there is no way to know for sure without someone walking out into the open. "

Hmm, now that was interesting. I would have been sure that they would be out terrorizing all mankind out there. Then I suddenly got that feeling in the pit of my stomach again, like when I was supposed to keep my mouth shut about something I knew, but wasn't sure if I should say anything. They may be hiding, yes, but if they are, that means they are looking for something. For you. I gulped. "Does anyone know anything about the history of Raven Mockers? Do we know if they can be told to hold out for a single target?"

"Honestly Zoey, this was not anything we were taught in any of our classes. But from what I've been reading up on, these things will feed on anything and anyone. However, since the Kahloa controls them, they could be told to hold their hunt for someone in particular…or a group of people."

Damien was such a brainiac. Granted he was great for my vocabulary because his was anything but plain. But when he was right, he was right.

"What if they are hunting for us? What are we to do?"

"We could order a pizza?" Elliot finally spoke. The grin on his face was certainly noticeably. He wasn't thinking about pizza, he was thinking about the delivery boy.

"Umm…well, that's an idea, which reminds me, what's with all the pizza boxes with moldy pizza in them at the end of the tunnel you sent us down Stevie Ray?"

"Huh? What? Oh…that" she blushed if a vampire could blush. "well, umm, I've been meaning to talk to you about that…..see, we need blood us red fledglings. Normal food just doesn't do it for us. So we 'glamour' them into giving us some of their blood. Rest assured we never killed anyone Zoey! I promise! We just took….a little bite."

"Well then. I can understand that, but while we're here, that has to stop." As much as I understood what they were going through, we couldn't just be feeding off of poor defenseless delivery boys. "I understand, but we just can't do that. Maybe we can split up and take some of these tunnels and see if any lead to any stores. Food, clothes, blood. "

We split into group of four. Each group had a cellphone and would call all the other groups if they found anything. They were all instructed to take whatever they could. It wasn't really stealing, well, yes it was, but we needed it to survive. Damien and Jack went with Venus and another red fledgling. Aphrodite and Darius went together with two red fledglings. Erin and Shaunee went together with Stevie Ray and Elliot. That left Erik and I. Oh joy! Another alone moment to talk and make out in the tunnels. I can't help that I felt sort of uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Zoey, you ok?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Lets go. I'm going to need more blood soon, I can tell"

And we marched on. Each group taking a different path, a different tunnel. I really hoped we found something. Otherwise, we were doomed.